Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-425

After all, this was the Core Forging Pellet, capable of raising a Golden Core’s grade!

Then there was the mysterious Splendiferous Jade Dew which was only recognized by the Law Avatar Realm grandmaster alchemists.

Whilst the Splendiferous Jade Dew was alien to Lu Ping, the Core Forging Pellet was no stranger to him. Today, Lu Ping learned that the Splendiferous Jade Dew was crucial to concoct the Core Forging Pellet.

Although Dao-Li’s words made sense, he was not correct. Lu Ping had found the Core Forging Pellets in a jade bottle he discovered in an underground cavern on Fei Ling Island. Jiang Tian-Lin and Liu Tian-Ling had entered the Law Avatar Realm by consuming the pellets, and Lu Ping reckoned that this was the same for Qu Xuan-Cheng and the others.

However, Lu Ping was not convinced that the Zhen Ling Sect could produce Core Forging Pellets. He was one of the five master alchemists of the sect. Despite not visiting the Pavilion of Alchemy often, he was well aware of the sect’s alchemy standards. Lu Ping knew that if the sect managed to get their hands on the recipe, as a master alchemist, he would be notified about it. Additionally, Xuan-Jing had been researching the Core Forging Pellet for decades after receiving one from Liu Tian-Ling and hadn’t made any breakthroughs.

Tian-Hu calmly waited for Dao-Li to finish his words and stood up steadily, “Dao-Li, have you heard of the Splendiferous Jade Bottle?”

Dao-Li was stunned and said nothing.

Tian-Hu gradually continued, “It is a powerful item. Do you think the pellets would lose their power if kept within such a jade bottle?”

“Indeed. The Splendiferous Jade Bottle can ensure the pellets’ efficacy, but that still begs the question of where the Zhen Ling Sect got the bottle from?” The elder from the Water Mist Sect asked.

Tian-Hu revealed a jade bottle, which Lu Ping recognized in an instant. It was the same jade bottle he had found on Fei Ling Island. He hadn’t thought that the bottle itself was a powerful item.

Lu Ping couldn’t help but criticize the sect silently. He felt the sect was not rewarding him enough, considering the value of the items he had brought back. However, he soon discarded this train of thought because he was nothing more than just a puny Blood Condensation Realm cultivator back then. Even if he was rewarded with something precious, he did not have the strength to protect it. He wouldn’t have felt so insecure for so many years after obtaining the mystic-class Soul Nurturing Wood had he been strong enough to protect it.

Tian-Hu hurled the Splendiferous Jade Bottle to the Law Avatar Realm cultivator from the Water Mist Sect. The elder’s eyes lit up, and he murmured, “Oh my. It’s real. It has been years since this item last appeared in our region.”

The elder removed the lid and started sniffing it, closing his eyes and indulging himself in the scent coming from the jade bottle. A second later, he said, “I once read about the pellets in an ancient tome that could be traced back to ancient times. This bottle once contained Core Forging Pellets!”

The bottle was then passed to another grandmaster alchemist, and after every grandmaster alchemist examined it, it was delivered back to Tian-Hu. The master alchemists could only watch on enviously, for they were not qualified to even lay a finger on the precious item.

After keeping the bottle away, Tian-Hu laughed mockingly at himself and added, “This bottle was discovered on Fei Ling Island, but the recipe was nowhere to be found. Regarding the Splendiferous Jade Dew, we aren’t lucky enough to stumble upon it.”

“The Core Forging Pellet is a top-tier spirit pellet even in the Fei Ling Sect. They probably couldn’t even concoct many of them, even with all the resources and power of their sect. These pellets were all under the care of their sect’s Great Ancestors back then. The jade bottle can clearly hold at least five of these pellets.” Wei Xu-Ren chimed in, seemingly recovering from his previous state.

Tian-Hu glanced at him, and replied, “Who knows? It may be in Jiao Yu-Qiang’s possession.”

This was the third time Lu Ping had heard someone mentioning Jiao Yu-Qiang.

“Impossible!” Wei Xu-Ren shouted. “Jiao Yu-Qiang was hunted down by several Law Avatar Realm cultivators. It’s impossible!”

“Hunted down?” Tian-Hu scoffed. “That's true. But is he dead? No one knows.”

An angry Wei Xu-Ren wanted to say something, but he was stopped by Dao-Li, who said, “Correct. One of our sect’s Great Ancestors took part in that hunt. Jiao Yu-Qiang managed to flee to Fei Ling Mountain, but not before many cultivators seriously injured him. There’s no way he could survive those injuries. But, when the array of the island was activated, given that the island was about to sink deep into the ocean, no one made an effort to locate his body.”

“The Splendiferous Jade Bottle… There were actually a couple of them back then, and they were all made by Jiao Yu-Qiang.”

When Tian-Hu and Dao-Li talked about what happened, especially when mentioning Jiao Yu-Qiang, their tone was slightly mocking. For some reason, the many grandmaster alchemists nodded in sync.

A moment later, the grandmaster alchemist from the Oceania Blaze Sect said, “Brother Dao-Li, does the Xuan Ling Sect have the recipe? I assume it’s also from the island?”

“No. It was a gift from the people of the East Ocean. They stumbled upon Zhong-Xuan’s cave years ago, but the recipe isn’t complete. It only has the list of necessary ingredients and a couple of things that should be paid attention to while concocting the pellet. It does not have any details on how to concoct the pellets.”

Lu Ping noticed no emotional fluctuations from the many grandmaster alchemists regarding Dao-Li’s revelation; it seemed like they had already received news about it, and Dao-Li was obviously not trying to keep it a secret.

“Brother Dao-Li, do you think the people of the East Ocean are up to no good when they gave you the incomplete recipe?”

Dao-Li shook his head, “The recipe is real. I’m sure of it.”

“Then do you know their purpose here?”

Dao-Li nodded, “The monsters overseas have formed an alliance, generating a lot of uneasiness amongst the cultivators in their region. The human cultivators are now trying to gather as many allies as they can to fight against the monsters. The visitors from the East Ocean are led by a Law Avatar Realm cultivator from the Crystal Palace and ten Core Forging Realm cultivators. The Xuan Ling Sect is only their first stop. They will visit the rest of the sects in the North Ocean later.”

After the explosive conversation between Tian-Hu and Dao-Li, the event was no longer as exciting. The grandmaster alchemists traded some items with one another and left in a hurry as if something was troubling them. With that, the conference ended, but a few cultivators from other sects privately met up with Tian-Hu. When their meeting was over, Lu Ping could tell that Tian-Hu had taken advantage of the cultivators desperately needing the Wonder Water Spirit Nurturing Pellet from his expression.

After returning to the Frozen Mist Palace, Lu Ping caught a glimpse of Tian-Xue’s dark expression. She had learned what happened in the North Ocean Palace.

Tian-Hu sighed, “I failed and almost got cornered by that old dog. I was left with no choice but to reveal the jade bottle.”

Tian-Xue scorned, “The sects out there aren’t idiots. We all know that the Core Forging Pellet recipe was not written down. The core members of the Fei Ling Sect passed down the recipe by word of mouth.”

Tian-Hu nodded. “You’re saying Zhong-Xuan passed down the incomplete recipe?”

“Correct. He fled to the East Ocean in hopes of reclaiming the glory of his sect, so there’s no way he will forget the Core Forging Pellet. But because he’s a grandmaster smith and not a grandmaster alchemist, the Fei Ling Sect definitely wouldn’t have told him anything about the pellet. However, with his position, it wouldn’t have been hard for him to learn something about the Core Forging Pellet’s concoction. But-” Tian-Xue paused abruptly before her expression turned ice cold, “We must not give up on gathering Longevity Pill recipes. The Xuan Ling Sect is no longer an option. They are willing to sacrifice their disciples just to stop us from saving Tian-Kang. Our only chance now lies with the visitors from the East Ocean. They’ve visited the Xuan Ling Sect, so they will come for us later. That’s when we’ll try our luck, especially on the cultivators from Crystal Palace. They once possessed a ten-year Longevity Pill long ago, but that’s beyond our level. Our target right now is the five-year Longevity Pill. There’s not much time left for Tian-Kang.”

Tian-Hu nodded in agreement while Tian-Xue shifted her attention to Lu Ping. A hint of praise flickered across her eyes as she said, “You didn’t manage to get the Longevity Pill recipe, but you humiliated a grandmaster alchemist from the Xuan Ling Sect. That’s very good. Wei Xu-Rem is an idiot, but being able to humiliate him publicly is quite pleasant. I’m a woman of my word. Here, pick one.”

Tian-Xue waved her hand and opened up a teleportation formation in front of her similar to how Jiang Tian-Lin pulled Lu Ping to his side from theLiberal Palace.

“Junior grand aunt,” Lu Ping replied awkwardly. “I actually have the five-year Longevity Pill recipe with me!”