Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-444

All wonder items had one purpose – to be infused into the Golden Core. However, some wonder items like the Swelling Earth, had another unique function, making them very valuable.

The Splendiferous Jade Dew was a unique wonder item. It was only a liquid in the mid-Heaven-Class grade, but it was very valuable because of how compatible it was with other materials used to concoct pellets.

Splendiferous Jade Dew was required in the concoction of some Longevity Pellets. It was also an essential material for Core Forging Pellets which were used to increase a Golden Core’s quality.

Lu Ping sat in the training chamber located on Huang Li Island and studied the incomplete recipe of the Core Forging Pellet in his hands. The recipe was personally delivered by Tian-Hu when he went to the Pavillion of Alchemy to claim his share of the spirit herbs.

“Hmmm… This is the recipe that the Xuan Ling Sect bragged about during the conference. I didn’t think it would fall into our hands. It’s a shame that it’s only a part of the full recipe. It's missing the method to make the pellet,” Lu Ping thought.

With a flip of his palm, a jade scroll appeared in his hand. The scroll had been acquired from Qing Jian’s residence and detailed the recipe for the Little Core Forging Pellet. The pellet could increase the Golden Core’s grade as Qing Jian had invented it based on the Core Forging Pellet.

Lu Ping figured that Qing Jian was at least somewhat knowledgeable about the Core Forging Pellet because he created an imitation of it. Hence, he put the two recipes side by side in an attempt to learn more about the concoction method of the Core Forging Pellet, which was still a mystery to him.

To his disappointment, Lu Ping found no clues. The only knowledge he gained was some improvement in his alchemy skills. As a result, he gave up and walked out of the training chamber.

By the time he exited from the training chamber, five years had passed. With sufficient resources and hard work, Lu Ping was at the peak of his current level and only a step away from reaching the next.

Huang Li Island’s size increased tremendously after the expansion. The four islands had been fully merged, making Huang Li Island far more prosperous than every minor island under the Zhen Ling Sect, despite not being big enough to be titled as a minor island. The spirit veins on the island turned the island into a land of opportunity and wealth in the eyes of the Zhen Ling Sect cultivators.

There were now fifty-eight spirit-gathering lands on the island and plenty of developed land to raise crops. From the spirit veins to the other resources, Huang Li Island’s wealth was catching up to the intermediate islands of the sect. In fact, it was far wealthier than some of the intermediate islands that had limited resources.

All this resulted in the island becoming a hot spot for disciples. The spirit farms and gardens were handed over to be managed by the disciples in training from time to time, except for two disciples.

These two were Tian Yue and Wang Qi. They had been on the island for nearly ten years and showed no signs of leaving. Under Tian Yue’s management, the spirit farms assigned to him were fully planted with spirit herbs. After being on the island for a long time, Tian Yue had grown accustomed to his life. As a result, he started to fear heading out with other disciples to hunt Monsters. For this reason, he only managed to reach the early stages of the Blood Condensation Realm after such a long time.

Unlike his cultivation talent, Tian Yue was very talented at managing spirit gardens and farms. Consequently, Hu Lili handed over the best farms and gardens on the island to him.

His passion for agriculture was the exact opposite of his passion for fighting. From their characteristics to their attributes, he was zealous in learning more about plants. He even acquired a large number of scrolls of knowledge about plants and a couple of low-level pellet recipes from Fang Tao.

Unlike Tian Yue, Wang Qi would often join the hunting parties. As time passed, he slowly made a name for himself through his swordsmanship. During every fight, Wang Qi’s skill was polished, and the spoils from his hunts pushed him to further heights. He was now a Core-Forging Realm cultivator.

Wang Qi was not as talented at growing crops, so he specifically asked Hu Lili to swap his assigned lands for poorer lands, freeing himself from the hassle of growing crops. He was much more willing to spend effort on polishing his skills and cultivating, compared to growing crops.

After leaving the training chamber, Hu Lili informed Lu Ping about the island over the years. Due to its strategic position, the presence of a Law Avatar Realm cultivator, and the formations enforcing it, the island had become a popular site, seeing three thousand daily visitors and two thousand stationed cultivators.

As the number of visiting cultivators increased, the island’s profits grew. Using this, Hu Lili obtained information on four minor spirit veins and moved them to the island. With that, the island now had six minor spirit veins. Under his orders, two of the spirit veins were moved to the island’s border, to supply energy for six newly developed residences that were for cultivators to rent. This move received a lot of praise from cultivators, and Hu Lili took this opportunity to earn a large sum of money.

After grasping an understanding of the island’s development, Lu Ping decided he should visit Tian-Lin to seek knowledge on his cultivation. The moment he greeted Tian-Lin, he was sent back to Tian Ling Mountain. It turned out something had happened to Liang Xuan-Feng when he was infusing a wonder item into his Golden Core.

The Nirvana Maple was a low-Heaven-Class wonder item Lu Ping had acquired in Zhong Xuan’s residence. With five thousand years of essence inside, the Nirvana Maple was a high-quality wonder item. Liang Xuan-Feng reckoned that despite being a powerful cultivator with a solid foundation, he could only fuse half of the Nirvana Maple into his Golden Core, but this would be more than enough to achieve a Seventh Grade Golden Core.

The fusing process was smooth, but when Tian-Hu handed the last Core Forging Pellet of the sect to him, Liang Xuan-Feng’s confidence inflated. He was a powerful cultivator that was only a level below Jiang Tian-Lin, Liu Tian-Ling, and Mei Xuan-Qin. After they had achieved a high-grade Golden Core and advanced into the Law Avatar Realm, Liang Xuan-Feng did not wish to be left behind. He also was unwilling to accept an ordinary-grade Golden Core that would leave him worrying about his chances of entering the Law Avatar Realm. Under the aid of the Core Forging Pellet, Liang Xuan-Feng attempted to infuse the entire Nirvana Maple. By doing this, even if he couldn’t achieve an Eighth-Grade Golden Core, he would still be able to rival Feng Xu-Dao of the Xuan Ling Sect, who had infused two sets of low-Heaven-Class wonder items.

However, the Core Forging Pellet was already ruined. While it looked perfect from the outside, part of the pellet’s essence was already absorbed by Xuan-Jing in the name of researching the pellet. This move ultimately ruined Liang Xuan-Feng’s efforts. When he was reaching the end of infusing the Nirvana Maple, the Core Forging Pellet started failing. With years of effort and the Nirvana Maple on the verge of going to waste if he forced his way through, Liang Xuan-Feng had no choice but to accept achieving an ordinary Golden Core like Guo Xuan-Shan and Qu Xuan-Cheng.

The second the Great Ancestors learned about this, Tian-Hu immediately imprisoned Xuan-Jing, but it was already too late. The essence that Xuan-Jing had stolen was already used up when he infused wonder items into his Golden Core.

Tian-Hu had no choice but to imprison Xuan-Jing in the Pavillion of Alchemy while summoning all the master alchemists and Core-Forging Realm alchemists to hold a meeting. Tian-Fan and Tian-Jiang were also present.

The fact that three Law-Avatar Realm cultivators were present on the scene indicated one thing – they wanted to save Liang Xuan-Feng at all costs.

In reality, Liang Xuan-Feng’s life was not in danger. However, the Nirvana Maple was something extremely valuable as it could help a cultivator achieve an extraordinary Golden Core and be closer to the Law-Avatar Realm. It was a great shame that this chance was ruined by Xuan-Jing in such a pathetic manner.

Tian-Hu sighed and said, “This is my fault. I’ll accept whatever punishment I receive from the sect. As for now, we need all the help and ideas we can get to help Xuan-Feng complete the final step and avoid wasting the Nirvana Maple.”

The alchemists in the room exchanged an awkward glance. After all, they were only skilled enough to operate with Earth-Class wonder items. Anything beyond that level would render them clueless and helpless.

Xuan-Yue smiled bitterly and sighed. “Junior uncle, at this rate, our only option left is acquiring another Core Forging Pellet. However, with Senior Brother Liang’s situation, the pellet will be wasted even if we give him another one. The situation is too complex. Xuan-Jing really is…”

The other alchemists wore the same depressed expression because the situation was beyond their control.

Tian-Fan had been observing the expressions of all the cultivators upon their arrival. He noticed that Lu Ping wore a different expression from the group.

“Hey, little brat, do you have something in mind? Don’t worry. We’re open to all ideas,” he said.

Tian Fan’s words immediately attract everyone's attention, leading them to direct their vision to the youngest master alchemist in the sect.

Lu Ping gave it a thought and considered his choice of words, before he said, “I can try, but I can’t guarantee anything.”