WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
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◈ Carefree Tale of Cultivation ◈
Chapter 20: The Master's Gift
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While Jin Hyeon was lost in thought.
Thud.
Gwang Seung-hyeon took a storage pouch from his sleeve and set it on the table.
“Open it.”
“Pardon?”
As Gwang Seung-hyeon continued looking at the pouch, Jin Hyeon drew it closer with the Object-Controlling Art.
After briefly channeling spiritual power into it, he sensed its opening unlock.
It was a lower-grade type rather than the divine sense-operated kind used by Foundation Establishment cultivators. Gwang Seung-hyeon must have prepared it for him.
Jin Hyeon opened the plain gray storage pouch and inspected its contents. Startled, he began taking the items out one by one and placing them on the table.
The first thing he saw was a hundred spirit stones.
He could not bring himself to take them all out of the pouch, and inwardly gasped at the glittering pile.
Of course, the value of everything he possessed now would easily exceed a hundred spirit stones.
Still, visual satisfaction was always the most immediate.
The storage pouch held several other items besides spirit stones.
First was a black cylindrical magical artifact, seemingly either mid-grade or low-grade, though he could not determine its exact rank.
A small awl-like point protruded from one end, while spiral patterns ran along its body. It resembled a drill.
Next came two jade bottles.
Jin Hyeon did not own anything like them, but he had heard that most cultivators kept precious medicinal herbs and heavenly treasures in jade or gold containers to preserve their spiritual qi. With anticipation, he opened their lids.
As expected, both bottles contained medicinal pills.
The dense spiritual qi emanating from them, along with their white surface and the peculiar vine-like pattern briefly mentioned in Essentials of Cultivation, told Jin Hyeon that they were Snow-Vine Pills, used mainly by late Qi Refining cultivators.
The pills in those two bottles alone were worth more than anything he had handled so far.
The next item Jin Hyeon took out was relatively ordinary compared to the earlier ones.
It was a bronze-colored mid-grade sword artifact resembling the pipa-shaped bronze swords he had only seen in old textbooks.
The final item was somewhat familiar to Jin Hyeon.
It was a disk.
He did not know its material, but it was made from a sort of blue stone and covered in various patterns.
Most striking was the jade-green bead set in its center.
“This is...”
It resembled the one he had touched when his spirit root was tested.
Jin Hyeon did not know its purpose, but he assumed it could not be inferior to the other items. He carefully set it on the table as well.
The medicinal pills and spirit stones alone were worth more than everything he had extracted from the black-clad cultivator.
“Martial Uncle Gwang, are all these...”
“You should call me Master now.”
Jin Hyeon blanked for a moment.
But Gwang Seung-hyeon was right. He was Jin Hyeon’s master now, and he had only made the mistake because the old title was familiar.
Jin Hyeon immediately corrected himself.
“Yes, Master.”
Gwang Seung-hyeon gave a faint smile, seemingly satisfied by the answer.
Before Jin Hyeon could ask anything else, he pointed at the items from the storage pouch.
“I prepared neither too many nor too few spirit stones. You should have no trouble using them for a while. That cylindrical artifact is called the Earth-Breaking Drill. It is useful for digging, so use it when excavating your cave dwelling.”
Excavating a cave dwelling?
Jin Hyeon wondered what that meant, but silently listened as Gwang Seung-hyeon continued.
“The pills are called Snow-Vine Pills. You may have heard of them. They are used by late Qi Refining cultivators. If you take them, you should be able to reach the threshold of late Qi Refining without much difficulty. But be careful that the excessive spiritual qi does not overload your meridians.”
“That sword is a mid-grade magical artifact called the Pipa Sword. I used it when I was a Qi Refining cultivator. Its cutting power is decent, so it should serve you well.”
“And that disk is a formation disk containing the Azure Wind Formation. If you use your blood to make it recognize you as its master and install it in your cave dwelling, you will have a suitable defense.”
After finishing his explanation, he took another sip of tea.
Now that Jin Hyeon understood the value of the items, he spoke while keeping his earlier mistake in mind.
“Thank you very much, Master. These gifts are far too generous for a disciple like me, but...”
“Have you served another master before me?”
Had he served another master? Jin Hyeon was briefly taken aback, then answered that he had not.
“Then how would you know whether this is too generous a gift for a master to give a disciple?”
It was logical.
Jin Hyeon nearly nodded without thinking, then tried to offer another humble response.
This time, Gwang Seung-hyeon was faster.
“This is my first time accepting a disciple as well. But since I decided to take a disciple under my wing, I believe I should observe the proper etiquette of a master. My master says that giving gifts to disciples is an investment, but I consider it propriety.”
Jin Hyeon admired Gwang Seung-hyeon’s thinking, though he did not believe Elder Jong’s words were wrong either.
The relationship between master and disciple was not always so beautiful in this world. It had not been very different among masters and apprentices in his previous life, but it was worse here.
There were generally two reasons to accept a disciple.
One was to seek an assistant who could handle various tasks and act in one’s place when one was busy. The other was to accept someone talented, preserve one’s own lineage and the sect’s legacy, and gain useful fighting strength.
Jin Hyeon was not the only one who thought so. The testimonies of the many Senior Brothers in the sect who had masters said the same, and the martial world was no different. It was common for a single expert to have dozens of disciples.
Ha Seung himself was an uncommon case. Masters and disciples with such a close relationship did exist, but they were not the usual sort.
In any case, Jin Hyeon liked his master’s words very much.
Gwang Seung-hyeon did not know what Jin Hyeon was thinking, but seeing his expression of agreement, he nodded.
“Put those away, then I will tell you what comes next.”
Gwang Seung-hyeon rose and gestured for Jin Hyeon to follow.
He headed down one of the short passages connected to the cavern. At its end was a broad, open space connected to the outside, jutting out from the mountainside.
“First, make your own private cave dwelling. Now that you are my disciple, your qualifications will pose no issue. Based on my cave dwelling, choose a suitable peak or mountain anywhere in the surrounding range within roughly the time it takes to drink tea at your flight speed.”
Jin Hyeon looked over the surrounding landscape.
Perhaps because it was close to his master’s cave dwelling, where a dense spiritual vein ran, the area was filled with more spiritual qi than ordinary parts of the sect.
“When making your cave dwelling, use the Earth-Breaking Drill. Once it is complete, install the formation disk. After that, you will carry out tasks I assign or help me with my work.”
“Of course, I do not intend to neglect your cultivation as your master. I will give you time to adjust first, so lay the foundations for your cave dwelling. Tomorrow, visit Senior Brother Ha to receive your assembly reward and place an order for your magical artifact. On the first day of next week, I will examine your cultivation progress and understanding of spell arts.”
After pouring out those words for some time, Gwang Seung-hyeon pressed his lips shut as though he had completed an exhausting task.
An awkward silence followed.
“Then this disciple will go make his cave dwelling. I will visit again tomorrow, Master.”
Gwang Seung-hyeon nodded Jin Hyeon off.
Jin Hyeon took out the Silver Swallow Board, climbed aboard, bowed to Gwang Seung-hyeon, and flew away.
After searching the surrounding mountain range for some time, Jin Hyeon arrived at a scenic peak he had seen while riding his master’s flying sword.
The peak was covered in green trees, gently sloped rather than steep, and connected to the nearby mountains. If he hollowed out a cave dwelling there, it seemed he could make the interior quite spacious.
He also liked the small stream flowing nearby, so Jin Hyeon decided to settle there.
As he descended to the ground, the soft grass beneath his feet and the birds chirping around him put him at ease.
“Though it’ll soon be full of construction noise.”
Jin Hyeon tapped the storage pouch Gwang Seung-hyeon had given him and took out the Earth-Breaking Drill.
As he wrapped the artifact in spiritual power and moved it, he naturally grasped how to use it.
Just as it looked, it was not much different from a drill.
Jin Hyeon pressed the Earth-Breaking Drill against the gentle slope and poured spiritual power into it.
After channeling spiritual power into it for a while to activate it, the Earth-Breaking Drill spun rapidly with a Krrrraack! and unleashed a shockwave ahead.
In an instant, the soil and rock before it split apart and collapsed, creating an opening.
Jin Hyeon thought its power might even make it useful as a weapon. Of course, its slow activation made it difficult to use in actual combat.
Thus, Jin Hyeon filled the beautiful scenery with excavation noises for quite some time.
Before long, he had dug a long passage into the side of the peak and excavated a broad cavern within, similar to Gwang Seung-hyeon’s cave dwelling.
Jin Hyeon smiled in satisfaction as he looked over the rough but spacious interior.
He could slowly make smaller rooms later. For now, he wanted to inspect the formation disk.
Jin Hyeon took out the blue formation disk.
Then, using the red needle-shaped magical artifact he had carefully taken out, he pricked his fingertip and drew blood.
A red droplet rolled down his finger and fell onto the bead set in the center of the formation disk.
The bead glimmered briefly before falling still again.
After confirming this, Jin Hyeon went to the center of the space he had excavated and placed the formation disk atop a waist-high stone pillar he had made there.
He took out several spirit stones and fitted them into the tiny grooves on the formation disk.
The formation disk required spirit stones to operate, and while they did not need to be replenished frequently, they did need to be replaced periodically. Fortunately, he could maintain it with his current means.
The formation disk immediately emitted a pulse with a Hum.
Jin Hyeon sensed the invisible wave pass over him and spread across an area covering nearly the entire peak.
“Shall I test it?”
With an eager smile, Jin Hyeon headed outside his cave dwelling.
From the outside, the scenery remained exactly the same.
Just then, a small mountain animal resembling a weasel approached him.
Boom!
The creature had been moving cautiously, but the moment it entered the Azure Wind Formation’s range, wind appeared from thin air and blasted it away like a cannonball, sending it straight into a nearby tree.
Jin Hyeon confirmed that the Azure Wind Formation had been installed properly and approached its boundary himself.
But unlike the weasel, the Azure Wind Formation did not react no matter how many times he crossed its boundary.
Thanking the unfortunate weasel for assisting with his experiment, Jin Hyeon marveled at the formation disk.
“First, I need to go to my old cave dwelling and bring over some things. And formations... I wonder if I’ll get a chance to learn about them later?”
Jin Hyeon mounted the Silver Swallow Board and flew away. It was time to begin moving in properly.
* * *
The next day.
Jin Hyeon gathered the furniture and household goods he had accumulated in the apartment-style cave dwellings for disciples and moved them to his new cave dwelling. He did not forget to retrieve the Ghost-Soul Parasite he had buried in the ground.
After hearing that the assembly had fully ended the previous night, he was now heading to Azure Forge Pavilion to find Ha Seung.
“Ah, it’s Senior Brother Jin!”
“Senior Brother Jin!”
As he flew along on the Silver Swallow Board, many low-level disciples recognized him and greeted him.
Even late Qi Refining Senior Brothers greeted and praised him. Jin Hyeon felt that the assembly’s impact had not been small.
It was only natural. Setting aside the fact that a disciple whose name was barely known had suddenly claimed the top position among mid-Qi Refining cultivators, everyone had seen him summoned by an elder that day and leave with Gwang Seung-hyeon.
Even those who did not truly consider him impressive wanted to befriend a promising disciple who might have connections to an elder.
After being delayed longer than expected, he finally arrived at the familiar tiled house.
“Martial Uncle Ha... Hm?”
Jin Hyeon habitually stepped through the open gate and spotted Ha Seung. However, another young disciple stood before him.
“Yes. I will call you once your magical artifact is complete. Congratulations.”
The young disciple bowed with a fist-and-palm salute at Ha Seung’s praise, then looked curiously at Jin Hyeon while leaving.
“Oh, Martial Nephew Jin has arrived! Come in.”
Ha Seung called to Jin Hyeon in a friendlier tone than before.
“Good morning, Martial Uncle Ha. Who was that disciple just now?”
Jin Hyeon returned his smile.
Ha Seung and Gwang Seung-hyeon seemed to have a close relationship. It made sense. Ha Seung had seemed close to Elder Jong, Gwang Seung-hyeon’s master.
“Ah, that was the winner among the early Qi Refining disciples. They are a lucky one, a low-level disciple who will get their hands on a high-grade magical artifact. Was their name Lee Won-gu? They asked me to make a blue bottle-shaped magical artifact. In any case, take this first.”
Ha Seung tossed Jin Hyeon a pouch.
It was not a storage pouch, merely a sturdy leather bag.
Inside were several bottles that appeared to contain medicinal pills, along with quite a few spirit stones.
“A high-grade magical artifact may be the main prize, but we cannot forget the ordinary rewards just because they are nothing special.”
So these were simply the assembly rewards. Compared to a high-grade magical artifact, they did seem rather dim.
Jin Hyeon remembered the power of the Red Phoenix Cannon Son Yu-seol had used, and anticipation filled his expression.
“So, have you decided what artifact you want made? Since you are learning lightning arts, I intend to make something suited to that. Do you have a desired function or type of magical artifact?”
A desired type.
The previous night, Jin Hyeon had looked through the Azure Thunder Soul-Carving Art to find an artifact suited to his current cultivation method.
He had found one candidate: a whip.
It was not a common choice, but the Azure Thunder Soul-Carving Art recommended it as an artifact form well suited to lightning arts.
Ordinarily, he would have chosen it immediately, but another thought had kept Jin Hyeon deliberating.
His master, Gwang Seung-hyeon, was known as an expert in sword arts. Not the sort that commonly sent flying swords about, but true Sword-Control Art and related spell arts.
Therefore, Jin Hyeon thought it might be better to choose a sword-shaped magical artifact if he was to receive his master’s instruction.
As he considered the two choices, he remembered another weapon.
“Martial Uncle Ha, I would like a sword-shaped magical artifact.”
“Mm. Considering that you are Junior Brother Gwang’s disciple, that is certainly most fitting. Then...”
“Ah, but perhaps...”
“Mm?”
“Could a sword and whip be combined? That is, would a Serpent-Belly Sword be possible?”
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