WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Cultivating Underground ◈
Chapter 30
──────
After reaching the fourth layer of the Qi Refining stage, Yi Hyeon spent several days checking the changes in himself.
In the training hall of Underground Hideout No. 2...
Hummm.
Twenty Spiritlight Shields appeared around him at once.
When he moved his fingers, the shields overlapped, separated, and formed a constantly changing cube.
Next, he took out his iron sword. Spirit force with a mysterious glow quietly wrapped around the blade.
“I see...”
Once he had grown used to his new strength, Yi Hyeon went straight back to cultivation.
...
Three days later.
Yi Hyeon stopped circulating the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art.
“...That’s strange.”
The cultivation art worked normally, but his spiritual power capacity barely changed. In the past, it would have increased, even if only a little.
Perhaps his body needed time to adjust after the breakthrough. Yi Hyeon stopped cultivating for several days to let his body settle, then circulated his cultivation art for another fortnight. The result was the same.
“Why is this happening?”
He examined himself internally several times, but there was nothing wrong with his body. His essence, qi, and spirit were actually in better condition than ever.
To narrow down the cause, Yi Hyeon tested the recovery and growth of his spiritual power separately.
He cast spells until his spiritual power was almost exhausted, then circulated his cultivation art. Four shichen later, his spiritual power was full again.
“There’s nothing wrong with recovery...”
The problem came afterward. When he tried to refine his full spiritual power further and expand its capacity, almost no spiritual qi entered from his surroundings. Even with his rise in cultivation realm, it was strange for his cultivation to become this slow.
...
Several days later.
Yi Hyeon finally discovered the cause.
“I see. From the middle phase of the Qi Refining stage onward, you need at least a middle-grade Tier 1 spirit vein. If the spiritual pressure outside is too low, you can recover your power, but you can’t raise your cultivation realm.”
At this rate, he could not even guess how long reaching the sixth layer of the Qi Refining stage would take.
It might be possible if he obtained a Spirit-Gathering Formation and supplied it with spirit stones to raise the spiritual pressure in his cultivation room.
But Yi Hyeon soon shook his head.
‘I have 50 times as much spiritual power as other people. If I use a Spirit-Gathering Formation, I’ll probably need dozens of times as many spirit stones too.’
His strength had always been that he had plenty of time. There was no reason to spend dozens of times as many spirit stones just to save that time.
“Hmm... What should I do? I’m not too keen on blindly joining a cultivation sect that controls a good spirit vein...”
After thinking it over, Yi Hyeon moved to the lounge for a change of mood.
Thousands of books lay in untidy piles along one side of the room.
They were popular novels he had bought whenever he visited cultivator markets and mortal cities over the past 165 years.
《The Dragon King of the Southern Sea’s Live-In Son-in-Law》
《My Tax-Grain Ship Can Submerge》
《The Salt Merchant’s Concubine-Born Daughter Is Too Pretty》
《My Father-in-Law Was the Pirate King》
Namnyeo was a coastal country.
Perhaps that was why its popular novels often featured merchant ships and tax-grain ships, salt merchants and pirates, and sailors who disappeared in storms.
At first, he had enjoyed reading about unfamiliar customs. But after more than a hundred years, he had begun to notice the same stories repeating themselves.
A pirate chief’s daughter would fall in love with a scholar hiding his identity. A merchant ship caught in a storm would always turn out to be carrying royalty from a fallen kingdom. The Dragon King of the Southern Sea had far too many sons-in-law.
“Ah... There’s just nothing to read. What are writers doing these days...?”
He rummaged through the books and picked up a novel.
《Ten Years Beneath a Great Salt Merchant’s Wall》
It was about a poor scholar from Namnyeo who lived in a shack built against the outer wall of a wealthy salt merchant’s estate. The main character survived the winter on heat coming from the kitchen and grew a small vegetable patch with water flowing out of a drain beneath the wall.
Yi Hyeon turned a few pages.
「With your back against a rich family’s wall, you could stay warm even in the depths of winter.」
His fingers stopped as he turned the next page.
“...Wait.”
He looked again at the sentence he had just read.
‘Could spirit veins work the same way?’
Even if a cultivation family controlled a spirit vein, the spiritual qi of heaven and earth would not stop dead at the family’s outer wall.
Without entering the center of the spirit vein, he might still be able to use a little of the energy flowing out if he got close enough.
‘They’d catch me approaching aboveground, but underground...’
What if he approached slowly from deep underground, found a safe distance, and built a small cultivation room?
‘I wouldn’t be stealing the family’s spirit plants or spirit beasts. Surely it’s fine to share a little of nature’s energy? Well, they’d probably see it differently if they caught me...’
Yi Hyeon immediately took out 《A Brief Account of Cultivation in Southern Ram》 and a map of the surrounding area.
Several Foundation Establishment cultivation families in southern Namnyeo controlled Tier 2 spirit veins. Many of them were based on islands in the archipelago off the country’s coast.
‘Traveling to and from an island would be inconvenient, and getting away would be difficult if something happened. Unlike the Earth Escape Spell, I’ve never learned the Water Escape Spell...’
Yi Hyeon ruled out the powers in the archipelago and narrowed his search to families based on the mainland.
The closest one to Underground Hideout No. 2 was...
The Yun Clan of Cheongna Mountain. According to the book, they controlled the low-grade Tier 2 Cheongna Spirit Vein, and their clan head was a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
“Let’s try leaning against a rich family’s wall.”
...
A fortnight later.
Cheongna Mountain, southern Namnyeo.
Cheongna Mountain was a low mountain with gentle slopes, set inland from the coast.
It was said to have earned its name because its ridge curved toward the sea like a blue conch.
The Yun Clan’s estate stood halfway up the mountain.
Halls with blue roof tiles and cultivation cave abodes followed the mountain’s slopes. Below them, spirit fields covering hundreds of mu spread out in terraces.
...
Ten li underground.
Shhhk.
Yi Hyeon’s body passed quietly through soil and bedrock.
He had entered the ground several dozen li from Cheongna Mountain and was carefully drawing closer while maintaining the Spirit-Hiding Spell and Qi-Concealing Spell.
The spiritual qi of heaven and earth was certainly a little denser than at Underground Hideout No. 2, but the difference was not as great as he had hoped.
‘Am I still too shallow?’
Moving along the outskirts of Cheongna Mountain, he descended to the boundary between the ordinary-earth layer and the earth-vein layer, twenty-five li underground.
He could sense the flow of earth veins between the layers of bedrock, but the energy was heavy, muddy, and not particularly dense.
“Strange.”
Yi Hyeon changed direction and headed upward.
The energy began to change.
At ten li underground, the five elements began to come into balance. At five li, the concentration of spiritual qi rose noticeably.
By the time he reached three li underground, the earth qi and water qi of the earth veins were mixing with wood qi and wind qi from the surface. He could even faintly sense the wind blowing in from the sea and the vitality of the plants covering Cheongna Mountain.
Only then did Yi Hyeon realize that he had misunderstood spirit veins.
‘A spirit vein isn’t like an ore deposit buried underground.’
Earth veins were only one part of a spirit vein. It seemed that a spirit vein formed only when earth veins, water veins, the shape of the mountains, plant life, and the energies of the earth’s surface and sky joined in a cycle. The Yun Clan’s estate and spirit fields might also be part of what maintained that cycle.
‘Does controlling a spirit vein mean controlling the center of a complete flow?’
‘Come to think of it, if earth veins alone could form spirit veins, every cultivator would start by digging a tunnel. But most major sects are actually on high mountains.’
While sorting through his thoughts, Yi Hyeon had risen to two li underground.
He was not directly beneath the Yun Clan’s estate, but a little over two li away from it horizontally as well.
The spiritual qi was so dense that it could hardly be compared to Underground Hideout No. 2.
Yi Hyeon circulated his cultivation art just a little.
Shhhh.
The surrounding spiritual qi flowed in through his skin.
His already full primordial unity true qi compressed slightly, and fresh spiritual qi entered the space it left.
Yi Hyeon’s eyes brightened.
‘Is this close to the spiritual pressure of a middle-grade Tier 1 spirit vein? Cultivating here should work well!’
A change he could barely feel after a fortnight of cultivating in Underground Hideout No. 2 had happened in an instant.
The spiritual qi would grow even denser if he went closer, but Yi Hyeon stopped there. Even if the layers of earth interfered with spiritual sense, approaching any farther was dangerous when he did not know a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s detection range.
‘Let’s find somewhere nearby where I can stay for a long time.’
Yi Hyeon spread his spiritual sense through the soil and rock. Soon, he detected a fairly large natural cavern nearby.
“Just right.”
Yi Hyeon cast the Earth Escape Spell and headed toward it.
Shhhk.
The moment he entered the cavern completely, a pulse of spiritual power rose from one corner.
Yi Hyeon immediately formed his Spiritlight Shields. At the same time, a yellowish protective barrier appeared in front of the opposite rock wall.
In the dim light, a slightly thin man who looked to be in his late forties stood holding a small bronze bell.
‘Third layer of the Qi Refining stage?’
The man’s face had gone deathly pale.
Yi Hyeon had revealed only the aura of an ordinary fourth-layer Qi Refining cultivator, but that alone seemed to threaten him.
[Wait! Don’t attack! I’m not with the Yun Clan!]
[Then who are you? Why are you here?]
[That’s what I’d like to ask. This is my...]
The man stopped.
His gaze swept over Yi Hyeon.
[Aren’t you a fellow member of the Heaven-Drawing Society?]
[The Heaven-Drawing Society?]
The man closed his mouth as if he had realized his mistake.
Yi Hyeon asked,
[What’s that?]
[Nothing.]
[You clearly just said “Heaven-Drawing Society,” didn’t you?]
[You misheard.]
[We’re speaking through voice transmission.]
The man looked troubled.
After a moment’s thought, he withdrew his protective barrier.
He still held the bronze bell, but he did not seem to intend to attack first.
[Are you an independent cultivator?]
[I am.]
[So am I. I have nothing to do with the Yun Clan.]
[What were you doing?]
[Probably the same thing you came to do.]
[How do you know what I came here for?]
The man pointed at one of the cavern’s rock walls.
[Didn’t you follow the spiritual qi here? This is a place where energy leaking from Cheongna Mountain’s spirit vein is blocked by the rock and gathers for a while. It’s a good place to cultivate without the Yun Clan finding you. If you had some other purpose, there would be no reason to find this particular cavern.]
The man was right.
Yi Hyeon looked around again.
Four small stone pillars had been set at regular intervals near the cavern walls. He could also see formation inscriptions hidden beneath a thin coating of soil.
One patch of the floor was smooth, as though someone had sat there for a long time.
[So you were using this place first.]
[That’s right. It’s the vein seat assigned to me this month.]
[A vein seat?]
[That’s what we call our cultivation spots.]
The man looked at Yi Hyeon for a moment, then sighed.
[Since you’ve already found this place, there’s nothing for it.]
[Do you intend to settle this with a fight?]
[What could I possibly settle by fighting you?]
The man pointed at himself.
[I don’t like fighting. I’m not confident in my fighting skills either.]
[Then what do you suggest?]
[For now, you mustn’t cultivate here today.]
[Why not?]
[The Yun Clan will activate their detection formation starting at the chen hour tomorrow.]
Yi Hyeon’s gaze sharpened.
[A detection formation?]
[A formation that scans the ground around the spirit vein. It’ll run for several shichen starting at the chen hour tomorrow.]
[How do you know that?]
[There’s a place where we share that kind of information.]
He clearly meant the Heaven-Drawing Society.
[Will this cavern be discovered when the formation activates?]
[If you circulate your cultivation art here, you’ll almost certainly be caught.]
The man walked to a corner of the cavern and pulled out the stone pillars.
Apparently, he had come to take down his formation.
[You can find out even things like that?]
[We didn’t know from the start either.]
The man answered as he put a stone pillar into his storage pouch.
[We learned because people were caught and killed or taken prisoner.]
Yi Hyeon fell silent for a moment.
[It seems this is your first time approaching the Yun Clan’s spirit vein.]
[It is.]
[You were lucky. If I hadn’t come here today, the Yun Clan’s cultivators might have dragged you out tomorrow.]
The man hesitated, then took a black wooden token from inside his robes.
Nothing was written on it.
[Come to Baekpo Cultivator Market at the wu hour in three days. There’s an old shop called Gomokjae in the northeastern corner. Show this to the clerk.]
Yi Hyeon did not accept the token at once.
[What’s there?]
[What you want to know.]
[You mean the Heaven-Drawing Society?]
The man nodded.
[It’s a group formed so independent cultivators like us, who have no spirit veins, can help one another. You can decide whether to join after hearing us out. No one will force you to stay.]
[Why help me? We only met today.]
The man was silent for a moment.
[Because you remind me of myself when I first came here. I also liked that you didn’t attack or take my spot right away, despite having a higher cultivation realm than me. More importantly, if you wander around knowing nothing, you’ll eventually run into another member. It’s better to explain the rules and share.]
Yi Hyeon accepted the wooden token. He examined it but could sense no unusual spiritual power or patterns.
[What’s your name?]
[We don’t ask for real names in the Heaven-Drawing Society.]
The man entered a narrow passage hidden on one side of the cavern.
[Then I’ll see you in three days. And don’t circulate your cultivation art beneath Cheongna Mountain from the chen hour to the wu hour tomorrow. If you want to know whether I’m lying, you can watch from a distance.]
A little later, the man’s presence faded into the distance.
Left alone, Yi Hyeon looked at the black wooden token.
“The Heaven-Drawing Society...”
...
The next day, during the chen hour.
Yi Hyeon hid on a peak a little over ten li from Cheongna Mountain and cast the Qi-Observing Spell.
Hummmmm.
Soon, an enormous wave spread outward from Cheongna Mountain. It passed through the soil and bedrock like an invisible net sweeping across them.
Aboveground on Cheongna Mountain, several cultivators moved along with the formation’s flow.
‘He wasn’t lying.’
...
Two days later.
Baekpo Cultivator Market, southern Namnyeo.
Baekpo Cultivator Market was a small market a little over three thousand li northeast of Nam-ae Cultivator Market.
It did not attract large numbers of cultivators like Nam-ae Cultivator Market. It consisted of only a few dozen shops and stalls, and the goods traded there were generally of low quality.
Yi Hyeon had visited a few times before.
Decent goods were rare, so he had hardly gone there lately.
Yi Hyeon arrived half a day before the appointment. After changing his face with the Seven-Aspects Disguise Art, he circled the market several times while maintaining the Spirit-Hiding Spell and Qi-Concealing Spell, checking that no one was following him.
He examined the inside and outside of Gomokjae, their meeting place, then scanned beneath it as well. In an underground stone chamber, he found one late-phase Qi Refining cultivator and the man he had met a few days earlier. He found no other signs of an ambush or any dangerous formations.
Baekpo Cultivator Market also had cultivators who maintained order. Even if this was a trap, the forces inside Gomokjae alone would have difficulty threatening him.
At the appointed time, Yi Hyeon entered Gomokjae.
Faded formation flags and fragments of magical implements with almost no spiritual qi left in them were on display.
A clerk approached.
“Is there something you’re looking for?”
Yi Hyeon held out the black wooden token. The clerk checked it, then nodded.
“They’re waiting inside.”
The clerk led Yi Hyeon to a storeroom at the back of the shop.
When they moved a floorboard aside, a narrow staircase leading down appeared.
...
In the underground stone chamber.
Only two small oil lamps burned on the walls.
A person wearing a brown cicada mask sat behind a table in the center of the chamber.
The mask had narrow openings for the eyes, with patterns resembling cicada wings carved into its forehead and cheeks.
The aura flowing from the masked cultivator seemed to be around the seventh layer of the Qi Refining stage.
Someone wearing a gray field mouse mask stood to one side of the chamber.
It was the man Yi Hyeon had met in the underground cavern at Cheongna Mountain a few days earlier.
The man in the field mouse mask bowed his head to Yi Hyeon.
“We meet again.”
Yi Hyeon gave a small nod in return.
The person in the cicada mask spoke from behind the table.
“Please sit.”
Once Yi Hyeon sat down, the cicada-masked cultivator took out a small stone tablet, fitted a low-grade spirit stone into its groove, and touched the formation inscriptions.
Hummm.
The Sound-Isolating Formation carved into the chamber walls activated.
Outside sounds immediately grew distant, and sounds from inside the chamber could no longer escape.
“I’m Seongak, the leader of the Heaven-Drawing Society. It isn’t my real name, so just call me that.”
The cicada-masked cultivator continued,
“Our fellow cultivator here is called Hoeseo. In the Heaven-Drawing Society, we don’t ask about one another’s faces, names, or origins.”
The field mouse-masked cultivator clasped his hands.
“Hoeseo.”
Yi Hyeon also clasped his hands.
“I don’t have a name yet.”
“We’ll choose one along with a mask after you join.”
Seongak studied Yi Hyeon for a moment.
“The fourth layer of the Qi Refining stage. Crossing a minor realm can’t have been easy for an independent cultivator. You did well to break through.”
“I was lucky.”
“May I ask why you wish to join the Heaven-Drawing Society?”
“I haven’t decided to join yet.”
“Haha. There’s nothing wrong with being careful. Then I should first explain what the Heaven-Drawing Society is.”
Seongak took a rolled leather map from beneath the table.
When the map was spread out, it showed southern Namnyeo’s coastline, mountain ranges, and the territories of several cultivation families.
Along with place names Yi Hyeon knew, dozens of dots and lines had been drawn on it.
Several dots also appeared around the Yun Clan of Cheongna Mountain.
“In southern Namnyeo, seven Foundation Establishment families control Tier 2 spirit veins. There are even more Qi Refining families and factions with smaller Tier 1 spirit veins.”
Seongak pointed at Cheongna Mountain on the map.
“The centers and spirit nexuses of those veins all belong to them. But as you saw at Cheongna Mountain, they can’t keep every branch and every bit of escaping energy inside their walls.”
“And the Heaven-Drawing Society (取天會) is a group that secretly uses it?”
“That’s right. We find places where the escaping energy gathers and share them safely. Of course, the cultivation families call us thieves or bugs. They often call us vein vermin too.”
Hoeseo muttered,
“It’s not as if they made the spiritual qi of heaven and earth.”
Seongak stopped Hoeseo, then continued.
“Even so, there are lines we must not cross. Approaching the center of a spirit vein or interfering with a family’s formations and spirit fields is forbidden. We only use energy that has flowed beyond their territory.”
“I doubt the cultivation families recognize that distinction.”
“Of course they don’t.”
Seongak laughed.
“That’s why we mustn’t get caught.”
Seongak pointed to the dots on the map one after another.
“The dots on this map are the residual-vein pockets we’ve confirmed. They’re places where branches of a spirit vein pass through, or where escaping spiritual qi gathers after being blocked by the terrain. Within them, we call the spots suitable for cultivation vein seats.”
“So the cavern I found at Cheongna Mountain was one of them.”
“Cheongna Vein Seat No. 3. It’s well placed and has a good balance of spiritual qi, but it becomes dangerous when the Yun Clan activates its detection formation.”
“Why don’t they keep the formation running all the time?”
“Very few powers keep their formations active at all times. Maintaining them constantly would cost an enormous number of spirit stones.”
Seongak opened a small ledger beside the map. Its pages were packed with dates, times, and family names.
“The Yun Clan generally activates its detection formation once every three months. However, the date sometimes changes because of spirit field harvests or visitors.”
“How do you obtain that information?”
“We buy news from mortals working for the families and merchants who supply formation materials. We also observe the formations’ waves ourselves. We’ve built up records that way for decades. This information is the Heaven-Drawing Society’s real resource.”
Seongak pointed to the writing beside Cheongna Mountain.
「Yun Clan.
Earth-Patrolling Spirit-Detection Formation.
Usually activated once every three months.
Operating hours: from the chen hour until around the wu hour.
Detects spiritual power fluctuations and traces of spiritual qi consumption down to three li underground.
Leave Cheongna Vein Seats Nos. 1 and 2 before activation.
From Vein Seat No. 3, move fifty jang east to behind the black iron ore layer. Do not circulate cultivation arts.
At Vein Seat No. 4, the flow of the water vein below counteracts the formation, allowing concealment in place.」
“What does it mean by counteracting the formation?”
“A detection formation is ultimately a spell cast using formation disks and formation flags. Layers of earth rich in metal qi, or the flows of water veins and earth veins, can mask it. Different formations also detect different things. One formation can’t examine everything.”
Yi Hyeon looked at the map and ledger again.
“So the Heaven-Drawing Society also coordinates the use of vein seats to keep members from overlapping.”
“That’s right. If several cultivators absorb spiritual qi from one residual-vein pocket at the same time, the flow becomes unstable, making it easier for the family to notice something wrong. So we assign users and periods of use to each vein seat. We also regulate the total amount of spiritual qi absorbed from each residual-vein pocket. Cheongna Vein Seat No. 3 was assigned to Fellow Cultivator Hoeseo this month.”
Hoeseo nodded.
“You have no idea how startled I was when you suddenly appeared. You were wandering underground alone and found that exact cavern, no less. I thought you were a mole demonic beast.”
Seongak asked,
“Are you skilled in the Earth Escape Spell?”
“I’ve simply used it for a long time.”
“Then you’re just the sort of talent our Heaven-Drawing Society needs. Will you become a member?”
“I’ll decide after hearing all the rules and costs.”
If anything, Seongak seemed pleased and nodded.
“It’s simple. The Heaven-Drawing Society cannot protect its members. Our information may be wrong, or a family’s circumstances may change suddenly. Even if you’re discovered and killed while cultivating in a residual-vein pocket, you cannot hold anyone responsible.”
“Naturally.”
“Anyone who shifts danger onto another member, monopolizes a vein seat, or deliberately draws in a family’s cultivators will be expelled. In serious cases, we may hunt them down and kill them. The same applies to anyone who investigates another member’s identity or sells the society’s information to outsiders. Maps and ledgers of the residual-vein pockets may not be taken outside. Members receive only the locations of their assigned vein seats and instructions for using them. This keeps the whole society from being exposed if one person is captured.”
Seongak placed both hands on the table.
“The Dao of Heaven takes from excess to make up for what is lacking. Cultivation families have a surplus in their spirit veins, while we independent cultivators lack what we need. We merely take a little of the energy that would otherwise scatter between heaven and earth.”
“What do I need to join?”
“Thirty low-grade spirit stones as an entrance fee. After that, the membership fee is ten low-grade spirit stones every ten years. The fees pay for current information.”
‘That’s not bad...’
Yi Hyeon reached for the spirit stones in his storage pouch, then stopped.
‘Thirty low-grade spirit stones... This works out nicely.’
Instead, he took out a small jade bottle.
Tap.
The jade bottle settled on the table.
Seongak and Hoeseo looked at it.
“Could I pay the entrance fee with this instead of spirit stones?”
“What is it?”
“An alchemical pill.”
Yi Hyeon opened the jade bottle and took out a Barrier-Breaking Pill.
“It’s used when advancing from the third to the fourth layer of the Qi Refining stage.”
“What?”
Hoeseo raised his voice without meaning to.
Seongak accepted the pill and examined it carefully, checking its color and sheen on an open palm before bringing it close to smell its medicinal fragrance. Seongak also extended a very fine thread of spiritual sense to examine the pill’s interior.
After a long while, Seongak spoke with a cautious expression.
“I’ve never seen this pill before, but it contains a considerable amount of concentrated medicinal power. What’s it called?”
“That’s a secret.”
Seongak looked from the pill to Yi Hyeon and finally nodded.
“If it has the effect you claim, it’s certainly worth thirty low-grade spirit stones. Very well. From this moment on, you’re a member of the Heaven-Drawing Society.”
Seongak approached the chamber wall.
Masks of various sizes hung there.
There were masks of a red fox, a black turtle, a white goat, and something like a one-eyed bird. Most showed signs of long use, and a few had gathered dust.
Seongak took down a mask hanging in the farthest corner.
It had a round, broad face and short ears. Black markings surrounded the eyes, while its muzzle was long and white.
“There happens to be a mask without an owner.”
Yi Hyeon accepted it.
“From now on, you’re Badger.”
Yi Hyeon looked at the badger mask for a moment, then put it on.
“Welcome to the Heaven-Drawing Society, Fellow Cultivator Badger.”
Hoeseo also clasped his hands.
“I look forward to working with you, Fellow Cultivator Badger.”
“Likewise, Fellow Cultivators Hoeseo and Seongak.”
* * *
350 years later.
Baekpo Cultivator Market, southern Namnyeo.
An old shop called Gomokjae stood in the northeastern corner.
Creak.
A cultivator in a long black robe and a badger mask entered Gomokjae.
The cultivator’s aura had reached the very limit of the fifth layer of the Qi Refining stage.
They moved aside a floorboard at the very back of the storeroom and descended the stairs.
Several passages branched out below. With familiar ease, the cultivator chose one and approached the rock wall at its end. When they stopped before it, the wall rotated, revealing a stone chamber.
The moment the cultivator entered, the dozen or so masked cultivators gathered inside rose to their feet together.
“Greetings, Society Leader!”
Footnotes:
The chen hour is approximately 7 to 9 a.m.; the wu hour is approximately 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Seongak’s statement about the Dao of Heaven echoes Chapter 77 of the Dao De Jing, which describes Heaven taking from excess to supply what is lacking.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
