Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-325-30041322

Afterwards, Lu Ping dismissed everyone with the exception of Ye Bu-Qi. Some time later, Ye Bu-Qi left with an excited look.

Soon after, Lu Ping walked out of the cave-dwelling, stopped to the side and suddenly said aloud, "Come out now, nobody’s around anymore."

Beside him, a black figure walked out from the back of a boulder. Chu Ting looked at him with surprise and said, "So this is the [Tri-Pristine True Vision]? Didn’t you say it wasn’t fully cultivated yet? How did you see through my stealth? Hmm, maybe I should get something similar for myself."

Lu Ping ignored her chatter and asked directly, "Did you bring the formation chassis as promised?"

Chu Ting stopped joking after seeing that Lu Ping was serious. She took out a formation chassis out of her interspatial pouch and said, "Brother Lu, the Maiden Pavilion can give you this for free."

Lu Ping waved away her offer. "No thanks. Eradicating the Wang Clan is necessary to establish my own power in Fallen Rift. Cooperating with the Maiden Pavilion in your quest against Crystal Palace is just an extension of that. In return, your Maiden Pavilion has agreed to convince the Northern League to officiate my power and keep the Crystal Palace busy. I will pay for this formation chassis with the requisite medicinal pellets. Young Lady Chu can stop trying."

Chu Ting wasn’t ready to give up just yet, "It takes more than just a formation chassis to set up an establishment, with Maiden Pavilion’s help, Brother Lu’s power will grow rapidly and expand steadily…"

"… Only if I am in full control of my power." Lu Ping didn’t hesitate to interrupt her, he raised the formation chassis and continued, "I welcome all fair deals that are mutually beneficial, after all, I am still full of goodwill towards Maiden Pavilion."

Chu Ting looked at him, her expression shifting, and she was clearly busy thinking.

At this time, Wu Yan and a dozen more cultivators were heading their way. Chu Ting looked back, then quickly disappeared. Wu Yan and the rest entered the cave-dwelling to retrieve something and then left again.

A moment later, Lu Ping placed eighteen high-grade spirit stones and one hundred and eight mid-grade spirit stones into the formation chassis in the center of the cave-dwelling. A burst of spiritual energy surged out from the formation chassis, linking with the nodes placed down all across the island by Wu Yan and the others. From the island center, a sky-blue light beam shot up into the darkening sky and spread downwards, forming a light dome that covered the entire Ashen Mountain Island.

The cultivators on the island cheered with excitement—the island was finally theirs!

Chu Ting had just left the island when she suddenly stopped above the sea. She looked back at the activated protection formation for a moment, then turned and disappeared into the darkening sky.

Lu Ping had been watching her closely with his divine revelation. When she finally left, he suddenly smirked, then settled down in a cultivation room to recover his true energy.

The five mini spirit veins on Wave Listening Island had been transported over to enhance the small spirit vein on Ashen Mountain Island. In fact, Lu Ping initially planned to distribute the mini spirit veins to the nine mini islands under him, but sadly he only had five in total. In the end, he decided to gather all the spirit veins together and let the nine island masters take turns to use them.

The next day, with Dabao’s help, the cultivators scavenged out all of the wealth left behind by the Wang Clan. Wu Yan then organized the gains and reported back to Lu Ping.

Ashen Mountain Island had one small spirit vein, thirty-seven spirit fields, and three spirit mines.

Among the spirit fields, twenty-eight were spirit croplands, totalling up to ten acres of land. Nine were spirit herb gardens growing mostly 500-year spirit herbs, totalling up to 1.5 acres; one was a vine garden growing a high-grade spirit material known as Spiritual Green Vines; one was a tea garden that produced a pound of high-grade spirit tea leaves monthly; and one was a bamboo garden with thirty-five Wind Whistling Bamboos.

Of the three spirit mines, one was a mini spirit stone mine with an output of two to three thousand spirit stones monthly; the other two were mineral mines that produced the high-grade spirit mineral Jade Steel and mid-grade spirit material Brown Stone respectively.

With a sharp intake of breath, Lu Ping took a moment to calm himself down from Wu Yan’s report. Now he understood why the forces liked going to the Fallen Rift so much; even the Zhen Ling Sect far in the North Ocean established its power here.

The resources in Fallen Rift were as such—Lu Ping had never heard of another place as abundant as Fallen Rift.

Qiao Wei-Ying, Hong Ying, and Chilian Ying were also in disbelief to hear of the rich resources on Ashen Mountain Island; their excitement was apparent to see. Luan Yu was the only exception. Seemingly unmoved by the news, he was only happy to see everyone in good spirits.

Lu Ping smiled with them, but he also knew that the more abundant an island’s resources, the fiercer the Wang Clan would fight back. Naturally, he wouldn’t say this aloud; it would only kill the mood. Furthermore, they were all smart people, so they would naturally come to this realization without his prompting.

The other reported harvest came from the interspatial pouches of Wang Clan disciples. Other than the spirit herbs, Lu Ping gave the rest back to Wu Yan to manage. Wu Yan saved one portion for reserves and rewarded the rest to the cultivators.

The final harvest was naturally Enlightened Master Wang Hua’s interspatial bracelet. As there wasn’t a vault on the island, this meant any precious items would be held in Wang Hua’s keeping.

Firstly, there was Wang Hua’s set of nascent mystic treasures, the Mystical Wooden Shield and Mystical Wooden Ruler. One for defense and the other to attack, and could also be used to cast the mini divine ability, [All Forest].

Luan Yu had been eyeing these mystic treasures for a long time—they were perfectly compatible with his wood-element cultivation. Since he didn’t have any mystic treasures to call his own, they would make up for his shortcomings quite nicely.

The only regret was that Wang Hua didn’t leave behind his cultivation method and also the method to cultivate [All Forest]. They did have the cultivation method for the aegis divine ability, the [Wall of All Forest], but Luan Yu declined as he’d already cultivated something else. In the end, Lu Ping stored it away.

They also found several jade scrolls that they weren’t interested in, but were still useful for Blood Condensation Realm cultivators. Lu Ping passed them to Wu Yan and instructed him to build a library to allow their cultivators to study the jade scrolls.

There was also a Grade 2 gold-element spirit material, a Silver Puncture Stone the size of a fist. Qiao Wei-Ying grinned as he took—the spirit material’s characteristics fit his daggers perfectly.

There was a fire-element mystic treasure, the Fiery Bead. But it only had one Mystical Inscription, and its quality would limit its future room for growth. Wang Hua probably hadn’t used it because its element wasn’t compatible with his cultivation method.

However, this Fiery Bead suited Hong Ying quite well. His cultivation method was of the fire-element and he didn’t have a mystic treasure yet, so Lu Ping gave him the Fiery Bead and took back the pestle mystic treasure. Before this, Hong Ying was just a rogue cultivator, so he never thought he could advance to the Core Forging Realm, let alone be given a mystic treasure. Filled with joy, he resolved to be even more loyal to Lu Ping.

Inside the cave-dwelling, Wu Yan was the only Blood Condensation Realm cultivator. Even Ye Bu-Qi was in closed-door cultivation preparing to breakthrough after his talk with Lu Ping yesterday. While he looked enviously at Hong Ying, he suddenly heard a voice at his side.

"Don’t be so envious. The cultivation method you received is more complete than theirs. I have already instructed Yue Jiang-Rui to prepare the Essence Extension Pellet and Seven Step Striped Pellet for when you reach the Ninth Layer. But remember, be careful when selecting the third bloodline to absorb—choose one that suits your element and bloodline. I have already laid down your path to the Core Forging Realm. Do not disappoint me."

Tears of gratitude filled Wu Yan’s eyes. He was weak and timid by nature. If he hadn’t been Lu Ping’s first follower, and someone proficient in handling the day to day affairs that Lu Ping disliked, he wouldn’t be able to gain the latter’s value and care. Seeing his reaction, Lu Ping quickly comforted him.

Lu Ping then found another two jade scrolls and was surprised to see the contents. Chilian Ying caught his expression and she quickly snatched one of the jade scrolls. After reading its contents, she chuckled happily and threw it to Hong Ying.

"Hehe, you’re in luck. It’s a fire-element Mystical Inscription, how fitting, Hong Ying. But I’m not sure if that Fiery Bead is good enough to contain the power of two Mystical Inscriptions."

Hong Ying nodded with a bitter smile. He took out a blank jade scroll and copied the contents, then returned the jade scroll to Lu Ping.

In the Core Forging Realm, the Mystical Inscriptions could also be used for trading. Hence, people would collect as many Mystical Inscriptions as possible to barter for things they might need in the future. The same went for mini divine abilities like Wang Hua’s [Wall of All Forest].

The second jade scroll was a water-element Mystical Inscription, but it didn’t fit Lu Ping’s style as it was more on the wrapping, locking, and binding side, which was more suitable for Chilian Ying’s water sleeves.

Weekly Chapters (5/5)

Editor: MilkBiscuit