WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
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◈ Cultivating Underground ◈
Chapter 18
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Yi Hyeon hadn't spent all of the past 330 years awake.
He had made a round of the spirit fields roughly every fifteen days, then spent the rest of his time lying down, cultivating the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art in a half-asleep state.
To him, it felt as though not even a few decades had passed. Of course, that was still a very long time, and he had begun to tire of living underground.
Now that his cultivation had stopped advancing as well, he had no reason to remain in Underground Hideout No. 1.
'Why don't I visit Ungyeong for the first time in a while and find out how to break through to the middle phase of the Qi Refining stage?'
...
Before going out, Yi Hyeon decided to give the spirit fields a quick inspection.
Still lying down, he slid across the floor.
Sh-sh-sh-shhh!
He crossed the cultivation chamber and slipped into the passage.
When he reached a bend, Yi Hyeon turned sideways without getting up, then slid along the wall, across the ceiling, and down onto the floor on the other side.
He could now even perform the bizarre feat of using Ground-Shrinking Step while maintaining the Reclining Escape Art.
As though passing through underground bedrock while lying down wasn't enough, he now floated just above the passage floor, gliding along like a ghost.
...
Spirit Field No. 1-1.
Dense poisonous pollen drifted like a hazy mist around the layers of ivory petals. Still lying down, Yi Hyeon approached and examined the insides of the Bone-Rotting Flowers.
'Around 160 years.'
"Still, this isn't bad."
Yi Hyeon used the Seventh-Stem Metal Art to carve their current condition onto a wooden board.
"116 Bone-Rotting Flowers, 294 clumps of Yin Soul Grass, 77 Purple Poison Orchids, 55 Earth Vein Flowers... Their numbers have fallen slightly, but they're in good condition. Average medicinal age: 164 years."
He then inspected Spirit Fields No. 1-2 through No. 1-5 in order.
"The spirit plants left in the other four fields... 466 Bone-Rotting Flowers, 1,182 clumps of Yin Soul Grass, 310 Purple Poison Orchids, and 224 Earth Vein Flowers. Average medicinal age: 131 years..."
...
Spirit Field No. 1-6.
Green lotus leaves completely covered the reservoir's surface.
Several flowers bloomed between the leaves, while honeycomb-like seed pods had formed where other flowers had lost their petals.
Yi Hyeon lifted the nearest seed pod.
A hard seed sat in each hole.
He had tried eating the seeds before.
The young seeds were cold and mildly sweet. After eating them, he felt his head clear a little and the heat inside his body subside.
They tasted quite good, so Yi Hyeon often shelled the seeds and ate them as snacks. Thanks to them, his trips to the mortal world had become even less frequent.
"I don't know how quickly these grow in fields tended by professional spirit plant growers. Let's put their medicinal age at 110 years."
...
His last stop was Spirit Field No. 1-7, where three Stone-Honey Peach trees had grown into a small grove.
The low cavern ceiling had prevented the trees from growing straight upward, so they had spread widely to the sides instead. Thick trunks and branches twisted along the rock walls, and pale yellowish-brown energy flowed through the veins of their thick leaves.
Fist-sized fruit hung here and there among the branches.
When the trees first began bearing fruit, all three together had produced only three or four peaches a year. Their yield had steadily increased as they aged, and they now produced more than twenty each year.
Yi Hyeon picked a fully ripe peach and peeled it.
He bit into the clear, honey-colored flesh. Its firm, cold pulp broke crisply between his teeth, filling his mouth with a rich sweetness and cool water qi.
"Ahh..."
Eating it caused no immediate, major change in his body. For now, he recorded the Stone-Honey Peaches' medicinal age as 110 years as well.
...
After recording the condition of all seven spirit fields, Yi Hyeon returned to the cultivation chamber and sank into thought.
Altogether, he had more than 2,700 Bone-Rotting Flowers, Yin Soul Grass plants, Purple Poison Orchids, and Earth Vein Flowers with medicinal ages exceeding a hundred years. He also had a steady supply of Yinwater Lotus seeds and Stone-Honey Peach spirit fruit.
'The question is who I can sell them to, and for how much...'
Selling just one or two hundred-year-old spirit herbs might be fine. He could claim to have stumbled across them in a secret spirit field in the mountains or an ancient cultivator's cave abode. But if he repeatedly sold the same varieties, or offered dozens of plants at once, anyone would become suspicious about their source.
"Well, there's no hurry. I'm not desperate for spirit stones right now... They'll only become more valuable if I wait, won't they?"
...
Yi Hyeon went to the storeroom and took out the storage pouch he had used since his days at Cheongha Valley.
He had long since eaten the few Essence-Nourishing Pills inside to pass the time. Only a little of the food from those days remained.
When he opened a small bottle, four Fasting Pills rolled out. After eating them occasionally over the centuries, he had only these last few left.
He examined them with the Qi-Observing Spell and found that more than half their spiritual qi had dispersed.
Yi Hyeon put one Fasting Pill into his mouth.
They had never been tasty, but now that most of the spiritual qi had escaped, it tasted like nothing more than powdered medicinal herbs chewed without water.
Still, a faint warmth spread through his stomach after he swallowed it.
Yi Hyeon also took a small cloth pouch out of the storage pouch.
About one geun of Cheongha Rice remained.
The once-white, clear grains hadn't spoiled, but much of the spiritual qi they contained had dispersed.
Yi Hyeon put the Cheongha Rice back into the pouch.
...
Yi Hyeon spent several days putting Underground Hideout No. 1 in order before going out.
He filled every spirit field's tank with spirit rainwater and inspected each bronze pipe and the pivots of the watering buckets. He replaced worn parts with new ones and cleared the accumulated soil and stone dust from the channels.
...
Four days later.
Yi Hyeon was already walking along the western main road leading to Ungyeong.
Over the years, he had occasionally visited a nearby county town to buy nuts, iron goods, paper, and books, but it had been a long time since he had come all the way to Ungyeong.
Even from a distance, the city looked quite different from his memories.
The walls caught his eye first.
A new outer wall stood much farther west than the old west gate, and it was considerably taller and thicker than the former city wall. Towers equipped with large crossbows stood at regular intervals along its top.
Remarkably, the Untaek Kingdom was still going strong.
Carts and travelers formed a long line outside the gate. The soldiers inspecting their baggage wore different armor from what Yi Hyeon remembered, and a large bronze mirror that hadn't been there before hung above the gate.
Whenever someone passed through, a dim light appeared on the mirror's surface, then faded.
'What's that? Could it be... a magical implement? I doubt a mortal kingdom would have anything particularly powerful...'
Maintaining both the Spirit-Hiding Spell and the Qi-Concealing Spell, Yi Hyeon followed the line through the gate. The bronze mirror faced him, but no alarm sounded, nor did any soldiers approach.
'Hmm. I suppose it wasn't anything special after all.'
...
Warehouses, inns, and workshops crowded the area inside the new outer wall.
The city seemed to have expanded over places that had once held rice paddies and village homes. The main roads were wider than before, and large stone bridges had replaced the wooden bridges over the waterways.
Yi Hyeon asked a passerby for directions and headed toward the site of the former west gate.
Only after a long walk did the old wall come into view. Parts of it had crumbled and were being used as boundary walls for the market, while the tower above the old west gate had become a teahouse.
A place that had once stood outside the city was now the entrance to a market called the Old West Gate.
There were still plenty of stalls selling medicinal herbs and miscellaneous goods around it.
Yi Hyeon slowly looked around, then suddenly stopped. Several bundles of Water-Root Grass lay on a shabby straw mat.
Behind them sat a thin man who looked a little over fifty.
He bore an astonishing resemblance to Jang Pyeong, whom Yi Hyeon had met more than three hundred years ago.
Yi Hyeon found himself staring at the man, who looked up.
"Is something wrong?"
"May I ask your name...?"
"I'm Jang Yu-san."
"I see."
Yi Hyeon lowered his head in embarrassment.
"You look so much like someone I know that I mistook you for him."
"There must be plenty of people in the world who look alike."
'What a coincidence...'
After a moment's thought, Yi Hyeon picked up a bundle of Water-Root Grass from the mat.
"How much is this?"
"Four copper coins."
"It's more expensive than it used to be."
"How many things are cheaper these days than they used to be?"
"That's true."
Yi Hyeon handed over the coins and put the Water-Root Grass into his storage pouch.
When he remained even after buying something, Jang Yu-san looked him up and down.
"Is this your first time in Ungyeong?"
"I haven't been here in a long time."
"You must be a fellow cultivator who's been shut away cultivating in the mountains."
"That's right."
"You seem to be at the third layer of the Qi Refining stage. Have you come to join the Heaven-Serving Directorate?"
"The Heaven-Serving Directorate is still around?"
Jang Yu-san gave him a strange look.
"What do you mean, still around? If the Heaven-Serving Directorate disappeared, who would stop the demonic beasts and Geonyang Kingdom's martial artists?"
Yi Hyeon felt relieved to learn that not only the Untaek Kingdom, but also the Heaven-Serving Directorate still existed.
"I came to Ungyeong to find out how to advance from the third layer of the Qi Refining stage to the fourth."
"How long have you been stuck?"
"About ten years."
Jang Yu-san smiled bitterly.
"You're still a greenhorn."
"How long has it been for you?"
"Forty-five years. I reached the third layer at thirty-four, and I'm seventy-nine this year, so there's no need to work it out: exactly forty-five years."
Yi Hyeon felt strange. Not only his appearance, but even his circumstances were just like those of Jang Pyeong from long ago.
"Is advancing from the third layer to the fourth really that difficult?"
"It is if you have neither a good spirit vein nor alchemical pills."
"Is a spirit vein essential?"
Jang Yu-san studied Yi Hyeon's face for a moment, then pointed to a low wooden box beside him.
"You really must have been cultivating alone in the mountains. I have no customers anyway, so sit down for a moment."
Once Yi Hyeon sat on the box, Jang Yu-san began explaining as he brushed soil from the roots of the Water-Root Grass.
"You can reach the third layer of the Qi Refining stage if you put in enough time, even where the spiritual qi of heaven and earth is sparse. But..."
Jang Yu-san cupped one hand and used the other to mime pushing something into it from outside.
"To advance from the early to the middle phase of the Qi Refining stage, you have to raise the quality of your spiritual power a step while the pressure of the surrounding spiritual qi is above a certain level. People often compare the spiritual power of a cultivator at the Qi Refining stage to gas and a Foundation Establishment cultivator's to liquid... But that's only a comparison. Even among cultivators at the Qi Refining stage, the quality of spiritual power varies."
"So the pressure of the spiritual qi outside the body is important. Then the reason a spirit vein matters is..."
"Exactly. Most people attempt their breakthrough at a high-grade Tier 1 spirit vein or somewhere similar. The surrounding spiritual qi pushes into your body on its own there. In truth, though, alchemical pills are best. When their concentrated spiritual qi is released inside your body all at once, the pressure is far stronger than what a spirit vein can provide. People usually take a Barrier-Breaking Pill when breaking through to the fourth layer of the Qi Refining stage."
"Can you break through easily as long as you have a Barrier-Breaking Pill?"
Jang Yu-san gave a hollow laugh.
"If that were true, would I be sitting here selling Water-Root Grass? The chances of success vary depending on your spiritual root, cultivation art, age, and the condition of your dantian. Plenty of people fail even after taking pills at a good spirit vein. Still, it's far better than attempting a breakthrough with no preparation."
Yi Hyeon thought for a moment, then asked, "Where can I get Barrier-Breaking Pills?"
"You'll have to obtain a pill formula and make them yourself, or buy them at a cultivator market."
"Isn't alchemy practiced exclusively by major sects and cultivation families?"
"Just how old is the information you're going by?"
Jang Yu-san picked up a stalk of Water-Root Grass.
"After the ancient age, spiritual qi dwindled, and spirit plant cultivation became more widespread. Naturally, the number of alchemists grew as well. These days, any cultivation organization that runs spirit fields has its own alchemists. Even the Heaven-Serving Directorate over there has pill formulas and alchemists..."
"The Heaven-Serving Directorate has them too? Could I join and learn the Barrier-Breaking Pill formula and the basics of pill refining?"
"Learning them isn't difficult. These days, there's even a saying that two out of every three independent cultivators try their hand at alchemy, and one of those two gives up after wasting their spirit stones."
"Were you with the Heaven-Serving Directorate yourself?"
"I was."
"Then couldn't you make Barrier-Breaking Pills yourself?"
"That's what I thought when I was young."
Jang Yu-san smiled bitterly and lightly rubbed his side.
"I worked as a field court retainer for the Heaven-Serving Directorate for seventeen years. I hunted demonic beasts, escorted medicinal herb shipments, and even tracked down martial artists from Geonyang."
"A field court retainer? Aren't they called guest retainers?"
This time, Jang Yu-san looked truly puzzled.
"How do you know about that?"
"I read it in an old book."
"That's an old term. The guest retainer system was abolished more than sixty years ago."
"Why was it abolished?"
"When a major war broke out with Geonyang, the Heaven-Serving Directorate urgently summoned its guest retainers. Apparently, most of them vanished. They'd used the directorate's registry and benefits during peacetime, then left when things became dangerous. But guest retainers had always been free to choose their missions, so there wasn't much justification for punishing them."
After that incident, the Untaek royal family had changed the system. All independent cultivators at the Qi Refining stage receiving support from the Heaven-Serving Directorate were now entered on its court retainer rolls.
Court retainers were currently divided into resident court retainers, field court retainers, frontline court retainers, and specialist court retainers.
Resident court retainers stayed at government offices and received stipends, but could not easily refuse orders. Field court retainers normally lived freely and chose their preferred missions, but had to complete a minimum number of missions within a set period.
Frontline court retainers fought Geonyang's martial artists on the southern border. Specialist court retainers contributed to the directorate through skills such as alchemy, talisman crafting, formations, and medicine.
"So you earned merit as a field court retainer and used it to learn pill refining?"
"That's right. But actually refining pills was another matter entirely."
Jang Yu-san raised his right hand. The tips of two fingers were blackened and twisted, as though burned.
"I learned pill refining from the specialist court retainers, but eventually realized I had no talent for it. So instead of spending my remaining merit on a pill furnace and formulas, I bought a Barrier-Breaking Pill. I took it, but failed."
"..."
"After that, I had neither the spirit stones to gather the ingredients again nor the heart to keep taking dangerous missions. Once a Geonyang martial artist slashed my side, I even returned my court retainer token."
"Couldn't you choose safe missions as a field court retainer?"
"Safe missions award so little merit that it's hard to buy pills with them. I don't have much of my lifespan left now, either. I've no intention of risking my life for a breakthrough."
Yi Hyeon sank into thought as he listened.
The man before him lacked medicinal herbs, spirit stones, and time, but Yi Hyeon was different.
Still, there was a good chance that obtaining just a few Barrier-Breaking Pills wouldn't resolve his bottleneck.
The spiritual power of an ordinary cultivator at the third layer of the Qi Refining stage gathered in their dantian, but Yi Hyeon's primordial unity true qi filled his entire body.
'If other people attempt a breakthrough with one Barrier-Breaking Pill, how many would I need?'
Buying dozens of times more pills than other people would be like boasting about how many spirit stones he possessed. Having such rumors spread through the cultivation world would be extremely dangerous.
Even if he bought enough pills to overcome the bottleneck to the fourth layer, the bottleneck to the seventh layer would remain. Above all, there was the problem of reaching Foundation Establishment.
Would he have to buy dozens of Foundation Establishment Pills, then purchase large quantities of Tier 2 pills to advance from the third layer of Foundation Establishment to the fourth?
'Hmm... I suppose I need to learn pill refining... Even if it takes a long time, I can grow the spirit plants myself...'
Yi Hyeon gathered his thoughts and changed the subject.
"Is the war with Geonyang still going on?"
Jang Yu-san's expression darkened slightly.
"Untaek and Geonyang have been fighting for ages, but Geonyang has been particularly strong these past thirty years. Untaek held them off for centuries thanks to its rivers and wetlands, along with the Heaven-Serving Directorate's court retainers. Recently, though, that balance has begun to crumble."
"Has the border been pushed back far?"
"Cheongna Pass fell twenty years ago, and Baeksu Fortress fell seven years ago. Last year, even Heugam Mine fell into Geonyang's hands. The country isn't about to collapse, but unlike before, we can't easily recover the land we've lost. That's why the Heaven-Serving Directorate is so desperate to recruit independent cultivators at the Qi Refining stage as court retainers."
"I see. Thank you for explaining."
Yi Hyeon was about to get up when he looked at Jang Yu-san's face again.
'No matter how I look at him, he's the spitting image of Jang Pyeong...'
"By the way, Fellow Cultivator Jang, did you happen to have an ancestor named Jang Pyeong?"
Jang Yu-san's eyes widened.
"How did you know?"
"..."
"An ancestor eight generations back in my family was named Jang Pyeong. They say that ancestor never advanced beyond the third layer of the Qi Refining stage either."
For a moment, Yi Hyeon couldn't speak.
"What's wrong?"
"I once saw the name Jang Pyeong in a record left by one of my ancestors."
"Your ancestor?"
"A very long time ago, one of my ancestors received a little help from an independent cultivator named Jang Pyeong west of Ungyeong. Jang Pyeong kindly explained the state of the local cultivation world. My ancestor was grateful and wrote about giving Jang Pyeong some Cheongha Rice if they met again."
"What's Cheongha Rice?"
"It's spirit rice. Please accept it as a way of honoring my ancestor's wishes."
Yi Hyeon took a small cloth pouch from his storage pouch and held it out to Jang Yu-san.
"Some of its spiritual qi has dispersed, though..."
Jang Yu-san accepted the pouch, opened it, and smelled the contents. He couldn't hide the smile spreading across his face.
"Thank you so much! To think something like this could happen. You hardly ever see independent cultivators at the Qi Refining stage growing spirit rice..."
He poured a few grains of Cheongha Rice onto his palm and studied them in wonder.
"I didn't grow it myself. By the way, where is the Heaven-Serving Directorate?"
"About a hundred li east of here. Just look for high walls topped with blue roof tiles. You shouldn't have any trouble finding it."
"Thank you."
Yi Hyeon said goodbye to Jang Yu-san and headed for the Heaven-Serving Directorate.
...
As he left the Old West Gate and headed east, the streets quickly changed.
The market stalls and taverns thinned out, replaced by orderly government offices and mansions surrounded by high walls.
Ungyeong was divided into an outer city, a middle city, and an inner city. The new outer wall enclosed a broad area, including villages and estates that had stood outside the city hundreds of years ago. What had once been Ungyeong's outermost wall now remained as an old wall dividing the outer city. The inner city, centered on the royal palace, lay much farther within.
Armored soldiers lined the entrance to the inner city.
Stone beasts several times a person's height crouched on either side of the gate. A huge drum and bronze bell overlooked the capital from the tower above.
The soldiers checked the entry passes of everyone going through. When Yi Hyeon's turn came, a soldier holding a spear looked him up and down.
"Show your entry pass."
"I'm a cultivator on my way to the Heaven-Serving Directorate."
The soldier's expression changed slightly. They turned to a junior military officer beside them. After briefly examining Yi Hyeon's clothes and waist, the officer spoke.
"Please reveal a little of your spiritual power."
Yi Hyeon produced a faint spiritual glow at his fingertips. The officer took a small bronze token from their waist and brought it close to the light. When blue patterns appeared on its surface, the officer nodded.
"I've confirmed that you're a cultivator. However, since you don't have a Heaven-Serving Directorate court retainer token, please stay on the main roads."
"Understood."
Once he passed through the gate, the noise died away so completely that it hardly seemed real.
The streets were much wider than in the outer city, yet there were fewer pedestrians. The main road, paved with blue stone slabs, was broad enough for six carts to travel side by side. Deep drainage channels ran along both sides to carry away rainwater.
There were no roadside stalls or shop assistants calling for customers. Instead, he passed an endless series of heavy gates and walls more than two jang high.
Some gates bore plaques with gold lettering on a black background beneath their eaves. Outside other mansions stood private guards carrying spears and gatekeepers dressed in silk.
Even the number of bronze studs on the gates, the shapes of the beasts decorating the eaves, and the colors of the ornamental cords hanging from the carriages seemed to be determined by the owner's official rank.
When a red carriage drawn by six white horses passed, the officials at the roadside hurriedly bowed. A long procession of attendants wearing jade waist tokens and guards in scale armor followed.
In another lane, officials in blue robes stepped out of sedan chairs and entered a government office behind red walls. Their black official hats and the wave patterns embroidered in silver thread on their chests caught Yi Hyeon's eye. The number of waves in each design seemed to indicate the official's rank.
'So this is the real inner city.'
It was merely a place where ordinary mortals lived.
Even so, Yi Hyeon couldn't help feeling intimidated.
The authority and laws of a dynasty that had endured for centuries seemed to have seeped into every stone road, wall, gate, and flag.
Of course, if Yi Hyeon wished, defeating the dozens of soldiers before him and leaping over a wall would be easy.
But thousands of warriors, officials, and martial arts masters lived within this inner city. Behind them stood the Heaven-Serving Directorate's court retainers and the vast Untaek Kingdom.
It wasn't a place where someone could act carelessly just because they possessed a little personal strength.
Yi Hyeon continued east, asking for directions to the Heaven-Serving Directorate.
Before long, he reached a broad street lined with red walls. This was a district of mansions belonging to royalty and members of the royal clan.
Even their gates were larger than those of ordinary high officials. Glazed tiles covered the eaves, and rows of small beast-shaped ornaments sat along the sloping roof ridges at the four corners.
Then a sharp voice rang out ahead.
"Make way! The procession of the Hoereung royal family!"
At the order to clear the road, everyone walking along the street moved to either side.
Merchants and servants knelt at the roadside, while those in official robes gathered their sleeves and bowed.
Yi Hyeon followed the others and stepped aside to the right.
A large carriage drawn by four black horses approached from the distance. Silver clouds and waves decorated its dark red body, and small jade bells hung from the four corners of its roof.
Sixteen mounted spearmen escorted the carriage from the front and rear.
An official from the Hoereung royal family was surveying the surroundings when they suddenly raised a hand.
"Halt!"
The horses stamped their hooves, and the procession slowly stopped.
The middle-aged official leading the procession dismounted and approached Yi Hyeon.
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