WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 37: Episode 5: Cheoryang Thunder Gate (7)
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As he ran at full speed, Ise glanced over his shoulder.
A sphere was growing larger at a speed similar to the first thunderbolt.
They had survived once thanks to Hall Master Hong Mi-hee’s arrangements, but if the same attack came again, survival seemed hopeless.
Even at death’s threshold, though, Ise did not let go of his will to live.
He thought.
‘Even after one attack was blocked, the enemy isn’t coming down from the cliff.’
When the first thunderbolt had been blocked by a defensive spirit artifact, the bastard could have immediately followed and chased after them.
The enemy’s failure to do so suggested two possibilities.
Either the enemy had no means of flight, or flying was so inefficient that abandoning the high ground was impossible.
Or the enemy was utterly convinced that the second attack could not be blocked.
‘If it’s the first, the enemy can only grow more impatient. The farther away we get, the more likely they are to lose us.’
‘Even if it’s the second, the enemy won’t be as relaxed as before. Even if the attack is weaker, they’ll launch it quickly.’
‘If we block just one more attack, the enemy will have no choice but to come down and pursue us.’
‘If we draw the enemy off the cliff and limit their vision, we’ll have a chance to escape.’
‘That thunderbolt lit up heaven and earth. Someone must have seen it.’
Even now, the thunderbolt was flashing loudly as it gathered power.
The explosive demonic qi was powerful enough to be sensed from beyond a mountain. A Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator carrying out a mission in the same region could not have missed it.
‘We can live.’
When Ise looked back again, the demonic cultivator’s thunderbolt was gradually taking the shape of an attack ready to fire.
Its preparation time was clearly shorter than the first spell, and it was smaller.
His mind spun as he calculated the power he had just witnessed, the reduced power of this attack, and the total amount of energy he could draw upon.
His decision was made.
“Stop.”
Though confused by Ise’s command, the three quickly came to a halt.
“Pi Garam. Can you set up the disruption formation from the Shadow Agent basic manual?”
Pi Garam looked as though asking how Ise knew that, but asked something else instead.
“What range?”
“Enough space for the four of us to stand in.”
“I can set it up in less than ten minutes.”
“Hong Wonseo, help Pi Garam. He’ll need another pair of hands.”
“Yes.”
The instant Ise finished speaking, Pi Garam took a small metal cylinder from a sleeve.
Inside was a brush as long as an arm.
Pi Garam waved it through the air as though writing calligraphy, and a formation began to carve itself into the ground.
“Seolryeong, find us a way out.”
“What?”
“Look carefully. There has to be one.”
“Even if you say that...”
Seolryeong broke into a nervous sweat, but Ise’s expression was deadly serious.
“I’m telling you, it’s not an ability I can use whenever I want...”
“Please. You’re the only one I can trust. Our lives depend on you.”
“I really shouldn’t have come along...”
Though she looked ready to cry, Seolryeong held a talisman between her teeth. It seemed to be a talisman that sharpened the five senses, though Ise could not tell for certain.
Seolryeong raised her head, her eyes turning toward the sky.
Her gaze slowly lost focus, and her pupils shrank until the whites showed on all sides.
He was grateful that they followed his words so readily without arguing, but it also weighed on him.
The most important thing was for him to stop the disaster bearing down on them.
If he failed, all this preparation would be worthless.
Ise turned around and put a little distance between himself and his companions.
Then he drove the Twin-Curtain Spirit-Domain Sealing Banner into the ground, pouring every last drop of demonic qi into it and sealing the demonic qi in the surrounding space.
His next move was to step outside the warding barrier.
This time, he stood before the entry disciples, raised the black iron shield, and gathered spiritual energy within it.
Before long, both types of power inside his body had been drained dry.
He would create a warding barrier to serve as a buffer, hide behind it, and block the attack with everything he had.
Even if it consumed all his strength, he had to do it.
He stared at the flashing thunderbolt.
A saw-toothed streak of light seared itself across his vision as the thunderbolt passed through the domain Ise had spread.
The warding barrier did not serve as much of a shield as he had hoped.
It seemed unable to completely neutralize demonic qi that had already been converted into cultivation power.
Still, it disrupted part of the demonic qi.
That small difference separated life from death.
His vision went black.
The pain came a beat later, along with the thunder.
It felt as though his brain had turned white and burned. His entire body convulsed, and his teeth clattered together.
“Ise!”
Someone shouted. Ise realized that if he could still hear, he was alive.
The next moment, he noticed that the black iron shield in his hand had vanished without a trace.
That was not all he had lost.
His left arm was gone from below the elbow. Only a charred stump remained where it should have been.
‘That makes the second time I’ve been roasted whole.’
He had lost an arm, but the rest of his body had only been scorched on the surface.
Ise looked toward the cliff. The demonic cultivator did not prepare a third attack, only stared down at them as if stunned.
It would be wonderful if the bastard remained confused for even a little longer.
Ise asked the first thing he needed to know.
“The formation?”
“It’s complete.”
The moment he heard Pi Garam’s answer, Ise pulled up the Twin-Curtain Spirit-Domain Sealing Banner with his remaining right hand, turned, and pressed close to Pi Garam.
“Your arm... Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Start it. Hong Wonseo will reattach my arm.”
“I’m not at that level.”
Great cultivators of the Core Formation Realm had monstrous abilities that could restore another person’s missing limbs.
Even if the Hall Masters could not do it, the Great Exorcist Order’s Medicine Hall had spiritual medicine nearly as effective.
Surely Great Exorcist Order would not leave an entry disciple who had lost an arm during a mission like this...
If necessary, he could even seek out his master.
There were plenty of ways to restore it. As long as he stayed alive, it would be enough.
When the disruption formation activated, the air around them rippled. To the demonic cultivator, it would likely seem as though the four of them had suddenly vanished.
Just as expected, the demonic cultivator appeared flustered and leaped from the cliff astride the Four-Wind Black Tiger.
The bastard intended to come here and check for himself.
At last, they could have a pursuit on equal footing.
Fortune was on their side.
Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Realm usually possessed a flight technique or a flying spirit artifact. If their opponent had been an ordinary Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, escape would have been impossible to even consider.
The demonic cultivator was in Great Exorcist Order territory, where a flying spirit artifact would likely be shot down immediately. As a demon beast tamer who had a mount and little need for flight techniques, the bastard had given them this sliver of hope.
“Seolryeong, where’s the way out?”
“...”
“Seolryeong?”
At Ise’s call, focus returned to Seolryeong’s pupils. With an uncertain expression, she pointed southwest.
It was the opposite direction from Aegul County, where the Great Exorcist Order outpost lay.
“Run. Seolryeong, lead.”
Ise did not ask why. This was the time to trust her instincts.
Pi Garam supported Ise while Hong Wonseo ran beside him and gave first aid to Ise’s wounds from the demonic qi.
“Keep this in your mouth. It’ll dull the pain.”
“Don’t you have any medicinal pellets?”
“I don’t have anything that won’t kill you if you take it.”
“Cold.”
It was still far better than nothing. The painkilling herb Hong Wonseo put in his mouth was especially effective.
They ran through the forest with all their strength, heading southwest as Seolryeong had indicated.
They shoved through dense trees, crossed valleys, and forced their way through thickets.
‘He’s fast.’
The ferocious demonic qi approaching from behind sent a prickling pressure through the back of Ise’s head.
They were fleeing desperately, but the distance was closing quickly.
“We need to go faster.”
Even without Ise’s urging, the others could already feel death’s shadow drawing closer by the moment.
The killing intent was so cold and vivid that the enemy had not even bothered to conceal it.
Just as the demonic cultivator finally came within sight, something brushed past the four of them, followed by the sound of air splitting apart.
A greatsword spun through the air and struck the demonic cultivator head-on.
The ground caved in, and a cloud of dust rose in a billowing plume.
“You held out well, juniors.”
It was Gwak Chan.
He jumped down from a tree and retrieved the greatsword he had thrown.
Then he stood between the demonic cultivator and the entry disciples like a wall.
Without looking back, Gwak Chan spoke.
“Return to the outpost. You’ll only be a burden if you stay here.”
“Yes, Senior. Please take care.”
Ise did not stop. He gave only a brief farewell, changed direction, and kept running.
Gwak Chan glanced at the four retreating backs and snickered.
“They really left without looking back.”
The smile soon faded as he looked ahead. He checked the demonic cultivator’s scowling face against the wanted notice and murmured.
“It’s you. Here, a gift.”
Gwak Chan took the three heads of the Four-Wind Black Tiger from his storage pouch and threw them before the demonic cultivator.
“I can’t return the body. I tore it to pieces and gave it back to nature.”
Gwak Chan chuckled, then raised his greatsword with an uninterested look when the demonic cultivator remained expressionless.
* * *
The four ran until the sounds behind them faded away.
Explosions from spiritual energy and demonic energy colliding occasionally rang out behind them. Tremors that felt as though the entire mountain were shaking traveled up through their feet.
The difference in their realms was vast.
The battle behind him proved just how far Ise still had to go.
“Is it really okay to leave like this?”
Seolryeong asked anxiously, though her legs did not stop moving.
Instead of Ise, who was lost in thought, Hong Wonseo snapped back.
“What would change if we stayed? Like Senior said, if we get taken hostage, we’ll only be baggage. Senior probably wouldn’t even blink if people like us were taken hostage, but putting insects into a battle between dragons and tigers won’t change anything.”
“But...”
Leaving so coldly while a senior cultivator from the same order fought still felt wrong somehow.
Of course, after the living hell they had just endured, not one of them wanted to turn back.
Ise kept running, but the demonic cultivator’s face was fixed in his mind.
That face looking down from the cliff. That expressionless face firing thunderbolts at them.
A demon beast tamer who controlled demon beasts.
The bastard had released demons into the area to disrupt Gwisu Temple’s territory, hunted fellow disciples, and thrown them to demon beasts as food.
It might have been a leap, but Ise suddenly wondered if this bastard was connected to his family’s enemies.
He would remember that face. If the bastard survived, Ise would make the bastard spit out the truth.
But not now.
He had learned how to endure. He had learned how to retreat.
His master had taught him that throwing himself into a battle he could not win was not revenge. It was suicide.
Another explosion rang out behind him.
Ise did not look back.
He could only train more fiercely, advance his realm more quickly, and grow stronger.
That was all he could do now.
Footnotes:
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