WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Dionysus

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Xianxia Cultivation with a Dragon Heart ◈

Chapter 10: Practicing Spells

──────

Han Yujin did not know when he had lost consciousness.

Han Yujin suddenly opened his eyes at the wet, ticklish sensation touching his cheek. For several seconds, he could not properly grasp the situation.

His head felt as dull as though a rock had settled inside it, while his body was as heavy as waterlogged cotton. He wanted to close his eyes and fall back asleep, but the constant touch against his cheek was too irritating.

When his hand moved reflexively and touched its body, the creature startled. Han Yujin came fully awake as well and sat up.

An animal that looked like a weasel with long, rabbit-like ears had darted away from him and was staring intently at him.

“...What are you?”

It flinched at his voice, but instead of running, it merely twitched its nose.

The darkness that had settled like a curtain had faded considerably. There was enough dim light to make out the objects around him even without Spirit Vision Art. Fog hung in the air, making the forest especially quiet and damp.

The traces of last night's battle remained vivid. His nose was probably already numb, which was why he could not smell the blood.

Three more rabbit-weasel creatures were busily eating the monkey monsters' corpses.

“You little bastard, were you trying to eat me?”

When Han Yujin deliberately growled, the creature staring at him flinched again. They seemed to engage in a standoff for several seconds, then it apparently decided he was not edible and trotted toward another corpse.

“Ugh...”

Only then did Han Yujin, who had been slightly tense, groan at the pain throughout his body. His head was pounding, both ears hurt, his back itched, his limbs ached, and his joints creaked. He was a complete mess.

He desperately wanted to use Healing Art, but he had just overused his spiritual power. He was extremely reluctant to cast a spell he was not yet familiar with. He might make his condition worse.

After sitting still and recovering for quite some time, he staggered to his feet. The rabbit-weasels all looked at him at once in the middle of their meal. It was rather cute, yet also slightly creepy.

‘If I had died, those things would have eaten me.’

Come to think of it, they were openly stealing and eating his prey right in front of him.

Of course, that was all he thought. Han Yujin did not particularly chase them away. The more pressing issue was that he was hungry.

With an unsteady gait, he entered his shelter beneath the nearby tree roots and picked up the Spirit-Liquid Flask that he had carefully left to one side.

He uncorked it and gulped down its contents without even taking the time to enjoy the fragrant scent. Fortunately, when he had restored it by consuming additional Karma, its contents had been completely refilled as well.

One sip of spirit liquid was normally enough to keep him from feeling hungry for a day. Only after drinking four or five mouthfuls did he set the flask down in satisfaction. Its contents seemed to have decreased by about half.

“Urp...”

A sudden burp escaped him, and he felt some of the fatigue fade. He wanted to collapse and sleep immediately, but he forced himself to focus and began cultivating the Returning to the Origin Art.

Nourishing his body and soul through the cultivation method would help him recover faster than merely sleeping. Naturally, it would also increase his training.

With every breath, abundant spiritual energy flowed into him and spread through every corner of his body. As he repeated the process, more and more vitality welled up within him, making him feel wonderful.

A long while later.

Only after well over two or three hours had passed did Han Yujin open his eyes and let out a deep breath.

For now, he had prevented his body and soul from becoming crippled and weakened. He could not say he had fully recovered yet, but he was at least well enough to test some spells.

Naturally, the first spell he tried was Healing Art. The pain in his ears seemed to be growing worse, and he could no longer endure it.

It was not an easy spell, so he only succeeded after failing two or three times. When a blue-green glow swept over and seeped into his entire body, his injuries visibly began to disappear.

“Ahh...”

It was as comfortable and refreshing as being able to alternate between a hot bath and a cold bath whenever he wanted. It almost felt addictive.

Once his injuries had improved, he could no longer tolerate the griminess covering him. He immediately cast Purification Art, which was included in the Returning to the Origin Art. This time, he succeeded without much trouble. Instead of visible light, a transparent haze rose around him and vaporized every impurity.

Vaporized was the only way to describe it. The dried blood caked over his skin crumbled away like black dirt and sand, then vanished entirely.

In a brief moment, he became completely clean, including the clothes he wore.

‘As for the impurities inside my body... I can't tell whether they're gone.’

He would probably need to use it consistently to find out.

Next, he decided to test the remaining spells he had never used before. As of today, he would put an end to the stupid, frustrating situation of holding cards in his hand without being able to use them.

He stepped outside, glanced at the rabbit-weasels that were still watching him cautiously instead of leaving, and settled in an appropriate spot.

The first spell he cast was Flame Projectile Art, the basic offensive spell of all cultivators.

His Flame Projectile Art succeeded on only the second attempt. When the brilliantly crimson sphere of fire shot forward and struck a tree, a flash erupted.

KWA-KOOOM!!

A deafening explosion rang out as scorching heat spread through the area. More than half the trunk of the massive tree turned into ash and scattered away. Even the ground behind it had been gouged into a pit large enough for four or five people to lie in.

Creeeak...!

“Uh...?!”

As was only natural, the enormous tree that had suddenly suffered such heavy damage began to topple to one side.

Han Yujin hurriedly retreated. The enormous tree crashed into other trees as it fell, and the noise repeatedly thundered through the forest.

THOOM!!

With a shockwave that made the ground tremble, the tree finally fell completely.

Leaves torn loose from the branches fluttered down all around him. Broken branches that had hung in the air came crashing down a moment later, and the disturbance continued for a while longer.

“...”

This was the destructive power of Flame Projectile Art, merely the most basic offensive spell used by cultivators.

‘It's this strong?’

If he had been able to cast this spell freely last night, the battle would have been much easier.

Taking the initiative?

There was no need to shout. One Flame Projectile Art would probably have terrified those primitive ape bastards immediately.

‘Although maybe not.’

He briefly checked his surroundings with Spirit Vision Art, wondering if the noise had drawn the attention of some dangerous predator. Once he confirmed there were no unusual signs, he began practicing Jade Skin Art.

The fact that all the rabbit-weasels had fled in shock was not particularly important.

Unexpectedly, Jade Skin Art was rather difficult. He only barely succeeded after more than six attempts.

The skin over his entire body took on the luster of white jade. When he punched another nearby tree as a test, he felt no pain at all.

Meanwhile, the tree he had struck was left with a mark as though it had been hit by a heavy steel club.

‘Could this have blocked the attacks of those Planet of the Apes bastards?’

He considered it for a moment, but soon shook his head. Even if it had blocked the damage, his relatively light body would have been sent flying around, leaving him at a tremendous disadvantage.

Moreover, vulnerable spots not covered by skin, such as his eyes, were not protected by this spell. That was something he needed to be careful about when using it.

Next, he tried Concealment Art and succeeded on his second attempt.

It could easily be underestimated as a spell that merely concealed spiritual presence, but he had heard that against opponents weaker than himself, it could make him completely escape their notice.

In other words, he could stand right in front of someone and still go unnoticed.

After canceling and recasting Concealment Art several more times to become familiar with it, Han Yujin narrowed his eyes at one rabbit-weasel that had cautiously revealed itself again.

‘It looks like the one that dared to try eating me.’

Unforgivable.

He immediately cast Object Manipulation Art on it. To his delight, he succeeded in a single attempt and lifted the little creature into the air.

Squeak! Squeeeak!

Naturally, it completely panicked. But no matter how much it struggled, it could not shake off the invisible force created by the spell.

When Han Yujin gathered up its ears and held it in front of his face, the rabbit-weasel met his gaze, quickly stopped struggling, and merely kept twitching its nose.

“Hey.”

“...”

“You dared to try eating me, right? Should I roast and eat you instead?”

Its round black eyes darted about. It kept twitching its nose, looking terribly frightened and rather cute.

“I'll let you off, you little bastard.”

He released its ears and dispelled Object Manipulation Art. The creature landed lightly on the ground, looked at Han Yujin once, then quickly scurried away.

Watching it vanish beyond the grass, he snorted with laughter and turned his attention to the final remaining spell, Wind-Cloud Art.

A little later.

Thud!

Han Yujin, who had been running through the forest at tremendous speed, failed to change direction and crashed into a tree trunk. Fortunately, he had Jade Skin Art active, so he was not hurt, but he looked utterly ridiculous.

“Tsk...”

Successfully casting a spell and handling it well were completely different matters. The same applied to success rate, efficiency, power, and control.

Wind-Cloud Art was simply too fast for someone like him, who was still a beginner. He did not dare attempt flying through the air.

In truth, the same was true for every other spell.

Just like his cultivation realm, he had only just succeeded in taking the first step. He needed to practice steadily over time and make them fully his own.

‘Still, I've gotten a sense of each of them.’

Only now did he feel like a genuine novice cultivator.

He trudged back to the shabby shelter beneath the tree roots and sat down. He was about to cultivate the Returning to the Origin Art to soothe his exhausted body and mind when he noticed something and paused.

It was the piece of mushroom he had collected on the first day to test its toxicity.

‘I don't need it now.’

He had expected it would take at least several days to enter the path of cultivation. But he had already done so, and as long as he had the Spirit-Liquid Flask, there was no need to eat mushrooms.

That was what he thought when he casually cast Spirit Vision Art.

“Hmm...?”

It surprised him slightly to see that the mushroom contained quite a lot of spiritual energy for something so ordinary.

‘This was a spirit plant?’

As one might easily guess, spirit plants were plants that contained spiritual energy. They were also often called spirit herbs.

As an aside, mushrooms were fungi rather than plants according to Earth's academic classification, but the cultivation world apparently classified them as plants for convenience.

In any case.

If it contained more than ordinary spiritual energy, it was a spirit plant no matter how shabby it was. It was common knowledge that all spirit plants were beneficial to cultivation when consumed, provided they were not poisonous.

Han Yujin stuffed every piece of mushroom into his mouth, then left the shelter to collect the rest.

But at that moment, he suddenly realized that the monkey monsters' unprocessed corpses contained even more spiritual energy.

‘...I was such an idiot!’

Because he had mentally decided they were monsters, he had failed to consider that their meat might be spirit meat that could aid cultivation.

It was truly a foolish mistake, failing to recognize treasure even when it lay before him.

‘...I should've roasted and eaten those rabbit-weasel bastards!’

Then he let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity of having his spirit meat stolen while he watched like a complete sucker.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried