Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-328-30041322

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A strong burst of battle intent appeared in Lu Ping’s eyes. His electrifying courage and spirit influenced Qiao Wei-Ying and the others, making them just as high-spirited as him; Qiao Zheng-Yan and the other clan heads even forgot to blame Lu Ping for his presumption.

"Very well, very well!" Wang Zhou laughed out of anger, not expecting Lu Ping to actually dare to challenge his authority. He pointed at Lu Ping, and said, "I admire your courage. The Wang Clan will admit defeat if you defeat me, you have my word."

Lu Ping smiled back, "A small matter. We pledged our lives and initiated the war for our own future, we are ready for anything that will come at us, whether it be the Wang Clan… or the power behind you. Since Wave Listening Island has replaced the Wang Clan in the Fallen Rift, I suppose it’s only reasonable for your clan to hand over your shares from the spirit stone mine to us as well, right?"

Wang Zhou didn’t reply, but his face turned a shade darker. He summoned a stone hammer and pointed it towards Lu Ping.

Lu Ping became solemn. The Golden Scale Sword emerged from his palm carrying with it an overwhelming and shocking Sword Intent that opened a hole in the clouds!

This was a battle that he had to take part in. Regardless of how well planned the scheme was, the one thing that he couldn’t refute was the fact that they weren’t equal in strength from the beginning. This scheme was part of the power game between the Northern League, Crystal Palace, and Maiden Pavilion; Wave Listening Island just happened to be a nice chess piece to use.

Hence, if Wave Listening Island didn’t want to eventually end up being a sacrificial lamb, it had to prove its worth to the Northern League. The best way, of course, was a show of its power!

As long as Lu Ping could stand squarely against the Wang Clan, there would be enough proof that Wave Listening Island was a valuable medium-sized party, and its position in the Northern League would be properly acknowledged.

The stone hammer rose high up and smashed down with brute force; there was no technique in the attack, but the large force was more than enough to break the Golden Scale Sword in a head-on clash.

The Golden Scale Sword was cast using the [Thousand Stacks of Snow Sword Art], creating three water waves that slashed out to diminish the hammer’s momentum, while Lu Ping quickly retreated.

Both of them were clearly testing out each other’s prowess and fighting style. Otherwise, Lu Ping’s sword attacks would be as strong as mini divine abilities if he used his full strength after having fully mastered Sword Intent.

The stone hammer continued ramming downwards, smashing a deep hole on the sea surface and creating a small tsunami. The power of the stone hammer had exceeded everyone’s expectations, with even those watching the battle turning solemn.

The stone hammer then swung out from the hole in the sea. Lu Ping casually swung the Golden Scale Sword, creating a wave that split into four Water Jiaos that headed towards the incoming hammer. However, the stone hammer crushed the Water Jiaos without slowing down in the slightest.

Lu Ping had no choice but to cast the [Thousand Stacks of Snow Sword Art] to slow down the stone hammer whilst he moved to the side to evade its path. Suddenly, Wang Hua cast a hand sign and shot out two blue lights from his hands.

The blue lights flashed and exploded underneath Lu Ping’s feet. Immediately, he felt as if he was being dragged by a thousand hands and that his body was several times heavier. His movement became much more difficult and there was a momentary delay, which was all Wang Hua needed.

Bang—

To the great shock of the crowd, the stone hammer rammed through Lu Ping’s body. But to everyone’s surprise, Lu Ping’s body scattered into water rather than blood and flesh.

A dozen feet away, a stream of water rose up from the surface and Lu Ping reappeared safe and sound. However, his face was gloomy, and his heart was pounding heavily with fear.

The blue lights that held him down briefly were clearly a mini divine ability. Although it didn’t deal any damage to him, its effect was frightening, especially when it could be cast almost instantly. This meant that Wang Hua could proactively impact his movements to create openings in his stance, which could then be used to defeat or even kill him!

However, Lu Ping wasn’t too worried about that, he just had to be more cautious and plan for all possible contingencies. The real reason that he was looking gloomy was actually because of the stone hammer.

When he was delayed by the blue lights, the stone hammer had suddenly sped up several times faster. If not for his quick reflex of casting the [Sea Crossing Concealment Art], he would’ve been severely wounded or even killed.

"Four Mystical Inscriptions, that’s a spirit emerging mystic treasure!"

In the cultivation world, the general rule for evaluating a mystic treasure was to look at the number of Mystical Inscriptions it had. However, Mystical Inscriptions were more than just array formations engraved in mystic treasures, they were also an embryo for weapon spirits.

Heaven-and-earth wonder items had spiritualities inside them which Enlightened Masters could then use to fuse with to advance from Early to Mid, and Mid to Late cultivation stages. Hence, the spiritualities inside wonder items would be inherited by Enlightened Masters and manifest in their power.

When Enlightened Masters used their true energy and divine revelation to engrave Mystical Inscriptions, the spiritualities would also be infused into the mystic treasures. The spiritualities would empower the mystic treasures with fantastical powers, and even enable them to fight autonomously without needing to be controlled!

The first three Mystical Inscriptions had no requirement for spiritualities, the following three Mystical Inscriptions required some spirituality, and the final three needed even more. Hence, mystic treasures were also ranked accordingly as ordinary mystic treasures, spirit emerging mystic treasures, and spirit nurturing mystic treasures.

However, most Enlightened Masters wouldn’t absorb and cultivate enough spirituality from wonder items, let alone have some spare to upgrade their mystic treasures. Generally, most Enlightened Masters would only be able to start engraving a fourth Mystical Inscription in the Sixth Layer Core Forging Realm.

Hence, a spirit emerging mystic treasure was sufficient to break the balance between the Zhang Clan, Wang Clan, and Li Clan. As a result, Zhang Feng and Li Mao-Lin were also holding a dark expression. At this time, everyone had realized that Wang Zhou had hidden his true prowess.

Wang Zhou didn’t give Lu Ping room to catch his breath, and quickly attacked again with the stone hammer whilst also constantly casting the blue lights to disrupt his pace.

Even though Lu Ping was prepared and was extremely cautious, the blue lights still affected him several times putting him in numerous critical situations. If it wasn’t for the [Heavenly Curtain Aegis] being more durable than ordinary aegis divine abilities, he would’ve been hit by the stone hammer a couple of times already.

We cannot afford to let him die, he can be defeated, but he cannot be killed!

Zhang Feng, Li Mao-Lin, and Qiao Zheng-Yan exchanged a glance with each other and immediately knew they all shared the same thoughts. The three of them quietly spread out and surrounded Wang Zhou and Lu Ping in the center.

Qiu Yong-Zhen noticed their movements, but it was impossible to tell what he was thinking from his expression.

As a Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master, Wang Zhou also noticed their movements. He became furious and his killing intent surged higher, as he thought, Brats! Fine, let’s see if you all are fast enough to save him from my hands!

Suddenly, Lu Ping summoned the Fire-Ice Dual Rings. Hong Ying and the others saw the jade rings, and were reminded of the time he had used them to kill Wang Hua. They became slightly more relieved, with even Zhang Feng and Li Mao-Lin becoming more relaxed.

Although the Fire-Ice Dual Rings were clearly not as strong as Wang Zhou’s stone hammer, they still did a good job of holding it back and protecting Lu Ping with a ring of fire and ice. This gave the Golden Scale Sword the chance to finally start going on the offensive, interrupting Wang Zhou’s chain of attacks.

This made Wang Zhou even more angry; a punk like Lu Ping could actually stand squarely against him. However, despite being consumed by anger, he now understood that Wang Hua’s death was most probably delivered by Lu Ping without anyone’s help.

He must die!

Wang Zhou thought about the extreme threat Lu Ping would pose to the Wang Clan in the future, and knew that Lu Ping had to be killed.

Hence, Wang Zhou pulled out a weapon from his interspatial pouch. Suddenly, his expression changed, and a defensive mystic treasure appeared in front of him.

Ding—

The Water Specter Sword was deflected, while the Fire-Ice Dual Rings also parried the stone hammer head-on. Lu Ping’s face turned red from the impact, leaving an internal injury.

However, Lu Ping ignored the injury and cast the Golden Scale Sword. Sword lights flashed out of the flying sword and merged together with it to form a giant light sword that thrusted towards Wang Zhou.

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Editor: Immortal BloodRogue