Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit

Chapter 260: Preparations

After coming out of the quiet room, Lu Ping and Qiao Zheng-Yan had a pleasant talk before the gang lord left on his own. Lu Ping naturally knew that his intention was to show their friendship to those observing from afar.

After all, Lu Ping’s charges to those two minions could affect Black Mountain Gang’s reputation. As the gang lord, Qiao Zheng-Yan had to come out and clear up Black Mountain Gang’s name.

When Lu Ping returned, Hong Ying and Wu Yan were looking at him with admiration. Chilian Ying stretched her back alluringly, looking at him with her sleepy yet charming eyes and murmured, “An old fox and a small fox!”

Lu Ping pretended not to hear her, he wasn’t surprised that she could read the situation.

After all, despite her looks and personality, she was the master of five islands in Fallen Rift with nearly a hundred Blood Condensation Realm subordinates. She was far more shrewd and capable than she let on.

Hong Ying stepped forward and asked, “Young Master, what are our plans for the time being?”

Lu Ping thought about it and said, “Find a place to stay, we will be spending some time in the city. I need a place to practice a few secret techniques and also wait for the Alchemy Conference.”

Hong Ying and Wu Yan couldn’t fathom how someone could be as admirable as the young master. Not only did he stay true to himself when facing the Black Mountain Gang Lord, he was also representing the Li Clan in the Alchemy Conference. To them, both the Black Mountain Gang and the Li Clan were strong and powerful forces beyond their reach.

Northern League was originally formed to unite the East Ocean rogue cultivators, to make their voices louder so their interests could be heard. Hence, Qian Yuan City established inns using the large spirit vein’s spiritual energy to repay the cultivators.

“The cave-dwellings have four tiers, ranked by their concentration of spiritual energy. Tier-1 for large spirit veins, Tier-2 for medium spirit veins, Tier-3 for small spirit veins, and Tier-4 for mini spirit veins.”

Hong Ying quickly explained to Lu Ping what he learned about the inns. “If the… four of us are staying in one place, then a Tier-4 cave-dwelling will be enough. After all, we won’t be here forever, so there’s no need to waste spirit stones.”

“What’s the fee?” Lu Ping asked.

“A Tier-4 cave-dwelling costs 300 spirit stones a month!”

“What about the others?”

“The others? A Tier-3 costs 1,200 spirit stones a month.”

Hong Ying knew that the young master was wealthy, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he wanted a Tier-3 cave-dwelling which was similar to a small spirit vein. Generally, the concentration of spiritual energy would be more than adequate; some Enlightened Masters would even set up their clans on small spirit veins.

“What about further up?”

Lu Ping asked casually as he walked.

“Tier-2 cave-dwellings? Well, those are quite expensive, each costs 30,000 spirit stones a month. I heard that only twenty-four of them exist in the entire city. They have the richest source of spiritual energy apart from the Tier-1 cave-dwellings on Qian Yuan Mountain. They say that the Tier-1 cave-dwellings are for Avatar Realm Great Ancestors.”

Hong Ying looked wistful—it seemed that the young master was also feeling envious of these cave houses.

“Oh, so what are the fees for the eight Tier-1 cave-dwellings?”

“They’re not for rent but used as a place of hospitality for Great Ancestors visiting the Northern League. They not only forgo charging spirit stones, they also try to make the Great Ancestors stay in every possible way. “

Hong Ying looked quite proud of himself for collecting such detailed information in so short a time.

“What a pity. Well then, let’s rent a Tier-2 cave-dwelling,” said Lu Ping, who was not short of spirit stones.

“Understood, I’ll set out now.”

Hong Ying turned to leave, but suddenly stopped mid-step, swiveling his head around.

“The young master wants to rent a Tier-2 cave-dwelling…?”

In disbelief, Hong Ying asked, “That will cost 30,000 spirit stones a month, that’s 360,000 spirit stones in one year!”

“Oh, right, I forgot, you don’t have that much on you. Here, I’ll give you 400,000 spirit stones, so go ahead and book the cave-dwelling for a year.”

Lu Ping, still with a calm face, casually handed an interspatial pouch to Hong Ying.

Hong Ying checked its contents; there were indeed 400,000 spirit stones neatly stacked inside. It was only at Wu Yan’s prompting that he came back to his senses and hurriedly left for the inn in Qian Yuan City.

A few moments later, a Black Mountain Gang member approached them. Then, he led them to several spirit herb stores around the city.

Sure enough, whenever their guide hinted that Lu Ping was a Quasi-Master Alchemist, all of the stores would come up with a dozen or even dozens of 1,000-year spirit herbs for him to select. It was a stark contrast to the stores in other cities, which usually had less than five pieces to offer, and were of lower quality.

If the store managers could easily come up with dozens of 1,000-year spirit herbs, then surely the stores themselves had much more in stock. However, in order to keep business going, especially with the expected influx of foreign alchemists attending the Alchemy Conference, the stores naturally wouldn’t sell everything to him.

Lu Ping had just made a fortune, so he wasn’t afraid of running out of spirit stones anymore. Furthermore, he had concocted some Blood Condensation Realm medicinal pellets that he could sell back to the stores. With this in mind, he didn’t hesitate to seize every 1,000-year spirit herb presented to him.

After visiting a few stores, Lu Ping bought nearly three hundred pieces of 1,000-year spirit herbs, including a few rare and precious ones. He decided these would be enough for the time being.

For now, Lu Ping planned to return to the rented cave-dwelling and cultivate the [Divine Sense Transcendence] before the Alchemy Conference started.

When pushed to its limits, Lu Ping’s divine sense could perform like a divine revelation, but only in terms of strength and not in refinement. However, with the [Divine Sense Transcendence], he could finally transcend his divine sense into actual divine revelation, enabling him to use it skillfully.

Under the stimulation of the 400,000 spirit stones, Hong Ying’s efficiency increased tenfold. By the time Lu Ping finished buying spirit herbs within Black Mountain Gang’s territory, Hong Ying had already rented out the cave-dwelling.

The cave-dwelling was spacious, equipped with all the cultivation facilities needed. It even came with its own spirit garden.

After arriving at the cave-dwelling, Lu Ping went straight into one of the cultivation rooms, leaving Hong Ying and Wu Yan to admire the spiritual energy concentration and facilities. Even Chilian Ying couldn’t help but look around with shining eyes.

After the three explored to their heart’s content, they realized that they should take advantage of the high spiritual energy concentration to cultivate. Meanwhile, Lu Ping was already making preparations in the cultivation room.

The [Divine Sense Transcendence] might be extremely difficult for others to cultivate, but the process went quite smoothly for Lu Ping thanks to his unearthly powerful divine sense.

The most difficult and time-consuming step for the secret technique was the compression of divine sense to the level of half-step divine revelation. It was a process that came with extreme pain and could take years to achieve.

But such worries were meaningless to Lu Ping, who could already achieve this step without using the method provided by the secret technique. Hence, he focused immediately on the final step, easily transcending his entire divine sense into divine revelation in just a few days.

Once he succeeded, Lu Ping spread out his divine revelation around him, its range now spanning an entire mile.

Together, Hong Ying’s and Wu Yan’s hearts trembled rapidly—they could feel an overwhelming pressure surrounding them, it was the aura of an Enlightened Master, and it was coming from inside their cave-dwelling!

Chilian Ying looked towards Lu Ping’s cultivation room, deep curiosity brewing in her captivating eyes.

——

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