WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Dionysus

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Xianxia Cultivation with a Dragon Heart ◈

Chapter 3: Hardship Etched into My Bones

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Han Yujin's reaction did not faze the middle-aged man.

When he raised a hand and waved it, a silvery-white glow flashed strangely. Then a tremendous gale swept in and hurled Han Yujin into the air.

The scream trying to escape his throat was blocked by a sensation that seemed to bind his whole body. The roar of the rushing wind was as immense as thunder, leaving him dazed.

Even in the midst of it, Han Yujin realized that he was flying over the forest at a terrifying speed. He also caught a glimpse of the middle-aged man standing nearby with his hands behind his back.

He could fling a person through the air like this while flying alongside him himself?

As Han Yujin stared in shock, he thought he saw a huge, magnificent palace ahead. Before he could confirm it, however, he collided with the rapidly approaching ground and rolled across it.

“Urgh...”

It was truly one of the most painful experiences of his life.

It was a miracle he had not died after falling at that speed. The middle-aged man must have given him at least some minimal protection.

“Quit your whining and get up.”

At those cold words, Han Yujin instinctively stood, forgetting even his groaning. After being handled so mercilessly once, fear of the man moved his body on its own.

He knew that even if he died, he would merely awaken in reality, but he could not stay calm.

As if seeing through Han Yujin's feelings, the middle-aged man gave a faintly mocking laugh and began walking ahead. After hesitating briefly, Han Yujin hurried after him.

The halls and corridors of the vast palace were decorated in every imaginable way and drew the eye. Yet Han Yujin could not properly take them in.

The pain still lingering in his body, the fear caused by it, and the shame and anger gradually rising within him were all churning through his mind.

‘That son of a bitch...’

He could not dare say it aloud, but all sorts of curses circled in his head. The pain alone was enough to make his resentment explode. If he could, he wanted to beat the man until he suffered the same way.

No, he would need to beat him more than twice as badly before he felt satisfied.

‘Once I get stronger, I’ll definitely...’

How long had he walked while consumed by his emotions?

The place they arrived at was a corridor that felt less splendid than the previous ones, and somewhat bleak. At its end stood an enormous grayish-white door that somehow felt oppressive, as though it would not open easily.

Just as Han Yujin faltered from an instinctive sense of dread, the middle-aged man moved without hesitation and opened the door.

The scene inside was certainly dark and filthy. The moment Han Yujin noticed around forty people within, a foul stench hit him and made him automatically step back.

Even a room full of homeless people probably would not smell this bad. The stench of urine and feces was mixed in, making it feel like he would get sick just by breathing.

“Go in.”

“...You want me to go in there?”

Han Yujin asked again, his voice full of refusal, and looked inside once more. More precisely, he looked at the people within.

Almost all wore clothes like rags, and even the way they sat or lay down was unnatural. Even those who seemed relatively normal had gloomy expressions, as if their lives had hit rock bottom.

“Bear with the filth for a few days. There isn’t much time left until the baptism.”

Han Yujin suddenly realized that the middle-aged man's reaction was abnormally kind. Wondering what scheme he could possibly have, Han Yujin turned his head toward him.

Then he saw it.

Within the eyes that met his, an illusion of those vivid red worms seemed to writhe. This time, however, it did not stop there.

His vision warped strangely, and the middle-aged man's eyes seemed to grow endlessly larger. The illusion writhing within them grew as well, becoming all the clearer.

Before he could even sense the danger, they burrowed into Han Yujin's mind.

He screamed and collapsed, rolling across the ground.

Whenever he tried to think or judge something, vivid red worms appeared and devoured his brain, his thoughts, his soul, silencing them. Whatever he tried to do, his mind was filled with nothing but those worms.

The middle-aged man looked down at the struggling Han Yujin and let out a contemptuous laugh.

“Consider yourself lucky. If you achieve good results in the baptism, it will become your strength.”

Then a gust of wind flung Han Yujin into the foul-smelling room. Even as the door shut and the eyes of those inside fixed on him, he could not perceive his surroundings at all.

Time passed.

Han Yujin stopped struggling and became almost an idiot, only trembling intermittently as the worms filling his mind writhed.

Fortunately, the people who had been there before him did not touch him. Since the middle-aged man had personally brought him there, they were clearly being cautious.

Of course, Han Yujin was in no state to infer such a thing.

Time continued to pass until, at last, the day of baptism that the middle-aged man had mentioned arrived.

The door, always tightly shut except when newcomers arrived, opened. People wearing mage-like robes entered. Their robes resembled the middle-aged man's, though they were much simpler.

Although they frowned at the stench and cursed, they led the waiting people somewhere. Those unable to move properly, like Han Yujin, were lifted into the air by magic and transported directly.

After walking for roughly half an hour, they arrived in an enormous hall. At its center stood a massive object that drew every eye.

It was a murky blackish-brown overall, yet surrounded by a faint deep-purple radiance that made it feel highly mysterious. Even Han Yujin, who was hardly different from an idiot at the moment, could not take his eyes off the sphere.

The middle-aged man, who had appeared without anyone noticing, began taking charge and controlling the room. Then he stopped before Han Yujin, who was blankly staring at the sphere, and clicked his tongue.

“Let’s start with this one.”

Soon after, Han Yujin was made to walk toward the blackish-brown sphere in the center of the hall with stiff, creaking steps, propelled by magical force. His hand rose weakly from instinctive dread. When it touched the sphere's surface, ripples spread across it as it glittered in all kinds of strange colors.

Then an immense suction force dragged him into the sphere.

The overwhelming pain even crushed and destroyed the illusions of worms filling his mind. He screamed uncontrollably and struggled on pure survival instinct.

But the next instant, he felt a transcendent, overwhelming gaze that made all resistance cease.

It was watching.

It was watching him.

Something immense, so immense that he could not comprehend even a fraction of a fraction of it, was looking down at him.

His soul felt pressed and crushed until it crumbled like dust. At the same time, every spiritual structure that made Han Yujin who he was broke apart.

Only that gaze remained, pressing Han Yujin again and again, reducing him to a tiny dot. Then even that dot continued to be pressed until it vanished completely.

“Tsk.”

At that moment, someone clicked their tongue and looked down at Han Yujin, who had been left as nothing but an empty shell.

At some point, he had been spat back out of the sphere and lay sprawled on the floor. The middle-aged man standing beside him wore a deeply displeased expression.

“I had high hopes because you had an unusually pure soul and seemed to be hiding something up your sleeve... but you were just pure trash.”

After lamenting, he gave an order to the subordinate beside him.

“Take him away and use him as a blood donor. He has undergone the baptism, so keep him alive as long as possible.”

“Yes, Bishop.”

Han Yujin's dead eyes took in the middle-aged man turning away as an invisible force dragged him off.

Then.

- You have been completely incapacitated.

Mysterious silver letters appeared, and the surroundings rapidly sank into empty darkness.

- Choose your harvest.

* * *

“Aaaaaagh...!!”

With a scream like a shriek of despair, Han Yujin came to his senses. He was in that very space filled with darkness, where he could choose his harvest.

He had only raised his upper body from where he lay, breathing raggedly, when a sudden wave of nausea overwhelmed him. He bent over and retched as though his stomach would burst out.

Surprisingly, that state of panic did not last long. The horrific chain of memories, more than enough to leave trauma, rapidly faded until they became barely tolerable.

Of course.

Even so, the experiences had been so horrific that it was impossible for him to regain his composure completely. He could only just grasp the situation and calm himself.

“Ugh...! Nghhh...!”

Anger and hatred for the middle-aged man who had inflicted such agony on him surged like an erupting volcano. He was so furious that no curse or shout could escape his mouth.

I’ll kill him.

I’ll definitely kill him.

One day, I’ll tear him to pieces and kill him.

He ground his teeth hard enough to crack them, repeating the vow over and over. Only after staying bent over like that for a long while did he finally calm down.

“Whew...”

After taking one final deep breath, he slowly raised himself and blankly looked at the harvest floating in the air.

Although he had only been helplessly victimized, there was still something he could harvest. It was the illusion of those vivid red worms, startling enough to make him flinch at a glance.

‘That was lucky.’

Looking at the horrifying illusion, Han Yujin forced himself not to turn away.

‘Thank goodness this awakened ability of mine is so powerful. Otherwise, I...’

His soul would have shattered, and he would have spent years as a blood donor, his lifespan greatly shortened. Or even if that had not happened, the immense trauma might have left him broken.

He felt grateful once more for the quality of his ability, while also rebuking himself for his complacency. That was why he forced himself to stare at the visions of blood-red worms that filled him with such revulsion.

He needed to carve this lesson into his bones.

He could no longer hope for a lucky break. Even if he could be completely safe, he had to be cautious and cautious again whenever he used his ability.

He truly never wanted to experience something like this again. If it happened repeatedly, some negative effect might remain despite the way the memories faded.

He continued staring at the worm illusion for a long time, driving the lesson into himself.

How much time had passed?

Exhausted, he wanted to return to his old but very safe studio apartment.

The moment he wished for it, he opened his eyes in his bed in reality once again.

“...”

He sat blankly for a moment, then checked the time on his smartphone. It was a little past noon. Around six hours had passed.

His body and mind both felt exhausted, as if he had fought a fierce battle, but he got up and prepared himself a proper lunch. He desperately wanted to eat it.

He intended to eat slowly while thinking things over carefully.

What sort of wish would let him safely and successfully visit a world full of potential? How could he thoroughly rule out dangers like the one he had faced this time?

‘They say nothing in this world comes easy, and they were right.’

He could not stop a sigh from escaping.

It truly was not easy.

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