Yuantian Pidao

Chapter 239: Pure Heart

In the tranquil retreat, golden sunlight streamed down, and Jiang Chen managed to steal a moment of peace. However, he was frowning, showing no joy whatsoever, and exuding an aura of bitterness.

With a sigh, Jiang Chen watched the sun set and felt the passage of time, a bitter feeling rising in his heart.

As his sigh was heard, the surrounding plants seemed to be affected, and they all withered considerably.

Seeing this scene, Jiang Chen's face was full of sorrow. Of course, at this moment, he should actually be happy, but he just couldn't smile.

"The power of the divine soul interferes with reality. This is already a characteristic of the second-tier divine soul power. The bitter lotus seed has given me an unexpected surprise."

Bending down, Jiang Chen stretched out his palm and slowly approached a daffodil.

At this moment, the daffodils became increasingly withered, showing signs of dying, as if they would die if Jiang Chen dared to approach.

Seeing this, Jiang Chen finally stopped what he was doing.

At this moment, he had successfully refined nine bitter lotus seeds and was refining the tenth. The indescribable bitterness had already seeped into his soul.

If an ordinary cultivator were to endure such suffering, he would probably go mad, and those who could not bear it might even commit suicide. Fortunately, his soul was strong and his will was firm, which allowed him to control himself. However, it was precisely because his soul was too strong that he could easily interfere with the people and things around him under the guidance of the bitter lotus seed.

"The first level of soul ability is not particularly miraculous; it is simply a process of increasing the foundation of the soul, which can be called strengthening the soul."

"The second stage is different. At this stage, the soul undergoes a transformation and the ability to interfere with reality is acquired, which can be called object manipulation."

With a thought in mind, Jiang Chen renamed the first two stages of his soul ability.

"With the Qi Refining complete and true Qi overflowing, nourishing my essence and spirit, coupled with the unexpected tempering from the Bitter Lotus, my soul will soon return to the second level."

"The exact timing should be after I finish refining the twelfth bitter lotus seed."

A flash of inspiration struck him, and Jiang Chen gained a relatively accurate grasp of the timing of his soul's transformation.

"To this day, the spiritual energy required by the Mist Dragon has been fully accumulated; all that is missing is the final leap."

"Once my divine soul power returns to the second tier, I may be able to try taking this step. With the foundation of the Mist Dragon, plus the support of my second-tier divine soul essence, the quality of the Dao foundation forged by the Mist Dragon should not be too bad."

As his thoughts collided, Jiang Chen pondered various possibilities.

In fact, after accumulating spiritual energy, the Mist Dragon could have attempted to break through to the Dao Foundation. The reason it is still dormant now is twofold: first, to wait for a suitable opportunity, and second, to hone its foundation as much as possible, since not all Dao Foundations are the same.

According to the records in the "Mist Sea Ascending Cloud Scripture" transmitted by the Mist Dragon, the foundation of cultivation is also divided into three grades: superior, middle and inferior. The higher the quality of the foundation of cultivation, the greater the future prospects of cultivation. The superior foundation of cultivation is the most difficult to obtain. If one can achieve it, the chance of breaking through to a higher realm in the future is quite high.

Without a great opportunity, a cultivator with a low-grade Dao Foundation will most likely die at the Dao Foundation stage. In fact, in the cultivation world, most cultivators who have forged a low-grade Dao Foundation find it difficult to even break through to a minor realm, let alone a major one. Most of them remain at the early stage of the Dao Foundation stage.

"The Mist Dragon is a pure-blooded dragon. With its aptitude, it has no problem forging a low-grade Dao Foundation, and the chances of successfully forging a mid-grade Dao Foundation are not small either, but it is more difficult to forge a high-grade Dao Foundation."

“Under normal circumstances, it is virtually impossible for a pure-blooded dragon like the Mist Dragon to forge a high-grade Dao Foundation, since the Mist Dragon is just a dragon, not a true dragon.”

"Compared to the powerful bloodline of the True Dragon, the only advantage of the Mist Dragon might be the enhancement of my divine soul power."

With a sudden thought, and feeling the medicinal power of the bitter lotus seed fully dissolve, Jiang Chen took out another lotus seed and swallowed it.

"The world is like a sea of ​​suffering, there is no place where suffering is not felt..."

Bitterness spread, and feeling the difficulty of cultivation, Jiang Chen's face grew increasingly sorrowful.

“Young Master…” Carrying a plate of pastries, Hongyu walked in from outside. Upon seeing Jiang Chen like this, Hongyu’s expression immediately changed.

Just as she was about to approach Jiang Chen and step into the courtyard, a peach branch fell, blocking her way and keeping her outside the gate.

Stopped by Tao Yao, Hong Yu realized something and quickly stopped.

"Don't worry, it's just temporary sorrow."

With a hint of bitterness in his voice, Jiang Chen spoke.

Looking at Jiang Chen like this, Hongyu's worries grew stronger, and it seemed as if the bitterness in her heart was about to be drawn out.

Fortunately, she managed to calm herself down at the crucial moment.

"Young master, there is a folk saying that sweets can relieve pain. This is something I just learned. Please try it."

"In addition, there have been several attacks by demons in Qinghe and Qingxi counties recently, including some that are at the Qi Refining stage. Elder Wang found this rather strange and specifically asked me to ask you how to deal with it?"

After handing the sweets to Tao Yao, Hong Yu revealed the purpose of her visit.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Chen frowned.

"Have Rat Tianjiao lead the swarm of rats to investigate. It's also a demon, so it should be much easier for it to move around. Such an anomaly might be hiding something behind it."

"As for those troublesome demons, kill them as many as possible."

Without much hesitation, Jiang Chen made his decision.

Upon hearing this, Hongyu bowed and agreed.

"A demon? Could it be that something's wrong with Five Immortals Mountain again?"

Watching Hongyu's departing figure, Jiang Chen's thoughts drifted away.

This incident is not actually a big deal for the Taiping Sect right now. The reason Wang Yuan reported it was because similar things had happened before, and the root cause of that incident was the internal strife at Wuxian Mountain. He was afraid that this incident was still related to Wuxian Mountain.

Just as Jiang Chen was lost in thought, the leaves rustled, and Tao Yao brought him some pastries made of red jade.

Seeing this, Jiang Chen snapped out of his thoughts.

"Although I can't taste it, I imagine it must be quite delicious."

Picking up the pastry, Jiang Chen took a bite, her mouth filled with bitterness.

"Perhaps you are the only one in this world who doesn't know suffering."

Putting down the pastries in his hand, Jiang Chen turned his gaze to Tao Yao.

As he refined more and more bitter lotus seeds, almost everything in the Taiping Sect, except for inanimate objects like soil and rocks, was affected by him. Only Tao Yao was an exception. She seemed to know nothing of suffering and was not affected at all, even though she was with him day and night.

"Could this be the advantage of low intelligence? Or is it the innocence of a child?"

Looking at the bewildered Tao Yao, and recalling how the Rat Prodigy had cried his heart out and suffered so much that he almost turned into a pathetic rat, Jiang Chen couldn't help but shake his head. Both were demons born because of him, but the difference between them was still quite significant.

(End of this chapter)