WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
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◈ Xianxia Cultivation with a Dragon Heart ◈
Chapter 81: The Need for Long-Range Reconnaissance
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After hunting nearly a hundred monsters with the Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine Bottle over several hours, Han Yujin was finally able to grasp most of its functions by continually observing how it worked with Divine Sense.
His initial thought had been right. It could instantly create spirit liquor more potent than Bloodwood Spirit-Fruit Spirit Liquor. At the same time, the Dharma Treasure itself possessed considerable offensive power.
‘Its characteristics seem rather different from those of an ordinary Dharma Treasure...’
Calling it an artifact, in the fantasy sense, might be more accurate.
It even seemed possible to refine it with the Threefold Harmonization Formula. Once that refinement was complete, he would probably be able to understand all its functions and properties perfectly.
After finding a quiet place and stopping, he lightly tilted the Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine Bottle and let several drops of its contents fall through the air.
He brought them before his eyes with beast taming and examined them. Within the ruby-like liquid, a deeper crimson light formed a shape vaguely resembling a lotus on its own.
It truly was spirit liquor produced by an item at the level of a Dharma Treasure.
After confirming there was nothing wrong with it, he tasted a drop. Despite the small amount, the sweet, rich fragrance that filled his mouth nearly drew an exclamation from him.
The taste and fragrance alone already surpassed Bloodwood Spirit-Fruit Spirit Liquor.
‘It’s hard to believe this was made by killing monsters...’
A thought suddenly occurred to him.
The black magic tomes he had seen in the Palace of Demon Worshippers, books that showed what could be done with blood and souls, and the Bloodwood Spirit-Fruit Brewing Art shared certain principles.
Perhaps the version of himself whose sense of self had been altered by the pendant had drawn inspiration from that.
‘Especially considering it might be possible to make Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine using people as ingredients...’
Perhaps.
If it were made using people, its taste, fragrance, and effects might become truly exceptional.
Han Yujin shook his head. Clearly, despite the knowledge and wisdom that seemed boundless, the version of himself altered by the pendant seemed somehow to have been severely twisted, like a demon.
‘What on earth would I create if I went back and wore that pendant again?’
The Karma he had spent to select the Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine Bottle as his harvest had not been a small amount.
It had proven worth that price, but there was no guarantee he would be as lucky next time.
Most of his memories had become hazy like a dream. Regardless of its functions, he would have to spend a huge amount of Karma on a hit-or-miss gacha pull for an item whose vile properties he could not know.
‘It’s not like some game’s random-draw system.’
The thought made him laugh helplessly, but his first pull had turned out rather well.
After considering it for a moment, he gave Muyong a drop of Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine.
“Have a taste.”
Squeak!
Muyong had been unable to take her eyes off it ever since its fragrance had spread through the air. She slurped down the drop, then froze for a moment as her already round eyes grew even wider.
“Is it good?”
Squeak...! Squeak squeak! Squeak!
Her excitement resembled the first time she had tasted spirit liquid wine as an ordinary animal. It was cute, but it also drew a small sigh from him.
For some reason, he felt that no matter how much her intelligence improved, that gluttony would never change.
While he was taking a brief break that was not quite a break, a special task force of around ten people assigned exclusively to him appeared. They included a Hunter with a tracking-related superpower, and they had followed the traces of his movements according to their mission.
“You’ve been working hard.”
Han Yujin greeted them warmly.
He did not often meet them like this, but they followed him, recorded his accomplishments, and supported him in various ways in case of emergencies. He had more than enough reason to treat them kindly.
“You’ve been working hard as well. Were you taking a break?”
“Yes. There were a few things I needed to think about.”
When he gave that simple reply to the special task force captain’s easygoing question, the man, who looked to be in his late thirties or early forties, laughed as if amused.
“Vice Commander Han Yujin, you may be the only person who talks like that as though taking a stroll through the Great Rift.”
As an S-Rank Hunter, Han Yujin had long since become a vice commander of the Pioneer Corps, just like Park Seryong.
Even as they exchanged peaceful small talk despite their surroundings, the captain said, “It seems you’re having poor luck today. There are strangely few monsters around.”
“Indeed. Well, days like this happen.”
As he answered, Han Yujin smiled wryly to himself.
Using the Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine Bottle in the real Great Rift had a drawback. It left behind no monster corpses.
That meant the special task force following him could not verify his accomplishments, which in turn meant his eventual compensation in Mana Stones would be reduced.
‘If I’m not going to cultivate in reality anyway, there’s no reason to use the Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine Bottle here.’
He still needed to wait for the large amount of Karma that would come from distributing knowledge and Awakening Grass, but the results would come within a few months at most. That was too short a time to begin cultivating in earnest.
More importantly, he was already on the verge of the Core Formation Stage, so cultivation through spirit liquor did not mean much to him.
After chatting a little longer, he finished his break and began moving again.
He had completed his test of the new item. It was time to focus on his real objective, gathering Karma.
It would also be a small pleasure to completely overturn the special task force captain’s claim that he had poor luck.
* * *
He slightly changed his routine. After focusing on hunting for around three days, he would take one or two days off.
If he spent too much time in the Great Rift, its environmental characteristics cut him off from the people he knew.
Especially now that he had decided to take Lee Wonhui as a disciple, he needed to meet the child often and build their relationship. Relationships were easier and had fewer side effects when they developed within a context. This was the process of creating that context.
This time as well, he visited the child’s home, brought Lee Wonhui out, and bought a good meal at a nearby pasta restaurant.
“I want to learn.”
“Hm? Learn what?”
“That. Um... the thing about controlling my superpower better.”
“Good thinking!”
Han Yujin openly showed his delight without hiding his feelings.
He was genuinely pleased, but he also thought that showing such a reaction would keep the child from feeling disappointed after making such a courageous choice.
After that, he left the Great Rift a little more often and began meeting Lee Wonhui regularly to teach the basics.
A nine-year-old could not simply be handed knowledge of the Returning to the Origin Art and be expected to learn it properly. That was true even if Lee Wonhui possessed the exceptional comprehension expected of someone with a Heavenly Spiritual Root.
The Incarnation Cultivation Method he had obtained through the human skin in the martial world was not something he needed to consider yet.
The most suitable cultivation method for beginners that he knew was the Returning to the Origin Art. It was designed so that even small mistakes were completely harmless, yet the tempering of the body and soul was not slow.
The included Clear Mind Art alone was enough reason to recommend it to beginners. The Purification Art was also too useful to leave out.
‘How quickly will progress be once formal cultivation begins...?’
What would a person with a Heavenly Spiritual Root, someone recognized as possessing innate talent even in the cultivation world, be capable of?
He had not even accepted Lee Wonhui as an official disciple yet, but his heart already pounded with anticipation.
No matter how quickly he himself advanced through his awakening ability, this would likely be the only disciple with the potential to keep up with him.
He continued his hunting in the Great Rift while also beginning to train in combining divine abilities and spells.
Specifically, he was trying to combine the Origin Power Great Hand with intermediate Five Elements Arts. Since he had learned the Origin Power Great Hand relatively recently, he had not had many chances to experiment with it in the martial world.
Fortunately, it was not difficult enough to require finding another world to practice in.
He merely had to add the Five Elements Arts, which he had already become extremely familiar with, to a divine ability that could be used instinctively without special calculations and yet possessed a concrete form.
He had become even more adept with the Five Elements Arts after wearing the pendant and coming to understand knowledge he had already possessed from a slightly different perspective.
Fwoooosh...!
Pure Yang Extreme Flame fused into the normally translucent Origin Power Great Hand, creating a terrifying hand of flame. It lightly struck a monster that resembled a bear, though it was hairless and covered in hard armor.
Puff!
Rather than the sound of an impact, it sounded as though a cloud of powder had exploded. The monster’s body had burned to ash the instant it was struck, bursting apart.
Before the flames could even spread, the nearby bushes and trees had all burned black and crumbled apart.
“Hmm...”
After practicing several times, he withdrew the divine ability and spell, satisfied with the effect.
The power was satisfactory, but using it for hunting in the Great Rift was somewhat troublesome. Like using the Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine Bottle, it did not leave much evidence behind.
There was at least visible ash, but it would be impossible to identify what kind of monster had been killed, leaving plenty of room for losses when calculating his accomplishments.
‘Pure Yang Extreme Flame is enough for now... I’ve also practiced Deep Sea Cold Ice Water enough...’
Geng Metal Sword Qi did not feel particularly suitable for fusion. The Wind-Cloud Spirit Tiger was the same.
Adding Thunder Dragon might at least be useful against spells, art-formula restrictions, and ghosts.
‘Combining Thunder Dragon with Deep Sea Cold Ice Water would not be bad either, when facing an enemy that needs special attention.’
With various thoughts and tests, he continued focusing on hunting for quite some time.
Then, suddenly, he realized that he had travelled much farther than originally planned.
He rose high into the air with Wind Escape Art and looked down. A sea of trees stretched across every horizon, with towering mountain ranges rising here and there among it. The Great Rift felt like a complete otherworld.
‘Maybe that isn’t just a feeling.’
Exploration was extremely difficult due to the countless dangers lurking within, but even after decades, no one could even estimate the Great Rift’s full size.
Over those decades, the safety of the areas where base fortresses had been built, along with their broad surroundings, had been proven to some degree.
But if one deliberately travelled far beyond them, there was no way to know what new dangers might be waiting.
Of course, it was not as though no one had attempted long-range reconnaissance before.
However, the Great Rift did not allow electronic devices to be brought inside, and the resulting restrictions were so severe that such efforts rarely produced results. Since there were no results, attempts had gradually become more cautious as well.
This was not only Korea’s problem. Japan and China were not much different.
That was precisely why, since this reality could not help but be important to him, he considered conducting reconnaissance over a great distance himself.
One never knew. Like in the primeval forest, a powerful enemy might suddenly appear in a place he believed to be safe.
“Hmm.”
It seemed best to have a brief discussion with Park Seryong first.
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