Cultivating Underground - Chapter 43

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Dionysus

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Cultivating Underground ◈

Chapter 43

──────

Several days later.

Underground Hideout No. 3.

Yi Hyeon lay comfortably on the floor, looking at the map attached to the ceiling.

The Two Heavens Society’s vein seats and contact points were marked in different colors.

‘Did Black Sable investigate the Two Heavens Society on his own?’

‘If the Black Sun Bureau considered the Two Heavens Society an important enemy, they wouldn’t have sent just one early Foundation Establishment gu adept to attack its leader.’

‘Most likely, a branch assigned him a preliminary investigation, or Black Sable expanded the investigation alone to earn credit...’

The Two Heavens Society had never ambushed the Gu-Rearing Institutes or stolen Life-Sharing Gu from the Geonyang Kingdom. All it had done was draw a little spiritual qi from the kingdom’s spirit veins.

The Two Heavens Society hadn’t attracted much attention.

‘Still, if Black Sable reported regularly, some of our vein seats and members might already be exposed.’

‘I’ve closed the places that needed closing and scattered the members, so for now, all we can do is reduce the society’s activities and watch.’

Just then, he heard a faint buzzing from somewhere.

Bzzz.

The sound came from the small stone chamber adjoining the storeroom.

“Already?”

It had only been five days since he put the Fuzzbees that had eaten the Meridian-Linking Jade Silkworm into jars.

‘They woke up before I could even find an insect control inheritance. Surely these little things haven’t broken through to Foundation Establishment before me?’

Shhk.

Yi Hyeon headed for the stone chamber.

...

Inside the storeroom’s small stone chamber, three granite jars stood some distance apart.

Bzz, bzz, bzz.

The buzzing continued inside them.

Yi Hyeon carefully used the Soil Softening Art to break down one side of a jar without hurting the Fuzzbee inside.

Bzz!

A streak of golden light shot through the opening.

It made a quick circle around the chamber, then stopped in front of Yi Hyeon’s eyes.

Bzz, bzz, bzz.

The Fuzzbee’s appearance hadn’t changed at all. Alternating bands of gold and black covered its round, furry body.

It looked at Yi Hyeon for a moment, then landed on the back of his hand.

“You seem to remember me.”

Yi Hyeon gently stroked its head with his index finger.

Instead of moving away, it waved its antennae back and forth.

Yi Hyeon broke down one side of each remaining jar in the same way.

Bzz! Bzz!

Two streaks of golden light rose into the chamber.

These two looked almost identical to the first one. One landed on his other hand, while the last circled above his head.

Bzz, bzz, bzz.

“Well, they don’t seem to have become vicious.”

Yi Hyeon examined their auras one by one.

They certainly seemed stronger. But their spiritual power hadn’t undergone enough of a qualitative change for them to count as second-tier spirit insects.

“Is it because the three of them shared one second-tier spirit insect? No, there was never any guarantee that eating the whole thing alone would make one that much stronger. Still, they do seem stronger...”

Just then, the abdomen of a Fuzzbee still resting on the back of his hand twitched.

“Hm?”

The next moment...

Pfft!

Whoosh!

A small object shot out at a terrifying speed.

Crack!

Something white flew into the granite wall and lodged there.

Yi Hyeon slowly turned his gaze toward the wall.

A small hole, one finger joint deep, had been punched into the granite. Inside it, a white lump that appeared to be Fuzzbee droppings was giving off steam.

“...”

Yi Hyeon looked at the Fuzzbee on his hand.

Having relieved itself, it seemed much more comfortable.

The other two soon turned around as well.

Pfft! Pfft!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Crack! Craack!

Two white bullets lodged in different stone walls.

Yi Hyeon inspected the three holes in turn.

“This is about as powerful as my Seventh-Stem Metal Art when I first learned it...”

‘An unlucky hit could injure an early Qi Refining cultivator.’

He looked at the Fuzzbees with a strange expression.

After eating the larva of a second-tier spirit insect, the first change they had shown was powerful, high-speed poop.

...

Yi Hyeon brought the three strengthened Fuzzbees back to the others.

Bzz, bzz, bzz, bzz.

Dozens of Fuzzbees took flight at once.

They circled the three mutated ones as if sniffing them.

Squeak. Squeak, squeak.

As though they had been waiting for this, the three beat their wings loudly.

Bzzzz!

A strong gust pushed the surrounding Fuzzbees backward.

The three mutated Fuzzbees flew side by side around the cavern.

One landed on another Fuzzbee’s head, then quickly took off again. Another shoved an approaching Fuzzbee away with its rear.

Rrrroll.

The displaced Fuzzbee rolled once across the floor.

Squeak!

It flew up angrily, but the mutated Fuzzbee was already far away.

A little later, when the three mutated Fuzzbees took the lead, the ordinary ones naturally fell in behind them. The golden swarm flew in several circles.

Fortunately, they showed no sign of attacking or trying to eat their own kind.

Even the Fuzzbee that had been shoved away was now following the three mutated ones.

‘Have they moved up in the swarm’s hierarchy? It’s fine for now... but will that still be true if they become second-tier spirit insects?’

If they truly grew into second-tier spirit insects, they might become more intelligent and more vicious.

‘At times like this, I wish I belonged to a major sect. Even without going all the way to the Myriad Gu Sect in the Chang Kingdom, a large sect’s Scripture Repository should have at least a basic insect control inheritance...’

Yi Hyeon suddenly thought of White Owl.

“The Danso Sect...”

He checked inside his storage pouch.

The jade cases containing the Bone-Tempering Powder he had made to disguise his bone age were still there.

‘Hmm...’

Just then, one of the mutated Fuzzbees landed on the back of his hand again.

Yi Hyeon looked at it.

‘An insect control inheritance... Besides that, I need Foundation Establishment Pills and their formula, along with better inheritances on alchemy and spirit plants...’

Most of what he currently needed was likely available within the Danso Sect.

‘I was planning to put the Two Heavens Society’s activities on hold for a while anyway... This works out nicely.’

* * *

Five years later.

About four thousand li east of the Danso Mountains.

Baekha Market, in the eastern Gon Kingdom.

A gentle medicinal fragrance drifted from a small alchemy chamber in the Fire Origin Pill Pavilion (火元丹閣).

Fwoooosh.

A middle-grade Tier 1 pill furnace glowed red.

A man who looked about thirty-five sat before it.

He had a short beard on his chin. His skin was slightly rough and dark, like that of someone who often went into the mountains to gather medicinal herbs.

His name was Yi Dong-sam (李洞三).

When he first appeared at Baekha Market five years earlier, he had introduced himself as a thirty-year-old independent cultivator at the seventh layer of the Qi Refining stage.

He said that his master, an obscure independent alchemist, had died a few years before, leaving him an inheritance and a pill furnace. Short of spirit stones, he had wandered until settling in Baekha Market.

For five years, Yi Dong-sam had worked as an alchemist at the Fire Origin Pill Pavilion, making Fasting Pills and various other pills in high demand.

He traded with the market’s medicinal herb merchants and sometimes went out with nearby independent cultivators to hunt demonic beasts.

Three years earlier, he had broken through to the eighth layer of the Qi Refining stage.

The owner of the Fire Origin Pill Pavilion had celebrated his breakthrough with a cheap bottle of spirit wine, and the independent cultivators nearby had come to remember the name Yi Dong-sam.

...

Rattle.

Yi Dong-sam extinguished the fire, opened the furnace lid, and divided the Blood-Staunching Pills between two jade bottles.

When he left the alchemy chamber, the pavilion’s owner was waiting.

The owner was a graying ninth-layer Qi Refining cultivator. Already over seventy without reaching Foundation Establishment, the owner nevertheless had a good head for business and a sharp eye for people, allowing the small pill pavilion to run steadily in Baekha Market.

The owner took the jade bottles, checked the pills’ quantity and quality, and clicked their tongue.

“With your talent, you shouldn’t be stuck here...”

“Haha, I like it here.”

“...”

The owner put the jade bottles of Blood-Staunching Pills into a storage pouch.

“Do you know the Special Skills Selection (帶藝別選) will be held soon?”

“The Special Skills Selection?”

“Yes. It’s also called the Special Selection for Independent Cultivators. It’s an examination the Danso Sect holds to recruit independent cultivators from outside...”

* * *

Two months later.

Yi Hyeon stopped walking as he looked at the distant sky.

Faintly glowing clouds stretched above the horizon.

They drifted slowly along the mountain range, swirling in places. Sometimes they rose like flames, and sometimes they spread in rounded billows like smoke from a giant pill furnace.

Beneath them, he could faintly make out the outlines of peaks of varying heights.

The Danso Mountains.

‘There’s still a thousand li to go...’

Spiritual light flashed in Yi Hyeon’s eyes.

Various energies mingled within the clouds in a complex pattern. The mountains’ spiritual qi was having a faint effect even here, so far away.

“So this is a fourth-tier spirit vein.”

...

The closer he came to the Danso Mountains, the more crowded the road became.

A mortal couple holding a child’s hands.

An elderly member of a cultivation family leading more than ten juniors.

A small sect with a flying boat full of children.

Independent Qi Refining cultivators carrying various low-grade magical implements.

In the sky, flying boats of all sizes traveled in the same direction.

Some carried entire pavilions several dozen jang long, while others were shaped like giant birds or fish.

Each boat bore different patterns and flew different banners.

When a cultivation family’s flying boat with jade railings passed by, guards in matching robes rode cloud-shaped magical implements on either side. An independent cultivator sat cross-legged on a giant red gourd, and elsewhere, two people shared a single streak of sword light.

Yi Hyeon walked among the ordinary independent cultivators.

About a hundred li from the Danso Mountains, shops and inns began appearing on both sides of the broad road.

Farther along, an enormous city wall came into view.

Danso Immortal City (丹霄仙城).

Its walls were incomparably taller than those of a mortal city.

Thousands of people passed through the gates.

Some were mortals, but most were cultivators, members of cultivation families, and outer sect disciples.

Pill pavilions and spirit materials halls lined the streets inside.

‘It looks like a cultivator market managed by the Danso Sect.’

The main road led straight toward the sect’s mountain gate. Carts loaded with medicinal herbs came and went without pause. Flying boats from outside merchant groups landed one after another on a broad stone platform at one side of the city.

...

North of Danso Immortal City.

A huge crowd had already gathered in the broad square leading to the mountain gate.

Children under fifteen stood in lines in the largest central section. There were more than a thousand of them.

Independent cultivators who had already entered the Qi Refining stage were directed to a spacious area on the eastern side of the square.

Hundreds of Qi Refining cultivators were lining up there as well.

A large sign hung over the entrance.

「Special Skills Selection」

Smaller signs for each field hung beneath it.

「Alchemy」

「Spirit Plants」

「Formations」

「Artifact Refining」

「Talisman Crafting」

「Beast Taming」

「Medicine」

「Insect Control」

「Combat」

The signs for insect control and combat looked newly made.

‘Has demand increased in insect control and combat? It might be because of the Myriad Gu Sect in the Chang Kingdom to the south.’

Most applicants were in early Qi Refining, but sixth-layer cultivators weren’t rare, and there were quite a few at the seventh and eighth layers. He even saw more than ten cultivators openly displaying ninth-layer auras.

‘The applicants are impressive too. I suppose that’s what you’d expect from a major sect’s examination.’

Just then, a quiet stir rose near the front of the alchemy line.

A young female cultivator in pale vermilion robes parted from her guards and joined the queue. Her stable eighth-layer Qi Refining aura and graceful appearance stood out.

“That’s Jin So-yeong of the Danha Jin Family.”

“I heard she refined high-grade Tier 1 Clear Spirit Pills at twenty-six.”

“I suppose the top spot in alchemy is already decided.”

Hearing the whispers around her, Jin So-yeong stood in place without a change of expression.

Soon, Foundation Establishment cultivators wearing the Danso Sect’s robes flew over the mountain gate.

Dozens of streams of spiritual light scattered across the square.

They all wore ivory robes, with rising golden flames embroidered on the cuffs and collars. Their hems fluttered through the air, wrapped in spiritual light, giving them a dignified appearance. Even the cultivation families’ outfits, which had looked so splendid a moment earlier, suddenly seemed dull.

One of them landed before the entrance to the Special Skills Selection.

Thud.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator raised a flag.

As its pattern lit up, the cultivator’s voice spread across the entire square.

“Applicants for the Special Skills Selection, line up according to your field!”

The murmuring independent cultivators quickly moved.

“We will first check your bone age, cultivation realm, and spiritual roots! Anyone found with traces of demonic cultivation arts, blood sacrifice, unauthorized Life-Sharing Gu, or parasitic spirit insects will be detained immediately!”

Several independent cultivators’ expressions stiffened.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator continued.

“Today, we will only check your eligibility! The skills examinations will begin tomorrow, divided by field!”

The lines for each field gradually grew longer.

Yi Hyeon walked beneath the sign marked “Alchemy.”

Dozens of independent alchemists stood ahead of him.

...

The line kept moving forward.

On a broad stone platform stood a mirror taller than a person.

Two Foundation Establishment cultivators sat in front of it.

Before long, it was Yi Hyeon’s turn.

“Next!”

He stepped onto the platform.

‘That mirror looks rather good...’

Yi Hyeon was quite nervous.

“Name.”

“Yi Dong-sam.”

“Place your right hand on it.”

Yi Hyeon pressed his palm against the mirror.

A cold energy seeped into his fingertips.

Hummm.

The silver patterns on the mirror lit up.

A hazy light slowly swept past his fingers, wrist, and elbow, all the way to his shoulder.

Thin rings appeared over the mirror.

The examiner studied them.

“Thirty-five. Eighth layer of Qi Refining. Triple spiritual roots of Wood, Fire, and Earth.”

‘Whew...’

“Your spiritual power is quite stable.”

“Thank you.”

...

The second inspection checked for traces of demonic cultivation arts, blood sacrifice, and parasitic spirit insects.

The applicants walked one by one between twelve stone pillars.

Each pillar bore different formation inscriptions.

While Yi Hyeon waited, green flames suddenly rose ahead.

Fwoosh!

The face of the young cultivator standing among the pillars stiffened.

“Stop.”

The Foundation Establishment cultivator managing the formation stood up.

“You’ve hidden a spirit insect in your dantian.”

“I wasn’t hiding it!”

The young cultivator hurriedly offered an explanation.

“I heard that all we need to do in the Special Selection for Independent Cultivators is prove our skills. I’m a gu adept comparable to a late Qi Refining cultivator. I can perform alchemy too.”

The Foundation Establishment cultivator shook their head.

“The Danso Sect does not accept gu adepts.”

The surrounding applicants whispered.

“So they were a gu adept.”

“Disgusting lot.”

“Why would someone from the Geonyang Kingdom come all the way to the Danso Sect?”

...

Yi Hyeon’s turn came.

He walked between the twelve stone pillars.

Hummm.

The formation inscriptions lit up one after another.

“Passed.”

...

The final step was an interview to confirm their identities and past activities.

The applicants entered a small hall one at a time.

“Yi Dong-sam... You’ve worked as a guest alchemist at the Fire Origin Pill Pavilion for five years.”

“Yes.”

“And you’ve never caused trouble at Baekha Market...”

...

A total of eighty-three alchemy applicants passed the eligibility screening.

Half a shichen later, several large, leaf-shaped flying magical implements landed one after another on the broad stone platform.

The applicants boarded them according to their fields. The implements passed through Danso Immortal City’s northern gate and headed for the mountains.

The clouds surrounding the mountain range drew closer.

Beneath them stretched the barrier of an enormous formation. Made of mist and light, it enclosed the entire mountain range. Countless formation inscriptions appeared and vanished like stars.

An outer sect disciple standing at the front of the flying magical implement raised an identity token.

Hummm.

A long passage opened in the barrier.

The instant the flying magical implement entered it...

Whooosh.

Dense spiritual qi of heaven and earth surged in from all directions.

Quiet exclamations rose among the applicants.

“This much spiritual pressure, even on the outskirts?”

“It’s several times better than the cave abode where I cultivated.”

Yi Hyeon slowly sensed the surrounding spiritual qi as well.

The moment they entered the barrier, spiritual pressure comparable to that inside the inner formation of the Jangchun Sect’s Nine-Peak Rejuvenation Formation washed over him.

The farther they traveled into the mountains, the denser the spiritual qi became.

The flying magical implement passed between the clouds.

Soon, the scenery of the Danso Mountains came into view.

Peaks of varying heights stretched endlessly into the distance.

Clear waterways wound between them.

On some peaks, terraced spirit fields covered entire mountainsides. Small clouds moved along the fields, sprinkling rain.

Disciples guiding the clouds moved in formation. Whenever they formed hand seals, the drizzle stopped and sunlight poured down. Countless spirit fields brightened in turn, then sank into shade.

Thick smoke rose into the sky from another peak.

Hundreds of alchemy chambers were set into the cliffs and slopes like a honeycomb. Firelight flashed constantly from their windows and fire vents.

Kaboom!

An explosion erupted from a distant alchemy chamber.

As black smoke burst out, waiting disciples activated a formation, instantly trapping the smoke and fiery energy.

Above them, a black pill furnace dozens of times taller than a person was embedded halfway into the cliff.

One applicant gaped.

“Is that a pill furnace too?”

The Danso Sect outer sect disciple steering the flying magical implement nearby answered.

“That’s the Hundred-Chamber Fire-Dividing Furnace (百室分火爐). It can make dozens of batches of first-tier pills at once.”

“Dozens of batches at once...”

The flying magical implement continued onward.

Cranes and flying boats constantly crossed the sky.

Some giant cranes carried medicine chests on their backs, while flying boats carried dozens of disciples. Bridges made of iron chains and spirit wood linked the peaks, and a broad lake lay in the valley below.

A white crane with a red crest swept past their flying magical implement. With medicine chests hanging heavily on both sides, it turned its head and shouted as clearly as a person.

“Watch where you’re going!”

Several applicants looked startled, but the outer sect disciple didn’t even glance at it.

The crane quickly vanished into the clouds.

A tower a hundred jang tall stood on the summit of one peak.

Yi Hyeon also watched the scenery of the Danso Mountains with interest.

He had lived for nearly fourteen hundred years, but this was his first time entering the main grounds of a major sect with Nascent Soul cultivators.

If the Jangchun Sect had been a single sect spread over nine peaks, this place looked like a small country, with dozens of peaks and ten thousand disciples.

The flying magical implement descended into a broad valley on the outskirts of the mountain range.

Dozens of halls, separate alchemy chambers, and lodgings for the applicants stood in orderly rows.

Three characters were written on the sign at the entrance.

「Guest Reception Court (迎客院)」

...

The alchemy applicants were assigned two to a lodging.

Yi Hyeon ended up sharing a room with Yeo Mun-deok, a round-faced cultivator in their forties.

Yeo Mun-deok exclaimed as soon as they entered.

“They’re giving applicants rooms like this for free...”

They sat on a bed and took several breaths of the surrounding spiritual qi.

“Ten days of cultivation here would be about the same as a month outside.”

“It certainly would.”

“They’ve deliberately put two strangers in each lodging. It must be to stop anyone from causing trouble or doing anything strange. It’s not as though this sect would be short of rooms. Isn’t this all part of a major sect’s scheming?”

“Perhaps.”

“Bah... You’re no fun.”

On the table lay a book containing the Guest Reception Court’s rules and two small jade bottles.

Each bottle held three Fasting Pills.

Yeo Mun-deok took one out and examined it.

“A high-grade Tier 1 Fasting Pill...?”

They looked slightly taken aback.

The two reviewed the examination rules and the following day’s schedule.

The first test was medicinal identification. Pill examination and heat control would follow, ending with actual pill refining.

Yeo Mun-deok’s expression grew serious.

“I’ll pass the pill examination for certain.”

“Have you prepared a lot?”

“I’ve spent the past two years studying nothing but failed pills. At first, I bought them from the markets. Later, I decided it was a waste of spirit stones and made failed pills myself.”

“You deliberately failed at pill refining?”

“That’s right.”

Yeo Mun-deok nodded proudly.

“I used the same formula, but varied the heat, changed the order of the ingredients, and even slightly damaged the restrictions on the furnace. The results are all in here.”

They tapped their head with a finger.

“That’s impressive.”

“You’d better stay on your toes too, Fellow Cultivator Yi Dong-sam. The Danso Sect has plenty of monstrous alchemists.”

Yeo Mun-deok lowered their voice.

“And with Jin So-yeong here, even the medicinal identification test won’t be easy. A young lady from a cultivation family like hers is taking the same examination as independent cultivators like us just to obtain a better inheritance. Isn’t that unfair?”

...

The next day.

The Guest Reception Court’s Medicinal Identification Hall.

One entire wall of the enormous semicircular hall stood open. Eighty-three broad tables were arranged in a fan shape, each more than five jang from the next.

Every applicant received an identical set of samples, but the dish numbers and arrangement differed at each seat. Even if someone saw which dish another applicant chose from a distance, it wouldn’t reveal their own answer.

Yi Hyeon sat at the table marked with the number 37.

On the table were forty-eight jade dishes covered with white cloth, a jade slip containing the questions, a blank answer sheet, and a fine brush loaded with ink.

Several rows ahead, Jin So-yeong sat at table 12. Seemingly unconcerned by the looks around her, she waited for the examination to begin with her eyes closed.

‘I just need to do a little worse than her...’

A middle-aged female cultivator at late Foundation Establishment stood at the front of the hall.

Several more Foundation Establishment cultivators stood behind her. Judging by the pill furnace patterns embroidered on their robes, they all seemed to be alchemists.

The middle-aged woman looked around at the applicants.

“The Danso Sect has no shortage of alchemists who can memorize a pill formula and tend a fire in a fixed sequence. This medicinal identification test is not about who can make familiar pills better. We will examine your judgment when faced with unexpected changes.”

Her gaze slowly swept across the eighty-three tables.

“That is what I call talent.”

The middle-aged woman raised her hand.

The white cloths on the tables lifted away at once.

Rustle.

Forty-eight jade dishes were revealed.

Each held a leaf, root, stem, fruit, or seed.

Several of the ingredients looked almost identical.

“The jade slip lists twelve medicinal ingredients, their required medicinal ages, and the parts to be used. Select the samples that meet those conditions from the forty-eight dishes and write down their numbers.”

She continued.

“There is no guarantee that there are exactly twelve correct answers.”

The applicants’ brows drew together.

“If no ingredient meets the conditions, write that down. If an ingredient requires additional treatment, include the method. You may use any means to examine the samples, provided you do not damage them.”

The middle-aged woman lit a small stick of incense.

“The test ends when the incense burns out.”

Fwoof.

Smoke rose from its tip.

Yi Hyeon first pressed the jade slip to his forehead.

The names and conditions of twelve medicinal ingredients flowed into his consciousness.

...

After a while, the incense burned to its end.

Ding.

The middle-aged woman rang a small bell.

“Hands off, everyone.”

The examiners standing behind her each reached out.