WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 49: Episode 7: Assigned Mission (6)

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Crackle.

The sound of burning firewood calmed Ise’s excitement. Flames were rising all around him from the aftermath of the battle.

He could examine the storage pouch later. First, he needed to make sure the independent cultivator had not prepared another hidden trick.

Ise pinned the independent cultivator bound by the Shadow Net Formation beneath his foot and continued searching the robes. Then an odd sensation reached the sole of his foot.

Looking down, he saw that the independent cultivator wore armor beneath the Daoist robes, its inner surface packed with small, raised bumps.

Holding a spirit artifact in one hand, Ise pulled it off. Perhaps because both arms were missing, it came off easily.

Since it was armor, it had to be a defensive spirit artifact.

‘So it was true that there were three defensive spirit artifacts.’

The Yellow Great Parasol, the automatic-activation talisman, and this armor.

The murderer must have been honest, at least when it came to that.

Ise held the armor to the opening of his storage pouch. Its form blurred like smoke before slipping neatly inside.

‘It really is strange.’

He lifted the pouch and peered into it. What sort of principle made it work?

He had no idea how to retrieve an item after putting it inside. He inspected it from every angle and even reached in, but his hand caught nothing.

‘Bring out anything.’

Something suddenly popped out.

A talisman lay in his palm.

‘It must operate through a connection to my consciousness.’

Quietly impressed, Ise reached in again.

‘Something that can subdue an opponent. Anything.’

Nothing happened. A mental command could not be that vague.

‘A Sleeping Pellet, an Acupoint-Suppressing Pellet, paralysis poison, anything is fine.’

This time, a small pellet appeared in his hand. After smelling it to identify it, he found that it was a Sleeping Pellet.

Ise put the Sleeping Pellet into the independent cultivator’s mouth and held the jaw shut. After struggling briefly, the cultivator went limp.

Blood still flowed from both severed arms.

Ise administered emergency treatment with the hemostatic method he had learned from the Healer section of the Demon-Hunting Spirit-Sending Art.

It was his first time doing it, and though he thought he had pressed the acupoints correctly, blood still seeped out little by little.

He considered feeding the cultivator a Healing Pellet, then decided against it.

They were too precious, and it would be troublesome if the cultivator recovered enough to cause another scene.

Surely a cultivator would not die just because both arms had been cut off. Thinking that, Ise slung the cultivator over his shoulder.

‘I should learn how to destroy spiritual meridians too.’

He took out the Twin-Curtain Spirit-Domain Sealing Banner and looked at the flames spreading in every direction.

A water-element spell, the Jet Stream Art, unfolded from his hand.

A powerful stream of pressurized water swept through the flames. Since the fire had already begun to spread, it consumed a fair amount of spiritual energy.

If this had been near the Great Exorcist Order, cultivators would have come running to help. But he had traveled too far away.

Still, he could not simply leave. The flames might consume the entire mountain and harm the spiritual herbs or spirit beasts within.

At last, the fire died down, and everything was settled.

Ise carried the independent cultivator over his shoulder and set off.

* * *

The moment he returned, Ise headed to the administration office and set the culprit down to one side.

Ujeol did not bother hiding his surprise.

“Is that the one?”

“Yes. This is the culprit.”

The cultivator lay unconscious as if asleep, both arms severed. Ujeol cast a binding spell on the cultivator.

“You were faster than I expected. Good work.”

“May I write the report now?”

“Do so.”

While Ise wrote the mission report nearby and handed it over, Ujeol sent a Message Talisman to headquarters.

“Given the circumstances, this person is certainly the culprit. You resolved in four days a mission that formal disciples attempted twice and gave up on. Your talent as a cultivator is not your only exceptional quality.”

“I only did what I could.”

Despite Ise’s modesty, Ujeol praised him once more.

“It was also something only you could do. Here is your reward.”

“I could not obtain evidence because I did not get a confession from the culprit. Is that all right?”

“Since the culprit was captured alive, a confession is unnecessary. We will confirm it with a Mind-Reading Art. It is unlikely, but if this is not the culprit, you can settle the matter yourselves.”

“I’m certain.”

Ise answered and accepted the pouch of Spiritual Stones.

He bowed and turned to leave when Ujeol’s voice stopped him.

“Return the spirit artifacts before you go. You greedy brat.”

“Ah ha ha... You didn’t forget.”

Reluctantly, Ise took off the armor and set down the pearl.

“This will be your final mission.”

Ujeol’s tone was different from usual. Ise looked at him.

“With your mission complete, the administration office will close for a while. You can cultivate in comfort until it is time to leave for headquarters. I will also enter seclusion until the next entry disciples arrive.”

“Yes. Thank you for everything.”

Ujeol watched Ise for a moment before continuing.

“My post is with the Training Compound administration office, so we will likely have little reason to meet again. If you join Kirin Hall, I will look after you.”

“That is still a distant matter.”

“Is it really?”

Ujeol gave him an unusually bright smile, and Ise smiled back. It seemed they had grown attached over the time they had spent together.

“I’ll visit from time to time.”

At first, Ujeol had simply been a difficult senior. The more Ise came to know him, the more he realized that kindness hid beneath that blunt manner.

He was a cultivator worthy of respect.

Ise bowed deeply and stepped out of the administration office.

The first thing he did after returning to his quarters was inspect the spirit artifacts inside the storage pouch.

The Yellow Great Parasol came out first.

‘It sounds a bit like someone’s name.’

With that pointless thought in mind, Ise continued taking out spirit artifacts.

Next came the bumpy armor. Then a necklace. Judging by its appearance, it seemed to be a spirit artifact that summoned a Stone Hand.

There was also something shaped like a long flute, though Ise could not guess what it was for.

There were quite a few consumables as well. Talismans, bombs, and all kinds of pellets. Even after using so many, this much still remained.

How many cultivators had that person killed? Was the culprit not afraid of heavenly tribulation?

The last item he took out was a pouch of Spiritual Stones. It felt quite heavy, and when he counted them one by one, there were two hundred and forty.

Sixty-five he had originally possessed, two hundred and forty from the storage pouch, and one hundred received as a reward.

A total of four hundred and five.

Once he sold the single-use spirit artifacts he did not need, he would surely have more than five hundred.

The sudden feeling of becoming rich was strange.

It reminded him of the first time his adoptive parents had given him spending money. He had been happy, lost in pleasant fantasies as he considered what to buy.

He lifted and lowered the heavy pouch, then his gaze fell upon the battered hatchet.

Now that he had a shield spirit artifact, he considered finding a weapon spirit artifact as well. He quickly changed his mind.

It was black iron that his master had personally obtained for him. He would use it until it broke.

He decided to think slowly about how to spend his Spiritual Stones. The more immediate problem was appraising the other three spirit artifacts.

Great Exorcist Order rules only allowed entry disciples to leave when they had a mission. He had obtained the artifacts, only to end up leaving them buried in his storage pouch.

He was also wary of testing them when he had no idea what might happen.

That was because he had been unable to drag a blood-soaked independent cultivator through the city.

‘I should visit Seolryeong.’

Seolryeong wanted to become a spirit-artifact artisan, and among the entry disciples, she was the most knowledgeable about spirit artifacts. Asking her was the only solution.

For a moment, his embarrassing past held him back, but Ise shook his head and cleared away the thought.

His curiosity about the spirit artifacts won over his shame.

Ise soon stood before the women entry disciples’ quarters, only to realize that he did not know where Seolryeong lived.

He had barely ever come this way.

In the end, he decided to call for her.

“Seolryeong!”

His booming voice rang out in front of the dormitory building.

“Seol! Ryeong!”

He intended to check the training rooms if she did not appear after calling three times, but a door on the left suddenly flew open.

“My ears are going to fall off! What is all this noise?”

Seolryeong’s half-disheveled head poked out.

She glared at Ise, then grumbled as she slipped on her shoes.

“Were you already asleep? You’re a little lazy.”

“I was researching something, you know? And midnight is when people sleep. It’s not the time to visit the women’s quarters. And if you come here, you should knock quietly instead of shouting that loudly...”

Seolryeong rattled all that off before abruptly stopping. She had finally examined Ise’s realm.

“Uh, huh?”

Seolryeong made a strange sound and stammered. Ise tilted his head.

Before leaving for the mission, he had met Buchun and several other entry disciples. He thought the news would have spread already.

“What, you didn’t know?”

“I’ve been assigned to spirit-artifact crafting missions, so I barely leave the dormitory... But if you’re at the sixth star... then I have to call you...”

“What do you mean, you? You should call me Senior.”

“...”

Seolryeong could not bring herself to speak. She looked as though she wanted to die on the spot.

Ise burst out laughing at her reaction.

“I’m joking. Still, the third star is fast.”

“Even so, I’m the fourth fastest among the entry disciples. I think I’ll reach the fourth star soon.”

“What about Hae Unchan?”

“He is probably near the end of the fourth star. The last time I saw him, he said it felt like he was about to grasp the minor realm boundary.”

It seemed Hae Unchan had been cultivating diligently while staying out of sight.

“So, what do you need?”

When Ise explained, Seolryeong’s eyes lit up.

“If it’s something like that, this great Seolryeong will have to help. Come inside. No! Don’t come in yet!”

She made a fuss all by herself before hurrying inside first.

After a noisy commotion from within, she finally gave him permission to enter.

When Ise took the armor, necklace, and flute from his storage pouch and laid them out, Seolryeong’s eyes widened.

“A storage pouch! You got a storage pouch?”

A storage pouch. Ah, what a wonderful sound.

“Are there still cultivators without storage pouches? Can they even call themselves cultivators?”

“I’m so annoyed...”

Grumbling, Seolryeong began carefully inspecting the three spirit artifacts.

The appraisal took longer than expected. She seemed especially unable to decipher the flute-shaped artifact.

“Ah... First, this armor is a Qi Condensation Realm treasure artifact called Needle-Launching Armor.”

“A treasure artifact? Not a spirit artifact?”

“Yes. A treasure artifact.”

Artifacts were divided into four levels according to the cultivation realm they belonged to.

Spirit artifacts, treasure artifacts, sacred relics, and divine artifacts.

A treasure artifact was an artifact capable of affecting cultivators of a higher realm.

A sacred relic was an artifact that allowed its owner to contend even with someone one minor realm boundary above.

A divine artifact was an artifact that crossed major realm boundaries, allowing battle across realms. In other words, a Qi Condensation Realm divine artifact could still display power against a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.

“When you pour spiritual energy into it, huge needles shoot out like the spines of a hedgehog and turn everything in its radius into a mess. Judging by the Spiritual Stones stored within it, its power is considerable, so be careful when you use it.”

Ise was glad he had not tested it and waited for her to continue.

“This necklace is the Stone Hand Pendant. It is a spirit artifact containing the earth-element Stone Hand spell. And this flute...”

Seolryeong shook her head and continued.

“I’ve never seen one either. It seems to be related to spirit beast taming.”

“Spirit beast taming? As in taming spirit beasts?”

“Yes. That’s only my guess. You would need to have a more specialized spirit-artifact artisan examine it to know for certain. If you’re all right with it, should I study it further?”

Without answering, Ise put the spirit artifacts back into his storage pouch and held out one Spiritual Stone.

“Thank you.”

“Please use our services again, customer.”

Seolryeong said as she accepted the Spiritual Stone. Ise rose to his feet.

Footnotes:

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