Chapter 127: The Terrifying Branch Meridians
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
‘Activate the spirit energy test.’ Meng Chao made a gesture to the people outside the cultivation cabin.
Princ.i.p.al Sun had turned into a beacon of light in the darkness to protect the students. Granny w.a.n.g turned into a zombie, but retained a spark of humanity. Countless Dragon Citizens in his previous life advanced wave after wave during the apocalypse to fight. These scenes turned into a high-energy particle flow that charged into his brain and spirit and activated his spirit magnetic field rotation energy.
Meng Chao growled. His spirit energy circulated quickly in his 1,024 branch meridians and turned into 1,024 streams that flowed from his organs to his limbs. Then, they fought against each other to spill out of his pores.
A dense but exquisite spirit tattoo instantly arose on his skin.
It was created by his branch meridians which were like runic symbols drawn with neon pens. They were not as dazzling and eye-catching as the ones formed by main meridians, but they were much more exquisite and complicated.
At first glance, the spirit tattoo looked like a marvelous fighting armor that was thin as a cicada’s wing. It made his body look even stronger and nimble.
“This is...”
Everyone sucked in sharp breaths.
When the supporting cla.s.s superhumans circulated their spirit energy, their branch meridians would also show up to present a dazzling spirit meridian.
But in usual circ.u.mstances, this sort of spirit tattoo only appeared in certain spots.
If that person was a doctor or a harvester, they would usually have the spirit tattoo around their eyes and hands, because they needed those parts to perform meticulous operations.
If they were scientists or leaders skilled in calculations and deductions, the spirit tattoos would appear near their temples, showing that the spirit meridians near their minds had been cleared.
The sight of all 1,024 branch meridians being cleared and filled with so much spirit energy that the spirit tattoos became clear and changed as if they had life, like Meng Chao’s, was unprecedented.
“Current spirit energy value, 61 Crystals!”
This number shocked Gu Jianbo and the others.
Spirit energy value was the standard to measure the explosive energy of superhumans.
One Crystal meant that they could execute power equivalent to one cubic millimeter of a standard crystal when all of its energy was released and turned into spirit energy.
For one-star superhumans, or rather, for those in Spirit Tattoo Realm, there was a rather simple and crude formula to calculate the value of their spirit energy.
The number of main meridians they cleared would show just how much spirit energy they could produce.
If they cleared sixty main meridians and took in a lot of resources, after training for a period of time, they could control 60 Crystals of spirit energy.
Of course, the talent, skills and medicine the superhumans took were different, so the specific numbers were different.
Outstanding newbies like Sun Ya and Xie Feng might produce more than 100 Crystals of spirit energy, even if they had only cleared sixty to seventy main meridians, because they had the guidance of ace lecturers.
But generally, the spirit energy they produced would not go over twice the number of main meridians they cleared, unless they had already become two-star superhumans and reached Spirit Transformation Realm.
Broken-star superhumans were usually only able to clear a few main meridians.
Even if these main meridians were thicker than the usual ones, it was difficult for their spirit energy value to surpa.s.s 20 Crystals.
Of course, such figures were not what decided the outcome of a fight.
The gap in fighting strength could not be decided by simple mathematics based on spirit energy value.
But at the end of the day, the higher a person’s spirit energy value was, the more they could control the fight, and the more skills as well as different strategies they could execute.
Yet right now, as a broken-star superhuman, Meng Chao had released 61 Crystals worth of spirit energy, which was the average standard for a martial arts course student.
How could this not fill the broken-star superhumans who were watching with their necks craned forward outside the cultivation cabin with emotion? Their blood stirred.
Meng Chao was just as excited in the cultivation cabin. He really wanted to throw his head back and roar to express his delight.
He knew that Sun Ya, Xie Feng, Jiang Rui, and even Duan Lian’s spirit energy value had already gone over one hundred.
But 100 Crystals that came from main meridians were completely different from 100 Crystals that came from branch meridians.
If main meridians delivered that amount of spirit energy, they would need a long time to regain energy, which was known as the cooldown period. It was very hard for them to maintain a steady flow of output. The amount of energy they wasted to execute moves was much higher than that of the branch meridians.
All the flashy electricity effects were also part of the output, but if it was not considered into the final attack, the user would be considered lucky if thirty percent of the spirit energy of the final attack landed on the target.
But the output, accuracy, endurance, stability, and concealment from branch meridians could be adjusted at will. The damage rebounded to the user was rather low, and even if they ended up burning a few branch meridians when they executed their moves, they could repair them within a short period of time.
While looking at the spirit tattoo flowing over his skin, Meng Chao laughed. He stood up and opened the lid. He climbed out of the cultivation cabin and strode to the punching force gauge in the corner.
Bang!
The force of his first punch was worth 1,500 kg.
Two months ago, with just his body, his maximum punching force was 300 kg.
Now, it had increased by five times its original amount.
Of course, with the help of spirit energy, having a punching force amounting to 1,500 kg was nothing shocking.
Many of the new martial arts course students could easily reach 2,000 kg.
Even Ma Hong and the rest of the students from society had that sort of power.
But what happened next was the terrifying part.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Meng Chao did not show any signs of stopping. He repeatedly punched the bag with his fists, and each punch was faster than the last.
In the beginning, the people could still see the entire process. He would take a step forward, twist his waist, pull his shoulders back, and his biceps would bulge up.
But soon, they only saw two afterimages and two burning whips as they repeatedly ravaged the pitiful punching bag.
In the end, aside from Gu Jianbo, no one was able to see Meng Chao’s attack trajectory. They only saw a series of astonishing numbers on the screen.
,615 kg! 1,647 kg! 1,684 kg!
When Meng Chao’s punching force reached 1,688 kg, only the decimal numbers changed, not the qualitative numbers.
In five minutes, he delivered 624 punches, and all of them had the force of 1,688 kg.
They would only change by 0.1 to 0.3 kg. At most, it was a 0.5 change.
This shocking control could make anyone feel their skins crawl and chills run down their spines.
When Meng Chao delivered his 625th punch, his punching force jumped to 1,689.2 kg.
Meng Chao pulled his fist back, took a step away, and exercised his shoulder and wrist. He grinned and turned around to look at the dumbfounded group.
“That’s the power output from branch meridians.
“It might not be as powerful as the maximum punching force from main meridians, but it’s advantage is in the density of punches, the accuracy, and the endurance. I can suffocate the target with these.”
Meng Chao had not had his fill yet. He went up the treadmill and switched the speed to eight.
That did not mean that the treadmill would be moving at a speed of 8 km/h.
Instead, it meant one hundred meters in eight seconds!
This far surpa.s.sed the limit of the short-distance running legend on Earth, Usain Bolt.
But Meng Chao could run faster and with ease.
He even poked around the b.u.t.tons to continuously increase the speed. From one hundred meters in eight seconds, he turned it to one hundred meters in 7.8 seconds, then 7.7 seconds, then 7.5 seconds.
In the end, he fixed it at one hundred meters in seven seconds. He was basically moving as fast as the wind.
If super humans had spirit energy helping them, many of them could run at even faster speeds.
But Meng Chao used this speed to run five kilometers. In the end, it was the treadmill that was unable to bear with him stomping on it as he charged forward. It let out creaking sounds and started swaying madly.
During that period of time, his heartbeat, breathing, amount of liquid he lost, and his physiological parameters did not change much.
It seemed like he could run a few marathons at this speed.
‘Compared to attack power, this sort of ability to keep running at high speed is even more important,’ Meng Chao thought. ‘The monsters in the future are going to keep getting stronger. The soldiers and superhumans in the wild often run into dangers they did not expect, but Dragon City still lacks firepower right now. Yet each veteran who has gone through hundreds of battles is a valuable treasure. If they can’t fight, they should be able to run. With Ultimate Style, they could flee to safety and eventually find a chance to fight back.’
But speed and strength were not all that the Ultimate Style could offer.
Meng Chao used another method to show the benefit of cultivating branch meridians to the students, whose, by this point, eyes had almost popped out of their sockets and whose jaws were almost on the floor.
He put a monster coin on the back of his left foot. Then, he placed his hands behind his back and did not move.
His muscles started moving in waves.
Faint spirit energy shot out of his pores like electrical arcs to guide the monster coin from the back of his foot to his calf. Then, he moved it to his stomach before moving it to his stomach. After that, he rolled it to his face and made it stop on his head.
From his head, he had it roll slowly to the back of his right foot.
Even if the students from the society had a lot of knowledge about society, they had never seen a superhuman display such fine and meticulous control over their bodies. They gasped in amazement and looked at each other. Even after a long time had pa.s.sed, they could not say anything.
Meng Chao did not move. He suddenly had a muscle fiber on the back of his foot shrink, and with a crack, it expanded. The monster coin was flung up, and he caught it in his hand.
“Big Brother Bo, we’ve obtained progressive success for Project 1024, right?” he asked with a smile.
Gu Jianbo’s eyes were a little red. He opened his mouth, but he could not say anything. He went to the wash basin and washed his face for half a minute before he sucked in a deep breath and said in a quivering voice, “That’s right, we’ve verified a brand new formula for medicine and a cultivation method.
“We can now help broken-star superhumans reach the standards of a normal superhuman in terms of basic strength and instant output of spirit energy value. Also, they will be able to do things that cultivators of the main meridians at the same level won’t be able to do.
“Even though the data can serve as reference as to how we can turn the basic figures into fighting strength, we still have a long way ahead of us to find the perfect fighting model that is of equal strength to this cultivation method.
“But even though the road is long and filled with obstacles, we’ll reach the end eventually if we keep moving forward. I really didn’t think that I’d be able to walk down so far on this road and that I’d be able to see hope on it.
“Zong Ye, Xu Fang, Zhou Tianrui, Li Feiyu...
“Meng Chao, I... I thank you on their behalf!”
Gu Jianbo usually had a glib tongue, but now, he was dazed yet stern. His voice was even a little choked up.
He smoothed out his wrinkled lab coat and took half a step back to give Meng Chao a serious bow.
But Meng Chao was ahead of him. He wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug.
“Big Brother Bo, I should be the one thanking you,” Meng Chao said sincerely. “All of us have to thank you.”
Gu Jianbo was a little stunned. “What? Why?”
“Everyone, for... everything.”
Meng Chao smiled, and the strange flame appeared in front of his eyes.
[Completed the first segment of the chain quest: Fight for the Ultimate Style. The instant spirit energy output of the Fire Relayer’s branch meridians is one-tenth above main meridians.
[Quest Remarks: You helped Blade Dancer Gu Jianbo develop a brand new cultivation path five years ahead of the original time and prevented heroic citizen Gu Jianbo from gaining more hidden injuries. His life might be extended. You performed extraordinarily, and you gained ? stars for the quest.]
[Quest Reward: 10,500 contribution points and twelve of your main meridians being healed.
[The repairs of your main meridians have begun. Current progress: 0.1%. Estimated time of completion: 15 days.]