Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

  Meng Chao whistled and took a stroll around the university for almost half the day with his hands behind his back. He did so with great ease.

  Ever since he joined the university, he had been immersed in the lab and cultivating madly for almost two months before that. Today, he finally gave himself half a day’s break. For the first time, he could enjoy the university’s full appearance, and he felt rather great.

  He first went to the etherealized plants course to watch how the botanists injected specially made growth liquid into the roots of the etherealized plants. This allowed them to cultivate fierce carnivorous plants such as snake vines, man-eating flowers, and triffids.

  In fact, they could even release the plants from the hold of the ground, and they would dance along their own rhythm.

  Then, he went to the veterinary course and watched the vets “treat” monsters.

  Most of the monsters did not have any value or chance to be treated. The “treatment” was just the vets installing all sorts of powerful weapons and strange machines as well as armor on heavily wounded monsters to turn them into killing machines made of metal and flesh.

  After that, he visited the environment course to watch the students using chemicals made of hundreds of biochemical materials to turn sturdy stones into fertile soil. They could even instantly shrivel or harden weeds or vines that could grow at incredible speeds and surround entire mountains. These plants were full of poison, so the insects that fed on them would die. In just a few days, the plans could clear out a huge uncultivated area.

  Meng Chao broadened his views for half a day. Then, he went to the tuck shop of the etherealized plants course to buy a specially treated fruit basket as a gift for when he went to the university’s medical office to visit his tutor.

  It was normal for a university which had a martial arts course and a few other fighting occupations to constantly have injured people. Hence, the Agricultural University’s medical office was pretty large. Meng Chao did not want to run into anyone he was familiar with in the martial arts course, so he snuck around for a long time before he managed to get to Gu Jianbo’s ward.

  He peeked in through the crack in the door while wondering whether Gu Jianbo would appreciate his kind will. If they had ended up going at it too fiercely yesterday or if Gu Jianbo did not have enough stamina since it had been a long time since he fought in this area, he might get angry at Meng Chao, which would be bad for him.

  His shoulder was smacked by a plump hand from behind, and Gu Jianbo spoke right by him. “What are you doing?”


  Meng Chao stiffened up and quickly turned his head around. He grinned and handed the fruit basket over. “Big Brother Bo, I came to visit you!”


  “What’s this? Blue apples, purple watermelons, and bananas with tentacles? Ack, this orange bites!”


  “They’re the newest products produced by the etherealized plants course. They’re filled with nutrition and are very fresh. I bought them specifically to provide you with nourishment.”


  Meng Chao carefully observed his tutor and hesitated for a long while before he asked, “Was your body…… okay yesterday?”


  “What do you mean by okay? It’s the same as ever. There are fine hidden injuries in my blood vessels and nerves, but they won’t stop a man refined by fire like me!”


  Then, Gu Jianbo’s expression turned dark, and he said, “As for you, you caused quite a lot of trouble, huh?”


  “I didn’t. I was just cultivating, researching, learning, and sparring. What sort of trouble could I have caused?!”


  Meng Chao blinked innocently and raised his hands to swear. “I seriously didn’t say anything to Ms. Li. I don’t know why she would misunderstand that you have a fatal wound on your butt.”


  “What?” Gu Jianbo was flabbergasted. “You were the one who caused this? I was wondering why she went for my pants the moment she entered the room!”


  Meng Chao was speechless.

  Gu Jianbo found himself with nothing to say as well.

  The atmosphere instantly became a little awkward.

  “Oh well, we can talk about this later, when we get back. Let me ask you, just what on Earth did you do yesterday? Or more accurately speaking, what did you do within the past twenty-four hours? Are you thinking about beating up the ten strongest students among the martial arts freshmen and the ten strongest among the monster controller freshmen?” Gu Jianbo rubbed his temples.

  Meng Chao thought about it.

  “Yeah, sure. Why not?” He nodded very seriously.

  “What do you mean by sure?” Gu Jianbo did not know whether he should laugh or cry. “What are you thinking? Don’t you know that the lecturers from both courses have already warned all students that the three days after the tournament between courses is supposed to be a period where all of you cool your heads so you are not allowed to challenge each other or have any sort of fights in private?

  “Yet look at you, you went to provoke ten students from the monster controller course and fought them, and you even beat up their secret weapon! You actually swaggered into their department while carrying Wu Wu on your back too! If you don’t handle this matter properly, hundreds of people will surround and attack you. At that time, even if I want to save you, it’ll be beyond my abilities!”


  “I can run.” Meng Chao placed his hands behind his back and gave off a really powerful and confident air. “The Ultimate Style was born to allow the martial artist to run from a fight. As long as I want to run, no one can stop me.”


  “Seriously, you……” Gu Jianbo found himself with a real headache in his hands. “Meng Chao, I know that your confidence in the Ultimate Style surpasses mine by miles, and with your help, the Ultimate Style has definitely obtained progressive success. You’re young and full of life, and it’s normal for you to want to prove just how strong the Ultimate Style is,” he said earnestly.

  “But there are plenty of things in which haste won’t bring you success. If you want to promote a martial art ideal, you can’t do so overnight. If you act too hastily, you might end up…… trampling on the benefits of other parties, and you’ll face a strong counterattack or even suppression.

  “This isn’t good for the Ultimate Style and for your own future too. You know about the tall poppy syndrome, right? The tall poppy gets cut down for overachieving. Do you understand what I mean?”


  Of course Meng Chao did.

  The pros and cons of a martial art ideal were not something to be explored purely by academic means. They were also dragged into the fight of monetary interests.

  Even if they ignored everyone outside the university and just talked about the lecturers within it alone, there were plenty of powerful people who relied on the Beast Soul Style to obtain funds for their projects and get the positions of specialists.

  They obtained a lot of cultivation resources from the school, investments from companies that wanted to sponsor them, and benefits from opening workshops outside to teach the secrets of the Beast Soul Style.

  If the Ultimate Style rose to power, it was impossible for it not to encroach on their interests.

  This was one of the reasons why the Ultimate Style was not yet promoted through the whole city even after the death of Blade Dancer Gu Jianbo. And that was when the Ultimate Style had already shown its glory a long time ago.

  It had a somewhat easier time of rising at that time because a lot of the powerful martial artists of the other styles had already been killed by monsters, and Dragon City had suffered a really painful blow.

  Now, all of it had yet to happen, so it was…… truly an almost impossible task to make the powerful martial artists of the other styles to understand the advantages of the Ultimate Style ahead of time and switch willingly.

  But Meng Chao planned to persevere with his ideals until the end. The flames of determination shone in his eyes, and he nodded before he said, “Big Brother Bo, I understand your kind will, but if we use the normal route and apply for the Ultimate Style to be taught as a brand new course, we will need to go through all sorts of appraisals from the others in the same field, the specialists will have to provide guidance, and the university will want to appraise it too. When will we ever be able to promote it, then?

  “You know that more than 90% of the lecturers in the martial arts course practice the Beast Soul Style. Do you think that they will say anything good for the Ultimate Style during the appraisal meeting?

  “If we can’t get through the appraisal, we won’t be able to get it listed as a compulsory course for the undergraduate students, and we won’t be able to get more cultivation resources. Then, the Ultimate Style will only be able to spread in a small area as an experimental martial art for at least three years.

  “It has already been ten years since Senior Zong Ye passed away. I don’t want to wait for another three years, let alone ten years. Since I’m certain that this path is the correct path, I will definitely bring out all my courage and strength to run down this path.

  “Even if I end up crashing into a wall, I won’t turn back. It’s only by doing this that I can live up to Senior Zong Ye and your expectations. It’s also the only way to live up to all the pioneers who sacrificed their youth, passion, and everything else for the Ultimate Style!”


  Meng Chao’s gaze was firm. He was like a saber that would cut down everything and would rather break than bend.

  Gu Jianbo’s expression changed.

  “I seriously don’t know whether I should say that you’re smart or really stupid.” He smiled wryly. “You shine even more brilliantly than Zong Ye and I when we were young, but it also makes it easier for you to cause unnecessary trouble. Did you know that I have been with Dean Zong since yesterday, and his phone had been ringing nonstop all night?

  “The calls came from the monster controller course, the resource course, and the martial arts course, and all of them mentioned your name. Then, the monster controller course even sent Wu Wu and her biochemical beast here to be treated. Dean Zong and I went to visit her.

  “Wu Wu is a genius that Agricultural University spent a lot of effort to snatch from Dragon City University and the other universities. She’s someone that we specially brought in. We don’t mind you sparring with her, but how could you poison her?”


  “I didn’t poison her,” Meng Chao corrected him. “I just stuck a man-made skin on my neck and hid some poisonous blood under it. This is a harmless habit of mine. If she didn’t bite me, she wouldn’t have run into this problem.”


  Gu Jianbo was absolutely speechless. He rubbed his plump face vigorously and said, “You have no idea how shocked the monster controller course’s dean was at that time. He whispered with Dean Zong for half a day. Those are two Deity Realm elites, you know?! My heart was pounding so fast while I watched their expressions.

  “If Dean Zong decided that you’re too reckless and that the Ultimate Style draws too much attention, you’d be in big trouble!”


  “I trust that Dean Zong will definitely support the Ultimate Style!” Meng Chao said with an intense gaze.

  “Don’t go thinking that just because Zong Ye is Dean Zong’s son that he will fully support the Ultimate Style and you causing trouble,” Gu Jianbo said with a scowl. “Zong Ye has been dead for ten years, and Dean Zong is a veteran Beast Soul Style martial artist…… No, I should say that he is the strongest Beast Soul Style martial artist in Dragon City!

  “You’re thinking about impatiently promoting the Ultimate Style under the strongest Beast Soul Style martial artist’s gaze, and you want to get his support as well. Why does it look…… that you’re letting your dreams run way too wild?”


  Meng Chao scratched his head.

  He did not know how he should explain things to Gu Jianbo.

  His actions might seem reckless, and if he were in Dragon City’s martial arts course and was facing the Overkill Style elites, he would definitely not be in such a hurry to obtain success.

  He knew his own strengths, and the Ultimate Style had just been born. It was a very young shoot. It could not face any trials and tribulations.

  The masters of the Overkill Style did not even need to do anything to Meng Chao. They just needed to use some of their influence to drag the Ultimate Style down.

  But he was in Agricultural University.

  In his previous life, Agricultural University’s martial arts course was able to stand on equal grounds with Dragon City University’s martial arts course precisely because of the Ultimate Style rise to power.

  This meant that the leaders of Agricultural University’s martial arts course had accepted the Ultimate Style in the end.

  Meng Chao did not know what happened, but he believed that it was related to Zong Ye’s father, Black Tortoise Zong Yue.

  If Zong Ye was the true father of the Ultimate Style, then Black Tortoise Zong Yue, the iron shield, was the grandfather of the Ultimate Style, right? Even though he was the strongest Beast Soul Style martial artist?

  This was the main reason behind why Meng Chao was fearless and did whatever it took to promote the Ultimate Style.

  “I believe in Dean Zong’s magnanimity and judgment. Regardless of whether it’s the Ultimate Style, Beast Soul Style, the Overkill Style, or other fighting styles, at the end of the day, it’s all to make Dragon City stronger and so that Earth’s civilization can spread through the entire Other World,” Meng Chao said firmly. “As long as we can prove the advantage of the Ultimate Style, Dean Zong will definitely support us!”


  Gu Jianbo stared deeply at Meng Chao for half a minute.

  Suddenly, his gaze turned gentle, and a hint of relief appeared in his eyes.

  “Go in”—he pointed at his ward—”and say what you just told me to Dean Zong himself. He’s waiting for you inside.”


  Chapter 149: Meng Chao and the Deity Realm Elite’s Ambition

  “Huh?”


  Meng Chao found himself drenched in cold sweat.

  He realized that Gu Jianbo had set him up.

  The door was not fully locked, and he had been gesturing wildly while speaking loudly just now. With a Deity Realm elite’s hearing, Dean Zong would have definitely heard everything.

  Even though Meng Chao was confident in Dean Zong, when the time came to really face the Deity Realm elite, he felt scared.

  When he walked into the ward, Gu Jianbo shut the door from outside, leaving Meng Chao, a noob of the Ultimate Style, alone in the room with the strongest Beast Soul Style martial artist. He became even more nervous.

  Dean Zong was actually a tiny man, even though he had the grand title of the Iron Mountain Shield and was the dean of the martial arts and life science department.

  He was lying on Gu Jianbo’s bed and watching television.

  An old movie from more than a hundred years ago was playing on the screen. It was about an ancient war from hundreds of years ago. The war drums thundered, and warsongs rang in the air. Cannons howled, and smoke was everywhere. The battle was filled with blood pumping action.

  Meng Chao instinctively compared Dean Zong with the strongest person he had met in the past—Soul Breaking Saber Luo Wu.

  There was a huge realm difference between Heaven Realm and Deity Realm, so the two realms gave off completely different presence.

  Luo Wu, who stood at the peak of Heaven Realm and was a six-star superhuman, was just like his Soul Breaking Saber. He was tough, fierce, and aggressive. He constantly released the presence of a peerless martial artist, and the pressure he gave off was so strong that Meng Chao could not breathe.

  Even his own son, Luo Hai, did not want to be alone with him, and Meng Chao believed that he was not lying to him.

  And if someone managed to move from the Armorized Spirit Energy Realm (six stars) to seven stars, their spirit energy would act as if it gained life. They could break free from other superhumans and fly hundreds or thousands of meters. They could change however they wanted, fight however they wanted, and murder however they wanted.

  This was a qualitative change in a person’s life.

  At the same time, their fighting strength would increase by leaps and bounds, while their killing intent and presence would be restrained to the point that nothing could be detected. They would not give off any pressure.

  Dean Zong looked to be one with his surroundings. If Meng Chao did not stare at him, he would not know he was there at all.

  But when he trained his eyes on him, he felt like he was facing a towering mountain that not a single bird could cross.

  “Meng Chao, good day,” Dean Zong said with a smile. “You have been running all over the university for half a day, so you must be exhausted. Come and sit. Watch some television.”


  His tone was very flat. He did not give off a presence containing “strength that could intimidate hearts and was impossible to withstand”. It was not as bombastic as that at all.

  Meng Chao thought about it and decided to behave and sit down in the chair beside the bed.

  Since a Deity Realm elite asked him to watch television, he would just watch television.

  It was a Western war movie that had happened during the seventeenth or eighteenth century on Earth. It was now showing the final battle, which was the most exciting segment.

  With the coordination provided by the rhythmic beats of the war drums and the rising and falling warsongs, the armies stood in rows that were so neat that their formation looked really rigid.

  The entire formation was divided into three lines. Each line was about fifty to one hundred steps apart from each other. Then, they were further divided into six columns. The soldiers stood with their shoulders touching each other. They were very close and looked like ants stuck together with glue.

  The officers at the sides of the army swung their sabers and commanded the soldiers to march according to the beat of the drums. They advanced neatly and expressionlessly like fearless puppets. Even though they held flintlocks in their hands, they did not fire. They just marched forward quietly and drew closer to each other.

  When they were fifty steps away from each other, the army dressed in blue and white uniforms was the first to be unable to handle the tense pressure. They stopped and started firing.

  The accuracy and speed of flintlocks was pretty limited. They did not deal a lot of damage to the army dressed in red uniforms, which made them look like lobsters, even though they were really close to them.

  Still, quite a number of the lobsters standing in the first row fell dead.

  The lobsters standing at the back row stepped over their comrades’ corpses. They pushed forward mechanically.

  Then, when they were only twenty steps away from the enemy, the lobsters started firing neatly.

  They only fired three rounds, but the army in blue and white uniforms collapsed.

  The lobsters put on bayonets and shouted as they rushed forward. The bayonets sank into the enemy like burning sabers cutting into monsters’ rotting carcasses. There was no doubt who won.

  “It’s really stupid, isn’t it?” Dean Zong suddenly said. “This is called the line infantry, but we also call it standing in line to be shot to death. All the soldiers will stand together in a dense formation and step forward like zombies.

  “They will move slowly like snails toward their enemies, and they are even dressed in uniforms of the brightest colors. They play these hilarious war songs, and it looks like a farce, because they marched forward to be shot to death by the enemy.

  “They even need to push firepowder into the flintlocks in their hands through the muzzle and use a stick to shove the bullets inside. They don’t even have riflings. Their speed and accuracy are just terrible, and even the best soldiers can only fire up to five shots every minute. There’s also a 20% failure rate on top of that. Yet even if they fire thirty rounds, they might not end up hitting an enemy.

  “Regardless of whether it is the flintlock or this line infantry, both of them have great flaws. That’s what you think, right?” he asked Meng Chao with a smile.

  But before Meng Chao could answer, Dean Zong’s gaze turned sharp.

  “Yet during that turbulent and magnificent era, the line infantry managed to win against traditional armies that had great armor while relying on these weapons with great weaknesses and this strategy that looks really stupid.

  “They also defeated stragglers and disbanded soldiers that did not have great discipline and cavalry units which rode around like the wind. They helped countless heroes complete their heroic deeds and created a huge empire where the sun never sets!

  “So, is this line infantry really stupid?” Dean Zong asked coldly.

  Meng Chao instantly understood what Dean Zong meant.

  The flintlock and line infantry strategy had hilarious weaknesses, but that did not stop them from creating an unprecedented glory in the environment and era that was suited for them.

  Similarly, the Beast Soul Style and Overkill Style contained the major problems of accumulating power, stiffening up, and cooling down. They were like the flintlocks with their slow firing speed and low accuracy. They were also like the line infantry unit in which the soldiers marched forward to the beat of drums and stood in line to be killed.

  This was something all the powerful fighters knew and would not deny.

  But there was no perfect strategy in the world.

  As long as a martial art ideal and fighting model’s advantages were greater than its disadvantages, it had its own value.

  At the very least, Dragon City had relied on the Overkill Style, Beast Soul Style, Gun Fighting Style, and Machine Armor to defend itself over the past half a century. That was the truth.

  But there was another reality that was showing up.

  While facing Dean Zong’s gaze, Meng Chao gritted his teeth and said, “The line infantry strategy was celebrated in its time and created the mighty empire where the sun never sets, but as the world continued to develop and the people’s fighting styles changed, the sun did set on the empire!

  “The line infantry strategy’s glory only lasted for around one hundred years. When the speed and accuracy of guns increased by leaps and bounds, and when huge killing weapons like the Maxim was created, if anyone continued to stand in such neat rows and push forward slowly while sounding the war drums, they’d just be marching to their own deaths like moths rushing into the flame!

  “The powerful country that once rose to power because of the line infantry had to pay the price of hundreds of thousands and even millions of people in wars before it finally considered changing its strategy.

  “But I don’t want to wait until Dragon City loses millions to start ‘thinking’. We can’t lose that number of people, and we can’t afford to be slow!”


  Dean Zong did not expect that Meng Chao’s courage and mind would make him think in return.

  He could not help the admiration and surprise that lit up in his eyes.

  “Is this the reason behind why you’re challenging the students so impatiently?” Dean Zong asked. “Are you confident that the Ultimate Style can help the martial arts course grow strong and win against the monster controller course?”


  “No.” Meng Chao shook his head. “I’ve never thought about winning against the monster controller course.”


  “Oh?” Dean Zong quirked an eyebrow and waited for his explanation.

  “If I was just thinking about winning against the monster controller course, I wouldn’t need to use the Ultimate Style. The beast soul fusion technology that our course is heavily supporting is good enough. If we perfected it a little more and cultivated Sun Ya, Xie Feng, and the rest, it’d be enough.”


  Meng Chao’s eyes shone with a dazzling light as he said clearly, “There’s only one target I want to win against, and it’s Dragon City University’s martial arts course!”


  “Huh?” Dean Zong’s gaze instantly turned incredibly sharp.

  “The monster controller course has only been the strongest fighting occupation course in Agricultural University for the past ten years, but in the past half a century, tens of millions of people in Dragon City have acknowledged that the only one with the right to call itself the strongest is Dragon City University’s martial arts course and its Overkill Style!”


  Meng Chao’s determination exploded from him like an erupting volcano. His eyes burned like lava. “Agricultural University, the University of Technology, the military school, Beast Soul Style, Machine Armor Style, Gun Fighting Style, heroic spirits, monster controllers, machine masters……

  “There are countless styles and countless powerful people who have thought about challenging Dragon City University’s martial arts course and the Overkill Style, but all of them returned defeated.

  “But I believe that there is no such thing as the strongest martial art in the world. The only thing that exists is a martial art that continues evolving and changing to become stronger! The Overkill Style has been shining in glory for too long, and now, it’s time for the Ultimate Style to shine!

  “Dean Zong, I know that you have been spending all your effort to support the beast soul fusion technology, but your true goal isn’t the monster controller course either, but Dragon City University’s martial arts course, right? You want to prove that the Beast Soul Style is stronger than the Overkill Style, right?

  “But the Beast Soul Style and the Overkill Style are the same. It’s just like the line infantry strategy. Your so-called improvement is just comparing who can form neater rows, whose soldiers fear death less, and who is more familiar with the motions of shooting the flintlock. No matter how strong the beast soul fusion technology is, without changing its core, you won’t be able to win against the Overkill Style.

  “But the Ultimate Style has just been created, and it’s just like the Maxim gun when it was first created. As long as you’re willing to provide some resources to support it, it can cause a stir in the martial arts world, and even our entire fighting model will turn on its head and change!

  “Even if our research and promotion will take up some of the Beast Soul Style’s resources, as long as we can defeat Dragon City University’s martial arts course and make Agricultural University’s martial arts course become the best in Dragon City, we will have ten times the benefits coming to us. Not only will the Ultimate Style be able to develop at an explosive pace, the Beast Soul Style will also be able to benefit from it.”


  Dean Zong started thinking, though he had no expression on his face.

  Meng Chao gulped nervously.

  He was taking a bet that to Dean Zong, Agricultural University’s martial arts course was more important than the Beast Soul Style.

  He was also betting that his desire to defeat Dragon City University’s martial arts course to become the strongest in Dragon City was even greater than promoting the Beast Soul Style.

  In his previous life, Gu Jianbo managed to reap major benefits from this.

  But now, Dean Zong smiled coldly. “You’re just boasting shamelessly. How can you say that the Ultimate Style is the Maxim gun and not one of the thousands of strange weapons that appeared during the development of guns before disappearing without even getting a name?”