Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-346-30041322

The one thing that Ouyang Wei-Jian was right about was that actions spoke louder than words. What could be better than demonstrating one’s opinion through their actions?

As a result, sparring sessions were something common in the cultivation world, including in Avatar Forums. These sessions differed from a fight in that they were more focused on expressing the individuals’ cultivation insights rather than defeating the opponent.

After all, the goal was to learn from each other and become stronger through this exchange.

However, because of Zhen Ling Sect and Xuan Ling Sect’s long-standing rivalry, the swordplay invitation carried a different meaning. More importantly, Lu Ping, the Water Sword Immortal, was known for his swordsmanship, making Ouyang Wei-Jian’s invitation feel more like a challenge.

"Presumptuous, the seniors haven’t expressed themselves yet, there’s no place for a junior like you to speak first. Apologize to Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling and the other seniors at once."

Lin Xu-Qing lectured Ouyang Wei-Jian from the side, but everyone could tell that it was just a pretense. How could Ouyang Wei-Jian not have been warned to behave in the forum before coming. In other words, his actions were endorsed or even instructed by Lin Xu-Qing in the first place.

"Haha, Enlightened Master Lin, go easy on your junior." The Enlightened Master from Fei Yu Sect, who previously had a small dispute with Ai Shu-Yao, spoke out.

"Junior Nephew Ouyang must look up to Junior Nephew Lu; they’re both young and bright talents amongst the North Ocean Prodigies. Junior Nephew Lu is at Rank 34 after defeating a Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master from the same sect, and Junior Nephew Ouyang is at Rank 39 after battling a Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master from the monster race. I believe they’re both equals and it would be pleasant to see them exchange their cultivation insights."

The Fei Yu Sect had always sided with Xuan Ling Sect, so it wasn’t surprising that they had stood out to support them. The Fei Yu Sect Enlightened Master had even openly hinted that Lu Ping’s rank was questionable since the authenticity of the battle couldn’t be accurately validated. In contrast, Ouyang Wei-Jian’s meritorious battle with the monster race couldn’t be faked.

Frankly speaking, Lu Ping also knew there would definitely be a battle between him and Ouyang Wei-Jian when he returned to the North Ocean. Especially when he found out that Ouyang Wei-Jian would be following Xuan Ling Sect’s Lin Xu-Qing to attend the Avatar Forum.

Hence, he had been collecting information about Ouyang Wei-Jian to know more about his current strength. Naturally, he had learned about Ouyang Wei-Jian’s most famous battle with a Mid Core Forging Realm monster.

Although Ouyang Wei-Jian didn’t defeat the Mid Core Forging Realm monster Enlightened Master, he was able to hold his ground and exit the battle with ease. This solidified Ouyang Wei-Jian’s reputation and allowed him to beRank 39 in the North Ocean Prodigies.

After the battle, it was rumored that he went into closed-door training to hone his swordsmanship, allowing him to now seize the upper hand during the in-house duels with Xuan Ling Sect’s Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters. Although his swordsmanship stage wasn’t clearly known, one could safely assume that he had achieved Sword Unity and also cultivated at least one mini sword divine ability.

Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling said, "Since Junior Nephew Ouyang is feeling up to it, then let’s proceed. The seniors here can also provide guidance and offer cultivation advice. Little ninth, watch your moves, don’t hurt each other."

Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling had accepted Ouyang Wei-Jian’s suggestion, but she also hinted that Lu Ping was much stronger than Ouyang Wei-Jian as he had to hold back with his attacks to avoid injuring Ouyang Wei-Jian.

Ouyang Wei-Jian’s expression turned gloomy, but he didn’t dare say anything to the Great Ancestor. He leaped to the middle of the hall, clasped his hands at Lu Ping, and said, "Brother Lu."

Lu Ping smiled, walked out ,and clasped his hands, "Brother Ouyang."

Then, the two of them flew out of the hall to above the lake.

Immediately, all the Enlightened Masters inside and outside the hall had their divine revelations fixated on them. There were also some additional divine revelations that came from other parts of Tian Ling Mountain. Needless to say, the swordplay exchange had gained a lot of attention.

Lu Ping and Ouyang Wei-Jian were popular talents in the North Ocean; although they were only at Rank 34 and Rank 39, they were only less than 50-years old. Additionally, because of the prolonged lifespan from cultivating, they looked like they were just in their twenties. Compared to the other Enlightened Masters, they were considered to be quite young.

Just like Lu Ping, Ouyang Wei-Jian had also gathered all the information about Lu Ping he could find before coming. Hence, he had learned that Lu Ping had about five mini divine abilities, but that he seemingly struggled to control the fifth mini divine ability. This implied that Lu Ping might have reached his limits, giving Ouyang Wei-Jian the confidence to defeat him.

The Golden Scale Sword revolved around Lu Ping, pointing its tip at Ouyang Wei-Jian.

Ouyang Wei-Jian looked at the sword, feeling the Sword Intent brimming from it. Then, he suddenly smiled confidently and raised his right hand.

Chiang—

A green sword that was soft and swift like the wind appeared beside him. The sword undulated like waves, tracing the breeze that swept past him, stretching and twisting as if it was a snake.

A spirit emerging mystic treasure!

Lu Ping turned serious when he saw the mystic treasure. It wasn’t because Ouyang Wei-Jian’s sword was stronger, but because Ouyang Wei-Jian’s cultivation base wasn’t sufficient to bring his nascent sword to the stage of a spirit emerging mystic treasure.

In other words, Ouyang Wei-Jian was like Lu Ping; his true strength would only be revealed when wielding his nascent sword.

Ouyang Wei-Jian made the first move. The soft sword suddenly stretched out in a straight line, stabbing forwards a thousand times in an instant shooting out a barrage of 1,296 spiritual sword lights!

The [Blitzing Wind Sword] of Xuan Ling Sect’s famous [Dissolute Delightful 18 Swords] cast with the peak of Sword Spirituality!

Right from the start, Ouyang Wei-Jian had attacked Lu Ping with the fiercest sword move in the [Dissolute Delightful 18 Swords], an attack that was just a fine line away from a mini sword divine ability.

In truth, the [Dissolute Delightful 18 Swords] was a compilation of 18 different sword moves, with each sword move like a sword art itself, having different ways to practice and master. Cultivators had to learn the sword moves progressively, moving from one move to the next, until all 18 sword moves were mastered. Only then would they each become mini sword divine abilities and also the foundation to attaining great sword divine abilities.

Lu Ping had learned the [Dissolute Delightful 18 Swords] from Liang Xuan-Feng before, but because they were not taught by Xuan Ling Sect, the quintessence of the sword art was missing, especially in critical points like how to blend the sword moves together with Sword Unity. After all, the quintessence would only be taught in person from teacher to disciple, preventing outsiders from ever mastering the sword art even when the sword art was leaked.

Even so, learning the [Dissolute Delightful 18 Swords] to a shallow level still gave Lu Ping a thorough understanding of its power and qualities.

The Golden Scale Sword also stabbed forward and shot out a barrage of 1,296 spiritual sword lights, displaying the same peak of Sword Spirituality. Similar to Ouyang Wei-Jian’s spiritual sword lights that took the form of wind snakes, Lu Ping’s spiritual sword lights took the form of water snakes.

In the next instant, the spiritual sword snakes clashed, canceling each other out.

Ouyang Wei-Jian was surprised after seeing that Lu Ping was able to counter the attack so easily, but he wasn’t shocked as it was an expected outcome.

Ouyang Wei-Jian immediately followed up with six different sword moves: the [Fiery Wind Sword], [Gushing Wind Sword], [Blitzing Wind Sword], [Speedy Wind Sword], [Hefty Wind Sword], and [Stormy Wind Sword].

Ouyang Wei-Jian had clearly mastered these sword moves as he was able to condense the power of the six sword moves into six spiritual sword lights.

This formed part of the sword art’s quintessence; the ability to combine sword moves in one attack. Unlike general sword arts that progressively got easier to practice, the [Dissolute Delightful 18 Swords] got progressively harder to practice.

Rumor had it that the creator of the sword art was a sword grandmaster who had attained a great sword divine ability with heavenly power. However, such a heavenly great sword divine ability was almost impossible to teach disciples, even when it was taught by the creator himself. No one besides him could learn it.

In order to pass down his legacy, the creator had split the great sword divine ability into three major sword moves, and then further divided the three major sword moves into six minor sword moves each. To make things even easier, each minor sword move was made into a sword art for cultivators to practice. This was what resulted in the creation of the [Dissolute Delightful 18 Swords].

To begin, cultivators would start with the easiest minor sword move and practice the associated sword art until they were able to recover the sword art back into the sword move. By this time, a cultivator would be able to attain Sword Intent. Then, they would move on to the next minor sword move and repeat the same process.

When the first six minor sword moves were mastered, they could be combined as one major sword move, which had the power of a mini sword divine ability. After that, when all three major sword moves were mastered, the final step was to combine them back into the heavenly great sword divine ability that the Xuan Ling Sect once had.

In essence, it was an eccentric cultivation process to practice one part and then move on to the next, while combining all the parts together. On the other hand, general sword arts always made cultivators fully practice everything from the get-go and then delve deeper as time went by.

Lu Ping slashed out another wave of spiritual sword lights, forming six Sword Jiaos to face off against Ouyang Wei-Jian’s attack.

Dang—

The spiritual sword lights slayed the Sword Jiaos, but they also faltered in strength and fell to the side. Suddenly, the six spiritual sword lights abruptly turned around and shot towards the center, as if an invisible hand had brought them together.

The sword lights combined together forming a larger and brighter sword light that continued to stab towards Lu Ping with great power!

This was a mini sword divine ability!

The Golden Scale Sword quivered and shot out another barrage of spiritual sword lights. This time, all the spiritual sword lights formed one Sword Jiao. The Sword Jiao and the large sword light collided, canceling each other out once again.

Although it felt like another draw, Lu Ping knew that he had the lower hand. Ouyang Wei-Jian had only attacked once, but he had attacked twice. Of course, Ouyang Wei-Jian’s sword was better, but that wasn’t an excuse.

Ouyang Wei-Jian smiled proudly. The spirit emerging flying sword flashed out in an unpredictable trajectory while six spiritual sword lights also shot out, merging together with the sword as it attacked Lu Ping.

Lu Ping turned serious, unleashing his divine revelation to track the flying sword, while the Golden Scale Sword shot out as a giant light sword with the [True Origin One Essence Sword Art].

Dang—

The Golden Scale Sword accurately intercepted Ouyang Wei-Jian’s spirit emerging flying sword, stopping the attack in its tracks.

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Editor: Immortal BloodRogue