Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-99

When Dabao finally finished resting, Lu Ping realized that as the main mountain of Fei Ling Sect, Fei Ling Mountain was filled with countless layers of seals that wrapped the entire mountain tightly inside. Therefore, Lu Ping had no choice but to put Dabao back in the spirit pet pouch to rest.

At the same time, in the North Ocean, more than 30 Core Forging Enlightened Masters from various sects were sitting casually on their own isles. Suddenly, Xuan Ling Sect’s Feng Xu-Dao opened his eyes and pinched his fingers together to calculate the timing, saying, “People, the time has come. Fei Ling Mountain’s array formation is at its weakest now, join me to obstruct the underwater spirit vein’s operation and weaken the array.”

The Enlightened Masters got up and stood in a formation above the waters. Then, they cast out a large number of spirit stones and spirit materials into the bottom of the sea. Arcane energy tumbled heavily beneath the waters, revealing a magnificent scene on the water surface.

The colors of different kinds of arcane energies shot up to the sky as the waves surged higher and higher. From afar, it looked like there was a heavenly palace being lifted up by the waves.

At the same time, on Ling Yao Mountain, the cultivators were looking at Fei Ling Mountain as its array formation’s spiritual energy gradually weakened. It was at that moment, the entire Fei Ling Island quaked as if rammed by a titan.

Wei Zi-Heng quickly turned and said, “The Enlightened Masters outside of the island have temporarily cut off the operation of Fei Ling Island’s array formation. We have to quickly make an opening on the array formation to enter the mountain.”

The Zhen Ling Group’s 44 cultivators stood in a simple formation. Then, Su Zi-Peng determined a weak point on the mountain’s protective array formation and they started attacking it.

The other groups of cultivators also started making an opening in the protective array formation. After all, whoever entered the mountain first would reap the greatest benefits.

Lu Ping was currently using his Yan Ling Swords to attack the weak point with the rest of the group. For the next two days, they didn’t stop the assault. The protective array formation gradually weakened and faded in brightness. The area they were attacking was already as thin as a piece of paper, but it just wouldn’t break no matter how hard the Zhen Ling Group tried.

In these two days, the cultivators took turns to rest and recover their arcane energy in order to maintain their strength. Naturally, Lu Ping’s profound arcane energy quickly garnered people’s attention. Compared to the group, Lu Ping’s attacks were strong and consistent, and he was able to attack for a longer period of time while the others had to rest to recover. Hence, the Zhen Ling Group couldn’t help admiring his prowess.

Obviously, Lu Ping wasn’t foolish enough to keep on until his arcane energy was fully depleted, and would instead rest whenever his energy levels were half used up. This way he could conserve a considerable level of strength for an emergency.

Due to Lu Ping’s contributions and the fact that Zhen Ling Group had two more cultivators than Xuan Ling Group, their progress was clearly faster by a margin. Zhang Wei-Qing couldn’t help his annoyance and he had to shorten his group's recovery time so they could catch up.

After another round of rest and replenishing of arcane energy, Lu Ping noticed that Xuan Ling Group was closing the gap. Hence, he walked to the front of the formation and cast out his high-grade mystic instrument, Soaring Wing Swords, and began to bombard the weak point with the [Stormy Waves Crashing Shore Sword Art].

In the midst of the other cultivators’ exclamations over his high-grade mystic instrument, the Zhen Ling Group was overjoyed to see the weak point shuddering under his attacks. Their spirits were stirred up and they quickly followed suit to help Lu Ping.

After reaching the Third Layer Blood Condensation Realm, not only had his arcane energy skyrocketed, his divine sense which was twice as strong as an ordinary cultivator also allowed him to cast two high-grade mystic instruments in a sword art with ease.

In less than half an hour, a creaking noise could be heard followed by a loud cracking sound. Zhen Ling Group’s weak point finally shattered under their attacks. The rest of the cultivators immediately wore gloomy expressions on their faces.

Lu Ping was the first to rush into the array formation, but because of the flying prohibition array formation on Fei Ling Mountain, he couldn’t fly. As he entered the mountain, the first thing that came into his eyes was a waterfall from the mountain summit.

He hurried to the pool below the waterfall, ignoring the 500-year spirit herbs along the way. Upon arriving, he cast the [Treading Waves Art], a movement skill within the [Wave Listening Eight Ultimates], to tread over the pool of water. After reaching directly below the waterfall, in an unbelievable move, he stepped on the waters and headed towards the top as if walking up a staircase!

The Zhen Ling cultivators behind him also scattered into smaller groups of two to three, and they made their way to the mountain summit through their own means. They were in such a hurry that they didn’t hesitate to directly pluck the 500-year spirit herbs from the ground, not caring if this would cause a loss in medicinal properties.

Su Zi-Peng stayed to the rear of the group and after making sure every Zhen Ling cultivator had entered the mountain, he turned back to look at the other cultivators outside of the protective array formation.

Then, with a happy smile, he patted a charm on the array. Bright lights glimmered from the charm and the recently made opening shrank inwards. In the blink of an eye, the protective array formation was restored as before.

Su Zi-Peng couldn’t contain himself anymore and laughed loudly as he walked away amidst the curses of the cultivators.

Xuan Ling Group was also reaching the final hurdle. Zhang Wei-Qing watched with a dark and gloomy face as the Zhen Ling cultivators spread into the mountain. But there was simply nothing he could do other than urging his group to speed up their progress.

Finally, after another two hours of restless attacks and depleting half of their arcane energy, Xuan Ling Group was able to make an opening and enter Fei Ling Mountain.

At the same time, Hai Yan-Shui Yan Group and some cultivators who had temporarily joined them were also making their final efforts.

Lu Ping trod against the flow of water and moved upwards to the mountain summit. Along the way, he used Landslide and crushed the array formation of any spirit herb gardens he encountered. He also realized that Landslide’s power was more destructive against the array formation than the Soaring Wings Swords.

Lu Ping quickly harvested all the 500-year spirit herbs he could find and left for the next location. For six hours, he made his way to the mountain top, crushing array formations and harvesting spirit herbs.

By now, he had already harvested four spirit herb gardens which increased his collection to more than three thousand 500-year spirit herbs and twenty 1000-year spirit herbs.

Lu Ping also saw the ruins of many cave-dwellings beside the river bank, two of which looked intact. He ventured inside them to take a look but they were already empty—the previous batch of cultivators had clearly plundered everything inside.

So he quickly left and continued his journey. After breaking open another garden and harvesting the spirit herbs within it, Lu Ping finally saw a recently unearthed cave-dwelling. The cave-dwelling’s protective array formation glimmered and its spiritual energy was still strong. It was obvious that it hadn’t been explored yet.

Lu Ping placed a high-quality Spirit Regenerating Pellet in his mouth so he could replenish his depleted arcane energy at any time. Then, he cast up Landslide and slammed down three times, breaking the array formation.

Lu Ping was startled for a split second. If the array formation was this weak, then the cave-dwelling’s owner shouldn’t be a high-realm cultivator either. Sure enough, Lu Ping only found a couple of mystic instruments and cultivation pellets inside.

After that, he encountered another spirit herb garden protected by a small array formation, which he broke after slamming it nine times with Landslide. The tenacity of the array formation couldn’t help raise Lu Ping’s expectations.

Indeed, there were twenty 1000-year spirit herbs growing in this small garden which meant that it was an important place. Yet Lu Ping couldn’t allow himself to feel excited as he could vaguely hear the sounds of spells and weapons clashing in the distance. He knew that the other cultivators had successfully entered the mountain.

Zhen Ling Group no longer had the advantage, and the other groups could catch up to them at any moment.

Lu Ping spread out his divine sense in all directions and had an area of 60 feet radius around him at his fingertips. The hidden seals from the forbidden array formation were still all over the mountain. Fortunately, Lu Ping chose to travel along the water. The flowing waters tended to reveal these remnants of the forbidden array formation to him.

After reaching the mountainside, Lu Ping finally saw his second recently unearthed cave-dwelling. This time, the protective array formation withstood eighteen slams from Landslide. Naturally, the items in the cave-dwelling weren’t disappointing.

Lu Ping found a high-grade flying mystic instrument which looked like a cloud. He was satisfied as its wind and water-element nature made it possible for him to cast it with ease. The only doubt he had was how fast it could go. Sadly it wasn’t a good time to test it out, but he estimated it shouldn’t be too slow.

There was also a high-grade fire-element mystic instrument, but he put it away the moment he saw it. It wasn’t compatible with his water-element nature after all. Additionally, he was surprised to find six bottles of high-quality Blood Condensation medicinal pellets. As for the spirit herbs, he casually put them inside an interspatial pouch.

A whole day had passed, the fights on Fei Ling Mountain were gradually intensifying. But Lu Ping was feeling rather strange as he had yet to meet a cultivator so far, not even anyone from his own sect. He couldn’t help feeling puzzled, and was constantly staying on guard.

When Lu Ping saw the third cave-dwelling, he wasn’t so far away from the mountain summit. This time, he knew he’d hit the jackpot. The protective array formation glimmering with lights of three different colors told him that this was a Core Forging Enlightened Master’s cave-dwelling.

As usual, Lu Ping tried to break the protective array formation with his Landslide, but the three-colored array formation remained unscathed no matter how many times Landslide slammed against it. On the contrary, the explosive noise from the continuous attacks had attracted unwanted attention from the other cultivators and a distant clamor could be heard approaching his location.

Lu Ping gritted his teeth, putting away Landslide as he took out a jade talisman. It was the talisman treasure rewarded to him by the sect, which he’d already used once.

Lu Ping injected his arcane energy into the talisman treasure; with his current profound arcane energy, it only took a few moments to fully charge the talisman. A yellow light shone from the talisman and formed three huge boulders above the cave-dwelling. The boulders crashed onto the array, but although the lights dimmed, the array formation was still standing.

Left with no choice, Lu Ping could only use the talisman another time. Once the third cast was used, it turned into a pile of jade powder in his hands. But fortunately, its final three boulders had successfully shattered the protective array formation.

Lu Ping couldn’t care to mourn over the talisman treasure and hurriedly rushed into the cave-dwelling as the noises from the cultivators were drawing closer to the scene.

Similar to the others, this cave-dwelling was also in a mess. Lu Ping quickly glanced inside—three items caught his attention.

The first item was a flying sword. Although it looked ordinary and dull, Lu Ping noticed a sharp aura coming from within. A vigorous sword energy was hidden inside, waiting silently for its time to unleash its rage to the world.

By the looks of it, it was likely a top-grade flying sword. Lu Ping was greatly moved and attracted to it, this was his first time seeing a top-grade mystic instrument.

The second item was an interspatial ring. Such rings weren’t as magical as cultivators thought, they were only larger in capacity compared to interspatial pouches and looked more precious. Although this interspatial ring’s capacity was large, almost equivalent to the capacity of five interspatial pouches, its value was at most that of a high-grade mystic instrument and nothing more.

The real deal wasn’t the ring but the contents it held. Inside the interspatial ring were three items Lu Ping never saw before but could definitely recognize—three pieces of high-grade spirit stones. A high-grade spirit stone was equivalent to 10,000 low-grade spirit stones, and there were three of them! Lu Ping was dazzled at the sight and his eyes nearly fell out to the ground.

Third were the medicinal pellets on the wooden shelf. Lu Ping saw three bottles of Core Forging medicinal pellets—their added value was worth more than a high-grade spirit stone alone.