Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-169

When the snake trio arrived at the boundary, they seemed to sense the danger and were unwilling to venture onto the golden soil, but the trio's eager eyes told Lu Ping that it was not from a lack of willingness, but that they were too weak to enter.

Lu Ping took another Antipoison Pellet, then melted three more to mix them into his [Water Sky Curtain]. Then, he placed his first step on the golden soil.

Chi--

Immediately after entering, there was a burning noise as his aegis energy was corroded at a much faster rate than before. A puff of smoke rose from the [Water Sky Curtain], and Lu Ping's arcane energy dwindled rapidly.

Lu Ping hurriedly retreated from the golden soil.

At this rate, he would only last at most two hours in the core region, just as Liao Hu said. Not to mention, there would surely be unexpected occurrences, like attacks from the poisonous beasts in the core area.

Lu Ping stroked his chin and gave it some thought. He included the snake trio within his aegis energy and asked them to inject their monster arcane energy into his [Water Sky Curtain].

The snake trio was very familiar with Lu Ping's arcane energy and so they were able to easily mix their energy with his.

Lu Ping stepped into the core region again and found that the Sullied Golden Fog could still corrode his aegis energy. However this time, the fog was also being weakened as a reaction.

Three strands of monster arcane energy emerged from Lu Ping's aegis energy and enveloped the weakened fog, delivering it into the snake trio's mouth as they absorbed the fog.

Just like this, Lu Ping greatly reduced the consumption of arcane energy to maintain his aegis energy, and he felt that he could fully extend his time in the core to eight hours.

Lu Ping confidently entered the core area. A few dozen feet ahead, he saw a skeleton on the ground, but with the bones turned over. He guessed that Liao Hu had searched these remains already.

The skeletons in the inner region had all been corroded by the fog, and they were often soft and easily broken. However, this skeleton was in the core region which had a higher concentration of fog, yet it still remained intact. So it was clear that this skeleton had once been a Core Forging Enlightened Master. It seemed like Liao Hu had found something good from its remains.

Lu Ping continued to travel deeper and harvested twenty-four rare 1000-year spirit herbs along the way. Although delighted by the bounty, he also wondered why he had yet to encounter any poisonous beasts guarding the spirit herbs!

Lu Ping secretly became vigilant and held the talisman treasure given to him by his teacher.

Following the map, Lu Ping found the Golden Nut Tree at the edge of the other side of the core region. No wonder it had been easily discovered, since it was right at the edge between the inner and core region. However, that person probably spotted it from the inner region, but lacked the strength to enter the core region.

Strictly speaking, Golden Nuts couldn’t increase a cultivators’ cultivation base. Instead, their biggest benefit was enhancing one’s constitution.

A cultivator’s arcane energy was stored within their bloodlines, and their bloodlines existed in their body. So, when cultivators absorbed spiritual energy during cultivation, the spiritual energy would also strengthen their bodies, improving their constitution so they could store more arcane energy.

Therefore, a strong body was an important aspect for cultivators to consolidate their foundation, and played an important role when breaking through to the next cultivation realms and furthering their cultivation paths.

It was rumored that even the Avatar Realm Great Ancestors all attached great importance to any opportunities that could strengthen their constitutions. However, Lu Ping had yet to know the exact reason for doing so.

Those in the cultivation world had come up with a variety of practices to strengthen their bodies. However, most weren’t as effective as the natural enhancement from spiritual energy through cultivation.

Hence, the only method left was through medicinal pellets. Even so, there were scarcely any medicinal pellets that could accomplish this. Golden Nuts were one of the few spirit fruits that could directly improve one’s constitution. The effect was enhanced if other spirit herbs were concocted together with the Golden Nuts.

The Golden Nut Tree was only three feet tall and bore thirty-six Golden Nuts. The nuts usually ripened once every one hundred years, and only Golden Nut Trees that were three-thousand years and older could bear fruits.

Lu Ping plucked twenty ripe Golden Nuts, then directly cut the ground with the Verdant Dawn Sword three feet around the root of the tree.

He then opened the Tome of Thousand Millets and transplanted the entire Golden Nut Tree with its surrounding soil into the mystic instrument. Fortunately, the Golden Nut Tree was only highly resistant to toxicity and did not require a highly toxic environment to grow, otherwise he’d really have to break his head to find a way.

After the Golden Nut Tree was transplanted, Lu Ping heaved a long breath of relief; his main goal for traveling here was now achieved. He only needed to use the remaining time his aegis energy granted him to harvest as many spirit herbs as possible within the core region.

Lu Ping's excitement slowly calmed down when he saw a skeleton lying in front of a patch of spirit herbs.

From the posture of the skeleton, this person should have been in the middle of harvesting the herbs. Lu Ping had never seen its kind before, but from the aura emitted, it should be more than three thousand years in age.

The 3000-year old spirit herbs were mostly used to concoct Avatar Realm medicinal pellets. Moreover, this spirit herb wasn’t alone, there were a total of eight more growing behind it.

Lu Ping forcefully suppressed his excitement.

This skeleton was obviously the remains of a Core Forging Enlightened Master. The skeletons he previously encountered were all in postures of running and fighting—only this skeleton seemed to have died abruptly, without a trace of resistance. What could kill an Enlightened Master so suddenly?

Lu Ping carefully used his Verdant Dawn Sword to turn the skeleton over and found a silver interspatial bracelet on its left wrist.

Feeling pleased, he used arcane energy to take the bracelet and inspected it closely. There was a big "Liao" engraved on it, exactly the same as the jade token that Liao Hu gave to him.

Lu Ping thought of Liao Hu's previous expression; could it be that Liao Hu had gone deep into the core region to find this skeleton?

Lu Ping divine sense reached into the interspatial bracelet, only to find that it was sealed up with a divine revelation. Although the Enlightened Master was dead and their sealing array formation had worn off over time, his divine revelation still remained in the bracelet. Lu Ping would need a lot of time to unlock its contents.

After all, a cultivator’s ordinary divine sense and an Enlightened Master’s divine revelation were not in the same league.

Lu Ping looked at the nine 3000-year spirit herbs in front of him, but he did not dare to harvest them.

Lu Ping thought for half a day and suddenly smacked his head. He opened up his interspatial ring and took out the puppet monkey which his Seventh Martial Sister Fan Zi-Hua had given him.

After inserting a mid-grade spirit stone on the monkey's forehead, he connected his divine sense to the monkey. Immediately, he could control the puppet monkey movement, although not very smoothly.

When the little puppet monkey approached the spirit herbs and began to dig the soil around its roots, a black mist suddenly rose up from behind a nearby rock.

The black mist floated silently and enveloped the puppet in one swift movement. A small puff of noise could be heard, and the puppet monkey was left perforated with countless tiny holes.

Then, the black mist quickly left the puppet monkey, leaving it on the ground to be corroded by the golden fog a few moments later.

Watching the black mist as it retreated to the back of the rock, Lu Ping thought deeply. After a while, he seemed to recall something and exclaimed in a low voice, "Blood-Thorn Mosquitoes! They’re Blood-Thorn Mosquitoes! Could there be Million Poisons Pulp behind that rock?"

The look on Lu Ping's face was complex and indistinguishable, it was a mixture of fear and surprise.