Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-367-30041322

The Blood Condensing Pellet posed no challenge at all to a Master Alchemist like Lu Ping. However, he still took the task seriously and carried out the alchemy as thoroughly as he could.

His divine revelation covered every corner of the cauldron, feeling every single change happening inside; the intensity of the fire level, the composition of the spiritual herb paste, the formation of the pellets.

He did this until his true energy was reverted back to spiritual energy during the process of the alchemy and ten mini spiritual energy vortexes were formed inside the cauldron. Just when Lu Ping thought he had perfectly concocted a cauldron of pellets, he suddenly felt the cauldron attract spiritual energy from their surroundings.

Is this…

A trace of joy flashed across Lu Ping's face.

Tao Xuan-Fang, who was meticulously watching Lu Ping's alchemy, also noticed the cauldron’s subtle change. A look of disbelief struck his face as he stared at Lu Ping—it was a known fact that Lu Ping was better at alchemy, but he never thought he would be this good!

What was currently taking place was a phenomenon known as natural pellets. It was a sign that the alchemist had thoroughly mastered the alchemy for a type of pellet.

In theory, a cauldron of spirit herbs were just enough to concoct ten pellets; this was known as a full success rate. But in practice, only a handful were able to do that. Hence, the cultivation world often viewed it as an alchemist's highest achievement.

However, in the society of alchemists, there was another achievement held above a full success rate. It was the grandest achievement of all time, known as natural pellets. In cultivation terms, natural pellets were the alchemists’ mini alchemical divine abilities!

However, these so-called alchemical divine abilities would only ever emerge by chance and fate; neither practice nor talent could force their occurrences. Sometimes, an alchemist could spend a lifetime on one type of pellet and still never achieve it, while it might appear for another alchemist after their first few cauldrons of full success rates.

The only known constant was that one must first master a type of pellet completely to the point of a full success rate. And then… that was it. There were no other clear directions on how to increase one’s likelihood of developing an alchemical divine ability.

On top of that, each alchemical divine ability only worked on just one type of pellet. In this case, Lu Ping had materialized natural pellets for Blood Condensing Pellets. Hence, only these pellets would have more than a full success rate—others would remain the same.

As the River Inclusion Cauldron attracted spiritual energy, two spiritual energy vortexes formed into two more pellets; these were the natural pellets!

Lu Ping calmly raised his left hand—the cauldron lid opened, and twelve Blood Condensing Pellets flew out in a line into the jade bottle in his right hand.

Right away, a commotion broke out among the disciples watching his alchemy, and even the Enlightened Masters were shocked.

Twelve Blood Condensing Pellets, there were twelve pellets produced from this cauldron!

At this time, Xuan-Yuan was the happiest of them all, unable to hide the smile on his face as Lu Ping handed him the jade bottle. As an old cultivator who had lived more than hundreds of years and been through the vicissitudes of life, his wisdom and experience far outmatched that of the younger generation. So, even though he wasn't an alchemist, unsurprisingly, he knew about natural pellets and could easily recognize one on sight!

Whereas the disciples were the ones feeling the most excitement. Although they couldn't comprehend the additional two pellets, they did know that Dean Xuan-Yuan would bestow them as rewards in the competition. The more pellets, the merrier!

Meanwhile, Tao Xuan-Fang was feeling extremely awkward on the podium. He could tell that the disciples had shifted their admiration from him to Lu Ping. On top of that, some even looked slightly unhappy, as though his cauldron of spirit herbs was wasted in his hands.

The math was simple—Enlightened Master Tao Xuan-Fang concocted eight pellets, while Enlightened Master Lu Xuan-Ping concocted twelve. This meant four potential pellets were gone because of Enlightened Master Tao Xuan-Fang, so four disciples had lost their chances of earning a Blood Condensing Pellet!

The glares from the disciples made Tao Xuan-Fang feel embarrassed in front of Lu Ping.

In all fairness, Lu Ping didn't think he would produce a natural pellet either. What's more, the natural pellet had emerged for a Blood Condensing Pellet, one of the most important pellets for the sect!

This alchemical divine ability alone was enough to garner the right amount of respect and recognition needed to heighten his status within the sect!

Sighing, Tao Xuan-Fang smiled bitterly, knowing that there was almost no chance for him to catch up with Lu Ping anymore.

The Blood Condensing Pellet was just a Late Blood Condensation Realm pellet, but it required twenty-four varieties of 500-year spirit herbs, all of which were almost as rare as 1,000-year spirit herbs. This made the pellet almost as valuable as a Core Forging Realm pellet.

But to the sect, Blood Condensing Pellets were actually worth much more than ordinary Core Forging Realm pellets. This was because they were the key to ensuring a smooth and steady supply of disciples, essentially making these pellets the bedrock for the sect's continuation!

Therefore, Blood Condensing Pellets were always handled by the best alchemists for the greatest number of pellets possible. With this in mind, who else could beat Lu Ping’s fearsome result of twelve pellets from one cauldron of spirit herbs?

From this point onward, Lu Ping would become the second most respected and acknowledged alchemist, other than Great Ancestor Tian-Lu, in the sect. Him alone could stand against the Pavilion of Alchemy, as not only would the sect support him to concoct more Blood Condensing Pellets, the disciples would also take on his side as they would get more pellets as well!

Lu Ping continued the second cauldron and successfully produced the same outcome of twelve pellets again. The disciples cheered at the top of their lungs, waving their hands and chanting his name like they were his zealous supporters.

In addition to Enlightened Master Tao Xuan-Fang's eight Blood Condensing Pellets, the top 32 disciples of the side hall competition would be rewarded with a Blood Condensing Pellet each!

Such a large number of rewards has never happened in the history of Zhen Ling Side Hall!

The heritage of a great sword divine ability and the natural pellets of the Blood Condensing Pellets, they were the best evidences that Lu Ping was worthy of his alias of Water Sword Immortal and the title of Master Alchemist!

…

"Ho, the brightest star has come. I wonder if this place is actually good enough for you?"

"Teacher, please don't make fun of me. The disciple has learned from his recklessness. I didn't think the sudden enlightenment would come at the time, and I don't want to miss it; who knew the natural pellets would dawn on me after that. I can't stop any of those two from happening!"

In Chong Hua Palace, Lu Ping was smiling awkwardly, with his head lowered, shoulders up, and body slightly bending forward.

Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling's sulking expression only lasted for a second, then she quickly returned to her normal calm face, just that her usual gentle smile wasn't quite there.

"What's the hurry, you are planning on something again?"

Lu Ping carefully looked at the teacher's expression, knowing that she wasn't really furious but just wanted to warn him of his recent high profile. Then, after hearing the question, he quickly smiled again and answered.

"I can never hide anything from teacher's wisdom. I've gained a lot during this period, but I need more time to organize and digest them. So, I'm thinking if it is okay that I stay in teacher's Chong Hua Palace for a closed-door cultivation? The spiritual energy concentration is higher here, my Wave Listening Palace is no match for teacher's Chong Hua Palace."

Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling smiled, she looked at him deeply, then said, "Cunning fox. You can run from them, but the Great Ancestors are not that easy to hide away from, let alone being calculated by you."

"Haha… that's exactly why I'm here looking for teacher's help!"

…

On the next day after Lu Ping displayed his alchemy on the side hall competition, Great Ancestor Tian-Jiang has already sent a disciple from the Pavilion of Smith to look for Lu Ping. However, the disciple has searched all around Tian Ling Mountain but couldn't find Lu Ping anywhere.

Left with no choice, he went to visit Lu Ping's friends, but no one knew where Lu Ping was. It was at this time, they realized that Lu Ping had gone missing again. Even Hu Lili only knew that Lu Ping had left the side hall after his session on the podium.

They have searched around for days but still couldn't find him, and they started to worry for him. Among them all, Hu Lili was the calmest on the surface but most panicked deep down in her heart.

The friends couldn't help but wonder if Lu Ping's high profile had attracted unwanted attention and had fallen in some evil schemes against him? Perhaps, the scheme would be by the monster race, but there was no guarantee that it wouldn't be from one of their own either.

However, given Lu Ping's exceptional prowess, it would take at least a Late Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master to be able to kill him quietly without making a scene.

Then, as they grew concern about Lu Ping's life, they went to request the sect and received confirmation that Lu Ping's soul lamp was still lit, meaning he was still alive at this time. In that case, he could be kidnapped or trapped somewhere. After all, an alive Master Alchemist was much more valuable than a dead Master Alchemist, more so when the natural pellets come into the equation.

After hearing about this from the friends, Second Senior Martial Sister Li Xuan-Ru almost instantly surmised that something didn't felt right about their concerns. Hence, she had went to the Chong Hua Palace to visit Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling, only to be told that the teacher was in a closed-door cultivation and wouldn't accept any visitors.

Immediately, she seemed to understand something. But after returning to her cave-dwelling, she still summoned her disciples and ordered them to accompany Hu Lili and the others to search for Lu Ping.

On the hill behind the Pavilion of Alchemy, an old man in his sixties with a walking stick miraculously appeared out of nowhere and was heading towards Great Ancestor Tian-Lu's alchemy room.

"Junior martial brother, you seem unperturbed. That is a top-grade cauldron, don't you want to see it? What if it's potential enough for the upgrade?"

"Even if it is potential, then what? Snatch it away from him?"

Great Ancestor Tian-Lu looked at the old man and answered helplessly.

"If it can be upgraded and is upgraded, then he won't dare to bring it around with him everywhere. Surely, it has to be kept well in the sect to stop the prying eyes. That way, you can naturally use the cauldron mystic treasure to concoct more and better pellets for the sect's overall prowess, right?"

"The kid found the cauldron himself which the sect had no part to do with. Don't you feel embarrassed to take it away from him like that, just quoting that it is for the greater good?"

Weekly Chapters (5/5)