The legendary warrior novel Chapter 73

'The voice might be coming from Elder Mateo, ' Ricky pondered.

Before he came here, Grace had told him something about the Snow Sect's Treasure Tower. For the longest time, Elder Mateo, the eighth elder in the sect, had been dutifully guarding it since.

*

"Elder, I have won the Outer Competition. I'm here to get my award," Ricky said respectfully.

"Oh? Are you the one who doesn't have a spiritual meridian? Come in," the Elder replied after a while. "But you have to come alone," he added, implying that Heather couldn't come with him inside the tower.

"Are you going to be okay here outside?" Ricky turned around to ask her. Heather smiled softly and told him she was going to be fine. With that, Ricky stepped inside the tower.

He looked around the whole place. There were only a few things that could be found around the ground floor—some tables, chairs, cushions and a big crude wood bed.

'This floor must be the place where Elder Mateo used to cultivate himself, ' Ricky thought to himself

Ricky walked and observed the place for a while, until he saw an old man with white hair who was sitting on a chair, drinking a cup of tea. Ricky guessed that he must be Elder Mateo.

"Elder," Ricky greeted respectfully.

After hearing Ricky's voice, Elder Mateo put his cup of tea down on the table and shifted his gaze to Ricky. He carefully studied him, looking at him up and down. Elder Mateo broke into a small smile and after a while of pondering, he said "Extraordinary. I see that you have a great foundation at the Skin Refinement"

"Thank you, Elder," Ricky bowed. He felt honored to be acknowledged by the eighth elder in the sect.

"About the Nine-degree Body Refining Formula, can you show it to me?" Elder Mateo asked while he sipped his tea. Ricky was stunned with the odd request.

He was taken aback with the old man's request. Stunned, he calmed himself down and replied, "Yes, Elder."

Ricky summoned his spiritual energy to activate the Nine-degree Body Refining Formula—his whole body turned orange immediately.

"Remarkable. Remarkable, indeed. Finally, someone can successfully cultivate this formula again. It's been a thousand years since the last time." Elder Mateo observed calmly but there was a glint in his eyes that sparked excitement. He stood up and walked up to Ricky.

"Here, drink this," Elder Mateo handed Ricky a cup of tea.

"Elder, please help yourself. I'm not thirsty." Ricky appreciated that Elder Mateo would offer him a cup of tea, but he rejected politely anyway.

"Just drink it," Elder Mateo said nonchalantly. He didn't expect Ricky would turn him down.

"Yes, Elder." Ricky accepted. He didn't want to be on the bad side of Elder Mateo, so he thought it was best to drink the tea instead.

He took the cup from Elder Mateo and drank all of its contents in one gulp.

Right after he gulped the tea, he realized at once that there was something different with it. It wasn't ordinary tea. He could sense something bubbling up in his stomach—an immense heat that radiated from within. He felt like the "tea" that he had drunk was going to burn his stomach up anytime. Eventually, the scorching heat started spreading into other parts of his body

"Elder, this..." Ricky asked apprehensively as he clutched his stomach to calm the heat inside.

"If you don't want to burn, you'd better sit and start cultivating yourself," Elder Mateo suggested with a smile.

Ricky understood what Elder Mateo meant at once. It seemed that this cup of tea was a gift from him. Without hesitation, he sat in lotus position to activate the Devouring Skill to cultivate the energy inside his body.

After a short while, Ricky felt the heat subside and translate into pure powerful energy. He could feel it flooding his whole body, strengthening him in effect.

Half an hour later, he reached the ninth grade of Skin Refinement.

'That's amazing!' Ricky exclaimed to himself. He got up and thanked Elder Mateo for the tea.

"It is called Lava Tea. The tea tree only grows on lava. It's one of the Treasures from Heaven and Earth. Even a small sip is able to enforce the grade of any warrior at Skin Refinement," Elder Mateo explained.