Chapter 73 Elder Mateo's Gift

'The voice might be coming from Elder Mateo, ' Ricky pondered.

Before he came here, Grace had told him something about the Snow Sect's Treasure Tower. For the longest time, Elder Mateo, the eighth elder in the sect, had been dutifully guarding it since.

*

"Elder, I have won the Outer Competition. I'm here to get my award," Ricky said respectfully.

"Oh? Are you the one who doesn't have a spiritual meridian? Come in," the Elder replied after a while. "But you have to come alone," he added, implying that Heather couldn't come with him inside the tower.

"Are you going to be okay here outside?" Ricky turned around to ask her. Heather smiled softly and told him she was going to be fine. With that, Ricky stepped inside the tower.

He looked around the whole place. There were only a few things that could be found around the ground floor—some tables, chairs, cushions and a big crude wood bed.

'This floor must be the place where Elder Mateo used to cultivate himself, ' Ricky thought to himself

Ricky walked and observed the place for a while, until he saw an old man with white hair who was sitting on a chair, drinking a cup of tea. Ricky guessed that he must be Elder Mateo.

"Elder," Ricky greeted respectfully.

After hearing Ricky's voice, Elder Mateo put his cup of tea down on the table and shifted his gaze to Ricky. He carefully studied him, looking at him up and down. Elder Mateo broke into a small smile and after a while of pondering, he said "Extraordinary. I see that you have a great foundation at the Skin Refinement"

"Thank you, Elder," Ricky bowed. He felt honored to be acknowledged by the eighth elder in the sect.

"About the Nine-degree Body Refining Formula, can you show it to me?" Elder Mateo asked while he sipped his tea. Ricky was stunned with the odd request.

He was taken aback with the old man's request. Stunned, he calmed himself down and replied, "Yes, Elder."

Ricky summoned his spiritual energy to activate the Nine-degree Body Refining Formula—his whole body turned orange immediately.

"Remarkable. Remarkable, indeed. Finally, someone can successfully cultivate this formula again. It's been a thousand years since the last time." Elder Mateo observed calmly but there was a glint in his eyes that sparked excitement. He stood up and walked up to Ricky.

"Here, drink this," Elder Mateo handed Ricky a cup of tea.

"Elder, please help yourself. I'm not thirsty." Ricky appreciated that Elder Mateo would offer him a cup of tea, but he rejected politely anyway.

"Just drink it," Elder Mateo said nonchalantly. He didn't expect Ricky would turn him down.

"Yes, Elder." Ricky acce

, Ricky left the Treasure Tower with such delight.

"Heather, here. It's Pure Blue Shamrock," said Ricky, handing it to Heather excitedly.

"Ricky, thank you so much!" she replied gladly, taking it from Ricky's hand. She sensed the powerful energy of the water element as soon as she touched it.

"Oh? Are you two dating?" they both heard someone shout teasingly.

Two young men were walking toward them slowly. One of them was Rufus, the former number 1 among the outer disciples. It was evident that Rufus came here to get his award from the Treasure Tower.

Ricky squinted his eyes to observe from a distance who came with Rufus. Even though he wasn't very sure at which level the man had cultivated, he could tell that he was an inner disciple at Blood Purification.

"Rufus, look. It's the man without a spiritual meridian. The one who beat you in the Outer Competition!" said the young man. He shot a glance at Ricky in disdain as he spat out the words.

"If you weren't out yesterday, you would know how I lost accidentally." Rufus defended himself.

"Huh! I know your capability well. Even though I didn't watch your battle yesterday, I'm pretty sure that he had used some sneaky methods to beat you. Let me teach him a lesson now!" Jerome said angrily as he made balls of fist.

Before he could finish speaking, he ran towards Ricky.

Jerome began to gather his energy. Ricky felt that Jerome was at the first grade of Blood Purification as he was getting closer and closer.

"Jerome, Stop!" Rufus said hesitantly. "My skills are just not as good as his. It's my problem," he added.

The anger behind Rufus' eyes was evident. There was a faint mischievous smile on his face. Although he told Jerome to stop, he hoped that he would take Ricky down.