Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-226

Lu Ping studied the three cultivators that surrounded him. The one in the middle was clearly the leader, and was in the Ninth Layer Blood Condensation Realm. The other two cultivators on either side of him were in the Eighth Layer Blood Condensation Realm.

"Brat, I heard that you're an alchemist? I suppose I don't have to tell you what to do next, right?" The leader spoke arrogantly, as if victory was already at hand.

But he soon realized that Lu Ping wasn't panicking as he had expected. Instead, Lu Ping was smiling, and said, "You sure have some guts assaulting an alchemist."

Their faces changed immediately. In the cultivation world, there were a few groups of cultivators that were best not to offend, with alchemists being one of them.

One reason was because alchemists all had a huge network of relationships. After all, the majority of cultivators would have to rely on alchemists to concoct medicinal pellets for their cultivation progress.

Hence, as an alchemist, many cultivators in Three Clans City would be willing to help Lu Ping kill the three of them in return for some medicinal pellets.

The leader snorted coldly, "No one will know about this if you die here today!"

Killing intent filled their faces and the greed in their eyes intensified.

Lu Ping laughed softly and whistled.

The leader immediately felt that something was wrong, and hurriedly said, "Attack together, destroy him!"

As soon as his words fell, before the other two cultivators could even raise their mystic instruments, three huge snake tails suddenly appeared underneath the left cultivator's feet, lashing toward him from three different directions.

The cultivator exclaimed in surprise. He only had time to activate his aegis energy and a golden mystic instrument shaped like a brick.

The golden brick knocked away the blue snake tail, but the other two snake tails connected, sending him into the waters below with a huge splash.

The seawater surged violently. A moment later, a pool of red blood appeared on the surface and the rolling seawater settled.

At the same time that the snake trio struck, a clear chirp sounded out and a strong wind blasted onto the right cultivator as a giant bird swooped down.

The right cultivator was quick to react, summoning a high-grade golden bell above him. Lu Qin's talons only managed to scratch the golden bell causing it to shake.

Despite the golden bell firmly protecting the cultivator, his face turned pale showing that the attack had still injured him internally.

Lu Ping was slightly surprised. It seemed that it was exactly as Chen Lian had told him previously; amongst defensive mystic instruments, those in the form of a bell, tower, and pagoda, were the best.

With Lu Qin now in the Eighth Layer Blood Condensation Realm, she could definitely crush any ordinary high-grade mystic instruments with her talons.

Lu Ping lips moved, as if he was silently saying something. Lu Qin chirped unhappily, but she didn't dare disobey Lu Ping's order.

Lu Qin flapped her wings and released a burst of wind spells to attack the golden bell's protective light barrier.

Then, Lu Ping turned to look at the leader with a smile.

The leader, the big brother of the trio, had completely lost his confidence, with the arrogant expression on his face nowhere to be seen. He was petrified as he looked at the flying sword that was pointing right at him.

It felt as if his whole body was enveloped in killing intent, and that the sword could attack him from any direction at any time.

This was Sword Intent!

The Emerald Sea Spirit Snakes resurfaced from underwater, shrinking down to one foot.

The snake trio looked around and saw the petrified leader being pinned down by Lu Ping. When they saw the cultivator being suppressed by Lu Qin, they started playing happily on the water, splashing huge tidal waves around them.

Lu Qin knew that this was the snake trio provoking her. They were only in the Sixth Layer Blood Condensation Realm whilst Lu Qin was in the Eighth Layer Blood Condensation Realm; yet, they had killed their opponent faster than her.

Lu Qin quickly chirped to explain herself, saying that it was because the master instructed her not to harm the golden bell, and hence she didn't finish off the cultivator right away. But quickly, Lu Qin couldn't contain her anger anymore, and so she put aside Lu Ping's instruction.

She opened her beak and shot out a series of fireballs while flapping her wings to enhance the might of them. The fireballs exploded on the golden bell's protective light barrier, causing the golden bell's shining surface to become dull.

"Careful!"

The leader hurriedly yelled.

However, the cultivator was panicking and didn’t hear the warning. He injected all of his arcane energy into the golden bell, hoping that it would outlast the attack.

Suddenly, the explosions stopped. When he looked up, he saw the Verdant Luan swooping down again.

This time, the exhausted cultivator could no longer stop her talons. The golden bell was knocked away, and with a swing of Lu Qin's left wing, the cultivator's head was removed from his body.

During all this, Lu Ping didn't take the chance to make a move when the leader was distracted by the battle. The Verdant Dawn Sword was still pointed at him from a distance.

Beads of cold sweat rolled down the leader's face, he was clearly on the verge of collapsing.

A few moments later, he could no longer bear the suffocating sword intent. He stopped resisting, and asked in a terrified tone, "Who are you exactly?"

Lu Ping smiled softly, while the Verdant Dawn Sword hovered above the leader's head.

The leader's face twitched, he felt helpless against Lu Ping's caution.

Then, Lu Ping took a step forward. Just as Lu Ping moved, the flying sword trembled, as if Lu Ping’s control over his flying sword had weakened slightly for a moment.

The leader quickly seized the chance to escape.

A bow and arrow appeared in his hand. He quickly fired an arrow towards Lu Ping. Then, a mirror appeared above his head, and he hurriedly escaped.

Lu Ping wasn’t surprised, as if he had already foreseen the cultivator’s actions.

However, he was surprised by the arrow's power. Lu Ping pulled a stream of water from the Cold Jade Glazed Bowl and formed a water shield in front of him. The arrow penetrated through the water shield, but was stopped in its tracks by Umbra.

At this time, the leader had already fled a hundred feet, but Lu Ping wasn’t anxious. The Verdant Dawn Sword flew out, accompanied by hundreds of sword lights, and caught up to the leader in an instant.

However, the leader ignored the flying sword, as he was confident that his mirror mystic instrument could block the attack. So, he accelerated and continued to escape.

Just as the Verdant Dawn Sword was about to strike the mirror, it suddenly emitted a golden light that swept over the Verdant Dawn Sword. The golden light instantly reduced the 300 plus sword lights into 81 spiritual sword lights and a few dozen ordinary sword lights, which then struck the golden mirror.

An ear-piercing screech reverberated in the sky, but the golden mirror held strong and eventually stopped the sword lights. The leader stumbled, and then fled even faster.

Lu Ping was surprised by the golden mirror's power, but still sneered, "Let's see how far you can escape."

With the Auspicious Cloud under his feet, he chased closely behind the leader. A few moments later, the Verdant Dawn Sword slashed out again.

This time, the mirror's golden light only eliminated a few dozen sword lights. The remaining sword lights smashed into the mirror, knocking it into the sea. The leader's face turned pale and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

The sword lights continued slashing forward, but just before they were about to make contact, the leader’s aegis energy changed color from gold to pink.

When the flying sword cut the aegis energy, it was as if it had struck a layer of soft but durable fabric, which stopped the sword from cutting any deeper.

For the first time, Lu Ping's expression changed.

The leader's aegis energy had fused with a heaven-and-earth peculiar item, and Lu Ping was familiar with the item. It was the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence that Chu Ting had traded to Participant 58.

The strength of the Hundred Flowers Aegis Energy coming from the leader also matched the amount of Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence that Chu Ting had traded to Participant 58.

There was no mistaking it; this cultivator was definitely Participant 58 who sat next to him in the underground trade fair!