WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Episode 24: Great Exorcist Order's Utter Scoundrel (2)

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Before Han Juok’s corpse, now missing both its head and Golden Core, an inexplicably solemn atmosphere hung over everyone.

Unable to understand why, Ise tilted his head and asked,

“Why, do I seem too cruel?”

“It isn’t that... It just feels like you’ve changed a lot, Hall Master.”

“Have I?”

Even after Seolryeong’s cautious reply, Ise found it difficult to agree.

He did not know whether one’s position shaped them, or their cultivation realm did.

Still, this was closer to his true self.

Ever since he was very young, people had routinely suspected him of being a demon because he seemed devoid of emotion.

There was no need to make even his close subordinates feel uneasy, however.

“Don’t worry. I haven’t changed much.”

Ise gave them a painted-on smile to reassure them.

Then he took only the bag of Spiritual Stones from Han Juok’s storage pouch.

After sweeping its contents with his divine sense, he estimated there were around two hundred thousand.

It was a somewhat disappointing amount.

“For a marauder cultivator, Han Juok was poorer than I expected. Business must be bad.”

“Han Juok likely did not carry all of their wealth.”

Pi Garam added that Han Juok must have moved assets elsewhere, anticipating that a Great Exorcist Order great cultivator might eventually lose patience and intervene.

Grumbling that they would not even cover their labor costs, Ise tossed the remaining storage pouch to Seolryeong.

“Seolryeong.”

“Yes?”

She looked at Ise with bewildered eyes.

“Go through the storage pouch. Give the spiritual herbs to Hong Wonseo, appraise the spirit artifacts and distribute them to whoever needs them, then list whatever remains for sale at Dine and Go. From now on, you’ll manage the hall’s assets.”

“Yeees...”

“Hall Master, that is not proper. Those resources should rightfully belong to you.”

Despite Shin Hyeon’s objection, Ise shook his head.

“We will have more occasions than other halls to mobilize people privately, so their wages should increase too.”

Shin Hyeon said nothing further after those firm words.

“Hong Wonseo, Pi Garam, Doksu, erase the traces here.”

“Yes, Hall Master.”

After sending a Message Talisman to the Chief Master’s Office to report that Han Juok had been dealt with, Ise returned to his residence.

There, he carefully reviewed the battle he had just fought.

Han Juok’s spell arts had certainly been more formidable than those of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, yet the fight had not been particularly difficult.

The problem lay elsewhere.

Even after reaching the Core Formation Realm, the nature of Ise’s battles had not changed much.

If asked whether crossing a major realm boundary had made him feel as powerful as he expected, he could only tilt his head.

What if he had faced two great cultivators of the same realm?

He would have found it difficult to predict victory or defeat.

‘They said the previous Great Exorcist Order Lord had displayed might above ten thousand others from the Core Formation Realm onward.’

Immortal cultivators from hostile factions had supposedly been too busy fleeing from the former Order Lord, regardless of their realms.

Yet Ise felt he was merely an early Core Formation cultivator who fought well.

Where did that difference come from?

He searched through his memories again, wondering if the Two Principles Return-to-Origin Art concealed some secret technique. However, the art was wholly focused on advancing one’s realm and ascending to the Upper Realm.

After worrying himself in circles, Ise let out a long breath and cleared his mind.

‘For now, I’ll do what I can.’

The Origin-Drawing Divine Art.

They had said that once he fully mastered it, he would have no rival within the same realm.

He would spend his time gathering internal qi and learning new spell arts, then seek another method when his growth stalled.

Ise’s consciousness sank deep into his mindscape.

* * *

Peaceful days passed.

The attendants turned the calendar outside his cultivation chamber one page at a time, informing him of the date.

After a month, then six months, then a year had passed, the small bell outside the cultivation chamber rang, Ding.

It had been placed there so they could summon him when necessary.

Sensing the call, Ise sent a voice transmission.

- What is it?

“The Order Lord has summoned all Hall Masters. I have been instructed to escort you to the Outer Reception Pavilion.”

- Why?

“A messenger from the New Martial Sect has arrived.”

Ise opened his eyes and rose.

After leaving the cultivation chamber and putting on the daoist robe an attendant handed him, he asked,

“Are they here to declare surrender?”

“I apologize. I do not know the details.”

“They did not even come waving a white flag, yet their head is still attached. The Great Exorcist Order is needlessly merciful.”

As Ise was about to leave his residence, he stopped and looked back.

“Ah, what is your name?”

“Please call me Onyu.”

“Right. I’ll remember it.”

After committing the name of the Qi Condensation Realm cultivator who served as the lead attendant to memory, Ise headed to the Outer Reception Pavilion.

The Outer Reception Pavilion was a detached residence at the entrance to the headquarters, intended for receiving outsiders.

Having hurried there as soon as he heard the news, Ise was the first to arrive.

It was fortunate, he thought, that the youngest had not shown up late and appeared lax in discipline.

He then turned his gaze toward the unwelcome visitor from the New Martial Sect.

It was someone whose face he knew well.

Kang Ihyeon, a late Foundation Establishment cultivator and the former Black Tortoise Hall Deputy Hall Master.

He was the father of Kang Gyuyoung, whom Ise had killed, and Chief Master Kang I-tae’s cousin.

Ise’s expression immediately darkened.

“Who do you think you are, showing your face here? You have some nerve.”

“You...”

Kang Ihyeon also realized that the newcomer was the enemy who had killed his child.

“Don’t tell me you came because you missed your son?”

The sight of his child’s killer remaining so calm before the parent made Kang Ihyeon’s anger flare.

“Show an envoy proper respect, you insolent wretch.”

If this had not been enemy territory, he looked ready to resort to violence at once.

Ise gave a cutting laugh.

“You should show a senior proper respect. Can’t you see my realm?”

The moment Ise spread his divine sense and unsealed the spiritual essence of his Golden Core, Kang Ihyeon’s face turned pale.

Only then did he seem to realize that Ise was a Core Formation Realm great cultivator.

He immediately tucked his tail between his legs.

“...My apologies.”

It was infuriating, but there was nothing he could do.

The person he remembered as a greenhorn who had only just entered the Foundation Establishment Realm had risen to a realm he could barely dare face.

As Kang Ihyeon sweated beneath Ise’s unblinking stare, the Great Exorcist Order’s Hall Masters began to arrive one after another.

Each Hall Master who entered recognized the envoy and wore an expression as though they had bitten into a bug.

Woo Yu-hui, one of the last to arrive, slapped Kang Ihyeon across the face the moment she saw him.

Hong Mi-hee whistled, while Kang I-tae tried to restrain her.

“Calm yourself, Hall Master Woo. Attacking an envoy goes against propriety.”

Woo Yu-hui clicked her tongue and sat down reluctantly.

She had apparently been planning to hit him again.

Once Haeil, the Order Lord, finally arrived, Kang Ihyeon finally erased the uncomfortable expression he had worn as though sitting on a bed of thorns.

“Now then, let’s hear why a shabby bastard like you has set foot in a place as esteemed as this.”

There was not the slightest trace of respect in Haeil’s manner, but Kang Ihyeon did not care and got straight to the point.

“I have come to propose a peace treaty.”

At that moment, Ise sprang forward and struck Kang Ihyeon under the chin.

Kang Ihyeon clutched his jaw, rolled across the floor, then sprang back up.

“Is this really not too much?”

“Address the Order Lord with greater respect. There will not be a second warning.”

Kang Ihyeon’s mouth worked at Ise’s firm threat.

The Hall Masters nodded together as though to say that he had done very well.

Kang I-tae shook their head as though a headache throbbed inside their skull, but Haeil even clapped and snickered.

“...I have come to propose a peace treaty.”

“Go on. Spit it out.”

“We propose a soul-binding contract under which the two sects will not attack each other’s territories. The leaders of both sects would enter into the contract personally.”

“And if we refuse?”

“Then we will deliver information concerning that person’s physique to the Zheng Empire.”

Kang Ihyeon pointed at Ise.

As Ise considered whether he should break that finger, Kang Ihyeon continued.

“The Heaven-Demon Dual-Meridian Physique, is it not? Once that fact becomes known, the Great Exorcist Order will no longer be able to maintain peace. You remember how they feel about the Heaven-Demon Dual-Meridian Physique. War will break out again.”

His tone had become much more polite, but the content was an unmistakable threat.

They meant to tighten a leash around the Great Exorcist Order’s neck by holding Ise’s identity hostage.

Yet not a single great cultivator blinked.

“Is that all? Break out? Who said the war was over?”

Flustered, Kang Ihyeon mentioned recent events.

“The cultivation world of the Zheng Empire is enraged by the killing of Old Ancestor Han Juok of the Han Clan. Are you truly all right with this?”

“Us? We did no such thing. I heard Seolbaek killed Han Juok. Why are you people fighting among yourselves?”

“Do you think such a shallow ploy will work? Han Juok’s head was displayed in the center of Cheongsan City. Is that not Hall Master Ise’s demon-hunting emblem?”

“So he says. What do you think, Hall Master I?”

“My apologies. I could not hear a thing from someone who is only at the Foundation Establishment Realm.”

“...”

Mockery rained down on Kang Ihyeon as his face shifted from red to blue.

There was no evidence, and even if there had been, it would have changed nothing.

What was wrong with killing the leader of a faction they were at war with?

The one in the wrong was the fool who had been hunted after growing careless.

“Itae, do we need to listen any longer? Shall we just kill him?”

“Killing an envoy is...”

Kang I-tae paused, then added briefly,

“Do as you wish.”

“Hall Master I.”

The instant Haeil called him, Ise drew the Black Phosphorus Axe like lightning and cut off Kang Ihyeon’s head.

It happened so quickly that Kang Ihyeon could neither resist nor evade.

His head rolled across the floor.

Yet not a single drop of blood flowed.

The envoy had been a puppet doll made to resemble Kang Ihyeon.

None of the Hall Masters were surprised, as though they had known all along.

The New Martial Sect’s core fighting strength would not have been foolish enough to walk into a death trap on their own.

“You call yourselves peace envoys, then send a wooden puppet like this? Where did you learn such manners?”

The severed head lying on the floor opened and closed its mouth as it continued speaking.

“Is this the Great Exorcist Order’s answer?”

“And if it is?”

“You will regret this.”

As Ise immediately moved to crush the head beneath his foot, Haeil raised a hand to stop him.

“Seolbaek and So Hong-ji must be talking like this because they do not know just how overwhelmingly scoundrelly the previous Great Exorcist Order Lord was. If they intended to blackmail us with this damned physique, they should have come before he reached the Core Formation Realm. It is already too late.”

Three hundred years ago, when the previous Great Exorcist Order Lord had been active, the two Hall Masters had been no more than Qi Condensation cultivators.

How much could chicks who did not even count as combatants know about the affairs of the higher world?

Haeil snickered.

“When the old monsters of the Zheng Empire hear the news and remember the terror of that time, they will probably want to cut you loose.”

Then Haeil turned to Ise.

“Hall Master I, say something as the person concerned.”

Ise looked down at the severed head at his feet.

He made sure Kang Ihyeon, who must be watching this scene from far beyond that wooden body, could hear him clearly.

“Tell Seolbaek and So Hong-ji that I will soon come to collect their heads. You should scrub your own neck clean as well.”

“...”

Kang Ihyeon could not continue speaking.

Ise finished speaking and crushed the head underfoot.

Crunch. The skull shattered into pieces, and the spell art sustaining it abruptly broke.

“Heh. You are starting to have the authority of a great cultivator.”

Haeil watched the scene with satisfaction and smiled.

“Hall Master I, bring salt from the living quarters and scatter it.”

Ise immediately took out the sun-dried salt he carried for making immortal cuisine and scattered it over the headless puppet, Tap, tap.

“Why do you carry salt around? And are you not using too much?”

“I was taught that impurities must be driven out thoroughly.”

When performing the Salt-Scattering Evil-Warding Rite to dispel impurity, one must never be stingy with salt. That had been Seolryeong’s advice.

Haeil shrugged.

“Dismissed. I wondered what they had come to say, but they only wasted our time. Hall Master I, stay behind for a moment.”

“Yes.”

The Hall Masters soon departed, leaving Ise alone with Haeil.

Haeil looked at him expectantly and asked,

“How was the battle with Han Juok?”

“It was not difficult.”

“Well done.”

That could not have been the only reason Haeil had made time to speak with him.

Still, as Haeil held back any further words, Ise watched Haeil and asked first.

“I have a question.”

“You have permission.”

“Can I defeat Bi Hyeongrang now?”

“No. Not a chance.”

At the answer, given without a moment’s hesitation, Ise fell silent.

.......... (To be continued)

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