WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Episode 12: Dark Heaven Secret Realm (10)

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‘If I can obtain the fortuitous encounter inside, I’ll be the victor of this secret realm.’

Certain of that, Ise calmly looked around.

The western edge. He remembered the Great Silver Three-Eyed Tiger’s advice.

It had told him to find the path of life and move only along it.

At the time, he had thought its warning to proceed carefully was the only useful advice. He had assumed the spirit-beast king was trying to take advantage of him without giving anything in return.

Yet its words had contained their literal meaning. There was a path through the Inner Reaches that one could travel and survive.

Ise slowly began walking along the boundary between the two stone puppets he had last observed.

One step. Although he had clearly entered the stone puppets’ range, neither reacted.

Another step. Still nothing.

Ise took one step to the side.

Boom!

A heavy footfall immediately answered from somewhere beyond. One of the stone puppets turned toward him and began approaching.

The instant Ise returned to his original position, the footsteps fell silent again.

Between the stone puppets’ territories, there was an invisible path barely one step wide.

Ise entered that narrow route, feeling his way forward one step at a time.

It felt like crossing a rope stretched over a bottomless cliff.

The path ran straight ahead. At least, it did for a while.

Then, when he reached a certain point and stepped forward, he heard a stone puppet react.

He hurriedly pulled his foot back and stopped where he was.

The path turned.

Right, then left, each shift exactly one stride.

From here on, the moment he strayed from the path, surviving would become difficult.

He had come too deep. No matter how fast he moved, there would be no avoiding the beams of light that shot at him from point-blank range.

The path bent inward in staggered steps.

Ise steadied his breathing and followed those shifts one at a time.

After feeling his way forward for some time, the path ended again.

His destination had finally come into view.

A gray-white wall stood before him, and a stone puppet circled around it nearby.

From here, no matter which direction he stepped, the stone puppet immediately turned its head toward him.

‘So finding the path isn’t enough to prove you’re qualified.’

At the very least, one needed the strength to break through a stone puppet alone before entering the destination.

Ise glanced at the gatekeeper protecting the fortuitous encounter.

Whenever the blue light embedded where its head should have been pulsed, chills ran down his spine.

He swallowed and loosened his body.

He could not retreat after coming this far.

First, he took a deep breath and calmed himself.

This was a test of qualification, one that allowed no mistakes.

He used every means available to accelerate his body.

The stone puppet drifted around the wall like it was swimming. The moment it reached the point farthest from him, Ise launched himself like a stone from a catapult.

The stone puppet’s head turned at once. Its huge body thundered around the wall and entered his sight in an instant.

A streak of blue light burst from its forehead, and Ise changed direction toward the opposite side of the stone puppet.

Crack!

The beam sliced diagonally through the spot he had just passed.

The stone slab he had stepped on split cleanly in two, its severed surface glowing red with lingering heat.

Only fifteen meters remained to the wall.

Ise poured all his spiritual energy into his final step and drove himself off the ground.

At that moment, a stone thrown by the stone puppet grazed his ankle.

Crack!

Pain shot through him as his ankle bent the wrong way in midair.

He bit his lip and carried the impact into the rotation of his body.

After spinning once through the air, he tumbled over the wall.

Instead of landing lightly, he crashed down with a loud clatter and rolled across the ground.

He immediately braced himself on one knee and regulated his breathing.

Popping a Healing Pellet into his mouth, he began circulating his spiritual energy.

The medicine slowly flowed through his spiritual meridians into his broken bone and torn flesh.

Only after the throbbing pain faded did Ise have the leisure to inspect his surroundings.

Inside the wall. In the middle of the ruins stood a single intact stone building that did not belong there.

Its gray-white stone was clean, as if moss and weathering had passed it by.

Then, in the shade before the building, he saw a familiar man in faded gray Daoist robes, his hair hanging loose.

The sword cultivator he had encountered in the Inner Reaches days ago was sitting in the same posture as before.

“We meet again.”

The voice was calm. Ise hurriedly stopped circulating his spiritual energy and guarded against the other man, but the sword cultivator only looked at him placidly, as if he had no intention of attacking.

After letting out a short breath, Ise treated about half his injuries and stood.

The sword cultivator slowly shifted his gaze to follow him.

Ise silently looked him over once, then kept some distance from the sword cultivator as he approached the stone building’s entrance.

A pair of enormous stone doors was tightly shut.

A line of writing was carved into the center, and beneath it were two round holes, each the size of a human fist.

「Let the qualified stand alone and offer proof.」

Ise’s gaze rested on the neat inscription.

Qualified. Proof. Alone.

Combined with the information in those three words, he remembered the silver bead stored in his robe.

The inner core given to him by the Great Silver Three-Eyed Tiger’s lineage, the spirit-beast king.

‘…It means I need to obtain inner cores from the kings at both ends.’

Ise clicked his tongue softly.

After suffering all this hardship to reach this place, he now had to return to the Great Black Serpent’s territory at the eastern edge.

He could not guess how much longer it would take, nor was there any guarantee that he would safely arrive here again.

If he had to weigh the odds, leaving would be twice as difficult as entering.

There was no guarantee that every place he stepped to avoid the stone puppets would be a path of life.

‘No wonder no one claimed this great fortuitous encounter before the secret realm became famous across the continent.’

Ise let out a quiet sigh and looked behind him.

Then he froze.

A black bead repeatedly fell into the sword cultivator’s palm as he tossed it up and caught it again.

Its surface was pitch-black, and demonic qi writhed along its faint lines. It resembled the spirit beast’s inner core.

A demon core. The demon-beast king’s demon core.

“…You, that.”

The sword cultivator caught the bead in his palm and showed it to Ise.

“This? I obtained it in the Outer Zone. I fought a strange serpent for quite a while, and it spat this out before retreating. It fits perfectly into the stone door’s hole, but I’m short one.”

Ise studied him again.

A person who had confronted a demon beast far beyond the Great Completion of Qi Condensation Realm and forced it to spit out its demon core.

Only then did the true shape of the sword cultivator’s unfathomable cultivation reveal itself.

The sword cultivator slowly raised his head.

“Judging by your reaction, you already knew?”

For a moment, Ise regretted revealing too much. Then he changed his mind.

The man bore no hostility. It would be better to cooperate.

Ise took the silver bead from his robe. It was the inner core of the Great Silver Three-Eyed Tiger’s lineage, the spirit-beast king.

Interest flashed through the sword cultivator’s eyes.

“Oh?”

The sword cultivator rose.

As if they had made an agreement, the two approached the stone doors at the same time.

They quietly pushed their respective proof into the holes, and both holes began to glow.

Silver and black streaks joined and wound once around the surface of the doors. The carved inscription in the center shone with a vivid blue light.

Then that was all.

The doors did not open.

The light flickered once and faded, and silence descended for a moment.

“‘Stand alone.’ It seems only one person can enter.”

“Seems so.”

The sword cultivator slowly reached out and retrieved his demon core. After giving Ise a slight nod, Ise also took back his inner core.

The sword cultivator stepped a little farther from Ise and spoke in a relaxed tone.

“I’m sorry, but how about we determine who is qualified through skill? Of course, I won’t force you.”

“No other choice.”

Neither of them could enter. Qualification would only be given to one person.

Still, neither would turn back after coming this far.

People said fortuitous encounters depended more on luck and timing than effort and ability.

The chance that, when this secret realm opened, two people acknowledged by the two kings would arrive here at the same time.

That alone was miraculous enough to be called a fortuitous encounter.

But in the end, only one person could obtain it. There was only one way to decide who was qualified.

Ise slowly drew his hatchet.

“I’m Cheongun of the Tyrant Sword Sect.”

“Ise of the Great Exorcist Order.”

This man felt different from every enemy Ise had faced so far. He was closer to a martial artist than a Daoist.

A powerful figure who had taken the Great Black Serpent’s demon core.

Ise heightened his focus and prepared for battle.

“An axe wielder?”

“Just a butcher.”

Cheongun snorted at the joking reply.

“I’ll let you have the first move.”

Ise did not decline. He immediately fired a Fireball Art.

Even when Ise abruptly launched a spell at him, Cheongun did not look surprised. Drawing his sword, he cut the Fireball apart.

It was the first time Ise had seen someone split a spell through swordsmanship alone, without even infusing their weapon with spiritual energy.

With that single strike, Ise understood that this man was a true sword cultivator.

The sword principle of someone who had devoted their life to a single blade, resolving everything with only a sword. Ise had thought such things were nothing more than the exaggerations found in novels.

‘He has spiritual meridians. He’s a sword cultivator, but he’s also a cultivator.’

An Earth Spear shot from Ise’s hand, followed by spell after spell formed from talismans.

Cheongun lightly evaded or deflected every attack.

‘He has a technique similar to Dokkaebi Steps.’

His speed was not enhanced by talismans or spells. It was a kind of movement art.

Ise widened the distance between himself and the approaching sword cultivator.

Close combat was usually the kind of battle he preferred, but he wanted to force his opponent into an unfavorable fight.

Boom!

A Stone Hand dropped from the sky and blocked Cheongun’s path.

Ise had originally aimed for Cheongun’s head, but Cheongun stopped and diverted the attack at the last moment.

An Earth Wall surged up and sent Cheongun into the air. A stream of water immediately crashed over him.

Struck by the water in midair, Cheongun flew far away, landed, and shook himself like a wet dog.

The Jet Stream Art had enough power to pierce steel, yet Cheongun looked perfectly fine, without a single broken bone.

Cheongun scratched his wet hair.

“You’re troublesome. You deploy spells quickly without forming hand seals or reciting incantations. Don’t tell me you cast spells through consciousness alone?”

“Isn’t that how everyone does it?”

“From the way you speak, it doesn’t sound like anyone taught you either… You’re a genius. I’ve never seen anyone like you.”

Ise nodded as if he had learned something new.

Thinking about it, aside from several of his fellow disciples, most people usually recited spell formulas or formed hand seals to activate spells.

That difference had decided victory and defeat several times already.

Resolving to make better use of that advantage when fighting cultivators in the future, Ise added to Cheongun,

“If you admit defeat obediently, I won’t touch a hair on your head.”

“Ha ha, I can’t do that.”

Footnotes:

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