Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-313

In the end, the spirit-gathering teapot was exchanged for five small Spirit Gathering Pearls. The Enlightened Master that traded for it, quickly put the teapot away and left in a hurry.

As the Enlightened Masters had all taken out an item, the trade fair had now turned into a free market. However, Lu Ping noticed that a few Enlightened Masters didn’t participate in the free trade and left. Those who left were all Late Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters.

From this, Lu Ping seemed to understand something. Beside him, Liang Xuan-Feng conducted his voice directly, and said, "There is nothing much left to see in the trade fair. I’ll leave first, you will have to go back to the inn by yourself."

"Is it because of the spirit-gathering teapot?"

Lu Ping quickly asked as Liang Xuan-Feng was leaving the teahouse. Liang Xuan-Feng suddenly paused, but he didn’t reply and left immediately.

Liang Xuan-Feng’s departure didn’t attract much attention. After all, it wasn’t surprising that a Ninth Layer Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master wasn’t interested in a trade fair between Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters.

Lu Ping glanced around and noticed that Enlightened Master Huang Ting-Jian had also left at some point.

The remaining Enlightened Masters in the room gathered in groups, interacting privately with each other to negotiate the exchange of items.

After noticing a particular Enlightened Master had just left a group, Lu Ping went forward and asked in a low voice, "Dao brother, you wanted to exchange the Frozen Ice Essence Water for the Million Poisons Pulp, right?"

The Enlightened Master’s eyes brightened, and he asked, "Master Alchemist Lu! Do you have more Million Poisons Pulp to exchange?"

Lu Ping shook his head, "I only had that much, such precious water is very hard to come by. I’m here to ask if you’re willing to exchange the Frozen Ice Essence Water for other items?"

The Enlightened Master was disappointed to hear Lu Ping’s answer. However, in a trade fair, no one would reveal everything, so the Enlightened Master might not have bought Lu Ping’s words completely.

But, Lu Ping’s message was clear, the Million Poisons Pulp was no longer available for exchange.

The Enlightened Master pondered for a moment, and then said, "Is there something similar to the Million Poisons Pulp?"

Lu Ping smiled and asked, "What exactly are you looking for?"

"A heaven-and-earth peculiar water, or a water-element protective mystic treasure."

Lu Ping laughed bitterly, "Anything else?"

The Enlightened Master shook his head, "These are the only two things I seek, nothing else."

Lu Ping felt helpless after hearing the Enlightened Master’s resolution. Frozen Ice Essence Water was essential to enhance something that Lu Ping had envisioned. If he missed this chance today, Lu Ping didn’t know when he would come across another ice-element peculiar water again.

Enlightened Master Ming-Jian suddenly approached them, and asked with a smile, "I wonder what the two of you are talking about?"

Lu Ping’s eyes brightened up, as he thought of an idea. He smiled back at Enlightened Master Ming-Jian, and said, "Senior Ming-Jian has come just at the right time! Senior, I know you’re looking for wood-element top-grade spirit materials, Do you still need more of them?"

Throughout the trade fair, Enlightened Master Ming-Jian had been exchanging items for wood-element top-grade spirit materials. Hence, Lu Ping guessed that Enlightened Master Ming-Jian had a huge need for them and might still need more.

Sure enough, Enlightened Master Ming-Jian was overjoyed, and said, "Little Brother Lu sure has a lot of treasures. I will take as many wood-element spirit materials you have. To be frank, the Sky Cleaving Sword Sect found a sword formation in Chong Xuan’s Dojo, but it requires wood-element flying swords, so the sect is gathering all the wood-element spirit materials we can get."

Whilst he didn’t know why Enlightened Master Ming-Jian would tell him about the Sky Cleaving Sword Sect’s plan, he nodded and said, "Fortunately, I happen to have one wood-element spirit material. I would like to exchange it for the peculiar water in the Sword Cleansing Pool."

Enlightened Master Ming-Jian was surprised, "Didn’t you already obtain Beauty Sun’s Shapeless Water, why do you still need Sword Cleansing Pool’s peculiar water?"

Lu Ping pointed to the Enlightened Master beside him, and answered, "It’s not for this junior, it’s for this Dao brother."

The Enlightened Master immediately understood Lu Ping’s intention, he smiled and said, "Wonderful. I will pass the Frozen Ice Essence Water to Dao Brother Lu, Dao Brother Lu passes the wood-element spirit material to the Sky Cleaving Sword Sect, and the Sky Cleaving Sword Sect passes the chance to use the Sword Cleansing Pool’s peculiar water to me. This way, all three of us will have our needs met."

Enlightened Master Ming-Jian smiled, "A wonderful idea indeed, but it depends on the quality of Little Brother Lu’s wood-element spirit material."

Lu Ping smiled and took out a charred wood, passing it to Enlightened Master Ming-Jian.

Enlightened Master Ming-Jian exclaimed in surprise, "A 1,000-year Lightning Struck Peach Wood, it’s equivalent to a Grade 3 spirit material, good stuff indeed."

With that, the three of them finalized the deal with each other. Then, Lu Ping returned to his seat and waited patiently for the trade fair to end.

Upon reflection, his harvest from the trade fair was huge. The Crystalline Purified Water, Shapeless Water, and Frozen Ice Essence Water were all incredibly helpful for improving his combat prowess.

However, whilst he was happy, he was also feeling slightly uneasy. He had gained considerable attention in the trade fair. Although he was a Master Alchemist, with a Ninth Layer Core Forging Realm cultivator backing him, he was still afraid that he would be targeted by others.

Furthermore, Liang Xuan-Feng’s abrupt departure for the spirit-gathering teapot gave Lu Ping a strange feeling, as if the Sky Cleaving Sword Sect was using the spirit-gathering teapot as bait for something. He became even more uneasy after thinking back to the trade fair, remembering that Enlightened Master Huang Ting-Jian had attempted to probe Liang Xuan-Feng several times.

Is this a scheme against Junior Martial Uncle Liang Xuan-Feng?

Lu Ping couldn’t help but worry. However, he quickly dismissed the thought, because if the Sky Cleaving Sword Sect truly wanted to target Liang Xuan-Feng, there was no need to organize a trade fair specifically for that purpose. Furthermore, Liang Xuan-Feng was not the only Late Core Forging Realm that had left the trade fair.

Clearly, this was not a scheme aimed at any individual, but instead something to do with the teapot itself!

Although a spirit-gathering mystic treasure was rare, it wasn’t worth the Sky Cleaving Sword Sect plotting such a big scheme for it. Lu Ping couldn’t think of a reason, so he eventually stopped thinking about it.

The other Enlightened Masters also noticed the unusual atmosphere. Despite Enlightened Master Ming-Jian and Enlightened Master Jin’s efforts, the trade fair still ended quickly. After that, Lu Ping, Zhu Xuan-Meng, and Chu Ting returned to the inn.

Back at the inn, Chu Ting seemed to have received a message and left shortly after. Lu Ping and Zhu Xuan-Meng both went into a closed-door cultivation session.

They both seemed to have realized that there was some kind of relationship between their teachers, but as Liang Xuan-Feng was so tight-lipped about it, they were left in the dark.

…

In the spatial dimension of the Golden House, Lu Ping haf been cultivating for several days. He was now only a single step away from entering the Second Layer Core Forging Realm. After doing so, and consolidated his foundation, he would then take the Heart Forging Pellet to enter the Third Layer Core Forging Realm.

He washed his eyes with the Crystalline Purified Water as part of the cultivation process for the [Tri-Pristine True Vision]. After that, he absorbed a stream of Shapeless Water into his aegis energy, slowly changing his aegis energy towards a colorless and ethereal nature, like the reflection of water.

After reaching the Eighth Layer Blood Condensation Realm and consolidating their foundations, the snake trio had taken the Heart Condensation Pellets and were in closed-door cultivation to breakthrough to the Ninth Layer Blood Condensation Realm.

Luan Yu was stimulated by Lu Ping’s progression, so he also started a closed-door cultivation session to try and breakthrough to the Core Forging Realm. Without her playmate, Lu Qin got bored and went to study the secret techniques taught to her by Yan Wu-Jiu.

Lu Dagui was still relaxing in the pool; his cultivation base had reached the peak of the Mid Blood Condensation Realm. On the other hand, Dabao was rarely seen on the surface, as he was still busy building a huge underground empire of his own.

While Lu Ping was studying the [Shapeless Sword Art], he suddenly sensed something and walked out of the spatial dimension back to his room. He kept the Golden House away and removed the charm that sealed the room. After that, his divine revelation reached out, as he murmured, "Just in time."

He walked out of the room and arrived in the living area of the suite. There, Zhu Xuan-Meng and a female Enlightened Master were chatting happily.

When the female Enlightened Master saw Lu Ping, she stood up and greeted, "It’s been a few days, Master Alchemist Lu has grown even stronger than before."

The visitor was none other than Beauty Sun, whom Lu Ping had met at the trade fair not long ago.

Lu Ping clasped his hands and greeted back with a smile, "Please, drop the honorifics, I’m just fortunate enough to succeed in concocting some Core Forging Realm pellets. I’m still far from real Master Alchemists."

Beauty Sun laughed, "As you wish, Dao Brother Lu."

Zhu Xuan-Meng knew that Beauty Sun was here to look for Lu Ping, so she gave an excuse and left.

Lu Ping took a sip of the tea, and asked, "Beauty Sun, you said you know where to find Inebriant Purified Water, is that true?"

Beauty Sun put down the teacup, and said, "Nice tea. Indeed, would I dare come to see you today if that was fake."

During the trade fair, Beauty Sun thought Lu Ping was hesitating between her Shapeless Water and the Sky Cleaving Sword Sect’s Sword Cleansing Pool, so she quickly increased her offer by telling Lu Ping that she knew where to find Inebriant Purified Water.

Although Lu Ping had already decided to exchange for her Shapeless Water, he naturally didn’t mind getting a better offer.

Lu Ping said, " Crystalline Purified Water and Inebriant Purified Water are both peculiar waters that are used to enhance a cultivators’ eyesight. However, I’ve never heard of these two peculiar waters existing in the same place together. Beauty Sun, are you sure you aren’t joking around?"

Beauty Sun became solemn, and said, "It’s true! I’ve seen it myself. I found the two waters on an island, but because a monster Enlightened Master was pursuing me, I only managed to take away the Crystalline Purified Water. The island is in the monster race’s territory, so it will be risky to go there."

"Beauty Sun, how sure are you that the monsters haven’t already noticed the Inebriant Purified Water and taken it away?" Lu Ping asked unhappily.

Beauty Sun’s expression froze, as she said awkwardly, "I overlooked that. How about I follow Dao Bother Lu when you go to the island?"

Lu Ping’s expression improved after hearing her words, "I can see your sincerity, but if this is everything, you could’ve just told me during the trade fair, why the separate meeting now?"

Beauty Sun smiled bitterly, "Dao Brother Lu is quick-witted. To be frank, I’m here to ask for help."

Lu Ping became serious, "Please, I’m all ears."

Beauty Sun lowered her voice, "I’m here to exchange for some 3,000-year spirit herbs from Dao Brother Lu."

Lu Ping’s expression changed drastically. Just as he was about to deny her, Beauty Sun quickly added, "Please, don’t be in a hurry to reject me, hear me out first…"

…

After a secret discussion, Lu Ping watched as Beauty Sun left the room in satisfaction. He played with a violet-gold jade scroll in his hand, and thought, Such fortune! I didn’t think that a medium-sized party like the Sun Clan would be able to bring out such a precious item. Sun Clan… and Sky Cleaving Sword Sect… Bah, what has that got to do with me, it’s none of my business.

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Editor: Immortal BloodRogue