Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-113

Chapter 113 – Cosmic Trinity Slaughtering Array

Lu Ping only agreed to the undercover mission since he was curious about the buffer sea and monster race waters and wanted to see the scenery there. Additionally, the arcane energy in his body had been honed for the past seven to eight months ever since he returned from Fei Ling Island.

Two of the three Condensed Blood Beads in his heartspace had been reconditioned with the [North Ocean Wave Listening Scripture]’s arcane energy, and the remaining one would also be finished soon. Hence, Lu Ping’s arcane energy was now twice as pure and thick as before!

With the powerful beating of his heart, his blood flowed in his veins like lava, ready to erupt and destroy all obstacles.

Lu Ping was very satisfied with his current state. Although he had spent months reconditioning the arcane energy in his body, resulting in zero progress with his cultivation base, it now felt like time well spent!

Lu Ping had entered the buffer sea for two days. He entered alone with the disguise of an ordinary cultivator. The vast and endless sea hadn’t become crowded by the influx of cultivators.

Generally, cultivators who entered the buffer sea all had their own groups, except for strong cultivators who would usually go by themselves. In this danger-ridden place, cultivators were more vigilant and cautious of each other. Hence, strangers wouldn’t be rashly accepted into any groups.

In the past two days, Lu Ping met three or four groups of cultivators, but all of them had ignored his request to join them. Some of them even ridiculed his low cultivation level and harshly rejected him.

So, Lu Ping was still alone.

He suddenly remembered that after the sea ban lift, most of the cultivators who entered the buffer sea were Mid and Late Blood Condensation Realm cultivators. Early Blood Condensation Realm and Blood Refining Realm cultivators, who were much weaker, could only hunt monsters in the offshore areas of the buffer sea.

Perhaps, this was also why Li Zi-Ming actively recommended Lu Ping to enter the buffer sea on an undercover mission to find cultivator hunters. Li Zi-Ming really wasn’t planning on making it easy for Lu Ping.

This was something that Lu Ping and Hu Lili failed to notice, but he still wasn’t anxious at all.

Although he could encounter several groups of cultivators per day, Lu Ping had no clue about how to find the whereabouts of the cultivator hunters for the time being. However, Lu Ping was happy to be outside without anyone supervising him, and was at ease on his own.

Lu Ping sat on Lu Dagui’s back and let Dagui, who was the monster turtle that he had tamed back on Fei Ling Island, carry him on the surface of the sea.

Back then, Dagui was already at the peak of the Blood Refining Realm. On Fei Ling Island, Lu Ping had looted a Blood Condensation Pellet from a cultivator he killed, as well as a whole bottle of Blood Condensation Pellets from one of the cave-dwellings.

After the expedition, when Wei Zi-Heng and the others were dividing up the spoils, Lu Ping specifically requested to have three additional Blood Condensation Pellets. Then, after returning to Huang Li Island, Lu Ping instructed Lu Dagui to prepare for its advancement.

With the support of sufficient medicinal pellets, and the cave-dwelling’s mini spirit veins, Lu Dagui successfully advanced into the Blood Condensation Realm with two Blood Condensation Pellets and became Lu Ping’s strongest spirit beast.

Strictly speaking, Lu Dagui was just an ordinary turtle. Its bloodline was not noble in the monster race, which made it a bad choice as a cultivator’s spirit beast. However, Lu Ping could care less about that. No matter what, he could at least use Dagui as a ride to carry him around in the buffer sea.

Lu Dagui’s five-feet body swam smoothly on the surface of the sea. The breath of the Blood Condensation Realm monster turtle spread out to the surroundings, and scared all the Blood Refining Realm monsters away from them.

Lu Ping was very relaxed, holding a wine gourd and taking a sip from time to time while casually looking at the scenery around him. The wine in the gourd was Hundred Spirit Wine which Lu Ping had brewed for over half a year using over a hundred 500-year spirit herbs, fruits and grains.

Other than spirit wine being enjoyable to drink, it was also good for cultivation and recovering arcane energy.

As he slowly enjoyed the spirit wine, its fragrance spilled out from the gourd’s mouth.

Lu Dabao, who was lying peacefully behind Lu Ping’s buttocks, finally overcame some of its fear of the sea and moved little by little to Lu Ping’s front. Dabao looked at the gourd in Lu Ping’s hand with a pair of watery eyes and a salivating mouth.

Lu Dabao was now in the Sixth Layer Blood Refining Realm. As Lu Ping’s longest following, and most affectionate spirit pet, Lu Dabao naturally received a lot of care from Lu Ping.

Lu Ping had concocted a lot of Blood Refining Realm medicinal pellets to practice his alchemy, and Dabao was able to eat them as much as he liked.

Hence, in just less than a year, Dabao’s cultivation base had jumped two layers from the Fourth to Sixth Layer. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before it advanced into the late stage of the Blood Refining Realm.

Lu Ping looked at Dabao’s funny behaviour and said jokingly, “You greedy mouse!”

He pointed out his finger and a mouthful of wine flowed out from the gourd. It glided in the air without scattering apart and slowly hovered to Dabao.

Dabao squeaked twice at Lu Ping, expressing its gratitude, and then lowered its head to lick the Hundred Spirit Wine floating in front of its mouth.

Suddenly, three water balls shot towards Dabao from different directions. They were all aimed at the ball of Hundred Spirit Wine in front of Dabao’s mouth.

Dabao was furious. In the midst of its angry squeak, Dabao’s long and thin mouse tail swept one of the water balls back into the sea.

Then, with a shake of his body, a cloud of dust formed. The dust merged into a yellow round barrier that looked like a disk. The second water ball hit this barrier and splashed to the sides.

Just as the third water ball successfully broke through Dabao’s defenses and was about to smash into the wine, Dabao’s fat body suddenly became unusually dexterous.

Somehow, he managed to shield the ball of wine from the water ball by blocking it with his fat ass.

Then, he continued to slurp on the spirit wine, ignoring the sneak attacks that had just happened as if the wine was far more important.

Not far from the surface of the sea, three white lines appeared and swam towards the big monster turtle.

Three little snakes broke out from the surface and landed on Lu Dagui’s turtle shell.

These sea snakes were the Emerald Sea Spirit Snakes, Lu Bi, Lu Hai and Lu Ling, who Lu Ping hatched six months ago.

These three spirit snakes were indeed worthy of being a monster race with a noble bloodline. In just half a year under Lu Ping’s care, they had actually reached the Third Layer Blood Refining Realm. Lu Ping couldn’t help but sigh at the talents of these little snakes.

Among Lu Ping’s five spirit pets, Dagui had the highest cultivation level and was also the most peaceful one. It usually wouldn’t play with Dabao or the Emerald Sea Spirit Snakes, and was always quietly lying down and watching from the side.

Dabao was the most active. It was always hopping up and down in the cave-dwelling, and playing with the Emerald Sea Spirit Snakes. However, Lu Ping could tell that Dabao was still very afraid of the bloodline pressure emitted by the three spirit snakes and so it never provoked them too much.

The three snakes, having been influenced by Lu Ping’s arcane energy for a long time, took him as their parent. They were lively and playful and took great pleasure in messing with Dabao.

Lu Ping laughed and threw a medicinal pellet each into the mouths of the spirit snakes. Then, he let them play in the sea around him.

Lu Ping smiled happily as he watched the three Emerald Sea Spirit Snakes playing in the calm sea. Suddenly, the three spirit snakes disappeared from the sea surface, as if they were hiding from something.

Lu Ping’s complexion changed and he quickly spread out his divine sense which covered a range of more than 60 feet. He could only perceive that the three spirit snakes were quickly swimming back to him underneath the water. There was nothing else that appeared in his divine sense.

But Lu Ping’s face still looked grave. Monsters had a natural intuition for danger, so the Emerald Sea Spirit Snakes must have noticed something dangerous around them. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have suddenly returned to him so quickly. As their master, Lu Ping could also vaguely feel the anxiety of the little snakes.

It seemed like the undetected enemy was proficient in stealth techniques, but it was unclear if the enemy was a human cultivator or a monster yet.

Lu Ping acted as if nothing had happened and continued to urge Dagui to swim forward. He was afraid that he had already fallen into the enemy’s trap, and that it was already too late to leave.

Therefore, it was better to try and take advantage and quietly find a way out of the predicament. Despite not knowing the location or identity of the enemy, at least the enemy should be unaware that Lu Ping had noticed he was in a trap.

Suddenly, Lu Ping remembered the [Sea Crossing Concealment Art] in the [North Ocean Wave Listening Scripture]. This art was one of the cultivation method’s [Twelve Ultimates]. It had techniques about concealment and hiding in various environments. At the same time it also had a strong anti-concealment ability to detect various concealment techniques such as stealth arts.

Whilst Lu Ping was drinking and maintaining his composure, he secretly used the [Sea Crossing Concealment Art]. Using his divine sense, he carefully observed the surrounding sea and sky, and he could clearly see the nearby area of 60 feet around him.

When Lu Dagui had swum another 10 feet, Lu Ping’s divine sense finally detected a subtle fluctuation in the seawater.

What a brilliant concealment art. It turns a cultivator into water so he could hide in the seawater. That’s why my divine sense couldn’t detect him. One good thing is that my divine sense is strong. With my concealment art which isn’t inferior to the enemy’s concealment technique, I am able to find him.

Lu Ping’s heart tightened. He suddenly noticed a slight fluctuation in two other places again. He was surprised, there were actually three people, and they had formed a triangle which encircled him in the middle.

Perhaps, the reason why Lu Ping was able to find these three people was because they were about to launch the ambush. As a result, they had to communicate with their arcane energy underneath the water in order to coordinate their attacks at the same time, giving their locations away.

In the midst of water splashes, three dark blue figures appeared like ghosts leaving faint shadows on the surface of the sea.

Three mid-grade mystic instruments attacked from three different directions and angles. The attacks completely covered every possible move Lu Ping could take to evade them.

The three cultivators were in an array formation often used in fights, known as the Cosmic Trinity Slaughtering Array. They had trapped Lu Ping and his five spirit pets.

With seamless concealment, precise and skillful coordination, and thunderous attacks, the three Mid Blood Condensation Realm cultivators performed a perfect ambush.

In similar situations, even Late Blood Condensation Realm cultivators could be injured when caught off guard, not to mention a mere Third Layer Blood Condensation Realm cultivator

Unfortunately, they ran into Lu Ping this time!

As soon as Lu Ping noticed them, he immediately knew that they were in the Cosmic Trinity Slaughtering Array.

After all, this array formation was the most commonly used array in the cultivation world as it was the easiest to form and its combat prowess was also considerably strong.

Luckily, Lu Ping was able to figure out a way to deal with them immediately.