Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit Chapter 18 - The Mission

After Lu Ping left, he went to the House of Alchemy and changed the herbs into contribution points. Then, he visited the Pavilion of Smithery and exchanged the crude ores and monster materials for more points. Altogether, he had raised his points to forty; ten more points until he could exchange for a mid-grade mystic instrument.

The saying was really true: “A horse never gets fat without grass in the night; a man never gets rich without a side job.”

Half a year passed just like that. It was time for him to leave the side hall and venture into the real world.

In this half a year, with the help of abundant resources and spirit stones, Lu Ping’s cultivation had stabilized in the mid-stage Eighth Layer.

This was ever the way of cultivation. As one’s cultivation level increases, the slower and more demanding one’s cultivation would become. It took an entire year for Lu Ping’s cultivation level to rise from early-stage Eighth Layer to mid-stage Eighth Layer. And this was only because he never slackened his efforts, and further supported his cultivation with plenty of medicinal pellets and spirit stones.

In the past, the sect would release a list of missions for the disciples to choose from. They could either complete the missions on their own or in groups. Most of the missions entailed killing monsters at sea or on islands, harvesting herbs, mining ores, or a variety of other tasks.

However, it was different this year. The Grade 3 disciples would be following their master immortals in a group mission. Other than the Eighth and Ninth Layer inner disciples, the mission would also include several Eighth and Ninth Layer outer disciples to form twenty groups of twenty disciples.

Soon, the groups lined up to enter the teleportation array, yet the disciples still weren’t informed of their mission.

When Lu Ping walked out of the teleportation formation, he found himself transported from the side hall to an island. He could vaguely hear the sounds of waves crashing against the shore.

Group 7—led by Master Immortal Liu—was welcomed by the Zhen Ling Sect’s island manager and they proceeded to take a night’s rest on the island. 

On the second day, they gathered together beside a huge rock. Only then did Master Immortal Liu and the island manager, Master Immortal Du, announce the mission to the disciples.

Master Immortal Liu was expressionless when he glanced over the excited disciples below him. He stiffly revealed, “This place is called Xuan Hua Island, an Arcane-tier island located on the sect’s border. Group 7’s mission lies 500 miles from here across the sea.” 

An outer disciple who was particularly familiar with the geographical locations immediately figured out their destination. He muttered in shock, “Xuan Hua Island? Isn’t that on the southernmost tip of the sect’s ruling sector? So 500 miles further to the south, isn’t that sector ruled by Xuan Ling Sect? Are we…”

The disciple’s face suddenly turned grave.

“Is our mission in Xuan Ling Sect’s territory?”

“Are the sects going to war?”

“X

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