I practiced my spirituality alone in Hong Kong.

"But since the department store is still open, let's buy some home appliances first, and then buy some plum blossom stakes and other training equipment."

Li Chang'an lay on the grass, quietly adjusting his breathing, until his strength returned slightly before getting up.

He went to Daimaru Department Store in Causeway Bay, where the home appliances sold were mostly brands commonly used by Hong Kong families, such as Sanyo, Toshiba, Hitachi, Sharp, and Sony.

This is certainly not because locals prefer Japanese products; it's simply that domestic products have a short history of development, insufficient technological accumulation, poor quality, and a mix of deceptive practices from various brands, making it easy for ordinary people to be fooled.

European and American brands are too expensive and have poor after-sales service. After weighing the options, Japanese products have become the most cost-effective choice.

Therefore, before the rise of domestic products, the mainstream home appliance market in Hong Kong and even the whole of Asia was almost entirely dominated by Japanese products.

Upon arriving at Daimaru Department Store, Li Chang'an, unfamiliar with home appliances, simply asked the sales clerk for recommendations.

Finally, we decided on a Sanyo 14-inch color TV, a Hitachi single-door refrigerator, and a Sharp semi-automatic washing machine.

After the discount, the three appliances cost a total of HK$8,500.

In this era, even dual-income Hong Kong families would have to work for half a year to a year without eating or drinking to barely scrape together the money. No wonder people who could afford the four major items were envied by their neighbors.

After Li Chang'an registered his address at the store, the clerk smiled and promised to deliver the goods to his door within three days.

Just like the skyscraper-filled Central district, which is separated from the outdated and old Western district by only a few tram stops.

Just across the street from the gleaming Daimaru Department Store is a crowded and noisy general store.

When Li Chang'an arrived here, he purchased a set of 30-pound plum blossom dwarf stakes and a set of 2-pound large hula hoop-like wooden hoops.

These items aren't valuable, so the shop assistants at the grocery store naturally wouldn't help deliver them. Fortunately, you can take the tram directly to Shek Tong Tsui, which saves a lot of trouble.

After returning home, Li Chang'an placed the plum blossom stubble in an open area.

Following the snake-shaped boxing stance training method in my mind, I first stepped onto the low stake, supporting myself on the ground with only my five fingers, and slowly lowered my body.

Below the lower abdomen, three rows of lit incense sticks were burning intermittently. If one relaxed even slightly and failed to support their body, the incense flames would burn their belly and chest.

Following the principles of Snake Form Boxing, Li Chang'an held his breath and concentrated, his waist and abdomen taut like a strong bow, his strength flowing to his fingertips.

With each breath, his waist and abdomen rose and fell, his body remained as steady as a suspended bell, and his knuckles turned bluish-white under the heavy pressure, but did not tremble.

This training method trains finger strength and waist strength.

The essence of Snake Fist lies in using the waist and spine as an axis, with a sinking and straightening motion, a coiling and unfolding motion, to imitate the continuous movement of a snake.

Strength originates from the spine, and power arises from the waist.

However, the structure of the human body is different from that of a snake.

Therefore, this kind of training method, which forcibly imitates the habits of snakes to exercise muscles, consumes a great deal of physical strength.

Li Chang'an's first practice session was not very successful. He didn't do many details well, which caused him to waste a lot of energy. He only lasted for a little over three minutes before he was sweating profusely. In the end, he was so exhausted that he burned his stomach with incense.

After a short rest, Li Chang'an once again lifted his abdomen and went up the stake.

This time I held on for five minutes.

After the second failure, Li Chang'an quickly began the third... and the fourth...

Midway through, due to exhaustion and hunger, Li Chang'an went downstairs to a shop and ate three large bowls of braised pork trotters as a late-night snack to replenish his energy before returning to continue training.

As he repeatedly practiced the incense sticks, Li Chang'an's stomach was burned by the incense many times, but he didn't care at all, completely immersed in his cultivation.

After what seemed like the umpteenth failure, Li Chang'an ran out of strength and collapsed to the side.

But Li Chang'an was not discouraged at all; instead, he laughed heartily.

This time, he persisted in practicing the stance for more than ten minutes, and he was not far from entering the first stage of the "one incense stick's time" (about half an hour).

[Young man, you have diligently practiced the Suspended Incense Stance in the Snake Form Boxing, following the principles of Snake Form Boxing with each sinking and straightening movement, greatly improving your waist and abdominal strength. Your strength increases by 0.05, and your strength increases to 0.55.]

[During breath-holding and stance training, the heart, lungs, qi, and blood gradually improve; qi and blood increase by 0.03, then increase to 0.53.]

[Snake-style Fist Skill Experience +3 (Beginner 18/100)]

After resting for a while, Li Chang'an lay down on the ground, using his waist as an axis, twisting and turning repeatedly like a snake, and arching to the side.

My back felt alive again, without any stiffness, and stretched out like a coiled snake.

Li Chang'an clearly felt a significant increase in the flexibility of his spine and hips.

Snake-style boxing inherently requires a body with the resilience of a vine or willow.

If yesterday's Li Chang'an were to fight his present self one-on-one using the Snake Style Fist.

He was confident of winning within three moves.

Unfortunately, this is the most I can practice here for now.

From a sports science perspective, physical training should not be excessive, because the strengthening of muscles and bones is never achieved through "training," but rather through "recovery."

The essence of exercise is that when the body's muscle fibers and fascia are stimulated and slightly damaged, they are repaired and strengthened during rest, thus increasing a person's strength and making their bones and muscles stronger.

However, if you overtrain, the damage to muscle fibers will exceed the body's recovery ability, leading to a decline in physical fitness and making you feel weaker the more you train.

In the terms of boxing theory, when strength is exhausted, qi dissipates; when qi dissipates, blood becomes disordered; when blood becomes disordered, spirit becomes fatigued.

Moreover, Li Chang'an has to go to the film set tomorrow, and he can't afford to let it affect his energy the next day.

So Li Chang'an took a cold shower downstairs and fell into a deep sleep as soon as he got home.

……

……

Inside a European-style bar in Lan Kwai Fong, Central.

Under the warm yellow light, soft jazz music mixed with the subtle aroma of whiskey flowed through the air.

Su Xingning hugged her best friend tightly, muttering dizzily:

"Zhilan, do you think Li Chang'an, that blockhead, is a jerk?"

"I kindly advised him to repeat a year of high school, but not only did he not appreciate my kindness, he also tried to kick me out! And he was so mean to me! You bastard, even my parents have never been this mean to me..."

"He's always listened to me since we were kids, but now suddenly he doesn't listen to me anymore, and he doesn't try to coax me anymore... Even if he kneels down and begs me, I won't pay any attention to that bastard!"

Wen Zhilan gently patted her back and said softly, "Alright, Xingning, you've been scolding him all night. It's getting late, we should go back."

Su Xingning picked up her wine glass again, tilted her head back and took a big gulp, then handed it to her best friend, saying with a dreamy look in her eyes:

"No, you have to have a drink with me."

Wen Zhilan quickly pressed down on her hand holding the wine glass and whispered:

"Xingning, we agreed that I wouldn't drink with you tonight."

Tomorrow I have to go to Kowloon to be an English translator for one of my father's friends. If I get drunk, I definitely won't be able to get up tomorrow, and it would be terrible if I missed my appointment.

"Translation? Who's so arrogant as to let someone as dignified as Miss Wen be a translator?"

Su Xingning was now completely drunk and asked the same question she had asked an hour ago again.

Wen Zhilan wiped the wine from the corner of her mouth with a tissue and patiently explained again:

"My dad has a Korean friend who is an action movie actor. He seems to be quite famous and often plays villains."

He doesn't speak Cantonese and usually communicates with the production team in English. Tomorrow he's going to film on Castle Peak Road in Kowloon, but the director he's working with this time, Director Yuen, doesn't understand English either, so the two sides can't communicate at all.

My father asked me to be their translator, to get some experience and broaden my horizons.

"Oh, you're going to make kung fu movies? What's so great about kung fu movies? All that fighting and killing... Just because of that, you can't drink with me anymore. Kung fu movies are awful..."

Drunk, Su Xingning mumbled complaints. Wen Zhilan shook her head helplessly and could only help her up and hail a taxi to take her home.