WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 20: Episode 4: Bamboo-Tube Beauty (1)
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Before even the bells that woke the dawn could ring, Ise's eyes flew open.
His body remembered before his mind did.
He had risen this way out of habit since he was very young.
Before the thought of sleeping longer could even cross his mind, his fingers pushed aside the blanket and his feet found the floor.
Today, he rose with more energy and purpose than ever.
At last. Finally, he could cultivate.
He had waited so long for this moment.
He sensed the bustle outside his private room.
Footsteps passing through the corridor, water being drawn, someone stifling a yawn. All of it caught on his sensitive Dokkaebi Senses.
Ise quickly made his bed, stepped outside, and headed straight for the upper reaches of Cheongsan.
His first day at Great Exorcist Order had begun with eager anticipation.
He had already heard the general outline of daily life during yesterday's entrance ceremony.
The lives of first-year entry disciples were simple.
They could freely study whatever knowledge they needed for cultivation at the Library Pavilion, which stored the secret manuals available to entry disciples.
Then they would continue cultivating at training grounds scattered throughout Cheongsan or in private cultivation rooms.
If they encountered a blockage in their cultivation, they could ask the cultivator assigned to guide them. They could also check the mission notices from time to time and accept individual missions through the Training Compound administrators.
Most of those were easy, nearby missions around Cheongsan, intended to build experience. Still, the contribution points, Spiritual Stones, and other resources offered as rewards made many entry disciples drool.
Of course, the Training Compound administrators had warned them that even easy missions carried danger. They urged the entry disciples not to accept missions recklessly before their official assignments, but to focus on cultivation instead.
When Ise left the dormitory, he saw several entry disciples heading in the same direction.
It was their first morning after entering Great Exorcist Order. The sun had not yet risen over the mountainside, yet the air around Cheongsan was strangely excited.
No one spoke, but they were all headed toward the same place.
They all felt the same way.
At the highest point of Cheongsan stood the Training Compound Administration Office and the Library Pavilion, built where the most potent spiritual energy was said to gather.
A long line of entry disciples stretched out before them.
Ise frowned in dismay.
He had thought he had left early the moment he woke up, but quite a few people had been even more eager than him.
The habit of strictly following the schedule he had set for himself had come back to bite him.
“You’re late?”
At the very front of the line, Seolryeong leaned out with tousled hair and looked his way.
‘Cutting in line would be a little much.’
Ise went to the very back and asked, “When did you start waiting?”
“Last night, I guess? My heart was pounding too much for me to sleep.”
Seolryeong answered with a long yawn.
Pi Garam stood around the middle of the line. Ise gave Pi Garam a brief nod.
Hae Unchan was nowhere to be seen. Considering how much he loved food, he had probably gone to eat first.
When the Library Pavilion opened, a cultivator in charge came out and began admitting people one at a time with practiced ease.
They recorded their entry and received a list of rules.
“All secret manuals are forbidden from being removed or copied. You may read only one book at a time.”
Simple rules.
When it was his turn to enter, Ise caught his breath.
Countless books filled the walls.
Basic cultivation methods, secret spell manuals, elemental spells, pill refining, puppet arts, mechanism formations...
“Are these... all for the Qi Condensation Realm?”
“Yes. They are for beginners.”
“If this is what beginners get, what could they possibly have above this...?”
As the disciples murmured, it seemed as if this place contained introductory texts for every spell and art in existence.
There were even enough cultivation methods, the foundation for advancing a cultivator’s realm, to fill an entire shelf.
There were only four kinds of cultivation manuals, though. <Demon Hunter Volume>, <Shaman Volume>, <Healer Volume>, and <Shadow Agent Volume>.
Multiple copies of each had been placed there so several people could read them at once.
Even so, there were not enough for every disciple to read at the same time. After today, though, there would probably be no shortage of books.
The problem was that Ise wanted to read a cultivation manual right now.
In the end, he stood behind the entry disciple who had entered first and was already reading one.
He felt bad about peeking, but he was too curious to help himself.
He did not interrupt. He only silently followed the contents of the secret manual with his eyes.
“...?”
“Don’t mind me. Keep reading.”
Buchun, the disciple caught in the middle of Ise’s strange behavior, nearly screamed.
‘Why did it have to be me...!’
When Buchun kept glancing back as if aware of Ise standing behind him, Ise reassured him again.
“Really, don’t mind me.”
That only made it harder not to.
“Don’t feel pressured. Take your time, then hand it to me when you’re done.”
That made it even more pressuring.
The person standing behind Buchun like a threat was this year’s overall top-ranked disciple.
Ise was the mad cultivator who had defeated even Hae Unchan, whose Heavenly Root Physique had made first place seem certain. During the examination, he had cut off the Eye-Light Demon’s head and raised it high in the air like a trophy.
Buchun did not want to get involved with him, but neither did he want to offend him or make an enemy of him.
What if Ise held a grudge because Buchun took too long...? Should Buchun just hand it over and read it later...? It would be a waste of all that waiting, but it was not worth more than Buchun’s life...
In the end, Buchun chose to compromise with reality.
“Do you want to read it first...?”
“What? Really? I’m fine.”
His face did not say he was fine. It was the face of a vicious demon ordering Buchun to hand it over and get lost immediately.
“I-I’m interested in swordsmanship too, so I can read the sword manuals first...”
“Thanks. I’ll remember this.”
Buchun desperately hoped he would forget.
Then Buchun fled from Ise as if running for his life.
Moved by the kindness of his fellow disciple, Ise opened the book.
<Demon Hunting, Spirit Release, and Qi Condensation Art: Demon Hunter Volume>
The foundation of Great Exorcist Order.
A basic cultivation method built around physical training.
The first page contained the core principles of the Demon Hunting, Spirit Release, and Qi Condensation Art.
「-Temper the body.
-Hunt demons, purify the spiritual energy of heaven and earth gained from them, and store it within the tempered body.
-Add enlightenment to the spiritual energy you have accumulated, then advance to the next realm.」
The Qi Condensation Realm was the preparatory stage in which a cultivator who had entered immortal cultivation became accustomed to handling spiritual energy and approached the realm of true superhumans.
「Stars One through Four, Early Stage. The stage of sensing and wielding spiritual energy.
Stars Five through Seven, Middle Stage. The stage of giving spiritual energy an attribute and using spells.
Stars Eight and Nine, Late Stage. The stage of transforming the body and internal organs one by one.
Star Ten, Great Completion. Its formal name is Great Perfection, but people usually call it Great Completion because Qi Condensation Realm Great Perfection sounds absurdly grand.
The final stage before Foundation Establishment Realm, where one completely removes the turbid qi in the body and reconstructs it.」
Once one finally reached the Foundation Establishment Realm through this process, spiritual energy would no longer flow through the body like veins. It would be stored in a vessel called the Dharma-Flower Dantian, allowing the cultivator to accumulate greater amounts of purer spiritual energy.
After undergoing a complete bodily transformation, their aging would slow, and their bodies would no longer be harmed by ordinary blades or poison.
‘Wait a moment.’
As Ise read on, he suddenly stopped and frowned as if he had seen something he should not have.
「From the Late Stage onward, avoid worldly food so that turbid qi does not accumulate directly in the body.」
The note made him sigh without meaning to.
Was this what it felt like when a nation fell?
Still, Ise steadied his unyielding heart and turned the page with difficulty.
The secret manual contained the formulas needed for each realm, along with notes to help its readers grasp the necessary enlightenment.
「The First Star of the Qi Condensation Realm is Meridian Opening. Become aware of the spiritual meridians, awaken to spiritual energy, and sense its flow.
The Second Star is Spiritual Movement. Control, move, and use the spiritual energy flowing through the spiritual meridians with your own will.
The Third Star is Spirit Drawing. Draw spiritual energy out. In other words, draw the spiritual energy flowing through your body outside, pour it into a spirit artifact, channel it through a weapon, or fire it outward.」
In other words, the next step Ise needed to take was drawing spiritual energy outside his body.
He memorized as much of the cultivation manual as possible, then closed it and stood up for the next person. He could not memorize everything at once anyway. What he needed now were the formulas and notes for the next realm.
For a while, he would probably be living in and out of the Library Pavilion.
If time allowed, he planned to learn as many technical manuals as he could, not just cultivation methods.
What interested him most were recipes for immortal cuisine.
They taught one how to make food that would not absorb turbid qi even when eaten, or dishes that could help with cultivation.
He had been worried that he might have to give up fine food, which had become almost his only hobby. This was an art perfectly suited to him.
“What are you reading?”
Hae Unchan had arrived late. As he accepted the cultivation manual from Ise, he glanced over the secret manual Ise had taken out.
“...You really are something else.”
“I don’t want to hear that from someone who was late because he was eating.”
Hae Unchan had no answer.
The contents of the immortal cuisine recipes were even more interesting than the cultivation manual.
They described many ways to maximize spiritual energy absorption by using spiritual materials and the corpses of spirit beasts, though Ise was not sure whether that was really allowed.
Immortal cuisine was rare, and it was valuable too.
It was not as if he was particularly greedy for money, but if he could eat delicious food and help his cultivation at the same time, that would be perfect.
“Is there another volume?”
After rapidly reading through the book, Ise asked the Library Pavilion administrator.
“Everything here is only an introductory text meant for experience. You will have to go to the main headquarters to read the proper secret manuals.”
“Ah...”
“Of course, you cannot read everything simply because you want to. You must pay contribution points to obtain this sect’s secret manuals, so if there are manuals that interest you, complete missions and save up in advance.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
His answer was obedient, but honestly, he was dissatisfied.
They belonged to the same sect. Should they not share secret manuals at least?
It was not as if reading them would wear them out.
Of course, he understood that this was a form of motivation meant to make disciples take on dangerous missions.
Still, it was an unnecessary restriction for Ise, who would hunt down and kill every demon he encountered even without being forced to do so.
‘First, I’ll cultivate.’
The moment Ise left the Library Pavilion, he headed straight for a private cultivation room.
The room was quiet. Once the barrier closed, all traces of the outside world were cut off.
Ise sat cross-legged on the floor.
Spiritual energy leaves the body and remains. Release spiritual energy outside, yet do not let it scatter.
As he recited the formula and closed his eyes, a familiar sensation rose within him.
Spiritual energy and demonic qi.
Two currents that pushed against each other and snarled.
Whenever the spiritual energy tried to move, the demonic qi pushed back from the other side.
The two collided and surged as if they were trying to devour each other.
His mouth tasted bitter, and his stomach churned. Feeling something twist inside his belly, Ise gritted his teeth.
‘Draw spiritual energy out of the body and keep it there.’
Ise steadied his breathing and forced the spiritual energy toward his fingertips.
Nothing happened.
He tried again. This time, he pushed harder.
He failed again.
How many times did he repeat it?
Whether it was spiritual energy or demonic qi, he gathered every bit he could and forced it outward again and again.
Then, at some point, his fingertips tingled and the air trembled faintly.
It was extremely weak, but he could clearly feel something leaving his body.
A faint smile touched Ise’s lips.
This was easier than he expected.
There was one problem, though.
‘It feels like I don’t have enough energy.’
The principle of the Qi Condensation Realm was to accumulate first, then gain enlightenment.
In other words, he needed to have a certain amount of energy within his body before he could advance to the next realm.
The spiritual energy he had gained from the Restoration Pellet did not seem enough to break through the wall of the Third Star.
‘To accumulate spiritual energy...’
There were three methods.
He could meditate here and absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth at an extremely slow pace. It was the orthodox method, but he did not want to cultivate at such a leisurely speed.
He could obtain spirit pellets and absorb them. That was impossible. He had no resources. Spirit pellets were not only difficult to obtain, their prices had soared without limit.
There was also a trait of the Demon Extermination and Spirit Subjugation Method. The more easily one raised a realm through spirit pellets, the more pill toxin accumulated in the body, increasing the intensity of the heavenly tribulation faced in higher realms. He had heard that his physique was unrelated to that, but there was no harm in being careful.
‘It’ll be difficult inside Great Exorcist Order. I need to hunt more demons.’
This was probably why entry disciples risked going out into the mortal world even before receiving official missions.
It was another moment of enlightenment.
Footnotes:
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