Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit - Chapter 344.2

Chapter 344.2 – Congratulatory Gifts

While the two of them remained puzzled, two fish monsters emerged from the surface of the lake and waved their tails at them as an invitation for a ride.

The fish monsters had been carefully selected based on the guests’ cultivation base. For example, Early Blood Condensation Realm fish monsters were for Early Core Forging Realm cultivators like Ouyang Wei-Jian, and Late Blood Condensation Realm fish monsters were for Late Core Forging Realm cultivators like Lin Xu-Qing.

Lin Xu-Qing and Ouyang Wei-Jian exchanged a glance, and then stepped on the fish monsters, allowing them to be brought towards the mini island in the center of the lake.

The fish monsters swam side by side, with a speed that was intentionally slowed down to allow them to enjoy the scenery.

A lot of guests had arrived in advance in Chong Hua Palace, but because the Avatar Forum had not yet opened, many of them were still on fish monsters, leisurely touring the small lake and appreciating the marvelous view of Tian Ling Mountain.

There were about fifty Enlightened Masters on the lake. From time to time they would bump into Lin Xu-Qing and Ouyang Wei-Jian and they would greet each other politely, but no one stopped to exchange pleasantries. After all, given Zhen Ling Sect and Xuan Ling Sect’s long-standing rivalry, the guests didn’t want to appear too close with Xuan Ling Sect whilst in Zhen Ling Sect’s headquarters.

As time passed, Lin Xu-Qin began to frown. Ouyang Wei-Jian had also noticed something, and said, “Junior uncle, there’s already more than fifty fish monsters, and we don’t even know how many more there are. They’re all Blood Condensation Realm monsters that have been tamed into Dao soldiers. Thirty of them are enough to form a Dao army formation; thirty in the Early Blood Condensation Realm can fight an Early Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master, and thirty in the Late Blood Condensation Realm can even stand against a Late Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master.”

Lin Xu-Qing’s expression turned gloomier after hearing that. As an experienced cultivator, he could see more than Ouyang Wei-Jian. At the level of discipline displayed by the Dao soldiers, the Dao army formation they formed would only be stronger than Ouyang Wei-Jian had predicted.

Suddenly, Lin Xu-Qing thought of something and probed with his divine revelation to the bottom of the lake. However, as soon as his divine revelation approached the bottom, his face changed rapidly and he hurriedly retracted his divine revelation.

Ouyang Wei-Jian saw this and quickly asked, “Junior uncle, what did you find?”

Lin Xu-Qing said helplessly, “Nothing. The bottom of the lake is concealed and protected, it feels like a huge Dao army formation chassis. My divine revelation was blocked by the formation.”

After some time touring the lake, the guests started to gather on the mini island at Chong Hua Palace. In the palace hall, the main seat was naturally reserved for Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling, the other nine seats were for the North Ocean top ten sects, followed by dozens of other seats for the remaining sects, clans, and independents.

There were also hundreds of seats outside of the hall for the uninvited guests that had come. Even though they were uninvited, Zhen Ling Sect still gladly welcomed them and prepared seats for them so that they could also take part in the forum from outside.

Gong… Gong… Gong—

Three gongs reverberated across the whole of Zhen Ling Island, signaling the start of the Avatar Forum!

Then, a disciple stood by the hall entrance to welcome the guests while loudly announcing their congratulatory gifts.

“Ancient Tide Island’s Wu Clan, with nine pieces of 3000-year spirit herbs, congratulates Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling on her Avatar Realm advancement!”

“Million Willow Island, Sunset Cloud Gang, with one piece of mutated spirit material, the Thousand-Year Fire Jade, congratulates Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling for achieving longevity!”

“Cang Lang Sect, with two bottles of half-step Avatar Realm medicinal pellets and nine pieces of 3,000-year spirit herbs, congratulates Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling’s highest achievements!”

…

“Xuan Ling Sect, with one bottle of Avatar Realm medicinal pellets, three bottles of half-step Avatar Realm pellets, one piece of Eternal Joy Fruit, and one palace mystic treasure, Eternal Joy Palace, congratulates Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling’s Avatar Realm advancement!”

Lin Xu-Qing passed the congratulatory card and gifts to the disciple by the entrance, and then walked towards the seat beside Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling, with Ouyang Wei-Jian at his side.

Lu Ping noticed that the representatives from the other nine top sects were the same. They all had one Late Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master and one Early Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master. The Late Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master would be a renowned Enlightened Master with the highest potential of advancing to the Avatar Realm soon, while the Early Core Forging Realm Enlightened Master would be the most talented next generation disciple in the sect.

After observing them more closely, Lu Ping discovered that the other sects, clans, and groups were also the same. Although, compared with the top ten sects, they were undoubtedly weaker and less outstanding.

Soon, the guests all arrived and took their seats. Then, the guests stood up in unison, clasped their hands, lowered their heads, and bowed slightly to welcome the Great Ancestor’s arrival.

Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling appeared on the central seat in the hall wearing her usual palace dress with her typical graceful and elegant demeanor.

The crowd congratulated her once again. She stood up to thank them, and said, “You have come a long way. Chong Hua Palace leads a simple life, and my disciples are also not mindful of many things, so please forgive us if we have mistreated you in any way.”

The crowd returned the pleasantry politely, praising the forum for being well organized and managed.

After that, a buzzing sound was heard as a swarm of bees the size of fists, with gold bodies, and purple heads, flew into the hall. The bees had black charcoal bamboo cups on their heads filled with spiritual teas.

“This… are they Amethyst Bees?”

“Purple heads and golden bodies, what else can they be besides Amethyst Bees? What’s more, they are from a populated swarm.”

“Do they really exist?”

“Look, not only are they tamed, they’re also Dao soldiers!”

“Wait a second, a Blood Condensation Realm queen is required to grow the population of Amethyst Bees. Doesn’t this mean that there will also be a constant production of Amethyst Bee Royal Jelly?”

Almost every high-level cultivator was gathered in Chong Hua Palace today, so they naturally guessed the truth easily. Immediately, the cultivators were surprised and looked at Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling with envy.

Great Ancestor Liu Tian-Ling smiled, and said, “Enjoy the tea.”

Then, the Amethyst Bees landed on the tables beside them and placed down the hot cup of tea.

The guests made a toast. They then noticed that the cups were made out of a mid-grade spirit material, the Black Spotted Bamboo. Furthermore, the bottom of each cup was inlaid with a small piece of Fire Jade to keep the tea warm.

Mid-grade Black Spotted Bamboo Cup with Fire Jade, so this is Zhen Ling Sect! How powerful!

Suddenly, a cultivator exclaimed softly, “Is this the top-grade spiritual tea, Song Phoenix Tea? Rumor has it that this tea has become extinct in the North Ocean, so the leaves can only be found in the East Ocean where the tea trees still grow.”

Immediately, the crowd turned around and looked at Lu Ping, who had just returned from the East Ocean. Needless to say, he must have brought the tea leaves.

“It’s more than just that, the aftertaste that lingers, the sweet fragrance, the faint spiritual energy; the tea has been enhanced with Amethyst Bee Honey.”

Another cultivator, who seemed to have a taste for tea, spoke softly while he held the bamboo cup with both hands like it was a piece of treasure.

At this time, the representatives of the top ten sects looked at each other. Even though they didn’t exchange any words, they still knew that they were all thinking the same thing.

The spiritual tea in their cups tasted much better and had much higher spiritual energy. They could even vaguely sense a tiny increase in their true energy after drinking it. Clearly, it wasn’t Amethyst Bee Honey that was added, but Amethyst Bee Royal Jelly!

Suddenly, a stream of crystal-clear water flowed into the palace hall, placing down a variety of delicacies on the tables.

Second Senior Martial Sister Li Xuan-Ru turned around and quietly whispered to Lu Ping, “Little Ninth, you really are full of creativity, how did you think of something like this?”

Fourth Senior Martial Sister Wang Xuan-Jing, who had been curious this whole time, quickly added, “Little Ninth Brother, can you be honest and tell me how you stimulated the growth of the spirit herbs without affecting their medicinal efficacies? They look and feel as if they have matured naturally!”

Lu Ping laughed, but he didn’t answer the question, and only said, “It must be heaven’s blessing to teacher, a congratulatory gift from nature!”

Great Ancestor Jiang Tian-Lin’s fourth disciple, Enlightened Master Xuan-Sheng, smirked at Lu Ping and teased, “Kid, don’t lie to us. I saw you sneaking around the lake these past few days. I know it’s you, just tell us what you did.”

“I also have a question!” Little Junior Martial Sister Jiang Xuan-Xuan hopped up and added, “Ninth Senior Brother, mother has been taming the Dao soldiers for quite some time already, but they couldn’t cope well together. How did you make them obediently follow your commands?”

Lu Ping only laughed without answering any of the questions, leading them to tease and mock him nonstop. He felt helpless as he couldn’t tell them the real reasons behind any of these things.

The spirit herbs were because of Luan Yu, who he had requested help from. In order to stimulate the spirit herbs to maturity, Luan Yu spent a few days casting his natural ability nonstop, almost exhausting all of his true energy. Till now he was still recovering in the Golden House.

As for the fish monster Dao soldiers, their obedience was because of the snake trio. As royal bloodlines in the monster race, their orders were absolute, so the fish monsters naturally executed the commands precisely. Not to mention that the snake trio were also much stronger and ruthless than the fish monsters which had been living in the lake for their entire life.

Lu Ping didn’t know how impactful the Avatar Forum would be to the guests, but he thought that it would be at least something when he saw the ever changing expressions on Lin Xu-Qing’s face.

At this time, the next agenda was loudly announced, “Now, the Great Ancestor’s disciples will present their congratulatory gifts to their teacher!”