Chapter 78: The Heart Devil

The vast Water Mansion stood empty. Its pavilions and towers were extravagantly luxurious, yet devoid of any human presence.

Lin Yuan’s figure appeared beside a lotus pond.

But as he looked around, an obscure and mysterious aura descended from the void, suddenly entangling the primordial spirit radiance within his sea of consciousness. This caused the originally clear and pure radiance, which had been as bright as the moon, to be stained with patches of filth. The spirit light dimmed and flickered, on the verge of collapse.

His mind shook violently.

Lin Yuan steadied his mind, his expression remaining unchanged.

It was said that the Extradimensional Heart Devil Tribulation was a trial established for the Mystic Gate Immortal Path’s Dharma Lineage by a great being from the side paths of the Main World. Those with deep foundations who passed it would attain the status of a Scattered Immortal. Those who failed would have their Primordial Spirit completely devoured by the heavenly demons, becoming nourishment for the demons of the side paths.

The more powerful the cultivator, the more formidable the heavenly demons they summoned.

Lin Yuan’s current level of Taixiao magic power was astonishingly immense, and the heavenly demon he summoned was extremely dreadful.

Streaks of that obscure aura swooped down from the void. Even an ordinary Scattered Immortal caught within it would be dragged into the wonderful realm of the heavenly demons and utterly consumed.

That obscure aura even caused many Spiritual Roots within the Xuanzhen Abode to wither.

The strength of its demonic corruption was enough to make one’s face change color.

Sensing the terrifying aura in the void, Lin Yuan’s expression shifted slightly. He even suspected that he might have attracted an avatar of a Heavenly Demon King.

A Heavenly Demon King was comparable to a cultivator who had achieved the Celestial Immortal Dao Fruit. To become a Heavenly Demon King, one didn’t know how many cultivators had to be seduced and corrupted before achieving the Heavenly Demon King Dao Fruit among the demons!

His face changing, Lin Yuan initially wanted to directly summon the Merit Golden Halo from the depths of his Primordial Spirit, but he reconsidered in an instant.

Experiencing the Heart Devil Tribulation was also a kind of tempering for the Dao Heart.

Using Virtue Merit to expel the tribulation would bring temporary benefit, but what if in the future he encountered cultivators skilled in such heart devil methods? Wouldn’t he be at a disadvantage then?

As this thought arose, Lin Yuan simply suppressed the Merit Golden Halo within him that was about to be activated.

He allowed the extradimensional heart devil to invade, letting its layers of strange aura stir up the various obsessions within his Primordial Spirit.

Lin Yuan actually had quite a few obsessions: his attachment to the Lin Manor family, the great terror between life and death, his persistence on the path of cultivation, and many other strange thoughts.

These various thoughts, once infected by that strange aura, twisted almost uncontrollably.

His heart raged like a rampaging ape, his thoughts galloped like untamed horses.

Lin Yuan saw himself suddenly exposing his secret within the Primordial World, being hunted by both the witches and the demons, even captured by one side and subjected to various means, unable to live or die.

He also saw the Lin Manor family implicated because of him, perishing despite the protection of other cultivators. Even the joys and sorrows of his past life played out before his eyes one by one… In the end, Lin Yuan even saw the boundless grand scene of himself proving the Dao of Primordial Unity.

From beginning to end, Lin Yuan’s expression did not change. Instead, looking at these scenes, his clear and calm Dao Heart was like a bright, full moon.

“Still not enough. This level of heavenly demon illusion isn’t as formidable as imagined!”

Lin Yuan murmured to himself, his expression carrying an indescribable coolness. Perhaps because he had stayed in the Primordial World for too long, Lin Yuan discovered that the strength of his own Dao Heart was far more terrifying than he had thought.

This heavenly demon wonderful realm was considered powerful, yet in his view, it was like child’s play.

Seemingly angered by him, a terrifying demonic form appeared within the obscure, strange heavenly demon wonderful realm.

With the appearance of this demonic form, the changes within the heavenly demon wonderful realm intensified many times over. Lin Yuan even felt his own cultivation base becoming restless.

How powerful was Lin Yuan’s Primordial Spirit? If it were the Primordial Spirit of an ordinary Primordial Spirit Great True Lord, it would likely be torn apart instantly and devoured by the sweet, fragrant demonic light within the heavenly demon wonderful realm.

The path of the extradimensional demons had been unleashed to a level far surpassing that of an ordinary Scattered Immortal. When the heart moved, calamity arose. Countless heart tribulations transformed into raging waves; the rampageous heart and untamed mind became blades that slay immortals, each blade cutting deep into the core of his consciousness.

In truth, the Heavenly Demon King avatar that had descended was also extremely shocked. It had personally descended to act as a blocking demon for many Primordial Spirit Great True Lords with exceedingly deep foundations, yet it had never encountered such a tough nut to crack. Even after unleashing various superior heavenly demon wonderful forms, the opponent’s Dao Heart remained as firm as steel.

Lin Yuan shook his head, no longer intending to tangle with it. Within the depths of his Primordial Spirit, strands of Innate Divine Thunder appeared, effortlessly shattering the various obscure auras. The part of his Primordial Spirit tainted by the demon radiated its original clear, pure Dao charm.

The heart devil dissipated!

Seeing the situation was lost, that demonic form let out a low, resentful, sharp cry of unwillingness and prepared to withdraw!

“Since you dared to come and block my path to cultivation, it would be best to settle this Causality. Stay!!”

Lin Yuan spoke, a wisp of golden light already appearing in his palm.

The Merit Golden Lamp!

As this Merit Golden Lamp appeared, the shadowy demonic form’s expression changed dramatically. Transforming into a strange aura, it tried to flee from the depths of Lin Yuan’s Primordial Spirit!

Yet the next moment, it froze in place under the golden light!

The golden light and red flame easily broke through the heavenly demon wonderful realm, pinning down that demonic form. With a sweep of the golden light and red flame, this heavenly demonic form was instantly refined into lamp oil!

The moment this heavenly demon was refined to death, a profoundly mysterious Dao Fruit appeared above Lin Yuan’s head. The countless thoughts tainted by the demon and the obscure aura upon it were washed completely clean. Internally and externally, it became perfect in an instant, and the breakthrough occurred naturally as water flows in a channel.

Within the depths of the Scattered Immortal Dao Fruit, the Primordial Origin Embryo and the Postnatal Primordial Embryo also each underwent a change.

Among them, the Postnatal Primordial Embryo suddenly transformed the Primordial Spirit from virtual to real, faintly becoming an Innocent True Infant clad in black and white dark Daoist robes, with countless thunderbolts flashing around it.

And within the Primordial Origin Embryo, an innate Thunder Ancestor appeared in his sea of consciousness—four heads and eight arms, human body with a dragon’s tail adorned with scales. Behind it shimmered a beam of Innate Yin-Yang Divine Light.

Every movement of that innate Thunder Ancestor carried immense power.

“The Primordial Divine Demon Dao Body is also about to be completed!”

A flash of joy appeared in Lin Yuan’s eyes. The Innate Yin-Yang Divine Light shimmered behind him, and in an instant, all the strange phenomena were drawn into the depths of his Scattered Immortal Primordial Spirit.

Achieving the Scattered Immortal Dao Fruit, his Primordial Spirit condensed and transformed into an Innocent True Infant. That Innocent True Infant was part of where the Dao Fruit resided.

Sensing the gradually transforming Scattered Immortal magic power within his body, Lin Yuan sighed softly. Whether it was the changes in the Primordial Spirit or the magic power, a Scattered Immortal was beyond comparison with a Primordial Spirit Great True Lord.

The Innocent True Infant that housed the Scattered Immortal Primordial Spirit Dao Fruit possessed various wondrous and powerful abilities. Even if his physical body were slain, the Innocent True Infant could transform freely and escape unhurriedly.

It wasn’t like a Primordial Spirit Great True Lord, whose Primordial Spirit would perish within a few days if their physical body were killed, leaving only the choice to enter Samsara.

Furthermore, his Scattered Immortal Dao Fruit was particularly different, having both innate and Acquired dual Dao Fruits, making him far from an ordinary Scattered Immortal.

Immediately afterward, he composed his expression. Lin Yuan looked thoughtful.

For a Scattered Immortal to become an Earth Immortal, the next step was to thoroughly comprehend his own Dao formula, for the Innocent True Infant to refine the spirit and return to emptiness. At the very least, he had to condense one of the Three Flowers to achieve Earth Immortal status.

But to become an Earth Immortal, a Scattered Immortal had to experience the Three Calamities!

Thinking of the Three Calamities, Lin Yuan felt a bit strange inside. There was a huge chasm between Scattered Immortals and Earth Immortals.

The Three Calamities were the Wind Calamity, the Fire Calamity, and the Thunder Calamity.

Those two great calamities, wind and fire, were not ordinary tribulations. They came from within and worked outward. Whether it was the invisible violent wind that could scatter a Scattered Immortal’s Primordial Spirit or the Yin fire that could melt the body of golden muscles and jade bones, neither could be endured by an ordinary Scattered Immortal.

Besides that, there was also the thunder tribulation.

At this stage, one had to work hard to accumulate External Merit, trying to reduce the tribulations as much as possible, to have a chance of passing the various calamities.

However, he didn’t have much of other things, but Merit Power… that he had an uncommon amount of… He imagined the road ahead would be much easier compared to other Scattered Immortals!

He smiled slightly to himself.

After achieving the Scattered Immortal status, he remained in seclusion within the cave abode, comprehending the mysteries of the Scattered Immortal Dao Fruit.

He didn’t know how long had passed when Lin Yuan opened his eyes. Sensing his Scattered Immortal magic power growing increasingly vast and mighty, a commotion came from outside the cave abode door.

From afar, he could hear someone knocking on the door. An Inner Sect Disciple of the Liuguang Cave Abode was requesting an audience at the entrance of the Xuanzhen Abode!