Chapter 31
Chapter 31
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Misaligned Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------
How many ways might there be for a Response Qi Realm cultivator to advance to the Gathering Qi Realm?
From what Yuk-gyeong had seen in the novel, there were a total of three.
One was to forcibly trigger a Heavenly Tribulation through a special ritual at the peak of the Response Qi Great Perfection stage to reach the Gathering Qi Realm. This was called the Emperor's Method, relying on the power of heaven to break through from Response Qi to Gathering Qi.
Another was to use a Gathering Qi Pill to reach the Gathering Qi Realm. This was the Sage's Method, borrowing the power of the pill to break through from Response Qi to Gathering Qi.
The last was to reach the Gathering Qi Realm in a single leap of enlightenment at the peak of Response Qi Great Perfection. This was the People's Method, breaking through from Response Qi to Gathering Qi purely through one's own power.
These three methods were categorized into Emperor, Sage, and People simply due to their differences in approach; there was no hierarchy of superiority.
In truth, no matter which method one used to reach the Gathering Qi Realm, their strength ended up roughly the same. It wasn't as if the Emperor's was better or the People's was worse.
The only difference lay in the risks: the Emperor's Method was the most dangerous, followed by the Sage's, with the People's being the least.
The dangers of Heavenly Tribulation went without saying, and the Sage's Method carried the risk of the pill's potent medicinal properties turning toxic. The People's Method simply took a long time and risked heart demons, but otherwise had few dangers.
"So, you're saying I should just pick the Emperor's or People's Gathering and advance. I'm thinking of going for the People's Gathering. After all, it benefits Core Formation. The insights from Heavenly Tribulation might help way later, but wouldn't it be better to choose something that aids Core Formation right now?"
Speaking as if Gathering Qi were already in the bag, the outer disciple Cho Ryu-ha was sixteen this year—the very one who had first guided Yuk-gyeong around the Herb Hall.
As it turned out, he was just a little older than Yuk-gyeong.
In a sense, that made him a senior brother.
Senior Brother Cho had left a strong impression back then with his kindness toward Yuk-gyeong.
And now?
A chatty senior. Nothing more, nothing less. They'd grown somewhat close from working together at the Herb Hall, that was all.
"Sure. Whichever Gathering you achieve, it's all good."
Yuk-gyeong brushed off Ryu-ha's words as he sorted dried herbs.
There was more work for a herb tender than one might expect.
Growing herbs, tending them, harvesting, drying, steaming, boiling... and all for a pittance of merit points. The tasks could certainly be called burdensome.
But compared to disciples in other halls, the Herb Hall had its merits: finish your duties, and you could rest as you pleased.
The Scripture Hall involved grueling work like interpreting new scriptures, adding annotations, and verifying them—enough to split one's head and body apart. Of course, the sect didn't mistreat its disciples, but it was inevitably exhausting.
The same went for halls like the Inner Treasury, which handled sect finances, or the Enforcement Hall, which set the rules—both were relentlessly demanding.
Their work often meant pulling all-nighters like it was routine, and rumor had it they even got dedicated cultivation time.
The Herb Hall had no such thing; cultivation time was entirely up to you.
Plus, with mostly static tasks like sorting herbs, there was no real pressure.
If you could skim a bit of herbs on the side for merit points, there'd be no sweeter job. That was why demand for herb tenders was high.
Though no one wanted to work under the picky, nitpicking Vice Elder, of course.
In any case,
Perhaps because the work was so sedentary, herb tenders ended up with energy to spare—and mouths that wouldn't quit.
Take Senior Brother Cho chattering right beside him.
What was there to talk about nonstop? His mouth never stopped flapping.
"Junior brother—oh, you said it was okay to call you that, right? You're at Response 8th Star, so you really won't play senior brother?"
Strictly speaking, Ryu-ha was at Response 5th Star and Yuk-gyeong at 8th, so Yuk-gyeong should be the senior.
In this harsh cultivation world, realm was king.
It was only natural for Response 8th Star Yuk-gyeong to become senior brother material.
But that title shuffle? Yesterday's senior becomes today's junior? Would the righteous sect just sit by?
Of course, even a righteous sect acknowledged the title shuffle system—where the higher realm took the senior role—to foster ambition and reverence for greater heights.
But they handled it righteously: if one had been junior but advanced to outrank the other, they could interact comfortably to some degree.
In other words: keep it sensible.
Don't wield the rules too strictly—sure, you're senior now, but who knows tomorrow? Clinging to titles might backfire.
"Yes, of course."
Yuk-gyeong was cool about it.
Senior or junior—what did it matter?
Once he hit Gathering Qi and became an inner disciple, the hierarchy would sort itself out anyway.
Dare an outer disciple mouth off to an inner? You'd be done for. So they let it slide now for the fun of it.
Thus, Senior Brother Cho comfortably called Yuk-gyeong "junior brother," while Yuk-gyeong called him "senior."
Plus, the kid beaming at being called senior was kinda cute. Listening to his nonstop chatter was tiring, though.
Yuk-gyeong finished sorting the dried herbs roughly and stood up abruptly. Not because of Senior Brother Cho's yapping.
"Senior brother, I have to head out today, so could you handle the rest?"
"Huh? Oh, sure. Go on. I'll wrap it up."
Senior Brother Cho nodded along.
Today was his outing day.
Yuk-gyeong sauntered down from Herb Prosperity Peak where the Herb Hall was, heading to the sect gate. There, he went through a simple procedure, got his outing pass, and stepped out.
He'd applied days ago, so no hitches.
Thus, Yuk-gyeong left the Radiant Moon Sect.
As Yuk-gyeong passed through the gate, one of the disciples on duty—a man in blue robes with long hair tied back—asked the one who'd handed him the pass.
"An outing request? Who was that?"
The perpetually bored-looking duty disciple replied curtly through tired eyes.
"Dunno. You expect me to remember every disciple in the sect?"
At that, a freckled-faced disciple on duty together snapped.
"That's the Single Spiritual Root guy. You don't remember him?"
The long-haired blue-robed disciple clapped as it clicked.
"Oh, Single Spiritual Root Yi Yuk-gyeong? But I heard he's a total waste despite it? They say his cultivation and talent are trash—not living up to the legendary Single Spiritual Root."
"Who said that?"
"Dunno. Junior brothers were saying it. Some senior, maybe?"
The freckled disciple snorted in rebuttal.
"He won the Response Qi sparring tournament, and you call him trash? Response 8th Star after just a week of cultivation. How's that trash? Unless he's a genius."
The long-haired disciple shrugged nonchalantly.
"Beats me. That's just what I heard. Lately, folks are grumbling that the sect's allocating too many resources to that Single Spiritual Root kid."
"It's only natural for a Single Spiritual Root to get more resources. He is one. Think about how much they poured into Jang Ga's Single Spiritual Root."
To the freckled disciple defending the resource allocation as fair, the long-haired one replied defensively.
"Jang Ga's different. Look at their contributions to the sect. Makes no sense dumping that much on some no-name wanderer."
The freckled disciple snorted inwardly.
Hmph. Sucking up to Jang Ga's protection too much, aren't they?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The outing permit for Response Qi Realm cultivators was limited to the city of Ten Lakes. With a pass that forbade leaving Ten Lakes, Yuk-gyeong couldn't venture beyond while holding it.
Leaving it behind would violate sect rules—punishment if caught.
But it was fine. His destination was inside Ten Lakes.
Yuk-gyeong strolled through Ten Lakes, his sleeves fluttering.
Watching men swimming in the lakes and the bustling crowds, Yuk-gyeong felt a surge of emotion.
When he'd first come to Ten Lakes, he was a country bumpkin. Now, he was a proper cultivator.
Yet the mundane world wasn't as great as it seemed.
The turbid qi from mortals' lives pricked sensitively at Yuk-gyeong's nose.
Feels just like sniffing food waste. Coming down from the pure dao sect into this turbid world makes the filth hit hard.
Mortals couldn't sense the turbid qi—they lived in it, accumulated it, exhaled it without notice. Even martial artists at best knew to expel it from their bodies.
Only cultivators sensed mortals' turbid qi keenly and purged it.
Why cultivators shunned the mundane world, then.
No one wanted to touch filth willingly.
Still, as humans, cultivators couldn't fully sever ties, so someone had to manage the filth—and outer stewards were typically assigned that role.
Even cultivators needed to eat and wear clothes unless at lofty realms.
In short, the mundane world was a sticky mess for cultivators.
Sure, some posed as immortals, living it up—but they were oddballs rolling in filth management. Turbid qi meant nothing to them.
Yuk-gyeong soon left the crowded eastern side of Ten Lakes for the west.
Mountains ringed Ten Lakes like screens, the western ones rugged with rocky peaks.
Few headed to those western ranges.
Only the desperate, grasping at straws for cultivation—like the two ahead of Yuk-gyeong trudging along—ventured west.
The pair chatted as they went.
"Waiting here lets you take an immortal as master, right?"
"Keep it quiet. And don't stay too long, or the immortal gets mad and kicks you out. Also, watch out—demonic cultivators who don't value life show up around here sometimes."
"Gasp! Life is precious! Let's head down. Why didn't you say so sooner?"
"Hmph, no resolve and you came here? I'll become an immortal or die trying."
"Whoa, gambling your life? You've only got one. I'm heading down first."
In the end, one turned back down the mountain.
Spotting Yuk-gyeong following,
"Hey, you here to meet an immortal too? It's dangerous—go back! Young fellow, no fear, huh?"
Yuk-gyeong stared blankly. Whether he went or not, the man bolted down.
"Full Blood Mountain...! I must take an immortal as master!"
Yuk-gyeong's destination, called Full Blood Mountain, lay west of Ten Lakes, riddled with caves.
Rumor had it a cultivator named Primordial Essence True Person attained sudden enlightenment there, ascending to Primordial Essence Realm. So many cultivators flocked to dig caves that the whole mountain was said to be honeycomb-pocked like rat-eaten cheese.
They'd dug so many that officials feared collapse, so Ten Lakes' cultivation society jointly managed it.
No more digging new caves; only rent existing ones with spirit stones for cultivation.
Originally open-access, they didn't restrict entry.
But caves were strictly controlled.
Entry? Fine. Anyone—righteous or demonic.
Just no digging.
Everything else inside? Not their business.
Simple rules.
Thus its nickname: the Irresponsible Cultivation Caves.
No one guarded Full Blood Mountain proper. But odd mechanisms dotted the cave entrances.
Those were the cave guardians: entry devices.
Simple mechanism.
Feed it the right amount of spirit stones, and the door opens.
To Yuk-gyeong, it was like those European public toilets—insert coin, door opens.
Yuk-gyeong racked his brain.
Right around here, surely.
They said it was here.
He was hunting a neglected cave, long unused and poorly maintained.
The fortuitous encounter the protagonist got while cave-hopping in Ten Lakes was here. Broke and stone-less, he'd picked a shabby one—and struck gold.
Protagonist perks, huh? Rags or not, fortune found him.
Yuk-gyeong pulled a spirit stone from his sleeve pocket and slotted it in.
Clink!
The mechanism whirred, grrrk!, and the cave mouth yawned open.
The neglected cave he sought was, naturally, in a low-spirit-energy spot.
Cheap to open, then.
Not this one. Ugh, dust. Clean up, would ya.
Not this. What's that? Erotic mag? Souvenir?
Not this. So much junk. Total dump.
Not this. At least this one's tidy.
Yuk-gyeong flung spirit stones like confetti, cracking open neglected caves.
The one area where he felt the sect truly valued him was resource allocation. Spirit stones overflowed; he'd sooner chew spirit pills and herbs than run out.
Spraying them on caves barely dented his pouch.
Like bosses ignoring you but payday's fat.
Yuk-gyeong's sect status was a weird limbo: good yet annoying.
Single Spiritual Root? Of course they'd prioritize.
But aside from Vice Elder, no one seemed to care?
Sigh, did I join the wrong sect? Or are they all like this?
In the novel, Single Roots got the star treatment—groomed as core disciples.
Yet his own growth was booming; hard to complain about lack of attention.
Ambiguous. So ambiguous.
If not for the plump monthly stipend of stones and elixirs, he'd bolt.
But those monthly drops were too tempting.
Stick it out one more month, then flee? Two? Endless dithering.
No guarantee of successful escape made it worse.
Anyway.
Yuk-gyeong mechanically slotted stones, popping caves.
It dragged till sunset; his arm ached from the repetition.
No strain on his wallet, though.
Yuk-gyeong grumbled.
Protagonist bastard—how lucky to hit jackpot first try? I know where it is and still slave all day. Ow, arm hurts.
Found it!
Here!
Yuk-gyeong had checked only half-abandoned ones. When nothing panned out, he picked one haphazardly half-sorted.
Jackpot here.
The very thing!
"Pure Land Mantra Barrier Art! Here it was! I've been searching forever!"
Pure Land Mantra Barrier Art was a barrier technique manual.
Left by some nameless expert, it was so ancient when protagonist Yongheon found it that it crumbled after one read.
But... why so new? Fresh book? Previous owner left recently...
Something off?
Ancient rag for Yongheon, pristine for me?
What did it mean?
How were his time and mine misaligned?