Everyone was stunned. Was that assessment high or low, exactly?
"No matter how formidable monsters are, they can't possibly be ten times more vicious than they are now, can they? Pursuing extreme performance so one-sidedly while ignoring the difficulty of learning and what the body can endure—put nicely, that's armchair strategy; put bluntly, it's harboring sinister intentions."
Before his daughter could ask, Yan Zhennan took the initiative to explain. "You don't know yet. The old man has been in seclusion for half a year, and his divine art has reached completion. He'll probably release version 2.0 of the 'Yan Family Ripple' next month."
Everyone cried out in surprise.
Ever since the head of the Yan family, "Yan Hengbo," developed Ripple Force twenty years ago, it had been continuously improved, but only in small ways. Its version numbers had always begun with 1.
Now that Yan Family Ripple was finally entering the 2.0 era, this upgrade was clearly going to bring an extraordinary breakthrough.
"There are around a dozen mainstream Ripple Force schools on the market right now. Although our Yan Family Ripple dominates the field, we haven't achieved a complete monopoly. But I believe that once version 2.0 is released, the other Ripple schools will forever lose the possibility of challenging the Yan family."
Yan Zhennan said proudly, "You should understand just how large this piece of cake is—every primary and secondary school in the city teaches our Yan Family Ripple. The intellectual property fees paid to us by the municipal Education Bureau alone are an astronomical figure every year.
"Not to mention that we also cooperate with the military. Yan Family Ripple combined with the Hundred Battles Blade Technique becomes the Hundred Battles Surging Wave Blade, the practical blade technique every Dragon City soldier must learn.
"Heh. Those dozen or so Ripple schools dream of snatching away this piece of cake. I'd wager they've all heard that the old man is about to release 'Yan Family Ripple 2.0.' If they don't make a move now, it'll be too late for anything!"
Everyone fell into thoughtful silence.
Yan Feirou asked, "But what does this have to do with the 'Modified Ripple Force'?"
"What does it have to do with it? Heh, if I'm not mistaken, this 'Super Ripple Force' has already spread from your hands, hasn't it?" Yan Zhennan sneered. "If others decide that this is 'Yan Family Ripple 2.0,' what do you think will happen?"
Yan Feirou shook her head blankly. "Your daughter doesn't know."
Yan Zhennan clasped his hands behind his back and said coldly, "First, others will think that 'Yan Family Ripple 2.0' is incredibly powerful. The numbers on paper are simply invincible. All kinds of media handouts will praise us to the skies, setting off a craze across the city.
"Then, those 'friendly factions' will 'accidentally' discover the flaws in this new Ripple Force—the oxygen consumption, the training difficulty, and all sorts of other problems. They'll discover that this is dragon-slaying art, designed to deal with monsters ten times more vicious that don't even exist. It's all about showing off techniques without considering practicality, an utterly immature version.
"Next, the major media outlets will turn their guns around one hundred and eighty degrees and attack our Yan Family Ripple from all sides, accusing us of forgetting our roots—forgetting that Ripple Force is merely an entry-level foundational method of exerting force, and that compared with combat efficiency, we should place more emphasis on how difficult it is to learn and use.
"Those 'friendly factions' will all sigh hypocritically. Entry-level martial arts should have entry-level ways of being played. You don't become high-end simply by haphazardly piling up paper performance and pursuing extreme laboratory figures.
"Immediately afterward, the primary and secondary schools and the military will begin to doubt Yan Family Ripple. They won't understand our strategic direction. If we truly intend to break into the high-end market and turn Ripple Force into a Marvelous Skill and Unique Art, then it definitely won't be suitable for widespread adoption in schools and the military.
"When that time comes, heh, if we lose the major contracts, won't those 'friendly factions' be able to slip in through the cracks?
"Even if we keep the major contracts, stirring up a huge scandal and muddying the waters completely before 'Yan Family Ripple 2.0' is released will bring these 'friendly factions' nothing but benefits and no drawbacks."
The speech left everyone dumbstruck, as if turned to wooden chickens.
Cold sweat poured down Yan Feirou's face. "Dad, are you saying that this 'Modified Ripple Force' came from another Ripple school?"
"Friendly businesses, friendly businesses—then a shot in the back."
Yan Zhennan said, "Other than those people who have spent more than a decade painstakingly plotting against the Yan family, who else could gather the wisdom of so many Ripple schools and piece together this plausible-looking but false 'Modified Ripple Force,' enough to fool even you?"
Yan Feirou said, "There's a deeply Yan-family style within it. Can other families really imitate it?"
Yan Zhennan said, "Imitating the entire set is naturally impossible. But a scale here, a claw there, scraps and fragments, enough to lead us astray—it may not be impossible."
Yan Feirou thought it over again and again, overwhelmed with shame. "Dad, I was wrong."
"Master, we were all wrong!"
The many third-generation disciples lowered their heads one after another, both frightened in hindsight and deeply annoyed.
"You can't blame yourselves. The other side was simply too insidious. If I'm not mistaken, they've been laying this trap for at least half a year. It must have been planned together by experts from more than a dozen schools. No matter how talented you are, you're still flowers grown in an ivory tower. How could you possibly see how dangerous it was?"
Yan Zhennan said, "Fortunately, I haven't gone hunting Deep in the Mist these past few days. Otherwise, the Yan family would truly have faced a great crisis."
Yan Feirou asked anxiously, "But the news has already spread through many forums and chat groups. What do we do?"
"You didn't promote this 'Modified Ripple Force' during your public lecture, so there's still hope."
Yan Zhennan pondered. "The key now is that you accepted ten thousand yuan from the other side, and they hired an Internet Troll Army to make trouble. A matter worth ten thousand yuan can be blown up into insider dealings worth millions. Do this: return the money immediately, then release a clarification statement. Make your attitude stern and completely sever the Yan family's connection to this mad Ripple Force.
"On my side, I'll immediately contact the group's public relations department and deal with it overnight. We'll strive to settle everything before online traffic rises tomorrow."
Yan Feirou breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, her father was here.
"Should we ask Grandfather for instructions?" she asked again.
"Forget it. The old man is still in seclusion, conducting the final tests before the 2.0 release. These days, the entire R&D team has been working around the clock. Such a small matter can be reported to him after we handle it." Yan Zhennan waved his hand dismissively.
"Fire-Passing Old Man!" Ripple Princess ground her teeth hard, chewing over that name.
Meng Chao slept wonderfully. When he woke, he felt refreshed and filled with explosive strength, impatient to find a monster and give it a vicious beating.
He checked the Contribution Points beneath the Strange Fire. Huh? Why were there only 1,443? He remembered that before sleeping, they had nearly broken a thousand.
Only a few hundred Contribution Points had been added overnight. That didn't match last night's breakneck growth rate.
He scratched his head and, still bleary-eyed, opened his phone. He discovered that Yan Feirou had transferred one million livestream coins into his account. When converted into cash, not a single cent had been deducted as a handling fee.
"What's going on?"
Meng Chao instantly woke up. Checking Yan Feirou's latest updates, he found that Ripple Princess had released a new video overnight.
In the video, she wore a black suit, her face cold as frost. She was completely different from the sweet princess persona she had shown during the public lecture.
"Recently, a new Ripple Force method has become popular in Dragon City. It is overly extreme, even insane, and the consequences of cultivating it cannot be predicted...
"This 'Modified Ripple Force' has even borrowed the name of our 'Yan Family Ripple' to swindle people openly...
"I hope its developer will rein in at the brink of the precipice and conduct themselves properly. Both I personally and the entire Yan family reserve the right to pursue legal responsibility..."
Meng Chao was instantly confused again. What did she mean, extreme and insane?
Could she be talking about his future Ripple Force?
But this Ripple Force had originally been developed through Yan Feirou's integration and upgrades far in the future. What was wrong with this woman? When she went crazy, she even slapped herself across the face with a resounding smack, smack?
He opened the comments section. Netizens were discussing the matter heatedly, and many verified Ripple Force experts had also spoken:
Zhao Clan Ripple: We absolutely support the Yan family in clearing out the black sheep of the Ripple world!
Wang Clan Ripple: The core competitiveness of Ripple Force is its zero threshold—it is easy to train, suitable for all ages—not blindly piling up paper parameters and extreme performance while neglecting training difficulty and operational consumption. This "Modified Ripple Force" has truly taken the wrong road!
Limitless Ripple: Although our Limitless Ripple has surpassed its predecessors, we have never forgotten that the source of Ripple Force is the Yan family. When drinking water, one should remember its source. In the face of such a crazed demonic Ripple Force, we will always stand with the Yan family!
More than a dozen Ripple schools below also adopted the posture of "friendly factions," criticizing the future Ripple Force until it was riddled with holes and worth less than a penny.
Meng Chao read the gossip for quite a while before he roughly understood what had happened.
Basically, Yan Family Ripple suspected this future Ripple Force had been created by other schools—a counterfeit that was three parts true and seven parts false, perhaps even a maliciously intended evil art.
After all, Meng Chao had not copied out all the force formulas and output algorithms. He couldn't remember many parts clearly, so what he had written was scattered, fragmentary, and plausible without being quite right.
Furthermore, some of the combat parameters were indeed a little ahead of this era.
After Yan Family Ripple spoke out, the other schools didn't understand the full situation and were afraid of becoming targets of public opinion. Without caring whether it was three-seven or two-eight, they chose sides first.
After going back and forth, everyone reached a conclusion.
This shocking "Modified Ripple Force" definitely hadn't been created by someone within the Ripple world. It was the "masterpiece" of competitors such as Raging Bull Force and Dragon Snake Force. After all, their markets overlapped heavily!
"Your line of thinking is truly bizarre, isn't it?"
Meng Chao didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
After carefully reading several posts published by professionals, he had to admit that their speculation had some basis.
The coming decades would be a period of accelerated evolution for Dragon City's people.
After being nourished by spiritual energy and stimulated by war, once their genes were completely unlocked, every cell in the human body would have all its potential excavated, evolving madly.
Even if their outward appearance did not change, the lung capacity, blood oxygen content, number of fibers in muscular cross-sections, hormone secretion levels, functions of the internal organs... every aspect of future Dragon City people would be greatly enhanced.
Future Martial Arts had been developed and upgraded specifically for future humans.
Directly applying Future Martial Arts to modern humans was like using a phone from decades ago to run today's large-scale games. The consequences... were probably not as wonderful as he had imagined.
This problem was not very obvious in entry-level martial arts such as the Wild Bull Technique and Ripple Force.
But if he awakened sharper Marvelous Skills and Unique Arts, and his body was continuously tempered and remade by the Fire Seed, then there would naturally be no problem with his own cultivation. When promoting them to others, however, he would have to be exceedingly cautious.
"Fine. Since you don't recognize quality goods, then I won't earn these Contribution Points anymore!"
Meng Chao thought sourly, "Raging Bull Force, Dragon Snake Force, and even more Future Martial Arts—am I afraid I won't be able to find places to earn Contribution Points?
"Yan Feirou, this grudge is settled between us. Today, you took this old man's good intentions for donkey liver and lungs. Tomorrow, even if you kneel and beg this old man, wearing yoga clothes and hugging this old man's thigh, I..."
He took a deep breath and calmed down.
"Forget it. A Flamebearer should have a Flamebearer's bearing. To make contributions, one must possess the spirit of seeking neither fame nor profit, fearing neither misunderstanding nor grievance. If Ripple Princess really hugged my thigh and cried 'boo-hoo' as she admitted her mistake, that would show she had truly repented. Then I'd reluctantly forgive her once?"
And so, the matter was happily decided.
That day was not without good news.
He had encountered his third Elite Monster: Devil Yan.
Before you continue