WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Dionysus

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Xianxia Cultivation with a Dragon Heart ◈

Chapter 13: Mutual Destruction

──────

Han Yujin reflexively drew the Five Elements Sword and used Object Manipulation Art with his other hand to pull the rabbit weasel toward him. But the enemy's ambush was faster than his art could reach it.

It looked like a lizard. At a glance, he could see gills and claws. Its tail was unmistakably that of an aquatic creature, complete with a fin.

As he made that instinctive judgment, the rabbit weasel, despite its usual quickness, was already being chewed in the creature's jaws before slipping down its throat.

The Five Elements Sword's spell restriction flashed, firing a stream of golden energy. The aquatic lizard monster swung its tail as if it had been waiting, and the pale energy around its tail collided with the sword's attack spell, producing a sharp noise.

Blood sprayed briefly from the tail, the source of the sound. But considering that the golden energy had split a wolf beast apart without resistance, the result was far too slight.

Kyaaaak...!

As if shocked that it had been injured, the creature moved even faster than when it had emerged and fled into the lake. It was not speed that any ordinary creature could possess.

Naturally, Han Yujin kept manipulating the Five Elements Sword and firing golden energy to kill it. Yet only one more shot struck, leaving a minor wound. The other two barely missed, cutting into the ground as the creature darted away.

Honestly, part of the reason he missed was that he had been flustered. Everything had happened so suddenly that he was still dazed.

After a few seconds passed, he stood abruptly from the rock where he had been sitting and remained still.

Then the situation truly sank in.

‘The rabbit weasel... It got hunted.’

It had lived with him and eaten its fill of all kinds of food infused with spiritual energy. Even its once ordinary yellow-brown fur had gradually turned a faint gold, and its body now held a fair amount of spiritual energy.

It must have looked delicious to other predators.

He did not feel any boiling emotion.

That little creature he had found so cute and lived alongside had simply died so suddenly.

Yet before he knew it, he was jumping into the lake.

He drew out the Five Elements Sword's defensive spell art and protected himself in a golden bell-shaped barrier. He did not know any art that let him move freely underwater, but he trusted in the fact that he had briefly learned to swim in elementary school.

Was it a sense of duty that, since he had brought it here, he should at least avenge it even if he had failed to protect it?

Was it anger at a monster that had dared harm his pet right before its owner's eyes?

Or was it the ridiculous thought that he might cut open the monster's belly, take the rabbit weasel out, and heal it before it was completely dead?

Even Han Yujin himself did not know exactly why he was acting this way.

Still, part of him had an instinctive certainty that he had to act now, an obsessive impulse he did not want to resist.

If he did not move now, he would regret it for a long time.

If things like this piled up one after another, they might become the infamous heart demon, something that, once it took root, would inevitably become a lasting source of trouble on the path of cultivation.

‘No matter how much stronger I am, fighting underwater is dangerous.’

He had made that judgment before moving. But it was utterly useless now that he had already leaped into the water.

In water that felt darker than he had expected, he concentrated on Spirit Vision Art and searched every direction around him. Unlike on land, he had to watch beneath his feet as well. Only one more direction had been added to his vigilance, yet he felt far more exposed.

Wind-Cloud Art could not properly display its power underwater. Still, it was better than swimming unaided, so Han Yujin moved in the direction his instincts pointed.

Farther from land. Deeper into the lake.

How long had he been swimming?

Even with a cultivator's extraordinary body, he felt he had used more than half his breath when a dark shadow swept past beneath his feet. The instant he hurriedly turned toward its trail, an attack struck his barrier from somewhere he had not even noticed.

The protective barrier that had remained intact through the monkey monsters' violent assault dented slightly and shook from that single blow.

Boom!

The impact was so loud that his ears hurt despite being underwater.

He had known the creature was unusual from the moment it blocked the Five Elements Sword's attack, but its offensive power was truly astonishing. Han Yujin used Clear Mind Art and tried to stay as calm as possible while repeatedly scanning his surroundings.

Even getting the lizard monster into his sight was difficult. It had been fast on land, but underwater it was several times faster, as if the surrounding water moved according to its will to aid it.

It was surely a phenomenon created by using spiritual energy. This was, in effect, his first real battle against a monster capable of properly wielding spiritual energy.

‘Now!’

He fired golden energy at the creature he had barely caught in his vision. The attack passed through the barrier, but only grazed the top of its back. It was not that Han Yujin had aimed poorly. The creature had actively moved to avoid it.

Then, just as it seemed to brush past the barrier, that familiar impact struck again. A roar erupted, and the barrier dented.

Frustratingly, the same thing happened two more times.

The body of the Five Elements Sword trembled uneasily. If it took only two or three more attacks, the barrier would be destroyed, and even the magical artifact's durability seemed likely to suffer.

‘This won't work.’

As the creature approached, Han Yujin planned to explode the barrier. That attack had wiped out the monkey monsters in one stroke. It should surely kill this creature in return.

But then a thought surfaced. The rabbit weasel inside its belly might not be dead yet. If he injured the lizard monster too badly, the creature inside might truly die as well.

‘It's already dead.’

It took him several seconds to reach that common-sense conclusion.

In that time, the lizard monster swam over at high speed and launched its strongest attack yet. Its tail, wreathed in pale energy and accompanied by a violent current, struck the badly dented part of the barrier.

Boom!

The sound was so massive that his head rang.

The barrier, which he had thought could withstand two or three more blows, was barely holding together as it weakened. The creature quickly sensed that sign of destruction, twisted its body, and charged again at once.

This time, Han Yujin did not hesitate. He exploded the barrier.

The fragments of the golden bell scattered ahead of the monster's attack and became a storm of sharp blades, sweeping through the water around him, including the entire area in front of him.

Kiiiuuung...!!

Along with the monster's sharp, mournful scream, a great deal of blood spread through the water.

With his remaining breath becoming desperately low, Han Yujin wrapped Jade Skin Art around his body and hurried forward to drag the lizard monster out of the water.

At that very moment.

Something flew through the curtain of blood, which, infused with spiritual energy, blocked Spirit Vision Art. No, the instant he registered that something had flown toward him, it had already struck his torso and sent him flying.

It hurt.

That was the only thought that came to him.

Precious air escaped from his mouth without him knowing when it had opened, producing frantic bubbles. He could not even tell whether he had been flung downward or upward.

Jade Skin Art had barely saved his life, but this was far from a good situation. Nor did it seem like it would become one.

He instinctively tried to control the Five Elements Sword, but failed. Realizing he had completely lost it, he stretched both hands toward something rapidly rushing at him through his blurred vision.

The only offensive spell art he knew was Flame Projectile Art. He could easily imagine what would happen if he cast it underwater, but he had no other choice.

‘You fucking bastard. How dare you.’

Certain of his death, he cursed briefly in his mind and cast Flame Projectile Art as though squeezing out and detonating every last bit of spiritual energy he possessed.

A flash lit up the dark lake.

Countless bubbles rose at once, then became an indescribable explosion that blew away every sense, including his vision.

In the brief moment when absolute darkness descended, he thought he heard the scream of a different lizard monster, not the one he had been fighting.

- You have died.

After a while, mysterious silver letters appeared in the darkness.

- Choose your harvest.

* * *

Han Yujin stood blankly in the waiting area of the dark void, looking at the harvests spread before him.

There were many items.

By the time he died, he had not yet boiled things like the wolf beast's bones for broth, so a fair amount of them were in his Storage Pouch. There were also items he had stored in his hideout, territory that was unquestionably his own.

Most importantly, just as he had instinctively known before visiting the Primeval Forest World, he could choose the results of his cultivation as a harvest. It took the form of a tiny human figure sculpted from light.

The brighter strands of light moving intricately within it were clearly tracing the path of the Returning to the Origin Art. He could also vaguely see the form of his soul, partially ascended into a Dharma Soul.

And regrettably, there was not even a shadow of the small, cute, yet completely useless rabbit weasel.

‘We weren't even together that long. What could that little animal possibly matter?’

Han Yujin closed his eyes without realizing it and simply stood there for a long time.

‘I didn't even give it a name on purpose.’

He had not been sure whether it could be selected as a harvest. He had only intended to give it lots of gifts when he had cultivated to his satisfaction and left. He had not thought any more deeply than that.

His thoughts were a complete mess. It had been a long time since he had felt this confused despite knowing how he should act.

But soon, he slowly regained his composure.

In any case, he had tried his best to avenge it. He did not know whether he had definitely killed the creature, but he had at least dealt it a heavy blow. There was no way that lake lacked other predators, so it was already as good as dead.

Just like the small rabbit weasel it had boldly hunted and swallowed, it too would become someone else's meal.

“Whew...”

He let out one last deep sigh and was about to choose the results of his cultivation.

Then, a ridiculous idea occurred to him, one that somehow felt possible.

His awakened ability fixed doors according to his wishes. The door to the Primeval Forest World where he had cultivated this time had also been fixed according to such a clear desire.

Then what if...

What if he could fix the door to the Primeval Forest World again, to the exact moment when he had first visited it?

“...”

After silently thinking for a long while, he eventually shook his head. Then he stood before the small figure of light that represented the results of his cultivation.

The karma required for the selection was about half of what he had left. It was a large amount if one considered it large, and a small amount if one considered it small, but to Han Yujin, it seemed very cheap.

His cultivation results included 27 percent ascension into a Dharma Soul. Spending less karma to choose this than he had spent choosing to restore magical artifacts before felt incredibly cheap.

‘Is it because I earned this through my own effort?’

Those magical artifacts might have been expensive because he had simply picked them up without much effort. Or perhaps they had cost more because they had been extremely valuable to him at the time.

Even the same object could have vastly different value depending on who received it and under what circumstances. It seemed that choosing harvests here consumed karma according to that principle.

In any case, Han Yujin chose the results of his cultivation without feeling burdened.

Soon afterward, he safely awoke in his bed in reality.

He quietly blinked and examined the state of his body. The cultivation realm he had felt in the primeval forest had definitely transferred over safely.

‘Should I say it transferred over, or that it appeared? I don't know.’

After idly pondering such a trivial choice of words, he swiftly formed a plan for what came next.

He wanted to immediately test whether he could return to that point in the Primeval Forest World, but there was somewhere better to visit first.

The ruins of the Five Elements Sect on the Eternal Continent After the End of the Dharma.

‘I need a spell art that lets me move underwater.’

Or perhaps a magical artifact meant for that purpose.

It would also be nice if he could find knowledge of Beast-Taming Art, which would let him tame and raise beasts. He did not yet know whether he could meet that little creature again as he felt he might.

He lay still for a long time, finishing the organization of his thoughts.

Then, without resting in reality at all this time, he immediately closed his eyes.

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