Chapter 120: 120

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Gu Jianbo regretted bringing Meng Chao and Ma Hong down now .

He had wanted to make the boy turn back after he found out how difficult it was, but who would have known that the youth’s observational skills would be so good .

Was the kid really just a freshman? Why did he really seem like he had been fighting at the borders of life and death for decades, just like Ma Hong had said?

“Alright, I admit . Sometimes I come here to cultivate . ” Gu Jianbo’s expression changed a few times, and he leaned back against the electric chair . “But my cultivation won’t produce any results . ”

Meng Chao and Ma Hong looked at each other . “If it produces no results, why do you still cultivate?”

“Because… I’ve let down Zong Ye, Xu Fang, Zhou Tianrui, and Li Feiyu . They’ve given up their futures and even their lives for Project 1024 . If I give up halfway and run away, how am I supposed to face them in the future?” Gu Jianbo smiled in anguish .

“Project 1024 isn’t a proper cultivation project that is supported by the university . It’s my personal project and a fight that I must face alone . And I’m the only one required for this destructive venture . There’s no need for me to drag more people into this, especially outstanding talents like you . ”

Meng Chao shook his head . “As long as you’re still fighting, there’s a possibility of winning . How can you say that you’re heading to your own destruction? Big Brother Bo, let me help you!”

Gu Jianbo’s old wounds were uncovered, and his emotions became un stable . Despite him earnestly trying to persuade Meng Chao against it, the boy refused to listen to reason, and he became a little vexed .

“Alright, since you want to join Project 1024 so much, I’ll let you see what exactly branch meridian cultivation is!”

As if he had given up on all hope, he resached into the depths of the safe and brought out a large stack of research data, drafts, disks, and storage chips, and slammed them on the table .

He also activated three huge work stations, and a data stream that poured out like a waterfall showed up on the monitor .

It was data from the past few years, the latest information about the experiments as well as the progress of the project .

Meng Chao read it quickly .

His brain had been strengthened by Kindling, and it greedily absorbed the initial form of the Ultimate Style, along with its brilliant ideals .

The information he read also gradually overlapped with his memories regarding the future Ultimate Style .

“Big Brother Bo, you haven’t been training here occasionally . It’s not as simple as you said! Based on your experiment logs, you’ve practically been here every day!” Meng Chao cried out in surprise .

“What’s with this high-speed cell growth hormone? I know that these medicines are very beneficial when it comes to promoting the healing of wounds, but the side effect is that your endocrine system will go haywire . You’ll go out of shape and either become too fat or too thin .

“Wait, could it be?”

Could it be that the handsome and elegant man in the official website turned into the fatty with oily skin because he paid the price for researching topnotch technology on his own?

Gu Jianbo schooled his plump face and said nothing . He removed his suit and unbuttoned his shirt .

His suit had seemed to be covering fat that resembled tyres, but it was actually covering deformed muscles that had swelled up and looked as strong as those of Juling Shen . [1]

However, each inch of his skin was covered in red scars .

They formed whenhis body imploded, and they looked like terrifying red flowers .

“This is…”

Meng Chao and Ma Hong’s expressions changed .

In their era, medical technology was very advanced . As long as a person was not poisoned or a wound was not repeatedly inflicted in the same spot, causing tissue hyperplasia and their tissues overlapping with each other, it was impossible for someone to have such terrifying scars .

The scars looked like red hot medals burned into Gu Jianbo’s flesh . They also looked like armor created through great pain with the power of one’s mind and will .

A thought appeared in Meng Chao’s head and he cried out . “Big Brother Bo, more than ten years ago, you were as famous as Ms . Li, but today, Ms . Li is about to reach six stars, but you’re still stuck at four stars . Could it be because you have been conducting these insane experiments and destroying your own body?”

Gu Jianbo’s eyelids twitched . He said nothing .

Meng Chao looked at the dense network of scars that were Gu Jianbo’s medals, and his blood burned . He was filled with all sorts of emotions .

In his previous life, he hadn’t known that so many pioneers had paid such a devastating price to give birth to the smooth and incredibly elegant Ultimate Style .

And now…

‘I’ll change everything . I can’t let the pioneers bleed in vain . I have to save the hero who is about to fall and send him to the peak so that he can shine even brighter than back then!’ Meng Chao swore in his heart .

He sat down in the corner and quietly read all the information regarding Project 1024 .

“There’s nothing worthy for you to examine there . Once you see how I cultivate, you’ll know to give up,” Gu Jianbo said coldly .

He turned on the ventilation system and brought out a dozen raw ingredients from a cold storage .

First, he made a hot medicine and drank it .

His blood vessels immediately popped up on his skin . Large, fleshy bumps also started rolling under his skin .

“Whew…”

With a horrendous expression, he let out a puff of white air . It looked like a sharp arrow . Then, he stuck numerous magnetic patches with wires attached to them on his body .

Next, he sat down on the electric chair and tied himself down with the leather straps made of superbeast tendons .

His movements were very smooth . It was clever that he had done them countless times .

He pushed down on the recording button . “20th of August, Year 55 of the New Era . 992nd experiment for Project 1024 . Today, I’ve drunk Gene Medicine No . 104, which is made of Ghostly Shark Blood and Golden-winged Insect Blood . As of current, pain level is 4 . My mental strength index is 103% . My mind is clear, and I can stand the pain .

“Commencing experiment . ”

Shizzle!

Powerful bioelectricity surged into his body through the magnetic patches . They activated the rampaging spirit energy contained in the medicine .

In an instant, Gu Jianbo started jolting like a frog which had jumped into a boiling pan, but he was kept in place by the leather straps .

His eyes went wide, and his expression twisted from pain .

His right arm swelled up in a deformed manner and turned red . More than one hundred drops of blood seeped out of his pores .

Meng Chao and Ma Hong were so shocked that they turned pale . They wanted to go up to help him, but he stopped them with his eyes, telling them that he was fine and this was normal .

The torturous experiment lasted for a total of five minutes . Then, Gu Jianbo shut the power while trembling and covered in sweat . He lay limp on the electric chair with white smoke pouring out of his seven orifices . He could not say even a single word .

“Big Brother Bo, did it work?” Meng Chao asked nervously . “Did you manage to clear fifteen branch meridians?”

Gu Jianbo took a long time to raise his right arm with great difficulty . He activated his spirit energy and made it flow slowly .

Spirit tattoos appeared on his right forearm, at the part near his wrist .

However, compared to the clear and brilliant spirit tattoos that were formed when main meridians were cleared, this circle of spirit tattoos was scattered and blurry . It was like ink that fell on a rice paper .

“I managed to clear two branch meridians . The others were all crushed . ”

Gu Jianbo carefully observed his wrist and tried to channel his spirit energy to his fingertips . Small spirit flames gushed out .

Yet they changed between eight colors, which made it clear that they were mixed with inferior fuel additives . He could not control them at all . Very soon, they exploded .

Meng Chao and Ma Hong could not help but sigh .

But Gu Jianbo looked calm . He removed himself from the electric chair and rapidly typed out a string of data in his computer . Then, he put his right arm under a small instrument so that he could scan it . He seemed to be used to such failures .

“Don’t worry, branch meridians might be weak, but their recovery speed is very fast . Even if they’re crushed, they’ll recover and regrow in no time,” Gu Jianbo said faintly . “On the other hand, if you clear a branch meridian forcefully and don’t stimulate it often, it will shrink soon and you will have to redo everything . ”

In the subsequent two hours, he did eight experimental cultivations in various parts of his body .

Every time, he was in so much pain that he would spasm and be drenched in sweat . Smoke even gushed out of his pores .

When he removed the leather straps, he was so weak that he had to use the chair as support to walk forward .

But when Meng Chao and Ma Hong wanted to go forward to help, he waved them off with great resolution . He would rather move forward slowly one step at a time to the research table to record the data and adjust the parameters than get their assisstance .

“You saw it, right? I don’t have the talent . I can just use this foolish method to test different formulae, the strength of the electricity, and find out the locations of spirit apertures . There’s nothing that I can teach you . ”

Gu Jianbo looked impatient . “I’m a four-star superhuman . I’ve got a determined heart and a strong body, that’s why I can withstand this stupid cultivation method . You’re a new superhuman who hasn’t even become a full adult yet . You can’t even go through a single cultivation process, and you want to help me? How arrogant!

“Are you done watching? If you’re done, hurry up and get lost! When I see brats like you who don’t know the complexity of things, I just get annoyed!”

Meng Chao ignored him and focused on quickly reading through the experiment logs with a gaze so intense that he could burn through paper .

Now, just like the Bloody Moon Murderer quest, the Fight for the Ultimate Style quest was no longer just a simple quest .

It was no longer something that would give him tens of thousands of contribution points and clear his main meridians .

Instead… it was a real battle!

‘What’s the problem? Logically speaking, the thought process is correct . We have to use bioelectricity to stimulate the intersecting spirit apertures in the branch meridians . That’s what they did in my memory fragments . ’

Meng Chao grabbed his hair and thought hard .

He as not as professional as Zong Ye or Gu Jianbo .

He could only think hard and dig into the deepest depths of his brain to search for the fully developed Ultimate Style from his previous life in the crystalline memory fragments to figure out just what was different about it compared to the current cultivation method .

After an unknown amount of time, he was finally able to grasp a weak thread of light shining toward the answer .

“The medium…”

At that moment, Meng Chao’s face was pale, and his eyes were red . He looked like someone who had ventured too far into the unknown world and even his soul had been sucked into the experiment logs .

Gu Jianbo’s eyes went wide . “What did you say?”

“Big Brother Bo, have you ever thought of not using bioelectricity to directly stimulate the spirit apertures?”

Meng Chao had a dazed look . He was still trying to grab hold of the dancing memory butterfly in his mind . “If you cultivate main meridians, you can use this method, because main meridians are strong and their runoff volume is high . They can deal with the dual stimulation from high-voltage and rampaging spirit energy .

“But branch meridians are thin and fragile . No matter how much you lower the power to stimulate them, it’s still very easy to destroy them .

“Then, what if used some sort of medium to spread the stimulation as much as possible?

“I know that many medical cabins have the function of using electricity to stimulate recovery . First of all, they put in a lot of high-calorie medicine . Then, the patients lie down inside until the medicinal fluid submerges them . After that, the personnel charge up the medicinal fluid with electricity instead of the spirit apertures .

“With this method, you could lower the intensity of the stimulation and you use it through the whole body . Then, you could clear all 1024 branch meridians in one go!”

Translator’s Note:

[1] Juling Shen: Juling Shen is a gigantic river god in Chinese mythology . He is usually associated with the Yellow River .