Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit

Xuan Qi Island had 16 mini islands under its jurisdiction. After leaving Huang Yu Island, Lu Ping headed east to Huang Li Island, the mini island farthest away from Xuan Qi Island’s jurisdiction.

This time, Zhen Ling Sect had the absolute advantage in this mission to exterminate and eradicate the Xuan Ling Sect disciples. In fact, it could be said that there were more wolves than there was meat; there weren’t enough rewards for every disciple involved in the mission. Everyone knew that this was an opportunity to make a fortune, so naturally, no one was willing to miss out.

Other than Huang Yu Island, there were other islands that were more prosperous and resourceful than Huang Li Island. However, he was afraid that there would be fewer resources left to plunder by the time he arrived at those islands. Hence, he would rather go to Huang Li Island and try his luck there.

According to the map, Huang Li Island was one of the most deserted areas out of the sixteen islands under Xuan Qi Island’s jurisdiction. It normally served as a spirit paddy field to the other islands.

Fortunately, there were a few spiritually-heavy spots which could be transformed into spirit paddy fields, totalling up to almost five acres on the island. Every three months, these spirit paddy fields would grow a total of 500 pounds of spirit rice that were roughly worth 100 spirit stones.

Although Lu Ping was considered wealthy now, he wasn’t about to let a fortune slip from his hands, no matter how tiny it was.

After 10 minutes of traveling, Lu Ping finally arrived at Huang Li Island. He quickly consumed a Spirit Regenerating Pellet to restore his arcane energy. For the past two days, he had been consuming Spirit Regenerating Pellets like they were jelly beans. Hence, one could tell how massive the amount of resources consumed during battle!

The Xuan Ling Sect disciple stationed at Huang Li Island was an Eighth Layer Blood Refining Realm cultivator. Upon encounter, Lu Ping immediately shot out a flying sword towards his heart.

As for the island disciple, who was dumbstruck at being attacked by his own ‘comrade’, he couldn’t react in time to the sudden assault and hurriedly rolled sideways in panicked evasion, but the flying sword still pierced through his shoulder.

The outcome of the battle was determined. Lu Ping made the first move and severely wounded the island disciple. Not to mention that his cultivation base, weapons, charms, and medicinal pellets were all better than the island disciple—his demise was destined from the start.

Lu Ping’s ability to seize and plunder was fairly honed for the mission. It only took two hours to finish harvesting all five acres of spirit paddy fields scattered over eight different places on the island.

On the other hand, Lu Ping didn’t loot anything much from the Xuan Ling Sect island disciple. After all, he was just an Eighth Layer disciple stationed at a deserted mini island with nothing but spirit paddy fields. He was clearly someone who was badly mistreated in the sect.

The disciple had less than 100 spirit stones in his interspatial pouch and only a low-grade flying saber mystic instrument. He couldn’t even cast his mystic instrument before Lu Ping killed him. And now, this flying saber had become one of Lu Ping’s possessions.

The medicinal pellets he had were also common ones. He was in the same cultivation layer as Lu Ping but was still consuming Blood Purification Pellets that Lu Ping had stopped taking a long time ago. However, there were a hundred pounds of spirit rice and some spirit materials worth some spirit stones. Lu Ping didn’t bother to count them all and just stuffed them back into the interspatial pouch.

Lu Ping was exhausted from traveling and fighting for the whole night. Seeing that there were roughly two more hours until dawn, Lu Ping decided to take a rest on Huang Li Island to recover his arcane energy and exhausted body.

About four hours later, the sky was already bright. The islanders on the island had started their daily lives, not knowing that Huang Li Island had already changed owners.

Lu Ping breathed out deeply, slowly stopping his cultivation. He was happy to sense the increase in arcane energy within his body. Engaging in combat sure was an effective way to improve—he was now at the peak of mid-stage Eighth Layer. It would seem that after the mission, he would be able to advance into late-stage Eighth Layer.

It was at this moment, the rumbling sounds of thunder could be heard from afar. Lu Ping was puzzled to hear it; although the weather at sea was unpredictable, the distant noise sounded a bit strange.

Lu Ping had no intention of checking it out and resumed cultivating. But just a few moments later, the sounds of hurried footsteps interrupted him.

A calm middle-aged man’s voice could be heard from outside, “Reporting to the master immortal. The fishermen on the island that went out fishing were suddenly attacked by sea beasts. The nets of several fishing boats were torn apart and some smaller fishing boats were hit and overturned. More than a dozen fishermen have been eaten by sea beasts. Please, master immortal, help us.”

Lu Ping who was planning to return to Xuan Qi Island initially didn’t want to deal with this mess. But he suddenly remembered that Xuan Qi Island would soon be under Zhen Ling Sect’s ruling, it would be nice if he could help raise the sect’s reputation with the islanders. Lu Ping had grown up in Zhen Ling Side Hall since he was a child, he still had a sense of belonging to Zhen Ling Sect.

So Lu Ping followed the middle-aged man to the harbor. As expected, when the islanders saw that the island master immortal had changed to a different person, they didn’t dare to say anything. Instead, they cheered for his arrival.

Outside of the harbor, a few fishing boats had already sunk. Most of the fishermen who fell into the sea had been rescued but there were also some that had been dragged into the water by the sea beasts, leaving traces of blood on the surface.

A few other fishing boats had their nets bitten by the sea beasts and dragged around like toys. The islanders by the harbor cried out with despair.

Lu Ping felt uneasy at hearing their cries, so he cast the skiff mystic instrument and sailed out, leaving a trail of white waves behind. In the blink of an eye, he departed from the harbor.

He cast out both flying swords and a flying saber into the waters. As the three mystic instruments shuttered back and forth under the waves, the blood of the sea beasts painted the water surface red as their huge carcasses floated up.

Then, Lu Ping threw a few charms, [Ice Spikes Spell] and [Golden Sabers Spell], toward the fishing boats that were being dragged by the sea beasts. The [Golden Sabers Spell] severed the fishing nets from the fishing boats while the [Ice Spikes Spell] pierced into the waters, turning the water a deeper shade of scarlet.

Seeing the master immortal casually resolve the disaster, the islanders on Huang Li Island couldn’t help but cheer loudly for his deeds, with the fishermen on the boats showing even more gratitude to Lu Ping. Their reactions shocked Lu Ping, who felt at loss as to what to do.

Since Lu Ping intended to help establish Zhen Ling Sect’s reputation on the island, he raised his voice and said loudly, “I am a disciple of Zhen Ling Sect. From today onwards, Huang Li Island will be under Zhen Ling Sect’s ruling. Naturally, the sect will protect and shelter everyone on this island.”

The islanders were obviously not dissatisfied with the change in ruler, only answering together in understanding.

At that moment, he once again heard muffled thunder rumbling from afar. Only then did he realize that it wasn’t actually thunder but in fact, the sounds of a battle somewhere close by. Frightened by the commotion, the sea beasts fled from their surroundings, leading to the sudden attack of the fishermen.

A thought entered Lu Ping’s mind as he figured out who would be battling at this time. He quickly cast a sound amplification spell and shouted to the fishing boats outside of the harbor, “Quickly, return to the harbor! Everyone on the island, go back to your homes! Watch out for danger!”

No one dared to question Lu Ping’s order; they quickly returned to the island and back to their homes. Right after the islanders were fully dismissed, a blood-red light was seen flashing toward Huang Li Island from far away. Closely chasing behind it was another flash of light.

As the lights came closer to the island, Lu Ping noticed that the blood-red light was none other but Zhang Zhihe who had escaped before. A loud shout came from the light chasing behind him, “Is that Martial Nephew Lu up ahead? Quick, stop the Cultivator Sharing Union’s last escapee!”

It was Master Immortal Du Zichao.

Lu Ping was feeling bitter in his heart. Zhang Zhihe was an Early Blood Condensation Realm expert. Although he was severely wounded, he still wasn’t someone who he, a mere Eighth Layer Blood Refining Realm disciple, could stand against.

Bah, let’s do it then. At most, I’ll just end up severely wounded. As long as I can stall him for even a split second, Master Immortal Du can catch up to him.

Seeing the red light drawing close, Lu Ping waved his right hand and cast out a metal stamp seal. In front of him, the stamp seal enlarged itself by a few feet and rammed toward the incoming red light.

At the same time, a copper mirror hovered above Lu Ping’s head—he took this moment to release a top-grade [Golden Steel Armor] blood charm on himself with his left hand.

Zhang Zhihe shouted in exasperation, “Are you looking to die!?”

A wave of unstoppable arcane energy rushed onto his face. Landslide flew backward, the copper mirror’s glimmering light flickered and dimmed, while the [Golden Steel Shield]’s golden light faded, becoming almost transparent.

Lu Ping felt an overwhelming power ramming onto his chest, knocking the wind out of him and hindering the flow of arcane energy in his body. He was forced to take a few steps back to relieve the attack’s momentum and catch his breath.