Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-109

Manager Jia's solemn speech attracted the attention of the majority of the cultivators in the auction house.

".....There are three ways to replenish bloodlines: the first is to buy the wasted bloodlines of the same element from a cultivator of the same cultivation layer following their blood condensation process. However, it takes a lot of time and arcane energy to restore the lost arcane energy in the wasted bloodline.

“The second is to use a wasted bloodline of the same elements and a variety of rare spirit herbs to concoct a Bottleneck Breaking Pellet. This way, the process of replenishing the lost arcane energy in the wasted bloodlines can be greatly shortened.

“The third, which is also the most convenient and effective way, is to directly obtain the Condensed Blood Beads from cultivators of the same elements, and fuse the Condensed Blood Beads into the bloodline together with the arcane energy.

“However, this method is also the most difficult one to achieve. Not only does this method require cultivators to hunt and kill monster beasts in life and death situations, but it is also common for both cultivators and monsters to self-destruct their heartspace before their deaths, thereby destroying Condensed Blood Beads in the process.

“Therefore, Condensed Blood Beads are extremely rare. Finding compatible Condensed Blood Beads is even harder."

Manager Jia paused for a second, glancing over the audience who were carefully listening to him, he continued, "But although the Condensed Blood Beads are extremely rare, the auction house still managed to get our hands on some through various means and obtained several Condensed Blood Beads with different bloodlines and elements. My dear friends, it is with great privilege that I introduce the following Condensed Blood Beads to you!"

Amidst the outbursts from the cultivators, a young female cultivator delivered a box into Manage Jia’s hands. Manager Jia opened the box and revealed three Condensed Blood Beads, which were almost the size of soybeans.

Manager Jia introduced, “Three Condensed Blood Beads from a Third Layer Blood Condensation Realm wind-water element Peng bloodline. They are suitable for those of you who have a Peng foundation bloodline with either wind or water-element, or both, to use in your breakthrough from the Third Layer Blood Condensation Realm to the Fourth Layer.

“They are sold together as a unit. The starting price is 15,000 spirit stones, each increase in bid must be no less than 500 spirit stones. Ladies and gentlemen, please place yours bids now!”

As soon as Manager Jia's words fell, the cultivators in the room were already shouting out their bids.

"16,000 spirit stones!

"I bid 17,000!"

"18,000 spirit stones, I'll take it!"

"......"

These three Condensed Blood Beads were from Qiao Xipeng which Lu Ping had handed over to Multi-Treasure Pavilion to be auctioned off.

Lu Ping hadn’t expected the Early Blood Condensation Realm's Condensed Blood Beads to drive the crowd of cultivators crazy, and watched the auction in awe for a while. Shi Lingling and the others watched on with their faces flushed red in enthusiasm as the cultivators bid.

To them, the most important thing they sought from this auction was to expand their knowledge. They weren’t here to participate in the bids, as they couldn’t afford to with their financial status.

Hu Lili was the most knowledgeable person in the room, but most of her knowledge only came from books, whilst Lu Ping often came into contact and experienced these items and materials in person.

Therefore, even though Hu Lili already knew the items being auctioned, she couldn’t stop herself from looking at them, whilst Lu Ping was already lacking interest.

The three Condensed Blood Beads were finally won by a cultivator in a private room for 21,000 spirit stones. After half an hour, a light flashed on Room 19’s stone platform, and a bag of spirit stones appeared.

Lu Ping casually picked it up and looked inside, then he transferred the spirit stones in the interspatial pouch into his interspatial ring as if nothing had happened.

After Lu Ping’s unit of three Condensed Blood Beads was sold, the following items were also two more units of Condensed Blood Beads.

The first group consisted of two Fourth Layer Condensed Blood Beads, which were even more valuable to use when breaking through to the Mid Blood Condensation Realm compared to the Third Layer Condensed Blood Beads. This item fetched a high price and sold for 28,000 spirit stones.

The second unit was six Sixth Layer Condensed Blood Beads. This was purchased by the cultivator from Room 1 for 66,000 spirit stones, causing Shi Lingling and the others to be shocked and speculate about Room 1’s wealth.

During the auctions of the Condensed Blood Beads, Manager Jia seemed to be unintentionally hinting to the audience that some of the Condensed Blood Beads came from the monster race killed in the separation zone after the sea ban lift. This caused a lot of commotion amongst the cultivators present.

Lu Ping and the others imagined that after the auction, the number of cultivators entering the monster race waters would reach a new peak.

Sure enough, the following items in the auction were specialties from the monster race. A large batch of Mid and Late Blood Condensation Realm monster beast's skin, tendons, bones, flesh and blood were auctioned. Additionally, unique spirit herbs, spirit materials and spirit minerals from the monster race sea were also sold.

Thanks to the incitement from Manager Jia, the monster race waters had suddenly become a paradise for cultivators to get rich, and made the cultivators turn a blind eye to its dangers.

"Dear friends, the following item is a high-grade defensive mystic instrument." As Manager Jia spoke, he received a light blue shield from the young female cultivator next to him.

"The Water Avoidance Shield made of Condensed Blood Beads of a sea monster beast and a high-grade water-element spirit material, Glazed Crystal Iron. It is one of the best amongst defensive mystic instruments and can give its user a real sense of security......"

Lu Ping ignored Manager Jia's ceaseless introduction and asked Chen Lian directly, "How about this mystic instrument?"

Chen Lian knew Lu Ping lacked a defensive mystic instrument, and it seemed like Lu Ping was probably moved after hearing Manager Jia's introduction.

Chen Lian carefully looked at the Water Avoidance Shield in Manager Jia's hand on the stage and said with some regret, "This mystic instrument is not bad among high-grade mystic instruments. But, because of its crafting method, this mystic instrument would be difficult to upgrade to a top-grade mystic instrument in the future."

Lu Ping nodded and said, "It doesn’t matter if it can’t be upgraded anymore, it's just a transitional item. You are a smith, so why should I be afraid of not having any top-grade mystic instruments to use in the future?"

Chen Lian hastily shook his head and said, "Oh, please don’t. Even though I know the crafting methods for top-grade mystic instruments, my current Second Layer Blood Condensation Realm cultivation base restricts me. If you really want a top-grade mystic instrument, you'd better find my old man."

Lu Ping laughed, "I can't use top-grade mystic instruments right now, maybe by the time I can use them you’d already be Great Smith Chen. Surely at that time top-grade mystic instruments would no longer be a problem for you."

The corner of Chen Lian’s mouth twitched, "With your cultivation speed, I'm afraid that when you reach the Late Blood Condensation Realm, I would be just barely in the Mid Blood Condensation Realm, nothing more."

Chen Lian's words immediately resonated with the rest in the room. They came together to chide Lu Ping's unbelievable cultivation speed which left his friends far behind him.

Zhong Jian said, "I don't know how you cultivate. Not only is your cultivation speed fast, but your arcane energy is also stronger than the rest of us. Heck, you are just in the Third Layer Blood Condensation Realm and can already cast high-grade mystic instruments like they were swords for little children. On the other hand, the rest of us can only use high-grade mystic instruments properly when we enter the Mid Blood Condensation Realm."

The others quickly nodded in agreement and resonated deeply with Zhong Jian’s opinion. Lu Ping just smiled silently.

His friends didn’t know yet that he had changed his cultivation method to the [North Ocean Wave Listening Scripture]. This would cause his cultivation speed to be greatly slowed down in the future and he would quickly fall behind the others.

Yet, Lu Ping was confident that even if his cultivation base would fall behind, his combat power would actually increase, rather than decline.

The high-grade mystic instrument, Water Avoidance Shield, started bidding at 5,000 spirit stones. In general, high-grade mystic instruments were priced around 3,000 spirit stones, with defensive mystic instruments being a bit more expensive.

However, whilst Water Avoidance Shield’s quality was top-notch, it didn’t have any possibility to be upgraded. Hence, its starting price was only 5,000 spirit stones.

In the blink of an eye, the bidding price had risen to 8,000 spirit stones. Lu Ping thought for a moment and then directly shouted a price of 9,000 spirit stones.

The sound of bidding at the venue suddenly calmed down, and when someone bid again, the number of people bidding had already decreased by a large margin. The common cultivators on the floor were generally restrained when they considered the status of the cultivators in the private rooms.

"9,200 spirit stones!"

Lu Ping looked to the floor and saw a middle-aged cultivator in the Mid Blood Condensation Realm, who was none other but Li Zi-Ming!

Lu Ping laughed silently. Hu Lili who was watching Lu Ping's expression noticed his muted laughter. She traced his line of sight and looked at the crowd of cultivators, and soon she also laughed, "What a coincidence!"

The others in the room quickly ask what was going on and Hu Lili then recounted the conflicts between Lu Ping and the Li father and son duo on Huang Li Island.

Yao Yong mused and said, "The Li Clan, is counted as a medium-sized clan in our Zhen Ling Sect. It is said that the clan has two Core Forging Realm cultivators. Junior Martial Brother, you have to act more carefully in the future, don’t be caught in a scheme by them.”

On the other hand, Shi Lingling was disdainful: "Just a small Li Clan, what can they do to our sect's inner hall disciple? Junior Martial Brother Li Cheng is a little famous amongst the disciples, and his cultivation speed isn’t slow. I recently heard that he is going to breakthrough to the Blood Condensation Realm. But why is his frame of mind heading in the opposite direction? So petty. It was just a ranking match back in the side hall, why is he still bothering about it now?”

Everyone looked at each other and smiled bitterly. They could all tell from Shi Lingling's usual attitude that her identity in the sect wasn’t simple. On top of that, she was also young and inexperienced. So, while she was able to take the Li Clan lightly, the others had to consider the weight of the Li Clan's two Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters.

Lu Ping watched as Li Zi-Ming bid expressionlessly, and indifferently bid, "9,500 spirit stones."

Li Zi-Ming paused, as if assessing something and then hesitantly raised the bid to 9,600 spirit stones. Everyone in the room sensed from Li Zi-Ming's tone that he had reached his limit.

Lu Ping didn’t hesitate and increased the price to 10,000 spirit stones.

Immediately after hearing Lu Ping bid, Li Zi-Ming breathed a sigh of relief while Lu Ping suddenly frowned. He saw Li Zi-Ming glance back at Room 19 with a gaze mixed with imperceptible joy, surprise and ridicule.

Hu Lili had been paying attention and noticed Li Zi-Ming’s reaction. She turned her head to look at Lu Ping.

Lu Ping smiled back at her helplessly and said, "I'm afraid I've been duped."

Hu Lili nodded and said, "It should be Li Clan's own mystic instrument."

The others asked what happened and after listening to Hu Lili's explanation, were indignant and scolded Li Zi-Ming for his cunningness.

On the contrary, Lu Ping didn’t take it to heart. Li Zi-Ming’s tactic was not despicable. If it was truly Li Clan’s own items that were getting auctioned, it wasn’t surprising that they intentionally raised the bid for a higher profit.

After all, profit was king, the world had always been this way.

A few moments later, Lu Ping received the Water Avoidance Shield.

Chen Lian took the Water Avoidance Shield and commented, "Although the bidding price is a bit high, the quality of this mystic instrument is not bad. 10,000 spirit stones is not too much of a loss for something like this.”