Cultivating Underground - Chapter 86

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Dionysus

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◈ Cultivating Underground ◈

Chapter 86

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“They have dual wind and lightning spiritual roots.”

Yuk Hong-yeon spoke as she watched Jeong U-baek descend toward the arena.

“Wind and lightning...? You mean they have dual spiritual roots, and both happen to be mutated spiritual roots?”

“Yes. It’s an incredibly rare talent. Rarer even than a single spiritual root. They’re also at Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment and have reached Major Mastery in the Cheonghyeong Sect’s sword art. They say Jeong U-baek has almost no equal in that realm.”

Yi Hyeon looked at Jeong U-baek’s back.

The three scabbards differed slightly in length and width. The one on the right was long and slender, while the one on the left was shorter and thicker. The scabbard in the middle was made of faded wood.

Myeongyun spoke.

“Does having two mutated spiritual roots make cultivation faster?”

Martial Uncle Hyejeong shook their head.

“No. In terms of cultivation speed alone, it’s no different from having ordinary dual spiritual roots. And however rare the talent, without a suitable inheritance, someone like that might actually fare worse than an ordinary cultivator with dual spiritual roots.”

“The Cheonghyeong Sect must have a suitable inheritance, then.”

“I imagine so. But as far as I know, that child isn’t famous just because of those spiritual roots.”

The old monk’s gaze briefly rested on the worn scabbard in the middle.

Just then, someone rose on Nammyeong’s side as well.

It was the young cultivator who had been sitting beside the female cultivator holding a long sword case.

They wore a black enchanted robe bearing the Heuksu Sect’s emblem. Apart from their tied-up hair, there was little that stood out about them. A single long sword hung at their waist.

As they descended toward the arena, their name drifted through the stands.

“It’s Sa Do-cheon.”

“Their opponent didn’t survive the earlier match, did they?”

“When the curtain lifted, their defensive magical implement had melted. What sort of technique could do that...?”

At the foot of the stone steps, Sa Do-cheon presented their jade token to the steward.

A little later, the two participants climbed onto the stone arena.

“Jeong U-baek, Cheonghyeong Sect.”

“Sa Do-cheon, Heuksu Sect.”

They exchanged brief greetings.

Jeong U-baek raised a hand, and a blue sword emerged from the right scabbard.

Wonjeong spoke in admiration.

“That’s the Flying Wind Sword, ranked twenty-first in the Unju Implement Appraisal. Surely all three swords on Jeong U-baek’s back can’t be supreme-grade magical implements?”

A narrow groove ran along the center of the blade. A faint current trembled inside it, as though wind were flowing into the groove.

Opposite Jeong U-baek, Sa Do-cheon also drew their sword.

Shing.

Its blade was dark gray. Even in the light, its edge did not gleam. Winding patterns marked its surface, like traces left by water that had flowed over it and dried.

Yuk Hong-yeon asked, “Senior Brother Wonjeong, is that one famous too?”

Wonjeong answered.

“I’ve heard Nammyeong has a catalogue ranking supreme-grade magical implements, the Nammyeong Catalogue of a Hundred Implements, much like our Unju Implement Appraisal. But I don’t know much about it... Judging by its appearance, though, that must be an excellent sword.”

While Jeong U-baek and Sa Do-cheon took their positions, the Golden Core cultivators outside the arena each checked a formation disk.

Vmmmm.

A curtain rose between the eight pillars.

This time, they could see clearly through it. Not only the two cultivators on the stone arena, but even the small scratches left on its floor were visible.

The Golden Core steward looked from one participant to the other.

“Begin!”

Jeong U-baek’s sword vanished.

Whizz!

The next instant, blue light flashed before Sa Do-cheon’s throat.

Clang!

The gray sword rose at an angle and knocked it aside.

A gust erupted where the two swords met. The hem of Sa Do-cheon’s robe streamed out behind them, but they did not retreat.

The deflected Flying Wind Sword changed direction in midair.

Once, twice. On its third approach, the dust on the floor parted to either side before the sword even arrived.

Sa Do-cheon twisted, and a sharp blast of sword wind brushed past their shoulder. Their gray sword swept down, driving away the blade that followed.

Clang! Claang!

Each time the swords collided, blue light scattered in a different direction.

The scattered sword light circled the edge of the stone arena, then gathered behind Sa Do-cheon again.

‘How unusual.’

Yi Hyeon’s gaze swept over the floor.

Thin currents lingered wherever Jeong U-baek’s sword passed. On its next approach, the sword rode those currents to accelerate or change direction sharply.

It bore some resemblance to the way Han Gyeong-su of Cheongso Palace had used rings to create air currents.

Jeong U-baek’s sword movements, however, were far sharper.

Even after Sa Do-cheon dodged the blade, sword wind remained in its wake. At times, it was difficult to distinguish from sword qi. Sa Do-cheon must have found it hard to judge what they needed to block and what they could ignore.

Then it happened.

As blue light gradually filled the space around Sa Do-cheon, dark blue energy spread over their gray sword.

Sssss.

Astonishingly, no metallic ring came from the next collision!

Only a dull, wet sound emerged, as though a red-hot lump of iron had been thrust into mud.

When the sword light surrounding the Flying Wind Sword’s edge touched the gray blade, it dimmed and was sucked into the dark blue energy.

Jeong U-baek moved their fingers at the sight, and the Flying Wind Sword immediately withdrew.

Yet a strand of dark energy remained in the blade’s groove. Only after the wind spun fiercely did it finally come loose.

Yuk Hong-yeon narrowed her eyes.

“Martial Uncle, what is that?”

Hyejeong spoke quietly.

“The Heuksu Sect’s Spirit-Eroding Demonic Sword Art. They say that sword path inheritance has been passed down since ancient times. It certainly isn’t to be taken lightly.”

Meanwhile, Sa Do-cheon stepped forward and swept their gray sword through the air.

Dark blue light spread in a fan, breaking the currents Jeong U-baek had left behind in several places. Deprived of its wind paths, the sword lost its fierceness as well.

Sa Do-cheon seized the opening. Moving so fast that their body seemed to stretch, they lunged in and thrust their sword toward Jeong U-baek’s chest!

Craang!

The Flying Wind Sword hurriedly blocked it.

Jeong U-baek retreated.

One step.

Then another.

The dark blue energy clinging to the gray sword stretched out. Whenever it brushed the Flying Wind Sword, its sword light melted away.

Sa Do-cheon pressed their opponent faster and faster, closing the distance between them.

They drove Jeong U-baek’s sword aside, then attacked again before it could regain its force.

Dark traces remained beneath Sa Do-cheon’s feet as they took control of the center of the arena.

‘What a peculiar inheritance...’

Yi Hyeon studied the two cultivators’ movements.

Jeong U-baek tried to restore the wind currents, but Sa Do-cheon kept severing them while laying down more traces of their own.

Judging by the movement of their sword qi, Sa Do-cheon seemed skilled at gradually encroaching on the battlefield until they controlled it.

Just then, Jeong U-baek’s left scabbard opened.

Crackle!

White lightning leaped from its mouth.

A sword about three fingers wide shot upward and met the descending gray blade head-on.

Booom!

Dark blue energy scattered in all directions, and Sa Do-cheon’s feet slid backward.

They lowered their sword tip as though touching it to the floor, and the scattered energy gathered again. But Jeong U-baek’s two swords moved first.

The Flying Wind Sword circled low, while the sword wreathed in lightning rose overhead.

A whirlwind surged between them, and a brilliant white thunderbolt erupted inside it!

Krrrumble!

The cultivators in the stands leaned forward as one.

Sword light curved with the whirlwind and surrounded Sa Do-cheon. Lightning struck through its gaps in rapid succession.

The air inside the curtain scorched in an instant, spreading an acrid smell. Even the stone floor trembled as though an earthquake had struck.

The dark blue energy Sa Do-cheon had left beneath their feet began to boil away.

Their sword moved swiftly in response.

Sword light spread from the gray blade, forming overlapping layers before them. The relentless lightning tried to tear that curtain of sword light apart!

“Suppressing demonic qi with lightning!”

At Jang Tae-san’s exclamation, Wonjeong gave a brief shake of his head.

“No, it hasn’t broken through. Unless it’s legendary lightning with an overwhelming advantage against demonic qi, like Supreme Wood Divine Lightning, merely wielding lightning won’t be enough to defeat one of Nammyeong’s heavenly prodigies so easily.”

Yi Hyeon thought the same.

Long ago, when he had clashed with Seok Jin-hyeong of the Cheongun Sect’s External Affairs Hall, Seok Jin-hyeong had unleashed lightning from a magical implement called the Wind-Thunder Umbrella. Yet Yi Hyeon had easily cut through it with the Dark Palace-Gate Sword.

‘That cultivator must have faced lightning arts before.’

They were a heavenly prodigy selected by the Heuksu Sect. They would never have made it this far with an inheritance that crumbled whenever it encountered lightning.

In the end, a cultivator’s ability mattered more than any natural advantage.

The fiercer Jeong U-baek’s lightning grew, the more tenaciously the dark blue demonic qi rising from Sa Do-cheon’s gray blade clung to it and swallowed it.

Crang! Craaang!

Inside the curtain, Sa Do-cheon’s bloodshot eyes flashed.

They raised their gray sword, and the curtain of sword light curled inward. The winding patterns on the blade lit up one after another, while dark blue energy clung to its edge in a thin layer.

The instant Jeong U-baek’s lightning sword plunged down, Sa Do-cheon sprang forward with equal force, like a compressed spring suddenly released.

Bang!

White and dark blue light erupted together at the point of impact.

Some of the lightning burned Sa Do-cheon’s sleeve, sending up smoke, but they did not withdraw their sword.

Meanwhile, black stains spread over the lightning sword’s surface.

Jeong U-baek hurriedly recalled it. Lightning lashed fiercely around the blade, stripping away the stains.

At that moment, Sa Do-cheon kicked off the ground.

Thud!

Their dark blue afterimage stretched out as they shot forward.

Whiiizz!

Rather than swinging at the Flying Wind Sword as it darted toward their side, Sa Do-cheon tilted the flat of their blade and deflected it with a glancing touch.

Boooom!

The diverted sword tip tore through their clothing at the waist and scattered fresh blood. Yet Sa Do-cheon’s advance did not slow by even half a handspan. Instead, they used the recoil from deflecting the sword to propel themselves forward, closing in right before Jeong U-baek’s face!

Shhk!

The gray blade swept upward, staining Jeong U-baek’s left sleeve with blood.

Jeong U-baek retreated and crossed the two swords.

Lightning erupted, and a gust drove Sa Do-cheon back.

Only then did the distance between them widen.

...

Blood ran down Jeong U-baek’s left arm.

They bent their fingers once, then straightened them.

The swords of wind and lightning still circled Jeong U-baek, but their spiritual radiance had dimmed. Wielding wind and lightning together clearly consumed no small amount of spiritual power.

Sa Do-cheon’s breathing had also grown a little rough.

Beneath their burned sleeve, lightning had scorched their exposed arm. Blood continued to seep from the wound at their waist.

Yet the energy surrounding their gray sword had not diminished. It was still impossible to tell who held the advantage.

As they raised their sword toward Jeong U-baek, Jeong U-baek reached behind their back.

At last, they grasped the final sword that everyone in the stands had been wondering about!

A soft sound came from the faded wooden scabbard.

Shh.

Puzzlement stirred throughout the stands.

‘A wooden sword...?’

Aged wood grain ran along its blade. Its grip had been worn smooth, perhaps from years of use in training.

Unlike the first two swords, it did not shine. They could not even sense any spiritual power from it.

Myeongyun furrowed his brow.

“Is that a magical implement too?”

Even Martial Uncle Hyejeong gave no answer.

Sa Do-cheon narrowed their eyes, apparently puzzled by the wooden sword as well.

Still, they had no way of knowing what trick Jeong U-baek might have prepared with it, so there was no reason to give their opponent time.

Dark blue energy swept over the floor as Sa Do-cheon shot forward again.

The two swords Jeong U-baek had drawn first moved in unison.

The Flying Wind Sword swept across Sa Do-cheon’s right, and the lightning sword crossed their left.

The wind and lightning they created interlocked around Sa Do-cheon, forming a ring of light above the stone arena.

Sa Do-cheon twisted their sword, and terrifying sword light burst forth with a sudden flash!

The circle of wind and lightning shattered in an instant and scattered in all directions. Sa Do-cheon pressed on with that momentum, breaking through the opening.

Before them, Jeong U-baek stood holding the wooden sword in both hands.

Its tip pointed slightly downward. Blood from Jeong U-baek’s injured left arm soaked the grip.

Watching the scene, Yi Hyeon suddenly sensed something strange.

‘That spiritual sense...’

The spiritual sense controlling the first two swords grew thinner. The spiritual sense withdrawn from them began to gather in front of the wooden sword.

Jeong U-baek raised their head.

The other two swords returned to their sides and turned their tips in unison.

Blue and white light stretched out from their points.

Sa Do-cheon’s gray sword rose, and dark blue energy extended to several times the blade’s length.

A single slash from there looked as though it could cut straight through Jeong U-baek’s entire upper body.

Then Jeong U-baek raised the wooden sword.

Yi Hyeon’s eyes widened.

Between the wind and lightning, he could see the thin, transparent outline of a sword.

It was not an unusually large amount of spiritual power that surprised him.

Spiritual sense, condensed as fine and solid as when forming a Spirit-Startling Needle, held the shape of a sword. Yet another energy flowed within it, something that spiritual power and spiritual sense alone could not explain.

Something he felt he had sensed before...

‘Vow power?’

Yi Hyeon unconsciously held his breath.

The wooden sword’s tip pointed at Sa Do-cheon.

Clang!

A hole opened in the middle of the long blade of dark blue sword qi.

The cultivators in the stands felt a pressure as though the entire arena had frozen.

Startled, Sa Do-cheon pulled their sword back and held it before their body. At that instant, an ear-piercing crack rang out.

Astonishingly, Jeong U-baek’s wooden sword was merely pointing into the air, motionless!

All three swords remained in place, yet Sa Do-cheon’s gray blade bent sharply in midair.

Their Protective Spiritlight swelled, and dark light burst from between their brows to shield their primordial spirit. Even so, their right shoulder jerked backward.

Spurt!

A long stream of blood sprayed out.

Sa Do-cheon staggered back.

They nearly lost their gray sword, but barely managed to hold on to its grip.

At the same time, Jeong U-baek fell to their knees.

Crack.

A faint sound came from the wooden sword in Jeong U-baek’s hands.

A crack was spreading from its tip toward the grip.

The stands fell silent.

Sa Do-cheon forced their upper body upright, but the hand holding their gray sword was trembling uncontrollably.

The only visible wound left by that strike was on their shoulder, yet their sea of consciousness and meridians also seemed to have suffered a shock.

Meanwhile, the Flying Wind Sword beside Jeong U-baek rose again, though it wavered. The lightning sword also lifted, beginning to give off a faint electric glow.

Sa Do-cheon looked at Jeong U-baek and the two swords before them, then raised their left hand, which held their jade token.

Crunch.

They crushed the token!

As the curtain dissolved, two Golden Core cultivators who had been watching from outside immediately climbed onto the stone arena.

“Victory to Jeong U-baek of the Cheonghyeong Sect!”

A brief silence followed.

Then cheers erupted from the stands!

“We won!”

“Victory to Unju!”

The final score appeared on the wooden board in the center.

Unju, 33 points.

Nammyeong, 32 points.

Yuk Hong-yeon sprang to her feet.

Jang Tae-san struck his own knee with his fist.

“That broke through it!”

Wonjeong could not take his eyes off the stone arena.

The prayer beads between his fingers had stopped moving without him noticing.

Hyejeong spoke quietly.

“So it really was the Mind Sword. Its reputation is well deserved.”

Yi Hyeon turned toward the old monk.

“The Mind Sword?”

“A legendary level of sword attainment spoken of in the mortal world. That child is famous for learning the strongest martial arts inheritance passed down among Unju’s mortals. I hear one of the family’s ancestors surpassed what mortals call the Profound realm.”

Hyejeong looked at Jeong U-baek.

“They say that child studied mortal martial arts alongside cultivation from childhood. But I never imagined they would be combined with the Cheonghyeong Sect’s sword art like that.”

On the stone arena, a Golden Core cultivator from the Cheonghyeong Sect was taking the wooden sword from Jeong U-baek’s hands. The elder did not seem to consider the sword itself particularly important.

It was badly damaged. No matter how Yi Hyeon looked at it, it seemed to be made of ordinary wood, not a magical implement.

Jeong U-baek swallowed an alchemical pill the elder gave them, then put away the other two swords.

On the opposite side, fellow disciples were supporting Sa Do-cheon.

The cloth pressed to their wounded shoulder was quickly soaking through.

...

The surrounding cultivators began discussing the final strike.

Some said its power came from combining wind and lightning. Others insisted that the wooden sword itself must be a special treasure. Someone excitedly declared that the Cheonghyeong Sect had revealed a hidden sword art.

The scene replayed over and over in Yi Hyeon’s mind.

The spiritual sense and spiritual power condensed in the wooden sword, and the unfamiliar yet familiar energy flowing among them.

‘It was like creating Buddha-Light True Qi.’

He recalled when he had first learned the Buddha-Light Heart Formula.

Only after adding the vow power gained by cultivating vows had the qualities of Jewel Light Temple’s true qi appeared.

The Spirit-Startling Needle was the same.

Merely gathering spiritual sense into a fine point was not enough. He had to imbue it with vow power to produce the strength described in the teachings.

‘Can the same thing... be done with a sword?’

Once he assumed that Jeong U-baek’s final strike had contained spiritual power, spiritual sense, and vow power together, things he had previously understood separately began to connect.

‘What sword cultivators call sword intent...’

Wang Seo-rin’s voice surfaced in his memory.

She had said that the certainty of having upheld a vow was refined through their teachings and transformed into vow power.

Then could people who spent many years refining their devotion to the sword gain a similar power?

Even if their methods differed from Buddhist vows, the foundation would still lie in the primordial spirit.

‘Is that why some sword cultivators are so obsessed with their swords?’

Never abandoning an intent once embraced, repeating the same sword movements for decades, and holding to that resolve through countless battles.

If that process brought about a change similar to cultivating vow power...

Yi Hyeon grew a little excited.

‘Then is a sword cultivator’s unyielding heart ultimately something like a vow? If so, could that be why they can achieve One Sword Breaks All Arts...?’

In the cultivation world, cultivators who practiced sword path inheritances commonly believed their swords could overcome all arts. In fact, they achieved this to a certain extent.

Yi Hyeon had found it difficult to understand. Everything had strengths and weaknesses, so how could sword path inheritances alone be so powerful?

It was unreasonable. But if vow power was involved, that changed things.

After all, that was precisely the kind of power vow power was!

It was, so to speak, an illogical force. One might call it the power of wishes or conviction.

The qi of incense offerings was a prime example. The prayers of countless mortals gathered to become Jewel Light Temple’s strength through the same principle.

If the sword intent that enabled One Sword Breaks All Arts was possible because of self-imposed vows, as he had just guessed...

‘That’s it! One Sword Breaks All Arts might be a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. The belief that a sword can overcome all arts strengthens their vow power. They then refine that vow power into sword intent and use it to overcome all arts! It’s a cycle that can keep reinforcing itself until they lose! Maybe that’s why the more powerful sword cultivators are so often portrayed as stubborn fanatics or madmen.’

Rather than the usual cultivation method of seeking ever greater strength, this was more like transforming the nature of one’s power within the same major realm, shifting it strongly in one direction.

‘Does a sword cultivator’s Dao regress when their resolve breaks because their vow has collapsed?’

Bits of knowledge Yi Hyeon had picked up in many different fields were coming together: the Scripture of Refining Intent into Vows, the Spirit-Startling Needle, mortal martial arts, his research into spiritual power, and his various crafts. He was approaching an insight.

‘Even the Mind Sword probably can’t exceed the limits of the power its user has cultivated. Its release speed is only similar to the Spirit-Startling Needle, not anything like the speed of light. Anyone who challenged a Golden Core cultivator relying on that one strike would be in for a nasty surprise.’

Yi Hyeon’s thoughts kept expanding in an explosive rush.

‘Should I classify vow power as a fourth category? But considering how much earlier cultivators valued the three elements of essence, qi, and spirit, vow power probably does belong under spirit. Could I imbue Supreme Unity Heavenly Dipper Sword Qi with vow power too? Still, I don’t want to bear the restriction of growing weaker if my resolve breaks... I want to create a flexible sword intent. Could I use the Mind Sword without making a vow? Surely some sword cultivators must be pursuing that path...’

As all those ideas flashed through his mind, something seemed almost within reach. Yet Yi Hyeon could not tell whether he had understood something or missed it.

For a moment, countless vague passages he had read seemed to carry different meanings.

Where the mind reaches, the sword follows.

Without faith in the sword, its tip will waver.

He had thought those were merely sayings that stressed a cultivator’s attitude.

Of course, not all of them would refer to actual techniques.

But some of them...

“Junior Brother Yi?”

Yi Hyeon turned at Wonjeong’s voice.

“Yes?”

“What have you been drawing with your finger all this time?”

Yi Hyeon looked down at his hand.

He had been tracing sword movements over his knee.

“I found that final sword strike fascinating.”

“So did I.”

Wonjeong looked back toward the stone arena.

“To think spiritual sense can be condensed into a sword like that. I thought I’d spent quite a long time studying spirit-refining arts, but seeing another sect’s methods shows me how much I still have to learn.”

Yi Hyeon hesitated briefly before asking, “Senior Brother, did you sense anything like vow power within it?”

Wonjeong looked back at him.

“You noticed it too?”

“I’m not certain.”

“Neither can I say for sure. But it did remind me of a few of our temple’s teachings.”

He slowly rolled his prayer beads.

“Even vow power has different uses depending on what you cultivate and how you cultivate it. Whether that sword contained something of the same kind or an entirely different power, we’d have to ask for instruction directly to find out.”

Yi Hyeon nodded.

...

On the high platform north of the training hall.

The Haemyeong Sect’s Nascent Soul cultivator wore a satisfied expression.

Patterns of magical power rose above the jade slip before them.

While the Nascent Soul cultivators from both sides examined them, the injured were moved below and the arena was put in order.

Nammyeong’s silver-haired old woman gazed for a while in the direction Jeong U-baek had gone.

“‘The clouded mountains have not grown old; the young are to be feared’... Unju’s mountains and rivers are still young, and its younger generation is indeed formidable.”

The white-haired old cultivator from the Taeak Sect replied.

“Luck favored us, that’s all. Had just one match ended differently, we’d have been saying the same to you.”

“Claiming that one match is itself a matter of skill. Today, Unju was a step ahead.”

The old woman set down her teacup and looked at the Haemyeong Sect cultivator.

“We will honor the agreement. Our alliance’s disciples on Cheongam Island will withdraw within the appointed time.”

“I trust your word, fellow cultivator.”

“Hoho. I made the promise before so many people. I have my dignity to consider too.”

As she rose, Nammyeong’s other Nascent Soul cultivators stood one after another.

There was no particular hostility in the way they exchanged courtesies.

Watching from a distance, Yuk Hong-yeon murmured, “That was surprisingly straightforward.”

Hyejeong said, “They came here to avoid a battle between Nascent Soul cultivators in the first place. They didn’t get what they wanted, but this isn’t the worst outcome for them.”

The old monk looked toward the treatment hall.

“Let’s collect Wonseok and head back too.”

...

Though Wonseok was pale when he emerged after treatment, fortunately, he could walk on his own.

Jang Tae-san moved to his side.

“Senior Brother, would you like some support?”

“I’m all right.”

Yu Gyeong-do also joined the group.

Keeping his right arm tucked inside his sleeve, he was tidying his storage pouch with his left hand.

Yuk Hong-yeon asked, “Did you see the final match too, Senior Brother?”

“I did.”

Yu Gyeong-do gave a bitter smile.