Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
Chapter 116: Chase and Run

Lu Ping released his last talisman treasure to hinder the five Late Blood Condensation Realm cultivators. Just as he was about to turn around and escape, a Mid Blood Condensation Realm cultivator from Xuan Ling Sect suddenly leapt out from the side.

The Xuan Ling Sect cultivator’s speed was extremely fast and was not any slower than typical Late Blood Condensation Realm cultivators.

A flying sword raced towards Lu Ping with the cultivator's full arcane energy. Lu Ping reacted by casually raising his Water Avoidance Shield. The flying sword collided with the crystal shield, but was only able to cause it to shake, nothing more.

Lu Ping looked towards the direction of the flying sword and saw it came from Zhang Wei-Qing, who had lost to him terribly on Fei Ling Island. At present, Zhang Wei-Qing had advanced into the Mid Blood Condensation Realm and was looking at Lu Ping with a resentful and shocked expression on his pale face.

Lu Ping didn't have time to pay attention to how Zhang Wei-Qing was able to strike faster than Late Blood Condensation Realm cultivators. He hurriedly cast the Auspicious Cloud and disappeared in a flash of bright light, into the night sky.

Zhou Wei-Long and the others looked in the direction Lu Ping had fled, with a complicated look on their faces. They hadn’t expected that even with more than a dozen Mid and several Late Blood Condensation Realm cultivators in an encirclement, they would let an Early Blood Condensation Realm cultivator slip from their hands.

If word got out, they would all become huge laughing stocks.

Zhou Wei-Long said viciously, "My anger will not be quenched without seeing this brat dead. If people find out what happened here, we await endless derision from others in our sects. They will say that we cannot even handle an Early Blood Condensation Realm brat. Damn it! However, the most important thing right now is to escape from Zhen Ling Sect."

Zhou Wei-Long sighed in resentment while the other cultivators also had difficult looks on their faces.

Senior Martial Brother Zhao stepped out from the crowd and said, "All of you have important things to do, but I and my two junior martial brothers are what’s left of our Shui Yan Pavilion. We are alone and have nothing else to worry about. Even if we return to the sect, the sect will only punish us heavily for failing the mission. Therefore, we might as well go on a hunt and kill this Zhen Ling Sect bastard. At least this will quell the flames of anger in our hearts."

The crowd was relieved to see that someone volunteered to go after Lu Ping. After all, it wasn’t an honorable job.

Senior Martial Brother Zhao changed the tone of his voice, "Although I have sworn to kill this brat, but the ocean is vast, we three are really unable to chase and kill him. Therefore, I hope that the Senior Martial Brothers here can send a few Junior Martial Brothers to help us."

Senior Martial Brother Zhao was trying to pressure the crowd. Everyone here was responsible for letting the Zhen Ling Sect cultivator slip from their fingers. Hence, Senior Martial Brother Zhao naturally wouldn’t let Shui Yan Pavilion bear the shame alone, he wanted everyone to share glory and loss together.

The other four Fallen Cultivator leaders were hesitating when they suddenly heard a cultivator from Xuan Ling Sect speak, "Senior Martial Brother Zhou, I am willing to join Senior Martial Brother Zhao to hunt down and kill the escaping Zhen Ling Sect Island cultivator!"

Zhou Wei-Long looked over and saw that the cultivator was none other than Zhang Wei-Qing, who had just used a secret technique to block Lu Ping.

He more or less understood Zhang Wei-Qing's thoughts, "In that case, Junior Martial Brother Liao can go."

When the other three leaders saw that Zhou Wei-Long had made the decision, they also allocated two Mid Blood Condensation Realm cultivators under them to Senior Martial Brother Zhao’s command.

In no time, a total of ten Mid Blood Condensation Realm cultivators, led by the Late Blood Condensation Realm Senior Martial Brother Zhao, went after Lu Ping.

The group chased Lu Ping for tens of miles in the direction he had fled.

Zhang Wei-Qing asked, "Senior Martial Brother Zhao, our vision is blocked by the dark, and the range of our divine senses are limited. How can we identify the escape route of this person?"

Senior Martial Brother Zhao laughed, "Naturally I have come prepared. Junior Martial Brother Wang?"

A cultivator who was wearing a diving suit nodded in response. He took out a big-bellied bottle from his interspatial pouch. With a burst of arcane energy, a stream of water spurted out.

A squid leapt out of the bottle and became three feet large, landing on the sea. From the aura emanating from this squid, it was easy to identify that it had a Early Blood Condensation Realm cultivation base.

Whilst the crowd was still wondering what was going on, they saw Junior Martial Brother Wang take out two jade talismans which had turned white from an absence of any spiritual energy. A sharp-eyed cultivator recognized that these were the talisman treasures Lu Ping had used to delay them.

As there was no spiritual energy in these talismans they were already useless, so the cultivators hadn’t paid them any attention. Hence, the crowd was surprised that Junior Martial Brother Wang had collected the talisman treasures.

Junior Martial Brother Wang threw the two jade talismans at the squid. The squid leaped up and swallowed the two jade talismans in one go. After it fell back down to the sea, it turned around and swam towards the east.

Senior Martial Brother Zhao beckoned the crowd over and explained, "Junior Martial Brother Wang's spirit pet has a special ability. It can track a cultivator based on their scent. These two jade talismans were used by the Zhen Ling Sect cultivator with his arcane energy and so naturally they have his scent. This is the reason why I have the confidence to lead all of you in pursuit."

The group were suddenly enlightened and they praised Senior Martial Brother Zhao for his careful planning.

A month passed. Lu Ping was flying northwest in the eastern waters of the buffer sea.

He suddenly noticed a light coming towards his direction at a great speed.

Lu Ping's face turned bitter.

Here they come again, this group of cultivators seemed to be really determined to wear him down by attrition.

Over the past month, Lu Ping had fought several times with this group of cultivators. Although Lu Ping had wounded a few, he was always unable to kill them as he had been forced by the other cultivators that arrived and so was always forced to flee.

There were even several times when he was almost caught by the Late Blood Condensation Realm Senior Martial Brother Zhao.

Lu Ping's expression was ruthless as he watched the fast-flying light coming towards him. His Soaring Wing Swords twirled and lunged towards the incoming cultivator.

The cultivator who attacked him seemed to be well prepared. He hurriedly summoned a mid-grade mystic instrument that looked like a bronze bell above his head. The bell tightly protected the cultivator inside it from Lu Ping’s flying swords, which were attacking its outer surface.

Similar to a boulder on the beach, no matter how many times the waves pounced on it and submerged it in the sea, it would still always be in the same place after the waves receded.

Lu Ping's heart stiffened at the scene in front of him. He clenched his teeth and an iron stamp seal appeared in his hand.

The cultivator, who was using his full effort to defend, saw the iron stamp seal in Lu Ping's hand and his face turned white. The cultivators who were injured by Lu Ping were all because of this iron stamp seal. If not for the others that quickly came to the rescue, those cultivators would have already been killed. He didn’t think he would be in the same situation as them.

The cultivator couldn't help but turn his head and look at the way he came. If the others who were supposed to meet him didn't come, he would be seriously injured. If that happened, the first thing he would do was to let this Zhen Ling Sect brat escape so that he could live.

But it seemed that even fate didn’t want Lu Ping to escape so easily. When the cultivator turned his head back, he saw two lights flying towards Lu Ping from the sky.

Lu Ping cursed the speedy reinforcements of the Fallen Cultivators!

He quickly recalled Landslide which he was about to use to ram the cultivator. He turned around and quickly escaped to the east.

In actuality, Lu Ping didn't really care about the two Mid Blood Condensation Realm cultivators that came to reinforce the cultivator. If there was enough time, Lu Ping was confident that he could have easily severely injured or even killed one or two of them and still manage to escape.

However, Lu Ping's previous experience taught him that once he was up against three people, they would do their best to entangle him and stall for time instead. As long as they were able to drag him down for a few more moments, there would be additional reinforcements.

If Senior Martial Brother Zhao from Shui Yan Pavilion arrived, Lu Ping would have to use up some of his trump cards in order to escape from an encirclement.

This had happened before. Half a month ago, Lu Ping was sieged by several cultivators and just as he was about to break out and escape, Senior Martial Brother Zhao suddenly launched an ambush.

If Lu Ping hadn't seized a momentary opportunity in time and quickly left, he would’ve been completely surrounded. If that happened, he would have had to pay a hefty price to escape, or worse, lose his life.

The cultivator who had been hiding in his defensive mystic instrument before, saw that Lu Ping was escaping as the reinforcements were arriving. He immediately activated a mystic instrument and struck at Lu Ping in an attempt to stop him from leaving.

Lu Ping turned back, casting his Soaring Wing Swords and damaged the mystic instrument into a broken state. The cultivator's face turned pale, an indication that he was badly hurt, and he quickly got rid of the idea of stopping Lu Ping from escaping.

Hence, the cultivator reactivated his defensive mystic instrument and blocked Lu Ping's escape route to the northwest while waiting for the reinforcements.

Lu Ping was annoyed that there was no opportunity to take advantage of.

At this time, he noticed two more lights coming from the sky, with one of them being very bright and fast approaching.

Lu Ping's heart jumped. He knew that the bright light was none other than the Late Blood Condensation Realm, Senior Martial Brother Zhao.

He quickly gave up the idea of moving past the cultivator and fled to the east instead.

When Senior Martial Brother Zhao and the others arrived, Lu Ping was long gone. Senior Martial Brother Zhao looked at Lu Ping's escape direction and gritted his teeth, "We let him escape again!"

After a while, Junior Martial Brother Wang suddenly emerged from the sea surface and asked, “Senior Martial Brother Zhao, the kid from Zhen Ling Sect is still heading east, should we still chase him?”

Senior Martial Brother Zhao was already furious. When he heard Junior Martial Brother Wang's question, he suddenly said with a fierce face, "Why are we stopping? If we don't kill him, how can we explain to the sect?"

All of them lowered their heads in dejection.

Junior Martial Brother Wang said cautiously, "But further east is the monster race waters, which is a hundred times more dangerous than the buffer sea. Before this, Xuan Ling Sect's Senior Martial Brother Zhou Wei-Long, has repeatedly warned us not to go deeper into the monster race sea.

“Further out in the east, not only holds the rampant monster race, but there is also a rumor that another mysterious force is active there. Recently, this mysterious force has been targeting human cultivators, and is far ruthless than us."

By now Senior Martial Brother Zhao had calmed down.

After listening to Junior Martial Brother Wang's persuasion, he said unwillingly, "So what? The monster race sea is extremely vast and we are also not weak, the danger may not come to us."

Junior Martial Brother Wang eased his tone and continued to advise, "Senior martial brother, Zhen Ling Sect has already launched a purge on us in the buffer sea.

“In addition to our Shui Yan Pavilion, the Fallen Cultivators of the other sects are also suffering heavy losses; despite Xuan Ling Sect’s Senior Martial Brother Zhou Wei-Long, trying to minimize the casualties.

“Therefore, it seems that the loss of our Shui Yan Pavilion is not too great. After all, all the sects have suffered significantly. As a result, the higher-ups in the sect might understand the situation and not punish us too much. Besides, more recently, Senior Martial Brother Zhou has repeatedly urged us to return to reinforce him. If we return late, it would make Shui Yan Pavilion look bad in front of the other sects.”

Junior Martial Brother Wang's last two sentences completely moved Senior Martial Brother Zhao.

The crowd was also secretly happy. They were all exhausted from pursuing the Zhen Ling Sect brat for more than a month.

This Zhen Ling Sect rascal was a freak. Despite just being a Third Layer Blood Condensation Realm cultivator, not only did he run fast, his arcane energy was also extremely profound. They had to chase after him but at the same time, also had to be careful not to lose their lives.

Just as Senior Martial Brother Zhao was contemplating what to do next, an indignant voice suddenly said, "So we let the little bastard go just like that? Don't forget, there are eleven of us - ten Mid Blood Condensation Realms, and one Late Blood Condensation Realm. Yet, for more than a month, we have failed to defeat a mere Third Layer Blood Condensation Realm cultivator. If word about this gets out in the future, how can we still maintain a foothold in our respective sects?"