The legendary warrior novel Chapter 72

"What's the matter with you?

You were beaten by a guy at Skin Refinement!" On the Snow Vulture's back, Sean asked coldly, as he wished to slap Nate to death.

"I apologize, my senior." Both his eyes were on the ground, and his eyebrows touched for Nate felt immensely terrible about himself. There was nothing, no explanation he could do to change what Sean thought of him.

"Well, it actually doesn't matter that you lost. A man without a complete spiritual meridian will not be compared to you in any way!" Sean did not want to have the conversation any longer, so he waved his hand and said, "But his runic power is really weird!" Sean said, squinting his eyes in both disgust and amazement. Sean had witnessed what Ricky's punch was capable of. And to his astonishment, Ricky was far more powerful than he had ever witnessed in the Outer Competition.

…

Sean and Nate had no words to describe how terrible the match went so they turned their backs on the courtyard and left. On the other hand, Ricky let them go with no intention for a conversation and breathed rapidly.

As much as Ricky won the match, Nate wore him down. Nate was a Blood Purification warrior whose strength did a solid damage to Ricky, who hadn't fully recovered from the Outer Competition. His punches made Ricky catch his breath.

Ricky was tired from the battle. His muscles were sore and his eyes could no longer stay open. He opted for a rest and went home after the match. He plopped in his bed and recuperated for a day until he was ready to go out. The next morning, he asked Heather to go with him and collect the prize from the Outer Competition that he had won.

Ricky's muscles still felt worn out and he needed more than just rest to continue regaining the peak of his strength. Heather and Ricky decided to go to the Medicine Pavilion first to get some pills they had won. Heather received ten Spiritual Energy Nourishing Pills, while Ricky got ten Blood Purification Pills. He wanted to do better than how he performed during the last battle and he did whatever it took him to get to the peak of his power again. Ricky realized that he didn't need that much Blood Purification Pills. And like a gentleman that he was, he generously gave not one, but five of his Blood Purification Pills to Heather.

Even without a Blood Purification Pill, Ricky had the confidence to break through and reach the Blood Purification state quickly.

Any other warrior of course, would not refuse any blessing given to them. Heather accepted the pills gladly with a smile in her face.

But the trip was not over yet. After Ricky handed out the pills, the two went to the Weapons Hall. On the third floor, good weapons were displayed to marvel at. Price tags showed the value of the weapons ranging from cheap to the rare and expensive ones. Ricky and Heather looked around, and tried out several weapons. But there was one that caught Ricky's eyes-- a beautiful long saber.

This saber was quite expensive, but Ricky thought that he earned it fair and square. After all, he won the competition and this was his prize to claim. This long saber was of the intermediate stage of the Mortal Level. It had a name: Iron Destroyer.

"If I were to buy such this saber myself, it would cost at least thirty thousand silver coins." He sighed, but the frown on his face was replaced by an excited look as he remembered that this was part of his prize for winning the Outer Competition. 'I think I truly deserve this one, ' he thought to himself.

Ricky took the long saber and headed for the counter. Heather picked her weapon of choice too. They carried their weapons behind their backs, and went to the Cultivation Method Hall.

Sadly, Heather could only get a cultivation method of intermediate stage of the Yellow Level and which meant that she could only stay on the first floor of the Hall. She held out her hand and waved good bye to Ricky and started to search for her desired material.

Being a warrior who surpassed the Yellow Level cultivation method, Ricky had access to the second floor. He waved goodbye to Heather and up he went the stairs.

The second floor was full of inner disciples. Ricky glanced at the people around. He noticed that some of them were friendly, others were not. Others rolled their eyes at the sight of him, and others welcomed him with a smile. Indifferent to everything that he saw, his only thought was to choose a cultivation method at inferior stage of the Black Level for himself.

"Hmmmm... should I choose a fist method or saber method?" Being a warrior eager to learn new skills to develop himself as a fighter, Ricky wanted to learn both fist and saber methods. But unfortunately, he was only allowed to choose one and this made him hesitant to choose anything at all. 'It's both or none at all!' Ricky threw an internal tantrum as he became frustrated.

"Never mind. Let me see!" He shook his head and began to search the cultivation method shelves for a cultivation method at inferior stage of the Black Level. He wanted to find out skills himself. How could he learn if he would only be limited to one method? Sky was the limit for Ricky.

Finally, after searching shelf after shelf and blowing off dust, Ricky laid eyes on a cultivation method called Five Beasts Arts.

Instead of a fist or palm style, the Five Beasts Arts was a comprehensive move.

With full understanding of the material, it could be adopted by warriors using any weapon they desired.

As an imitation cultivation method that combined dynamic and static, rigid and soft, inside and outside, the Five Beasts Arts was developed by a man who based it on the habits of five kinds of fierce beasts.

In this book method, he stated the five kinds of beasts-- tigers, birds, bears, deer, and apes.

The ferocious tigers were characterized by its fierceness, strength, and courage. It also symbolized vigor and mingled strength with softness. It was the combination of softness and hardness, according to the developer.

The ferocious birds symbolized freedom and emancipation, and the ability to follow the opponents in an unnoticeable manner.

The fierce beast of bears symbolized the vigorous, steady and large moves that would subdue everything with strength. Strong attacks and counters could be learned from the beast of the bear.

Deer symbolized the ability to walk briskly at the slight movement of opponents, which brought speed and swiftness to the warrior. This allowed the warrior to think ahead of the game and win it to victory.

Ape beasts imitated their agility, which allowed them to move quickly between dense forests and cliffs. This helped practitioners adapt to some harsh terrain and environments.

It could be said that the Five Beasts Arts was a perfect cultivation method, because it summarized all aspects of a warrior's practical abilities. But its comprehensiveness also happened to be its defect.

Most warriors would follow a certain path in practice. For example, some warriors were known for their strength, some for their ferocity, and some for their agility. Such concentrated cultivation of one kind of ability was more conducive to the progress of the warrior. It would be difficult for a warrior to possess all kinds of strengths and follow all kinds of paths.

But once the warriors practiced in more than one aspect, they were bound to be distracted and might achieve nothing in the end. To some, it was better to be a master of an aspect than to be a jack-of-all-traits.

And that was why despite the Five Beasts Arts being a great book, no one came to the second floor to get it. The good old book was just covered in dust. Nobody knew how to use it to its peak potential.

But that was only for others.

Not for Ricky, who thought it was almost tailor-made for him, because he had the most unique spiritual meridian and the Devouring Skill, so he could practice in several aspects without any pressure.

When the disciples saw Ricky pick up the Five Beasts Arts, they were surprised.

"Why did you choose that book? Isn't that just a waste of time and effort? It's a rubbish book. Go grab something else." A number of disciples said, "That's right!

The Five Beasts Arts was comprehensive, but not practical for us!"

"You don't get it. He's taken an unusual path, because he had an unusual spiritual meridian, which was incomplete. Haw-haw!" Other inner disciples said with a jeer.

There was no doubt that those were members of the Casting Faction and Refinement Faction who saw him with his unusual powers in the past.

Ignoring the jeers, Ricky opened the book and took word for word with meaning. He memorized the Five Beasts Arts by heart and left without saying a single word.

Heather heard footsteps going down the stairs. She showed Ricky the book that she picked with a smile on her face, like a child with a new toy. Ricky smiled back and looked at the book. It was a cultivation method of steps called the Overlapping Steps.

…

Their trip went on. They left the Cultivation Method Hall and on they continued their walk to the Treasure Tower of the Snow Sect.

"Heather, what kind of Treasures from Heaven and Earth do you want? I will pick one out for you!" He asked.

Ricky was very generous with Heather that he used his opportunity of choosing two kinds of Treasures from Heaven and Earth in the Treasure Tower. He never got stingy around her and so he decided to choose one for Heather.

"Never mind, Ricky. You will need to get revenge. You could use the two treasures more than I would," Heather shook her head and said.

"It's impossible to promote the strength all at once, and one Treasure from Heaven and Earth will not make me strong in a moment. So, little Heather, I sincerely want to give you one!" Ricky smiled.

"Well, all right then!"

Upon hearing Ricky's words, Heather's cheeks came into a slight blush, and accepted the treasure shyly.

At this moment, Heather no longer refused to be called little Heather as well, because she had recognized Ricky...

"Since you are practicing the cultivation method of water attribute, I will try my best to find you a Treasure from Heaven and Earth of this attribute," Ricky said.

After long walks, they finally arrived at the Treasure Tower of the Snow Sect.

It was an empty place with a huge Treasure Tower made of iron that stood in the middle. Snow surrounded the tower and gave it a chilling feel.

Moreover, few disciples came here for the Treasure Tower was an important place for the Snow Sect, and they were not allowed to visit it at will. They needed permission to visit the place.

"This is the Treasure Tower of great significance. Without permission, disciples of the Sect are forbidden to be here!" Sure enough, as they were less than a hundred meters from the treasure house, a voice echoed through the house. The voice, they thought, might be the voice of an old man.