CHAPTER 497 THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

Having decided that they should recover and improve before the enemies came, the four of them as

well as Soar started to look for the most concealed corner in that Small World to hide themselves. By

then, it seemed like the more time they could buy for themselves, the more likely that they would have

a chance of winning. All of them knew that it would all come down to expediency. No matter how much

they wanted to get more enlightening marks, they were well aware that Pearl and her men would find

them almost instantly once they showed themselves.

So they thought that they might as well recharge their energies before they encountered the pursuing

troops. On their way, Ricky introduced Yedda and Yolanda to Soar and Madeline. In fact, Soar had

already heard about the two sisters before. He knew a little bit about their background so he got a little

curious and confused as to how they ended up traveling with Ricky.

Right away, he asked Ricky about it. Ricky didn't think much about the question and promptly answered

it.

However, the moment Soar found out about the whole story, he candidly began to tease Ricky about

making the two beautiful girls as his women. Of course, Soar knew what he was doing. He could tell

that Ricky had already gotten over Grace, and a topic like this wouldn't grate on his nerves.

After all, he and Ricky were like brothers after everything they had been through, so even if Ricky

wouldn't ever bring up the topic, Soar could somehow sense how Ricky was feeling by mere intuition.

As expected, Ricky had taken the joke quite well. He simply denied it while he was torn between

laughing and crying.

It was another good thing that the two sisters and Madeline were getting along quite well. For a while,

everyone felt truly relaxed in their journey.

Soon enough, they found a safe and secluded place to settle down. Both Soar and Madeline found a

quiet cave where they could both retreat into cultivation. Every single second mattered right then, and

they could not lose any time that they had. For the faster they could acquire the equivalent power of a

first-class lower spiritual king, the more secure they would be when the enemies came.

When he saw that Soar and Madeline had proceeded to cultivating in seclusion, Ricky began to

prepare himself as well.

But he knew that before anything, safety ought to come as their first priority. So the first thing Ricky did

was ask Yedda and Yolanda to secure the perimeters of their location. Before they could leave,

however, he equipped them with runic power. He did this so that he would be able to sense if there was

danger, even if they couldn't wake him up in time.

Having accomplished all the necessary tasks to secure the place, Ricky found himself a cave and

prepared for the practice as well.

Overall, he had three goals in this round of cultivation.

First, he should improve and obtain the equivalent power of a second-class lower spiritual king. He truly

believed that he could make it. It was already a given that he was a confident and ambitious young

man. Moreover, he had vowed to become an ace genius of this time.

Ricky thought that if he couldn't have the equivalent power of a second-class lower spiritual king as a

demi-immortal, growing into an ace genius was out of the question.

Second, he would like to completely integrate the Gale Zone into his body. He also wanted to make

sure that this zone would work as one with him, just like the other three zones that he already had. If he

could build his body up with the gale power, he could master the Gale Zone much better.

To make further progress, his third goal was to master the gale rune as best as he could and develop

the Omnipotent Skill of this kind of rune in his Gale Zone.

When he had reached these three goals, he was confident that he could apply the power of the four

zones and four kinds of runes, in addition to the power of the sacred fire and peculiar fire. With all of

these, Ricky knew that he would be confident and ready, not just to fight but defeat even a first-class

lower spiritual king.

With these particular goals set and his mind cleared, Ricky became immersed in his practice.

Improving his fighting ability was a good way to strengthen his enlightening power. But to better

understand and master the enlightening power, it was time for Ricky to try and forge his own soul.

In essence, the reason why an innate spiritual warrior was stronger than a warrior at the level of Bone

Reinforcement or a demi-immortal was that an innate spiritual warrior had a stronger soul.

For any reason, only through his soul could a creature—man or beast alike—have the ability to

understand and control all the power in heaven and earth, and further master the supreme

enlightenment of the world. So it could be said that the soul would be the ultimate foundation to one's

journey into the world of stronger martial arts.

As to what exactly was a soul and how to forge one's own, Ricky already had the relative knowledge

thanks to the inheritance that he got from the Ruin Demi-spiritual Emperor.

What Ricky knew was that to forge a good soul, it was rather important that he could use the powers of

his zones well and fuse them into his soul so that he could make a complete soul that was easy

enough to control. That was because his body had already been merged together with his regained

spiritual meridian and all of the zones that he had. If he wanted his soul to become part of him, he

would have to do the same to it.

With all of these goals in his mind, Ricky had already cultivated in seclusion for a fleeting time of two

months.

During that amount of time, a lot of things had happened on the battleground in this Small World. In the

end, all the warriors and creatures had either surrendered to Pearl or had been banished out of the

Small World by her after she had snatched their enlightening marks. Under Pearl's tyranny, there was

no middle ground.

Of course, for Pearl, the more warriors and creatures she could banish from this world and the more

enlightening marks she could obtain, the better. But she knew that the Oriental College would not allow

it. So when the number of warriors and creatures had roughly matched the amount that the Oriental

College planned to enroll, she stopped what she had been doing.

Under such circumstances, the Oriental College was able to finish its selection of warriors in advance.

However, the Heavenly Ape Demi-spiritual Emperor refused to call an end to it. All the disciples of the

Oriental College clearly knew what was on his mind—he wanted to see with his own eyes who on earth

would win in the end, Pearl or Ricky.

However, what alluded to everyone's consciousness was that the emperor had his own biases, like any

other regular gambler. In his heart, he had great confidence and faith in Ricky. That was why he wanted

to stay and watch how things were going to unfold.

"Sir, as I see it, Pearl is now getting the upper hand since she has gathered almost all the qualified

warriors under her command. Meanwhile, Ricky...well, he only obtained a few brave souls and a beast.

I don't think he would stand a chance even if some of them might make one or two breakthroughs.

Shall we just conclude this trial now?" the Skyward Sword Spiritual King discreetly suggested to the

Heavenly Ape Demi-spiritual Emperor through his internal power of telepathy.

He then quickly added, "Besides, this wouldn't be against the selection rules of our college. The one

from the Luxurious Chamber of Commerce wouldn't have any grounds of objecting to it, right?"

"I understand that you have misgivings. Believe me, I really do. But If I'm not too old to make

judgments, I, in fact, believe in these guys—Ricky, and his companions. I can tell that Ricky is a

peerless genius at the second level, and a rare kind. He is the kind of warrior where there's more to

him than meets the eye. I've been closely observing him these past few days, and I have a feeling that

this young man still has a lot of things up in his sleeve," the Heavenly Ape Demi-spiritual Emperor

softly responded.

"So, I think it would be a very good opportunity to test his potentials through a battle with Pearl.

If he fails, our dean will take action and discreetly bring him back to the college. After all, the selection

has already ended."

"What? Do you mean to say that the dean is also involved in this thing?" the two spiritual kings asked

with utter surprise when they heard what the Heavenly Ape Demi-spiritual Emperor had just said.

"Indeed. From the very beginning, the dean is involved in this selection. Remember what he did when

Jasper was making progress? He won't just sit back and watch when a peerless genius at the second

level like Ricky shows up, you all know that," the Heavenly Ape Demi-spiritual Emperor explained with

a smile.

Meanwhile, Pearl didn't stop searching for Ricky and his companions. After she had gathered all the

powerful warriors and spiritual king beasts to help her, finding a few people and a beast was like a

piece of cake for her.

So it only took her about ten more days to find where Ricky and his companions were hiding and owns this text.

cultivating. Without a second of delay, she launched an attack.

At the desolated corner of the Small World, a swarm of warriors and spiritual king beasts were quickly

enclosing the hide-out of Ricky and his companions. By seconds, they had managed to encircle the

place with ease, leaving not a single space for Ricky and his companions to escape.

A moment later, the main force arrived as well. The four warriors who were leading the army were none

other than Pearl, Bernard from the Ruin Leopard tribe, Louie from the Bing Clan, and Hardy from the

Jiang Clan.

"I've been looking for you for nearly two months, Ricky. Don't you think you should come out and have

a nice chat with us? We all want to see what a peerless genius is capable of," Pearl called out with a

smile of triumph on her face. Wearing a blue battle suit, Pearl showed a heroic spirit that was rarely

seen in a woman. She looked intimidating and confident, which could also be felt from her clear and

loud voice. With that formidable army behind her, she had every reason to believe that the odds were

for her and against Ricky.

"Wow, if it isn't our future top bird of the Oriental Realm! What an honor!" It was Soar who answered

Pearl. "Seems like you're in hot pursuit of Ricky. Couldn't wait to bring him back to your place and

produce some handsome little babies with him, huh?" Soar gave a big laugh, apparently having a little

fun as he faced Ricky's enemies.

"Well, I understand that a beauty like you really wants to make full use of your genetic gifts, yet I'm so

sorry that you might not be my buddy's type. But the good thing is, I like you very much. How about

taking me back instead and letting me help you produce some heirs for the Luxurious Chamber of

Commerce?"

Soar continued to tease Pearl while he along with Madeline, Yedda and Yolanda walked out of their

caves altogether.

All of them were wearing a smile, but in reality, they came out with a heavy heart. They knew what was

waiting for them—Pearl and all of the most powerful warriors and spiritual king beasts in this Small

World. This was clearly bound be to a fierce battle.

"How dare you offend Pearl like this! Watch your tongue or you will have to pay for it!"