Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit

Spirit emerging mystic treasures were rarely seen, not to mention that monsters were less proficient than humans in the arts of smithery and alchemy. Additionally, the North Ocean was not an oceanic continent that was rich with resources, making spirit emerging mystic treasures even rarer.

Hence, Lu Ping was convinced that Enlightened Master Ma was from somewhere else, in particular the East Ocean.

This was because back when he was in the East Ocean, he had heard of a sea horse race. Sea horses were said to be extremely proficient at traveling long-distance, which explained how Enlightened Master Ma could have traveled here from the East Ocean.

However, for what reason would Enlightened Master Ma travel all the way to the North Ocean, could he have come for some kind of important mission?

Lu Ping mulled quietly on his own as his expressions constantly changed. A few moments later, he put his thoughts aside and kept the mystic treasures away.

Apart from the mystic treasures, there were also hundreds of rare spirit herbs that were only found in the deep seas. As they only grew in the bottom of the deep seas, only the monsters had access to these spirit herbs.

There were also almost a hundred high-grade spirit stones. Since Lu Ping had broken through to the Core Forging Realm, mid-grade spirit stones had started to phase out. Whether it be for cultivation, alchemy, or the maintenance of the island protective formation, mid-grade spirit stones were no longer that useful. However, Lu Ping also didn't have a stable source of high-grade spirit stones, so he had almost used them all up by now.

The arrival of this batch of high-grade spirit stones could alleviate the situation a little, but only slightly. After all, Lu Ping had also just advanced to the Mid Core Forging Realm, so his consumption of spirit stones for cultivation would only increase, not to mention that the Mystical Heavy Water increased this consumption even more.

At this stage, Lu Ping would have to use just as many spirit stones as a Late Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master would during their routine cultivation.

Unfortunately, this couldn't be helped; fusing with the Mystical Heavy Water was not without a cost. Although the Heaven-class wonder water thickened and increased his true energy, it also meant that he would have to use more spiritual energy to replenish and cultivate his true energy.

The most convenient source of spiritual energy was naturally spirit stones, and the most efficient were naturally higher-grade spirit stones.

Apart from the high-grade spirit stones, there were also close to a million low and mid-grade spirit stones, which Lu Ping casually kept as if they were inconsequential.

After that, he came across a milky-white jade stone in Enlightened Master Ma's interspatial ring. Lu Ping could detect a massive spiritual energy stored inside the jade stone, more than that of a mini spirit gathering pearl.

Could it be…

Lu Ping tapped on the ground and a few moments later, Dabao appeared from underground, and looked at Lu Ping with a pair of small eyes. Dabao noticed the milky-white stone and was immediately stunned.

Lu Ping saw Dabao's reaction and almost confirmed his guess. Then, he smirked playfully and placed the jade stone close to Dabao.

Dabao first took a step back, before reluctantly moving forward as if he couldn't resist the temptation to get near the jade stone.

Eventually, Dabao couldn't help himself and sniffed the jade stone, squinting his small eyes after indulging himself in the jade stone's fragrance. Then, Dabao started to sway uncontrollably like a drunkard, wobbly making his way towards the Golden House spatial mystic instrument that Lu Ping had just placed in front of him.

However, in Dabao's vision, there was more than just one Golden House spatial mystic instrument flickering in front of him. He moved towards the middle one only to hit his head on the side of the Golden House mystic instrument.

After seeing Dabao do this multiple times, Lu Ping laughed happily and softly kicked Dabao’s butt to send him off into the Golden House.

Lu Ping was happy because the jade stone was a top-grade spirit stone!

What happened to Dabao was known as "spirit drunk". When a cultivator sensitive to spiritual energy got too close to a massive wave of spiritual energy, their arcane energy or true energy could be disrupted and make them appear as though they were drunk. Hence, it was termed as spirit drunk.

As a Spirit Seeking Mouse, Dabao was naturally sensitive to spiritual energy, so when he got too close to the top-grade spirit stone, he became spirit drunk.

Lu Ping had heard that top-grade spirit stones would only be owned and used by Great Ancestors; he had never actually seen one, let alone owned one.

According to the conversion rate in the cultivation world, a top-grade spirit stone was worth the same as a hundred pieces of high-grade spirit stones. But no one would actually exchange a top-grade spirit stone for anything.

This top-grade spirit stone alone was worth more than anything Lu Ping had gained today, but the surprises didn't seem to end there.

He found another two more stones in Enlightened Master Ma's interspatial ring. One was dark like ink and the other was brown like sand.

These were two peculiar stones, a gold-element Dark Tungsten Stone and an earth-element Essence Brown Stone, respectively.

Due to geographical factors, earth-element resources were rare in the oceanic continents. For instance, even with Lu Ping's wealth and resources, he still had to seek help from his friends to gather just enough earth-element Condensed Blood Beads for Dabao to advance to the Late Blood Condensation Realm.

In all the years of his cultivation journey, Lu Ping had seen and owned many rare resources, but he had never actually come across an earth-element wonder item. 24062

However, earth-element resources were only scarce in oceanic continents and were actually very common in the Central Plain.

Thinking of the Central Plain, Lu Ping couldn't help but wonder what it was like. As the center of the cultivation world, it was said to have the most advanced and complete cultivation heritage with the strongest cultivators and sects.

Lu Ping quickly recollected his thoughts and looked at the two peculiar items. A few moments later, he decided to feed them to the Seven Elemental Lightning Gourd.

To be honest, he had never thought of upgrading the Seven Elemental Lightning Gourd before as he knew it was almost impossible to do so. However, since he had the materials to upgrade it and he had no other use for these materials, he felt that he might as well.

The mini golden sword flew out of the Seven Elemental Lightning Gourd and flew in circles around the Dark Tungsten. As the Dark Tungsten was absorbed by the golden sword, the golden sword shrunk in size as its density increased.

As for the Essence Brown Stone, a mini dust storm from the Seven Elemental Lightning Gourd wrapped around it and gradually assimilated it.