WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
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◈ Xianxia Cultivation with a Dragon Heart ◈
Chapter 56: Spells vs. Martial Artists
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The situation was obvious.
The Yin Demon Gu Lord did not want to let the Daoist live. Based on his experience and judgment, he also did not think the Daoist was some formidable master he should not dare provoke.
Still, he could not disregard the slightest possibility that he was wrong, so he had put forward Seogwang Gahu as a sacrifice in his place.
If his judgment was correct, he would have dealt with someone he needed to dispose of anyway. If he was wrong, he could gauge the opponent's ability after seeing him act, then either kill him himself or flee.
Seogwang Gahu understood that as well, which was why he was so tense.
From the beginning, he had thought this Daoist-clad figure was no ordinary person. Even if that were not the case, he had yielded to threats and was immediately ordered to kill a stranger. He could not help feeling burdened.
However.
Once someone yielded to threats, crossing the next line became easier as well.
Even if he had not truly yielded and was merely stalling while waiting for an opportunity, he had once again been given a choice between life and death. There was no way to avoid it.
Thus, just as he raised the sword he had been clutching and aimed it at the Daoist.
Ptoo!
The harmless-looking creature in the Daoist's arms suddenly spat something out.
The instant it left its mouth, a golden beam struck the ground directly before Seogwang Gahu's feet and vanished. The hole it left behind was so deep that its bottom could not be seen.
“...”
“...”
Silence filled the area.
Seogwang Gahu froze as he stared at the sharp hole in the ground, while Eun Miryeong was plainly shocked. Above all, the expression on the Yin Demon Gu Lord's face was bizarre enough to be almost amusing.
“Good grief.”
The Daoist clicked his tongue with a short sigh.
“Being forced into indirect perpetration is usually taken into account. So I'll let you off this once. Understand?”
“...Pardon?”
“If you don't want to die, stay still.”
With those somewhat crude words, Han Yujin finally stopped passively observing the situation.
The conversation had given him a decent outline of this world, so he had stayed quiet. Clearly, they had taken him for a complete pushover.
“Now.”
Han Yujin lifted the creature in his arms, Muyong, and held it out toward the Yin Demon Gu Lord.
“For now, this little one is your opponent. Sounds fun, right?”
“...What?”
The Yin Demon Gu Lord answered reflexively, still wearing that strange expression.
“If you beat this one, I'll deal with you myself. Begin!”
Immediately afterward.
Ptoo!
Muyong spat out Geng Metal Sword Qi again. The Yin Demon Gu Lord reacted at once and tried to knock it aside, but then seemed to sense danger. He sharply twisted his body and dodged.
Sssht!
His judgment was correct. The aura around him was pierced through helplessly, and a deep hole appeared in the ground behind him.
The Yin Demon Gu Lord's bizarre expression immediately hardened into seriousness. Dodging another incoming golden beam, he counterattacked at once.
His movements were strange, as though his body had split into two or three different paths.
It was the footwork called Cloud-Ash Yin Flow Step, which deceived an opponent's senses while allowing extremely free changes in direction. Ash-dark energy shot rapidly from his extended hand.
With a sound like a swarm of insects crying, gray palm shadows swept forward. It was the infamous Ash Gu Heavenly Evil Palm. Anyone struck even once would suffer an unending erosion of gray, insect-like energy.
Squeak!
“Good grief...”
After Muyong's urgent cry and Han Yujin's sigh, violet-gold radiance burst from the Daoist and lightly blocked the Yin Demon Gu Lord's palm technique. The Ash Gu Heavenly Evil Palm's energy erosion did not work at all.
Yet from behind those palm shadows, the Yin Demon Gu Lord charged in with a ghostly face. Clearly going all out, he unleashed more than several lethal strikes in an instant.
Thud-thud-thud!
He moved so quickly that the building floor cracked apart beneath his steps. As though attacking alongside several clones, he sent sweeping dark gray energy and massive palm shadows crashing against the violet-gold radiance from every direction.
Some strikes relied on raw power. Some tried to break through the unknown radiance through the principles of penetrating force. The rest attempted to project direct impacts inside the barrier through the principles of an internal heavy-hand technique.
Hummmmm...
Yet every attempt was blocked, producing nothing but a strange, low resonance.
“P-Protective Aura...?!”
Eun Miryeong, the woman among the two who had hastily retreated to save themselves, muttered in shock.
By the martial world's common sense, Han Yujin's barrier could be interpreted as nothing else.
Moreover, merely enduring every attack from a Supreme Peak master without moving would require more than the Transformation Realm.
At that moment, the Yin Demon Gu Lord, whose overlapping body still rippled strangely, hurried back to his original position. He suddenly withdrew his aura, cupped his hands, and bowed.
“This lowly one was blind and failed to recognize an esteemed master who has reached the Mysterious Profundity Realm. For the honor of our Shadow Demon Divine Cult, I beg you to forgive me with the boundless mercy of the sea.”
“Mm, sure. Sure. If you can block this, I'll let you live.”
Han Yujin answered calmly and stretched out a hand, directly casting a spell.
Energy gathered like water and took the shape of a wheel before shooting forward at terrifying speed.
The Yin Demon Gu Lord truly intended to block it. He believed that a rejuvenated Mysterious Profundity Realm master with such ability would not go back on his word.
However, the instant he felt the force of the incoming Water Wheel, his body moved on its own and barely dodged. The Water Wheel struck the empty ground.
KABOOOM!!
A terrifying roar erupted as dirt flew in all directions. The entire hermitage shook, dust fell from the buildings, and parts of the already fragile walls collapsed.
A large, dark crater appeared where the attack had landed. It was not especially wide, but it was so deep that anyone who jumped in would never be able to climb out alone.
The Yin Demon Gu Lord's face turned visibly pale after he reflexively dodged.
“What? I told you to block it. Why did you dodge?”
“T-This lowly one's ability cannot possibly block such an aura technique.”
“Then endure until I'm satisfied. I'll lower the power a little, though. If you endure all of them, I'll really let you live.”
After finishing, Han Yujin let out a soft breath.
Pale green dharma pattern waves flickered from that breath before instantly turning into a fierce gale that engulfed his opponent.
The Yin Demon Gu Lord was startled and exerted his Internal Energy to the fullest, displaying every possible evasive and defensive method.
As he moved at high speed while giving off strange ripples from his body, even Han Yujin, a Dharma Soul Stage cultivator, might have been confused for a moment if he had let down his guard without using Divine Sense.
In that state, the Yin Demon Gu Lord dodged more than half the wind blades. He somehow deflected half of the rest with the gray energy around his body, then struck away the remainder with the hand where that energy was most concentrated.
He was not simply knocking them aside with brute force. Using the principles of Grafting Flowers onto Trees, he subtly altered their paths to make them cancel out other wind blades. It was a skill that could only inspire admiration.
The Yin Demon Gu Lord made no mistakes and survived until every bit of the Wind Blade Art's force had been neutralized.
Han Yujin had reduced it to the level of an ordinary Entry Stage spell, but it was still truly impressive. He nearly applauded without thinking.
He had even forgotten his purpose of testing the martial strength of this world through the audacious bastard who had dared to try killing him.
“Three left.”
With admiration in his voice, he informed the man of the remaining number and cast the Flame Projectile Art.
A tiny spark flickered at the tip of his flicked finger, then instantly grew as large as a person's head and shot forward.
At the sudden heat-laden gale, Seogwang Gahu and Eun Miryeong cried out in alarm and raised their arms to cover their faces.
The Yin Demon Gu Lord also looked terrified by the consecutively unleashed, heaven-shaking methods. Still, he did his best to respond to the incoming blazing yang aura.
He repeatedly launched gray palm shadows through the Ash Gu Heavenly Evil Palm while using the lifesaving form of the Cloud-Ash Yin Flow Step to widen the distance faster than he had at any point so far.
KABOOOM!!
An explosion far greater than the previous Water Wheel erupted.
As though a small earthquake had occurred, the buildings did not merely shed dust. They swayed unsteadily. More weak sections of the walls collapsed as well.
The air, briefly clouded by falling dust, was soon swept clean by the heat-laden gale.
The revealed crater in the empty ground radiated a hellish heat that no one dared approach, while the air above it seemed to boil.
“Two left.”
“S-Senior, please forgive me...!”
Han Yujin's eyes flashed purple as he watched the terrified Yin Demon Gu Lord. The Yin Demon Gu Lord, who was watching Han Yujin's expression while begging for forgiveness, saw that flash as well.
Immediately afterward.
“Gah...!”
He let out a short cry of pain and staggered backward. Blood streamed from his nose.
However, Han Yujin, who had cast the Illusory Dream Heart-Seizing Art, looked quite surprised.
‘Even though I only cast it at the Entry Stage level, he blocked it?’
The “martial artists” of this world had not developed with clear weaknesses like the knights of Astradia.
They were far superior even compared to Earth's Hunters.
By Han Yujin's assessment, the Yin Demon Gu Lord before him seemed to be in a lower weight class than Korea's S-Rank Hunter Park Seryong in raw power. Yet considering his technical ability, it seemed that at least three Park Seryongs would be needed to face him.
The fact that he had defended against the Illusory Dream Heart-Seizing Art alone proved that he was clearly superior to Park Seryong in spiritual matters.
“This is the last one. Get a grip.”
After even kindly warning him, Han Yujin pointed a finger at the Yin Demon Gu Lord.
Immediately afterward.
KRAKABOOM!!
Lightning struck from a clear sky. It was an almost instantaneous attack, leaving no time to dodge.
“Guhuh... Uuuugh...!”
Struck by the lightning bolt, the Yin Demon Gu Lord convulsed with his entire body charred black, smoke pouring from his mouth.
“He survived that too!”
Han Yujin was so impressed that he could not hold back his shout.
Thud.
The Yin Demon Gu Lord fell backward like a log, his eyes full of resentment.
As Han Yujin observed him with Divine Sense, the man soon stopped breathing helplessly.
“Oh, come on... That was the last one!”
Han Yujin had been so impressed that he truly meant to spare him. But now that he had died, there was no reason to think further about it.
Squeak! Squeak!
“Right, right. Don't worry. I took care of the bad villain for Raccoon Man.”
Stroking Muyong in his arms once, Han Yujin looked at the two young martial artists, who hardly dared breathe.
“Now, then...”
Before he could say anything more.
“S-Senior, please forgive me...!!”
Seogwang Gahu threw himself down in complete terror and cried out.
“Didn't I say earlier? Being forced into indirect perpetration is usually taken into account. Still... it is true that I was a little annoyed.”
As silence continued, Seogwang Gahu trembled even harder where he lay prostrate.
“Hand over that treasure map or whatever it is, along with the Yin-Yang Gu you received.”
“H-Here... Here it is...!”
Seogwang Gahu hurriedly pulled a piece of silk from his robes. Then he approached on his knees and handed it over along with the wooden box containing the Yin-Yang Gu.
“You hand over your Yin-Yang Gu too. Surely you aren't planning to eat that and go to the Shadow Demon Divine Cult or whatever, are you?”
“N-No.”
Eun Miryeong also approached tensely and handed Han Yujin her wooden box with the utmost respect.
“Thank you sincerely for helping us, Senior. I will never forget this life-saving grace for as long as I live. If I have the chance, I will repay it with every effort.”
“Mm.”
Even while trembling slightly, she spoke clearly enough that it was pleasant to hear.
‘She really is beautiful.’
Eun Miryeong's truly exceptional appearance played a role in that impression. Even Han Yujin, with his modern standards, had to acknowledge her beauty.
“If it would not offend you, may we learn your esteemed name?”
“I'll decide later whether to tell you. First... where were you originally heading?”
Eun Miryeong paused briefly, then answered in place of Seogwang Gahu, who was in poor condition.
“We planned to cross the Yangtze River, not far west of here, and head into Jiangxi. That is Sun Sect territory, where the Dark Shadow Demon Cult pursuing us would not dare set foot.”
She had called them the Dark Shadow Demon Cult rather than the Shadow Demon Divine Cult. Sun Sect also appeared to be an extremely powerful group.
“Let's travel together for a while. I have a lot to ask you along the way.”
“We can only be grateful.”
“Let's rest while we travel. So, calm that one down for me.”
Han Yujin gestured with his chin at Seogwang Gahu, who was still lying on the ground and trembling. Eun Miryeong looked slightly troubled but immediately headed toward him.
* * *
Naturally, the first thing Han Yujin was interested in was the martial strength ranks of this world's martial artists.
In summary, Eun Miryeong's explanation was roughly as follows.
The Third-Rate Realm, barely different from ordinary people who had merely learned martial arts.
The Second-Rate Realm, where one could sense and handle the Qi of heaven and earth, greatly enhancing strength and speed while increasing a weapon's durability and sharpness.
The First-Rate Realm, where the five senses improved, thought became quicker, and one could properly release Qi outward to create phenomena such as sword resonance.
The Peak Realm, where one went beyond merely releasing Qi and could form Sword Qi, Saber Qi, and similar manifestations.
At the upper limit of the Peak Realm, some separately classified the stage at which Sword Qi and the like curled upward like threads to create fluttering sword filaments as the Supreme Peak Realm.
The Transformation Realm, where one could form Aura, the essence of destruction and hardness.
The Mysterious Profundity Realm, where one could infuse Aura with intent to create all manner of strange forms and effects.
‘And finally, the Life and Death Realm, where one could determine an opponent's life or death through intent alone...’
Han Yujin suddenly had a suspicion.
‘Could that be a Divine Sense secret art?’
Footnotes:
Raccoon Man is a Korean internet-meme figure associated with the phrase, “Raccoon Man will take care of it, so don't worry.” Han Yujin jokes that he handled the villain in Raccoon Man's place.
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