WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
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◈ Xianxia Cultivation with a Dragon Heart ◈
Chapter 83: A Bountiful Harvest of Karma
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The sentient beings of the Maigubra settlement were not human.
Their bodies were bipedal and roughly humanlike, but their tawny, mottled pelts left no bare skin exposed, and their large, elongated ears resembled those of desert foxes. Their features bore feline traits while remaining ambiguously human, making them seem cute at first glance yet faintly unpleasant.
They called themselves the Aheti, which transcendent comprehension interpreted as "masters of the mountain range."
True to that name, their settlement had been built expansively across both the surface and interior of the mountain range. There was little sign of advanced science and technology. Mysticism had taken its place, providing the conveniences of daily life, and the population appeared to be just under one hundred thousand.
It was about the size of a small or medium-sized city in South Korea. Few or many, depending on how one looked at it.
Their combat methods were fairly distasteful, mainly involving forcibly employing beasts bound by spiritual contracts or inflicting all manner of harm upon souls.
There were a little over ten thousand combatants. Most appeared to possess strength ranging from B-Rank to A-Rank Hunters, while around thirty had combat power equal to or greater than an S-Rank Hunter.
Among them, their chieftain, Maigubra Aurak, far surpassed an ordinary S-Rank Hunter. By cultivator standards, Han Yujin estimated the chieftain had likely reached the Core Formation Stage.
However, it seemed the chieftain had been gravely wounded in a battle against another species decades ago, even before the dimensional collision event occurred on Earth. Those injuries had yet to fully heal.
Han Yujin had learned all of this through the watcher, Kweivnak.
After falling prey to the Illusory Dream Heart-Seizing Art enhanced by Dream Illusion, Mind-Only, she had spent more than two months of subjective time within a dream over a brief period, surrendering all sorts of information to Han Yujin.
Several pieces of that information were particularly noteworthy.
‘For example, the fact that these Aheti bastards are behind the Wave phenomenon whose cause has remained unknown until now...’
The fact that the chieftain intended to fleece the Hunters thoroughly once fully recovered was also not something to overlook.
But what drew Han Yujin's attention most was information about their Dimensional Wandering Secret Art.
Amazingly, they could independently search for other worlds where they could survive, then move there.
The Aheti were thus a species scattered in tribal units across a considerable number of dimensions. Their Great Chieftain therefore had to be an extraordinary being who wielded influence across multiple dimensions.
Even Kweivnak had been unable to provide reliable information on the Great Chieftain's strength. Still, judging from common sense, the Great Chieftain would be at least at the Nascent Soul Stage, and perhaps even at the Integration Stage beyond the Spirit Transformation Stage.
Their influence across several dimensions alone was enough to warrant considering that possibility.
‘Fortunately, I probably don't need to worry about the Great Chieftain while dealing with these bastards.’
If the Great Chieftain could intervene at any time, the Aheti would never have ended up in their present situation. Their chieftain had spent decades unable to recover from injuries, remaining hidden and keeping a low profile.
Perhaps for that reason, their attitude toward humanity was more defensive than hostile.
They feared humanity to some degree because they could not know Earth's total strength. At the same time, they looked down on the Hunters they had observed. Still, caution prevailed. They wanted to wait until their chieftain recovered.
Even their periodic Waves seemed intended less to attack and eliminate humanity than to curb human activity. If humans were allowed to move freely through the Great Rift, it would become difficult for the Aheti to remain hidden as they had.
‘If this were a world I had visited through my awakened ability, I might consider revealing myself and going to see them directly, but...’
This was reality, where death meant the end of everything.
Even their strongest chieftain had only the strength of a wounded Core Formation-level cultivator, so Han Yujin could likely defeat them in a fight. But there was no reason to take such a risk now.
He could return, notify the Pioneer Corps, and see what decision was made before intervening. The Aheti were not yet such a grave threat that they needed to be fought to the death immediately.
Even if they were the culprits behind the Wave phenomenon.
As he continued gathering information while keeping Kweivnak trapped in the dream, Han Yujin soon decided he could no longer maintain the spell and resolved to eliminate the witness. Since he had cast the spell not by confronting her directly, but through a beast connected to her by a spiritual contract, he could feel its limits.
How he would eliminate her was clear. Since the Aheti were skilled at handling souls, he needed to completely destroy hers to erase all traces.
‘Consider it the karmic retribution of your tribe.’
He was only dealing with a hostile force.
For an instant, the Six Paths of Samsara surfaced in Han Yujin's eyes as he maintained the Illusory Dream Heart-Seizing Art, his eyes glowing purple.
Kweivnak, floundering within the dream, suddenly found everything around her transformed. It was as though she alone had crossed dimensions and fallen into an entirely unfamiliar world.
They were the worlds of the Six Paths of Samsara. Before she could even shake off her confusion, she was swept up in a terrifying storm of emotions.
Happiness, anticipation, sorrow, rage, disgust, and despair raged madly, mercilessly battering and eroding her soul. In reality, less than a second passed. To her, it lasted several days.
It was not a divine ability that someone barely at the level of an A-Rank Hunter could endure.
And so.
A watcher died while carrying out her mission, her soul shattering for no discernible reason in a private room within the tribe.
Even if the most capable chieftain personally stepped forward, it would be difficult to determine what had killed her.
* * *
After safely returning to the base fortress, Han Yujin spent several days writing a report. He had gained that much information, and what he had learned needed to be documented not only in writing, but with illustrations as well.
He had never formally studied drawing, but with abilities befitting a cultivator, he quickly became capable of sketching what he needed like an expert.
Naturally, the details he depicted most carefully concerned the Aheti.
And naturally, the Pioneer Corps command was thrown into an uproar after receiving the report.
Discovering a living alien species was shocking enough. Learning that those creatures had secretly observed them for some time, and had even kept them in check by causing Waves, was bound to be deeply shocking.
Moreover, Han Yujin's personal opinion attached to the report was enough to cause another uproar.
If they obtained the Aheti's knowledge of dimensional wandering, they might be able to solve the Rift Passage Shock phenomenon that had remained unconquered until now.
It would mean being able to bring every kind of modern equipment into all Rifts, including the Great Rift. Electronic devices, vehicles, heavy machinery, firearms, bombs, everything.
This was not something South Korea could possibly handle and monopolize alone. The enemy's strength alone made that clear.
“This... will likely be discussed carefully with the government, then handled as an international matter.”
Park Seryong had come to Han Yujin's quarters himself. Han Yujin nodded as though it were only natural, then asked,
“What do you think will happen next?”
“The information will be verified repeatedly. But since that verification would involve provoking a hostile force, an international coalition force may be assembled from the start.”
After saying that, Park Seryong hesitated briefly before asking cautiously,
“How exactly did you obtain the information in the report? You said you did all this without revealing your identity...”
“Are you afraid it might contain lies or exaggerations?”
Though Han Yujin asked in a joking tone, Park Seryong looked troubled, as though he would never dare entertain such a disrespectful thought, but could not avoid confirming matters of this importance.
“It is all true, so there is no need to worry. The Dimensional Wandering Secret Art is real as well. No matter how difficult that knowledge may be, shouldn't it at least resolve Rift Passage Shock?”
If it was a secret art capable of wandering between dimensions, then it did seem likely to accomplish at least that much.
“Even if it cannot, every nation will be satisfied simply by acquiring the mystical knowledge of another species.”
“Yes, that is likely. Especially if it concerns souls.”
It would not be an exaggeration to say that this was the field Earth humanity understood least, making it immensely valuable.
After Park Seryong left, Han Yujin returned to his usual routine.
Several days later, when he went outside the Great Rift.
He witnessed the contents of his report becoming an enormous issue that swept through society.
A brief look online showed that everyone was talking about the Aheti and what could be gained from them. The dangers were discussed as well, and debate over whether the international community could join forces to subjugate them was fierce.
There were also active discussions over whether the alien species truly needed to be subjugated at all, or whether peaceful exchange might be possible. Experts in politics, economics, society, culture, science, medicine, and every other field seemed to be coming forward to voice their own opinions.
It appeared that a serious international discussion was not far off. The noise across every kind of media was likely part of the process of shaping public opinion.
As an aside, Han Yujin was refusing the flood of interview requests and invitations from various countries that came his way as the discoverer. No one could do anything about it if an S-Rank Hunter was determined to refuse.
Around then.
The Karma he had wondered why he had not received finally began accumulating, as though some unknown condition had at last been met.
The sensation was mysterious and overwhelmingly uplifting. It was far more intense than what he had experienced before, enough to make him nearly dizzy.
‘This alone is already an incredible windfall!’
When he estimated the amount, it was astonishingly more than twice what he had accumulated before going to the martial world.
It was more than enough to bring his cultivation achievements into reality after reaching the Core Formation Stage in another world through his awakened ability.
That showed just how significant his discovery of the Aheti in the Great Rift was. If they were successfully subjugated and the gains from it were distributed, he could expect another immense supply of Karma then.
‘By then, I'll have enough to retrieve the Heaven-Connecting Spirit Treasure from the Five Elements Sect ruins, right?’
His heart began pounding on its own, and he felt as though heat were rising within him. The Heaven-Connecting Spirit Treasure, which had seemed like an unreachable prize in a painting, finally felt within his grasp. As a cultivator, he could not help that reaction.
Reaching the Core Formation Stage was already certain.
And so, there was something he could no longer delay preparing: his Natal Dharma Treasure, which could hardly be called anything less than the symbol of a Core Formation Stage cultivator.
After meeting Lee Wonhui during the day, asking about life at the school they had transferred to, building rapport, and saying goodbye.
Han Yujin returned to the safehouse, set up the Bewildering Illusion Array Device, and lay down on the bed to use his awakened ability.
‘If I go after reaching the Core Formation Stage, I may stand out too much...’
While he was still at the Dharma Soul Stage, he intended to go to Thousand Origin City and attend the artifact refining lecture.
He might even have to make consecutive visits and finish the talisman crafting lecture as well.
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