Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-229

Fallen Rift could be roughly divided into three layers: the outer, middle, and inner.

The outer layer covered the edge of the archipelago, where most islands fell in the mini and small category. This layer was also a haven for Blood Condensation Realm cultivators to be in.

Further in was the middle layer where medium islands had formed. This layer was mostly visited by Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters.

Lastly, the inner layer was where the large islands were located. It was said that large spirit veins could be found on them, and they were occupied by the Avatar Realm Great Ancestors.

Right now, Lu Ping was heading to a small island in a remote place near the middle layer. This was also where Participant 58 had found and cultivated the Hundred Flowers Malodor Essence and Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence.

After quickly moving dozens of miles deep into the outer layer, Lu Ping finally gathered his spirit pets together instead of letting them move individually.

From this point on, there would be many Blood Condensation Realm cultivators' activities, so Lu Ping's blatant movements would only draw attention and hostility from both human and monster cultivators.

Sure enough, just as Lu Ping stepped onto a mini island, the surrounding sand rose up, covering his vision and diverting his focus.

In the midst of the rising sandstorm, a black shadow and white light fired towards Lu Ping.

Right before the attacks could hit him, he brought out a mirror in his hand. The mirror shot out a golden light that disabled the black shadow, causing it to crash into the ground at Lu Ping's feet and forming a pit.

At the same time, Lu Ping reached out with his other hand—a stream of water appeared out of thin air, breaking through the sandstorm. He clenched his fist, the flowing water turned into a giant hand and grabbed the white light.

Two muffled grunts could be heard from outside the sandstorm; the ambushers obviously didn't expect to miss their attacks and even lose their mystic instruments.

The sandstorm intensified, gradually forming a vortex of quicksand beneath his feet, sand whirling towards him.

Lu Ping frowned. He seemed to have accidentally stepped into a trap and was now caught in their array formation.

Array formation wasn’t something he was at all proficient in, whatever limited knowledge he did have was all gleaned from casual conversations with Hu Lili.

Seeing that the array formation's strength was increasing, Lu Ping extracted all the water inside the Cold Jade Glazed Bowl.

He first cast the [Cloud Moving Rain Falling Art], creating rain to stop the sandstorm and sand whirls. Then, he cast the [Emerald Sea Tide Art], using the rainwater on the ground to disrupt the developing quicksand.

Lu Ping surveyed the clear space around him and spread his divine sense everywhere.

By now, the sands had changed again, quickly rising to form twelve huge sand giants, all in the Sixth Layer Blood Condensation Realm, that immediately stomped towards Lu Ping.

Lu Ping's expression was calm—the Verdant Dawn Sword flew out along with a dozen sword lights. In the blink of an eye, the leading sand giant was nothing but a broken pile of sand.

The remaining eleven sand giants didn't slow down and reached Lu Ping in the meantime, smashing and stomping towards him.

But suddenly, the Verdant Dawn Sword suddenly burst out with more than three hundred sword lights, crushing the eleven sand giants into scattered sand. All the while, Lu Ping remained unmoving while his divine sense searched in the entire array formation.

However, the defeated sand giants suddenly merged together to form six stronger sand giants, all in the Seventh Layer Blood Condensation Realm.

They surrounded him again but before they could attack, Lu Ping suddenly flew up—their attacks hit the ground and showered sand everywhere.

While in midair, Lu Ping held the Verdant Dawn Sword and slashed out thirty-six times aiming southeast.

A total of nine spiritual sword lights and twenty-four sword lights formed a simple Enneagon Sword Array. The sword lights hovered silently in front of him, like soldiers waiting for orders.

Lu Ping continued to do the same in the other seven directions, as well as beneath him.

With that, he had formed an Enneagon Sword Array in each direction. Altogether, they formed a larger Enneagon Sword Array.

As he finished off the last array beneath him,all nine arrays shot out in the direction they were facing.

Nine loud explosions reverberated in Lu Ping’s ears, followed by two shocked exclamations. The gray scenery around him shattered like a mirror, the ground quaking. Lu Ping knew that this was the array formation breaking down.

Behind the fake scenery was the sun, beach, forest, and two fleeing cultivators.

A huge green bird abruptly appeared in front of them, swooping down with a loud chirp. The bird shot out a ball of green fire from her mouth and with a flap of her wings, the fireball turned into a cloud of fire that swept towards the fleeing cultivators.

The hot air from the fire cloud was enough to warn the pair of its power. They had no choice but to dodge the attack, but before they could, they suddenly felt their waist tightening up. They looked down and saw two water ropes on their waists.

When the two tried to extricate themselves, the water ropes suddenly stretched out into countless thin lines, forming nets that confined them.

"Spare our lives!"

Both of them shouted at the same time, their voices high-pitched with fear from Lu Ping's swift and powerful attacks.

Lu Ping leisurely strode over—in just a few moments he was already thirty feet away from them.

Right at that moment, the cultivators' faces turned blood red, a surge of arcane energy suddenly burst out from their bodies and instantly shattered the water nets. Together, they lunged at Lu Ping in a last ditch attempt at victory .

Both sacrificed a Condensed Blood Bead in return for a temporary boost in strength. However, this would bring irreversible damage to their cultivation base and put an end to their future cultivation.

Hence, it was a desperate measure used by cultivators only at times of crisis.

These men were like wolves, relentless not only to their enemies, but also themselves!

Lu Ping was unprepared for this, so in this instance he had no time to cast up Umbra.

The two smiled wickedly as they lunged at him and saw him casting up his golden aegis energy.

They obviously expected the aegis energy, since it was a cultivator’s quickest and most natural form of defense.

The initial plan was to have one of them attack first to break his aegis energy, and the second one would swoop in and take his life. This was their only chance to seize a slim chance of survival and turn the tide of battle!

The cultivators were using their secondary mystic instruments since Lu Ping had taken down their primary weapons. Even so, they were confident that they could kill him.

And so, both were feeling smug as if the victor had already been decided, while Lu Ping watched them impassively.

Dang—

Lu Ping's aegis energy shook but didn't break!

The first cultivator was shocked and thought, How powerful!

Dang—

The second cultivator, who was too late to stop, also hit Lu Ping's aegis energy, but still couldn’t break it.

The cultivators thought, What? How is this possible?!

At that instant, Lu Ping moved.

The cultivators had to come close to attack, so they were standing side by side now, which gave him the perfect chance to kill both in one strike.

In a single swing, the Verdant Dawn Sword sliced their heads off, their faces frozen in shock and disbelief even after death.

Just two ordinary Eighth Layer Blood Condensation Realm cultivators, even after sacrificing their Condensed Blood Beads to boost their strength, did they really think they could break his Million Poisons Aegis energy?

Lu Ping collected their interspatial pouches and took some time to reflect on himself.

Although he was much stronger than others in the same rank, he couldn't deny the fact that he’d let his guard down.

Furthermore, the cultivators in Fallen Rift were much more relentless and vicious than he expected.

Lu Ping was only in the outer layer and already he’d experienced such a dangerous encounter. It was hard to imagine how perilous it would be deeper inside.