Chapter 68 Number One Achieved

"Could it be... Is that the runic power?! How is it possible!?" Everyone's jaw had dropped. They were stunned, eyes opening wide, when they saw Ricky's sudden change. Rufus felt the same. Zenith and the other four elders on the dais were shocked as well. But because they were warriors with the most knowledge and experience, they kept their composure and did not reveal their shock.

The runic power came from the casting manual. Only a warrior with an extraordinary spiritual meridian would have been capable enough to practice the manual. It would have been much too overwhelming for an ordinary warrior! If an ordinary warrior foolishly tried to force his way to practice a manual, it would end up backfiring on him. It was true that there were many cultivation methods which could be practiced without a spiritual meridian. However, no manual could ever, ever be practiced without a spiritual meridian. It was one of the most basic conditions!

Yet what was it that they had just witnessed? They saw the power of the manual emerging from Ricky, a warrior without a spiritual meridian! That was too unbelievable. Could they still trust their eyes? Mix feelings surged among the crowd: shock, disbelief, jealousy, admiration.

But Ricky did not originally want to reveal the runic power he owned. He was supposed to keep it hidden, as a strategy.

However, the reward for the number one outer disciple was too tempting for him to give up. He had no other way but to reveal his true strength. He wanted to have it no matter what, because if he missed this chance, it was quite likely that he would fall behind in the martial arts world, and be banished from the circle of strong warriors. That was an unacceptable option for him. After everything he had gone through, he understood by now that the world was a jungle and there was a law; the winner took it all, and the devil took the rest. He had big plans, for himself, for his father. Everything he worked for could not go to waste.

Everyone thought that he did not have a spiritual meridian and could not master this power from the manual. Ricky did not want to reveal to the public that he had regained a spiritual meridian for the time being. Fortunately, he was quick-witted enough and had come up with an excuse. Whether they believed it or not was out of his hands.

As the scarlet runes came together, the strong power accumulated in the long saber, fusing with saber-light. Ignoring the shocked faces of the crowd, Ricky focused on activating his internal strength, raised the saber high, and hacked at Rufus's big hammer.

Rufus had kept his wits about him, despite the shock. He was sober-minded enough and waved his hammer in defense from Ricky's attack.

But to Rufus's surprise, Ricky's scarlet runes were much too powerful.

The moment their weapons collided, those scarlet runes spread like a virus over the hammer

ith was doing.

He shut his eyes, immediately activating his regained spiritual meridian and exerting his internal strength carefully to make one-third of his regained spiritual meridian visible to Zenith.

Soon, he felt a snowflake near the meridian center of his brain make a loop before it flew away. 'Whoohh! That was close!' Ricky sighed to himself.

As the snowflake flew back to Zenith, everyone turned to him, eagerly awaiting his verdict.

"Yes, there is an incomplete spiritual meridian in Ricky's body. Seems that it was destroyed once," Zenith declared, though he still held his suspicions about it.

"What? It's real! He didn't make up a story!?" The spectators broke out into chatter once more.

"An incomplete spiritual meridian? I've never heard about it before! And it can even be used to practice the manual! Unbelievable! Isn't it too amazing?"

"Oh, god! Definitely, it's stupefying! Ricky is going to become an outright legend!"

"But it's still incomplete, after all! Could it really be as powerful as a complete spiritual meridian? I doubt it."

"Same here. I'm dubious that he would go that far with such an incomplete one."

"Hey, Rufus. You heard what Chief Zenith said. I didn't cheat. I defeated you with my own power and abilities that I gained from my hard work. Anything else you want to accuse me of?" Ricky said, turning to his opponent.

Rufus was silent, for once. Totally defeated, he staggered out the arena, wanting to leave behind this heartbreaking place as soon as possible.

If he continued to deny Ricky's victory and refused to admit that he lost, it might lead to the end of his cultivation in the martial arts world.

And now, after all the fights and competitions he had participated in, Ricky finally ranked first among the outer disciples of the Snow Sect. This had been his dream all along. It marked his first great achievement in the martial arts world.