Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-143

The young girl turned and gave Lu Ping a proud look, then hopped over to Enlightened Master Liu and hugged her arm.

She said sweetly, "Mother, you're back. I was going to look for you at Tian Ling Palace but suddenly realized that I forgot to bring a flying mystic instrument, so I came back to get it!"

The corner of Lu Ping’s mouth twitched; this young girl was clearly bad at lying.

Sure enough, Enlightened Master Liu smiled at the young girl and didn’t answer.

The young girl also knew it would be difficult to lie her way out of this. Sticking out her tongue, she lowered her head and fiddled with the sash.

"After Mother mentioned it a few days ago, I went to tell my junior brother about his acceptance. The first thing I wanted to do was chat with this junior brother, but I got so caught up talking I forgot to tell him Mother's name. Today, I suddenly remembered this matter and was about to rush to Tian Ling Palace to inform Junior Brother, but unexpectedly, Mother already brought him back!”

Lu Ping shook his head helplessly as he recalled the scene at that time. It was so fortunate that his guess was right, otherwise, who knew how things would end up? Thinking back now, he could still feel fear lingering in his heart.

But seeing that the girl was still a child at heart, and that she was his teacher's daughter, he naturally wouldn’t pursue the matter further.

Enlightened Master Liu looked at Lu Ping approvingly and turned her head to the girl and said, "Silly girl, how were you there for just a chat? I’m afraid you went to fight with your senior brother, right? I knew you weren’t reliable, but you insisted on taking this task. Fortunately, your senior brother is quick-witted, Otherwise, I would’ve lost my face!”

Surely, the mother knows her daughter best. Lu Ping sighed!

When the young girl heard her words, a look of unwillingness immediately crossed her face. "He entered later than me, and his cultivation is lower than mine, so why is he my senior brother? I let it go and accepted it when this happened with Senior Sister Leng, but this time, I won’t be the little junior sister anymore!"

As the young girl spoke, Enlightened Master Liu stared down at her with a pair of strict eyes, and she instantly became apprehensive.

Although visibly reluctant, the tone of her voice turned from loud and indignant to a quiet whisper, and then from a quiet whisper to a soft murmur.

By the time she said the words "…little junior sister anymore", Lu Ping couldn’t hear her clearly anymore despite trying his best.

It was also at this time, Lu Ping finally realized that his elegant and graceful-looking teacher was, in fact, an extremely dominant character. Her aura was so strong that this obviously spoiled young girl became more like a trapped mouse. Lu Ping wondered how the young girl could keep her child-like personality.

But he then remembered the girl’s father who recommended him to Enlightened Master Liu, so perhaps he was the reason the young girl had retained most of her innocence.

After seeing her daughter become obedient and stop talking, only then Enlightened Master Liu continued, “"Go and inform your senior sisters to come to Chong Hua Palace, so that Ninth can get to know them."

Like an aggrieved cat, the young girl gave a docile "Oh" and walked out of Chong Hua Palace with small steps. Then, like a bird flying out of the cage, she flew toward the sky with a cheerful cry.

Enlightened Master Liu asked Lu Ping about his cultivation, and Lu Ping answered one by one, taking the opportunity to ask for advice on the difficult constraints in his cultivation.

Enlightened Master Liu casually answered his questions and enlightened him in just a few words. Such were the benefits of having a teacher’s guidance.

Throughout the conversation, Lu Ping didn’t ask questions about his acceptance, and his teacher also didn’t explain. As if they had a tacit agreement, they only talked about cultivation matters and nothing else.

After a few moments, a delicate voice could be heard outside the palace, "I'm back! The elder sisters will be here soon."

It was none other than the young girl, whose voice preceded her arrival into the palace.

Lu Ping turned his head and saw that aside from the young girl, there was another person who followed her in—it was Leng Qian.

Lu Ping and Leng Qian spotted each other and were both stunned. Lu Ping then quickly understood something. After all, it was reasonable for Leng Qian to study under Enlightened Master Liu with her talents.

On the other hand, Leng Qian's eyes, which were always cold, showed a trace of curiosity when she saw Lu Ping.

Leng Qian went up to greet Enlightened Master Liu and then stood beside Lu Ping, but one step to the front.

Whereas the young girl stood a step behind Lu Ping in a disciplined manner. Even though her rosebud mouth was beaming, she looked at him like an angry cat.

After a few moments, four women in palace dresses entered Chong Hua Palace. They greeted Enlightened Master Liu and stood in an ordered line to face her.

The women were quite surprised to see Lu Ping, but they smiled and greeted him. Lu Ping didn’t dare to neglect them and quickly greeted them back.

Enlightened Master Liu watched the gathered crowd, then pointed to Lu Ping and said, "This is Lu Ping. He is the new official disciple I’ve accepted today!"

She looked at Lu Ping and said, "You can step forward and meet all your senior sisters!"

Lu Ping once again had another clear glimpse of Enlightened Master Liu's imposing aura—all her disciples were dignified and courteous in her presence. Hence, he didn't dare to take things lightly and walked up again to greet them one by one.

Enlightened Master Liu pointed to a young woman who looked about thirty years old and said, "This is your Second Senior Sister Li Xuan-Ru!"

Lu Ping didn’t have time to wonder why the first senior sister hadn’t been introduced first.

This second senior sister was another Core Forging Enlightened Master. He hurriedly went forward and greeted, "Little junior brother, Lu Ping, greets the senior sister."

Li Xuan-Ru laughed and said, "Ninth Junior Brother, good cultivation base. No wonder you could enter Teacher’s eyes. Moving forward, you should work hard to cultivate, so that Teacher’s efforts will not be in vain!"

Lu Ping hastily answered and saw Enlightened Master Li Xuan-Ru take out a piece of Cold Jade and hand it to him.

She said, "This is a piece of Cold Jade that I found in the extreme north while traveling in the cultivation world. Today, I would like to give it to Junior Brother as a meeting gift. I hope Junior Brother likes it.”

Lu Ping saw that this piece of thousand-year Cold Jade was pure in quality, and there seemed to be a trace of mist stirring around it. It was clearly a piece of spirit material for forging top-grade water mystic instruments.

Lu Ping was at a loss for words and he looked at Enlightened Master Liu, who was sitting at the top of the table. She smiled and said, "Since it's from your second martial sister, take it. "

Lu Ping hurriedly thanked Li Xuan-Ru, and then the tall Third Senior Sister Zhao Xuan-Ji gave him a charm inscribed with the [Silver Curtain of Water] spell, which could be used as a life-saving trump card in a critical moment.

Fourth Senior Sister Wang Xuan-Jing looked young and plump, resembling a virtuous wife. She gave Lu Ping a pair of jasper hairpins as a gift and said laughingly, "This senior sister has nothing good on hand. I only have a pair of jasper hairpins for Junior Brother to give as a gift when you meet a girl you like in the future."

Lu Ping didn't expect the fourth martial sister, who looked most virtuous on the surface, to make such a joke, and he was suddenly red-faced.

All the women laughed, and Enlightened Master Liu also scolded, "You're the one who's the most playful!"

Lu Ping was about to meet the next senior sister when Fourth Senior Sister Wang Xuan-Jing took out another jade scroll and said, "Your Sixth Senior Sister Dong Zi-Yu is in seclusion to break through to the Core Forging Realm, so she couldn’t come out to meet you. She heard that you’re good at swordsmanship, so she asked me to send a jade scroll she obtained from a past cultivator’s cave-dwelling. This jade scroll contains a water sword art, which is said to have been passed down from the Fei Ling Sect back then. She hopes that it will help you in your cultivation."

When Lu Ping heard that it was a heritage from Fei Ling Sect, he immediately felt some interest, but it wasn’t appropriate to check out the sword art right now.

After accepting the jade scroll and thanking the sixth senior sister whom he had yet to met, he looked at the next senior sister.

The seventh senior sister was a woman whose cultivation was in the Eighth Layer Blood Condensation Realm, and whose age was similar to Lu Ping’s.

Seventh Senior Sister watched as Lu Ping gave his greeting, and she said with a happy smile, "This senior sister isn’t as wealthy as the rest, but I have a small toy with me, which I'll give to Ninth Junior Brother."

Lu Ping took the item—it turned out to be a palm-sized puppet monkey.

Seventh Senior Sister then explained, "This monkey puppet is powered by spirit stones and it has a Late Blood Refining Realm cultivation. It’s usually very clever, so Junior Brother can put it in your cave-dwelling and use it to serve tea and do the chores. This can save up a lot of your time."

So this is a puppet?The Ji Zi-Xuan I saw at the Discipleship Ceremony was under the tutelage of Enlightened Master Xuan-Huai, a Puppet Master.

After thanking his seventh senior sister and storing the monkey puppet into his interspatial ring, Lu Ping looked at his Eighth Senior Sister Leng Qian.

The relationship between these two people was strange.

Lu Ping's first famous battle in Zhen Ling Side Hall was his battle against Leng Qian. Back then, he who was only in the Seventh Layer Blood Refining Realm defeated Leng Qian who was in the Ninth Layer. And he even broke through from the Seventh Layer to the Eighth Layer during the fight.

Within the small group of friends formed by Lu Ping, Yao Yong, Du Feng, Shi Lingling, Zhong Jian, Hu Lili, and the rest, Leng Qian was also part of the group because she was good friends with Shi Lingling, Hu Lili, and Ma Yu.

However, Lu Ping and her rarely interacted, and they always felt awkward whenever they met. Yao Yong and others were also aware of the situation between them. They were understanding and didn’t interfere.

Lu Ping walked to Leng Qian and said, "Greetings to the eighth senior sister!”

Leng Qian had always been cold-faced, but now that Lu Ping had become her junior brother, she felt a little uncomfortable not knowing how to get along with him.

She saw him greet her and she also greeted back, "Greetings to Junior Brother Lu!"

After that, she gave Lu Ping her meeting gift—an entire box of 500-year spirit herbs, 150 in number.

Since Leng Qian somewhat understood Lu Ping’s situation, she knew that he was studying alchemy, so she had prepared these spirit herbs.

When Lu Ping saw the spirit herbs were mostly for concocting Mid and Late Blood Refining Realm medicinal pellets, he knew that Leng Qian had put some thought into this gift.

So he sincerely said, "Thank you, Senior Sister Leng!"

Enlightened Master Liu and the others were all discerning people. With just a look at the odd atmosphere between the pair, they immediately knew that not only had the two known each other for some time, but something had happened between them.

However, they didn’t say anything.

Only the young girl at the end of the line laughed. "Ah, so you and Eighth Senior Sister know each other!"

Then, the young girl jumped forward, and without waiting for Lu Ping's answer, she put her hand in front of him and said, "Finally, it's my turn! My name is Jiang Zi-Xuan, I wanted to be the ninth senior sister, but my mother let you go in front of me."

She looked at the Enlightened Master Liu at the top and said, "But since I’m the tenth junior sister, I can ask you for a meeting gift, Ninth Senior Brother!

She tilted her head thoughtfully and said, "If I’m not satisfied, then I won’t call you my senior brother!"

She took a look at Enlightened Master Liu and after noticing the latter looking at her with a smile, Jiang Zi-Xuan was more confident to have her mother backing her up.

The senior sisters were also watching Lu Ping, their ninth junior brother. They were curious to see how he would handle their little junior sister.

Lu Ping secretly thought, Fortunately, I came prepared.

Then, he took out a jade bottle from his interspatial ring, and before he could say anything, Jiang Zi-Xuan, the junior sister, had pointed to the interspatial ring on Lu Ping's left ring finger.

She exclaimed in surprise, "Woah, you actually have an interspatial ring! This is a high-grade spatial mystic instrument, the rarest ones."