CHAPTER 56: CHAPTER 56: COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WAYS OF TRAINING

His plan was to practice martial arts on the artificial lake.

This was an idea Zhang Beixing had developed while training on a table. It was inspired by a martial art called "Boat Boxing," a traditional local style from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. Primarily practiced by local fishermen, it was performed on the bow of a boat, an area only slightly wider than an eight-immortal table—hence the name.

In his opinion, if training on a table had already proven so challenging and accelerated his progress so much, then training on the undulating surface of water should be even more difficult and allow him to improve even faster.It was much like Boat Boxing, which heavily emphasized lower body strength.

Previously, because he had only just begun to strengthen his lower body, Zhang Beixing, despite having this idea, had only made preliminary preparations and informed Lin Siqi, without taking concrete action. Now that he had made some progress in his table training, Zhang Beixing felt it was time to give it a try.

"Fine, as long as you’re confident. But just to be safe, I’ll go with you. That way, if there’s an accident, someone will be there to help," Lin Siqi said.

Her words made sense to Zhang Beixing, so he nodded and headed towards the artificial lake with her.

Shi University’s artificial lake was located near a small grove and connected to a tributary of the Hutuo River. The lake water was fresh, and small fish often leaped from its surface. Consequently, many people frequented the spot to feed the fish or to go fishing, making it a fairly busy area.

But none of this mattered to Zhang Beixing. To focus on his training without external disturbances, he had previously circled the artificial lake, eventually finding a secluded spot that no one frequented.

He led Lin Siqi, weaving left and right through a small forest, the clear chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves in the wind accompanying them. Zhang Beixing looked at the raft floating on the water, tethered to the lake bank, grinned, and said, "This is it!"

"Wow!" Lin Siqi exclaimed. She tilted her head, dodging a low-hanging branch, and stepped out from behind Zhang Beixing. Gazing at the scene, her beautiful eyes widened, her cute face etched with surprise. "Lao Zhang, how did you find this place? Are you sure this is still Shi University? Have you been here on dates before or something?!"

This is unbelievable! Lin Siqi had studied at Shi University for three years, but if Zhang Beixing hadn’t brought her here today, she would never have known such a place existed on campus.

"Shocking, right? I had the same reaction when I first found this place. Isn’t this a much better spot for a date than that little grove?" Zhang Beixing said. "But yes, this is definitely within the Shi University campus. If you don’t believe me, open your phone and check; we’re still within the boundaries."

Saying this, Zhang Beixing walked over to the raft and untied the rope.

The raft was his own creation. He had recently inquired and learned about a timber mill in Shishi. So, he had gone there and bought some logs and planks at a low price. Then, following survival videos he found online, he lashed and nailed the wood together, fashioning a crude raft. Although it looked crude, it could easily support two people.

"Want to give it a try?" Zhang Beixing asked, holding a life jacket and standing on the raft, turning to Lin Siqi.

Seeing the raft beneath Zhang Beixing’s feet already wobbling precariously before he even moved, Lin Siqi’s mouth twitched. She shook her head, indicating there was no need for her to try. "You practice on your own. Call me if you need anything." Then she took out her phone, found a relatively clean, flat stone to sit on, and started playing a game.

Seeing her response, Zhang Beixing didn’t insist. He simply donned the life jacket, then lay prone on the raft, paddling with his hands to push it forward.

After pushing it a fair distance from the shore, Zhang Beixing stood up. The raft instantly became incredibly unstable.

This felt completely different from practicing on the table. That made sense, though.After all, when practicing on the wobbly table, no matter how unstable it was, it rested on solid ground. The table’s tilt had a limit. Zhang Beixing merely needed to make timely adjustments before it reached that limit to correct it.But on a raft, on the water... that was a far greater challenge!Water is a liquid. Unlike solid ground, which can bear any force applied, water reacts. Whatever force you exert on water, it pushes back with equal force. And this counterforce isn’t a single instance; it comes in relentless, successive waves, sometimes even swirling in all directions.

"The training methods I used on the table won’t work here; these are completely different ways of exerting force," Zhang Beixing thought, digging his feet in to stabilize the raft and his body. He also felt a wave of relief, thankful he’d built a solid foundation before attempting to train on the raft. Otherwise, with this much swaying, the him from a few days ago would have been exhausted just trying to stay balanced, even if he hadn’t fallen in.

After standing on the raft for five or six minutes, he felt the small vessel finally stabilize beneath him. Zhang Beixing let out a long sigh of relief. Then he began to move, attempting to practice Yue Family’s combo punches on the cramped, swaying raft.

「Meanwhile, at the lakeside from where Zhang Beixing had set off.」

Seeing Zhang Beixing finally steady himself on the raft, Lin Siqi breathed a sigh of relief. When she’d seen him swaying and wobbling earlier, she had been sure he was about to fall in. Now it seemed she had been overly worried. Zhang Beixing’s stability was far better than she had imagined.

"That silly Lao Zhang," she muttered under her breath, "why does he always have to complicate things? Normal training is exhausting enough, but he just has to find more trouble for himself. He’s really something else!"

Still, she placed her phone between her knees, cupped her face in her hands, and watched quietly.

The spot Zhang Beixing had chosen, though remote, was quite lovely. Lush trees stood tall, birds chirped merrily, and the distant sunset painted the scene. An occasional breeze would carry a wisp of the evening glow, dusting everything with a soft, rosy hue. This light danced on the shimmering water, the spreading ripples seeming to dissolve the entire sunset into the lake. And there was Zhang Beixing, treading upon that reflected twilight, diligently practicing his martial arts. It’s actually quite picturesque, Lin Siqi mused.

Just as Lin Siqi found herself captivated by the scenery, Zhang Beixing, on the raft, was in a state of utter fluster and chaos.

Wrong! So incredibly wrong!

He had assumed that once the raft was stable, the task was half done. It was only after he started practicing his punches that Zhang Beixing discovered things weren’t as simple as he’d imagined!

As mentioned, water is a liquid; any force applied to it is met with an equal and opposite force, returned in continuous waves. And Yue Family’s combo punches happened to be an exceedingly fierce martial art, emphasizing ruthless and swift strikes. The amount of force required for such moves went without saying.

Consequently, after Zhang Beixing executed fewer than ten moves on the raft, the force of his blows made it rock like a seesaw—tilting left, then right; pitching forward, then backward.

In short: Screwed!

SPLASH!