WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Cultivating Underground ◈
Chapter 49
──────
Five days later.
The Danso Immortal Ferry left the Anneung Kingdom’s capital and headed first for Saknyeong Province.
In each county and town, royal officials had gathered children of the right age who had not yet been tested for spiritual roots.
Bwoooooom.
Whenever the enormous ferry appeared beneath the clouds, people in the towns and cities stopped what they were doing and looked up.
“The immortals!”
“They’re here from the immortal sect!”
The children’s parents knelt along both sides of the road.
The resident cultivators stepped onto their flying magical implements, following the sequence Jang Gyeong-ik had taught them.
Yi Hyeon also rode his Flowing Cloud Disk down from the ferry’s deck, pausing ten jang above the ground.
After making sure that hundreds of eyes were focused on him, he slowly descended.
The wind was blowing in a suitable direction, making his Danso Sect outer sect robes flutter just enough.
He stopped again a little over three jang above the ground.
Rustle.
The Flowing Cloud Disk settled onto the open ground without raising a speck of dust.
Everyone watching pressed their forehead to the ground.
“We greet the immortals!”
The children stared up at Yi Hyeon with their mouths open.
‘It certainly works.’
...
The spiritual root tests took place in spacious government compounds or open grounds in the towns.
The children came forward one at a time and placed their hands on a transparent Spirit-Testing Orb.
Nothing happened when a child without spiritual roots touched it.
Most touched the orb over and over before leaving hand in hand with their parents.
Occasionally, light bloomed inside the orb.
Hummmmm.
Red, yellow, white, and black light mingled together.
“Four-element spiritual roots: fire, earth, metal, and water.”
A resident cultivator recorded the child’s name, place of origin, and parents’ social standing.
The parents wept with joy.
The child looked around, unable to understand what had happened.
One child burst into tears in front of the Spirit-Testing Orb upon hearing that they would have to leave their parents.
“Can’t Mom come with me?”
The child’s mother was crying too, but she forced a smile and nudged the child forward by the shoulders.
“Listen to what the immortals tell you.”
“No. I want to go home.”
Jang Gyeong-ik did not hurry the child.
He waited quietly until the parents had comforted their child and said goodbye.
...
Starting with Saknyeong Province, they traveled through Baekha Province and Ulleung Province in turn.
All three were among the Anneung Kingdom’s more mountainous, sparsely populated regions.
The royal officials had gathered the children in advance, but some families from remote mountain villages received the news late and only arrived on the final day.
Near sunset, a man came running down a distant mountain path with a child on his back.
His straw sandals were worn through, and both his feet were bleeding.
“Are... are you still testing?”
Yi Hyeon took out the Spirit-Testing Orb he had already put away.
“Put the child down.”
The girl who had been riding on the man’s back placed her hand on the orb.
No light appeared.
Deep disappointment crossed the man’s face.
Yi Hyeon gave him some healing ointment and silver.
“Take your child home. The mountain paths are dark, so you should rest at the government office tonight before you leave.”
“Thank you, Immortal. Thank you.”
The man bowed again and again.
The children selected during their journey boarded the Danso Immortal Ferry and headed for the capital.
...
The Immortal Ascension Lodge in the Anneung Kingdom’s capital.
Within its spacious walled grounds stood halls of various sizes and several courtyards.
The nineteen children who would be taken to the Danso Sect lived there together.
The royal household provided clean clothes, warm meals, and beds, and assigned physicians and maids to care for them.
At first, the children cried every night after being separated from their parents. After a few days, however, they gradually began to adjust to their new lives.
Some were even delighted by the luxurious food they had never tasted before.
...
Two days before their departure for the sect headquarters.
Jang Gyeong-ik handed Yi Hyeon a ledger.
“Take a look.”
It was the Immortal Ascension Selection ledger, listing the names, spiritual roots, and origins of the children selected in each region.
Beside it lay a list of the tribute the royal household would offer to the Danso Sect.
Yi Hyeon went through the children’s names and checked the headcount.
“Everything’s in order.”
“I’ll take the children to the sect headquarters. I plan to collect the contribution points I’ve accumulated from my duties here and visit the sect’s cultivator market.”
“Of course.”
“Four of us, including me, will escort the children. Junior Brother Yi, look after the Immortal-Serving Court while we’re away.”
Like Jang Gyeong-ik, Yi Hyeon was a cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining stage. He was also skilled enough in combat to overwhelm Yuk Gyeong-cheon and Wan Cheong-jo. As a result, he was already regarded as one of the resident cultivators representing the Danso Sect at the Anneung Kingdom’s Immortal-Serving Court.
“Understood.”
“The round trip should take less than a month.”
...
The next day.
Dozens of carriages bearing the Anneung royal family’s flags stopped outside the Immortal Ascension Lodge.
Royal relatives and officials entered with twenty-three royal grandsons between six and twelve years old, all dressed in fine clothes.
The King of Anneung came in person as well.
The king was nearly seventy, but vigorous for a mortal, with a straight back and no sign of illness.
The king bowed deeply to Jang Gyeong-ik and the other resident cultivators.
“I greet the immortals of the Danso Sect.”
It happened just then.
Brrrr.
The spirit insect pouch at Yi Hyeon’s waist gave a tiny tremor, and the Fuzzbees inside suddenly grew restless.
‘What’s this?’
Without changing his expression, Yi Hyeon placed a hand over the pouch.
The three that had mutated after eating the Meridian-Linking Jade Silkworm were especially excited.
It was the same reaction they showed upon finding spirit insects they could eat.
‘There are spirit insects here?’
The royal party gathered nearby all looked like ordinary mortals.
A few independent cultivators employed by the royal household had come along, but they were standing far away near the wall.
The King of Anneung spoke.
“I would like to ask a favor of you, Immortals.”
“Go ahead.”
“These children of the royal family are of the proper age, but their spiritual roots have not yet been tested. Could you see whether they too have a connection to the immortal path?”
“Certainly.”
The royal grandsons came forward to the Spirit-Testing Orb one by one.
Each child placed a hand on it and stared nervously into the transparent sphere.
Nothing happened.
Meanwhile, Yi Hyeon watched the Fuzzbees’ reactions rather than the children.
Whenever the children moved, the royal relatives and officials also shifted positions.
Yet the Fuzzbees’ reactions remained the same.
All three were facing the same direction.
Toward the King of Anneung.
‘Hmm...’
The last child took his hand off the Spirit-Testing Orb.
Not a single ray of light had appeared inside it.
Jang Gyeong-ik spoke.
“Unfortunately, none of the children in this generation have spiritual roots.”
The King of Anneung sounded disappointed.
“It seems our royal family has no connection to the immortal path this time either.”
Behind the royal grandsons in their splendid silk clothes stood children who had lived in mountain villages and farming communities until a few days ago.
Some had arrived at the Immortal Ascension Lodge without even a decent pair of shoes.
Yet they were the ones who would become disciples of the Danso Sect.
No matter how high their birth, the royal children could not set foot on that path.
The King of Anneung gazed at the nineteen children for a while.
Meanwhile, Yi Hyeon quietly took two steps to the side.
Three royal officials now stood between him and the king.
The Fuzzbees still pressed their bodies in the king’s direction.
Then the king stepped forward to speak with Jang Gyeong-ik.
The distance between the king and Yi Hyeon narrowed.
Brrrrrr.
The spirit insect pouch trembled again.
This time, the reaction was strong enough to make the hem of Yi Hyeon’s robes quiver slightly.
He pressed his fingers firmly against the pouch.
After some hesitation, the king spoke again.
“Immortal, I know this is an unreasonable request, but...”
The king looked back at the royal grandsons.
“Could you take even one of these children to the immortal sect? Surely they could serve as a mortal attendant or menial worker.”
The resident cultivators exchanged glances.
After a moment’s thought, Jang Gyeong-ik answered.
“As a rule, the External Affairs Office handles the selection of mortal menial workers for the sect headquarters separately.”
The king’s expression darkened.
“However, it wouldn’t be particularly difficult for the Immortal-Serving Court to recommend one child as a candidate.”
“Then...”
“We can take one.”
The king’s face brightened.
“That alone is enough.”
The king bowed deeply to the resident cultivators again.
“Thank you so much for granting my unreasonable request.”
The king’s gaze slowly passed over the royal grandsons.
A young royal grandson standing at the very back stepped forward.
He was about six or seven. His silk clothes had fewer decorations than the other children’s, and he was a little thin.
The child knelt before the King of Anneung.
“Your grandson will go.”
The king studied the child’s face for a moment, then nodded.
“Very well. You shall go, then.”
“Yes.”
As the royal party prepared to leave, the royal grandsons returned to their carriages one by one.
Only the chosen boy remained in the lodge’s courtyard.
A commoner child playing there looked at him.
Until recently, that child had worn shabby straw sandals, but now wore clean clothes provided by the royal household.
There was nothing but idle curiosity in the commoner child’s eyes. Yet the royal grandson in silk clothes was the first to bow his head.
...
The King of Anneung left the Immortal Ascension Lodge.
Yi Hyeon examined the area outside with his spiritual sense.
Once the king boarded the royal carriage, the horses began to move.
Clop-clop. Clop-clop.
The farther the king’s carriage traveled from the lodge, the calmer the Fuzzbees became.
That was true even though royal relatives, officials, and martial artist guards still remained in the courtyard and outside the gate.
‘That settles it.’
Yi Hyeon took his hand off the spirit insect pouch.
To receive a Life-Sharing Gu, a martial artist had to have reached at least the Transformation realm.
He had heard that the King of Anneung had practiced martial arts in their youth, but he did not know what realm the king had reached.
So far, he had sensed neither gu-origin true qi nor any sign of a spirit insect from the king’s body.
Even under his spiritual sense, the king had appeared to be nothing more than a vigorous old man.
But there was no mistaking the Fuzzbees’ reactions.
‘The King of Anneung has a Life-Sharing Gu.’
The question was where he had obtained it.
The Anneung Kingdom had no Gu-Rearing Institute, nor was it known to possess any legacy for creating or implanting Life-Sharing Gu.
There was one obvious place to suspect.
‘The Geonyang Kingdom?’
Yi Hyeon decided not to tell Jang Gyeong-ik yet.
It would be rash to conclude that the king was a gu adept based solely on the Fuzzbees’ reactions. He also did not know what kind of Life-Sharing Gu the king harbored or for what purpose.
Explaining how he could detect gu adepts would be troublesome, and he did not want to reveal his Fuzzbees.
Nothing unusual had happened so far, either.
Even if someone planned to act while some of the Byeokra Sect’s and Danso Sect’s resident cultivators were escorting children with spiritual roots to their headquarters, leaving the Immortal-Serving Court short-handed, it would not matter.
An enemy weak enough to see the absence of a few Qi Refining cultivators as an opportunity could pose little threat to Yi Hyeon.
‘There’s no reason to rebel against the Danso Sect and Byeokra Sect in the first place. The resident cultivators are nothing compared to the strength at their headquarters. The Anneung Kingdom must know that too...’
‘Still, I should find out what’s going on.’
...
The next day.
The Danso Immortal Ferry landed in the Immortal Ascension Lodge’s spacious courtyard.
The Anneung royal household’s tribute of precious metals, local medicinal herbs, fragrant woods, minerals, and other goods was packed into large crates and loaded into the ferry’s lower hold.
The tribute was bulky for its value, and none of it could be considered precious to cultivators.
There was no need to use storage pouches when it could simply be carried in a flying magical implement’s hold.
Next, the nineteen prospective disciples and one prospective mortal menial worker boarded the ferry in turn.
Four Danso Sect resident cultivators, including Jang Gyeong-ik, would escort them.
Boom.
A drum sounded to announce their departure.
The Danso Immortal Ferry slowly rose into the air.
Yi Hyeon watched the sky for a while before returning to the Immortal-Serving Court.
* * *
Several days later.
The training hall south of the royal palace.
Yi Hyeon sat in a pavilion overlooking the training hall, watching two men spar.
Clang!
Two silver long spears collided in midair.
Yuk Gyeong-cheon and Wan Cheong-jo stepped back at the same time.
“Let’s stop here.”
“You’ve won again today, Commander Yuk.”
Yuk Gyeong-cheon returned his spear to the weapon rack and approached the pavilion.
“Immortal Yi, thank you for waiting.”
Wan Cheong-jo followed him.
“What were we lacking today?”
Yi Hyeon pointed out a few small openings the two had shown during their sparring match, and they immediately returned to the training hall.
Yuk Gyeong-cheon picked up his spear again, while Wan Cheong-jo practiced the movements Yi Hyeon had explained over and over.
Only after a meal’s time had passed did the two sit down in the pavilion, looking satisfied.
An attendant brought tea and fruit.
Yi Hyeon took a sip of tea before asking a question.
“Commander Yuk, have you served the royal household for long?”
“It’s been forty-six years.”
“Then you must have served His Majesty closely when he was young as well.”
Yuk Gyeong-cheon nodded.
“His Majesty was already on the throne when I joined the Royal Guard.”
“Is His Majesty well versed in martial arts too?”
“He is. His Majesty reached the Transformation realm in his youth. If not for his royal duties, he might have reached an even higher realm.”
‘So he reached the Transformation realm.’
The king met the minimum requirement for receiving a Life-Sharing Gu.
...
That night.
Yi Hyeon visited three locations around the palace’s outer perimeter, checking the Fuzzbees’ reactions.
The direction they faced changed whenever he moved, but all three directions intersected underground beneath the royal Inner Dispensary.
...
The following night.
Beneath the royal Inner Dispensary.
Shhhh.
The surrounding earth and rock parted like water.
A man-made passage of packed earth appeared between the layers of earth beneath the Inner Dispensary.
Yi Hyeon moved along while watching the Fuzzbees’ reactions inside his spirit insect pouch.
They reacted most strongly in front of a stone chamber at the end of the passage.
A thick iron door blocked the entrance. Breaking through it quietly would be difficult.
But Yi Hyeon had no need to pass through the door.
He slipped into the chamber’s wall as though melting into it.
The interior was smaller than he had expected.
It was roughly five jang long and three jang wide.
Black wooden boxes and medicine bottles were neatly arranged along one wall. A small desk and a chest of drawers stood opposite them.
Ten jade tubes stood side by side in the center.
Each was two chi long and as thick as an adult’s forearm.
As he approached, he could faintly make out their contents.
Inside the clear liquid, a larval spirit insect lay asleep, curled into a ball.
The other jade tubes were the same.
He could not tell the spirit insects’ tier, however.
It was difficult to judge a spirit insect’s potential accurately while it was still a larva, and Yi Hyeon did not know enough to identify varieties of Life-Sharing Gu by appearance alone.
‘Ten Life-Sharing Gu...’
Even one would be difficult to obtain in the Anneung Kingdom. Even the Geonyang Kingdom, with its several Gu-Rearing Institutes, would not hand over so many without something in return.
‘If his goal was to extend his own lifespan, he wouldn’t have needed this many...’
‘Does the King of Anneung dream of making their country as powerful as the Geonyang Kingdom? Or have they become its lackey?’
Brrrrrr.
Even though he had not opened the spirit insect pouch, the Fuzzbees inside thrashed about.
He ordered them to calm down through the Spirit-Nurturing Seal, then examined the jade tubes.
There was a small emblem on the stopper at the top of each tube. It was the Black Sun Bureau’s emblem, the same one that had been on Black Sable’s iron token.
‘They definitely came from the Geonyang Kingdom.’
Yi Hyeon inspected the wooden boxes and chest of drawers in turn. The boxes contained only medicinal ingredients for spirit insects and preserving fluid. The drawers held no records revealing the insects’ origin or intended use.
‘What should I do with these...?’
One option was to inform the Danso Sect.
As soon as Jang Gyeong-ik returned, he could tell him everything and have the royal household investigated.
The jade tubes and the Black Sun Bureau’s emblem would be sufficient evidence. In any case, no one was in a position to demand a fair investigation from a cultivation sect. If the Danso Sect declared something to be true, that was the law.
The King of Anneung would have difficulty escaping questioning by the Danso Sect and Byeokra Sect. Yi Hyeon could also receive contribution points for making the discovery.
But policing the royal household was already part of the Immortal-Serving Court’s duties. The jade tubes would become the sect’s spoils, and the contribution points awarded to him would probably be nothing special.
Above all, this was not something that brought the sect a profit.
Resolving a problem after it broke out or bringing the sect some benefit would count as a great achievement. Preventing a problem before it happened would be treated as a minor matter.
On the other hand, what if he took the ten jade tubes himself without reporting them to the sect?
He had little desire for the Life-Sharing Gu themselves, but his Fuzzbees wanted them desperately.
If he fed all ten to the Fuzzbees, several might break through to become Tier 2 spirit insects.
A few contribution points, or a chance for his Fuzzbees to reach Tier 2. There was no need to compare their value.
He could also frustrate the Geonyang Kingdom’s and Anneung Kingdom’s plans. In terms of benefiting the Danso Sect, his purpose would not differ greatly from reporting it.
‘Hmm... A chance to give the Fuzzbees such good food has come along... As their master, I can’t just pass it up. They’ve received the Spirit-Nurturing Seal too, so there shouldn’t be any major problems even if some reach Tier 2. Feeding them here would be awkward, though. I should take these first.’
Yi Hyeon checked each jade tube again for formation inscriptions that could be used to track it. He found no unusual inscriptions or devices.
Shhh.
The ten jade tubes disappeared into his storage pouch one after another.
Only the empty stands remained in the center of the stone chamber.
...
A short while later.
Yi Hyeon returned to his quarters at the Immortal-Serving Court without being noticed.
His body was extremely resilient, and there was nothing wrong with it, yet for some reason, his heart seemed to be pounding.
Though he had no need to sleep, he lay on his bed, pulled the blanket up to his chest, and stared at the ceiling with wide, bright eyes.
He had acquired wealth in an unusual way he had never tried even in his past life. Thinking about how the King of Anneung and the other members of the royal household would react upon finding the empty chamber after dawn filled him with a strange excitement.
‘What is this thrill I’m feeling...!’
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
