Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-80

On the way back to Xuan Qi Island, Lu Ping briefly told Enlightened Master Jiang about his escape from the Xuan Ling cultivators.

Lu Ping was once again amazed by the power of a Core Forging Enlightened Master. It took him an hour to get to the islet, and he had to use a few charms, as well as two secret techniques, in the process. Enlightened Master Jiang only needed the span of one conversation to bring them back to Xuan Qi Island.

After reaching their destination, Master Immortal Liu had Lu Ping recover his injuries in a secluded cultivation room, where he stayed for the next two months without taking a step outside.

Yao Yong and Group 7’s disciples came over once to visit him. The only exception was the seventh senior martial brother who was unfortunately killed in battle.

During the visit, they talked about the good old days they spent together in the side hall. When the topic shifted to the tragedy of the seventh senior martial brother, even Li Cheng who had been at odds with Lu Ping fell silent.

Fortunately, Shi Lingling was there. She noticed the somber atmosphere and quickly brought up the sect’s rewards to Lu Ping and those who contributed to the rescue of Xuan Qi Island. They speculated about what kind of rewards would be given and the atmosphere became cheerful again.

Hu Lili and Zhong Jian, as well as Zhong Jian’s companion, Ma Yu, also visited Lu Ping at a later time.

Ma Yu’s cultivation base was in the Second Layer Blood Condensation Realm, placing her as one of the prominent senior disciples. During the visit, Lu Ping joked to Zhong Jian that he had to work harder, otherwise, it would be embarrassing if Senior Martial Sister Ma Yu was always the stronger one.

Ever since that time they made fun of Zhong Jian, he responded to their teasing in a carefree manner. He even laughed happily along with the rest and didn’t refute them, all while Ma Yu blushed shyly on the side.

Then, Hu Lili told Lu Ping about the follow up from the raid. After Xuan Ling Sect’s retreat, Zhen Ling Sect attacked back and the war was brought to the border. Every day, there would be cultivators from Zhen Ling Sect and Xuan Ling Sect battling it out. The number of reported deaths wasn’t considered news anymore.

However, the war was generally under control. The Core Forging Enlightened Masters didn’t join the battle on the border. Of course, that may be because the sects had bigger plans, but that wasn’t something Lu Ping and the rest would have to worry about.

Lu Ping asked about the casualties. Sure enough, Hu Lili had paid attention to the situation and she quickly answered, “More than fifty of our Blood Condensation disciples have fallen, but Xuan Ling Sect’s casualties are higher, around seventy or so. But their sect basically plundered all the resources from the islands nearby Xuan Qi Island, so we’ve also lost a lot of spirit stones.”

Lu Ping then asked Hu Lili to report to the sect seniors his sighting of the monster race in the seas nearby Xuan Qi Island.

In fact, Lu Ping should be the one to report this to the sect, but he’d always felt guilty towards Hu Lili because of the incident with Sheng Tao’s inheritance. Hence, he decided to let her take on this task, and with her sharp insight, he hoped her talent could attract and be valued by the higher-ups.

Lu Ping only took a month to recover from his injuries. After all, as the biggest contributor to the rescue of Xuan Qi Island, he would of course receive the best treatment. The sect gave him high-quality medicinal pellets and so his wounds mended quickly.

He only stayed back on Xuan Qi Island because his cultivation had improved greatly after his whole chase and run experience. In addition, he had spent a year of steady cultivation and consumption of medicinal pellets in the Blood Condensation Realm—Lu Ping had already reached a bottleneck within the First Layer. He could break through to the Second Layer Blood Condensation Realm anytime now.

After Lu Ping’s recovery, Yao Yong, Hu Lili, and the rest all came to visit him again. This time they were here because their rewards from the sect had arrived.

It was as Lu Ping had expected. After Hu Lili reported the monster race’s presence to the sect, her intelligence was acknowledged and highly regarded by the sect. The sect requested her to keep the information a secret and rewarded her 3,000 spirit stones. On top of that, the sect also promised Hu Lili two Blood Condensation Pellets to assist her in breaking through to the Blood Condensation Realm.

After visiting Lu Ping today, Hu Lili would go into closed-door cultivation in order to break through. Her friends naturally gave their congratulations and wished for her success. Lu Ping even gave Hu Lili two bottles of Blood Vigor Pellets, to the group’s envy.

Zhong Jian was rewarded with 3,000 spirit stones. He was also given two bottles of Blood Condensation pellets, a high-quality, mid-grade earth flying sword, and a top-grade Blood Escape Charm. Clearly, he was being compensated for giving Lu Ping his own Blood Escape Charm.

Because Zhong Jian joined the group late after Lu Ping and the rest rescued him, he only contributed at the very end. Therefore, his credits were smaller than the rest. But even so, these rewards still made his peers envious of him.

Du Feng’s rewards included 3,000 spirit stones, two bottles of Blood Condensation pellets, and a high-grade Flying Swan Sword. The Flying Swan Sword was of superior craftsmanship and had the potential of upgrading to higher levels.

Yao Yong was the luckiest. Other than the similar gift of 3,000 spirit stones, two bottles of Blood Condensation pellets, and a high-grade Fire Tiger Sword, he also caught the attention of Enlightened Master Qu, who took him as a registered disciple.

As long as he entered the Mid Blood Condensation Realm, he would officially be accepted by Enlightened Master Qu as his student. But Enlightened Master Qu was already giving him guidance in his cultivation even now. Surely, his progress would improve significantly.

But among them, the biggest contributor was definitely Lu Ping. Not only did he not gain anything from the battle, but he even used up almost all of his charms, donated his talisman treasure to break the sealing array formation, volunteered as the bait, and finally, suffered severe injuries and almost died.

Rumors had it that both Enlightened Master Xuan-Yong and Enlightened Master Jiang Xuan-Lin both voiced their requests to the sect. They hoped the sect would reward him heavily as it would not be an exaggeration to say that every single disciple on Xuan Qi Island owed him their lives.

Hence, it was only natural that the sect gave great consideration to this matter. In the end, the final decision was to reward him with 5,000 spirit stones, three bottles of Blood Condensation pellets, a new First Layer Core Forging talisman treasure, as well as three treasures of his choice from the Blood Condensation Treasure Vault in Tian Ling Mountain.

One must say, these rewards were attractive even to Late Blood Condensation disciples. However, it was rumored that when Enlightened Master Jiang Xuan-Lin heard of this list, he was actually not too satisfied and murmured, “Only three items? What treasures could he find in that vault anyway?”

Lu Ping had initially never heard of this Blood Condensation Treasure Vault until Hu Lili explained it to him. Every sect had their own treasure vaults to store cultivation resources for their disciples. The Blood Condensation Treasure Vault was one of the aforementioned vaults set up by Zhen Ling Sect. Its title came about because the items stored within were mostly suitable for Blood Condensation cultivators.

As for Enlightened Master Jiang Xuan-Lin’s comment, Lu Ping wasn’t that concerned. After all, it was only normal that the items in the Blood Condensation Treasure Vault were considered useless to a Core Forging cultivator like him.

Moreover, Lu Ping wouldn’t be able to protect his rewards if they were highly valuable. In fact, lowering the rewards to play down Lu Ping’s presence among the cultivators was actually a form of protection for his growth.

However, the rewards could only be claimed if Lu Ping left the cultivation room. He felt no need to hurry. The important thing now was to break through to the Second Layer Blood Condensation Realm.

The war between Zhen Ling Sect and Xuan Ling Sect had refreshed Lu Ping’s views on the cultivation world. He witnessed with his own eyes its cruelty, as well as the helplessness of low-level cultivators like himself. But he wasn’t discouraged. It only made him more determined to climb to the peak of the cultivation world.