Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-215

NETS – Chapter 215 – Underground Trade Fair (3)

There were perhaps only two people who understood what was happening.

The first was naturally Participant 72. Although covered by a cloak, he was constantly looking in Lu Ping’s direction. But there were other participants watching Lu Ping, so his actions didn’t stand out at all.

However, Lu Ping knew that the tracking spell was already loosened by his divine sense. Whenever it loosened a little more, Participant 72 would look over in Lu Ping’s direction.

The second one was Enlightened Master Bi. As the only known Enlightened Master in the crypt, his divine revelation had noticed the tracking spell, so he naturally knew what Lu Ping was doing.

However, he only glanced at Lu Ping and Participant 72, then closed his eyes and nodded off to sleep as if it had nothing to do with him.

This was also why Lu Ping didn’t ask for Enlightened Master Bi’s help after he found out about the tracking spell. He didn’t know if this was an unspoken rule of the underground trade fair.

After all, Enlightened Master Bi was only here to nominally represent the Northern League; his presence was only to ensure that the trade fair was carried out smoothly. Whatever happened after the trade fair had nothing to do with him nor the Northern League.

So, as long as Participant 72 didn’t do anything to Lu Ping during the trade fair, it was clear that Enlightened Master Bi wouldn’t care about it as well.

Not to mention that Participant 72 might be another Enlightened Master, which was more reason for Enlightened Master Bi to not interfere lest he offend one of his peers.

Lu Ping’s cloak swayed as his divine sense fluctuated to loosen and break the tracking spell.

Suddenly, a loud tearing noise could be heard—Lu Ping finally erased the spell.

However, the moment the tracking spell dissipated, part of the concealment formation on the cloak was also damaged. Immediately, Lu Ping’s aura leaked out from the cloak’s damaged formation.

Dozens of divine senses in the crypt swarmed towards Lu Ping, like sharks that smelled blood. They were eager to find out the identity of this Participant 57 who had made such a commotion in the crypt.

Lu Ping realized it instantly. He immediately cast the [Spirit Hiding Art] to conceal his aura and change his cultivation base.

At the same time, he stacked his divine sense to form a thick wall around him to block their probing.

When the participants detected Lu Ping’s aura, they were surprised to find that it was ever changing and his cultivation base had scaled down from the Seventh Layer to the Fourth Layer Blood Condensation Realm.

As a result, they couldn’t make out any useful information about this Participant 57.

Then, Participant 57’s divine sense quickly blocked the hole on his cloak, cutting off their divine sense from perceiving anything more.

After that, Lu Ping returned his attention to the trade fair. But because he had been focusing on the tracking spell, he had missed out on a lot of participants’ turns.

Right now, Participant 56 had gone on stage, and the next one would be Lu Ping.

After Participant 56, it was time for Participant 57 to go up. All the other participants were more or less anticipating what item he would bring out.

In fact, Lu Ping did have a lot of good items on hand. But the participants here were all elites among Late Blood Condensation Realm cultivators.

They were only interested in top-grade mystic instruments and not high-grade ones, so that meant Lu Ping’s initial plan wouldn’t work.

They would definitely be interested in Late Blood Condensation Realm medicinal pellets. However, Lu Ping himself was looking to increase his stock, so he naturally wouldn’t trade them out.

Lu Ping walked on stage with a jade bottle in his hand. Then, in the anticipating eyes of the participants, he opened the cover and revealed ten Blood Condensing Pellets inside.

The cultivators gasped loudly when they saw the Blood Condensing Pellets.

As his alchemy continued to progress, his success rate for these pellets had already reached seventy percent. So, he had concocted one cauldron before he came.

On top of the leftovers he had, it wasn’t difficult for him to bring out ten Blood Condensing Pellets.

Before anyone could give an offer, Enlightened Master Bi suddenly sat up straight and asked, “Kid, are you an alchemist?”

Lu Ping didn’t dare to neglect the Enlightened Master—he quickly answered, “This junior was lucky enough to put together this bottle of Blood Condensing Pellets after a few cauldrons.”

Enlightened Master Bi nodded. “How nice. Kid, are you interested in joining the Northern Alliance? I can recommend you to the Alchemist Division.”

Although the participants’ expressions couldn’t be seen, Lu Ping could still feel their envious gazes. He immediately understood that the Alchemist Division was a respectable place.

In fact, Lu Ping had little understanding of the East Ocean before he came. He only knew that it was the oceanic region with the highest status quo, almost on par with the Central Region, and far beyond that of the North Ocean.

After staying in the East Ocean for a period of time, Lu Ping now had a better grasp of its situation.

Although strong and resourceful, the East Ocean was not a peaceful region. Other than the colossal sect Crystal Palace, there were several large forces nearby.

Although these large forces were not as powerful as the Crystal Palace, they were much stronger than any one of the sects in the North Ocean.

One such group was the Northern League where Enlightened Master Bi was from.

The East Ocean’s northern sea was a relatively barren area, so there were no large sects occupying that region. Over time, the northern sea had become a haven for rogue cultivators.

But it wasn’t long before the rogue cultivators felt powerless against the large forces in the East Ocean. As a result, the small and medium-sized rogue forces in the northern sea banded together to form the Northern Sea Rogue Cultivators’ League.

After thousands of years, the Northern League had established a series of mature systems to maintain its power and to compete with the other East Ocean large forces.

Hence, it could be said that Northern League was the ultimate goal aspired by all rogue cultivators.

In the Northern League, rogue cultivators would receive shelter and a complete cultivation heritage, and they didn’t have to venture out to sea and risk their lives to make a living anymore.

But everyone knew that this wasn’t something that could be envied, because Lu Ping was an alchemist.

The high investment costs to raise an alchemist and the high returns they could bring was a determining factor to an alchemists’ high status. Hence, an alchemist would always be welcomed by any force, anywhere, anytime.

Lu Ping was obviously prepared for such a situation—he bowed slightly and said, “Thank you for your kindness, but this junior is used to being alone. I have no intention of joining any party at the moment.”

Enlightened Master Bi didn’t try to pressure him. After all, he was an Enlightened Master and it was already a huge show of kindness for him to personally invite Lu Ping; secondly, he also didn’t want to force and offend an alchemist.

So, he simply said, “Well, that’s a pity to hear. Kid, if in the future you’re looking for a party to join, come look for me in the Northern League’s Cicada Sect. I’m in the Wood Cicada Division.”

Lu Ping bowed and thanked him again.

Then, he turned to the others below the stage and said, “This is a bottle of ten Blood Condensing Pellets. I am only looking to exchange them for spirit herbs, but priority will be given to 1000-year spirit herbs first. Two rare 1000-year spirit herbs or eight supplementary 1000-year spirit herbs for one Blood Condensing Pellet.

“I’ll also accept spirit herbs that are used as ingredients to concoct Blood Condensing Pellets, I’ll take twelve of them for one Blood Condensing Pellet; As for 500-year spirit herbs, I’m only looking for the ones used to concoct Late Blood Condensation Realm pellets—I’ll take eighteen of them for one Blood Condensing Pellet.”

Blood Condensing Pellets were essential for any party as they were directly tied to their future success. Without them, it would be difficult for the younger generations to break through to the Blood Condensation Realm and continue their cultivation.

Here, Lu Ping intentionally raised the price of the Blood Condensing Pellets.

In Zhen Ling Sect, the disciples could exchange for a Blood Condensing Pellet with eight spirit herbs used in the Blood Condensing Pellets, but Lu Ping asked for twelve instead.

Even so, the participants competed vigorously for the Blood Condensing Pellets.

Lu Ping assumed that they wouldn’t have a lot of spirit herbs left after Enlightened Master Bi’s Condensed Blood Beads, but he had really underestimated them.

After all, they were the most promising group of cultivators on Three Clans Island to break through to the Core Forging Realm. So, they naturally had a lot of 1000-year spirit herbs to prepare for their advancement.

As soon as Lu Ping announced his terms, he received a dozen message charms within moments. He carefully checked them one by one.

The first message charm asked for five Blood Condensing Pellets and offered a mix of 1000-year spirit herbs, spirit herbs for Blood Condensing Pellets, and 500-year spirit herbs for Late Blood Condensation Realm pellets.

However, Lu Ping only picked out the 1000-year spirit herbs, one rare and twelve supplementary, then gave the participant two Blood Condensing Pellets in return.

At the same time, he again stated the priority of spirit herbs he would choose.

Just like that, Lu Ping traded out eight Blood Condensing Pellets for three rare and twenty-eight supplementary 1000-year spirit herbs, as well as thirty-six spirit herbs used to concoct Blood Condensing Pellets.

Just as Lu Ping was about to trade out the remaining two Blood Condensing Pellets for 500-year spirit herbs used for Late Blood Condensation Realm pellets, a message charm suddenly flew towards him.

Lu Ping paused for a second and looked in the direction of the message charm. A participant nodded towards Lu Ping but his expression couldn’t be seen from within the cloak.