Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-160

Just after the young man hid, three more evanescent lights flew in the sky and landed under the cliff. They were three cultivators in the Eighth and Ninth Blood Condensation Realm, all wearing Shui Yan Pavilion disciple uniforms.

The young man amongst them checked the surroundings, and said to the other two young ladies, "Senior Sisters, it seems that this kid is nearby. He suffered a blow from the two sisters, and won’t be able to run far. He must be hiding somewhere nearby."

The young lady in white coldly snorted, "Junior Brother Qiu, don’t forget that Liao is an alchemist. How can he not have any good healing medicinal pellets with him? Although Junior Sister Zhang and I have seriously injured him, we still need to be careful of his final counterattack before death."

Junior Brother Qiu hastily replied with a smile, "Senior Sister He has taught me a good lesson. No matter what, our Shui Yan Pavilion will make sure the Heart Condensation Pellets in his hands are…"

Before Junior Brother Qiu finished his sentence, he suddenly felt a cold gaze from his right. He immediately realized he had said something wrong, and quickly shut up.

Junior Sister Zhang mumbled something indistinctly. Then, Senior Sister He quietly glanced in Lu Ping’s direction, and said, "Even though he’s not here, Liao won’t be far away. We'll quickly check around here."

After an uneventful search, the three hastily left the area.

At Lu Ping’s side, the empty space suddenly rippled. The young man previously hiding in the array formation, came out.

Lu Ping shook his head regretfully and mourned the young man’s naivety. Those three Shui Yan Pavilion disciples were obviously just acting. He was certain they hadn’t gone far and were watching closely from nearby.

However, Lu Ping’s intuition also told him that he had been discovered, and that they might even mistake him as the young man.

However, as the young man had revealed himself now, it should be clear to the Shui Yan disciples that he was just a passer-by. As long as they weren’t planning to keep every mouth shut, Lu Ping thought that they wouldn’t drag him into their affairs.

But obviously, that was just Lu Ping's wishful thinking!

The young man looked twice in Lu Ping's direction, hesitating whether to call out Lu Ping's hiding spot.

Suddenly, a loud laugh could be heard, and the three Shui Yan disciples who had just left earlier, returned again.

The young man's face changed and his expression was filled with chagrin. It was obvious to him now that he had been fooled.

The panicked young man quickly summoned a small cauldron which had a miniature fire burning inside it. Although the fire was small, it still managed to heat up the surrounding temperature to an astonishing degree.

Despite not being a heaven-and-earth spirit fire, it was still quite extraordinary.

Junior Martial Brother Qiu sneered, "As expected, this kid really is hiding here! Liao Hu, you are no match for the two Senior Sisters,especially not when you’re severely wounded. You won’t be able to run from us anymore, so why are you still resisting? Just turn in the recipe for the Heart Condensation Pellets. If you promise to serve as an alchemist to Shui Yan Pavilion, maybe the Senior Sisters will spare your life."

The young man, whose name was Liao Hu, sneered back coldly, "Qiu Li-Ming, don’t pretend to be a big shot when you’re actually just relying on your Senior Sisters’ prowess. I am not a fool. If I give up the pellet recipe to you, I’m afraid that you will immediately turn around and kill me. The Shui Yan Pavilion wouldn’t offend the Liao Clan for just a pellet recipe. "

Qiu Li-Ming was embarrassed by Liao Hu’s insults and his face turned red like a tomato. He shot out a scimitar that enlarged to three-feet long in the air, flying straight towards Liao Hu’s neck.

But Senior Martial Sister He suddenly reached out to stop Qiu Li-Ming.

She turned her head in the direction where Lu Ping was hiding, and said, "I don't know who you are, but this is Shui Yan Pavilion’s He Li-Xin. I’m here with my martial siblings to take care of some internal affairs. So do forgive us if we’ve disturbed your rest."

Lu Ping sighed helplessly, his stealth skills were lacking.

Since they had already discovered him, he casually waved his hands to brush away the charms on him and revealed his figure. He cleared his throat, "I originally did not want to ......"

"Just a Third Layer Blood Condensation Realm? Your courage is commendable. To enter the Heaven of Seven Stars with such a low cultivation base, do you really not know how death is spelt?"

When Qiu Li-Ming saw that the hidden cultivator only had a cultivation base of Third Layer Blood Condensation Realm, he didn’t hold back his insults.

Lu Ping's face twitched, this Qiu Li-Ming really had a bad mouth. So, Lu Ping didn’t say anything and quietly waited to see how Shui Yan Pavilion's, He Li-Xin, would deal with the situation.

Qiu Li-Ming turned to He Li-Xin and said with a flattering smile, "Since it's just a Third Layer Blood Condensation Realm, Senior Sister doesn’t have to be concerned about him anymore. We can just take care of them both together. The most important thing is to get the Heart Condensation Pellets quickly. Long night, long dreams."

He Li-Xin didn’t say anything and flung her long sleeves, sending out two faint white mists.

One white mist turned into a mist hawk, while the other turned into a cloud rabbit. The mist hawk struck towards Liao Hu's head, while the cloud rabbit kicked towards Liao Hu's waist with its hind legs.

Obviously, she agreed with Qiu Li-Ming's suggestion.

At the same time as He Li-Xin was attacking, Qiu Li-Ming walked towards Lu Ping with a ruthless smile on his face and hurled his huge scimitar towards Lu Ping's head.

In Qiu Li-Ming's mind, it was definitely going to be a piece of cake for him to kill a mere Third Layer Blood Condensation Realm cultivator.

So, after hurling out the scimitar, Qiu Li-Ming turned around and moved towards He Li-Xin’s direction, to help her take down Liao Hu. Junior Martial Sister Zhang, who had been standing on the side indifferently, suddenly exclaimed, "Watch out!"

Puff--

Qiu Li-Ming heard a noise behind him, and through his divine sense which was connected to the scimitar, he found that the scimitar had chopped into something that felt like a cotton ball.

After that, a burst of violent killing intent blasted straight onto his back.

Qiu Li-Ming was shocked and quickly lunged forward. A loud bang could be heard at his back, followed by a stabbing pain in his buttocks.

Qiu Li-Ming turned around to find that a piece of flesh, around two pounds worth, had been cleaved out of his buttocks. He wailed in pain, trying to stop the bleeding to save his life.

When Lu Ping saw He Li-Xin lashing out her attacks at Liao Hu, it was clear to him that she was following Qiu Li-Ming's suggestion of killing him. Immediately, a burst of anger rose from the bottom of his heart.

Hence, when Qiu Li-Ming underestimated him and turned around after attacking, Lu Ping didn’t hold back anymore.

He first used Umbra to stop Qiu Li-Ming’s scimitar, and then summoned the Soaring Wing Swords to attack Qiu Li-Ming's back .

Fortunately for Qiu Li-Ming, Junior Martial Sister Zhang was alert, and gave him a timely warning. She was also quick to summon a bronze mirror mystic instrument to block Qiu Li-Ming's back.

Even though she acted fast, the bronze mirror only managed to block the Primary Soaring Wing Sword. The Secondary Soaring Wing Sword flew around it and managed to strike Qiu Li-Ming. But, because the Secondary Soaring Wing Sword had to change its trajectory at the last minute, it could only cut a large piece of flesh, rather than killing him.

Qiu Li-Ming had temporarily stabilized the huge bleeding wound, but the pain still made him grimace. When he thought of the fact that he was missing half of his buttocks and would get laughed at by other disciples in the future, Qiu Li-Ming was so ashamed and angry that he rushed forward with a loud cry and slashed at Lu Ping.

On the other side, Junior Martial Sister Zhang saw that Qiu Li-Ming's attack had blocked her from attacking Lu Ping, and frowned slightly.

From the strength that the red-faced cultivator had displayed, he was definitely a Sixth Layer Blood Condensation Realm cultivator.

But she thought that after the surprise ambush, Qiu Li-Ming obviously wouldn’t make the same mistake again, and so she turned around and went to help He Li-Xin take down Liao Hu.

Apparently, Liao Hu had taken some medicinal pellets that temporarily boosted his arcane energy and suppressed his injuries.

The small cauldron was hovering above his head, from which a green-red curtain of light shielded him inside and blocked all of He Li-Xin's attacks. At the same time, Liao Hu was making hand signs to cause fire to erupt from the small cauldron, to repel He Li-Xin's mist eagle and cloud rabbit.

Seeing Junior Martial Sister Zhang coming forward to attack, Liao Hu’s expression changed, and he shouted in Lu Ping’s direction, "Brother, I'm sorry for what happened today. I'm truly sorry. Find a chance to escape whenever you can, I will try to drag them down as much as possible."

Qiu Li-Ming sternly said, "Escape? Where to? Today, both of you will die here!"

He Li-Xin and Junior Martial Sister Zhang intensified their attacks, causing Liao Hu to be suddenly overwhelmed.

Lu Ping coldly snorted. The Soaring Wing Swords forced the scimitar into a corner, and a magnificent sword light suddenly flashed from Lu Ping's hand. Then, sixty-four sword lights came raining towards Qiu Li-Ming.

Qiu Li-Ming shrieked in terror. The high-grade defense mystic instrument in front of him was torn apart like a piece of paper.

But he was worthy of being a disciple of the notable Shui Yan Pavilion. He quickly cast two charms to enhance his aegis energy at the crucial time, turning his aegis energy gold in color, blocking most of the sword lights.

At the same time, Qiu Li-Ming retreated quickly, but Lu Ping's Verdant Dawn Sword still created three huge wounds on his chest and abdomen.

Qiu Li-Ming was completely terrified, he didn’t dare to stop and quickly retreated towards Senior Martial Sister He and Senior Martial Sister Zhang. He didn’t even dare to stop and attend to his bleeding wounds.

Unfortunately for him, Lu Ping's murderous intent had already been triggered. With a snap of his fingers, two Emerald Blood Divine Needles shot out silently towards Qiu Li-Ming.

Qiu Li-Ming, who was in a hurry to escape, only noticed the needles behind him when it was too late. The Emerald Blood Divine Needles pierced through Qiu Li-Ming's body one after the other.

Senior Martial Sister He and Senior Martial Sister Zhang were shocked to see Lu Ping killing Qiu Li-Ming with such ease. They quickly broke away from the fight with Liao Hu and retreated to the side.

Liao Hu was also shocked by Lu Ping’s strength. He hesitated for a moment and eventually still decided to stand beside Lu Ping, “Brother, this little brother has offended you earlier. This lady is Shui Yan Pavilion’s He Li-Xin, she is also one of the North Ocean 18 Warriors. Her methods are quite extraordinary. If not for the fact that I still have a few trump cards, I would have already become another dead soul felled by her sword."

Lu Ping noticed that although Liao Hu was standing together with him on the same side, he still kept a considerable distance. Obviously, Liao Hu wasn’t sure whether Lu Ping was a friend or foe.

Lu Ping ignored Liao Hu, and looked towards the two Shui Yan Pavillion disciples, and said, "Still want to kill me?"

He Li-Xin heard Lu Ping's tone. Obviously Qiu Li-Ming's suggestion had angered him. She secretly cursed Qiu Li-Ming for being useless and thought that he really deserved to die.

She forgot that Qiu Li-Ming only attacked Lu Ping because she had agreed to his suggestion with her actions.

He Li-Xin knew that it was impossible to kill Liao Hu right now.

Although she had several trump cards in her hands, and was confident that she could kill both of them, the Heaven of Seven Stars was full of calamities and she had other tasks to do. As a result, she would need to save these final measures to save her life at critical moments.

He Li-Xin took a step forward and said, "Since you have intervened, today's matter is over. I haven’t learned your name yet, what’s your name? The Shui Yan Pavilion will get revenge for Junior Brother Qiu’s death by your hands. We will meet again!"

Lu Ping laughed sardonically , "Shui Yan Pavilion, sooo scary!"

He Li-Xin didn’t expect Lu Ping to give out his name. She collected Qiu Li-Ming's body and left together with Junior Martial Sister Zhang.

When Liao Hu saw them leave, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly saw Lu Ping still looking stern.

Lu Ping turned around and said, "Leave!"

After saying that, Auspicious Cloud rose underneath his feet. He didn't fly high in the air but stuck close to the ground.

But as he was leaving, Liao Hu also stepped onto Auspicious Cloud.

Lu Ping frowned and looked at Liao Hu. Then, as if understanding something, he didn’t refuse to bring Liao Hu along.