WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 14: Rapid Changes in the Continental Situation (8)
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“...”
“Or did you not care what became of the Pearl River Gang Clan, so long as you could protect a single person?”
“You dare lecture a senior cultivator? Did you think you could kill a blood relative of the Pearl River Gang Clan and escape unscathed?”
Ise let out a quiet sigh.
He had expected this, but they were not people with whom he could settle matters through a pleasant conversation.
“I achieved Foundation Establishment in seven years.”
“So what?”
“How many years do you think it will take me to break through to the Core Formation Realm and become a Hall Master? Can you endure the persecution that will follow?”
Killing intent immediately filled the hall.
Ferocious spiritual pressure rose from every direction, as if they would tear apart the insolent person on the spot.
Ise did not even blink.
“What? Persecution? You are outrageously arrogant. One could just as well call that a threat.”
That was enough blunt talk.
There was no point in trying to reason with people who would not listen. He would have to change his strategy.
Warmth always felt greater after a chill.
“Respected Hall Master Seolbaek. Cultivator Kang Ihyeon.”
Ise continued in the same respectful manner.
“I do not wish to become enemies with the Pearl River Gang Clan. I also personally respect Hall Master Kang I-tae.”
The atmosphere grew noticeably calmer at the mention of Kang I-tae.
He seemed to be the pride of that family.
“I am sorry for what happened to your son. I was orphaned and lost the people who raised me before my very eyes, so I envy and respect your paternal love.”
“...”
“Still, if a child blocks the path of a parent destined for great things, that is more unfilial than dying first. If I had been Cultivator Kang’s child, I am certain I would not have behaved so wantonly. I would have cultivated diligently and brought honor to the family. So please do not let something that happened by inevitability cloud your judgment.”
Kang Ihyeon wore a blank, speechless expression.
Getting angry at someone who had bowed their head first would only make him seem petty.
As he stood there with a frown, apparently unable to find anything more to say, a voice came from the entrance.
“Your tongue runs as smoothly as a mountain stream.”
Chief Master Sugyeom was entering the hall, somehow already aware of what had happened.
“Step back, Cultivator Ise. These are not people you can handle with your glib tongue.”
Ise lowered his head and retreated.
‘If I’d known he was coming, I would’ve just stayed quiet.’
It was a belated regret.
Still, having said everything he wanted to say left him feeling relieved.
“You must have been aiming all this commotion at me.”
At the Chief Master’s appearance, Kang Ihyeon quietly stepped back while Seolbaek moved forward.
“What brings you here, Chief Master? We did not invite you.”
“Let us skip the troublesome formalities. As you likely expected, I sent Cultivator Ise. I selected those I was certain would kill Kang Gyuyoung, and I was the one who ultimately permitted the killing.”
Sugyeom admitted it calmly. Seolbaek glared at him with furious eyes.
“Chief Master. We cannot simply overlook this matter.”
“Then what do you intend to do?”
“Until a new Order Lord is chosen, everyone in Black Tortoise Hall and all pureblood cultivators will refuse the Chief Master’s orders.”
It was a declaration of open defiance against headquarters administration.
If Black Tortoise Hall and the pureblood cultivators refused Sugyeom’s command, it practically meant that headquarters would split in two.
Sugyeom’s expression darkened slightly.
“That is unfortunate. These are troubled times. Doing this at a time like this makes it seem as though you have other intentions.”
“Ha, other intentions?! We gave everything to the Great Exorcist Order!”
“What did you give?”
A new voice cut in.
Its tone was so casual that no one in the Law Enforcement Pavilion could identify where it had come from.
Then overwhelming spiritual pressure rolled in, revealing the speaker’s identity at once.
It was Haeil.
“Azure Dragon Hall Master...!”
“Seolbaek. I do not know what you have given.”
Haeil pulled the finger from his ear, then blew on it.
“I have left the Order Lord’s seat vacant for too long. Fine, I will take the seat as you wish.”
“What has suddenly brought this on...?”
“Some people have full bellies and warm backs, so they are starting to entertain foolish thoughts.”
“You are always too busy traveling abroad to involve yourself in running the order anyway!”
“That is true enough, but it is fine. There is only one step left now. I will still delegate full authority to Sugyeom, but this will be different from before. From now on, Sugyeom’s orders will be my orders as Order Lord.”
“You speak as if you have already become Order Lord.”
“Do you think I cannot?”
According to the order’s rules, becoming Great Exorcist Order Lord required only the support of a majority of Hall Masters.
No matter how strongly the Hall Masters opposing Sugyeom objected, it would not matter.
Even aside from that, if Haeil, the strongest among them, wanted to take the Order Lord’s seat, there was no one in this order, or on this continent, who could stop him.
“I think you are becoming a little too bold.”
Haeil’s words carried the oppressive force of a Nascent Soul Realm great cultivator.
Seolbaek knew Haeil could never truly harm him.
He also knew all too well how valuable a Core Formation Realm great cultivator was to the strength of the Great Exorcist Order.
Even so, the pressure of a Nascent Soul Realm great cultivator was difficult for him to endure.
Seolbaek lowered his head. Yet, to preserve the last scrap of his pride, he barely managed to say, “If you treat the pureblood cultivators with such contempt... you will regret it.”
“When did I ever treat you with contempt? Besides, the people I beat senseless always say that before they leave. Is it some popular line?”
“...”
Seolbaek shoved open the hall doors and rushed out, as though afraid someone would chase after him.
The Black Tortoise Hall members bowed to the two of them before following him out.
“Will this be all right? I am worried they may make the wrong choice.”
They were difficult to control, but they still made up thirty percent of the Great Exorcist Order’s forces.
Sugyeom himself had worked hard to remain neutral because he knew that.
“It is fine. Do you know how many exclusive privileges those people enjoy while attached to the Great Exorcist Order? They are not the sort to entertain other thoughts. Hey, Cockerel.”
Haeil dismissed the concern and called to Ise. Startled by the unfamiliar form of address, Ise answered at once.
“Are you speaking to me?”
“Yes, you. You are not a chick anymore, but you are not mature enough to be a proper rooster either. So you are a cockerel. Come here.”
Ise stepped closer. Haeil took out the second volume of the Two Principles Return-to-Origin Art and showed it to him. Ise’s eyes lit up.
“Only one volume remains. You reached Foundation Establishment, right? Show me your primordial qi.”
‘He already knew.’
It seemed Hall Master Haeil had also known that Ise would be able to handle primordial qi early once he reached Foundation Establishment.
Sweating nervously, Ise formed a single drop of primordial qi.
“Just as I thought. Even that temperament is the same. But is this all?”
“...I am still lacking.”
“How long did it take?”
“Seven years.”
“Pass. By my calculations, it should take around thirty years to reach the Core Formation Realm. You have not forgotten your other homework either, have you?”
Ise hesitated briefly before answering.
“...No, I have not forgotten, but.”
“Why are you hesitating? Is there no one you like?”
Ise’s expression stiffened for an instant. Haeil slowly raised one corner of his mouth and glanced aside.
“How about someone four hundred and fifty years older than you? Sugyeom, does he have no interest in a descendant of Hong Mi-hee? It would be nice if two geniuses became Dao companions.”
“If you say something like that, they may slap you.”
“That would be a problem. They hit really hard.”
Haeil laughed heartily.
When Ise had seen him before, Haeil had certainly felt overwhelmingly imposing and dignified. Yet somehow, he felt comfortable now.
Was it because Ise’s realm had risen?
At ease, Ise asked, “Hall Master Haeil, why are you looking for the Two Principles Return-to-Origin Art?”
“Me? I am trying to break through to the Spirit Transformation Realm. There is no cultivation method on this continent that reaches the Spirit Transformation Realm, so I do not know how. It is unfortunate. The Human Realm has a short history of immortal cultivation compared to the other lower realms.”
That was something Ise had not known.
Then again, so few people had reached the Spirit Transformation Realm that it was only natural for cultivation methods capable of reaching it to be precious.
“Sugyeom. Prepare for the Order Lord’s inauguration ceremony.”
“Yes. How long will you remain this time?”
“About thirty years. I heard someone in the Zheng Empire reached the Nascent Soul Realm.”
“Yes.”
“In four or five years, that person’s Nascent Soul Realm cultivation should stabilize, and they will probably start entertaining foolish thoughts. I should remain at headquarters for a while.”
“You have made a good decision.”
Sugyeom only muttered inwardly that this senior, who cared about nothing beyond personal cultivation, had finally had a commendable thought.
* * *
Once Ise had finished his business at the Law Enforcement Pavilion, he headed straight for the Mission Pavilion.
The hatchet he had commissioned from a Foundation Establishment Realm spirit-artifact artisan was finally complete.
“Senior. Here it is.”
As he waited in the area reserved for Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, the youngest cultivator at the Mission Pavilion brought him the hatchet, wrapped several times in cloth.
When Ise unwrapped it, a pitch-black hatchet with a gleaming blade revealed its formidable presence.
‘It looks good.’
Ise let out an impressed sound. Its shape, weight, and length were almost identical to the axe he had submitted as a reference.
The name Black Phosphorus Axe was inscribed below the hatchet’s blade.
He liked the name as well.
“The total payment is five hundred and fifty Spiritual Stones.”
“The commission cost five hundred, though?”
“What? You must pay a ten percent commission fee when you make a request through the Mission Pavilion...”
“You should have said that from the start.”
“It is such a basic matter... And Cultivator Guk was the one who explained it to you then...”
“Are you blaming Senior Guk now?”
“Ah! No!”
As the youngest cultivator fidgeted in panic, Cultivator Guk spoke gently from nearby.
“Cultivator Ise. Do not bully the youngest.”
“Yes, Senior. Since you made a mistake, give me a discount.”
“Seniooor...”
Seeing the youngest cultivator on the verge of tears, Ise had no choice but to take out fifty more and pay the full five hundred and fifty Spiritual Stones.
The moment he stepped outside the Mission Pavilion, a Message Talisman flew in from Seolryeong.
It was news that the Yellow Great Parasol’s repairs had been completed.
‘The timing is perfect.’
His weapon and shield had been restored at the same time.
Once he secured the talismans related to primordial qi, his preparations would be complete.
From then on, he could focus solely on cultivation.
And so four years passed.
* * *
Ise opened his eyes at the sensation that his bed was shaking.
Bzzzzzz!
A sound that should never have been heard at Great Exorcist Order headquarters buzzed from somewhere far away.
‘What is that sound?’
He straightened his clothes and walked out into the courtyard.
The sight before him made him doubt his eyes.
Dozens of Message Talismans flew frantically through the air.
‘...’
Before he could fully grasp the situation, one of the flying Message Talismans dropped in front of him.
Ise unfolded the message.
-Attack. All Winged Dragon Hall members, gather at the headquarters entrance.
Then he stopped breathing for a moment.
The brief message calmed the turmoil churning within him.
At last, he understood the cause of the unrest shaking headquarters.
Ise immediately flew toward the gathering place written in the message.
Winged Dragon Hall members were not the only ones there. Many Mountain-Guarding Disciples who resided at headquarters had also gathered one after another.
Rumble.
Another violent tremor shook the ground.
What could be happening for the entire mountain range to quake?
Woo Yu-hui landed lightly at last, gathered the Winged Dragon Hall members, and explained the situation.
“The Zheng Empire bastards have moved.”
“Those sons of bitches, they finally...!”
“The Three Great Sects and Seven Great Clans moved together. This is all-out war.”
They had worried about it, but the unthinkable had finally happened.
With its newly ascended Nascent Soul Realm great cultivator at the center, the Pill Altar Sect sought to reshape the order of the Zheng Empire, strike at the Great Exorcist Order in the Three Peninsula Kingdoms, which had long been a thorn in its side, and unify the immortal cultivation world of the Eastern Continent.
Footnotes:
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