The Mental Demon Tribulation

That strange disgusting creature that was floating within the black space didn't attack him, as he thought it would, on the contrary, it put on a strange smile, that if his very soul wasn't repulsed by it, he might have found charming.

Then it opened its mouth and a loud voice was transmitted directly into his consciousness "Hello traitor!".

Wang Wei was confused as to how to reply to it, but then he remembered that cultivators that have unlocked their spirit sense can use it to communicate directly with someone's consciousness.

So he immediately tried to send a message to the creature and was surprised to find out that it was almost instinctual.

Therefore Wang Wei sent the creature a message, "What do you mean by a traitor? What even are you?".

However, before he could even fully finish his question, the thing replied in a heart-wrenching tone, that sounded as if it was a kicked puppy and just by hearing its tone Wang Wei felt his control over his emotions waver "Are we going to pretend that you don't know exactly what I am! First, you remove me from my home then you even dare to play these charades with me!".

Wang Wei was shocked that it could possibly know him so well because even though Wang Wei didn't exactly know what this thing was, he had a vague idea.

When a cultivator wants to break through from the Golden-Core realm into the Nascent-Soul realm you crack open your Golden-Core and take the high-quality Qi that is created from within it and guide it using your spiritual root to strengthen your soul.

However, in order to complete the breakthrough, you have to pass something called a Mental Demon Tribulation, the cultivators from the Celestial Wang realm thought that this was a phenomenon sent by the Great Dao to test the worthiness of the cultivator.

The mental demon would know everything about a cultivator as if it was him, and it would say anything in order to disturb the mental state of the cultivator enough for him to fail to break through successfully.

They were known to be expert manipulators of emotions, and they were even able to convince some cultivators experiencing the Tribulation to commit suicide.

But now Wang Wei knew that in the process of them strengthening their soul using the Qi they must have cleansed some part of their souls in the process too.

What they thought of as the Mental Demon Tribulation was in fact representation of their 5 hindrances, and why it wanted them to fail was because it didn't want to be destroyed.

But Wang Wei knew that they couldn't have cleansed their souls entirely, because even Nascent-Soul experts show influence from the five hindrances, it was just that they displayed them much less than Golden-Core experts, so they must have only cleansed some part of each of the five hindrances.

However, Wang Wei after cleansing the first hindrance, whenever he thought of the pleasures of the senses he completely felt indifferent, which meant that he wouldn't be affected by them at all. For example, he wouldn't feel hungry, he couldn't be entranced by a woman's beauty, in other words, he lost all interest in the pleasure of the senses.

Therefore that meant that Nascent-Soul experts didn't completely cleanse their souls because even though it was much rarer to happen to Nascent-Soul experts, they could still lose themselves to a woman enchantments and they would still occasionally feel hungry and would eat even though they didn't need to because Qi would be able to completely sustain them.

And that meant that what Wang Wei was currently experiencing was in fact a so-called Mental Demon Tribulation, Wang Wei was able to analyze all of this extremely quickly, as a matter of fact, it barely took a millisecond for him to connect all of the dots and realize what was happening.

Wang Wei would have been very surprised that he was able to analyze all of this so quickly if he wasn't so focused on controlling his emotions, and mentally preparing himself to overcome the Tribulation.

It was known to the entire Celestial Wang realm that the Mental Demon Tribulation was one of the most difficult Tribulations to experience next to the Immortal Ascension Tribulation, and that was because very very few cultivators focused on polishing their control over their emotions and will.

So that meant that it was extremely difficult for them to overcome this Tribulation but for Wang Wei that has spent his entire past life trying to control his emotions and polish his will, it is bound to, of course, be much easier.

The mental demon continued, still in that heart-wrenching tone "Why would you do that to me?! Haven't I helped you a lot?! Didn't I motivate you to further expand your strength?!", it was evident that the mental demon wanted to try to disturb Wang Wei using his compassion.

And it nearly successfully worked, after hearing that Wang Wei's control over his emotions almost slipped, because the mental demon was in fact kind of right.

His desire for strength and the benefits that it brings did allow him to reach the Blood-Exchange realm extremely quickly and it is what allowed him to enter this Inheritence realm, and begin on the path of Buddhahood.

But he quickly recovered thanks to the training of his past life, and replied to the mental demon "It is true that you did help me and motivate me, but if I am to ever reach Buddhahood I must not be a slave to my senses!"

"I will never allow myself to again disregard Buddha's teachings for my own selfish desires! YOU SHALL NEVER CONTROL ME! BEGONE!" Wang Wei said with a conviction that could only be present in someone who has spent his entire life in pursuit of Buddhahood.

As soon as that word was said on the mental demon's body, whose facial expression morphed into abject terror, cracks started spreading out starting from his feet and ending at his head, and when they finally spread throughout his entire body the mental demon vanished as if wiped out by an eraser.

Just as the mental demon vanished, Wang Wei finally relaxed and immediately started observing the new changes to his entire body and soul.