WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Episode 14: Rapid Changes in the Continental Situation (1)

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“You... will be spending a lot of time with Foundation Establishment Realm seniors now. If I speak casually to you when other seniors are around, it will muddle the hierarchy. It will make things awkward for you.”

“Do whatever makes you comfortable.”

“...I know I should, but it feels like you're growing distant.”

Seolryeong added with a gloomy expression.

“It feels like someone is taking my friend away...”

“Then just treat me like before.”

“I told you, then the hierarchy...”

“Who cares about hierarchy? Look at Pi Garam. Nothing has really changed between us. I have no intention of forcing this strange culture on friends who have been with me since we were chicks.”

“...”

“I heard that even the Hall Masters treat people they have known since childhood casually, even if there is a gap in their realms.”

Seolryeong stared silently at the empty bowl for a long time, then let out a faint sigh.

“I won't let us grow too far apart.”

“Good. Your advancement isn't particularly slow, either. The higher your realm gets, the longer cultivation takes, so we'll gradually end up on more equal footing.”

“Yeah. I'll work harder.”

Seolryeong wore an oddly resolute expression.

“I won't be forgotten or end up as some decorative friend. I understand how Hae Unchan feels now.”

“Still, Hae Unchan isn't as lazy as you.”

“That really pisses me off...”

At the sixth star of Qi Condensation with two spiritual roots, Seolryeong's talent and rate of advancement were both respectable.

Besides, Seolryeong would do well on her own.

Ise decided not to worry.

“Wash the dishes before you go.”

* * *

The next morning, Ise was summoned by Chief Master Sugyeom.

They were in an upper-floor office deep within Chuyo Hall, the highest seat at headquarters. Unlike their encounter in the plaza yesterday, this was a private meeting between the two of them.

Sugyeom offered him a cup of tea. Spiritual herbs had been lightly steeped in it.

“Sit.”

Ise took his seat. When he sipped the tea, he felt a faint current of spiritual energy gently tempering his body.

Sugyeom went straight to the point.

“As I said, once you reach Foundation Establishment, you are promoted to Mountain-Guarding Disciple and must choose an Inner Hall to belong to.”

“Must I belong to an Inner Hall?”

“It cannot be helped. It is the command structure in times of war. Once you reach the Core Formation Realm, you can establish an Inner Hall of your own. You only need to belong to one until then.”

Sugyeom handed Ise a chart of the Inner Halls.

It recorded each Inner Hall's Hall Master and duties.

Ise read through it slowly.

Azure Dragon Hall. A one-person Inner Hall led by Hall Master Haeil. It did not take Mountain-Guarding Disciples.

Vermilion Bird Hall. Home to specialists in the Four Great Arts.

Vine Serpent Hall. Those who handled mind arts techniques among the specialties of Shamans.

Yellow Dragon Hall. Administrative officials who handled the practical work of running headquarters.

Black Tortoise Hall. It managed the royal and noble families of the Three Peninsula Kingdoms.

Kirin Hall. It managed the entrance examinations and outer branch outposts.

Dokkaebi Hall. An Inner Hall made up of dokkaebi. In practice, it was Gwisu Temple's fighting force, responsible for searching the Three Peninsula Kingdoms for demonic cultivators.

Hooked Array Hall, White Tiger Hall, Winged Dragon Hall, and Phoenix Hall. The core of headquarters' martial force. They mainly handled demonic cultivators who crossed over from the Zheng Empire and wars against outside forces.

‘There aren't many choices.’

In truth, one of the final four halls would suit him best.

Sugyeom took a sip of tea and continued.

“Beyond their roles, each hall has its own character and atmosphere. Some Inner Halls have close-knit disciples, while in others, people only share an affiliation and barely know who their fellow disciples are. Some obsess over purebloods, while others are made up entirely of other races.”

“...May I think it over before deciding?”

“Yes.”

Before Ise rose from his seat, he asked one more question.

“Ah, Chief Master.”

Sugyeom looked at him.

“What happened with the gu parasite that came out of my head?”

“It has been confirmed that it was the work of Bi Hyeongrang, Ten Thousand Demons in Turmoil and leader of Cheoryang Thunder Gate. It appears to have been a gu parasite intended to investigate something and relay information, but we do not know the details. His mastery of poisonous insects is likely unmatched across the continent.”

Ise's gaze hardened.

Bi Hyeongrang. If someone used Ten Thousand Demons in Turmoil as an epithet, Ise could guess at their standing.

“Do not worry. Cheoryang Thunder Gate has fled to the western wastelands to evade pursuit, aside from a few remnants. At least while Hall Master Haeil remains, they will never set foot on this land again.”

Ise took a moment to steady his breathing.

They had been driven out. They had fled. They would never set foot here again.

Something within Ise sank faintly.

The person who had controlled the Snail-Headed Scholar and slaughtered his family had already been driven away by headquarters' other powers before Ise could lay a hand on them himself.

Instead of relief, a hollow feeling settled in one corner of his heart.

Still, they had not been completely wiped out.

Remnants remained, and Bi Hyeongrang himself had only fled. He was not dead.

That meant Ise still had a reason to travel to the western wastelands himself once he reached the Core Formation Realm.

Ise answered quietly.

“...I understand.”

Perhaps Sugyeom had read what lay beneath his words, because he let out a soft sigh.

“I understand how you feel. But for now, put it aside and focus on your cultivation. If you meet Bi Hyeongrang before reaching the Core Formation Realm, your fate will be more miserable than when you met Han Juok. That man is a monster on an entirely different level from an old fiend like Han Juok.”

“I'll remember that.”

Ise rose from his seat.

Before he left, Sugyeom added one last remark.

“I do not wish to see the Hall Masters fighting over talent, so make your decision soon.”

“Yes.”

Ise gave a short laugh, bowed, and left the office.

“An administrative official will show you to your new residence.”

* * *

His new residence was a tiled-roof house within the Inner Hall District on the western side of headquarters.

‘It even has a yard.’

It was a detached house, and it even had a yard that could be used as a vegetable garden.

There was a private workshop and a cultivation room as well. The treatment was even better than he had expected.

As Ise looked around the house, the administrative official who had been waiting for him discreetly stepped in to explain.

“Foundation Establishment cultivators may select three administrative officials to attend to their personal needs. Headquarters pays their wages, so please choose freely.”

“That isn't all?”

“Yes. There is more. May I continue?”

“Sure. Please do.”

“Foundation Establishment cultivators may use all five Library Pavilions regardless of contribution points. You must still pay the fees, of course.”

That was welcome news. He had put off missions for so long that his contribution point work had been slow.

“Also, your missions will become irregular. Unlike Qi Condensation cultivators, who have one assigned mission each year, you will receive missions as needed.”

“Oh. That's good.”

“However, Foundation Establishment personnel of this order are always in short supply, so there may not be as much leisure as you expect.”

After thanking the administrative official, Ise immediately searched through all five Library Pavilions. He copied every book he could find about the system of immortal cultivation and the cultivation world, then brought them home.

He wanted to understand why he had been utterly helpless before the Core Formation Realm great cultivator from the Zheng Empire.

‘I can't cultivate through ordinary methods alone.’

He had a special constitution.

Yet aside from having twice as much internal qi as others and being able to sense both spiritual energy and demonic qi, he had not felt much different from other cultivators.

The Twin-Curtain Spirit-Domain Sealing Banner was not his own strength. It was only power someone else had gifted him.

He could not shake the feeling that he was failing to use his constitution properly.

‘The Great Exorcist Order Lord created techniques alone and raised his realm, despite having even less information than I do.’

He could not depend entirely on the knowledge of others.

There was a saying that if one wished to see a thousand miles, one had to climb one floor higher.

‘I can't ask someone else and rely on them every time. I need to study and investigate more actively, so I can understand and use my constitution for myself.’

Hall Master Woo Yu-hui had taken forty-eight years to reach the Core Formation Realm.

It was a long time, or a short one, depending on how one saw it.

Ise was certain that he could never catch up with his current attitude toward cultivation.

He needed to deepen his understanding of immortal cultivation and pursue knowledge from many angles.

That was his most urgent task.

Ise began working through the mountain of books one by one.

Several days later, after remaining seated and reading without moving, Ise finally left his residence to reopen Dine and Go.

That was when news struck headquarters and threw it into an uproar.

A great cultivator from the Zheng Empire had broken through to the Nascent Soul Realm.

It was news that would shatter the balance of the Eastern Continent.

News that heralded troubled times.

* * *

On Dine and Go's first day of business after reopening, the entire shop buzzed with talk of the Zheng Empire's Nascent Soul Realm great cultivator.

People said war would break out, that they should assassinate the cultivator first, that the Great Exorcist Order was finished.

Unverified rumors drifted through the shop.

The reason the Zheng Empire had not directly clashed with the Great Exorcist Order until now was simple.

The Great Exorcist Order had the Eastern Continent's only Nascent Soul Realm great cultivator.

Azure Dragon Hall Master Haeil.

The Zheng Empire overwhelmingly outnumbered them in Core Formation Realm and Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.

If full-scale war had broken out, the Great Exorcist Order would have already vanished, save for Hall Master Haeil.

But who could bear the fury of a Nascent Soul Realm great cultivator afterward?

The rage of an absolute being with only heaven above them would not ease until the Zheng Empire had been drenched in blood.

If the Zheng Empire united to face Haeil, even a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator might not withstand their numerical advantage.

But the Zheng Empire's cultivation world was not a single sect. Naturally, the strong preyed on the weak within it, and checks, conflicts, and wars were common.

Now that balance had been shaken.

With a Nascent Soul Realm great cultivator emerging from the Pill Altar Sect, the Zheng Empire's order would be reorganized around the Pill Altar Sect.

They would either kneel before the new absolute power and submit, or disappear into history. The former was far more likely.

From now on, the continental situation rested on the decision of the great cultivator who had newly reached the Nascent Soul Realm.

If that person kept Hall Master Haeil occupied, the Great Exorcist Order would be swept away.

Of course, even for a Nascent Soul Realm great cultivator, confronting Haeil, who had reached Great Perfection in the Nascent Soul Realm, would be burdensome.

But once Haeil reached the Spirit Transformation Realm, none of it would matter. If someone sought to unite the cultivation world of the Eastern Continent, this was their only chance.

That was why the entire Great Exorcist Order was on edge.

‘So what changes for me?’

Ise decided not to concern himself with it.

Those were matters for important people.

For him, the insight before his eyes mattered more.

After finishing Dine and Go's business, Ise left headquarters and boarded the White Luan Boat.

The power the Core Formation Realm cultivator had used against him was called primordial qi.

It was a form of spiritual energy closer to the fundamental power of life itself. Foundation Establishment cultivators gradually came to understand it in the later stages of the realm, and Core Formation Realm cultivators could wield it.

Those who had not reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment could not even sense it, leaving them helpless against it.

There were apparently Foundation Establishment spirit artifacts that could resist primordial qi, so Ise had already begun asking around for even a single-use talisman.

Now that he had sorted out the cultivation system, the path ahead seemed a little clearer.

When the White Luan Boat entered Gwisu Temple's territory, the dokkaebi came rushing over in a crowd.

Ise proudly showed off his newly acquired mode of transport, then headed for the Inner Hall where his master was.

“Did you come running over to boast that you reached Foundation Establishment?”

“Yes, Master.”

Ise sat properly before his master, wearing the expression of a child waiting to be praised.

Footnotes:

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