Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-430

With Zeng Wu’s companions sent away, everyone immediately focused on the items lying on the ground. Lu Ping did not hesitate and took the initiative to browse through them. Qiao Wei-Jie and the others wore awful expressions, but they decided to remain quiet. After a short exchange between everyone in the room, they agreed that Lu Ping was the strongest among them. As a result, they allowed Lu Ping to browse the items first.

When he was done, Lu Ping returned with three items in his hands, one of which was a black stone. Yang San-Yang's eyes twitched when he noticed this, because he also wanted the stone.

Returning to his seat, Lu Ping tossed a jade bottle to Zeng Wu as he said, “The pellets inside are no longer useful to me, but they will be quite beneficial to your cultivation.”

Zeng Wu had now been freed from Lu Ping’s immobilization, regaining control over his body. Zeng Wu remained standing at the side, fearing for his life but not daring to show even the slightest emotion on his face.

Qiao Wei-Jie’s turn was next, selecting two items from the stack. Following this, Shui Xiu, Qian Shu, and Han Fei each selected items. The remaining items lying on the ground were all ordinary. Yang San-Yang recklessly hurled them all into his pouch as they were insignificant to him.

While they were browning through the items, Lu Ping merely stood to the side and watched. Among the three items he picked was a bottle of pellets he had specifically picked out for Zeng Wu. The second item was a jet-black rock known as a Magma Crystal. It was a type of fire-elemental peculiar item. Unlike other fire-elemental peculiar items that took the form of a fire, Magma crystals were stones that could temporarily buff the tier of many different types of flames.

Lu Ping knew of similar methods, such as fueling the fire with wood-elemental spirit materials or using the Spirit Explosion Technique. However, those methods could only temporarily strengthen the flames’ strength and couldn’t boost the flames’ tier like the Magma Crystal could. Using a Magma Crystal, a flames’ tier would be boosted to the next level so long as the crystal could still burn.

Although the spirit stones’ explosion could also boost the Spirit Fueled Mystical Heavenly Fire’s tier, this was done using the flame’s unique attribute, making it the only flame that could be boosted with spirit stones instead of a Magma Crystal.

Lu Ping toyed with the Magma Crystal in his hand with slight hesitation. If he kept the Magma Crystal in the gourd, he could boost the peculiar fire’s tier in his collection, but that would not increase the amount of peculiar fire he owned. He would still only have one, regardless.

After some consideration, Lu Ping decided to stow the Magma Crystal away and not keep it within the gourd.

The last item of the three was a second-tier spiritual herb. Lu Ping planned to use it to increase the Golden Scale Sword’s power. After advancing into a Spirit Emerging Mystic Treasure, ordinary materials were no longer effective at strengthening the Golden Scale Sword. If he wanted to engrave a fifth or even sixth Mystical Inscription on the sword, he would first have to improve the sword's quality.

This was also why Lu Ping selected the Jade Water in Tian-Xue’s collection. To his surprise, Lu Ping had found an Emerald Jade among the items Zeng Wu and his companions retrieved. The Emerald Jade was a second-tier spiritual material that could improve the Golden Scale Sword’s level.

With the two spiritual materials in his possession, Lu Ping was now confident he could strengthen the Golden Scale Sword to the level where it could support the engraving of a fourth Mystical Inscription. Further Mystical Inscriptions would be a little tricky, but the answer would only be known after Lu Ping asked around. After all, his knowledge of smithing was limited compared to his alchemy skills.

After Yang San-Yang was done, Shui Xiu smiled and said, “All right, shall we head to the cave where they found these items before something else happens?”

Knowing that an accident could happen, the cultivators hurriedly left the tavern and headed straight to the cave.

High within the skies of the region, a bird screech sounded out as a shadow appeared on the ocean’s surface. The shadow enlarged at tremendous speeds as an enormous Luan descended from the sky, appearing almighty and vigorous with its fiery red and emerald green feathers.

After reaching the region, the Luan circled in the air trying to locate something, before two figures slowly got off its back.

“This is the place?” Lu Ping extended his divine revelation to the bottom of the ocean and scanned around before turning to Zeng Wu behind him.

Zeng Wu lowered his head and politely replied, “Yes. We were hunting a beast and stumbled on the cave at the bottom of the ocean here.”

Lu Ping nodded and took no action while the gigantic Luan suddenly screeched again. Its size shrunk in an instant. The massive Luan turned into a beautiful little bird, rested on Lu Ping’s shoulders, and started singing. Its clear chirps echoed far in the ocean and acted like a radio signal, causing the other beasts in the region to scatter.

Moments later, a few cosmic stars approached Lu Ping’s direction. When the stars landed, Shui Xiu, Qiao Wei-Jie, and the others emerged. They secretly glanced at the bird resting on Lu Ping’s shoulders in shock. At the same time, their wariness toward Lu Ping intensified.

“What a terrific speed! That’s something we can’t pull off!” Shui Xiu smiled.

Lu Ping merely returned her smile and kept quiet. Then, he pointed his finger at the ocean, and said, “The cave should be right at the bottom of the ocean. Shall we begin?”

As soon as Lu Ping’s words rolled off his tongue, he and Zeng Wu disintegrated into the water and blended into the ocean, leaving no traces behind.

The group exchanged a glance and hurriedly followed after Lu Ping. Unwilling to be left behind, they quickly cast their techniques. Shui Xiu exploded in a blink of an eye, turning into a mist of water that started descending into the ocean. Qiao Wei-Jie grinned coldly as he watched the three cultivators leaving the scene. A loud explosion occurred, and when the dust settled, he was nowhere in sight.

Han Fei, Qian-Shu, and Yang San-Yang followed right after.

Deep in the ocean there was an undersea mountain range. After traveling into the mountain range, they arrived at the entrance to the cave, which was located in a very secretive area. After entering the cave, they realized that there was an energy barrier blocking the water from flooding it.

Shui Xiu and the others headed straight into the cave. Seconds later, they realized that the cave was a massive hall that took up almost the whole space within the mountain’s interior.