Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-371-30041322

After leaving Qu Xuan-Cheng's place, Lu Ping didn't go straight to meet up with his friends but left the island instead. He arrived at a remote location and sat down on some coral.

A few moments later, a wave pounced up from the calm sea and three cute little children moved across the waves towards Lu Ping.

After that, Lu Ping returned back to Xuan Qi Island.

On Xuan Qi Island, in Chen Lian's cave-dwelling.

Yao Yong, Du Feng, Shi Lingling, Ji Xuan-Xuan, Yin Xuan-Chu, Zhong Jian, Ma Yu, Zhang Zicheng, Zheng Jie, Hu Lili, and Lu Ping all gathered together. Amongst the twelve friends, only Zheng Jie and Zhang Zicheng were in the Peak Blood Condensation Realm.

Besides the group of friends, Hu Lili also brought a few junior martial sisters who practiced under the same teacher as her. She had invited them to help set up the array formation for the upcoming plan.

When Lu Ping reunited with the friends, the impatient Yao Yong said straight away, "Junior Brother Lu, have you heard? Ouyang Wei-Jian, that bastard, has broken through to the Mid Core Forging Realm!"

Lu Ping was surprised, but he didn't take it seriously, and replied casually, "Is that so? That’s some progress."

Yao Yong couldn't comprehend Lu Ping's unconcerned response, so he quickly added, "Aren't you nervous? He’s already overtaken your position in the North Ocean Prodigies."

Lu Ping smiled and waved his hand, "Now that his cultivation base is higher than mine, it's only natural that he surpasses me."

Shi Lingling looked at Yao Yong helplessly. She sighed and then helped him elucidate his point, "Ouyang Wei-Jian's breakthrough helped him master a great sword divine ability, which he recently used to kill a monster Enlightened Master. It was also rumored that he used a low-grade Earth-class wonder wind that was specially prepared for him by the Xuan Ling Sect for his cultivation stage breakthrough."

Lu Ping turned slightly serious, "It looks like he really is our biggest enemy. It’s only been three years since teacher's Avatar Forum and he’s already reached the Mid Core Forging Realm. Given his status in the Xuan Ling Sect, he should be in closed-door cultivation to consolidate his breakthrough. Yet, he left the sect and became famous. It seems like Xuan Ling Sect is really trying to spread his name and make him the most prominent talent in the North Ocean, overshadowing the rest of us."

Chen Lian smiled, "Perhaps we’re overthinking. It could just be out of Ouyang Wei-Jian's own personal will. After all, it doesn't feel like Ouyang Wei-Jian is doing it to compete with others, just you."

Before Lu Ping could say anything, Zhong Jian and Ma Yu quickly concurred, "That's right. Ouyang Wei-Jian had never been defeated by anyone in the same generation apart from you. He must be looking to retaliate which is why he chose to use a great sword divine ability to kill that monster Enlightened Master. He’s challenging you in another round of sword fighting."

Lu Ping was about to say something, but he suddenly turned to look in the direction of the teleportation formation. A few moments later, Chen Lian and the others noticed his reaction, and asked, "Is this part of the Great Ancestor's plan?"

Lu Ping was puzzled and shook his head, "Teacher knows about the plan, but she never told me she would be sending little junior sister here."

At this time, a clear and crisp voice sounded outside of Chen Lian's cave-dwelling, "Ninth Senior Brother, Ninth Senior Brother!"

Lu Ping walked out of the cave-dwelling to welcome Jiang Xuan-Xuan, who was holding hands with her best buddy, Lu Qin.

Lu Ping saw her, and asked curiously, "Little junior sister, why are you here? Does teacher know about this?"

Jiang Xuan-Xuan smiled proudly, "Father and mother both know. In fact, it was my father who helped me to convince mother!"

After hearing this, the group’s faces all lit up. Lu Ping's plan naturally couldn't be hidden from the sect's higher-ups. The two Great Ancestors were showing their support by allowing their daughter to be involved in the operation.

But at the same time, this added additional pressure, as they now also had to look after Jiang Xuan-Xuan's safety.

"There’s a Mid Core Forging Realm monster Enlightened Master on Huang Li Island, with six other monster Enlightened Masters nearby that can arrive quickly. The only Late Core Forging Realm monster, Enlightened Master Mo Wei, will be held off by Senior Uncle Qu.”

"With our combined strength, taking down the island won’t be difficult. However, Senior Sister Hu Lili has to get the island's protective array formation up as soon as possible to secure the island. The longer we take to do this, more monster reinforcements will arrive. Even though the sect will dispatch sufficient people, they also won’t hesitate to give up the island and ask us to retreat if we fail to take back the island.

"Senior Brother Lu, where did you get your information from? Is it truly reliable? Senior Uncle Qu has been around for many years, but even he doesn't know as much as you do."

Ji Xuan-Xuan briefed the group about the situation and his analysis, before asking the question that everyone had been wondering.

Lu Ping smiled, "I have a few spirit pets. They have been undercover in the monster race for the past three years. That's how I got this information."

The group finally realized that this wasn't a random plan Lu Ping had come up all of a sudden. He had clearly planned this years ago, making the group feel amazed by his calculations.

Ji Xuan-Xuan, who was a master in puppetry, frowned a little, and asked in surprise, "You didn't plant your divine revelation branding on your pets? How brave, aren't you afraid at all?"

Ji Xuan-Xuan obviously didn't trust any monsters, but he worded his concerns nicely. He didn't want Lu Ping to feel uncomfortable, whilst he also didn't want to offend Lu Qin.

Lu Qin was smart and immediately understood Ji Xuan-Xuan's meaning. She sneered coldly, raising her brows and glaring at him sternly, while Ji Xuan-Xuan smiled back at her awkwardly.

Lu Ping naturally knew that Ji Xuan-Xuan meant to do no harm and was only concerned, so he smiled, and said, "I raised them. I know them and trust them."

…

Huang Li Island was the frontmost base for the monster race. Many monster cultivators were situated on the island, with Enlightened Master Yu Hua in charge of the island as the strongest cultivator.

For the past few years, the monster race had focused on the southern sea region, hitting this region the hardest and consequently reaping the most benefits. This forced the sects in the southern region to fight back violently, forcing the monster race to invest more in the region.

As a result, the northern region sects like the Zhen Ling Sect, were able to take this opportunity to quietly grow stronger and hone their disciples in less intensive battles than the southern region.

During this time, Enlightened Master Mo Wei began to recognize the hidden threat from the Zhen Ling Sect, so he had been trying to get the monster race to shift their attention to here. Eventually, he was able to convince the monster race to try to foil Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling's Avatar Forum.

Even though the plan failed, impacting his reputation in the monster race, he still successfully made the monster race see the threat. The monster race started to focus more on Zhen Ling Sect, but Enlightened Master Mo Wei wasn't appointed as the commander of the northern region as he had wanted.

Enlightened Master Yu Hua, who hadn’t wanted to get involved in the war at all, had to do his part and contribute to the monster race. Hence, he specially requested to be in charge of Huang Li Island in the northern region where the war was the least intense.

However, Enlightened Master Mo Wei's plan ruined Enlightened Master Yu Hua's plan to stay out of the war. As someone who had exchanged a few bouts with the Zhen Ling Sect, Enlightened Master Yu Hua knew very well that Zhen Ling Sect's overall prowess wasn’t any weaker than Xuan Ling Sect's. At the very least, the Zhen Ling Sect's Enlightened Masters were equally strong and powerful.

On this day, Enlightened Master Yu Hua just finished patrolling Huang Li Island and returned to his cave-dwelling, when suddenly, something didn't feel quite right. So, he covered every inch of the island with his divine revelation, but he sensed nothing.

A ripple of spiritual energy suddenly appeared a dozen feet behind him, shocking him greatly. How could someone get so close to him without him noticing!? Not to mention the island was full of monsters, it was impossible to sneak in without getting noticed!

Enlightened Master Yu Hua instinctively cast an ice wall behind him, stepped to the side, and then while turning around, cast a yellow cloth in front of him.

Just as he was about to let out a long sigh of relief after raising his defenses in time, he was shocked to his core once again after seeing a bright golden light flashing in his eyes.

Weekly Chapters (4/5)

RD: 5th chapter is not ready yet, but it should come soon.