Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit - Chapter 296
Chapter 296 – Surprises
Lu Ping knew right away the shout was not directed at him, but at the laughing Enlightened Master Liang. After all, the attack that came after was far beyond his ability to resist.
The attacker was a Late Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master!
The sea froze below the Flowing Cloud Canoe, and frost began encroaching over the hull. Immediately, the canoe’s speed dropped in an instant.
At the same time, Lu Ping lost control of the dark clouds he had cast using the [Cloud Moving Rain Falling Art]. The raindrops hardened into bits of ice and became a hailstorm, the dark clouds converged towards the center, forming an ice shard hundreds of feet long directly above the Flowing Cloud Canoe!
Enlightened Master Lian’s expression darkened, and he released a flying sword towards the ice shard. But the three-feet-long flying sword was unbearably small and pitiful when compared to the few-hundred-feet long ice shard!
Lu Ping looked at the flying sword and sighed, even though this wasn’t Enlightened Master Liang’s nascent mystic treasure, it was still much higher in quality and power than his Golden Scale Sword.
“Split!”
Enlightened Master Liang commanded, and the flying sword split into eighteen swords. Then, he waved his hands like a musical conductor, orchestrating the swords into eighteen different patterns.
There were the [Breezy Wind Sword], [Clear Wind Sword], [Frosty Wind Sword], [Fiery Wind Sword], [Gushing Wind Sword], [Stormy Wind Sword], [Whirling Wind Sword]…
Lu Ping was dumbfounded to see these sword skills from Xuan Ling Sect’s famous [Dissolute Delightful 18 Swords]!
Furthermore, those eighteen swords were actually made up of seventy-two spiritual sword lights each—that meant a total of 1,1296 spiritual sword lights, which was the peak of Sword Spirituality!
The ice shard didn’t last long under the onslaught of the eighteen swords. Then, Enlightened Master Liang pointed his left hand down and the eighteen swords split into two groups. Nine stayed above them to guard the perimeter while another nine drilled through the frozen sea surface, and the Flowing Cloud Canoe disappeared into the sea beneath the ice.
At the moment the canoe dove under, Lu Ping casted nine hand seals in a row, while Enlightened Master Liang laughed. “Kid, you know quite a lot of things.”
Lu Ping’s mouth twitched and he said, “Nothing compared to Junior Uncle, who cultivated Xuan Ling Sect’s famous sword art to such a high state. Anyone would assume you’re from that sect, even if you tried to claim otherwise.”
Enlightened Master Liang remarked offhandedly, “Only because it’s the Xuan Ling Sect, that’s why I don’t mind using their name to do bad deeds. The other small sects aren’t worth it.”
Lu Ping smirked. “That’s right, Junior Uncle is a natural talent, the other sects are beneath your attention. Junior Uncle, can you teach me that sword art?”
Enlightened Master Liang looked at Lu Ping with amusement. “What’s the matter? You too wish to impersonate a Xuan Ling Sect disciple and implicate them for your actions?”
Lu Ping laughed. “I won’t miss the opportunity if it comes up.”
When one’s swordsmanship reaches a certain stage, it would become extremely difficult to improve by practicing the same thing repeatedly. Hence, Lu Ping would have to expand his horizons, learning as many sword arts as possible, and extract their essences to make up for his shortcomings. Only then could he transcend his swordsmanship into a true sword divine ability!
After knowing Lu Ping’s intention, Enlightened Master Liang promised that he would teach the sword art after they completed their mission in Chong Xuan’s dojo.
A short time after the trio arrived, the other cultivators also reached the two whirlpools. However, just as the two fastest flying mystic treasures tried to enter the whirlpool, the surrounding seawater suddenly rose up and delayed them. Although it was just a short moment, this still gave the trio enough time to widen their lead.
About a thousand feet deep below the sea surface, a dojo was protectively encased inside of a huge light dome. This was Great Ancestor Chong Xuan’s dojo in the East Ocean. From afar, they could distinctly see two huge holes on the south and north sides of the light dome. Clearly, the Sky Cleaving Sword Sect and Crystal Palace had already broken through the array formation.
The trio reached one of the holes on the light dome, and Enlightened Master Liang took a look at the sides of the hole. He said, “Unfortunately, this is the Crystal Palace’s entrance.”
However, the three neither complained or bothered traveling to the other hole.
Although the Crystal Palace cultivators breached the light dome, they didn’t just leave the hole open for the others to freely enter. An array formation had been set up and the hole patched with a light barrier. Of course, the sealing array formation was set up in haste, so it was far weaker than Great Ancestor Chong Xuan’s protective light dome array formation.
Enlightened Master Liang Xuan-Feng changed three sets of seal-breaking techniques in a row. During the third set, the sealing light barrier dimmed and became weaker. Pleased, Enlightened Master Liang casted the technique again. This time, the sealing light barrier was disabled, and they hurriedly entered the light dome.
At this time, the cultivators behind them were catching up to them. Enlightened Master Liang looked back and smiled, then cast the seal-breaking technique in the reverse sequence, which re-activated the light barrier and sealed the hole again!
As soon as the three people entered the light dome, they felt a heavy concentration of spiritual energy in the air.
“This is more dense than that of a medium-sized spirit vein,” Zhu Xuan-Meng said with some surprise, “It seems that Great Ancestor Chong Xuan managed to establish a good place.”
Enlightened Master Liang Xuan-Feng replied, “That is a matter of course. After all, his biggest wish was to revive the sect, how would that be possible without a well-built establishment.”
The three ignored the curses from the cultivators outside the light dome and hurriedly entered the dojo. They traveled for a few moments when Enlightened Master Liang suddenly stopped and said, “Wait. Crystal Palace will surely go after the Purple Garden Fire and Chong Xuan Furnace in the smith room. That means the Heavenly Wind Leaf must be somewhere else. Furthermore, Crystal Palace will surely set up traps and ambushes on their path to slow down their opponents. We need to find another route.”
Lu Ping and Zhu Xuan-Meng nodded in agreement, the latter saying, “Junior Uncle, didn’t you say you have a mini divine ability that provides directions? We can use that now.”
Liang Xuan-Feng shook his head. “This place holds too many seals of considerable strength. The divine ability’s range will be greatly reduced, and unable to penetrate the inner depths of the structures. It will only work inside. We aren’t behind on time, so we will certainly be able to harvest the wealth in the dojo. It’s just a matter of how much we can find. Let’s try our luck on a different route.”
Lu Ping pondered, then he pulled Dabao, who was sleeping, out of the spirit pet pouch. Dabao was woken up from his slumber and found himself in a strange place. There was a huge light dome above them, and many more small light domes in the surroundings.
Liang Xuan-Feng and Zhu Xuan-Meng looked surprised at Dabao, but Lu Ping didn’t care to explain. He said, “Choose a route for us.”
Dabao’s spirit-seeking ability was much stronger than before now that he was in the Fifth Layer Blood Condensation Realm. He lowered his head, sniffed the ground, then ran towards the route opened by the Crystal Palace.
But before he could travel far, Lu Ping swiftly grabbed his whiskers and said, “Dumb boy, not that route!”
Dabao squeaked a few times to protest Lu Ping’s rough actions, and he never mentioned that this route was off-limits! Then, Dabao sniffed again and headed down the pathway to the left.
Liang Xuan-Feng laughed softly and followed, while Zhu Xuan-Meng glanced at Lu Ping with a surprise and trailed after them.
Dabao led the way and suddenly banged on an invisible wall, causing him to squeal in pain. Enlightened Master Liang stepped forward and made a few hand signs—the invisible wall first rippled like water, then calmed down, and its appearance remained unchanged.
Enlightened Master Liang frowned. “The seals aren’t difficult, but it will take time to break. I’m afraid the others will catch up to us.”
Zhu Xuan-Meng pondered and said, “Can we break it by force? Or should we take another route?”
Enlightened Master Liang shook his head. “The seals are all connected to the dojo’s main array formation. Breaking it by force will provoke a response. The other routes will only be the same.”
At this time, Lu Ping suddenly thought of something. He quickly looked at the invisible wall and a strange light glowed in his eyes.
Lu Ping’s action naturally couldn’t be hidden from the attentive Liang Xuan-Feng. His eyes flashed with a trace of surprise, but he didn’t interrupt Lu Ping and quietly watched his next step. On the other side, Zhu Xuan-Meng looked at Lu Ping with contemplation.
Who is he exactly? Why is he also addressing Junior Uncle Liang as his junior uncle?
The glow in his eyes was from the [Enigmatic Clear Vision], the first stage of the mini divine ability, [Tri-Pristine True Vision]. The mini divine ability was taught to him by Hu Lili, and the first stage took him almost a year to cultivate with the Enigmatic Purified Water given to him by the Black Mountain Gang’s lord.
After he successfully achieved the first stage, there was still half a bowl of Enigmatic Purified Spirit Water left, which Lu Ping naturally saved for Hu Lili.
Right now, Lu Ping’s achievement in the [Enigmatic Clear Vision] was still very shallow—he could only see through ordinary illusionary array formations and was still a long way from seeing through complex array formations like this one.
However, the [Enigmatic Clear Vision] still enhanced his vision, and Lu Ping suddenly found that the seals forming the invisible wall appeared rather familiar to him.
Lu Ping turned around and looked at the other two with a strange expression, then he turned back and cast several hand signs. A massive surge of true energy was injected into the seals and the invisible wall rippled violently and parted to the sides.
The trio quickly passed through the invisible wall. Then, Lu Ping turned around and reversed the sequence of hand signs, re-activating the invisible wall to seal the path again.
When met with the surprised eyes of the other two Enlightened Masters, Lu Ping shrugged and said, “I’ve also been to Fei Ling Island before. There, I found a few heritage jade scrolls that mentioned the Fei Ling Sect seals.”
By the time the other cultivators arrived, they were already long gone down the pathway. One of the cultivators murmured, “Strange, where did the three in front of us go? Were they stupid enough to go down the same route as the Crystal Palace?”
