WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 11: Semi-Transaction, Normal Business Operations (6)
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The Formation-Breaking Spear would be highly effective against formation masters. The problem was that Ise had never even held a spear before.
The Crimson Flying Sword was certainly a romantic weapon, but he had never handled a sword either. He did not even know how it differed from moving a sword with telekinesis.
The Vajra would be useful against curse sorcerers and evil spirits, but it had little use beyond that.
The Earth-Escape Gauntlets could serve both offense and escape, but learning the Earth-Escape Art from a secret manual seemed more efficient.
After giving it some thought, Ise picked up the Vajra. It was an iron club that fit perfectly in one hand. Both ends split into three pointed prongs, but the edges were far too blunt to use as a weapon.
To use it, all he had to do was grip it and pour in spiritual energy. It would dispel any curse currently being cast and allow him to physically attack evil spirits.
Its uses were limited, but it was clearly something he needed.
Every enemy Ise had faced so far had been either a demon beast or a demonic cultivator.
He had never encountered a curse sorcerer or an evil spirit.
Still, just because he had not faced one yet did not mean that good fortune would continue in his next mission.
Demon hunting was often a string of unexpected variables. He could not afford to have any weaknesses.
He could deal with formations to some extent, so the only treasure artifact that could cover a gap in his abilities was the Vajra.
Ise bought the Vajra from an employee at the trading house.
“Fellow Daoist, is there perhaps a discount...?”
“Ha ha, six hundred and sixty.”
The merciless clerk accepted six hundred and sixty Spiritual Stones, recorded the sale in the ledger, and handed over the Vajra.
His pouch of Spiritual Stones became noticeably thinner in one go.
After leaving the trading house, Ise headed toward his next goal.
He had planned to buy medicinal pellets for cultivation, but the result was disastrous.
All four trading houses said their reservations were already full, and even the smaller medicinal-pellet shops nearby had run out of Spirit-Gathering Pellets and Qi-Condensing Pellets.
As he left the market district, Ise fell into thought.
‘Even if I scrape together Spiritual Stones, it’s pointless if no one will sell medicinal pellets.’
He could at least go to Hong Wonseo and use the line, “What are fellow disciples for?” She would make some for him. But she lacked ingredients just as badly.
Obtaining the materials was entirely his responsibility.
The problem was that useful spiritual herbs were monopolized by the alchemists within headquarters, or shipped directly from the farms run by the Four Great Meritorious Clans, never reaching the market.
‘Should I visit the markets run by the outer lay branches?’
Traveling all the way to the Zheng Empire would be dangerous, but he could probably find something in the markets of lay branch families within the Three Peninsula Kingdoms.
‘What an inconvenient sect...’
Such irreverent thoughts were inevitable.
The demand among its members was overflowing, yet the sect’s own policies hindered their growth.
No matter how kindly Ise tried to view it, he could not understand it.
According to Buchun, Spirit Beast Grove was full of spiritual herbs so remarkable they would make one’s eyes pop.
They even dug up spiritual herbs found on other mountains and replanted them with the soil still around their roots. He could not begin to imagine how many resources lay unused there.
‘If the Great Exorcist Order had been even a little weaker, those vultures would have rushed in at once.’
Could they be secretly siphoning supplies only to the Core Formation Realm great cultivators?
Ise found himself having many irreverent thoughts that day.
* * *
Half a month later, Dine and Go’s second opening was also a success.
Not only did they fill all one hundred seats, they also sold out the next round of meal vouchers at once.
After one more day of business, he would have more than enough to refill the pouch of Spiritual Stones he had depleted buying the spirit artifact.
He was about to leave headquarters, planning to cultivate in his spare time and visit the markets of nearby lay branch families, when a Message Talisman flew toward him.
A formal mission had arrived.
‘This year’s a little late.’
He caught the Message Talisman and checked its contents.
-Formal mission issued. Deliver an item stored at the Training Compound to Gwisu Temple.
‘Gwisu Temple?’
At the welcome words, Ise checked the contents again.
He was to stop by the Training Compound, collect the item, and deliver it to Gwisu Temple.
It was a delivery mission.
‘They always gave me exhausting missions, and now they’ve finally assigned an easy one.’
The corner of Ise’s mouth rose.
It was a mission that would let him take a break. Better yet, it gave him an excuse to visit Gwisu Temple for the first time in a long while.
It felt like receiving an unexpected gift.
They probably knew he had come from Gwisu Temple, which was why they had specifically assigned the mission to him.
‘The Great Exorcist Order seems inhuman sometimes, but it does have a human side.’
Ise set off.
The Training Compound was unchanged.
It had been nearly three years since he had last visited, aside from being turned away at the entrance, yet the scenery did not look any different.
Lost in memories, Ise walked through the Training Compound while watching first- and second-star Qi Condensation Realm entry disciples scurry about.
Whenever he passed, juniors bent at the waist in perfect right angles to greet him.
“Senior, thank you for what you did back then!”
There were familiar faces among them. One was an entry disciple whom Ise had saved after the Blood Cultivation Art demonic cultivator had captured them and drained their blood.
The disciple made a tremendous fuss about how honored they were, then hurried away in tiny steps.
‘They are kind of cute.’
Seeing the still-immature entry disciples really did feel like watching chicks run around.
He had not understood when Hall Master Haeil kept calling them chicks.
With that idle thought in mind, Ise headed for the administration office.
He wanted to greet Senior Ujeol. Ujeol sat in the same place as always, in the same posture as always, reading a secret manual.
“Senior. It’s Ise.”
Ujeol looked up at him.
“It has been a while, Cultivator Ise. I heard the news. You have been assigned a mission to Gwisu Temple.”
“Senior, please speak comfortably. It makes me embarrassed...”
“Eight stars. Have you not reached the ninth star yet?”
“No. I’m almost ready.”
“It is a stage where you must tread carefully. The item is at Medicine Hall. Go there.”
“Isn’t that a bit cold? It’s been a long time since we last met.”
“Three years is not that long. You have not yet shed your mortal habits.”
“That’s true.”
Smiling, Ise took a wrapped bundle from his robe and handed it to Ujeol.
“I brought this for you, Senior. Dine and Go has reopened at headquarters, so please stop by when you have the chance. I’ll treat you for free.”
“I will not refuse. By the next time we meet, I may be calling you Fellow Daoist.”
“I’ll work hard.”
Ise bowed and headed to Medicine Hall. There was a familiar face there as well.
The youngest cultivator of Medicine Hall, now a junior, was at the seventh star of the Qi Condensation Realm.
“O-oh, it’s been a long time, Senior...”
“It has. I came to collect an item.”
They had once been enemies who could never coexist, but this was a wise junior who had settled the debt of resentment through fair compensation.
Ise warmly greeted the junior, who was visibly tense, then accepted the item.
The youngest cultivator respectfully handed him a neatly stacked bundle of talismans.
Talisman script embroidered in silver thread glimmered faintly across the dark ink-black surfaces.
“What are these?”
“They are talismans called Demon-Qi Concealment Talismans. I heard the dokkaebi use them to hide their demonic qi while moving in secret.”
Ise’s eyes lit up.
A talisman that concealed demonic qi would be useful to him as well. The Spirit-Veiling Talisman was good, but its duration was too short.
“Do you know how long they last?”
“Once used, they should last several days.”
“I see. But are you sending them directly to Gwisu Temple? I never saw humans enter when I lived there.”
“Normally, someone from Gwisu Temple comes to collect them. This time, I heard they specifically requested that you bring them yourself.”
Ise thought of his master.
This easy mission had not simply fallen from the sky. It seemed his master had pulled some strings to make him come visit.
Ise accepted the bundle of talismans and stored it in his storage pouch.
* * *
The road to Gwisu Temple was so familiar that it felt strange.
At the eastern edge of the Three Peninsula Kingdoms lay the Ulta Mountain Range of Aegul County.
Even using Dokkaebi Steps at full speed, it took two full days to reach.
Before becoming a cultivator, Ise had walked that same distance for a month.
It felt strange to realize how close this road actually was.
Since he was in the area, Ise visited his family graves to greet them.
The gravestones were kept so clean that it looked as though someone had visited only yesterday.
It seemed that Scholar Wiseong still tended them regularly.
Thinking he should offer his teacher at least one Longevity Pellet, Ise headed to Wiseong’s home.
“Master Wiseong has been away for quite some time.”
Wiseong was traveling.
“He said he would travel across the country and take in abandoned children.”
Ise nodded. It was exactly the sort of thing Wiseong would do. Ise had heard him say it several times when he himself had been taken in.
“...But something strange has happened.”
The servant added this after a moment.
“Visitors almost never came during his entire life, but now that he is away, more and more guests have been looking for him.”
“Guests?”
“Yes. People dressed in white like yourself. They come by often.”
Ise glanced down at his own sleeve. With clothing like his, it meant Great Exorcist Order cultivators had been visiting.
“Anyway, we have not heard when he will return. If you have a message, please leave it in the letter box.”
“...No. Please just tell him I asked after him when he returns.”
Ise closed the gate and turned away.
What business could Great Exorcist Order cultivators have with Wiseong, a mortal?
Were the visitors truly disciples of the Great Exorcist Order? Were they impostors? Or did they belong to an entirely different faction and merely wear Great Exorcist Order robes?
No matter which it was, it bothered him.
‘...I’ll ask him when I see him next.’
Ise put the matter aside and hurried onward.
The sign at the entrance to Gwisu Temple remained the same.
Ise recited the incantation of the Dokkaebi Shadow-Hunting Demonic Art, activated the demonic qi within his body, and stepped past the sacred cord.
With a prickling sensation, the scenery turned upside down.
As he passed through Gwisu Temple’s main gate, the passing dokkaebi stopped walking.
Cold stares poured toward Ise all at once. They were wary of an outsider human entering Gwisu Temple.
Ise bowed toward familiar faces.
“Brother Yeonggyeong, Elder Doksaenggu. It’s me, Ise.”
“...”
“Ise? You’re Ise?”
“Yes, Brother. It’s me.”
“You little bastard! You’ve grown so much!”
“I was about to forget what you looked like, brat!”
Other dokkaebi gathered one by one.
Doksaenggu came over slowly, leaning on a cane. Familiar faces patted Ise on the back or pinched his shoulders, each showing their delight in their own way.
At the very edge of the crowd, a familiar but somehow different figure came running toward him at full speed.
“...Ise!”
Then she crashed into his arms as though throwing her whole body at him.
“You bastard! What have you been doing for four years without even sending word?”
It was Gonga. Ise caught her small body in his arms. She felt much smaller than he remembered. No, his arms must have become larger than before.
“Have you been well?”
“No! Why did you take so long to come back? Master was really hurt, you know!”
“...I’m sorry.”
Gonga looked up at Ise. She stared at him quietly for a while before grumbling.
“...You got really tall.”
“You too. You’re almost an adult dokkaebi now.”
Ise’s gaze swept over Gonga’s face. The childishness had faded somewhat, and her features had grown more defined.
“Of course I am. I’m thirty-one now.”
“In human years, aren’t you still sixteen?”
“Shut up. Look at you acting up in front of your big sis again.”
Ise snickered. Gonga found it a little difficult to deal with her friend, who had somehow become too grown-up.
“What about the others? They still can’t come out of the Cave of Repentance?”
“Yeah. It should be almost time for them to come out. They occasionally come out to see us when the leader gives them personal instruction, and they’ve all become much more mature.”
“That’s a relief. Give them my regards.”
“Okay. What’s life at the Great Exorcist Order like?”
“It’s good. Cultivation is going well too.”
“...I want to go there too.”
At Gonga’s words, Ise carefully chose his words before answering gently.
“It isn’t a place that would be good for you.”
Spiritual energy and demonic qi were like two sides of the same coin. It was natural for them to exist together, but at times one side became dominant.
Great Exorcist Order headquarters was filled with spiritual energy, while Gwisu Temple was the opposite.
If the dokkaebi people set foot in headquarters, they would suffer as that suffocating spiritual energy made them nauseous.
“...I see.”
Gonga lightly bit her lip, then quickly let go and smiled.
“Then Ise can come visit often.”
For no reason, Ise reached out and stroked her head.
“Where is Master?”
“She went out to patrol nearby. I sent word as soon as I heard you were here, so she should be on her way.”
A brief look of guilt crossed Ise’s face.
He wondered if he had turned aside the steps of someone who was busy.
Just as he thought that he should send a message in advance next time he came.
A small shadow fell from one side.
A single cloud cut through the sky above Gwisu Temple and approached quickly.
Mongryeon descended from atop the cloud.
She looked no different from four years ago.
The hem of her Daoist robe fluttered naturally in the wind, and her horns rose straight from her head.
Overwhelmed with emotion, Ise unconsciously took a step forward and bowed.
“Master. It has been a long time since I last greeted you.”
“Yes. Come here.”
Without changing her expression, Mongryeon crooked a finger at Ise.
When Ise quickly stood before her, Mongryeon raised her right hand and flicked his forehead with one finger.
Crack!
Ise’s head snapped backward first. In the next instant, his entire body flew backward.
“...?!”
He flew in a straight line all the way to Gwisu Temple’s main gate, smashed through it, and was buried beneath the wreckage. Ise wore a bewildered expression as his mind went blank.
“You used spiritual energy to block your master’s discipline?”
“It was only a reflex...”
“You ungrateful brat. I fed you, housed you, and raised you, yet you did not visit even once in four years? Dispel your spiritual energy and come here. Let me hit you one more time.”
If I dispel my spiritual energy and take that hit, I think I’ll cross the River of Three Crossings, Master...
Ise could not bring himself to argue.
Footnotes:
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