WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 38: Episode 6: Heaven-Demon Dual-Meridian Physique (1)
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After receiving only basic first aid at the Great Exorcist Order outpost, the four immediately returned to the Training Compound, leaving the external affiliate who tried to stop them behind.
The sun was already sinking when they reached the administration office.
Ujeol had been about to close its doors when he noticed them approaching.
“You dare interrupt a senior cultivator’s time off.”
“...My apologies. If it’s inconvenient, we’ll come again tomorrow morning.”
Ujeol examined the four of them. Their clothes were ripped to shreds and their bodies were filthy, as if they had rolled through mud.
Ise had apparently left one of his arms somewhere. The empty left sleeve fluttered at his side.
The bundle wrapped in clean cloth was likely part of the body of an entry disciple from Great Exorcist Order.
Had they rested for a day at the outpost before returning, they would have come back in far better shape. They had deliberately hurried back instead.
Perhaps they wanted to hold their fellow disciple’s funeral as soon as possible.
What a rigid bunch.
Companionship was a luxury for cultivators.
Immortal cultivation was a battle against oneself. Fellow disciples were nothing more than competitors for resources.
Yet these entry disciples were unusually attached to one another. Ujeol was starting to wonder whether they had all taken the wrong medicinal pellets.
It was probably because of this one.
His gaze settled on Ise.
For some reason, people naturally gathered around him. He was the top entry disciple, held in such high regard that his reputation seemed to pierce the heavens, yet he appeared unaware of the people constantly orbiting him.
“Come in. Next time, don’t rush around like this. Great Exorcist Order Daoists should have some dignity.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Ise spoke for the group and thanked the senior cultivator for his consideration.
Ujeol slowly read the mission report Ise handed over.
Then his brow gradually furrowed.
Encounter with a Foundation Establishment Realm demonic cultivator. Struck by lightning twice. Entry disciple lost left arm. Gwak Chan joined the battle during the escape.
“You’re fortunate to have returned alive.”
It was a brief remark, but the four nearly collapsed where they stood as their tension finally broke.
“I would like to issue the reward immediately, but this matter is serious enough that I should report it to headquarters.”
“Yes.”
Ujeol promptly wrote a Message Talisman and sent it to headquarters. After a short while, a reply returned, and Ujeol nodded.
“Your contribution to a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator’s mission has been recognized. Your reward has been increased. Sixty Spiritual Stones and one hundred contribution points in total. I have never seen figures like this in the history of entry-disciple missions. You will take the Flesh-Virtue Hawk’s corpse, I assume?”
“Yes.”
Ise was the sort who always took demon beast corpses to turn them into immortal cuisine.
Ujeol tore out the sheet in the Demon-Sealing Talisman Book that bore the Flesh-Virtue Hawk’s image.
The demon beast’s corpse appeared in one corner of the administration office.
After throwing the body outside, Ise wiped the bloodstained floor and asked, “Do you know what happened to Senior Gwak Chan?”
“I don’t. I’ll let you know when I find out.”
“Thank you.”
“Decide how you will divide the reward.”
Sixty Spiritual Stones and one hundred contribution points.
It would have been a considerable amount for one person, but there were four of them.
Fifteen Spiritual Stones and twenty-five contribution points each. It was an amount they could earn by completing three or four Grade 7 missions.
“It divides evenly, so let’s split it four ways.”
“Wait. I performed a spirit-sending rite on the Flesh-Virtue Hawk and absorbed its spiritual energy. My share should be reduced.”
Hong Wonseo immediately objected to Ise’s words, but Ise shook his head.
“Forget it. If it weren’t for your defensive spirit artifact, we would all be dead. This is fair enough. I’ll cook the Flesh-Virtue Hawk and divide it into suitable portions.”
When Ise looked at the other two, they all agreed without objection.
“Then I won’t refuse.”
Ise let out a quiet laugh as Hong Wonseo swiftly gathered the portion set aside.
What an odd personality.
“Go to the Medicine Hall. It is best to treat a missing limb quickly.”
“Yes. Thank you for everything.”
After bowing, Ise headed alone for the Medicine Hall.
It was a wooden building at the western edge of the Training Compound.
The bitter scent of spiritual herbs throughout the building stung his nose.
A Medicine Hall cultivator who appeared to be in the late Qi Condensation Realm examined Ise’s arm stump for a long time, then held out a medicinal pellet from a wooden case.
“It costs one hundred Spiritual Stones.”
“Yes?”
Thinking he had misheard, Ise asked again without thinking.
“Don’t make me say it twice. The medicinal pellet costs one hundred Spiritual Stones.”
“So I have to pay for it...”
“Are you saying something obvious? Do medicinal pellets grow out of the ground? I’m only offering it this cheaply because you are an injured disciple of the order. You will not find a Regeneration Pellet at this price anywhere else.”
No matter how precious medicinal pellets were, they intended to charge an order disciple whose arm had been severed during a mission.
One hundred Spiritual Stones was enough to buy a fine spirit artifact that could be used in real combat.
“If you do not want it, why not find a Core Formation Realm great cultivator and ask them to use a regeneration spell for you? Are you taking it or not? Decide quickly.”
For a moment, Ise felt it might be less wasteful to stop by Gwisu Temple and ask his master to regrow his arm.
“...Could I buy it on credit?”
The cultivator glared as though looking at a madman, but Ise had no choice.
He had spent most of the Spiritual Stones he had worked so hard to gather on materials for single-use spirit artifacts and immortal cuisine.
“I only have seventy-two Spiritual Stones at the moment.”
“I will record the rest as a debt with the administration office. Settle it within a month.”
“Yes.”
What a heartless sect.
His esteemed and generous Master Mongryeon had given her disciple Restoration Pellets without asking for anything in return.
Ise suddenly missed the warmth of Gwisu Temple.
* * *
Ise immediately headed to the training room.
Inside the wooden case lay an amber pellet the size of his thumb.
It was a medicinal pellet meant to regenerate the body, and it cost a full hundred Spiritual Stones. It would surely aid his cultivation as well.
Recalling the instructions for taking it, Ise tossed the round pellet into his mouth.
The spirit pellet tasted like cow dung. As it slid down his throat, searing heat immediately spread through his esophagus and into his spiritual meridians.
An incredible amount of spiritual energy churned through his body, far too much to believe it had come from a pellet no bigger than a fingernail.
The new energy circulated through his entire body before gathering at his left elbow and producing pain like flesh being seared over flames.
Bone grew. Tendons knitted together. Flesh filled in.
The pain was even worse than when he had lost the arm.
His vision turned white, and cold sweat ran down his back.
Only after seeing five fingers twitching in the air did Ise wipe away his sweat and let out a breath.
The spiritual energy left over after restoring his body began flowing through his spiritual meridians.
Ise held onto it so that it would not escape from his body, then refined it.
Little by little, he carefully mixed the two energies so they would not run wild.
When the process was finished, Ise rose with the satisfied expression of someone who had eaten their fill.
‘Medicinal pellets really are good...’
To absorb this much spiritual energy from a single pellet.
Perhaps Great Exorcist Order was wrong and the Pill Altar Sect was right.
A dangerous thought rose in Ise’s mind.
* * *
Yeombo’s funeral was held quietly.
Only the recovered head, wrapped in white cloth, rested upon the altar.
Seolryeong personally conducted a spirit requiem. The ceremony was brief and modest, attended only by the entry disciples at the Training Compound and several senior cultivators of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Pi Garam cremated the recovered remains according to the customs of his homeland, reducing them to ashes, and said the remains would be delivered to Yeombo’s family. If possible, they would be sent back to Yeombo’s hometown.
Ise also paid his brief respects before turning away.
This was something he would experience countless times in the future. Being able to recover a body, as they had this time, was fortunate enough.
They had lived together in the same place, but they had not been close enough to call each other friends. At the funeral of such a fellow disciple, Ise felt less sadness than responsibility.
He did not like being treated as some sort of representative among the entry disciples, but he suddenly thought that, if he could afford it, he wanted to look after them.
‘No.’
Who was he to look after anyone when he had not even overcome the wall before him?
‘I should take care of myself first.’
Ise decided to focus on cultivation.
Several days later, Ise succeeded in clearing his onerous debt.
The compensation for the demonic cultivation manuals he had turned in to headquarters and the blessed grotto he had reported had been finalized.
Eighty Spiritual Stones.
He did not know whether they had been generous or had cheated him on the price, but what mattered was that his nearly empty coffers were full again.
Ise’s eyes gleamed only briefly. The twenty-eight Spiritual Stones recorded as debt were automatically deducted, leaving him with fifty-two Spiritual Stones.
Ujeol had deliberately handed all eighty Spiritual Stones to Ise, then taken twenty-eight back. It was an exceptionally vicious display of character.
“You are a remarkably diligent debtor.”
Ujeol made the joke, but Ise could not laugh.
As he stepped outside the administration office, Park Gangseo was walking toward him.
It was a mystery how Park Gangseo always found wherever Ise was with such uncanny accuracy.
“Hey, fellow Daoist! I heard you went through quite an ordeal?”
“Have you been well?”
“I have been fine. How is your realm?”
“Unfortunately, it has not progressed. I cannot seem to break through the wall of the minor realm boundary.”
“Should I say that is fortunate? You do have some humanity after all...”
Park Gangseo looked relieved, then let out a self-mocking sigh, apparently ashamed of having felt relieved.
“I’m not praying for you to stay stuck. Still, having to call an entry disciple ‘Senior’ would really crush my pride. I suppose I need time to prepare myself...”
“I don’t particularly care about forms of address. In the first place, it feels a little strange that a junior becomes a senior simply because their realm has risen, or that friends begin speaking formally to one another.”
Park Gangseo had explained it briefly before, but Ise still found it difficult to understand.
Respect for one’s realm.
That alone was still not enough for him to accept the culture.
“Hmm. Long ago, before the system of the cultivation world had been established, it was normal for a cultivator’s realm to rise in proportion to the years they devoted to cultivation.”
Park Gangseo explained as they walked. Ise’s eyes brightened. He always enjoyed hearing about subjects he did not know.
“So a cultivator of a higher realm was effectively someone who had lived many more years. In the mortal world, people show respect to older adults, do they not? It began as a general respect for the years, experience, and realm the other person had accumulated. As cultivation methods diversified and talented cultivators began disregarding the rule of time, it slowly and naturally became respect for one’s realm. That is how culture works.”
“I see. I understand.”
“Still, people who have spent a long time together often speak comfortably. It is etiquette one must observe more strictly with people who are not close, or with strangers.”
“Then please keep speaking comfortably with me.”
“What a sweet fellow. That means we are fairly close, does it not?”
“I am always grateful for your help.”
“Hahaha. Good. What news can I bring today to help my fellow Daoist? Ah, you will want to know this. Cultivator Gwak Chan was seriously injured. The demonic cultivator got away.”
Ise’s expression stiffened at those words.
Footnotes:
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