Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-314

The violet-gold jade scroll was actually a pellet recipe, one that was so precious that Lu Ping didn’t hesitate to exchange fifteen pieces of 3,000-year spirit herbs for it.

The pellet had a very common name, the Longevity Pellet. However, its effect was unparalleled by any other treasure in the cultivation world—it could extend a person’s life by ten years!

No wonder Beauty Sun spared no effort to gather the 3,000-year spirit herbs, and no wonder she desired the Million Poisons Pulp so much. They were both crucial to concoct the Longevity Pellets.

But Lu Ping couldn’t help but wonder, even if the Sun Clan managed to concoct the Longevity Pellets, could the clan’s Early Avatar Realm Great Ancestor break through to the Mid Avatar Realm in just ten years?

If the Sun Clan’s only Great Ancestor failed to breakthrough and extend his lifespan, then Sun Clan would surely lose its privilege as an independent clan in the East Ocean. By then, the only option left to ensure the clan’s continuation was to seek Sky Cleaving Sword Sect’s shelter and become a pawn to the sect.

Lu Ping thought about the situation and shook his head, then returned to his closed-door cultivation again. Meanwhile, there was still no news from Liang Xuan-Feng yet.

…

Finally, the last drop of Shapeless Water was successfully fused into his aegis energy. As he started to cultivate the [Water Sky Curtain], a thin layer of aegis energy wrapped around him. The aegis energy glowed a light blue at first, then turned golden, and finally invisible, such that even Lu Ping disappeared from the spot. Then, as the aegis energy slowly turned back to light blue, he reappeared.

Just like that, the aegis energy changed states from the Kui Water Essence Aegis Energy, to Million Poisons Pulp Aegis Energy, then Shapeless Water Aegis Energy. After changing states eighty-one times, the three states of aegis energy gradually merged together, and an ethereal feeling arose in his body.

With a change of thought, Lu Ping suddenly disappeared as if he had turned invisible. With another change of thought, the invisible effect of the Shapeless Water was dismissed and he reappeared in the same spot again. After that, a faint golden fog suddenly appeared within ten feet around him, all while his aegis energy’s defensive capability remained at the same toughness.

Lu Ping finally succeeded in his first mini divine ability, the [Heavenly Curtain Aegis]!

"Congratulations to father on achieving the divine ability!"

Lu Ping put away his aegis energy and saw three children standing around, respectfully greeting and congratulating him.

Lu Ping laughed happily and said, "The [Heavenly Curtain Aegis] is a mini divine ability cultivated with the help of external means. It’s nothing to be proud of. As for the actual divine ability, that would be the real achievement."

He pointed at the trio and said, "The three of you have reached the peak of Blood Condensation Realm, one step away from the Core Forging Realm. Now that is what I call a great achievement!"

The children were excited to receive his praise, all three of them hopped around happily and danced joyfully. These were none other than the snake trio who had consumed the Humanization Pellets and adapted the preliminary half-human form; they still possessed their lower snake bodies.

Among the three, Lu Hai was the only boy, while Lu Bi and Lu Ling were little girls. Their faces were chubby, and their pure and innocent eyes looked at Lu Ping with deep feelings of admiration.

At the Late Blood Condensation Realm, monster cultivators could consume Humanization Pellets and take a half-human form. However, the stronger the cultivation base, the more human features they would take on.

For instance, if the snake trio had taken the Humanization Pellets in the Seventh Layer Blood Condensation Realm, they would probably look like walking alligators. But if they took it in the Ninth Layer, they would be these three cute little children with snake lower bodies.

Hence, the snake trio rejected Lu Ping when asked to take the Humanization Pellets earlier. They already knew how they would appear from the heritage in their bloodlines.

For the same reason, Lu Qin declined to consume the Humanization Pellets at all, even at just a half step away from the Core Forging Realm. According to her, her half-human form would be a female cultivator with a bird beak, which she deemed too ugly. She’d rather remain in her original Luan form.

Even within the same species, the half-human forms of monsters weren’t always the same. For example, Lu Qin’s half-human form would retain the feature of her monster beak, while Luan Yu’s half-human form retained his monster form’s long neck.

But Lu Ping was mostly surprised that Lu Qin knew what her half-human form would look like. This was only possible if the monster could awaken the heritage in their bloodlines, which was a trait of noble monsters like Emerald Sea Spirit Snakes. She could somehow access her bloodline heritage from her Fire Luan father; no wonder Yan Wu-Jiu had expressed his concerns.

Lu Ping waved his hand and said, "You must cultivate harder, there will be big actions once we return to Fallen Rift. I will need more manpower, and your added strength will be of great help at that time."

The snake trio were excited to hear they could help Lu Ping, and they quickly went away to cultivate.

…

A few days later, Lu Ping and Beauty Sun quietly arrived in a sea area, initially a buffer zone, but was now occupied and controlled by the monster race.

When they arrived on the island and saw its disordered and ruined state, Lu Ping’s expression darkened, while Beauty Sun froze for a moment before quickly explaining.

"Dao Brother Lu, there really was Inebriant Purified Water here, I swear on my life! This place was a valley and the Inebriant Purified Water was located inside the mountain body. The monsters must have found the peculiar water and destroyed this place."

Lu Ping nodded. "I believe you, but I’m just curious how you discovered the peculiar waters inside the mountain body. And with the Shapeless Water you found in Chong Xuan’s Dojo… Beauty Sun, you’re certainly quite lucky."

Beauty Sun sighed relief at hearing that Lu Ping didn’t have any prejudice against her because of this setback. For some reason, she was somehow afraid of offending him even though he was just a First Layer Enlightened Master and she was at the Fourth Layer.

The island was already occupied by the monster race, and Lu Ping’s divine revelation told him there was a huge number of monster soldiers in the surrounding area. Feeling shocked, he thought, Are they preparing for a monster tide?

Just when the two were about to leave, a Peak Blood Condensation Realm monster leading a team of Blood Condensation Realm monsters were slowly making their way towards them. They appeared to be making their usual rounds patrolling the island.

Lu Ping and Beauty Sun exchanged a look, then quietly moved towards the monsters and abruptly launched an assault.

In one swing of the Golden Scale Sword, three Late Blood Condensation Realm monsters were beheaded; at the same time, Lu Ping pointed his finger and shot out two silver lights that killed another two monsters.

The sixth monster cultivator opened his mouth to call for help, but he heard a cold sneer and a massive divine revelation struck his mind, putting him in a daze as Lu Ping casually took his life.

While he killed the six monsters without making any noise, Beauty Sun threw out a lantern mystic instrument that trapped the Peak Blood Condensation Realm monster inside. No matter how loud the monster shouted, not a single sound leaked out.

Beauty Sun looked at Lu Ping and praised, "Dao Brother Lu is very impressive for killing six in one go."

Lu Ping smiled. "You’ve overestimated me. They’re just Blood Condensation Realm monsters, isn’t it normal to overpower them as an Enlightened Master?"

Beauty Sun shook her head and said solemnly, "Killing them is easy, but doing so without a sound is the hard part."

Lu Ping smiled and didn’t answer, but Beauty Sun didn’t mind as well. She reached into the lantern, but the monster didn’t seem to notice her action. Then, as she placed her hand on the monster’s head, the monster’s eyes turned white and his body started quivering nonstop.

A moment later, she took away her hand and the monster dropped unconscious on the floor. Lu Ping saw her gloomy expression and asked, "Is the monster cultivator that has the Inebriant Purified Water someone extremely difficult to deal with?"

Beauty Sun nodded. "That’s right. He is the cave master that owns this area. Most importantly, he is a Kun."

"Kun? Those giant fish?"

The Kun was considered a noble species in the monster race, one of the rarest aquatic monsters to inherit Prime Peng’s bloodline. They were only a few of them alive, but each and every Kun was extremely powerful, and their status in the monster race was equivalent to that of the Emerald Sea Spirit Snakes.

Beauty Sun put away the lantern mystic instrument. "This is a thorny situation. We can defeat this Kun, but killing him is another matter. Furthermore, this area is occupied by the monster race now, so reinforcements could arrive at any time."

Lu Ping nodded, and the two were about to leave when he suddenly noticed that the monster on the floor was still alive. He casually waved his hand, the Golden Scale Sword headed for the monster’s neck.

"No!" Beauty Sun hurriedly said, but it was too late, the Golden Scale Sword had taken the monster’s life.

"We have to go right now!" Beauty Sun urged.

At Beauty Sun’s warning, Lu Ping instantly realized that he had overlooked the situation. As the two were hurrying away, they suddenly heard a loud roar from under the waters, "Who are you?! How dare you kill my monster general?!"

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Editor: MilkBiscuit