Chapter 100

Chapter 100: Yan Ju’s Tribulation

Ye Wan Wan shook her head: “No. With Master guarding me, everything went smoothly.”

Pei Xuan asked: “Then why aren’t you happy?”

Ye Wan Wan curled her fingers and hesitated for a long time; she had wanted to dodge the topic, but seeing Pei Xuan watching her, she told the truth: “I think I was rude,” she said as she rubbed her ear, “I got carried away.”

Those four words were what Dou Ming once said to her. She never forgot. It was her first Foundation Establishment, and she succeeded at once, but Dou Ming said it was nothing special and that if he had a Heavenly Spiritual Root, he could do it too. Even though that is in the past and she knows he might not have been right, the hurt from that moment was carved into her bones and kept reminding her for decades: [Ye Wan Wan, you are ordinary.]

Pei Xuan looked at the downcast girl and said in a mild voice: “Rules of courtesy are for restraining the weak. Why should you use them?”

Ye Wan Wan froze. “Huh?” she finally managed after a long moment.

Pei Xuan dusted the snow off his sleeve, the flakes splashed up when Ye Wan Wan blasted open the mountain path: “Learn some, enough to use, that’s all. Why chase more?”

Ye Wan Wan smiled: “Honestly, Master, that’s how I think too.”

Pei Xuan asked: “Then what are you stuck on, making trouble for yourself?”

Ye Wan Wan smiled at herself; yes, what was she stuck on. [People who keep worrying about the past won’t go far.]

Ye Wan Wan sat on the stone dais not far from Pei Xuan, the one that belonged to her, and said with a grin: “Master, I formed my core again!”

She shared her joy with the person beside her. Pei Xuan’s eyes softened: “Mm. Well done. What is your realm now?”

“Fifteen Golden Cores, third layer of the Golden Core Realm, but my cultivation fell back to Qi Refining,” said Ye Wan Wan as she let all fifteen Golden Cores float outside her body.

Pei Xuan looked them over one by one: “No big problem. Keep doing Core Condensation.”

Ye Wan Wan drew the Golden Cores back and asked: “Master, if I reach the tenth layer of the Golden Core Realm with fifty Golden Cores, equal to fifty Golden Core Stage cultivators, will I have a chance to fight someone at Nascent Soul Stage?”

Pei Xuan said: “You already have the strength to fight a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator.”

Ye Wan Wan stared in surprise.

“In the Golden Core Realm, one on one, no one can beat you,” said Pei Xuan. “With your strength, as long as you don’t meet a Late Nascent Soul Stage, you can even fight a Mid Nascent Soul Stage. Even if you don’t win, by endurance alone they still can’t kill you.”

Ye Wan Wan’s eyes brightened: “You mean a long fight.”

“Mm. Your Golden Cores are your confidence. Others have one Golden Core. You have fifteen. That is your edge,” said Pei Xuan. “When your Five Element Golden Cores reach six times or more, I will take you to challenge the Nascent Soul Realm. But before that, as I said, the more Golden Cores the better. Your chances will be greater, so don’t be in a rush.”

His tone was calm, but each sentence made Ye Wan Wan’s heart race. Because it is so hard for people with Five Spiritual Roots to break through to Nascent Soul, they must stack the odds and try only when they can win in one shot. Pei Xuan does not allow failure.

Ye Wan Wan understood his aim; she clenched her fist and said: “I will.” She was not in a hurry. She could wait.

Master and disciple sat on the stone dais a long time, almost as if meditating, until snow filled the mountain path Ye Wan Wan had blasted open. Then Ye Wan Wan spoke: “Master.”

Pei Xuan answered: “Mm?”

“Do you have Spirit Stones I could borrow?”

Pei Xuan opened his eyes at the sound and, seeing the caution in his little disciple’s look, felt amused. He raised his hand, pointed once, and took out a Storage Pouch from his ring; it landed in Ye Wan Wan’s palm.

Ye Wan Wan hurried to add: “No need for Spirit Crystals.”

“It’s not Spirit Crystals,” Pei Xuan said evenly. “At the start of the year, the Sect Master reclaimed the city offerings, and recently we were paid twenty years of back stipends. They’re all inside.”

“Not much, but it should be enough for you.”

Ye Wan Wan paused, opened the Storage Pouch for a glance, and the glow made her eyes dazzle; it wasn’t Spirit Crystals, but it was not little at all. She looked at Pei Xuan and teased: “As expected, Master is the rich one. Then Wan Wan thanks you, Master!”

Compared to the first time she pretended at saying “Master,” this time her voice and face were more playful and sincere. Pei Xuan looked at her smile and thought to himself that he would let it go and not punish her this time. She had even dared to come up with Heavenly Thunder Body Refining; he had planned to punish her with a month of closed-door cultivation.

With Spirit Stones in hand, Ye Wan Wan felt much lighter. She hadn’t actually been short on Spirit Stones; the one million from the Delicacy Pavilion wasn’t spent yet. That was the “I’m just looking” and “I’m not short on money” fund she used to buy talismans, with some left over after she upgraded her house. But during the month of seclusion, she needed High Grade Spirit Stones to set up a Spirit Gathering Array, and just now the Five Elements Array she used to resist the Heavenly Tribulation Lightning also took High Grade Spirit Stones.

So she exchanged ahead of time: one million Low Grade Spirit Stones into High Grade. After fees, she got fewer than eighty pieces. After using two Array Arts, she didn’t have many left. To refine second rank pills, she still had to buy lots of herbs and Level Two Herbs, so she was short on money again.

She did still have one Supreme Grade Spirit Stone taken from Ye Yi Ran, but she did not plan to spend it as currency, which was too wasteful. It was also excellent material for arrays and for Talisman Control. If she added a Supreme Grade Spirit Stone to one Talisman Arts, the power would be huge and could save a life at a key moment.

Ye Wan Wan looked at the Storage Pouch: “Mm. After I refine second rank pills, I’ll sell some leftover Mystic Spirit Pills and pay Master back.”

With Spirit Stones in hand, she first went to find the Sect Master Senior Uncle and bought back most of the basic herbs she had turned in before. Li Ming De said with a smile: “Child, you turned those in. Why buy them? Just take them back.”

She said: “No, this is different. After turning them in, they belong to the sect. Buying them back is personal. And Senior Uncle, you gave me too good a price. Keep some Spirit Stones to support Second Senior Sister together.”

Li Ming De laughed: “Don’t worry. We can afford it. Now we senior uncles all have money. Take them back.”

Ye Wan Wan did not agree. She firmly left the Spirit Stones and departed. As she lifted off by Sword Flight, she looked back at Li Ming De and said softly: “Senior Uncle, thank you.” [Thank you for standing up for us.]

Li Ming De watched the girl fly away and murmured: “This child…” He sighed with a smile; she was too polite.

Time flashed by. One month passed outside. Inside the Spirit Market, five months went by. Ye Wan Wan stayed hidden in the Spirit Market to cultivate and hardly came out. After they got login access to the Spirit Market, Li Wan Zhi, Fang He An, and Bai Jian also upgraded their bamboo houses threefold and trained inside the Spirit Market.

Until this day, Yan Ju’s Divine Transformation Tribulation appeared.