Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-284

Chapter 284: Cauldron Mystical Inscription

The Northern League’s Pavilion of Alchemy was a structure hovering somewhere in the sky. Inside the pavilion, Lu Ping and the other seven alchemists were looking through thousands of jade scrolls for the pellet recipe they wanted

In fact, Lu Ping suspected that the pavilion itself was inside a spatial dimension like the Tome of Thousand Millets. Otherwise, it would be extremely difficult to keep the pavilion out of reach from other cultivators if it was in the cultivation world.

Lu Ping asked Enlightened Master Qin about the Blood Extraction Pellet’s recipe, then headed directly to the specific shelf.

“I’d change the recipe if I were you.”

While Lu Ping was searching through the shelf, someone suddenly came up behind him. Lu Ping looked up in surprise and saw it was Yue Jiang-Rui.

“What do you mean?”

Yue Jiang-Rui tossed him a jade scroll and said emotionlessly, “This is the reward I got from the broken space.”

Lu Ping took a look, it was a pellet recipe for the Blood Extraction Pellet. He pondered for a second, then suddenly understood. “You still want to try it after all, to see if you can advance to the Core Forging Realm?”

Yue Jiang-Rui wasn’t surprised that Lu Ping could see through his intention. “Exactly. We all learned the Essence Extension Pellet already. Given that went directly for the Blood Extraction Pellet, I guess you already have the recipe for the Vein Reinforcement Pellet. I am now your servant, so naturally I’m obligated to remind you not to waste this opportunity on something you already have.”

Lu Ping smiled. “I see. I’ll share the recipe for the Vein Reinforcement Pellet once we’re done here. But since we already have the Blood Extraction Pellet recipe, what do you think I should look for? You’re more experienced and have far more insight than me. Do you have any suggestions? Preferably something that can help our breakthrough to the Core Forging Realm.”

Yue Jiang-Rui didn’t expect Lu Ping would actually ask him for advice. In Yue Jiang-Rui’s eyes, Lu Ping was surely an arrogant young brat given his achievements, so he was prepared to be humiliated and suffer for the next ten years.

The last thing he expected was for Lu Ping to treat him as an equal, not to mention, actually respect and acknowledge his experience and insights!

Yue Jiang-Rui froze for a moment and saw Lu Ping’s smile. Clearing his throat to cover his reaction, he answered, “In what way do you plan to advance to the Core Forging Realm? By that, I mean the last step of your bloodline perfection.”

This was Yue Jiang-Rui’s test. Although the bloodline perfection was not always a matter of extreme secrecy, some would be more or less offended to be asked about it directly.

“I have a Golden Core,” Lu Ping replied with his usual smile.

Yue Jiang-Rui inhaled sharply and tried his best to hide his shock from the other cultivators nearby. He was astonished that Lu Ping had so easily answered.

Yue Jiang-Rui solemnly thought for a moment and said, “Maybe there really is a pellet recipe to help you. The Core Division Pellet.”

…

One of the many ways to advance into the Core Forging Realm was to consume a Golden Core. However, Golden Cores contain a massive true energy that most cultivators couldn’t fully absorb. Most of the true energy would be wasted during the breakthrough. Furthermore, absorbing too much of the true energy could also overstrain the cultivator’s body and damage their foundation.

The Core Division Pellet was created to deal with situations like this. This method involved dividing the Golden Core’s true energy into ten parts. This way, the cultivators only had to consume the right number of pellets for the breakthrough and save the remaining ones to give to others, or for their own cultivation progress.

Although Lu Ping considered his arcane energy to be stronger and thicker than his peers, and he could absorb a Golden Core better than the rest, there would inevitably be some wastage of true energy. Furthermore, his Golden Core had come from Enlightened Master Jin Li.

Like Lu Ping, Enlightened Master Jin Li was also a cultivator with a superior arcane energy. Otherwise, he couldn’t possibly elude the other Enlightened Masters, some who were in a higher cultivation layer than him. Not to mention that Enlightened Master Jin Li was a Second Layer Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master, not a First Layer.

Hence, Lu Ping wasn’t confident he could absorb Enlightened Master Jin Li’s Golden Core with minimal wastage!

…

Under Yue Jiang-Rui’s guidance, Lu Ping found the half-step Core Forging Realm pellet recipe. Then, they spent the next three days studying alchemical insights from the Northern League’s predecessors.

After the three days, they returned to the cave-dwelling Lu Ping had rented in Qian Yuan City. Bidding farewell, Enlightened Master Qin was extraordinarily polite towards Lu Ping, as if he was addressing an equal.

This exchange only incited Yue Jiang-Rui’s suspicions of Lu Ping’s identity. Lu Ping took note of Yue Jiang-Rui’s furtive looks, but chose not to explain. Sometimes it was better to remain secretive.

And Enlightened Master Qin’s attitude had confirmed Lu Ping’s speculations. The Northern League had indeed watched their performances when they were in the broken spaces. They must have seen his successful concoction of the Golden Essence Pellet.

Even though he’d barely achieved the feat, being able to concoct Core Forging Realm pellets still qualified him as a Master Alchemist. It was natural to be regarded as an equal among other Master Alchemists like Enlightened Master Qin.

In fact, regardless of talent or hard work, a Blood Condensation Realm Master Alchemist would always be seen as a potential candidate for Grandmaster Alchemist in the future.

When they arrived at the cave-dwelling, Hong Ying and Wu Yan came out to welcome their young master. News about the Alchemy Conference and the Bet of Cauldron had spread everywhere in Qian Yuan City, and their expressions shifted upon catching sight of Yue Jiang-Rui.

They were not sure what Yue Jiang-Rui’s position would be among them, and subsequently how they should treat him.

As if he’d read their thoughts, Lu Ping pointed at Yue Jiang-Rui and introduced, “This is Old Man Yue, I believe you’ve heard about him by now. For the next ten years, he will be our head alchemist.”

In the cave-dwelling, Chilian Ying was lazily leaning on a rattan chair. When she saw Lu Ping, she threw him an interspatial pouch and said, “This is the Li Clan’s gift of appreciation. Little Xiu-Zhu’s father asked me to remind you not to miss her disciple acceptance ceremony.”

Lu Ping caught the interspatial pouch and said cheerfully, “I need to look for Miss Chu Ting as well, all more the reason to attend the ceremony.”

Inspecting the interspatial pouch, he counted ten high-grade spirit stones inside. For a medium-sized clan, this was already quite the fortune!

Lu Ping turned around and handed the interspatial pouch to Yue Jiang-Rui. “Do you need any?”

Yue Jiang-Rui saw the spirit stones and noticeably hesitated, then took out five for himself. High-grade spirit stones were very useful for alchemists, especially experienced alchemists like him.

Lu Ping smiled and kept the rest. He then passed him the spirit herbs that Hong Ying and Wu Yan bought in Qian Yuan City. ” Concoct as many Late Blood Condensation Realm pellets as you can.”

Turning to Hong Ying and Wu Yan, he informed them of his current plan and returned to his cultivation room afterwards.

First, he took out the two jade scrolls rewarded for passing the test on the fifth mountain.

Lu Ping stretched his divine revelation into the first jade scroll, which contained a secret alchemy technique known as the [Spirit Explosion Technique].

At times, alchemists would make use of the spiritual energy in spirit stones to make up for the lack of energy in alchemy. Lu Ping had done this with high-grade spirit stones to concoct the Golden Essence Pellet.

However, directly exploding the spirit stones to release the spiritual energy was a crude method that wasted huge reserves of energy. Hence, secret techniques like the [Spirit Explosion Technique] were created to reduce such energy wastage and to increase efficiency.

Not only did it reduce energy wastage, it prevented leakage by momentarily restraining all spiritual energy to a certain range. This way, the spiritual energy in the spirit stones could be fully utilized in the process of alchemy.

Lu Ping was pleased to see the [Spirit Explosion Technique]. He then turned to check the contents of the second jade scroll.

The text written within was massive, complex, and extremely… familiar!

Even with his divine revelation, Lu Ping took some time to grasp the main points. The scroll turned out to be for a Mystical Inscription, one that was far more intricate than any he’d ever come across.

More importantly, this was a Mystical Inscription for cauldrons!

Lu Ping’s heart thudded heavily, and he took several deep breaths in a row.

The importance of cauldrons hardly needed to be stressed. One of the biggest reasons the Xuan Ling Sect could still suppress the Zhen Ling Sect was because of their cauldron mystic treasure. With it, the Xuan Ling Sect’s higher-ups were amply supplied with superior medicinal pellets.

Lu Ping initially felt that owning the River Inclusion Cauldron was a stroke of great fortune, but he never expected to actually stumble across a cauldron Mystical Inscription. He now had the means to upgrade the cauldron from a top-grade mystic instrument to a mystic treasure in the future!