Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-199

Without waiting for the others to respond, Lu Ping headed straight for the island.

He Li-Xin could be heard saying from the back urgently, "Junior Brother Zhao, the array formation is not to be underestimated. Your cultivation base might be stronger than hers, but it will still take effort to break the array. If you want to take her down, I suggest bringing a few junior brothers with you."

As soon as He Li-Xin finished saying her piece, Zhang Wei-Qing took the lead and volunteered. "Count me in!"

Immediately after, two more followed behind them. All four were in the Seventh and Eighth Layer Blood Condensation Realm and they quickly disappeared into the array in a flash.

"This Zhao Chang-Yun is really reckless. If he can’t take down the array formation, we’ll have to go in and clean up his mess. How troublesome."

"Hehe, that's because you have no idea what Lu Ping did to Junior Brother Zhao. Back then, there were more than twenty Hai Yan Sect's Fallen Cultivators chasing after Lu Ping, but in the end only Junior Brother Zhao made it back alive to Hai Yan Sect. As a result, not only did the sect refuse to absolve his identity as a Fallen Cultivator, the punishment was extended for ten more years.

The one who spoke was none other than Xuan Ling Sect's Zhou Wei-Long, who explained the reason with a gloating tone.

"With four Late Blood Condensation cultivators joining hands this time, she’s bound to die. If we can make use of her Frosty Forest Array and trap Lu Ping inside, it will be much easier to kill him then. We might be enough to take him down, but there’s no harm in making use of everything we have to avoid unnecessary casualties."

"How will we divide his wealth between us?"

This question came from a Fallen Cultivator who had taken part in the pursuit last time.

All of a sudden, the atmosphere between the cultivators suddenly tensed.

Miao Wei-Dong cleared his throat and said, "We’ll discuss that after killing Lu Ping."

At this time, the cultivators were still unaware that Lu Ping had already seen through their plan. He was suspicious of Yuan Zhan's intentions from the beginning and was quite cautious after leaving Huang Li Island.

Not only that, he discovered the position of their ambush. Hence, he swiftly pretended to be Zhao Chang-Yun and mixed in among them.

Lu Ping was not a master of array formations, but he was no stranger to their uses. After all, they were often used by cultivators. Once Hu Lili learned of his previous entanglements, she took the initiative to explain several methods of breaking array formations.

Not only was the Frosty Forest Array one of the most powerful formations Hu Lili had mastered, it was also one she had discussed the most with Lu Ping.

After Lu Ping entered the array, he took off the Mirage Robe and restored his original appearance. Then, he walked into the array formation according to Hu Lili’s method to avoid triggering its attacks.

Lu Ping's huge divine sense spread out to trace the gaps in the array, and he quickly found Hu Lili's location in just a few moments.

Hu Lili, who was meditating to recover, sensed something and raised her head to look around.

Her aura had weakened significantly, but she seemed to be uninjured, so Lu Ping heaved a sigh of relief. It looked like her exhaustion only came from the continuous fights.

Zhang Wei-Qing followed behind Lu Ping, but quickly lost his tracks after they entered the array formation. He remained unflustered as he was confident of his own cultivation base.

Even when alone, he could still hold his ground for some time under the array formation's attacks. Once the other three fellow cultivators arrived, they could work together to break the array, catch Hu Lili and do whatever they liked to her.

Whenever Zhang Wei-Qing thought of how he’d torture Hu Lili to humiliate his biggest enemy and drive him crazy, he could hardly contain the excitement in his heart.

At that moment, he suddenly heard a weird noise and he immediately turned vigilant. However, there was nothing moving around him, not even from the branches overhead.

The wood branches were covered in ice shards that had frozen up because of the Frosty Forest Array. The cold air also formed a curtain of white fog around him that obstructed his vision.

Zhang Wei-Qing secretly thought to himself that the scenery formed by the array was actually not bad!

It was at this time, an ice shard broke away from a wood branch and fell to the ground.

Zhang Wei-Qing naturally noticed the falling ice shard, but because it was about twenty feet away from him, he only eyed it before shifting his gaze away.

However, when the ice shard was level with Zhang Wei-Qing, it suddenly turned sideways to thrust at his throat!

Zhang Wei-Qing had no idea how an ice shard could suddenly become a top-grade flying sword.

It happened so suddenly that he had no time to comprehend the situation. He hurriedly cast out a high-grade mystic instrument and also his aegis energy.

However, it was already too late.

Lu Ping's [Shapeless Sword Art] swiftly beheaded Zhang Wei-Qing, the man who had set him up several times.

Looking at the corpse on the ground, Lu Ping felt a myriad of emotions. Unknown as to when, formidable opponents like Zhao Chang-Yun and Zhang Wei-Qing were no longer a match for him anymore.

Lu Ping shook his head and smiled faintly, heading deeper into the array formation. He knew that Hu Lili had sensed his arrival, then controlled the array formation to drop an ice shard to cover his stealth attack.

With her help, Zhang Wei-Qing was killed in an instant without a chance to warn the others.

As Lu Ping looked ahead, Hu Lili seemed to have sensed his thoughts; a frost tree in front of him swayed gently in an imitation of her chortling to him.

With the cover of the array formation, Lu Ping was not worried that his face would be seen by someone outside.

Then, with Hu Lili's cooperation, Lu Ping used the array formation to silently kill the other two cultivators.

After cleaning the battlefield, Lu Ping moved through the array formation and finally reached an open space in the middle of the Frosty Forest Array.

Hu Lili tidied her hair and smiled brightly towards Lu Ping. Her face was slightly pale, her eyes like crescent moons, and her smile was the sweetest thing he had ever seen.

As their eyes met, Hu Lili could see a trace of relief in Lu Ping's gaze, while Lu Ping saw a hint of gratitude, relief, pride, and playfulness in hers.

"I knew you would come to pick me up!" Hu Lili smilingly stood up as Lu Ping walked to her side.

"Are you hurt?" he asked softly.

"Even if I am, I would have recovered a long time ago with all the medicinal pellets you gave me." Hu Lili spun around in front of Lu Ping to show that she was unharmed.

Hu Lili had always been mature and intelligent in front of Lu Ping, so this was her first time displaying such a cute and playful side to him.

Hu Lili looked at his stunned appearance and giggled happily. Lu Ping quickly recollected his gaze and laughed softly.

Meanwhile, the remaining six cultivators outside of the array formation finally noticed that something was wrong. The array formation was too quiet, as if nothing had happened at all.

But one must know, even the monster beasts could stir up trouble inside the array formation, so the four Late Blood Condensation cultivators must have been able to do more.

Perhaps, there was someone among the four who was an array formation expert and had already infiltrated it without making a noise?

"Not good! Something is wrong with that Zhao Chang-Yun!"

He Li-Xin suddenly exclaimed. She kept thinking that something felt odd, but didn't know what until now.

As soon as she pointed it out, the others quickly thought back and sure enough, they realized that the Zhao Chang-Yun they just met had behaved abnormally.

These cultivators were Blood Condensation Realm elites in their sects. Not only were they strong and powerful, they were also quick-witted. They immediately knew He Li-Xin was right.

Since the beginning, Zhao Chang-Yun had never revealed his face and they only confirmed his identity from his famous Mirage Robe.

However, the cultivators were still puzzled.

If the Zhao Chang-Yun they saw was fake, then who could the imposter be? The Mirage Robe could only be cast using Hai Yan Sect's secret technique. So, this must mean that the imposter was a Zhen Ling Sect spy planted in Hai Yan Sect, right?

But the cultivators didn't think that a spy could get his hands on the sect’s secret technique.

In the Frosty Forest Array, Lu Ping listened as Hu Lili told him what actually happened, which was very different from what Yuan Zhan said in Liu Zi-Yuan's cultivation room.