Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-347-30041322

The Golden Scale Sword was deflected back to Lu Ping, while Ouyang Wei-Jian’s nameless soft sword quivered nonstop and froze mid-air, losing its chance to land another blow. All in all, it was another draw.

Ouyang Wei-Jian’s expression changed, not expecting that Lu Ping would be able to track his sword movements. Although this sword move was not his strongest, it was the hardest to defend due to its unpredictability, often hitting his opponent where they least expected.

Little did Ouyang Wei-Jian know that Lu Ping’s divine revelation was much stronger than average, a fact he’d kept concealed from the beginning. Lu Ping’s divine revelation in the Third Layer Core Forging Realm was one cultivation stage stronger than most, equivalent to one in the Sixth Layer.

In addition, Lu Ping had cultivated the [Tri-Pristine True Vision] which enhanced his vision even more acutely. Their combined powers enabled him to accurately capture the soft sword’s trajectory.

However, the soft sword was a spirit emerging mystic treasure after all. It merely stopped on the spot whenever the swords clashed, while the Golden Scale Sword was deflected away.

Ouyang Wei-Jian cast a series of hand signs, imbuing fantastical patterns of true energy into the soft sword. The spirit-emerging soft sword hummed and unleashed a gale of spiritual wind sword lights at Lu Ping, disappearing from sight during the chaos.

Lu Ping immediately took one step back, drawing a circle in front of him with the Golden Scale Sword, as if cutting out an opening in the void. From the opening, a gush of spiritual water sword lights flowed out and tumbled towards the wind blades.

Clang… Clang… Clang…!

The swords crashed into each other, exploding like fireworks upon impact.

Meanwhile, a soft breeze quietly threaded its way past the explosions and swept towards Lu Ping, whose eyes abruptly lit up with a green light—he slashed the Golden Scale Sword horizontally forward.

Swoosh—

The Golden Scale Sword hit nothing. Lu Ping hurriedly moved backwards while swinging the blade upwards.

Clang—

This time, the Golden Scale Sword successfully intercepted the soft sword, its tip just a foot away from hitting Lu Ping’s face. The attack didn’t end there, however, as the soft sword’s body twisted like a snake to lessen the blow, using the momentum to push the blade further to reach Lu Ping!

This took Lu Ping by surprise, but it was too late to turn his blade around, so he instead put up his aegis energy while moving back to evade.

The mini aegis divine ability, [Heavenly Curtain Aegis]!

Ouyang Wei-Jian smirked coldly after seeing that Lu Ping was forced to this point. He thought, The As-Will Sword is a seal-breaking sword. It pierces right through aegis energy, no matter if they’re mini divine abilities or not!

However, his elation lasted briefly—the As-Will Sword was stopped by the [Heavenly Curtain Aegis].

Impossible! How is his mini divine ability so powerful? It can stop a special seal-breaking sword’s attack? Even if the attack power is lower, my sword should still be able to crush it!

The aegis energy glimmered in three rotating colors: gold, blue, and green. It was as if everything within three feet of him became a world that he controlled. The As-Will Sword’s true energy was corroded, staggering the sword’s momentum until it finally came to a stop.

No wonder he doesn’t use any protective or defensive mystic treasures, his aegis energy alone is just as strong!

Lu Ping would’ve laughed bitterly if he knew what Ouyang Wei-Jian was thinking. It wasn’t that he didn’t need any protective mystic treasures; he just couldn’t find one that could keep up with his speedy cultivation progress.

Fortunately, Lu Ping was already fusing the fourth peculiar water into the [Heavenly Curtain Aegis], which was the Three Thousand Weak Water from Kong Liang’s legacy. Kong Liang needed the peculiar water to enhance the Seven Elemental Lightning Gourd, but he couldn’t yet engrave its fourth Mystical Inscription, being only in the Third Layer Core Forging Realm at that time. So, he saved the peculiar water for later, but died before he could carry it out. Now the peculiar water was in Lu Ping’s hands.

Although Lu Ping also valued the Seven Elemental Lightning Gourd for its heavenly power and potential, he didn’t consider it as important. This difference in perspective was rooted in Lu Ping’s philosophy that true prowess comes from one’s inner qualities, thus he always prioritized using resources to improve his own cultivation arts and skills instead of upgrading his weapons.

In this case, Lu Ping was fusing the Three Thousand Weak Water to enhance the [Heavenly Curtain Aegis].

The As-Will Sword pulled back, while Lu Ping seized the chance to slash out three waves of sword lights at Ouyang Wei-Jian.

Ouyang Wei-Jian moved back to evade the sword waves, the As-Will Sword quivered and then slashed eighteen times while falling back. These were the eighteen sword moves of the [Dissolute Delightful 18 Swords].

The duo engaged in a round of rapid attacks, each trying to seize the upper hand in the fight. Among the elements of nature, waves undulated only from the blowing winds. As such, Lu Ping’s water-element sword arts were slightly inferior to Ouyang Wei-Jian’s wind-element sword arts.

This time, the continuous flow of attacks from the [Thousand Stacks of Snow Sword Art] couldn’t hold up and the flow was easily broken by the [Dissolute Delightful 18 Swords].

The Golden Scale Sword flew out to attack with [Great River Eastward Sword Art], a powerful move with incredible momentum akin to the rupturing of a dam.

At that instant, Ouyang Wei-Jian felt like a mortal trying to stop the sudden, rapid, and uncontrolled release of tightly contained water. So tiny, powerless, and insignificant.

Xuan Ling Sect and Zhen Ling Sect were the top two sects, and Ouyang Wei-Jian and Lu Xuan-Ping were their most prominent disciples among the younger generation. They were said to represent the peak of their generation.

Even though this wasn’t a real fight using their full prowess, their swordplay revealed a lot about their capabilities. The Enlightened Masters were closely watching the fight with their divine revelations while also exchanging their insights about the battle.

As the two gave up using mini sword divine abilities and opted for normal sword attacks, their attacks became less grand and powerful, instead faster paced and more perilous. Spiritual sword lights flashed all over the place, and one slight moment of inattention could lead to defeat.

Ouyang Wei-Jian was like the eye of a storm while Lu Ping was like the source of a tsunami, both attacking nonstop.

Suddenly, Lu Ping missed the Water Specter Sword. If he had the sword with him now, he could cast the [Shapeless Sword Art], and most importantly, make up for his weapon quality’s inferiority together with the Golden Scale Sword.

Something flashed past his mind and he had a feeling he’d forgotten something. But before he could mull over it further, his intuition alerted him of a great danger.

It must be Ouyang Wei-Jian’s nascent sword!

Without hesitation, Lu Ping cast a torrent of spiritual sword lights. Yet this time, the sword torrent didn’t gush forward but flowed around him like a water tornado.

Immediately, the Enlightened Masters glanced at Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling, who was known for his great divine ability, the [Water Tornado]. Although she wasn’t a sword practitioner, her divine ability used the sword arts in the [Sea Coast Wave Listening Scripture] as a reference.

Lu Ping heard her talking about the great divine ability several times, so he naturally used it to improve his own sword arts.

This time, Lu Ping didn’t use the sword torrent to attack, but to defend himself instead.

The As-Will Sword’s spiritual sword lights battered against the sword torrent but failed to break it apart. However, the attempt forced an opening in the sword torrent, allowing the As-Will Sword to enter.

Wait, no, there’s one more sword!

The guests were shocked to see another dark light silently following behind the As-Will Sword as it stabbed towards the sword torrent.

Dang—

The dark sword penetrated the sword torrents and stabbed towards Lu Ping, but Lu Ping wasn’t someone so easily duped. The sword torrent suddenly shrunk into a smaller water tornado and blocked the dark sword.

Seeing that it couldn’t penetrate the second defense line made up of even denser sword lights, the dark sword turned around to return to Ouyang Wei-Jian. But the Golden Scale Sword was already waiting to intercept its path.

Dang—

The two swords clashed, the dark sword stunned in place for a split second, the Golden Scale Sword deflected back in between the dark sword and the As-Will Sword.

So, my gut feeling was correct. You can control the sword torrent mini divine ability, but only pretended to slip up during your fight with Li Xuan-Liang. But you’re not the only one hiding your strength!

Ouyang Wei-Jian’s murderous eyes gleamed brightly, and with the As-Will Sword, he cast an entirely different mini sword divine ability from the [Dissolute Delightful 18 Swords].

By now, the dark sword had also recovered and it slashed towards the Golden Scale Sword using a similar mini sword divine ability!

These two mini sword divine abilities moved harmoniously, complementing each other’s weaknesses and enhancing their strengths. Together, they tried to tear the Golden Scale Sword apart like sharp winds tearing through paper.

Yes, the [Dissolute Delightful 18 Swords] is our most famous and powerful sword art, but as the number one sect in the North Ocean, the Xuan Ling Sect doesn’t have just one sword art!

Ouyang Wei-Jian smirked mockingly, already envisioning the look of desperation on Lu Ping’s face after his defeat.

Lin Xu-Qing subtly glanced in Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling’s direction, the corners of his mouth curved slightly upwards.

Even the guests were shaking their heads.

"Lu Xuan-Ping has lost to Ouyang Wei-Jian."

"After all, Ouyang Wei-Jian honed his swordsmanship with monster blood, more than just toiling from practice."

"Lu Xuan-Ping’s skill should still be praised. Despite this loss, his swordsmanship still stands above the rest of their generation."

Just as the Enlightened Masters were discussing Lu Ping’s imminent defeat, a loud and grand hum rang out from the battlefield, and a burst of Sword Intent pierced a large hole in the clouds.

In that instant, all the sword mystic instruments and sword mystic treasures on Tian Ling Mountain quivered uncontrollably. Some stronger cultivators were able to suppress their swords from quivering, while the weaker ones couldn’t even stop their swords from falling out of their grasp.

Whilst the unknowing cultivators were puzzled by the swords’ behavior, the Enlightened Masters from the top ten sects and bigger clans immediately knew what was happening; their expressions twisted in disbelief.

Lin Xu-Qing stood up from his seat, then looked at Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling beside him before sitting down again. However, his emotionless face was now darkened with gloom.

In the battlefield, Ouyang Wei-Jian’s swords took the brunt of the Sword Intent’s suppression, and they quivered into almost losing control. His face changed, and although he didn’t know what was happening, he knew Lu Ping must be the cause.

At this time, the humming sound appeared again. Unknowingly when, the Golden Scale Sword had returned to Lu Ping’s hand, and the Sword Intent directed above was now pointing directly at Ouyang Wei-Jian.

It was then that Ouyang Wei-Jian felt keenly what it was—this was no ordinary Sword Intent, but one that came from a great sword divine ability!

Ouyang Wei-Jian’s face drained white like snow, he couldn’t understand how Lu Ping’s swordsmanship had even reached such unsurpassable heights!

He was holding back all this time, using me to hone his swordsmanship and cornering me into showing all my cards. Then, right when I felt most confident, at the moment I was closest to victory, he struck down with the sharpest and most invincible means to crush me in one fell swoop. Such a complete defeat would shatter my confidence and break my spirit! How dare you!

Ouyang Wei-Jian was not an idiot, and he quickly understood Lu Ping’s intention to break him. His face contorted with furious malevolence.

In the face of the [River Unification Ocean Sword Art], Ouyang Wei-Jian’s dual-sword mini divine abilities stood no chance at all. They broke instantaneously and the two swords tumbled uncontrollably in mid-air.

Ouyang Wei-Jian struggled to recall the swords back to him, but even then, he couldn’t do anything more as he was fully suppressed by the great divine ability.

"This… is a great sword divine ability!"

The remaining cultivators who weren’t part of the top ten sects finally realized what Lu Ping was casting, and they were shocked to their cores!

Lu Xuan-Ping, who was just in the Third Layer Core Forging Realm, had attained a great divine ability. Even more, it was a great sword divine ability which was incredibly difficult to attain, only one level lower than that of a lightning divine ability!

Weekly Chapters (3/5)

Editor: MilkBiscuit