Hands That Make Women Jealous

Looking at the interface, where a new skill [Dragon Gate Iron Sand Palm Lv0 (1/100)] had just appeared, Chen Jue was slightly stunned. He hadn't expected it to be so simple for a skill to be recorded by the system.

He had originally thought he would need to fumble around for a while before even getting the hang of it. It seemed that as long as one grasped the correct practice method, traditional martial arts and similar disciplines were not all that esoteric.

Moreover, with the proficiency prompts popping up on the interface, Chen Jue felt even more motivated to practice.

Continuing to exert force from his horse stance, he repeatedly thrust his hands back and forth through the mung beans in the large iron wok. The stinging sensation caused by the friction on his hands became increasingly pronounced.

That was the prickling pain caused by the mung beans scraping against his skin. At first, it was very faint, but the more it accumulated, the more intense the stinging sensation became.

However, watching the +1 +1 prompts on the interface, Chen Jue gritted his teeth against the scraping-like prickling sensation, adjusted his breathing, and began to utilize the yoga [Meditation] method to enhance his willpower.

Yet, trying to enter a state of [Meditation] while in active motion was far more difficult than sitting quietly with eyes closed.

He tried for a long time without success. Still, relying on breath control, the continuous application of [Vigorous Force] (Mingjin), and the biting cold of the winter night, Chen Jue felt his mind growing clearer and clearer, every nuance of the stinging sensation in his hands distinct to the fraction of an inch.

That marvelous tactile sensation felt as though surveillance cameras had been installed on every single inch of skin across his hands.

Which patch of skin was scratched, and which joint was slightly swollen formed rough coordinates in Chen Jue's mind.

This feeling was inexplicably familiar, because when he previously practiced Hatha Yoga and entered meditation, the ultrasonic-like monitoring of his internal organs had produced a very similar sensation.

Only this time, it went from the inside out, shifting from his internal organs to his hands.

Thus, amidst this wonderfully immersive atmosphere, the proficiency on the interface steadily climbed until a "Ding~" sound rang out, prompting Chen Jue to finally halt his practice.

——————
[Ding~]
[Proficiency has reached 100%, skill level increased.]
[Dragon Gate Iron Sand Palm Lv0 → Lv1]
[Through initial unfamiliarity, you have gradually grown accustomed to the practice of the Iron Sand Palm. Through prolonged tempering of your hands, your hand's blood circulation has accelerated, the structural strength of your hand skin tissue has slightly improved, and the fascia tissue and joint ligaments of your hands have been strengthened under external force stimulation.]
[Through specialized external stimulation, the reaction speeds of your hands' ulnar nerve, median nerve, radial nerve, and musculocutaneous nerve have been enhanced.]
[Constitution attribute +0.02]
[Spirit attribute +0.01]
——————
[Ding~]
[Your hands have suffered minor injuries under high-intensity stimulation, resulting in bleeding, edema, and mild inflammation.]
[Temporary Constitution attribute -0.05]
——————

"It leveled up!"
"That was fast!"

Hearing the interface chime, Chen Jue immediately stopped practicing and took out his phone, only to find that over two hours had unconsciously passed.

Pulling out his hands for a closer inspection, Chen Jue saw that his skin was densely covered with minor scratch marks and bloodstains.

His entire palms, backs and fronts alike, felt significantly rougher than before. Furthermore, the extensive abrasions were accompanied by inflammation; his hands were slightly congested internally, and tissue fluid had accumulated, making his hands look like swollen steamed buns.

"Break then stand?" Chen Jue muttered as he stared at his injured hands.

This minor swelling looked somewhat like the scene of the old urchin from Hunyuan Palm exerting his inner energy, but that was when a master's skill had reached great completion, allowing their hands to expand and discharge power at will.

This was Chen Jue's very first attempt; clearly, he was still a far cry from mastering the palm technique.

...

Due to the negative effects produced by his practice, Chen Jue temporarily suspended his practice of the [Dragon Gate Iron Sand Palm] and conveniently took photos of the injuries on his hands, sending them to Elder Shi Zheng.

The other party replied quite quickly. Despite his advanced age, he was quite adept at using a smartphone. The gist of the voice message he returned was that Chen Jue's practice method was entirely correct.

It was just that without the circulation of Qi and blood driven by Dantian power, his hands' recovery and shock-absorption capabilities clearly couldn't keep up, and he could only rely on a secretly transmitted medicinal wash for auxiliary treatment.

According to Elder Shi Zheng's explanation, this Iron Sand Palm technique was referred to in the old underworld and martial arts circles as hard kung fu or external kung fu. Most people relied on external training to achieve internal sturdiness, strengthening the tendons, bones, skin, and membranes of the hands.

If one had Dantian power to drive the practice, training both external and internal kung fu simultaneously would yield twice the result with half the effort.

Chen Jue's stake stance was not yet mature enough, and he had yet to master true Dantian power, so he had no choice but to keep his feet on the ground and try external training through Mingjin (Vigorous Force) power generation first.

However, with remote guidance from his cheap master, Chen Jue finally set his mind entirely at ease.

The reason he had always been hesitant to try this kind of traditional martial arts was precisely for fear of practicing incorrectly and injuring his own body.

Whether it was spending money to learn Tai Chi from Zhao Jianguo or going north to the capital to apprentice at Dragon Gate, he had all along walked a steady path of gradual development.

The gap between having someone specialized to guide you and having no one at all was still massive.

...

Having finished his maiden attempt at practicing the Iron Sand Palm, Chen Jue immediately returned to his room to sit in meditation.

By spending nearly six hours suppressing the stinging pain in his hands, he managed to grind out 0.02 in Spirit attribute, and his [Meditation] skill also smoothly leveled up to Lv3 under his liver-grinding efforts.

The reason he didn't go to sleep early was also because he still had traditional Chinese medicine simmering on the rooftop.

During those six hours, Chen Jue went upstairs every half hour to constantly adjust the heat of the earthen stove according to the description in the secret recipe, until a large pot of brownish-black medicinal liquid finished brewing, at which point he triumphantly carried his things back to his room.

He placed the medicinal liquid in a stainless steel basin to cool down quietly, after which Chen Jue immersed his swollen hands into it.

This large basin of medicinal liquid was only enough for three days. Morning and night, after repeating the wash six times, it would completely lose its efficacy.

Because it utilized top-tier aged medicinal herbs, the cost of a single batch of medicine reached over 500 RMB.

If he kept using it continuously, just purchasing medicinal herbs would consume over 5,000 RMB a month.

And this was considering the current era where medicinal herb cultivation technology was advanced, reducing many Chinese herbal medicines to cabbage-like prices.

If this were placed in ancient times, an ordinary family simply could not afford such martial arts training expenses.

"Over five thousand a month, sixty thousand a year. Whether I can actually train anything out of it remains unknown. Truly, literature requires poverty while martial arts require wealth!" Chen Jue sighed inwardly, feeling the tingling sensation on his hands as the medicine took effect.

When he finally lifted his hands out of the basin, the burning sensation left by the mung bean abrasions had instantly faded by a large margin.

And the interface also popped up a prompt while his hands were soaking in the medicinal liquid:

——————
[Ding~]
[Affected by the specially formulated medicine, your hands have entered a state of rapid tissue regeneration, anti-inflammation, and blood circulation. The blood at the skin injury sites has rapidly coagulated and scabbed, and the soft tissue contusions on your hands have been greatly alleviated.]
[Temporary Constitution attribute +0.03]
——————

Looking at the new prompt on the interface, Chen Jue revealed a gratified smile. The negative effects generated during his training were more than half neutralized by the secret herbal wash.

With drops and gains canceling each other out, it was well worth the six-plus hours he had spent guarding the brewing pot.

When he went to bed, this medicinal potency still had not faded.

Every two hours or so, the interface would pop up a [Temporary Constitution attribute +0.01] prompt, until the next morning when he woke up, and the negative effects had completely subsided.

The very first thing Chen Jue did upon opening his eyes was to examine his hands. The fine scratches from the previous night were now completely scabbed over, and some even showed signs of peeling off.

When auditing human anatomy courses at Jiang University previously, Chen Jue had learned that the skin of the palms possessed the strongest regenerative capacity of any skin on the human body.

Because the stratum corneum of the skin on human hands and feet is the thickest, and the capillaries deep within are abundant, they can rapidly transport nutrients required for repair via the bloodstream, as well as provide robust antibacterial and anti-inflammatory capabilities.

In daily life, getting a small cut on the hand while chopping vegetables or cutting fruit could heal on its own within just a few hours.

Coupled with the cooperation of professional Dragon Gate secret medicinal wash, the injuries from Chen Jue's initial Iron Sand Palm practice naturally healed even faster.

"Magical!"
"They're actually peeling!"

With slightly mischievous hands, Chen Jue gently tugged at some of the semi-detached scabs on his hands, only to find that an entire thin layer of dead skin peeled right off his palms. Even the dead calluses left over from drawing heavy bows were softened by the medicinal soak and came off as he pulled.

The newly revealed palm skin was supple and smooth, glowing with a rosy white hue. Although it didn't give the impression of baby skin that could be broken by a breath, under the morning sun, it appeared exceptionally fair and delicate.

It looked just like a woman's pair of hands!

There was none of that pitch-black, deformed, calloused appearance sported by practitioners of the Iron Sand Palm seen on the internet.

This sight also made Chen Jue inwardly thankful. Thanks to his far-sightedness in refusing to practice blindly and randomly, he had avoided treading down the old path of those folk martial arts masters.

...

To test the strength of this Lv1 Iron Sand Palm, Chen Jue drove to the park bright and early.

First, he tried climbing the ginkgo trees, followed by practicing his strength with a 120-pound heavy bow.

Chen Jue discovered that the enhancement to palm strength provided by Level 1 Iron Sand Palm was not very obvious; if he encountered sharp branches, he would still get scratched.

However, when drawing the heavy bow again, the friction and compression damage inflicted by the bowstring on his fingers had significantly decreased.

Previously, drawing the bow a single time would leave clear bruising marks from the bowstring on his fingers. When practicing again this morning, those marks had noticeably faded.

This sight filled Chen Jue's heart with great joy. Merely at Level 1, there was already a marked improvement; it truly did not waste the massive amount of effort and time he had spent acquiring this martial art.

Even Wu Fang, who was observing from the side, approached him with a suspicious look, grabbed Chen Jue's hands, and scrutinized them for a long time: "Brother Ju, your hands are so pretty! They're almost glowing in the sunlight!"

"The skin looks so white and delicate. Watching you practice archery every day, how come you don't have a single callus?"

As she spoke, Wu Fang compared her own hands. Her hand shape was not as slender as Chen Jue's, nor were her finger joints as thick; instead, her hands were full and fleshy—a typical pair of fleshy hands.

Moreover, Wu Fang spent year after year teaching students, coupled with persisting in early morning martial arts practice, waving spears and brandishing rods day in and day out, leaving her with quite a few calluses on her hands.

Hearing this, Chen Jue smiled slightly, explaining to his girlfriend about the Dragon Gate Iron Sand Palm he had just started practicing, before whispering softly in her ear: "Dragon Gate martial arts cannot be passed on casually! I took a poisonous oath when I apprenticed."

"If you want to train your hands to be beautiful, wait until the two of us get married and become Daoist cultivation partners for dual cultivation; then I can pass it to you."

Hearing this, Wu Fang's little face instantly turned beet red. While rewarding Chen Jue with a flurry of light, dainty punches, her mind was filled not only with bashful terms like "becoming Daoist partners" and "dual cultivation," but also with Chen Jue's pair of hands, which even made women somewhat envious.