Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-242

NETS – Chapter 242 – Accumulation (1)

The dark night was silent, like a hibernating beast noiselessly waiting for the arrival of its prey. The rippling seawater had already wiped out all traces of the fight; no one would know that a gruesome battle had just occurred.

Furthermore, no one would ever believe that a Blood Condensation cultivator could actually kill a Core Forging cultivator!

Suddenly, six lights appeared on the sea surface, like flying fireflies amidst the whisper of the tide.

The lights settled on the sea surface—they were actually six Late Blood Condensation cultivators. The leader was in the Eighth Layer and the other five were in the Seventh Layer.

“Big Brother, this is… unimaginable. How can someone in the Blood Condensation Realm defeat a Core Forging Enlightened Master?!”

“That’s right. I think he hid his cultivation base. After all, Enlightened Masters aren’t those that we can defeat.”

“It can’t be wrong. The cultivation base can be hidden, but not the arcane energy and divine sense. He’s definitely a Blood Condensation cultivator!”

“Those twelve shining stars were really powerful. They’re only top-grade mystic instruments and yet can still go up against a mystic treasure. And don’t forget, that gate in the sky must have been a divine ability, right? But those shining stars still crushed it in the end.”

“Big Brother, what do you think?” The fifth cultivator made no remarks, instead turning to ask their leader who had not spoken.

The leader didn’t seem to be listening, a tight frown on his face as he looked around with wary eyes. His companions finally noticed his abnormal behavior and they asked cautiously, “Big Brother…”

“Not good!”

The leader suddenly blurted out with fear and anxiety. He cast his weapons up in the air and shouted, “Run!”

Alarmed, the cultivators behind him quickly took out their mystic instruments.

However, the Primordial Stars had already surrounded them, and Lu Ping’s voice could be heard from above, “You’re alert, but too slow!”

But the Primordial Stars only appeared for a few seconds— they quickly disappeared in a flash, leaving the six cultivators behind.

One of them asked the leader, “Big Brother, we—”

The leader turned and flew up, commanding calmly, “Back to the island!”

After another twenty minutes or so, two shooting lights suddenly flashed across the sea surface. One of them was in his thirties and wore a black shirt, and the other was an old man clothed in a silver uniform.

If Lu Ping was here, he would’ve recognized the middle-aged man in black as Enlightened Master Wang Hua. Naturally, the other would be the Crystal Palace’s Master Alchemist, Enlightened Master Kun Shan.

At this moment, Enlightened Master Kun Shan was not looking pleased.

Back when he received the news of Hundred Flowers Land from his disciple, he of course knew what lay inside and quickly rushed to the island. However, he was still a step too late.

After they chased away Enlightened Master Jin, the two went into the island and found their disciples in the Hundred Flowers Land. When Enlightened Master Kun Shan saw the pit in the flower land, he immediately knew that the King of Flowers had already been taken away, and he fiercely berated Senior Martial Brother Qi.

Senior Martial Brother Qi felt regretful for failing to secure the opportunity, but he also felt wronged. He couldn’t be blamed for the matter because he knew nothing about the King of Flowers. Naturally, he didn’t know there was one in the Hundred Flowers Land.

Little did they know that the King of Flowers was not just an ordinary one, but a Ninth Rank White Lotus. On top of that, there was also a peach tree monster with Psychic Wood in the Hundred Flowers Land.

In any case, the Hundred Flowers Land was still a precious place. As long as the flowers were not destroyed, it could continually produce the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence and Hundred Flowers Malodor Essence over time.

Hence, they naturally would want to secure the island and save the resources for their disciples in the future.

“It seems that we were one step too late. Jin Li has already escaped. But the auras here… they feel strange. It’s as though Jin Li had a battle with a Blood Condensation cultivator?” Enlightened Master Wang Hua said uncertainly.

“Yes, it’s strange indeed. With Jin Li’s ability, even with his injuries, he shouldn’t have been entangled by a Blood Condensation cultivator for so long. Not to mention that the aura suggests that Jin Li seemed to have exerted his full strength.”

Enlightened Master Kun Shan’s divine revelation was obviously stronger; he was able to deduce more from the scene than Enlightened Master Wang Hua.

“In any case, Jin Li won’t be appearing within the territory of the Three Clans Alliance anymore. Right now, the more important matter is to prevent the Zhang and Li clans from discovering our plan, and we must especially take care not to alert the Northern League. Jin Li was so close to the teleportation formation and almost discovered it. Luckily, I came to intercept him in time.”

“The Hundred Flowers Island has to be kept a secret too. Although the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence has thinned a lot after use, it’s still a good resource to reward the disciples. The Crystal Palace will share the island with the Wang Clan. You may send four disciples to absorb the Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence and cultivate their aegis energy.”

Enlightened Master Kun Shan had indeed taken the land for Crystal Palace. After all, it was truly a renewable source of Hundred Flowers Ominous Essence. The essence could be used to condense the disciples’ aegis energy, the spirit herbs could be harvested to concoct pellets, and centuries later, there would also be a new King of Flowers.

Enlightened Master Wang Hua was stunned, then he saw Enlightened Master Kun Shan staring at him and he replied reluctantly, “Alright.”

…

Lu Ping rushed back to Wave Listening Island that night, then he summoned Hong Ying and gave an order.

Shocked, Hong Ying looked up at Lu Ping in admiration and nodded automatically. Then, he left the cave-dwelling to execute the order.

Hong Ying instructed Wu Yan to take care of the island affairs, then he gathered the Four Champions together and hurriedly left the island.

In the cave-dwelling, Lu Ping sat on the mini spirit vein. Finally, he could settle down and look into his condition.

Suddenly, his face turned as white as a sheet, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

The battle with Enlightened Master Jin had been a close call. If not for the fact that Lu Ping’s Nascent Life Primordial Star Array was really powerful and could actually stand against Enlightened Master Jin’s inherited divine ability, Lu Ping would have died for sure.

The main reason he’d made it out alive was because Enlightened Master Jin had already been injured and exhausted from pursuit. As a result, he had fought Lu Ping with at most forty percent of his actual strength.

If Enlightened Master Jin was at his peak state, the best Lu Ping could do was to escape for his life.

On the second day, Hong Ying returned to Wave Listening Island with great enthusiasm and he announced that Twilight Island had joined Wave Listening Island and Crimson Shadow Island.

After the merger, Twilight Island Master Ye Bu-Qi became the second master, while Hong Ying remained as the first master.

The most surprising news was that there was actually a mini spirit vein on Twilight Island which the six brothers have kept a secret tightly.

Hence, Lu Ping who had taken his injuries under control quickly set up an array formation to bring the mini spirit vein to Wave Listening Island. The two spirit veins merged together and enhanced the spiritual energy in the cave-dwelling, which definitely helped Lu Ping to recover from his injuries.

After some days, the caravan from the islands have returned.

Every once in a while, the islands would go out to the markets outside of Fallen Rift to exchange for necessities and other resources they needed, such as medicinal pellets and mystic instruments.

Hence, Lu Ping had instructed the caravan to buy more 500-year spirit herbs from the markets for him to concoct medicinal pellets to be distributed to the Blood Condensation Realm cultivators in the three islands.

It was only then that Hong Ying and Ye Bu-Qi knew Lu Ping was an alchemist, and they became even more respectful and complaint towards him.

With the support of medicinal pellets, the total of more than 30 Blood Condensation Realm cultivators in the three islands immediately set off in a cultivation frenzy.

They have been rogue cultivators all this while, so they were constantly lacking cultivation resources and heritage. Hence, when given the opportunity, they have shown determination beyond that of the ordinary sect disciples.

Lu Ping didn’t care what the cultivators were thinking. He only know that he had suffered heavy losses in the battle with Enlightened Master Jin.

——