Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit - Chapter 344

Chapter 344 – Ouyang Wei-Jian

The [Tri-Pristine True Vision] was already cultivated to the level of a mini divine ability, and while Lu Ping wouldn’t intentionally use it while looking at others, it still enabled him to notice certain subtleties in his surroundings.

Hence, Lu Ping felt strange when he looked at Ai Shu-Tao, as if a layer of shadow was wrapped around him. By instinct, he observed him again with the [Tri-Pristine True Vision] to confirm his identity.

But little did he expect that underneath Ai Shu-Tao’s disguise, he was in fact, a lady cross-dressing as a man!

Suddenly, everything now made sense in Lu Ping’s mind. No wonder Ai Shu-Tao was timid and would behave effeminately at times—she was a girl all this while. Even though Lu Ping had considered this possibility in the past, he couldn’t find any evidence to back up his suspicion.

Ai Shu-Tao was at first happy to hear Lu Ping praise her disguising skill, then her face quickly turned a bashful red. Whereas Ai Bo-Tao stepped forward, clasped his hands and greeted Lu Ping, “It has been years, Brother Lu’s cultivation progress is astonishing. Your fame has spread after the battle at Flying Lightning Island!”

Lu Ping smiled and greeted back, “Brother Ai, please don’t flatter me. I merely fought on par with Enlightened Master Li Xuan-Liang. It was a draw.”

Ai Bo-Tao grinned. “Just as humble as ever. Brother Lu, everyone knows the truth. The title of Water Sword Immortal is a worthy one for you.”

Lu Ping answered amiably, “Brother Ai, enough of that, aren’t you one of the North Ocean Prodigies as well? I’ve heard the Ai Clan has another female cultivator who shares the alias of Ai Clan Twin Stars with you.”

Ai Bo-Tao laughed, pointed at Ai Shu-Tao behind him and said proudly, “Brother Lu, let me make a proper introduction this time. This is my third sister, Ai Shu-Yao. She disguised herself as a man to make it more convenient to traverse the cultivation world alone. Who knew Brother Lu would be the first one to see through her disguise? Your prowess must have improved greatly since your advancement. After all, this art of disguise was personally taught by the Ai Clan’s Great Ancestor, so not even Late Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters can see through it.”

The Zhen Ling Sect disciple who ushered the Ai Clan brother and sister was shocked. He looked at Ai Shu-Yao in awe and murmured softly to himself, “So this is the Ai Clan’s other Twin Star, Rank 77’s Ai Shu-Yao of the North Ocean Prodigies.”

Ai Shu-Yao stepped forward and greeted Lu Ping, “Brother Lu.”

Lu Ping suddenly felt awkward. He’d been treating her like a man all this time, so the sudden change in gender caught him off guard. Although he would need some time to get used to this, he still greeted back, “Young Lady Ai.”

Ai Shu-Yao’s expression changed subtly when she heard Lu Ping change in address, suggesting the widened distance between them.

Ai Bo-Tao noticed his sister’s slight reaction, so he quickly said, “Brother Lu, after the battle with Enlightened Master Li Xuan-Liang, you suddenly rose to Rank 34 among the North Ocean Prodigies. I know for a fact that many were unhappy with your promotion, so they’ll come looking for trouble sooner or later. Perhaps even today at your teacher’s forum, in front of the guests. Come to think of it, today would be a good chance for them to humiliate you and bring shame on your teacher’s face. Be wary, be prepared.”

Lu Ping nodded gratefully, then said with a wry smile, “Thank you for the warning, but Brother Ai, it seems like the trouble you spoke of has already arrived.”

Ai Bo-Tao listened with alarm. He had cautioned Lu Ping out of good will, but didn’t really think his concerns would come true. He quickly looked back and saw two Enlightened Masters walking up the stairway under the lead of a Zhen Ling Sect disciple.

The Enlightened Master at the front was a middle-aged man whom Lu Ping recognized. He was Enlightened Master Lin Xu-Qing who was with Enlightened Master Feng Xu-Dao during the opening of Fei Ling Island.

The second Enlightened Master was a young man and Lu Ping’s old opponent, Enlightened Master Feng Xu-Dao’s official disciple, Ouyang Wei-Jian. His eyes were sharp like swords, staring down at Lu Ping from the first moment he saw him.

As the person in charge of the forum, Lu Ping had to go and welcome them, he greeted, “Greetings to Enlightened Master Lin Xu-Qing, welcome to the forum. Brother Ouyang, how have you been?”

Enlightened Master Lin Xu-Qing nodded back at Lu Ping without answering, then he just walked past them and continued towards Chong Hua Palace on his own. As the older generation of cultivators, and also the next potential candidate for Avatar Realm, Lin Xu-Qing was still far from their reach as of now.

Whereas Ouyang Wei-Jian who was one step behind, paused for a moment when walking past Lu Ping. He turned his head to look at Lu Ping and said, “Water Sword Immortal. Heh, Brother Lu still hasn’t given up swordsmanship yet.”

Lu Ping raised his brows and said, “What’s the matter, is Brother Ouyang disappointed?”

Ouyang Wei-Jian sneered coldly, then walked away to follow Lin Xu-Qing towards Chong Hua Palace.

After the two walked some distance, Lin Xu-Qing suddenly said without turning his head back, “What do you see?”

Ouyang Wei-Jian suddenly put away his provocative expression and answered calmly, “Strange. The [Spiritual Sword Heart] sensed no danger from him. Could the battle be a show put up by Li Clan and Zhen Ling Sect to cultivate his reputation?”

Lin Xu-Qing shook softly, “The sect’s intelligence confirmed the battle to be genuine, Lu Ping and Li Clan are not on good terms. But we cannot rule out the possibility entirely, Li Xuan-Liang’s defeat could be a sign of willingness to concede by Li Clan. After all, his teacher is a Great Ancestor.”

Ouyang Wei-Jian’s expression turned solemn and resolute, “No matter the truth, the challenge will go on. Since my defeat in his hands, I’ve trained day and night, hone my skills and mind. Over the years, I’ve also advanced to Core Forging Realm, fought Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters before, reached the peak of Sword Unity, and cultivated more than one mini sword divine abilities. Finally, it’s time to take my revenge and set things right again. Lu Ping will pay the price with his defeat, he will be humiliated, and the Avatar Forum will be ruined.”

This time, Lin Xu-Qing finally glanced to the back at Ouyang Wei-Jian, then he sneered coldly, “Ruining the Avatar Forum? Who do you think you are? Do not forget your teacher is also a Great Ancestor, even more, he has advanced years before Great Ancestor Tian-Ling; even if you defeated Lu Ping, it will not mean much, that is at most just a small issue to the Great Ancestors. What makes you think your actions can affect the Great Ancestors?”

Lin Xu-Qing’s tone was calm and low, but his words were like nails that have stapled in Ouyang Wei-Jian’s mind.

Ouyang Wei-Jian retracted his expression and said, “The nephew has been presumptuous. Thank you for your caution, junior martial uncle.”

Lin Xu-Qing nodded in approval to see Ouyang Wei-Jian able to recover a sound mind so quickly, then he said, “Lu Ping is not a pure sword practitioner, swordsmanship is not all he learns, there is more to discover about his prowess, such as his alchemy. If you truly want to challenge him, call it a sword play to celebrate the Great Ancestor’s big day.”

Ouyang Wei-Jian’s pace paused for a split second, his expression turned a little reluctant. In comparison to Lu Ping, he was a pure sword practitioner. Hence, limiting the challenge to just the sword skill would just be the same as limiting Lu Ping’s full prowess. But what he wanted was a fair fight with Lu Ping.

Although he knew that Lin Xu-Qing was also cautioning for his own good, the underlying message in Lin Xu-Qing’s caution was that the junior martial uncle also didn’t think he would be able to defeat Lu Ping.

At this time, Lin Xu-Qing looked at the surrounding in surprise, this was the first time there was an expression on his face.

Ouyang Wei-Jian quickly asked, “Junior martial uncle, what’s the matter?”

Lin Xu-Qing pointed at the shore around the small lake, he said, “The plants, they grow weirdly.”

Ouyang Wei-Jian was puzzled, “They are just ordinary spirit herbs, overstimulated to maturity by Zhen Ling Sect to decorate the lake. Such as a waste, overstimulating the spirit herbs result in low spiritual energy contents, not even Xuan Ling Sect would do something like this.”

Lin Xu-Qing shook and said solemnly, “No, not stimulated, I can sense the life force in the herbs, they don’t lack spiritual energy, but full of spiritual energy, much more than the ordinary spirit herbs.”

Ouyang Wei-Jian was shocked, “How is that possible? The spirit herbs each have different maturity periods, it’s not possible to have more than ten thousand spirit herbs mature in the same period. It’s not possible that Zhen Ling Sect’s spirit herb garden has reached an enormous scale that they have excessive spirit herbs growing everywhere, right?”

Lin Xu-Qing didn’t answer and mulled quietly on his own. There was no way Zhen Ling Sect’s spirit herb garden has expanded to such a large scale. Furthermore, if there was a safe and harmless way to stimulate the growth of spirit herbs, Zhen Ling Sect also wouldn’t show it out in public.

Suddenly, the figure of a charming maiden appeared in his mind, and he murmured inaudibly to only himself, “Has she come back…? No, it can’t be. Even if she is back after all these years, there’s no way she will do it for Liu Tian-Ling, let alone in Liu Tian-Ling’s cave-dwelling.”