Chapter 5 Amazon, Start!

Although Sheila said so, Li Ang, who had been through the wringer in the workplace for years, knew that these were just sales tricks.

Sports rehabilitation? That clearly wasn't something he could afford; he wasn't about to fall into that consumption trap.

Yes, his currently frail frame definitely couldn't withstand it.

At this moment, what occupied his thoughts the most was the one million US Dollar reward he had just seen on the television program.

Li Ang had considered the problem of earning money during his free time. With his current rate of spending, his savings really wouldn't last long.

To become stronger more efficiently down the line, he would need to figure out things like ingredients, supplements, and even hiring a nutritionist.

Sports equipment, gear, venue rentals—all these would cost money.

In short, all these things complemented each other.

When Li Ang got back home, an idea suddenly struck him.

If [Cycling] could also be a skill, then perhaps Tai Chi, Iron Cloth, or even Boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu might also become skills.

After spending over an hour online researching, Li Ang finally decided to learn traditional martial arts.

First of all, from a training perspective, modern martial arts are more focused on competition, with all training having but one goal: to make you stronger in the ring to defeat opponents.

Traditional martial arts, however, are much broader and profounder, encompassing not just combat but also a myriad of knowledge in health, mindset, philosophy, culture, and so forth.

If one seeks immediate results, then modern martial arts would naturally be more suitable. However, if choosing a direction for in-depth study, Li Ang still leaned towards traditional martial arts.

After all, with the attribute points panel, slow learning speed, cryptic cultivation methods, and even his own aptitude for learning were not big issues for him.

From this perspective, traditional martial arts indeed seemed quite suitable for him.

Of course, there was another critical reason: the expense of practicing modern martial arts was simply too high. Coaching, sparring partners, gym time—all were charged by the hour, and equipment wasn't cheap either.

As for choosing which martial art to study, he was inspired by a short video blogger named Pigeon Martial Edge and chose Tongbei Quan.

This boxing technique centers around fist and palm strikes, and Li Ang had seen plenty of videos online of people smashing bricks and stones.

But they were either relying on tricks and technology, faking it, or using brute force and pain tolerance to batter through.

All things considered, none compared to the ease and elegance with which this blogger wielded Tongbei Quan, so purely in terms of the skill in power generation, this boxing style definitely had something special.

Zhao Wenzhuo, one of the most famous stars practicing this art in China, was also a national martial arts champion.

Li Ang was a man of action. He instantly ordered a set of books on Tongbei Quan from Amazon, which cost him several tens of dollars.

In today's society, no one treasured secret martial arts manuals anymore. Most of the time, you'd find yourself begging others to learn your family's martial arts while others would find it a waste of time.

All those special moves and secret techniques—keep them tucked away if you like, but tucked away they tend to get buried in the ground with you.

In the following days, Li Ang's life became very regular, almost as if he had reverted to his final year of high school, sprinting towards exams.

It wasn't clear whether his mental abilities had improved after transmigrating, or if he had just developed a regular routine, but he woke up naturally at seven every morning.

A large glass of milk, three slices of whole wheat bread, and three boiled eggs comprised his breakfast.

Perhaps due to consuming large meals in a short period, his stomach and esophagus had developed a certain capacity, and in these few days, his appetite had improved even more than his physical Constitution had.

After waking up early, the routine was a five-kilometer warm-up run followed by ten kilometers of cycling, and some bodyweight exercises like push-ups, squats, and pull-ups.

Before lunch, Li Ang would have a snack, the main idea being to eat as much as he could.

The afternoons were free, and in the last few days, he had gone to help at Uncle Wilson's farm twice, earning twenty US Dollars.

The rest of the time, he rode his bike aimlessly around the outskirts of town, taking in the local scenery.

These past few days, he basically maintained five meals a day, which caused the groceries he originally expected to last a week to run out much sooner.

In his continual testing, he also discovered that the Breakthrough Points gained from consuming food were not only affected by the quantity and calories of the food but also required a balanced combination and consideration of which nutrients his body was lacking.

It's worth mentioning that the workout routines these past few days made him realize that simple movements did not increase his attributes as much as compound and diverse movements did.

This also perfectly affirmed the necessity of his decision to learn a martial art.

"Ding Dong!"

The doorbell rang.

Li Ang slowly rose from the floor, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the towel on his shoulder. As he lifted his arm, muscles beginning to show their outlines became apparent.

He got up to open the door and, sure enough, his package had arrived.

This package had him waiting for five full days, and he couldn't even complain, because in America, this was already considered quite fast.

Li Ang estimated that if this were in his home country, the package might have arrived the next day in the fastest scenario, or at most it would take two to three days if it were slower.

Complaints aside, Li Ang picked up the package with a hint of excitement in his heart.

In his previous life back in his home country, learning Tai Chi in a PE class felt like it nearly killed him, while in this life, he ran to America and ended up learning martial arts—the irony was not lost on him.

He opened the package to find several books, not just basic cultivation methods but also two CDs that came as a bonus, containing insights into cultivation and key points of movements.

Li Ang didn't blindly start practicing. Instead, he browsed through all the content of the books first.

The Tongbei Quan technique he bought belonged to Qi's Tongbei Quan, which was the founding school of this boxing style.

The requirements for the Power Method could be summarized in 20 words: "Cold, snappy, crisp, fast, hard; deep, long, lively, soft, clever; heavy, fierce, light, agile, shake; contain emptiness, sticky, connect, follow."

This was also the characteristic of this boxing style, centering around the core concept of "interconnected arms" power.

Combination Technique [Xiao Lian Shou] is the core training method of Qi's Tongbei Quan combat skills.

Moreover, Li Ang understood that over the years, their several generations of inheritance had been continuously optimizing and improving this training method, combining some modern scientific methods, making it quite different from other boxing styles.

Before he officially began his cultivation, Li Ang decided to first check his current attribute panel to ascertain his current state.

This way, by comparing before and after, he could also know how efficient practicing martial arts was compared to ordinary workouts.

Name: Li Ang

Strength: 7.91

Constitution: 9.88

Response: 10.30

Spirit: 13.16

Breakthrough Points: 0

Skills:

[Cycling] 152/200 (Proficient)

(Trait: Lower limb strength, endurance increase 10%)

[Running] 12/200 (Proficient)

(Trait: Lung capacity increase 10%)