WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: DereKimchi

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◈ Carefree Tale of Cultivation ◈

Chapter 13: Spoils

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Having drained his spiritual power to the bottom, Jin Hyeon finally pushed the Silver Swallow Board to its limit and returned to the Blue Willow Sect.

All the way back, he had been haunted by the fear that someone might attack from behind. Only after entering the Blue Willow Sect's grounds could he finally relax.

Jin Hyeon hurried to the disciples' cave dwellings, entered his familiar cave, and closed the stone door. He immediately used his remaining Earth Wall Talisman to create a completely sealed space.

Then he collapsed onto the floor.

Not only was his stamina exhausted, but his spiritual power had also been drained by the desperate flight.

Jin Hyeon sat there for several hours, recovering his spiritual qi.

Only at dawn could he finally get his exhausted body moving.

Jin Hyeon scooped cold water from the spring in the small room of his cave dwelling and drank until he could barely breathe. Then he drew more water and brewed tea.

What he really wanted was a refreshing cup of coffee, but tea was the only drink he had. What else could he do?

Thinking that he should someday look for a spirit herb similar to coffee, Jin Hyeon recalled the battle that had just taken place.

'That was lucky.'

It was not something that could be dismissed with a simple, That was lucky.

If his opponent had not been careless because of their higher realm,

if the opponent had not intended to keep him alive,

if the move his opponent had trusted most had not been neutralized by Jin Hyeon,

he would have died.

Jin Hyeon reflected deeply.

If he had possessed a more powerful spell, magical artifacts with more varied functions, or simply more of the means cultivators ought to have, the battle might have gone differently.

With stronger methods, he could have gained a greater advantage from the start. With a defensive magical artifact, he would not have suffered such a severe counterattack.

Of course, his lack of combat experience had also kept him from noticing the trap his opponent had prepared beforehand.

Jin Hyeon placed the spirit beast pouch hanging from his waist onto the table.

Spirit beasts.

He now somewhat understood why even cultivators who did not specialize in handling spirit beasts owned at least one.

It kept them from having to face an enemy alone.

Jin Hyeon sighed.

He had only visited the market once, yet he had immediately been ambushed. The cultivation world really was dangerous.

Taking this battle as a lesson, Jin Hyeon vowed to prepare more varied means of combat in the future.

'And at least until I reach late Qi Refining, I shouldn't leave the sect at all.'

After calming himself with a cup of tea, Jin Hyeon examined the spoils he had acquired from the black-clad cultivator.

First was the spirit beast pouch.

He closely examined the cage-shaped object.

Though it looked like a cage made of iron, that appearance was almost an illusion.

In reality, it was a spatial artifact made much like a storage pouch, essentially a pouch designed to house living creatures such as spirit beasts.

After considering it for a moment, Jin Hyeon set the spirit beast pouch aside.

The black snake inside could be useful to him, but once a spirit beast had recognized its master, it was almost impossible for another person to tame it.

Perhaps it would be different if his realm were higher, but at the same Qi Refining stage, he could not force it into submission.

Next, he took out the storage pouch.

Like his own, it was a low-grade storage pouch used by a Qi Refining cultivator. Once Jin Hyeon sent a little spiritual qi into it, he could inspect all its contents.

Rattle.

He noticed the spirit stones first.

Jin Hyeon tipped the storage pouch over the table, and a heap of spirit stones poured out. There were nearly a hundred of them, and a smile formed on his lips.

“No need to worry about repaying Won Hyu-money.”

Even after repaying the money and interest he had borrowed from Won Hyu, dozens of spirit stones would remain.

That alone was worth more than the talismans he had used and the destroyed Scorching Sun Sword.

Jin Hyeon continued searching through the storage pouch and pulled out several more items.

As expected of a late Qi Refining cultivator, the black-clad cultivator had possessed quite a few things besides spirit stones.

There were several low-grade spirit herbs, several pieces of ore like those he had seen Myeong Seokho use, and a small bottle containing three unidentified medicinal pills.

Jin Hyeon decided to have everything appraised at Hundred Treasures Pavilion before selling it, or hand it over to Won Hyu in exchange for spirit stones.

The medicinal pills tempted him somewhat, but their spiritual qi was clearly weaker than the ones available at Hundred Treasures Pavilion.

Jin Hyeon then used the Object-Controlling Art to raise the magical artifacts from the storage pouch.

One was the blue sword he had trapped. Another was the hammer that had knocked him down at the end. The last was the shield that had blocked his thunderball.

After channeling spiritual qi into them and handling the magical artifacts for some time, Jin Hyeon roughly grasped their abilities.

The sword was a mid-grade magical artifact. Once spiritual power was poured into it, it would pursue and stab at a designated target until its power ran dry.

Jin Hyeon was surprised as he watched the sword race all over the cave dwelling after a stone he controlled.

He had thought his opponent had been controlling the sword, but it turned out to be the sword's own function.

Other than its pursuit ability and power, however, it had nothing particularly special.

The hammer was also a mid-grade magical artifact.

With its golden body and cylindrical head, the hammer could release a powerful shockwave.

Judging by its shape, it seemed specialized for throwing rather than direct use.

At the very least, its offensive power was far greater than the sword's.

Jin Hyeon decided to use it as his main offensive method in the Disciple Assembly and carefully placed it in his storage pouch.

Unfortunately, the final shield was almost ready to be discarded.

It might once have had a special function, but it was too damaged to use that function.

Still, since it was a defensive magical artifact, Jin Hyeon decided to use it as a disposable shield to block one of his opponent's spells.

Contrary to his expectations that there would be more magical artifacts, those were all the magical artifacts in the black-clad cultivator's storage pouch.

Clicking his tongue in disappointment, Jin Hyeon pulled the last two items toward him with an uneasy expression.

“These two are...”

One was the jar the black-clad cultivator had used to take out the Ghost-Soul Parasite. The other was a book with a dark leather cover.

Blood-red letters on the cover read, “Ghost-Soul Demon Art.”

Carefully opening the cultivation method that seemed to proclaim, 'I am a demonic art,' Jin Hyeon was relieved to find that the demonic cultivation manual did not consume his mind and make him let out sinister laughter.

He felt both discomfort and curiosity toward the demonic arts he was seeing for the first time as he read through its contents.

Surprisingly, its opening sections were not greatly different from an ordinary cultivation method.

The only notable difference was that, in the process of absorbing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, it converted it into demonic qi according to the cultivation method's formula before cultivating it. Otherwise, the cultivation was ordinary.

“Blood sacrifice?”

However, true to its name as demonic arts, something soon appeared that made him frown.

Jin Hyeon was startled to learn that the Ghost-Soul Demon Art required not only killing, but also large quantities of blood or souls to use or create certain spells and magical artifacts, or to employ secret arts.

Its cruelty startled him, but so did the variety and destructive power of those secret arts.

For instance, a technique called Seven Blood Orbs refined a cultivator's blood into seven beads, which could be used to temporarily raise one's realm.

As Jin Hyeon continued examining the cultivation method, he soon found the Black-Flame Hands spell the man in black had used. He also learned that this cultivation method contained cultivation up to late Foundation Establishment.

Unfortunately, there was not much information that could help him apply it to his own cultivation. Still, understanding the methods of cultivators of the demonic path was a gain.

Then, at one passage, Jin Hyeon confirmed that his guess had been correct.

The Ghost-Soul Demon Art recorded how to handle the Ghost-Soul Parasite.

However, it did not mention in the slightest how to create the Ghost-Soul Parasite.

Since the black-clad cultivator, who did not know how to make it, possessed one, someone who could make it had clearly given it to them.

Preparing the thunder mark within his Soul Sea, Jin Hyeon ignited a fireball from the Fireball Art in one hand and carefully opened the jar.

Inside, a Ghost-Soul Parasite identical to the one Jin Hyeon had seen before slowly wriggled about.

Fortunately, it did not leap at him.

Shuddering at its horrific appearance and ability, Jin Hyeon dispelled the spell and sealed the jar again.

Many questions still remained.

What had the black-clad cultivator intended to do by capturing him?

What organization did the black-clad cultivator belong to?

But Jin Hyeon decided not to care about any of it.

What did it matter to him if the black-clad cultivator belonged to some enormous demonic path organization with wicked intentions and went around kidnapping cultivators?

He only needed to cultivate quietly and maintain a peaceful life.

Having pushed those worries aside, Jin Hyeon considered how to handle these two troublesome spoils.

The cultivation method containing demonic arts was worth keeping as a source of useful information and reference material, even if he did not practice it.

As long as he did not convert to demonic arts and cultivate with it, there should be no problem.

But the Ghost-Soul Parasite was another matter.

It was unquestionably a product of demonic arts and an extremely vicious kind of curse parasite.

If he openly used something like this within the sect, he could be accused of being a spy for the demonic path.

“But its effect is too strong to simply throw away... I don't know. I'll keep it for now.”

After deliberating, Jin Hyeon ultimately buried the jar containing the Ghost-Soul Parasite beneath his cave dwelling, still inside the black-clad cultivator's storage pouch.

He might need it someday, and he did not want to waste it merely because it was ominous.

Having made his decision, Jin Hyeon thought of the Disciple Assembly that would take place in a few weeks to lighten his mood.

Thanks to this ambush, he had gained not only useful magical artifacts but spirit stones as well.

At least compared to before, he would be able to face the Disciple Assembly with more solid preparations.

“Still, of all things, I had to use up the Water Dragon Bind Talisman... Don't I have anything that could serve as a trump card in the Disciple Assembly?”

The Azure Sword Wind Talisman he had bought was also a high-grade talisman, but the spell that summoned fierce blade winds to attack could likely be blocked if the opponent had proper defensive means.

A powerful binding spell like Water Dragon Bind could secure a reliable victory, so Jin Hyeon considered what else he could use instead.

“Should I go to the market again? No, I don't know whether the black-clad cultivator's companions are nearby. I can't visit the market again for a while...”

Unless he had become completely oblivious to danger, he would not be wandering around Sameung Market for the time being.

Then should he obtain something from Hundred Treasures Pavilion?

But Hundred Treasures Pavilion's resources were limited, which was why he had gone to the market in the first place...

As Jin Hyeon considered one option after another, his gaze suddenly fell upon the spirit beast pouch.

A strange gleam appeared in his eyes.

The Ghost-Soul Demon Art recorded various secret arts of the demonic path, including one that used spirit beasts.

It was a powerful spell that forcibly drove a low-grade spirit beast into a frenzy while making it surpass its original realm, though it also had serious side effects.

The spirit beast would not recognize its master and would die after a short time.

Since the cultivator would lose a spirit beast and might even be attacked alongside the enemy, ordinary cultivators would likely use this spell only as a last resort to buy time to escape.

But that was not a problem for Jin Hyeon.

He could use the black snake that would be coiled inside the spirit beast pouch.

There was no reason to be generous toward a creature that had nearly killed him.

Furthermore, the snake was weak even among first-rank spirit beasts corresponding to the Qi Refining stage. The chance of it becoming so powerful that it harmed him as well was low.

It was perfect as a hidden card.

Jin Hyeon tapped the spirit beast pouch and said,

“Because of you, I had to waste Water Dragon Bind. You should at least become a Black Serpent Burst in its place.”

* * *

Two weeks had passed since the ambush.

With the sect's Disciple Assembly just around the corner, Jin Hyeon was helping Martial Uncle Ha with refining and forging at Azure Forge Pavilion.

Footnotes:

“Won Hyu-money” combines Won Hyu's name with “money,” joking about Jin Hyeon's debt to him.

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