WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 19: Essence-Absorbing Demon Valley (7)
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Ise's gaze swept over the Corrupted prostrating themselves before he slowly opened his mouth.
“I have something to ask you.”
No one raised their head.
“If you answer honestly, I'll give you medicinal pellets that can restore missing body parts. I don't know if they'll restore your rotted flesh, but they should at least regrow a severed tongue. Is anyone willing to cooperate?”
It was neither kindness nor sympathy.
If anything, it was closer to hypocrisy.
The more desperate someone was, the more likely they were to grasp at even a straw. Winning over desperate mortals or crippled demonic cultivators was far easier than dealing with demon beasts whose hackles were raised.
For now, gathering every scrap of information he could was the priority.
One person hesitantly rose from the group.
She was an old woman who looked to be over eighty, the eldest among them. Half her face had melted like candle wax, leaving her unable to properly open one eye.
When Ise gestured to her, she approached hesitantly.
‘Perfect.’
The fact that the eldest had stepped forward meant she had the courage and heart to think of the group. The fact that she had survived this long despite her age meant she possessed knowledge and wisdom to match.
He took a Regeneration Pellet from his storage pouch and handed it to her.
The old woman accepted it with trembling hands and swallowed it. Her festering flesh healed, if only slightly.
The decay had not vanished completely, but her severed tongue appeared to have grown back.
“Ah, ahh…”
The old woman quietly made sounds, as though confirming she still had her voice.
Ise patiently waited for her to adjust to the changes in her body.
“How old are you?”
“This old woman is... around one hundred and twenty.”
“Were you a cultivator?”
“I was once, though I was nothing more than an ordinary mortal.”
At the mention of cultivation, Ise examined her entire body with divine sense.
Her spiritual root had been destroyed so completely that not even a trace remained. It was quite different from the damaged spiritual roots of the others.
He checked whether she might be concealing her realm, but he sensed no divine sense from her.
Suspicion entered Ise's eyes. It was a habit he had developed after spending so long in the cultivation world.
‘Strange.’
He could accept that her spiritual root had been destroyed long ago and vanished without a trace. What bothered him was the decaying aura flowing from her body, which clouded his divine sense like mist.
He considered using a Demon-Detection Talisman, then decided against it.
Even if she were a Qi Condensation Realm cultivator concealing her realm, she posed no threat to him. There was also no reason for an intact demonic cultivator to live among the Corrupted in such a state.
Maintaining his vigilance would be enough.
That was not what mattered right now.
“I am looking for a way to obtain a Heart Art so I can move to District 3. Do you know anything?”
“If you've spent long enough in this district, you pick up quite a bit.”
The old woman's sunken lips moved.
“The surest way is to be chosen during the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley's disciple selection, which takes place once every ten years.”
“Other than that.”
“Well... I have heard that those who render special service are sometimes granted entry to District 3 along with a Heart Art. But that is only an unverified rumor.”
That was the method Ise had hoped for as well, but he had already half given up on it.
There was little reason for the Valley to seek help from demonic cultivators in District 4.
“Does anyone here possess a Heart Art?”
The old woman paused as though considering it.
“Even this old woman does not know that. But the most likely people would be the rulers of Districts 4 and 5.”
“There are ruling powers here? They are demonic cultivators who have not even learned a Heart Art. How do they maintain their forces?”
“More precisely, people simply pledge themselves to powerful Foundation Establishment Realm demon beasts and crawl beneath them. They rule, but they do not reign.”
Ise nodded in understanding. If it was only a relationship between lackeys and patrons, such groups could easily form.
“Four late-stage Foundation Establishment Realm demon beasts are known to rule Districts 4 and 5.”
“Late Foundation Establishment Realm. Their realms are higher than I expected. At that level, it seems likely they do not have Heart Arts. They would have no reason to remain in this district.”
“There is a reason.”
“What is it?”
“Inside District 3, there are many Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, and even Core Formation Realm demon beasts. Some would rather remain the head of a snake than the tail of a dragon.”
It was a plausible explanation.
Thinking that one of the four might possess a Heart Art manual, Ise pressed her.
“Tell me their names.”
“The most famous is the puppet master Wang Gyu. You can find Wang Gyu at Black Night Market Town, in the northern center of District 4.”
A puppet master.
Ise's brow narrowed slightly.
He recalled the stone puppets he had encountered in the Dark Heaven Secret Realm.
The memories of struggling against those heavy, grotesque chunks of stone were still vivid.
Because of that, he found puppet masters somewhat troublesome.
“Who are the others?”
He had asked because he wanted to deal with Wang Gyu last if possible, but the old woman answered with a faint smile.
“I will tell you about the next one after you have finished your first errand.”
“You won't tell me everything?”
“You may harm us once your business is finished. Please consider it this old woman's final safeguard.”
“That sounds as though you expect me not to return alive.”
“How could I dare? It is only the struggle of an old country woman.”
There was neither fear nor hostility on her sunken face. Only the worn calculation of someone who had survived for a very long time remained.
Ise did not press her further.
He could force answers out of her, but the value of information gained that way would only diminish.
“How did you contract this rot disease?”
“I cannot tell you anything about that. Please show mercy.”
Was someone keeping their mouths shut?
That would explain why they had been gathered in one place, subjected to the Root-Severing, Meridian-Cutting Art, and had their tongues cut out.
Ise's suspicions turned toward the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley.
Could these people be one of the Valley's shameful secrets?
Yet no matter how he considered it, the idea did not fit.
If the Corrupted were the Valley's dark secret, there was no reason to gather them in a corner of District 4 and keep them alive.
It would be more fitting for demonic cultivators to erase them cleanly and leave no trouble behind.
They were not the sort of group that would handle things with such lax mercy.
‘I will set it aside for now.’
The Heart Art right in front of him mattered more than questions he could not yet grasp.
* * *
After securing temporary lodging at an inn in Black Night Market Town, in northern District 4, Ise set up the Formation Plate and Secret-Realm Key.
His body did not need sleep, but he could not skip cultivation for too long.
Just as Ise turned the handle of the Secret-Realm Key to enter the Living-Spirit Cave Abode, an enormous divine sense suddenly swept through the entire area.
A Core Formation Realm divine sense, one whose depth he could not gauge.
Ise immediately shrank his divine sense to the size of a fingernail and held his breath.
To an infiltrator, the divine sense of a Core Formation Realm cultivator was no different from a natural disaster. If it noticed him, everything might end there.
Fortunately, the unidentified divine sense passed without examining him and moved away.
His mind, which had grown lax after becoming somewhat accustomed to Demon Valley City, tightened at once.
This was the tiger's maw.
He had briefly forgotten that Nascent Soul Realm and Core Formation Realm demon beasts roamed this den.
Once he released Bisang inside the Living-Spirit Cave Abode, the spirit beast, which had been huddled tightly to escape the cold, finally stretched and flew around the cave abode.
After checking the spiritual herbs in the garden and tidying himself up, Ise sat cross-legged and began cultivating.
He abandoned his plan to act immediately and spent several days settling both mind and body.
The Core Formation Realm divine sense that had brushed past him still weighed on his mind.
If a powerful demon beast was nearby, avoiding it was the wiser choice.
During that time, he sent Ryu Seonghan a Message Talisman asking whether things were going well.
Yet the Message Talisman wandered for a long time after leaving his fingertips, then lost its way and scattered.
The Heavenly Capital Realm was simply too far from here.
Feeling briefly alone, Ise laughed at himself.
Had he not been alone from the moment he came to the Northern Continent? Since when had he begun relying on someone else?
After leaving the inn, Ise spread his divine sense and examined the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators throughout Black Night Market Town one by one.
There were quite a few Foundation Establishment Realm demonic cultivators inside the market town.
Demonic cultivators found it far easier to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm than cultivators of the righteous path.
Perhaps because of that, none of them hid their realms. They all walked around with their divine senses spread wide.
Whenever their divine senses touched Ise's, the Foundation Establishment Realm demon beasts quietly withdrew theirs like turtles pulling in their necks.
After searching for some time, he encountered a powerful late-stage divine sense in the middle of the market town.
Its threatening aura seemed to demand that he lower his eyes at once, so Ise withdrew his divine sense first.
From a distance, he memorized the creature's residence.
‘It built itself a fortress.’
Steel walls surrounded it, with a formation embedded above them.
A single Qi Condensation Realm combat puppet guarded the entrance.
‘Cute.’
Compared with the stone puppets of the Dark Heaven Secret Realm, it was truly adorable.
It looked like a rag doll clumsily stitched together.
Not all puppet masters were at the same level.
Rather than storming in immediately, Ise carefully examined the surroundings as he did when going demon hunting.
The layout of the alley around the fortress, the heights of the walls, the spots where the formation had been inscribed and the gaps between them. He even watched who entered and left, and at what times.
Only a handful of people came and went from the fortress each day.
Every one of them entered carrying something and left empty-handed.
Were they there to offer something, or had something been taken from them?
The gatekeeper puppet turned its head from side to side at a steady pace. Larger shadows occasionally moved above the walls.
After three full days of reconnaissance and surveillance, Ise had a rough understanding of the place.
The most important thing was the type of formation deployed there.
He sent internal qi in alongside his divine sense and observed the formation's response.
The knowledge he had gained after fighting the demonic cultivator who used the Blood Formation proved useful.
It was a Foundation Establishment Realm formation, a simple warding formation that barred unauthorized entry. There were no other formations.
Once he had estimated the traps and identified the formation, Ise finally spread his divine sense and directly sent a Voice-Transmission Art to the late-stage demon beast inside the fortress.
There was no need to draw his hatchet first.
No matter how precious Wang Gyu's Heart Art manual might be, it was different if Wang Gyu had no intention of entering District 3 in the first place.
If it was something Wang Gyu did not intend to use, there was no reason it could not be sold for a suitable price.
“I'd like to make a trade. May I come in?”
A vulgar reply asking after his deceased parents soon came back.
In response to that grand welcome, Ise crushed the puppet guarding the door flat, used a Formation-Breaking Talisman to destroy the warding barrier, and entered.
The formation around the walls split apart like torn spiderwebs, leaving the fortress entrance gaping open.
Only then did the scene inside come into view.
Steel puppets stood in ranks throughout the courtyard. The instant the entrance opened, they all turned their heads toward him.
There were more than ten of them.
Each one contained Foundation Establishment Realm-level demonic qi, far beyond the level of the gatekeeper.
From the main residence beyond them, the late-stage demon beast's divine sense swept over his body.
Ise adjusted his grip on his hatchet.
Then, though he had received no invitation, he slowly stepped inside like a guest.
Footnotes:
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