Chapter 105 – Completely Defeated
Lu Ping was already cursing at this point. Zhang Wei-Qing knew they were going to lose, but he still insisted on continuing. Lu Ping was now forced to show all of his spoils on Fei Ling Island.
Initially, Lu Ping wondered how to hide a portion of his spoils for himself to use in his cultivation and alchemy practice. But because of Zhang Wei-Qing’s persistence, he had no choice but to take them all out, thereby foiling his plans.
Fortunately, the bet was only limited to resources related to cultivation improvement. If the contents were to include mystic instruments and spirit stones, Lu Ping would probably wail in sadness.
Right now, Zhang Wei-Qing was like a lone wolf cornered on the edge of a cliff. It was his suggestion that forced Xuan Ling Sect to take out their spoils that could’ve been kept hidden, yet in the end, they were still no match for Zhen Ling Sect.
Seeing that half of their spoils were going to be lost to the other sect, Zhang Wei-Qing could already feel Enlightened Master Feng Xu-Dao’s cold and murderous gaze hovering on the back of his neck.
Like a gambler who had lost his mind, Zhang Wei-Qing’s face suddenly contorted, and he carefully took out a jade box that was sealed with a Spirit Sealing Charm.
The Enlightened Masters’ eyes brightened. They were knowledgeable cultivators and so they naturally recognized that the Spirit Sealing Charm was crafted by a Core Forging Enlightened Master. Whatever was in the jade box was definitely a precious item, so they couldn’t help feeling anticipation.
Zhang Wei-Qing’s blood-red eyes stared murderously at Lu Ping who was standing opposite of him, and he said, “This is the final item from our Sect, and the best treasure we found on Fei Ling Island. If you and your sect have anything else that can beat this, then we will admit our loss.”
With these words, he took down the Spirit Sealing Charm and uncovered the jade box. Immediately, the Enlightened Masters exclaimed in shock, and even Enlightened Master Feng Xu-Dao advanced hurriedly a few steps, his expression changing when he saw the item in the box.
“This is…”
“A heaven-and-earth spirit item!”
“A low-grade Mystic-class spirit item, Meteorite Essence Gold!”
“…”
The Enlightened Masters’ exclamations left the clueless Blood Condensation disciples in surprise. Their reactions were already astonishing, but it was the preciousness of a heaven-and-earth spirit item that shocked their senses.
The low-grade Mystic-class Meteorite Essence Gold was gold-element in nature. Although it was one of the lowest ranked, it was still a heaven-and-earth spirit item.
One must know, such an item could allow a Core Forging Enlightened Master to advance from the early stage to mid stage, or mid stage to late stage in their cultivation realm. Therefore, any spirit item was a must-have for an Enlightened Master, and it was very common to see battles break out for the heaven-and-earth spirit items.
This was Zhang Wei-Qing’s trump card, the best assurance he had to change the tide and win this bet!
Enlightened Master Feng Xu-Dao was finally satisfied, he stroked his beard while nodding with a smile on his face. The other Enlightened Masters were almost certain that Zhen Ling Sect would lose the bet, and even Enlightened Master Liu and Enlightened Master Guo started to lose confidence. The value of a heaven-and-earth spirit item was far above any other common valuable!
The only ones who remained calm and collected were the eleven Zhen Ling Blood Condensation cultivators, including Lu Ping and Wei Zi-Heng.
Their calmness was quickly noticed by the Enlightened Masters and the commotion on the field suddenly fell silent, with only some of the Enlightened Masters still chattering.
“These little ones are so calm, could they have something up their sleeves?”
“Unlikely. Perhaps they just don’t know how precious a heaven-and-earth spirit item can be.”
“It’s hard to say. Maybe they also have one with them, that’s why they’re so calm.”
“The heaven-and-earth spirit items are scarce and rare, so it’s already a blessing that the Xuan Ling disciples can find one. But if the Zhen Ling disciples also found one… Then I suppose some Core Forging Enlightened Masters might even be willing to cut down their cultivation levels and join the next Fei Ling Island expedition to do some treasure hunting.”
“Or maybe they have cultivation medicinal pellets for Avatar Realm Great Ancestors?’
“Even more unlikely, and your own tone lacked confidence when you said it. There are only a few types of such pellets in the Avatar Realm. While it is true that they are equivalent in value to heaven-and-earth spirit items, but don’t forget that Fei Ling Island was fully scavenged by the North Ocean Great Ancestors 4,000 years ago. They wouldn’t miss out on anything like that.”
“…”
The Enlightened Masters expressed their own opinions, while Enlightened Master Guo Xuan-Shan had already grown impatient. He said loudly, “Little ones, what else do you have left? Quickly take them out. Otherwise, they are going to take away half of our spoils.”
Zhang Wei-Qing and the rest fixated their eyes on Lu Ping, while the Enlightened Masters also looked forward to the next surprise this Zhen Ling Sect disciple would bring this time.
On the other hand, Lu Ping was busy planning in his mind. A look of contemplation was reflected on his face and seen as a sign of hesitation to the others.
The Enlightened Masters looked at his expression and they naturally thought Lu Ping didn’t have anything comparable to the Meteorite Essence Gold. Enlightened Master Guo Xuan-Shan’s face was the first to change, followed by Enlightened Master Liu Xuan-Ling who turned solemn.
No one had expected the spoils from Fei Ling Island to be this huge, so much so that even the Core Forging Enlightened Masters weren’t willing to give them up. At this point, no matter which sect won the bet, the other sect would lose half of their treasure, worth at least tens of thousands of spirit stones. This was a price that neither Zhen Ling Sect nor Xuan Ling Sect was willing to pay.
Enlightened Master Feng Xu-Dao suddenly said, “Kid, it’s only normal to not have something equivalent to a heaven-and-earth spirit item. After all, not everyone can get their hands on such a treasure; only the virtuous are blessed with such discoveries. But this is a competition between two sects, and you still haven’t shown the spirit herbs you harvested on Fei Ling Island. Are you trying to hide them?”
Enlightened Master Feng Xu-Dao was clearly nitpicking over the situation. When Xuan Ling Sect was losing the competition, Zhen Ling Sect’s spoils were far ahead, even without Lu Ping showing his spirit herbs. Hence, no one had called him out over it.
However, since Enlightened Master Feng Xu-Dao thought their victory was guaranteed, he started aiming for the other’s spirit herbs.
Enlightened Master Guo Xuan-Shan snorted angrily and said, “Old Dog Feng, how shameless!”
Enlightened Master Feng Xu-Dao sneered back at him, “I am merely telling the truth, what did I say that was wrong?”
The Zhen Ling elder gave a cold snort and turned his face away with a gloomy expression.
At that moment, a young voice suddenly said, “Enlightened Master Feng is right. According to you, if our Zhen Ling Sect wins, then half of this Meteorite Essence Gold will also belong to us, is that right?”
The young voice belonged to none other than Lu Ping.
Enlightened Master Feng Xu-Dao’s heart thumped suddenly, and he couldn’t help wondering if Lu Ping really had a treasure comparable to Meteorite Essence Gold. However, he had already taken his stance and voiced out. He couldn’t go back on his words in front of everyone, especially as a reputable Enlightened Master.
But most importantly, he didn’t believe Lu Ping could really take out a treasure comparable to a heaven-and-earth spirit item.
Hence, Enlightened Master Feng Xu-Dao gave Lu Ping a disdainful look and answered, “Of course!”
His statement was direct, showcasing the resolute decisiveness of a Core Forging Enlightened Master that brought him the admiration of his sect’s disciples.
Lu Ping gave a simple nod and added, “Oh, alright. An Enlightened Master is naturally a man of his word.”
And with that, he flipped the interspatial pouch in front of him. In that instant, nearly 7,000 500-year spirit herbs and 120 1000-year spirit herbs appeared in the middle of Zhen Ling Sect’s spoils.
This time, even Wei Zi-Heng, Su Zi-Peng, and the rest of the Zhen Ling cultivators were shocked. They never expected that Lu Ping had harvested so many spirit herbs on Fei Ling Island!
Whereas Enlightened Master Feng Xu-Dao, and the Xuan Ling cultivators like Zhang Wei-Qing, all wore smiles when they saw the great harvest. They knew that Lu Ping’s spoils were huge, but they never imagined it would be this much.
Lu Ping looked at the spirit herbs on the ground and briefly counted them. He suddenly realized that more than half of the spirit herbs were from him.
Fei Ling Island stayed open for eighteen days. In that period of time, the number of cultivators who died from his hands was twenty-three. This meant that he had killed nearly one out of every eight cultivators among the two hundred cultivators that entered Fei Ling Island.
Lu Ping observed the greedy expressions on Zhang Wei-Qing and the others. He turned to Enlightened Master Liu and Enlightened Master Guo and said, “Enlightened Masters, this disciple found an extinguishing fire on Fei Ling Island, but limited by my knowledge, I failed to identify its value. So, I’d like to request the Enlightened Masters’ assistance.”
He then took out the spirit gathering formation chassis he scavenged from the underground room in the Pavilion of Smithery. After Lu Ping’s continued nurturement with a few dozen mid-grade spirit stones, the dying fire candle had doubled in size and was burning vigorously and full of life again.
The moment Lu Ping took out the spirit gathering formation chassis, dozens of divine senses had already wrapped around the fire candle and a few of the Enlightened Masters uncontrollably took a few steps in his direction.
Enlightened Master Guo Xuan-Shan raised his voice and said, “Nice one, boy! You actually found something this good!”
Although Enlightened Master Guo seemed to be talking to Lu Ping, his voice was mainly directed towards the few Enlightened Masters that stepped forward. He appeared in front of Lu Ping in a flash and took the spirit gathering formation chassis in his hand.
Lu Ping knew that the Enlightened Masters would definitely be stirred up as soon as he showed this treasure. Hence, when Enlightened Master Guo came to his side, he didn’t hesitate to hand the spirit fire over directly.
Otherwise, he wasn’t sure if an Enlightened Master would be shameless enough to launch an ambush and kill him in order to snatch the spirit fire.
Those who uncontrollably stepped forward retreated awkwardly while Enlightened Master Liu moved to stand together with Enlightened Master Guo. She said, “Mid-grade Mystic-class Earth’s Core Infernal Fire. Enlightened Master Feng, what else do you have to say?”
Enlightened Master Feng Xu-Dao was already stunned by this dramatic turn of events. And when he heard her words, he angrily flung his sleeves, turned around, and flew off in the direction of Xuan Ling Sect. He was so embarrassed that he couldn’t remain there any longer, not even for a single second.
Enlightened Master Liu didn’t continue to embarrass Enlightened Master Feng. Instead, she turned around and said to Xuan Ling Sect’s last remaining Enlightened Master, “Enlightened Master Lin, how do you think we should divide the Meteorite Essence Gold?”
Smiling wryly, Enlightened Master Lin watched as his furious Senior Brother Feng left him behind. As the only Xuan Ling Enlightened Master on the scene, he couldn’t just leave. Otherwise, their sect’s reputation would be tarnished and seen as hypocrites that would casually go back on their word. If that really happened, how could the Xuan Ling Sect still have the face to stand among the North Ocean sects?
Enlightened Master Lin pondered for a moment. “Enlightened Master Liu, you too know about the characteristics of heaven-and-earth spirit items. Dividing the Meteorite Essence Gold will heavily impair its properties, even making it lose its effects. As such, can you allow me to return to the sect and look for a replacement?”
Enlightened Master Liu knew that it was already a huge victory to force Xuan Ling Sect into submitting in this matter. If she continued to pressure the other, he might just throw out a rubbish excuse and deny the whole affair.
Therefore, she said, “In that case, Zhen Ling Sect will give you the time you need. Enlightened Masters of the North Ocean sects, please bear witness to this arrangement. A month’s time. I believe that Xuan Ling Sect will be able to find a replacement in a month’s time. I trust that with your reputation, you will not fail to deliver your promise.”
Enlightened Master Lin had no desire to stay there anymore. After reaching a compromise with Zhen Ling Sect, he quickly led Zhang Wei-Qing and the rest of the disciples and headed towards Xuan Ling Sect, but not before leaving half of their spirit herbs and medicinal pellets behind.
Zhen Ling Sect had secured a total victory in the bet, while Xuan Ling Sect was completely defeated!