Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-250

NETS – Chapter 250 – Big Harvest

This force… this isn’t good! It’s the Spirit Vein Sealing Formation! They finished setting it up already?

The Spirit Vein Sealing Formation was used to lock up spirit veins or spirit mines. The formation effectively stopped the dissipation of spiritual energy, and prevented others from entering the spirit vein without permission. Hence, the formation was widely seen as a declaration of ownership.

Given the importance of medium-sized spirit stone mines, Lu Ping knew the Crystal Palace would set up a Spirit Vein Sealing Formation. However, he expected the array formation to be set up a year later, during which he would be long gone.

The Crystal Palace’s base was located in the far-off Fallen Rift; it would take time to transport the precious materials needed to set up the formation. Furthermore, the preparations were extremely complicated, and had to be done by an Enlightened Master.

However, Lu Ping had underestimated the Crystal Palace, the strongest colossal sect in the East Ocean!

Lu Ping grew anxious—he was now afraid that the Enlightened Master hosting the array formation would discover him.

With the two stone slabs by his sides, he emerged from the ground and immediately met with a wave of divine revelation that swept across the field. Beads of cold sweat rolled down his head and soaked his back; he stood completely still and didn’t dare to make a noise.

The divine revelation inspected the field for a few moments and withdrew, failing to notice Lu Ping as it swept by.

Despite escaping detection, Lu Ping didn’t dare to lower the stone slabs. He carefully sneaked past several groups of patrolling disciples who went about their duties negligently.

After all, there were several Enlightened Masters on the island, and the disciples firmly believed that no one would dare to act foolishly.

By contrast, Lu Ping was extremely cautious. He cast out the Tome of Thousand Millets and recalled the Amethyst Bees that were still in Hundred Flowers Land. Then, he and Dabao rushed towards the tunnel.

Of course, Lu Ping didn’t follow the tunnel’s path. Instead, he and Dabao disappeared into the stone walls beside the tunnel, escaping with Dabao’s [Stone Spirit Escape].

Fortunately, Dabao had reached Fifth Layer Blood Condensation Realm in the past six months, his arcane energy was much thicker or otherwise Lu Ping would have to wait for Dabao to recover his arcane energy first before they escape.

On the stone slope on the nameless island, one man and one mouse slowly emerged from behind a large boulder.

However, this time Lu Ping wasn’t so lucky.

Aside from the original four Crystal Palace disciples, there were now six other disciples to reinforce the security. The tunnel entrance was narrow and couldn’t accommodate many people, hence, the disciples were scattered around in small groups.

By an unlucky coincidence, Lu Ping appeared before a couple busy sweet-talking in front of the boulder. The lovebirds were too stunned to react to his sudden arrival.

By the time the pair realized that they should alert the others, the Golden Scale Sword had already sliced through their throats in one go.

But the arcane energy fluctuation still alerted the nearby disciples—they spread out their divine senses and detected the couple’s deaths.

Fortunately, Lu Ping had the Mirage Robe and [Spirit Hiding Art] to conceal his identity, and the stone slabs to avoid detection. He quickly cast the [Shapeless Sword Art] for stealth, then flew away with Auspicious Cloud beneath his feet.

Who knew how many parties and Enlightened Masters were on the island—if he didn’t flee quickly, he might really die here.

“How dare you!?”

A roar of anger could be heard clearly from the island center, followed by a wave of overwhelming divine revelation. However, the divine revelation moved through Lu Ping as if he was nonexistent.

Although the divine revelation didn’t detect him, Lu Ping knew the Enlightened Master had noticed him. Maintaining his stealth was no longer important, he quickly let out the snake trio to help him speed up Auspicious Cloud.

In the blink of an eye, they crossed a mile’s worth of distance. By the time a tanned Enlightened Master rushed out from the tunnel, Lu Ping was already long gone.

In that moment, a muted rumbling noise emitted from underground, the entire nameless island shuddered and a tsunami several hundred feet tall rose up and surged towards the island.

The tanned Enlightened Master impatiently waved his hand and repelled the tsunami back to the sea.

The Spirit Vein Sealing Formation was raised, and the medium-sized spirit stone mine was now locked down. They didn’t have to worry about other parties sneaking in anymore.

As the tanned Enlightened Master was about to chase Lu Ping, a voice suddenly said, “Forget it, Brother Li. His arcane energy is even stronger than Chilian Ying. It would be a waste to chase after him at this point.”

…

In the process of escape, Lu Ping changed directions several times in case of any pursuers. By now, he was already more than fifty miles away from the nameless island.

Finally, Lu Ping landed on a coral reef in the middle of nowhere. He took two deep breaths and eased his unsettling heart.

He had always been proud of his abundant arcane energy, but the recent events were all so intense that he had depleted his reservoir multiple times in a row.

He couldn’t help feeling helpless at times, but there was nothing much he could do. Lu Ping took a Spirit Regenerating Pellet and continued heading back to Wave Listening Island.

Upon arriving, Lu Ping quietly returned to his cave-dwelling without alerting anyone. He settled down and spread out his divine sense to check on the island’s situation.

Coincidentally, Wu Yan and Hong Ying were also on the island, so he summoned them over to the cave-dwelling.

While he waited for their arrival, Lu Ping cast up the Tome of Thousand Millets and checked the spoils gained over the past six months.

The Amethyst Bees were busy rebuilding their nest, and they had all grown to the size of chicken eggs. Over twenty of them were in the Third Layer Blood Refining Realm, and the rest were in Second Layer. It wouldn’t be long until the birth of the queen bee.

Twenty piles of spirit stones were seen under the peach tree monster; fifteen piles of 100,000 low-grade spirit stones each, plus five piles of 2,000 mid-grade spirit stones each. That added up to an equivalent of 2,500,000 low-grade spirit stones in total.

Lu Ping was dumbstruck, he wondered if he’d counted wrongly. One must know, in those six months, he and his spirit pets had spent half of their time on their daily cultivation, and only mined for the other half.

The reason he didn’t mine all day long was because of the environment. The concentration of spiritual energy in the spirit stone mine was on par with that of a small spirit vein, so their cultivation speed was much faster and easier.

Aside from the low-grade and mid-grade spirit stones, Lu Ping also had fifty high-grade spirit stones in his interspatial ring!

At this time, Wu Yan and Hong Ying had already arrived at the cave-dwelling.

Wu Yan happily greeted Lu Ping, “Young Master, you finally came back! Recently, the situation in Three Clans Alliance has increasingly worsened, and the instability has directly impacted the twenty-seven mini islands. Young Master’s absence has left us directionless in the midst of this chaos.”

Although Hong Ying didn’t show his happiness on his face, his expression was conspicuously relaxed. It was obvious that the islands’ situation was not looking good.

This time, Lu Ping treated them to the Thousand Brew Wine.

Initially, Lu Ping planned to brew another batch of Hundred Brew Wine with the 500-year spirit herbs. However, he was running low on supply, especially after concocting ample medicinal pellets for Lu Qin and the snake trio.

Hence, he could only treat them with the Thousand Brew Wine made by a thousand pieces of 100-year spirit herbs.

Hong Ying drank half of a cup of wine. The liquid flowed down his throat and turned into a stream of spiritual energy that warmed his body. Hong Ying praised, “What a fine wine!”

Wu Yan appeared to be a lightweight drinker; after taking a small sip his face had already turned red.

Lu Ping took out two large gourds and placed them on the wooden table. “This Thousand Brew Wine can hasten the recovery of arcane energy for Blood Condensation cultivators.The situation in Fallen Rift will soon descend into turmoil, so distribute this wine to the others. They might come in handy at a critical moment.”

Wu Yan came forward to take the wine gourds, the last of Lu Ping’s stockpile.

Although Thousand Brew Wine made of 100-year spirit herbs was of little use to Lu Ping, it was still useful to other Blood Condensation cultivators.

He turned to Hong Ying and asked, “What has happened in Fallen Rift these past six months? Why haven’t I seen Ye Bu-Qi on the island?”

Hong Ying took a moment to respond, as if to organize his words, then he said, “Young Master, Three Clans Alliance is about to collapse! The twenty-seven mini islands are worried of being dragged down with them. Chi Lian-Ying has fled, and now her five islands are occupied by other forces in Fallen Rift.”

——