WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Episode 14: Rapid Changes in the Continental Situation (10)

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Boom!

A massive shockwave erupted in the sky.

Mongryeon's black Daoist robes and Wiseong's gray hanbok collided in an instant, making the very earth around Gwisu Temple heave.

Several nearby houses collapsed from the tremor.

Ise almost found himself instinctively transfixed by the sight.

It was the first time he had ever witnessed Core Formation Realm great cultivators clashing in earnest.

But he quickly came to his senses.

He had to find the survivors.

Racing through Gwisu Temple, he spread his divine sense.

His divine sense had expanded greatly since he first reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, sweeping through every corner of Gwisu Temple.

The result was despairing.

The dokkaebi were a people who wielded demonic qi, so he needed to track demonic qi to find the living.

Yet demonic qi was already so abundant throughout the area that it was difficult to sense. Worse, every trace he managed to find belonged to demonic cultivators.

Ise cut down an attacking demonic cultivator with one stroke and hurried onward.

His master had said there were survivors, so there had to be some. The problem was how to find them.

Then a strange sense of wrongness struck him.

Dokkaebi corpses lay everywhere.

Yet among them, he could not find Gonga or any of the young dokkaebi.

His breath caught.

The adult dokkaebi had instinctively evacuated the children the moment the attack began.

They had hidden the children and thrown away their own lives in exchange.

Just as Goecheon and the dokkaebi patrol had done.

But where?

Gonga's voice suddenly passed through his mind.

‘Oh, there’s a secret base behind the main hall. I’ll show it to you later!’

Behind the main hall, beneath the dokkaebi sacred ground filled with ancient tombs and stone statues, there was a small fox den.

It was the children's secret base, and they usually blocked the entrance with a boulder.

Ise had often hidden and played there with the young dokkaebi when he was little.

If they were there, the demonic cultivators' claws would not have reached them easily in a place so saturated with demonic qi.

Ise immediately rushed toward the young dokkaebi's secret base.

When he pushed aside the tightly sealed boulder, Gonga, Ilchwi, Woljang, and the other young dokkaebi were inside, trembling as they clung to one another.

“Ise...!”

“What? It’s Ise!”

“Big Brother Ise?!”

The faces that had been consumed by terror changed to relief the instant they recognized him.

Ise, too, found himself offering thanks to gods he did not believe in when he saw they were safe.

Gonga flew into his arms at once.

“It’s all right now. Master has come, so everything will be resolved.”

Ise soothed the trembling young dokkaebi.

Then Gong Ilchwi suddenly shouted.

“Ise! Behind you!”

Ise instantly turned, wrapping spiritual energy around the Yellow Great Parasol.

A bolt of lightning that had flown in from somewhere shattered apart.

After guiding Gonga deeper into the cave, Ise looked at the attacker.

Someone sat atop a Four-Wind Black Tiger, looking down at him with that familiar arrogant face.

It was a familiar face.

The demon beast tamer he had met during a past mission, the one who had made him feel utterly defeated.

“You.”

The demonic cultivator tilted their head, as though pleased to see him.

But whether they recognized him or not did not matter.

Ise was simply glad he could repay the debt.

“Get down.”

The moment Ise spoke, he fired the Water-Arrow Art.

The Four-Wind Black Tiger could not evade in time. The water arrow struck it, blasting its body away.

The demonic cultivator landed, and their divine sense collided with Ise's.

In that instant, Ise shot forward like lightning.

The demonic cultivator's expression twisted as they drew up demonic qi to gather lightning.

Dokkaebi Shadow-Hunting Demonic Art.

Thousand-Pound Strike.

The art his master had first demonstrated to him unfolded from Ise's hand.

Drawing in the power of every nearby shadow, Ise's hatchet came down upon the demonic cultivator with tremendous weight behind it.

Boom! Rumble!

At the same time, he began gathering primordial qi within the Yellow Great Parasol.

For the past four years, Ise had focused most on wielding primordial qi while operating his arts.

He had to push his divine sense to its limit, which made his brain feel as though it would burst every moment and took an enormous amount of time before and after. Still, it was Ise's new secret art for a single killing blow.

Although he was overwhelmingly pressing the demonic cultivator without even exchanging many moves, sweat poured from Ise like rain.

It was enough to make the demonic cultivator on the defensive find the situation strange.

The demonic cultivator moved about and formed hand seals, but before their lightning could be completed, the Black Phosphorus Axe flew toward their hand.

The primordial qi within the Yellow Great Parasol was complete.

Ise feinted with his hatchet, then thrust the Yellow Great Parasol into the demonic cultivator's waist.

The demonic cultivator hurriedly wrapped themself in demonic qi to block it.

The moment they did, the part of their abdomen struck by primordial qi vanished as though it had melted away, leaving no trace behind.

“...?”

Unable even to scream, the demonic cultivator lost a third of their body.

Without knowing why they were dying, they crashed to the ground.

Ise buried his hatchet in the demonic cultivator's head, then turned around.

The young dokkaebi within the secret base stood with their mouths slightly open.

To them, Ise looked like an entirely different person.

Instead of saying anything, Ise began closing the entrance with the boulder.

Demonic cultivators who had sensed the battle were converging on this place.

“Stay inside.”

After giving that brief instruction, he sealed the entrance.

Then he stood before it and steadied his breathing.

He would not let anyone enter.

Divine sense reached him from the approaching demonic cultivators.

Foundation Establishment Realm demonic cultivators.

The ones who had first attacked Gwisu Temple had been Qi Condensation Realm demonic cultivators, but every one of the enemies appearing now was at the Foundation Establishment Realm.

It seemed the ambush operation had ended.

‘Could the Spirit-Dokkaebi Corps have been wiped out?’

No. That could not be true.

Gong Wol-a, the second-in-command of Gwisu Temple and Hall Master of Dokkaebi Hall, was with the Spirit-Dokkaebi Corps.

She was a great cultivator who had only recently entered the Core Formation Realm, but she was still at the Core Formation Realm.

Foundation Establishment Realm demonic cultivators could not possibly stand against her.

The opposite was more likely. Hall Master Gong Wol-a had arrived, and the Foundation Establishment Realm demonic cultivators were fleeing.

‘I only need to hold on a little longer.’

With the determination not to yield even a single step, Ise charged at the incoming demonic cultivators.

* * *

The demonic cultivators came without end.

When he dealt with one, two rushed in. When he dealt with two, three rushed in.

By the time five Foundation Establishment Realm demonic cultivators had surrounded him, not a single part of Ise's body remained uninjured.

He could handle even late Foundation Establishment Realm demonic cultivators one at a time, but subduing two or more was not easy.

His Daoist robes were soaked through with blood.

A bloody art had punched a hollow through his shoulder, and lightning had scorched his side.

Even so, Ise did not fall.

“What a monster.”

One of the demonic cultivators muttered without realizing it.

Ise looked as though he might collapse at any moment, yet if they relaxed even slightly, one of them died.

His divine sense only had the range of an early Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, but he wielded his arts more skillfully than those who had fully mastered their use.

And whenever an unseen attack struck them, their heads burst apart in an instant.

They did not know what had hit them, so even with their numerical advantage, they could not recklessly attack.

While the terrified demonic cultivators hesitated, Ise put a Healing Pellet in his mouth and cast the Vital Wood Art.

It was a wood-element art that rapidly increased the body's regenerative ability.

An art that would treat his injured body in place of circulating qi.

The wounds the demonic cultivators had struggled to inflict closed, and torn flesh knit back together.

“Damn it...”

Only then did they realize that fear had made them commit a grave mistake, but by then Ise had already regained his fighting rhythm.

Just as the Black Phosphorus Axe was about to split the air, dokkaebi fire flew in from somewhere and blew apart the demonic cultivator before him.

“...!”

A dokkaebi wearing a bamboo hat stood there. Behind them landed dokkaebi dressed in the Daoist robes of the Great Exorcist Order.

They were Gwisu Temple's elite warriors, Dokkaebi Hall and its Hall Master, Gong Wol-a.

Gong Wol-a struck her Gold Chain Staff against the ground, and the demonic qi that burst forth shredded the demonic cultivators where they stood.

One move.

With one move, the remaining Foundation Establishment Realm demonic cultivators vanished from the ground.

“Hall Master Gong Wol-a...”

Ignoring Ise with an openly furious expression, Gong Wol-a shattered the fox den's entrance with a flick of her finger.

“Doksu, Mongmok, Dogyeom. Take the children and go to Halla Gwitak.”

“Yes.”

Only after the three dokkaebi warriors lifted the children and disappeared from sight did Gong Wol-a turn her gaze to Ise.

“You return to the Great Exorcist Order.”

“I'll fight with you.”

“With us? You?”

Gong Wol-a shot him a sharp look, as though he were ridiculous.

“Did the Great Exorcist Order send only you so it could pretend it did something?”

“...”

Ise understood where Gong Wol-a's fury was directed.

At Great Exorcist Order headquarters, which had allowed its ally to be attacked.

He did not answer.

He simply looked at her with unwavering eyes.

Gong Wol-a frowned for a moment, then belatedly noticed the demonic cultivators' corpses scattered around them.

More than ten bodies.

Her gaze returned to Ise.

The human boy Mongryeon had taken in.

He was no ordinary Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.

And he had protected the dokkaebi children without retreating, even until he had been left in such a miserable state.

Gong Wol-a clicked her tongue.

“Follow me.”

“Thank you, Hall Master.”

“Don't call me Hall Master. Not anymore.”

“...Yes, Senior.”

Gong Wol-a led Ise and the dokkaebi warriors toward the battlefield where Mongryeon and Bi Hyeongrang fought.

But when the aftermath of their battle crashed over them, Gong Wol-a hurriedly cast a defensive art to protect those behind her.

The battle was so fierce that even an early Core Formation Realm great cultivator could not easily dare to intervene.

“This won't do. Spread out and deal with the remaining stragglers. You'll only get in the way.”

“Yes.”

“Be careful not to get caught in it.”

The dokkaebi warriors answered at once and vanished smoothly into the distance.

But Ise did not move. He remained fixed on the battle between Mongryeon and Bi Hyeongrang in the distance.

Just as Gong Wol-a was about to tell him to go as well, another clash sent out a wave.

Gong Wol-a hurriedly blocked it with primordial qi.

Then she turned to Ise, suddenly realizing that she had forgotten to protect him.

‘He's fine?’

Ise stood straight with a talisman in hand. It was a talisman that could temporarily block primordial qi.

But how had he used it at such a timely moment? At his realm, he should not even be able to see primordial qi colliding.

When another clash erupted in the sky, Gong Wol-a rose into the air and headed straight for the battlefield. Ise followed on the White Luan Boat.

The closer they came, the more clearly they could sense the brutal battle.

Mongryeon's Gold Chain Staff struck Bi Hyeongrang again and again. Bi Hyeongrang stepped back and released primordial qi with a single gesture.

It was clearly a fierce battle, but something had begun to go wrong.

‘...Master is being pushed back.’

At first, the two had fought evenly. Yet with every exchange, the balance shifted further toward Bi Hyeongrang.

An unidentified black sphere floated behind Bi Hyeongrang.

It continued weakening Mongryeon's strength.

‘Can I get close enough to destroy it?’

If he could eliminate that, perhaps his master could seize the advantage.

Just as he reached that conclusion and began gathering primordial qi, Bi Hyeongrang's body scattered like mist in an instant, then condensed again behind Mongryeon.

Bi Hyeongrang's hand pierced straight through Mongryeon's solar plexus from behind.

“...Big Sister!”

“...Master!”

Gong Wol-a and Ise screamed at the same time.

Wiseong's hand pulled a black crystalline sphere from within Mongryeon's solar plexus.

A Golden Core.

Mongryeon's Golden Core had been extracted.

Wiseong began devouring the demonic qi from the Golden Core, and Mongryeon's body, now without her Golden Core, fell toward the ground.

Gong Wol-a and Ise accelerated at the same time.

Footnotes:

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