Chapter 178 Keep Challenging

"How could he..." Elder Evan was at a loss for words as confusion engulfed him. Jaws dropped for
everyone in the arena because none of them had expected the result of the combat.

As a warrior at the seventh grade of Blood Purification, Ricky defeated Hector with a landslide victory.
His win validated his strength and power to the eyes of the disciples. And this only proved that The
Misty South Faction was a force to be reckoned with and that his goals were achieved.

Given his current victory, he did not need to complete one more challenge. He was already done.

But, Ricky, being himself, being one of the legends in the history of martial arts, decided to take on
more challenges. Not only did he choose to accept more fights, but he also chose to battle the top one
and top two of the inner disciples at the same time. As the battle went on to two against one, Ricky
could prove his strength and his worth not only to the audience in the arena, but also to the entire
marital arts community.

Generally speaking, if one, being at the seventh grade of Blood Purification, could defeat someone at
the ninth grade of Blood Purification, then surely he would be renowned as a genius in the martial arts.
And now, Ricky did not stop at merely defeating Hector. The insatiable thirst for more victories truly
made him try to defeat two at once and those new opponents were both senior warriors at the ninth
grade of Blood Purification, two grades above him. In those eyes of spectators, he must have been
either wildly arrogant or completely insane.

This was the way Ricky's brain was wired. He was vengeful. He would take down anyone who
oppressed and look down on the Misty South Faction. To him, it was not enough that he got to keep his
faction. To him, it was a must to knock all the enemies down.

But after Ricky made his announcement of who he was about to challenge, the audience gasped and
stared at Gennadi and Wyn, the top one and top two respectively. All eyes were on them as the
disciples awaited the warriors' response to the invitation.



The top two inner disciples were shocked at the challenge. They never knew that Ricky could be so
arrogant. They never expected Ricky to have that much greed and anger towards them for once
opposing the Misty South Faction. To them, Ricky was crazy for revenge and dominance.

Both Gennadi and Wyn were irritated by Ricky's condescending action. It made them envious on
Ricky's journey to power and improvement that he could already match theirs. How could he reach that
strength in such a short period of time? It also made them feel that they were underestimated by such
an obnoxious warrior. How could a seventh grade of Blood Purification warrior beat two warriors both
two grades above him at the same time? He must be dreaming!

"So? Do you accept the challenge or not? Give me an answer!" Ricky asked once again, impatiently.

"Ricky, you are too arrogant! We are certainly going to accept your challenge to make you know
yourself better. But today, we don't need to have a fight against you as you have consumed too much
energy with your previous fights. At this time tomorrow, it is I, Gennadi, who will fight till you know why I
am regarded as the best among others,"

Gennadi replied coldly with a killing intent.

"Ha-ha! Sure, since you are offering me an one-day break, I won't reject it. See you at this time
tomorrow!" Ricky said while he let out a laugh.

Ricky was sure of Gennadi's intention to move the fight for one more day. He was aware that Gennadi
would take advantage of this break to talk to Hector in private so that he would know what kind of
power Ricky was capable of.

After all, it was quite bizarre that it was unclear what had defeated Hector. Even if Ricky's power was
over the top, surely, Hector possessed that as well. If they were at the same level, clearly Hector could
have fought longer. He could not possibly be defeated in just one blow.



This only meant one thing-- whatever Ricky did to attack Hector was so powerful and so instantaneous
that Hector did not have any time to counter or even react. It was a quick and powerful blow, a clear-cut
win.

"Tomorrow, I assure you, would be the final fight!" Gennadi said fiercely.

"Oh yes, I am going to challenge your mixed dual strengths. Don't forget to bring Wyn along. I want
both of you to come, not just you. See you at this time tomorrow," Ricky added as he walked off the
arena.

"Wildly arrogant! Conceited!" shouted the members of the Casting Faction and the Refinement Faction
as they watched Ricky's figure fading into the background.

Ricky and the other members of the Misty South Faction all left with smug faces. Others followed suit
while discussing what could happen in tomorrow's big fight.

......

Meanwhile, in a small room in the Refinement Faction's courtyard, Hector had just woken up from his
coma. The truth was, he never passed out during the his battle with Ricky. The whole fainting thing was
just a sham because he was too ashamed of himself for being defeated by someone inferior to him.

He opened his eyes and saw that Gennadi and Wyn were inside his room. They sat with him and
waited for him to wake up. They have a lot of questions prepared for him as they tried to scoop out all
the information they need for tomorrow's battle with Ricky. There was no other person to ask but
Hector, since he was the one who got the beating.

"Oh, my dear seniors, I'm sorry that I lost the battle and brought shame to Casting Faction and
Refinement Faction today. I feel so humiliated," Hector said heavily, with eyes full of remorse and



anger. He felt more than just embarrassment from his defeat. He wanted to tear Ricky to the ground for
what had happened. His eyes filled with tears as he said his apologies to his masters.

"Hector, failure means nothing. We were just wondering why you suffered such a swift defeat without
any stiff resistance," Gennadi asked warmly.

"Oh yes. Tell us about that! So... what happened?" Wyn asked anxiously, too.

"I can only tell you so much. Ricky's power is quite strange as it actually encompasses two different
strengths. As soon as my power collided with his, most of my power was devoured by his first strength
in a snap," Hector stated, still with a chill shock and fear.

"While his first strength devoured my power, his second strength suddenly blew out and directly
swarmed into my right arm, ready to bombard my inside spiritual meridian. I have never seen anything
like his second strength! It was the most ferocious and aggressive power that I have ever encountered
in all of my battles!"

"I never had the chance to counter his attack toward my spiritual meridian. It all happened too quickly.
He had already aimed for my body before I was able to do anything. Were it not for my timely reaction,
my right arm would have been fractured and disabled by now..."

"So during that time, I didn't have extra energy to pay him back at all! I had no choice but to accept
defeat."

"He can control two strengths at the same time. One can devour, and the other is quite ferocious and
aggressive!" Gennadi and Wyn's faces were full of fear after they heard Hector's statement.

"Yes, that's what I'm talking about. I could have made efforts to avoid the second attack. But, his odd
devouring strength can hardly be resisted. He can only be defeated if there was a contender much
more powerful than him," Hector said sadly, while he calmed himself down.



"It seems that he is clinging on to this ace card of his. That's why he has the gall to challenge two
seniors of the ninth grade of Blood Purification at the same time! He is just so full of himself," Wyn said
and almost did a flip upon realizing what kind of power Ricky had.

"Gennadi, I think it was a good thing that you rejected his challenge today. And if you didn't, you might
have probably ended with another failure today."

"Yup, I agree with you. So, according to Hector, Ricky's one-of-a-kind strength is very tricky to counter if
you are not prepared for it. I guess we should thank you, Hector. We don't have anything to worry about
now since we know about how he is in the battlefield," Gennadi said, feeling ultimately relieved.

"Gennadi, what is your ace card? I'm sure you're going to devise a plan to defeat Ricky tomorrow.
There must be some tricks up your sleeve, right?" Wyn asked curiously after finding that Gennadi's
face showed a glimmer of hope, relief, and confidence.

"If Ricky is inclined to devour his rival's power with his strange strength, I will make sure that he
devours as much as he can until he can't contain the power anymore. When he's done devouring, that
will be my queue to take advantage and attack his weak spots," Gennadi said slightly, with a sinister
smile emerging on his lips.

......

Meanwhile, Ricky and his allies were in a circle in a small room in the Misty South Faction's courtyard.

"Ricky, you didn't need to make such a brag today. It will be much more dangerous for you to deal with
both Gennadi and Wyn at the same time. Think about it. By now, they must have figured out a way to
beat you during the one-day break," Autelan said.



"And another point should be taken into consideration -- Gennadi is most likely to have almost made
himself to Bone Reinforcement!"

Autelan warned Ricky. With their assumption of Gennadi's power, Edgar and the others became
anxious about tomorrow's battle.

The almost complete access to Bone Reinforcement meant that Gennadi's power had been utterly
upgraded and even preceded the power of Blood Purification.

"Autelan, take it easy. I am well aware of his intent of rejecting today's battle. And, he must fight against
me for over one hundred rounds before he'll know about my ace," Ricky replied with a kind of fearless
confidence written on his face.

"Wyn, he will not stand out to fight against me, because he needs to retain his pride and his title as a
genius."

"As for Gennadi, he is indeed a tricky figure to deal with. I didn't know that he's almost about to reach
Bone Reinforcement. But, needless to say, I have no fear of any warriors of Blood Purification. He still
belongs in this level anyway and hasn't surpassed it. Why should I be bothered?"

Ricky said with a fearless tone. His courage blinded and shocked the people who were listening to him.
All just hoped that nothing went wrong in the battle tomorrow.

"You are one incredible guy...always so confident, and even arrogant!" Autelan laughed and said,
shaking his head slightly at the sound of Ricky's firm belief in tomorrow's victory.

Autelan felt more relieved when he knew that his warnings were not in vain. Somehow he did believe in
Ricky because the other day, some power inside of him was resonating with the red fire inside of Ricky.
And that definitely wasn't anything simple to deal with.


62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda