The sky gradually darkened. Leo was still lying on the ground, motionless; he looked as if he were dead.
Leo groaned in agony as he began to stir from his sleep after what seemed like an eternity.
He was fortunate. No animal or beast had gone by in the last several hours, at least.
Leo experienced sudden, excruciating agony when trying to move his limbs. Leo restrained himself from letting out an audible grunt. Even in his unconscious state, Leo was aware of Harold's actions. He checked every area of his body and found that nothing was missing. A sigh escaped Leo's lips. It was tolerable.
The servants of the Whitaker household had taken a serious beating. Their impact was so powerful that it caused pain all throughout. Even walking would become a challenge for Leo soon, so he knew he wouldn't be able to take part in the evaluation.
As he pondered this, he couldn't help but chuckle. Would this be the will of God? He was currently in a state of complete despair due to the severity of his injuries.
By this point, the sky had grown totally overcast. The weather forecast for today was less than ideal. The sky was completely devoid of stars. Despite the chilly, hard ground, he rested with his head turned upward. With his head in disarray, Leonard gazed into the night sky, his eyes shifting.
A brilliant beam of light streaked across Leonard's field of vision, piercing the atmosphere with unmatched speed.
'An asteroid?'
Some people believe that if they tie a knot whenever they see a meteor, their desire will come true.
Leonard unconsciously reached out to grab something, only to groan in pain. It slipped his mind that his hand was immobile and couldn't do anything like make a knot due to his overall injury. Leonard was unable to do anything—not even make a wish or run for cover—as the asteroid resumed its fall. He felt a mixture of disappointment and awe as the moment ended.
This unexpected development surprised Leonard. There were no stars in the sky today, so how could a meteor have possibly fallen?
He looked up once more and saw that the "meteor" had grown in size and was truly growing in size...
He could feel it rushing towards him! Leonard felt a tremendous jolt! If it actually did reach his position at such speed, wouldn't that spell instant death? In what ways could one stay alive?
He wished he could duck, but not even his pinky could move right now. Where would he go to avoid them?
This so-called "meteor" was rapidly approaching. At last, Leonard could make out its form. Its sword-shaped light was shocking.
The speed of the light sword was tremendous. Leonard hardly had time to take in its sight before it had already arrived right in front of him.
Leonard had now come to the realization that the source of this sword-shaped light was actually a somewhat small crystal in the shape of a sword, rather than a real sword.
'Just what was this?'
The crystal in the shape of a sword had already struck Leonard's body, as these ideas had barely crossed his head. Just as Leonard was about to panic, the sword-shaped crystal melted into his flesh, proceeded to penetrate his dantian, and then miraculously reconstituted itself as soon as it touched his skin.
There was little time for Leonard to celebrate after he had escaped what appeared to be an inevitable death. Starting from Leo's Dantian, the sword crystal that had infiltrated his body unleashed a piercing sword qi that stabbed into Leonard's meridians.
"Aaah!" Leonard was unable to contain the excruciating agony and released a piercing scream that echoed across the forest. It was quite peculiar.
The agony all throughout his body had only become worse, not better.
As it continued to flow through Leonard's meridians, the dispersed sword qi broke through ever-increasing barriers. There was no suffering on Earth comparable to this level of anguish.
Even though some individuals's meridians are entirely open when they are born, the majority of people will have shut them off initially. We referred to those individuals as geniuses.
The clarity of one's meridians determined their ability to absorb soul power, which in turn determined their level of cultivation skill, for on the Aetherblade Continent there existed an enigmatic energy known as soul force.
Curing really involves a procedure that opens up the meridians. It is possible to ascend to a higher world if the meridians is more accessible.
In addition to having a lightning-fast cultivation pace, someone with naturally clean meridians would also have to clear their meridians. They could practically go unhindered to any high realm they chose.
If one's natural abilities were lacking, or if they were born with blocked meridians, they would have to take it easy on their cultivation in order to go to higher realms. The majority of individuals will never be able to empty their meridians in a lifetime due to this reason.
The sword qi was now penetrating Leonard's energy channels, causing intense discomfort. It is a widely accepted belief that a person's natural abilities are set before birth. Holy cow! This was totally against the rules!
Ideally, individuals with pierced meridians would explode and die, as per the norm. However, in the Aetherblade Continent, every expert would lend a hand to their nephews and sons, helping them clean their meridians and enhancing their abilities.
In the midst of excruciating pain, Leonard was unable to concentrate on anything else. At this moment, he wishes his recollections of passing away and bursting were more pleasant.
Curiously, this sword qi continued to breach Leo's restricted meridians without causing any harm.
Actually, the spaces that had previously obstructed his meridians widened. If this trend persisted, his meridians would seem clean, as if they had been surgically removed.
There was no way Leonard could have checked his physical condition with his limited mental ability. Right then and there, the only thing going through his mind was agony. From his boyhood up until this point, even in the darkest hours of his cultivation, Leonard had never felt such agony.
He didn't intend for his terrible scream to get quieter; rather, his throat had grown hoarse from screaming so much that he could no longer let forth a scream of its own.
The sword qi that the sword crystal released was obviously unconcerned with Leo's feelings. It kept making its way through the energy channels in his body. The Meridians were able to receive some of the energy.
The arduous procedure continued for close to thirty minutes. The sword qi returned to its original location within the sword crystal after completing a wide circling motion after clearing the last meridian barrier. A profound silence enveloped the surroundings.
As the events unfolded, Leo wondered if it was all over. His vision blurred, and he gasped for air, uncertain of what was to come. Gradually, Leonard regained his composure. There was no question in his mind that he would have succumbed to this agony had it persisted any longer.
All of Leo's power had been sapped during this hour of battle. He had perspiration all over his body, including his forehead and cheeks.
However, that didn't bother him. Now that he had endured such agony, he was already giving thanks to God. His forehead was drenched in perspiration. Leonard managed to keep it out of his eye by raising his left hand to wipe his face.
However, as Leo raised his left hand to his eyes, he looked at it with a look of disbelief.
Even though he could now wipe off his perspiration, he vividly recalled that moments earlier he could not have moved a finger.
Leonard felt compelled to use both hands to double-check his work. His deft fingers fluttered. He then stood up. Every part of his body was completely pain-free.
Leo eventually confirmed that the injuries caused by Harold had miraculously healed.
It wouldn't be fair to call it miraculous. The enigmatic sword-shaped crystal was almost certainly responsible, as Leonard knew with an 80-90% certainty. The rainbow that followed the storm was real.
'The ancients really haven't pushed me around!'
Leonard couldn't help but break into a spontaneous smile. His first assumption was that heaven was out to ruin his one chance at redemption. That hadn't occurred to him; he knows there must be an escape route. No matter how excruciating the agony was right now, if Leonard had known earlier that it might cure his wounds, he would have gritted his teeth and endured it.
"Franklin, Harold! What does it matter if you have someone supporting you? I am certain that I will succeed on the Zephyr Blade Sect test! No way are you ever going to achieve while I'm alive!"
Leonard re-expressed his will to fight after learning that his injuries were all minor.
The assessment was scheduled for fifteen days from now. The duration of fifteen days may be described as neither lengthy nor short. He could be able to acquire another step in strength if this was used.
Importantly, Leo seized the opportunity for cultivation by crossing his legs and starting to circulate.
Leo was already fatigued from the agony just now, but he understood that this kind of circumstance would allow him to cultivate twice as quickly with half the work. He could only fight by making an honest attempt because his natural ability wasn't very good.
As Leonard's cultivation method was being practiced, a subtle current of soul energy was drawn into his being. Simultaneously, he also turned inward. The crystal in the shape of a sword, which had nearly killed him, was the first thing he noticed.
Now, the sword crystal in Leo's Dantian was gently spinning, not quite as violently as earlier.
Leonard sensed that the sword crystal had an unusual history, even if he couldn't fathom its source. On top of that, it had magically cured his wounds before. Because of that, Leonard's thoughts were solidified.
A dreadful sensation crept over him as he considered the terrible suffering. Instead of doing anything that might anger the sword crystal, he simply let it rest peacefully in his dantian. The chi that had entered his body gradually worked its way through his meridians as he meticulously attended to his cultivation technique.
The spiritual energy of the environment was drawn into Leonard's body in a continuous stream as he worked through the cultivation process, following a certain pathway via his meridians.
He discovered that he could absorb soul force much more quickly than before! All of his meridians, which had been clogged before, were now completely unobstructed.