A New Journey, Tempering My Heart Amidst the Mortal World

The morning sunlight pierced through the clouds.

It spilled across the scarred earth.

This had once been a heavily guarded military stronghold.

Now, it was nothing more than a graveyard of steel.

Collapsed communications towers, scrapped tanks, guns twisted into knots.

They silently told the tale of everything that had happened last night.

In the nearby villages, new legends began to spread.

Some said the mountain god had revealed himself and punished every wicked soldier overnight.

Others claimed they had seen a streak of golden light descend from the heavens and reduce the base to ruins.

No matter which version was told, the story pointed to a mysterious powerful expert.

And Lin Xuan, the hero of that story, had long since left.

He walked along a rugged mountain path, his shadow stretching long in the morning light.

With a flick of his sleeve, he left when the matter was done, hiding both his achievements and his name.

In a single night, he had wiped out the base and freed the villagers.

Merit credited, combat power soaring.

The whole operation had flowed as smoothly as clouds and water—nothing short of perfect.

Yet there was little joy on Lin Xuan's face.

As he walked, he examined his own body.

[Divine Soul Combat Power: 666][Physical Body Combat Power: 66]

The numbers on the panel were crystal clear.

They represented unprecedented strength.

The feeling was wonderful.

Yet beneath that immense power lay a hint of discord.

His state of mind had become somewhat restless.

Like an ordinary person who had suddenly won a hundred million.

They might appear calm on the surface, but deep down, the flames of spending had already begun to burn.

Last night, he had faced a hail of bullets with composure.

He had also remained indifferent before the villagers' worshipful kneeling.

That had all stemmed from the powerful confidence granted by the Dust-Cleansing Realm, as well as his foreknowledge of the future.

But when he exchanged all 168 points of merit for combat power and watched the value soar to 666—

A wild joy born from power itself still threw his mind into disarray.

That was human nature.

It was the instinct of living beings when faced with evolution.

But to a practitioner of Nine Tribulations of the Divine Soul, it was a dangerous sign.

The key principles of the general outline flowed through his mind.

Power was the ship.

The state of mind was the helm.

Now, his ship had gone from a dinghy to an aircraft carrier overnight.

But as the helmsman, his mindset was starting to drift.

The ship was sturdy and well-armed, yet its helmsman wanted to race it around and pull drifting maneuvers.

If it truly encountered rough seas, the odds of capsizing would be far too high.

What was more, the storms he would face were no ordinary storms.

They were tribulations of the heart.

After the Dust-Cleansing Realm, heart tribulations could descend at any time.

Facing a tribulation in his current restless state was like being unable to hold a pen steady during an open-book exam.

The outcome did not look promising.

"Looks like using all my merit to raise my cultivation is ultimately the inferior approach. It'll be more stable if I improve alongside insights from the classics."

"That way, I can improve my state of mind and speed up my cultivation. Maybe I can even gain insight into a method for cultivating the physical body. The Daoists all speak of cultivating nature and life together. The gap between my soul and physical body is a little too large right now. I don't know whether it'll cause problems later."

Lin Xuan stopped and looked toward the distant mountain range.

The cultivation of Nine Tribulations of the Divine Soul required more than just the "quantity" of merit.

More importantly, it was the "quality" of one's state of mind.

"Do not abandon worldly ties. The mortal world is the finest furnace for tempering the heart; afflictions are Bodhi, and worldly matters are the application of the Dao."

That line from the general outline had never been clearer to him.

True cultivation was not about retreating into remote mountains and ancient forests.

It was about witnessing every facet of human life and experiencing the seven emotions and six desires.

Then, even after all that, being able to hold fast to one's true heart—that was true freedom and true unfettered ease.

"Eradicating evil is promoting good. Saving people is the same."

Lin Xuan understood.

Killing a villain guilty of countless crimes was saving people.

Pulling a lost and suffering soul, struggling on the brink of despair, back onto the right path was also saving people.

"Cultivation is not yet complete. Comrades must continue striving."

"Keep moving forward."

Lin Xuan made his decision.

Lin Xuan casually picked a direction.

With a burst of force beneath his feet, his whole body drifted forward like a feather.

Mountains, rivers, towns, and buildings sped backward around him.

Just as he immersed himself in the thrill of moving at such speed—

his spiritual perception suddenly caught an unusual aura ahead.

It was unlike the Red Ribbon Army, which brimmed with pure evil and sin.

This aura was twisted.

It was filled with obsession, despair, and delusions that had seeped into the marrow.

It was like a madman had built himself an inescapable prison within his own mind—

tormenting himself day after day.

Lin Xuan continued onward.

The power of his divine soul locked onto the source of that aura.

The image gradually came into focus.

A vast mansion estate entered his field of vision.

Tall walls, neatly trimmed lawns, and extravagant fountains.

Everything proclaimed its owner's wealth.

And the source of that twisted aura lay within a villa in the deepest part of the estate.

Though this aura was not "evil," its degree of obsession and despair was extraordinarily rare.

If this "illness" born from the heart were allowed to fester, it would inevitably bring about a great calamity.

A new "merit event" had appeared in a way he had not anticipated.

Interesting. More merit had come knocking.