WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Episode 16: Chance, Fate, and Destiny (2)

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Ise had considered whether or not to reveal his realm.

He could not tell which would be more advantageous for carrying out his mission, revealing his identity or hiding it.

Still, he doubted anyone would pay much attention to a single Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator from another region.

In a place where cultivators' contempt for ordinary people had reached such extremes, hiding his realm and gathering information seemed nearly impossible.

“Get up. I'll let you off.”

Even after Ise told the cultivator to rise, the cultivator only lay facedown on the ground, watching for his reaction.

“I said get up.”

More and more people were beginning to stare.

One of Ise's eyebrows twitched as he used the Levitation Art to lift the cultivator into the air.

Even then, the cultivator floated upward without changing from that prostrate position.

Cold sweat streamed down the cultivator's face, yet the cultivator simply would not listen.

Drawn by the unexpected commotion and the aura they sensed from Ise, cultivators began gathering one after another.

They did not seem to be here to threaten him.

Most were crushed by fear, standing far away as they formed a loose circle around the middle of the street.

‘What are they even trying to do?’

This was a thoroughly incomprehensible place.

Ise's head began to ache, but he soon felt that the situation would change somehow.

An aura from a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, one held within a Dharma-Flower Dantian, was approaching from the direction of the city.

Before long, his divine sense caught the auras of three Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.

In case things turned dangerous, he took out the Dream-Saving Cloud and kept it at his side, ready to flee at once.

‘Two early-stage, one mid-stage. I can handle all three even if they come at me together.’

He did not let his guard down.

If they were demonic cultivators from the Cheoryang Thunder Gate, he could fight and retreat against not three, but even five or ten of them.

Their cultivation methods and spells were predictable and well known.

The problem was that this was his first time in the Northern Continent.

Thinking of Cheongun from the Tyrant Sword Sect, whom he had met in the secret realm, Ise remembered that Cheongun had been fairly strong even among cultivators of the same realm.

If these were three Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators from the Great Exorcist Order, Ise would feel a chill down his spine.

In that case, he would run without hesitation.

The three Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators stopped some distance away from Ise.

Ise quickly looked them over.

‘They aren't Body Temperers.’

They did not have the tempered bodies characteristic of Body Temperers or cultivators who practiced Dual Cultivation of Dharma and Body.

All three were elderly and rather frail-looking. They did not seem like they would be particularly skilled fighters.

Ise bowed to the oldest man, whose realm was the highest among them.

They continued glaring at him warily.

“Which city are you from? Is this a declaration of war?”

“I believe there has been some misunderstanding, Senior.”

Ise remained polite, but their hostility did not fade.

He let out a barely visible sigh.

“I am not from the Northern Continent. I only stopped here because I have some business to attend to. If you cooperate for a little while, I will leave without causing any trouble.”

“Ha! Another continent? If you are going to lie, at least make it convincing!”

They shouted as though Ise had insulted them.

Their auras steadily rose.

The Mind-Reading Art was useless between cultivators of the same realm.

Neither side would allow the other's divine sense to peer into their mental image.

It seemed there was no other way.

In the end, it looked like he would have to use force.

‘Don't kill them.’

He did not know what sects they belonged to, who might stand behind them, or anything about the Northern Continent. He could not cross the line.

He had to subdue them within limits that could still be resolved afterward.

‘Subdue them. That will be much harder than simply killing them.’

He would try to end this by cutting their wrists and ankles.

Having made his decision, Ise spoke.

“If you intend to fight, send the Qi Condensation Realm cultivators back. If they get caught up in this, they will not escape death.”

“So you finally show your true colors.”

Whether the old man raged or not, Ise released his spiritual pressure and drove the Qi Condensation Realm cultivators away from the battlefield.

Those nearby hurriedly fled as if running for their lives.

Ise moved at once.

As his figure rushed forward, the three cultivators' hands immediately began forming seals.

‘Slow.’

Their divine sense clearly covered a far wider range than his, yet they were painfully slow at forming hand seals.

Ise raised an Earth Wall to block the leftmost cultivator's sight, sent a Wind Blade toward the cultivator on the right, then charged straight at the old man in front of him.

The Black Phosphorus Axe swung fiercely.

The black hatchet, imbued with the Adamantine Chain, came down on the wrist that was forming a hand seal.

The wrist was not severed in one strike, but the spell he had been casting fell apart.

Ise gathered primordial qi into the Yellow Great Parasol and sliced through both of the cultivator's shins at once.

An Earth Dragon flew toward him from behind.

Ise plunged straight into the ground.

He could feel divine sense tracing downward beneath the earth.

But Ise moved faster.

Slash. Slash. Ise had already appeared behind them. His primordial qi cut another old man's ankles, and he sent Wind Blades at the collapsing man's arms.

Perhaps because it was only at the fifth star, the Wind Blades failed to cut through the cultivator's wrists, even though the body had not been protected by a shred of spiritual energy.

Left with no choice, Ise extended his hatchet and severed the wrists himself.

During that time, the last cultivator created a sword of flame and swung it at him.

The flames slashed Ise's back, but the Thunder-Repelling Armor activated and instead scorched the old cultivator's body with lightning.

“Guhhh!”

The old cultivator hurriedly released raw spiritual energy that had not been converted into cultivation power.

Its force was impressive, but pure spiritual energy was the sort of attack that only worked in the Qi Condensation Realm.

Ise drew back, deflected the spiritual energy with the Yellow Great Parasol, then blocked the follow-up sword strike.

The amount of spiritual energy was enormous, but there was no sharpness in the swordsmanship.

The next instant, he struck the man's wrist with the Black Phosphorus Axe.

A defensive spirit artifact activated, crushing Ise's wrist instead.

Without even blinking, he used the Dokkaebi Shadow-Hunting Demonic Art, Dokkaebi Flame Art, to create four dokkaebi flames and send them at the man's limbs.

The Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator could not block all four directions, and dokkaebi fire began burning across the body.

The cultivator hurriedly tried to extinguish the flames clinging to the body with a water-element spell, but they would not go out.

Naturally. This was not a fire-element spell.

Ise's hatchet flashed with light.

A scream burst from the old cultivator's mouth.

Not long afterward, the three Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators lay sprawled on the ground, their wrists and ankles severed as they groaned.

They were weaker than he had expected.

They were weaker than the cultivators of the Great Exorcist Order, and even weaker than the demonic cultivators of the Cheoryang Thunder Gate.

They scarcely deserved to be called Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.

It seemed they had not fought in a very long time. They were like dull, rusted blades.

‘Is it because of the natural environment?’

With barriers like these, invading this place would not be easy.

After that brief thought, Ise looked around.

Sighs escaped from the people who had watched the battle.

“Ah... So Biryuseong is falling at last.”

“All the men will be killed, and the women will be violated...”

They did not even think of resisting. They simply wept with the expressions of people who had already lost their country.

Ise frowned at the bizarre sight.

It was not as if he were some demonic cultivator. What was all that about killing the men and doing things to the women?

In any case, this was a continent he could not begin to understand.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Ise shouted at the crowd.

“If any cultivator has a Regeneration Pellet, come forward.”

No one responded.

“Don't these people have a sect?”

He looked around in disbelief, but everyone only remained devastated as though the sky had fallen.

His patience was beginning to run out.

Grumbling, Ise placed a Restriction Art on the three cultivators, then put Regeneration Pellets into their mouths.

“I'll remove the restrictions after we finish talking. I don't want to fight again.”

The three old cultivators only stared blankly with the Regeneration Pellets Ise had put into their mouths still sitting there.

“They aren't poison, so just take them. If I wanted to kill you, would I really waste precious poison pellets?”

Only then did their mouths begin to move.

The cultivation world might be full of betrayal, where anyone who did not watch their back could have their head smashed in, but these people's wariness went too far.

The three rose to their feet. They still looked completely bewildered.

“Do you believe me now? Then let's talk for a moment.”

* * *

The use of force had worked.

Ise received a polite invitation and entered the main hall of their sect.

The mid-stage Foundation Establishment Realm old man explained that this place was Biryuseong, then introduced himself as the Sect Master of the Biryuseong Sect.

Tea was set before Ise. Instead of drinking it, he only savored its fragrance.

“It smells nice.”

After hesitating, the Sect Master of the Biryuseong Sect cautiously asked him a question.

“...Are you a Senior who has concealed your realm?”

At those words, the other two old men shouted, “A Core Formation Realm great cultivator!”

But Ise shook his head.

He had no desire to lie and draw attention to himself.

“That is not the case. I have only learned an unusual cultivation method. As I said, I am only here on business from another place.”

“Then... what can we do to cooperate?”

“First, I am looking for something. Mobilize everyone and find out whether it is somewhere in Biryuseong. Once you find it, I will leave without delay.”

Since outsiders did not seem welcome here, Ise thought it would be best to finish his business and leave.

The three old men nodded, and Ise gave his second condition.

“Second, I want information about the Northern Continent. Until I finish my business, I do not want another armed clash like this, or to be put in an awkward position because I do not understand the culture.”

That request was not difficult either.

Their expressions had visibly brightened.

“Ha ha. If only we had spoken things out from the beginning, as Fellow Daoist said.”

“That is the cultivation world, I suppose. Lastly... you will need to compensate me for attacking first.”

A faint tension entered the room at the word compensation.

They probably thought he was finally showing his true colors.

But Ise felt wronged.

This was not plunder. He was simply collecting fair payment.

“I clearly tried to resolve this through conversation. You were the ones who chose to fight. Every choice has its price. Is that not the law of the cultivation world?”

The Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators fell silent at his entirely reasonable words.

Ise added with crescent-shaped eyes.

“What, is it too much? I even gave you Regeneration Pellets. They are rare enough that none of the three of you had one.”

“If it is compensation... specifically... what...?”

“I'll take Spiritual Stones. Be generous. Generous.”

The Sect Master of the Biryuseong Sect now looked like a corpse on the verge of death.

Ise did feel bad about tormenting an old man so much, but he still had to take what was owed to him.

That was his personal principle.

“I apologize, but Biryuseong has no spare Spiritual Stones... The underground mines controlled by Foundation Establishment Realm forces produce extremely little. If the amount you seek is too great, it will be difficult for us to show sufficient sincerity...”

“Still, you are Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators. Aren't you complaining a little too much? How much wealth could the three of you have?”

After exchanging glances, they carefully set down pouches of Spiritual Stones.

A rough count showed that even all three combined might not amount to eight thousand.

He had planned to take around five thousand, but that would be more than sixty percent of their total assets.

Even Han Juok, that vile little thief from the Zheng Empire, had not been such an outright bandit.

“You really are poor... Then I will take items instead. Bring out all the spirit artifacts your sect owns. Do not leave out a single one.”

“...All of them?”

“Yes. Every last one. Do not worry. I am telling you in advance, it will not be fun if you hide any. I will only choose a few with a clear conscience. If there is truly nothing worth taking, then... I will only take three thousand Spiritual Stones. I might reduce that further if you provide good information.”

Ise spoke evenly, wearing the gentlest expression he could manage.

Footnotes:

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