WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 20: Die Standing, Never Bow (4)
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“Senior!”
The Qi Condensation Realm demonic cultivator noticed the disturbance too late and shouted.
Before the cry had even ended, Ryu Seonghan’s Wind Blade shredded their body and severed their head.
Ryu Seonghan let out a breath and quietly steeled himself.
I will die here today.
My death will be the spark that starts this war.
I will repay kindness with kindness, and hatred with vengeance.
Ryu Seonghan charged out of the guest hall and began rampaging through the heart of the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley.
He killed anyone he could. Whenever he encountered someone too difficult to handle, he turned away without hesitation.
Thanks to the surging spiritual energy produced by the Bursting Spirit Pellet, even Qi Condensation Realm demonic cultivators were swept away in a single strike.
Screams rang out as blood sprayed in every direction.
The Demon Valley’s underlings were cut down by Wind Blade before they even understood what was happening.
With Ghoststep Boots on his feet and numerous lightening arts layered over his body, Ryu Seonghan moved as lightly as the wind.
Even Ise had marveled at his movement art.
The Foundation Establishment Realm demonic cultivators who rushed out after grasping the situation could not easily unleash killing arts against a cultivator of the Heavenly Ice Palace. They could only barely keep up with him.
But even such wild momentum had its limits.
Just as his borrowed spiritual energy began to run dry, Ryu Seonghan, who had been tearing through the area like a mad bull, was finally trapped in a tight encirclement.
The Sixth Elder of the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley, who had formed the encirclement, could not make sense of the situation.
“What are you doing?!”
Why was a Heavenly Ice Palace inspection envoy causing such chaos in the heart of an allied sect’s headquarters?
“You don’t need to know.”
Ryu Seonghan did not bother explaining.
They would walk the path to their sect’s destruction without ever knowing why this had happened.
Just as his own clan had.
The Sixth Elder stared at the cultivator, who seemed to have lost his mind after consuming some kind of pellet. Then the elder noticed the recording stone hanging around Ryu Seonghan’s neck.
The reason was unclear, but as long as that recording stone remained intact, the Demon Valley’s innocence could be proven.
All they had to do was prove that the inspection envoy had gone mad for no reason and been captured.
They would capture him alive and hold the Heavenly Ice Palace accountable instead.
If things went well, they might even use this chance to lift the many restrictions binding the Demon Valley and gain considerable benefits.
The Sixth Elder signaled to the demonic cultivators under their command.
“Capture him alive. But don’t damage that recording stone. Refrain from using spells. Send in the Body Tempering cultivators and subdue him.”
“Yes, Elder.”
Ryu Seonghan grinned as he watched the demonic cultivators slowly close in.
It was a perfect situation.
Everything was moving exactly as he had imagined.
Twenty years.
That was how long he had lived, repeating the same words to himself over and over, as though brainwashing himself.
Die standing, never bow.
Even if I die, I will not bow just to survive.
Rather than live whimpering, I will die smiling.
If my insignificant life could leave even a single scratch on my enemy’s body, I would gladly throw it away.
“Ha ha ha ha ha!”
Ryu Seonghan laughed freely as he looked over the enemies closing in around him.
Then he took a pellet from his robes and tossed it into his mouth.
The Sixth Elder sensed something was wrong and hurriedly raised primordial qi, but it was already too late.
The Returning-Light Pellet.
It was a forbidden medicinal pellet that gathered every remaining moment of the user’s lifespan, along with every trace of innate spiritual energy within the body, and detonated it all at once.
Ryu Seonghan’s body swelled as though it would burst.
The Body Tempering cultivators who rushed in to capture him alive sensed the danger and tried to retreat, but they could not react quickly enough.
His body exploded, and the massive shockwave swallowed the entire district.
The demonic cultivators standing close to him were torn apart in the blast.
His final moment shone as blindingly bright as the name of the Returning-Light Pellet he had swallowed.
* * *
The Lord of the Heavenly Ice Palace slowly set down the Message Talisman Ryu Seonghan had sent.
“You understand that the evidence is weak, correct?”
“Yes.”
Baek Gi and Cheongun, who had come to meet the Grand Duke, lowered their heads together.
The Grand Duke’s gaze moved to a lamp brought at Baek Gi’s request.
It was Ryu Seonghan’s soul lamp.
When a cultivator entered the Heavenly Ice Palace, they formed a soul-binding contract and kept this spirit artifact as proof.
Connected to its owner’s soul, it revealed life and death through its flame.
Ryu Seonghan’s soul lamp flickered unsteadily.
“A survivor of the Demon Valley’s rebellion entered the Heavenly Ice Palace... Then, claiming he would reveal the truth himself, he charged into their den unarmed.”
The Grand Duke’s gaze darkened as it moved to the woman’s corpse Baek Gi had brought, as well as the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley spirit artifact found in the ruins of the exterminated clan.
“Yes. As you can see, after finding this evidence, he left a message saying the Demon Valley would immediately kill him to silence him.”
Killing a disciple of the Heavenly Ice Palace without a trial by the palace was a grave crime.
Depending on the circumstances, it could even warrant the destruction of an entire sect.
Unless the Demon Valley had gone mad, they would never dare do such a thing.
At that moment, the flame of the soul lamp weakly went out.
The impossible had become reality.
A Heavenly Ice Palace cultivator sent on an inspection mission had been killed by the Demon Valley.
A heavy silence fell over the gathering.
“But...”
The Grand Duke slowly spoke.
“Is it not possible that he threw away his own life to trap the Demon Valley? Punishing a great sect is no small matter.”
“Lord of the Heavenly Ice Palace.”
Baek Gi raised their head.
The old sword cultivator’s gaze shone with resolve.
“Cultivators are not people who readily cast away their lives. At the young age of fifty, he broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm and passed the Heavenly Ice Palace’s examination with confidence. He was a rising Daoist star with a promising path before him.”
“Continue.”
“Even if he deliberately ended his own life, please do not turn away from the truth that one with such a bright future was willing to die to reveal.”
Baek Gi bowed deeply.
“Is it not sufficient cause that a rising Daoist star of the Heavenly Ice Palace was killed in the Demon Valley? To prove that we do not covet their resources, the distribution of spoils after the war will follow the Lord of the Heavenly Ice Palace’s orders entirely.”
The Grand Duke had always regarded the Tyrant Sword Sect Lord as a loyal and mild subordinate.
Among those outside the palace, Baek Gi was the person the Lord of the Heavenly Ice Palace trusted most. Nor was Baek Gi one to step forward recklessly.
“Please grant permission.”
The Grand Duke remained silent for a moment. Then the Grand Duke turned toward Cheongun, who had quietly watched their exchange.
“Little Tyrant Sword, I will give you a chance to speak.”
“The demonic cultivators who once preyed only on mortals are now reaching for cultivators as well. They must have reached the limit of what they can draw from mortal vital essence. If we leave them alone, they will surely become a future threat.”
Cheongun stated his opinion briefly and clearly.
The young cultivator’s blunt words carried the same sincerity as his resolve.
It was unpleasant to see one of the powers supporting the Northern Continent disappear.
But if this could also be seen as a chance to cull the Nascent Soul Realm great cultivator close at the Grand Duke’s heels, it was not such a bad prospect.
Especially if the target was the leader of demonic cultivators whose thoughts could never be read.
It was a cause too difficult to refuse.
“I permit it.”
Baek Gi lowered their head and rose from their seat.
“Come, Cheongun. Send the declaration of war to the Demon Valley.”
“Yes, Sect Lord.”
* * *
A lockdown order fell over Demon Valley City.
Independent cultivators, wandering cultivators, disciples, and lay branches alike. No one was permitted to leave Demon Valley City.
Rumors began to spread that a war between cities would soon break out.
“So it really is true...”
Ise sat before Jin Yeonhwa with one leg crossed over the other, drinking tea as he deliberately said nothing.
“Just as you said... A war really is going to happen...”
A few days earlier, Ise had gone to Jin Yeonhwa and told her that war between the Tyrant Sword Sect and the Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley would soon begin. He had instructed her to strengthen the independent cultivators’ unity and her control over them in preparation.
At first, she had only half believed him. But once the lockdown order was actually issued, she had no choice but to accept it.
“But why are they controlling the independent cultivators? We are not even a meaningful fighting force.”
“They are keeping hostages in case the Demon Valley loses. This city, the mortals, the independent cultivators, all of them are enormous hostages.”
They would threaten to kill everyone in the city if things went wrong. If threats did not work, the lay branches would carry out an actual massacre.
That was the kind of group a demonic sect was.
Even if their sect was destroyed, they were the sort who would never allow their enemy to take their wealth.
“You can handle what I asked, right?”
“...I’ll try. But did something happen?”
“Why?”
“You look angry.”
“No. It’s nothing.”
Ise brushed it off and stood.
He could not get his expression under control.
After realizing that Message Talismans could no longer reach Ryu Seonghan, he could not decide whether to mourn an acquaintance’s death or grow angry at someone who had chosen death on his own.
They had known each other for twenty years, but their bond had never been deep. Even so, the death of an acquaintance left behind an inexplicable emptiness.
Amid his complicated feelings, one resolve was carved clearly into his heart.
He would never allow Ryu Seonghan’s death to become meaningless.
A few days later, Jin Yeonhwa sent word that eighty percent of the Demon Valley’s forces had left the city.
The forces were evenly matched, but the war’s outcome would ultimately be decided by the battle between the Demon Valley Lord and the Tyrant Sword Sect Lord, the two absolute masters.
That did not mean the battles below their level were meaningless.
When the two absolute masters were evenly matched, the situation below them and one small intervention born from it could create a crack in the balance.
Boom!
An earth-shaking impact reverberated through the entire city.
The battle line had been established some distance from Demon Valley City, yet an impact this strong meant the Nascent Soul Realm great cultivators had begun fighting.
Ise, who had returned to his original face, rose to his feet.
The Disguise Talisman’s effect had expired, but every spirit artifact shop had closed its doors, so he could not buy another.
Ise immediately sent a Message Talisman to Jin Yeonhwa.
Afterward, he scattered anonymous Message Talismans to the influential figures of District 3 as well.
-The Demon Valley will lose. This war is a punishment in which the Heavenly Ice Palace has intervened directly. You must flee. Loot the Demon Valley’s headquarters for resources and escape through the back gate. This is your only chance.
The influential clans would not move right away just because they received a single Message Talisman from an unknown sender.
That was why Ise had prepared agitators in advance.
People who would crush the demonic cultivators’ pathetic loyalty and stir up the winds of betrayal.
Ise approached the gate of District 3 and swiftly cut the throats of the two gatekeepers guarding it.
Soon after, Jin Yeonhwa arrived in a rush with countless independent cultivators, her face tense.
“So that is your true face. You are very handsome.”
Jin Yeonhwa smiled lightly as she looked at Ise’s unadorned face after the Disguise Talisman’s effect had expired.
“Enough with the pointless jokes. Don’t overdo it. Do enough, then get out.”
“Yes. The people remaining here... They will be all right, won’t they?”
“Worry about yourselves. At least the Tyrant Sword Sect will not draw their swords against mortals.”
Soon, demonic cultivators mobilized from District 4 began setting fires and causing trouble throughout the city.
Jin Yeonhwa and her followers ambushed the Demon Valley sentries.
That was the trigger.
Black flames fed the growing anxiety.
The moment clans and sects sensed that the independent cultivators might strip away all the resources, they became marauder cultivators who betrayed the Demon Valley.
Chaos erupted.
In the middle of Demon Valley City, which was descending into pandemonium, Ise used Concealment Art and a Demon-Qi Concealment Talisman as he swiftly made his way toward his target.
After dealing with the Foundation Establishment Realm demonic cultivator guarding Library Pavilion C, he took out a secret manual that had been casually placed among the other cultivation manuals.
At last, the lower volume of the Two Principles Return-to-Origin Art was in his hands.
Ise securely stored it in his Cosmos Pouch and left Library Pavilion C.
The formation that detected the theft soon began screaming out warnings, but the Demon Valley’s remaining forces at its headquarters were pitifully weak.
He easily avoided the flustered demonic cultivators and headed toward an escape route in the complete opposite direction from the battlefield.
Then the storage pouch in his robes began to tremble.
It was the storage pouch Ryu Seonghan had forced on him.
More precisely, a fragment of the soul-binding contract inside it was reacting.
‘Why?’
It was strange. When one of the parties to a contract died, the contract’s reaction was supposed to disappear as well.
Following the pull of his divine sense, Ise turned around.
At its end stood the Essence-Refining House, where Ryu Seonghan had said Demon-Soul Stones were made.
Inside, victims of the Essence-Draining Ghost Art lay imprisoned, while countless souls writhed as resentful ghosts within ghost jars.
“...”
Ryu Seonghan’s soul had been trapped here as well.
The Essence-Draining Ghost-Demon Valley had turned the Heavenly Ice Palace cultivator who had brought about this situation into a sacrifice for the Essence-Draining Ghost Art.
As though venting their anger.
Ise first shattered the restraints binding the prisoners and freed every one of them.
“Marauder cultivators will break in soon. Hide yourselves and avoid disaster.”
Then he smashed the ghost jars.
The souls freed from the shattered ghost jars unleashed a mournful Ghost Wail.
Ise quietly began to recite the Memorial Incantation.
The resentment ran deep, and there were far too many souls. A dizzying amount of spiritual energy drained away from him.
Even so, Ise did not stop.
As though gently comforting each soul that had been trapped and left to suffer, he soothed their festering resentment and sent them on their way.
At last, after Ryu Seonghan’s soul had also received a spirit requiem, the fragment of the contract in the storage pouch stopped trembling.
‘Rest in peace. I’ll see this through.’
Leaving those final words for the person who had chosen revenge through death without anyone’s permission, Ise turned his back on Demon Valley City.
A crowd surged toward the city center, where the fires of war burned.
Like a salmon swimming upstream, he alone walked calmly in the opposite direction.
He passed through five city walls and stepped beyond the warmth cast off by the Heavenly Fire Cauldron. Just as the cutting northern wind began to bite at him...
-Stop right there, bastard. You smashed someone else’s ghost sauce without permission, then thought you could run away?
The commanding voice transmission brought Ise to an abrupt stop.
Footnotes:
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