Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit

Chapter 326: [Core Substitution Secret Technique]

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There was also a pellet recipe for a Mid Core Forging Realm cultivation pellet called the East Forest Pellet. Lu Ping was overjoyed as this pellet would come in handy for his cultivation in the near future.

The remaining items left in Wang Hua’s interspatial bracelet were spirit herbs and spirit materials produced from the island, and some spirit stones.

After picking out the rare and precious spirit herbs for his alchemy, Lu Ping handed the rest of the spirit herbs to Wu Yan for Yue Jiang-Rui’s alchemy, as well as for some spirit materials to be stored away for future use.

There were also two bottles of Core Forging Realm cultivation pellets which he gave to Hong Ying and Luan Yu as the two of them had the weakest cultivation base of the group. Core Forging Realm medicinal pellets were hard to come by, even with Lu Ping and Luan Yu both being Master Alchemists, they didn’t have enough spirit herbs to concoct any right now.

The spirit stones amounted to 500,000. Naturally, after plundering 3 million spirit stones from the medium spirit vein on Three Clans Alliance’s nameless island, he didn’t value them much. Hence, Lu PIng only kept the high-grade spirit stones and shared them with Luan Yu, while the remaining spirit stones were given to Wu Yan for him to handle.

With that, all of Wang Hua’s possessions had been distributed and put to good use.

…

The next day, Yue Jiang-Rui came to Lu Ping to speak with him.

"Are you sure?" Lu Ping was hesitant as he looked at the calm Yue Jiang-Rui.

"I’m sure. I’ve tried every possible method, the Essence Extension Pellet, Vein Reinforcement Pellet, Blood Extraction Pellet, Seven Step Striped Pellet, Reverie Pellet, and every other type of pellet I can get my hands on, but none of them have worked. This is my only chance, if I don’t do this, I will die of old age just like my teacher and will never become a Master Alchemist."

Lu Ping replied solemnly, "There are many peculiar and special pellets out there, and even greater number of secret techniques; one day, we might find something that can remedy your cultivation base without you having to take a risk. Even if you do succeed, you will exhaust all your potential and there will be no more room for your cultivation base to grow. Furthermore, that cultivation base will inherently not be yours, you won’t be able to fully utilize it and will be relegated to the weakest Enlightened Master."

"I’m an alchemist. My goal is to become a Master Alchemist, what use do I need for combat strength? Furthermore, I still get a couple hundred years extra to live if I succeed, right?"

Lu Ping sighed. The determination in Yue Jiang-Rui’s eyes proved that he could no longer be persuaded. Hence, Lu Ping took out a sealed jade box from his interspatial ring and opened it. Inside, there was a Golden Core engraved with four runes.

It was Enlightened Master Wang Hua’s Golden Core.

Yue Jiang-Rui took the jade box from the hesitant Lu Ping, and smiled, "What’s the matter? I don’t remember seeing you be so stingy before. Are you unwilling to give up this Golden Core? Don’t worry, I will prolong my stay for another ten years. A Golden Core in return for a Master Alchemist’s ten years of service; you’re in luck for coming across such a good deal."

Lu Ping smiled bitterly and shook his head. Yue Jiang-Rui bowed and returned to his cultivation room in the cave-dwelling.

In his early years of cultivation, Yue Jiang-Rui had taken a wrong step leading to irreversible damage to his cultivation foundation. As a result, he could never advance to the Core Forging Realm, putting a hard limit on his alchemy achievements.

Overtime, his awkward situation created a twisted personality; he was extremely jealous of young and talented alchemists, and couldn’t stand to see them surpassing him. This eventually led to the Bet of Cauldron with Lu Ping which he subsequently lost, forcing him to pledge ten years of loyalty.

In retrospect, both Yue Jiang-Rui and Lu Ping were very confident with themselves, one because of experience, and the other because of talent. Lu Ping thought back and realized how his recently smooth cultivation journey had fueled some arrogance; he had to constantly remind himself that there were many people more talented and better than him out there.

What Yue Jiang-Rui was about to embark on now was his final attempt to advance to the Core Forging Realm using a secret technique known as the [Core Substitution Secret Technique]. The key to this method was to fuse someone else’s Golden Core directly inside the heartspace to make it your own Golden Core.

Naturally, this was not the orthodox way of cultivation and it came with numerous downsides. First and foremost, the cultivator’s cultivation journey would come to a halt, forever remaining in the First Layer Core Forging Realm. Secondly, the cultivator would be extremely weak as he wouldn’t be able to use much of the Golden Core’s power.

However, this was still an alluring option to cultivators like Yue Jiang-Rui, whose potential was insufficient to carry them to the Core Forging Realm.

Lu Ping sighed. This was Yue Jiang-Rui’s choice to make and not his, all he could do was wish Yue Jiang-Rui well and give him all the support that he could.

He quickly put the matter aside and began to focus on his agenda. Right now, there were two things that he needed to do, concoct a batch of Core Forging Realm medicinal pellets, and prepare for the Wang Clan’s revenge.

The medicinal pellets were payment in return for the island’s protection formation from Maiden Pavilion.

The Maiden Pavilion was a huge power, even though most of its power was hidden in the dark, Lu Ping could still tell that it was no weaker than the top five sects in the East Ocean. Hence, it didn’t make sense for it to need Lu Ping’s help to concoct medicinal pellets.

After all, Chu Ting was a Master Alchemist, so her teacher, Enlightened Master Mei, was most likely a Grandmaster Alchemist. Speaking of Enlightened Master Mei, she appeared to be at a critical juncture for her breakthrough to the Avatar Realm.

Coincidentally, the timing matched when Junior Martial Uncle Liang Xuan-Feng hurriedly left Silver Sword Island with Enlightened Master Mei’s disciple, Enlightened Master Zhu Xuan-Meng.

Could it be that Junior Martial Uncle Liang left to protect her during the breakthrough? But Maiden Pavilion must have numerous experts as well, so why would he be involved? Hmm… Does that mean there’s someone in the organization that she doesn’t trust, and so she needs him? Or perhaps, rather than an individual, it’s some other faction within the organization?

Lu Ping then remembered that Enlightened Master Jiang didn’t seem to get along well with Chu Ting during the exploration of Chong Xuan’s Dojo, confirming his guess further.

In that case, it would make sense for her to ask for medicinal pellets from me. She can’t do it herself because she is Enlightened Master Mei’s disciple, a Master Alchemist, and also one of the 24 pavilion masters. Her actions are closely watched, so the other faction will immediately know if she concocts the pellets herself. On the other hand, I’m not in the loop and out of their observation, so she can use my pellets to grow her faction without them knowing. What a smart move!

The other reason could also have been that Chu Ting thought that Lu Ping’s alchemy was better than hers.

Lu Ping turned to plan the second agenda. As one of the three Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters in the Wang Clan, Wang Hua naturally had his soul lamp in their main headquarters on Three Clans Island. Hence, it was reasonable to assume that the Wang Clan knew of his death the moment he was killed.

However, it takes five days for an Enlightened Master to travel from Three Clans Island to Ashen Mountain Island, let alone the Blood Condensation Realm cultivators. On top of that, they definitely wouldn’t rashly dispatch their forces without understanding the enemy.

Hence, the Wang Clan wouldn’t take any major action for some time. Meanwhile, the Northern League and Maiden Pavilion would also keep Crystal Palace from reaching its power into the Fallen Rift to help the Wang Clan in this matter.

Additionally, Lu Ping had already set up the island’s protection formation which he had carefully selected. He was confident that it could handle the Wang Clan’s two Mid Core Forging Realm Enlightened Masters.

To be frank, he was taking a big gamble to expand his power here. Everything he had worked for in the East Ocean could be destroyed if things didn’t go to plan. However, he wasn’t afraid because he had come to the East Ocean with nothing, so there was nothing to lose either if he left with nothing.

Of course, he wouldn’t be here in the East Ocean forever. There would come a day where he eventually returned to the North Ocean or even left to go to other continents. At that point, he would leave the power in the hands of Hong Ying, Ye Bu-Qi, and Wu Yan.

Furthermore, Chu Ting and Zhu Xuan-Meng had probably already guessed his background. Although Enlightened Master Mei, Enlightened Master Liu Xuan-Ling, and Enlightened Master Liang Xuan-Feng were seemingly deeply related, Lu Ping didn’t fully trust them and so he wouldn’t rely on them to take care of his power.

Additionally, it was most likely Enlightened Master Mei that was related to Zhen Ling Sect, not Chu Ting. She didn’t seem to have inherited the relationship, or she didn’t care about it, considering that she didn’t hold back from using Lu Ping in her schemes.

Lu Ping passed some of the spirit herbs to Luan Yu, thinking that he would be excited to test out his alchemy now that he had broken through to the Core Forging Realm and became a Master Alchemist.

Although the spirit herb garden was given to Luan Yu to care for, with most of the spaces in Golden House open to him, the lone mountain remained a prohibited area. Lu Ping had too many secrets that he couldn’t trust others with, not even Luan Yu. After all, Luan Yu was only here because of Grandmaster Alchemist Yan Wu-Jiu’s request and the spirit herb garden.

Some of those secrets included the River Inclusion Cauldron, the twelve Primordial Stars that served as his nascent weapons, the Mystical Heavy Water, and the Ninth Rank White Lotus.

At present, his alchemy had also improved, benefiting from his cultivation base reaching the Second Layer Core Forging Realm. Furthermore, he also had the experience of previously concocting the Health Prosper Pellet. Even though it was a close call and he barely made it, the experience still elevated his alchemy to a new stage.

But this time, because he wasn’t concocting the pellets for himself, he naturally didn’t use the Amethyst Royal Bee Jelly, spirit stones, or anything similar to enhance his alchemy. Despite this, he still managed to easily maintain a fifty percent success rate, which back then, was only possible after he used everything he had.

However, Lu Ping was still putting in his best effort as he wanted to take every chance to improve his skills. The reason for that was because the Heart Forging Pellet which he planned to take in the Second Layer Core Forging Realm was much more difficult to concoct than the Health Prosper Pellet.

Additionally, he couldn’t find someone else to do the job for him since the Health Prosper Pellet’s effect was way too appealing. The pellet would cause bloodshed in the cultivation world if the knowledge of it was exposed, and Lu Ping would be hunted down.

This was also why the North Ocean’s Liao Clan had always denied the existence of the Heart Forging Pellet, and why Liao Hu risked his life to enter the Canyon of Sullied Gold to find his ancestor Enlightened Master Liao Ding’s body.

Editor: Immortal BloodRogue