WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 18: Lesser Defeat Sword Cheongun (1)
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The Five-Element Life-Accelerating Art was a Foundation Establishment cultivation method.
It was a cultivation method exclusive to a major realm boundary, practiced from the early stage until its training was complete in the late stage.
Its core focused on growing spiritual herbs and using the spiritual energy recycled through that process to advance one's realm. It followed a slightly different path from ordinary cultivation methods.
Setting aside the process of directly absorbing spiritual energy from spiritual herbs, it was not all that different from the Demon-Hunting Spirit-Sending Foundation Establishment Art.
It came with five spells.
Warming Art, which created a sustained flame to keep a space at a steady temperature.
Irrigation Art, which evenly sprayed water over spirit soil and kept it moist for some time.
Fertile-Soil Art, which gave ordinary dirt the fertile spiritual properties of spirit soil.
Pruning Art, which removed deadly diseases such as blight, contamination, and rot disease without harming the spiritual herb itself.
And Life-Accelerating Art, the heart of the cultivation manual, which rapidly accelerated the growth of spiritual herbs.
Most had little practical use in combat, but they were essential for growing spiritual herbs.
Ise practiced the cultivation method until he reached the third star, the minimum realm needed to use the spells. Then he raised the spells to the third star as well.
The method's principles were so complex that they took quite some time to grasp.
The Soul-Return Body-Entering Art felt as though he had not even been permitted to understand its concepts. This method was different. He understood both the concepts and the process, yet still could not easily follow it.
That remained true despite its detailed annotations and unusually helpful explanations.
‘This is enough for now.’
He had planned to advance as far as possible, but the manual explained that from the fourth star onward, practice would only become efficient once he entered the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm. For now, he put it aside.
‘Should I test it?’
Ise used the central spell, Life-Accelerating Art, on the Ten-Year Herb he had planted.
‘Only once a day, and for no more than one hour.’
The manual said excessive use of Life-Accelerating Art would make a spiritual herb rot and die.
Spiritual energy turned into glittering dust and scattered over the Ten-Year Herb.
There was no immediate change.
Ise took a large sandglass from his storage pouch.
He lost track of time whenever he cultivated, so he had acquired a spirit artifact that would alert him after a day had passed.
When he turned the sandglass over, the sand inside began to fall.
While Life-Accelerating Art worked on the spiritual herb, Ise continued circulating his qi whenever he had the chance.
By then, only about a third of the Supreme-Grade Qi-Condensing Pellet Haeil had given him remained. The amount of spiritual energy within him felt as though it would soon reach the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
When the soft rustle of falling sand stopped and the alert sounded, Ise cast the spells on the Ten-Year Herb one after another before turning the sandglass over again.
Three times, then four.
After the sandglass had been turned over roughly thirty-six more times, another leaf sprouted from the Ten-Year Herb's stem.
It meant the spiritual herb had gained another year of growth.
‘About ten times faster.’
It had completed a year's worth of growth in forty days.
That meant it would take roughly ten years to produce a Hundred-Year Herb.
The efficiency was not impressive for now, but the cultivation method was only at the third star. It would surely become much faster later.
Based on the difference in power between the third and tenth stars of his other cultivation methods, he concluded that it could reach a time multiplier of up to a hundredfold.
At Great Completion, he could mass-produce one Hundred-Year Herb every year.
‘That's absurd.’
The thought left him so hollow that he could not even laugh.
All the years he had struggled desperately to earn Spiritual Stones flashed before his eyes.
Ise revised every judgment he had made about the cultivation method and the talisman treasure.
His doubt over whether this was a cultivation method worth dedicating his entire immortal cultivation life to.
His mistaken belief that the talisman treasure, rather than the cultivation method, was the secret map's true value.
All of it had been wrong.
The moment its existence became known, the continent would be turned upside down. This was a shocking, unbelievable great fortuitous encounter.
It did have the disadvantage of requiring him to tend the garden continuously, but he would be cultivating here anyway, so it was not much of a problem.
As his realm rose, the intervals between maintenance would grow longer as well.
‘Then demonic qi is the problem.’
Unlike spiritual energy, demonic qi could not be absorbed through qi circulation.
He had to obtain it himself, whether by killing and devouring demons, extracting souls, or draining essence.
Until now, he had always had an excess of demonic qi and lacked spiritual energy, which had slowed his cultivation. Now, that situation had reversed.
‘I have no choice but to hunt demonic cultivators more seriously.’
There were many demons. Since they were born from evil deeds and vengeful resentment, they sprouted like weeds no matter how many he killed.
Demonic cultivators in particular were everywhere, no matter which continent he visited.
Ise believed there would no longer be a bottleneck holding back his cultivation.
‘Should I head out soon?’
It felt as though quite some time had passed.
Ise considered leaving to handle what he needed to do, then put it off again.
He was still hungry for cultivation.
* * *
How much time had passed? Through his divine sense, Ise sensed Ryu Seonghan entering the residence.
Ryu moved around inside for a while, then grasped the doorknob and came in.
Ise had deliberately waited for him to enter.
He wanted to see whether others could enter the Living-Spirit Cave Abode.
“Senior?”
Ise slowly opened his eyes. Ryu wore the robes of the Heavenly Ice Palace.
Seeing how much more at ease he seemed, life in the sect appeared to suit him reasonably well.
“I faintly sensed spiritual energy, so I wondered if you were here. What is this place?”
“I got it from the Bottomless Labyrinth.”
“Don't tell me you successfully hunted down that Foundation Establishment wanted criminal?”
Ise answered with silence.
“No, wow... It looks like a portable blessed grotto. Damn. No wonder that wanted criminal became obsessed with it.”
Ryu looked around the Living-Spirit Cave Abode, his eyes darting about.
Ise did not bother explaining the cultivation method.
It was not that he distrusted Ryu.
Their soul-binding contract was still in effect, and Ryu needed him.
Still, there was no need to provoke needless envy or greed.
“Can you store things here too?”
“Yeah. It also doubles as a large storage space.”
“I'm seriously jealous......”
Ise made his usual teasing joke with a smile.
“You don't have a personal portable cave abode? Can you even call yourself a cultivator?”
“What cultivator has a personal portable cave abode?!”
Ryu continued talking about how jealous he was, then suddenly clutched his head.
Ise narrowed his eyes.
“...Ahaha. For a moment, I had the disrespectful thought that I might inherit it if you died, Senior......”
“I really can't take you around without a binding contract.”
“I don't trust myself either, so I can't ask you to release it......”
Ryu took three large bundles from his storage pouch.
“It's spirit beast feed. I figured it would be hard for you to keep feeding Bisang whenever you're cultivating.”
At the word feed, Bisang abruptly raised its head from where it had been curled up.
“It doesn't eat much, so it's fine, but thanks.”
“Don't mention it. Oh, and I've joined the Heavenly Ice Palace.”
“Yeah, I can see that. Good work.”
Ise briefly praised Ryu's achievement.
Now Ise could move another step closer to his goal.
“I think I can arrange an identity for you. As an independent cultivator affiliated with the Heavenly Capital Realm.”
“Oh?”
“You just need to carry this. It isn't an identity token, it's a guarantor token. It means that I, as a member of the Heavenly Ice Palace, guarantee your identity. We can also exchange Message Talismans.”
“Sounds good.”
Ise accepted the silver token Ryu offered.
It bore the Heavenly Ice Palace's emblem, Ryu Seonghan's name, and affiliation.
“You've only been cultivating this whole time, right? Let's go out for once. You need some fresh air. If you keep sitting around and cultivating, you'll get bedsores.”
“Don't worry. I work on physical training from time to time too.”
“Physical training won't mean much with a body that has reached Foundation Establishment, will it?”
“It's just a habit.”
“You're really obsessive......”
Ise chuckled and stood.
He had been planning to handle the things he had put off anyway.
After putting away the Living-Spirit Cave Abode in the Cosmos Pouch, the two headed for the market town.
Walking side by side, Ise asked, “How much time has passed?”
“It's been a year since I joined the Heavenly Ice Palace, so... it's been about a year and a half since we came to the Heavenly Ice Palace.”
Had that much time already passed?
“Don't you get bored, cultivating like that every day?”
“Not at all. I want to hole up and cultivate for about a hundred years.”
“I heard there's such a thing as a cultivation heart demon... At that point, don't you have an addiction?”
“Maybe.”
“Still, you should come out now and then. Bisang needs walks too.”
Ise stroked Bisang's feathers as it folded its wings and perched on his shoulder.
Perhaps happy to be going out again after so long, the creature made a contented rumbling sound.
Fortunately, the Northern Continent had Meat Preservation Vaults too.
Ise chose the largest capacity available, then restocked the various consumables he had used.
Next, he visited a spiritual-herb shop, checked the herbs that were commonly traded, and bought seeds and seedlings.
He focused on herbs that grew more valuable as they accumulated years.
He also bought ingredients for immortal cuisine made from Uin meat.
Since Ryu Seonghan had joined the Heavenly Ice Palace, Ise thought it was about time to make some Foundation Establishment immortal cuisine.
Lastly, he stopped by a nearby secret-manual bookshop to ask around about the whereabouts of the Two Principles Return-to-Origin Art. He also checked whether there were any useful demonic arts manuals.
He would have considered learning a demonic-path cultivation method he found less objectionable, but every demonic arts manual was unfit to learn.
Studying one of those felt like an invitation to fall into a heart demon tribulation.
Thinking once again that demonic cultivators were not people one could associate with, Ise returned to the residence.
After taking Uin's corpse out of the Demon-Sealing Talisman Book, Ise began preparing immortal cuisine.
This time, he made Tabaro-style royal braised chicken.
He planned to taste some himself, then put the rest in the Meat Preservation Vault for Ryu Seonghan.
Excited to eat immortal cuisine for the first time in a while, Ise moved his chopsticks.
“Wow, this is really... unbelievable......”
Ryu repeatedly exclaimed in awe at the spirit-gathering effect of Foundation Establishment immortal cuisine. Off to one side, Bisang chewed meat still clinging to the bones of a demon beast that might have been its mother.
For a moment, Ise felt guilty, but he looked away as though refusing to see it.
“When do you think you'll be able to access the Library Pavilion?”
“For now, I can check about a third of it. I think I'll be able to check the rest after I reach Foundation Establishment and earn some contribution points. None of the books I've checked had the cultivation manual you're looking for.”
“They might not have a physical copy. Is there a catalog of cultivation manuals across the continent?”
“Yes. It was organized as an index in the Library Pavilion access management office. For items they don't possess, it lists the sect where they're stored.”
Ise admired the Heavenly Ice Palace's thoroughness and praised it as a proper sect.
“I heard there is a separate collection of secret manuals that only elders and above can examine, but you said what you're looking for is part of something sealed... It probably won't be there.”
“Reaching Foundation Establishment comes first. Work hard.”
“Yes. I'll continue to practice diligently.”
Ise suppressed the urge to eat more.
His demonic qi was lacking right now, so he did not need the spirit-gathering effect. The more he ate, the less would remain for Ryu Seonghan.
“You eat the rest. Save it and eat it when the spirit-gathering effect wears off.”
“Wow, really?”
Ryu cheered. Afraid Ise might take it back, he quickly packed away the immortal cuisine and placed it in the Meat Preservation Vault.
“You really are unusual, Senior. You clearly seem like a miser when I look at you, but sometimes you're so generous.”
“It's not generosity. It's an investment. Nothing in this world is free, and everything has a price.”
“You mean I should work hard, right? Understood.”
“And take this and exchange it for contribution points.”
Ise took the corpse of the wanted demonic cultivator he had hunted from the Demon-Sealing Talisman Book.
Ryu flinched at the demonic cultivator's corpse appearing from thin air, then said to Ise, “Calling it ‘this’... You really do sound like a demonic-path cultivator.”
Ryu said it as though returning Ise's earlier teasing that he looked like a demonic cultivator.
But there was one difference between them.
Their realms.
The Black Phosphorus Axe struck Ryu Seonghan on the head.
Ise personally instructed Ryu, who rolled across the floor clutching his head, on proper manners.
“How dare you curse at a senior as lofty as the heavens? Watch yourself.”
Footnotes:
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