Chapter 17 Pressure

"Rumor has it that Garfield took a break from the limelight to cultivate himself. Now that he finished his closed door cultivation, he might have already reached the sixth grade of Skin Refinement!"

"Yes, I heard. And now, the first thing he does after the practice is to find Ricky and take revenge for Hurley. I'm afraid, Ricky might at least lose an arm today."

*

Just then, Garfield walked up to Ricky, cast him a scornful glance and said with disdain, "You're such a loser. In order to beat Hurley, you threatened him with a woman. While at it, you flouted the rules of our sect and broke his arm. If you hadn't been so devious, Hurley wouldn't have lost to you! "

"What? What is Garfield talking about? I was there watching their fight. I didn't see Ricky threaten Hurley with any woman. It seems that Garfield is distorting the truth." So went the conversation in hushed voices among some of the new disciples in the crowd.

"Be careful what you say, newbies. If you still want to stay here, you'd better agree to what Hurley and his friends say now and in the future. Everyone here knows this is one of the unwritten rules," One of the senior disciples warned.

The new disciples nodded their heads without saying a word. Since they were new here, they were glad that someone warned them.

"Hey! Look! I find another lapdog here. If you want to get back at me, go ahead. I don't have time to waste. But I do want to warn you. You might end up losing your legs, or even worse," Ricky sneered. The impertinent manner of Garfield was not something that Ricky would take lying down.

But obstinate as ever, Garfield's face darkened when he heard the word "lapdog."

To the disciples, who were standing behind him, things seemed to get more and more interesting. They knew that Garfield was already fuming with rage.

"Huh? What's wrong? You seem to be very mad. Don't you like being called a 'lapdog'? Sorry, I can't think of other words to describe you now. I think that is the right one." Seeing the furious look on Garfield's face, Ricky was thrilled.

"Ha ha!" Some of the disciples in the crowd couldn't help but laugh at Ricky's response. But they covered their mouths immediately, for fear of getting on Garfield's wrong side.

"Oh boy, you're really mean. I don't think you know who I am. You've picked the wrong guy to tease," warned Garfield in a calm voice. Apparently, he was pretending that what Ricky had said didn't affect him at all. He put on the calmer face than his usual self.

"As your senior, I think I'm obliged to teach you how to behave yourself properly here," Garfield continued.

Even though his face was still expressionless now, everyone could feel the hostility hidden in his eyes.

The next moment, Garfield was readying up for a fight. Before anyone noticed, he threw a punch at Ricky, intending to hit him smack in the face.

Even though Garfield wanted to take Ricky by surprise, Ricky had already seen through him. Compared to the speed of the beasts at the sixth grade of Skin Refinement in the woods, Garfield's was way below par.

Raising his left hand gently, he blocked Garfield's fist quite easily. Returning his own, he caught Garfield straight in the face.

Wincing in pain, Garfield spat out blood. But it was not just blood. To that one blow, he had lost two teeth.

"I never thought that a lapdog would dare pick up a fight without his owner. What makes you think that you can beat me?" Ricky sneered. As soon as he lowered his arms, he once more charged at Garfield, who had stepped back several steps.

Just as he was about to strike again with Whiz Fist, Ricky suddenly sensed someone was shooting him a fierce stare.

"Hey, you loser! Stop!" Someone shouted sharply.

Before Ricky could reach Garfield, his whiz fist was blocked, but not by Garfield. The unexpected third man in white clothes had appeared suddenly, out of nowhere.

The blow was so strong that Ricky still felt pain, even though he had skillfully blocked. Ricky had thought that moving back a few steps to minimize the impact would do just fine. A wrong calculation, as the intervening man walloped him so hard, a sharp pain shot through his arm, all the way to the chest. He feared he too might spit blood, like Garfield.

"Oh! It's Wade!" shouted someone in the crowd. The onlookers were surprised to see him here.

"Hey, hey... Another lapdog? Are you going to pick up a fight with me on behalf of the small lapdog? You can't wait to have a battle of life with me, can you?" Ricky sneered, balancing himself on the ground.

"Hahaha... You're such a loser!" But Wade wasn't angry about what Ricky had said at all.

"It i

s not yet time to have a fight with you. We have made a pact and I'm going to follow it. But, do remember, in slightly over two weeks, you'll have to face me!"

With that, Wade grabbed Garfield, about to leave.

"Wade, stop! I can't let this twit insult me like that and get away with it. I'll skin him alive, I swear!" shouted Garfield. Noticing that Wade was going to take him away, he protested. For losing a good two teeth, Garfield badly wanted to take revenge. There was no way he was going to let Ricky get away with it. Now, raving mad, he even forgot about the pain shooting through his jaw at the moment.

"Shut up! Don't make a fool of yourself again! You couldn't even defend yourself until I showed up, and now you think I'm that dumb to leave you here?" Wade scolded. Blanching at Wade's scolding, Garfield stopped saying another word. From the tone alone, he could tell that Wade was really mad at him.

However, Wade was not as mad at him as he was at Ricky. If it hadn't been for Grace, he would have killed Ricky when they were still in Stone City. Even as he left, he promised himself to deal with Ricky in three weeks' time when they faced each other in their scheduled fight. 'I'll rip him apart, I swear!' he said to himself.

After he left with Garfield, Ricky turned around and walked towards Grace's yard.

*

"I don't believe it! Ricky can beat Garfield just with a punch! He is just a guy without any spiritual meridian while Garfield is already at the sixth grade of Skin Refinement!" Looking at Ricky's receding figure, some disciples discussed among themselves.

"It's a pity that Ricky and Wade are going to have a serious fight in three weeks' time. Don't you see it? Ricky hardly can take a punch from Wade."

The quality of Ricky's quick improvement left a lot of doubts among some of the disciples.

"Do you think there is any possibility that Ricky might pull off a surprise?" One of the disciples asked. Although it sounded improbable, almost like some wild fantasy to many, there were still a few who were genuinely impressed by how quickly Ricky had improved.

*

A strange sensation came over Ricky when he arrived at the front gate of Grace's yard. An inexplicable warmth in the mouth, as though he too was bleeding. As he thought about it, he also realized a tinge of pain in the chest.

"Wade is at the seventh grade of Skin Refinement. His strength is really a whole lot better than me," Ricky muttered, wiping at the corners of his mouth. A sense of gloom took over his face. Up until now, he hadn't expected that Wade would be so strong. But thinking of the impending fight, he began to feel the pressure. In his mind, fearful thoughts began to whirl around, making him suddenly awake to the immensity of the forthcoming fight. Was he prepared enough?

Not to let his emotions show, he composed himself as he walked into Grace's house, only to find that she wasn't home.

Then he headed back to his room to cultivate himself at once. Aware that time was not on his side, he tried to use every available opportunity for his self-improvement. Today, the pressure he felt from that chance confrontation with Wade was huge.

Controlling his breath, he took out three small Spiritual Energy Nourishing Pills and swallowed all of them at once. By all means, he was determined to graduate to the next grade of refinement.

Even though pills would help greatly enhance his cultivation in the shortest time, he would as well cultivate himself through practice.

That way, he would have a better grounding. Normally, martial art warriors and talents would seldom use pills to enhance their grades or levels.

However, Ricky had no choice at this moment. He took the Spiritual Energy Nourishing Pills and started to cultivate.

Little did he know that his regained spiritual meridian would quickly absorb all the pills and vastly step up his refinement.

Until he found out how much he was revived, he hadn't thought it would be such a big deal. He realized that the spiritual energy he got through his spiritual meridian was much purer than ever.

The sudden burst of pure energy he was experiencing was simply beyond words.

Normally, warriors at the Skin Refinement levels could only absorb a certain amount of the spiritual energy released from the Spiritual Energy Nourishing Pills, thirty percent tops.

But the surge that Ricky was experiencing at the moment was well beyond anything he had known before. He was elated at the discovery. His spiritual meridian could help him make good use of the pills!

"My regained spiritual meridian, how great it is!" Once again, Ricky couldn't help but wonder loudly.