WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 15: To the Northern Continent (5)
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‘Gonga left the Great Exorcist Order, so she couldn’t send a Message Talisman herself.’
Ise asked the administrative officer, “I want to send a reply. Can I send a Message Talisman and some items to Halla?”
“You can submit it as a mission request. It’s far away, but since it’s only a delivery mission, fifty Spiritual Stones should be enough.”
“Wait a moment.”
Ise returned to his quarters, prepared brush and ink, and wrote a reply in neat handwriting.
-I’m going to the Northern Continent. You don’t need to send any spiritual herbs for a while. Please give my regards to my friends.
He sealed the letter and handed it to the administrative officer along with a pouch of Spiritual Stones.
It pained him to think that Gonga would be disappointed, but she had already sent him quite a few Spiritual Stones. It should be enough to start something.
His preparations were complete.
Ise thought he should at least say goodbye to those he had formed ties with. He called out to Gwak Chan, who was cultivating next door.
“Senior Gwak! I’ll be going now.”
“Yeah. Take care.”
Gwak Chan answered without even coming outside.
It was such a casual farewell, as if Ise were only heading somewhere nearby for a short errand.
That was very much like Gwak Chan, Ise thought as he left.
Next, he sent a Message Talisman to ask where Hall Master Woo Yu-hui was, then headed to Winged Dragon Hall.
As usual, she greeted him wearing a white mask. Irang stood beside her.
“I’m leaving for the Northern Continent now. I’ll be back, Hall Master.”
“Mm. Don’t neglect your cultivation while you’re there.”
“Yes. Of course.”
Ise gave a respectful bow at her usual sort of farewell, then dipped his head slightly to Irang as well.
“Take care of yourself,” Irang added briefly.
The last place Ise visited was Dine and Go.
It would have been troublesome to visit everyone separately, so he had sent Message Talismans in advance asking his fellow disciples to gather there.
Park Gangseo. Buchun. Seolryeong. Hong Wonseo. Pi Garam. Hae Unchan.
There were only six people worth calling ties, but they were still quite precious to him.
Though Hae Unchan was particularly hard to see.
Just as expected, he had not responded this time either.
Ise sat with the others at a table in the back of the shop.
He took a bundle of spiritual herbs from his storage pouch and set it on the broad table.
“They’re spiritual herbs.”
“All of this?”
The five of them looked toward the bundle. Even at a glance, it seemed like a considerable amount.
“Hong Wonseo. Make medicinal pellets with these and divide them equally among the five of you.”
“...Pardon?”
“They aren’t free. Put them on credit and pay me back later, however you can.”
Hong Wonseo hesitated. They were close enough, but almost no one handed precious spiritual herbs over to another person.
Even if it was called a debt, repayment would ultimately be left to each person’s conscience. It was no different from a gift.
Even between parents and children, keeping strict accounts was common sense in the world of immortal cultivation.
Still, Ise could not properly digest even Supreme-Grade Qi-Condensing Pellets in his current state.
Most of these were ingredients for middle and low-grade Qi-Condensing Pellets.
Even if he ate them, they would not make a difference.
Yet selling them to others felt wasteful. Spiritual Stones practically multiplied whenever he robbed cultivators, so why would he do strangers a favor?
A senior of the Great Exorcist Order had looked after him excessively. In Ise’s view, it was only right to extend the same generosity to those connected to him.
“This is too much, Senior,” Hong Wonseo said at once, looking troubled, but Ise shook his head.
“It’s nearly the Lunar New Year. Think of it as New Year’s money from your senior. Should I give you some good wishes too?”
Ise pointed directly at his companions, especially Buchun and Park Gangseo.
“Cultivate hard. It’d be troublesome if I came back and found you dead because your lifespans had run out.”
Seolryeong recoiled at Ise’s good wishes.
“What kind of good wishes are those...?”
“I’m afraid it might come true,” Hong Wonseo replied calmly.
Pi Garam only snickered.
“By the way, Wonseo. You said you wanted to ask me for something before. Do you want to say it now? It might be too late after I return.”
“No. It’s fine now.”
“What was it?”
“My family said that if I wanted proper support, I should bear many pureblood cultivators. I thought that if I had to, descendants with special constitutions would be better.”
“...”
Ise and the others all looked horrified.
“Was it Seolbaek, by any chance?”
“Yes. Something like that.”
“That man really goes around saying that to everyone.”
He was the absurd sort of person who had told Ise to have descendants too.
Did he think people were hens that laid eggs?
“Anyway, Seolbaek and the pureblood cultivators have mostly disappeared now, so I don’t need to worry about it.”
“I’m really curious about what’s inside his head. If we opened it up, wouldn’t there be a combat puppet inside...?”
“That’s not funny.”
Hong Wonseo dismissed Seolryeong’s words.
Ise shook his head and changed the subject.
“I suppose Dine and Go has to close now. That’s a little sad. I’ve grown attached to this place.”
“We aren’t closing it. We decided to open a comprehensive market shop.”
“A comprehensive market shop?”
“Yeah. Senior Seol will exclusively supply spirit artifacts, Senior Hong will supply medicinal pellets, and Senior Pi will supply formation artifacts. Once you return, we’ll add immortal cuisine and make it the best shop at headquarters.”
It was an impressive ambition for a group of Qi Condensation Realm cultivators, but Ise did not say so aloud.
“But Gangseo.”
“Yeah?”
“How did you end up calling all of them Senior? Seriously, work harder.”
“...”
Park Gangseo closed his mouth.
Ise looked at Buchun beside him.
“Buchun, your lifespan hasn’t run out yet?”
“I’m not even forty yet, Senior...”
“Only you two are getting old. It’s honestly hard to look at.”
Unlike the other three, whose steady advances in realm had slowed their aging, Buchun and Park Gangseo clearly bore the marks of time.
It seemed both would eventually die of old age in the Qi Condensation Realm.
Ise stared at them for a moment, then added, “I’ll say goodbye in advance. In your next lives, make sure you’re born with good spiritual roots.”
“No, Senior...”
After avoiding the gazes of those who would soon die and leave him, Ise took the Life-Transmission Pearl Seolryeong had given him from his robe and returned it.
“I used it well. Thank you.”
Seolryeong accepted it and looked at him.
“But, Ise.”
“Yeah?”
“Why aren’t you returning the Mind-Settling Mirror?”
“Right. Where’s Hae Unchan?”
“Don’t change the subject.”
“Hong Wonseo, don’t give this one any medicinal pellets.”
“No! I’m truly grateful you used it so well! A spirit artifact really does have an owner, doesn’t it?”
“You don’t mean it. Give her only half as much as everyone else.”
“I was wrong, Senior!”
How dare she try to act miserly toward a senior as lofty as the heavens.
“Do better, all right?”
Seolryeong grinned and answered Ise’s question.
“Hae Unchan is a cultivation maniac. He does nothing but demon hunting and closed-door cultivation.”
“You should all learn from him in that regard. Give Hae Unchan my regards. That guy is really hard to see.”
Ise continued giving them nagging disguised as good wishes until the very end.
“Seolryeong, will you read my fortune one last time?”
“Forget fortune-telling... I’ll perform a cleansing ritual for you. You’re going far away, so you need good luck.”
Seolryeong rolled up her sleeves and stood.
Ise watched her for a moment, then answered with a bright smile.
“Thank you.”
* * *
After leaving headquarters behind, Ise stopped by Haeil to report that he was departing on his mission and received some information.
He mounted Dream-Saving Cloud and headed straight north along the wastelands.
He unfolded the map Haeil had given him once more, along with the notes written on it.
It said that if he followed the wastelands north, a region called Byeolcheon would appear before he reached the Zheng Empire’s Ten-Thousand-Li Great Wall.
Fallen Heavenly Realm, Byeolcheon.
It had supposedly once been an island floating through the sky.
Long ago, people had seen it and mistaken it for the Heavenly Realm, giving it the name Byeolcheon.
Then, after a certain incident, the island had fallen. A rift formed in the process, and demons from the demon realm had poured through.
Now it had become a dangerous place crawling with demonic qi.
Both the wind spiritual ground and the teleportation formation Haeil had told him about were located there.
Ise planned to raise the Wind-Shattering Qi Art to at least the fifth star at the wind spiritual ground before crossing into the Northern Continent.
After traveling along the ridges of the wastelands for two and a half days, a deep gorge split between enormous mountain ridges appeared in the distance.
Prison Wind Gorge.
Just as its name suggested, it was a gorge where the wind was trapped like a prison.
The updraft pouring from within was so strong that if someone jumped into the unfathomable depths below, the wind would support their body and lift them back up.
Ise settled on a ridge above the gorge, steadied his breathing, and spread out his divine sense.
His divine sense now covered a wide enough range to sweep through the entire gorge at once.
Then one strand of it collided directly with another divine sense.
A demon beast. One that had reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
“...So this wind spiritual ground already has an owner.”
Ise muttered quietly.
The other party, having sensed him as well, slowly approached.
Ise gripped the handle of the Black Phosphorus Axe and prepared his divine sense.
What drifted out from the depths of the wind spiritual ground was a demon beast that looked half human and half bird.
It had a long head and face, red eyes, white hair, and a birdlike beak. Blade-sharp feathers covered its entire body.
Its legs were the most striking feature.
Instead of two legs spreading to either side, it had a single long leg growing from the center of its body.
Judging by its appearance, it seemed to be a One-Legged Human-Faced Bird, a first-rank demon beast species that had advanced into a Foundation Establishment demon beast.
“This place... Uin’s territory.”
The demon beast that called itself Uin spoke in clumsy human words.
“Intruder. Die.”
Rather than waste words on a demon beast, Ise mounted Dream-Saving Cloud and flew forward, rapidly closing the distance.
Once a demon beast advanced to the Foundation Establishment Realm, each individual developed different traits.
That meant every Foundation Establishment demon he encountered was effectively an unknown enemy.
‘First, based on the traits of the One-Legged Human-Faced Bird.’
The One-Legged Human-Faced Bird’s most basic attack was firing feathers that could pierce steel.
Like all demon beasts with the form of birds of prey, it was weak in close combat and lost all its power the moment it was dragged to the ground.
Ise poured primordial qi into the Black Phosphorus Axe and shot forward.
But Uin vanished even faster, leaving an afterimage behind.
Ise narrowed his eyes slightly.
Fast.
Dream-Saving Cloud was already one of the fastest flight spirit artifacts he knew.
His precise control of divine sense could push its speed to the limit.
Even so, he could not catch up.
As if mocking him, Uin widened the distance between them and rode the wind of Prison Wind Gorge with ease.
Whoom, whoom.
Realizing Ise’s flight could not reach it, Uin beat its wings twice.
The powerful demonic qi of a Foundation Establishment demon beast flew toward him, carrying wind-aspect power.
Translucent blades of wind.
Ise enlarged the Yellow Great Parasol with the Giant Weapon Art and reinforced it with the Adamantine Chain, but the impact drove him far backward.
At the same time, a whirlwind rose from beneath his feet and wrapped around his body.
Footnotes:
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