CHAPTER 40: CHAPTER 40 JIANG YOURONG: MY ELIXIR ATTRACTED HEAVENLY TRIBULATION?_1

Grand Alchemist Yunhua.

Wang Xiu had some impression of him. He was likely an Alchemy Sect predecessor who perished on Demon Sea Island about eight hundred years ago. In the Hall of Valiant Spirits, Wang Xiu had once wiped the dust off his memorial tablet. That valley must have been where Grand Alchemist Yunhua once cultivated in seclusion, having left his will before departing for Demon Sea Island. Now, after more than eight hundred years, a fated person has finally arrived.

Thinking of this, a smile spread across Wang Xiu’s face. "Congratulations, Junior Sister Ling’er, on receiving Grand Alchemist Yunhua’s inheritance. Your luck is truly astonishing, enough to make anyone envious."

At Wang Xiu’s praise, Jiang Ling’er bashfully lowered her head, while in contrast, Jiang Yourong raised hers high.

"What’s all the fuss about!" the formidable remnant soul declared haughtily. "Ling’er is the sole heir of our Jiuli Cave Heaven, and the last vestiges of our Immortal Sect’s fortune are vested in her alone. So what if her luck is a bit better? Isn’t that to be expected? If I weren’t just a remnant soul, unable to manifest in the world, the fortune of Jiuli would converge entirely upon me. In this vast world, no one could compare!"

[Ding!]

[Detected someone bragging. Congratulations to the Host for gaining Mana +66.]

So satisfying... As expected of Predecessor You Rong, she’s a master braggart.

Wang Xiu squinted, a smile playing on his lips. "So, was the commotion just now from you concocting elixirs, Predecessor Jiang?"

Jiang Yourong proudly declared, "Indeed. Although our Jiuli lineage specializes in the soul path, our alchemy skills are in no way inferior to your Sanqing Immortal Sect’s Alchemy Sect."

As she spoke, Jiang Yourong patted Jiang Ling’er’s small head. "Our sect’s Jiuli Nourishing Soul Pill has effects comparable to the Sanqing Alchemy Sect’s Supreme Soul-Nourishing Elixir, yet it’s much easier to concoct. It also requires fewer medicinal herbs. Back in the day, it completely cornered the Supreme Soul-Nourishing Elixir on the market!"

[Ding!]

[Detected someone bragging. Congratulations to the Host for gaining Mana +66.]

Wang Xiu chuckled. "Admirable, truly admirable."

Jiang Ling’er gently tugged at the hem of Jiang Yourong’s soul-force-woven clothes and muttered, "Auntie, if it’s so much easier to concoct, why did your furnace just explode?"

Jiang Yourong: ???

"I...!" A blush of embarrassed anger crept onto Jiang Yourong’s fair face. "I was asleep for several hundred years! I’ve only just woken up, so I’m a little out of practice! Just rusty, that’s all!

"Let me try one more time!

"Seven days!

"Within seven days, I will definitely be able to concoct a peak-grade Jiuli Nourishing Soul Pill!"

[Ding!]

[Detected someone bragging. Congratulations to the Host for gaining Mana +66.]

With that, Jiang Yourong huffily started gathering her Pill Furnace and medicinal herbs, preparing to once again embark on her grand, fiery project of elixir concoction. "Wang Xiu, don’t stand here distracting me. Your presence affects my performance! If I blow up the furnace again because you were peeking, just you wait and see how I deal with you!"

Jiang Ling’er said faintly, "Auntie, you can’t beat Senior Brother, can you?"

Jiang Yourong: ???

HMPH! The blush on the formidable beauty’s face deepened as she roared, "Who says I can’t beat him? I was going easy on him because he’s a junior! That’s all it was, I was just letting him win! Don’t believe me? Let him face me for real! See how I’ll teach him a lesson!"

[Ding!]

[Detected someone bragging. Congratulations to the Host for gaining Mana +66.]

PFFT.

Wang Xiu couldn’t help but let out a snicker. Seeing the formidable beauty’s dark expression, he quickly offered an appeasing smile. "Predecessor Jiang’s cultivation level is unfathomably profound. If we were to fight for real, this junior would naturally be no match for you."

Jiang Yourong tilted her head up high and huffed, "It’s good that you know your place."

Jiang Ling’er propped her chin on her hands. She watched Wang Xiu’s gentle smile and Jiang Yourong’s chin, lifted at a 45-degree angle. A sweet smile blossomed on her face.

Why is it that Auntie is the elder, but it feels like Senior Brother is the one indulging her? It feels so doting and gentle!

"What are you smiling at?" Seeing her little disciple staring foolishly at Wang Xiu again, Jiang Yourong irritably shoved him out of the courtyard. "I need to concoct elixirs and impart supreme techniques to Ling’er. Don’t disturb us! Go, go, go!"

BANG.

As the door to the Orchid Courtyard slammed shut, Wang Xiu helplessly rubbed his nose.

What’s the rush? It’s so rare to see Predecessor Jiang being this proactive. She could have kept bragging for me a little longer... Just a little more, and the Ninth Heaven of Foundation Establishment wouldn’t be far off.

Sigh... oh well, there’s always tomorrow.

Wang Xiu didn’t press the issue and returned to his own courtyard with a smile.

Entering the secret chamber, he set up the Green Lotus Sky-covering Array and merged with the Heavenly Calamity Curse skill card.

BOOM.

As the skill card integrated, Wang Xiu felt an endless torrent of insight into the Thunder Technique flooding his mind, all of it containing the essence of the Heavenly Calamity Curse. Furthermore, it felt as if some will descended from the void, converging upon him and granting him a special authority... or perhaps, a form of recognition.

At this moment, Wang Xiu felt that if he wished it, he could summon a Heavenly Tribulation at will to smite Evil Demons.

However, having comprehended the Heavenly Calamity Curse to the Perfection Realm, Wang Xiu also completely understood its true nature. The essence of this art was an authority bestowed upon cultivators by the Heavenly Dao. This authority was limited. Those who cultivated the Heavenly Calamity Curse to the Minor Accomplishment Realm could cast it a maximum of three times per month. Those who reached the Major Accomplishment Realm could cast it up to six times a month. Those who reached the Perfection Realm could cast it up to nine times a month.

If one were to exceed this limit, it wasn’t that they couldn’t invoke Heavenly Retribution, but it would be uncertain just who the resulting retribution would strike. After all, the Great Dao has a temper too. How could it allow anyone to order it around at will?

「Meanwhile.」

In the Orchid Courtyard, Jiang Yourong had just sent Wang Xiu away and was preparing to set up her Pill Furnace for another attempt at concoction. However, just as she lit the furnace fire and tossed in a few auxiliary herbs to refine their medicinal essence, she felt that the atmosphere was off.

HISS...

Why is there such an oppressive feeling?

Jiang Yourong instinctively looked up at the sky, only to see it completely enveloped by dense, black thunderclouds above Spirit Turtle Peak. Within the thunderclouds, enormous purple tribulation bolts churned like dragons and snakes, exuding a pressure that made one’s soul tremble in terror.

What the hell!

Seeing the tribulation clouds pressing lower and lower until they almost swallowed Spirit Turtle Peak, Jiang Yourong... her entire soul felt numb.

Is the Soul Nourishing Pill I’m refining really that heaven-defying? Has it actually drawn a Heavenly Tribulation? But even if it did trigger an Elixir Tribulation, shouldn’t that happen when the divine pill is about to be completed? I just set up the furnace, and the Heavenly Dao wants to strike me down? Isn’t this bullying a soul a bit too much? The Heavenly Dao is unjust!

CRACK!

The moment the words left her mouth, a bolt of purple lightning descended from the sky. It struck Spirit Turtle Peak, obliterating a large boulder in front of the Orchid Courtyard.

In that instant, a vast, ocean-like pressure from the Heavenly Dao’s will descended, pinning Jiang Yourong to the ground and rendering her immobile. After all, the current Jiang Yourong was a remnant soul, strictly a type of ’ghost’. The power of thunder was especially suppressive for Ghost Cultivators, to say nothing of the fact that the lightning on Spirit Turtle Peak was now a Heavenly Dao tribulation. In terms of attributes, it was the perfect, inescapable counter to this formidable remnant soul.

BANG.

With Jiang Yourong no longer in control, the elixir in the nearby furnace exploded once again. However, this time Jiang Ling’er was well-prepared, having already dodged to the side.

She gazed from a distance at her mentor, the imposing beauty now being ground into the dirt by the Tribulation Will, and a strange thought couldn’t help but surface in her mind.

I feel like I’ve seen this episode before...