Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit

In return for being given a share of the large spirit stone mine, the independent sects and clans had to agree to give up on the remaining resources on Ice Frost Island.

As for the six treasures that the sects had been fighting over, the Zhen Ling Sect and its allies secured three of them, one wonder item and two peculiar items. The wonder item was an Earth-class low-grade wonder item that the Xuan-Sen and Yu Jian Sect representatives worked together to secure.

Since Zhen Ling Sect wasn't the only one contributing to secure these treasures, the three treasures were submitted to Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling to distribute. Although Lu Ping had no idea how four sects would share three treasures, he knew that his teacher would definitely keep the wonder item for the sect.

In any case, Lu Ping’s opinion didn't matter anyway.

A few days later, Lu Ping slipped out of the main camp and returned to the ice mountain he was at previously. He pulled his hands apart and the ice floor moved to the sides, revealing the ice tunnel that he had dug open.

Lu Ping walked in and traveled to the end of the tunnel, where the Mystical Ice Ominous Mist was being trapped. After passing through that area, he let Dabao out to continue excavating and reach the bottom of the ice layer.

Suddenly, he activated his aegis energy and a loud sound as something slammed into it.

Dong—

Lu Ping turned around and saw a white man land behind him after his aegis energy had repelled him.

The white man wore a hideous expression and held a crystal-clear ice dagger in his hand. He growled at Lu Ping, lowered his body, and turned fully transparent, disappearing entirely from Lu Ping's vision.

Lu Ping turned solemn, quickly casting the [Tri-Pristine True Vision] and surveying his surroundings. Suddenly, he pushed his left hand out and a ripple of true energy struck the ice wall.

Bang—

Countless ice shards splintered as Lu Ping trapped the white man inside the ice wall.

"Shura…?"

Lu Ping looked at the white man and asked.

The white man looked back in terror. He struggled heavily, but he couldn't free himself from Lu Ping's control. With each move that the white man made, a wave of cold breath traveled along Lu Ping's true energy. However, it was nowhere close to Shui Wu-Huan's bone-chilling breath, so Lu Ping was unaffected.

Lu Ping looked at the white man, wondering if this Early Core Forging Realm Ice Shura had limited intelligence. Otherwise, why would he only growl meaninglessly?

After a few moments, the Ice Shura's body turned transparent again and Lu Ping quickly cast the [Tri-Pristine True Vision] again. The Ice Shura had morphed itself into part of the ice wall and was trying to move away.

[Ice Escape]?

Lu Ping looked curiously at the Ice Shura, unafraid that he would let it escape. After Lu Ping turned serious, his true energy shattered a path through the ice wall, catching the Ice Shura in mere seconds.

Once again, the Ice Shura growled incomprehensibly after being caught. Lu Ping waved his hand and his true energy pulled the Ice Shura towards him while dispelling the Ice Shura's [Ice Escape] and invisibility spell.

Lu Ping was finally able to get a closer look at his opponent.

This Ice Shura was in the Early Core Forging Realm, yet he hadn’t spoken a single word since the beginning. Either his growl was a language that Lu Ping couldn't comprehend, or he was simply mentally incapacitated.

Secondly, the Ice Shura had no spiritual energy whatsoever, so it was almost impossible to detect him. It was no wonder that the Ice Shuras managed to kill the Cang Lang Sect and Hai Yan Sect disciples so quietly.

However, the Ice Shura had an ominous energy within him, similar to the Mystical Ice Ominous Mist that Lu Ping had gathered in the ice tunnel. 24062

Did the Shuras cultivate with ominous energy instead of spiritual energy? If that was the case, did the Ice Shuras come to Ice Frost Island because of the Mystical Ice Ominous Mist?

While the cogs in Lu Ping’s mind were turning, he didn't let his guard down and wrapped the Ice Shura with layers of his true energy. His intention was to capture the Ice Shura alive and bring him back to the camp.

After a few moments, the Ice Shura realized Lu Ping's intentions and realized that he could no longer escape. As a result, he glared at Lu Ping with eyes that displayed madness while his white skin gradually turned dark blue.

A golden light flashed in Lu Ping’s hand as the Golden Scale Sword stabbed through the Ice Shura's heart.

In his final few moments, the Ice Shura looked at Lu Ping hatefully. Just as its dark-bluish skin was starting to fade, the Ice Shura’s body shook and suddenly exploded.

Fortunately, Lu Ping was prepared. He clapped his hands together and the layers of true energy around the Ice Shura strengthened, containing the explosion and suppressing the noise inside. The explosion only managed to shake the true energy and temporarily disrupt Lu Ping's true energy circulation.

After dispersing the true energy, a bone-chilling breath as well as an ominous energy immediately filled the ice tunnel before quickly seeping through the ice wall and dispersing. However, the explosion and the bone-chilling breath caused Lu Ping to cough for a while.

Lu Ping let out a sigh of relief. If he hadn't stopped the Ice Shura in time, the explosion would have been much more powerful. At that time, whilst he could have kept himself safe, he wouldn't have been able to contain the explosion at all. A huge explosion underground would have alerted the others on the island, resulting in him being no longer able to keep this discovery to himself.

However, a muffled explosion could still be picked up by Enlightened Masters nearby, or even the twelve Great Ancestors on the island. Hence, Lu Ping was forced to contain the explosion using his true energy to only reduce the impact of the explosion to a minimum.

After the Ice Shura self-destructed, his remains, which consisted of ice shards, littered the floor. However, his crystal-clear ice dagger remained undamaged. Lu Ping picked it up and realized that it was actually a Grade 2 spirit material.

When Lu Ping confronted the Ice Shura, he sensed that the danger coming from the dagger was equivalent to that of a mystic treasure. But in his hands, it was just like a normal Grade 2 spirit material. Could it be that the Shuras had the ability to wield spirit materials as mystic treasures?

Lu Ping looked at the ice shards on the floor again to make sure that he didn't miss anything. After that, he walked to the end of the tunnel and continued with the excavation.

At the current depth, Lu Ping was less than fifty feet away from reaching the island's solid soil ground. Dabao couldn't wait to see the ground, ignoring the temptations from the spirit materials in the ice layer and quietly waiting behind Lu Ping.

Crack—

Some time later, as the final section of ice was broken, a brown earth layer was revealed. Immediately, thick spiritual energy rose from the ground.

There really was a spirit vein here; what's more, it seemed to be a small spirit vein!

Without any instructions from Lu Ping, Dabao cast the [Earth Escape] and dived underground.

Meanwhile, Lu Ping continued to break the ice around him to make an ice room. As the ice at this depth had been infused with spiritual energy and condensed for thousands of years, it was incredibly tough to break. Lu Ping had to almost exhaust himself to make the ice room.

IWhilst doing this, Lu Ping found many spirit materials in the ice. Although most of them were average in value, they were still worth a lot in bulk; Lu Ping was certain Dabao would be happy to keep them in his personal mini vault.

However, Dabao still hadn't returned even after Lu Ping made the ice room. Feeling worried, he injected his true energy into the ground.

A few moments later, after receiving Lu Ping’s call, Dabao returned. His eyes glimmered with golden lights as he hopped around Lu Ping excitedly. Dabao didn't even bat an eye at the spirit materials Lu Ping had gathered to the side.

Then, Dabao took out two mini Spirit Gathering Pearls from the interspatial pouch on his neck, causing Lu Ping to pat him on the head. However, that wasn’t all since Dabao continued to smirk happily, much to the surprise of Lu Ping.

Then, Dabao took out five high-grade spirit stones from his interspatial pouch.

High-grade spirit stones? A medium spirit stone mine!? How is this possible?

Lu Ping couldn't believe his eyes. However, the high-grade spirit stones in front of him clearly indicated that there was indeed a medium-sized spirit stone mine right beneath him. Only medium-sized spirit mines and above were able to produce high-grade spirit stones.

Lu Ping took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and mulled. There was no way he could still keep this a secret; his teacher had to know about this and the sect had to know about this. However, it had to be done quietly without anyone else realizing that there was a medium-sized spirit stone mine.

Before today, only the Xuan Ling Sect had the privilege of owning a medium-sized spirit stone mine all for themselves. This was also one of the biggest factors for Xuan Ling Sect's position as the strongest sect in the North Ocean.

If the Zhen Ling Sect was also able to monopolize a medium-sized spirit stone mine, it would only be a matter of time before the Zhen Ling Sect surpassed the Xuan Ling Sect!

However, before he let his teacher and the sect know about the mine, he still had time to reap the most benefits for himself.