Chapter - 9 (renting a house.)

"Don't look so sad," Ye Chen said casually, a faint smile playing on his lips. "I have a feeling someone's coming soon to give us free spirit stones."

Before Lin Xue could react, Ye Chen added, "But before that, I'll give you a small gift."

He waved his hand, and in an instant, the spiritual energy across the entire city stirred, as if answering his call. Streams of spiritual energy surge toward them, gathering into a vortex under his control.

Ye Chen calmly pointed toward Lin Xue.

"Sit cross-legged and absorb this spiritual energy," he instructed. "You will break through to the Nascent Soul realm without any problems."

Lin Xue's eyes widened in disbelief. "Divine Soul? But—"

Ye Chen cut her off with an indifferent tone. "Since you have questioned your Dao heart, you will face a heart tribulation. Conquer it, or your path will end here."

Lin Xue hesitated for only a moment before complying, sitting cross-legged as the overwhelming spiritual energy wrapped around her like a torrent. Her breathing steadied as she began absorbing the energy, her body trembling slightly under its intensity.

If you win against it, your combat strength will surpass that of most early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.

He paused briefly before adding, "Do you want to break through now? Keep in mind, there's a ten percent chance you won't wake up from the Dao Heart Tribulation."

Ye Chen's gaze was steady as he looked at Lin Xue. "If you want, I can help you breakthrough later, after you've overcome your Dao heart problems. Having a doubt in your heart while breaking through is far too dangerous."

Lin Xue met his gaze, her eyes firm and unwavering. "Young master, I want to break through now," she said resolutely with determination in her eyes.

A faint smile tugged at Ye Chen's lips. "Very well."

He gestured for her to sit cross-legged. "Calm your mind, focus, and absorb the spiritual energy."

Lin Xue sat in the mid-air while her body was floating effortlessly. Around her, the overwhelming spiritual energy spiraled like a vortex, flowing steadily into her body. It coursed through her veins and meridians and entered her dantian.

This energy was far purer than anything Lin Xue had ever experienced, each strand perfectly condensed and there were no impurities.

Absorbing it was a hundred times better than absorbing the spiritual energy given by heaven and earth.

Inside Lin Xue's body, the Golden Core started to absorb spiritual energy crazily, as if it had found something tasty and sweet.

Then, her cultivation base slowly started to rise.

Mid-Stage... High-Stage...

It finally stopped at the peak stage. Lin Xue then began to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm but found that she couldn't. Her body felt as though it was lacking something.

She couldn't understand what was happening. Suddenly, a surge of white energy entered her body. Her body began to absorb this energy frantically, and soon both her energy and soul power reached their peak.

Now, she could finally push her body to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm.

Inside her, the Golden Core trembled before shattering, transforming into pure energy and soul power that spread throughout her body.

With her divine sense, she began to condense her Nascent Soul…

A few hours later, Lin Xue woke up.

She slowly opened her eyes and saw Ye Chen standing nearby, he was now dressed in black robes.

Her attention quickly shifted inward as she checked her cultivation. To her surprise, she had already reached the early stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

In her sea of consciousness, her newly-formed Nascent Soul swam peacefully, giving a faint glow.

"Young master, I did it!" Lin Xue exclaimed with joy, opening her eyes once more.

But her smile froze.

Before her stood Ye Chen, holding a sword in his hand.

Without warning, Ye Chen swung the sword toward her, its sharp edge slicing through the air with deadly intent.

"Huh?!"

Lin Xue's mind went blank, her joy replaced by shock. "Why?" she thought in confusion and disbelief. Time seemed to slow as the moments of her life flickered before her eyes.

"Why did the young master kill me?" Lin Xue muttered and stared at Ye Chen.

"Haha... Do you really think you are my wife after I took you? You are nothing but a mere servant!"

"Just die..." Ye Chen said and swung his sword.

Suddenly, she noticed a woman behind Ye Chen, hugging him from behind...

"Qian Ling!" she muttered and coldly shouted.

"You bitch... You controlled the young master!"

"Hehe... What control? What are you talking about, Lin Xue? Don't you know that everything you have seen is fake?"

"Who do you think ordered the extermination of your family? It's Lord Ye Chen."

He did everything for me. You don't even know where he came from or why is here in this world. And you just loved a person who killed your family?

Lin Xue was horrified as many dark phantoms of resentment appeared around her screaming....

Xue'er... Xue'er... Is this true? Did he really kill us?

Xue'er ... Kill him... Avenge us... What are you hesitating for?

A little boy's phantom appeared, big sister.

Lin Xue wanted to think that it was fake, but seeing the souls of her clan members, parents and little brother, she cried as she stared at Ye Chen and Qian Ling.

Young Master! Ling Xue's voice trembled weakly as she whispered. She wanted to hear, that those words were not true. Her young master... He had always been kind-hearted. He cared for her, helped her... He was her savior, the one person she cared for the most. He couldn't possibly have done such a thing.

But just as she was falling into the demon heart, a surge of warm energy rushed into her sea of consciousness.

Xue'er... Xue'er...

The voice echoed within her sea of consciousness that feels familiar and comforting.

Young Master!

In that moment, memories began flooding back, memories of her breakthrough to the nascent soul.

This is a heart tribulation!

This is fake. Everything is fake... Then, she became calm and indifferent towards the phantoms in front of her.

Sensing that Lin Xue has walked out from their illusion, the phantoms became weak and slowly faded into nothingness.

Outside, Ye Chen was guarding Lin Xue while she was going through her heart tribulation. When he saw that she was about to fall into the Demon Heart, he immediately used his magic powers to help her.

After some time, Lin Xue opened her eyes, and the pressure from her nascent soul radiated from her body.

Then, staring at Ye Chen, she shed a tear and hugged him tightly.

Ye Chen was confused. What happened? Did she see something during her heart tribulation? He then placed his hand on her head, and she immediately started to cry like a child.

After a few hours, Lin Xue finally calmed down...

She was still a little embarrassed about hugging Ye Chen.

But then, suddenly sensing something, she was surprised.

Young Master, why didn't my Heavenly Tribulation come? she said, staring at the sky. There was no trace of lightning. Everything was clear...

Then, she suddenly realized that they weren't in Spiritual Cloud City and was shocked.

Young Master, where are we? she asked in confusion.

Ye Chen smiled and said, "This is a little world that I created for you to safely breakthrough. Even if you die here, I can revive you without any problems." He patted her head and added, "It's safe here."

Little World? Revive?

Lin Xue was dumbfounded. This little world seemed even bigger than their own world, but why did Young Master call it little?

And revive?

"Is it possible to revive?" Lin Xue muttered inwardly. "Then... can Young Master revive my clan... my father... my mother... my little brother?"

She stared at Ye Chen, with expectations in her eyes, but didn't dare to say anything. She was afraid she might look cheap in front of him.

Ye Chen seemed to see through her thoughts but didn't say anything. He simply waved his hand.

The little world was destroyed in seconds, and they appeared on the street.

"Let's go find a courtyard" Ye Chen said, walking ahead, followed by Lin Xue.

Spiritual Cloud City was around fifty kilometers wide, and even reaching the edge of the city would take hours.

But for Ye Chen and Lin Xue, it took only a few minutes to walk to the other side of the city. They stopped at an inn.

Cold Wine Inn, a wooden sign with the name written on it hung outside.

They walked inside, and a waiter promptly approached to guide them to a table.

At the window seat, Ye Chen and Lin Xue sat down.

They talked with the waiter for a while and the waiter walked inside.

Shortly after, an old man came over to greet them...

"Young Master... For how many days would you like to rent the room?" the old man who was the owner of the inn asked.

"Hmm... Just a month," Ye Chen thought for a moment before replying.

"A month, good," the owner muttered, then led them outside the inn. After walking a few miles, they arrived at a residence.

The old man took an array token from his hand and handed it to Ye Chen.

"Young Master, please leave your soul mark on it. This token is used to open and close the array," the old man explained.

Ye Chen took the token, placed his soul mark on it, and then handed it to Lin Xue.

"Please..." The old man gestured for Ye Chen and Lin Xue to enter as he followed after them.

After showing them around the house, the old man left the residence with the help of Lin Xue activating the house array.

Lin Xue also gave hundred gold coins to the old man for their stay for a month. She also asked him to bring two jars of wine everyday.

As for spiritual stones, she didn't have any, as she had given all of them to Qian Ling in her anger.

Low-tier spiritual stones were very common, worth 1 copper coin each.

Mid-tier spiritual stones were worth 10 low-tier stones or 5 silver coins.

High-tier spiritual stones were rare, worth 100 mid-tier stones or 100 silver coins, and also equivalent to 10 gold coins.

However, no immortal cultivator will exchange spiritual stones with mortal things.