Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit

After Lu Ping said that, the middle-aged cultivator was taken back, before quickly growing anxious. But before he could say anything, a slender cultivator had already walked out from the stone door behind him.

The slender cultivator smiled, and said, "Junior Brother Lu's divine revelation is amazing. I am Xuan-Xiang, and he is Xuan-You. We are the guardians of this place of inheritance. Allow me to apologize on behalf of Xuan-You. There was a misunderstanding, we didn't know that the Verdant Luan is your spirit pet. Junior Brother Lu, let's put this matter to rest, what do you say?"

Lu Ping looked at Xuan-Xiang, and suddenly smiled, "Senior Brother Xuan-Xiang, you have been showcasing your Sixth Layer Core Forging Realm cultivation base and scrutinizing me with your divine revelation nonstop, are you trying to force me to submit under your strength?"

Xuan-Xiang was stunned to hear Lu Ping talk back. His face turned gloomy, and he said solemnly, "Junior Brother Lu, although you have a big reputation and have recently broken through to the Mid Core Forging Realm, you haven’t learned enough yet. You are at a crossroad where nothing will go in your favor. Let this slip, and we shall have peace; but even if you don't, what can you do? We are just guardians doing our duty, the sect can't punish us as we are not in the wrong."

Lu Ping knew that Xuan-Xiang was right. Although anyone could tell that this was a scheme against him, they had abided by the rules perfectly. Not to mention that Lu Qin was a monster cultivator; punishing one of their own because of a monster cultivator would risk the internal unity within the sect..

However, Lu Ping couldn't just let this matter slide easily because backing off would only embolden them and cause them to become even more aggressive in their next scheme. Although Lu Ping was confident that there was nothing much they could do to him, he had to make sure they stayed away from harming his friends in the future.

Hence, even though he didn’t know who their leaders were yet, he still had to send a clear message.

"Since it's Senior Brother Xuan-You's duty, then I naturally have nothing to say. However, Senior Brother Xuan-Xiang is right, I have many things I still need to learn. Would Senior Brother Xuan-Xiang be so kind as to point out the flaws in my cultivation?"

Xuan-Xiang's expression changed slightly, as he smiled with a trace of mockery, "Junior Brother Lu, are you challenging me to a fight? In that case, I'd like to point out that my cultivation base is stronger than yours."

To the side, Xuan-You also said, "You really have much to learn, do you know who Senior Brother Xuan-Xiang is? Before you entered the North Ocean Prodigies, he was already in the top 30 of the list; more than five Mid Core Forging Realm monsters have died in his hands. Now that senior brother has broken through to the Sixth Layer, he isn’t any weaker than the top 10 experts of the list. You’re only at your current level because of your teacher; you will never be as capable as Senior Brother Xuan-Xiang who has fought his way through the darkness and into the light by himself! Great Ancestor Tian-Ling is not on the mountain today, so whose help do you intend to rely on this time?"

Lu Ping also looked back with a face filled with mockery, and said, "So you know my teacher isn't on the mountain. But that's not too surprising, if teacher was on the mountain, what courage would you have to dare attack my spirit pet?"

Xuan-Xiang raised his hand to stop Xuan-You and took over the conversation, "Words have no meaning here. If Junior Brother Lu wants a fight, then you will have it. My lesson to you today is to learn that a true cultivator relies on no one but his own strength, not a teacher who no one wants to offend."

Lu Ping squinted his eyes coldly; he could detect the hostility from Xuan-Xiang towards his teacher. This inevitably made Lu Ping have an even worse impression of him.

Hence, Lu Ping didn't say anything more. The Golden Scale Sword slowly rose behind him, with its tip pointing directly at Xuan-Xiang.

Xuan-Xiang also turned serious as two scimitars flew out and circled around him. Although he didn't think that Lu Ping would be his match, he had studied Lu Ping before and knew a little more about his strength compared to others. However, he still thought that Lu Ping had relied heavily on Great Ancestor Tian-Ling to get to this stage.

Great sword divine ability… You are good, I'll give you that. But talents with good teachers like you, Ouyang Wei-Jian and others, are all pampered children. No matter how little help you get from your teachers, their existence alone is already the biggest help that any other cultivator could ever wish for! 24062

Your cultivation progress is fast, but how much time have you used to consolidate your cultivation base? How much effort have you put in to deepen your cultivation foundation? You think the future is in your grasp because you are fast, but speed isn’t everything! A proper and well-built foundation is what decides how far you can go in the future. One day, soon, you will learn this true lesson, but at that time, it will be too late to do anything apart from slowly waiting for the end to arrive!

Xuan-Xiang looked at Lu Ping and thought to himself. However, he hadn’t realized that being a top 30 North Ocean Prodigy, he was also seen as a young talent by others. Hence, on what grounds did he have to hold grudges against Lu Ping?

In the end, he was just jealous of Lu Ping.

After seeing Xuan-Xiang go into a fighting stance, Lu Ping made the first move by shooting the Golden Scale Sword towards Xuan-Xiang.

But unlike Xuan-You, Xuan-Xiang was not an easy target. He casually raised the scimitars and blocked the attack. Then, he sneered coldly and thought that his initial assumptions were correct; Lu Ping was just slightly better than average.

However, his sneer turned into shock only a second later when the Golden Scale Sword, that had just been parried away, suddenly swung around and turned into a giant sky blue sword that slashed down at him.

After the unprecedented achievement of fusing a Heaven-class wonder item in his Mid Core Forging Realm breakthrough, the power of the [True Origin One Essence Sword Art] had increased tremendously and was now twice as huge and as powerful as before!

Xuan-Xiang's expression changed drastically. His hands swiftly cast a series of hand signs as the scimitars turned into a sawblade, cutting towards the giant sword!

However, even this mini divine ability was powerless against the giant light sword, as it continued to slash down towards Xuan-Xiang.

Dang—

It was too late to evade or activate any defense measures anymore, so Xuan-Xiang had to tank the attack with his aegis energy, causing his face to flush red.

He then realized that Lu Ping's initial attack was just to test his strength, instead of being his entire strength as he had mistakenly thought. As a result, he underestimated Lu Ping and let his guard down.

Lu Ping looked at Xuan-Xiang's quivering hands, and sneered, further embarrassing Xuan-Xiang.

Xuan-Xiang let out a battle cry and swirled the scimitars like sawblade again, cutting towards Lu Ping. This was the mini divine ability that helped him forged his name and reputation, the [Tornado Blades].

Meanwhile, Lu Ping laughed happily, "It seems like Senior Brother Xuan-Xiang also has many more things to learn. Since we are having a sparring session, why doesn't Senior Brother Xuan-You join us together to learn a thing or two as well?"

As he said that, the Golden Scale Sword let out a sky of sword lights which instantly formed into a Sword Jiao. The Sword Jiao lively rolled around and whipped its tail out, breaking Xuan-Xiang's [Tornado Blades] back into two scimitars, while also including Xuan-You in the battle.

Lu Ping's message was clear; Xuan-Xiang alone was not eligible to 'teach a lesson', so Lu Ping had to include Xuan-You as well to see if they could 'teach the lesson' together.

In short, Lu Ping was taunting Xuan-Xiang and mocking him for being weak!

Xuan-Xiang had always been a prideful individual, so he naturally wouldn't be able to accept such an obvious humiliation. He stepped forward and wielded the scimitars with full force to block the sword lights. He also took out an old copper mirror and sent a beam of light towards Lu Ping.

The light beam was not only fast, it also locked onto Lu Ping. It followed him no matter how he moved, so Lu Ping couldn't evade it and was eventually hit. As the light beam struck him, Lu Ping felt an overwhelming numbness that rooted him to the spot.

Xuan-Xiang laughed happily at first, but quickly stopped when Lu Ping suddenly turned into a puddle of water, with the real Lu Ping appearing on the other side.

Lu Ping fought the two Enlightened Masters with the Golden Scale Sword. Xuan-Xiang and Xuan-You were fully engaged in the fight, but they couldn't really do much to Lu Ping at all.

Since the fight took place on Tian Ling Mountain, especially in front of one of the sect's places of inheritance, the sparring session had naturally attracted lots of attention. Almost all of the Enlightened Masters on the mountain were watching the battle through their divine revelations.

A few moments later, Lu Ping had already successfully suppressed the two of them inside a web of sword lights, gradually constraining their maneuverability. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he defeated them.

Suddenly, a long and loud whistle came from afar, and said, "What a spar, let me, Xuan-Shang, join the fun!"

Xuan-Xiang's face turned gloomy, while Xuan-You seemed delighted and wanted to say something. However, three spear lights were heading towards them, preventing him from saying anything.

A middle-aged Enlightened Master flew into the battle, and said, "No matter what business you have, you can discuss it after this!"

Since Lu Ping was in full control of the battle, Xuan-Xiang and Xuan-You had no say in the matter, while Lu Ping also accepted Xuan-Shang's interception, and said, "Then, let's fight!"

Right after that, another loud and long whistle came from afar again!