The fist of the second brother collided with Leo's dantian. He smiled, waiting to witness Leo's terrible demise, but he never thought that anything would actually happen. He had no resistance at all against the sword energy that suddenly blasted out!
The sword crystal emitted a powerful sword qi! It is unreasonable to expect that a fourth-level martial artist focused on perfecting their physique could defend against it. As it struck the Second Brother's chest, the sword's white light flared.
Because of the abruptness of the shift, the second brother was unable to react. His physique was extremely vulnerable when faced with this sword, Qi, behaving like plastic being molded. His heart was immediately pierced, and the only sound was a "chi" sound.
"Oh my!"
Two cries erupted simultaneously. Obviously, one belonged to the Second Brother, while the other was actually Leo's!
His mind seemed like it was about to burst at any second.
Agony instantly consumed Leo's thoughts, overwhelming him to the point of incapacity.
In Leo's mind, a myriad of bizarre memories sprung to life. It was evident that those snippets of recollection did not belong to Leo. Some force seemed to be forcing these recollections into his mind.
However, he was presently consumed with the great anguish of this attack and was attempting to hold on to what little sanity he had by avoiding any thoughts of looking at these shards of recollection.
Even though he had experienced excruciating agony yesterday, the kind of agony he was experiencing now was totally different from the kind he had experienced the night before.
Last night, he experienced bodily discomfort as a result of his meridians being driven through. This time, though, the suffering was psychological. In Leo's mind, an infinite number of sharp pins were always poking him in the head. He had no choice but to put up with it, as there was no way to stop it.
The agony eventually diminished after an unknown amount of time. Leo began to come out of his coma slowly. His eyelids drooped a little. Gradually, the grip on his head relaxed.
Pain arrived and went swiftly, but this time it was worse than the one last night. Even after the agony was passed, Leo couldn't help but feel terrified whenever he recalled it.
As the Second Brother cocked his head to one side, he had already metamorphosed into a lifeless shell. His heart had been pierced by the sword, Qi. Consider the implications if he had survived the encounter. Legend has it that a martial artist at the peak of their skill could regenerate limbs and achieve immortality if their spirit remained unyielding. Of course, a practitioner focused on honing their physical form would never reach that point.
Upon recalling the prior incident, Leo's expression abruptly transformed as he realized there was a little more going on in his mind than previously thought.
Strange yet familiar at the same time... Yes, those were the shards of recollection he had just glimpsed.
These false memories had been hammered into his brain without his will. Acknowledging the presence of excruciating agony is expected. whose memories were these? did they belong to sword crystal? or these memories belonged to the owner of the sword crystal instead? Alternately, what?
Numerous inquiries flooded Leo's thoughts. The most obvious approach he could think of to get answers was to just go through these recollections.
The amount of memories implanted in Leo's mind was incalculable, but now that he had a moment to gather his thoughts, he had a memory—the one associated with the sword crystal—that had been shattered by the hit. Considering it's just a fragment, imagine the vast array of memories the entire crystal could contain.
Actually, Leo's mind had received these bits and pieces of recollection, but they were a jumbled mess. Leo had to proactively seek answers if he wanted to uncover any information.
Fortunately, the memories were not overwhelming, despite their somewhat disorganized nature. Leo had arranged them into a comprehensive recollection after a short while. However, a chill ran down his spine as he made sense of this recollection.
In the journey to enlightenment, the cultivation process played a crucial role alongside innate talent.
Why would all of the martial artists in Stellaria City want to join the Zephyr Blade Sect if becoming an outer disciple entailed beating heads?
The primary reason was that the Zephyr Blade Sect had a variety of cultivation techniques.
Leo's clan may have once been outstanding, but it has long since declined. There wasn't even a passable cultivation technique to pull out. The cultivation technique Leo had been practicing was merely the most basic Guiding Qi strategy. And that simply taught you that you must channel the soul's energy into the body. If he had a stronger cultivation technique, Leo, with his talent, would not be sixteen years old and would only be at the second stage of body refinement.
The cultivation techniques on the Aetherblade Continent were categorized into four groups: Heaven, Earth, Ethereal, and Astral, following a distinct classification system. The classes were then separated into three levels: upper, medium, and lower. The Guiding Qi Tactic was not even considered a lower Astral tier; it was that low.
He had, however, been able to retrieve a cultivation technique from the sword crystal memory. Surely Leo must be ecstatic! Even though the sword crystal's growth method continued to baffle him, he was unable to see how it could be harmful given how mysterious it was and how deeply it had entered Leo's heart.
Leo wasted no time absorbing the details of the cultivation process once he continued to sift through the memories.
The name of this cultivation method was Soulforge Soul Return Tactic. The term alone gave the impression that it was far more effective than Leo's Guiding Qi Tactic.
But upon further inspection, Leo saw that this collection of Soulforge Soul Return Tactics was lacking certain key pieces. Only the cultivation method for the body refining level was stored in the memory of Soulforge Soul Return Tactic. Everything up to the body refining degree of cultivation was absent.
However, Leo remained unconcerned. He had just stepped onto the third degree of body refinement just now. It would be some time before they reached the body refining level peak. Using the Soulforge Soul Return Tactic was sufficient for him during this time, at least.
Furthermore, Leo reasoned that, given that the shattered crystal fragment possessed a memory, it was highly probable that the whole sword crystal was a massive, comprehensive memory crystal!
It was quite probable that he would obtain another fragment of memory, which might potentially become the subsequent component of the Soulforge Soul Return Tactic's cultivation method, once he had strengthened himself and discovered an other opportunity to assault the crystal.
Leo's only regret stemmed from the lack of information regarding the Soulforge Soul Return Tactic's cultivation technique tier, making it difficult for him to assess its level.
Leo was confident that Soulforge Soul Return Tactic was not a low-tier cultivation technique, even though he couldn't accurately determine its tier.
The Guiding Qi Tactic only circulates through one meridian, while the Soulforge Soul Return Tactic circulates through twenty-six of them! Comparing the use of one meridian for body refining to using twenty-six meridians for body refining is like comparing heaven to earth.