An Alchemist's Path to Eternity-Chapter 42: Heart Tribulation

In response to Luo Chen's question, Gu Caiyi answered, "Fei Bowen is a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator from Ai Lao Mountain!

"This time, he came to Dahe Market to inspect and repair the condition of various spirit residences here. After all, Dahe Market was originally designed and built by Ai Lao Mountain for the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect.

"Not only that, the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion also plans to spend a fortune hiring him to redesign and construct a new landmark building."

Hearing Gu Caiyi talk about this, Luo Chen's eyelids twitched.

"Damn, he's a contractor! No wonder he's so rich, casually giving away low-tier pills and enchanted artifacts. But no matter how wealthy, you don't just throw around spirit stones like that!"

Faced with Luo Chen's doubts, Gu Caiyi thought for a moment and tentatively said, "He might have feelings for me?"

As Gu Caiyi said this, her mouth opened slightly, and she grabbed Luo Chen's arm and exclaimed, "My path to Great Dao is within reach!"

Luo Chen rolled his eyes. "Latching onto the rich is shameful, you know!"

Latching onto the rich?

Being a cultivator, Gu Caiyi instantly understood the term.

She gave Luo Chen a firm punch and then seriously pondered aloud, "It's said that Fei Bowen married into his wife's family. He already has a Dao companion, and that Dao companion is the granddaughter of a Golden Core cultivator from Ai Lao Mountain. He probably wouldn't dare take a concubine."

"So, he's just a live-in son-in-law climbing the ranks?"

She snorted, thought for a while, and said with a sigh, "Forget it. Such a man is not to be provoked. Even if he has feelings, I can't afford to offend his Dao companion. Besides, it's not what I want."

With that, she prepared to leave.

Luo Chen called out from behind, "When you come back tomorrow, remember to help me buy five hundred jade bottles from Jixiang market. Just this style, and I'll pay you back for the spirit stones later."

Gu Caiyi didn't turn her head and just waved her hand.

Watching her walk away, Luo Chen sighed and returned to the alchemy room again.

"Failed again. Why is the success rate so low in the afternoon?

"Is trying two times per day too much?"

Covered in soot, Luo Chen stared at the pile of medicinal dregs he had scooped out, feeling dejected. A single failure meant five spirit stones were wasted. However, he was sure he had done everything right!

He cleaned the furnace and tidied up the alchemy room. After practicing a few spells in his room, Luo Chen quickly washed up and went to bed. He took one of his few remaining qi-nourishing pills and began practicing a cycle of the Long Spring Art.

He suspected it was because his cultivation realm was too low, which caused his success rate in the afternoons to lag far behind the mornings. This made him feel a sense of urgency even while practicing.

With his eyes tightly shut, his breathing followed a specific rhythm, though it seemed heavier than usual.

When will days like this ever end?

Gu Caiyi is really lucky. She gets pills and enchanted artifacts as gifts, while I have to earn everything myself.

Does that Foundation Establishment cultivator really like her? To be fair, she's quite attractive. While her facial features might not be as refined as Miss Xiangxiang's, her body figure is undeniably stunning.

Why can't I have a woman like that?

Hehe, a mid-stage Qi-Refining cultivator like me dreaming of such beauty? Maybe if I go and rot in the mortal world. But if I had five spirit roots, is it truly possible to achieve Foundation Establishment?

I've been working so hard, but if it all comes to nothing in the end, wouldn't it just be a waste of my prime years? Maybe I should take it easy and stop being so hard on myself.

Who knows, maybe there'll be another transmigration, and I'll be born with heavenly spirit roots and mighty parents, hehe...

Faint wisps of fragrance drifted into his nostrils, subtle yet profound, penetrating his soul.

"No, what on earth am I thinking!"

Suddenly, Luo Chen opened his eyes abruptly as a suffocating heaviness surged to his chest!

Pfft! A mouthful of bright red blood splattered onto the floor tiles.

Staring blankly at the glaring bloodstain, a word inexplicably emerged in Luo Chen's mind.

"Heart Tribulation." A term that felt somewhat unfamiliar, yet eerily fitting.

During his cultivation practice earlier, a flood of negative emotions had arisen without warning. Those thoughts had nearly caused the spirit energy in his dantian to boil over as he was completing a cycle of the Long Spring Art.

Isn't a lofty term like "Heart Tribulation" something that only appeared among Golden Core cultivators or Nascent Soul sages? How can a low-tier Qi-Refining cultivator like me possibly encounter such a thing?

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Feeling lost, Luo Chen began to gather his thoughts and recall what had just happened. Gradually, a hint of clarity dawned upon him.

Perhaps it's because I've been adapting to a new alchemy setup, which has left my body overly fatigued. It could also be the persistent low success rate and the significant cost losses, which have made me overly anxious.

Maybe Caiyi's recent progress has played a small part in triggering it as well.

Luo Chen thought about many things, even considering the massive changes in values and lifestyle before and after his transmigration, which might have accumulated a lot of negative emotions. They had only been temporarily suppressed because he was busy.

Recently, with some relaxation, they had started to surface.

"If I hadn't woken up in time, I might have fallen into cultivation deviation and died."

Recalling the boiling spirit energy rampaging through his meridians, Luo Chen felt a chill of terror.

"Thankfully, the Moonlight Herb saved my life."

His gaze fell on the pristine crescent-shaped herb by his bedside, and he felt immensely grateful.

The Moonlight Herb had calming and soul-stabilizing properties that would become stronger as the herb grew. It was said that a thousand-year-old Moonlight Herb could even aid Nascent Soul sages in cultivation.

Luo Chen didn't have a thousand-year-old Moonlight Herb, but as a mid-stage Qi-Refining cultivator, this one sufficed. Just now, its subtle fragrance had jolted him awake and saved his life.

Shaking his head with a smile, he realized he had unwittingly owed Fu Xiuxiu a favor. Still, if he told anyone he had encountered a Heart Tribulation at Qi-Refining, they probably wouldn't believe him.

Luo Chen stood up and stepped outside to clean himself.

The night was deep, and all was silent. Sitting on the tiny children's swing, Luo Chen gazed at the vast starry sky and said to himself, "It's just a small bump on the path to immortality.

"So what if I have five spirit roots? With enough resources, even a pig can ascend. Why should I look down on myself?

"Work hard, fight on, and never stop until death!"

Beneath the starry sky, the man was humble as dust, but his heart shone brilliantly like the stars.

The next day was still filled with the same tedious tasks.

Luo Chen had grown accustomed to it, and after experiencing the Heart Tribulation last night, his mindset had become even more composed.

Even though the morning's attempt still ended in failure, he did not rush when refining the second batch of Myriad Wonders pills that afternoon.

Rise!

With a practiced hand gesture, he executed the Traction with skill, lifting the still-warm furnace lid into the air and a familiar, peculiar fragrance wafted into his nose.

Luo Chen smiled knowingly. "It's done!"

Unlike the spirit iron pot, pills from the alchemy furnace could be formed directly under the control of the formation. Thus, Luo Chen used a jade bottle to collect the ten Myriad Wonders pills inside.

While collecting the pills, he rubbed his temples. Previously, whenever he refined pills in the afternoon, he would often feel a lack of energy as he progressed. But today, he seemed to feel none of that?

Moreover, he vaguely sensed that his mental strength had increased. Roughly by about twice as much.

Could this be the benefit of overcoming last night's inner devils? Luo Chen pondered.

It was said that when late-stage cultivators faced their tribulations, they endured not only external lightning tribulations but also internal heart tribulations.

These could manifest as obsessions, mental barriers caused by heart devils, or the influence of external forces pulling at one’s heart. If late-stage cultivators could withstand their heart tribulations, they would often gain unexpected benefits.

Luo Chen acknowledged he wasn't at such a stage yet, but others also wouldn't encounter heart tribulations during the Qi-Refining Realm. Thus, by this reasoning, it seemed quite plausible that this was the case.

This was undoubtedly a good thing; at the very least, it gave Luo Chen greater confidence in refining two batches of Myriad Wonders pills a day. Moreover, he had a feeling that this experience might bring unexpected benefits to his cultivation journey in the future.