Meng Chao had read it and left no reply.
He was considering how to use the internet to get in touch with the Yan family, as well as more powerful people in the future.
This was an age of information explosion. All manner of things claiming to be "Martial Arts Secret Methods," "Marvelous Skills and Unique Arts," or "Peerless Divine Powers" emerged one after another online.
Some secret methods contained inherent flaws and were test versions riddled with holes.
Others were extraordinarily difficult to cultivate, and one could easily suffer Cultivation Deviation.
Still others had immense side effects, Seven Injury Fists that killed a thousand enemies while injuring oneself eight hundred.
When an ordinary martial arts enthusiast with a functioning brain found a brand-new technique online, their first reaction would be suspicion, and their second would be to laugh it off.
Unless they were at the end of the road, few people were willing to become lab rats.
Making contributions through direct posts was terribly inefficient. No matter how impressive a force-generation formula or damage-output algorithm was, it would be swallowed by the surging torrent of online information.
So what if he first got to know an internet celebrity with deep connections like Yan Feirou, then got to know the powerful figures behind her, and let them fan the flames for him?
That meant solving two problems.
First, Meng Chao had no way to explain the origins of Future Martial Arts and high-end technology.
Second, he only half understood it himself. He was purely relying on an air of mystery to bluff his way through. If he put on one part of that act, the other nine parts had to be filled in by others' imaginations.
Once they met face-to-face, if they respectfully asked him to explain the scientific principles contained in a certain formula, how would he know?
I still need to create the persona of an unfathomable peerless expert and pin everything on that mysterious master. Only then can I explain it reasonably, Meng Chao thought. I'm insignificant, and people won't believe much of what I say. Even if I warned them that the Monster War was about to escalate, that the Otherworld was vast and terrifying, who would listen? But if a mysterious expert first won over the Yan family and more powerful figures, then issued the warning, it would carry far more weight.
Thinking of this, Meng Chao returned to his bedroom, locked the door, shut down Yan Feirou's incessant private messages, and logged into the Deep Web.
In the living room, Meng Yishan and Bai Suxin exchanged a glance.
"Our son locked his door again." Old Mom looked worried.
"This is youth!" Old Dad sighed wistfully.
After Dragon City crossed over, the lack of communication satellites and the severed connections to many large server base stations located in other cities caused the internet to collapse for many years.
It was not until the zombie crisis gradually subsided, and scientists made great breakthroughs in biotechnology and Spiritual Energy, that the network was rebuilt.
The new network used a different all-connected approach from Earth's. It was said to be equipped with "crystallized chips" ground from crystals and to imitate monster brains through the extensive use of "biochemical brains," greatly improving long-distance transmission and anti-interference capabilities in a powerful Spirit Magnetic Environment.
The downside of the new technology was that terminal addresses were extremely difficult to lock onto. Monitoring and banning became a hundred times harder than in the Earth Era, and lawless lands beyond the control of the Survival Committee and Superhuman Tower were everywhere online.
When more than a hundred such lawless lands joined together, the "Deep Web" arose in response.
It was a paradise for mad scientists and Devil-Humans pursuing cultivation. Monster-organ smugglers and even wanted criminals frequented it as well. They tossed out one fantastical idea after another, carried out all kinds of bloody dealings that could not bear the light of day, and together created an information jungle growing wild and savage.
With practiced ease, Meng Chao logged into a comprehensive forum on the Deep Web that he often visited.
A familiar style hit him straight in the face:
"I just discovered a den of Blood Moon Demon Wolf cubs! Any two-star or above Transcendents brave enough to form a team and snatch the wolf cubs before the military and big corporations do?"
"Volunteers urgently wanted! A professional martial arts research team has recently developed the thirteen secret killing moves of the Thunder Cross Sword. Incredibly powerful, safe, and free of side effects! Free instruction, guaranteed mastery, plus a five-thousand-yuan nutrition allowance! (Fine print: We take no responsibility for disability or injury. Bear the consequences yourself.)"
"Have you ever had a conflict with a Transcendent? Has an enemy snatched your prey in a Mist Zone? Want to solve the problem once and for all? Private message for details..."
None of these were what Meng Chao was looking for.
He opened the life sciences and human anatomy subforum. The atmosphere there was more normal... well, not that normal either.
What sort of persona should I create?
Meng Chao closed his eyes, and countless images of mad scientists and cultivation lunatics surfaced in his mind.
Since he was called the Fire-Passing Old Man, he would probably be white-haired and disheveled, with a perverse and eccentric temperament, moods as unpredictable as the wind and clouds, forever throwing his seniority around, yet possessing overwhelming strength.
Meng Chao nodded and pulled up a brand-new email account he had prepared long ago, one that was absolutely clean.
To learn the unorthodox tricks of the internet, he had put considerable effort into studying the Deep Web and knew how to evade surveillance and create a nonexistent new identity.
He used the new email to register a new account, then went everywhere leaving his mark beneath other people's posts.
Fire-Passing Old Man: "Junior, your 'Hundred Battles Blade Technique Advanced Form: Seven Whirl Slashes' is performed with some semblance of form, but it still has three oversights, four flaws, and five fatal weaknesses. This old man has just slain a level-five super beast, Thunderbolt Fire, and is in a fine mood, so I'll point out one of those oversights for free!"
Fire-Passing Old Man: "Heh. This spear technique is trash. Don't misunderstand, boy. This old man isn't targeting you. This old man is saying that all seventeen mainstream shooting schools on the market are trash!"
Fire-Passing Old Man: "It has been twenty or thirty years since I last saw a junior like you who dared to argue with this old man. You truly do not know whether you are alive or dead! You should be grateful that this old man has cultivated himself and recovered his strength over the past decade, and that my killing intent has greatly faded. Otherwise, I fear you would not see tomorrow's sun!"
After posting seven or eight messages like this and provoking netizens into cursing him bloody murder, Meng Chao nodded. That was about enough.
Then, in the name of the Fire-Passing Old Man, he published an academic discussion post about Ripple Force. It was not as comprehensive as the private message he had sent Yan Feirou, but it revealed that he had continuously accumulated and improved it through actual combat Deep in the Mist. It still needed further testing, and he was recruiting testers.
All the trouble from here on can be pinned on the elusive Fire-Passing Old Man, a divine dragon whose head is seen but never its tail.
Meng Chao smiled faintly. Ignoring the countless netizens chasing after him to his main post and cursing his ancestors in every creative manner imaginable, he logged out directly.
Running right after showing off was thrilling.
The Strange Fire at the corner of his eye flashed continuously. Information poured out without end, and his Contribution Points rose at a visible rate, soon climbing past nine hundred.
At this rate, I might gain three thousand tonight! Meng Chao thought happily.
Having gone two days without sleep, he was exhausted beyond measure. He soon fell into a deep slumber and dreamed many beautiful dreams of changing the future.
Three in the morning.
At the Yan family headquarters, Flying Swallow Building, the lights were still blazing.
Yan Feirou and dozens of third-generation members of the Yan Family Ripple lineage had all rushed there.
Though it was the middle of the night, there was not a trace of sleepiness on their faces. Their eyes were bloodshot with excitement, and they could not hide the joy at the corners of their mouths.
Hiss—
Before them, the cultivation room door opened. A burly middle-aged man, massive as a mountain and imposing as roaring waves, walked out with a grim expression. Intense Battle Intent seeped from his pores.
He was Yan Zhennan, the second-generation leader of the Yan Family Ripple lineage and a monster hunter.
"Teacher!"
"Uncle Nan!"
"Father!"
The third-generation members hurried to greet him. Yan Feirou could not wait to ask, "You cultivated the Modified Ripple Force for a full three hours. Is it really that powerful?"
Yan Zhennan stared fixedly at his daughter for a long while before saying coldly, "Of course it's powerful. Otherwise, how could it fool the illustrious Ripple Princess?"
The moment those words came out, everyone was stunned.
Yan Feirou asked in surprise, "Fool? Father, what do you mean? Is it fake?"
"It isn't fake, but it's too radical, too extreme, too insane!"
Every muscle on Yan Zhennan's face trembled, as though lingering fear remained in his heart. Gritting his teeth, he said, "As the saying goes, 'Half a step ahead of the times makes one a genius; one full step ahead makes one a madman.' This Modified Ripple Force is at least three huge steps ahead of its time. It is simply heartless and insane!"
The many third-generation members were cowed by Yan Zhennan's aura and did not dare speak for a long time.
Only Yan Feirou could still gather the courage to ask, "Father, the on-paper performance of this Modified Ripple Force is extremely strong. Several parameters have broken past their limits. Why call it 'heartless and insane'?"
Yan Zhennan sighed. "Feirou, and all of you, are too young. Yes, the paper data for this technique is exceptionally beautiful, and some of its parameters have reached the summit. But what is the price?
"To pursue 'extreme sustained combat,' it completely revolutionizes existing Breathing Techniques, raising oxygen consumption by more than twenty percent.
"And to inhale vast amounts of oxygen in the shortest time possible, then rapidly circulate it through the blood to every muscle fiber in the body, it requires the cultivator to possess extraordinarily developed lungs and even more active red blood cells.
"To have stronger lungs and higher-quality blood, one must consume more cultivation resources, use entirely new Stance Training to build the foundation, and even alter the entire cultivation system accordingly. This is what it means to pull one hair and move the whole body.
"As a result, it turns an approachable beginner-level force-generation method into a Marvelous Skill and Unique Art that is powerful but difficult to cultivate!"
Everyone looked at one another. A Marvelous Skill and Unique Art? Wasn't that far too exaggerated?
Yan Zhennan said gravely, "Do you know? The more I practiced this Modified Ripple Force, the more terrifying it felt. The person who created this technique was either a genius or a madman—more likely, a demon through and through.
"This technique does not seem to have been created for this era. Rather, it seems to have been created for an era... a hundred times crueler, for martial artists ten times stronger than us to fight monsters ten times more vicious than those of today!"
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