Chapter 177

Zhang Qian had already fainted, except the red swollen bump on his head was especially conspicuous; perhaps the pain had truly reached its extreme, and even in his coma his body twitched from time to time!

Wang Ping calmly retracted his Heaven-Overturning Seal, instantly withdrew twenty li, and smiled narrowly at his opponent.

"His speed is so fast? Is that a dao technique? Why can't I feel even a trace of dao intent fluctuation?" Song Yunzhang asked via divine sense. He is the leader of one of the five teams.

"That crystal seal is no ordinary thing! It seems to have a suppressing effect; no matter how you put it, Zhang Qian is a genius who has grasped dao intent, so even we couldn't dispose of him that easily—missing the first strike is understandable, but he should have reacted by the second, yet you've all seen his performance." Mu Ying explained via divine sense.

Mu Ying explained via divine sense.

For a moment, Wang Ping's strength seemed unfathomable in their eyes; that strength also earned their recognition, so everyone once again tossed out ten jade slips.

This time, Wang Ping examined them for a full half hour before he finally opened his eyes satisfied; this time they gave him something of interest, especially one jade slip whose research on spiritual roots intrigued him greatly, and another was about the understanding of the Five Elements Returning to One, which offered some unique insights.

The rest were actually not bad either, but for Wang Ping they weren't enough; he glanced at Mu Ying and the others, selected five from the ten jade slips, and said:

"I'll trade these five jade slips for one Spirit-Ascending Fruit! If you really have nothing good, I'm leaving! Just a reminder: the effective consumption period of the Spirit-Ascending Fruit is less than five hours left!"

Song Yunzhang frowned and asked: "These are all extremely precious insights that ordinary cultivators could never come into contact with! Yet they're worth only a single Spirit-Ascending Fruit! You're being far too greedy, aren't you?"

Wang Ping calmly said: "You know whether they're precious or not; if it weren't that some of these insights are genuinely useful to me, I might not exchange even one, after all, in terms of value they can't compare to the Spirit-Ascending Fruit."

Mu Ying and the others exchanged glances, finally looked at Wang Ping, and said: "We have dao techniques here! Would you be willing to exchange for them?"

"I already have them!" Wang Ping said!

"It's a dao technique that can be cultivated to the third realm! Or is it a divine-form dao technique?" Mu Ying said.

A dao technique cultivable to the third realm?

Wang Ping kept weighing the balance in his mind: the dao techniques that have been passed down all start at the second realm, with few reaching the third, but in terms of value they can indeed match the Spirit-Ascending Fruit, after all the Spirit-Ascending Fruit is effective only for Golden Core and Foundation Establishment cultivators.

"Which divine-form dao technique is it?" Wang Ping asked.

"It's the divine-form dao technique of the ancient divine beast Bi Fang!" Mu Ying said.

Bi Fang! A fire-attribute divine beast! Wang Ping thought for a moment, nodded, and agreed to the trade.

"What else do you have that I could trade for? Talismans, pills, formations, secret treasures, etc., can all be used for exchange, but the premise is that they must be able to slay a Golden Core–level cultivator—remember, slay, not merely resist—and of course you can also purchase with spirit crystals."

This time Wang Ping relaxed the restrictions, and the subsequent trade went smoothly: six Spirit-Ascending Fruits earned him a talisman capable of blocking the attack of a perfected Golden Core cultivator, a forbidden formation diagram; once successfully refined, if using top-grade spirit stones as the formation's core, a perfected Foundation Establishment cultivator can block a Golden Core cultivator, and a Golden Core cultivator can block a Nascent Soul cultivator—though it requires five top-grade spirit stones.

The other party wanted to exchange this formation diagram for three Spirit-Ascending Fruits, but Wang Ping ultimately acquired it for the price of two.

With three left, he exchanged another for an Enlightenment Pill, which can let a Foundation Establishment cultivator improve their comprehension! When that cultivator produced it, his face showed anguish, but thinking that the Enlightenment Pill could be refined again while the Spirit-Ascending Fruit was hard to come by, he still bore the pain and exchanged it, as long as he used the Spirit-Ascending Fruit to boost his soul potential, later he could ask the clan for another Enlightenment Pill.

With two left, he sold them at the price of fifty high-grade spirit stones each; having spirit stones in hand left him unperturbed, and Wang Ping's face broke into a smile.

In the end, the eight Spirit-Ascending Fruits in Wang Ping's hand were exchanged for five jade slips concerning the Five Elements and spiritual roots, one of which is a Divine Form Dao Technique cultivable to the third realm, a Prohibited Formation Diagram, an Enlightenment Pill, and one hundred high-grade spirit stones!

Both parties were quite pleased; after the transaction ended, Wang Ping was about to leave, but Mu Ying called out to stop him.

"What else do you need, Fellow Daoist Mu?" Wang Ping asked.

Mu Ying said: "Have you, Fellow Daoist, ever been attacked here by a group of black-clad cultivators?"

Wang Ping nodded, and Mu Ying exclaimed excitedly: "This is a hidden force lurking in the shadows; their appearance aims to wipe out all of us human cultivators, so we must unite and overcome this crisis! Since you have appeared here, Fellow Daoist, you must be alone—why not join forces to fight the enemy?"

After thinking it over! Wang Ping still refused; he had too many secrets he didn't want to expose, and he couldn't trust these people.

A flash of azure light appeared on his person, and Wang Ping flew off into the distance, soon disappearing from the sight of the few people.

"Mu Ying! Is he really human?"

Among the leaders of the five squads, Dong He asked with a solemn expression.

Mu Ying thought for a moment and said: "He must be; otherwise why would he trade Spirit-Ascending Fruits with us?"

Song Yunzhang said: "Let's go; at least the person before us is a friend, not a foe, but we should still deal with those cultivators of unknown origin! You say this is the black glove of the hidden mastermind, or are they their own clansmen?"

"Who knows? It's really strange why they would make the Sixth Seal Demon Realm disappear and not release the Demon Emperor's skull; oh well, this isn't something we should worry about now. This time's Land of Reincarnation is a rare tempering for us—we must seize the opportunity!" Mu Ying said.

"Yes!"

On the other side, after flying five hundred li away, Wang Ping landed on the ground and said to the air: "Senior, may I return to the Immortal Palace to cultivate?"

"Yes!" the old man's voice sounded in his ear!

Immortal Realm! Immortal Palace!

Wang Ping bowed to the old man, who smiled and said: "You're about to enter seclusion—you've just come out!"

Wang Ping shook his head and said: "The inheritance I previously received was merely a baptismal process; what comes next is true secluded contemplation."

The old man nodded, pointed a finger, and a jade-green light shield enveloped Wang Ping, saying: "Just stay here and cultivate in peace—no one can disturb you!"

Wang Ping nodded, sat cross-legged, was about to start reading those jade slips, when suddenly he thought of something, looked up and said to the old man: "Senior! If the human race reaches the decisive battle, you must come wake me up! I am not yet capable of breaking through to Golden Core!"

"Understood."

Wang Ping gave a slight smile, affixed a jade slip to his forehead, which contained a description and insights about spiritual roots.

This author believed from the outset that spiritual roots are a trace of the heavenly and earthly principles!

This view was quite novel; at least Wang Ping had never heard it before.

He believed that a cultivator's spiritual root is like a goose's passing leaving an echo, or water leaving a trace—a mark of the heavenly and earthly principles left within living beings before birth!

Such traces dissipate easily; for most people, they vanish completely before the spiritual root is fully formed, which also explains why most humans lack spiritual roots.