WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Episode 16: Chance, Fate, and Destiny (6)

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Ise forced down his bewilderment.

Don't be disappointed. The immortal cuisine had only changed from roasted eggs to boiled young chicken.

With that in mind, he quietly watched the bird hatch.

It struck him anew that the birth of life... carried a strange resonance.

It would have been moving if this thing hadn't been a demon beast.

A bird breaking free from its egg was called hatching.

That small life shattered its first wall and overcame itself.

Still, the bird that emerged wasn't particularly cute.

How could a bird as large as his head be cute the moment it was born?

No matter how mysterious the sight had been, he couldn't grow attached to a demon spawn.

This thing was supposed to become his late-night snack.

‘Wait.’

He couldn't help frowning.

The newly born bird carried spiritual energy, not demonic qi.

Why? Why would a demon beast's offspring possess spiritual energy?

It wasn't even a One-Legged Human-Faced Bird.

It looked like an ordinary bird, its feathers a mix of red and silver.

One possibility came to Ise's mind.

Perhaps a demon beast or spirit beast wasn't born with its nature fixed. Perhaps it was decided afterward.

Could it be because he had used the Fire-Release Art with spiritual energy?

Maybe it had absorbed a great deal of his fire-aspect spiritual energy and been born as a spirit beast. Or perhaps the egg had never belonged to Uin in the first place.

Ise knew nothing about spirit beast taming, so he could only speculate.

The young spirit beast looked at him. It blinked a few times, then began waddling toward him.

Newborn ducklings and chicks followed the first moving thing they saw as if it were their mother. It was called imprinting.

This thing apparently saw him as its parent.

Which meant he was about to become a father... despite never asking for it.

Ise sighed, placed the bird into the Cosmos Pouch, then took it out again.

He wanted to see whether it could be stored there alive. Carrying it around outside would be dangerous, after all.

Chirp! Chirp!

The thing seemed to enjoy going in and out of the Cosmos Pouch and kept chirping.

Fortunately, storing a living spirit beast didn't seem to harm it. The problem was that it took up far too much space.

“Stay in there for now.”

Its chirping was giving him a headache. Ise put it back into the Cosmos Pouch so he could sort out his thoughts.

What was he supposed to do with it?

After much thought, he reached a conclusion.

He would keep it for now.

He wasn't raising it, only protecting it.

Once he returned to the Great Exorcist Order, he planned to send it to the Spirit Beast Grove.

A Daoist from an order that revered spiritual materials could hardly abandon a young spirit beast just because it was troublesome.

‘But what am I supposed to feed it?’

Since it was a bird, should it eat insects?

Or, since it was a spirit beast, would it eat meat too?

Ise picked up some discarded Snow Boar bones from one corner of the kitchen.

Then he took the spirit beast out again.

“......”

The spirit beast he had put in the Cosmos Pouch stared back at him with bright eyes, a spiritual herb he had set aside as a secondary ingredient for immortal cuisine clenched in its beak.

The instant it swallowed the herb, flames from the Fireball Art flared up in Ise's hand.

“Do you want to become fried chicken?”

It was an unforgivable crime.

That arrogant spirit beast had dared steal the resources of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. He needed to teach it a lesson...

The spirit beast opened its mouth and gulped down the Fireball resting on Ise's hand.

A tiny flame even flickered out when it burped.

“What kind of creature are you?”

* * *

While he was nursing a headache over his unexpected bird-rearing duties, Ryu Seonghan came to visit his residence.

It seemed Ryu Seonghan had gathered the information Ise had requested on the Tyrant Sword Sect and the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley.

Ryu Seonghan took out a Burial Map containing the information and asked, “But Senior, do you do anything other than eat and cultivate?”

“What else is a cultivator supposed to do besides cultivate and eat?”

“...Even so, a person can't live by cultivating alone. They'd lose their mind.”

“Oh, I've been raising a bird lately too.”

Ise pointed to a corner of the residence. The spirit beast was curled up there, asleep.

“......What? That's a spirit beast.”

“It has two spiritual roots, fire and wind. It's quite talented.”

“You keep finding new ways to surprise me. Have you named the spirit beast?”

“No. I don't think I will. If I give it a name, I feel like I'll have to take responsibility for it to the end.”

Ise knew the power held by the names of spirit beasts and spiritual materials.

He still remembered what had happened with Bamboo-Tube Beauty, and it hadn't been pleasant.

“Senior, you're quite the odd one. Other people would love to raise something like that.”

Ise grinned and unfolded the Burial Map Ryu Seonghan had handed him.

The Tyrant Sword Sect. As its name implied, it was a sword sect, a faction of madmen who sought to conquer the cultivation world with the sword alone.

Its sect master was at the Nascent Soul Realm, and it had a fair number of Core Formation Realm cultivators as well.

The Tyrant Sword Sect's master had lost a one-on-one battle against the Grand Duke and entered the Grand Duke's service.

The information was only a general overview, not detailed intelligence, but Ise committed every word to memory.

Next came the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley, a demonic sect that cultivated demonic qi through vital essence and ghost qi.

The moment the Grand Duke began the war of conquest, they immediately declared their complete surrender.

It was a bizarre sect that created breeding grounds for mortals, absorbing their vital essence while they lived and their ghost qi once they died.

Their strength was similar to the Tyrant Sword Sect's. Still, it was commonly believed they would lose to the Tyrant Sword Sect in a direct clash.

They had often clashed indirectly, if not in open war, and every time, the Tyrant Sword Sect had come out on top.

“Sounds like the two sects don't get along.”

“They don't. I heard the Tyrant Sword Sect hates the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley because they lack righteousness. Righteousness. From our point of view, doesn't the Tyrant Sword Sect seem like the stranger bunch?”

“No, they seem completely normal to me.”

“So you're one of them too, Senior Ise......”

No matter how often he heard it, Ise couldn't understand it.

The demonic sects he knew would never submit so readily to a cultivation sect.

They were surely plotting some scheme behind the scenes.

“Do you know a sword cultivator named Cheongun?”

“You know Cultivator Cheongun? He's famous. People say he's the greatest talent among sword cultivators.”

Cheongun had certainly seemed extraordinary. It appeared he was famous here as well, considering his name had reached even this rural Foundation Establishment city.

It would be nice if they had a chance to meet again. True sword cultivators were rare, and Cheongun had left a strong impression on him.

“I fought him once in a secret realm. More importantly, haven't you made your decision yet?”

“I'm sorry. Things have been rather hectic with my clan lately.”

“What happened?”

“A nearby Foundation Establishment city proposed an arranged marriage. They want to marry their Young Clan Head to one of the daughters of our clan, but it's put us in an awkward position.”

“I can see why. It would be unpleasant to marry without considering the wishes of those involved.”

“That isn't the problem. If necessary, an arranged marriage can't be helped. The issue is that our Ryu Clan has no unmarried daughters of marriageable age. Even if we started having and raising one now, they'd have to wait nearly twenty years.”

“...Then what kind of arranged marriage is that? What are you supposed to do?”

“Exactly.”

“Don't tell me they plan to start a war.”

“I don't think so. The Yun Clan isn't much stronger than we are. They have one late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, one middle-stage, and two early-stage. If we fought, both sides would suffer. Unless there were a vast gap in strength, they wouldn't start a war over such a flimsy excuse when our strength is so evenly matched.”

Ryu Seonghan's words made some sense, but Ise knew that the cultivation world didn't always operate according to common sense.

Whenever something felt strange, trouble was bound to follow. Why did bad feelings always come true?

The moment Ise connected Northern Continent culture with the demonic arts of the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley, a question occurred to him.

“You said there are around a thousand Foundation Establishment clans in the Northern Continent. What about long ago, after the continent was unified?”

“I'm not sure. Based on the history I know, I think the number of cities has always been about the same. If it decreased, it increased again. If it increased, it decreased again.”

About the same.

Ise turned those words over in his mind.

“Why do you ask?”

“No reason. It's nothing.”

Humans were resilient and fertile. Left alone, they would multiply and prosper without end as time passed.

The number of cultivators should also continue growing under normal circumstances.

If wars occurred frequently, the number of cities should decline instead.

It was natural for things to move in one direction, whether growing or shrinking.

Yet an entire continent where the number of cities remained almost unchanged through the years...

Was it simply Ise being overly sensitive that it felt contrived, even artificial?

Ise looked out the window at the sky.

It would be nice to have the ability to read heavenly omens at times like this.

For no reason, he thought of the mischievous Shaman beyond the continent.

As Ise sat blankly and organized his thoughts, Ryu Seonghan, who had waited quietly, cautiously spoke.

“Senior, if you don't mind, could you delay your answer a little longer? I think both sides would feel better if I settled this matter before leaving.”

“Fine.”

Ise readily agreed.

He only had to cultivate in the meantime.

* * *

Ise flew over the snowfields.

Before entering seclusion, he needed to find the main ingredient for making immortal cuisine.

He seemed to have spent nearly an entire day wandering around.

‘This is really inconvenient......’

There was no one to bring him information. Searching, hunting, and cooking all on his own was far more troublesome than he had expected.

He hadn't realized how convenient it had been to belong to a sect that found demon beasts and brought their locations to him.

Now he truly understood how hard life was for independent cultivators.

Even he, with his higher realm and many means at his disposal, found it inconvenient in every way. Qi Condensation Realm independent cultivators must have felt like they were struggling along a thorny path every day.

On the second day, he found a fifth-grade demon beast.

It was a fish demon beast that swam through the snow, called a Snowfish in the Northern Continent.

It was fairly large for a fish, enough for at least two meals.

After returning to his residence, Ise made spicy fish stew from the Snowfish. He prepared two bowls and put one into the Cosmos Pouch.

He threw the bones and other unwanted parts to the spirit beast.

It eagerly ate them.

He already had his hands full. Having to care for a spirit beast too was becoming unbearably annoying.

‘It doesn't look like it'll be much help, either......’

Part of him wanted to sell it somewhere, but whether it knew his thoughts or not, the creature patted its belly, curled up beside Ise, and began nodding off.

“Don't sleep. You cultivate too.”

Ise grabbed the spirit beast by the scruff of its neck and carried it into the cave abode with him.

He dropped it in one corner and began circulating his qi.

The fragment of Supreme-Grade Qi-Condensing Pellet he had taken before leaving had now been fully refined.

He planned to continue without breaking his momentum.

Ise tore off a slightly larger piece than the first one and pushed it into his mouth.

A vast current of spiritual energy soon surged into his body.

After calming the raging energy, Ise began raising his attainment in his spells.

Most of his Qi Condensation Realm spells had reached Great Completion, but most of his Foundation Establishment Realm spells remained around the eighth star.

Among the techniques of the Dokkaebi Shadow-Hunting Demonic Art, only Thousand-Pound Strike had reached the seventh star, while the Dokkaebi Flame Art was at the sixth. The Mind-Shattering Art was still only at the third star.

‘It's hard to cultivate the Mind-Shattering Art because I have no use for it.’

The Mind-Shattering Art was a demonic art that destroyed a person's mind.

It was the only dokkaebi spell related to the mind.

It didn't work on demons, and Ise felt uneasy about using it on cultivators, so his attainment had progressed slowly.

‘Still, it's better to train it.’

It was better not to use something than to be unable to use it. Ise devoted himself to training.

* * *

When he opened his eyes after finishing cultivation, the spirit beast was nowhere to be seen.

Only the half-open wooden board, utterly useless as a door, rattled.

“What? Where did it go?”

It wasn't outside the cave abode either. It didn't register within his divine sense.

It seemed to have run away.

‘Well... that's not so bad.’

If it had left on its own instead of being abandoned, he didn't need to feel guilty.

Ise stretched and headed back to his residence.

Footnotes:

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