Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-177

After he finished clearing the battlefield and looting the spoils, Lu Ping quickly left the scene.

Out of caution, he made a huge detour before changing direction and heading southeast.

Although he had already stopped bleeding, the wound on his arm and the torn shirt would still bring suspicion, so Lu Ping changed into a new set of clothes.

He consumed a Spirit Regenerating Pellet, grabbed two mid-grade spirit stones in his hand, and quickly recovered the depleted arcane energy in his body. As he cultivated, he recalled his battle with the lead cultivator.

He never expected the lead cultivator to be so challenging.

With the Crystal Jade Glazed Bowl's water as the body, and the Verdant Dawn Sword as the horn, the water Jiao cast by Lu Ping's [Green Jiao Sea Haunting Art] had lunged towards the lead cultivator.

In response, the lead cultivator launched a defensive mystic instrument backwards and crushed the water net behind him. He then began chanting and his arcane energy surged towards his right hand, while he completely ignored the water Jiao that was whistling towards him!

Dismayed, Lu Ping raised his guard to prevent anything unexpected from happening.

The water Jiao curled around the lead cultivator's body and in just a mere second, shattered the cultivator's aegis energy.

But just as the lead cultivator was about to be strangled to death, he suddenly opened his right hand, revealing an inch-sized red bead that shot out towards Lu Ping.

In the process, the red bead crushed the water Jiao into a pool of water and knocked the Verdant Dawn Sword flying backwards.

The red bead moved so fast that Lu Ping had no time to react. By the time he noticed, the red bead was already in front of him, releasing countless red threads that reached out to wrap him.

At the last moment, Lu Ping cast the Verdant Dawn Sword to cut through the red threads, only to find that they were only wisps of light and not a physical substance.

But when the threads wrapped tightly around Lu Ping's body, he couldn’t move at all. Lu Ping asked bitterly, "It's… it's a mystic treasure?"

The lead cultivator's face was pale with cold sweat, but he laughed out loud in triumph and said, "I didn't expect this Scarlet Sunset Bead I looted from another to have such power. If I’d known you’d be so difficult, I would have used it a lot earlier. Maybe my two junior brothers might still be alive. But I captured you in the end, and that’s still worth it.

"Now, your very life depends on my will. If you tell me who killed Yuan Shi-Kong, I’ll only abolish your cultivation base, but if you don't tell me, I’ll bring you back and my senior brothers can let you have a taste of their soul-searching techniques."

Seeing the cultivator's smug expression, Lu Ping’s eyes gradually turned cold and he said, "Do you really believe you have my life in your hands?"

The cultivator froze and questioned, "What?"

A huge pestle suddenly appeared in the air and smashed at the Scarlet Sunset Bead above Lu Ping's head. The bead let out a soft wail and the red threads quickly withdrew, winding around the red bead as it fell on the ground like a woolen ball.

The lead cultivator's seven apertures spurted out blood. The pestle didn’t just hit the Scarlet Sunset Bead, it also impacted the user, his divine sense and arcane energy at the same time.

The lead cultivator pointed at Lu Ping, his hands trembling and with a face of disbelief, he exclaimed in terror, "You have a mystic treasure you can actually use? How is this possible?"

At that time, the Verdant Dawn Sword flashed out and beheaded the cultivator. Lu Ping, whose face turned pale after depleting his arcane energy to cast the mystic treasure, muttered, "Who said that Seventh Layer cultivators can't use mystic treasures!"

Lu Ping collected the interspatial pouch from the three Ocean Overturning Gang cultivators, picked up the Scarlet Sunset Bead on the ground and stored it in his interspatial ring. Enduring his now feeble state, he quickly left the area.

He found a remote place and released all his spirit pets to guard his surroundings. Then, Lu Ping quickly dived into meditation to recover twenty percent of his arcane energy. After that, he drank two mouthfuls of Thousand Spirit Wine before heading southeast.

By the time he met up with the group of cultivators in the southeast, he had already recovered forty percent of his arcane energy.

Yu Heng Hall had already been opened and the cultivators on the field had just finished fighting for the treasures.

Lu Ping swept his divine sense across the field but didn't find Ji Zi-Xuan nor Yin Zi-Chu. Either they didn’t come because they were covering Lu Ping's tracks, or they had scrambled for the treasures ejected from Yu Heng Hall and were now hiding from pursuit.

Lu Ping took this opportunity to continue restoring his arcane energy, while extending his divine sense into the interspatial ring to check the spoils he just looted.

Although he missed the opening of Yu Heng Hall, it looked like the mystic treasure, Scarlet Sunset Bead, may be more precious than all the treasures of Yu Heng Hall combined.

Lu Ping’s divine sense probed into the mystic treasure and saw an abstruse inscription flowing inside the bead. The Scarlet Sunset Bead seemed to only have one Mystical Inscription, so it was no wonder the pestle mystic treasure was able to send it to the ground so easily.

After all, the pestle mystic treasure had two Mystical Inscriptions. Even with a difference of one, the power that it could bring was immeasurable.

The jade box from Tian Quan Hall was another surprise. Lu Ping had already checked its contents while making his way here. He had to admit, he was at a loss for words when he found a total of thirty-six Golden Nuts!

Even though Golden Nuts could permanently strengthen the cultivator's body, repeated consumption was actually wasteful due to the medicinal resistance developed in the cultivator's body.

Hence, only the first few Golden Nuts would give the maximum body-strengthening effect, and any subsequent intakes would give diminishing benefits. Fortunately, no matter how minimal the effect was, repeated consumption of Golden Nuts could still strengthen the body.

So Lu Ping could consume these thirty-six Golden Nuts without waiting another hundred years for the Golden Nut Tree to fruit.

But what Lu Ping didn’t know was that these Golden Nuts were something even the Avatar Realm Great Ancestors would die fighting for—many of them had searched everywhere for items that can strengthen the body. If they knew Lu Ping lamented having too many Golden Nuts, they would have gone mad and scrambled for his collection.

The Golden Nuts had been in the jade box for at least ten thousand years, yet their medicinal efficacy remained well preserved without the slightest reduction. This proved that the jade box was actually a treasure itself.

After all, even the Jade Marrow Bottles that were used to hold Avatar Realm medicinal pellets couldn't do this, even after they were sealed with a Spirit Sealing Charm.

In the midst of the cultivators' expectations, the Great Void Array Formation around the Seven Star Palace once again waned in one of its corners. A rumbling sound could be heard as another hall opened.

This time, it was Tian Qu Hall that had been unsealed. Seven treasures flew out in all directions, but none of them headed for Lu Ping's location. Even the closest one was a few hundred feet away.

When Lu Ping rushed over, the cultivators were already locked in a gory battle while moving away from the Seven Star Palace. Many died fighting for the treasure and more were left injured. The treasure changed hands several times and eventually the cultivators lost track of its whereabouts. No one knew who acquired it in the end.

Lu Ping was moving alone, and he had yet to fully recover his arcane energy. He didn’t dare participate in such a chaotic battle and had to give up fighting for the treasure.

The fourth hall that opened was Tian Ji Hall.

By that time, Lu Ping had recovered seventy percent of his arcane energy, and after careful consideration, he decided to join the fight and see if he could find an opportunity.

One of the treasures from Tian Ji Hall this time was an alchemy cauldron, and it was heading towards Lu Ping’s vicinity!

Eyes gleaming, he praised his good luck. However, Lu Ping wasn’t the only one going crazy after the alchemy cauldron came out.

In the past, the treasures from Seven Star Palace were always equivalent to high-grade mystic instruments and above. Furthermore, most of them had special functions. Otherwise, why would the seven Great Ancestors keep them in the halls?

This meant that the alchemy cauldron was at least a high-grade mystic instrument. But cauldrons were naturally valued a grade higher, so a high-grade alchemy cauldron would be equivalent to a mystic treasure!

Naturally, Lu Ping was determined to fight for the cauldron. With his recent advancement in alchemy, he could already concoct half-step Core Forging Realm medicinal pellets, and so the mid-grade cauldron he was using now had grown incompatible with his alchemy.

In a single wave of his Verdant Dawn Sword, Lu Ping released eighty-one sword lights that indiscriminately attacked the surrounding cultivators. He then dashed forward while switching several sword arts to attack his opponents and defend himself from their attacks.

Lu Ping made nine consecutive attacks—the first eight attacks all came with eighty-one sword lights, but the ninth attack was different. For the ninth attack made with Verdant Dawn Sword, he released 126 sword lights to his surroundings!

It turned out that Lu Ping's swordsmanship had improved again!