WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
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◈ Carefree Tale of Cultivation ◈
Chapter 12: Ambush
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The blue sword Jin Hyeon had knocked away did not fly far. It immediately turned and shot back toward him.
Jin Hyeon swung the talisman he had been gripping inside his sleeve.
Infused with spiritual power, the rapidly flashing talisman raised a great mass of earth from the ground, forming a wall.
The sword charging toward Jin Hyeon’s chest struck the earthen wall and trembled violently.
The moment he confirmed that the sword had been stopped, Jin Hyeon sent the Scorching Sun Sword flying at the black-clad cultivator.
He could not win if he spent all day struggling against the opponent’s magical artifact.
If he could inflict serious damage, he might at least create a chance to escape.
However, there was no way the Scorching Sun Sword, which was almost embarrassing to call a low-grade magical artifact, could significantly affect a late Qi Refining cultivator.
Jin Hyeon knew that as well. The instant he hurled the Scorching Sun Sword with the Object-Controlling Art, he rapidly gathered spiritual power and prepared a spell.
Just as he expected, his opponent easily blocked the attack.
Dark-red flames rose from the black-clad cultivator’s hands, and they snatched the Scorching Sun Sword at a speed Jin Hyeon could barely follow.
The sword was instantly engulfed in flames. With a mournful shriek, it cracked and lost its spiritual power.
‘With his bare hands? What are those flames? How... No, attack first!’
Jin Hyeon was briefly stunned by the sight of his opponent casually destroying the Scorching Sun Sword, but he did not hesitate before launching his own attack.
Bright lightning sparked above his right hand, illuminating the darkening surroundings.
The lightning rapidly compressed into a sphere and shot toward the black-clad cultivator like a cannonball.
It was one of several spells Jin Hyeon had learned from the Azure Thunder Soul-Carving Art, a simply named spell called thunderball.
As simple as its name suggested, it merely fired a sphere of lightning, but its power was formidable.
Even a late Qi Refining cultivator would find it difficult to remain unharmed after taking a direct hit from a thunderball fired at Jin Hyeon’s current realm.
The black-clad cultivator had discarded the Scorching Sun Sword and was preparing to cast a spell, but their eyes widened at the rapidly approaching thunderball as they leaped aside.
Yet when the thunderball continued pursuing him, he frowned and pulled a shield as large as his own body from his storage pouch.
Crack.
The plain yellow shield collided with the thunderball, producing a numbing impact.
Jin Hyeon clicked his tongue when he saw his opponent take out a defensive magical artifact.
This fight had been overwhelmingly unfavorable for him from the start.
Having entered the cultivation world only recently, Jin Hyeon had merely advanced his realm quickly through the stone fragment’s power. He lacked other means.
Without even a defensive magical artifact, every attack against him was potentially fatal.
But he only had a moment to lament.
With the aid of the spiritual power circulating through his brain, calming his mind and accelerating his thoughts, Jin Hyeon immediately made his next move.
First, he scattered another set of the same talismans he had used earlier, completely pinning down the blue sword that still howled under his opponent’s control.
Then, just as he pulled out the red needle-shaped magical artifact he had bought at the market, his opponent neutralized the thunderball.
The yellow shield was covered in spiderweb-like scorch marks, and weak currents still leapt across its surface.
“Of all things, lightning techniques.”
The black-clad cultivator retrieved the shield and broadly waved a hand toward Jin Hyeon, who held the needle artifact.
They had not intended to kill him, but neither did he intend to show mercy to a dangerous enemy and suffer a reversal.
The flames burning in their hand swelled explosively, rolling forward like a wave.
As the flames burned through the air toward him, Jin Hyeon abandoned his planned needle attack and scattered the talismans prepared in his sleeve.
Three talismans flashed briefly in the air and poured out a great volume of water.
The currents swiftly took shape and solidified into translucent barriers two layers deep.
‘It’s fortunate that most of the defensive spells I bought are water-aspected. Otherwise...’
Crack.
The first barrier collapsed the moment it touched the flames.
Jin Hyeon immediately struck the ground and used the Object-Controlling Art to dig up the earth.
He wasted a great deal of spiritual power by casting it in such haste, but he was able to rapidly build another wall.
Still not satisfied, Jin Hyeon prepared the Water Dragon Bind talisman with one hand in case of emergency.
It was far too precious to use for defense, but if necessary, he intended to activate it at once.
The second barrier soon shattered as well. The weakened flames pierced the third barrier too, but fortunately vanished after destroying half the piled earth before Jin Hyeon.
A pungent burnt smell and a strange aura pricked at Jin Hyeon’s senses.
He had no time to identify it.
The black-clad cultivator had followed behind the flames and already closed the distance until they stood directly before Jin Hyeon.
Jin Hyeon immediately controlled the needle and fired it at him.
The black-clad cultivator halted at the needle’s speed, which was faster than the Scorching Sun Sword. With another hammer-shaped magical artifact that they had somehow already drawn, they struck it down.
In that brief opening, Jin Hyeon activated the talisman he had prepared.
Roar!
A fierce torrent poured from the air with the sound of a waterfall.
Far more overwhelming than the previous talismans, the current divided into three streams, each taking the shape of a dragon.
The three water dragons swept across the area in an instant, extinguishing the remaining flames and crushing the black-clad cultivator before they could react.
Seeing his opponent trapped within the wall of water formed by the dragons, Jin Hyeon marveled at the power of a high-grade talisman.
Without delaying any longer, he immediately retrieved the needle artifact that had fallen away.
Surprisingly, he felt little hesitation about killing.
If he did not kill his opponent, his opponent would kill him.
Having stood at death’s threshold moments earlier, Jin Hyeon used his anger and fear as support as he drove the needle toward the chest of the black-clad cultivator bound by the water dragons.
Whoosh.
And it was stopped.
Jin Hyeon stared in disbelief at the black cord that had somehow wrapped around his wrist.
No, it was not a cord.
It stared straight at him with two bright yellow eyes.
“A snake?”
Was it his opponent’s spirit beast?
Jin Hyeon was horrified by the snake that had tightly constricted his wrist and diverted the needle.
It appeared that his opponent had released this snake even before the battle began.
Jin Hyeon tried to burn the snake with Fireball Art, but as if it had completed its task, the snake dropped from his wrist and vanished into the ground.
A hair-raising sense of danger surged through him, and Jin Hyeon immediately resumed his attack, but then...
“Urk!”
Intense pain spread from his abdomen, making his vision spin.
Despite his body being strengthened by spiritual power, the blow was powerful enough to forcibly fold him over, and nausea rose in his throat.
The needle fell from his hand. As Jin Hyeon stood helpless, the black-clad cultivator, who had somehow escaped the Water Dragon Bind, approached him.
“A kid with barely any combat experience has this much skill. You must be a promising talent even within the Blue Willow Sect. What a catch.”
Contrary to their calm tone, fury blazed within them.
To struggle this much against someone at the seventh layer of Qi Refining. They had expended much of their spiritual power as well. If they had not released the Black Serpent in advance, they might have suffered a reversal instead.
“If it weren’t for the mission, I’d kill you right away. Tsk.”
Taking out their frustration, they kicked Jin Hyeon in the chest and sent him sprawling.
Jin Hyeon had taken the hammer artifact head-on and could not even react before collapsing face-first onto the ground.
The black-clad cultivator approached him and took a small jar from their storage pouch.
They inserted their fingers into it and pulled out a grotesquely shaped insect.
Jin Hyeon groaned as he looked at the horrific larva with bloodshot eyes.
“Don’t worry. Once this Ghost-Soul Parasite settles in your Soul Sea, everything will become easier.”
The black-clad cultivator tauntingly waved the insect before Jin Hyeon’s eyes, then placed it on his chest.
Astonishingly, the insect vanished as though it had melted. At the same time, Jin Hyeon sensed it invading his Soul Sea.
Jin Hyeon’s expression darkened sharply, and the black-clad cultivator sneered.
“Now that the Ghost-Soul Parasite has entered your Soul Sea, there is no way to escape it. If you don’t want your pitiful soul devoured by the Ghost-Soul Parasite, lie still and behave.”
Jin Hyeon lowered his head at those words.
The black-clad cultivator nodded in satisfaction.
Opponents who accepted reality quickly were easy to handle.
They immediately sat down cross-legged. They needed to quickly replenish the spiritual power they had consumed in their battle with Jin Hyeon.
This place was not far from the market. If they encountered a Foundation Establishment cultivator who hated demonic cultivators, they would not emerge unscathed either.
They were not worried about an attack from Jin Hyeon. With the Ghost-Soul Parasite planted in him, Jin Hyeon could not attack them. They could also kill Jin Hyeon at any time simply by giving the Ghost-Soul Parasite an order.
However, not long after sitting cross-legged, the black-clad cultivator sensed a shadow fall before them and opened their eyes.
“What is it? If you don’t want to die, sit quietly again.”
Jin Hyeon stood before him.
The black-clad cultivator felt a brief unease at Jin Hyeon’s expressionless stare, but their opponent had no way to threaten them.
Once afflicted by the Ghost-Soul Parasite, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator could not escape it. How could a brat in the middle Qi Refining stage possibly shake it off?
Determined to teach the brat a lesson, the black-clad cultivator sent the Ghost-Soul Parasite a signal to convulse.
“What?”
They received no response.
Startled, he faced Jin Hyeon’s palm rushing toward his face, along with the blue lightning bursting from it.
Boom!
The blue current he saw amid that thunderous sound was his final memory.
* * *
“Haah...”
As crackling electricity ran across the opponent who had been reduced to charcoal, Jin Hyeon let out a sigh.
Even then, he could only relax after picking up the red needle artifact and stabbing the black-clad cultivator in the chest in preparation for any unforeseen situation.
After making certain that the black-clad cultivator was dead, Jin Hyeon calmed himself and observed his Soul Sea.
He faintly sensed the existence of his soul, the Soul Sea where it resided, and the horrible Ghost-Soul Parasite.
Of course, the Ghost-Soul Parasite was currently suppressed by the thunder marks that had already taken residence in his Soul Sea.
Feeling sick as he watched the Ghost-Soul Parasite writhe, pierced through by three thunder marks, Jin Hyeon stimulated the marks more strongly.
In the end, the Ghost-Soul Parasite vanished without a trace beneath the powerful current.
Only after searching his Soul Sea over and over did Jin Hyeon finally feel at ease.
His reversal of the situation had, in a word, been luck.
A Ghost-Soul Parasite that invaded the Soul Sea would leave an ordinary cultivator with no hope once afflicted.
However, Jin Hyeon cultivated the Azure Thunder Soul-Carving Art, which built thunder marks within the Soul Sea.
Moreover, perhaps because his lightning was particularly effective against the Ghost-Soul Parasite, he had been able to suppress it before it could even touch his soul.
After subduing the Ghost-Soul Parasite with three thunder marks, he used Thunderburst Ring, one of the secret arts recorded in the Azure Thunder Soul-Carving Art. In exchange for sacrificing one thunder mark, he had killed his opponent in a single strike.
It was a victory that could never have happened if his opponent had not possessed absolute confidence in the Ghost-Soul Parasite.
Jin Hyeon had no intention of remaining at the scene any longer.
There was no guarantee that his opponent had been alone. Judging from his words and attitude, he appeared to belong to some organization.
Jin Hyeon did not want to stir up a needless hornet’s nest.
The heat that had risen in him from battle and his first kill rapidly faded.
Jin Hyeon pulled the needle from the black-clad cultivator’s chest and took the two pouches hanging at their waist.
One was a storage pouch. The other resembled a cage in miniature and was a type of spirit beast pouch used to hold spirit beasts.
After taking them, Jin Hyeon buried the black-clad cultivator’s corpse.
He then dug the now docile blue sword, which had lost its owner’s control, out of the earthen wall and stored it in his storage pouch before unfolding the Silver Swallow Board.
Without once looking back, he flew at full speed toward the Blue Willow Sect.
Even if an entire duck slammed into his face this time, he had no intention of slowing down.
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