Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-233

Lu Ping hid behind an outcrop of boulders a thousand feet away from them. He watched with a gloomy expression as they scouted the area.

There were five of them, three of whom Lu Ping recognized.

Three Clans City's Wang Yi-Shan and Crystal Palace's Alchemist Qi Shi-Min—he’d previously met them in the city’s mortal marketplace before. It seemed like after being kicked out of the city, they didn't return to Crystal Palace as promised but came here instead.

The third cultivator was one of the emissaries collecting the island's offering. He must also be someone from the Wang Clan.

The other two cultivators wore silver uniforms and followed behind Alchemist Qi, both in the Peak Blood Condensation Realm.

Lu Ping listened to the conversation and learned that an Enlightened Master might be joining them later. A chill ran down his spine at the thought!

To make matters worse, it seemed that Enlightened Master Wang Hua was most likely the father of Participant 58 who he’d killed.

This put Lu Ping in a dilemma.

Should he go to the secret place or not?

If he went ahead, he would most likely face an Enlightened Master. But if he gave it up just like that, he might regret it in the future.

Lu Ping thought of all the treasure to be found in the secret place, the treasure that he was really here for.

If he missed this opportunity, he may never come across it again!

But other than the Wang Clan's Enlightened Master Wang Hua, there was also the possible arrival of another Enlightened Master, this time from the Crystal Palace.

From the conversation, this Enlightened Master was a Master Alchemist. Lu Ping was now almost certain that he would come!

As a Master Alchemist, it was impossible not to understand the significance of a high-concentration of Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence.

…

On the southeast side of the island was a rocky slope several miles long, sparsely grown with vines.

Lu Ping carefully looked around, occasionally sweeping the area for traces with his divine sense but found nothing.

Suddenly, two naturally bulging boulders attracted his attention. He swept his divine sense across them but found nothing noteworthy.

However, he trusted his instincts and walked over, picking off some vines which revealed a crack in between the boulders. It turned out that the boulders were made of an unknown material which could prevent the divine sense from detecting the crack.

The crack was slightly slanted to one side, and it was so narrow that one had to turn their body and lean against the wall to move through the crack.

Since Lu Ping was in a hurry, he didn't have time to inspect the boulders and immediately slipped into the crack. Inside, he thought for a second and decided not to use the vines to cover the entrance, instead deliberately leaving it as is, so other cultivators would notice the crack at a glance.

The crack continued dozens of feet down the stony slope, with several tight turns in between. Lu Ping sincerely wondered how Participant 58 had discovered this hidden path.

He patiently moved through the dark and narrow path and reached a cavernous, bright space which exuded a rich flower fragrance.

It was a sea of flowers of different varieties and hues. A pink fog filled the space, and occasionally he could see hints of darkness coiling within the fog.

This was the secret place where the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence was nurtured, and the darkness was the Hundred Flowers Malodor Essence.

But Lu Ping didn't have the time to stop and appreciate the astonishing scenery before him. He was only a step ahead of the rest because of the map's guidance—it wouldn't take long until they caught up to him.

Furthermore, he even left the entrance exposed, so they wouldn't be hindered by the boulders' strange effect.

The Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence and Hundred Flowers Malodor Essence always appeared together; they were counterparts to each other.

The Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence was a heaven-and-earth peculiar item used to cultivate one’s wood-element aegis energy.

Whereas the Hundred Flowers Malodor Essence had to be refined first before cultivators could use them in their cultivation.

Lu Ping had already cultivated his Million Poisons Aegis Energy, so he didn't need the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence anymore. On the other hand, not only was the corrosive Hundred Flowers Malodor Essence unable to stop him, it was actually a great tonic for his aegis energy.

Lu Ping cast up his aegis energy, which immediately absorbed the pink fog, while quickly walking deeper into the flower sea.

As he went further into the Hundred Flowers Land, the pink fog became thicker, and the Hundred Flowers Malodor Essence appeared more abundantly.

But whenever the Hundred Flowers Malodor Essence came in contact with Lu Ping's Million Poisons Aegis Energy, the golden aegis energy would suck the darkness into it, causing it to glow even brighter.

Suddenly, Lu Ping thought of something and took out the Tome of Thousand Millets from his interspatial ring. He opened it up and brought out the lapis jar containing the golden Million Poisons Pulp.

The Million Poisons Pulp suddenly quivered and a fist-sized colorless liquid flew up from the golden pulp.

As the colorless liquid made a turn in the jar, the Hundred Flowers Malodor Essence detached itself away from the pink fog and formed a dark cloud above the lapis jar.

The dark cloud was thickening, as though rain would pour down from it at any moment.

Lu Ping excitedly took out a mid-grade mystic instrument. It was a bottle which he used to store spiritual spring water, to water the spirit herbs in the Tome of Thousand Millets.

The bottle had been with him during his time in the Blood Refining Realm. Using the Void Stone Dust that he’d requested from Second Senior Sister Li Xuan-Ru, he had Chen Lian upgrade it into a mid-grade mystic instrument.

Since the colorless liquid had extracted all the surrounding Hundred Flowers Malodor Essence, what remained behind was the pink fog which purely consisted of just the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence.

Lu Ping naturally wouldn’t let this chance slip from his hands. He quickly cast a few spells and sucked the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence into the bottle mystic instrument.

Although he could collect the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence on his own, he would have to manually separate the Hundred Flowers Malodor Essence, which would inevitably be slow and inefficient.

If he had the means, he could slowly manage the task, but Lu Ping was running out of time.

Lu Ping cast the Tome of Thousand Millets and the jade bottle mystic instrument above him, letting them extract and collect the Hundred Flowers Malodor Essence and Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence.

Meanwhile, he continued to move around in search of something.

Suddenly, he heard a buzzing noise from the Tome of Thousand Millets. He paused for a moment and laughed at himself. "How could I forget them!"

He pointed a finger towards the Tome of Thousand Millets, and more than two hundred Amethyst Bees flew out and scrambled towards the sea of flowers.

These were the hundreds of Amethyst Bees that Lu Ping had obtained from Ai Shu-Tao in the Heaven of Seven Stars; he had hatched them from their eggs a while back.

Normally, Lu Ping would let them out to collect honey whenever he reached a new place, but because his attention had been so focused today, he had actually forgotten them.

While the Amethyst Bees were not yet mature, they looked no different from ordinary bee monsters, other than being slightly larger in size. Hence, he was not worried that anyone would recognize them.

However, Amethyst Bee Honey required a lot of nectar from flowers that were at least a hundred years old. At the same time, harvesting and producing honey was also the Amethyst Bees' way of cultivation.

But because Lu Ping had been running around for the past two years and rarely settled down in one place for too long, the Amethyst Bees never had the chance to cultivate properly, so they had yet to advance to the First Layer Blood Refining Realm.

By now, Lu Ping had ventured deep into the Hundred Flowers Land. He was surrounded by the fragrance of flowers, with many 100-year flowers and spirit herbs close at hand, yet Lu Ping didn't have the time to harvest them. He was still searching for a certain item, his true objective in coming here.

Meanwhile, this was a great opportunity for the Amethyst Bees to harvest nectar from the 100-year flowers, make Amethyst Bee Honey, and improve their cultivation base.

As bee monsters, they were naturally not afraid of the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence and Hundred Flowers Malodor Essence.

Every time the Amethyst Bees shuttled between the flower sea and Tome of Thousand Millets, Lu Ping noticed their cultivation base was progressing quickly. If given enough time, this swarm of more than two hundred Amethyst Bees would soon be in the First Layer Blood Condensation Realm.

At this moment, the vague silhouette of a towering tree could be seen in the midst of the pink fog ahead. Its incredible height was exceptionally outstanding among the sea of flowers.

This must be it! Lu Ping thought happily!