WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
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◈ Cultivating Underground ◈
Chapter 36
──────
The next day, Yi Hyeon headed to the Mission Hall on the Jangchun Sect’s Oesa Peak.
“I’m here to change the person in charge of the Origin-Raising Pill sales mission.”
The steward checked Na Gyeong-mun’s mission token, then Yi Hyeon’s identity token.
“Yi Dong-i of Danjeong Peak?”
“That’s right.”
“You’re taking over Na Gyeong-mun’s mission?”
“Yes.”
The steward placed the mission token on a small formation disk. The name engraved on its surface changed from Na Gyeong-mun to Yi Dong-i.
Hummm.
“The Origin-Raising Pills are at the Jangchun Pill Pavilion. Your mission will be complete once you sell all thirty and hand over at least 6,900 low-grade spirit stones.”
“Would it be possible to take the Origin-Raising Pills outside the sect to sell them?”
“No. If we entrusted goods of that value to a Qi Refining disciple and sent them outside, what would happen if they ran away or encountered bandit cultivators? You must sell them inside the Jangchun Pill Pavilion at Oesa Market.”
“Understood.”
...
Oesa Market, Jangchun Sect.
Oesa Market lay between the outer and inner formations of the Nine-Peak Rejuvenation Formation. Outside cultivators and merchant groups could enter the outer formation after a simple inspection at the sect gates, but they could not pass through the inner formation surrounding the nine peaks.
Most of the shops selling the sect’s alchemical pills, spirit plants, magical implements, and talismans were gathered here.
There were also shops and warehouses that purchased outside supplies, stalls run by outside independent cultivators with the sect’s permission, and even inns for visiting merchant groups.
Taxes and stall fees were slightly higher than at other cultivator markets, but the Jangchun Sect maintained order, making the place fairly safe. As a result, Oesa Market prospered, with a steady stream of outside cultivators coming and going.
At its center stood a large, three-story building.
「Jangchun Pill Pavilion」
Long sales counters lined the ground floor. Behind them, Jangchun Sect disciples served customers, each with their assigned goods laid out in front of them.
Yi Hyeon found the manager and presented his mission token.
“I’ve taken on the Origin-Raising Pill sales mission.”
“Follow me.”
The manager led Yi Hyeon into a storeroom behind the counters. Numerous jade boxes and medicine bottles were stored within formations set up throughout the room.
The manager took a jade box from the back and opened it.
Click.
Ten small jade bottles sat neatly inside. Each held three Origin-Raising Pills, making thirty in total.
Yi Hyeon took one pill from each bottle and examined its color, sheen, and scent. He used both the Qi-Observing Spell and his spiritual sense to check the medicinal strength within. There were slight differences in quality, but none were failed pills or had damaged medicinal properties.
‘They’re all proper low-grade pills.’
The manager said, “The minimum price is 230 low-grade spirit stones per pill. If you sell them for more, you may keep the difference as your reward. If you sell them for less, you’ll have to make up the shortfall yourself.”
“Understood.”
Yi Hyeon quickly calculated.
‘Thirty pills at 230 each makes 6,900.’
He currently had thirty mid-grade spirit stones and 320 low-grade spirit stones. His low-grade spirit stones were nearly gone after buying seven Origin-Raising Pills and magical implements for measuring bone age at nearby cultivator markets.
Converting all his mid-grade spirit stones would give him 3,320 low-grade spirit stones.
That was enough to buy fourteen Origin-Raising Pills, with a hundred low-grade spirit stones left over.
The ledger only required the number sold and the spirit stones received. There was no need to record the buyers’ identities.
‘If I sell just sixteen to outside cultivators, I can buy the remaining fourteen myself.’
However, claiming to have sold all thirty at once when there were hardly any customers might draw unwanted attention.
‘Let’s see how well they actually sell first.’
...
Yi Hyeon sat at a counter set aside for sales missions in one corner of the Jangchun Pill Pavilion.
Around noon, an independent cultivator at the sixth layer of the Qi Refining stage approached. After inspecting a jade bottle containing Origin-Raising Pills, the cultivator asked, “Can you give me a small discount if I buy two?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“I hear the Tongwon Pills being sold outside these days cost less than two hundred low-grade spirit stones each.”
“The Jangchun Sect refines these Origin-Raising Pills itself and guarantees both their medicinal potency and their origin. The choice is yours.”
“...”
The independent cultivator gave Yi Hyeon an odd look.
“Do you even want to sell these?”
“I don’t have the authority to sell below the minimum price.”
“Make it 220 each. I’ll buy two.”
“The minimum is 230.”
“Hmph. Let’s see how long the Jangchun Sect can insist on that price.”
The independent cultivator left.
Yi Hyeon watched the retreating figure.
‘Tongwon Pills... If they have the same effect, I should look into them myself.’
That seemed to be the name of the breakthrough pills released by the merchant group from another continent.
He did not sell a single Origin-Raising Pill on the first day. On the second day, a middle-aged cultivator bought one. On the tenth, someone who appeared to be a cultivation family’s steward bought two. A few more sold one or two at a time, bringing the first month’s total to seven.
‘Seven in one month. That’ll do.’
...
The day after finishing his first month of sales duty, Yi Hyeon visited the Scripture Repository on Jangchun Peak.
He was looking for first-tier flight-sealing formations (禁空陣法) that he could study at the Qi Refining stage. Since he was still cultivating the Qi Refining section of the 《Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art》, he thought he would first need to understand the materialization incantations used in first-tier formations to produce Earth-Origin Force.
Yi Hyeon first held a jade slip titled 《An Explanation of First-Tier Flight-Sealing Formations》 to his forehead.
A first-tier flight-sealing formation was not powerful enough to pull down a Foundation Establishment cultivator. It could only bring down Qi Refining cultivators using first-tier Flight Talismans or flying magical implements. Still, the basic principle behind producing Earth-Origin Force did not seem different from that of a second-tier grand flight-sealing formation.
‘As expected, the return to unity is the most complicated part. But primordial unity true qi is already similar to energy that’s completed that process. In that case, if I use the materialization incantation directly...’
The materials on the open shelves contained only part of the materialization incantation. In the end, Yi Hyeon spent ten contribution points to consult the 《First-Tier Earth-Origin Flight-Sealing Formation Diagram》 and learn the rest.
...
That night.
The cultivation room in his residence on Danjeong Peak.
Yi Hyeon reached toward a small stone.
Hummm.
The stone trembled faintly.
...
A month later.
Several merchant groups arrived at Oesa Market, bringing more outside cultivators than the previous month.
Origin-Raising Pills continued to sell a few at a time at Yi Hyeon’s counter during the second month. He sold nine that month. Added to the previous month’s seven, the total was exactly sixteen.
‘That’s enough.’
After finishing his sales duty, Yi Hyeon checked the Origin-Raising Pills remaining at his counter. There were exactly fourteen left in the jade bottles.
He transferred them to his storage pouch. In their place, he put thirty mid-grade spirit stones and 220 low-grade spirit stones into the box holding the sales proceeds.
That was equivalent to 3,220 low-grade spirit stones, the exact price of fourteen Origin-Raising Pills.
Yi Hyeon spread his own fourteen purchases across suitable entries in the sales ledger.
...
The Jangchun Pill Pavilion’s manager checked the ledger, then the mission token.
“You’ve sold all thirty Origin-Raising Pills.”
“That’s right.”
“And the payment comes to exactly 6,900 low-grade spirit stones... Well done. You can collect your contribution points at the Mission Hall now.”
“Thank you.”
...
The lounge in Third-Stem Fire Court.
Na Gyeong-mun was impressed to hear that Yi Hyeon had completed the mission.
“You really sold them all in just two months!”
“I was lucky.”
“If I’d taken it, I’d still be sitting behind that counter. Everyone really does have their own talents.”
Sim Yeon-ju, who was drinking tea nearby, asked, “I heard Origin-Raising Pills haven’t been selling well because of those Tongwon Pills. You managed it anyway?”
“Yes, I’m glad it worked out.”
...
That night.
His residence on Danjeong Peak.
Yi Hyeon arranged jade boxes on the cultivation room floor.
The seven Origin-Raising Pills he had already collected.
The fourteen he had bought during this mission.
Twenty-one in total.
“I should buy a few more jade boxes and first-tier Spirit-Sealing Talismans. Still, even sealed pills won’t benefit from being stored too long...”
Only then did Yi Hyeon realize a problem he had overlooked when he first began collecting Origin-Raising Pills.
‘I’m still only at the beginning of the sixth layer. To break through the barrier to the seventh layer as efficiently as possible, I need to reach the limit of the sixth layer first.’
Taking Origin-Raising Pills now would raise his spiritual power ceiling. But if he took them before reaching the barrier between layers, their effect of weakening that barrier would likely go to waste.
‘Then even if I take fifty Origin-Raising Pills, I might only raise my spiritual power ceiling without breaking through to the seventh layer.’
Yet if he waited until he reached the limit of the sixth layer, there was no telling how long that would take, given the nature of the Primordial Unity Body. Meanwhile, the medicinal strength of the pills in the jade boxes would continue to dissipate.
‘I’ve already bought twenty-one...’
After thinking for a long while, Yi Hyeon’s eyes brightened.
‘Wait. Do I really have to reach the limit of the sixth layer first? If I take enough pills to fill my spiritual power to its ceiling and still have enough medicinal strength left to push through the barrier, couldn’t I finish both steps at once?’
‘What if I took about a hundred pills with similar effects?’
Yi Hyeon checked the part of his storage pouch where he kept his spirit stones. Only a hundred low-grade spirit stones remained.
“I’ll need to earn some spirit stones.”
...
A few days later.
Underground Hideout No. 2.
Grrrind.
As the stone door to Spirit Field No. 1-1 opened, a rich medicinal fragrance and poisonous powder drifted out.
Yi Hyeon walked through the field, checking the Bone-Rotting Flowers’ medicinal age.
“Three hundred and forty-four years...”
He cast the Soil-Turning Spell, and a Bone-Rotting Flower rose from the ground with its roots and surrounding soil intact.
After he repeated the process, twenty Bone-Rotting Flower mother plants stood along one side of the field.
‘That leaves only eighty-one Bone-Rotting Flowers in Spirit Field No. 1-1. But there are another 433 in Spirit Fields No. 1-2 through No. 1-5, so I still have plenty.’
Now he only had to sell them. The problem was where.
‘To get a proper price, I’ll have to go to the southern Namnyeo Kingdom.’
The Azure Tide Merchant Alliance refined second-tier Bone-Tempering Powder and regularly purchased old Bone-Rotting Flower mother plants.
‘Even if I meet the Azure Tide Merchant Alliance’s elders, they’ll have trouble recognizing me.’
When Yi Hyeon had clashed with the alliance elders on Jeogyo Island, he had appeared as Yi Muk, a guest alchemist in his fifties. This time, he planned to change not only his face and build, but also his manner of speaking and the spiritual power he revealed.
Yi Hyeon placed the twenty Bone-Rotting Flowers in his storage pouch.
...
Half a month later.
Namae Market, southern Namnyeo Kingdom.
A tall man in a long black robe entered the Azure Tide Merchant Alliance’s Spirit Materials Hall. Gray streaked the hair at his temples, and a long scar ran across his left cheek.
His apparent cultivation was merely the ordinary sixth layer of the Qi Refining stage. Yet as he silently looked around, the shop assistants felt an unease they could not explain. Whenever their eyes met his, their voices grew softer and their bodies trembled without them realizing it.
“I’m here to sell Bone-Rotting Flower mother plants.”
“How many?”
“Three.”
He tapped his storage pouch, and three flowerpots appeared one after another.
Whooosh.
Thick poisonous powder billowed from the ivory petals. An assistant hurriedly activated a formation.
Humm.
The poisonous powder was trapped behind a transparent curtain.
A steward who had been inspecting a ledger farther inside came over in person. The steward examined the petals, stems, and patterns on the roots one by one, then took a little poisonous powder and singed it over a flame. The medicinal potency flowing from the roots was also checked.
The appraisal continued for quite some time.
“All three have a medicinal age of around 340 years.”
“Three hundred and forty-four, surely.”
“...You’re quite right. Were they grown in the same place?”
“Do I have any reason to tell you that?”
“No.”
The steward immediately backed off, worked an abacus for a moment, and said, “We can offer 860 low-grade spirit stones per plant.”
The man said nothing. He simply watched the steward.
“Eight hundred and eighty...”
“...”
The steward swallowed hard.
Facing the man’s presence directly brought a creeping fear up the steward’s spine, much like encountering a bear or tiger as a child.
‘Why am I so frightened? Could he be an expert hiding his cultivation?’
“They... they’re valuable mother plants in excellent condition. Taking their rarity into account, we can offer nine hundred.”
“Agreed.”
Only then did the pressure weighing on the steward’s chest lift.
The assistants brought twenty-seven mid-grade spirit stones. The man checked their number and condition before putting them into his storage pouch.
“Thank you.”
He turned and left the Spirit Materials Hall.
Only after he had disappeared completely did the nearby assistants let out quiet breaths.
One of them asked, “With a medicinal age of 344 years, wouldn’t they be difficult to use even in second-tier Bone-Tempering Powder?”
The steward replied, “I don’t know the formula for second-tier Bone-Tempering Powder either. In any case, they meet the alliance’s purchasing standards.”
“Didn’t we pay a little too much?”
“Based on their value alone, around 880 would have been fair. Still, mother plants this old and this well preserved aren’t common.”
...
Ten days later.
The Azure Tide Merchant Alliance’s Spirit Materials Hall.
Purchase ledgers from branches across the south were piled on a table. At first, the steward of the Spirit Materials Hall leafed through them without much thought.
“Two Bone-Rotting Flowers... Medicinal age, 344 years.”
“One plant... Three hundred and forty-four years?”
The steward’s hand stopped.
A hurried inspection of the other ledgers revealed one recent Bone-Rotting Flower purchase after another at different branches.
Every plant had a medicinal age of 344 years.
The sellers differed in appearance, gender, and cultivation.
A stooped elderly person.
A middle-aged man with a sword on his back.
A female cultivator with her face covered.
A sickly young cultivator.
An independent cultivator who could not speak.
Including these, nearly ten sellers were recorded in the ledgers.
The steward ordered the purchased Bone-Rotting Flowers brought over for inspection.
The next day, flowers purchased by nearby branches and appraisal records sent from distant branches arrived at the Spirit Materials Hall. Though their appearances differed slightly, the flow of their medicinal potency and the nature of the soil clinging to their roots were almost identical.
They had clearly all grown in the same spirit field.
“How many have we bought so far?”
“Twenty plants, counting only the reports we’ve received.”
“Twenty?”
The steward slammed a palm on the table.
Bang!
“Damn it! If I’d known so many Bone-Rotting Flowers of the same medicinal age would come onto the market, I’d never have paid nine hundred per plant!”
“They are all sound mother plants, though...”
“I know that!”
The steward ground their teeth.
“If I’d known the quantity from the start, I’d have lowered the price. Our alliance is the only place around here that produces second-tier Bone-Tempering Powder in bulk, after all.”
A long sigh followed.
“We’ve been had.”
...
Meanwhile.
A mountain range in the northern Namnyeo Kingdom.
Yi Hyeon sat on a rock, counting spirit stones.
Selling twenty Bone-Rotting Flower mother plants had earned him 180 mid-grade spirit stones. That was a full 18,000 low-grade spirit stones!
“A good sale. The Azure Tide Merchant Alliance will have a bit of a headache.”
Putting the spirit stones into his storage pouch, Yi Hyeon calculated the cost of Origin-Raising Pills.
Even at the current price, buying another eighty would require 18,400 low-grade spirit stones.
Adding the hundred he already had would bring his total to 18,100. He was three hundred short.
Besides, there was no guarantee that Origin-Raising Pills would remain at 230 each. If the supply of imported pills dwindled, the price might rise to 250 or more again.
‘Wait. Imported pills...’
He remembered the Tongwon Pills he had heard about at the Jangchun Pill Pavilion.
‘They said a large supply had been released throughout the Ram Kingdom, didn’t they?’
...
A few days later.
Yi Hyeon bought a Tongwon Pill at a nearby cultivator market. He immediately entered a secluded mountain cavern and began by analyzing its medicinal properties.
‘It’s similar to an Origin-Raising Pill. Not bad.’
Yi Hyeon began traveling between cultivator markets across the Ram Kingdom, buying Tongwon Pills.
...
A month later.
His residence on Danjeong Peak.
Yi Hyeon arranged jade boxes on the floor.
Twenty-one Origin-Raising Pills.
Sixty Tongwon Pills.
The Tongwon Pills had cost 120 mid-grade spirit stones. After buying new jade boxes and first-tier Spirit-Sealing Talismans as well, he had sixty mid-grade spirit stones and ninety low-grade spirit stones left in his storage pouch.
...
After that, Yi Hyeon took on another Origin-Raising Pill sales mission. With his record of successfully completing the first mission, Oesa Peak entrusted him with thirty more pills without any particular suspicion.
Perhaps because the supply of Tongwon Pills had decreased, some customers were now willing to buy Origin-Raising Pills at 250 low-grade spirit stones each. Over one month, he sold six to outside cultivators, bringing in 1,500 spirit stones.
After considering the number of customers visiting Oesa Market and the Jangchun Pill Pavilion’s overall sales, Yi Hyeon put the remaining twenty-four Origin-Raising Pills into his storage pouch.
In their place, he put 5,520 of his own spirit stones into the proceeds box and spread those twenty-four pills across suitable entries in the sales ledger as well.
The total sales came to 7,020 low-grade spirit stones.
Following the rules, he handed only the required 6,900 over to the Mission Hall. That left Yi Hyeon with 690 low-grade spirit stones.
* * *
Three months later.
Danjeong Peak.
Yi Hyeon’s residence.
Jade boxes of various sizes stood in rows on the cultivation room floor.
Forty-five Origin-Raising Pills.
Sixty Tongwon Pills.
Several dozen ripe Yinwater Lotus seedpods.
During that time, Yi Hyeon had repeatedly checked whether the medicinal properties of the two pills conflicted, but he had found no problems.
It was time to attempt his breakthrough.
After telling his fellow disciples on Danjeong Peak that he would be entering secluded cultivation, Yi Hyeon closed the cultivation room door.
From deep inside his storage pouch, he took out four old talismans: Sound-Isolation Talismans and Spirit-Concealing Talismans. These were basic first-tier talismans he had obtained from Wi Mun-do, Paeng Ja-ryang, and Han So-baek over five hundred years ago.
Almost all the spiritual power remaining in them had dissipated, but their spirit patterns and talisman inscriptions were intact.
Recalling the basic talisman-crafting techniques he had read long ago, Yi Hyeon examined their structure. Once he confirmed that nothing was damaged, he slowly fed his primordial unity true qi into them.
Hummm.
The faded inscriptions lit up one after another.
The Sound-Isolation Talismans blocked sound from entering or leaving the cultivation room. The Spirit-Concealing Talismans prevented the spiritual power fluctuations produced during his breakthrough from spreading beyond his residence.
Yi Hyeon fitted low-grade spirit stones into the slots of the cultivation room’s Spirit-Gathering Formation, one at a time.
Click. Click.
Eight in total.
He would not have used spirit stones for ordinary cultivation. But with the success of his breakthrough uncertain, this was no time to be stingy.
Hummmmm.
As the Spirit-Gathering Formation activated, the cultivation room’s spiritual pressure rose noticeably. The dense spiritual qi of heaven and earth within the Nine-Peak Rejuvenation Formation flowed into the room through the Spirit-Gathering Formation.
Yi Hyeon placed the jade boxes within reach and lay comfortably on the floor.
First, he took out a Tongwon Pill.
Gulp.
As the pill passed down his throat, its medicinal strength spread along his meridians. Yi Hyeon circulated the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art, mixing the medicinal strength with his primordial unity true qi.
...
A day passed.
Seventeen Tongwon Pills were gone.
Yi Hyeon’s spiritual power had increased noticeably, but he was still far from the limit of the sixth layer. Unrefined medicinal substances and pill toxins had begun to accumulate throughout his body.
Yi Hyeon split open a Yinwater Lotus seedpod and took out the seeds inside. He peeled them and put them in his mouth.
Crunch.
A cool energy passed through his chest and spread into his meridians.
Yi Hyeon let out a long breath.
Hoooo.
Faint gray turbid qi flowed out with his breath. As it settled on the floor, it gave off a bitter, fishy medicinal smell.
Yinwater Lotus seeds did not remove all pill toxins. Still, they were a great help to Yi Hyeon, who needed to take over a hundred pills in succession.
Whenever the pill toxins grew concentrated after that, he ate more Yinwater Lotus seeds and expelled the turbid qi little by little.
...
The third day.
All sixty Tongwon Pills were gone.
Yi Hyeon’s primordial unity true qi had reached the late sixth layer of the Qi Refining stage, filling his entire body to bursting. Yet he still could not sense the barrier to the next layer.
“Still not enough, as expected.”
Yi Hyeon opened a jade box containing Origin-Raising Pills. A steadier medicinal fragrance than that of the Tongwon Pills spread through the room.
He swallowed an Origin-Raising Pill, and stronger medicinal strength spread throughout his body.
Whoooosh.
Primordial unity true qi surged roughly through his meridians.
...
The fifth day.
Thirty Origin-Raising Pills were gone.
Yi Hyeon’s primordial unity true qi had reached the very limit of the sixth layer. There was hardly any room left anywhere in his body to accept more spiritual power.
Only then did he sense an invisible wall.
Yi Hyeon continued taking Origin-Raising Pills.
Thirty-one.
Thirty-two.
Thirty-three.
With each pill, medicinal strength pounded against the barrier.
Thump. Thump.
When the medicinal strength of the fortieth Origin-Raising Pill spread through him, a thin crack finally appeared in the invisible wall.
Crack.
Yi Hyeon checked the remaining Origin-Raising Pills.
Five.
“Please.”
After he took the forty-first pill, the crack widened a little.
As the forty-second pill’s medicinal strength spread, primordial unity true qi whirled through his meridians like a storm.
The forty-third.
Gulp.
The Origin-Raising Pill dissolved. Powerful medicinal strength flowed throughout his body and mixed with his primordial unity true qi.
Yi Hyeon pushed the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art to its limit.
Whooosh.
His primordial unity true qi surged toward the barrier all at once.
Crack-crack-crack!
The next moment.
Boom!
The wall collapsed completely.
The primordial unity true qi that had been held back surged fiercely into new territory.
Whoooooosh.
Dense spiritual qi of heaven and earth poured into Yi Hyeon’s body. The low-grade spirit stones fitted into the Spirit-Gathering Formation rapidly lost their light. The Spirit-Concealing and Sound-Isolation Talismans attached to the walls also blackened as they endured the violent spiritual power fluctuations.
After continuing for a long time, the fluctuations gradually subsided.
At last, Yi Hyeon opened his eyes.
“I did it!”
He could not hide the joy in his voice.
...
For the next day, Yi Hyeon circulated the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art to stabilize his new realm. Two unused Origin-Raising Pills remained in the jade box.
He took a wooden board from his storage pouch and used the Seventh-Stem Metal Art to change the numbers on his handmade status panel.
【Age: 1,098】
【Realm: Qi Refining stage, Layer 7】
【Spirit Power: 517 → 733】
【Physique: Primordial Unity Body, Level 7】
His spiritual power had changed slightly in quality as well as quantity.
His primordial unity true qi was more densely condensed than before. Even the same spell would likely produce greater power now.
Yi Hyeon stood and moved his body lightly.
Crack-crack.
Satisfying cracks came from his back and shoulders.
“Good.”
He suddenly remembered the Earth-Origin Force he had been researching over the past few months.
Yi Hyeon condensed substantialized primordial unity true qi in his palm to create a temporary Earth-Origin Force anchor, then extended his hand.
The instant he willed it to act...
Whoooosh!
A nearby wooden token, iron ball, and stone shot toward his palm.
Yi Hyeon cast the Spiritlight Shield.
Clatter-clang!
The iron ball, stone, and wooden token struck the Spiritlight Shield one after another. Unable to withstand the impact, the wooden token shattered.
“It really works?”
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