The legendary warrior novel Chapter 14

Three people made their way towards Ricky: a strong young man at the fourth grade of Skin Refinement; a pretty young girl in a light yellow skirt who could match the girl on the mountain peak just now; another young man in white raiment with a nice look but a grim gaze. The power radiating from the one in white was palpable—he was at least at the fifth grade of Skin Refinement, if not the sixth.

"Hey, buddy!" The strong one greeted Ricky with a smile.

"What's up?" Ricky asked.

"We're going hunting. Fierce beasts live deep in the snowy mountains. We could use a little practice and make some money to boot. Wanna come along?"

"I'm headed for the snowy mountain too," Ricky said with a smile.

"That's great! With four of us, we'll probably beat whatever comes our way," the girl exclaimed after hearing Ricky's response.

"So it's a done deal. I'm Lewis, by the way. This is Vivian. And that's Luther over there, the most powerful one of our little group. Don't let the mean look fool you. He's actually a good guy, ha ha!" Lewis said with a smile. "And I didn't catch your name?"

"Ricky!"

Upon hearing Ricky's name, Luther finally opened his mouth, as he gave the stink eye to Ricky. "Well, if it isn't the waste of blood.

Forget it. We don't need this guy. He doesn't have a spiritual meridian. He'd only slow us down.

Besides, this presumptuous piece of crap even wants to fight Wade!"

Luther sneered.

After hearing Luther's words, Ricky frowned, really wanting to put this guy in his place.

Lewis and Vivian were quite embarrassed by Luther's ranting. Word traveled fast, and they knew all about Ricky. He'd beaten Hurley, which was no mean feat. They thought he might be an asset.

Thinking quickly, Lewis draped an arm around Ricky's shoulders as a friendly gesture. "And sometimes Luther can be an asshole, too. Don't let it throw you."

"Yeah. Just ignore him. We do," Vivian agreed.

Luther then replied with a cold harrumph.

Luther chose to take up with Lewis and Vivian because he thought Vivian was hot. As Ricky didn't seem to be a rival, Luther didn't say anything more.

Looking deep into their eyes, Ricky could see they were sincere. He was going to turn them down, but he'd be embarrassed after they were so friendly to him. Giving the situation a mental shrug, he followed the three people deep into the snowy mountain.

...

"Snow Leopard at the fourth grade of Skin Refinement! Let me handle it!"

Deep in the snow mountain, a fierce snow leopard charged the group of four. Lewis roared as he met it, using his spiritual power to inflict damage to the great cat's vital areas, and using his spiritual power to deflect the creature's claws and teeth. Before too long, Lewis smashed the beast's skull in with his mace.

...

"Hey! Check out the double-tail fox! He has to be a creature at the fourth grade of Skin Refinement!" Vivian exclaimed. She dropped into a fighting stance. "I got this!"

For the last three days, they had encountered more than ten beats of Skin Refining, all at the fourth grade. Lewis and Vivian usually took care of them, and Ricky was too slow to keep up.

"Haha, a bumper harvest. A couple more and our packs will be full," Lewis said. Then he saw something, and his shout echoed through the snowy woods.

And they heard something very different from a human shout.

It was a loud, raspy hiss, and the sound made them all prepare for a fight.

On a conifer in front of them, a huge snow boa spiraled down, staring at them with terrifying scarlet eyes. The beast had to be at least five feet long. Its tongue darted in and out, and black glutinous venom spilled out, melting the patch of ice and snow it fell on. The boa's constriction abilities were less useful in finding food than they could have been, so mother nature let it keep its venom sacs.