Cultivating through increasing my stats in America-Chapter 55 - Focused Cultivation

Chapter 55: Chapter 55: Focused Cultivation

Chapter 55: Chapter 55: Focused Cultivation

Li Ang returned home, still debating whether to go see Sheila today to finish up the remaining massage lessons.

As he took off his clothes and turned his head, he saw his reflection in the mirror and immediately abandoned the idea.

Li Ang’s physique had become a bit more robust compared to a few days earlier.

His muscles were not only well-defined but also slightly fuller.

If one were to look only at the shape of his body, it was undoubtedly standard, much like the toned physiques of many fitness bloggers on the streets.

However, the downside was the various scars left on his body from practicing the Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training.

Arms, shoulders, knees, legs… these areas all had bruises from the impacts.

Spotty and uneven, he looked somewhat like a half-evolved Thanos.

His chest and back had streaks of blood from practicing the Iron Cloth, which requires beating the chest with bamboo strips.

These red marks crisscrossed, something Li Ang had only seen on the back of his Sea King friend before.

In such a state, going to Sheila for a massage would be inconvenient to show and difficult to explain.

It might even cause her undue concern, so to avoid unnecessary worry, Li Ang decided to hold off for now until his level in the Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training was higher.

Of course, for the average beginner, the situation wouldn’t be as severe as Li Ang’s.

He was only so daring because he discovered that the harder he trained, the more his proficiency increased, relying on his strong constitution and the aid of massages, medicinal wine, and medicinal baths.

This intense training certainly had its effects; high investment naturally leads to high returns.

An ordinary person training in this technique might need three to five days of practice to catch up with just one day of Li Ang’s training—and that’s for the more diligent ones.

Not only did Li Ang train fiercely, but with the attribute panel, the cumulative progress he made was many times faster than the average person.

Li Ang’s current proficiency was: [Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training] 30/100 (Beginner).

He estimated that his current daily training plan could increase his proficiency by about 30 points.

Moreover, as his body slowly adapted and his [Physique] increased, he could gradually increase the training volume, which would continue to accelerate.

He expected that in another two days, his [Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training] would reach the next stage.

However, the daily expenditure from practicing this horizontal training technique was quite substantial.

He had originally thought that his small stash of ten thousand yuan would last him a good long while.

But now, it was down to just over five thousand yuan.

Just the medicinal herbs for the bath cost over a hundred yuan a day; although they were not very expensive items, if you put too few in the tub, they were ineffective.

There’s no need to mention the medicinal wine—it was obtained for free in the first place. The initial bottle was already used up, and now only three remained.

Considering the cost of daily food ingredients, he spent a fixed two hundred yuan every day.

With that calculation, his funds would last him only about a month.

Financially, he could now only look forward to the biking competition in half a month. The prize for the champion was said to be fifty thousand yuan—a sizeable sum.

There was also the sponsorship fee that Eric had mentioned, which was supposed to arrive tomorrow. It didn’t seem to be cash; he hoped it would be useful to him.

Lying on the creaky bed, Li Ang went through all of this in his head, then struggled to get up—his training plan for the day was still not complete.

He stood in front of the window sill, assumed the posture of Internal Qigong, took a deep breath, and began to meditate.

Ever since he’d begun the martial arts technique, he had been able to feel the fiery sphere in his Dantian more vividly.

In a hazy state, Li Ang felt his body become warm, as if he had awakened all the essence, energy, and blood within his body.

Even the areas that had been somewhat painful felt momentarily healed.

A full twenty minutes passed before Li Ang emerged from this state.

Only after practicing did he understand why it was said that top-tier hard techniques must be accompanied by the practice of internal techniques.

Firstly, practicing internal techniques can make one’s vitality more active and one’s energy more abundant, providing adequate support for the body to cultivate horizontal training techniques without harming one’s vital energy.

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Moreover, this way of mobilizing vitality and blood can also be applied to defense.

Truly successful horizontal training in resisting blows never relies on the toughness of one’s skin and muscle alone.

After all, the human body is ultimately flesh and blood; no matter how much one toughens the surface, it cannot compare in strength to metal.

Therefore, at this point, one requires the skill of Force Dissipation; if the surface defensive strength provides a fixed damage reduction, then Force Dissipation is akin to a percentage-based damage reduction.

Combining the two, and only upon mastering them to the highest level, might one achieve the impervious state depicted in martial arts lore.

However, with Li Ang’s current beginner level of “Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training,” he had yet to understand the concept of Force Dissipation and was still in the stage of training the surface.

But he had already realized through Internal Qigong that cultivating the internal aspects is an important foundation for Force Dissipation.

After finishing this part of his training, he hadn’t even started the horizontal training itself when Li Ang felt hungry again.

Another benefit of practicing hard techniques was the further increase in Li Ang’s appetite.

Not only did it make his vitality active, but the recovery process after injury also required a significant amount of nutrition.

For afternoon tea, Li Ang made himself a salad of spinach, mustard greens, and kale.

After blanching the vegetables, he mixed in some sesame oil, sesame paste, and salt and pepper to create a Chinese-style salad.

Eating plain boiled vegetables was difficult to swallow, but with some seasoning, the taste changed dramatically.

He didn’t choose these vegetables at random; he had looked up relevant information online and had even asked Sheila about it.

Greens like kale, spinach, mustard greens, and Swiss chard contain a wealth of nutrients such as vitamin C, manganese, magnesium, folate, and vitamin A, which can reduce inflammation, enhance immune function, and improve wound healing.

Several papers also mentioned that certain polyphenols concentrated in green leafy vegetables, including the antioxidant quercetin, may help inhibit the production of inflammatory proteins like TNF-alpha.

This too was a part of his dietary therapy specially arranged for cultivating hard techniques.

It was intended to help him recover faster after injury.

Of course, to replenish energy, eating just greens definitely wouldn’t be enough.

Li Ang also fried a steak and made himself an exclusive secret-recipe mini burger, then had a glass of milk to perfectly round out his afternoon tea.

Next came the practice of the Internal Explosion Skill.

Li Ang correctly executed each posture, his mouth emitting various sounds like “Eh! Hmph! Ha!”

But unbeknownst to him, right outside his door, Sheila was hesitating with a plate of pastries, debating whether or not to ring the doorbell.