WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 14: Rapid Changes in the Continental Situation (5)
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A creeping feeling told Ise that this mission, too, would leave an unpleasant aftertaste.
It had been the same with Bamboo-Tube Beauty and the Fetal Ghost. Whenever something even vaguely related to evil spirits was involved, he felt bad from the start.
Demons without reason. Demonic cultivators who had learned demonic arts by choice. Demonic cultivators who had fallen into corruption and been steeped in demonic qi.
Evil spirits were different.
They were born from resentment and bitterness, from becoming a victim of someone else's malice.
When Ise's expression hardened, Seolryeong smiled and lightly smacked his arm.
Just as he was thinking, ‘Qi Condensation cultivators these days can just hit their seniors' arms. The cultivation world really has gone upside down,’ Seolryeong added, “Still, it feels reassuring to be going with you. I was a little worried when I first received the mission.”
“What brought this on? Did you break a shield or something?”
“I didn't!”
Ise grabbed both her cheeks and looked her in the eye.
“W-what are you doing?”
“The Mind-Reading Art. Tell me properly. Did you break one?”
“I said I didn't.”
Seolryeong kicked him in the shin with the tip of her shoe, then hurried ahead.
The Mind-Reading Art confirmed that she was telling the truth.
“Let's go.”
Ise caught Seolryeong by the back of her robes as she walked with her left arm and left leg moving together.
“Hey, don't grab me like that. What am I, a puppy?”
“How long are you planning to walk there?”
“What, are we supposed to fly?”
Making a show of it, Ise pulled the White Luan Boat from his storage pouch.
The flight spirit artifact, painted with a white bird, appeared in all its proud glory.
“...”
“You don't even have a flight spirit artifact? Can you really call yourself a cultivator?”
“I'm seriously annoyed, but I'm kind of excited too... This is my first time riding a flight spirit artifact.”
With the corner of her mouth curling up, Seolryeong climbed onto the bow.
After a moment's hesitation, she climbed on behind him.
“Hold on tight. You'll get hurt if you fall.”
“...Okay.”
Just as he was about to set off, Seolryeong's small hand grabbed his waist.
Ise frowned.
“No, passengers sit down and hold the boat's side rail. Haven't you ever ridden a ferry?”
Seolryeong's face flushed a brilliant red.
It felt as though she was getting a little more foolish every day.
Ise couldn't help feeling sorry for her.
* * *
Suari Pearl City.
Ise and Seolryeong arrived in the blink of an eye and immediately inspected the scene.
“The demonic qi really is no joke. Forget sixth-grade. The resentment might be on par with a fifth-grade evil spirit if we're unlucky.”
Just as she said, vicious resentment seeped from the brothel.
Yet there was no sign of the evil spirit.
While Ise examined the scene, Seolryeong set out her shamanic implements in the courtyard.
She placed a bronze bowl in the center of a pavilion, dropped talismans onto it one by one, and began chanting.
She had to rise onto her toes and lower herself again to stick talismans onto ceiling beams beyond her small reach, which made for a rather clumsy sight.
As Ise watched, she soon spread a straw mat in the middle of the courtyard, sprinkled liquor on the ground, and began offering rites to Heaven.
“What are you doing?”
“A Rain-Calling Rite. The Fallen Courtesan Wraith can only appear on rainy nights.”
Ise watched her with curiosity.
“You can make it rain too?”
“Did you know? A Shaman's Rain-Calling Rite never fails.”
“...That's impressive.”
“Because we keep performing it until it rains.”
Just another amateur Shaman.
Ise kept that thought to himself.
By that evening, though, he had to revise his opinion.
Clouds began gathering in the sky.
At first, there was only a small patch. Then it became the size of a clump of cotton.
Before long, broad swaths of dark gray cloud covered the entire eastern sky above Pearl City.
Raindrops began to fall.
She really was a capable Shaman. Ise was starting to find her a little frightening.
Beyond the eaves, rain fell like a curtain drawn across the world.
Water gathered over the garden gravel, bubbling and rippling.
The two looked up at the ceiling beneath the beam where the Fallen Courtesan Wraith had appeared.
The demonic qi was growing thicker.
Seolryeong gripped her shamanic implements, while Ise drew the Vajra and the Clear Shadow Sword.
Drip.
A drop of blood struck the floorboards.
Another one. Drip.
A sticky, dark-red fluid was flowing along the wood grain of the beam.
The blood began to fall faster, then a lump of flesh dropped from one point on the beam onto the dirt floor.
A severed arm.
Then came a leg. A torso. A head.
The pieces of flesh fell one after another, landing precisely in place as though someone above were setting them down.
At last, the flesh on the dirt floor joined together into one body.
Its skin was white as jade, and its body was impossibly slender. Its eyes held nothing but unfocused whites.
Creak.
Creak, creak, creak, creak.
The woman, the evil spirit, slowly rose. Her limbs moved at grotesque angles, like a puppet in a show.
Seolryeong unfolded a talisman.
It flashed brightly, and a yellow warding barrier formed around the Fallen Courtesan Wraith. It was a Binding Talisman.
Screeeech!
The evil spirit opened its mouth and let out a scream.
The shriek tore at Ise's ears, making him wince.
Ise immediately activated the Vajra.
The evil spirit's body froze for a moment.
The next instant, its mouth opened even wider as black demonic qi exploded outward.
The Vajra could stop the Fallen Courtesan Wraith from approaching, but it could not harm its spirit body.
Behind Ise, Seolryeong continued her Soul-Guiding Rite without pause.
Unidentified syllables flowed from Seolryeong's mouth.
Each word was too mournful to be a human voice, yet too distinct to be an animal's cry.
Seolryeong's eyes, filled only with white, seemed to meet the Fallen Courtesan Wraith's white eyes.
The Fallen Courtesan Wraith staggered once, then vanished.
“...Whew.”
“Did it work? Something's strange. It disappeared without a spirit-sending rite.”
“No. I failed.”
Seolryeong let out a long breath. Tears filled her eyes.
“...Why are you crying?”
“It's a side effect of the Soul-Guiding Rite. That evil spirit's emotions poured into me.”
Seolryeong shook her head and roughly wiped her eyes with her robe sleeve.
“Anger, sadness, resentment. It's complicated... But what is this feeling? Affection, concern, guilt. They're all mixed together.”
“Not the sort of emotions you'd have toward the person who killed you.”
“Exactly.”
Seolryeong wiped away her tears for a long time before finally speaking again.
“...The Fallen Courtesan Wraith can't be sent on with ordinary methods. Courtesans already tend to have strong yin energy while alive, and this is an evil spirit born from extreme resentment. No soul-calming or binding will disperse it unless its grievance is resolved.”
“How do we resolve it?”
“We remove the cause.”
Remove the cause. Surely not.
“We have no choice but to find the person who raped and murdered her, then offer him as a sacrifice.”
Ise fell silent.
Seolryeong added that otherwise, the demonic qi would keep spreading until it swallowed Pearl City.
This place would become a nest for evil spirits.
Just as she said, the resentment was growing stronger even now.
Ise slowly rose to his feet.
They headed for a nearby outer branch outpost.
The external affiliate who spotted Ise immediately showed them to the finest lodging and treated them with great care.
“I've been here before, but the treatment really is different when you're traveling with a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator... I feel pathetic.”
“That's just how the cultivation world is.”
Ise held back the unhelpful suggestion that she could just raise her realm too.
“You said this was about the Fallen Courtesan Wraith at Hwaru Ward...”
“Yes. We need information about the culprit.”
The outpost manager hesitated with an uneasy expression. They were an elderly veteran who had worked at this outpost for decades.
“It's a rather difficult matter, but... we already know who the culprit is.”
“Who is it?”
“Kang Gyuyoung.”
At the external affiliate's words, Seolryeong tilted her head. The name sounded familiar.
“Then we just bring him in.”
“Wait.”
“Please wait a moment, Cultivator Ise.”
Both of them stopped Ise at the same time.
“Kang Gyuyoung is a noble from the Pearl River Gang Clan's headquarters.”
“Explain in detail.”
Ise's voice grew lower.
The outpost manager hesitated for a long time before finally speaking with a sigh.
“That man... is a pureblood born at headquarters. He had exceptional talent, and people said no one his age could compare to him.”
Seolryeong clapped her hands.
“I remember now. The womanizer. Kang Gyuyoung the womanizer. He's very famous among people I know too.”
“Yes. That is the womanizer. His character never matched his ability, though. He was someone without even the slightest Dao heart.”
“Then why did he return to the mortal world? Did he fall into heart demon tribulation and become a cripple?”
The external affiliate shook their head at Ise's question.
“No. He raped and murdered a female external affiliate. As punishment, he suffered the Root-Severing, Meridian-Cutting Art and was expelled as a mortal.”
“Crazy bastard.”
Seolryeong cursed.
Born a pureblood with exceptional talent, then punished with the Root-Severing, Meridian-Cutting Art and returned to being a mortal.
Some might wonder why a cultivator would receive that punishment for killing a mortal, but someone like him was certain to fall into heart demon tribulation and become a demonic cultivator.
From the Great Exorcist Order's perspective, making an example of him had likely been unavoidable.
A mortal noble from headquarters had two choices.
They could remain at headquarters for the rest of their life, serving as an attendant or doing menial work. Or all their memories could be erased, and they could be adopted into a collateral branch of a secular noble family.
Kang Gyuyoung seemed to have chosen the latter.
“Ordinarily, all his memories should have been erased, but someone influential prevented it.”
“Who?”
“Kang Ihyeon, Kang Gyuyoung's father.”
Ise was silent for a moment. Seolryeong furrowed her brows and gently tugged at his sleeve.
“He's Hall Master Kang I-tae's cousin. He's currently the deputy Hall Master of Black Tortoise Hall.”
Ise looked quietly at the outpost manager.
“...So what? He's still a mortal, even if he's his son. Would he really care that much?”
“Think about it,” Seolryeong said quietly.
“He stopped them from erasing the memories of someone being expelled. Even though his son was worthless, even though he became a mortal, he loved him.”
“...”
The outpost manager rubbed their forehead uneasily.
“He was expelled from headquarters after causing trouble by relying on his father and clan's influence. Even after being sent to the Pearl River Gang Clan, he continued his vile behavior. In truth, this isn't even the first time he has committed murder.”
“...”
“There was a similar incident before. Cultivators from headquarters tried to punish him, but Cultivator Kang Ihyeon personally protected him. It nearly turned into bloodshed between inner halls.”
Ise organized his thoughts, then looked at Seolryeong.
He had wondered why they had assigned a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator to an evil-spirit extermination mission. Could it be because they feared the Pearl River Gang Clan might harm Seolryeong?
What an absurd situation.
He had seen countless Daoists who were as stubborn as tigers, but a parent protecting their child even after that child had raped and murdered someone was enough to make even a demonic cultivator shake their head.
Still, they had to be careful not to let the situation grow worse.
Winged Dragon Hall and Black Tortoise Hall might end up in conflict because of his decision.
Yet if they left the evil spirit alone, there was no telling how many more people might die in Pearl City.
‘Leaving it alone won't be good for the Pearl River Gang Clan either.’
“Let's ask headquarters for their opinion first. It would be safest to confirm with the people involved.”
Ise sent Message Talismans to both Hall Master Kang I-tae and Cultivator Kang Ihyeon.
‘Your relative raped and murdered someone, turning her into a vengeful evil spirit. May I offer him as a sacrifice?’
He conveyed only the facts as they were.
Hall Master Kang I-tae's response arrived first.
-By the rules.
It was a short, clear answer, just like him.
But the next answer was the complete opposite.
-Denied.
Seolryeong and the external affiliate looked at Ise uneasily, and Ise crumpled the Message Talisman.
Footnotes:
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