009 Spiritual Transformation and the Twelve Postures of the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic

Chen Jue was well aware of his situation. Coming from humble beginnings, without the support of powerful patrons, it would be nearly impossible for him to become what people call a wealthy man through sheer hard work alone. Without material abundance, his life might have passed like that of any ordinary person—struggling for survival, constantly chasing after money.

But now, having awakened to this attribute panel, it was as if a new path had opened up before him, one entirely different from his previous life.

“Cultivation!”

“As long as I succeed, my life is bound to become something entirely new,” Chen Jue resolved firmly.

If, in the past, returning to the countryside had left him with a sense of regret—occasionally reminiscing about the allure of the bustling world—now, after his brief encounter with Lin Ruomeng, he suddenly felt that things like money, social status, and even romantic pursuits mattered much less.

Time slips by, the years change, and the world shifts with dizzying speed; what remains for people is only aging faces and declining bodies.

Perhaps, forging an extraordinary path of cultivation in this real world was what his heart truly yearned for.

...

Stepping out from the Lin family’s breakfast shop, Chen Jue felt his state of mind had elevated somewhat.

Though he had added his old classmate Lin Ruomeng on WeChat, leaving a means of contact, Chen Jue knew there would be little further communication between them.

After breakfast, he strolled home to Chencun, arriving a little after ten in the morning.

By then the sun was high, and the lingering heat of late summer still clung to the air. Chen Jue closed his door, washed away the sweat from his morning exercise, changed into fresh clothes, and sat on the sofa. Imitating the middle-aged man in the online video, he began to practice breathing techniques.

This was the breathing method paired with the Boat Fist, but lacking proper instruction, after a short while Chen Jue felt dizzy, his vision sparkling with stars.

“It seems static sitting isn’t suitable for practicing this kind of moving fist technique,” he thought, and began searching online for methods like Daoist meditation and Buddhist contemplation.

The internet was a mix of truth and nonsense, filled with all sorts of strange cultivation methods.

If he could find Boat Fist online, surely he could also find some mental training or willpower-enhancing static exercises.

After all, he couldn’t practice Boat Fist all day—his body needed rest and recovery, and he wanted to make the most of his spare time.

Reading more books or trying out some form of static cultivation might yield unexpected results.

...

“Indian yoga?”

“The Great Seal of Esoteric Buddhism?”

“Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic, Marrow-Washing Classic?”

Driven by curiosity, Chen Jue browsed online for half an hour before finally settling on the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic of Shaolin Temple as his starting point.

According to the information he found, this classic originated from the guiding arts of alchemists during the Qin and Han dynasties, was introduced to Shaolin during the Tang and Song periods, and became a fitness method for monks to invigorate blood and resolve stasis after meditation.

Passed down to the present day, the Shaolin monks had classified and summarized it into a set of twelve static postures.

The online tutorials were detailed and thorough, much clearer than the fragmentary instructions for other static cultivation methods.

“If Shaolin monks can practice it, I should be able to learn too—it can’t be a fake.”

“In martial arts novels, the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic is a secret art not taught to outsiders, yet now it’s everywhere online,” Chen Jue mused with some irony.

Obtaining these materials didn’t seem much harder than learning physical exercises in school.

Fortunately, with his foundation in Boat Fist, he found the twelve postures of the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic easy to follow, and soon a new skill appeared on his attribute panel: [Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic Twelve Postures Lv0 (1/100)].

However, he soon realized this was much harder to cultivate than Boat Fist.

After going through the entire set of postures, the skill proficiency didn’t increase at all.

Chen Jue had no choice but to watch the Shaolin monks’ instructional videos repeatedly, copying every detail, correcting his posture, and striving to reach the meditative state he experienced during his morning practice.

After fumbling about for an hour, he finally saw the proficiency increase by one point.

“Ah!”

“I still have a long way to go. This is supposed to be a static art, but I’m sweating buckets from practicing it,” he sighed, feeling a bit impatient.

He got up, wiped his face with cold water in the bathroom, and returned to his training with a calmer mindset.

With the right attitude, his proficiency began to rise a little faster.

Half an hour for another point, then another, and by noon, when he got up to make lunch, the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic had gained four proficiency points.

Most importantly, practicing this static art helped invigorate his blood and resolve fatigue, lessening the exhaustion left by his morning exercise.

...

After lunch, Chen Jue went upstairs for a nap.

At three in the afternoon, he was awakened by a phone call.

Answering it, he learned that the solid wood square table he had ordered the day before had arrived. He hurried downstairs to the village entrance, where he saw a small delivery truck.

Leading the two movers through the village’s narrow lanes to his house, he watched as they carried the tightly wrapped table into his first-floor living room. Only then did Chen Jue transfer the two hundred yuan moving fee.

The delivery men were in a hurry and left immediately after receiving payment.

Returning inside, Chen Jue fetched a large pair of scissors, stripped away all the foam and wrapping from the table, cleaned up the trash, and then leaped onto the sturdy wooden surface. Testing it with a few steps, he found it much more solid than the Eight Immortals tables from his childhood.

“At last, I can practice the Eight Immortals Stance!” he thought excitedly.

He washed his face to dispel the grogginess from his nap, then began practicing the stance exercises paired with Boat Fist, following along with the instructional video.

Until now, Chen Jue had only practiced these stances on level ground. Once he tried on the narrow tabletop, he realized how difficult they truly were.

Fortunately, with the foundation built over the past few days, he quickly adapted, and soon the Eight Immortals Stance appeared as a new skill on his attribute panel: [Eight Immortals Stance Lv0 (1/100)].

“So it’s a separate skill from Boat Fist!” Chen Jue was surprised.

Seeing that the proficiency was tracked independently, he guessed that his earlier practice hadn’t truly counted as learning the stance.

“It really does have to be practiced on the table!” he thought, feeling a surge of excitement as he began to stand in the postures.

Over the past few days, he had browsed countless forums about martial arts, external and internal styles, and ancient fist methods.

Comments like “If you train technique but not foundation, all your effort will be wasted with age” had become almost numbing.

Now, having truly learned a new stance, his enthusiasm for training soared.