Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit

Lu Qin had never expected that she would be attacked on Tian Ling Mountain, let alone by a Zhen Ling Sect Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master.

When the five wind arrows were shot at her, she quickly covered herself in a verdant robe and rushed away. However, the attacker seemed well-prepared as the wind arrows covered every direction, preventing her escape.

Seeing that it was impossible to evade, Lu Qin's eyes turned into white flares as she clanked the jade rings on her wrists together. A black fire was unleashed from the jade rings while she blasted out her nascent fire from her mouth, and brought out a reddish fire from her left hand.

After that, Lu Qin made a few hand signs to combine the three fires into a whitish fire. This then transformed into a Fire Luan that flew out towards the five incoming wind arrows.

Bang, bang, bang—

After three consecutive explosions, the Fire Luan successfully destroyed three wind arrows and weakened the final two, before splintering into fire sparks.

Lu Qin hit the jade rings together again and an ice wall was raised in front of her. However, the incompatibility of elements reduced the strength of the Ice Ring, so the conjured ice wall was only able to block one wind arrow, while the remaining one struck Lu Qin and injured her.

"Hmph, you actually learned a mini divine ability? Who would've thought!" The attacker was surprised that Lu Qin was able to defend his sneak attacks.

Lu Qin didn't answer and only covered herself in a ball of red-green lights. When the lights faded, she returned to her monster form of a Verdant Luan and shrieked angrily at the middle-aged man who walked out from behind a stone door.

"How dare you, not only did you sneak into Zhen Ling Sect and come close to our place of inheritance, you still dare to fight back? Fine, I will gladly kill you and take your Golden Core!"

The cultivator sneered coldly and clenched his fist, causing a giant hand made out of true energy to appear above Lu Qin and grab towards her.

The middle-aged man eclipsed Lu Qin by an entire cultivation stage and had already severely injured her with a sneak attack. Hence, it was not a surprise that he had easily oppressed her on the spot with his true energy.

Just as he was about to grab Lu Qin with the giant hand, a golden light flashed from the horizon and stopped above Lu Qin, effortlessly cutting through the hand as it moved down.

Lu Qin looked at the golden sword and chirped happily.

At the same time, a small cut appeared in the palm of the cultivator's left hand. The cultivator's face changed, and he questioned sternly, "Who are you? Show yourself! How dare you help this evil monster! Are you an enemy of the Zhen Ling Sect as well!?"

A stream of water rolled down like a waterfall from the sky and descended in front of Lu Qin. A young man walked out and looked mockingly at the middle-aged cultivator.

Lu Qin chirped again, this time with a trace of anger and frustration.

Lu Ping tapped her head, and said, "Why are you whining? Even though you’re just a First Layer Core Forging Realm cultivator, you have been treated as if you were a Great Ancestor! Given all the ruckus, I really thought that it was a Great Ancestor monster that had sneaked into the sect, who knew it was you. I really don't know what the guards are thinking, do they really think the monster race will send a First Layer Core Forging Realm monster to sneak into the sect, or do they think that our sect's defense is so bad that even a First Layer Core Forging Realm monster can sneak in here. Hmm… I really do wonder where their minds are at."

Towards the end, Lu Ping was staring down at the cultivator standing in front of the stone door beneath him.

Lu Ping had already confirmed his doubts that this was part of a larger scheme by someone within the sect. Only this time, their target had shifted from Huang Li Island to Lu Qin.

Lu Ping could already foresee what would happen if he hadn't arrived in time to save Lu Qin. The middle-aged cultivator would have killed Lu Qin, claiming that she was a monster spy that had sneaked into the sect to act maliciously. At that time, no one would be able to blame him for doing his duties. 24062

This was why Lu Qin always stuck around Jiang Xuan-Xuan, as the little junior martial sister could confirm Lu Qin's identity and keep her safe from such dangers. Little junior martial sister also knew about this and so she naturally wouldn't leave Lu Qin alone for no reason. Hence, something must have happened to lead to this situation.

Lu Qin returned to her human form of a little girl, and pointed at the middle-aged cultivator, "I've seen you before when Sister Xuan-Xuan and I were playing in the garden at the back mountain. If I am a spy, why didn't you do something to me at that time?"

The mockery on Lu Ping's face intensified, while murderous intent started to fill his eyes.

"Nonsense!"

The middle-aged cultivator's face changed, and he said angrily, "When have I ever seen you? This is the Zhen Ling Sect's place of inheritance, any cultivator who doesn’t have permission to be here has to stay away or face being killed. This is the sect's rule!"

Lu Ping ignored the middle-aged cultivator's shout, and asked Lu Qin, "Qin'er, why are you alone? Where is your Sister Xuan-Xuan?"

Lu Qin pouted unhappily, "They wanted to play hide and seek, and said that I am the seeker. I was looking around for them when this man came out to try and kill me. If not for you brother, I'd be dead already!"

"Oh? They?"

Lu Ping astutely noticed the anxiousness in the cultivator's eyes. He suddenly laughed and unleashed his divine revelation, covering every corner of the valley.

The cultivator's face changed drastically, as he exclaimed in disbelief, "Divine revelation suppression! Im… impossible! How are you in the Late Core Forging Realm!?"

Lu Ping looked at the cultivator and answered him for the first time, "So you know me?"

The cultivator realized he had said the wrong things, but it was too late to take back his words, so he just sneered coldly, "How can I fail to recognize the infamous Water Sword Immortal?"

Lu Ping didn't mind his tone and just flicked his fingers at a particular corner of the valley.

The cultivator's expression changed again, and he shouted, "Stop, what are you doing!? This is the sect's place of inheritance!"

Even though it was too late to stop him, the cultivator still attacked Lu Ping out of reflex, shooting out five wind arrows at him. But this time, the wind arrows combined midway into a larger and much stronger wind arrow.

However, Lu Ping wasn't moved in the slightest. A faint skyblue light barrier emerged in front of him, casually blocking the enhanced wind arrow.

The cultivator's face grew darker; he didn't think his full-powered attack wouldn’t even be able to penetrate Lu Ping's aegis energy. Just how strong was Lu Ping?

Golden lightning struck down from the sky on an empty space beside the stone door. There, the golden lightning was met by a violet-light barrier, which shattered after a few moments, revealing the figures of a few female cultivators, including Jiang Xuan-Xuan.

One of the females spat out a mouthful of blood after the violet-light barrier was shattered, and looked at Lu Ping in horror.

"Ninth senior brother, you’re back! Are you here to fetch Little Qin'er?"

Jiang Xuan-Xuan waved her hand happily after seeing Lu Ping and hopped joyfully towards them. She then said, "Mother scolded me for bringing Qin'er here because she said Qin'er needs to be on Huang Li Island to help brother look after it. But I felt so lonely without Qin'er, so I asked her to stay. Ninth senior brother, are you angry because of me? You even injured Senior Sister Xuan-Yin."

Lu Ping looked at the female cultivator, Enlightened Master Xuan-Yin, and recognized her as Hu Lili's eldest senior sister. Besides her and Jiang Xuan-Xuan, the rest were only in the Blood Condensation Realm, so he didn’t recognize them.

Lu Ping looked at his innocent and naïve little junior martial sister and couldn't help but wonder, if her parents were both so intelligent, why was she raised to be so innocent and naïve?

At the same time, Lu Ping also didn't know how to answer Jiang Xuan-Xuan's question, so he decided not to answer her, and asked instead, "Little junior sister, when you were inside the formation, did you know what was happening outside?"

Jiang Xuan-Xuan shook her head, and answered, "No, I didn’t. Senior Sister Xuan-Yin is really good at formations. Little Qin'er couldn’t find us at all. If it wasn't for your help, she wouldn’t have been able to find us in time."

Just as I expected, Lu Ping sighed quietly, and asked again, "Little junior sister, have you ever seen someone who hides themselves in a completely isolated environment when playing hide and seek?"

Jiang Xuan-Xuan was naïve, but that didn’t mean she was dumb, she just wasn't exposed to the darker side of the world. On the contrary, she was actually very quick-witted; otherwise she wouldn't have been able to cultivate to the Core Forging Realm at such a young age.

Hence, after hearing Lu Ping's question and seeing Qin'er's wounds, along with the evasive eyes of her so-called playmates, she knew something wasn't right and that she had unknowingly contributed to the situation.

Lu Ping thought for a moment and decided not to involve Jiang Xuan-Xuan further into the matter. After all, he had no idea why the teachers had raised Jiang Xuan-Xuan to be so pure, so he didn’t want to simply interfere with her education.

Hence, Lu Ping just said, "Little junior sister, bring Little Qin'er back with you. I have something to discuss with others."

Jiang Xuan-Xuan lowered her head, realizing that she had done something wrong. Then, she obediently walked over to Qin'er and held her hands as they walked away.

Now that Lu Qin was with Jiang Xuan-Xuan, Lu Ping no longer had to worry about Lu Qin's safety. He could now focus on the people in front of him.

The female disciples, including Xuan-Yin, quietly left the scene. Lu Ping didn't mind them and let them be as they were clearly just a bunch of chess pieces.

Then, Lu Ping looked at the anxious middle-aged cultivator, and smiled, "I haven't asked for your name yet. Also, the cultivator behind the stone door, what's your name?"