CH 44.1

With Jian Xingzhi’s guidance, the thunder seemed to be bearable to Qin Wanwan. Because she had previous experience with tribulation when she formed her Jindan, Qin Wanwan was able to adapt well. Allowing the thunder to refine her body, she turned them into spiritual energy, and then guided it back to her body to solidify the first stage of Nascent Soul before repeating the process over and over again.

The first stage of Nascent Soul is different from the first stage of Jindan. The first hurdle in the path of forming a Nascent Soul is Heart Demon, including the continuous onslaught of the heavenly thunder. People will have to face their innermost fear, or obsession, something that they desire the most. If you can face them with a strong heart, you will be able to successfully form your Nascent Soul. You can’t, your heart and soul will shatter, and you will either turn into a madman or die in severe cases.

Jian Xingzhi and Qin Wanwan both helped each other to smother each other’s divine sense. The thunder became more and more powerful after each strike, and the two of them almost lost consciousness, the will to hold on fading bit by bit. The surrounding area gradually darkened, before Qin Wanwan could react, she found herself sitting in front of the desk, a stack of thick papers directly smashed in front of her. Then, she heard the voice of a person sounding from in front of her, whose face she couldn’t see: “The boss said these contracts have to be reviewed by tonight. You aren’t allowed to leave early today, the customers are pressuring us.”

When Qin Wanwan heard this, her heart thumped, before she could open her mouth, the other party spoke again: “Listen to my advice young lady, you aren’t young anymore. Don’t have high expectations, hurry up and find someone suitable for you to marry. Have two or more children, otherwise when you get old and sick, who will take care of you?”

Qin Wanwan gulped, two hundred years of long-lost memories surged to her mind, something that she always feared.

This illusion, is too real.

She just sat in place, listening to the people around her chattering and talking. Holding the papers in her hand, she slowly spoke: “You guys are going against labor laws.”

The voice in front of her went silent, and the people standing around her seemed to freeze.

Qin Wanwan thought about it and said what she really wanted to say to her boss that year: “Moreover, I am not willing to work overtime, it is you, who are making me work  overtime, so you have to increase the amount in my salary. Three times more than the salary for working on holidays, 1.5 times more than the salary for working overtime on weekdays. If you guys pay me appropriately, I will work without any resistance. But you guys aren’t paying me enough money but still telling me to work harder?”

After the words came out, not to mention these illusions, even 38 became silent.

Because of fear, she told the truth of what she wanted the most.

“I won’t.”

The boss spoke: “Everyone else is suffering like this, why can’t you?”

Hearing these words, Qin Wanwan decisively pulled out her sword from under her desk, and like a big sister scolding her little brother, she slapped the sword on the desktop and asked coldly.

“Do you have any idea where you are standing? What kind of place is this?”

“What kind of …… place is this?”

“This is the cultivation world where killing is not considered a crime!” Qin Wanwan became furious as she spoke, “You are telling me, an immortal cultivator, to work overtime?!”

The boss didn’t say anything.

A moment later, all illusions disappeared, and a delicious smell wafted to Qin Wanwan’s nose. She inhaled it subconsciously, and her head turned towards the place the smell was coming from. There, she saw her parents, her parents whom she left in the Immortal Realm, standing a few feet away from her with a table full of sumptuous food in front of them.

Qin Wanwan froze as parents waved at her, “Wanwan, come here.”

“Mother …… mother?”

Qin Wanwan was surprised, she hadn’t seen her parents for almost two hundred years.

Her relationship with her parents on the 21st was poor, but after arriving at the Immortal Realm, she actually got along with her parents who were famous in the Immortal Realm. When she was around the age of twenty-three or four, the couple set everything up for her and left the Immortal Realm to search for medicine for her.

Although the time together was short, it was indeed the happiest time for her. So much so that now so many years have passed, and watching three hundred years pass in the blink of an eye, she was filled with regret.

She didn’t know she would live to be three hundred years old, and the time spent with parents was so little. Most of their time was spent in searching for medicine for her, which all became wasted to her.

But she used to be open-minded, she thought since she was going to live a long life this time, she would be able to spend more time with her parents, there’s no need to rush. But suddenly, she was lost from her parents, it must have been a big blow to her parents. Although their relationship was awkward, at least they were her parents.

Now, seeing her parents of the Immortal Realm in the illusion, Qin Wanwan waited for a long time but still couldn’t bear to leave.

Her mother, Shangsui, pulled her down to sit on the table, and her father Zhenjun* Taiheng, sitting beside her, gave her the dishes and said in a distressed voice: “Our Wanwan has lost weight. Here, eat this piece of crispy pork.”

[T/N: ‘Zhenjun’ is Qin Wanwan’s father’s title, which is based on his cultivation level. ‘Zhenjun’ means ‘True Monarch’. ‘True Monarch’ (真君; Zhēn Jūn) is the sixth stage of cultivation and considered as a senior-level character in the Cultivation World.]

Qin Wanwan’s parents’ care made her fall deep into the illusion. She was moved to tears as well as happy as she ate the meat and asked her father, “Father, how are you doing lately? Have you found the medicine?”

“Yes.” Zhenjun Taiheng replied with a smile, as her mother gave her another piece of dish and said: “Your father and I have searched for a long time, and finally solved the solution to your physique. Once you eat the medicine, soon you will be completely fine. From now on, father and mother will accompany you every day, no one will dare to bully you. You just have to eat and drink well every day, and become the happiest little fairy in the Immortal Realm.”

Hearing this, Qin Wanwan subconsciously felt that something was wrong, she ate the lotus root slices that her mother gave her and replied vaguely, “I still need to cultivate, I can’t rely on you guys alone.”

“Cultivation?!”

Taiheng was surprised by Qin Wanwan’s words, “Why do you want to cultivate? Cultivation is so hard, your father and mother are here for you. Father and mother will protect you all your life, you don’t need to cultivate, you can just rely on us.”

Qin Wanwan’s movements froze, and it was at that moment that she felt herself being pressed from behind by the back of her head and banged fiercely on the table!

Jian Xingzhi’s voice rang out in her ears excitedly, “My Shangji Sect disciples, there is no reason to rely on others for food! My clan uses warfare to practice the immortal path, and will never eat soft food!”

As soon as the words fell, the surrounding illusion instantly receded. Qin Wanwan’s parents, Shangsui and Taiheng, both looked like they were swept away by a gale. Their images became distorted, they both grabbed Qin Wanwan’s hands and shouted her name: “Wanwan! Don’t leave us, Wanwan! Wanwan, you don’t need to cultivate, you need to be the happiest salted fish in the Immortal Realm!”

Qin Wanwan: “……”

The Heart Demon is really too cunning.

She sighed, lifted her face from the rice bowl, and raised her hand to wipe the rice grains off her face.

What being the happiest salted fish? She dares not even think about it, just the thought sends shivers of pain all over her body. If by any chance, her Master, Jian Xingzhi knows what she saw in her illusion, he won’t hesitate to break her bones once more.

The moment she thought of Jian Xingzhi, what mind demons, what having fun, what becoming a salted fish? All ran away with the fastest speed and her illusion became empty. Qin Wanwan slowly opened her eyes.