Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-365-2-30041322

The disciples looked over and saw the clouds flowing upwards, with sword lights reaching towards the heavens like an inverted waterfall.

The intimidated disciple amongst the latest two arrivals, stopped ten feet behind the first four disciples, while the other more determined one reached the position of the first four. After doing so, he noticed that the four side hall disciples' faces were contorted, as if they were withstanding serious pain.

The disciple was still confused when an enormous pressure suddenly descended upon him, catching him off guard and pushing him back two feet. The disciple quickly surged his arcane energy and stabilized himself to prevent getting pushed back further, but at the same time he also couldn't move forward anymore due to the immense pressure. Hence, he sat down at this new position and quietly watched the swordplay.

In fact, the inverted waterfall-like sword attack was the final result of the combination of the [Great River Eastward Sword Art] and the [Thousand Stacks of Snow Sword Art]. Lu Ping had cultivated these two sword arts to the level of mini sword divine abilities, so when they were used together, they formed an incredibly powerful sword divine ability.

This was not something ordinary cultivators could stand against. The six disciples would've passed out if not for Lu Ping intentionally restricting the power of the attack in their direction. However, the other disciples weren’t so lucky. They were stopped at a distance by the sword divine ability's overwhelming power.

Even the Enlightened Masters that were attracted kept their distance, quietly watching him from afar. Although they had hidden themselves from plain sight, they were really only covering their tracks from the disciples and not from Lu Ping, so he naturally noticed them right away. Lu Ping didn't mind their presence so long as they didn't interrupt his sudden enlightenment.

Then, Lu Ping swiped his hand upward and pointed at the sky. The inverted waterfall-like sword lights abruptly paused in mid-air, merged into a light beam, and shrunk into a giant golden light sword.

After that, he abruptly brought his hand down, while the giant golden light sword also slashed downwards. Immediately, the clouds were cleaved cleanly in half.

At the same time, a powerful shockwave blasted out from him. The edges of the shockwave were clearly visible and had a sword-like sharpness. The side hall disciples on the platform tumbled backwards and leaned away to evade it.

The only exception was Wang Qi, who was somehow aware of the shockwave. Wang Qi thrust his sword mystic weapon into the ground like a nail and held onto it as the shockwave struck him. Despite this, the impact still made him spit out a mouthful of blood.

More and more disciples came towards the seventh platform, but none of them were able to enter the platform like the first six disciples.

Lu Ping was completely immersed in his own sword arts, and he grew unbothered about his surroundings. He felt that his swordsmanship had reached a bottleneck and he just needed one small push before he would be able to reach a whole new realm.

After casting the sword arts he had mastered from beginning to end, Lu Ping moved on to cast the sword arts he had studied and referenced before, but had never actually practiced. This included Xuan Ling Sect's most famous [Dissolute Delightful 18 Swords], the various sword arts he had come across over the years, and the dozen sword arts he found in the Flying Cloud Minor World.

But because he had never actually mastered them, he was only able to cast them partially. So, each sword art was cast by a spiritual sword light, and some of them were just repeating the same moves over and over again.

Hence, it felt incredibly strange to the observers, especially the non-sword practitioners. It was as if Lu Ping was a child that was randomly toying around with his swords. However, this wasn't the case at all.

Lu Ping was actually casting these sword moves with his own insights as he attempted to connect with the essences of the sword arts. Thus, to the sword practitioners, even though there was no continuity in his sword moves, every move was just as enlightening and awe-inspiring.

As he practiced, the ambience gradually thickened, as if there was a spring compressing in the air due to high pressure causing deep low rumbling noises.

After casting more than dozens of sword arts, a realization dawned on Lu Ping. He couldn't help but laugh loudly and happily, "Marvelous! Simply marvelous!"

Lu Ping recalled the Golden Scale Sword back into his hand and cast a whole new sword art. The instant he lifted the Golden Scale Sword, the spiritual sword lights swarmed back to him and formed a giant vortex of swords above him.

At the same time, every sword weapon, be it mystic weapons, mystic instruments, or even mystic treasures, were all quivering rapidly and flew towards the sword vortex.

The Enlightened Masters all suppressed their weapons from leaving, but the expressions on their faces changed drastically. They placed their hands on their swords, sensing the excitement and submission, while they watched the disciples' swords in the sword vortex.

This… there’s no doubt – this can only be a great sword divine ability!

However, Lu Xuan-Ping has cast a great sword divine ability before, but it was never this powerful. What has changed?

The Enlightened Masters continued to be shocked as the sword vortex grew larger with every passing second as more and more swords flew towards it. Now, not only Zhao Yang Summit, but swords from further away were also being attracted to the vortex. Eventually, the sword vortex covered the entire sky above Zhen Ling Side Hall, even forcing Tian Ling Mountain's great protective array formation to show itself.

The only sound left in the surroundings was the sound of the swords quivering, not only from the swords in the sword vortex, but also from the swords in the hands of the Enlightened Masters. In other words, any sword practitioner who challenged Lu Ping to a battle now would have their prowess greatly reduced. The only exception would be another sword master who had a great sword divine ability of their own.

That's right, not just any great sword divine ability, but a unique one that belonged to only one sword master.

Lu Ping had never felt happier; he had finally cultivated his own great sword divine ability.

Before this, the [River Unification Ocean Sword Art] he had cast was arguably a great sword divine ability due to its incredible prowess.

However, that great sword divine ability wasn't his creation, he had merely cast it after understanding it. But no matter how powerful it was, it was never his to claim in the first place. In other words, it would never be as powerful as it would be in the hands of its creator.

However, the sudden enlightenment on Zhao Yang Summit gave him a chance. He condensed every sword insight he had and fused them into his swordsmanship. The final result was the emergence of his very own great sword divine ability!

This was the true meaning behind the [River Unification Ocean Sword Art]!

It was merely a frame for future successors to use to create a great sword divine ability of their own!

By this time, the whole of Tian Ling Mountain had been alerted by Lu Ping's great sword divine ability.

The Enlightened Masters flew to the sky and hovered mid-air, probing their divine revelations towards Zhao Yang Summit.

Lu Ping immediately sensed the Enlightened Masters' divine revelations, many of which were stronger than his own.

There was also a mysterious and irresistible will that descended from the summit of Tian Ling Mountain. It instantly covered the entire mountain range, scanned over Lu Ping, and then mysteriously disappeared again.

The mysterious will nudged Lu Ping's senses back to the surroundings, and he quickly kept the Golden Scale Sword away while the sword vortex also dispersed with the swords flying away in all directions.

Lu Ping looked around and saw that the seventh platform was already full of cracks and dents from the sword arts that he had cast. Then, he smiled in satisfaction again. This platform had now become a vessel that contained his sword heritage. Should any sword practitioner study this platform, they might just be able to learn one of the sword arts that he had cast here today.

After that, Lu Ping looked at the six Blood Refining Realm disciples behind him who were still pulling themselves together, and glanced around at the rest of his surroundings. He suddenly laughed happily and collapsed into a puddle of water, disappearing from the scene.

A mini escape divine ability!

After Lu Ping left, besides Wang Qi, the other five disciples all passed out and fell to the ground. In fact, as the one that had arrived first and had taken the full force of the shockwave, Wang Qi's condition was far worse than the five of them.

His chest was still hurting from the shockwave, his mind was muddled, and his heart couldn't stop palpitating. However, he knew this wasn't the time to pass out yet. If he passed out now, he would forget most of the things he had seen. So, in order to get the most out of this encounter, he wanted to remember as much as he could before passing out.

Wang Qi bit his tongue to stir his spirit, forcing himself to stay awake as he recalled everything he had seen. Despite not being able to understand most of it, Wang Qi believed that these memories would one day be very beneficial to him as his swordsmanship progressed.

He just couldn't let himself pass out until he had carved all these memories deep inside his mind!

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