Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-274

The first Battle Intention Pellet was sealed with the [Water Sky Curtain], which was the cultivation art for Lu Ping’s aegis energy.

This aegis energy cultivation art was a powerful one, as it eventually led to a protective divine ability known as the [Heavenly Curtain Aegis], which was said to be as tough as a top-grade defensive mystic instrument.

In order to cultivate this ability, the aegis energy had to be fused with three different types of heaven-and-earth peculiar waters. Lu Ping’s aegis energy was already fused with the Million Poisons Ominous Essence and Kui Water Essence, so he was only one step away from achieving the [Heavenly Curtain Aegis].

However, the divine abilities were difficult to cultivate, even harder than achieving the Core Forging Realm and becoming an Enlightened Master. Only those amazing talents were able to cultivate a divine ability.

And Lu Ping may have coincidentally come across two heaven-and-earth peculiar waters, but who could say with certainty that he’d find another?

Furthermore, even if he did manage to find one and successfully cultivate the protective divine ability, it was only a minute divine ability.

There were three classifications of divine abilities: the minute divine abilities which were cultivated with external help, the real divine abilities which were cultivated based on the cultivator’s own strength and attainments, and the great divine abilities which were divine abilities in their perfected forms.

Currently, the sword divine ability was the most attainable one for Lu Ping to cultivate. He was quite talented in swordsmanship, having experienced life-and-death battles with sword geniuses like Ouyang Wei-Jian and Enlightened Master Jin Li.

Furthermore, he had already fully mastered Sword Complexity to its peak of 1,296 sword lights. One-quarter of the sword lights had achieved Sword Spirituality, and once he cultivated all of them into spiritual sword lights, the next step was to fully master Sword Simplicity and Sword Unity. By then, he would be at the peak of Sword Intent, and one step away from a sword divine ability.

This was a true divine ability that was far more powerful than minute divine abilities.

Legend has it that above the divine abilities, there were also great divine abilities. In swordsmanship, the only known great divine ability was the [One Sword Breaks All Laws]. However, only Prime Peng and Prime Jiao, the two strongest Seven Primes, had mastered this great divine ability.

Although a cultivation method had been passed down for this great divine ability, no one had ever successfully cultivated it before.

Lu Ping pondered at the quality of the pellet which had exceeded his expectations—it would be a waste to seal it with an ordinary spell or skill. So, he couldn’t help thinking about sealing it with a divine ability!

Sadly, he had yet to achieve this step, so it wasn’t possible to test it out. He was certainly convinced that it was possible. Perhaps, battle pellets were only able to be passed down until now because they were sealed with divine abilities!

The second time concocting the pellet was much easier. While Lu Ping was carefully sealing the pellet with his strongest sword skill, Great Ancestor Hong Ye was looking at the Verdant Luan on his shoulders.

“How surprising, this little songbird has the Fire Luan bloodline. How can you tolerate a Fire Luan descendant wandering out in the world on her own and not bring her back to the tribe?”

Yan Wu-Jiu smiled helplessly and said, “By the looks of it, her father is one of us, but also a bastard, while her mother is only a Verdant Luan, which is a side branch of Prime Luan’s descendants. Hence, she is only considered a middle-class monster. She will only awaken her Fire Luan heritage when her bloodline reaches a certain purity and after achieving the Core Forging Realm. Right now, her progress is commendable, and the human junior has treated her well. But without the tribe’s help, she likely won’t awaken her heritage at all.”

Great Ancestor Hong Ye asked casually, “Have you not considered taking her back to raise her yourself?”

Yan Wu-Jiu replied, “Ever since the foolish Yan Jiu-Xiao was instigated by the Crystal Palace to hunt for Chu Fan-Yun’s descendants, Fire Luan has been divided into two factions, and I’m now caught in the middle. Where would I find the extra time and energy to raise an illegitimate daughter left outside by some bastard? If not for my protection, even this disciple of mine would be caught up in the power struggle.”

At this point, Great Ancestor Hong Ye was quite surprised. “Huh, this little junior is quite a surprise. His secret purification technique is amazing, no wonder he dared to accept the Bet of Cauldron. What a pity.”

Great Ancestor Hong Ye seemed to think Lu Ping would still lose to Yue Jiang-Rui even with the purification technique.

Yan Wu-Jiu glanced at Lu Ping after hearing this praise, then he pondered and said, “The secret technique feels similar to that one from the North Ocean—Fei Ling Sect’s Great Ancestor Jiao Yu-Qiang’s [Spirit Fire Refinement and Purification Technique].”

Great Ancestor Hong Ye smiled. He looked again and said, “Indeed. But the [Spirit Fire Refinement and Purification Technique] is for smithing, how can it be used for alchemy?”

“Perhaps it was created based on part of the [Spirit Fire Refinement and Purification Technique]. When Fei Ling Sect was destroyed, most of its inheritances were divided by the North Ocean sects, but some were passed on by the surviving disciples scattered throughout the cultivation world. Didn’t they say Great Ancestor Jiao Yu-Qiang escaped to the East Ocean? However, it’s still impressive enough to change a smithing purification technique to suit alchemy. Truly a pity.”

Yan Wu-Jiu too, did not think highly of Lu Ping’s chances.

Although Battle Intention Pellets were difficult to concoct, only a few cultivators failed both attempts and they were disqualified immediately. In the end, thirty-six alchemists remained.

They just had to disqualify four more and the rest would make it to the top 32. They would then be qualified to enter the Northern League’s Pavilion of Alchemy and select a pellet recipe of their choice.

However, the alchemists were not so excited about this reward—they were all aiming for the top 16 or even higher!

In order to go further, they would have to fight with the Battle Intention Pellets they had just concocted!

The Sky Cleaving Sword Sect’s alchemist stepped forward, casting both his Battle Intention Pellets in the air. Then, after a few hand signs, the pellets spun rapidly with sword lights shooting out of them. Each of the pellets released more than two hundred sword lights, causing the other alchemists to look gloomy.

The level of his Sword Intent and Sword Complexity was incredible, as expected of a Sky Cleaving Sword Sect disciple. Even as an alchemist, his sword art was still stronger than others!

But that wasn’t all, the shrunk pellets suddenly exploded, each of them releasing forty-nine spiritual sword lights of great power to the surroundings.

These were the sect’s spiritual sword lights, the Sky Cleaving Sword Lights!

The participant’s expressions all changed drastically, even Lu Ping looked solemn.

The Sky Cleaving Sword Sect was always said to have the strongest swordsmen in the East Ocean, and even the Crystal Palace didn’t dare to provoke them without cause.

Lu Ping secretly compared it to his own sword skill. If both were at the same level, Lu Ping could only take a defensive position, relying on his strong arcane energy to wear down his opponent to exhaustion.

With the Sky Cleaving Sword Sect alchemist’s Battle Intention Pellets as a precedent, the other entries seemed far duller by comparison. However, Lu Ping still didn’t dare to take them lightly—those that could make it to this stage would not be weaklings.

Especially the alchemical geniuses from the major sects, they surely must be as powerful as the Sky Cleaving Sword Sect’s alchemist, if not stronger!