WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Episode 24: Great Exorcist Order's Utter Scoundrel (1)

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It took some time to prepare for the operation.

First, they obtained a spirit artifact that would allow Doksu, who would serve as bait, to draw Han Juok out safely.

An Origin-Defense Talisman would have been ideal, but it was not something they could obtain quickly.

Instead, they bought Doksu a Qi-Breaking Talisman, capable of tearing through part of a spell formed from primordial qi.

It was not so much for defense as a talisman with the narrow purpose of breaking free from a Core Formation Realm cultivator's binding art for an instant.

It was easier to obtain than an Origin-Defense Talisman, though still expensive.

Then came flight training.

Seolryeong's flying spirit artifact, the Red Flying Leaf, was exceptionally difficult to control, so training to reach its top speed was unavoidable.

Meanwhile, Ise worked to become accustomed to casting spell arts with primordial qi.

After roughly two months, their preparations were complete.

The six Azure Dragon Hall members left the Great Exorcist Order's headquarters to hunt not demons, but cultivators.

It was an exceedingly small force for entering enemy territory, but it was enough.

This was not a war. It was a hunt.

* * *

Near Cheongsan City, Tabaro.

Doksu flew slowly, his form hidden by a Concealment Talisman.

Over it, he openly wore the Great Exorcist Order's robes.

That way, any great cultivator's divine sense capable of piercing his Concealment Art would immediately recognize his affiliation.

‘...Is this really all right?’

He had been pushed into serving as bait simply because he was the youngest.

The Azure Dragon Hall Master had reassured him, saying, “That bastard can't kill Great Exorcist Order disciples because of the binding curse. Proceed without worry.”

Still, being ordered to fly around enemy territory with Great Exorcist Order robes fluttering in the wind was terrifying.

‘No. I only need to do as I'm told.’

The young dokkaebi shook his head, casting off those thoughts.

When the Acting Leader sent him out, she had told him this:

If the Azure Dragon Hall Master ordered him to die, he was to offer his life willingly.

It was said that this was how he could repay, even a little, the debt he owed for the burden the dokkaebi clan had placed upon him.

Doksu did not fully understand those feelings, but he was more than prepared to die for his people's glory.

How long had he wandered through the sky?

A vast divine sense soon descended, wrapping around him.

‘The moment you feel his divine sense, change direction immediately. He traps his prey with a spell called the Iron Net Art. In the past, I couldn't see primordial qi and didn't realize he had spun his web, so I was caught. But if you seize the opening while he casts it, you can escape.’

Recalling the Azure Dragon Hall Master's instructions, Doksu immediately turned the Red Flying Leaf and fled at full speed the instant that divine sense touched him.

- You bastard! Stop!

A voice transmission battered his ears at once.

But Doksu did not stop. He flew at full speed toward the designated hunting ground in western Tabaro, where they had laid a trap for Han Juok.

If they had chosen Suari or Gamori as the hunting ground, Han Juok would not have pursued him.

But Doksu was heading into New Martial Sect territory.

The old monster soon revealed himself, shooting after Doksu like an arrow.

- Stop at once!

‘...Would you stop if you were me?’

Doksu muttered inwardly, gritting his teeth as he flew.

Even aboard the Red Flying Leaf, famed as one of the fastest flying spirit artifacts, the distance between them steadily narrowed.

Once Han Juok came within spellcasting range, something invisible caught Doksu and brought him to a stop.

Doksu immediately tore the Qi-Breaking Talisman and tried to flee once more.

- You dare ignore the words of your grand senior? Stop at once, or I will take your life.

Despite the vicious threat, Doksu acted as though he were deaf, steadfastly ignoring him as he drew him in.

He was finally caught, but he had reached almost all the way to the hunting ground.

This much was enough for him to have fulfilled his role.

Doksu stopped flying, turned, and looked at Han Juok.

Han Juok’s appearance was exactly as Doksu had heard.

“Are you Senior Han Juok of the Han Clan?”

Han Juok let out a hollow laugh at his calm expression despite being captured.

“You know me, yet you ran? And you call me Senior? A mere nonhuman dares call himself my junior. What an insolent bastard.”

What a truly audacious wretch. Han Juok widened their protruding eyes.

“I had intended to take only half your possessions before letting you go, but I will personally teach you some manners. Descend to the ground, kneel, and bow your head.”

Yet despite the threatening command, Doksu only stared blankly at him.

Just as Han Juok stirred their primordial qi and raised a hand, sensing that Doksu seemed to be waiting for something...

Whoosh!

A Wind Blade flew in from somewhere and shredded his entire body.

Han Juok cried out in pain.

“A trap? You treacherous bastard!”

Something was wrong.

Realizing the situation, Han Juok quickly drew out a Message Talisman and sent it flying. Before it could travel far, another Wind Blade tore it to pieces.

Then, accompanied by divine sense, a young cultivator rose into the sky.

He was a Core Formation Realm cultivator in the same realm as Han Juok.

But something was strange.

Han Juok already knew the Great Exorcist Order's Core Formation Realm cultivators, yet this great cultivator was not among them.

Moreover, though he was clearly not on the list, his face seemed familiar somehow.

“It has been a long time, Han Juok.”

“You are...”

Han Juok searched their memories, then soon realized who Ise was.

The brat had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm at such a young age that his face had remained vividly fixed in Han Juok's mind.

“Do you remember me?”

“Yes. I believe I remember seeing you around thirty years ago. But you were clearly just a brat who had recently reached the Foundation Establishment Realm. How...?”

“That is fortunate. If you hadn't even remembered me, I think I would've been quite angry. Since you remember, you won't have any grievance even if you die, will you?”

At Ise's hand signal, Doksu quietly concealed himself. Formation patterns stretching across the ground lit up, and a formation spread out to cover the area.

“What trick is this?!”

“You should have cut off my head back then. You went around forming half-hearted grudges, and now they've come back to haunt you.”

The formation that had just been deployed was an illusion formation that prevented those outside from noticing the battle.

Ise sent a voice transmission to the five Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.

- Subdue anyone who approaches.

Five replies came back at once.

Han Juok rolled their eyes while gauging the situation, then immediately summoned flames.

More precisely, it was closer to lava or red-hot molten metal than flame.

It was the Han Clan's secret cultivation method, the Han Clan Molten Fire Art.

The sinister torrents of fire that rushed toward Ise were entirely different from the spell arts of Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.

Ise immediately formed a Water Wall in midair to extinguish the flames.

But the spell produced steam, swallowed the Water Wall instead, and surged toward Ise.

Ise drove away the fiery qi with the Golden-Needle Ring, then restored his half-melted body with the Regeneration Art.

‘Common sense doesn't apply here.’

Ise clicked his tongue at the spell's power. It even consumed water despite the fundamental elemental opposition between water and fire.

The enemy's fire spell arts were formidable, but the greater problem was the weakness of his own defensive spells.

His primordial qi was focused entirely on offense. He had not expected it to be unable to properly block even such a basic spell.

‘I'll avoid everything for now.’

He gave up on defense. He used the Golden-Needle Ring only to block attacks that were difficult to evade and made dodging his first priority.

Ise activated the Wind-Riding Art and began moving swiftly.

Han Juok's flames could not keep up with him.

“You slippery bastard!”

Han Juok cast the Iron Net Art to catch him, but Ise's Black Phosphorus Axe tore the net to shreds.

The next instant, Ise flashed behind Han Juok and swung a strike packed with sharply honed primordial qi.

Han Juok's face twisted too late as Ise got behind them before they could react.

The axe blade cleanly cut through their torso before being stopped just short of the Golden Core.

Han Juok's Golden Core was being protected by an unknown force.

As Han Juok tried to cast a fire spell at the seemingly trapped Ise, Seolryeong's ice spell flew in from somewhere and froze their entire body.

Ise used that opening to retrieve the Black Phosphorus Axe and pull away.

‘A cultivation method that protects the Golden Core? Or a spirit artifact?’

The Golden Core was already the hardest part of a great cultivator's body.

It boasted strength even greater than spirit bone, yet Han Juok seemed to possess another defensive means as well.

Han Juok shattered the ice imprisoning them and burst free. After casting a defensive spell, they looked around.

“You coward! You're ganging up on me?”

Ise snorted at his outrage.

“Ganging up is cowardly? Do you think both sides had equal numbers when you started the last war? Or are you going to make excuses because you hid like a rat, so it wasn't your business? Has senility gotten to you?”

Unable to refute Ise's mockery, the old monster was briefly left speechless before growing enraged.

“Y-you insolent brat.”

“And a Core Formation Realm great cultivator like you goes around extorting Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment chicks. That's honorable? Your face is so thick, you could skin it and use it as a spirit artifact.”

While Ise provoked him into losing his temper, surprise spell arts flew in from the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.

Han Juok tried to find and kill the insects who had dared interfere in a battle between great cultivators, but they had already hidden themselves.

“Y-you...”

“Your teeth bad from old age? Why do you keep stuttering?”

“I'll kill you.”

Han Juok charged in fury, and Ise's suddenly swung hatchet cut off their head.

Han Juok's body hurriedly cast a defensive spell, then retreated as though fleeing.

“Ah, I hit the head out of habit.”

Ise spun the hatchet regretfully.

Han Juok quickly regenerated their head and forcibly calmed their raging emotions.

The bastard spoke lightly and flapped his lips without restraint, but this was the real thing.

The Great Exorcist Order's great cultivators were strangely skilled in battle.

Those ignorant butchers even cultivated Body Tempering.

Han Juok was already struggling to follow Ise's movements, and their body kept growing heavy and sluggish. It seemed a binding formation had been set up as well.

This bastard... was dangerous.

When Han Juok considered that Ise had prepared for thirty years to hunt them, terror chilled their guts and sent shivers down their spine.

As fear gradually eroded Han Juok's will to fight, Ise decided he needed to bring them down first.

He judged that it would be difficult to end things quickly in an aerial battle.

Then Han Juok suddenly turned and fled.

It was an unexpected decision, but Seolryeong's flying combat puppets came rushing in from somewhere and blocked their way.

“With mere things like these?!”

Han Juok's spell arts melted the puppets in an instant, but they had bought enough time.

Ise used the Wind-Riding Art to close in on Han Juok, and his Black Phosphorus Axe came crashing down toward Han Juok's head.

Han Juok's defensive spell and Ise's Thousand-Pound Strike unfolded in crossing paths.

Shadows drawn up from the ground gathered around the axe blade, and Han Juok, struck in the head, was driven into the earth as though falling from the sky.

Ise landed after him and widely spread the Shadow Net Formation, creating a dense hemispherical barrier.

Within the Shadow Net Formation, now much like a dogfighting pit, Han Juok rose with their body in ruins. Their head, split in half, grotesquely tangled back together and regenerated.

With nowhere left to run, Han Juok soon found themself driven back one-sidedly.

None of their spell arts could touch Ise, while Ise's attacks pierced through their defensive spells one after another and battered their Golden Core.

Even the Golden-Core Guarding Mechanism surrounding it did not seem likely to hold much longer.

The battle did not take long to reach its conclusion.

What finally caught Han Juok off guard despite all the spells they used to defend themself was the blood soaking the ground.

The instant Han Juok stepped backward into a pool of blood, a Blood Thorn from the Blood Cultivation Art pierced vertically through them, from the soles of their feet to their thighs.

“Demonic arts! You bastard, a righteous cultivator has even learned demonic arts?!”

He shrieked in panic at the utterly unforeseen attack.

Meanwhile, the Dokkaebi Bloodflame, a spell created by merging and modifying the Dokkaebi Shadow-Hunting Demonic Art and Blood Cultivation Art, melted Han Juok's abdomen and even the mysterious defensive barrier around their Golden Core.

Ise seized Han Juok's Golden Core.

So that he could crush it at once if Han Juok tried anything foolish.

“Yes, I have. So what?”

As Ise repeatedly tightened and loosened his grip around the Golden Core, Han Juok's face filled with terror and their body trembled.

Soon, Han Juok pleaded in a weak voice.

“P-please spare me...”

Ise had not refrained from killing him immediately out of mercy.

“Should I spare you?”

“Please, Fellow Daoist...”

He only wanted to give Han Juok despair.

“Hand over all your personal wealth, along with half your clan's assets. Then suffer the Root-Severing, Meridian-Cutting Art and live as the Great Exorcist Order's slave. Do that, and I'll let you live.”

“...”

“Why? Isn't that merciful?”

“That is absurd! I showed you mercy!”

“Answer quickly. I'll count to three.”

“May you fall into the Bottomless Abyss, you...”

“Three.”

Crunch!

Han Juok could not finish their words.

The golden inner core in Ise's hand shattered into fragments.

After using the Telekinesis Art to retrieve the storage pouch from Han Juok's limp corpse, Ise called to Shin Hyeon, who had been watching the battle.

“Shin Hyeon.”

“Yes, Hall Master.”

“Disguise yourself as Seolbaek and display his head in a scenic place in Cheongsan City.”

“Yes.”

This was the moment he settled a grudge sharpened over thirty years, yet Ise showed no particular emotion.

As though he had merely collected an old debt, he calmly shook the blood from his hand.

Then he tossed a single Spiritual Stone onto Han Juok's corpse.

“Order Lord Haeil said to leave you some travel money.”

Ise was someone who listened well to others.

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