WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 19: Essence-Absorbing Demon Valley (6)
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Another wall divided District 5 from District 4.
On the wooden bridge connecting them, a guard took Ise's copper token.
After checking the name on it and exchanging messages with headquarters, the guard looked Ise over from head to toe.
“You haven't been here long, have you? Murder within the district is forbidden, whether it's a demonic cultivator or a slave owned by one. Don't go around killing whoever you please just because you're upset.”
“Is that the only additional warning?”
“Yes. That's about it.”
No one in District 5 had cared when demonic cultivators slaughtered each other.
It seemed human life became a little more valuable once one crossed another layer inward.
“I heard I need to master a Heart Art to enter District 3. How do I prove that?”
“You must possess either the original or a copy of a Heart Art manual. Even if you've mastered one, it's difficult to prove without physical evidence.”
He needed a physical copy.
After committing that fact to memory, Ise thanked the guard, passed him, and made his way down.
The air was clearly different once he crossed the wooden bridge.
If District 5 had been a den of lawless wild beasts, this place at least resembled somewhere people lived together.
There was a shabby inn, several shops, and groups chatting in the streets.
Though they did not possess Heart Arts, it seemed the demonic cultivators each had some means of overcoming their heart demons.
At least, this was no longer an asura hell where everyone hunted or was hunted the moment their eyes met.
Even so, there were no disciples or associates of the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley here.
That meant he would need to reach at least District 3 to obtain information related to Demon Valley.
His first task, then, was finding a Heart Art.
He considered his options one by one.
First, find a way to join Demon Valley or work for it and receive one as a reward. It was the proper approach, but it would take time and draw him deeply into their affairs.
Second, take one from someone who possessed it. Anyone with a Heart Art was likely already inside District 3, so that was not realistic either.
Third, leave and acquire one elsewhere. Heart Arts were the secret arts of demonic sects. Getting his hands on something he could not even find in the Heavenly Capital Realm would be like plucking a star from the sky.
Fourth, capture a disciple of the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley and use a Soul-Controlling Talisman to extract only their Heart Art. That had the best chance of success. Still, he had only one Soul-Controlling Talisman, so he needed to be extremely careful.
Wondering whether there might be a way to slip over the wall unnoticed, Ise circled along the inner wall.
The results were disappointing.
Guards constantly patrolled atop the wall, and long formation markings had been carved throughout it.
There was no corner that could be called a blind spot.
‘Don't make a move until I know what formation has been set into the wall.’
This was the tiger's jaws.
He had to place every step carefully, as though walking over thin ice.
So he started asking around.
He approached a demonic cultivator who caught his eye and casually opened the conversation.
“Can I ask you something?”
“...My apologies.”
The demonic cultivator immediately lowered their head at Ise's approach, then even used the Concealment Art to flee.
Everyone else reacted the same way.
The moment Ise tried to approach, they scattered in terror.
Even speaking to someone was a challenge.
It was strange. When he did manage to speak with someone, they looked him over with wary, tense eyes. If he stopped them, they stammered out only the bare answer before rushing away.
At first, he thought they feared his high realm, but that was not the only reason.
Even those who mixed freely with other Foundation Establishment Realm demonic cultivators were especially wary of Ise.
As if they were righteous-path cultivators, while Ise alone was a demonic cultivator.
‘Using force as soon as I crossed over will draw attention.’
He had wanted to resolve this peacefully if possible, but the nerve of these demonic cultivators, shunning him like this, did not sit well with him.
The rules only said he could not kill anyone.
As he considered binding the next person he met, then cutting off their hands and feet if they tried to run and forcing them to answer, he noticed something unusual.
Most demonic cultivators here wore strips of colored cloth slung diagonally across their shoulders.
Black, red, blue. Each was different.
Thinking it might be one of their hidden rules, Ise formed an Earth Shadow Snare around the ankle of a demonic cultivator who met his eyes and immediately turned away.
“Aah!”
When Ise stepped right in front of them, their pupils trembled as though they had seen a reaper.
“P-Please spare me!”
“Don't run. I have something to ask.”
“...M-Me?”
“Yes, you. Why do you run the moment you see me? The other demonic cultivators don't avoid each other like this.”
“...Well.”
Their gaze shifted toward Ise's shoulder.
Only then did he realize the cloth was a marker that revealed something.
“What is that cloth you wear over your shoulder?”
“Are you a wandering cultivator?”
“Yes. I only arrived recently.”
“If I tell you... w-will you spare me?”
“I'll spare you.”
“You won't say that, then slit my throat from behind once I let my guard down... You'll really spare me?”
“I said I would. How many times do I have to say it?”
“You'll spare me, but you won't leave me alive in a state where living isn't really living, barely clinging to life without my limbs intact... You'll really leave me whole...?”
“Say one more word and I'll kill you.”
Ise could not take it anymore and threatened them.
Why could they not trust someone who said they would spare them?
Only then did the demonic cultivator clamp their mouth shut.
Ise jerked his chin toward the blue cloth over their shoulder.
“I'll ask again. What is that cloth?”
“Ah... You mean the Demon-Mind Armband. Its color tells others what kind of heart demon I have.”
“The color reveals the heart demon?”
“Yes. It warns others about my heart demon so they can avoid coming to harm. Black means murder, red means bloodsucking, blue means robbery and assault, yellow means essence absorption, and white means other minor side effects.”
“What counts as a minor side effect?”
“Cursing and insults. Heart demons that cause seizures or split personalities fall under that too. They can talk about killing your mother and father all they like, but what harm is that? That's practically cute.”
The demonic cultivator lightly rubbed the blue cloth over their shoulder as they continued.
“Say the demonic cultivator in front of me suddenly loses it and attacks me. If that's something I can handle, or even something I might enjoy, I can let them come close. But someone with a black armband could take my head off at any moment, so I stay far away. Just by looking at the color, you can guess what that bastard might do if they snap. It's a kind of warning sign.”
In other words, even if they could not control their heart demons, they could prepare by knowing what the demonic cultivator in front of them would do when they lost their mind.
At least, as long as they avoided black armbands, they would not die after getting swept up in someone else's heart demon.
It was their own rule for surviving in a world full of mentally broken, corrupted people.
He did not know who had created it, but it seemed fairly sensible.
“What does it mean when someone wears nothing?”
“It means they're a rotten bastard who doesn't care what happens to anyone else because of their own heart demon.”
“...”
As Ise's expression stiffened, cold sweat poured down the demonic cultivator's face.
“Ah! I absolutely, absolutely wasn't talking about you, Senior! Newcomers don't know about it! It's not some written law or anything, just a tradition in this district...!”
At last, the mystery was neatly solved.
Since he wore nothing, everyone here thought he was the most unhinged lunatic they could possibly encounter.
A hollow breath escaped him at the absurdity.
Ise tore a piece of unused white cloth from his storage pouch and wrapped it over his shoulder. The wariness in the demonic cultivator's eyes immediately faded.
“Where should I go if I want to get more information like this?”
“How should I know? Why not grab whoever passes by and beat them half to death? They'll spill everything. Ah, I really don't know much! I'm only thirty, a complete baby Qi Condensation Realm demonic cultivator...!”
“Fine. Go.”
As promised, Ise released the demonic cultivator with all their limbs intact.
That made it much easier to move around inside. Fewer people fled or turned pale the moment they saw him.
There was still nothing to show for it.
He could not expect strangers to kindly spill every detail to a demonic cultivator they had never met.
Looking tired, Ise entered an inn that caught his eye.
Beyond a shattered piece of wood that no longer looked capable of serving as a door, there was only one demonic cultivator wearing a yellow armband.
No owner appeared even after Ise waited for a while, so he asked the demonic cultivator sipping liquor.
“Where is the owner?”
“The proprietor is upstairs. Their heart demon flared up, so they went up to practice dual cultivation with an attendant. If you wait a little, they'll come down.”
Ise hurriedly withdrew the divine sense he had spread out.
Adapting to Demon Valley City did not look easy at all.
“Why not have a cup of water while you wait? Everything else here is terrible, but the water tastes good. Especially don't order the liquor. You'd be better off drinking horse piss. This stuff is barely drinkable.”
The demonic cultivator frowned and repeatedly gulped down liquor they claimed was worse than horse piss.
“If it tastes so bad, why did you come here?”
“Here? The proprietor has a yellow armband and is damn gorgeous.”
The demonic cultivator grinned and tapped their own yellow armband.
“...”
Ise closed his mouth.
The owner showed no sign of coming down, no matter how long he waited.
As Ise sat there drinking only water, the inn door creaked open.
A beggar-like demonic cultivator entered, limping strangely on one leg.
Green cloth was wrapped over their shoulder.
The beggar nodded and held out a hand as though asking for alms, but the demonic cultivator who had been quietly drinking water jumped to their feet.
Without warning, they kicked the beggar in the side.
“Damn it, what bad luck are you bringing, crawling out here in broad daylight?”
Then they went into the kitchen, grabbed a handful of salt, and scattered it across the fallen beggar's face.
The beggar did not make a sound as they limped outside.
“What kind of heart demon does a green armband signify?”
“Ah, you really are new to Demon Valley City.”
They dusted off their hands as they spoke.
“Green armbands don't signify heart demons. They mark the Corrupted. As you saw, their bodies are rotting away. I think it might be a side effect of some cultivation art... They say it isn't contagious, but who knows? Don't get too close.”
The demonic cultivator said that, for some reason, all the Corrupted had had their tongues cut out, then added a warning.
“They live together near the eastern wall of District 4, so it would be best for you not to go that way at all.”
Having lost their taste for the liquor, they poured it onto the floor and left.
Instead of waiting for the owner, who seemed too peerless at dual cultivation to consider coming downstairs, Ise followed the Corrupted person with the green armband who had just been driven out.
Partly, he was curious about the incomprehensible phenomenon. He also hoped to gain some new information.
The closer he got to the eastern wall, the stronger the stench of rot became.
Soon, a village marked off by stakes and iron spikes came into view.
A warning sign stood at its only entrance.
“Village of the Corrupted. Do Not Enter.”
Ise stepped inside.
There were no intact buildings. Only crude huts crowded together, loosely shielded by scraps of straw matting and collapsed earthen walls.
People whose flesh had festered and leaked pus, as though they suffered from leprosy, crouched in every corner.
When the Corrupted recognized Ise as a Foundation Establishment Realm demonic cultivator, they all fell to the ground and pressed their heads down.
He quietly examined them with divine sense and found that every one of their spiritual roots had been crushed.
There were even ordinary mortals among them, people who had never possessed spiritual roots to begin with.
Demonic cultivators whose spiritual roots had been destroyed were one thing.
But why were mortals without spiritual roots suffering from the side effects of demonic arts?
The sight made no sense at all.
Footnotes:
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