WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 189
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The New Martial Sect was completely destroyed.
All Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators were executed, while the Qi Condensation Realm cultivators had their spiritual roots and meridians destroyed with the Root-Severing, Meridian-Cutting Art before being sent into the mundane world with their mortal families.
It had taken only a day for an entire sect to be wiped from the map.
The eradication had been so thorough that not even a trace remained, yet it was still a merciful punishment for betrayal.
And during the cleanup, an unexpected item returned to the Great Exorcist Order.
A spark of Earth-Dokkaebi Flame.
The spark needed to restore the Heavenly Pearl Furnace had been found deep inside Seolbaek's storage pouch.
It was supposedly an item obtainable only in a secret realm whose opening date was unknown.
That old monster had secretly pocketed the spark and hidden it away like a profiteer.
Whether he had intended to use it as a bargaining chip with the Great Exorcist Order someday or as insurance for his own survival was impossible to know.
Whatever the dead man's intentions had been, the divine artifact at headquarters opened its eyes once more.
Flames rose again within the Heavenly Pearl Furnace, and soul-binding contracts were once more formed with the Great Exorcist Order's disciples.
Thanks to that, they could now determine whether a disciple had died and where they had died.
Only then had the Great Exorcist Order returned to its original state.
The foundation had also been laid to reliably accept the Zheng Empire's talents, who would soon pour in without end.
Though the war had not yet fully ended, rewards were granted to those who had rendered meritorious service.
Ise received two million Spiritual Stones and a single stalk of the Reforged Divine Herb.
A note delivered with an ornate jade case contained only one dry line.
It was said to be an excellent primary ingredient for the medicinal pellet consumed when breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm.
Ise planted the Reforged Divine Herb in the best spot of the spirit field within the Living-Spirit Cave Abode.
It was an item of such a different rank that nearby spiritual herbs curled up their leaves merely as it took root.
“This one has a lifespan of five hundred years. It dies if you grow it any longer, so harvest it at the right time.”
“Yes, Master. I will keep that in mind.”
Hwayeong gently stroked the spiritual herb with the expression of a parent looking upon a child.
It was a precious spiritual herb, but Ise was not worried. She would care for it as dearly as she cared for herself.
He placed the two million Spiritual Stones into the storage pouch where he kept his wealth.
In the past, he would have lost track of time counting them one by one. Now he had grown rich enough not to care even if someone skimmed a few off the top.
It was a deeply moving feeling.
Still, the ever-growing pile of Spiritual Stones continued to thrill him.
Just looking at them was enough to make him feel full.
While the Great Exorcist Order prepared for an all-out war with the Pill Altar Sect, Ise was given time to cultivate.
It was headquarters' consideration, allowing him time to make Bi Hyeongrang's demonic qi his own.
He quietly continued cultivating, increasing his internal qi and settling both body and mind.
Then, one dawn.
Ise advanced to the late Core Formation Realm.
The Golden Core he had nurtured was now ripe enough to give birth to a Nascent Soul.
His spirit sight opened further.
When he looked up at the sky, he could vaguely perceive the immense flow of karmic causality.
Things that glittered and vanished like sunlight on a river's surface.
It was still an unknown world that he could not read, but there was no doubt that the world he saw had changed.
They said one had to study heavenly omens to reach the Nascent Soul Realm.
Fortunately, Ise knew someone perfectly suited for that.
A Shaman who said they did not see things because they wished to, but simply because they could.
An Order member famous as an accurate fortune-teller since the entrance examinations, with eyes that saw through the heavens.
Once the war was over, Ise intended to visit Seolryeong.
The time for all-out war was being deliberately delayed.
The longer time passed, the greater the Zheng Empire's confusion and the Pill Altar Sect's burden would become.
If it had been Ise, he would have attacked at once, smashed everything apart, and completed the purge. The Order Lord's patience was truly remarkable.
Or perhaps it was merely the Order Lord's nasty temperament, taking pleasure in watching the Pill Altar Sect struggle and suffer.
“To the Order Lord's Office.”
A message talisman flew in around that time.
Ise stopped at the threshold when he entered the Order Lord's Office.
Chief Master Kang I-tae and several Hall Masters stood amid desks piled with bamboo slips, all wearing grim expressions.
They were classifying the Zheng Empire's sects.
They had to analyze the state of every faction that had sent a letter of surrender, assess the severity of its crimes, and decide which ones would be spared and which ones would be eliminated.
“You help too.”
Haeil nodded toward an empty seat.
The question, Me?, rose to Ise's throat, but he could not bring himself to say it.
The hollow-eyed Hall Masters were all looking at him as if begging for his help.
Ise obediently took a seat.
The instant he sat down, a mountain of bamboo slips was piled before him.
“...Why are there so many sects?”
“You personally traveled through the Zheng Empire, and you still ask that?”
Haeil gave a tsk.
“You understand now, don't you? If we kill them all, as you suggested, we will create an enormous evil spirit beyond anything Bi Hyeongrang made.”
“I see... My thinking was too shallow.”
Reflecting on the Ise of a few days ago who had called for extermination at the root, he picked up a bamboo slip.
At that moment, Haeil rose.
“All right. We have enough hands now, yes? Then I'm leaving.”
“Pardon?”
Ise stared blankly as Haeil tore open space and vanished with a whoosh.
Had Haeil called Ise here just to escape the work alone?
Before Ise could even send a voice transmission, Kang I-tae spoke.
“Sit down, Hall Master Ise. There is much to do.”
“Yes...”
At Kang I-tae's dry voice, now oddly formal, Ise lowered his gaze back to the bamboo slips.
After moving his brush for some time, Ise looked around and realized that he was the only young Hall Master summoned.
“But why only me... Where are Hall Master Woo and Hall Master Banho?”
Kang I-tae stopped his brush and stared at Ise.
His gaze seemed to ask whether that was truly a question worth asking.
Of course, if Woo Yu-hui had been entrusted with assessing the severity of their crimes, she would have written only one thing across every bamboo slip.
Kill them all.
It would be better not to classify them at all than to leave the task to her.
“Hall Master Woo aside, where is Hall Master Banho?”
“Hall Master Banho cannot read.”
“...”
It was unfair.
For the crime of having learned to read, Ise spent night after night holding a brush.
Once the classification was finished, Ise believed he could finally return to cultivation as he headed back to his residence.
Then Haeil summoned him again.
“The Order Lord's been summoning me a lot lately.”
Muttering to himself, Ise headed for the Order Lord's Office.
This time, he checked that there were no piles of bamboo slips before entering.
“You have come.”
“Yes, I just finished the classification work.”
“You have worked hard. Now go to Kunlun.”
“...All of a sudden?”
Kunlun.
A sect of horse-nosed Daoists said to care about nothing except becoming immortals.
Why was he being sent there when they stood on the verge of a final battle with the Zheng Empire?
“Those horse-nosed Daoists invited you.”
“What do they want with me?”
“They learned that your physique is the Heaven-Demon Dual-Meridian Physique. They likely believe that you will someday become the leader who inherits the Great Exorcist Order.”
Haeil tapped the desk with a tap, tap.
“The peace we guaranteed lasts only one hundred years. They fear that we may harm them after that. So they likely want to call you over, build a relationship, and judge your character.”
“That may be their position, but it is not a reason for me to go.”
“They say that if you go, they will give you information about the Upper Realm.”
Haeil continued.
“Kunlun is a cultivation sect that has existed since ancient times. You will gain something from it.”
“I think information about the Upper Realm is useful only if one has ascension in mind. I have no intention of ascending. Does it have any meaning for me?”
Ise added,
“If you order it, I will obey. I also think it is good to assess those who may become enemies in the future. Still, I ask because it seems that you have another purpose in sending me, Order Lord.”
Instead of answering, Haeil looked at the sky beyond the window.
Haeil's lips opened only after a long silence, as if Haeil were choosing their words.
“You said you have no intention of ascending. I respect your wishes, but not everything will go according to your will.”
“...”
“Once you have stepped into the world of immortal cultivation, stopping cultivation is close to impossible. For one whose cycle of reincarnation and rebirth has been severed, death is more unfathomable than any terror.”
Ise pondered those words for a moment. Yet they did not truly resonate with him.
“I still... do not understand.”
“I do not understand either.”
Haeil drew their gaze from the sky and smiled faintly at Ise.
“So go and see for yourself. After you complete your revenge, eradicate every Greater Demon and great demonic cultivator, and restore peace to the Human Realm and order to yin and yang. There may be a signpost there, showing you what you should move toward next.”
Ise quietly considered Haeil's vague, almost metaphysical explanation.
Then he answered as though accepting it.
“I will obey your command.”
Haeil's lips curved gently at his response.
“After you return, I will also explain why Bi Hyeongrang was not given a spirit-sending rite.”
“Yes, Order Lord.”
* * *
Kunlun Mountain was as treacherous as the rumors claimed.
Sheer cliffs rose above the clouds, and there was no path that could truly be called a mountain trail.
It was a harsh mountain range that denied even mortals the right to approach.
Of course, it was not particularly inconvenient for Ise, who had reached the late Core Formation Realm.
It merely made him think that Kunlun truly wished to separate itself from the mundane world.
When he reached the mountain gate, a young Daoist was waiting for him.
“You have arrived, Senior. The Sect Master awaits you.”
Behind the young Daoist, the warding barrier protecting Kunlun stretched out.
It was a powerful formation, no less impressive than the one guarding the Great Exorcist Order's headquarters, which appeared to be at least Nascent Soul Realm in rank.
‘If they shut themselves in, dragging them out would be close to impossible.’
Kunlun was said to have produced countless ascendants over its long history.
Though it had now declined to the Core Formation Realm, its accumulated strength was evident from the first impression alone.
Guided by the young Daoist, Ise took in the interior of Kunlun Mountain.
The atmosphere there was tranquility itself.
There was no other way to describe it.
The scenery was pastoral and mysterious.
Cultivators continued their training beneath waterfalls throughout the mountain.
Others meditated, read books, or trained their bodies.
That was all.
At one point, Ise's divine sense caught sight of a Core Formation Realm great cultivator training.
That cultivator's lodgings were as shabby as those of every other cultivator.
There were no servants, nor even a cave abode.
Most importantly, there were no mortals here.
From sweeping courtyards to preparing meals, every cultivator, regardless of rank, did every task personally.
There was no market town at the mountain gate, no shops, and no stalls.
Ise could not tell whether the sight was admirable or disappointing.
‘War is raging outside, yet this place is utterly peaceful.’
It was a place that perfectly matched the vague image of a Daoist sect that he had always held.
Moreover, the qi carried by the Daoists passing by was remarkably pure.
Kunlun seemed to be a sect with far greater depth than the Great Exorcist Order's own assessment had suggested.
Ise carved every piece of information he witnessed directly into his mind.
The Kunlun Sect Master's residence was a modest hall near the mountain summit.
It was so austere that Ise felt a little embarrassed by comparison to his own residence.
“Sect Master, your guest has arrived.”
“Show him in.”
Before crossing the threshold, Ise briefly considered what title and manner of speech he should use.
Kunlun's Sect Master was publicly known to be in the late Core Formation Realm, a realm similar to Ise's own.
Still, he was the Sect Master of a great sect.
The difference in their ages was immense as well, so addressing him as Fellow Daoist and speaking casually would be somewhat rude.
Ise decided to show proper courtesy.
Perhaps Kunlun itself had made a fairly strong impression on him.
“I pay my respects to the Kunlun Sect Master. I am Ise, Hall Master of the Great Exorcist Order's Azure Dragon Hall.”
As Ise bowed, the Kunlun Sect Master clasped both hands and returned the salute.
“Welcome, Hall Master Ise. I am Jongniyeon, Kunlun's Sect Master.”
The old Daoist, his white hair gathered neatly atop his head, smiled warmly and returned his courtesy.
As usual, Ise assessed the other person.
Then he froze, every nerve drawn taut.
‘He is in the Nascent Soul Realm?’
Kunlun's Sect Master was known publicly as a late Core Formation Realm cultivator.
But that was false. He had been concealing his realm.
Ise could not gauge his exact depth.
What was certain was that his spiritual essence was powerful enough to contend even with Order Lord Haeil's.
A chill ran through him.
What if this was a trap?
Could he escape from the palm of a Nascent Soul Realm great cultivator in the middle of enemy territory?
The next moment, spiritual essence surged from the Kunlun Sect Master and wrapped around Ise.
It was a warm energy that embraced him, as if to reassure him.
“Set aside your doubts, Hall Master. We did not invite you here to harm you.”
Jongniyeon spoke gently, as though he had read Ise's tension.
Ise steadied his breathing and lowered his guard.
Then he quickly recalculated.
If Kunlun's Sect Master had concealed a realm of this level, every calculation had been wrong.
If Kunlun had actively intervened in the struggle for the Eastern Continent, the Great Exorcist Order would have vanished long ago.
Yet they had not involved themselves in the war.
Even if that decision might threaten them in the future.
They had not stayed hidden because they lacked the strength to fight. They had simply had no desire to fight.
Ise eased his vigilance further and corrected his form of address.
“...Please speak comfortably, Senior.”
“I cannot speak down to a guest who has come to visit.”
Jongniyeon smiled kindly.
“I know that is the culture of the cultivation world, but Kunlun is an isolated place. You need not feel uncomfortable.”
“Why... did you invite me?”
“There is no need to hurry.”
The old Daoist lifted a teapot.
“Would you care for a cup of tea? The leaves are good today.”
Tea filled the cup, and a clear fragrance spread through the room.
The tea leaves were steeped thick with spiritual energy.
Ise stared at the cup for a moment before taking a sip.
As Jongniyeon had said, the tea leaves were indeed good.
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