By nine o'clock in the evening, Lin Rui arrived in his backyard carrying a saber, once again practicing the "Red Thunder Blade Technique."
Ever since the meridian replacement surgery concluded, Lin Rui had been looking forward to this moment.
He wanted to see how powerful his newly installed meridians were and where their magic lay.
The moment Lin Rui began to practice, joy burgeoned in his heart.
Today, his saber technique bore a drastically different demeanor from the practice of just yesterday.
Lin Rui's footsteps were as smooth as drifting clouds and flowing water; his movements brisk and powerful. Wrapped around the blade was a double serpent of Lei Huo, tracing sharp trajectories through the air, stirring up slight bursts of wind and the sounds of a tempest.
His breathing was steady and ordered, his True Qi incomparably smooth, harmonizing with the rhythm of the saber technique as if his flesh and the saber in his hands were one. The True Qi even reached the tip of the saber, where rhythm and power neared perfection.
Employing the Grandmaster level Red Thunder Saber, the power of each strike was now at least three times greater than the day before!
He could generate more thunder and red flames during his slashes, and his speed was also faster, having increased by at least sixty percent. Correspondingly, the consumption of Lin Rui's True Qi and spiritual power had decreased, now less than a third of what it used to be.
He also felt a significant increase in his spiritual power, though he did not know the exact figure. When he had the money, he planned to undergo another spiritual power assessment.
"Is this the special-grade meridian 'Divine Thunder Flame'?"
A flush of excitement appeared on Lin Rui's face, "Truly formidable! Worthy of the government's classified status. The collateral channels Professor Sima helped me develop also had an effect, enhancing the capabilities of the Divine Thunder Flame by about twenty percent. I feel that now, without using any moves, I can conjure up thunder and flame with just a thought."
Lin Rui then retreated to the entrance of the backyard and took a deep breath. After a brief preparation, he slashed forward with a series of saber lights.
This was the secret chain move of the Red Thunder Blade Technique, the Red Thunder Nine Slashes, but it was not just that.
Xue Bogao had honed the Red Thunder Blade Technique to the Grandmaster realm, elevating its divine might beyond the bounds of basic martial arts.
He optimized and improved the Red Thunder Nine Slashes to execute up to twelve consecutive slashes, but this placed extremely high demands on the quality of the artificial meridians. During the execution of the technique, the True Qi inside his body needed to maintain a period of high-speed, high-pressure circulation.
The second-grade meridians Lin Rui used before couldn't handle this burden, attempting to use it would cause them to burst outright.
Now, with the aid of the special-grade meridian 'Divine Thunder Flame,' Lin Rui could use it with ease.
After the twelve consecutive slashes, Lin Rui moved his mind, feeling he still had ample energy left within his body.
He then managed to slash out two more times in succession!
At this point, Lin Rui still felt at ease, certain he could strike out another slash. However, remembering Professor Sima's instructions that he should not engage in high-intensity combat within four hours after implanting the meridians, he decisively stopped.
Even though more than four hours had already passed, Lin Rui still dared not overuse these meridians.
He was brimming with excitement, utterly thrilled.
The Red Thunder Nine Slashes already possessed the capability to fight above one's level—so what about the "Red Thunder Fifteen Slashes"?
Next up was practice with the Lei Huo stake technique. Following Professor Sima's medical advice, Lin Rui injected himself with a Type 1 gene fortifying injection before practicing.
Based on his knowledge, these gene fortifying injections, combined with various stake techniques, have the best effects.
The results of this practice session thrilled Lin Rui even more, as the efficiency of his True Qi circulation had improved by about three and a half times, and the rate at which True Qi was accumulated also tripled.
This meant that now, practicing the Lei Huo stake technique once was equivalent to practicing it three times consecutively in the past.
In particular, the potency of the gene strengthening liquid seemed to be fully stimulated by his 'Lei Huo stake technique.' Lin Rui could clearly feel that the injection was continuously transforming his body, the power circulating through him when he performed the technique growing ceaselessly, and the True Yuan inside him rapidly accumulating.
However, the serum also caused his muscles to ache all over as if they were being gnawed by countless ants, for the genes in all his cells were undergoing recombination and strengthening.
If an ordinary youth were to experience this, he couldn't endure the pain, causing deformations in the stake technique movements, reducing the effects of the gene fortifying liquid, and in the case of those with weaker willpower, they might even faint on the spot.
Lin Rui had checked the video library recordings, and with his predecessor's strong will, he had been unable to complete a set of Lei Huo stake technique during the two instances he used gene fortifying injections—deforming his movements in the crucial moments.
Yet, because Lin Rui had endured the inhuman pains of late-stage leukemia in his previous life, his willpower had become extremely tenacious, and he clenched his teeth, completing the set of stake techniques with precision.
By the time of the second repetition, the effects of the gene fortifying injection had begun to wane, and the pain Lin Rui felt throughout his body diminished accordingly, until after the fifth stake technique, the pain had completely dissipated.
Lin Rui tried moving his hands and feet, then ran back and forth in the yard for a while, thinking to himself at the same time.
The Type 1 gene fortifying agent he injected was a flagship product of Tianlan Biological Group, renowned for its exceptional cost-effectiveness among similar products on the market.
Online sources say the ideal enhancement effects are a 35% increase in strength, a 25% increase in speed, a 15% boost in reaction time, and a 15% increase in various True Qi and spiritual power, with other aspects like hearing and vision also improving to some degree.
Lin Rui felt his gains far exceeded these, with his strength having increased by at least 40%, speed by around 30%, and particularly his True Qi, which had surged by a whopping 35%.
As for his reaction time and spiritual power, those all required specialized equipment to measure.
Lin Rui suspected that his spiritual power had likely already broken through the 200 mark, reaching the level of a lieutenant. In the future, as long as he implanted a set of "lun veins," he would be a true cybernetically enhanced lieutenant.
However, Professor Sima said that the "lun veins" compatible with "Divine Thunder Heavenly Flame" had very high thresholds for implantation, and he didn't know to what extent.
He practiced for a while and didn't detect any abnormalities within his body. He then tried striking a dummy in the corner of the backyard with the ultimate secret move of the Red Thunder Palm, the "Red Thunder Snake Hand."
It took him only a second to gather his strength, and the next palm strike sent the dummy flying into pieces, its chest and abdomen completely disintegrated, with limbs and head scattering in all directions.
Lin Rui was taken aback and cursed, "Fuck."
This was a lieutenant-level dummy. Just a few days ago, he had tried, and a full-strength palm strike hadn't even left a mark.
His sister, Lin Xi, heard the commotion and immediately poked her head out of the second-floor window.
Seeing the scene below, she exclaimed in shock, "Are you insane, bro? We just bought that dummy two months ago for 1,500 federal dollars!"
Lin Rui felt the sting of the expense too, but his face was expressionless as he said nonchalantly, "It's fine. It can no longer withstand my power; it was time for a replacement anyway."
Lin Xi was speechless upon hearing this.
Only then did she realize that Lin Rui had actually destroyed a lieutenant-level dummy!
Two months ago, the siblings had bitten the bullet and purchased the "Heavy-Armored" Type 2 dummy from Jinshan Armor Company, hoping it would be a long-term investment.
This dummy, covered with high-strength alloy, could withstand the fierce blows of a real lieutenant-level Martial Cultivator's cybernetic enhancements for up to ten minutes. Yet now, Lin Rui had smashed it to pieces!
The problem was that Lin Rui hadn't even implanted any "artificial lun veins"!
In just these short ten days, Lin Rui's martial arts progress had been so great, no wonder he managed to rank in the top ten in the city for the foreign body assessment!
Lin Xi looked at Lin Rui, not knowing whether to be happy or worried. She then abruptly pulled down the window with a 'clang' and said, "Fine, you're the mainstay of the family now. It's your money you're spending, so as long as you're happy, that's good enough."
After a moment of wincing over the loss, Lin Rui's mood was still jubilant.
The power of his Red Thunder Snake Hand palm strike had far exceeded his expectations.
As he executed the move just now, the twin snakes of thunder and fire that condensed around him were even thicker than they had been in the virtual environment during the live combat assessment, reaching the thickness of two fingers.
You should know that the foreign body he used at the time not only had meridians, but also a complete set of lun veins.
The compatibility of this "Divine Thunder Heavenly Flame" with the Red Thunder Blade Technique and Red Thunder Palm was terrifyingly high, achieving an effect of 1+1=10.
He immediately opened the communication interface with Professor Sima.
Gu Ying Tiandao (Lin Rui): Professor, I've tested it out, there are no problems at all; the circulation of Qi through the meridians is simply perfect. Your technique is too good, Professor, thank you so much!
He also sent an emoticon of kowtowing in worship, truly grateful to the professor, as the effects of the surgery were simply perfect.
Seeing the screen name "Gu Ying Tiandao," Lin Rui began to feel embarrassed and developed a headache until he read Professor Sima's reply, which alleviated his embarrassment somewhat.
Divine Doctor Sima (Si Malin): Hmm! When you were practicing, Lin Rui, you didn't experience any hallucinations, did you? No feelings of irritability or significant emotional fluctuations?
Lin Rui hesitated slightly, thinking back to the severe emotional turbulence he had felt when he passed by Major General Xue's villa, although this should have nothing to do with the set of meridians he had implanted; the issue was with his battle spirit.
Gu Ying Tiandao (Lin Rui): No, I feel very good.
Divine Doctor Sima (Si Malin): That's good then. Just to be safe, you should still observe your mental state when using the meridians over the next few days. If there's anything abnormal, come to the affiliated hospital at any time. Additionally, if you wish to implant higher-level cybernetic enhancements in the future, you can come to me; I can offer you a 20 percent discount.
Lin Rui had just paid the surgery deposit for Lin Xi, and he had seen the hospital's fee schedule; even with a 20 percent discount, Professor Sima's surgery fees were very costly.
However, he felt very pleased. This was a doctoral supervisor from Mingde University Medical College! It was not easy for others to even get a chance with Professor Sima.
At this moment, Lin Rui was keen to practice the Thunder Fire Stance a few more times.
He felt he was in excellent shape, and practicing the Thunder Fire Stance now would be doubly effective,
But next, Lin Rui had something even more important to do.
His gaze shifted towards Major General Xue's villa, two hundred meters to the north.
It was now 12 o'clock midnight, with no pedestrians on the streets, and only a few lights on in the neighborhood homes. The security guards and patrol officers on the street were also tired; it was the perfect time to infiltrate Xue Bogao's villa.