WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Cultivating Underground ◈
Chapter 50
──────
At dawn the next day.
The Inner Dispensary in the Anneung Kingdom’s royal palace.
Clack.
A thick key turned, and the iron door to the underground stone chamber opened.
An elder carrying a torch stepped inside.
The air, heavy with damp and the scent of medicinal herbs, briefly stirred the flame.
They looked toward the center of the chamber and stopped.
The stand where ten jade tubes should have rested was empty.
“...”
* * *
The King of Anneung’s chambers.
“...When did you discover this?”
“At dawn today.”
The elder answered in a low voice.
Their name was Eom Muk.
Their name appeared on none of the Anneung royal family’s registers, but they led the Shadow Guard (影衛), which had handled the royal family’s covert affairs since the previous king’s reign.
Eom Muk was also a martial arts grandmaster who had reached the Profound realm.
“The hair left across the door gap and the wax seal on the lock were both untouched. There were no signs of any tools being inserted. Nor were there any broken or gouged sections of wall. I couldn’t determine how they took them.”
Thin veins rose on the back of the king’s hand.
At that moment, something slowly wriggled in his lower abdomen.
The king closed his eyes and steadied his breathing.
After a while, the veins on his hand subsided.
‘Who could have done this?’
His face hardened.
If someone had taken only the ten jade tubes without leaving a trace, using a method even Eom Muk couldn’t guess at, the thief couldn’t have been an ordinary martial artist.
‘Could it have been the cultivators from the Immortal-Serving Court?’
‘But if they’d discovered it, I wouldn’t still be sitting on the throne. They would have stormed in already.’
‘Are they waiting for me to confess? No. They wouldn’t be that merciful...’
The king couldn’t be certain of anything.
“For now, show no sign that anything has happened. There’s no need to let anyone know we’ve lost something.”
He looked at Eom Muk.
“Investigate quietly, without arresting or torturing anyone. Contact the Black Sun Bureau yourself.”
...
A few days later.
An abandoned shrine south of the royal capital.
Eom Muk stood behind a fallen statue of a deity, watching the darkness.
After a while, a shadow on the shrine floor stretched out.
Shhhh.
A man in a black robe stepped out of the shadow.
There wasn’t a single memorable feature on his face. He was so ordinary that even a brief glance away would leave his appearance hazy in one’s memory.
But Eom Muk knew he was a fearsome expert.
The man was a second-tier gu adept who handled the Black Sun Bureau’s dealings with the Anneung royal family.
“Why did you contact me so suddenly?”
“The goods have disappeared.”
“What goods?”
“The ten jade tubes.”
“...”
Eom Muk continued.
“A few days ago, they all disappeared from the underground secret chamber where we were keeping them.”
The man didn’t answer for some time.
“I certainly handed them over. I even watched you return to the royal palace with the jade tubes.”
“Did your people take them back?”
The man gave a faint, mocking smile.
“Why would we? You think we went to the trouble of sending a gu adept into the Anneung royal palace just to recover something we’d handed over?”
“Your people are the only ones who know we have the jade tubes.”
“What nonsense...”
Something wriggled inside the man’s robe.
Eom Muk’s hand also moved to the sword hilt at their waist.
As their auras clashed, the old altar between them trembled slightly.
“You aren’t claiming you lost them just to get another batch, are you? Life-Sharing Gu aren’t insects you can pick up by the roadside. You can’t take them and then simply say they’re gone. If word of this gets out, your side will be in trouble too.”
“They really are gone. If your people didn’t take them, help us catch the thief.”
“...”
* * *
Twenty days later.
A flying boat appeared between the clouds.
Hummm.
When it landed on the stone platform behind the Immortal-Serving Court, four Danso Sect disciples, including Jang Gyeong-ik, stepped down from the deck.
“Senior Brother Jang.”
“Junior Brother Yi. Has everything been quiet?”
“Yes. Did you leave the Danso Immortal Ferry at the sect headquarters?”
“That’s right. We won’t need it for another six years, until the next Immortal Ascension Selection, so it’ll be used in other regions for a while. We also delivered all the children safely to the sect headquarters.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“You’ve worked hard in our absence too. Bring me any ledgers you need to hand over.”
...
A few days later.
Yi Hyeon obtained permission for five days of leave and left the Immortal-Serving Court. Two days later, he reached Underground Hideout No. 3.
Squeak! Squeak, squeak, squeak!
As he entered the cavern, golden Fuzzbees flew toward him from every direction.
Bzzzzzz.
In an instant, over a thousand of them covered his head, shoulders, and both arms.
“Back away.”
At his command through the Spirit-Nurturing Seal, the Fuzzbees all took flight.
They didn’t go far, circling around him instead.
The Fuzzbees in his spirit insect pouch also came out.
The three that had mutated after eating a Meridian-Linking Jade Silkworm flew to the front of the swarm.
Leading the Fuzzbees, Yi Hyeon headed toward the widest of the passages they used.
He set the ten jade tubes on the floor, one by one.
Bzzzzzz.
The sound of the Fuzzbees’ wings changed.
Hundreds clung to the transparent jade, waving their short forelegs at the Life-Sharing Gu sleeping inside.
“I’ll give them to you one at a time, so wait.”
Squeak, squeak!
Yi Hyeon picked up a jade tube and carefully released its seal.
Psssh.
Cold air flowed out with a faint medicinal scent.
The Life-Sharing Gu submerged in the clear preservation fluid twitched slightly.
Yi Hyeon poured both the fluid and the larva into a wide stone bowl he had made using the Soil Softening Art.
Splat.
The larva slowly stretched out its body.
Shhhh.
The Life-Sharing Gu tried to draw in the spiritual qi of heaven and earth.
Bzz!
Three streaks of golden light shot toward the stone bowl before the others.
Pssht! Pssht! Pssht!
Clear mucus sprayed by the mutated Fuzzbees covered the Life-Sharing Gu’s head and body.
Startled, the larva twisted.
Splash! Splat!
But the mucus firmly glued its body to the stone bowl.
Dozens of Fuzzbees rushed onto it at once.
Crunch. Crunch, crunch.
Squeak, squeak, squeak!
The Fuzzbees devoured the Life-Sharing Gu.
The swarm feeding on it grew from dozens to over a hundred in an instant.
“Don’t fight. Share it.”
Before long, not a trace of the first Life-Sharing Gu remained.
Fuzzbees with round, swollen bellies flopped onto their backs on the dirt floor.
Squeak...
“You should’ve stopped before you ate so much.”
Yi Hyeon examined their energy, but found nothing particularly wrong for the moment.
He released the seal on the second jade tube.
...
All ten Life-Sharing Gu were gone.
Having finished their feast, the Fuzzbees lay scattered across the cavern floor with their bellies exposed.
The three that had mutated after eating a Meridian-Linking Jade Silkworm were unusually hot, and regular pulses of spiritual power rose within them.
Squeak...
One flew unsteadily toward the cavern wall.
After inspecting several cracks in the rock, it began digging with its forelegs where the soil was exposed.
Scritch. Scritch.
Once it had made a hole barely large enough for its body, the Fuzzbee crawled inside.
The other two scattered in different directions.
The remaining Fuzzbees showed no sign of a breakthrough yet.
Soon, a thick, clear liquid flowed out through the entrances of the three holes. The Fuzzbees inside mixed it with soil to seal their burrows.
“Oh... Are they really about to break through this time?”
Yi Hyeon examined the little burrows.
‘I wonder how long their breakthrough will take. I have to head back for now...’
After one last check of the spirit fields and water tanks, he left Underground Hideout No. 3 and headed for the Immortal-Serving Court.
* * *
A month later.
Beneath Hundred Wares Hall in Gray Rock Market.
Black Crow, Gray Mountain Goat, Mole, Blue Snake, and White Owl had gathered in the stone chamber.
Shhh.
The floor rippled like water.
A cultivator wearing a badger mask slowly emerged.
“Greetings, Society Leader.”
“Sit.”
The members took their seats one after another.
As the brief reports were drawing to a close, Blue Snake took a sheet of paper from inside their robe.
“Society Leader. Someone from the Black Sun Bureau approached a member responsible for the Geonyang Kingdom.”
“The Black Sun Bureau?”
The atmosphere in the stone chamber grew heavy.
Over twenty years ago, Black Sable, a Black Sun Bureau spy, had ambushed Society Leader Badger in this very chamber, only to be split in two in an instant. The sight was still vivid in the members’ memories.
Blue Snake continued.
“The person who made contact appeared to be a second-tier gu adept. He said he worked at the same branch as Black Sable.”
White Owl spoke.
“Has he come seeking revenge?”
“No. On the contrary, he said he wanted to do business with our society.”
“The Black Sun Bureau wants to work with us?”
Mole frowned.
Blue Snake nodded.
“It seems Black Sable sent several reports about our society before he disappeared. But when they failed to find any clues even after his disappearance, the Black Sun Bureau appears to have decided we weren’t an opponent they could carelessly provoke. They said they have no wish to make an enemy of the Two Heavens Society.”
Yi Hyeon spoke.
“What do they want?”
“They asked us to find a thief.”
“A thief?”
Blue Snake unfolded the paper. The royal Inner Dispensary was marked in the center of a rough map of the Anneung royal capital, with a date written to one side.
“About two months ago, some goods disappeared from a secret chamber beneath this place. They want us to find whoever stole them.”
White Owl’s gaze changed slightly.
‘There’s a secret underground chamber in the Anneung royal family’s Inner Dispensary? And why is the Black Sun Bureau investigating a theft from the Anneung royal family?’
“What was stolen?”
“They wouldn’t tell us what was inside. They only said there were ten jade tubes, each two chi long and as thick as an adult’s forearm.”
Yi Hyeon was silent for a moment.
“The man who contacted us seemed to be under pressure from his superior. He appeared to think highly of our society’s secretive methods. He offered two mid-grade spirit stones in advance if we accept the job, and another eight if we find a useful lead.”
Black Crow asked cautiously, “Society Leader, what will you do?”
“We’ll accept.”
There was no hesitation in Yi Hyeon’s answer.
The members looked at one another.
Blue Snake asked, “Searching beneath the Anneung royal palace would involve considerable risk. Which member will you assign to it?”
“You needn’t concern yourselves. I have plenty of other members I can put to work.”
Blue Snake held their breath. Black Crow and Mole also straightened without thinking.
‘They have plenty of other members they can put to work?’
They had thought they were the society’s members with the highest cultivation, the ones who formed its core. But if the society leader’s words were true, did that mean there were several other capable members whose very existence remained hidden?
White Owl thought of the independent cultivators who came and went from the Immortal-Serving Court and royal palace in the Anneung Kingdom.
‘Could our society have members within the royal household too?’
...
A few days later.
Yi Hyeon obtained another five days of leave and visited Underground Hideout No. 3.
Squeak, squeak!
As he entered the cavern, the Fuzzbees swarmed toward him as though pleased to see him.
“Yes. I’m glad to see you too.”
When he ordered them to scatter through the Spirit-Nurturing Seal, the golden swarm immediately cleared a path. Yi Hyeon headed for the passage where he had fed them the Life-Sharing Gu.
There were three small holes in the wall, but all the burrows were empty.
Only thin, transparent shed skins and hardened mucus remained on the floor.
“They’re already out.”
Squeak!
An unusually loud cry came from above his head.
Yi Hyeon looked up.
Three golden Fuzzbees clung to the ceiling in a row.
They were the ones that had mutated after eating a Meridian-Linking Jade Silkworm.
The moment they met his eyes, all three spread their wings.
Bzz!
Their golden trails almost overlapped as they shot downward.
One landed on Yi Hyeon’s head, while the other two settled on his shoulders.
Squeak. Squeak, squeak.
Yi Hyeon lifted one of the Fuzzbees from his shoulder onto his palm.
It was the same size as before, and its round, fluffy body still had similar alternating bands of gold and black. But the spiritual power pulsing within it was incomparably stronger and more stable.
‘There isn’t much of it, but the quality of its spiritual power is definitely at the Foundation Establishment level!’
All three seemed to have crossed the boundary and become second-tier spirit insects.
“Excellent.”
...
After finishing his inspection of the facilities, Yi Hyeon opened a ledger on the cultivation chamber floor.
The ledger also contained records of outside independent cultivators who had clashed with members of the Two Heavens Society.
「Wi Cheong, a guest retainer who entered the royal capital with the Pyeonghae Trading Company from the Chang Kingdom. Repeatedly clashed with society members while searching underground near the royal capital for vein seats. Hostile toward the Two Heavens Society.」
‘The Pyeonghae Trading Company...’
It was a trading company that traveled between the northern Chang Kingdom and the Geonyang Kingdom, dealing in marine spirit materials and medicinal ingredients.
‘I’ll just make something up that sounds plausible.’
Yi Hyeon took out a fresh sheet of paper and slowly moved his brush.
「Around 300 years ago, when the power from beyond the Nammyeong Sea began its invasion of the Ram Kingdom, it started sending infiltrators posing as merchants and guest retainers to provoke conflict among local factions.
Having completed its conquest of the Ram Kingdom roughly 115 years ago, this power has recently sent cultivators to infiltrate the Chang Kingdom, Geonyang Kingdom, and Gon Kingdom to sow discord among the three nations.
Investigate Wi Cheong, a guest retainer of the Pyeonghae Trading Company.」
Yi Hyeon folded and sealed the paper. All he had to do was send the report to Blue Snake.
* * *
Two months later.
An unnamed rocky mountain in the southwestern Anneung Kingdom.
Yi Hyeon and Blue Snake stood side by side in a natural underground cavern.
The only route into the cavern was a narrow shaft through an abandoned mine. It twisted several times, and stone doors Yi Hyeon had recently made blocked the way at various points.
Blue Snake asked, “Are you really going to meet him?”
“Yes.”
Yi Hyeon looked at the cavern’s stone walls.
He had chosen the location himself. With solid rock on every side and the approach restricted, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator or second-tier gu adept couldn’t threaten him here.
“He’s coming.”
A moment later, footsteps sounded from the passage.
Grrrk.
The stone door blocking the cavern entrance opened, and a man in a black robe walked inside.
The first thing he looked at upon entering was Yi Hyeon in his badger mask.
“Greetings to the leader of the Two Heavens Society.”
“So, we meet, gu adept of the Black Sun Bureau.”
The man in the black robe took three things out of his storage pouch: a bag containing eight mid-grade spirit stones, a map of the royal capital that had been folded several times, and a palm-sized seashell.
Tap.
He set the three items on the stone table.
“Your society’s information was correct.”
‘Huh? It was?’
The man unfolded the map.
It showed the wells and underground water veins of the Anneung royal capital.
Small marks in red ink had been added west of the royal palace and near the Inner Dispensary.
“We found seven previously used names and three identity tokens in their storage pouch. This seashell is the magical implement they used to contact the overseas power.”
“Did you recover the goods?”
“We haven’t found them yet. Wi Cheong still denies everything. We couldn’t confirm their involvement in this theft, but the fact that they were a spy who had infiltrated the Anneung Kingdom is enough.”
Blue Snake looked at Society Leader Badger in astonishment.
‘Did the society leader know Wi Cheong’s true identity from the very beginning...?’
Without realizing it, Blue Snake’s shoulders drew back.
The man’s gaze passed over the badger mask, then the purple robe.
“I’ve heard rumors that the Hyeon Kingdom (玄國), a fourth-rank cultivation kingdom northwest of the Gon Kingdom, has recently been watching developments in the south. Your society is probably an intelligence organization secretly controlled by one of the Hyeon Kingdom’s great sects. After enough years in this line of work, one can work out that much.”
‘?’
“We’re in the same business, so there’s no reason to draw our blades against each other needlessly. The Black Sun Bureau would like to continue doing business with the Two Heavens Society on friendly terms.”
The man put the map and seashell back into his storage pouch.
“I’ll take my leave for today.”
Grrrk.
He disappeared beyond the winding passage.
Left in the cavern, Blue Snake asked cautiously, “Society Leader.”
“Go ahead.”
“Is our society really part of the Hyeon Kingdom’s...?”
“You only need to know what’s necessary.”
Blue Snake hastily bowed their head.
“My question was presumptuous.”
Their voice held a deeper awe than before.
A short while later, Blue Snake left the cavern. Yi Hyeon then took the bag containing eight mid-grade spirit stones and departed as well.
* * *
Twenty-four years later.
Having extended his term and remained in the Anneung Kingdom, Yi Hyeon was now in his thirtieth year as a resident cultivator.
During that time, at least on the surface, there had been no significant incidents between the Geonyang Kingdom and the Anneung Kingdom.
That day, Yi Hyeon lay in his quarters at the Immortal-Serving Court, reading a letter from the sect headquarters.
「Outer sect skilled disciple Yi Dong-sam is to collect a Foundation Establishment Pill from the sect headquarters.」
‘At last...!’
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