Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-248

NETS – Chapter 248 – Mysterious Tunnel

Disappeared?

Lu Ping paused for a second, then used his divine sense to look in the last spot Wang Yi-Mu had been, but found nothing.

How interesting!

Lu Ping rubbed his chin, his interest piqued by the Wang Clan disciple. He walked towards the area, and at the same time, shrunk down his divine sense and layered it around him.

Doing so would reduce its range by half, but sharply increase the sensitivity. This way, he could scout the area more thoroughly for hidden objects or stealth spells.

However, Wang Yi-Mu’s stealth skill was obviously beyond Lu Ping’s expectation, which prompted him to layer the divine sense again. However, an overly layered divine sense could alert the Crystal Palace disciples patrolling nearby.

Just as Lu Ping hesitated over whether he should do it, his divine sense quivered slightly as it perceived something. Wang Yi-Mu had moved within Lu Ping’s range.

Naturally, Lu Ping wouldn’t let him escape again, and he followed Wang Yi-Mu from afar to see what he was up to.

Suddenly, Lu Ping’s divine sense quivered again—he perceived another object moving rapidly in front of Wang Yi-Mu, who was apparently following the object’s lead.

This is… a Spirit Seeking Mouse?

Lu Ping’s interest grew even stronger this time.

He didn’t expect Yang Yi-Mu to bring out a Spirit Seeking Mouse. It was in the Ninth Layer Blood Refining Realm, which showed that its growth had been deliberately nurtured.

But what exactly was Yang Yi-Mu looking for?

Lu Ping had been here before them, but even Dabao, a Mid Blood Condensation Spirit Seeking Mouse, couldn’t find anything.

So, he was confident that Wang Yi-Mu’s Ninth Layer Spirit Seeking Mouse wouldn’t be able to find anything either.

There was a huge pit ahead, left behind after the peach tree monster was relocated to Lu Ping’s Tome of Thousand Millets.

The Spirit Seeking Mouse ran to the bottom of the pit, sniffed around, then left in disappointment.

Wang Yi-Mu was not discouraged. He stroked its head and fed it a medicinal pellet from his interspatial pouch.

Spirit Devouring Pellet?

Lu Ping was surprised again. He didn’t expect Wang Yi-Mu to actually have such an item. Now, he was seriously wondering if he had missed out on something else hidden in Hundred Flowers Land.

The Spirit Devouring Pellet would stimulate the spirit pet’s talent to the best of its abilities, but not without a price—the pet’s future. This Spirit Seeking Mouse would never be able to break through to the Blood Condensation Realm.

After taking the pellet, it was now almost on par with an Early Blood Condensation Spirit Seeking Mouse.

After some contemplation, Lu Ping dragged Dabao out from the spirit pet pouch.

Poor Dabao had been resting when Lu Ping forcibly woke him up. Just as he was about to protest, Lu Ping knocked him on the head and told him the situation.

Dabao’s spirits suddenly lifted.

What? There’s something here that I missed? And another Spirit Seeking Mouse is on the hunt for it? Ninth Layer Blood Refining Realm? Spirit Devouring Pellet? Pftt, that’s still no match for me in the Mid Blood Condensation Realm!

Dabao sniffed the ground deeply and quickly discovered something. His small legs moved rapidly beneath his fat belly. In just a few moments, he had surpassed the other Spirit Seeking Mouse who was still sniffing around and slowly moving forward.

There really was something good here!

After traveling for some distance, Lu Ping abruptly lifted Dabao up with one hand. In his divine sense, a dozen Crystal Palace disciples had gathered ahead.

The disciples were spread out and stood in a ring formation—they appeared to be guarding something in the center of the ring.

Around them, many charms and seals had been set up to reinforce the perimeter. Once triggered, the Crystal Palace disciples would be alerted to any intrusion.

Lu Ping naturally knew that they were surrounding the spot where he’d dug out the Ninth Rank White Lotus and the pond of Kui Water.

But he’d taken everything he could back then; what else was left there?

Lu Ping frowned and pondered, Ah yes, the mini spirit veins!

His eyes lit up from realization, but he still couldn’t help but frown. The mini spirit veins only existed to nourish the King of Flowers; with the King of Flowers gone, the spirit veins would eventually dissipate over time.

Could it be that the Crystal Palace had found a way to stabilize the dissipating spirit veins and transfer them to their base? But that wouldn’t make much sense. The Crystal Palace was a colossal force in the East Ocean—would it really place so much importance on just a few spirit veins?

While Lu Ping was puzzled, Wang Yi-Mu, who had been left behind, had finally arrived.

With a brazen smile, Lu Ping moved aside to hide on the other side of the mound.

A few moments later, a Crystal Palace disciple shouted, “Who’s there?”

Wang Yi-Mu, who had accidentally triggered the alarms, desperately retreated. Thanks to his incredible stealth skill, he quickly left the vicinity.

Naturally, the Crystal Palace disciples weren’t willing to let him go just like that.

They had placed numerous measures to seal the area, set up patrols to guard the perimeter, and yet, an intruder still managed to make it inside. How could this not infuriate the conceited Crystal Palace disciples?

Ten of the twelve disciples impulsively chased after the intruder, and only two remembered their duty and stayed behind.

However, they quickly saw a flash of golden light that dazzled their eyes. When their visions recovered, the last thing they saw was a golden flying sword and each other’s headless bodies, before succumbing to total darkness.

Lu Ping never held back when it came to killing Crystal Palace’s disciples. The Ocean Overturning Gang was obviously an extension of Crystal Palace’s power, and its hands were stained with the blood of North Ocean cultivators.

Lu Ping moved in and collected their interspatial pouches.

One of them had a top-grade flying sword which, although incomparable to his Verdant Dawn Sword, could serve as a temporary replacement.

After all, the Golden Scale Sword was a mystic treasure which cost too much arcane energy to use. He couldn’t always use it in battle.

At the bottom of the pit, a deep tunnel had been dug into the ground. There was no light in the tunnel, only the faint traces of a weak but extremely pure spiritual energy.

Dabao immediately hopped joyfully around Lu Ping’s feet, his senses telling him that a huge treasure lay inside the tunnel.

Lu Ping pondered for a while, then decided to enter the tunnel.

He turned around, waved his hands to put away the corpses and wiped away the blood on the ground, making it look like the disciples guarding the tunnel entrance had gone after the intruder.

The tunnel was dark, but after a distance, the surrounding stones gradually had a crystal-like luster, and the spiritual energy gradually thickened.

Lu Ping was astonished, This is…

After some distance, he heard a series of metallic clanking noises, which further confirmed his suspicions.

Lu Ping donned the Mirage Robe to change his aura, raised the two stone slabs to prevent divine sense detection and to absorb his arcane energy fluctuations. At the same time, he also used [Shapeless Sword Art] to hide himself.

Only then did he slowly proceed deeper into the tunnel, towards the source of the noise.

——