Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-456

Rattle, rattle.

Da Bao excitedly emptied the contents of his interspatial pouch onto the ground, causing it to deflate from its previously bulging shape.

Lu Ping looked at the items on the ground and said with disappointment, "Da Bao, is this all you found?"

Da Bao blinked innocently, not understanding what Lu Ping meant. However, since Da Bao had spent the most time with Lu Ping, he could tell that Lu Ping was disappointed.

In fact, he wasn’t just slightly disappointed; he was extremely disappointed when he saw the spirit stones on the ground.

Which was more precious, a 500-year-old spiritual herb or a low-grade spirit stone? Any cultivator would choose the 500-year-old spiritual herb, but things were different in Da Bao’s situation. Da Bao's talent as a Spirit Seeking Mouse made him extremely sensitive to the spiritual energy emitted by treasure. Therefore, in the mouse’s eyes, a low-grade spirit stone emitted a much stronger spiritual energy than that of a 500-year-old spiritual herb.

Lu Ping instantly understood the reason behind this and why Da Bao had placed all his efforts into finding spirit stones after entering the Ice Wyrm Residence.

Lu Ping looked at the mid to low-grade spirit stones on the ground, which amounted up to tens of thousands. It might be considered a huge number to a Blood Condensation Realm cultivator, but it was far from enough for a Core Forging Realm cultivator, let alone for someone like Lu Ping, who consumed a large number of spirit stones on a daily basis.

Lu Ping patted Da Bao's head, and with a hint of hope, he asked, "Da Bao, is this everything you found?"

Da Bao shook the deflated interspatial pouch, and thirty to forty high-grade spirit stones rolled out. Lu Ping’s expression finally brightened—high-grade spirit stones were exactly what he required for his immediate cultivation and alchemy needs. His demand for such spirit stones had always been abnormal.

However, after receiving five hundred high-grade spirit stones from the sect as a one-time reward, Lu Ping was no longer satisfied with a gain of thirty to forty high-grade spirit stones.

Lu Ping looked askance at Da Bao and smiled. "Hehe, Da Bao, are there more?"

Da Bao rummaged through the interspatial pouch again, and this time, three unremarkable stones rolled out of the bag.

However, Lu Ping's eyes lit up when he saw them and he exclaimed, "Extreme-grade spirit stones?"

These three stones did not look special, but they were the same as the one and only extreme-grade spirit stone that Lu Ping owned. He picked up the stones, held them in his hands, and started channeling his energy and divine revelation into the stones. The vast spiritual energy contained within made him ecstatic. Lu Ping immediately thought of the long-distance teleportal under the small pool in front of Qing Jian’s Residence, which was capable of taking him to the Central Earth that he had longed to visit.

Lu Ping gathered the spirit stones and stored them away. He then looked at the mid to low-grade spirit stones on the ground. He said, "Da Bao, these are all yours. However, you need to hurry up and cultivate. Da Gui’s advancement is imminent, and soon you’ll be the only non-transformed follower under me."

Da Bao twisted and turned around, but this time he did not argue with Lu Ping with his squeaky voice. Lu Ping knew that Da Bao was lazy. As a matter of fact, with his repeated urging and sufficient supply of spirit pellets, there was no reason for Da Bao to still linger at his current level. It was all due to his slothful nature.

Lu Ping shook his head speechlessly, and as he was about to get up, he saw Da Bao rummaging through a sealed jade box in his interspatial pouch.

Lu Ping glanced at it and after seeing that it was just an ordinary box, he quickly lost interest. However, Da Bao kept on squeaking, recounting the story of how he obtained the jade box.

After listening to his story, Lu Ping felt curious and asked, "You obtained this from a collapsed restriction in the protective array of the Ice Wyrm Residence?”

Da Bao nodded affirmatively. His interest now piqued, Lu Ping picked up the jade box, realizing that it was wrapped with a highly sophisticated sealing technique.

The technique was so advanced that Lu Ping had to try several seal-breaking techniques to lift the seal and finally unlock the jade box.

After carefully opening the jade box, he realized that he might have stumbled upon a rare treasure; there was another jade box placed inside. But unlike the ordinary box outside, the one inside was finely crafted and carved from a whole piece of jadeite—a master craftsman had obviously refined it. It was similar to the Splendiferous Jade Bottle used to contain the Splendiferous Jade Dew.

Laying beside the jade box was a purple jade scroll, its appearance very familiar to Lu Ping as he had several similar-looking scrolls in his possession. These scrolls recorded the Shapeless Sword Art, Nascent Primordial Chart and Flying Spirit Ocean Treading Scripture respectively. There was also the mysterious jade scroll that Lu Ping had yet to fully comprehend. All these jade scrolls were part of the inheritance from the Fei Ling Sect.

Lu Ping hesitated for a moment, then immersed his divine revelation into the jade scroll. After a long time, he opened his eyes in surprise. The jade scroll recorded a method to refine a certain type of spirit pellet. From its vast and exquisite concoction technique, this spirit pellet was clearly an extremely complex Law Avatar Realm pellet.

However, the recorded concoction technique seemed somewhat familiar to Lu Ping.

Curiously, he read through the contents once again. This time, he saw that this incomplete concoction technique shared similarities with the Little Core Forging Pellet. Unfortunately, the profundity and subtlety of the technique surpassed the concoction technique of the Little Core Forging Pellet.

Lu Ping was suddenly struck with realization. He hurriedly opened up the Splendiferous Jade Box, where a ghostly blue water ball rolled around inside as if it were trying to escape from Lu Ping.

In Lu Ping's heart, a thought arose, and he quickly opened the Wan Miao Jade Marrow Box. He saw a pool of dark blue water inside spinning around fearfully as well. This level of spirituality was something he had only seen in the Mystical Heavy Water, but this water ball was much livelier.

This was unquestionably a type of Wonder Water. There was no doubt about it.

What could be more spiritual than the Mystical Heavy Water? It had to be the Splendiferous Jade Dew!

Lu Ping suddenly felt an uncontainable sense of joy!

“Wait a minute!” Lu Ping thought of something, and his heart suddenly thumped; even the Golden Core in his heartspace trembled.

He was too familiar with this kind of Wonder Water. From its color to its vitality, it was almost identical to the unnamed Wonder Water in the Million Poisons Pulp within the Golden House.

“Is this really the Splendiferous Jade Dew?”

Lu Ping was now a little skeptical. If this was really the Splendiferous Jade Dew, then it meant he had long obtained a Heaven-class Wonder Water while he was still in the Blood Condensation Realm.

He had no knowledge of just how valuable the items he possessed were. He couldn’t explain how he felt, but he definitely had to acknowledge the wonder of creation. The Splendiferous Jade Dew was the only Wonder Item that could be used in the concoction of spirit pellets. It was capable of prolonging life and replenishing energy, and the main ingredient when making Longevity Pills. However, unlike the vital and positive image of the Splendiferous Jade Dew, this type of Wonder Water was only produced by Million Poisons Pulp, one of the most venomous Wonder Items in the world.

After finally calming down from the excitement of obtaining Splendiferous Jade Dew, Lu Ping suddenly thought, “If the concoction technique and Splendiferous Jade Dew are hidden within the box, does this mean that they’re somehow related to the concoction of Core Forging Pellets?”

Ao Yu also seemed interested in the Core Forging Pellet recipe. Although this incomplete recipe did not mention the required materials and ingredients, it was still a huge revelation to Lu Ping.

After all, Lu Ping had already gotten his hands on the important ingredients. Adding on the part of the recipe he already owned, he currently possessed the complete Core Forging Pellet recipe. Now, without intending to, Lu Ping had become the only alchemist closest to concocting the Core Forging Pellet ever since the extinction of the Fei Ling Sect.

Lu Ping took a deep breath, suppressed his excitement, and solemnly stored the jade box and jade scrolls in his interspatial ring. Lu Ping was confident of his alchemy skills, especially after becoming a master alchemist. If not for the extreme scarcity of Splendiferous Jade Dew, he would certainly figure out the second half of the Core Forging Pellet recipe, especially with the first half of the recipe and sufficient resources at his disposal.

Unfortunately, the Splendiferous Jade Dew itself was already rarer than a Heaven-class wonder item, and given its various wonderful uses, especially in the area of the replenishing of life, how could Lu Ping bear to use such a rare item for the sole purpose of practicing his alchemy skills? Moreover, Lu Ping himself knew that after advancing to the mid-Core Forging Realm, he had only successfully fused the Mystical Heavy Water into his Golden Core by chance after a narrow escape from death. It would be unreasonable to infuse a wonder water of a lower tier in the future. Now, there was nothing else more suitable and compatible with him apart from the Splendiferous Jade Dew.

With the Splendiferous Jade Dew gifted by the Monsters from the East Ocean, the necessary ingredients listed out by the Crystal Palace, and the addition of the other half of the Core Forging Pellet recipe Lu Ping acquired from Ao Yu’s place, he was certain that he could succeed in concocting the Core Forging Pellet one day.

Of course, he didn’t know what price or compromise the Xuan Ling Sect and Profound Spirit Sect paid to obtain the list of spirit grasses required, nor how Ao Yu obtained the first half of the recipe, or why the Monsters of the East Ocean even sent the Splendiferous Jade Dew to Ao Yu. Lu Ping seemed to sense something else was happening, with the Core Forging Pellet at the center.

However, the Heavenly Furnace Ancestor had once inadvertently mentioned that the downfall of the Fei Ling sect was one of the many factors that led to the loss of the forging spirit pill.

Yet, Lu Ping couldn’t work out what was happening exactly. All he knew was that the Core Forging Pellet was one of the many reasons for the Fei Ling Sect’s extinction.