Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit

The discovery of a large spiritual mine attracted a lot of attention from the sects, even causing the Great Ancestors to make a move.

At this time, all the formationists were gathered at the bottom of the ice cliff. After the large spirit stone mine was located, they still had to estimate the yield of the spirit stone mine, set up array formations to confine the mine, and complete many other preparations.

During this work, the formationists discovered another spirit mine of an ice-element spirit material.

As a result, they were busier than ever.

Thanks to the disciples who had taken over the security of the different areas, Lu Ping was able to freely roam around Ice Frost Island. Observing the snowy weather, he regretted not bringing the snake trio here, or at the very least, Lu Ling, who was an ice-element Emerald Sea Spirit Snake.

Lu Ling's cultivation would make it easier for her to survey the place, while the environment would speed up her cultivation progress.

Unfortunately, the snake trio were in a critical period of breaking through to the Core Forging Realm, so they were left behind to cultivate in the Golden House spatial mystic instrument.

However, as a water-element cultivator, the enhancement gained from the environment was second only to ice-element cultivators. For the same reason, there were only a few fire-element cultivators on the island because their cultivation would be negatively affected by the weather.

Apart from the Late Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters that were guarding the large spirit stone mine, the other Enlightened Masters were allowed to move around freely. Hence, many of them were exploring the island just like Lu Ping.

Lu Ping arrived at the back of an ice mountain. He placed his hands together and spread out his divine revelation. A moment later, his hands started to glow, and he gradually moved his hands apart, as if he was opening a sliding door. As he did so, a huge crack appeared in the ice floor in front of him.

He walked into the crack and disappeared underground. Soon after, the crack sealed itself and disappeared.

As Lu Ping walked in, the blue glow on his hands grew brighter, while the ice layer in front of him continued to split to the sides to let him pass through.

Halfway, the spirit pet pouch on his waist quivered and a fat mouse hopped out. Immediately, the Dabao started shivering nonstop.

Lu Ping shook his head and sighed, flicking out a small fire from his finger. The fire flew above Dabao's head and kept him warm. 24062

As Lu Ping continued to travel deeper, the ice that had been accumulated for thousands of years started to emit a blue glow. Some of the ice even condensed into a type of ice-element spirit material that could be used to forge low-grade mystic instruments.

Lu Ping tied an interspatial pouch under Dabao's neck to let him collect the valuables. Dabao was now in the Late Blood Condensation Realm; he had become increasingly smart but also miserly. As long as the item was emitting spiritual energy, he would collect it no matter what. Hence, Lu Ping gave Dabao a large enough interspatial pouch to accommodate his collections.

At this time, Lu Ping was nearly 30 feet deep into the ice, causing the ice cave excavation to become increasingly difficult. Even with Lu Ping's exceptional cultivation base, the consumption of his true energy still made him feel helpless.

Fortunately, the deeper he traversed, the older the ice was. After countless years had passed, many pieces of ice had mutated and coalesced into valuable spirit materials. Furthermore, the quality and quantity of these spirit materials increased the deeper Lu Ping went.

At this level, the spirit materials were good enough to be used to refine mid-grade and high-grade mystic instruments.

Eventually, when they reached 40 feet deep, Dabao started to direct Lu Ping to change their course from time to time so that he could collect the spirit materials in the ice layer. So far, their gains were already a huge fortune for any Late Blood Condensation Realm disciples and would even be a considerable amount of wealth for Early Core Forging Realm cultivators.

However, Lu Ping, who was already very wealthy and had seen far more valuable items, wasn't moved. After all, these gains weren't even close to the worth of a wonder item.

Lu Ping was only shocked by the number and quality of the spirit materials present.

According to the information he knew, there was a large spirit stone mine and a medium spirit vein here on the island. Additionally, the abundance of spiritual energy trapped in the ice layer had also resulted in another spirit mine in the ice layer.

This spirit mine was the product of mutated ice that had been transformed into various kinds of spirit materials. But because of the variety of spirit materials, the formationists were unable to determine the worth of this particular spirit material mine.

In order to avoid bumping into the other Enlightened Masters, Lu Ping had deliberately chosen somewhere at the edge of the island. In other words, he was nowhere close to the large spirit stone mine, medium spirit vein, or the unclassified spirit material mine.

However, the number and quality of the spirit materials he saw here were close to that of a spirit material mine. Suddenly, Lu Ping realized that under Dabao's lead, they had reached another spirit material mine!

According to the formationists, a spirit material mine was a secondary product of a spirit stone mine or spirit vein, so either one of them had to be nearby!

Lu Ping inhaled the cold air around him and calmed down. Because Dabao had been altering their course to collect the spirit materials, the ice cave he had excavated wasn't straight and was instead winding. During this process, Lu Ping had almost run out of true energy.

Half a day had passed, so the Great Ancestors of the sects must have either arrived on the island, or would soon do so, discussing the distribution of the large spirit stone mine's yield. If he didn't return by then, people would be suspicious of his whereabouts.

Lu Ping looked at his current position; the ice cave he had excavated was only a few feet away from reaching the ground. On top of that, there were a few glowing spirit materials in front of him. He mulled for a moment, and then took out a jade bottle and picked out a medicinal pellet from it.

This medicinal pellet was unlike any other pellet; it was crystal clear like a water droplet and shone with a faint blue glow. This was Lu Ping's latest research, a type of pellet that could restore more true energy in a shorter time. But because his research was yet to be completed, the success rate was very low, making them incredibly valuable. As a result, Lu Ping was only willing to use these pellets during critical times.

The deeper they went, Lu Ping's divine revelation was gradually being suppressed by the mutated ice around him. Eventually, they had to rely on Dabao's innate spiritual energy-seeking ability to navigate around instead of his divine revelation.

When they were five feet away from the ground, the blue glow on Lu Ping's hands suddenly glimmered violently, while the excavation also stalled.

Lu Ping's face turned solemn with a hint of joy. Then, he surged his true energy and the glow on his hands shone brighter.

Crack—

As Lu Ping forcefully continued the excavation, the ice around them started to vibrate violently, as if the ice cave was going to collapse at any time. After a few moments, excavation finally resumed at a steady pace. Meanwhile, the timid Dabao was already on all fours behind Lu Ping, not daring to move at all.

Lu Ping didn't seem to mind the shaking ice cave and instead looked closely at the end of the ice cave. Suddenly, a black fog spewed out from the cracks and instantly blew towards Lu Ping.

Lu Ping looked startled. Then, as if he had seen a treasure, he exclaimed happily, "Mystical Ice Ominous Mist!"

Lu Ping's body shook as he activated his aegis energy and blocked the black fog. The black fog wrapped around Lu Ping's aegis energy and formed a layer of black ice that turned him into a black ice ball.

After the Mystical Ice Ominous Mist had spewed out, the ice cave stopped shaking and had even re-consolidated to become stronger and tougher than before.

Mystical Ice Ominous Mist was a peculiar ice even higher in quality than Frozen Ice Essence Water. Although both of them were termed as peculiar ices, neither of them a solid form of ice, instead being a gas and liquid.