Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
Chapter 10: Overcoming

The moment Lu Ping threw out the blood charms, Yuan Zhan inwardly cursed at his wasteful actions. Even the disciples below the stage were in a furor at seeing the blood charms. They were shocked by Lu Ping’s wealth!

Yuan Zhan’s [Earth Wall Spell] was just from a normal charm; surely it couldn’t withstand an attack from a blood charm? He quickly slapped another [Earth Shield Spell] on his body and simultaneously cast out his one and only high-grade blood charm.

The blood charm turned into a fire dragon and swallowed the fire crow before exploding into bits of fire scattering the surroundings.

On the other hand, Yuan Zhan’s mystic weapon shot out a few sword rays and managed to shatter the [Water Binding Spell], but he wasn’t able to defend himself from the [Falling Stone Spell] anymore.

Three huge stones each weighing more than a thousand pounds rammed against Yuan Zhan’s protective charms and broke through his defenses. Yuan Zhan was forced back in disarray by the irresistible force.

Lu Ping quickly seized the chance to follow up with more attacks. He attacked with sword skills while casting spells with his left hand. A barrage of attacks rained on Yuan Zhan. The speed of casting spells was on par with the swiftness of his sword strikes.

In the center arena, Master Immortal Liu saw Lu Ping taking the upper hand in battle and his spell-casting speed. His exclamation of surprise garnered the other master immortals’ attention.

“He attained the state of “Technique” for spells. How rare!” commented one of the master immortals.

“Sword skill, and now spells. He attained the state of “Technique” for both. Now this complicates matters!” declared another master immortal.

Perhaps Master Immortal Fang was the only one unhappy to see this turn of events. He sneered coldly but kept his expression placid. However, if one observed closely, they would see a look of calculation in his eyes.

Lu Ping now had the advantage, and with his latest attainment in spells, his spirits surged high and he continued to pressure Yuan Zhan with stronger and faster attacks.

On the other hand, Yuan Zhan managed to hold his ground relying on his cultivation base that was a layer higher.

He was angry and annoyed with this sudden change in events. Yuan Zhan initially planned to save his trump card for the later matches with the Ninth Layer disciples but it looked like he had no choice now.

A silver sword appeared above Yuan Zhan’s head, accompanied by the crowd’s exclamations of shock. A flaring ray of silver light extended out from the sword tip, pointing towards Lu Ping.

Immediately, Lu Ping felt a painful sensation on his face as if a sword was poking his skin!

“A mystic instrument! It’s a mystic instrument!” In the midst of the uproar, Yuan Zhan smiled viciously as he infused arcane energy into the long sword.

When Lu Ping saw Yuan Zhan revealing the mystic instrument, his face turned solemn but he wasn’t flustered.

If Lu Ping could own a mystic instrument, so could others.

Lu Ping didn’t stop casting spells at Yuan Zhan. He attempted to stop Yuan Zhan from charging the silver sword while at the same time quietly imbuing arcane energy into his copper mirror.

The battle reached a momentary impasse; the disciples below the arena and the master immortals on the center stage waited with bated breath.

Suddenly, the silver sword above Yuan Zhan’s head disappeared from the crowd’s eyes. It flashed out like a beam of light, heading straight for Lu Ping.

Everyone lamented at this, thinking they could have witnessed a lower cultivation layer disciple defeating a higher cultivation layer disciple. But who would have expected Yuan Zhan to own a mystic instrument?

Just when they thought Lu Ping’s defeat was a sure thing, a loud din could be heard from the arena. The crowd assumed a master immortal had blocked the mystic instrument, only to see a copper mirror hovering in front of Lu Ping, holding back the silver flying sword.

It was a mystic instrument, another mystic instrument!

Seeing that both sides owned a mystic instrument, the crowd went wild with cheers. Even Master Immortal Liu was shocked before quickly feeling elation.

Yuan Zhan had just been thinking that victory was in his hands so he never saw this coming. Who knew that Lu Ping would also have a mystic instrument, and even more so, a defensive one!

Damn it! Yuan Zhan cursed in his heart. He retracted the silver sword and began charging it again for a second strike.

The Blood Refining Realm disciples have no divine sense, so they couldn’t simply wield and control mystic instruments to their liking. Like Yuan Zhan, they could only charge it once and then cast it out in a single direction.

Right now, Yuan Zhan only hoped that his arcane energy outweighed Lu Ping’s in quantity and strength.

Lu Ping mirrored Yuan Zhan and quickly retracted the copper mirror and charged it. At the same time, he quietly readied two high-grade blood charms for his next move.

Then, as Yuan Zhan shot out the silver sword for a second time and Lu Ping used the copper mirror to deflect it, he also released the blood charms.

Yuan Zhan didn’t think Lu Ping had this much arcane energy—it was no less inferior than his and he was in the Eighth Layer. The two blood charms caught him unaware and all he could do was to hurriedly pour his remaining arcane energy into a mystic weapon and shoot it out against the blood charms.

He sacrificed a mystic weapon to counter one of the blood charms but had nothing to guard against the second blood charm. The charm transformed into three wooden spikes as it launched towards him.

Suddenly, a spell was cast from the side, turning into a silver light shield. It deflected Lu Ping’s blood charm as the hosting master immortal announced, “The winner, Lu Ping of Group 7!”

Lu Ping instantly heaved a sigh of relief. He didn’t think he’d be so close to losing the match. Thinking back, he smiled wryly at his naive belief that he could make it into the top 16.

After the match, Lu Ping was naturally congratulated by his groupmates. As it turned out, his match took the longest and was the last to finish. All the other matches were settled long ago.

The matches in the morning were intense. Many strong and formidable disciples revealed their prowess and even mystic instruments weren’t uncommonly seen. There were also some strong disciples matched against each other, resulting in exciting battles that even made the crowd feel sad for the losers.

Whereas two of the “Five Talents”, Zhao Lang and Qian Fei, were matched with the Ninth Layer disciples. Although they both had two mystic instruments each and gave it their all, they were ultimately defeated due to their lack of arcane energy. Among these battles, it was Second Senior Martial Brother Du Feng that defeated Qian Fei.

On the other hand, First Martial Senior Brother Yao Yong’s victory came easy. With just a low-grade mystic instrument, he defeated his Ninth Layer opponent. Yao Yong, who attained both the state of “Technique” for both his weapon and spells, ended the battle cleanly without using a single charm.

Fourth Senior Martial Sister Shi Lingling also defeated a Ninth Layer disciple despite being in the Eighth Layer Blood Refining Realm. She had also attained the state of “Technique” for both her weapon and spells, and defeated her opponent with just a few high-grade charms. At the very least, her victory saved the reputation of the “Five Talents”.

In the end, only four from Group 7 have entered the top 32. They were First Senior Martial Brother Yao Yong, Second Senior Martial Brother Du Feng, Fourth Senior Martial Sister Shi Lingling, and Lu Ping. The rest were all defeated.

Among the top 32, half of them were Ninth Layer disciples and the rest were all strong talents in the Eighth Layer, the only exception was Lu Ping. Hence, he instantly became the center of attention and was viewed as a dark horse by many.

This left Lu Ping, who had always wanted to keep a low profile, feeling a little uneasy.

In the center arena, Master Immortal Liu was also congratulated by many of the master immortals. With the results of four disciples in the top 32, Group 7 would definitely be among the top five groups, regardless of the disciples’ match results in the next round.

Before the fourth round in the afternoon began, Lu Ping suddenly had a bad feeling.

And sure enough, during the matchmakings, the master immortal drawing the lots announced, “Lu Ping of Group 7 and Leng Qian of Group 14!”