Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit

"Liu Tian-Ling, you'd better not cross the line! You defeated me in battle last time, and the Zhen Ling Sect obtained a fruitful harvest this time on Ice Frost Island. Do you think I'm afraid of you?"

At the bottom of the valley, in the Frost Hall, twelve Great Ancestors from the North Ocean sat together. Standing behind them were the Enlightened Masters of each sect, watching with their jaws dropped as the Great Ancestors entered a heated argument.

“Feng Xu-Dao lost to Liu Tian-Ling? When did this happen? This is something that would shock the entire North Ocean!”

In fact, the other Great Ancestors present were also very surprised.

Feng Xu-Dao was clearly not very lucky; first Jiang Tian-Lin defeated him and later on, Liu Tian-Ling did the same. It seemed he was no match for the husband and wife.

However, when Liu Tian-Ling became so powerful remained a mystery.

Jiang Tian-Lin and Feng Xu-Dao were crowned as the "North Ocean’s Prodigy Duo". Although Liu Tian-Ling was capable in her own right, she wasn’t as strong as the duo. Compared to Jiang Tian-Lin, who defeated Feng Xu-Dao right after advancing to the Avatar Realm, Liu Tian-Ling caught everyone off guard when she advanced to the Avatar Realm unexpectedly. In fact, many sects from the North Ocean were all secretly praying that Liu Tian-Ling did not advance into the Avatar Realm with a high-tier Golden Core.

However, it seemed like their hopes were crushed. Although Feng Xu-Dao's Golden Core was only a Seventh Grade Golden Core, he had built a strong foundation by absorbing a large amount of precious herbs and materials. Hence, after entering the Avatar Realm, Feng Xu-Dao's strength stood above most of the cultivators at the same level. As a result, no one expected him to be defeated by Liu Tian-Ling.

"How did you do that? What are you hiding, or rather, what is the Zhen Ling Sect hiding?" The gazes of the many Great Ancestors were filled with curiosity.

Additionally, the question troubling the two cultivators from the Xuan Ling Sect had now been answered by this recent revelation. It turned out that the reason for Feng Xu-Dao’s foul mood was because of his recent loss to Liu Tian-Ling.

Liu Tian-Ling noticed that the other Great Ancestors' gazes were filled with a slight hostility towards her, quickly realizing that Feng Xu-Dao was trying to isolate the Zhen Ling Sect by revealing his defeat to everyone. After all, the power and might displayed by both Jiang Tian-Lin and Liu Tian-Ling had drawn jealousy and hostility from the other sects.

Just as she predicted, the Shui Yan Pavilion’s Great Ancestor Cang Li broke the silence, and said, "He's right. The only miniature spirit vein on the island is in the Zhen Ling Sect's possession. The most precious item among the wonder items is also probably in their possession. Additionally, the Frosty Jade Spring in this spirit vein is sufficient enough for twenty water-element cultivators to cultivate their aegis energy. Yet, among the twenty slots, the Zhen Ling Sect has acquired five of them, which seems unreasonable to me."

The Great Ancestors belonging to the Xuan Ling Sect and Hai Yan Sect hurriedly chimed in, expressing their agreement with Great Ancestor Cang Li’s statements. The two Great Ancestors representing the North Ocean’s independent clans and sects remained silent, making it clear that they did not wish to get involved in the conflict between the larger sects.

Liu Tian-Ling was silent for a moment, before replying, "All right, fine. We will give away four of our slots based on a few conditions. Firstly, two of the four slots will be given to the Chong Ming Sect. Secondly, the cultivators of my sect, the Chong Ming Sect, and the Cang Lang Sect will have priority to use the Frosty Jade Spring. Is that a deal?"

Liu Tian-Ling was known for her domineering attitude in the North Ocean. As a result, Feng Xu-Dao thought that even with the pressure from many other Great Ancestors, he would still have to expend a lot of effort to make the Zhen Ling Sect yield. He even went as far as to reveal his defeat to Liu Tian-Ling publicly. However, Liu Tian-Ling gave in easily, making Feng Xu-Dao feel uncomfortable.

Fortunately, he had achieved his goal. The remaining two slots were then distributed to the Hai Yan Sect and the Cang Hai Sect as compensation for the loss of their Mid-Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master to the Ice Shura.

The other request that Liu Tian-Ling made, was disregarded by the Great Ancestors. After all, the newly discovered Frosty Jade Spring was more than enough for twenty individuals to use, so there was no benefit to going first.

The Chong Ming Sect‘s Great Ancestor felt excited. After all, they were the only sect that acquired nothing when the other sects obtained at least one peculiar item. When Liu Tian-Ling proposed giving two slots to the Chong Ming Sect, she was compensating the Chong Ming Sect to a certain degree.

Feng Xu-Dao felt that something was off, but he quickly dismissed his uneasiness after failing to identify its cause.

As for Lu Ping, after he collected his thoughts in the ice chamber, another day passed. By this point, he felt that he would attract unwanted attention if he was still missing. So, Lu Ping left Da Bao in the ice chamber and ordered him to continue mining for high-tier spirit stones. He also instructed him not to touch the intermediate to low-tier stones and ordered him to be extra cautious about the potential presence of an Ice Shura.

After that, Lu Ping turned around and left the ice chamber, leaving a disappointed and confused Dabao.

“As this is just an intermediate-tier spirit vein, there won’t be many high-tier spirit stones. In other words, I have to spend most of my time and energy locating the high-tier spirit stones?” Dabao thought.

Upon recalling the basic to intermediate-tier spirit stones lying everywhere on the ground, Dabao's enthusiasm left him. However, he had no choice but to complete the task given to him.

Lu Ping had no other option. After all, this spirit vein was destined to be submitted to the sect. If the spirit vein was completely depleted by the time he handed it over, it would inevitably make things difficult, and the cultivators from the sect would look down on him.

Upon returning to the sect’s temporary settlement established, Lu Ping received a piece of shocking news from Enlightened Master Xuan-Wei. He learned that after being defeated by Jiang Tian-Lin, Feng Xu-Dao tasted the bitterness of defeat again at the hands of Liu Tian-Ling. This meant that the second-generation cultivators of the Zhen Ling Sect had successfully overwhelmed the Xuan Ling Sect in terms of quantity and quality. 24062

However, when he saw the excitement on their faces, Lu Ping felt indifferent. Although Feng Xu-Dao was on the same level as Jiang Tian-Lin and slightly stronger than Liu Tian-Ling before entering the Avatar Realm, it was natural for him to fall behind after Lu Ping gifted the Core Forging Pellets he acquired in Fei Ling Island to both Jiang Tian-Lin and Liu Tian-Ling. With these pellets, both of them were able to achieve a higher-tier Golden Core, granting them immense power.

Soon after, Lu Ping was summoned to the training chamber by his teacher.

Over the next few days, the many sects from the North Ocean laid out a formation so massive that it covered the entire spirit vein, preventing people from secretly mining from it and making future mining operations easier.

At the same time, the Frosty Jade Spring that they discovered at the bottom of the valley started being used by the cultivators to enhance their aegis energy. How much aegis energy they could consume had nothing to do with their own personal strength. Instead, it was closely tied to the foundation they had laid when cultivating their first aegis energy.

When the Chong Ming Sect, Yu Jian Sect and Cang Lang Sect cultivators were finished with the spring, they only managed to deplete a third of the spring. On the other hand, Lu Ping was the only one that obtained the chance to use the spring in the Zhen Ling Sect.

Initially, the cultivators guarding the lake didn’t pay much attention when it was Lu Ping's turn. However, that soon changed, "He isn’t cultivating his aegis energy! This brat is swallowing the spring entirely! The spring is being depleted at an alarming rate!"

The cultivators hurriedly reported the situation back to their Great Ancestors. Only then did the Great Ancestors realize that Liu Tian-Ling had fooled them. Feng Xu-Dao was so angry that he crushed a precious teacup in his hand when he heard the news. The intensity of Lu Ping's aegis energy surprised many Great Ancestors; it was so strong that it was actually on par with a defensive type spirit emerging mystic treasure.

Standing firm on the lake, Lu Ping unleashed the five layers of his aegis energy, allowing them to slowly absorb the lake before gradually forming a thin layer of silver aegis energy.

As this sixth layer slowly took form, the water beneath Lu Ping started receding rapidly.

"Perhaps many cultivators from the other sects are feeling immense regret right now!" Lu Ping thought happily.

Lu Ping then spent the rest of the day continuing to condense and cultivate his aegis energy.

The amount of water he had absorbed was four times more than the average cultivator. In addition to the first few cultivators, the spring water was now left with just over half its original quantity.

This caused the other cultivators to be on the verge of breaking down, particularly those from the Hai Yan Sect and Cang Lang Sect. Despite receiving the final two slots that the Zhen Ling Sect had given up, they were at the back of the queue. Given that only around half of the spring water remained, they wondered how much they would be able to get their hands on.

With no other options left, the remaining six sects held an emergency meeting where it was agreed that they would take turns using the spring. In the end, only four of the five cultivators from the Xuan Ling Sect were able to use the spring. Additionally, both the Hai Yan Sect and Cang Lang Sect had to each give up one of their slots. Not only did the Hai Yan Sect and Cang Lang Sect fail to maximize their gains after acquiring two additional slots from the Zhen Ling Sect, the Xuan Ling Sect also suffered and lost one of their original slots. But despite his anger, there was nothing Feng Xu-Dao could do.

After the cultivators finished cultivating their aegis energy, the sects started the mining operation of the massive spirit vein beneath the valley. Meanwhile, Liu Tian-Ling had the Zhen Ling Sect establish a new settlement on a mountain at the outskirts of Ice Frost Island. Rumor had it that they had discovered a miniature spirit vein, causing the other sects to curse in jealousy.