Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-363-30041322

Since the start of the war, the Zhen Ling Side Hall was not only an academy to train reserve cultivators in the Blood Refining Realm, but also a place to sharpen the skills of the Blood Condensation Realm disciples.

The most notable change was the one-year mandatory period where all Blood Condensation Realm disciples had to learn from the Enlightened Masters that taught their expertise, before being allowed to go out on their own.

Since then, Early Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters weren’t an uncommon sight in the side hall anymore. However, to the disciples, Enlightened Masters were still at a high level beyond their reach, filled with power and mystery.

Additionally, the sect had specifically arranged the third-generation Enlightened Masters who were younger and closer to the fourth-generation disciples to be teachers. These Enlightened Masters looked similar in age to the fourth-generation disciples, making the disciples feel closer to them and more inspired.

At this time, the sky turned fiery-red as a ball of fire descended from the clouds, slamming towards the side hall without slowing down.

Lu Ping couldn't help but smile and think, Always appearing imposing in front of others, but we all know you’re a playful guy. With this entrance, you've successfully attracted their attention. You'd surely be able to find a disciple or two like you said you had wanted.

A loud laughter was heard as the fireball stopped right above the side hall. Then, a red tiger shrouded in burning fire abruptly leaped out of the fire. The disciples were shocked and quickly noticed the imposing man sitting on the red tiger.

"Enlightened Master Fire Tiger! It's Enlightened Master Fire Tiger!"

The disciples cheered loudly while looking at Yao Yong with admiration, much to his enjoyment.

Yao Yong unmounted from the tiger and kept it away. He then walked up to the podium to greet Enlightened Master Xuan-Yuan, before joining Ji Xuan-Xuan and the other Enlightened Masters on the podium, and glancing over to the disciples below.

Oh? Is he really looking for disciples?

Lu Ping was surprised.

This was the largest Zhen Ling Side Hall competition ever in the past few dozen years. Almost every Enlightened Master under the age of 100 was invited to witness the competition.

Naturally, Enlightened Master Xuan-Yuan couldn't have done this by himself without the sect's support. Although the sect had never instructed the Enlightened Masters to take in any disciples, subtle hints were given.

For instance, not only was Lu Ping invited by Xuan-Miao to choose a disciple in the upcoming disciple acceptance ceremony, Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling also told him that he could check on the disciples in the side hall competition and accept some of them as his registered disciples.

Over the years, Zhen Ling Sect had experienced a phase of rapid development thanks to its accumulation before the monster tide.

However, as time passed, the drawbacks of rapid development had started to show. Amongst many problems that were noticed, this was the biggest timebomb that would affect the sect's future.

As Zhen Ling Side Hall expanded in scale, the number of Blood Condensation Realm disciples had grown unprecedentedly. Apart from better equipping the Blood Condensation Realm disciples for the ruthless cultivation world, the one-year mandatory training period was also to delay their cultivation progress.

Despite this, the side hall still had a large number of Mid Blood Condensation Realm disciples that were qualified to practice under an Enlightened Master but were unable to find a teacher.

To begin with, the sect just didn’t have enough Enlightened Masters to accommodate the large demand of disciples. But leaving the disciples to their own devices could be disastrous for the entire generation. The disciples would first gradually lose their loyalty and trust in the sect, then their cultivation interest would slowly wane, and eventually, they would leave the sect.

In order to prevent the loss of these disciples, and the sect's future, the sect had taken the necessary steps such as assigning young and talented Early Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters to teach in the side hall.

This proved to be a successful step. Not only did the Blood Refining Realm disciples, newly-advanced Early Blood Condensation Realm disciples, and Mid Blood Condensation Realm disciples who hadn’t found teachers attend, even some Mid Blood Condensation Realm disciples with teachers and Late Blood Condensation Realm disciples would attend.

After all, it wasn't every day that the cultivators got to listen to the Enlightened Masters teach, not even their teachers would do that. Hence, these teaching sessions had garnered a lot of attention.

Although it was successful, it was still just a temporary solution. As long as the gap between the large number of disciples and the limited number of teachers was not solved, the problem still existed.

This was why the sect wanted the third-generation Enlightened Masters to also start taking in some disciples. Hence, they were invited to the side hall competition as well as the upcoming disciple acceptance ceremony.

Just like the disciples, that were only allowed to practice under a teacher after reaching the Mid Blood Condensation Realm and consolidating their cultivation, Enlightened Masters were only asked to become teachers after reaching the Third Layer Core Forging Realm, as they would have consolidated their newly-advanced Core Forging Realm by then.

However, it seemed that the sect was already considering lowering the requirement for the Enlightened Masters to accept disciples.

In any case, Lu Ping was already qualified to accept official disciples that would cultivate under his Wave Listening Palace, just like how he cultivated under Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling's Chong Hua Palace.

However, the thought of accepting disciples hadn't yet crossed his mind as he didn't think there was anything for him to teach them.

Lu Ping had already noticed the Enlightened Masters hiding around the side hall with his exceptional divine revelation.

But because of Yao Yong's grand entrance, they didn't want to fall behind and just walk into the side hall. Hence, after Yao Yong, all the Enlightened Masters made their entrance in exciting ways to display their strength.

Unsurprisingly, their grand and thrilling entrances threw the disciples into loud cheers filled with admiration

Lu Ping, wearing his usual clothes of an ordinary scholar from a poor and humble family,, casually walked into the side hall without any disciples noticing him. He hadn’t visited the palace since his departure more than ten years ago.

The plaza was twice the size since his last visit, with twelve battle stages compared to a previous nine.

He casually meandered through the disciples, feeling the excitement and anticipation from them while he relived the moments from when he used to be a disciple.

Suddenly, the feeling of getting older crept into his heart!

Without strength, wisdom has little grounds to be used; Without wisdom, strength can only achieve a little. Only with both strength and wisdom, can one survive the… flow of time!

As if something had dawned on him, Lu Ping suddenly smiled and with the next step that he took, he was one-step closer to breaking through to the Mid Core Forging Realm.

Although Lu Ping didn't make a grand entrance, he also didn't intentionally hide his traces. Hence, the Enlightened Masters immediately noticed him when he entered.

At first, Lu Ping appeared like a lake of water with an unknown depth to the Enlightened Masters' divine revelations. Then, they saw him suddenly smiling for a brief moment. When they checked with their divine revelation again, they were surprised to find that this time he appeared just like a mortal that had mistakenly been mixed in a crowd of cultivators.

After Lu Ping's arrival, Enlightened Master Xuan-Yuan's eyes lit up and he announced the start of the side hall competition.

With the Enlightened Masters on the podium watching the competition, the disciples naturally went all out to display their qualities. However, the disciples' battles looked simple and crude to the Enlightened Masters.

Besides the Enlightened Masters that were actually looking for disciples, the rest just casually gave out comments on the disciples' performances.

Meanwhile, Lu Ping casually wandered in the plaza amongst the disciples. At some point, Hu Lili also came down from the podium and the two love birds walked shoulder to shoulder.

Whilst he was the most famous third-generation disciples in the sect, Lu Ping had only been seen on a limited number of occasions. Most of the time, he was cultivating on his own or was out in the cultivation world.

Although the side hall disciples didn’t recognize Lu Ping, they were familiar with Hu Lili. They realized that whoever this man was, he must be at least of equal status to her. Additionally, he might have an even higher status as it seemed like she was following his lead while they were walking around.

Right after, the disciples quickly realized that an Enlightened Master had been amongst them all this time. He was right there beside them, yet no one had noticed his existence.

Looking at the Enlightened Master’s young appearance, he had to be a third-generation Enlightened Masters like the others on the podium.

The well-informed cultivators that learned about the list of Enlightened Masters that were coming to the competition quickly looked at their lists. After going through it, they all looked at each other with confusion.

"The list consists of 26 Enlightened Masters, 22 are on the podium, while four others are missing. How are we supposed to know which one of the four he is? It’s impossible to guess!"

"Who are the four missing ones?"

"The first is Master Alchemist Enlightened Master Lu Xuan-Ping, the Water Sword Immortal. The second is Yuan Xuan-Zhan from the Yuan Clan. He was also a talent in the side hall back then, and it is rumored that he and Enlightened Master Lu aren't on good terms."

"Huh, how dare he make enemies with Master Lu? This Enlightened Master Yuan Xuan-Zhan sure is something. I heard that the Yuan Clan had been hit by a typhoon years ago, and the clan’s island is almost ruined because of it. Some people even said that the Yuan Clan might be ruined because of this disaster, but who knew that Yuan Zhan would appear and be their saving grace."

"Pft, you know so little. The Yuan Clan’s island might have been struck hard, suffering heavy losses in the typhoon, but the clan’s Enlightened Masters are all well. The losses are merely on the surface. Not to mention that the clan is rumored to have a Late Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master in closed-door training on Tian Ling Mountain. It takes more than this to take the Yuan Clan down."

"Enough. Quickly tell us who the remaining two are?"

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