WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Episode 22: Hae Unchan (5)

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Gonga herself had probably not thought it was valuable when she gave it to him.

She had still been immature then, not even an adult dokkaebi.

Despite Ise's protest, Hong Mi-hee's knowing expression did not fade.

Then she added a word of advice.

“There are three things a cultivator must be wary of. Bad karma, idleness, and trouble with women.”

“…Yes. I'll keep that in mind.”

It was hard to tell whether she was joking or serious, but Ise said he understood.

Whatever the advice was, it was his nature to take it to heart if it was meant for him.

“I've secured all the materials, so now I'll begin the real work. Oh, and the commission fee is paid in advance.”

Ise handed over the spirit-herb case he had prepared.

Inside was a single Full-Moon Thousand-Year Herb.

“…How strange. Where on earth did you get this? Even the ones kept in Spirit Beast Grove are only five hundred years old.”

“I got lucky.”

His luck would only improve from here, but Ise did not mention that.

The fortuitous encounter he had obtained was so sweet that it could stir greed even in his own parents and siblings.

As long as he needed people to trade his spiritual herbs for resources, he could not hide his ability to grow them forever.

Still, he had no intention of telling anyone, no matter how close they were, the full truth.

“Please take good care of it.”

“Of course. Take care, dear.”

Hong Mi-hee smiled brightly and waved.

Ise bowed politely before leaving.

* * *

While preparations for his Core Formation breakthrough steadily came together, Ise found time to hunt demonic cultivators.

Most of the demonic cultivators near Halla had already retreated.

After Ise had culled them once, Cheoryang Thunder Gate seemed to have realized there was no point in sending spies.

The mission was essentially complete, but Ise had no intention of stopping there.

Twenty years earlier, Ise had conducted a massive demonic cultivator hunt, yet he had heard they were slowly beginning to raise their heads again while he was away.

Even though his view of demonic cultivators had become somewhat more lenient, Cheoryang Thunder Gate was an exception.

‘Demonic cultivators should live like demonic cultivators, crawling underground.’

As long as he remained standing, he would not let Cheoryang Thunder Gate strut around the Three Peninsula Kingdoms.

…That was what he thought as he set out with great confidence.

“What? Aren't they supposed to be creeping back out?”

Ise grumbled at Bisang, who could not answer.

Yet once he began hunting, demonic cultivators were nowhere to be seen.

Just half a month ago, demonic cultivator hunting missions had been pouring in from every direction. Yet after he cleaned up the area near Halla, reports of demonic cultivators in Tabaro suddenly stopped.

It seemed they had tucked their tails and run.

After searching day and night without catching even a glimpse of one, Ise considered asking headquarters to send him a demonic cultivator working in a mine.

On the nineteenth day of his search, he finally spotted one sneaking around like a rat.

Ise landed in front of the demonic cultivator, delighted. Startled, the demonic cultivator looked him over from head to toe.

Then their face went pale as they spat out a stream of curses.

“Y-you're… Ah, shit! Why, why me?!”

They seemed to recognize him.

At the strange reaction, Ise tilted his head.

“You know me?”

“You dog-like dog of the Great Exorcist Order! Why did it have to be now…?”

It seemed Ise had become fairly well known within Cheoryang Thunder Gate.

It was not particularly pleasant, but if he could get under their skin, that was enough.

“What's a dog-like dog? Are you calling me a dog, or saying I'm dog-like?”

As Ise muttered indifferently and raised the Black Phosphorus Axe, the demonic cultivator staggered back, their hands trembling.

“P-please spare me…”

“If you cooperate willingly and accept a restriction, I'll spare your life. There are plenty of openings at the Spiritual Stone mines.”

Before that, they would have to donate a few drops of blood.

At Ise's words, the demonic cultivator cursed again, then hurriedly spread out a Formation Plate and began setting up a formation.

Ise watched the cute little struggle to the end. It was a good opportunity to broaden his understanding of formations.

Soon, a Spirit-Sealing Formation spread around them, sealing the spiritual energy within his body.

“Oh?”

“Hahaha! You let your guard down! Even if you're at the Foundation Establishment Realm, you're finished now that this formation has been deployed!”

The demonic cultivator shouted triumphantly.

Ise ignored them and busied himself examining the formation's structure with his divine sense.

This was the first time he had encountered an enemy, other than himself, with a means of sealing internal qi, so it was a novel experience.

Come to think of it, he could face this kind of attack at any time. It would be good to prepare countermeasures.

‘Of course, only Qi Condensation Realm chicks would think sealing spiritual energy could bridge the gap between major realms.’

The warding barrier did not cover a wide area, so if he wished, he could leave it in an instant.

Even if he could not escape and his spiritual energy was sealed, his bones, flesh, and organs had all been remade through a body-tempering cultivation technique.

With only his divine sense and physical body, he could deal with a Qi Condensation Realm demonic cultivator with ease.

Of course, he did not even need to use such troublesome methods.

When Ise strode forward, the demonic cultivator hastily formed hand seals and attacked him.

Streams of blood surged up and rushed toward him.

He dodged lightly, then closed the distance in an instant.

The Black Phosphorus Axe, wrapped in demonic qi, cut off the hand holding the spirit artifact.

The demonic cultivator screamed.

“H-how? I definitely sealed your spiritual energy… Wait… why is there demonic qi?”

Instead of answering, Ise cut off their other arm as well.

He left the legs intact.

At that level of cultivation, a demonic cultivator with both arms severed posed no threat at all.

They had no hands to form seals or hold a spirit artifact. Their formations and spells had all become useless.

“P-please spare me, Senior…”

“I said I'd spare you, didn't I?”

Ise took out the Contract-Severing Sword and severed the demonic cultivator's soul-binding contract.

Then he picked up the fallen Formation Plate, took the demonic cultivator's storage pouch from their robes, and put the Formation Plate inside.

Lastly, he bound them tightly with the Shadow Net Formation and handed them to Bisang.

“Let's go.”

When Ise mounted the Dream-Saving Cloud and took off, Bisang followed behind while gripping the demonic cultivator's torso in its talons.

He reported the captured demonic cultivator to Mission Pavilion, then brought the prisoner back to his residence.

“W-why have you brought me here…?”

“Be quiet. Do demonic cultivators have no sense of hierarchy? How dare you open your mouth without permission from a senior cultivator?”

“…”

After silencing the demonic cultivator, Ise carefully examined the cultivation manual Hae Unchan had left in the storage pouch.

He intended to learn Cheoryang Thunder Gate's Blood Cultivation Art at his residence.

It was a method that extracted blood from another's body, refined the vitality and vengeful resentment within that blood into demonic qi, and made it one's own.

He already knew the contents, but seeing it firsthand brought its cruelty into sharp focus.

“This will hurt a little. Why do you learn such cruel demonic arts?”

He immediately made holes throughout the demonic cultivator's body and drew blood.

The flowing blood combined with the cultivation method and quickly transformed into sinister demonic qi.

It was cruel treatment, but Ise felt no guilt.

He was only returning their methods to them.

The demonic cultivator was furious about something else rather than the cruelty.

“T-that cultivation method…! You stole our cultivation method! Great Exorcist Order, you vile bastards!”

The demonic cultivator shrieked, veins bulging.

With a flick of his finger, Ise tore out the tongue that was disrupting his concentration.

He refined the spilling blood into demonic qi.

A tiny thread of demonic qi flowed into Ise's body.

It was too little for Ise even to notice, but it was sufficient to learn the cultivation method.

“So this is how easily you raised your realm.”

Ise smiled at the demonic cultivator, whose complexion had turned deathly pale.

For a while, the demonic cultivator's screams rang through Ise's residence.

Only after his mastery of the Blood Cultivation Art had reached an appropriate level was the demonic cultivator placed under a restriction, their memories erased, and sent to a Spiritual Stone mine.

* * *

It took a full three years to finish every preparation for the Core Formation breakthrough.

He and his companions divided the responsibility for preparing the spirit artifacts and talismans they needed, and the spirit artifact to withstand the Wood Tribulation had been completed by Hong Mi-hee.

The deficiency in his soul had also been partially filled through occasional acts of good karma.

Everything else was finished within a year, but Hong Wonseo's alchemy process was delayed somewhat.

As an early Foundation Establishment Realm alchemist, she seemed to have had considerable difficulty refining the medicinal pellets Ise needed for his breakthrough.

Still, after two failed attempts for each pellet, she succeeded brilliantly.

At last, she produced flawless finished products.

When word spread that she had succeeded in refining medicinal pellets of this quality in only three attempts, the Great Exorcist Order was thrown into an uproar over the birth of a genius alchemist.

Even Hall Master Hong Mi-hee, who had been ready to quietly intervene if too many materials were wasted, kept praising her as someone worthy of her bloodline.

Seolryeong spent twenty-one days performing a Seven-Three Rite and carefully chose an auspicious day.

Three Killings Day, Ghost Gate Killing Day, Ghost-Crying Day, Month-Breaking Day, and every other unlucky date were all eliminated.

After such painstaking selection, one day remained when the time and fortune aligned perfectly.

Seolryeong insisted that the ceremony had to be held that day, pressuring Hong Wonseo and Pi Garam to move their schedules forward.

Order Lord Haeil personally chose the site of Ise's Core Formation breakthrough.

Beyond the Namdo River from Black Tortoise Plateau, right beside the desert, lay a peninsula-shaped stretch of land.

It contained a broad, basin-shaped hollow. The harsh environment left the area completely uninhabited.

Even if the heavenly tribulation descended and overturned heaven and earth, no innocent people would be caught up in it.

Order Lord Haeil personally served as the chief breakthrough guardian.

Winged Dragon Hall Master Woo Yu-hui, Gwak Chan, Irang, and Heeya volunteered as supporting guardians.

Pi Garam, Seolryeong, Hong Wonseo, Buchun, and Park Gangseo also came along.

While Ise calmed his mind and body, they personally set up the altar for the Core Formation Ceremony.

“No! The balance is off! The four altar structures need to be perfectly symmetrical! Don't let them be even a foot out of place!”

Seolryeong was the busiest of them all.

After carefully inspecting the altar over and over, she changed into shamanic robes to perform a luck rite, even dancing a mask dance.

Nothing remained of her usual prim manner. She was fretting as though this were her own breakthrough.

Ise quietly watched the scene.

After entrusting even Bisang to Buchun so it would not get caught up in anything, he sat cross-legged in the open clearing.

“You're all raising one hell of a fuss.”

Haeil approached him with a quiet laugh.

“This is the first time in my life I've seen a Core Formation breakthrough altar prepared with such care. Even if their own parents were holding a ceremony, they wouldn't go this far.”

“Is that so?”

“You have good companions.”

“I'm more fortunate than I deserve.”

At Ise's heartfelt reply, Haeil smiled with satisfaction.

“Have you prepared everything?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Anyone who approaches this area will not escape death. No matter what happens, you only need to focus on breaking through.”

“That is reassuring. Thank you for your kindness.”

“Preparedness prevents misfortune, but if it seems things have gone wrong at any point, stop without hesitation.”

“Yes.”

Ise nodded quietly.

He had come this far through countless preparations.

He had gathered all three volumes of the Two Principles Return-to-Origin Art, worked to fill the gaps in his soul, and obtained the medicinal pellets and spirit artifacts that would lessen the heavenly tribulation.

He even had reliable guardians and companions.

All that remained was to cross the major realm boundary on his own two feet.

It was a path he had to claim by stepping forward and reaching out himself.

A path no one else could carry him across.

That was what immortal cultivation was.

After taking one final deep breath, he slowly raised his head and looked up at the sky.

Footnotes:

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