Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit

Chapter 71 – War

Lu Ping was overjoyed when he saw four Blood Purification Pellets in the cauldron. As long as he could increase and maintain his success rate to 50%, then he could try for the Late Blood Refining Realm medicinal pellets.

The excited Lu Ping gave himself a day’s rest and continued practicing alchemy the next day.

The time taken to concoct a cauldron of Mid Blood Refining Realm pellets was roughly two days. This was already a conservative estimate considering he had help from the Azure Spirit Fire and the mid-grade cauldron mystic instrument. After all, they were the inheritance from the famous Alchemist Sheng Tao.

In the following period, Lu Ping basically spent all of his time between practicing alchemy for a day and resting on the next. After two months, Lu Ping concocted twenty cauldrons of medicinal pellets and maintained his success rate at 40%. Increasing the success rate wasn’t an easy feat and not something that could be hurried.

However, these twenty cauldrons used up Lu Ping’s entire stock of spirit herbs for the Blood Purification Pellets. But Lu Ping couldn’t just leave Huang Li Island and resupply from the markets.

Left with no choice, he had to try his luck on a Late Blood Refining Realm pellet—the Blood Essence Pellets.

His first cauldron almost drove him to madness when he saw it contained a lone, successful pellet. Lu Ping spent more than 1,000 spirit stones to gather twenty sets of spirit herbs for Blood Purification Pellets and fifteen sets for Blood Essence Pellets.

Yet, on his first attempt for Blood Essence Pellets, he only concocted one. Lu Ping was really beaten into frustration at seeing the result.

Fortunately, the following fourteen cauldrons had a success rate of 30%. Only then did he barely calm down.

Alchemists had set the conventional standard that a cauldron of spirit herbs could only concoct ten pellets. There were only a few alchemists who could produce more than ten to a cauldron.

Naturally, Lu Ping wasn’t satisfied to see such a low success rate. However, he knew that alchemy was a profession requiring a lot of practice. He would have to spend a great deal of effort, time, and resources, not to mention that his element wasn’t suitable for alchemy in the first place.

One day, Lu Ping was in the spirit pet’s room in his cave-dwelling, checking on the Emerald Sea Spirit Snake’s three eggs. The eggs were fully revitalized ever since he brought them back to Huang Li Island and put them under his care.

He had been nourishing the eggs with his arcane energy. As a result, their life force gradually grew stronger and the day of incubation would not be far off.

Suddenly, Lu Ping’s face stiffened up and he looked towards the cave-dwelling’s entrance. The array formation he set outside of his cave-dwelling was triggered. Someone had sneaked onto the island!

At this time, in this situation, who else other than the Xuan Ling Sect’s disciples would trespass? It seemed like the sect war was about to start!

Sure enough, the ones creeping into Huang Li Island were two Blood Condensation Realm cultivators from Xuan Ling Sect. They were dispatched by Xuan Ling Sect to raid and conquer the Zhen Ling Sect’s islands near Xuan Qi Island.

Their scouts had informed them that the island disciple on Huang Li Island was a Blood Condensation Realm cultivator. Hence, Xuan Ling Sect decided to be on the safe side and dispatched two Blood Condensation Realm inner disciples to handle Lu Ping.

Lu Ping stood before his cave-dwelling and watched as the two Xuan Ling disciples walked towards him.

Initially, the Xuan Ling disciples thought Lu Ping would run for his life after seeing them, so they decided to catch him by surprise. Otherwise, they would lose their reward for letting him escape.

However, when they arrived at Lu Ping’s cave-dwelling, they realized he was long aware of their presence.

The Xuan Ling disciples were shocked. But they soon recalled that Lu Ping had just entered the Blood Condensation Realm. Since he was already waiting for them, they stopped trying to hide and directly approached him.

They scrutinized Lu Ping from tip to toe. The taller one among the two said arrogantly, “Little brat, are you a Zhen Ling disciple? If you’re smart, then you’d better hand over your interspatial pouch and tell us where you’ve hidden all your treasures. We might just let you live—as a slave, that is.”

Lu Ping swept his divine sense across them and immediately knew that one was at the first layer of the Blood Condensation Realm, the other one at the second layer.

He grinned and said, “How dare you invade Zhen Ling’s territory without our permission. And threatening a Zhen Ling inner disciple to give up his wealth, life, and the island he protects? Have the two of you decided to give up your lives here?”

The taller one snorted. “Cheh, yeah, I’m threatening you! So what’re you going to do about it? Hmph, you waiting for your Zhen Ling Sect to avenge your death? Dream on, brat! My sect has probably conquered Xuan Qi Island by now.”

Lu Ping’s heart tightened in surprise, while the other Xuan Ling Sect disciple said, “Senior Martial Brother, why tell him anything at all? Our main target is Xuan Qi Island. Let’s just get him out of the way and head over there. If we get there earlier, we could still grab a share of the loot.”

The taller disciple said loudly, “That’s true!”

He then cast out a copper cane mystic instrument and swung it horizontally towards Lu Ping. The second disciple cast out a pair of mid-grade swords that spun like wheels and flew towards Lu Ping. Those sword wheels could cut anything in their path into pieces in an instant.

Yet, Lu Ping was not flustered. He calmly cast the [Disarrayed Rocks Puncturing Sword Art] with his Flying Swallow Sword. It morphed into a giant tidal wave in midair and crashed down on the incoming weapons.

The giant tidal wave pushed back the copper cane and clashed multiple times with the sword wheels, stopping them from spinning.

The Xuan Ling disciples regrouped and launched another round of attacks. The copper cane was raised high, swinging down towards Lu Ping’s head, the swords slashing towards Lu Ping’s waist from the sides. Their combo was perfectly timed.

But Lu Ping wasn’t afraid. He continued casting the [Disarrayed Rocks Puncturing Sword Art]. The giant tidal wave resembled a waltzing fairy that swirled around Lu Ping, keeping him well protected from attacks.

But this immense wave was like a flood brimming with energy, waiting for the dam to break so it could unleash its wrath onto the world. Sure enough, when the attacks were pushed back, the time for Lu Ping to fight back had arrived.

In the blink of an eye, the Xuan Ling disciples found themselves in a terrible situation. Lu Ping’s attack was like a tsunami crashing down on them. Like two lone islands in the middle of the ocean facing the wrath of nature, they could be swallowed by the tsunami and erased from existence at any moment.

This was the first time Lu Ping didn’t use any tactics in battle; the first time he used nothing but his own prowess against his opponents. Even more, he was facing two foes, one of them was even a layer of cultivation higher than him.

Lu Ping had never experienced this method of battle before. He felt an incredible sense of satisfaction and he entered a mysterious state of mind. In this state, matters that he hadn’t understood before suddenly became clear to him, and he perfectly mastered the state of Technique.

In the heat of battle, Lu Ping’s aura abruptly climbed to its peak. He heaved a long breath and whistled loudly, so loud it could be heard several miles away.

At this time, the two Xuan Ling disciples regretted coming here. Just what kind of creature was this Zhen Ling disciple? He entered the Blood Condensation Realm only recently and yet, his arcane energy was so thick and abundant.

The weaker one among them had been in the First Layer Blood Condensation Realm for two years already, not to mention the other one, who was in the second layer. But even so, they were still suppressed by him.

Furthermore, his swordsmanship was magnificent. He had clearly achieved the state of Technique in sword skills. How was it possible for them to compete with him? No wonder he didn’t escape and waited for them to come.

The more they thought, the more terrified they grew, as did their desire to leave.

They exchanged a look and then shouted a battle cry together. They cast their mid-grade mystic instruments to attack Lu Ping and their own defensive mystic instruments to protect themselves.

They then cast out a flying mystic instrument each. One was a flying sword and the other one was a round flying plate. They didn’t care about the incoming tidal wave and turned to flee.

Lu Ping laughed loudly and said, “If I let you two escape, how will I know how strong I truly am?”

With this question, his attacks suddenly changed. The Flying Swallow Sword’s giant tidal wave split into two and in an instant, more than dozens of sword attacks landed on the Xuan Ling disciples.

Their defensive mystic instruments were shattered in the blink of an eye. With a final slash of the Flying Swallow Sword, their heads were separated from their necks, flying upwards into the sky.

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