Chapter 242: The second round

"In front of you is one holy ground of the academy. Although you will be entering a small part of it, you have a chance to obtain something amazing. The holy ground contains a unique steele which has an amazing art etched on top of it."

"You are given a total of three incense sticks to comprehend whatever you can from it. You will be made to display your understanding in front of the examiners. Those who show the best talent will be allowed to move into the next round."

The gate to the ancient land was opened up and all the 100 participants were thrown in. Entering the area, they could see a huge piece of rock standing in the middle of the land. As the elder said, there were lines etched on the stone piece. To the surprise of all the participants, cultivation mats were arranged for them to sit on.

"These younglings are quite lucky. They get to comprehend one of the many famous arts within the Thunder Academy." One of the elders sighed. Even if most of the people get appointed as outer disciples, they would still have much faster comprehension rates than their peers.

"Can the elder reveal the identity of this art? Which famous art is etched on that stone?" One of the audience members spoke up. Many eyes turned to the elder in charge.

"You might be able to recognize the art easily. It is a handprint created by a very famous figure from my academy. It is called "Strike of thunderous palms."

"Isn't that one of the main arts which that person used?" One of the audience members showcased a shocked expression.

"I remember it too. This art was created by the same person who created Lightning devil art. This was one of the arts where he combined all his knowledge regarding thunder laws and palm arts. The final formulation was the "Strike of thunderous palms."

"Just how many parts are revealed in here?"

"I have heard that art has eighteen stages until one reaches extreme comprehension. I assume that the first few would be enough to test the comprehension of these brats."

"Just one part would be enough. It was an art formulated by one of the most powerful figures who emerged out of the Thunder academy."

"I concur. Some talents are participating who could comprehend the art. The girl from the Chu family even practices one of the other arts the figure created. She might even have been exposed to art before this competition."

"We can't forget about the winner of the last round. That kid is simply a monster. 18 incense sticks is an insane amount of time. He must be even more powerful now that he has recovered from his injuries."

"The stone stele contains every single volume of that art. This was the original piece crafted by the creator of this art." This very sentence brought about absolute silence throughout the stadium. The whole wall was directly presented to the younger generations. Just what sort of lunacy was this?

"The academy truly went all out during this recruitment."

"What is the purpose of giving the participants such a huge opportunity?"

The elder in charge chose to remain silent, not answering this question. Some secrets were too private to be disclosed.

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Crimson Lord world-

"You are quite a fortunate boy. This Steele contains the original etching by the creator."

"How do you certify that? You haven't even inspected it properly."

"It is validated by the aura radiating from it. When you truly reach a state where your comprehension touches the very essence of a law, there will is radiated by every single movement. The art is etched by the martial artist after he attained the very essence of the art."

"The markings are quite consistent and the first and last etchings were made by the same person. It all leads to the conclusion that it was made by the creator of the arts."

"You should first try to feel the aura left by that figure. Given you can discern the laws which went into the creation of this art, you would be able to comprehend the law real fast."

Li meng sat in the middle of the room, not too near, not too far. He closed his eyes and began feeling the aura all around him. The space was filled with a unique kind of energy."

"This doesn't feel like a pure thunder energy art."

"What possible energies might be mingled within it?" The Keeper was trying to lift Li Meng's spirits.

"I feel a ting of multiple kinds of energy. I feel fire and water, as well as earth energy from it."

"Try to remember the theory of dependability I spoke about. What you initially felt might just be deception. Concentrate or you would be lost."

Li Meng tried to feel it once more. To his surprise, there was no earth energy anymore, but wind energy was a new finding. How could this be?

He tried to concentrate on the writing. It described a set of fist movements which was soon etched in Li Meng's mind. It was one of the benefits of having such a powerful soul. Once the art was etched, he made the avatars practice it individually. When multiple avatars were trying the art simultaneously, many insights were obtained.

Li Meng tried to use logic rather than feeling the aura from the surrounding area. His extensive experience while creating the Dominator's fist helped him a lot while deducing the various elements which went into creating this art. Not only he managed to deduce many things, but he also got many inspirations for developing the Dominator's fist.

The Keeper couldn't help but smile at this attempt. This was a test for Li Meng to solve, but it seems that he was walking in the correct direction. He decided to let Li meng proceed in his own fashion.

Li meng was trying to understand the possible thought which went behind the creation of this art. The swiftness might be derived from eighter of wind or lightning laws, while the force could be derived from a weapon law or element like fire. After a lot of trial-and-error methods, Li Meng was finally able to group the elements to four.

Thunder was undoubtedly the core element based on which the whole art was formed. The next element Li Meng was confident about was the fire. Although the traces were extremely faint, it was present. Li Meng was confident after practicing the area attack mentioned in the art.

The third element was water. Although it might seem conflicting, this art didn't merge the two elements in the beginner parts, the later parts must lead to an extremely complex law which helps in blending the two. Water was used as a medium to make the thunder energy malleable. Although the element is not directly blended, its laws are surely used.

The last was a force. It was the most basic law of nature and it has been profoundly utilized in this art. Li Meng couldn't believe his eyes. Just the first volume contained such a high variety of laws and combinations.

"Can you see how many volumes are listed here?"

"A total of 18 volumes." Li Meng couldn't help but be shocked. 18 stages of a single art. Just the first step was this profound, what did the other step contain.