Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit

Although Xuan Qi Island and Xuan Hua Island were similar in size, Xuan Qi Island had many mountains and hence, an abundance of cliffs.

As they approached the island, they were amazed by the stunning vista. Suddenly, Master Immortal Liu frowned and cried out, “They’ve spotted us!”

Master Immortal Du was shocked that Master Immortal Liu’s divine sense could reach so far and seconds later, he too sensed it. He said, “Zhao Lingqiao is quite clever. He hid right inside the island’s defensive array formation. Other than the commoners on the island, the rest of the cultivators have all gathered together. Seems like they weren’t unprepared.”

Master Immortal Liu smirked and said, “That’s fine, we were never planning to ambush them anyway. It’s to our benefit if they’re all gathered in one place!”

The two exchanged a look and smiled. Then, they leaped off the boat and flew toward the island while the disciples followed closely behind. Those with flying mystic instruments quickly utilized them, while the rest sprinted on the ground with the help of charms or with their own footwork skills and spells.

Lu Ping casted a [Divine Travel Charm] on himself and after whisking through a hill, he spotted a huge dome of blue light from afar—inside the dome was a city. At a glance, the dome served as the protective barrier from Xuan Qi Island’s defensive array formation.

While sprinting toward the dome, Lu Ping suddenly felt a tremor run through the spiritual energy in his surroundings. A huge axe abruptly appeared and enlarged in the sky. It widened in length by a few yards; the sharp axe blade alone was three yards wide.

Swinging down, it chopped toward the light barrier.

Just as the huge axe struck the dome, a small yellow banner flew out from inside the dome. Fluttering with the wind, it grew to roughly a yard long.

A wave of yellow sand gushed out from the banner and surged non-stop onto the huge axe. The axe’s movements slowed down as the yellow sand tried to push it away from the dome.

However, the huge axe’s momentum was too overwhelming. Before the yellow sand could push it to the side, the blade had already landed on the dome, causing the protective blue light to ripple from the blow.

But due to the yellow sand’s interference, the axe’s attack power was reduced and it failed to hit the center of the array formation.

It was at this moment that a beautiful arc flickered like a shooting star across the sky. A flying sword was cast, heading straight for the core of the array formation.

In response, a dark iron umbrella shot out from the dome and opened before the flying sword.

Ding—

A loud chime of metal shuddered through the air, coupled with a burst of fiery sparks where the flying sword and the iron umbrella clashed. The umbrella blocked the flying sword’s attack, and the sword flew backward to where it came from.

This time, Lu Ping caught a clear glimpse of the flying sword’s trail as it returned to Master Immortal Du’s hand. It appeared that the huge axe belonged to Master Immortal Liu.

Judging by the responses from within the array formation, there were at least two Blood Condensation Realm masters inside the dome.

The Zhen Ling Sect’s disciples soon arrived at the scene. Without being ordered, they started attacking the array formation with their charms, mystic weapons, and mystic instruments.

A multitude of mystic weapons and mystic instruments flew out of the array formation to intercept the attacks. Unfortunately, the array formation took the shape of a dome of light—its huge surface area made it impossible for the rogue cultivators to protect the array entirely. Many attacks slipped past their defenses, and the dome’s blue light began to fade away in color.

Suddenly, a voice called out from inside the dome, “Du Zichao, how dare you attack Xuan Qi Island? Are you trying to incite a war between the two sects?”

Master Immortal Du replied, “Haha! Zhao Lingqiao, the Cultivator Sharing Union has committed multiple crimes against our Zhen Ling Sect’s disciples. How dare you shelter them? Or did Xuan Ling Sect instruct you to do so?”

From the dome, another voice answered heavily, “Your Zhen Ling Sect should not wrongfully accuse us. My Cultivator Sharing Union was formed with just a few rogue cultivators—why and how would we dare to affront Zhen Ling Sect’s dominance? You’re slandering us without reason, so no explanation will convince you of our innocence!”

A loud sneer of disdain could be heard, followed by Master Immortal Liu’s placid reply, “What a joke. The sect has collected enough evidence to convict you of your evil deeds. You must be the leader of Cultivator Sharing Union, Zhang Zhihe, yes? Today, I will show you the consequences of provoking Zhen Ling Sect!

“Zhang Lingqiao, if you insist on sheltering those wanted criminals, then don’t blame us for what comes next. I’ll let our sect seniors do the talking and handle the rest of it with your Xuan Ling Sect seniors!”

Master Immortal Liu didn’t pause in his attacks as he spoke. The huge axe chopped down to the dome three more times, two of which succeeded in hitting it.

Zhao Lingqiao knew the sect viewed the Cultivator Sharing Union as a chess piece and they were not on the side of righteousness in this matter. However, he also knew Zhen Ling Sect was just using this as an excuse—it had wanted to challenge Xuan Ling Sect a long time ago.

Hence, it was impossible to talk Zhen Ling Sect into backing down now. Therefore, he stopped replying and ordered the disciples on the island to work together and defend against the attacks.

Lu Ping was currently using the flying sword he looted from the slender cultivator he killed in the forest. The flying sword avoided the interception of a mystic instrument, knocked off a high-grade mystic weapon out of its way, and struck at the dome.

However, the sword tip only managed to penetrate three inches into the dome before the blue lights repelled it away. In stark contrast, the two masters had easily caused the dome of light to shudder and shake with their attacks.

Blood Condensation Realm cultivators are already so much stronger than Blood Refining Realm cultivators. Then what about the Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters, just how strong would they be? Lu Ping couldn’t help thinking of this. As for the Law Avatar Realm Great Ancestors, he’d never thought as far as that stage yet.

While Lu Ping was lost in his own wild imagination, Xuan Ling Sect’s Zhao Lingqiao gave a loud shout inside of the dome. Immediately after, the mystic weapons and mystic instruments defending the dome suddenly veered direction and attacked Zhen Ling Sect’s disciples instead.

This abrupt change caught many disciples off guard. Swiftly, a few disciples slow to react didn’t manage to defend themselves and were injured. Lu Ping even saw a flying disciple falling down from the sky. Falling from that height, he was unlikely to survive.

Lu Ping was also shocked by Xuan Ling Sect’s sudden retaliation, but he managed to deflect the mystic instrument coming for him without using his full capabilities.

After all, his foundation was solid and his cultivation base was robust. This allowed him to cast the flying sword with ease and so his attack speed was quicker than ordinary, even on par with the Ninth Rank disciples.

However, he quickly caught the enemy’s notice by coming out unscathed—another two mystic instruments attacked.

Exclaiming aloud, he quickly reacted and swung the flying sword in front of him to deflect a whip-like mystic instrument while casting out the copper mirror in his interspatial pouch.

Since the start of the battle, he had kept the copper mirror at the ready, immediately blocking the assault of a bead-like mystic instrument from the side.

Xuan Ling Sect’s change in tactics was bringing huge trouble to Zhen Ling Sect. Thankfully, they had more disciples on their side. Even when Xuan Ling Sect had the advantage of fighting on their home ground, they were still being suppressed in battle.

It was only a matter of time until the array formation reached its limit and shattered. Now, Xuan Ling Sect’s only hope was to utilize the array formation to reduce Zhen Ling Sect’s forces as much as possible before the dome was destroyed. This way, they could gain a slight advantage when fighting head to head later on.

On the other hand, the Zhen Ling Sect disciples had initially planned to save some of their strength for the ensuing confrontation. But, enraged by the sudden shift in attacks, they quickly went on the offensive without holding back anymore.

Even Lu Ping was influenced by his peers and released the extra charms he crafted. On impulse, he cast out several varying kinds of charms. Fireballs, wind blades, golden swords, giant trees, and huge rocks struck one after another onto the array formation. There were even two high-grade [Ice Blade Spells]!

Instantly, the cultivators around him, whether friend or foe, everyone had their eyes stuck on him.

Oh shit, I made a scene! Spontaneity is the devil, Lu Ping lamented in his heart.

As time passed, the array formation’s dome of light continued to falter, its color fading away to becoming almost transparent.

Finally, as Master Immortal Liu made one last attack with his huge axe, the dome of light shuddered and burst like a bubble!

Seeing that, Lu Ping quickly made one last check on his equipment and his mini arsenal of charms. It was time for a direct confrontation!