Spiritual Tribulation

Guihu Luixing was nervously looking at Serana.

After checking the Primordial Soul Mantra's encyclopedia, he understood what was going on.

Serana was going through a mutation.

Mutation is a phenomenon that is not that rare in the world of cultivation.

Bloodline, treasures, rituals, special places and even simply luck can cause mutation on a being.

Take Dark Moon was an example. Both of her parents were normal Ghost Foxes. Dark Moon however, was born as a murated species. Her type of mutations was a bloodline one.

One of her ancestors probably was a Yin Ghost Fox, or even a higher ranked species. Over each generation, the bloodline became increasingly thinner, but it hadn't disappeared. Dark Moon is the proof.

It's also possible for beings to mutate while they reach a higher cultivation realm, activating the potential that was dormant in their bodies.

Every being is susceptible to mutation, even if they didn't have that hidden potential inside them. This chance can be increased if they absorb blood of certain creature, use treasures or participate in certain rituals.

Serana was going through one such situations. Her unsual circumstances came together to form a unique situation. She didn't have such potential hidden inside her, it was simply luck, or bad luck.

Not every mutation is beneficial. It's possible for the mutation to cause adverse effects, after all, it's the change of the tipe of lifeform some is.

If they are aligned to fire, for exemple, and they awaken a water e aligned bloodline that was hidden within them. They could either be able to control both fire and water or the conflicting elements could just cause an adverse effect that kills them.

Serana was going through something similar right now.

She should be transforming into a ghost. A creature that was almost completely a manifestation of Qi, aligned with the Yin and Dark elements. However, she clearly recieved influence of the Primordial Soul Mantra and it's method, that aims to train the soul into a being too powerful to become a simple ghost.

Basically, a thing that should not become a ghost was undergoing the process of becoming a ghost. These contradictions was what caused this event that triggered a mutation on Serana.

However, things weren't looking good for Serana and looked that she would be destroyed before the mutation ended.

Guihu Luixing didn't knew Serana very well. In fact, besides her name, he knew nothing about her. The contract they signed didn't actually force him to intervene and help her, but he still would.

Not because of the goodness in his heart or because he cared for Serana. He didn't really care much about her at all. But he cared about the resources he spent in order to contract Serana.

It would be difficult to acquire enough resources for a second formation without garnering attention. He didn't want to expose his ability to control ghosts, at least not yet.

He started to go through the information on the encyclopedia againin order to find some clues on how to defuse the situation. Unfortunately, while discovered what she was going through, he didn't find a definitive solution, but he did find some things he could do to help.

She was undergoing a Spiritual Tribulation. The Qi maelstrom around her from the ghost transformation, was accelerating and intensifying the Spiritual Tribulation.

He started by trying his best to slow the Qi whirlpool. He couldn't completely stop it but shouldn't allow it to grow in speed as well. It was a delicate balance, but his control over Qi was enough to handle it.

Next he needed to address the Spiritual Tribulation. It was a tribulation where one would be tormented by the negative emotions and memories they had.

He started to speak to Serana.

"Serana! I need you to listen to me. I don't know what you are seeing, how scary or painful it is. But I know it's the past. Something you already left behind. You don't need to carry that inside you anymore. When I contracted you, you became free of your past!"

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Inside Serana's mind, she was constantly tormented by the repeating thoughts, emotions and memories. There was something in her soul telling her that all that wasn't real.

Of course, she knew it wasn't real, but that knowledge did nothing to help her. She still felt everything clearly. The agonizing pain. The anger. The fear. The humiliation. The helplessness.

She was starting to get affected. She started doubting if she had really left that hell. The something inside her started to lose influence.

'Maybe dying and becoming a ghost was just a delusion. Maybe I'm still laying at that bad suffering.'

Once that though surged on her mind, she became increasingly sure that was the case.

The emotions affected her even more. Instead of being one after the other, the emotions came all at once, leaving Serana feeling as if she was suffocating. The something in her soul was almost snuffed out.

Naturally, like everyone else feeling intense negative emotions, Serana sought a way to deal with these emotions, an outlet she could let it flow out of her.

Looking around, she quickly found the figures of her husband and her family.

"You!" Serana roared with unmeasurable rage.

Before she could do anything, the something inside her soul seemed to find reinforcements and grew larger.

"Serana! I need you to listen to me."

She recognized that voice. It was that boy's. How could it be?! Wasn't that time she met the boy just an delusion?!

"I don't know what you are seeing, how scary or painful it is. But I know it's in the past. Something you already left behind."

No! It was there, right in front of her! They were laughing at her! Laughing at her pain and suffering!

"You don't need to carry that inside you anymore."

'I don't?' the something in her soul reverberated with those words and clarity started to return to Serana.

"When I contracted you, you became free from your past."

'Free?'

The illusions of her husband and her family started to fade away, allowing her to clearly see they were just illusions.

Soon enough, however, a nihilist feeling arose in her.

'What does it even change? Wheter is a illusion or not changes nothing. I'm still dead and couldn't live I wanted. And now I'm contracted to you. Once again, I'm still caged.' remembering that she became a little angry. It seemed her emotional state was very volatile.

Outside, Guihu Luixing didn't know exactly why, but he could faintly hear Serana's voice in his head.

"Serana. What have you always wanted? What is the greatest wish on you heart?"

'I wanted to be free!' fed up, she shouted in her mind 'I wanted to roam the world, to find miraculous treasures, to meet spectacular people, to see wondrous sights.'

"That's it?" Guihu Luixing asked in surprise.

'That's it?! That's it?!' clearly, Guihu Luixing's words offended Serana. It was understandable. It sounded like he was making fun of her dream, the thing she wanted for decades and died without achieving.

"Hahhh." Guihu Luixing sighed "If you follow me, whether you want it or not, you'll end up doing everything you just said. In fact, you might doing and seeing things much greater than your imagination."