"I promise to use my real name when I make a breakthrough to the level of an innate spirit," Ricky hastened to explain through his mind after hearing what the Chief of the Sky Manor had just said.
The Chief had simply rolled her eyes at Ricky when she heard his insensible answer. From her point of view, Ricky was just talking nonsense because everyone already knew that when the time came that he reached the level of an innate spirit, there was no need for such. After all, when he turned into an innate spiritual king, he would be a member of the Royal Sky Guard no more, but merely a friend of the Sky Manor at most.
"Well, I was wondering what would my reward be if I win this battle, Chief." Ricky inquisitively wondered.
"I haven't made up my mind about it yet, but don't worry, I will tell you when you proceed to our Treasury Vault with me to claim the Treasures from Heaven and Earth. I assure you that you will be granted what you rightfully deserve," the chief casually replied to lighten up the mood.
"Thank you so much, Chief!" Ricky bowed while cupping his hands to express his gratitude. He couldn't contain his excitement about the victory and the trophies waiting for him at the end of the line. The fight was meant to prove their fighting capacities beyond their built and gut as warriors, but Ricky's interest was focused on the grand prizes presented. What he could expect were not only plenty of a cultivation method of the intermediate Black Level and innumerable Treasures from Heaven and Earth of the King Level, but also a number of mysterious rewards from the third round of competition. This was more than worth it!
Soon enough, the competition had concluded.
After two days of full rest and recovery, Ricky excitedly headed to the Sky Manor's Cultivation Method Hall to pick the cultivation method he had deservingly earned.
Now, every member of the Sky Manor was talking about this young man. After knowing about his extraordinary performance in the competition, they celebrated and looked up to him. After all, not many warriors they knew of could defeat someone as powerful as Lucas and ended in a draw with Owen. So bringing both of them down was really something worth the credit.
The fact that Ricky's level was in fact lower than Lucas and Owen had almost made him legendary.
What was more impressive was Ricky's humility. He didn't seem to be an arrogant man despite all his achievements. When the disciples greeted him out of recognition, he would readily greet them back with friendliness. This had made the disciples from the Sky Manor favor and appreciate him more.
There were six floors in the Cultivation Method Hall of the Sky Manor, and all the cultivation methods of the intermediate stage of the Black Level were placed at the fourth floor. So Rick rushed to that floor without any hesitation.
From his past experience, the devouring power could be used most extensively. With this he assumed that all the cultivation methods, whatever their natures were, could be mastered through deploying the devouring power. However, the fire-natured cultivation methods could only match the power of the Chaotic Fire, and the gold-natured cultivation methods the power of massacring.
After much consideration and though, Ricky decided that he would pick two most promising cultivation methods, the fire-natured and the gold-natured ones. Of course, he had to shell out, might it be with his own money or some other precious items with an equal value, for the other one of the cultivating methods he aspired to have, because he only had won one for free.
It was an unwritten rule that only disciples from the Royal Sky Guard in the Sky Manor were allowed to enter the fourth floor of the hall, so Ricky found himself unaccompanied when he had arrived. Instead of feeling alone, he was instead glad that no one else was around to disturb him because he could focus more on choosing the perfect cultivation methods.
Even for a force of innate spirits like the Sky Manor, cultivation methods of the intermediate stage of the Black Level were quite rare and precious. That was why options were limited; only less than a hundred of them were available in store.
Luckily, of the hundred cultivation methods, many were fire-natured and gold-natured, so it didn't take Ricky much time to pick the methods that he had already planned of getting which surely suited him the best.
The two methods he selected were called Smashing Blade Attack and Scorching Golden Fist.
The first one, the Smashing Blade Attack was of fire-natured and a kind of cultivation method for saber. It would take its user at least fifty percent of his saber-light for activation, which was a rather harsh condition for most warriors.
But this method was worth it because its power increased in four levels. The first level--the earth-breaking level, could destroy mountains and rivers and other bodies of land and water. The second level--the space-breaking level, could tear the space apart when the user had optimally reached the demi-immortal level. The third level--the heaven-breaking level, could help the user bring out all his energy and saber-light to bestow a fatal blow. Of course, the name 'heaven-breaking' was hyperbole, for the heaven was not that easy to be destructed, but the method's power was deserving of such namesake.
As for its highest level, which was called the Three-in-one Strike, all the energies used in the first three levels would be combined. But its ultimate power would depend on the warrior's learning abilities and explosive power.
Ricky had chosen the second one, the Scorching Golden Fist, mainly for his massacring power in the Massacring Zone. This method was special enough for its power was not shown by the levels like many other methods but merely dependent on its user. In other words, as the power grew within the warrior, the more powerful the user was, the more destructive it would become.
The secret lay in the number of fists the user could create. Generally speaking, the more powerful a warrior was, the more energy he could hold, and the more these kinds of fists he could create in one time. As the number of fists increased, the power they carried would also be multiplied.
"But don't worry, just tell me what kind of treasure you are looking for and I will pick one for you. You can be sure that the one I grant will meet all your stated requirements. There's no need for me to be a fraud on this matter since I have already brought you in here, right?" the chief said, trying to put Ricky's mind at ease.
"I do believe you, Chief. Let me see… I think I would like something that could hold both the fire and ice natures at the same time. Something as strong as that. Is that possible?" Ricky innocently asked after trying to make sense of his thoughts.
He made the decision after some self-assessment. By now, his priority was to enhance his Nine-degree Body Refining Formula. The treasure he had in mind was apparently for assisting in the cultivation of this skill.
It was almost impossible for him to defeat the innate spiritual king when he had only reached the demi-immortal level. Besides, unlike Soar, Ricky wasn't born with any extraordinary blood power so he had to work harder and improve himself if he wanted to challenge the innate spiritual king.
To this end, practicing the Nine-degree Body Refining Formula and making sure that he could reach its highest level was no doubt a key aspect. Therefore, if he wanted to beat the innate spiritual king, cultivating the formula was the most important thing at the time being.
"Having both the fire and ice natures in one? That is quite unusual. Who told you that we would have this kind of treasure in our Treasury Vault? Was it Kristen?" the chief asked out of surprise.
"No, you can be sure that she has never mentioned anything like this to me, Chief. I came up with a treasure like this simply because I really need one. Forgive me if that's too much to ask," Ricky gratefully said.
But secretly, he was quite happy about the chief's reaction. It seemed that they really had something like that in their Treasury Vault, or else the chief would not ask if Kristen had told him about such a thing. What was most interesting was the surprise on the chief's face, which told that the treasure might be a very precious one. Now Ricky could hardly hold back his excitement.
"I have to say that you are, indeed, a lucky man, Ricky," the chief said, shaking her head a bit helplessly.
Then, with a wave of her hand, she selected one of the storage rings. The ring vibrated a little and a colorful object in the shape of a fruit showed up out of the blue.
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