Chapter Ten Listening to Thunder

  "...You handle it alone, we won't disturb you." Elain's mouth curved into an arc as she reached out to stop Lydia, who was about to intervene after hearing Ji Ran's words.

  "That's right! Let's take a closer look at your swordsmanship! This guy's swordsmanship is truly amazing, able to create a surrounding effect all by himself... Although I've seen it many times before, I still can't figure out how he does it!" Beck stood on the side, holding his long spear with both hands, watching the battle between Ji Ran and Piaojiao Mountain Cat with great interest.

  "This swordsmanship is different from all the popular human swordsmanship, but it has some similarities with the elves' swordsmanship. However, even among the elves' swordsmanship, there isn't such... flavor." The speaker was Eirin. As the only elf among the crowd, she naturally had enough qualifications to comment on the differences between Kiriyan's fourth-level swordsmanship and elven swordsmanship.

  "Hmm, I can see that. Although I've thought about learning it, no matter what, I won't be able to reach his level. There's always something that feels like I just can't grasp..." Beck stroked his chin, deep in thought.

  He can't understand that it's supposed to be like this. The Four Seasons Swordsmanship is a martial art in the game "Sword Hero", which contains the profound cultural heritage of Chinese history, and can even be said to be a kind of philosophy. If he could learn it just by looking at it, it would be too disrespectful to the thousands of years of Chinese culture.

  "That lynx, if it doesn't have any other tricks up its sleeve, is doomed to lose. But why do I always feel that this guy won't go down so easily?" Old Les was also by the side, propping himself up with his heavy sword, looking deeply thoughtful.

  “…I say, you guys don’t even help out, and on top of that, you’re also dampening my morale. Isn’t this a bit too much?!” Ji Ran felt even more helpless. Among these people, except for Lydia who was still dazed from being stopped by Aileen, the others were simply watching the show…

  "Alright, alright, even if that guy has some hidden trump card, he still can't beat you, is that okay? Geez, let's just be jealous for a bit...". Beck looked at Ji Ran with a disgusted expression.

  Ji Ran couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. After more than ten days of contact, everyone had become familiar with each other, and his easy-going personality quickly won over everyone's favor. Beck would often crack jokes for no reason at all. However, Ji Ran didn't mind, as he was also known for being optimistic and cheerful among his classmates back on Earth... Joking aside, if he hadn't been so optimistic in the face of those experiences, he probably would have become psychologically warped and taken revenge on society by now.

  It seems that these people are not going to take action, so I can only solve this Tier 3 Mountain Cat by myself. Fortunately, although the cat's level has reached three tiers - which should be around 35 or 36 levels according to Ji Ran's observation - it is still within my manageable range.

  Taking a deep breath, the true energy surged. Ji Ran calmed down and focused his eyes on the leopard cat in front of him, but his mind was fully immersed in his swordsmanship.

  The internal skills of the Cangjian Villa are divided into two types: Xin Jian and Yi Jian. The heart follows the movement, and the sword technique is spiritual. The two techniques have different focuses, Xin Jian emphasizes the sword following the heart, floating and agile; while Yi Jian is to control the sword with intention, heavy as a thousand jun. Both techniques advance together, lacking one is not possible. In combat, you can switch between them, but each time you switch, you need to wait for a period of time before switching again.

  However, to exert the power of these two mental states, one needs to use corresponding weapons. The Heart Sword is agile and naturally inclined towards using a single-handed sword, which can bring out its elegant advantage. The Intentional Sword is heavy, best used with a two-handed greatsword, majestic in momentum, unmatched in power.

  Ji Ran now only has a new hand-iron sword in his hand and cannot use the intent of the sword at all. So, what he is operating now is the heart sword.

  In the culture of Huaxia, martial arts are often linked with cultural art and religion. The game further develops this point, and the martial arts of Cangjian Mountain Villa reveal a strong cultural heritage that spans thousands of years.

  To make the Heart Sword technique operate at its best, it's not just about meeting technical conditions such as stability, accuracy and ruthlessness. That kind of intention also requires the user to fully immerse their entire being into it.

  Ji Ran can't be considered a fan of ancient culture, but after being influenced by it, he also has some of his own understanding. So, at this moment, he is trying hard to immerse himself in the state of "controlling the sword with one's mind".

  He now stands with a posture that doesn't look like a swordsman at all. He hasn't taken on a stance suitable for offense or defense, he's just standing there so leisurely. Holding the sword in one hand, the tip pointing down, hanging by his side. That appearance, completely not like he's about to fight, but rather like he's chatting with someone after a battle.

  The mountain cat of Piaojia, although it has the bloodline of a giant dragon, its IQ is clearly not as high as that of a giant dragon, and at best it's only slightly higher than that of an ordinary magical beast. Seeing the opponent's pose, its brain immediately gave it a signal - it's time to counterattack!

  Then the Mountain Cat counterattacked. Having been pressed down and beaten for half a day, even the most timid magical beast would have accumulated a belly full of anger. That guy had an completely unguarded appearance, it was the perfect opportunity to teach him a lesson!

  The lynx crouched low, its body forming a straight line. Taking aim at Ji Ran, it pounced over with a whoosh!

  The speed of the armored mountain cat was incredibly fast, and its short-distance sprint was even more swift. Even Lais and Ban, the two brothers, found it difficult to keep up with its speed. This one burst of speed left a string of afterimages in mid-air, making people's eyes dizzy and unable to discern where its true body was!

  But now, it's no longer just about seeing things with your eyes — or rather, not entirely with your eyes.

  In the heart method of Xīn Jiàn, there is a special skill called - Heart Eye.

  With the heart as the eye, penetrate all directions. Compared to ordinary eyes, the heart's eye can see more intricately, more swiftly and more clearly everything around... including movements.

  Although this skill is also the lowest level now, it's enough to use at present.

  The movements of the mountain cat, in Ji Ran's eyes, were exposed without any cover. Moreover, its movements had also been slowed down many times, and every small movement was seen clearly by him.

  The Heart Eye is so useful that it can almost double a person's strength, but this thing must have many restrictions. Although it doesn't consume sword energy, the true energy left in Ji Ran is decreasing at an extremely fast rate. He had previously calculated that with his current amount of true energy, activating the Heart Eye could only be maintained for ten or so seconds. After ten or so seconds, the true energy within him would be depleted. Although it wouldn't lose its combat effectiveness, he wouldn't be able to use any techniques and could only react slightly faster than an ordinary person... Unfortunately, his magical powers couldn't be used in swordsmanship, otherwise it wouldn't have become a problem of endurance...

  Now he didn't need to mobilize his heart and eyes for so long. One second was enough for him to see the movement of that mountain cat coming over.

  He withdrew his right foot, and with a twist of his body, he shifted his entire being to the side. Just like when he killed the Red-tailed Fire Wolf with one sword strike, he dodged the pounce of the Mountain Cat in Armor, Dantiao!

  A sword light swept across the belly of that armored mountain cat, bringing up a trail of blood flowers. However, this blood flower seemed too little compared to the body of that armored mountain cat!

  In fact, the appearance of blood flowers is not a good phenomenon. When killing the Red-tailed Fire Wolf, there was no blood splashing out at that time, and it wasn't until after it fell to the ground that the blood slowly seeped out. This shows that Duan Cang's sword was extremely sharp, and when it cut through the Red-tailed Fire Wolf's body, even the blood vessels didn't have time to react.

  But the blood flower of the scaled mountain cat explained that the tide cutter didn't exert such a great force. However, this is normal, as the scales of the scaled mountain cat were produced with the help of the giant dragon's bloodline, and without some defensive power, how could it be possible?

  However, this situation was already within Ji Ran's expectations. A sudden slash gave Bao Jia Shan Mao a severe wound, but he didn't relax at all and immediately followed up with another sword strike aimed directly at Bao Jia Shan Mao's eyes.

  The lynx let out a mournful cry after being injured, but at the same time it also stirred up its ferocity. Turning its head again, the lynx stared straight at Ji Yan with its eyes wide open, its mouth agape, as if a sulfurous smell was spreading all around...

  "Dragon's Breath! This guy's innate magic is so powerful! It seems that its magical crystal is really worth a lot of money!" Although they saw the Armored Mountain Cat about to make its final move, the onlookers didn't seem worried at all. Instead, Beck became even more delighted.

  "A third-level magic crystal, I'm afraid it's not possible to separate the Dragon's Breath and Dragon's Wrath talent spells. But even so, its value won't be lower than a fourth-level magic crystal... I think this one can sell for 70 or 80 gold coins?" Old Man Lais was also very pleased.

  Of course, just as they were discussing the magic crystal, Ji Ran still did not give up on attacking. One sword had yet to land, but it made that armored mountain cat turn around. Looking at the armored mountain cat's open mouth, although he didn't know what kind of spell this guy was going to cast, it could be imagined that with a lifesaving spell, its power would certainly not be bad...

  So, Ji Ran won't give it a chance.

  Before the mountain cat in armor sprayed out dragon's breath, he took a step forward, his long sword in hand, from top to bottom, without any disguise, and slashed out with one sword!

  And this sword, not only swift and unmatched, but also emits a huge sonic boom when cutting through the air! The sound is deafening, just like thunder!

  This is Ji Yan's second sword technique, Listening to Thunder.

  Look at the storm with indifference, and listen to the thunder with a smile.

  This move is a frontal attack on the enemy, emphasizing momentum. With one sword strike, thunder rumbles and shakes the four directions!

  That massive thunderclap even shocked Les and the others who were watching from a distance. And directly facing this sword, the armored mountain cat that was about to unleash its dragon's breath was shaken, its head spinning and body swaying. The dragon's breath that was about to be unleashed naturally dissipated.

  At the same time, Listening to Thunder's sword had already fallen onto the head of that armored mountain cat!

  A loud rumble, the armored mountain cat let out a miserable cry and was blown away. The power of this sword lay in its "deterrence", under the intimidation of the thunder, the armored mountain cat had no room to dodge, and took the full force of the sword!

  Even with its high defense due to its scales, the pangolin was still beheaded by this one sword strike. It rolled around on the ground for half a day, and even trying to struggle up seemed to be quite laborious.

  In fact, this thunder is more suitable for use in the Intention Sword Heart Method, with greater power. If it hits directly, it may be possible to kill this armored mountain cat instantly. However, using the Heart Sword Heart Method, the speed of this sword technique has increased significantly, and it can be said that each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

  At this time, Ji Ran launched a surprise attack again, and suddenly appeared in front of Pi Jia Mountain Cat. Looking down at Pi Jia Mountain Cat who was struggling on the ground and still dizzy, he stabbed down with his sword.

  This sword, the part that hit, was the abdomen of the Scale-armored Mountain Cat that had just been cut open by Duan Chou. With the protection of its scales, the ordinary iron sword in Ji Yan's hand caused very limited damage to the Scale-armored Mountain Cat, and it was almost with the help of the sword energy that the Scale-armored Mountain Cat was slightly injured. But now, there was a wound on that spot.

  So, the iron sword entered with a clang and went in halfway.

  The armored mountain cat let out a mournful cry again, struggling desperately. However, this time it was too severely injured, and its struggles only caused the iron sword to stir inside its belly. In just two or three movements, blood flowed out of the wound accompanied by fragments of internal organs.

  The lynx's breath grew weaker and weaker, until it finally lay motionless on the ground.

  "Finally settled......" Ji Ran let out a breath, pulling out his long sword. To be honest, he was also exhausted at this point. After all, it was a level three magical beast that could rival a level four white silver magical beast...

  "You guys really have the nerve to see this through to the end?" With a swing of his long sword, he flung off the bloodstains on it and turned back to face Lays and the others who were just arriving.