Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-236

The lotus was a special type of spirit herb. Besides the usual grading system, lotuses had another ranking system.

Generally speaking, the growth of a lotus was classified into three stages and nine ranks.

During the first stage, every 30 years would form one rank. So, a 90-year lotus would be a Third Rank Lotus.

In the second stage, every 300 years would form one rank, making a 900-year lotus a Sixth Rank Lotus.

In the third, and final, stage, every 3000 years would form one rank. Hence, a 9000-year lotus would be a Ninth Rank Lotus.

After this, when a lotus reached 10,000 years old, it would probably awaken its cognition and become a monster cultivator.

Lotuses in the second stage were already equivalent to high-grade spirit materials; in the third stage, they would be as precious as Grade 3 top-grade spirit materials.

Whilst Lu Ping couldn't imagine how much would this Ninth Rank Lotus worth, he knew it was definitely as precious as the River Inclusion Cauldron, if not more.

He tried his best to contain the excitement in his heart and continued to inspect the lotus.

Beside the lotus flower, there was a lotus head that contained lotus seeds inside it. As the seeds of a Ninth Rank White Lotus, they could definitely be used to concoct Avatar Realm medicinal pellets. Lu Ping was salivating just looking at them.

The Ninth Rank White Lotus was grown in a small pond of Kui Water. This Kui Water was condensed from the essences of the flowers in the Hundred Flowers Land.

It was because of the Kui Water that the white lotus could grow into the ninth rank. If it was given another thousand years, the Ninth Rank White Lotus would become a monster cultivator, but sadly, he had found it before that.

Lu Ping asked Dabao to dive into the ground again and they relocated the entire pond, together with the Ninth Rank White Lotus, into the Tome of Thousand Millets.

However, he noticed that after leaving the Hundred Flowers Land, the Ninth Rank White Lotus looked less lively.

It seemed that there was some sort of connection between the lotus and the Hundred Flowers Land. However, that wasn't something Lu Ping could understand, nor did he have the time to figure it out.

Lu Ping didn't hesitate and harvested the Ninth Rank White Lotus. He searched inside his interspatial ring and found a Jade Marrow Bottle and Jade Marrow Box that he had obtained from Fei Ling Island.

He harvested all three lotus leaves and nine lotus seeds, as well as the lotus root.

He looked at the pond of Kui Water and thought that it would be a waste to just leave it here. Even if he used it to enhance his aegis energy, there would still be a lot left. So, Lu Ping t ended up throwing three lotus seeds back into the pond.

If there was any Avatar Realm Great Ancestor here, they would've gone mad witnessing Lu Ping’s actions! What a waste of resources!

Lu Ping smiled and kept the lotus seeds, leaves, and root in the Jade Marrow Box.

The lotus root was also a precious item.

According to Ji Zi-Xuan, second stage lotus roots were used to make high-grade puppets; it was rumored that third stage lotus roots could even be developed into a cultivator's second incarnation!

Lu Ping had asked Ji Zi-Xuan if he could make such an incarnation, but Ji Zi-Xuan looked at Lu Ping with disdain, saying that even his teacher, Enlightened Master Xuan-Huai, was unable to do so.

If Enlightened Master Xuan-Huai couldn't do it, Ji Zi-Xuan naturally couldn't, let alone Lu Ping.

Hence, Lu Ping had decided to eat the lotus root.

Ji Zi-Xuan would be very mad if he knew that Lu Ping was just going to eat it.

Besides being made into a puppet or an incarnation, the other effect of a lotus root was that it could strengthen a cultivator's body.

Lu Ping knew from Enlightened Master Liu Xuan-Ling that higher realm cultivators all attached great importance to their body constitution. He saw with his own eyes how Zhen Ling Sect Great Ancestors were so enthusiastic about exchanging for his Golden Nuts.

Hence, Lu Ping knew that it was important to strengthen his constitution.

For the past few years, Lu Ping had concocted all the Golden Nuts he owned into Golden Nut Pellets and had consumed them all. As a result, he had no more Golden Nuts besides the dozen unripe ones still growing on the Golden Nut Tree.

Right now, his body alone, without any aegis energy and arcane energy, was already strong enough to resist the attacks from top-grade mystic weapons.

He estimated that after consuming the lotus root, he could even take on attacks from low-grade mystic instruments without any protection.

After the pond was moved, a spirit vein was exposed beneath it. Lu Ping sensed the intensity of the spiritual energy; it was roughly five times stronger than a mini spirit meaning it was developing into a small spirit vein.

However, as he moved the Ninth Rank White Lotus away, the spirit vein actually started to dissipate slowly. It seemed that the spirit vein only existed because the lotus attracted spiritual energy to the area.

As the King of Flowers, the Ninth Rank White Lotus was the core of the entire Hundred Flowers Land.

With its king now gone, the sluggish pink fog started to flow around the place in an orderly manner, checking every corner, as if it was looking for something.

Lu Ping vaguely understood what was happening.

The Hundred Flowers Land was now selecting another spirit herb to breed as the new King of Flowers. However, it would take at least hundreds of years until a new King of Flowers was created!

Furthermore, the new King of Flowers wouldn't be as strong as its predecessor. It would take thousands of years for it to grow to the same level as the Ninth Rank White Lotus.

At this time, Senior Brother Qi's exclamation of shock and anger could be heard some distance behind Lu Ping, "What's happening? Why is the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence thinning? What's going on?"

Wang Yi-Shan asked, "Could it be that cultivator has done something?"

Senior Brother Qi said, "Let's go and finish that brat. If this goes on, I won't have enough Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence to enhance my aegis energy. Send the message sword and urge Enlightened Master Wang Hua to come right now. This Hundred Flowers Land is probably not what we think it is, there must be some secrets inside it."

Senior Brother Qi's demanding tone brought Wang Yi-Shan's some discomfort, but Wang Yi-Shan still answered the order, "Alright."

This place wasn’t safe anymore!

Lu Ping opened his mouth and made a strange call. Over 200 Amethyst Bees swarmed back into the Tome of Thousand Millets.

When he saw the Amethyst Bees, he was pleased and surprised to find that half of them had entered the First Layer Blood Refining Realm.

But considering that this Hundred Flowers Land hadn't been explored for nearly 10,000 years, the flowers here must have accumulated a large amount of essence. Hence, it was only natural for the Amethyst Bees to have a cultivation breakthrough.

Although the pink fog had weakened, it still had an effect on divine sense. So, Lu Ping could still hide his tracks if he kept a few hundred feet of distance away from them.

Lu Ping took a detour and left in the other direction, hoping that he could slip away from the side.

However, the five cultivators expected Lu Ping to leave in the other direction, so they also changed their direction.

When Lu Ping's divine sense noticed them in front of him, he decided to make the first move!

The cultivators didn't have time to praise themselves for making a correct guess as they saw Lu Ping attack straight away.

Lu Ping had cast the [Thousand Stacks of Snow Sword Art] with the Verdant Dawn Sword, creating hundreds of sword lights that formed a raging wave which pounced towards them.

The five of them had to work together to defend from the sword waves. They were shocked by his incredible strength.

Right before Lu Ping was about to attack again, a loud voice could be heard across the entire Hundred Flowers Land, "Jin Li, don't you dare force me! This is the human's territory!"

The overwhelming aura of a Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master swept across the land.

"Enlightened Master Wang Hua!"

"Third uncle!"

Senior Brother Qi and Wang Yi-Shan exclaimed with elation!

"Enlightened Master Jin Li!"

On the other hand, Lu Ping's face changed!