The legendary warrior novel Chapter 170

In a few months, the competition became more and more fierce among the Snow Sect, it was the power play between the two major forces-- Zenith and Boris. Neither one nor the other wanted to give in, and they put everything on the line to get their hands on the glory of victory.

The longer Boris stepped into the realm of middle spiritual king and showed persistence, the more vicious and aggressive the competition turned into. If two men ride on a horse, one must ride behind.

While the major core disciples and inner disciples got roped by the two camps, unable to do anything else, the rest of them might as well had been roped, too, since they only stayed still, perfectly rooted to the spot. They all quietly watched with bated breaths, not wanting to miss even a second of the battle before them.

However, Zenith had the upper hand. For one thing, he himself was a middle spiritual king long before Boris even stepped a foot into this realm, and as if that wasn't enough of an advantage, two-thirds of the elders supported him. He had a solid backing and it wasn't easy to beat him down.

The entire Snow Sect seemed calm, but beneath the cool surface of the water was a violent current, surging though the whole of the ocean and sweeping everything that dared to come along its path.

......

Meanwhile, Ricky's return certainly gained a lot of attention--both welcome and unwelcome.

It was a good thing that the people had no idea of what happened in the Earth Fire Land, otherwise this curious attention would have turned into an explosive one. People wouldn't stop talking about it, for sure, and Ricky wanted to avoid that as much as possible. Gaining attention due to people's curiosity was okay, but it was a different story for the kind of attention that fueled people's judgment.

'First, I will deal with the matters of the Misty South Faction and leave the Snow Sect. Otherwise, Boris would take the opportunity to attack me once what I did in the Earth Fire Land spreads here, ' Ricky thought.

'Besides, knowing that I have come back, those forces in the Earth Fire Land will come and hunt me down, too.'

Soon, Ricky returned to the small courtyard.

Seeing Grace and Heather brought a soft smile on his lips. He approached them in a steady pace and was received with warm familiarity. He then engaged in a conversation with them, telling them all about what happened in the Casting Guild and trying not to leave any detail behind. He felt comfortable with these two women, and he didn't feel the need to hide anything. He was sure they would never turn on him. And then, Ricky took out the Beast Fire that he acquired from Heaven Melting Pagoda and handed it to them. He believed the Beast Fire suited Grace and Heather more than him. The Beast Fire might be powerful, but it wasn't the only thing that Ricky had up his sleeves. And so, he decided to let it go.

The two women split the Beast Fires and the fire essence between them and thanked Ricky profusely. It wasn't everyday that they got their hands on the Beast Fire. Knowing how difficult it was to acquire it, they appreciated his gesture even more.

As for Grace refining the Beast Fire, Ricky wasn't worried at all. She was skilled and knowledgeable, and with her help, Heather would have no problems refining her share of the Beast Fire. They were a team.

Once they were finished talking about the Beast Fire and its refinement, they proceeded to discuss the Misty South Faction.

Grace told Ricky that the Misty South Faction in the Snow Sect was currently in a difficult situation.

This was mainly reflected by how the recruitment of disciples was going. In the nearly three months after Ricky left, there was little growth on the disciples of the Misty South Faction. The numbers were much smaller than they used to be. It was not a secret that the elders were disappointed with this development--or lack thereof.

Every time they recruited disciples, the Casting Faction and the Refinement Faction would enter the scene, causing a series of events that would eventually lead to chaos. Apart from showing the disciples that they had no future in the Misty South Faction, they also threatened the disciples who still wanted to join.

For the few brave disciples who persisted and joined the Misty South Faction, the Casting Faction and the Refinement Faction always found opportunities to torture them by sheer numbers. Even after they got into the Misty South Faction, the disciples were bullied, threatened, and treated like pests. It was only a matter of time before they gave up, and from what Grace and Heather heard, it usually took no more than a month to completely break their spirit. After they quit, the signs of distress were still there, and the former disciples found it hard to join a different faction for fear of getting the same kind of treatment.

Therefore, those disciples would not even dare to join the Misty South Faction at all, even if they wanted to.

And, a month ago, the fact that Amelia was out of the Snow Sect and Bertha put all the energy directly on the casting, which led to the disintegration of the Amber Faction. Thus, the Misty South Faction lost a powerful partner, and it was even more difficult to thrive under these circumstances.

It was not plausible for Grace, together with these core disciples, and Elder Samuel to stand up for them and help out. It was not a wise move to involve themselves in the problems of the faction, and there was little to no benefit in doing so.

Although Autelan had a high reputation, he was always alone. He was not incapable to deal with the Casting Faction and the Refinement Faction. If he tried to meddle in their business, the situation would only worsen, and that was not the kind of result they were hoping for.

As for Edgar, his current strength was nowhere near what was needed to overturn these events. He was still weak. He needed to train more than anything, and he could not afford to be distracted by the problems inside the faction.

"Well, it seems I think too little of the Sect." "Why did Amelia leave the Snow Sect?" Ricky asked in low voice, following what Grace had just said.

At this moment, Ricky could only think of the promise he had made to Amelia in the early days.

"I don't know. It is said that there Amelia has something powerful backing her up. Joining the Snow Sect was only for the sake of her temporary cultivation," Grace answered. "As for the real reason, I have no idea. And the sect chief does not want to say anything about it. His mouth is sealed."

"I see," Ricky muttered, a bit disappointed at the lack of information.

"So, Master, how many new recruits are there in the Misty South Faction at the moment?" Ricky asked after a few moments. The more he learned about the current number of the recruits, the more prepared he'd be in case he decided to make a move.

"No more than ten. It was Bertha and Agnes who brought them in," Grace said. "It occurred to me that there is a woman who seems to share the same agnate with Agnes. She is called Dora if I remember correctly. After she joined the Snow Sect, she joined the Misty South Faction."

"What does Dora want?" Ricky asked, confused.