WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Episode 13: Foundation Establishment Breakthrough (1)
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Ise sat cross-legged in one corner of the stone chamber and reached into the storage pouch at his waist.
Since he had begun cultivating, he intended to use every medicinal pellet except the Foundation Establishment Pellet.
Most were low-grade, but the Zheng Empire's slaughterer and the demonic cultivators had killed so many cultivators that there was no small number of them.
One by one, Ise swallowed the medicinal pellets.
Then his hand stopped halfway to his mouth.
Some of the pellets contained too many impurities, which would only cause pill toxin and turbid qi to build up excessively.
‘This would get in the way instead.’
Ise gave up on those without hesitation. From the remaining low-grade medicinal pellets, he selected only the seventh-grade ones, whose colors gleamed clearly and carried no mixed odor, then resumed taking them.
Looking at them now, more than seventy percent were useless.
Burning thirst rose in Ise's throat, and he cautiously reached into the Spiritual Herb Pouch.
He took out the first orange flower he had harvested.
Anyone could tell it was no ordinary spiritual herb.
A faint glow ran through every vein of its leaves, while dense spiritual energy drifted upward from its roots in thin strands.
Honestly, it felt too precious to turn in.
He understood the Great Exorcist Order's noble intentions, but how much could a single flower really affect the greater picture?
In that case... couldn't he just eat it?
Would it really matter if it was only him...?
No matter how long he examined it, he could not identify the flower.
He had read every book in the Training Compound's library, and even after coming to headquarters, he had spared no Spiritual Stones when buying reference books.
Yet this was a spiritual herb he had never seen before.
If it was this unfamiliar, the cultivation world probably did not even know how to make it into a medicinal pellet.
Rather than mixing random ingredients and attempting to refine it, simply consuming it would likely be more effective.
Once that thought entered his mind, it kept circling back to the same place.
‘...I'll eat it and die.’
After making up his mind, Ise muttered quietly.
If Heaven sent down heavenly tribulation because he had violated proper conduct, then he would take it.
They said his constitution would be struck hardest by heavenly tribulation anyway.
If so, breaking the rules once in a while would make it feel a little less unfair.
Ise picked up the orange flower by its stem.
He brushed the soil clinging to the roots from it with a few quick swipes, then shoved the entire thing into his mouth, roots and all.
With a solemn heart, he chewed.
That instant, spiritual energy flooded through his esophagus and into his spiritual meridians.
It was a violent surge incomparable to a middle-grade Qi-Condensing Pellet.
Pure, heavy, and overwhelming in quantity, the spiritual energy crashed through his spiritual meridians like a tidal wave.
‘...Wait.’
Ise instinctively tried to spread the rampaging spiritual energy throughout all his spiritual meridians.
If his body had not reached Great Completion, it felt as though his spiritual meridians would have been torn apart on the spot.
The body he had tempered through Reforge Bones with Spirit and Shed the Mortal Form, Remake the Body barely endured the torrent.
It took a long while for the spiritual energy to circulate through his spiritual meridians and blend with his internal qi.
Sweat poured from him like rain, carrying a sour stench.
Unable to take even a proper breath as he endured it, Ise slowly released his breathing.
The flow of spiritual energy settled, and his spiritual meridians deepened another level.
‘...What is this?’
Ise sat in a daze for a moment.
The foul smell came from turbid qi and pill toxin residue.
A single spiritual herb had washed away all the turbid qi and pill toxin that had accumulated from taking low-grade medicinal pellets.
That was not all. Its energy still remained in his body, drifting leisurely through it.
He suspected it would not disappear for quite some time, protecting his body from medicinal pellet residue.
‘...This is sweet.’
Fortuitous encounters truly were sweet. If he had not eaten it and died instead, he did not think he could have closed his eyes even in death. He might have died with the last words, “Give me back my spiritual herb, you bastards.”
It was the first time since beginning cultivation that his spiritual energy had exceeded his demonic qi in sheer quantity.
The amount of spiritual energy remaining before he reached the Foundation Establishment Realm was no longer much.
One or two middle-grade Qi-Condensing Pellets would be enough.
His demonic qi was not lacking either. He had killed four ten-star demonic cultivators and devoured their corpses.
If he left the secret realm and hunted two or three first-grade demon beasts or ten-star demonic cultivators, he would have enough to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm.
‘...So this is why everyone talks about secret realms.’
Ise could not help but marvel.
He had acquired so many resources that he could barely estimate them. Rather than three years, he could likely attempt to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm a month or two after leaving the secret realm.
At that moment, he understood through his own body why secret realms were lands of death and lands of opportunity at once.
Ise put the remaining spirit pellets away in his storage pouch and resumed meditation.
How much time passed?
The spiritual pressure enveloping Ise's body stirred once.
‘...Is it already time?’
Ise slowly opened his eyes.
The air inside the stone chamber was trembling faintly.
It was different from the sensation when he had first been trapped. Something was moving outside, not within.
It felt as though only a few days had passed since he began cultivating, but the peculiar comfort of it had made him lose track of time.
Cultivation was like deep sleep.
Once one sank deeply into it, the sense of how much time had passed grew dull.
The mind became calm, while the senses seemed to drift in a hazy state.
Before Ise could even uncross his legs, his body began to fade.
The outline of his physical body gradually grew faint, becoming transparent as though he had turned into a spirit body. Starting from his toes and fingertips, he scattered into faint particles of light.
It was an irresistible force. Ise drew in a short breath.
Before he could gather his thoughts, his entire body transformed into a streak of light and shot through the stone chamber ceiling.
* * *
When he opened his eyes again, turbid qi rushed into his nose and lively noise battered his ears.
“Make way! Make way!”
A presence approached Ise. He twisted aside to avoid a cart passing down the road.
Slowly, he looked around.
A market street stretched far to either side. It was a city of mortals.
Their clothing was somewhat strange.
Rather than the hanbok of the Three Peninsula Kingdoms, their garments were more colorful, with wider sleeves and more elaborate decorations.
Even the architecture of the buildings was subtly different from that of the Three Peninsula Kingdoms.
‘Where am I?’
Ise stopped a passing mortal nearby.
“Wait.”
“What is it?”
“I have something to ask. Where is this?”
“Are you an outsider? What do you mean, where is this? This is West Lake Market. Don't you even know where you're standing?”
West Lake Market. He had never heard the name before.
“Judging by your clothes, you aren't from around here. W-wait, are you perhaps a cultivator?”
“I am.”
The mortal man's face immediately turned pale. Trembling, the man bent deeply at the waist and lowered his head.
“F-forgive me, Elder. You looked so young that I failed to recognize you and acted disrespectfully...”
“It’s fine. Just tell me where this is. I think I used a spell incorrectly and ended up somewhere far away. Start with the name of the continent and explain in detail.”
The man's face filled with shock again.
Just how powerful was this Daoist master, to casually speak of traveling between continents?
A terrible feeling told him that today might become the day of his memorial rites.
“T-this is West Lake Market, under Hanrim City in the Zheng Empire on the Eastern Continent. The West Lake Guild rules this place, and the West Lake Guild is a lay branch of the Pill Altar Sect.”
The Eastern Continent. Ise relaxed. At least he had not been thrown onto another continent.
“Which direction of the Zheng Empire is Hanrim City in, east, west, south, or north?”
“This is the far northern edge.”
“...”
The Zheng Empire stretched more than ten thousand li from east to west and from north to south.
The Three Peninsula Kingdoms lay along the Zheng Empire's southern border. That meant he would have to travel at least ten thousand li, plus several thousand more, to reach them from here.
First, he tried sending a Message Talisman without panicking.
Yet the Message Talisman did not work, perhaps because headquarters was too far away.
‘I've become lost.’
Ise gave a self-mocking laugh.
“You've been a great help. Thank you.”
“Y-yes. Not at all.”
“Are Spiritual Stones useful to mortals too? I don't have any silver or gold coins.”
Ise took a Spiritual Stone from his storage pouch and handed it to the man. The man flinched in surprise, then brightened at once.
“S-something so precious...! Of course! Naturally, it is useful!”
The man hurriedly tucked the Spiritual Stone into his robes.
This cultivator seemed to be one of those pure cultivators who shut themselves away to cultivate. The sort who devoted every waking hour to cultivation and knew little of worldly affairs.
One Spiritual Stone was enough to buy more than a year's worth of rice for a mortal. Mortals found it difficult to obtain Spiritual Stones through their own currency, but exchanging Spiritual Stones for mortal currency was easy anywhere in a market.
The man revised his thought. Today was not the day of his memorial rites. It was his lucky day.
“One last question. Where can I get information in this market?”
“Ah, yes, yes. Do you see that tall five-story pavilion over there?”
The man raised an arm and pointed toward the end of the market street.
At the market's northern end stood a five-story pavilion with golden roofs gleaming in the sun. One glance made it clear that it was the center of West Lake Market.
“That is the External Affairs Pavilion, where people can commission work from the West Lake Guild or accept commissions. Outside cultivators and mortals can come and go freely. If you want to buy information, that is the fastest place.”
“Thanks.”
Ise answered briefly.
The man kept bowing deeply and did not lift his head until Ise vanished from sight.
* * *
Ise walked into a secluded alley at one end of the market street. He took the Great Exorcist Order Daoist robes from inside his clothes and put them back into his storage pouch.
Then he used a Demon-Qi Concealment Talisman to hide his demonic qi.
They said there were three hundred Core Formation Realm cultivators in the Zheng Empire. Since the Zheng Empire was more than fifty times the size of the Three Peninsula Kingdoms, such an imbalance was unavoidable.
No matter how vast the land was, if he happened to cross paths with even one of them, it could invite needless trouble.
‘I'll break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm here, buy a flying spirit artifact, and return.’
Returning to headquarters was his immediate goal, but even if he tore Swiftbody Talismans without rest and ran continuously, covering more than ten thousand li plus several thousand more would take a full month.
This was hostile territory and unfamiliar land. He decided it would be better to prepare thoroughly and travel back safely.
‘I'll broaden my horizons while I'm here.’
To be honest, the desire to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm right now was stronger than his desire to return to headquarters.
Since this was not Great Exorcist Order territory, obtaining spirit pellets would be much easier too.
After coming up with one excuse after another to stay, Ise headed toward the External Affairs Pavilion with equal parts excitement and tension.
‘This is easy on the eyes.’
Ise looked around as he walked.
The scenery had a very different character from the cities of the Three Peninsula Kingdoms.
The upward curve of the roof eaves and the ornaments hanging from them, the way the walls were built, even the shape of the stone fountain rising at the center of the street.
Like the country boy he had been when he first entered Cheongsan City and wandered through the village below headquarters, Ise walked for a long while with every sight around him drawing his gaze.
At last, the main gate of the West Lake Guild's External Affairs Pavilion came into view.
Other than the Great Exorcist Order, it was the first cultivation sect Ise had encountered.
What sort of atmosphere would it have?
Filled with nervous excitement and curiosity, he stepped forward one pace at a time.
Footnotes:
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