Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-394-30041322

Xuan-Shang's addition caused the battle to descend into chaos; he had no regard for either party, attacking anyone in his sight. Lu Ping became interested in an indiscriminate battle and gladly followed suit.

Xuan-You wasn’t pleased.

Even though Lu Ping had the lowest cultivation base, he was clearly stronger than Xuan-Xiang and Xuan-You added together.

Xuan-Shang was naturally not any weaker, otherwise he wouldn't have joined the fight.

Xuan-You was in the Sixth Layer Core Forging Realm, only one step away from the Late Core Forging Realm, so he was still able to hold his ground and fight back from time to time.

In stark comparison, Xuan-You was a sub-par Fourth Layer Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master who had only fused with a low-level wonder item; he couldn't even kill a First Layer Core Forging Realm monster when he had the element of surprise. Needless to say, his strength was not on the same level as the other three.

Hence, Xuan-You was only able to passively take hits, without even being able to fight back at all.

Lu Ping had just forced Xuan-Shang to back off after exchanging a few rounds, when he heard another whistle followed by a lightning strike directly above him. Then, another Enlightened Master joined the battle, and said, "An indiscriminate battle? Xuan-Lei is interested!"

Lu Ping ignored the lightning, only casting five light barriers in front of him. The lightning shattered three of the light barriers, but it was eventually stopped by the fourth. Meanwhile, Lu Ping raised his hand and released the Geng Gold Yin Lightning towards the new Enlightened Master, and laughed loudly, "Thank you senior brother for the lightning, let Xuan-Ping return the gift!"

These actions all took place while Lu Ping was still fighting Xuan-Shang, Xuan-Xiang, and Xuan-You with the Golden Scale Sword. After Xuan-Lei blocked the Geng Gold Yin Lightning, Lu Ping cast the [Stormy Waves Crashing Shore Sword Art] and included Xuan-Lei in the sea of sword lights.

In this indiscriminate battle between five Enlightened Masters, Lu Ping remained the dominant party.

However, this was just the beginning. A few moments later, a huge boat rammed towards the center of the battlefield.

A loud laughter sounded out from inside the boat, "Xuan-Zhou is here, make space or be rammed!"

Before Xuan-Zhou could make a scene, he was met with Lu Ping's sea of sword lights. The sword lights overturned the huge boat, and perforated its body. Xuan-Zhou exclaimed in shock and escaped from the boat before it sank.

He looked at the perforated boat and kept it away with a pained expression. Then, he shouted, "My boat! How dare you!"

After that, he released two metal puppets, one black, the other green, and controlled them to join the fight.

"I am Xuan-Xing, watch out for my [Fire Meteoroids]!"

Another middle-aged cultivator strode into the battle, swinging his hands downward. The sky turned fiery red and a rain of fire meteoroids hailed down on everyone from above.

A few seconds later, a patch of thunderous dark clouds loomed over the fiery clouds. Lu Ping waved the Golden Scale Sword around and pushed back Xuan-Zhou's copper puppet. Then, he made a hand sign, and commanded, "Fall!"

Krong—

A lightning bolt was released from the dark clouds and penetrated the fiery clouds. Afterwards, a heavy downpour that extinguished the fire clouds in just a few seconds.

This was the [Cloud Moving Rain Falling Art]; its prowess had been greatly improved following Lu Ping's cultivation advancement. In fact, all of Lu Ping's [North Ocean Twelve Ultimates] were now not any weaker than mini divine abilities.

At this time, there were already seven Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters involved in the sparring session. Despite this, Lu Ping was still able to secure the upper hand in the fight. Not only was he able to parry and defend all of their attacks, he was also able to fight back on equal terms.

On the other hand, the Enlightened Masters often found it difficult to actually do any damage to Lu Ping because of the five light barriers that kept him well-protected.

This was Lu Ping's mini aegis divine ability, the [Heavenly Curtain Aegis], after having absorbed abundant quantities of five peculiar waters. As a result, the [Heavenly Curtain Aegis] was almost as powerful as a spirit emerging defensive mystic treasure.

"Is this still a freaking mini aegis divine ability?"

Xuan-Lei's words caused the rest to nod quietly in agreement. Although it was an indiscriminate fight with no rules, the Enlightened Masters had no intention of hurting each other. Therefore, they had all been reserved and careful with their attacks. At the same time, they had also tacitly kept away their defensive mystic treasures, only fully relying on their combat strength.

As a result, Lu Ping's aegis energy gave him a huge advantage. Additionally, Lu Ping's attacks were also exceptionally powerful. Hence, the Enlightened Masters often had to work together, to defend against his attacks, and to penetrate his aegis energy.

As the situation continued to develop, more Enlightened Masters were drawn to the fight.

"Hahaha, Xuan-Chen is here!"

Xuan-Shang heard those words, and shouted, "Junior uncle, the young ones are sparring, what's an old fogey like you doing here!?"

Xuan-Chen glared at Xuan-Shang, and shouted at him back, "Brat, quit the nonsense and get back to the fight!"

Suddenly, a Kui Water Yin Lightning quietly struck towards Xuan-Chen, causing him to scold again, "Which brat is sneakily attacking me!"

Then, a sandstorm appeared across the battlefield. Although the Enlightened Masters were still able to see things clearly, their movements were obstructed and slowed down.

But quickly, a river of water gushed in and cleared an open path through the sandstorm, making Xuan-Chen scold again, "Which brat broke my spell?"

"Junior Uncle Xuan-Chen, your temper is still the same!"

Lu Ping looked over and saw that it was Xuan-Sheng, Great Ancestor Jiang Tian-Lin's disciple.

Each time a new Enlightened Master joined the fight, Lu Ping would be the first to welcome them with an attack. However, Lu Ping had always held a good impression of Xuan-Sheng, considering him as a direct senior martial brother, so he didn’t attack him.

As the number of Enlightened Masters gradually increased from two to eighteen, Lu Ping could no longer remain dominant, and grew increasingly cautious.

Lu Ping also noticed that despite the eighteen of them randomly lashing out attacks all over the place, the surroundings didn't seem to be affected at all. This made him quietly probe his divine revelation away from the battlefield, until it bumped into an invisible barrier.

Lu Ping realized that at some point in time, they had all been isolated from their surroundings.

This was definitely the work of a Great Ancestor. After all, the battle involved 18 Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters, so it would definitely be the center of attraction.

In fact, there were already Late Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters that had been observing the events with their divine revelation. Guo Xuan-Shan was one of them.

As one of the leading figures of the sect, and the person in charge of the sect's daily affairs, Guo Xuan-Shan was the first to be alarmed by the battle. However, after arriving at the scene and seeing the battle for himself, he left quietly without saying anything.

To say that he was able to stop the fight would be a joke. Even though he was only one step away from the Avatar Realm, and was largely considered a reserve Great Ancestor, he still had no confidence in stopping eighteen Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters on his own.

In the worst-case, not only would he be unable to stop them, they might even work together and injure him instead. At that time, it would be a real joke.

The eighteen Enlightened Masters had a range of strengths, and could generally be distinguished by their positions. The stronger ones stayed closer to the center of the battlefield, where they were exposed to attacks from multiple directions and forced to fight back accordingly.

However, because they were continuously exposed to multiple attacks from all sides, their consumption of energy, as well as the pressure on them, was enormous. As a result, they would eventually rotate out of the center to rest and recover. Naturally, the stronger cultivators would be able to last longer in the center, all except for one.

Since the battle had started, Lu Ping had never moved away from the center of the battlefield, staying in the same position. Even though he started to lose dominance over the battle after the eighth Enlightened Master joined the fight, he remained an unmoving boulder in tumultuous waters.

Inevitably, his strength also attracted a lot of interest, as many Enlightened Masters tacitly worked together to attack Lu Ping. They tried to push him away from the center, but all of their attempts had so far failed.

As time passed, the Enlightened Masters started to view Lu Ping differently, giving him the due respect for his strength.

One thing was for certain, this battle was destined to be talked about by the disciples of the Zhen Ling Sect and passed down to future generations.

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