WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
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◈ Cultivating Underground ◈
Chapter 34
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‘More than a hundred disciples, and almost all of them are dead?’
“When did Senior Brother Gwak pass away?”
“About four years ago.”
“Four years...”
Yi Hyeon looked around his assigned residence again. It had been kept so clean that there wasn’t a speck of dust. It didn’t look like a house that had stood empty for four years.
‘Are accidents during alchemy that common?’
After leaving the residence, Yi Hyeon examined the surrounding buildings more carefully than before.
Just then, two people came down from higher up the slope.
The person in front was a female cultivator who looked to be in her early thirties. Small pill furnace patterns were embroidered on the sleeves of her green robe, and she gave off the aura of the eighth layer of the Qi Refining stage.
Behind her came a man at the fifth layer of the Qi Refining stage, with a short scar on his chin.
When the female cultivator spotted Na Gyeong-mun and Yi Hyeon, she smiled, her eyes curving into narrow crescents.
“Senior Brother Na, have you been teasing the newcomer again?”
“Teasing? When have I ever done that?”
“Look at our junior brother’s face. I can more or less guess what you told him.”
Na Gyeong-mun turned to look at Yi Hyeon.
“What’s wrong with his face?”
“He looks as though he expects to find a corpse buried under every residence on Danjeong Peak.”
“...”
Yi Hyeon slowly turned his gaze toward Na Gyeong-mun.
Na Gyeong-mun cleared his throat.
“I only told him the truth.”
The man with the scar on his chin clicked his tongue.
“You told him that almost all of Master’s disciples are dead again, didn’t you?”
“Was I wrong?”
“No, but wouldn’t someone hearing that for the first time take it to mean something completely different?”
Na Gyeong-mun spoke with confidence.
“I was warning him how dangerous the cultivation world is, so he would stay alert.”
The female cultivator spoke to Yi Hyeon.
“Only believe a third of what Senior Brother Na says. The rest is either guesswork or an attempt to scare you.”
The man with the scar added, “Senior Brother Na believes someone’s plotting behind everything that happens in the world.”
“...”
Yi Hyeon realized that Na Gyeong-mun had been trying to frighten him.
‘A brat barely out of diapers dared to tease me, when I’m over a thousand years old!’
The female cultivator raised a hand in a casual greeting.
“We haven’t met before. I’m Sim Yeon-ju, one of Master’s nominal disciples.”
The man with the scar greeted him too.
“I’m Bae Gyeong-song. The same goes for me.”
“I’m Yi Dong-i. Since you both joined before me... may I call you Senior Sister Sim and Senior Brother Bae?”
Sim Yeon-ju nodded.
“That’s right.”
Bae Gyeong-song looked a little awkward.
“Your cultivation is a layer above mine, Junior Brother Yi, so it feels a little strange to be called your senior brother.”
Na Gyeong-mun explained.
“In our lineage, disciples within the same major realm are ranked by when they joined. If we counted individual layers of the Qi Refining stage, wouldn’t we have to change our forms of address every time someone pulled a layer ahead? Once someone reaches Foundation Establishment and receives a position such as elder or steward, we address them by that position.”
Yi Hyeon immediately cupped his hands.
“Greetings, Senior Brother Bae.”
“All right, then. Let’s get along.”
Yi Hyeon looked from one to the other.
“Then is it not true that most of Master’s nominal disciples are dead?”
Their expressions changed slightly.
Sim Yeon-ju shot Na Gyeong-mun a look.
“This is why you should’ve explained it properly, Senior Brother.”
Bae Gyeong-song explained to Yi Hyeon.
“It’s been over a hundred years since Master began taking nominal disciples. Including you, Junior Brother Yi, a hundred and seven disciples have been registered so far. Fewer than twenty are confirmed to be alive.”
“So most of them really are dead.”
“Yes. But there’s nothing strange about that. Most of the nominal disciples were cultivators at the Qi Refining stage, so many of those who joined early on reached the end of their lifespans. Others left for different regions, and we lost contact with them.”
Sim Yeon-ju spoke.
“Master doesn’t even take that many nominal disciples. Alchemists aren’t common. At Chungeom Peak or Oesa Peak, some elders have hundreds of nominal disciples each.”
“I see...”
Yi Hyeon thought of Go Won-hak’s register.
Perhaps the red dots beside the names and the ink lines crossing them out marked whether the disciples were alive, dead, or missing.
“Then did Senior Brother Gwak, who used to live in my residence, also reach the end of his lifespan?”
This time, no one answered right away.
Bae Gyeong-song touched the scar on his chin.
“Senior Brother Gwak died in the Cheongmok Ridge Herb Robbery.”
“What was the Cheongmok Ridge Herb Robbery?”
“It happened four years ago.”
Sim Yeon-ju explained.
“Our sect has separate spirit fields at a place called Cheongmok Ridge, about a thousand li north of here. The spiritual qi is a little lacking, but the soil is good. It’s suitable for growing large quantities of spirit plants that need many years to mature.”
“Once every few decades, we harvest the mature spirit plants and transport them to the main sect grounds,” Bae Gyeong-song continued.
“That year, we harvested several second-tier spirit plants as well. More than fifty disciples and a Foundation Establishment elder from Oesa Peak were responsible for transporting them.”
He paused, then added, “I was there too.”
“Don’t tell me... the transport party was attacked?”
“Yes.”
The smile vanished from Bae Gyeong-song’s face.
“On the night we left Cheongmok Ridge, dozens of masked cultivators appeared. There were even two Foundation Establishment cultivators among them.”
Sim Yeon-ju spoke in a low voice.
“Twenty-three inner sect disciples died that day. Five of Master’s nominal disciples were among them, including Senior Brother Gwak.”
“...”
“They weren’t only after the medicinal herbs,” Bae Gyeong-song said.
“They also took the dead disciples’ identity tokens and robes. Some disguised themselves as surviving disciples and slipped into the main sect grounds ahead of the transport party.”
“They came all the way here?”
“Yes. They passed through Oesa Peak’s outer restrictions, but their identities were exposed at the inner formation of the Nine-Peak Rejuvenation Formation. They fled at once, and we captured a few after pursuing them. But restrictions on their primordial spirits kept us from learning who was behind them.”
Na Gyeong-mun folded his arms.
“No matter how you look at it, this wasn’t the work of a group of independent cultivators.”
Sim Yeon-ju sighed.
“Here we go again.”
“Think about it. Dozens of people, including two Foundation Establishment cultivators, knew both the harvest date and the transport route and lay in wait. Their Scarlet Flame Throwing Knives and Fire Cloud Formation were also very similar to Hongno Sect’s methods.”
“What sort of place is Hongno Sect?”
Sim Yeon-ju answered.
“It’s a sect ten thousand li west of Cheongmok Ridge. They control a third-tier spirit vein rich in fire qi and are famous for making magical implements and magical treasures. We trade with them, but we also clash from time to time over interests in nearby cultivator markets.”
Bae Gyeong-song looked at Na Gyeong-mun.
“But Scarlet Flame Throwing Knives can be bought at cultivator markets, and the Fire Cloud Formation isn’t rare either. Not a single Hongno Sect emblem or identity token was found that day.”
Na Gyeong-mun replied.
“Then will you only believe it if Hongno Sect cultivators appear in person and say, ‘We did it’? If they only wanted the herbs, why steal the dead disciples’ identities and try to enter our main grounds? Their target was Jangchun Sect from the start, not the spirit plants at Cheongmok Ridge.”
“I won’t deny that possibility. But we still don’t have enough evidence to be certain.”
Na Gyeong-mun lowered his voice.
“The Supreme Sect Master hasn’t appeared in public for decades since entering secluded cultivation. That was around the time the surrounding powers began testing Jangchun Sect’s strength. The incident at Cheongmok Ridge was probably another such attempt.”
Sim Yeon-ju’s expression hardened.
“Don’t speculate carelessly about the Supreme Sect Master.”
“I was only saying that outside powers might think that way.”
“That amounts to the same thing.”
Bae Gyeong-song stepped in between them.
“In any case, you should know this too, Junior Brother Yi. Our Jangchun Sect generally isn’t the first to pick a fight. But that doesn’t mean this is a place without danger.”
He looked over the alchemy chambers lining the slope and the peaks of Jangchun Sect beyond them.
“We grow spirit plants and make alchemical pills. Other powers can only see us as a place with plenty worth taking.”
Yi Hyeon nodded slowly.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Na Gyeong-mun looked satisfied.
“See? Wasn’t my early warning helpful?”
“I think it would’ve been more helpful if you’d explained it properly from the start.”
“People remember what they hear after a fright for a long time.”
“And where did you hear that?”
“It’s a conclusion drawn from my own experience.”
Sim Yeon-ju clicked her tongue.
“Junior Brother Yi, always check for yourself when Senior Brother Na tells you something.”
“Understood.”
Afterward, the three of them showed Yi Hyeon around the Third-Stem Fire Court’s shared alchemy chambers, medicinal herb storerooms, and lecture rooms.
...
Rather than rushing to buy up Origin-Raising Pills, Yi Hyeon decided to first get used to life in Jangchun Sect and learn about its surroundings.
The atmosphere on Danjeong Peak was fairly relaxed. When he had no assigned duties, he could even leave the sect for several days to visit Underground Hideout No. 2.
* * *
Three months later.
A lecture room in the Third-Stem Fire Court.
Just over ten disciples had gathered in a spacious lecture room containing twenty pill furnaces.
Go Won-hak stood beside the furnace at the very front.
Three jade plates had been placed before the elder, each holding a single blue-green leaf.
“Who knows what these are?”
One disciple answered.
“Blue-Veined Leaves.”
“Correct.”
Go Won-hak pointed to the three leaves in turn.
“Their medicinal age?”
Several disciples cast the Qi-Observing Spell and spells for examining medicinal herbs.
After a moment, Sim Yeon-ju answered.
“All three appear to have a medicinal age of around eighteen years.”
“Correct. They’re also the same variety, taken from plants divided from a single mother plant. Their size, color, and sheen are similar as well.”
Go Won-hak looked around at the disciples.
“Then if I refine all three in the same way, will they yield the same medicinal potency?”
No one answered readily.
At a movement of Go Won-hak’s fingers, three small bronze containers beside the jade plates rose into the air and positioned themselves at even intervals above the pill furnace.
The elder touched a formation inscription on the floor, and flames of identical size rose from three fire vents.
Fwoosh!
Go Won-hak placed one Blue-Veined Leaf into each bronze container.
The three leaves slowly shriveled in the heat, and the blue-green color on their surfaces deepened.
About ten breaths later, a clear blue-green energy flowed out of the leaf in the first container.
It gathered at the center of the container, forming a small droplet.
In the second container, however, steam suddenly rose.
Hissss!
The blue-green medicinal potency scattered in all directions with the steam.
The third Blue-Veined Leaf seemed unchanged at first, but then began turning black from within its veins. Soon, only a sticky black liquid remained.
Go Won-hak put out the flames.
“I used the same fire. The leaves went in at the same time, and the bronze containers are identical in material and size. Yet the results are all different.”
One disciple raised a hand.
“Were they stored differently?”
“No.”
Go Won-hak pointed to the first container.
“This one was picked during the wu hour after three days of clear weather. Its medicinal potency was evenly spread through the leaves and stem.”
Next came the second container.
“This one was picked immediately after the Spirit Rain Spell was used. Too much water qi remained inside the leaf. Even if you wipe off the water on its surface and dry it, the water qi that has seeped between its veins won’t leave in such a short time.”
Black liquid remained in the final container.
“This one was picked before sunrise. During the night, the Blue-Veined Leaf’s main medicinal potency had sunk toward the roots, leaving a large amount of subtle turbid qi in the leaf.”
Several disciples quickly wrote this down.
Go Won-hak continued.
“Suppose a pill formula tells you to add one Blue-Veined Leaf with a medicinal age of eighteen years. Would all three leaves qualify as suitable ingredients?”
“No.”
“Then is the pill formula wrong?”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Exactly.”
Go Won-hak pointed to the medicinal liquid that had turned black.
“Alchemy begins before the ingredients enter the furnace!”
The elder tapped the central pill furnace with a palm.
Thunk!
“A pill furnace is a small world of heaven and earth. Its fire vents serve as formation stations, and the restrictions engraved on it serve as formation inscriptions. The flow of medicinal potency is no different from spiritual qi circulating within a formation.”
Go Won-hak spread both arms.
“They say formation masters move the heavens and earth across hundreds of li! But alchemists also shape the heavens and earth within their furnaces. Only the scale is different, not the principles. Then let me ask you this: wouldn’t the principles of heaven and earth exist in fields beyond formations and alchemy as well?”
Go Won-hak continued.
“An alchemist who knows nothing but alchemy can hardly take a single step beyond the pill formulas they’ve learned. Formations and spirit-plant cultivation techniques, implement refining and talisman crafting, celestial cycles and geography, military strategy and music, divination, insect control, ghost control, beast control, illusion arts, poison arts, medicine, the arts of the bedchamber, even the cooking methods of mortal chefs! Learn and think wherever you go, and find principles you can bring into alchemy. Only by seeking principles where others fail to look can you take another step forward!”
One disciple asked, “Don’t we need contribution points to study the teachings of so many different fields?”
“Hmph. That’s an excuse. Do you have any idea how many books and jade slips inner sect disciples can read in the Scripture Repository without spending a single contribution point? If you’ve read them all, I’ll take you as my master.”
“I’m sorry. Your disciple was shortsighted.”
Go Won-hak stroked their beard.
“When a door is open, there’s no reason not to enter. Don’t waste your time.”
“Yes!”
The disciples answered in unison.
...
After the lecture ended, Yi Hyeon left the Third-Stem Fire Court with the other disciples.
He had originally planned to return to his residence and rest, but after hearing Go Won-hak’s words, he wanted to visit the Scripture Repository.
‘I don’t have anything in particular to do, so why not read a few books?’
...
Jangchun Peak.
Standing at the center of the nine peaks, Jangchun Peak was much taller and broader than Danjeong Peak. The Elders’ Council and halls handling the sect’s administrative affairs lined the mountain paths, and many disciples came and went.
The Scripture Repository stood halfway up Jangchun Peak.
It was a five-story hall built from brown spirit wood, with small bronze bells hanging from every set of eaves. Though there was no wind, the bells rang at different intervals, monitoring the surrounding spiritual qi and people’s presence.
When Yi Hyeon approached the entrance and took out his identity token, an invisible barrier parted to either side.
...
Inside the Scripture Repository, thousands of narrow slots lined the walls, each holding a jade slip. Books and stone tablets were placed separately on long shelves below them.
A middle-aged cultivator at the ninth layer of the Qi Refining stage sat at a table just inside the entrance.
“Greetings, Senior Brother. This is our first meeting.”
“Yes, I certainly haven’t seen you before. Danjeong Peak?”
“That’s right.”
“I’m Im Do-gyeom, the keeper of the Scripture Repository’s first floor. Since this is your first visit, I’ll explain the rules. Inner sect disciples are free to read all the books and jade slips on the first floor’s open shelves. However, you mustn’t take them outside the Scripture Repository.”
“Understood.”
...
Yi Hyeon first browsed the shelves devoted to alchemy.
《Twelve Changes in Fire Control》, 《A Comprehensive Guide to the Medicinal Potency of First-Tier Spirit Plants》, 《Essential Guide to Identifying Pill Toxins》, 《One Hundred Cases of Conflicting Medicinal Strengths》, 《Records of Restoring Failed Pills》...
Many of the titles were new to him.
Yi Hyeon took out several jade slips, pressed them to his forehead, and skimmed their contents with his spiritual sense.
Some covered the basics, but they also contained systematic classifications and countless examples of failures that an independent alchemist would struggle to find.
‘Joining a sect was definitely the right choice...’
After reading jade slips for a while, Yi Hyeon browsed another section and discovered slips about formations.
《An Introduction to Formation Inscriptions》, 《Records of the Eight Gates’ Transformations》, 《Distinguishing Formation Implements from Formation Disks》, 《A Treatise on Guiding Spiritual Qi through Earth and Water Veins》, 《Essential Guide to Handling Changes within Mountain-Guarding Formations》, 《One Hundred Types of Restrictions》, 《Thirteen Methods for Breaking Illusion Formations》...
An entire wall was filled with formation materials. Complete formation diagrams and methods for making high-grade formation implements were absent, but the information needed to recognize formation structures and operate existing formations was quite detailed.
Yi Hyeon returned to Im Do-gyeom.
“Senior Brother Im, may I ask you something?”
“Go ahead.”
“There are more materials on formations than I expected. Can I really read all of them without contribution points?”
“Yes.”
“Aren’t formation teachings normally valuable?”
Im Do-gyeom nodded.
“Teachings on designing formations or making formation implements and formation disks are valuable. But most of the materials over there cover how to recognize and operate formations that have already been installed.”
He pointed toward the nine peaks visible through the Scripture Repository’s window.
“If enemies invade and the formation master gets injured, the other disciples can’t simply stand helplessly in front of the formation stations, can they?”
“Now that you mention it, I heard formations played a major role during the Cheongmok Ridge Herb Robbery.”
“Yes, that happened... I was at Oesa Peak then too.”
Im Do-gyeom’s expression grew a little somber.
“As soon as their identities were exposed, the intruders first launched surprise attacks on Oesa Peak’s two formation masters. But inner sect disciples who had learned basic formation inscriptions took charge of the auxiliary formation stations between them and held out until a formation master arrived from Jingi Peak.”
Im Do-gyeom looked toward the formation section.
“That’s all the sect wants. We can’t turn every disciple into a formation master, but we need them to know which formation station to take and what to do in a crisis.”
Yi Hyeon nodded.
“So that’s the reason.”
...
From that day on, Yi Hyeon visited the Scripture Repository whenever he had time.
He first learned the shapes of formation inscriptions and the four basic effects they produced.
Gathering (聚), which collected spiritual qi; Guiding (導), which directed its flow; Restricting (禁), which blocked movement and passage; and Transforming (化), which changed its nature.
A single formation inscription didn’t necessarily produce only one effect. Even the same inscription could draw spiritual qi in or push it away, depending on its position within the formation diagram and how it connected to other inscriptions.
‘Now that I understand the principles, the formations I saw before look different.’
Of course, understanding formations and actually making them were entirely different matters. Yi Hyeon had only just learned enough to stop being completely ignorant.
...
About a month after he began visiting the Scripture Repository, Yi Hyeon discovered an old jade slip on a shelf of miscellaneous writings about formations.
《Treatise on the Five Primordial Stages in Formations (先天五太陣論)》
‘What’s this...?’
Yi Hyeon took the jade slip from the shelf and pressed it to his forehead.
As his spiritual sense entered it, an enormous amount of text and diagrams unfolded in his mind.
「Formations are made from postcelestial spiritual qi and spirit materials. Postcelestial matter cannot restore the precelestial state, but by following the traces of its changes, some of its manifestations (象) can be imitated.
Thus, this treatise borrows the theory of the Five Primordial Stages to discuss the origins of various restrictions.
What are the Five Primordial Stages? The changes before heaven and earth were formed can be divided into five stages.
Supreme Change (太易) is the state in which even qi has yet to appear.
Supreme Origin (太初) is the state in which formless qi (氣) first appears.
Supreme Beginning (太始) is the state in which fragments of form (形) begin to emerge within qi.
Supreme Simplicity (太素) is the state in which form gains substance (質) and begins to have a material existence.
Supreme Ultimate (太極) is the unified state in which qi, form, and substance are all present but have yet to separate from one another.
Supreme Ultimate divided into the Two Modes (兩儀), namely yin and yang.
Clear, light yang rose to become heaven, while turbid, heavy yin sank to become earth.
The Two Modes divided into the Four Images, and the Four Images into the Eight Trigrams. Meanwhile, the natures of all things in heaven and earth manifested through the generating and overcoming cycles of the five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water...」
‘Supreme Simplicity...’
Yi Hyeon read that part again.
‘In the terms of my past life, is that close to the stage where form gains material substance and mass?’
Yi Hyeon moved on to the next page.
The later pages introduced various restrictions created with reference to the changes of the Five Primordial Stages.
Most were closer to theories and records of failures than complete formation diagrams.
Among them, the Earth-Origin Air-Suppression Section (坤元鎭空篇) caught Yi Hyeon’s attention.
「Flight-suppression restrictions have several branches.
Some disrupt wind qi to upset balance in flight. Others interfere with the operation of flying magical implements or prevent cultivators from circulating their spiritual power.
Among advanced flight-suppression formations, some use earth veins as anchors to produce Earth-Origin Crushing Pressure.」
‘Earth-Origin Crushing Pressure?’
An illustration of a second-tier Grand Flight-Suppression Formation appeared within the jade slip. Formation implements (陣器) placed in all eight directions were connected to earth veins, and downward-pointing arrows were drawn on the matter within the formation.
When the formation activated, everything within its range was pulled toward the ground more strongly than usual. Flying magical implements consumed more spiritual power to maintain their altitude, and even Foundation Establishment cultivators struggled to lift themselves into the air at its center.
「Earth-Origin is not the earth element. The earth element is merely the anchor and medium that binds Earth-Origin Crushing Pressure to the earth veins.
When form gains substance, weight arises. That which has weight sinks toward the center.
If its source is traced back through the theory of the Five Primordial Stages, it reaches the substance of Supreme Simplicity.」
Yi Hyeon’s gaze sharpened.
‘It really is talking about gravity.’
According to the knowledge of his past life, the force pulling objects toward the ground was gravity. This world was incomparably larger than Earth, but people and objects still fell to the ground. Cultivators seemed to understand that force through an entirely different framework.
Yi Hyeon continued reading the jade slip.
「The postcelestial spiritual qi of the five elements cannot recreate precelestial Supreme Simplicity.
However, the spiritual qi of the five elements can be harmonized and briefly returned to a state resembling primordial unity. Formation inscriptions can then imitate the change through which form gains substance and condenses. The force produced in this way is called Earth-Origin Force (坤元力).
To generate Earth-Origin Force through a formation, earth veins must serve as anchors. Formation implements (陣器) and formation disks with the attributes of the five elements must be used to complete the changes of Return to Unity and Materialization.
Among the spoken incantations for Return to Unity and Materialization that have been tested sufficiently for use in second-tier Grand Flight-Suppression Formations, the most widely used are taken from the Foundation Establishment Section of the 《Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art》, a cultivation art that almost no one practices directly.」
“...”
Yi Hyeon’s spiritual sense stopped over that sentence.
He checked it again to make sure he hadn’t misread it.
The Foundation Establishment Section of the 《Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art》.
That was definitely what it said.
‘The Foundation Establishment Section?’
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