Chapter 19 The Battle Of Life And Death

"I'm your master. This is what I should do," said Grace.

"So where's my father?" Ricky asked a little anxiously, because he had not seen his father for a whole year. It weighed on his mind, and hit him particularly hard when he was alone with these thoughts. His father was always in his heart, and would always find his way into his thoughts.

"When your father learned that you were accepted by the Snow Sect and became my disciple, he took off. He said he needed to find your mother," Grace replied.

"Find my mother?" Ricky whispered, eyes filled with a touch of sadness. He'd never met his mother, but an image of what he imagined she looked like filled his mind.

His mother left shortly after he was born, but he knew she was forced out. He knew in his heart she would always care for him.

The magical spiritual meridian that his mother left for him was the best proof.

"By the way, your father wanted me to let you know that other than Gilbert, there was another enemy called the Bloody Gang. The gang was also a part of the whole setup. And he wanted you to avenge him," Grace continued.

"Gilbert! Bloody Gang!" Ricky said coldly.

"But don't worry about it now. I need you to ready yourself for battle tomorrow. This contest is to the death, and I can't help you once you step into the ring," Grace warned him.

"Don't worry, Master. Tomorrow I'll give you a big surprise," Ricky said confidently.

......

There were many battle rings in the Snow Sect, but there were only a handful where contestants fought to the death. There were three, all on a flat and snowy field.

Today, almost all the outer disciples gathered around these three rings.

Also, many inner disciples and strong core disciples were there.

Today was mainly about the life and death battle between Ricky and Wade who were newcomers to Skin Refinement, but everyone knew it was actually a battle between the core disciples, as well—Connie and Grace.

Although Connie was not as strong as the other core disciples, she had won the favor of many male disciples with her good figure, pretty face and her prodigious skill at lovemaking.

While Grace wasn't a looker because of the hideous birthmark on her face, everyone in the Snow Sect respected her. Her skills were good enough for her to have earned the title of fourth core disciple.

Many core disciples would love to see those two battle it out.

With everyone's eyes on them, Ricky and Wade stepped into the ring.

At the same time, an Elder came to preside over this life and death battle to prevent some of the more powerful disciples from interfering.

The Elder waited patiently until they readied themselves, stretching out, going through the forms, meditating, and dropping into a fighting stance. At length, the Elder said, "You may begin."

......

"Loser, I'm gonna take you out." Wade said disdainfully, glowering at Ricky.

"You'll see why I got the nerve later." Ricky smiled.

"Well. I hope this fight won't be boring."

After saying that, Wade suddenly summoned the great power of Skin Refinement and only took a few leaps to get close to Ricky, then he punched Ricky, grinning all the while, Wade was confident that it would only take one punch to take Ricky down.

But his fist never reached its target. It stopped halfway and then he felt excruciating pain. That was because Ricky had already hit him before he could connect.

"Why can't you take a punch from me? Thought I was a loser." Ricky gave him a toothy smile and raised another fist.

Ho! At the moment of raising all the power, a soun

d of tiger's roar suddenly growled like the thunder, which set up a great rumbling echoing through the peaks. The rumbling not only shook the mountain, but the crowd could feel the vibrations.

And Ricky's spiritual energy coalesced and formed the half-opaque figure of a tiger.

It was the Whiz Fist!

However, it was this Whiz Fist that impressed those core disciples—not to mention the Elder who cared for nothing.

Because they could see that Ricky's Whiz Fist was way beyond the state of completeness, and was even a hair's breadth from perfection.

Among all the core disciples, maybe some of them had reached their cultivation method to completion. But none of them could get anywhere near perfection.

"That's impossible, right? He has no spiritual meridian." At that moment, those core disciples and the Elder were thinking about this. It did seem impossible, yet they saw it with their own eyes.

"What a pity!" "What a pity!" The Elder said with more regret.

"Last time we were in Stone City, his Whiz Fist was just starting the completeness phase. It's only been a month and he's already reached the pinnacle of completeness. His comprehension is remarkable. Maybe it was the right thing, teaching him the Nine-degree Body Refining Formula," Grace muttered.

......

At this moment, cold sweat ran down Wade's back, because he felt a truly real ferocious tiger was behind him, which made him quake in fear.

This was the Whiz Fist when it was near perfection, putting the enemy in the cold grip of terror.

However, Wade was a warrior of the seventh grade of Skin Refinement. He snorted and immediately shook it off. Then he aimed another punch to resist Ricky's Whiz Fist.

Bang! Another collision caused both of them to take a few steps back.

"He... He broke through again. How did he reach the sixth grade of Skin Refinement?" The sounds of surprise emanated from the crowd.

Because they found that Ricky's power was indeed the sixth grade of Skin Refinement.

"How? When he fought Garfield, he had just barely attained fifth grade." Another one said in surprise, "He made a breakthrough less than a month. With no spiritual meridians?"

"You've reached the sixth grade of Skin Refinement. No wonder you're so confident. But you can't beat Wade with that. I hope you won't disappoint me later," Grace said to herself.

That was right. After taking three spiritual energy pills to reach the top of the fifth grade of Skin Refinement, Ricky made a breakthrough a few days ago.

Grace thought it was not enough for him to break through in twenty days, but she knew nothing about the power of his new spiritual meridian. Ricky not only broke through, but refined his technique as well.

......

"The sixth grade of Skin Refinement. That's why you're so confident?" By this time, Wade's eyes were already gloomy.

"Maybe!" Ricky said.

"Aww, go to hell!"

At the next moment, Wade went all out. He unsheathed the Steel Sword at his waist and waved it, sending white sword-light towards Ricky.

"Nine Swords of the Wind—the Fourth Sword!"

All of a sudden, Wade was wielding the sword. Spiritual energy enveloped it, shimmered along its edges. Then the power gathered into a semicircle and exploded in Ricky's direction.

There was nowhere to run or hide from it.

But he was not trying to hide.

His eyes flashed. Then he pulled out the long sword at his back without bothering to gather any spiritual energy and directly rushed toward that whorl of power.

"Is... is he trying to get himself killed?" The crowd gasped in shock.