“What kind of trial is this?” Meixiu mumbled in a dazed voice as she watched Yuan defeat the demon multiple times.
“By the looks of it, this trial appears to be some sort of heart demon trial.” Feng Yuxiang said.
“In essence, heart demons are stress— a negative emotion that looms in the deepest part of one’s heart. When someone experiences a traumatic event or something terrifying, there is a very high chance that whatever happened becomes their heart demon, and these negative emotions become a mental barrier which hinders their cultivation from advancing.”
“Heart demons are very common, and they exist in almost everyone, including mortals, but they affect cultivators the most. Heart demons can be formed by any kind of stress if it’s strong enough. Fearing that you’ll never find love… Being insecure about your appearances… Worrying about not being able to return your debt… Even one’s obsessions can also become one’s heart demon.”
“As for the Young Master’s trial… He will most likely have to defeat his heart demon in order to pass this trial.” Feng Yuxiang sighed.
“So… Basically anything emotional can become a heart demon? How does one even defeat their heart demon?” Chu Liuxiang asked.
“It depends on their heart demon. If someone is insecure about their appearances, they need to stop being insecure. If one fears they cannot find love, they must stop fearing. In the Young Master’s case… He must stop blaming himself for the death of that young lady.”
“That… sounds easier said than done.” Chu Liuxiang shook her head.
“Of course. It’s not easy to defeat one’s heart demon, and even powerful Immortals that can change another’s fate can fall victim to their own heart demon. Furthermore, even if one manages to defeat their current heart demon, another one could show up in the future when they experience something emotional again. This is something all cultivators must confront at one point in their lives, and they either succumb to their heart demon or they defeat it.” Feng Yuxiang sighed.
Meanwhile, Yuan continued to repeat his nightmares.
“Damn it! Why hasn’t the trial ended already?! I have defeated the demon countless times by now!” Yuan cried out loud after being sent back to the Ancestors’ Tomb.
Clearly, he’s misunderstanding the true nature and purpose of the trial, thinking that his trial was to defeat the demon, unaware that it was actually mentioning another demon— the one dwelling inside his heart.
Thus, for the next few hours, he would repeat the same scenario over and over again, falling deeper into this rabbit hole that’s his demon heart until he could no longer move.
“Haaaa… haaa… haaaa…”
Yuan collapsed onto the ground after killing the demon and returning to the Ancestors’ Tomb countless times.
“Why…? What kind of trial is this…?”
He looked at the trial requirements again.
[You must defeat the demon within your body to pass the fourth trial!]
“The demon within my body… If it’s not talking about the demon that I have been slaying, what else is it talking about? Is there another demon in this place?”
“You’re still hung up on that woman’s death?”
A voice suddenly resounded inside Yuan’s head, but it was not Tian’er’s voice.
“You need to stop blaming yourself for what happened to Azure.” Tian Yang’s voice resounded.
“But it’s the truth. If I had defeated the demon before it escaped the Ancestors’ Tomb, Azure would have never died.”
“Yes… but that’s not what happened. You can speculate all you want, but what’s happened has happened. You cannot go back in time to fix your mistakes— only forward.”
“If it was a mistake, then it’s obviously my fault.” Yuan sighed.
“Or maybe it was her fate to die there. If that was the case, she would have died regardless of what you did…”
“Is it really, though?” Tian Yang chuckled.
“Do you believe it’s a coincidence that you’re in your position? Perhaps fate brought you there.”
“If fate brought me here, I will deny it— I will alter my own fate.”
“Fate cannot be easily denied. It requires tremendous power— power that you do not possess right now.”
“Then help me achieve that power. We’re the same person, right?”
After a moment of silence, Tian Yang’s figure appeared before Yuan like a ghost.
He pointed at Yuan with a profound smile on his face.
“What did you think I have been doing for the past millenniums— past eons? I have been trying to acquire that power ever since the dawn of time— even before the first known era that you all call ‘Primordial Era’…”
“You… We already have that power— the power to deny our fate. You just need to awaken that power.”
“How… How do I do that?”
Tian Yang looked at the direction of the Immortal Caves and said, “You can start by passing this trial.”
After saying those words, Tian Yang’s figure disappeared.
“Is he talking to himself? Has he gone crazy from this trial?” Chu Liuxiang asked with a worried face after seeing Yuan speaking to the empty air there, as she was unable to see Tian Yang through the pond.
“Dealing with one’s heart demon can indeed make someone go crazy, but I don’t think that’s what happened to the Young Master.” Feng Yuxiang shook her head.
“Look! He’s moving again!” Min Li suddenly pointed at the pond.
Chu Liuxiang immediately turned to look, and sure enough, Yuan was running towards the Immortal Caves again, but there was something different about him this time.
“His face… It’s filled with resolve…” Meixiu mumbled to herself after seeing the expression on Yuan’s face.
Half an hour later, Yuan arrived at the Immortal Caves, right when the demon struck Azure in the chest with its sharp claws.
However, Yuan didn’t immediately rush at the demon to release his anger this time.
He merely stood there in silence, staring at Azure’s bloodied body with a profound gaze, his thoughts unknown to the spectators.