Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit

Lu Ping’s item caused quite the commotion in the trade fair. After all, these 50 top-grade charms were equivalent to 150 spirit stones, and Lu Ping had spent a long time crafting them. One must know, even an ordinary mid-grade mystic instrument would cost 100 to 150 spirit stones.

The disciples below the stage were puzzled by Lu Ping’s price. The biggest use of fine iron is to craft mid-grade mystic instruments. With so many charms, he can just buy an ordinary mid-grade mystic instrument. Why is he exchanging them for fine iron? Is he trying to learn to be a smith?

Lu Ping waited patiently for the disciples to make their offers. Obviously, he had his own plans. His beloved mystic instrument, Landslide, was mostly forged out of fine iron. Hence, he would have to use up a huge amount of fine iron to upgrade it into a mid-grade mystic instrument, as well as boost its attack specialty.

Lu Ping had a considerable amount of fine copper ore which was enough to upgrade his Landslide. However, considering its original composition was mostly iron, he thought it would be better to upgrade it with the equivalent ore.

He waited for a moment on stage but no one stepped up to bid. Although many were interested in the 50 top-grade charms, they couldn’t meet Lu Ping’s specific request of fine iron.

Suddenly, a deep yet honest voice said shyly, “Hehe, Senior Martial Brother, I wonder if it’s possible to exchange them for Dark Iron?”

Immediately, a burst of shocked mutterings erupted from the crowd. Dark Iron—one could craft a high-grade mystic instrument with it!

Lu Ping’s eyes brightened up. He ignored the people trying to stop the man and asked hurriedly, “How much do you have? I’ll take them all.”

An honest-looking young man with a big beard stood up. He threw his interspatial pouch at Lu Ping and smiled sheepishly. “Hehe, I don’t have much, but it doesn’t seem like you have enough charms to buy what I’ve got.”

His crystal clear eyes and the honest look on his face gave him the perfect disguise he needed.

The cultivators around him noticed that their partner hadn’t lost his sanity yet and so they stopped holding him back. Instead, they turned to observe Lu Ping, wondering how he would react.

Lu Ping looked into the pouch and scanned its contents. There was enough Dark Iron for him to upgrade Landslide to top-grade. After mulling it over, he asked, “What else do you want?”

The person’s eyes lit up. “A mystic instrument. A low-grade one will do, but it must be comfortable to wield. You can add on some spirit stones or charms as well.”

Lu Ping looked at the big-bearded cultivator who was half a head taller than the rest. With a smile, he asked, “What do you think of this?”

A wolf-teeth club mystic instrument flew out of Lu Ping’s interspatial pouch; the big beard cultivator reached out to grab it.

He was extremely pleased with the mighty-looking mystic instrument. As soon as he held it in his hands, he couldn’t wait anymore and waved it in the air, shocking the cultivators around him as they evaded him and cursed out loud.

But the big-bearded cultivator ignored them. “Very nice, very nice. This is quite high quality for a low-grade mystic instrument. It’ll do.”

Lu Ping replied, “I’ll add 50 more spirit stones on top of that, what do you say?”

The cultivator was busy familiarizing himself with the mystic instrument, he didn’t even look up as he answered, “It’s enough, it’s enough.”

His partners shook their heads with resignation.

Having gained something beyond his expectations, Lu Ping walked down the stage. The next disciple took their turn and the trade fair continued.

The fair was half-way over. Disciples with good items walked up the stage and traded them for valuables they needed. The disciples below the stage competed against one another, even raising their bids above the listed price. Seeing such proceedings play out in front of him, Lu Ping was fully entertained.

If a trade fair organized by the disciples was already this vibrant, what about the auction fair organized for all the Blood Refining Realm cultivators? The items there would surely be more valuable, so how lively would it be then?

After that, Lu Ping spent another 50 spirit stones and bought a hundred high-quality charm papers crafted by a paper-crafting specialist. These charm papers increased the success rate and grades in charm-crafting. Lu Ping even established a long-term partnership with the seller.

Towards the end of the trade fair, a female cultivator walked on stage. She took out two bottles of Blood Solidifying Pellets and requested to trade them for top-grade charms. This pushed the trade fair to new heights of excitement.

The Blood Solidifying Pellet was a type of medicinal pellet ranked between the Blood Essence Pellet and Blood Vigor Pellet. It was an attractive medicinal pellet to the Eighth and Ninth Layer cultivators.

However, the female cultivator specifically requested for top-grade charms only to the disciples cries of disappointment. Two bottles of Blood Solidifying Pellets were worth 30 to 40 top-grade charms. Why would any Blood Refining Realm cultivator need so many top-grade charms? Even a specialized charm-crafter in the Blood Refining Realm would need a long time to save up such a large amount of top-grade charms.

Naturally, the trade was unsuccessful and the female cultivator was let down. But before she left the stage, she glanced over at Lu Ping, the only one that took out a batch of charms in the trade fair, though his charms were just top-grade.

It wasn’t that Lu Ping wasn’t tempted to trade with her. However, he’d attracted too much attention already. If he were to offer another batch of charms again, that was surely inviting miscreants to come for his wealth.

Lu Ping gave the idea some thought. After the trade fair, he didn’t hurry to leave. Instead, he waited for the majority of disciples to leave first, then headed in the direction of the female cultivator.

Speeding up slightly, he caught up with the lady shortly after. He looked around and after seeing that there weren’t many people nearby, he called out, “Senior Martial Sister, please wait.”

She turned around and after seeing who it was, immediately knew his intention. But she still asked, “Is there anything you need?”

Lu Ping smiled and answered, “Senior Martial Sister, you should’ve guessed it already. I’m here for Senior Martial Sister’s Blood Solidifying Pellets.”

Perking up at this confirmation, she asked hurriedly, “How many top-grade charms do you have?”

Lu Ping didn’t answer her directly. “Senior Martial Sister’s two bottles of Blood Solidifying Pellets are worth 170 to 180 spirit stones, equivalent to 30 to 40 top-grade charms. However, I’ve always saved my top-grade charms for myself, so I’ve turned them all into blood charms. That means I can only offer Senior Martial Sister 25 of those blood charms.”

After a moment’s thought, she agreed, “Twenty-five? That’ll barely do. Alright then!”

The two exchanged the medicinal pellets and charms with one another. She looked at Lu Ping and said, “Junior Martial Brother, you look young but your charm-crafting skills are pretty impressive. I’m Hu Lili. What’s your name? Junior Martial Brother, please look after me and help me out in the future if I need it.”

Lu Ping smiled. “I’m Lu Ping. If Senior Martial Sister needs something, you can come to the side hall and find me in the seventh group.”

Hu Lili quickly smiled when she realized who he was. “So it’s you, the head of the “Seven Brutes”, a third class disciple. I’ve heard your name a long time ago.”

Lu Ping had no idea his name had made it into the ears of the outer disciples. He smiled bitterly and said, “Senior Martial Sister, please don’t make fun of me. I only won a few matches in the competition by sheer luck. I really am embarrassed to be given a nickname like that by the martial siblings!”

Hu Lili couldn’t help finding it funny when she saw Lu Ping’s embarrassed expression.