Chapter 10 The Fourth Grade Of Skin Refinement


    Following Grace, Ricky came to a small courtyard.


    "This is where I usually live." Grace said to Ricky, "No matter you are a nominal disciple or a formal


    disciple, you are my disciple. And as long as I epted you as my disciple, I will try my best to teach


    you everything I know."


    Pausing for a moment, Grace continued, "So from now on, you can live in this small courtyard. Use this


    as your own."


    "Thank you, Master Grace!" Ricky happily answered. Because of his master''s generosity, Ricky, without


    a doubt, would dly ept whatever Grace would ask of him.


    "Here are two bottles of Body Refining Pills. You could take them first. As for the cultivation methods, I''ll


    pick out the one that best suits you in the next two days," said Grace. After that, Grace gave Ricky the


    bottles of Body Refining Pills and reminded him, "Systematical training needs blood vitality. You can


    just go to Snow Kitchen Hall to buy it."


    After giving him instructions on everything, Grace prepared to go out. Ricky realized that Grace still had


    some things to do


    "Master..." Ricky embarrassingly called out Grace in an attempt to stop her from leaving.


    "Do you have any other questions?" Grace faced him and asked. Although her tone was light and her


    intention was good, the way Grace asked came out coldly and serious. Maybe it was because of the


    birthmark that marred her beautiful face so that she never smiled while talking, not even once.


    "I...I just want to ask how much blood meat I could buy with three copper coins." Taking out the


    remaining three copper coins from his pocket, Ricky asked in an embarrassed voice.


    Upon hearing Ricky''s innocent question, Grace immediately understood what her student actually


    meant.


    Her eyes could not help but show a bit of helplessness and pity towards her apprentice. Then she took


    out a small bag from her Storage Ring and said, "Here, there are fifty silver coins in this. Take it!"


    "Thank you very much, Master." Ricky gratefully received the coins from his master.


    "You do not need to thank me, Ricky. I lent the fifty silver coins to you. You have to return them for me.


    And you need also return me the two bottles of Body Refining Pills. They are valued at fifty silver coins.


    You should pay me back one hundred silver coins in total after a month!"


    Grace said with obvious amusement in her eyes and then she left. Ricky was left there standing


    stunned in disbelief.


    ...


    Inside the small courtyard, Ricky sat cross-legged in the wooden bed. He muttered to himself,


    "Systematical training is hard. And then if there is no money, there are no resources. No resources, no


    chance of breaking through the next grade. So, I need to find a way to earn money. Hunting and killing


    fierce animals is the only thing I''m good at. Maybe that''s the only way I can earn money now!


    But first, I need to break through the third grade of Skin Refinement to reach the fourth. After all, the


    Snow Mountain is not like the Stone City. It could only be more dangerous.


    With these two bottles of Body Refining Pills that Master Grace gave, I have thirty Body Refining pills in


    total now. This should be enough for me to break through to the sixth grade of Skin Refinement."


    Then Ricky tried to concentrate his energies and prepared for a breakthrough.


    Now, there was plenty of blood vitality on his body. It was enough for him to break through the third


    grade. So he intended to go out to buy blood meat in the Snow Kitchen Hall after reaching the fourth


    grade of Skin Refinement.


    Taking out one Body Refining Pill from the bottle, Ricky swallowed it.


    Although he had taken Body Refining Pills for his past breakthrough, Ricky knew that it would surely


    make his foundation more solid if he would take the pills now. It was necessary for his systematic


    training in the future if he had a more solid foundation.


    After swallowing the Body Refining Pill, Ricky then immediately activated the spiritual energy in his


    body. He tried to digest the Body Refining Pill quickly and made the pill integrate into the mystic


    meridians residing in his body. Through the spiritual meridian, the pill would incorporate into his whole


    body, purifying his flesh and bone, until he was pure and there was no impurities discharged.


    After the absorption of the Body Refining Pill, Ricky''s body gradually emitted ck, gooey substances.


    One, two, three... Soon, Ricky swallowed ten Body Refining Pills. But the impurities on his body still


    continued to ooze out.


    "This... What''s going on? Why is this happening? Are ten Body Refining pills still not enough?"


    Ricky could not believe what had happened. He clearly knew that most people just needed five Body


    Refining Pills or so to break through the third grade of Skin Refinement. Some genius might need


    seven or eight pills.


    But now even after taking ten pills, it was not enough for him. Moreover, he had already gone through


    the breakthrough once before his original spiritual meridian was destroyed and had eliminated the


    impurities. Surely, the pills he needed should be less than what he took.


    "Is it because my new spiritual meridian? Is there something wrong with it?" Ricky guessed.


    However, Ricky decided that he would not be stingy. The more impurities his body discharged, the


    better his systematic foundation would be.


    After swallowing twenty-five Body Refining Pills, Ricky stopped emitting impurities from his body.


    At the moment, Ricky''s whole body had been enveloped by a mass of ck cocoon. The stench of foul


    odor pervaded the whole yard. Instantly, the smell hit Ricky''s nose. He almost wanted to find a seam to


    drill down immediately.


    However, right after the elimination of impurities, Ricky knew that it was the best time to break through.


    So he decided to just endure the upsetting smell, activating the spiritual meridian to absorb the spiritual


    energy of heaven and earth.


    ...


    It took almost half a day when Grace came back.


    As soon as she came back, she immediately smelled the reeking smell emitting from the small yard.


    She immediately knew that the odor source wasing from Ricky''s room. Grace entered his room


    within a few quick strides.


    Of course, by the time she entered the room, she was almost dizzy by the pungent smell. Good thing,


    Grace was strong enough to endure it. Her ability to concentrate was pretty good.


    Immediately, Grace looked toward the ck cocoon that had now enclosed Ricky. She could not


    believe what she was seeing now.


    She definitely could figure out that the ck things were the elimination of impurities. But she just did


    not understand that how could someone at the third grade of Skin Refinement discharge so many


    impurities.


    Crack!


    The ck cocoon suddenly cracked. When the cocoon opened, Ricky''s body was revealed. At this


    time, Ricky''s aura waspletely different from earlier. There could be no denying that he had finally


    broken through the third grade of Skin Refinement.


    "Master, you are back!" Ricky eximed as he opened his eyes and saw Grace. He called her happily.


    "You have reached the fourth grade!" Grace murmured. She felt really strange because she knew that


    Ricky did not have any spiritual meridian in his body.


    "Master, I just felt that the need to break through. So I wanted to give it a try. But I didn''t expect that I


    would seed at my first try." Ricky bashfully scratched his head and felt a little embarrassed to admit


    that. He also knew that it was an amazing feat to break through the third grade and reach the


    intermediate stage of Skin Refinement when he had no spiritual meridian at all.


    However, even though that Grace was now his master, he could not admit to her that he had regained


    his spiritual meridian, a rtively strange but magical one.


    "Give it a try?" Upon hearing her disciple''s words, Grace was quite surprised.


    It was the first time she had heard someone ''had a try'' on breakthrough as breakthrough needed to


    prepare for a long time. It was not an easy thing.


    "How many Body Refining Pills did you take?" Worried, Grace asked seriously.


    "Master, I took twenty-five pills. But I think it''s not too much, is it?" Ricky felt more embarrassed to


    admit the truth. But he did not want to lie to Grace about this matter.Còntens bel0ngs to N?(v)elDr/a/ma.Org


    "What?" Hearing that Ricky took twenty-five pills, Grace could not keep calm anymore. She broke from


    her usual indifferent expression.


    "You didn''t lie to me, did you?" Grace asked Ricky again as she could not believe what he said.


    "Master, although I don''t want to admit that, it is really the truth. I took twenty-five pills to break


    through!" Ricky nodded with sincerity.


    Still in disbelief, Grace put her hand into Ricky''s pocket. Sure enough, there were only five Body


    Refining Pills left on the bottles that she gave him earlier.


    With the evidence right in front of her, Grace had to believe what Ricky said. She knew that Ricky could


    not deceive her.


    But somehow, Grace really could not keep still. She had heard that someone consumed eleven Body


    Refining Pills to break through the inferior stage of Skin Refinement. But she had never heard someone


    needing twenty-five Body Refining Pills for the breaking of the third grade. It was just too ridiculous.


    "Master..." Looking at Grace''s expression of disbelief, Ricky hesitantly called her.


    "Go ahead and clean yourself up. Clean your room, too. After thate to my room. We need to talk,"


    Grace said slowly with a deep sigh.