Heart Tribulation

"He's a Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator from Ailao Mountain!"

"This time, he came to Great River Market to inspect and maintain the conditions of its various spirit residences. After all, Ailao Mountain had designed and built Great River Market for the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect back then."

"Not only that, but the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion is planning to pay a huge sum to have him redesign and construct a new landmark building."

Hearing Gu Cai Yi talk about this, Luo Chen's eyelids twitched wildly.

Damn it, he was a construction contractor!

No wonder he was so rich, casually handing out low-grade pills and magical artifacts.

But no matter how rich he was, he shouldn't spend Spirit Stones like that!

Facing Luo Chen's confusion, Gu Cai Yi thought for a moment, then tentatively said, "Does he have designs on me?"

The moment she said that, Gu Cai Yi's little mouth fell open, and she grabbed Luo Chen's arm.

"My Great Dao has hope!"

Luo Chen rolled his eyes. "Leaning on a rich patron is shameful, okay?"

A rich patron?

As a cultivator, Gu Cai Yi instantly understood the term.

She gave Luo Chen a hard punch, then thought seriously and muttered to herself, "They say Fei Bai Wen married into another family. He already has a Dao companion, and she's the granddaughter of an Ailao Mountain Golden Core Cultivator. He probably wouldn't dare keep a concubine."

So he was a live-in son-in-law and a phoenix man after all?

She snorted, thought it over carefully, and sighed.

"Forget it. I can't afford to provoke someone like that. Even if he does have intentions, I can't afford to provoke his Dao companion."

"Besides, it isn't what I want."

With that, she prepared to leave.

Luo Chen called after her, "When you come back tomorrow, remember to buy me five hundred Jade Bottles at Auspicious Market. This style exactly. I'll give you the Spirit Stones afterward."

Gu Cai Yi did not even turn her head, merely waving a hand.

Watching her disappear into the distance, Luo Chen sighed and entered the Pill Room again.

"Another failure. Why was the success rate so low this afternoon?"

"Was two batches a day still too much of a stretch?"

Luo Chen, his face smeared with soot, looked at the pile of medicinal dregs he had shoveled out, his spirits low.

One failure meant five Spirit Stones had gone down the drain.

But he was certain he had done well enough!

After cleaning the Alchemy Furnace and tidying the Pill Room,

Luo Chen practiced a few spells in the room. After a quick wash, he went to bed.

He swallowed the few remaining Qi Nourishing Pills and circulated the Evergreen Art.

He felt that his cultivation realm might simply be too low, causing his afternoon success rate to be far inferior to his morning one every time.

Even while cultivating, he carried a trace of impatience.

His eyes were tightly shut, and his breathing followed its peculiar rhythm, though it seemed a few degrees heavier than usual.

"When will these days ever end?"

"Gu Cai Yi really is lucky. People give her pills and magical artifacts, while I have to earn everything myself."

"Did that Foundation Establishment Cultivator really take a fancy to her? She really is quite pretty. Her face isn't as delicate as Xiang Xiang Girl's, but her figure is truly good."

"Why can't a woman like that be someone I, Luo Chen, can possess?"

"Heh, does a Mid Qi Refining Stage cultivator deserve a beauty like that? Unless I go to the mortal world and rot away."

"But with Five Spirit Roots aptitude, can I truly achieve Foundation Establishment?"

"I'm working myself to the bone. If it all amounts to nothing in the end, wouldn't that be a waste of my best years?"

"Perhaps I should take it easier and stop being so harsh on myself."

"Maybe there'll be another transmigration. Then I'll be born a cultivator with Heavenly Spirit Roots, with a pair of mighty parents too. Hehe..."

Wisps of faint fragrance, there yet not there, drifted into his nostrils and sank into his soul.

No, what exactly am I thinking?

Suddenly!

Luo Chen opened his eyes, and a suffocating, oppressive sensation surged straight into his chest.

A mouthful of bright red blood sprayed across the floor tiles.

Staring blankly at that glaring pool of blood, a word surfaced in Luo Chen's mind for no reason at all.

"Heart Tribulation."

A term that was somewhat unfamiliar, yet incomparably fitting.

During his cultivation just now, a great many negative emotions had arisen within him for no reason.

As he circulated the Evergreen Art, those thoughts had nearly caused the spiritual energy within his Dantian to boil.

But shouldn't lofty terms like Heart Tribulation only appear in Golden Core Immortals or Nascent Soul True Persons?

What right did a low-level Qi Refinement Cultivator like him have to encounter such a thing?

Amid his confusion, Luo Chen began actively sorting through his emotions and recalling what had just happened.

Slowly, a trace of understanding came to him.

"Perhaps changing to a new pill refining environment recently has left my body overly exhausted."

"Or perhaps the success rate has failed to meet expectations for too long, and the severe cost losses have made me too anxious."

"Cai Yi's influence on me lately may also have been one or two parts of the trigger."

Luo Chen thought of many things. He even thought of the enormous changes in his values and habits before and after transmigrating, which had allowed him to accumulate many negative emotions.

He had merely suppressed them for the time being through his previous busyness.

When he relaxed somewhat recently, they had gradually been released.

"If I hadn't awakened in time just now, I'm afraid I would have gone astray and died with my Dao extinguished."

Recalling the feeling of spiritual energy boiling and violently coursing through his meridians, Luo Chen felt a wave of terror.

"Thankfully, the Moonlight Grass saved my life."

His gaze fell upon the small, white crescent-shaped blade of grass by his bed, and Luo Chen felt immensely fortunate.

Moonlight Grass had the effect of calming the mind and steadying the soul. The older it was, the better its effects.

It was said that thousand-year Moonlight Grass could even assist Nascent Soul True Persons in cultivation.

Luo Chen did not possess thousand-year Moonlight Grass, but he was only at the Mid Qi Refining Stage.

Just now, it had been precisely the fragrance emitted by this pot of Moonlight Grass that jolted him awake and saved his life.

Shaking his head with a smile, he had unintentionally accepted a favor from Fu Xiu Xiu.

Still, if he told others that he had encountered a Heart Tribulation during the Qi Refining Stage, they probably would not believe him!

After getting up and washing himself, Luo Chen walked outside.

The night was deep and still; all was silent.

Sitting on that tiny child-sized swing, Luo Chen gazed up at the sky full of stars.

"It's nothing more than a few bumps on the road to immortality."

"So what if I have Five Spirit Roots? With enough resources, even a pig can become immortal. Why should I belittle myself?"

"Work hard, strive on, and never rest until death!"

Beneath the starry sky, the man was as humble as dust, yet his heart shone as brightly as the stars.

The next day brought the same tedious matters as always.

Luo Chen had already grown accustomed to them. Especially after last night's Heart Tribulation, his state of mind had become even more peaceful.

Although he still failed that morning, he did not rush the second batch of All Wonders Pills that afternoon.

Rise!

Forming a hand seal, Luo Chen used the Attraction Art, which had already reached the proficient level, to grasp the still-warm furnace lid from afar and slowly lift it.

A familiar, strange fragrance shot into his nose.

Luo Chen gave a knowing smile.

Success!

Unlike the Spirit Iron Pot, pills produced inside an Alchemy Furnace could be condensed into shape under the control of the formation.

Thus, Luo Chen directly used Jade Bottles to collect the ten All Wonders Pills inside.

During the collection process, he rubbed his temple.

Whenever he refined pills in the afternoon before, he would often feel mentally drained in the later stages.

But today, that feeling seemed absent?

Moreover, his spiritual power seemed to have increased.

By roughly double.

"Was this the gain from seeing through the demonic obstruction last night?"

Luo Chen fell into thought.

It was said that when high-level cultivators underwent tribulations, they faced not only external lightning tribulations but internal Heart Tribulations as well.

There could be obsession, demonic obstructions, or even extraterrestrial heavenly demons stirring the human heart.

As long as high-level cultivators endured their internal Heart Tribulations, they would gain unexpected benefits.

Luo Chen knew he had not reached that level, but others would not encounter a Heart Tribulation during the Qi Refining Stage either.

By that reasoning, it really did seem possible.

Naturally, this was a good thing. At the very least, Luo Chen now had greater confidence in refining two batches of All Wonders Pills a day.

Moreover, he had a feeling that this experience might bring unexpected benefits in his future cultivation as well.