Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-375-2-30041322

Yao Yong's opponent was a Fourth Layer Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master, which filled him with excitement.

Yao Yong had killed Enlightened Masters of the same cultivation layer and had even severely injured a Third Layer Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master before. However, he had never fought against someone in the Fourth Layer before. As a result, he was always seen as the fourth strongest third-generation Enlightened Master in the Zhen Ling Sect.

The strongest was naturally Lu Ping, who had killed a Fifth Layer Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master;

The second and third were Ji Xuan-Xuan and Yin Xuan-Chu. They had worked together to defeat Fourth Layer Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters on several occasions and had stood their ground against Ouyang Wei-Jian.

However, Yao Yong's strength was actually at the same level as the two of them. Due to his pride, he wasn't comfortable being seen as weaker than them. However, because they were all good friends, Yao Yong didn't want to affect their friendship by challenging them to a duel, so he always had a strong desire to prove himself through a battle with a Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master.

This was why he volunteered to be in the south, the second most dangerous location after Lu Ping’s area.

Sure enough, choosing this didn't disappoint him as the monster race had sent a Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master.

Yao Yong didn't wait for the monster Enlightened Master to attack, riding on his fire tiger mount with a halberd in his hand. Yao Yong let out a loud whistle and the fire tiger roared fiercely. They left a trail of blazing fire behind them as they rushed towards the monster Enlightened Master.

…

The monster Enlightened Master threaded through the stream of sword lights as he made his way to Lu Ping.

Just as he was halfway to reaching Lu Ping, he suddenly sensed something and rapidly retreated, but it was too late. The aegis energy on his left shoulder was cut open and a wound was created, while the silhouette of a flying sword mysteriously disappeared into thin air.

The Water Specter Sword had been upgraded to a mystic treasure with a piece of high-grade spirit material that Lu Ping exchanged from the sect.

After its upgrade, the Water Specter Sword was now stealthier and far more concealed. Its power was also far greater especially after Lu Ping fused the Shapeless Water into the [Shapeless Sword Art].

The monster Enlightened Master was now wary of the mysterious invisible sword. Once an opponent was on high alert, the Water Specter Sword's threat reduced greatly.

As a result, the fight turned into a stalemate again.

Suddenly, a loud whistle and tiger roar came from the south side. Lu Ping glanced furtively in that direction while the monster Enlightened Master seized his split second loss of focus and attacked with his flying blades.

Lu Ping swiftly returned his attention back to the fight, using the Golden Scale Sword to parry the flying blades. The monster Enlightened Master followed up with a spear attack, while Lu Ping summoned lightning, striking the spear down into the sea.

The monster Enlightened Master's expression turned gloomier, not having expected Lu Ping to have also cultivated a mini lightning divine ability!

Dang—

The monster Enlightened Master abruptly raised his blade up to the side and blocked the invisible sword's stealth attack.

At the same time, the sky above him darkened. He looked up and saw a huge cuboid falling down on him.

…

The moment Yao Yong clashed with the monster Enlightened Master, he finally had a clear understanding of the disparity in strength between Early Core Forging Realm and Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters.

Despite being backed up by a fire tiger mount, Yao Yong was only able to barely hold the monster Enlightened Master back. As time passed, he struggled to keep up with the fight and gradually fell into a disadvantageous position.

If it wasn't because of his fierce and explosive fire-elemental attacks that kept the monster Enlightened Master from coming too close, he would have already lost the fight by now.

Yao Yong finally calmed down from his excitement and reflected on his decision. His main priority was to stop the monsters from entering the island. This was their only chance to retake Huang Li Island, but he still had many opportunities in the future to prove himself.

Since Yao Yong was collecting his thoughts, he failed to see the mocking gaze in the monster Enlightened Master's eyes.

The monster Enlightened Master was holding back because he didn't want to be unnecessarily injured by Yao Yong's fierce attacks. Hence, unbeknownst to Yao Yong, the monster Enlightened Master had already set up a trap for Yao Yong.

After seeing Yao Yong change strategy and stop attacking him so fiercely, the monster Enlightened Master knew the time had arrived.

A huge water ball appeared from the sea under them and trapped Yao Yong inside. The oceanic environment was already disadvantageous to Yao Yong because he was a fire-element cultivator. Being trapped inside a water ball made it even worse.

Yao Yong swung his halberd and cut open the water ball with ease and the fire tiger leaped out. Whilst he was still puzzled as to why the water ball trap was so weak, he suddenly saw a barrage of ice cones raining down towards him.

This was clearly a mini divine ability!

The fire tiger under Yao Yong roared loudly and slowed down the ice cones. It shook Yao Yong down from its back, and shielded Yao Yong with its body.

"Kitty!"

Yao Yong let out a painful cry as the fire tiger took the full brunt of the mini divine ability. Huge wounds appeared on the fire tiger as it collapsed and fell towards the sea.

Yao Yong quickly rushed out and kept the fire tiger back in his spirit pet pouch. Then, a burst of blazing fire wrapped his whole body, melting the ice cones before they could reach him.

However, there was an endless barrage of ice cones. Yao Yong's blazing fire mini divine ability was unable to keep up because of the difference in cultivation base.

"Stupid!"

The monster Enlightened Master looked at Yao Yong wrapped in blazing fire and mocked him with great disdain.

The monster Enlightened Master felt that if the Zhen Ling Sect young Enlightened Master had decided to be careful from the beginning, instead of attacking all out and fighting fiercely, it wouldn't have been so easy to scheme against him, despite the cultivation difference between them.

However, because Yao Yong desperately wanted to fight a Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master, he was easily tricked and taken advantage of.

Seeing that he wasn’t going to last long under the ice cone mini divine ability, Yao Yong's heart was filled with guilt. Would their plan to retake Huang Li Island fail because of his temperament?

This self-blame and guilt overtook Yao Yong's mind, causing him to go to the extreme.

The dwindling blazing fire on Yao Yong suddenly burned brighter and stronger, as the heatwave melted all the ice cones and burst towards the monster Enlightened Master.

"How desperate."

The monster Enlightened Master naturally wasn’t going to fight Yao Yong head on whilst he was in this state. Yao Yong had obviously used a secret technique to stimulate his potential in exchange for greater power. However, this would damage his foundation and make him extremely feeble after the technique ended.

Hence, the monster Enlightened Master just had to wait it out and the victory would be his to claim with ease.

He casually side-stepped and dodged Yao Yong's fierce strike, when suddenly, a cold chill traveled down his spine and froze his heart.

He quickly cast up his aegis energy, summoned his defensive mystic treasure, and activated an escape skill.

A dark-black flying sword pierced through his aegis energy before his defensive mystic treasure could make it in time to block the attack, making a hole through his shoulder.

The escape skill kicked in and brought him a hundred feet away out of the ambusher's range, as he heaved a sigh of relief. Even though he was injured, the stealth attack had missed his heart.

The monster Enlightened Master looked back and saw an emotionless slender young man looking coldly at him whilst carrying a sword that was dripping with blood.

Yao Yong heaved a sigh of relief and canceled his secret technique. Although the secret technique only lasted a few moments, there was still some damage to his cultivation and he spat out a mouthful of blood. After that, he asked, "Why are you here? What if someone slipped through in your direction?"

Du Feng looked at him, and said coldly, "Zhong Jian, Ma Yu."

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