Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit Chapter 87

Lu Ping chose the two spiritual fields near his own cave and deliberately gave up the more inferior ones.

After that, Li Zi-Ming took over cultivating the rest of the spiritual fields. Lu Ping soon learned that he handed over the five acres of spiritual fields to his son.

His son's name was Li Yu, a Zhen Ling Side Hall Grade 3 disciple. He was at the Eighth Blood Refining Realm and belonged to Group 19.

The spiritual fields' yields were higher and their growth cycles were shorter thanks to the secret techniques Lu Ping had used on them. The yields added up to more than a few hundred spirit stones a year which was quite a fortune to an ordinary Blood Refining disciple. This would explain Li Zi-Ming's insistence.

But Li Zi-Ming was a Mid Blood Condensation disciple; a few hundred spirit stones was hardly significant compared to the wealth he possessed. So that left Lu Ping wondering: why would Li Zi-Ming behave that way to the point of losing his face?

His question remained unanswered until one certain day, when Yao Yong and Shi Lingling came to visit him on the island. It was then he learned that Li Cheng was Li Zi-Ming's nephew and Li Yu's cousin.

Hence, Lin Sheng, who was Li Cheng's friend, would also be close to Li Zi-Ming and Li Yu. It appeared that Li Zi-Ming had played a role in getting Lin Sheng into the team dispatched to Huang Li Island.

So it was all clear now—the root of this entire mess was obviously Li Cheng.

But Lu Ping didn't have time to pay attention to these insignificant matters. The more important thing to do now was moving the spirit veins from Sheng Tao's spirit garden and the Emerald Sea Spirit Snakes' lair over to his cave-dwelling.

The North Ocean Alliance's discussions were reaching an end. The sects finished their negotiations and were set to dispatch their disciples. Right now, many cultivators had gathered on the islands bordering the monster territory. They were all waiting for the alliance to lift the sea ban so they could march into the monster's seas.

While patrolling the border, Lu Ping took the opportunity to sneak away and prepare his plan. He set up array formations on the two spirit veins and placed the formation chassis in his cave-dwelling. He only had to wait for the right time to activate the array formations and move the spirit veins.

Lu Ping looked at a clump of yellow stone in his hand. The yellow stone was known as the Spirit Stout Stone, a type of spirit material used to forge mid and high grade defensive mystic instruments of the earth element.

Lu Ping found it in the Emerald Sea Spirit Snakes' lair while he was setting up the array formation. The last time he was in the lair, he was focused on harvesting the spirit herbs and overlooked the stone.

But the trip to the Blood Condensation Treasure Vault had taught him many things. So when he returned again, he quickly realized that the lair actually had a Spirit Stout Stone small mine.

This was not a minor fortune and Lu Ping was naturally overjoyed. However, he didn't have the time to excavate the mine himself and he wasn't willing to share it with anyone else. He could only keep it a secret and excavate it in the future.

Soon, the right moment arrived. Zhang Zi-Feng and the other Mid Blood Condensation disciples were summoned back to Xuan Qi Island to learn the sect's attacking plan. Lin Sheng also followed Li Zi-Ming back to Xuan Qi Island. This left five Blood Condensation disciples on the island, with two assigned to patrol duty.

This would be the best opportunity to do it. The Early Blood Condensation disciples had limited knowledge and so the earthquakes wouldn't attract too much of their attention. Lu Ping's only worry was Hu Lili. She was knowledgeable and smart, and she might be able to notice the truth.

However, Lu Ping had saved her before and they were close to each other. He knew her well enough, so he wasn't afraid that she would expose him.

After thinking through the plan in his mind, Lu Ping activated the array formation. A few moments later, Huang Li Island suddenly shook and the islanders ran out of their homes thinking it was an earthquake.

The cultivators on the island also raised their attention. They flew out and patrolled the island's perimeter for any signs of monsters.

After roughly ten minutes, everyone thought it was just an ordinary earthquake and were ready to return to their homes. Then suddenly, the island trembled again. This time, the islanders panicked even more and rushed to any open spaces. They were afraid that their houses would collapse and cause casualties.

In stark contrast to the terrified islanders, Lu Ping was overjoyed inside his cave-dwelling. He stood beside the spring and breathed happily as the spiritual energy in the air gradually thickened.

While Lu Ping was admiring the changes in his cave-dwelling, his cave-dwelling's array formation was triggered. There was a guest coming to visit!

Lu Ping returned to the front hall and closed the stone door to his cave-dwelling. The stone door was sealed with a Blood Condensation spirit-concealing charm he crafted.

As he'd expected, the guest was no one else but Hu Lili.

Lu Ping received her in the front hall and brewed a pot of tea with the spirit spring water. Hu Lili took a sip of the Cloud Inspiring Tea and praised, “Junior Lu sure knows how to enjoy life to be willing to buy spirit teas.”

Lu Ping smiled. “It's just the lowest grade spirit tea. I still have more, I'll pack some for Senior to bring back.”

Hu Lili smiled in return. “Even the lowest grade teas cost a hundred spirit stones for two ounces of leaves. Thanks to you, I finally get to taste them.”

Then, Lu Ping asked, “Senior, what brings you here?”

Hu Lili placed the tea cup on the table and asked, “You've been on Huang Li Island the longest. Have you experienced any earthquakes on the island before?”

Lu Ping knew she would suspect something and he quickly answered, “No, I haven't. But it's normal to have earthquakes near the ocean, so it's not as abnormal as it seems. Is Senior suspecting the monster race?”

Hu Lili rolled her eyes at Lu Ping. “If there's really a monster cultivator that can shake Huang Li Island, then our lives are already in danger. It's strange, this type of earthquake feels similar to certain descriptions in the books. Spirit vein migration, volcano eruption… But I'm not sure which one it is.”

Lu Ping was amazed by Hu Lili's knowledge and he thought admiringly, I could only think of one excuse this whole time but she could think of several in a short duration. I guess this is a good thing for me. This way, she won't be able to figure out which one is the truth.

After sending off Hu Lili, Lu Ping's next move was to slowly move the spirit herbs in Sheng Tao's spirit garden to his cave-dwelling. He had cultivated an acre of spirit garden and there was still a lot of space available. However, an acre was already the optimum size for now as the spirit herbs' growth would affect his cultivation speed.

For the next three days, Lu Ping used his patrol duty to meticulously move the spirit herbs from Sheng Tao's half-acre spirit garden to his cave-dwelling. He grounded the Spirit Stout Stones into fine particles and sprinkled them over the spirit garden, which would help the spirit herbs absorb spiritual energy and shorten their growth cycle.

Most of the spirit herbs were at the Blood Refining Realm and wouldn't take up a lot of space, not to mention that Lu Ping had already used a lot of them in his alchemy. After moving all of the spirit herbs, there was still a half acre of space left in the spirit garden.

Hence, Lu Ping planted the seeds of the Blood Condensation spirit herbs he bought from the market and medicinal pellet store. He carefully cast the growth-stimulating technique on the seeds and watered them with spirit spring water.

Lu Ping no longer had to buy spirit spring water anymore as he already had a spring in his cave-dwelling.

And in order to prevent excessive spiritual energy from leaking out from the cave-dwelling, Lu Ping added a spirit-concealing array formation on top of his cave-dwelling's array formation.

The array formation would trap spiritual energy from leaving the premises. This way, the spirit spring water would turn into ordinary spring water when it flowed out to the river.

Chapter end