WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
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◈ Xianxia Cultivation with a Dragon Heart ◈
Chapter 86: Finally, Bear Hunting
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In the primeval forest, enormous trees rose as though to pierce the sky, making it feel slightly dark even in broad daylight.
Han Yujin took a deep breath with Muyong in his arms. The dense spiritual energy filling the air felt new every time he experienced it.
Squeak! Squeak!
“Yes, yes.”
As soon as it began fussing, he took out its clothes and dressed it. Cleverly enough, it knew that even if its clothes were damaged in worlds he visited through his awakening ability, it would be fine.
Since they were connected through the Spirit Beast Training Formula, it likely sensed and understood such things without him needing to explain them in detail.
After thinking for a moment, he decided that if he did not wear them at a time like this, he never would. He changed into the clothes Eun Miryeong had made for him as well. Having worn that style for so long in the martial world, it felt more familiar and comfortable than explorer gear.
“Let’s go!”
With his preparations, such as they were, complete, he set off using the Wind Escape Art. He was headed for the monkey monsters’ nest.
Their difference in strength had become so great that he briefly wondered whether he should spare them.
But he immediately shook his head.
He did not want to leave any possible variables while advancing to the Core Formation Stage. Perhaps on a later visit, but not this time.
‘I’ll send you off without pain.’
There was no particular reason for him to show them mercy. Considering how fiercely territorial creatures treated intruders, there was nothing wrong with killing them when the need arose.
Soon after, he arrived at the monkey monsters’ nest. Dropping straight down from the sky, he drew the Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine Bottle and took aim.
Fsssh!
Black threads shot out at once, taking their lives without giving them a chance to react. Their entire bodies were pierced in an instant, and they crumbled into dust before they could even blink.
He lightly shook the bottle out of habit, feeling the liquid that had accumulated inside. Then he met Muyong’s earnest gaze from within his arms and could not help but chuckle.
“Here.”
Squeak! Squeak!
He used beast taming to draw out several drops, then watched Muyong happily slurp them down. After that, he harvested the fruit from the black tree in the middle of the clearing and stored it in a jade box.
It would clearly have no effect on him now that he had completed the Dragon Heart’s refinement, but it would be a great help to Lee Wonhui, especially since Lee Wonhui possessed a Heavenly Spiritual Root and was still growing.
‘I’m confident I can refine it in a better way than before, too.’
The new insight he had gained from wearing the pendant naturally led him to a good idea he had never considered before.
‘It would be nice to make enough spiritual pills to prevent the side effects of Dharma Soul ascension and bring them back.’
He had not formally accepted Lee Wonhui as a disciple yet, but that was merely a matter of formality. Given the relationship they had built so far, it was no different from having already done so.
The next place he needed to visit was, naturally, the wolf beasts’ lair.
He arrived in an instant using the Wind Escape Art. Unlike before, he did not bother luring them out. He simply charged in, aimed the Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine Bottle before they could react, and granted them an extremely swift death.
There was not even time for a yelp. In less than a minute, every wolf beast had turned into a handful of dust.
‘At the Nascent Soul Stage, I could probably clear them all out with a single snort.’
When he remembered how he had fought these creatures the first time, his former self seemed incredibly weak. Back then, he had felt extremely powerful and put on all sorts of airs after winning.
Even as such idle thoughts came to him, he continued arranging the wolf beasts’ lair into a more convenient living space as naturally as water flowed. A few minutes later, once everything was finished, he set up the Bewildering Illusion Array Device and immediately began searching without taking a rest.
Naturally, he was looking for that arrogant bear bastard.
If he did not want to be interrupted while advancing to the Core Formation Stage, he had to find and hunt it first.
* * *
How sharp were the five senses of beasts at the mid-to-late Core Formation Stage? How far could the presence of something like a Dragon Heart clearly spread?
Now that Han Yujin had grown stronger, he had a rough idea.
The search area he set based on that estimate was extremely vast, but he trusted his abilities.
It would be fine even if it took a long time. He could refine the Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine Bottle with the Threefold Harmonization Formula in the meantime.
It was the most powerful item he currently possessed, and one he would continue using in the future. Now that he knew refinement was possible, it would be stranger not to do it.
And so, he continued searching in a manner similar to, yet somewhat different from, the long-distance reconnaissance he had conducted in the Great Rift.
Instead of merely recording unfamiliar things, he investigated their nature and uses himself. Instead of collecting specimens, he harvested spirit plants that seemed likely to be useful in alchemy.
He was not impatient in the slightest.
He was looking for a beast at the mid-to-late Core Formation Stage. Once he approached it, he would certainly detect it. A creature with that much power would not have a small territory, nor would it hide like a timid herbivore.
As he continued his leisurely search, he steadily refined the Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine Bottle.
No matter how powerful and useful it was, it could not compare to the heart of a Void Refinement Stage-level dragon. Furthermore, it had been made to be used in this manner from the beginning, so the refinement progressed very quickly.
Around half a month later, he had already passed the Heart Stage and refined more than half of the Qi Stage.
He came to realize that items that had never passed through anyone else’s hands were certainly easier to refine. The Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine Bottle also possessed no spiritual intelligence, which made it even easier.
There were so many things he liked about it that he even considered visiting Ikapa Pangaea once more and trying another draw.
But another thought came with it.
‘Since I’m having thoughts like this now, it feels like a useful item with even subtler and more vicious qualities would be made.’
The self altered by wearing the pendant became profoundly twisted in a demonic direction, despite possessing knowledge and wisdom that felt limitless. That version of himself would probably want to corrupt his ordinary self somehow.
By getting him to use useful items with some heinously evil aspects little by little, without burdening his Dao Heart too much from the beginning.
‘In the end, it’s a method I can never use to create my Life-bound Dharma Treasure...’
It seemed best to gather all the necessary materials, then visit a world where xianxia elements had been added to science fiction. Though he still did not know whether such a world truly existed.
Another week passed.
Just as the refinement of the Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine Bottle’s Qi Stage was nearing completion, he finally detected the mid-to-late Core Formation Stage presence remaining in his memory. He smiled, lifting one corner of his mouth.
“Time for revenge, Muyong.”
He muttered softly, then concealed his appearance and presence with Dream Illusion, Mind-Only as he headed toward the source of that presence.
* * *
Within a lair formed by a deep, wide pit covered like a lid by a rounded rock, a creature rested.
Overall, it resembled a blackish-brown bear.
However, silver metallic spikes protruded from all over its body, including its back. Its long tail was covered in similarly metallic, mace-like spikes. Without even provoking it, one could tell how ferocious it was.
Especially threatening was the yellow energy that wrapped around its body even while it rested, constantly seeming to crumble apart.
Grrr...!
The sound of it shifting and breathing shook the lair. Its body was about the size of a decent truck, so even the slightest movement caused a great disturbance.
Thus, peaceful and comfortable time passed until one moment.
Grrr...!
As the bear beast shifted again and cracked its eyes open, it tried to rise at the strange sense of discomfort it suddenly felt. It was not because it had judged anything in particular. It was simply an instinctive reaction.
But just before it moved, it suddenly realized that it was dreaming.
It was an extremely relaxed and comfortable dream.
Six strange kinds of illusions it had never seen before flickered right before its eyes. Yet the more it stared at them, the happier it felt. Rather than questioning that sensation, it simply enjoyed it.
After all, it was only a dream.
Grrr...! Grrr...!
Its breathing continued to shake the lair. Its eyes even lost focus without it realizing.
It was carelessness unfitting for a beast ruled by instinct. But considering how long it had reigned as the tyrant of this region, the situation was not so strange.
It had a mountain-like confidence that even if it let its guard down, it would not be caught unawares.
Long peace was enough to rust vigilance and judgment. Even a beast with sharp instincts was no exception.
Rather than fading over time, the happiness only deepened. In proportion, the bear cut off every thought and entered a state little different from sleep.
At that very moment, a sense of danger sharply pierced through the endlessly deep happiness. But just as a person trapped in a swamp could not escape at once, the bear could not immediately regain its senses.
In that completely unprepared state, it took a direct blow to the head from an Origin Power Great Hand augmented with Deep Sea Cold-Ice Water.
Booom!
An enormous crash erupted.
Wide cracks formed in an instant around the spot where it had been lying. The shockwave blew away all the dust and even made the rock covering the lair like a lid heave violently.
Kuhhrrrgh...!
Amazingly, the bear did not die even after taking that powerful blow directly to the head. Blood poured from its eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, yet it rose as though convulsing and unleashed its power.
Craaaash!
Rumble... Crash!
All the surrounding earth and rocks seemed to be manipulated by an invisible force. Sharp spikes thrust outward, while some shattered into fragments and began whirling with terrifying force.
Rrrrrumble...!
The ground seemed to quake, and the surrounding spiritual energy churned violently like a sea caught in a storm.
“Tsk.”
Having successfully ambushed it, Han Yujin clicked his tongue at failing to kill it instantly and immediately raised the Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine Bottle.
It was currently his strongest means of attack. Even though the creature was badly injured, it was a mid-to-late Core Formation Stage existence. This was not power he could afford to hold back.
Fsssssht!
Amid the explosive sounds, countless black threads shot forward with a faint but especially chilling whistle, wildly piercing the entire body of the bear as it was about to roar.
At the same time, Origin Power Great Hands struck repeatedly to hinder its movements. The Deep Sea Cold-Ice Water that separated from them transformed like snakes and rapidly bound its body.
Kuhhrrrgh!
With the roar that finally burst from it, the creature launched its final desperate struggle. The Deep Sea Cold-Ice Prison Sphere spell snapped apart strand by strand, and even the Origin Power Great Hands were immediately destroyed by the intense rebound.
But the attacks from the Blood Spirit Crimson Flower Wine Bottle, still embedded in its body and rapidly draining its essence blood, ultimately proved to be the end. It staggered and collapsed.
Its ragged breathing quickly weakened before stopping completely.
Amid the battlefield that had been thrown into chaos, Han Yujin stood with a cold gaze fixed on the dead bear.
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