WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 14: Rapid Changes in the Continental Situation (2)
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Mongryeon grinned.
“You’ve finally reached a realm worth looking at.”
As Ise returned the Vein-Severing Blade to Mongryeon, he confessed that the black iron shield and hatchet she had given him had been destroyed.
“You worked hard. Weapons come and go. Make new ones. With your own money.”
“...Yes. Oh, and this.”
Ise held out a jade ring he had bought as a souvenir in the Zheng Empire.
It was his first time giving a gift to the master who had spent a lifetime giving things to him, and he felt strangely nervous.
“Hmm?”
“I bought it while I was traveling. I thought it would suit you.”
“What an unromantic confession. Sorry, but this master has no hobby of stealing a disciple’s man. If you need someone to satisfy your lust, wait until Gonga becomes an adult dokkaebi and catch her during her heat.”
“What? Master!”
Ise’s face turned red with embarrassment. Mongryeon laughed loudly for a long time, then waved a hand.
“A joke, a joke. Once you reach around three hundred years old, this kind of foolish joke becomes amusing. Try to understand.”
“...You’re too mischievous.”
“I never thought I’d receive a gift from my disciple. Thank you.”
Mongryeon slipped the jade ring onto a finger where it fit well enough.
“The other dokkaebi will tease me for doing something so funny.”
Despite her blunt words, Mongryeon looked quite pleased.
“Now then. I’ve accepted the bribe. What do you want?”
“I want to hear about the Great Exorcist Order Lord. Do you know anything about that person’s abilities?”
“Hmm. The Great Exorcist Order Lord...”
Mongryeon wore a wistful expression for a moment before answering.
“He was an outstanding genius. No one at the same realm could stand against him, and he won battles across major realm boundaries as easily as eating a meal. He was a man who knew no defeat. From the Foundation Establishment Realm onward, he used primordial qi to crush Core Formation Realm cultivators.”
“Then could I use primordial qi too?”
“Who knows? Your talent doesn’t seem lacking, but experience matters too. Don’t get carried away and die some miserable death.”
Ise fell silent, disappointment on his face.
“He hardly ever spoke about himself. He always acted like someone who would leave someday, and little was known about him.”
It seemed even his master did not know much about the Great Exorcist Order Lord. Then again, if she had, she would have given Ise some hint.
Still, he had gained something.
The Heaven-Demon Dual-Meridian Physique could use primordial qi from the Foundation Establishment Realm onward.
If the Great Exorcist Order Lord could do it, then Ise could too.
It would become a new weapon.
* * *
After returning to headquarters, Ise shut himself inside his residence’s cultivation room.
How had the Great Exorcist Order Lord used primordial qi?
What exactly was primordial qi in the first place?
Ise calmly circulated the internal qi gathered inside his body, then his spiritual energy and demonic qi.
The moment he circulated both energies at once, they repelled one another as though disgusted and went wild.
Why was the heaven-and-earth spiritual energy of this world divided into spiritual energy and demonic qi?
Demonic qi was ultimately a force derived from spiritual energy, so why were they distinct?
Demonic cultivators used demonic qi, yet they could still use all Five Elements spells.
That meant they retained the Five Elements attributes even after corruption.
Even when using spirit artifacts, the distinction between spiritual energy and demonic qi was meaningless except for a few cases.
Then what was the fundamental difference between demonic qi and spiritual energy?
Had their origins not been identical from the beginning, two sides of the same coin called the natural order and the reverse order?
The Dao tribulation formula for advancing from Great Perfection in the Foundation Establishment Realm to Core Formation was Five Qi Return to Origin.
It returned the five qi to their origin.
The attributes contained in one’s spiritual root intertwined and gathered at the source.
The force created that way was primordial qi.
Using it to shatter the Dharma-Flower Dantian and form a Golden Core was Core Formation.
But what if the Great Exorcist Order Lord had achieved harmony between yin and yang and wielded primordial qi before forming a Golden Core, before gathering the internal qi needed for a Golden Core breakthrough?
‘Two Principles Return-to-Origin Art.’
Ise considered the name of the cultivation method left behind by the Great Exorcist Order Lord.
The Two Principles referred to the two qi of yin and yang.
Return to Origin meant sending them back to their source.
The process of combining spiritual energy and demonic qi into primordial qi.
Could that have been the essence of the Two Principles Return-to-Origin Art?
Ise tried to combine spiritual energy and demonic qi.
The two energies immediately began convulsing as though they could not bear one another.
Their resistance was so fierce that his Dharma-Flower Dantian and demonic qi shook violently, humming as if they might burst.
His body felt as though it would explode, and his mind felt as though it would snap from the agonizing pain, but he did not stop.
He reduced the amount of spiritual energy and demonic qi he used as much as possible, mixing the two little by little.
Thud!
In the end, the two energies could no longer endure it. For the first time, they collided against their owner’s will, and Ise’s skin burst open.
Had his body not reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, the impact might have torn apart his entire body.
With his face twisted in pain, Ise sweated coldly as he healed his skin.
Whenever he tried to combine the two energies, parts of his body not rebuilt with spiritual energy, his eyes, skin, tongue, and more, ruptured one after another.
He clutched his head as though trying to tear out his hair from the intense pain, then took a deep breath and resumed circulating his cultivation method.
There had to be a proper method, but no one could teach him.
All he could do was keep smashing his head against the ground until something worked.
* * *
The agony rose to a peak, then strangely began to subside after a single breath.
Only one drop.
That was all the energy Ise could combine.
Even that was the result of mixing it with sweat pouring down his face.
There was no special method.
He had simply forced the energies together like an idiot, turning his body into a rag until it finally worked.
At this rate, was this not a power with no practical use at all?
Mocking himself, Ise drew the one drop of energy he believed to be primordial qi outside his body.
A point of light rose between his hands.
It was neither spiritual energy nor demonic qi.
It was an almost transparent light created by their collision.
Once he faced primordial qi, it felt as though a new color of light, one that had never existed in the world before, began to register in his senses, much like when his spirit sight had opened.
Ise stared quietly at the light.
He had created it himself, yet even he could not guess its power.
He flicked his wrist and lightly sent the light flying.
Boom!
With an explosive crash, the entire wall of the cultivation room was blown away.
“...?”
Ise froze in shock.
The cultivation room’s walls were made of the same material as the closed-door cultivation chambers.
That meant they were built from a mixture of black iron and mystic iron, materials made to withstand nearly any impact without budging.
Yet one drop of primordial qi had torn through it like paper.
Beyond the cultivation room, he could see the wall surrounding the main residence.
“What is it? Are we under attack?”
A booming voice rang out from beyond the wall.
Before the dust could settle, a man vaulted over the wall.
“Hmm?”
It was a familiar Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.
“Senior Gwak Chan?”
He was the senior who had saved Ise and his companions from the demon beast tamer commanding the Four-Wind Black Tiger.
Gwak Chan tilted his head.
“Huh? You’re that... entry disciple? I heard your cultivation speed was fast, but you’ve already come to the Inner Hall District? What was your name again? Unse?”
“...Ise.”
Gwak Chan clapped repeatedly and laughed cheerfully.
“Ah ha ha ha! Right! So you’re the one who moved in next door? What a connection. Nice to see you. What dazzling talent. My crotch’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain!”
“Wait. The sacrifice of what?”
Ise asked again, wondering whether he had heard wrong. Gwak Chan gave a hearty laugh and explained.
“That filthy demonic cultivator cowardly attacked a very unfortunate place. No respect for the unwritten rules of a man’s fight.”
“Ha ha ha... So that was what you meant by being seriously injured...”
The demonic cultivator’s despicable nature was truly enough to make one call them a practitioner of the demonic path.
“Well, Winged Dragon Hall’s Hall Master restored it, so it turned out all right. I asked them to make it bigger while they were at it, but I got slapped instead.”
“...”
It seemed not every Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator carried a weighty presence. Ise was taken aback, but he hid it and offered his belated thanks.
“Thank you very much for what you did then, Cultivator Gwak.”
“Just call me Cultivator Gwak. Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators are all more or less the same.”
“Yes, Cultivator Gwak.”
“By the way, what was that just now? Something incredible went flying.”
“Ah, this...”
Sweating again, Ise barely managed to combine a single drop of spiritual energy and demonic qi.
Gwak Chan stared at the light, his eyes widening.
“Isn’t that primordial qi? Only Core Formation Realm cultivators use that.”
“This is primordial qi?”
“Yeah. It’s pure and transparent, so it’s definitely primordial qi. How did someone who just reached the Foundation Establishment Realm create primordial qi?”
The fact that Gwak Chan recognized primordial qi meant that he too was a cultivator at the late Foundation Establishment Realm or above.
As Ise looked at him with renewed interest, Gwak Chan reached out toward the primordial qi with curiosity.
The next moment, Gwak Chan’s wrist was completely severed when it touched the primordial qi.
“...”
“...”
Ise looked at the pained Gwak Chan with a flustered expression.
Gwak Chan flailed around for a long time, then let a few tears fall before asking Ise.
“...Do you happen to have any spare Regeneration Pellets?”
Ise shook his head with an incredulous look.
After taking a Healing Pellet and stopping the blood flowing from his wound, Gwak Chan sighed as though he felt much better.
“That’s absurdly powerful. Can you show me once more?”
“...Yes. Don’t touch it this time.”
Ise strained himself again and created one drop of primordial qi.
Even though this was already the third time he had repeated the process, it had not become any easier.
“Do you really have to make that face like you’re taking a dump?”
“...This isn’t easy. It hurts too.”
Gwak Chan stepped forward and stood before the transparent energy Ise had created.
After silently observing the primordial qi, Gwak Chan clicked his tongue.
“It’s an extremely violent and destructive energy.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah. The primordial qi of other Core Formation Realm great cultivators is a tool of will, something that protects, blocks, or attacks an opponent according to its owner’s intentions... But this literally destroys everything it touches.”
“I think it’s because I’m not used to controlling it yet.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
Ise quietly watched Gwak Chan stare at the primordial qi.
Gwak Chan rubbed his chin repeatedly before continuing.
“Primordial qi’s nature differs depending on the cultivation method a cultivator learns. Some primordial qi is extremely aggressive, while some is defensive. When spiritual energy or cultivation power collide, many factors determine victory or defeat, the amount of internal qi, skill in casting spells, the mutual generation and restraint of the Five Elements, excessive domination and reverse oppression, and so on. Primordial qi is different.”
Ise listened closely, his eyes shining.
“When Core Formation Realm cultivators fight, once their primordial qi clashes, the compatibility between them is effectively decided. If yours is at a disadvantage, you should consider yourself half defeated already.”
Ise did not fully understand, but instead of asking questions, he tried to contemplate the explanation.
All the things a cultivator had built up manifested as primordial qi. Once it clashed with another, it created a compatibility that could not be overturned.
If so, the side at a disadvantage in that compatibility would have no choice but to prepare and expend much more to overcome it.
“An extremely aggressive primordial qi cannot be stopped by ordinary defensive primordial qi. Of course, your primordial qi probably cannot block any attack either. A cultivator’s cultivation method and physique are the main influences on primordial qi, but some say its nature is also decided by the tendency of the life its wielder has lived.”
After explaining that much, Gwak Chan tilted his head and asked.
“What kind of temperament do you have to produce primordial qi this aggressive?”
Footnotes:
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