WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Cultivating Underground ◈
Chapter 91
──────
Crackle.
Purple lightning flickered beneath the cloud.
Yi Hyeon opened the lid of the pill furnace.
A single alchemical pill slowly rose from within. Spiritual qi circled its round surface, and thin fire threads wrapped around it.
‘A pill tribulation really is coming...’
The corners of his mouth lifted a little.
Hundreds of years ago, while watching Jin So-yeong’s demonstration, he had wished that he could make an alchemical pill like that someday.
Back then, it had only been a vague hope. Now that it was happening before his eyes, he felt happy but also a little flustered.
Yi Hyeon put away his smile and focused on his fingertips.
Just then...
Boom.
‘Hm?’
In the distance, spiritual pressure comparable to early Golden Core erupted.
He turned his head. A black dot was rapidly growing larger in the sky across the valley.
Yi Hyeon used the Farsight Spell, gathering spiritual power in his eyes.
Spiritual light flowed between the feathers of its spread wings, and silver flashed in its eyes.
‘A Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle?’
It was a Tier 3 demonic beast with keen eyesight!
‘Why did it have to appear now...? I checked the surroundings thoroughly before I started refining...’
The dark cloud summoned by Yi Hyeon’s pill tribulation was only a little over one jang across. Its presence was nowhere near enough to darken the whole sky or shake the mountains and rivers.
There had only been a few flashes of lightning beneath a cloud floating several dozen jang above the ground.
But from beyond the reach of his spiritual sense, the beast seemed to have spotted the tribulation’s light with its excellent eyesight.
Six blue-green shield plates immediately flew from Yi Hyeon’s storage pouch and took positions around the pill furnace.
The Six-Leaf Shield’s plates hovered low, their edges meeting at angles to enclose the sides and bottom.
Only the top remained open to let the tribulation lightning descend.
Two plates of the Triple Union Shield rose outside them, followed by the yellowish Mountain-Suppressing Seal and the Moon-Sinking Sword.
Yi Hyeon checked the direction of the approaching Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle.
He could not move the pill furnace while the tribulation lightning was descending.
Unlike before, he was no longer afraid of a mere Tier 3 demonic beast. But he did not want to lose his chance to refine a Dao Pill.
‘I just need to hold out for a moment!’
The two Triple Union Shield plates moved forward first.
Just then, the dark cloud overhead shrank, and the spiritual qi circling the alchemical pill suddenly rushed inward.
‘Here it comes!’
A thin bolt of purple lightning reached down from the cloud.
Yi Hyeon sent three fire threads upward.
The first scattered the instant it touched the lightning. The next snapped in the middle.
His fingertips stung.
But the last thread brushed the tip of the lightning and curved to one side of the alchemical pill.
In that brief moment, Yi Hyeon moved the medicinal strength inside it.
He recalled the sight of flames splitting at Jin So-yeong’s fingertips hundreds of years ago.
Why had she left a gap in an alchemical pill that was almost complete?
‘So that was it. If the tribulation lightning strikes a sealed alchemical pill, the alchemical pill will struggle to withstand it, no matter how evenly the medicinal strength has gathered. She left that gap on purpose.’
Yi Hyeon lowered the heat.
One of the interlocking flows within the alchemical pill loosened, and the third fire thread curved along that opening.
The tip of the lightning touched the alchemical pill.
Szzzzzt!
Purple light spread across its surface, and the medicinal strength surged violently.
At the same time, a piercing cry came from outside the valley.
Skreeee!
Dozens of deep blue wind blades tore through the air.
The first Triple Union Shield plate blazed with spiritual light and met them head-on, but it was not enough to hold back a Tier 3 demonic beast’s attack.
Booom!
The wind blades that veered aside gouged the valley walls. Fragments struck the Six-Leaf Shield around the pill furnace like heavy rain.
Clang! Clang-clang!
Even as the storm shook everything around him, Yi Hyeon kept his eyes fixed on the alchemical pill.
He was growing anxious, but his extraordinary mastery of the Fire-Dividing Thread Spell kept the flames moving as he intended.
Wherever the lightning passed, the medicinal strength loosened and gathered again.
Then the diving beast crushed the first Triple Union Shield plate with its talons.
Crunch!
Before the broken shield’s fragments could scatter, the beast drove its talons down again without losing any of its fierce momentum.
The remaining Triple Union Shield plate tilted, forcing the savage strike off course.
Bang!
The beast lost its balance and lurched sideways. One enormous wing struck the cliff. As rocks collapsed, the Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle savagely drove its beak through the second shield.
Crack!
The shield’s light went out.
‘Now.’
Yi Hyeon poured spiritual power into the Mountain-Suppressing Seal, pushing it beyond what the magical implement’s restrictions could withstand.
The patterns on its surface shone brilliantly. The yellowish seal swelled to the size of a house and flew forward.
The instant the Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle spread its wings, the Mountain-Suppressing Seal slammed mercilessly into its chest.
Boooom!
A deafening crash echoed through the valley as the beast was driven deep into the cliff. Pushed beyond its limits, the seal shattered as though it had exploded, spraying yellow fragments in every direction.
“Krrk! A mere lump of rock!”
‘It can talk?’
Just then, the lightning raging inside the alchemical pill made one final circuit.
Yi Hyeon curled his fingers, closing the flow of medicinal strength he had left open.
Hummm...
The light flashing across the alchemical pill’s surface sank inward.
A single silver-purple tribulation marking remained on its round surface, formed from the fusion of lightning qi and medicinal strength!
‘It worked! I’ve made a Tier 2 one-mark Origin-Nurturing Dao Pill!’
He wanted to admire it a little longer, but overhead, the demonic beast burst through the collapsed cliff and rose with a furious cry.
Moving as fast as lightning, Yi Hyeon opened a jade bottle, placed the one-mark Origin-Nurturing Dao Pill inside, and attached a Spirit-Sealing Talisman.
Then he gathered the five pills still inside the furnace into another bottle.
He put the pill furnace into his storage pouch as well. When he raised his head, enormous talons filled his vision.
...
The Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle thought it had all but caught the human before it.
Both shields had broken, and the seal that had flown at it with some force had shattered too.
Every one of its opponent’s tricks was pitifully weak!
With the human distracted, this was the perfect chance to chew them up, bones and all.
When sword light shot toward its neck, the Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle twisted its wings and sent out wind blades with contempt.
At that very moment, something invisible stabbed into its mind.
“Skree!?”
Its wings shook, and the demonic power it had been gathering scattered. The wind wrapping one wing vanished for an instant.
Light flashed through that tiny opening.
Slice!
Feathers split at the base of its wing, and blood sprayed.
The Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle hastily folded its injured wing and turned in midair. Terrified, it tried to pull away, but the space above it was already filled with golden light.
An enormous palm.
The golden shapes of the palm and fingers fit together without a gap.
The Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle desperately opened its beak and spat out demonic power. Wind swirled upward.
But the golden palm crushed through the gale of demonic power and plunged like a meteor!
Boom!
The Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle slammed into the valley floor.
Rocks split, and dust burst into the air.
The golden palm did not vanish.
Its center pressed heavily against the beast’s back, while five fingers pinned its wings and neck firmly to the ground.
Whenever the beast struggled, the golden light burned even brighter, suppressing its movements.
It was the Mount Sumeru Mountain-Suppressing Seal.
Maintaining his hand seal, Yi Hyeon stepped forward through the thick dust.
The Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle opened its beak in a final struggle.
As the light of demonic power gathered inside, the Moon-Sinking Sword flashed through the air and stopped just below its throat.
“Give up.”
Sharp sword qi pierced its feathers, and the Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle’s neck went rigid.
After a moment, the light inside its beak slowly faded.
Its silver eyes turned toward Yi Hyeon.
“What was that thing you threw first?”
“The Mountain-Suppressing Seal? A magical implement.”
“You had a technique like this... Krrk. Did you throw that weak yellow rock first to trick me?”
“I meant to destroy it anyway.”
That was the truth.
To stop a Tier 3 demonic beast’s charge, even briefly, he had needed to sacrifice at least something like the Mountain-Suppressing Seal.
It was a little wasteful, but it was not worth losing his first Dao Pill over.
Besides, ever since learning the Mount Sumeru Mountain-Suppressing Seal spell, Yi Hyeon had found the Mountain-Suppressing Seal implement slightly annoying. Their names were far too similar.
Such things were not uncommon in the cultivation world.
Even a trivial spell learned by a cultivator at the Qi Refining stage might have a name claiming it could overturn the heavens or suppress mountains. In different regions, alchemical pills with different formulas and effects were sometimes called by the same name.
Yi Hyeon put those thoughts aside and carefully checked whether the Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle had any way to fight back.
“I have a few questions.”
The beast’s beak snapped shut with a clack.
“Do you think I’ll answer?”
One finger of the Mount Sumeru Mountain-Suppressing Seal pressed harder against its neck.
“Krrrk... Stop... I’ll answer.”
“Why have creatures like you been appearing in Unju more often lately?”
He had seen similar reports in the news he received from the Two Heavens Society.
A coastal cultivator market had been attacked by demonic beasts, or a sea-dwelling demonic beast had been found on an inland spirit mountain.
The Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle opened its beak.
“Where is Unju?”
“The place you’re pinned to right now.”
“I don’t know names. I only came looking for somewhere with spiritual qi.”
“The sea should be much larger.”
The Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle’s eyes widened, as though it had been wronged.
“There’s nowhere to nest!”
A sharp, metallic edge entered its voice.
“Humans set up camp on every island. They drive pillars into underwater spirit veins, and if we go near, they come out in their ships. The big ones steal the little ones’ nests, and the little ones get driven farther out.”
“Were you driven out too?”
Its beak clacked.
“Hmph! I only left to find a better nest!”
“I see. Why not go to the Vast Verdant Forest Sea? I heard it’s a land of demonic beasts.”
The feathers on the back of the Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle’s neck stood on end.
“That rotten forest... The things inside won’t let us in!”
“Why?”
“They called us uncivilized. Some worthless thing I could kill with one peck shoved a stone tablet at me and told me to leave!”
“A stone tablet?”
“It had marks carved into it, like trails left by crawling bugs. Whose land it was, who could come and go, what we weren’t allowed to eat... Krrk! Nothing but useless nonsense!”
Yi Hyeon grew a little interested.
‘Demonic beasts write?’
“Was that beast as strong as you?”
“No!”
“Even such a weak demonic beast can speak?”
“The ones inside chatter away even when they’re weak. Maybe their minds awaken when they’re young, letting them learn to speak. They copy the culture of feeble humans. They carve marks into stones, read them, and pass them to one another.”
The Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle’s talons scraped the ground.
“When I tried to kill that one, a big one appeared behind it.”
“I see.”
Yi Hyeon recalled the demonic cores he had seen at Jewel Light Temple.
But he had never heard that those demonic beasts read, made rules, or bought and sold things.
When he asked about that, the Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle blew a harsh breath through its nostrils.
“The ones living outside the forest have been driven out. How could they be the same as the ones inside?”
“Do they have different bloodlines?”
“They boast about their noble blood. Something about ancestors who came down from the heavens... Hmph! Peck them with my beak, and they’d bleed red just like anything else. Yet they act so proud.”
‘Bloodlines from the upper realms? I doubt there are any such great bloodlines in the human realm... Are they idolizing their ancestors?’
In any case, it seemed true that the intelligent demonic beasts deep within the Vast Verdant Forest Sea could speak and had rules and a culture of their own.
“How large is the Vast Verdant Forest Sea?”
“I don’t know.”
“What else do you know about the interior?”
“I don’t know.”
“How far did you go?”
“The outskirts! Krrk!”
The Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle watched Yi Hyeon’s expression, then opened its beak a little.
“I answered. Now take your talons off me.”
It seemed to be asking him to release the Mount Sumeru Mountain-Suppressing Seal.
Yi Hyeon spoke.
“I understand your situation. But that doesn’t erase the fact that you attacked my pill furnace. You’ll have to pay for the broken magical implements. More importantly... if I let you go, I think you’ll cause trouble for the humans living nearby.”
“You wretch...!”
The Moon-Sinking Sword moved.
...
Yi Hyeon removed the Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle’s demonic core first.
It belonged to an early Tier 3 demonic beast and was undamaged.
‘If I use this to refine Gold-Condensing Pills in advance, their medicinal strength will fade... I’ll have to exchange it for spirit stones again.’
He collected the talons and beak separately.
He planned to use a few of the large wing bones for his bone puppet research. He could sell the rest along with the demonic core.
The Triple Union Shield and Mountain-Suppressing Seal were ruined, but a Tier 3 demonic beast’s corpse was worth more. He had actually come out ahead.
Yi Hyeon opened the jade bottle again and admired the Origin-Nurturing Dao Pill, its tribulation marking shining softly.
“Ah...”
He burned the bloodstains and scattered feathers. He also tidied up the gouged earth and rocks, along with the fragments of broken magical implements. After checking outside the valley once more, he went underground, changing course as he traveled.
* * *
A few days later, at Underground Hideout No. 3.
Yi Hyeon took the Origin-Nurturing Dao Pill from its jade bottle, swallowed it, and circulated the Primordial Unity Single-Qi Art.
Medicinal strength released in his dantian spread through his whole body.
Unlike when he took an ordinary Origin-Nurturing Pill, the medicinal strength flowed smoothly along his meridians despite being much denser.
He had expected it to be harsh after absorbing a lightning tribulation, but the opposite was true.
What was more, the medicinal strength was astonishingly pure!
It was not entirely free of pill toxins, but compared to an ordinary Origin-Nurturing Pill, it was almost without impurities.
‘Impressive! It deserves to be called a Dao Pill.’
...
The next day.
Yi Hyeon examined the spiritual power throughout his body.
The change was tiny, but his maximum spiritual power had clearly increased.
Cultivating his whole body was extremely difficult. When he took a single ordinary Origin-Nurturing Pill, he could barely feel any difference. Yet just one Dao Pill had produced enough growth for him to notice.
‘About ten pills’ worth!’
He seemed to have gained nearly as much medicinal strength as he would from ten ordinary Origin-Nurturing Pills of similar quality.
Origin-Nurturing Pills were too potent to take frequently.
Over the past twenty years, Yi Hyeon had adjusted his dosage several times.
When he took large amounts for a while, his spiritual power grew quickly.
But over time, his qi circulation slowed, and he absorbed medicinal strength less readily. At that point, he had to stop taking the pills and eat Yinwater Lotus seeds while expelling turbid qi.
Once he counted all the time spent assimilating the medicinal strength and recovering, he was better off steadily taking only about sixty pills a year.
Dao Pills were different.
They gave him far more medicinal strength while leaving little strain on his body. At this level, he could even use them while taking a break from ordinary Origin-Nurturing Pills.
‘Then... I could change my cultivation plans, couldn’t I?’
Assuming he could keep refining Dao Pills, Yi Hyeon began calculating how long it would take to bring his entire body to Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment.
‘How many spirit stones would it cost to keep refining Origin-Nurturing Dao Pills?’
Yi Hyeon walked through his spirit fields, checking his plants and records again.
「Bone-Rotting Flowers: 438 plants.
Medicinal age around 870 years, with some over 900 years.
Yin Soul Grass: 1,160 plants.
Medicinal age around 870 years, with some over 900 years.
Purple Poison Orchids: 310 plants.
Medicinal age around 870 years, with some over 900 years.」
These were all that remained of the batches he had planted long ago.
He counted the later generations planted in the harvested spots separately.
The Tier 3 spirit plants he had sold to help Wang Seo-rin were also recorded in the ledger: twenty-four Bone-Rotting Flowers, thirty-six Yin Soul Grass plants, and eighteen Purple Poison Orchids.
That was the total of all the plants he had sold, a few every few decades.
He had also used some for his own alchemy and research, and offered others in different trades. A small number had spoiled during periods of poor care.
Yi Hyeon moved to another spirit field.
「Earlier batch of Spirit-Storing Ginseng: 532 roots.
Medicinal age approximately 750 years.
Later batch of Spirit-Storing Ginseng: 276 roots.
Medicinal age approximately 610 years.」
The number of older Spirit-Storing Ginseng roots had barely decreased.
By the time he began making Foundation Establishment Pills in earnest, they had already exceeded the medicinal age limit.
The only ones he had sold were twenty roots during his stay at Jewel Light Temple.
The later batch, on the other hand, had steadily dwindled as he made Foundation Establishment Pills, Origin-Opening Pills, and Profound-Passage Pills.
He had planted young Spirit-Storing Ginseng in those empty spaces too.
...
Yi Hyeon wrote estimated prices beside the ledger.
‘Based on past auction prices and recent trading news...’
「Estimated market prices, in mid-grade spirit stones.
Bone-Rotting Flower: 1,000.
Yin Soul Grass: 1,200.
Purple Poison Orchid: 900.
Spirit-Storing Ginseng, first batch: 750.
Spirit-Storing Ginseng, second batch: 450.」
If he sold all of them for their full value, his total wealth would exceed 2.5 million mid-grade spirit stones!
He already had about eight thousand mid-grade spirit stones on hand, making him enormously wealthy compared to other Foundation Establishment cultivators. Even to him, 2.5 million was a truly unimaginable sum.
“...”
But if he dug them all up and sold them at once, prices would collapse, and bandit cultivators would come after his wealth.
Besides, they would become more valuable if he waited. There was no reason to sell more than he needed.
He excluded the Earth Vein Flowers from his calculations, since pulling them up would weaken the spiritual qi in his fields. As for the Yinwater Lotuses and Stone-Honey Peaches, he was better off continuing to grow and consume them.
After visiting the other spirit fields and updating his ledger, Yi Hyeon opened the Origin-Nurturing Pill formula.
Origin-Nurturing Pills required Spirit-Storing Ginseng. But even the later batch in his hideout was over six hundred years old and could not be used, while the newly planted seedlings had not reached the required medicinal age.
Yi Hyeon wrote down the ingredient costs.
‘Twenty-four batches a year. Six hundred mid-grade spirit stones for ingredients and supplies. Up to six pills from each batch... If I refine a hundred and thirty pills a year, take sixty myself, and sell the rest, with the Dao Pills counted separately...’
A rough calculation put his annual costs at seven hundred mid-grade spirit stones, including other expenses. Even after selling the spare Origin-Nurturing Pills, he would be about three hundred short.
‘If I sell one Bone-Rotting Flower, one Purple Poison Orchid, and two Yin Soul Grass plants every ten years, that’ll more than cover the shortfall.’
At that rate, he could keep going for hundreds of years without selling many of his old spirit plants.
He could also add the proceeds from selling the demonic core and materials he had just obtained.
He could take occasional orders for Bone-Tempering Powder, Poison-Warding Pills, Spirit-Calming Pills, Foundation Establishment Pills, and the like, but he left that income out of his calculations for now.
He needed to build up extra spirit stones in case a good magical implement appeared at auction or some other opportunity arose.
...
With the spirit stone problem settled, he calculated the time required.
Things were different from when he had lived at Jewel Light Temple.
If he only accumulated spiritual qi while moving between the Two Heavens Society’s vein seats, bringing his whole body to Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment would likely take over two thousand years.
He compared the effects of alchemical pills against his past cultivation records.
Adding the medicinal strength of Origin-Nurturing Pills to the spiritual qi he absorbed naturally reduced the time needed to roughly eight hundred years.
‘Now, if I include the effects of Dao Pills...’
If he refined twenty-four batches a year and produced a Dao Pill ten percent of the time, the period could fall to six hundred and fifty years. With a thirty percent success rate, it could drop to four hundred and sixty.
‘What if I do more? If I refine forty-eight batches a year and produce a Dao Pill every other batch... Taking all of those could get me to Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment in just two hundred and fifty years, couldn’t it?’
But doubling his alchemy would also double the ingredient costs.
Yi Hyeon calculated again.
If he produced a Dao Pill half the time, he would have a little over two hundred and thirty ordinary Origin-Nurturing Pills a year.
After setting aside sixty for himself, selling a hundred and sixty of the remainder would bring in nine hundred and twelve spirit stones after brokerage fees.
With twelve hundred for ingredients and another hundred in other expenses, his annual shortfall would be three hundred and eighty-eight mid-grade spirit stones.
‘Wait, even then I only need to sell four plants every ten years?’
Yi Hyeon set up a new stone slab and used the Seventh-Stem Metal Art.
「Goal: A fifty percent success rate for Origin-Nurturing Dao Pills.」
* * *
A month later.
At a small medicinal herb shop in eastern Seo Kingdom.
The cultivator wearing a goose mask looked up from the jade slips Yi Hyeon had provided.
“Will you keep buying this much? Even the Tier 2 Spirit-Storing Ginseng alone is quite a quantity.”
“Find a year’s supply first. If the medicinal age and storage conditions meet my requirements, I intend to continue trading.”
The cultivator in the goose mask nodded, but inwardly grew tense.
‘Is the Two Heavens Society finally making its move? If they’re doing this much business through my branch alone... Are they preparing for war?’
Yi Hyeon pushed another jade slip across.
It listed the types and estimated quantities of alchemical pills he would supply.
The cultivator in the goose mask lowered the jade slip from their forehead.
“If you entrust them to me, I can sell every last one.”
“Good. There’s something else I’d like you to look into.”
Yi Hyeon took out a small jade case and opened its lid.
“This is... Tier 3 Yin Soul Grass!”
“Are there any Golden Core members who might be interested?”
“There are.”
...
The Two Heavens Society had continued to grow, and its members were spread across more places than Yi Hyeon had expected. For the past few hundred years, he had therefore been able to sell Tier 3 spirit plants within the society without taking them to auction.
Of course, there were still few Golden Core members.
That could not be helped.
The Two Heavens Society had originally been formed so its members could cultivate by stealing spiritual qi from other sects and cultivation clans.
That appealed to Qi Refining stage and Foundation Establishment cultivators, but it was not suitable for Golden Core cultivators.
For example, residual-vein pockets found around a Tier 3 spirit vein usually offered a cultivation environment only equal to a Tier 2 spirit vein.
In other words, for a secretly accessible residual-vein pocket to approach the level of a Tier 3 spirit vein, the main vein would necessarily have to be Tier 4.
But outside fifth-tier cultivation kingdoms, Tier 4 spirit veins were the most precious of all. Almost every one had a Nascent Soul cultivator present.
So for Golden Core cultivators to establish vein seats and cultivate in the spirit of the Two Heavens Society, they would have to steal right under a Nascent Soul cultivator’s nose!
Put simply, it was madness.
Nascent Soul cultivators had deep reserves of strength and a wide variety of methods, making them extremely difficult to predict.
Besides, even if a Golden Core cultivator that mad did exist, they would usually cultivate alone in a residual-vein pocket.
Several such Golden Core cultivators would have to use the same pocket, encounter one another, and experience trouble before there would be any need for mediation.
But how many such pockets could there be? And how often would Golden Core cultivators run into one another there?
Ultimately, even when Golden Core cultivators stole spiritual qi, they rarely needed an organization like the Two Heavens Society to coordinate things.
The few Golden Core cultivators in the society had joined less for vein seats than for trading goods, sharing information, and finding the people they needed without revealing much of their identities.
And they had the means to buy Yi Hyeon’s Tier 3 spirit plants.
The cultivator in the goose mask spoke.
“There aren’t many Golden Core members our branch can contact, but I believe we can arrange a sale.”
...
After that, Yi Hyeon visited several more contact points.
In some places, he wore the badger mask. In others, he wore the cicada mask.
Following the plan he had drawn up, he divided his alchemical pill sales among different outlets and placed orders for medicinal ingredients.
During those visits...
Yi Hyeon noticed something strange.
...
At a contact point in northern Hyeon Kingdom.
A cultivator in a mountain goat mask sat across from Yi Hyeon, who wore his cicada mask.
After they checked each other’s jade tokens, the other cultivator offered him a jade slip.
“Someone has expressed interest.”
“A Golden Core cultivator?”
“Yes. They had no major objection to the price either. However, they said it would need to be appraised. Also, we’d prefer you to complete this transaction through our side.”
Yi Hyeon looked up from the jade slip.
“Your side?”
The cultivator in the mountain goat mask hesitated briefly.
“I heard you also placed requests with members of nearby branches.”
“Is it strange to ask in several places?”
“That’s not what I meant. It’s just that lately... there’s been a lot of talk among the elders about passing transactions on.”
‘What elders now?’
“Elders? What do you mean?”
“Which side arranged a transaction, who should receive a share of the payment...”
Yi Hyeon set the jade slip on the table.
He had fixed the shares from transactions in advance precisely to reduce such problems.
Even when several members were involved, he had required them to agree on their respective shares before passing on a request.
“Can’t you simply divide it according to the established rules?”
The cultivator in the mountain goat mask shifted their fingers awkwardly.
“That used to be the case, but now some people care about which side you belong to... We understand that you trade with all sides, Inspector. We have no wish to make things difficult for you.”
It seemed that factions he knew nothing about had formed within the Two Heavens Society he had created.
He regarded the cultivator in the mountain goat mask with doubt.
Perhaps taking his silence to mean something else, the other cultivator hurried to continue.
“You can trust us. The item is rare, so they said they would inspect it personally.”
“Who did?”
“Society Leader Badger.”
‘Huh?’
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
