WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Carefree Tale of Cultivation ◈
Chapter 11: Sameung Market (2)
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The gleaming scalp reflected the sunlight and stabbed at Jin Hyeon’s eyes.
The other person trying to buy the Water Dragon Bind Talisman was a monk.
That was right. A monk.
Buddhism existed in this world Jin Hyeon had reincarnated into as well.
Its doctrines were similar, and it likewise worshipped the Buddha.
Jin Hyeon had been surprised when he first learned this, but he did not think Buddhism appearing in a martial arts world was particularly strange.
And in this world, Buddhism’s influence was not limited to the mortal realm.
“You’re a senior from Great Fate Temple.”
Jin Hyeon quickly looked the monk over.
This “young” monk, who appeared to be in his late teens, radiated the aura of late Qi Refining.
The monk wore a gray monastic robe, likely a slightly lustrous magical artifact, with golden prayer beads hanging at the waist. Great Fate Temple was embroidered on the shoulder.
‘Great Fate Temple... It was one of the four great sects in the nearby cultivation world, alongside Blue Willow Sect.’
“Huh? How did you know, benefactor... Oh dear, my towel fell again!”
The monk looked flustered by Jin Hyeon’s greeting, then picked up a white towel from the ground.
“Haha, it’s not as though I was trying to flaunt my status.”
Jin Hyeon was dumbfounded as he watched the monk casually wrap the towel around his arm, covering the embroidered words Great Fate Temple.
Jin Hyeon had clearly seen the monk deliberately drop it when cutting in to buy the talisman just now, yet that was the excuse?
Besides, what kind of person went around concealing their symbol, only to drop it and pretend it was an accident?
If the monk did not want people to know, why wear something embroidered with Great Fate Temple in the first place?
Feeling that this might become troublesome, Jin Hyeon simply decided to purchase another talisman.
The Water Dragon Bind Talisman was an extremely powerful binding talisman, making it ideal as a trump card in the tournament. Still, other high-grade first-rank talismans would be useful as well.
“Haha, if a senior from Great Fate Temple wants this talisman, I’ll yield it to you. Shopkeeper, I’ll take this instead...”
“Senior is far too lofty a form of address, benefactor. This humble monk is hardly worthy of such words over a slight difference in cultivation. Now that I look, you’re also a disciple of Blue Willow Sect!”
What exactly was this monk trying to do?
Jin Hyeon tried to give an appropriate answer and move on from this monk, who made him uncomfortable in a different way from Myeong Seokho.
He had no desire to cause needless trouble or make a scene.
Aside from the fact that this market was overseen by a great senior at the Core Formation stage, Blue Willow Sect would not appreciate him creating a dispute with a disciple from another great sect in front of so many people.
“Yes, haha. The two sects have always been on good terms. Perhaps meeting you was an affinity. In any case, shopkeeper, this Azure Sword Wind Talisman...”
“Affinity! That’s right, affinity! Now that you mention it, the venerable abbot said I would meet an esteemed person today. It seems that person was you!”
Affinity? An esteemed person?
Jin Hyeon’s brow faintly furrowed. The monk suddenly gave off a cultish vibe.
“Benefactor, what do you think? To mark the good affinity we will share from now on, I shall buy this talisman for you.”
Jin Hyeon wanted to refuse.
A bald stranger he had met out of nowhere was asking to form a good affinity and offering to buy him something. It was suspicious enough that even a three-year-old would not fall for it.
“Se... Venerable, I appreciate your wish to give this junior a gift. However, such kindness is more than I can bear, so there is no need to waste your spirit stones.”
“No! I insist on buying it for you, esteemed one.”
Why was the monk being so persistent? Had the offer not merely been made out of politeness?
Jin Hyeon sighed inwardly.
It seemed that he would have to accept the favor to get rid of this monk.
When Jin Hyeon nodded in acceptance, the monk grinned, handed thirty spirit stones to the middle-aged female cultivator, and received the Water Dragon Bind Talisman.
She had been watching the two argue from the beginning, and she smiled in satisfaction now that she had earned spirit stones either way.
Besides, there was no better advertisement than showing disciples of two great sects competing to buy her talismans.
“Then I’ll gratefully accept it...?”
Jin Hyeon reluctantly held out his hand toward the monk, then grew puzzled when the monk did not hand over the talisman even after a long while.
“Before giving you this talisman, benefactor, there is one question I would like to ask.”
“A question?”
The monk had just stubbornly insisted on buying him something, and now wanted Jin Hyeon to answer a question? Jin Hyeon could not understand this monk’s attitude at all.
“Please do not misunderstand. It is merely a single question.”
Jin Hyeon reluctantly decided to play along with the monk. Otherwise, he felt the monk would keep him there for a long time.
When Jin Hyeon did not refuse, the monk brought his palms together in a small gesture of prayer.
“This is a question one of my seniors asked me long ago. I have reached my own answer, but I am curious about the thoughts of an esteemed person with whom I share affinity.”
“From tiny creatures crawling upon the ground to dragons that command the clouds, all hope to reach the immortal path. It may be due to the worldly desire for longevity, or an endless desire for improvement. Yet the immortal path is distant and vast, and no one can be guaranteed to reach its end.”
“However, if someone truly attained eternal youth and longevity at the end of that path, and could not find any road further onward, what do you think they would do?”
Jin Hyeon was somewhat surprised by the question, which was far more serious than he had expected.
Though interested in it, he decided to answer casually. He wanted to get through this situation quickly, after all.
After attaining eternal youth and longevity?
He was not even a hundred years old yet. How could he know?
And if there was no path onward?
The life he desired was not one of endless advancement in the first place, but a peaceful life where he could do whatever he wanted.
What would someone do after living all they wished to live and doing all they wished to do?
“Well, wouldn’t they get bored and kill themselves?”
After answering without thinking, Jin Hyeon immediately realized that it might sound rude.
The monk had posed a serious question, so Jin Hyeon would be annoyed if someone answered him like that.
“Ah, sorry. What I meant was...”
“I see! Suicide! Just as the greatly merciful Buddha preached reincarnation, that absolute being might also see death as an exit. It is similar to the answer I had in mind, yet slightly different in tone. How very interesting.”
Contrary to Jin Hyeon’s expectations, the monk seemed to have received a serious and meaningful answer. After closing their eyes and murmuring to themself for a while, the monk held out the talisman.
“Here is the talisman for you, esteemed one.”
Jin Hyeon accepted the Water Dragon Bind Talisman with an awkward expression.
Regardless of the reason, he had effectively gained thirty spirit stones for free, so he had no intention of refusing.
He simply wanted to escape this suspicious monk quickly, since he still did not understand the monk’s intentions.
Jin Hyeon bought an Azure Sword Wind Talisman, which cost slightly less than the Water Dragon Bind Talisman, from the smiling female cultivator.
Having saved some spirit stones through this unexpected gain, Jin Hyeon decided to look for other talismans or magical artifacts.
“Benefactor, since things have worked out this way, I would like to treat you. What do you think?”
However, Jin Hyeon stopped at the monk’s words from behind him.
Why was this monk so relentlessly persistent?
Jin Hyeon tried to refuse again, but judging by the monk’s behavior, the monk would surely follow until Jin Hyeon accepted.
Left with no choice, Jin Hyeon nodded.
Led by the monk, he entered a tavern in the middle of the market.
Huh?
* * *
“And so, the venerable abbot beat me all day just because I picked up a few pieces of meat...!”
“Hahaha.”
“As expected of a place that caters to Foundation Establishment seniors, the wine is exquisite! Have a drink too, benefactor!”
“Haha.”
Jin Hyeon merely smiled as he drank wine and ate meat dishes.
The monk also smiled as he drank wine and ate meat dishes.
As far as Jin Hyeon knew, monks in this world’s Buddhism were supposed to avoid alcohol and meat. Was this really all right?
Jin Hyeon wondered about it briefly, then decided that cultivators probably did not care about such things.
As Jin Hyeon spoke with this monk, Bori, he found that Bori was not as bad as expected.
At first, Jin Hyeon had suspected Bori of harboring ill intent, but the monk was more innocent than Jin Hyeon had thought.
Bori sincerely believed what the venerable abbot had said and had bought Jin Hyeon the talisman merely as a gift to form an affinity with an esteemed person.
Of course, Jin Hyeon did not believe everything Bori said. Still, Bori’s uninhibited attitude, comparable to Myeong Seokho’s, along with the monk’s precept-breaking conduct and unpretentious words, allowed Jin Hyeon to lower his guard somewhat.
In the end, he only managed to part with Bori after chatting with him for quite a while and promising they would meet if either visited the other’s sect.
As Jin Hyeon walked through the still-crowded market streets, he thought this affinity was not bad.
According to the other seniors in his sect, seventy percent of cultivators thought only of plundering one another, while the remaining thirty percent thought only of deceiving others. Meeting someone like Bori among them could be considered fortunate.
Jin Hyeon spent his remaining spirit stones wandering around the market, bought a needle-shaped magical artifact, and left.
On the way out, Jin Hyeon held a demon beast meat dumpling bought at the entrance in one hand as he unfolded the Silver Swallow Board and shot into the sky.
However, before he could even finish the dumpling, Jin Hyeon sensed faint spiritual power behind him.
His expression darkened at once. He shoved the dumpling into his storage pouch, increased the Silver Swallow Board’s speed, and drew the Scorching Sun Sword and several talismans bought at the market into his hands.
Yet the faint spiritual power behind him did not weaken. It only became clearer as it followed him.
On the off chance, Jin Hyeon veered far from his original direction and headed toward another peak, but the spiritual power behind him remained.
‘Pursuit?’
Bori’s face surfaced in Jin Hyeon’s mind.
Even if they had parted on good terms just moments ago, he knew how skilled the people of this world were at stabbing others in the back.
Even in the martial world, there had been no shortage of stories about villains who cut down their masters and stole secret manuals whenever the opportunity arose. How much worse would it be among cultivators who had only just met?
Moreover, tales of bandits targeting cultivators leaving a market were as common in the cultivation world as stories of mountain bandits targeting passing merchant caravans.
Blue Willow Sect was still far too far away.
Realizing he could not avoid this, Jin Hyeon slowed down.
They could have ambushed him in secret, yet they had revealed their spiritual power from far away. Perhaps they had some goal besides killing him.
Whatever that goal might be, Jin Hyeon wanted to avoid being attacked while in flight.
He quickly landed in a nearby clearing, put away the Silver Swallow Board, prepared several talismans within his sleeves, and calmed himself.
He could feel his heart pounding rapidly with tension and fear.
Whoosh!
Before long, someone riding a sword-shaped magical artifact landed in the clearing.
The figure, face and body entirely concealed in black, radiated the spiritual power of the ninth layer of Qi Refining.
Seeing their thick hair tied back, Jin Hyeon realized they were not Bori.
Then who was this person?
Jin Hyeon thought back over whether he had offended someone or given anyone a reason to target him while he had been at the market.
Were they after the talismans he had bought?
It was possible, but...
“Are you a disciple of Blue Willow Sect?”
The black-clad figure’s question interrupted Jin Hyeon’s thoughts.
Jin Hyeon did not know how to answer.
Had they followed him because he was a disciple of Blue Willow Sect? Why?
“There is no need to answer anyway.”
The black-clad figure instantly drew a blue-glowing sword and sent it flying toward Jin Hyeon.
Jin Hyeon swiftly twisted aside and struck the sword away with the Scorching Sun Sword in his hand.
A powerful shock jolted his arm.
Jin Hyeon lamented inwardly at the unfairness of it all.
He only wanted to live a peaceful life of cultivation. How had this happened to him?
Footnotes:
“Affinity” translates yeon, a Korean term for a fated connection or relationship. It is central to Bori’s speech and to Great Fate Temple’s name.
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