There was a faint sound of thunder when the sword stroke was delivered.
Leo had already fully immersed himself in the sword technique at this point. The total number of moves in this sword technique was merely eight. Thunder sounded during the first four displays, and in the final four, there were subtle flashes of lightning that struck in deadly bursts on the sword itself!
Yes, the Thunder Light Sword Skill lived up to its moniker!
The stone carving continued, and started presenting it for the second time after completing a set of sword skills. The sword technique was repeated continuously, without any breaks.
Leo did not even blink as he fixed his gaze on the stone carving. With each demonstration, Leo's comprehension and perception of the Thunder Light Sword Skill deepened progressively.
Still, this was insufficient on its own. He would only be employing the form of the sword skill, not the essence, even if he were to memorize the entire thing. When comparing sword strokes, it was much more important to comprehend them.
The sword skill could only be fully learned if one could sense its essence. How much of it was felt was a matter of perception for the martial artist. This round's objective was to achieve this. Higher perception leads to deeper experience, which in turn results in stronger sword skills displayed at the conclusion.
Leo watched it five times in a row before giving up and closing his eyes to gradually take in what he had just gone through. Leo couldn't resist acting it out as he stuck out his right hand, two fingers turning into a sword.
As he began to play them out, the soul force in his body began to move and circulate through the meridians.
There were a large number of people in the stone room who were motioning like Leo. They were all experiencing the martial skill shown in the stone engravings.
First attempt, second attempt...
Leo executed each sword stroke slowly, although it was extremely difficult. The disparity between the sword strokes he performed and the ones demonstrated by the stone carving was like heaven and earth.
It was hard to want to perform the Thunder Light Sword Skill in its entirety after watching it only five times .
After struggling through all eight parts of the Lightning Sword Skill, Leo gave up trying to execute it again right away. His sword movements differed significantly from the original technique; his understanding was superficial. The situation felt extremely awkward for Leo. It was not even possible to call it a substance .
So he watched the presentation of the stone carvings once more. The only way to get better was to combine theory and practice.
Many of the other martial artists were in the same situation as Leo. These martial artists could be said to have understood what the elder had previously said. Even a lower Astral tier weapon skill wasn't something that they could learn so easily. Some martial artists with lower perception, and even more so for the ones that couldn't perceive anything, could only forcefully remember the moves.
Russell was the same, too. He'd tested it once, and his eyebrows had tightened.
Leo's sword crystal in his dantian jerked as he saw the presentation for the second time. A gentle sword qi was gradually discharged. It was entirely unknown to Leo, who was lost in perception.
This sword qi quietly circulated through Leo's meridians, and as it circulated through, at the same time, it slowly affected the soul force in his body to circulate with it.
While Leo focused on perceiving the sword strokes, he subconsciously guided his soul force to flow along with the sword qi's circulation. Interestingly, the circulation rate of the sword qi matched the rhythm of the Thunder Light Sword Skill. And as for Leo, he was still perceiving; he didn't have any kind of feeling except that he felt that his experience with the Thunder Light Sword Skill felt deeper and deeper.
The sword qi circulated again and again, dragging Leo's soul force through the circulation again and again. After continually circulating five times, the sword qi slowly fused back into the sword crystal and disappeared.
But in Leo's subconsciousness, it had already memorized the circulation path. His soul power continued along the old circulation channel even if the sword qi had halted.
Leo watched the demonstration of the stone carving ten times before ceasing. Leo was surprised just as he emerged from the perceiving state. He noticed that half of his soul force had already been expended by his body.
It was obvious that he had been doing nothing before, but suddenly his soul energy had vanished. It was so strange.
"Could it be that during the perceiving just now, I unconsciously circulated the cultivation technique?" Leo said to himself in confusion.
Although he couldn't figure it out, but time was of the essence. Leo didn't have that much time to go and study it. He felt that his comprehension had become much deeper, and he couldn't wait to try it out again.
But just as he acted out the first move, Leo was shocked!
Because as he was acting it out, his soul force automatically began circulating. It was as if it had already circulated countless times. This kind of feeling was very similar to when he had used his own blinking sword skill!
However, he had inherited the memory of the Blinking Sword Skill from the sword crystal, which is why he could clearly understand the soul force's circulation path and perform it that way. As for the Thunder Light Sword Skill, Leo could confidently say that he had never encountered it previously. And also, during his first time using it, it wasn't done very well. In this short period of time, less than a half stick of incense, he had actually made large steps of improvement. It was truly too bizarre.
"Could it be the sword crystal again?" Leo's mind spat out an idea. He wasn't stupid. Such a miraculous matter, other than the sword crystal being able to cause it, he couldn't think of any other reason for it to happen.
However, at this time, Leo couldn't be bothered to pursue that thought. No matter what the reason was, at least for him, it was definitely a good thing.
Settling his mind, Leo once again practiced the Thunder Light Sword Skill. The soul force in his body naturally circulated without the slightest feeling of hindrance. After a set of sword skill, Leo felt that he was about 60-70% similar to the stone carving's demonstration.
And in addition, Leo also felt that the Thunder Light Sword Skill he had practiced was actually more powerful than the one demonstrated by the stone carving.
Although they were the same eight moves, the Thunder Light Sword Skill demonstrated by the stone carving was very rigid. One move after another. The eight moves were all unconnected. Leo felt that in the eight moves he used, each move had a subtle connection. Every stroke that he made accumulated some hints of "power," Up until the last move was made, all of the accumulated "power" would all explode out at once. The last move's power would receive an enormous increase!
"It's definitely the sword crystal!" Leo delightedly said to himself. The enchantment technique that the sword crystal had leaked was the ancient enchantment technique, which had powers far beyond the current enchantment techniques. Improving a martial skill is not as challenging as it may seem.
After realizing this, Leo turned away from the stone carving right away. In any case, he had already learned all eight moves by heart. Compared to pondering the stone carving's demonstration again, it would be better to take a step towards the Thunder Light Sword Skill with the power the sword crystal had changed.
The time passed by swiftly. Leo was growing more and more proficient with the Thunder Light Sword Skill, even though other martial artists were still raising their eyebrows in thought. As of right now, he could already approximate eighty percent of the stone carving demonstration's image with the Thunder Light Sword Skill.
An hour flew past.
Abruptly, the stone room door opened. Suddenly, Elder Tren's voice carried over, stunning all the martial artists into wakefulness.
"One hour has elapsed! All martial artists leave the stone room and begin the third round of testing!"