"Ba-boom!"
A strong rumbling sound erupted with the collision. All of a sudden, the ring was flooded with airwaves.
The ripples moved out, the air expanding around it as if to blow out the space.
The thunderous power, infernal power and frosty power intertwined together ceaselessly, the flashes
sparked by saber and silver spear rang loudly in everyone's ears, indicating just how fierce the collision
was.
"This is by no means a collision between mere Skin Refinement warriors!" the disciples remarked,
standing outside the ring and intently watching them fighting.
"Maybe they are the real heroes of this competition!" whispered some of the disciples, as if Rufus, the
top of outer disciples, had now completely been forgotten.
......
Rufus became incredibly angry upon hearing this. They could see the murderous hate brimming in his
eyes when Ricky and Edgar showed up.
......
After the sparkling of long saber and silver spear, came the ultimate PK of Ricky and Edgar. Like two
meteors crashing across the sky, Ricky and Edgar began to hit at each other forcefully in that instant.
The winner would be determined very soon.
Out of nowhere, two strong inverse powers broke out from the point where Ricky and Edgar had
collided and then swooped straight towards both warriors.
Edgar and Ricky fended off the inverse powers instinctively, each gritting his teeth as he used all his
strength. But Edgar's defense was just too weak. He was knocked back after several minutes of an
evenly matched fight, and he spat some blood out.
He then tottered backwards a little, before finding a way to stop on the edge of the ring.
Ricky, on the other side, had taken out his saber once more and, with arms crossed, shone orange light
to fend off the strong power. The might of the Second Degree of Nine-degree Body Refining Formula
now showed itself.
That wild power could not find a way to get anywhere near Ricky. The most it could do was push Ricky
back a short distance. He was not at all hurt.
This clearly displayed the disparity between Ricky and Edgar's strength.
"All right, you win!"
said Edgar. He chose to give up at this moment, knowing it would only turn out worse for him if he
continued to fight.
"Edgar, I won the fight mostly because I have better body refining method at the moment!" Ricky
replied respectfully. He did not look down on Edgar, because he was a worthy, humble opponent.
Edgar's kind personality did not call for the abrasive insults Ricky usually had to fling at his other
opponents.
"Ricky, there's no excuse for failure in the martial arts world." Edgar said gently, "You have a strong
body. It's your strength; be proud of it! The fact is that I'm just weaker than you!
But trust me, I will challenge you again, Ricky! And I know you will be a worthy opponent to battle
against!"
Edgar then took back his silver spear and left the arena.
Now the disciples began to regain their presence of mind.
"In this round, Ricky wins!" announced Elder Evan. Looking at Ricky and Edgar, Elder Evan nodded his
head approvingly. Clearly, he was rather pleased with this fight. The two young warriors had shown
great sportsmanship.
"Now, who's the next challenger?" Elder Evan asked.
"Rufus, you've sat there long enough! Time to stretch your legs. Come and fight me!" said Ricky, his
eyes darting over to where Rufus sat sullenly.
'I know I have to challenge Rufus, sooner or later. Why not do it on the ring now and make it the battle
for the title of champion in this competition!' Ricky thought to himself.
Ricky's challenge generated more chatter. Finally! Here came the long-awaited combat between the
strongest ones so far.
"Alright!"
Rufus snarled and jumped up on the ring without any hesitation.
As the top ranking outer disciple, Rufus had never been scared of any warriors of Skin Refinement. He
brushed away his astonishment at the capabilities of Ricky and Edgar and turned to face his opponent.
Rufus began the fight with a strike to attack Ricky, throwing a hit with the momentum hitting its peak.
"Hold on! The fight has not even started yet! Right, Elder?" Ricky unexpectedly stopped Rufus's attack
instead of taking it.
"Ricky, are you giving up so soon?" sneered Rufus, recalling his attack.
"No, not quite. I just need to take a rest. Is it agreeable, Elder?" asked Ricky, smiling.
"How long do you need?" Elder Evan asked.
"One hour will do!" Ricky replied.
"So it shall be! The next round commences in one hour!" pronounced Elder Evan, nodding his head.
Rufus's face darkened as he heard Elder Evan's approval. Ricky had just finished an intense fight with
Edgar! Now would have been the best time to attack because he was currently not at his peak fitness!
But because the competition rules allowed disciples to request a rest period, Rufus had no choice but
to wait.
But the truth was, Ricky did not need to rest at all. With Devourer Zone and Devouring Skill, he could
easily regain peak strength by using the blood vitality of any ferocious beasts in the zone.
He did it to make everyone think that he was weak.
After all these battles, it would be suspicious of him to still retain his energy.
One hour went by quickly. The onlookers fell into a heated discussion again as Ricky finished his
breathing techniques at the ring.
"If one hour is not enough for you, I can wait for another!" Rufus said mockingly.
"One hour of rest gave me enough strength to deal with you!" Ricky replied in the same tone.
Rufus was a member of Casting Faction and it was obvious that he had intentions to kill Ricky
eventually. This automatically made him Ricky's enemy, and unfortunately, Ricky was never kind to his
enemies.
"How arrogant of you! I will show you what it's like to fight with the top one of the outer disciples!"
Kicking off from the ground, Rufus lifted his body up into the air. A swarm of black spiritual energy ran
around his right leg. When the runic power finally emerged, Rufus struck Ricky on the neck with a
round kick.
Rufus was the top one of outer disciples with a four-starred intermediate spiritual meridian. He was a
casting master at inferior stage of the Mortal Level as well. With the greatest power of Skin Refinement
and the strength of manual, that round kick must be deadly.
Ricky's face turned grim the moment Rufus gave out the volatile kick.
Now, Ricky knew he had to use the Second Degree of Nine-degree Body Refining Formula
immediately. In a moment, the frosty power and infernal power fused into his fists as he blasted a
punch at Rufus.
"Bang!"
Ricky's fist collided against Rufus's leg with a deafening roar. Only God knew how powerful their impact
could be!
Rufus leaped backward onto his feet and Ricky also took a few steps backwards on the ring, regaining
his balance.
'This Rufus has proven to be the top ranking outer disciple. He is indeed much, much stronger than
Edgar. It's likely that he's going to reach Blood Purification anytime soon!' Ricky thought, shaking his
aching fist.
Rufus's face looked grim as well. The collision had shown him just how strong Ricky was.
But Rufus wasn't worried about that. Because he had watched the previous battles, he had a good idea
of what Ricky was able to do. However, Ricky had seen nothing from him. He had no observations to
help him counter Rufus.
So for this fight, Rufus felt confident that...
Interupting his thoughts, Ricky's body momentum began to surge.
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