Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-235

NETS – Chapter 235 – King of Flowers

Just as Lu Ping was about to continue harvesting more spirit herbs, a thought flashed through his mind and he frowned.

Wait, this doesn’t feel right… This peach tree monster… it’s not the King of Flowers!

The pre-requisite for the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence to converge was a land of flowers, and in this land of flowers, a King of Flowers would often be born.

The King of Flowers was nurtured by the spiritual energy of the entire flower land, so it was normally the highest quality spirit herb, tree, or even spirit material that could most likely cultivate into a monster.

Apart from the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence, the King of Flowers was the real reason that brought Lu Ping here!

Therefore, even after encountering Wang Yi-Shan and the others, and even after learning that Enlightened Masters would be coming, he still entered the land of flowers without hesitation.

When Lu Ping saw the peach tree monster, he naturally assumed it was the King of Flowers.

Not only did it have the Psychic Wood, the mutated thousand-year-old mahogany branch, the most important thing is that it had awakened its aura and cultivated into a monster.

However, Lu Ping forgot the most important point—nature’s essence!

The King of Flowers gathered power from the land by using the essence from the other flowers, but this peach tree monster hadn’t achieved that.

The tree had only awakened because of the Psychic Wood; its cultivation did not come from the land of flowers. Hence, it couldn’t be the King of Flowers.

Lu Ping’s eyes lit up as he finally figured out what was wrong.

Suddenly, a cold killing intent rushed at Lu Ping’s back. His face became grim—it was too late for him to dodge, so he could only cast Umbra and his arcane energy to take the brunt of the attack.

Bang—

The impact reverberated through Lu Ping’s chest, he stumbled a few steps forward and quickly tried to recover from the tightness in his chest.

The pink fog formed by Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence naturally smothered a cultivators’ divine sense. On top of that, Lu Ping was so focused on the King of Flowers that he had momentarily let his guard down.

Who would expect that someone would come close enough to launch an ambush attack? But at this time, in this place, the ambushers couldn’t be anyone else but them.

Lu Ping turned around and saw Wang Yi-Shan and the other four.

The attack had used a top-grade mystic instrument, a full-force blow by a Peak Blood Condensation Realm cultivator.

Despite casting up Umbra in time, he couldn’t utilize its full power, so the attack still injured him.

And after casting the Tome of Thousand Millets, and using up most of his arcane energy to relocate the peach tree monster, he had little reserves left in him now.

Coughing from the tight pain in his chest, Lu Ping observed his opponents carefully. Although the damage wasn’t severe, it still made it difficult to circulate the arcane energy in his body.

On the other side, Wang Yi-Shan was even more shocked than Lu Ping. He’d held nothing back when attacking the other, and yet an inattentive Blood Condensation Realm cultivator had survived the blow. Stunned by this development, he was hesitant to continue the attack.

Beside him, Crystal Palace’s Senior Brother Qi noticed Lu Ping’s intentions and quickly said, “He’s trying to stall for time! Let’s rush him together before he can recover!”

The cultivators came to their senses and raised their mystic instruments. A total of five top-grade mystic instruments hurled towards Lu Ping.

Lu Ping sighed—he’d let his guard down. He should’ve reserved some arcane energy for emergencies like these, but the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence and peach tree monster had completely wiped it from his mind.

He was indeed stalling for time, but not from injuries—he was only trying to recover his depleted arcane energy.

When he saw them attacking together, he had no choice but to retreat.

All five were in the Peak Blood Condensation Realm, especially those three from the Crystal Palace. They were all no weaker than that of the North Ocean 18 Warriors.

Lu Ping was amazed by Crystal Palace’s powerful strength. The trio didn’t seem like very important disciples, yet they were still this powerful.

At his peak, Lu Ping would never be afraid of cultivators at their level, but it was a different case when his arcane energy was depleted.

If they were to entangle him in battle, he definitely wouldn’t be able to make his escape. By the time the Enlightened Masters arrived, Lu Ping was unlikely to make it out alive!

The Verdant Dawn Sword shot out five waves of lights and parried the incoming attacks—Lu Ping disappeared into the pink fog behind him.

“He’s running away! Quickly, after him!”

“Be careful, we’re surrounded by Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence, and the Hundred Flowers Malodor Essence is already corroding our aegis energy. And he’s definitely not weak—stay together, and watch each other’s backs.”

Lu Ping’s divine sense was stronger than theirs and by utilizing the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence, he easily escaped from the range of their divine senses.

He stood far enough that his divine sense could detect them but he himself was out of their range.

He heard Senior Brother Qi say, “We just need to guard this place and wait for Enlightened Master Wang Hua to arrive. I don’t think he’s brave enough to force his way past the five of us. And while we’re here, we can gather the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence. The concentration isn’t high, but it should be enough to condense my Hundred Flowers Aegis Energy.”

Lu Ping watched as Senior Brother Qi slowly absorbed the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence that he’d already thinned out, and he smiled coldly. After a moment’s thought, he turned and moved deeper into the depths of Hundred Flowers Land.

After some time had passed, Lu Ping tapped his head and let Dabao out again. The mouse’s arcane energy had mostly recovered after taking a Spirit Regenerating Pellet—he naturally knew why Lu Ping had released him here.

Dabao turned and sniffed around, then went towards the direction with the highest concentration of spiritual energy.

A few moments later, Lu Ping was left speechless as Dabao harvested a 1000-year spirit herb off the ground, then trotted forward to claim his praise!

Lu Ping pulled on Dabao’s whiskers. “You simpleton! I told you to look for the King of Flowers, not 1000-year spirit herbs.”

But he knew that Dabao wasn’t at fault. After all, he was a Spirit Seeking Mouse—he could only respond to the highest concentration of spiritual energy nearby.

Lu Ping helplessly threw a Delicacy Pellet to Dabao. He was always greedy for food and constantly asked for things to eat. But overconsumption of medicinal pellets was harmful, so Lu Ping made Delicacy Pellets that had no medicinal efficacies and used them as treats for Dabao.

Just like that, Dabao led Lu Ping to eight more 1000-year spirit herbs, two of which turned out to be rare spirit herbs!

It seemed like Dabao’s spirit-seeking ability had improved after advancing to the Mid Blood Condensation Realm.

Suddenly, Dabao called out twice for Lu Ping and ran in a certain direction. Lu Ping’s heart thumped in excitement. He quickly followed and after traveling about a hundred feet, his divine sense detected a strong wave of spiritual energy.

He quickly sped up and came to a special space that was free from the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence pink fog, as if invisible walls were stopping the fog from filling the space.

At the center, a crystal snow-white lotus bloomed gracefully on a small pool of water. At first glance, its majestic vibe revealed its position as the King of Flowers.

This was… a Ninth Rank White Lotus!

Lu Ping’s divine sense swept across the lotus—he was in utter disbelief!

This was the King of Flowers in this Hundred Flowers Land!