Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit

Chapter 246

NETS – Chapter 246 – Divine Sense Transcendence

Hong Ying paused for a second as if he was considering what to say next.

Ye Bu-Qi was reticent as usual. Nothing much could be gathered from his expression, but the light in his eyes suggested that he was also deep in thought.

By contrast, Wu Yan had lowered his head from a feeling of helplessness, not knowing if he should leave the scene or stay.

Abruptly, Hong Ying stared at Ye Bu-Qi, saying in a low voice, “Flying Rainbow Island’s Chilian Ying, rumored to be an exile from a large sect. They say she’s the strongest among the twenty-seven mini island masters, and some have even claimed she survived an Enlightened Master’s pursuit.

“You and your brothers, on the other hand, fight evenly against her under the Egocentric Spatial Battle Formation. Yet, in the two days the young master was gone, you came willingly to serve. Why is that?”

Ye Bu-Qi stared wordlessly back at Hong Ying.

Hong Ying pressed on, “Is it because the young master is an Enlightened Master?”

Alarmed, Wu Yan quickly lifted his head, glanced at Hong Ying, then turned to stare at Ye Bu-Qi. There was an inexplicable excitement that filled his eyes which had been diffident the entire time.

Ye Bu-Qi’s pupils suddenly dilated, as if engulfed in a tide of memories. Moments later, his eyes returned to normal and he said coldly, “The young master is not an Enlightened Master.”

After that, he left without saying goodbye.

But the other two failed to glimpse Ye Bu-Qi’s expression as he turned away, a trace of doubt in his eyes—even he himself questioned his answer.

Wu Yan lowered his head again in disappointment, while Hong Ying looked thoughtfully at Ye Bu-Qi before leaving in the other direction.

The downcast Wu Yan stood dumbly for a long time, at a complete loss for words. Then, suddenly, he slapped his forehead as he recalled the task given to him by Lu Ping and he hurriedly walked away.

In the cave-dwelling, Lu Ping opened his eyes. His eyes were like deep, unfathomable pools of water gleaming in the dark night. The corner of his mouth curved up slightly into a faint smile.

Then, he closed his eyes again and began to cultivate.

…

Two days later, Lu Ping took out a piece of dark wood from his interspatial ring. In less than a year from now, the Alchemy Conference would be held, so he figured he should make some early preparations.

Lu Ping had owned this piece of Soul Nurturing Wood for years now. It came to his possession after exchanging Core Forging Pellets with Enlightened Master Jiang Xuan-Lin.

Since then, he’d used it to cultivate the [Divine Separation Technique]. For years, he endured the enormous pain and suffering caused by the separation of his divine sense.

From the start, his divine sense was twice as strong and could extend further than his peers. In order to maintain this advantage, Lu Ping came decided to cultivate three secret techniques that could further enhance his divine sense.

The [Divine Furtherance Technique] was a straightforward cultivation; it increased his divine sense’s range by a third.

The [Divine Expansion Technique] had to be cultivated with Divine Expansion Pellets which were only concocted recently; it increased his divine sense’s range by another three hundred feet.

The [Divine Separation Technique] needed a Soul Nurturing Wood as a medium to store the separated divine sense; it was expected to increase his divine sense’s range by almost a thousand feet.

Another month passed for Lu Ping to cultivate the [Divine Separation Technique] to its fullest and to absorb the stored divine sense into the wood.

Once completed, Lu Ping’s divine sense range increased by almost a full mile. This was a range that only Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters could accomplish, yet, he had achieved it.

The enormous wave of divine sense spanned out for a mile around him, suppressing the cultivators on Wave Listening Island as chills ran down their spines.

Even though the divine sense stored in the wood was his own, he still needed some time to familiarize himself with the newly-added divine sense.

Fortunately, Lu Ping succeeded in remastering his divine sense and quickly pulled it back. But matters quickly fell out of his expectations once more.

As he compressed the abundant divine sense back towards the cave-dwelling, the quantitative change finally led to a qualitative improvement.

A small blue aurora spread above the cave-dwelling, and suddenly, an overwhelming pressure descended on the island.

The Blood Condensation Realm cultivators on the island sensed the overwhelming pressure, as if their instincts were shouting warnings of a dangerous threat.

Meanwhile, many Blood Refining Realm cultivators within the spiritual fields had passed out the moment the overwhelming pressure struck them.

The crushing weight left as swiftly as it came, disappearing in less than a second. The Early Blood Condensation Realm cultivators on the island only felt a chill and an unexplainable rise in pressure.

Oblivious to what had occurred, they thought that perhaps their respective intuitions were warning them of a misstep in their cultivation progress. So, they quickly returned to their cave-dwellings to meditate and consolidate their cultivation base.

The rest of the Blood Condensation Realm cultivators were not on the island; they were out with Hong Ying and Ye Bu-Qi to carry out their respective duties.

Wu Yan was the only Mid Blood Condensation Realm cultivator left on the island. Since Lu Ping didn’t want to be entangled by island affairs, he had appointed Wu Yan to manage them for him.

When Wu Yan felt the overwhelming pressure, he leaped up in fright and gazed, awe-struck, in the direction of Lu Ping’s cave-dwelling.

It was clear that knew the truth of what happened and his thoughts were whirling in shock.

This aura—this is the divine revelation! Is the young master really an Enlightened Master as Hong Ying guessed? But if that’s true, why did Ye Bu-Qi deny it so firmly? Could it be… the young master has just succeeded in advancing?

Wu Yan’s eyes lit up, but quickly denied his thoughts.

Advancing to the Core Forging Realm would be accompanied with a huge vortex of spiritual energy and a phenomenal change of weather, but the sky was still clear and the surrounding spiritual energy calm.

Just when Wu Yan hesitated whether he should check on Lu Ping’s situation, a voice sounded in his ears.

Wu Yan’s expression stiffened up, he bowed in Lu Ping’s direction, turned around and hurried off to carry out the order.

After Lu Ping’s divine sense perceived Wu Yan’s immediate departure, he heaved a long breath of relief. He had to admit, he had acted carelessly.

He was lucky that it happened here on his island. Otherwise, it would surely attract a lot of unwanted attention and trouble, which could turn into a huge mess.

The temporary alteration of divine sense into divine revelation made Lu Ping think of the female cultivator he met in the Li Clan.

Chu Ting, the then Blood Condensation Realm cultivator, had cultivated a secret technique that allowed her to transcend her divine sense into divine revelation before reaching the Core Forging Realm.

Even though the premature divine revelation was weak and incomparable to an actual divine revelation, it was still extremely useful, especially to Blood Condensation Realm alchemists. It could definitely increase their success rate and lower alchemy difficulties.

One might say that Chu Ting’s excellent alchemy and high success rate was very much credited to her premature divine revelation.

By contrast, Lu Ping had no access to such techniques. So, he could only temporarily alter his divine sense into divine revelation by compressing it to its extreme.

Lu Ping had a hunch that this would bring another breakthrough to his alchemy—would he be able to concoct actual Core Forging Realm medicinal pellets then?

Just the mere thought excited him, but now was not the time for alchemy. Especially since he didn’t have many 1000-year spirit herbs left. Furthermore, he only had two recipes for Core Forging Realm pellets.

The first one was Alchemist Sheng Tao’s Golden Marrow Pellet, and the second was from Fei Ling Island.

Suddenly, Lu Ping remembered that he still had several violet jade scrolls sealed with divine revelation in his interspatial ring. Could he uncover the seals and read the contents in the scrolls now?

But after several attempts, Lu Ping gave up in frustration.

The seals were complex and exquisite, thus unsealing them was a matter of delicacy. Sadly, Lu Ping’s temporary divine revelation only had strength but nothing more.

A dark night, scattered stars, calm sea, cold winds, and a blue light flashed out of Wave Listening Island and blended in perfectly with the waves.

…

At this time, the nameless island on the outer perimeter of Three Clans Alliance. Atop the stony slope, a team of Crystal Palace disciples were guarding the entrance to Hundred Flowers Land.

Soon, a shooting light passed by in the sky and the disciples looked at the new arrival.

——