WeTried Translations
Translator: Joy
Editor: Joy
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 19: Beginning
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The Namgung Family’s artificial elixir, the Azure Heaven Pill, was about two finger joints long and jade-coloured. At a glance, it looked like a small jade bead.
Having grown up without parents, Lee Su-hyeok had never tried herbal medicine in his life, but he thought the subtle scent wafting from the Azure Heaven Pill might be similar to it.
“I’ve really made it in life, getting to eat something like this.”
He muttered with nothing but sincerity, and Elena’s cheek twitched from where she sat across from him. Yuri had been ready to give her the best possible reaction if she made a show of generosity, but Elena did not go that far.
“The Art of the Untainted Heart. You memorised it all, right?”
Instead, she asked with a serious expression. It was a martial art around the first-rate level, and while he did not need to memorise the entire book to begin, the formula itself was not short.
“I memorised it.”
Yuri answered with an equally serious expression. This was an important moment. He had already opened his dantian and built up internal energy through the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, but Yuri was the only one who knew that.
He had to make everyone else believe that he was opening his dantian and building internal energy for the first time through the Art of the Untainted Heart.
This was Yuri’s first step.
“If only I had reached the 6th tier, I could have guided Yuri-nim’s internal energy myself. It is truly unfortunate.”
Haryeong spoke with her usual expressionless face.
“Yes, it is unfortunate.”
That was all Yuri said, but inwardly, he was relieved. If he had entrusted the guidance of his internal energy to someone else, he would not have been able to deceive them, even with the Veil of Deception. Yuri took a deep breath and sat cross-legged.
“As soon as you swallow the Azure Heaven Pill, you must guide your qi according to the formula of the Art of the Untainted Heart. The elixir’s qi will pass through your acupoints and flow into your dantian. Your closed dantian will open, and the qi will accumulate there to become internal energy.”
The Art of the Untainted Heart was far lower in grade than the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, but Yuri would not use the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil during this process.
“You will not be able to guide all of the elixir’s qi into your dantian, but do not think it a waste. Once you successfully open your dantian, the qi will not flow out of your body. From then on, you can take your time guiding the qi within your body into your dantian.”
Yuri nodded and put the Azure Heaven Pill into his mouth.
“How is it? Does it melt in your mouth?”
“Miss Elena, how can you speak to him at such an important moment? And an elixir like the Azure Heaven Pill does not melt in the mouth. You have to chew it.”
Yuri half-listened to their conversation as he chewed the Azure Heaven Pill. He could not call it tasty, even as an empty compliment. The bitterness spread through his mouth the instant he bit down, making his face crumple on its own.
Still, he endured it and kept chewing.
Pop.
Something burst inside his mouth. Before he could even think that he needed to swallow, the qi that burst from the chewed elixir flowed down his throat on its own.
He immediately circulated the Art of the Untainted Heart. The formula floated through his mind, and his acupoints twitched.
“...”
He had approached this with serious resolve, but it ended far too quickly. He had focused, certainly, but internal energy flowed into his dantian in an instant. Even without using the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, the Azure Heaven Pill’s qi gathered safely in his dantian without the slightest loss.
As expected of the Namgung Family’s artificial elixir. As if proving why it had been such a valuable item in the game, the internal energy gained through the Azure Heaven Pill was considerable. Far more internal energy than Yuri had built up over a month with the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil filled his dantian.
Even taking into account a transmigrator’s privilege and a divine art, he had gained several years’ worth of internal energy from a single elixir.
That did not mean he could open his eyes right away. According to Haryeong’s advice before he began circulating his qi, even with an elixir’s help, opening the dantian for the first time and completing the Greater Heavenly Circuit would take several hours.
Yuri kept his eyes closed and continued breathing. In his mind, the Art of the Untainted Heart, a technique around the first-rate level, faced the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, which seemed to be a divine art.
The difference came to Yuri more intuitively that way. The Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil looked like a massive flame, while the Art of the Untainted Heart looked like a small spring.
The Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil’s flame could continue growing. Depending on what he fed it for firewood, it would burn fiercer and fiercer. But the Art of the Untainted Heart’s spring had a limit to its water source. To draw more water, he would have to dig up new ground.
‘I see.’
Just because a flame burned fiercely did not make it inherently good. If he could not control a fire that had grown too large, he himself would eventually become kindling and be devoured by the flames.
But the Art of the Untainted Heart carried less of that danger. Even if its spring dried up someday, he could dig deeper and find a new water source.
‘Devoured by the flames. Becoming kindling and burning away. Is this qi deviation?’
Unlike in the game, martial arts in reality were divided into several types. Broadly speaking, there were three.
Righteous martial arts, Unorthodox martial arts, and demonic martial arts.
In Yuri’s judgment, the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil did not seem like a righteous martial art. Nor did it feel like an unorthodox martial art. A fiercely burning flame. A flame that felt as though it would swallow him whole and reduce everything to ash if he let his guard down even slightly.
‘I am the fire that carries out heavenly punishment, the asura that annihilates evil, and the apostle that sets the principles of heaven right.’
‘My hand bears the sacred flame, and my foot tramples demons.’
The formula of the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, which he recited whenever he circulated his qi, drifted through his mind. It openly spoke of annihilating evil and trampling demons, but comparing it to the Art of the Untainted Heart gave him chills.
‘This is... a demonic martial art.’
He broke out in a cold sweat at that conclusion. Demonic martial arts were far more dangerous than righteous or unorthodox martial arts. Not everyone who learned one destroyed themself, but the mere possibility was something to be wary of.
‘No, why would a priestess of the Sect of Order learn a demonic martial art?’
She had even taught it directly to Yuri. Still, it was not impossible to understand. Even considering Lorelia’s personality, which praised violence, a demonic martial art suited her perfectly.
‘Qi deviation is not inevitable. If I learn it properly, yes. I just have to learn it properly.’
The Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil was too valuable to abandon just because it was a demonic martial art and learn only the Art of the Untainted Heart. And now that he could see them so clearly, the floor and ceiling Haryeong had mentioned were obvious.
‘Still, wouldn’t it have been better to teach me some other proper martial art instead of a demonic one?’
The Sect of Order.
A sect that had nearly collapsed after being driven out of the city for sheltering transmigrators. The Goddess who was meant to care for her followers had fallen into a deep sleep after repeatedly performing miracles.
Lorelia, the Calamity Star, was the Sect of Order’s embodiment of violence. Yuri had heard that the Sect of Order could barely continue because of Lorelia’s existence.
Yuri had not only received the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil directly from Lorelia, but had also received the Veil of Deception as a gift. It was not without reason. It was a reward for setting an overwhelming record in the Hall of Honour, preventing any more transmigrators from crossing over into this world.
‘It cannot be only because of that.’
He had set an overwhelming record, but there was no guarantee it could never be broken. Time flowed differently, so several decades from now, UrMumSpammer could lose first place and a new transmigrator could appear in this world.
He had not completely stopped transmigration, yet he had received gifts from the Sect of Order far more generous than necessary. Even Lorelia becoming Yuri’s handler in the first place was suspicious.
‘Lorelia was not originally in charge of transmigrators.’
‘I cannot explain in detail, but our sect had various circumstances of its own! That is why I, someone not in charge of transmigrators, came to handle Lee Su-hyeok-nim.’
He had never heard about those various circumstances. Perhaps it had been Lorelia’s independent decision.
‘The Sect of Order does not seem like the sort to be complete pushovers.’
Did they want him to become a hitman who hunted other transmigrators? Or perhaps to fight the Evil God, the root of all of this? They could not have failed to consider that he might side with the Evil God like some transmigrators had.
What safeguards did they have against betrayal?
‘Fuck, what am I even thinking about? There is no answer.’
His first priority was becoming capable of protecting himself, whatever situation he found himself in. Even that bastard, Moonlit Reveller, Chuk-sin-doo, openly went around declaring himself a transmigrator and was still alive. That showed that, in the end, power was everything in this world.
‘But why Moonlit Reveller of all things?’
His thoughts gradually quieted. The blazing flame of the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil vanished, and the spring water of the Art of the Untainted Heart flowed calmly. The formula drifting through his mind dissolved into the spring water, and Yuri’s consciousness flowed with it, becoming water itself.
“Uh... how did it go?”
When he opened his eyes, Elena was sitting in the same place as before.
“I think it went well?”
“Let us have a look.”
Haryeong, who had been sitting on a nearby sofa, sprang to her feet and approached. Yuri did not panic. He calmly held out his hand to Haryeong.
“Hmm...”
Haryeong’s internal energy flowed through Yuri’s grasped hand. After checking the internal energy settled in his dantian, she nodded.
“About half, I would say.”
“Did I do well, or badly?”
“You did well. As expected, my eye was not wrong. Yuri-nim’s martial talent is quite good.”
At that answer, Yuri swallowed a sigh of relief.
“With this, you may call yourself a 1st-tier martial artist. If anyone asks, boast about it.”
“It’s not a tier worth boasting about.”
“If you know that, train diligently. Do not forget to circulate your qi every day. When spreading the internal energy in your dantian throughout your entire body through the acupoints becomes as natural as breathing rather than something you must consciously do, you will reach the 2nd tier.”
Haryeong let go of his hand as she spoke.
“Then the two of you may enjoy Yuri-nim’s celebration for opening his dantian and entering martial arts. And you should thank me.”
“Why should I thank you?”
“I sat here for hours for Yuri-nim, even though you are not someone I am assigned to escort. I deserve thanks.”
“Thank you.”
“Thanks in words alone are quite light, are they not?”
Her calm eyes turned to Elena. Elena blinked in confusion at why Haryeong was looking at her, then immediately furrowed her brow.
“Did this need an extra fee too?”
“You make me sound like a miser obsessed with money, Miss. I only watched once, so you do not need to pay.”
Was that really true? In any case, Haryeong did not receive payment. She bowed to Yuri and Elena before leaving the estate.
“Do you want to have a celebration party...?”
“Aren’t you full?”
“W-we could at least have some champagne.”
Come to think of it, Yuri had not drunk alcohol even once since becoming Yuri. He was not particularly tempted, but Elena’s expression said otherwise.
“Let’s have a little.”
He had no idea what his tolerance was like. According to his memories, Yuri seemed to handle alcohol reasonably well, but would his tolerance before transmigration and now really be the same? Was drunkenness not tied more closely to mental strength than the body?
‘Surely I won’t get drunk after a few glasses of champagne...’
The thing he needed to be most wary of was getting completely drunk and saying things he should not.
When that bastard Yuri got drunk, his already awful personality became even worse. He picked fights with people, more than half the words he spat out became curses, and depending on the person, his fists sometimes came before his words.
On the other hand, Lee Su-hyeok had the commendable drinking habit of falling asleep when drunk. Even so, Yuri could not relax.
“Do you drink often?”
“Not often. About once a month?”
“I can’t imagine you drinking with Haryeong-nim.”
“Of course not. The last time was with the adventurers I solved a Grade 4 request with. Just a little before we parted ways.”
Pop!
The cork of a rather expensive-looking bottle of champagne was cleanly removed by magic.
“Before that, the Tower Master dragged me out to drink... I’ve also had drinks with Senior Lacey a few times.”
“The senior who reached the 5th tier? You must be close.”
He remembered the name clearly. He had heard a whisper that Lacey might be a transmigrator.
“Well, yes. When I first came to the Dersia Mage Tower, I shared a room with Senior Lacey.”
“Don’t you drink with your other seniors?”
“Senior Arist? I told you before, I don’t like that senior. She openly ignored me until last year, but after I reached the 4th tier, the way she looks at me is just...”
Elena stopped pouring champagne, narrowed her eyes, and glared at Yuri.
“She always looks at me like this. Well, it’s not hard to understand. I reached the 4th tier a whole year earlier than that senior. Senior Lacey also reached the 4th tier at my age, you know? That means Senior Lacey and I have similar talent, so I can reach the 5th tier in seven years too.”
Elena relaxed her eyes and smiled brightly. Swirling the champagne that filled her glass halfway, she spoke.
“Of course, tiers do not progress that predictably. They said that beyond the 4th tier, you need not only talent but experience... I mean, an opportunity.”
“An opportunity?”
“Unique magic is for reaching the magical ideal a mage pursues. Even at a shallow level, you are creating magic of your own. They say the mana inside you will not respond if you lack desire.”
An opportunity. Yuri sank into thought for a moment. Reaching the 5th tier was just as arduous for martial artists. A martial artist’s 5th tier was not about completing unique magic like a mage. They had to reach a state where mind, qi, and body were in perfect harmony and they could produce aura.
“So, how do you feel?”
The gently swaying champagne glass moved closer.
“You’ve become a real martial artist. Don’t you have any thoughts?”
“Honestly, it still doesn’t feel real.”
Yuri held out his champagne glass as well.
Yuri, the orphan of Oldor, had longed to become a martial artist or a mage, but died after being stabbed without ever opening his dantian.
The Yuri of now had been able to call himself a martial artist even before meeting Elena. Yet it still did not feel real, because he had never properly fought as a martial artist.
“Doesn’t feel real...”
Elena bit down on her lip without clinking glasses. Part of her wanted to keep looking away, but Elena knew she could not.
She could not stay with Yuri in this house forever. If Yuri had not become a martial artist, they could have stayed together, but now the foundation for Yuri’s independence had been laid.
“Still, congratulations, Yuri.”
Elena smiled without showing what she felt. Her glass moved belatedly and clinked softly against his.
“It’s thanks to you.”
Ah.
Why did those words sound so sweet?
Going to Oldor to see Yuri had been the right choice.
She had thought he might have changed too much. That he might not be the Yuri she knew. That she would be disappointed when they met. So she had forced herself to look away.
‘If I had known this would happen, I would have brought him back sooner.’
Thinking that, Elena brought the glass to her lips.
* * *
The two of them finished a bottle of champagne, but nothing happened. Yuri barely felt drunk, and he did not make any mistakes.
He returned to his room late at night and circulated his qi once more. This time, he used the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil instead of the Art of the Untainted Heart.
He quickly came to understand the increase in his internal energy. Even after spreading it throughout his body, he still had plenty of internal energy left in his dantian.
The next day.
Yuri carefully read the Fist of the Rending Cloud’s secret manual.
[The lofty heavens have no ceiling and no walls.]
[What throws the heavens into disorder are the clouds. Flowing clouds lower the heavens, cover the sun, and bring night.]
[Standing upon the earth, I gaze at the heavens. A sky full of clouds looks terribly low. I rise to the heavens and stand with the clouds. The earth remains far below, and the heavens are never low.]
[I become the clouds drifting through the sky. The colour of the heavens changes according to how I flow.]
[I wave my hand and part the clouds. The divided clouds continue to flow.]
“What kind of fucking bullshit is this...?”
More similar nonsense went on for quite a while. Yuri reread the formulas several times and shuddered.
Fortunately, there were diagrams of the movements beneath the nonsense. At least those were worth looking at. Yuri stared intently at the illustrations of the fist technique and their accompanying annotations.
‘Do you have to practise drawing too if you want to leave behind a secret manual...?’
Looking at the illustrations and formulas together, he could understand what kind of fist technique it was. Yuri stood and tried copying the movements himself.
The room was too small. He went out to the garden and began practising the movements in earnest.
The Fist of the Rending Cloud had four forms in total.
First Form, Drifting Clouds.
He repeatedly extended and withdrew his fists. Just because it was a fist technique did not mean it stubbornly used only one fist. The Fist of the Rending Cloud required skilful use of both fists.
He focused solely on Drifting Clouds for a long while. He swung and withdrew, then extended his fist again and again, but he was not satisfied. Something was missing. This was different from the game, where pressing a key made the skill activate on its own. He had no idea how long it would take to properly learn even one form.
The more he swung, the closer he felt he came. The gap between the Fist of the Rending Cloud he had watched through a monitor while sitting at a computer and the Fist of the Rending Cloud he was now performing with his own body seemed to be gradually closing.
Thump.
His heart beat so hard that his chest ached. At that moment, something connected in Yuri’s mind. The puzzle piece of that unknown missing part fell into place.
Whoosh.
No internal energy was carried in the fist he extended. In the end, it was only a punch. But Yuri felt a small measure of satisfaction with the punch he had thrown.
“Huh...”
He could not lose himself in the lingering feeling. Someone had gasped in admiration behind him. Yuri startled and tried to turn around.
He could not turn around. The moment he moved, a wave of vertigo struck him and strength left his legs. Someone supported Yuri as he began to collapse.
“A-are you alright?”
It was Elena. Yuri blinked, still unable to properly grasp the situation.
His entire body was soaked with sweat. The sun had not set yet, but it seemed several hours had passed since he began. Once he realised that, his shoulders ached as if they might break apart.
“What... happened?”
Yuri asked haltingly as he turned his head.
Fist Wolf Bakerd. The man he was supposed to meet tomorrow stood in Elena’s garden, his eyes wide open.
Footnotes:
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