WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
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◈ Cultivating Underground ◈
Chapter 104
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Yi Hyeon scratched his head.
For a moment, his gaze caught on the white-robed mountain lord's exposed neck and the faint pattern of snake scales beneath the skin. As baleful qi crept up inside him, he clicked his tongue inwardly.
'There it goes again.'
He roused his vow power, and the impulse gradually faded.
Killing the person before him would hardly settle the matter. If a mountain lord who had openly challenged him at the gathering suddenly disappeared, who would be the first suspect?
Besides, he hadn't even noticed that the mountain lord had been watching him from high above. He couldn't be certain there were no other eyes nearby.
No, to begin with, there was no guarantee he could defeat a fourth-tier demonic beast with strength equal to a Nascent Soul cultivator in one fell swoop.
"I already told you I'd spent a long time in the lands of the human race. The members of the human race I bought recently were very respectful, which pleased me, so I sent them back."
"And that was why you gave them spirit stones too?"
"They helped me with my work. Surely I can give them a few mid-grade spirit stones for that? More importantly, how long have you been following me?"
"I received a report that your boat had left through the eastern boundary under my charge. When I heard you had members of the human race aboard, I came to check."
"Check what?"
"Where they were going. Whether anyone was waiting for them."
Only then did Yi Hyeon understand why the mountain lord had appeared after all the members of the human race had left, rather than while he was releasing them.
'Did they think I was meeting someone in secret?'
"So, was anyone waiting?"
Silence was his answer.
"Having ties to the human race and being a member of the human race are two different things. Master Ho and Fellow Cultivator Dam verified this themselves. If you're questioning it again for such a reason, I can't say I'm pleased."
The white-robed mountain lord's fingers twitched slightly inside a sleeve. But when they met Yi Hyeon's knowing gaze, the movement at the sleeve's edge quietly stopped.
"...That last part was quite a bluff. You've only just become a fourth-tier greater demon. Do you think saying you're displeased will make me nervous?"
Suspicion still lingered in those narrow, vertical pupils. But Yi Hyeon made no effort to clear it away.
A fourth-tier greater demon was free to live as they pleased. Eagerly explaining himself would have seemed stranger.
"Next time, come to Cheongseok Mountain. If you stop me on the road like this again, I won't put up with it."
The white-robed mountain lord had no reason to fight Yi Dong-o to the death here and now, either, especially with the menacing aura he was giving off.
"Very well. I am Baek Rin of Seollin Valley. If you have business with me, you're welcome to visit as well."
Baek Rin stepped back from the rock, their figure becoming wrapped in white escape light. They immediately soared high into the sky and vanished into the distance. Only after their presence had faded sufficiently did Yi Hyeon fly off in another direction.
...
After returning to Cheongseok Mountain, Yi Hyeon rarely went out. During the day, he practiced handling his new body. At night, he went down into the tunnels to study the Demon-Subduing Baleful Qi Refining Scripture. He exchanged news with the outside world only from time to time, through the Two Heavens Society's contact point.
A few years later, the things he had ordered began arriving one by one.
The first thing he worked on was a set of Tier 3 Spirit-Concealing Formation components. After he adjusted the formation to suit Cheongseok Mountain's terrain, it concealed the energy leaking from his cave abode even better.
At the mountain's boundary, he installed the Tier 2 Earth-Listening Formation he had taken as spoils.
He also placed the reference materials on various schools of bone preparation and implement refining that had arrived with them beside the 《Profound Yin White Bone True Scripture》, carefully comparing their contents.
'That's enough preparation.'
When he opened his storage pouch, the demonic beast bones he had collected over the years appeared. Leg bones, bone plates, and ribs had been sorted by size and properties.
From the pile of fragments taken from Eom Mu-jin's White Bone Flood Dragon Puppet and Six-Armed White Bone Demon, Yi Hyeon selected an arm bone and placed it on the stone table as a reference.
'Let's do this.'
White Bone Yin Flame licked the surface of the bone material. Using the Fire-Dividing Thread Spell, Yi Hyeon split the yin flame into fine strands and pushed them deep into the marrow.
Ssssss.
The ends of two bones taken from different demonic beasts glowed white-hot. As Yi Hyeon's fingertips moved, a thick leg bone joined with the bone material intended for the joint. The restrictions on their surfaces brightened, and magical power flowed between the two materials.
'Did it work?'
He sent force through the finished arm to test it.
Crack!
With a dull sound, a crack formed just below the joint, and the bone snapped.
'I can't get a feel for this...'
He laid out the remains of the Six-Armed White Bone Demon again, fitted the broken arm bone against the shoulder blade, and traced the bone channels.
Its entire body had been built as a connected whole, allowing force applied to an arm to pass through the shoulder and spread into the sternum and spine.
Yi Hyeon pushed the other prepared bone materials aside and spread out a sheet of paper.
'The most important part of designing a puppet is planning. First, I need to decide what problem I want it to solve.'
...
Around fifty years after he began his research, the first body took on a human shape.
He paid attention to its appearance as well, so that it wouldn't look like a Skull Island puppet.
He also made its body roughly human-sized. An enormous body would only get in the way when moving through the tunnels and passing along narrow passages.
As he designed a structure that could transmit force and withstand impacts, he took it apart and carved it again countless times, using up a considerable amount of his stockpiled bone material.
...
One day, a loud sound rang out underground.
Thud!
A gray Bonefuzz lifted a mass of bedrock the size of a house. Holding the rock, it slowly straightened its back, then walked to the spot Yi Hyeon indicated.
Thud, thud, thud.
Yi Hyeon withdrew his spiritual sense with a satisfied expression.
"...It worked! Haha!"
When he opened Bonefuzz's chest cover, it revealed a newly carved Tier 3 soul stone and a high-grade spirit stone fitted beneath it. He had put considerable effort into adjusting the spell formula so that the spirit stone's vast power wouldn't rush out all at once and damage the restrictions.
"Go on in."
The control method was the same as before. A second-tier Fuzzbee that had been waiting nearby burrowed into the skull. A moment later, light appeared in Bonefuzz's empty eye sockets. It turned its head from side to side, then raised a hand and touched its own face. Next, it lightly picked up an empty wooden box nearby.
Crunch!
The sturdy box crumpled in its hand.
Squeak?
Flustered, the Fuzzbee held Bonefuzz's hand out toward Yi Hyeon, still clutching the broken box.
"...You'll have to learn to control your strength first."
Since the Fuzzbee itself was still only a second-tier spirit insect, it seemed to have little sense of the tremendous strength produced by the high-grade spirit stone and Tier 3 Bonefuzz.
Still, for now, the fact that he had made a Tier 3 puppet himself gave him a considerable sense of achievement!
...
After that, Yi Hyeon lived peacefully, cultivating and researching Bonefuzz. Occasionally, he visited Underground Hideout No. 3 to tend the spirit fields.
He spent a great deal of time reading popular novels, and when he didn't feel like working, he put off his research for months at a time.
Time was the one thing he had to spare. Whenever he grew tired of novels, improving his Tier 3 puppets was entertaining in its own way.
He also kept reading the materials that came through the Two Heavens Society. As he studied various implement refining inheritances, he began to think that he might someday be able to make his own natal magical treasure.
He finally became able to refine Vajra Baleful Qi to Grade 7 as well.
Once he cleared away the baleful qi accumulated in his body, sharp surges of killing intent over trivial matters became less frequent. He had returned to how he had been before slaughtering large numbers of Tier 3 demonic beasts.
He continued his absurd experiments in mixing Clear Yang Purifying Flame with White Bone Yin Flame, too. The sight of this research would have given cultivators of past generations from Jewel Light Temple and the Yin Bird Sect fits. It had yet to produce much, but playing with fire was always fun to watch!
He also returned to studying his sword path inheritance.
It was the 《Supreme Unity Earthly Fiend Sword Canon》, which he had copied at the Danso Sect for 950 contribution points.
Thanks to the foundation he had built with the Supreme Unity Heavenly Dipper Sword Art, the opening parts felt familiar. But from the incantations for condensing and refining sword qi with Golden Core magical power onward, its level was in a completely different league from what he had studied before.
'I'm glad I got it in advance.'
* * *
Five hundred years after his breakthrough to Golden Core.
Throughout those long years, Yi Hyeon had hardly left Cheongseok Mountain.
In the lands of the human race, even the Two Heavens Society's Golden Core members had reached the ends of their lifespans and been replaced by a new generation. Among the members of the demon race of the Vast Verdant Forest Sea, too, "Yi Dong-o of Cheongseok Mountain" was fading from memory as someone who had holed up in a cave and done nothing but sleep for hundreds of years.
Fortunately, behavior so close to hibernation didn't seem particularly unusual in the society of the demon race.
In the cultivation chamber of his cave abode on Cheongseok Mountain, spiritual qi flowed up from beneath the mountain and drifted along the formation around the cross-legged Yi Hyeon.
Continuing the circulation cycles of the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art, Yi Hyeon sent magical power toward his waist, the last area still changing a little more slowly than the rest. Without rushing, he completed one circulation cycle, then another.
Hummmmm...
At a certain moment, as though a blocked waterway had opened, the magical power flowing through his body completed a smooth circuit. A faint golden light rippled beneath his skin.
'There.'
Yi Hyeon calmed his excitement and continued practicing his cultivation art for three days, until he was fully used to the changed flow within his body.
When he opened his eyes and clenched and relaxed his hands, fuller magical power flowed through his joints, muscles, and bones.
"That feels good!"
He had broken through to Golden Core Layer 2!
He rose and stretched his whole body.
"Phew... That took a long time."
Yi Hyeon took the stone tablet out of his storage pouch.
【Age: 3,707】
【Realm: Golden Core stage, Layer 2】
【Magical Power: 50,000 → 62,000】
【Spells (Minor Mastery): Mount Sumeru Visualization Scripture (Dhritarashtra manifestation)...】
【Spells (Major Mastery): Demon-Subduing Baleful Qi Refining Scripture, Supreme Unity Earthly Fiend Sword Art...】
【Spells (Perfect Mastery): Vajra Wisdom Sword Scripture (Sword-Condensing Section), Mount Sumeru Visualization Scripture (Vaisravana manifestation), Mount Sumeru Mountain-Suppressing Seal, Metal Escape Spell...】
【Crafts (Tier 2): Insect Control, Formations, Artifact Refining】
【Crafts (Tier 3): Spirit Plant Cultivation, Alchemy, Puppet】
Yi Hyeon propped the stone tablet against the wall and admired it for a while.
...
When he went underground, three Tier 3 Bonefuzz puppets stood in a row. He normally removed all the high-grade spirit stones from their chests to keep them from being drained. Today, as usual, a Fuzzbee was resting inside an inactive Bonefuzz. When Yi Hyeon approached, it poked its antennae out through the eye sockets.
"High-grade spirit stones are too expensive..."
Squeak!
It went back inside.
Yi Hyeon walked to the cavern containing the Heaven-Origin Divine Tree. The tree had grown fuller since he had transplanted it. He had enlarged the cavern once more to make room for new branches and moved the water pipes to match the direction its roots had spread, but there were still no flower buds.
After examining each branch tip, Yi Hyeon lowered his hand.
When he touched the trunk, he could feel its vitality. This was an excellent environment compared with his old underground hideout, but the spiritual qi reaching this deep underground was thinner than at the surface.
"The Heaven-Origin Divine Tree's growth is a problem, but so is my cultivation speed. It's always been this way, but... whole-body cultivation really is slow."
After attaining the Unsullied Golden Body, he had become more relaxed. He no longer cultivated in a hurry while making alchemical pills as he once had. Part of the reason was that gathering alchemical ingredients from cultivator markets of the human race had become a nuisance with his body emitting such a powerful demonic aura.
...
Two months later, Master Ho came to visit.
Master Ho clicked their tongue as they watched Yi Hyeon sip his tea.
"At first, I hoped you'd learned diligence from the society of the human race. But perhaps because you're a member of the demon race by birth, you're terribly lazy about cultivation. You must be the only greater demon who's spent five hundred years content with a Tier 3 spirit vein, doing nothing but sleeping."
"I'm ashamed."
"You can't take things easy forever just because you were born with a good bloodline. Five hundred years isn't a short time even for the demon race. Which brings me to my point. Have you considered finding yourself a proper mountain now?"
"Do I need to leave this place?"
"No, that's not what I mean. You're welcome to keep using Cheongseok Mountain. It's just that an opportunity has come up to settle somewhere with a fourth-tier spirit vein."
'A fourth-tier spirit vein!'
Yi Hyeon's eyes lit up!
Master Ho seemed somewhat relieved by his reaction.
"Have you heard of Dokrin Valley?"
"I've heard the name."
It lay beyond several mountain ranges to the northwest. It had been marked on the map Yi Hyeon had seen, but he had never bothered to visit.
"There's been talk of driving out its ruler."
According to Master Ho, the Lord of Dokrin Valley was an Ink-Scaled Venomous Python (墨鱗毒蟒) that had lived at the bottom of Dokrin Pool for a long time. The greater demon had achieved humanoid transformation relatively recently.
After reaching the fourth tier over a thousand years ago, the valley lord had taken in the small clans nearby and expanded their power. Recently, they had begun encroaching on the neighboring mountain lords' territories as well.
At first, there had only been disputes over gathering grounds. Then the valley lord had started moving prohibition markers at will and attacked a transport party from a mine used by Blackwing Ridge, killing a Tier 3 black hawk.
The Lord of Seongneung Mountain to the north had also suffered losses. Waterways in two valleys had been blocked, forcing the clansfolk living there to abandon their homes.
"Have you tried mediating?"
"I sent people three times. But the valley lord even captured those who went to collect the ore they had promised to return."
Master Ho took off their jade spectacles and wiped them.
"This time, even I couldn't keep holding the others back."
"Couldn't Lord Heukgak and the Lord of Seongneung Mountain simply act together?"
"If they joined forces, they could drive the valley lord out. The problem is what comes afterward. The Lord of Dokrin Valley knows that, which is why they've held out. While the two neighbors kept each other in check, the valley lord kept expanding their own territory."
Master Ho took out a small map. With Dokrin Valley at its center, a mountain range extending from Blackwing Ridge and the waterways of Seongneung Mountain touched it on either side.
"Both of them want the Lord of Dokrin Valley dead, but they seem reluctant to risk injury in the process or let the other claim that spirit vein. As it happens, they're willing to work with you, since you have no particular connections in the Vast Verdant Demon Realm. Dokrin Valley's outer boundaries would be reduced to their former extent, while you would take over the main mountain and its attached lands. Of course, you'd have to do most of the fighting."
"They don't mind if I take it?"
"Hasn't everyone seen you live quite happily with only a Tier 3 spirit vein for five hundred years?"
Yi Hyeon was at a loss for words for a moment.
He looked at the map. Three waterways branched out below the main mountain, which held the fourth-tier spirit vein. Beyond them lay a fairly broad basin and a small lake.
'A fourth-tier spirit vein...! If the opportunity's being served up on a plate, I can't let it pass.'
"I'd like to hear from both of them in person."
...
Ten days later, in a small hall at Green Forest Pavilion.
When Lord Heukgak finished speaking, the Lord of Seongneung Mountain, seated opposite, spoke.
The mountain lord was a gray-haired, middle-aged figure with two short, thick horns rising from either side of the forehead and skin on the backs of their hands cracked like rough rock. They were said to belong to the Stone-Armored Mountain Ox (石甲山牛) clan. A broad jaw that looked capable of chewing and swallowing stone moved.
"The valley lord is still at the early fourth tier. Outside Dokrin Pool, I could force them back on my own. The problem is that at their base, they can draw on the poisonous water stored in the pool."
"Is the spirit vein itself poisonous?"
"No. It's a pool they've cultivated over a long time by releasing poisonous plants and insects into it. The spirit vein itself is an ordinary one."
Yi Hyeon nodded.
'As long as the fourth-tier spirit vein is intact...'
"Couldn't we attack from above and draw them out?"
"That's what I tried at first."
Lord Heukgak rolled up their left sleeve. Between the black feathers overlapping like scales on the forearm, patches where new feathers had yet to grow were exposed.
"They kept drawing poisonous water up from the pool. When I scattered it with wind, it turned into poisonous mist and clung to me... Flying higher won't let you avoid it."
Yi Hyeon looked at Dokrin Pool on the map again.
Lord Heukgak pointed at the map.
"I'll clear away the poisonous mist from above. Fellow Cultivator Seongneung, you should block the northern escape route and move in. Fellow Cultivator Yi can take the southern path."
Dokrin Pool was marked at the inner end of the southern gorge. The main mountain rose behind the pool, and the valley lord's cave abode lay between them.
"If all three of us press in at once, they won't be able to direct all the poisonous water to one side. I'll create an opening for Fellow Cultivator Yi to get close."
'Poison...'
"I'd like to check the spirit vein's condition myself. If it's as you've described, I'll join you."
"Of course. We have someone to guide you as well."
As Yi Hyeon accepted the jade slip offered by the Lord of Seongneung Mountain, Master Ho continued.
"Let's settle the boundaries here too. There'd be no point in doing this if you started fighting after the Lord of Dokrin Valley was driven out."
They quickly reached an agreement.
Blackwing Ridge would recover its stolen mine and transport route, while Seongneung Mountain would regain its two valleys and waterways.
The two mountain lords who had suffered losses would divide the wealth found in the Lord of Dokrin Valley's storehouses. In exchange, Yi Hyeon would take the main mountain, the basin to its south, the lake, and the surrounding forest.
"That sounds good. But what happens to the members of the demon race living there?"
"My clansfolk will return to me. Those who originally lived in Dokrin Valley will stay. Most of them have little connection to the valley lord's bloodline. If you take over, they'll become subjects of Dong-o Ridge, so none of them will be allowed to defy your orders. If they don't listen, you can kill them all."
"I wasn't thinking of going that far..."
...
A few days later, Yi Hyeon crouched behind a rock on a ridge south of Dokrin Valley and looked down into the valley. The water flowing from upstream was clear, but after passing beneath the black rocks deeper in the valley, it emerged a dark green.
That water filled Dokrin Pool. Mist rising from its surface surged hundreds of jang into the air, covering the sky above the valley like dark clouds.
Yet from the direction where the wind circled back, he could also sense pure, dense spiritual qi. It came from the main mountain beyond the poisonous mist. After briefly practicing the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art, Yi Hyeon looked that way again.
'This is just the spiritual qi leaking out?'
The spiritual qi of heaven and earth was extraordinarily abundant here. Its concentration couldn't even be compared with Cheongseok Mountain's.
'I should make this mountain mine.'
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