WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 25: Episode 4: Bamboo-Tube Beauty (6)

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After sternly warning Bamboo-Tube Beauty not to waste her strength under any circumstances, the two returned to the Great Exorcist Order outpost.

Hong Sadeuk had been delighted, thinking the mission had ended safely. Once he heard the full story, though, he scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“Kim Siwon... So that is what happened. What do you intend to do?”

“First, we want to report the situation to headquarters and ask whether we may track down that cultivator.”

“They probably will not take interest in such a small matter... Still, reporting it is the right course. Since I am sending a Message Talisman anyway, I will enclose the portrait sketch you showed us and confirm whether there is a cultivator named Kim Siwon among those affiliated with headquarters. Soran, make copies of this portrait sketch.”

“Yes. How many should I make?”

“Plenty. We will likely need more than a hundred. Make a few quickly first.”

“Yes.”

After bowing, the attendant quickly began copying the portrait sketch with brush and ink.

In the meantime, Ise asked Hong Sadeuk, “Do you think Kim Siwon is his real name?”

Seolryeong answered instead.

“It should be. A cultivator's name carries their fate, so it is best not to use an alias if possible. Especially while cultivating.”

“Haha. Precisely.”

“Then please look into it for us.”

Hong Sadeuk said it would not take long and urged them to eat and rest.

Ise decided Hong Sadeuk was a truly good person, filled his stomach, then sat cross-legged and cultivated lightly.

The third-star stage still felt close enough to grasp, yet remained out of reach.

Still, perhaps because his senses had sharpened during his exchanges with Bamboo-Tube Beauty, there was far more edge in the movement of his spiritual energy than before.

Even if they could not finish the demon hunt, he felt as though he might reach the third-star stage.

Hong Sadeuk returned with news after Ise had meditated for half a day.

“The reply already arrived?”

“Half a day is actually quite delayed. A Message Talisman only takes about one meal’s time to make the round trip. Since this is an entry disciple mission, it seems the matter was pushed back a little.”

Ise stared at the talisman in Hong Sadeuk’s hand with open curiosity.

It was an incredibly convenient item.

Hong Sadeuk handed him the folded letter as it was.

There were only two words inside.

Permission. None.

It likely meant that they were permitted to pursue the cultivator, and that no one by that name belonged to the Great Exorcist Order.

Ise showed the words to the other two.

“If he is not a disciple of the Great Exorcist Order or its lay branch, then he must be an independent cultivator. Finding an independent cultivator at the Qi Condensation Realm from news dating back fifty years is practically impossible, though...”

“Could you gather information from the nearby villages? We only intend to search for one week.”

“Yes, of course we should cooperate. I would only appreciate it if you could give us a generous score when you evaluate our assistance with the mission.”

“Of course.”

Seolryeong chimed in playfully from beside them.

“Hey, he came first in this class. Make a good impression now, and you might get a few benefits later.”

“Haha. It seems I have been entrusted with assisting remarkable people. It would be an honor if you simply remembered me. How could I ask for more from future inner disciples? I will cooperate fully.”

“Thank you. Still, our target is a cultivator, so do not overextend yourselves. Be careful not to leave a trail.”

“Yes.”

Hong Sadeuk stepped back and gave a signal. Before long, people began pouring in from somewhere nearby.

None of them were even external affiliates of the Great Exorcist Order. They were people Hong Sadeuk commanded on his own.

It was a scene that made the Order’s influence clear once again.

As the people dispersed in perfect order, Ise and Seolryeong decided to look around Namsangol as well.

Yet trying to find a cultivator from fifty years ago was daunting.

They searched the entire village for anything unusual, but found nothing before the sun set.

The two sat at the entrance to the village, built a fire, and roasted sweet potatoes.

Seolryeong looked at Ise as he blankly stirred the embers.

“What are you thinking about?”

“It just seems strange.”

“Strange?”

“That cultivator must have taken Bamboo-Tube Beauty’s spirituality to cultivate, right?”

“Probably. Unless they were a Daoist of the Great Exorcist Order, they would have considered encountering a spiritual material a kind of fortuitous encounter.”

“The bamboo grove where Bamboo-Tube Beauty lived must have been the best possible place for her to grow. If that cultivator had cultivated there, they could have exploited her spirituality for much longer. Why would they go through the trouble of traveling all the way here?”

At Ise’s question, Seolryeong imagined herself in that situation.

A poor independent cultivator with neither money nor connections.

Someone whose talent was too unimpressive to gain entry to a cultivation sect.

Then, while wandering through every corner of the Three Peninsula Kingdoms, that person unexpectedly encountered an incredible fortuitous encounter.

What would they do?

The answer was fairly simple.

“They would be afraid.”

Too much good fortune bred fear.

“They must have been scared. That place was probably rich in heaven-and-earth spiritual energy. They would have believed another cultivator could discover it at any time.”

“They found a precious fortuitous encounter that could raise their realm. But they were afraid someone might steal it away. What would a cultivator do next?”

“They would seek a safe place.”

“Then there is another strange point. Why would the cultivator move a spiritual material somewhere else and abandon it instead of destroying it once it had served its purpose?”

“Ummm.”

Seolryeong pursed her lips and continued thinking.

There were several possible explanations, but one seemed the most likely.

“If they handled a spiritual material badly, it could become corrupted and turn into a demon like an earthbound spirit...”

“Then the place they brought her to must have been very important to that independent cultivator.”

A place that was both safe and important to a cultivator, especially an independent cultivator with no faction behind them.

“There was a cave abode here.”

“A cave abode.”

They spoke almost at the same time.

A cave abode was a cultivator’s private, hidden domain.

Cultivators affiliated with a sect had their entire sect established in places rich in heaven-and-earth spiritual energy, where safe conditions for cultivation were guaranteed. For independent cultivators, though, the world was a battlefield.

The first step was finding a safe place to cultivate.

Yet places suitable for a cave abode were rare.

Because of the way heaven-and-earth spiritual energy flowed, it was difficult to cultivate in one place for a long time.

Sometimes, though, spiritual energy flowing along the earth veins did not disperse and instead pooled in one location.

A place where heaven-and-earth spiritual energy gathered in abundance.

Such places were called blessed grottos. The cultivator who discovered one would set up every kind of warding barrier, claim it, build a cave abode there, and remain for a long time.

“If there is a cave abode here, and if he is still alive, then he likely never left.”

Discovering a blessed grotto, then obtaining a spiritual material.

For an independent cultivator, Kim Siwon had been exceptionally fortunate.

“If we search for places that might hold a cave abode, our direction will become much clearer.”

A place where no mortals came to leave their turbid qi behind.

Somewhere deep in the mountains, a cultivator’s cave abode had to be hidden.

Searching for a cave abode rather than a person gave them at least something tangible to work with.

“The problem is the other person’s realm...”

Finding him seemed far off, but even finding him would bring another problem.

Their realms needed to be similar for them to have any chance of speaking with him.

Even a cultivator past the middle stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, let alone one at the Foundation Establishment Realm, might take offense if someone weaker tried to speak to them carelessly.

Showing up at their cave abode was practically a declaration of war.

“I’m starting to wonder if this is right. The first principle of Demon Hunting says not to advance toward an unknown enemy.”

“Why is he unknown? We have enough information to make an inference.”

“What do you think? Has that cultivator reached the Foundation Establishment Realm?”

“No way. If his talent was ordinary enough that no sect would take him in, most cultivators cannot break through the wall of the fifth star of the Qi Condensation Realm by the age of seventy.”

“That difficult?”

“Do you think immortal cultivation is child’s play? Most independent cultivators do not even cross the first minor realm boundary, the wall between the fourth and fifth stars of the Qi Condensation Realm, before they die. A Qi Condensation Realm cultivator lives an average of one hundred and fifty years, so... immortal cultivation is a path where even after cultivating for one hundred and fifty years, they may or may not cross the fifth star. Of course, that does not apply to extraordinary geniuses like us.”

Minor realm boundaries.

Cultivation advanced in stages, but a boundary was like a wall that suddenly appeared in one’s path.

When a cultivator could no longer advance, it was usually one of those walls blocking the way.

The minor realm boundary between the fourth and fifth stars, the one between the seventh and eighth stars, and so on.

Then there were the major realm boundaries, such as advancing from the Qi Condensation Realm to the Foundation Establishment Realm, or from the Foundation Establishment Realm to the Core Formation Realm.

“There are rare people talented enough to succeed on their own... But if an independent cultivator had the talent to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, a cultivation sect or clan would have accepted them from the start. They would not have wandered all over the peninsula in the early stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, searching for a fortuitous encounter.”

Seolryeong added that their enemy was likely untalented, or at best, ordinary.

Ise was concerned by her attitude and pointed it out.

“So if things go wrong, an extraordinary genius could be killed by an untalented or ordinary person. There could be no more pointless death than that.”

“...Then we have to be careful that it does not happen.”

Footnotes:

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