Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit - Chapter 450

Chapter 450 – Unexpected Encounter

At the bottom of the ocean, concealed by a massive coral, Lu Ping carefully observed the surroundings.

He turned around and glanced at the snake trio following behind him before turning toward Da Gui. “Da Gui, are you sure this is where Ao Yu’s residence is located?”

Da Gui groaned, “This place looks exactly the same as before. I’m certain of it. Right after this turn, there is a canyon which is where his residence is, but I think it will be difficult to enter. The security is tight, and there are formations safeguarding it.”

When Lu Ping arrived at this place using the hidden teleportation formation outside of Qing Jian’s Residence, Da Gui recalled being brought here by another cultivator and recognized that this was where Ao Yu’s residence was located.

Lu Ping had the snake trio return to their original form so that they could cling onto Da Gui’s shell while he swam toward the residence. Behind them, Lu Ping tailed quietly and steadily.

Suddenly, a disturbance occurred ahead. Understanding that this was caused by Da Gui and the others drawing away the guards’ attention, Lu Ping hurriedly proceeded with his plans. He reached his hand into his pouch and released Da Bao. As soon as Da Bao was released from the pouch, he started feeling horrendous pressure.

Da Bao heaved a sigh of relief after making a yellow shield to protect himself from the pressure, but the shield was being visibly crushed and was not faring well.

Da Bao hurriedly shot a pitiful glance at his master, who then stuffed the Water Repelling Pearl into his mouth.

Instantly, the terrifying pressure vanished and Da Bao returned to his usual lively nature. Lu Ping gave Da Bao a couple of orders before pointing in the direction of Ao Yu’s residence. With his forelimbs, Da Bao gestured at Lu Ping, telling him not to worry and leave everything to him. He

quickly dived into the valley, leaving a surprised Lu Ping. He thought, “Since when was Da Bao capable of supporting his massive body with only his hindlimbs?”

Lu Ping realized that because they were underwater, the buoyancy helped remove some of Da Bao’s weight.

A moment later, Da Gui’s gigantic body emerged and swam toward Lu Ping.

“Where are the snake trio?” Lu Ping frowned.

Frustrated, Da Gui replied, “I couldn’t do anything. They ran into the valley when I distracted the guards.”

Lu Ping recalled that when they advanced into the Core Forging Realm, the snake trio had awakened the innate ability of the Emerald Sea Spirit Snake race – water morphing. This ability allowed them to morph into a stream of invisible water, which they used to sneak into the valley.

Lu Ping shook his head and smiled bitterly. “These three rascals… All they know is how to get into trouble. Get ready to rescue them. Their water-morphing ability won’t last long. The security in the valley will notice them as soon as their ability runs out.”

Shortly after, the roars and wails of monsters echoed in the valley alongside the abrupt explosion of spiritual energy.

Using the chaos as cover, Lu Ping swiftly traversed through the valley, arriving at a bloody scene in no time. A couple of monster corpses in the Blood Condensation Realm were lying on the ground. Using his divine revelation, Lu Ping managed to grasp the snake trio’s situation.

They were heavily surrounded by Monsters. However, the Monsters were not in a hurry to strike them down. Instead, they formed a barricade around them while a mid-Core Forging Realm Monster clashed with the snake trio from time to time. Near the encirclement, a few other mid-Core Forging Realm Monsters were spectating and commenting on the ongoing battle.

Seeing this, Lu Ping’s worries were eased. He could tell that the monsters had mistaken the snake trio for three little younglings that had unintentionally barged into the valley. The fact that the snake trio could morph into human forms at such a young age suggested that they were the descendants of a powerful and noble bloodline. They thought the snake trio were here out of curiosity. With that in mind, the Monsters were not willing to risk offending the descendants of a powerful bloodline.

Although the snake trio were still very young, they had been following Lu Ping around for many years. Using their intelligence and accumulated experience, the snake trio immediately understood the situation. They quickly realized that this was a great opportunity to draw the guards’ attention and reduce Lu Ping’s burden. As a result, they started attacking with greater intensity, pushing back and suppressing the mid-Core Forging Realm Monster despite only having early-Core Forging Realm cultivations.

Yielding their powerful weapons crafted by Chen Lian, the snake trio started emanating a powerful presence. With the massive Dominus Halberd, Lu Hai played the role of a vanguard, leading the charge. Lu Qing supported Lu Hai, filling in the gaps by circling the Monster cultivator with her Howling Gale Whip. Lu Ling’er constantly snuck up on the Monster cultivator with her Iceblight Daggers, using the daggers like her fangs. Her daggers transmitted a chilling freeze to the Monster cultivator, threatening to freeze his energy entirely.

The Monster cultivator fighting against them was swearing and cursing angrily. Despite being much stronger, he found himself unable to fight at his full strength, out of fear that he would injure them. He also realized that the snake trio’s joint attack was far more than just annoying and was actually difficult to deal with. Despite originally attempting to ridicule the three snakes, the Monster cultivator ended up being turned into a laughingstock.

In the meantime, Lu Ping snuck his way deep into the valley while inwardly mocking the irresponsible attitude of the valley guards. After reaching the end of the valley, he discovered the reason why the guards were so carefree.

There was a massive formation. Lu Ping was no formation expert, but after exchanging knowledge with Hu Lili plenty of times, he was no stranger to them either. In fact, Lu Ping’s knowledge and ideas had often given Hu Lili plenty of insights. His ideas were so unique and creative that Hu Lili often felt that his talent would go to waste if he did not become a formation master.

After setting his sights on a residence bathing in shimmering white rays, Lu Ping’s brows curved into a deep frown. He had only seen a formation of this level in the Land of Heritage of the Zhen Ling Sect. Although these formations were usually only partially activated because of the main protective formation securing Tian Ling Mountain, the power they displayed was still shocking. Now, here he was, standing before a fully activated formation, which would render even a Law Avatar Realm cultivator almost helpless.

Concealing himself within the shadows underneath the valley, Lu Ping tapped his finger onto the ground. Da Bao emerged from the ground with a disappointed expression. As expected, the power of the formation meant Da Bao was unable to do anything.

Da Gui sent Lu Ping a confirmation that this place was Ao Yu’s Residence. He told Lu Ping that when he was Liu Hai’s steed, he visited this place when Liu Hai delivered some precious items from the East Ocean to Ao Yu.

While Lu Ping found himself in a difficult spot, loud cheers were erupting in the valley. The fight between the snake trio and the Monster cultivator had come to a close. Right as the Monster cultivator unshackled himself from Lu Qing’s Howling Gale Whip, he was stabbed in his shoulders by Lu Ling’er’s Icelight Daggers, heavily crippling his movement. Exploiting this opportunity, Lu Hai hurriedly lunged the Dominus Halberd forward, bringing it to a halt less than an inch away from his throat.

After cheering, the spectators couldn’t hold back the urge to mock the Monster cultivator for his loss at the hands of three kids, who had only recently advanced into the Core Forging Realm.

After finding no way to deal with the formation, Lu Ping started considering leaving. Suddenly, the formation started rumbling. A moment later, a blinding light emerged, as someone was about to warp through the portal located within the residence.

“Someone is in the compound? Ao Yu is here?” Lu Ping’s heart skipped a beat.

Lu Ping was dangerously close to the formation protecting the residence. Despite wearing the stone armor, the armor was not able to conceal his presence before a high-level Core Forging Realm cultivator.

An anxious Lu Ping recalled the power displayed by the middle-aged cultivator, who was most likely Ao Yu, when he was eavesdropping on his conversation with Xuan-Yin. Lu Ping knew that despite having gotten stronger, he was still far from posing a threat to cultivators like Xuan Yin and Ao Yu.

Back then, Ao Yu might not have achieved a powerful Golden Core, but given that he spoke to Li Xuan-Yin as an equal, the Monster cultivator was definitely a terrifying foe. Ao Yu would be much stronger than Li Xuan-Yin after achieving a higher grade Golden Core.

With a swing, Lu Ping hurriedly slammed Da Bao back into the ground while carefully concealing his presence. He remained hiding in the shadows, worried that any movement would expose himself. At the same time, a water whip appeared in his hand. The reason why he didn’t unsheath the Golden Scale Sword was that it was now in Xuan-Huo’s care. Chen Lian was not confident enough to handle upgrading the sword, so he handed it to his master, Xuan-Huo

The moment the formation was activated, the Core Forging Realm Monster cultivators were alerted. In that split second, be it the Core Forging Realm Monster cultivators or the others, they all stood up straight and turned toward the direction of the residence.

A moment later, when the blinding light faded, a path extending from the residence to the valley’s bottom was revealed. Lu Ping narrowed his eyes. A hint of emerald glowed in his eyes as he scanned the path.

A second later, a young Monster cultivator that looked to be around Lu Ping’s age, walked out. The young Monster was in the Core Forging Realm and looked similar to Ao Yu. Lu Ping heaved a sigh of relief because his presence was not exposed.

Wearing a frown, the young Monster cultivator glanced behind him, as if he had missed something, before focusing his attention back on the disorganized ranks of the guards. He angrily reprimanded, “What is the meaning of this mess?”

The guards fell into silence. The young Monster cultivator scanned around, and when he locked his sights on the snake trio, his expression twisted as he exclaimed, “E-Emerald Sea Spirit Snakes?” The second his voice faded, an intense killing intent locked onto him.