Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-441

“Swelling Earth?”

Lu Ping was stunned by Luan Yu’s answer and exclaimed, “The Swelling Earth?”

Luan Yu nodded and smiled. “That’s right. It is a magical substance that can tremendously boost the growth of all plants. It’s also one of the peculiar items in the cultivation world that are superior to wonder items.”

Unlike other peculiar items used to enhance minor divine abilities, Swelling Earth’s unique ability made it more valuable.

Lu Ping was in disbelief. He pointed at the rock on the ground, and asked, “You’re telling me that there’s Swelling Earth hidden within this piece of rock?”

Luan Yu chuckled. “I’m not as capable as you, but my race’s expertise and knowledge of growing plants are unrivaled. We possess knowledge passed down by our ancestors which helped me to identify the Swelling Earth.”

Lu Ping nodded. He knew that Luan Yu’s race were experts in this field.

He directed his vision to the rock, and said, “So, is the Swelling Earth hidden within the rock or is it mixed with the rock?”

If it were the latter, they would have no choice but to break the stone apart to extract the Swelling Earth. But if it was merely hidden within the rock, they only had to cut it apart and could avoid damaging its potential. The rock was a wonder item that could aid Da Bao’s cultivation.

Luan Yu smiled. “Don’t worry. Your gains are fruitful and have made Great Ancestor Tian-Hu’s pellet worth it.”

Luan Yu carefully sliced the black rock into half, revealing a hollow interior housing a fist-sized brown ball. This was the famous Swelling Earth.

Aside from Swelling Earth, there was an earth-elemental wonder item called the Swelling Mud. Unlike Swelling Earth, Swelling Mud could provide endless spiritual energy. The legends said that a piece of mud separated from some Swelling Mud could be turned into a complete piece of Swelling Mud with proper care. However, the spiritual energy needed was incredible.

The Swelling Mud was a wonder item belonging to the mid-Heaven-Class. It was even more valuable than the Mystical Heavy Water Lu Ping had infused with. However, Swelling Mud was as rare as Swelling Earth and was incredibly hard to come across.

Luan Yu put the Swelling Earth closer to his nose, and after sniffing it, he hurled it to Lu Ping and said, “Not bad. It’s enough to hold your precious spiritual herbs, including the 3,000-year-old herbs.”

After seeing Luan Yu recklessly handling the piece of Swelling Earth, Lu Ping carefully took it and shouted, “Hey! Watch out! That’s Swelling Earth! Every single part of it is incredibly precious! How can you be so reckless?”

Luan Yu was stunned, “I thought you wouldn’t be so surprised after experiencing so many things outside.”

Lu Ping couldn’t be bothered. In his mind, he was already planning how to utilize the Swelling Earth to the fullest.

Luan Yu continued, “Actually, I may need a favor from you.”

“What do you need from me?” Lu Ping was caught off guard by the abrupt request. He sat up straight and looked at Luan Yu with a serious expression.

“I’m close to my mid-Core Forging Realm advancement, but my identity puts me in a sensitive position. A disaster will occur if I run into a cultivator stronger than me. Because of this, I would like to ask a favor from you to help me find a compatible wonder item.”

Lu Ping caught a glimpse of the greenery at the bottom of the lone mountain and was struck with a realization. “You saw the Psychic Wood near the Spirit Peach Tree?” Luan Yu went straight to the point. “Yes. The Psychic Wood is one of the best wonder items for Monster cultivators. I’ve already communicated with the Spirit Peach Tree. It told me the wood is no longer as effective as it used to be, but I figured I still needed your permission.”

“The wood is a lower Earth-Class wonder item and is extremely rich. I wanted to give it to Hu Li-Li for her advancement into the Core Forging Realm. The wood is best suited for Monster cultivators and doesn’t suit Hu Lili as much. However, it is still stronger than the Mystic-Class wonder item Hu Lili prepared for herself.” Lu Ping thought.

Hu Lili was an expert in formations and had a slower cultivation speed. Even with the pellets Lu Ping prepared for her, Hu Lili would still need decades of cultivation and accumulation to advance. Lu Ping could always find a better wonder item for her during that time. At the very least, the Magnificent Wave Water in his possession could be exchanged for a better item.

Although Luan Yu had lived in the Golden House for years, Lu Ping had used him as a free alchemist. Luan Yu was a master alchemist, which freed Lu Ping from the tasks given to him by the sect and allowed Lu Ping to spend more time cultivating. Furthermore, the lands had all been developed by Luan Yu alone. This was a tremendous help to Lu Ping.

“Fine.” Lu Ping made up his mind, “Take it. It’s yours now.”

Luan Yu was extremely happy and headed to the Spirit Peach Tree with Lu Ping. Right as Lu Ping was about to remove the Psychic Wood from the tree, the Spirit Peach Tree started shaking vigorously as if it was unwilling to accept the wood from being removed. Luan Yu could communicate with plants and was confused by the tree’s reaction. He frowned, and asked, “Little one, didn’t we agree on this? Why are you going back on your words?”

The tree could not speak. Instead, it used its divine revelation to voice its frustration.

Lu Ping thought for a moment and said, “Little tree, I’ve been collecting cultivation techniques for you all these years, but you should know that there aren’t many cultivation techniques suitable for Spirit Monsters. I can’t let anyone know about your existence, or we’ll all be in big trouble. I can’t find any techniques for you to cultivate, but I did find something else.”

Lu Ping placed the Swelling Earth in front of the tree, allowing it to sense it with its divine revelation. A moment later, the tree exuded happiness, showing a great desire for the item.

Lu Ping chuckled and peeled a small part of the Swelling Earth, smashing it into pieces. He then spread the dust around the tree’s root. The tree started moving its roots, turning the soil around and burying the dust. Immediately, the color of the tree’s flowers turned brighter.

In the end, Luan Yu’s wish was fulfilled. He kept the Psychic Wood away while Lu Ping poured more pieces of the Swelling Earth into the White Lotus Pool.

When Lu Ping acquired the White Lotus King from the Land of Hundred Flowers, he combined it with the Nascent Primordial Stars and turned them into his Origin Mystic Tool. Lu Ping then picked three of the nine lotus seeds and placed them into a pool of the remaining Kui Water Essence.

After all these years, the small pool of Kui Water Essence had been consumed, but the seeds had started growing into three lotuses.

Lu Ping couldn’t help. After all, the Kui Water Essence was not the same as the high-quality Kui Water Essence from the Land of Hundred Flowers. If he wanted these three lotuses to continue growing, he would have to acquire more Kui Water Essence.

Lu Ping put another batch of Swelling Earth around the Golden Nut Tree, whose Golden Nuts were starting to ripen. The ripe Golden Nuts had all been used to concoct Golden Nut Pellets. After consuming them all, Lu Ping’s body was as powerful as a low-level equipment.

About a quarter of the Swelling Earth was carefully placed into a jade box in case he needed it in the future.

The remaining Swelling Earth was used in the various spiritual gardens in the Golden House, including the newly developed ones and the garden built by Zhong Xuan.

Time slowly passed. Half a year later, Lu Ping could be seen sitting in the palace’s training chamber at the lone mountain’s peak. Beside him was the By-Lake Cauldron containing Magnificent Wave Water. A moment later, an attractive-looking pellet gradually floated into the air and flew out of the cauldron before being kept in a jade box, where two same-looking pellets lay quietly in the box. These pellets were Bone Fortification Pellets.

The concoction of three Bone Fortification Pellets consumed five spirit peaches from the Spirit Peach Tree, leaving only eight left. The little tree kept complaining and whining about Lu Ping picking its fruits from it, shivering and shaking its body, causing Lu Ping to feel bad.

On the bright side, after using dozens of precious 3,000-year-old spiritual herbs and countless hundred-year-old spiritual herbs, Lu Ping managed to concoct three Bone Fortification Pellets. With these pellets, Lu Ping could finally push his raw physical strength to the next level.