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 theirposure 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 uneptable option for him. After everything he had gone


    through, he understood by now that the world was a jungle and there was aw; the winner took it all,


    and the devil took the rest. He had big ns, 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 hade up with an excuse. Whether they


    believed it or not was out of his hands.


    As the scarlet runes came together, the strong power umted 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 and ate


    up all the other runes on it.


    Because of this, the power from the runes on the hammer drained immediately, leaving only Rufus''s


    spiritual energy.


    Everything that happened next took ce in what felt like a natural and inevitable order of events.


    Ricky''s saber, carrying the scarlet runes and the spiritual energy, vanquished the hammer. The hammer


    knocked into the air and finally fell down onto the ground, a shell of its past glory.


    rmed and frightened, Rufus hurriedly prepared himself, exerting thest of his remaining strength in


    a futile attempt to resist Ricky''s malevolent attack. But Ricky formed the Whiz Fist, hitting Rufus right in


    the center of his chest.


    "Pah!" Blood flew out of Rufus''s mouth as he fell to the ground heavily, thoroughly incapacitated.


    Ricky had not given his full strength when he threw that punch. He had no desire to kill Rufus. All he


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    wanted was to win the first ce, after all.


    Everyone was staring intently at the two fighters. A second earlier, they had been staring at the scarlet


    runes on Ricky''s saber. But in the blink of an eye, Rufus was defeated, now lying limp on the ground.


    "How... How could that be? That''s incredibly fast!" some disciples blurted out in astonishment.


    "Ahhhhhh! No! No! That''s impossible! I am the number one outer disciple! How could I have lost this


    fight!? How could I have lost to him!?" Rufus roared in disbelief, opening his eyes as one hand clutched


    his chest.


    For the longest time, he had ranked first among the outer disciples. Everyone who hade to


    challenge him ended up in failure. It had been a long time since he had known the feeling of being


    defeated.


    "There is nothing impossible in the world. I said earlier that I am going to defeat you, and be


    number one among the outer disciples," Ricky stated indifferently, before he took back the runic power.


    "You cheater!" screamed Rufus angrily.


    "Chief! Elders! Be wise, please! He cheated! He doesn''t have a spiritual meridian and yet he employed


    the runic power! You know that''s impossible for him! You know what''s required to be able to conquer


    the power from a manual! He must have cheated by using some magic weapon!"


    Rufus lost his mind, screaming at Zenith and the other four elders in despair as hey limp on the


    ground.


    The spectators agreed with Rufus. They looked at Ricky and the elders back and forth with puzzled,


    shocked eyes.


    None of the elders stopped them. They were extremely confused as well. So they turned their eyes to


    Ricky, expecting an exnation.


    "Wow! You coward! You don''t even have the courage to admit that you lost! The number one outer


    disciple? My ass!" Ricky said scornfully to Rufus. Then he turned to face the elders.


    "Chief, Elders, I understand that you are suspicious about me all because you don''t think I have a


    spiritual meridian," Ricky exined calmly. "However, that''s not the case."


    "What do you mean by that, Ricky? Exin yourself, please!" Elder Evan eximed.


    "The truth is that I did have a spiritual meridian. But it was destroyed by the Nan n," Ricky


    exined. "However, the assassin they sent to hurt me was just a warrior of Blood Purification. He


    destroyed only a part of my spiritual meridian.


    So, I still have a piece of my spiritual meridian left in me!


    And it makes it possible for me to be able to practice the manual!"


    "Oh, my God!"


    "Unbelievable! Only a piece of the spiritual meridian?"


    "Is it really possible to have only a part of the spiritual meridian?" The crowd started to chatter loudly


    upon hearing Ricky''s ims.


    "Ha-ha. How wretched you are! What a splendid excuse!" Rufus bitterly staggered to his feet, shouting


    sneeringly.


    Ricky did not respond to him. He just remained silent, still facing the elders.


    "Silence, please!" Elder Evan called out to regain the peace at the arena.


    "Is there anyone here from the Nan n?" Elder Evan asked, attempting to verify Ricky''s statement.


    Slowly, three men stood up, scared and trembling.


    "Y... Yes, Elder Evan! We are," they answered anxiously.


    "What Ricky has just revealed, is it true? Did he really have a spiritual meridian before?" asked Elder


    Evan.


    "Yes!" "Yes!" "Yes!" all three admitted at once. They did not dare lie to the elders. The consequences


    for that were grave.


    Because the disciples from the Nan n had testified, Ricky became trustworthy in the eyes of the


    spectators once again.


    Elder Evan turned to Zenith.


    He nodded slightly. Zenith, on the other hand, stood up, collected some snowkes, and transferred


    them to Ricky using his internal strength. This was another way to determine the truth.


    "It''s up to you now, my dear regained spiritual meridian, if we seed!" Ricky murmured silently to


    himself when he saw what Zenith 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 snowke near the meridian center of his brain make a loop before it flew away.


    ''Whoohh! That was close!'' Ricky sighed to himself.


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


    "Yes, there is an iplete spiritual meridian in Ricky''s body. Seems that it was destroyed once,"


    Zenith dered, 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 iplete 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 be an outright legend!"


    "But it''s still iplete, after all! Could it really be as powerful as aplete spiritual meridian? I doubt


    it."


    "Same here. I''m dubious that he would go that far with such an iplete 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 use 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 ce 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 andpetitions 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.