Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-9

Lu Ping didn’t give Li Sheng a chance to fight back and continued to add on to the suppression. Li Sheng couldn’t use his mystic instrument at all nor was he able to lash out any high-grade charms. He only managed to cast a few mid-grade charms which couldn’t even diminish Lu Ping’s golden armor.

By now, Li Sheng had also realized that Lu Ping’s high-grade charm was actually a blood charm. He never thought his opponent would spend so many spirit stones just for a blood charm—seems like he was also somewhat wealthy.

Lu Ping jabbed his sword at Li Sheng’s shoulder but the master immortal hosting the arena had already shot out a spell onto Li Sheng’s body, protecting him from Lu Ping’s mystic sword. Lu Ping put away his sword and stood upright as the master immortal announced his victory.

Lu Ping’s opponent in the afternoon’s second match was also another Seventh Layer disciple. However, this disciple wasn’t as wealthy as Li Sheng and only owned a high-grade mystic weapon.

Naturally, Lu Ping took this opportunity to use his opponent to hone his state of “Technique”, ultimately claiming victory with minimal effort.

At night, Master Immortal Liu escorted Group 7 participants and they returned to their rooms in the side hall courtyard. Group 7’s results on the first day of the competition were delightful. All twelve disciples won their first match with the help of a bit of luck and entered the second round of matches. This made Master Immortal Liu extremely happy and earned him the shock and congratulations of the other master immortals.

But unfortunately, a few disciples had drawn bad lots and were matched with stronger disciples. The seventh, eighth, ninth, and eleventh disciple was defeated. Even Sixth Senior Martial Brother Guo Lin who had just entered the Eighth Layer didn’t make it to the third round as his opponent was unfortunately a Ninth Layer disciple from Group 1. They both used all their mystic instruments and high-grade charms, with Guo Lin still losing the battle.

Even so, seven disciples from Group 7 had successfully made it into the list of top 64 participants. This made Group 7 the fourth in position among all the other Grade 2 groups, whereas Group 1 was in the first position with nine disciples, and Group 5 and Group 18 were listed together in the second position with eight disciples.

What shocked Lu Ping most was that the twelfth disciple Zhang Zicheng had also entered the list of top 64 disciples. It seemed like even the eleventh disciple Li Cheng was not a match for him.

As Master Immortal Liu was in a good mood, he commented on the performances of each and every disciple in their battles. His comments provided many insights that the disciples missed or didn’t know, and they all learned a lot. This also made the five defeated disciples feel a lot better.

It was only now that Lu Ping learned the First and Second Senior Martial Brother, and the Fourth Senior Martial Sister have also entered the state of “Technique”. It just showed that there were many more talents in this world and that his achievements really meant nothing at all.

But the fact that Lu Ping had also attained the state of “Technique” shocked the rest of the disciples, other than the first, second, and fourth disciples who already knew about it. When Li Cheng found out, his face twisted drastically with jealousy and he couldn’t help clenching his teeth.

After the session, Lu Ping returned to his room where he was visited and congratulated by a few disciples that were close to him in the group. After they left, Lu Ping calmed his mind and recalled Master Immortal Liu’s comments as well as the day’s battles. Sure enough, the comments were on point and he felt like he learned a lot.

Then, he consumed a Blood Purification Pellet and held a spirit stone in his hands as he started his daily cultivation.

On the morning of the second day, Lu Ping woke up and sensed the spiritual energy in his bloodlines. He was delighted to notice his spiritual energy growing stronger, which meant he was another step closer towards the Eighth Layer.

…

A huge crowd had already gathered in the side hall’s plaza, cheering loudly whenever they saw the appearance of a participant they supported. In the case of famous disciples like the “Five Talents”, the crowd would actually go crazy like those hardcore idol fans in Lu Ping’s last life.

Lu Ping’s match today was an Eighth Layer disciple—Yuan Zhan of Group 17. This lowered the mood of Group 7’s disciples cheering for Lu Ping.

Lu Ping also found himself lacking confidence. But when he thought of his two mystic instruments, he instantly calmed down.

Yuan Zhan was 21 years old and wielded a top-grade mystic weapon. He watched as his opponent, a 17-year-old teenager, looked initially nervous at being matched with him only to turn calm a moment later. He thought, So he accepted his defeat?

Yuan Zhan smiled. The two greeted each other and when the master immortal gave the signal to begin the battle, Yuan Zhan dashed forward and struck at Lu Ping’s throat. He didn’t hold back and immediately unleashed his strength without thinking of testing Lu Ping’s prowess.

Lu Ping didn’t dare to clash with the fierce attack and took a defensive stance. Yuan Zhan continued to pressure him with faster and stronger sword strikes. His attacks were like a stream of flowing water, pummelling down nonstop onto Lu Ping, his left hand made hand signs and he continuously chanted spells.

Slightly panicked, Lu Ping tried to parry his attacks but was still struck by the spells a few times. His clothes were partially burnt with several holes, there were little ice shards stuck to his hair, his left shirt sleeve was cut down by the wind blades, and a vine was currently tangling on his right leg.

Fortunately, Lu Ping’s foundation was solid and his basics were strong. Most of the spells that hit him were countered and reduced in power by his own spells, otherwise, he wouldn’t still be standing now.

On the center arena, Master Immortal Fang of Group 12 noticed Lu Ping’s condition and he said with a smile, “Senior Martial Brother Liu, seems like your beloved disciple’s good luck will end here today!”

Master Immortal Fang’s Group 12 initially had the same result as Group 7. But who knew that this year Group 7 would have twelve Late Blood Refining Realm disciples and more than thirty disciples who passed the promotional examination to Grade 3? All of a sudden, Master Immortal Fang’s Group 12 was far behind Master Immortal Liu’s Group 7.

Whenever Master Immortal Fang thought about the difference in resources the other would receive despite being in the same Sixth Layer Blood Condensation Realm, he couldn’t help feeling jealous. These resources would allow Master Immortal Liu to enter the Seventh Layer earlier, not to mention, his group’s talent, Li Sheng, was defeated by Group 7’s Lu Ping. It came as no surprise that his words had a hint of sarcasm.

Master Immortal Liu smiled and replied, “After all, they’re one cultivation layer apart. It’s only normal if he loses.” Although he appeared outwardly fine, his eyes were staring closely at Lu Ping’s battle.

The difference in layers in the Late Blood Refining Realm was huge. Even though Lu Ping had attained the state of “Technique” in his sword skill, his arcane energy was far weaker and his spell skill hadn’t achieved the state of “Technique” yet. Therefore, he could only passively defend himself in the battle.

Lu Ping clenched his teeth and thought about the competition prizes—he made up his mind. His left hand reached into his robe and revealed two high-grade blood charms.

One of them was a protective spell charm and the other was a [Golden Sword Spell] charm that he directed towards Yuan Zhan.

Yuan Zhan smirked and said, “I’ve been waiting for this. You are not the only one with blood charms.”

He then also took out and used a blood charm. The charm released several water swords and repelled the golden swords, effectively canceling out Lu Ping’s blood charm. Then, he cast a skill, the [Seven Shining Stars], and with his top-grade mystic weapon he jabbed toward Lu Ping.

Lu Ping tried his best and only managed to parry five of the seven attacks. The remaining two sword strikes landed on Lu Ping’s silver protective barrier, causing it to shudder to its breaking point.

Then, Yuan Zhan followed up with a [Humongous Tree Spell] while Lu Ping defended with a [Golden Steel Shield]. But due to the lack of arcane energy, he couldn’t defend himself from the spell entirely and a huge tree struck his protective barrier, shattering it apart.

Lu Ping cast another skill known as the [Three Suns Breaking Light], a sword skill that jabs three consecutive strikes of sword rays. He swiftly pinpointed the best timing to attack, earning himself a chance to escape from Yuan Zhan’s suppression.

Then, he quickly slapped on an [Ice Shield] charm once more.

Yuan Zhan sneered coldly and thought, So this is what the state of Technique looks like as a sword skill? It’s definitely swift and powerful. However, it’s all useless if you don’t have enough arcane energy!

Yuan Zhan slashed down two sword strikes to counter two of the sword rays, and at the same time, a yellow light rose on his body. It was an [Earth Wall Spell] cast from an ordinary high-grade charm. The third sword ray only shook the spell but didn’t break it.

Lu Ping grew agitated by the battle situation, Oh so you want to play a game of charms? Come on then, let’s see who has more charms!

He raised his left hand and released three high-grade blood charms toward Yuan Zhan: [Falling Stone Spell], [Fire Crow Strike], and [Water Binding].