Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-366-2-30041322

Tao Xuan-Fang's face turned gloomy after hearing the words that were spoken. This spirit fire was the Earth's Core Infernal Fire that Lu Ping had brought back from Fei Ling Island and subsequently submitted to the sect.

After that, it ended up in Tao Xuan-Fang’s hands as he was the most outstanding alchemist in the younger generation from the Pavilion of Alchemy.

However, it also wasn’t possible if not for Tao Xuan-Fang's teacher, Enlightened Master Xuan-Jing, who personally went to beseech his teacher, Great Ancestor Tian-Lu, so that Tao Xuan-Fang could have this wonder fire.

Tao Xuan-Fang was proud to show off his Earth's Core Infernal Fire, but after hearing Chen Lian and Hu Lili, he immediately became despondent.

Naturally, Tao Xuan-Fang knew that Chen Lian and Hu Lili’s words were intentionally spoken, but as it was the truth, he couldn’t refute them. Hence, he just hummed coldly and continued to prepare.

Tao Xuan-Fang was only half a step away from becoming a Master Alchemist.

Otherwise, Great Ancestor Tian-Lu wouldn't have agreed to let him have the Earth's Core Infernal Fire in the first place.

With his skillful fire control, meticulous alchemy process, and wealth of experience, the Blood Condensing Pellet that was said to be the hardest Blood Condensation Realm pellet to concoct, was no issue at all to Tao Xuan-Fang.

Four hours later, a fragrance filled the air of the side hall plaza. Tao Xuan-Fang's eyes lit up as he waved his sleeves. The cauldron's lid opened by itself and eight Blood Condensing Pellets flew out amidst the disciples' loud cheers.

Tao Xuan-Fang turned around with a smile on his face. Just as he was ready to receive the disciples' praise, he suddenly noticed that the disciples weren’t actually looking at him at all. Tao Xuan-Fang frowned and traced their gazes to where Chen Lian and Hu Lili were standing.

As if noticing Tao Xuan-Fang's gaze, Lu Ping suddenly turned around and smiled at him. Tao Xuan-Fang was initially taken back, before he quickly nodded in return and turned around.

It turned out that the disciples weren't actually cheering for his alchemy, but rather for Lu Ping's arrival; the young Enlightened Master who had just made a scene at the seventh platform on Zhao Yang Summit.

The incident had left a deep impression on all of the disciples. At the beginning, no one knew who the man actually was. Everyone had speculated that given his young appearance, he was a third-generation Enlightened Master.

As time passed, and the final three Enlightened Masters arrived, the disciples were convinced that the young man was the remaining Enlightened Master on the list that hadn't showed up – Enlightened Master Lu Xuan-Ping, the Water Sword Immortal.

However, no matter how much the disciples tried to find out the young man's identity, the senior cultivators would not say a word. The very next day after the incident, the sect dug out the seventh platform and replaced it with a new stone pavement.

Although this incited discontentment from the disciples who wanted to study the sword marks, it also indirectly confirmed the young man's extraordinary prowess, reinforcing the hypothesis that the man was indeed Enlightened Master Lu Xuan-Ping.

In fact, Lu Ping was also shocked when he learned that Junior Martial Uncle Guo Xuan-Shan had taken the seventh platform back to the sect's place of inheritance. He hadn’t thought that the sect would value his sword heritage this much. After all, he was just an Early Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master. The sword heritage he had left behind was relatively simple and crude compared to other powerful heritages.

But little did he know the true value of a great divine ability, especially one that was sword-oriented. Additionally, despite its crudeness, as it was in its early stages it had unlimited possibilities and great potential. This was exactly what a heritage should be, not being restrictions to the successors' future but rather stepping stones for them to become greater!

"Water Sword Immortal, it's really him!"

In the crowd, six side hall disciples were staring at Lu Ping with eyes that shone brightly like stars. They never thought that the young man whose heritage they had received was actually Enlightened Master Lu Xuan-Ping!

Sure enough, the young man stole the show again today!

After Tao Xuan-Fang stepped back to the side of the podium, Lu Ping walked forwards to the center. Then, he took out the River Inclusion Cauldron.

Dong—

The top-grade cauldron shook the podium sending a wave of vibrations that reached the disciples.

Tao Xuan-Fang's eyes widened as he wore a shocked expression. Everything his senses fed back to him from the aura to the appearance, clearly told him that this was a top-grade cauldron!

As an alchemist, no one present in the side hall besides him could understand just how precious and valuable a top-grade cauldron was. In the whole Zhen Ling Sect, there were only three top-grade cauldrons, with only Great Ancestor Tian-Lu able to freely access them. Besides him, even Master Alchemists would have to apply and be approved by the Great Ancestors to use the top-grade cauldrons.

Among the three top-grade cauldrons, two were unable to be upgraded to the ranks of mystic treasures because of multiple reasons.

The first and oldest top-grade cauldron in the sect had a history spanning more than a couple thousand years and was already deteriorating. Even though Great Ancestor Tian-Lu had been carefully maintaining it, with Great Ancestor Tian-Jiang, the Grandmaster Smith of the sect, repairing it, it still only had a couple of hundred years left of use.

The second cauldron was fine, but it was not forged with the intention of upgrading it into a mystic treasure. As a result, it inherently lacked the quality to ever be upgraded.

The only one that still had the potential to be upgraded was with Great Ancestor Tian-Lu and was called the Triad Yang Cauldron.

In the past few decades, Great Ancestor Tian-Lu and Great Ancestor Tian-Jiang had made several attempts to upgrade the cauldron but to no avail. In fact, the cauldron was even damaged during the last attempt which it took years to recover from.

Upgrading a cauldron was never easy, let alone upgrading it from the ranks of a mystic instrument to a mystic treasure. Not only would an alchemist work together with a smith, the selection of Mystical Inscriptions were also incredibly crucial. Not only were cauldron Mystical Inscriptions hard to come by, each cauldron also had strict requirements on the properties of the inscriptions suitable to them.

Besides Tao Xuan-Fang, the second person that could understand the value of the top-grade cauldron was Chen Lian. However, even though the other Enlightened Masters didn't understand the true value of a top-grade cauldron, they still know how precious they were.

After all, in the tens of thousands of years in Zhen Ling Sect's history, the sect had a greater number of Great Ancestors than the number of top-grade cauldrons. It wasn't hard to conclude that top-grade cauldrons were more precious than Great Ancestors.

Everyone was certain that as soon as the side hall competition ended, Great Ancestor Tian-Lu and Great Ancestor Tian-Jiang would be asking for Lu Ping.

To alchemists, cauldrons were what enabled them to showcase their alchemy skill by making the best pellets possible.

To smiths, what better way was there than to showcase their smithing skill besides forging an exceptional cauldron that could make the best pellets possible.

Just as the Enlightened Masters were attracted by the top-grade cauldron, a sky-blue fire appeared in Lu Ping's hand, elegantly and gracefully swaying in the wind like a fire fairy.

Tao Xuan-Fang's pupils shrank as soon as he saw the fire, as he murmured, "Mystic-class high-grade wonder fire, Azure Spirit Fire…"

There were some disciples under the podium who also recognized the Azure Spirit Fire. This immediately sent the crowd into another clamor, as they pushed each other around trying to get a better look.

A top-grade cauldron and a Mystic-class high-grade wonder fire; either of these two were a treasure that could make alchemists go crazy!

The Azure Spirit Fire was calm and gentle in nature, making it the best wonder fire in the Mystic-class for alchemy. Hence, it was highly sought after by general alchemists, and even Master Alchemists.

Naturally, Lu Ping knew the implications of showing these two items. However, this was necessary if he wanted to grow stronger and increase his influence in the sect.

Becoming an Enlightened Master was just the first step of being acknowledged in the sect. Cultivators still had to fight for more power and influence after that. One of the many factors in play would be a cultivator's background.

For instance, being Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling's official disciple, Lu Ping actions and words would carry more weight. However, the second-generation Enlightened Masters would still predominantly see him as a junior, only showing him attention out of respect for his teacher.

Hence, in order for Lu Ping to free himself from his teacher's influence and have his own voice, he had to gain respect and recognition by himself. Naturally, the fastest and most convincing way of doing this was to showcase his capabilities.

Lu Ping wasn't trying to cut ties with his teacher, he merely wanted to prove himself and obtain an equal status to that of his seniors. He wanted to be recognized as the owner of the Wave Listening Palace first, and then the Chong Hua Palace's disciple.

After all, only when the roots were spread out enough would a tree be able to grow taller. Following this analogy, the tree was Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling's lineage, Chong Hua Palace was the main root, and Wave Listening Palace along with the other senior martial sisters' lineages were the branching roots.

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