Chapter 90
Chapter 90
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Polishing Lazy Jade
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Last spring, Geum Yeongyeong was dragged off to the Gold Forge Sect.
Geum Yeongyeong's parents took their daughter to a heart demon specialist.
And received a shocking diagnosis.
"It's not a heart demon. She's just lazy."
Geum Yeongyeong's parents went through the five stages of grief.
The first was denial.
"Our Yeongyeong?! No way!"
"Isn't this mixed up with someone else's diagnosis?"
The second was anger.
"What do you know about Yeongyeong!"
"Yeah, you heart demon quack!"
The third was bargaining.
"We're really sorry for snapping like that... On second thought, it's not your fault, sir... But could a retest change the results?"
"Or maybe it's that? Decision paralysis? Come to think of it, Yeongyeong's friend struggled with decision paralysis. Maybe our Yeongyeong too..."
The fourth was depression.
"Oh, what are we going to do..."
"This... this can't be..."
And finally, the fifth stage: acceptance.
"Yeah, as long as she's healthy... Right, dear?"
"Exactly, honey. We'll find a way together."
The couple went to their distant ancestor, Geum Gyo-wol.
And poured out their worries about their lazy youngest daughter.
Geum Gyo-wol couldn't quite relate.
"Yeongyeong's too lazy? I'm not sure I get it. Kids love to play—it's only natural. How old is Yeongyeong this year?"
Her husband, from the Geum clan, answered with a desperate face.
"She's already thirty-eight."
It didn't register at all with a woman over nine hundred years old.
"Hmm, right in the prime of her playing years."
The Geum husband couldn't hold back any longer.
"I already had five kids by then!"
But Geum Gyo-wol wasn't one for rigid preconceptions.
"Modern generations must be different."
In the end, the couple returned empty-handed.
Not long after, Seran visited the Gold Forge Sect.
Geum Gyo-wol finally met the second member of the 'modern generation.'
With her unnecessarily open mind, Geum Gyo-wol immediately revised her self-made mental statistics.
Until now, Geum Gyo-wol's sole sample of the 'modern generation' had been Geum Yeongyeong.
So all her benchmarks were calibrated to her.
But now the sample size had increased.
Seran skyrocketed the 'modern generation' average.
From ten points and a thousand points, the new average was five hundred five.
Geum Yeongyeong got shoved to the left tail of the bell curve.
Geum Gyo-wol was a wise elder.
She knew how to admit her mistakes.
Her open mind proved helpful here.
Fortune for the couple, misfortune for Geum Yeongyeong.
*****
Geum Yeongyeong stepped down from the flying palanquin.
And looked around.
No restaurants, no Five-Fragrance Braised Pork.
It was Manbyeong Sect, a minor sect located near the Gold Forge Sect.
Geum Yeongyeong, still clueless, asked.
"Weren't we going for Five-Fragrance Braised Pork?"
The parents smiled brightly in response.
"This is the place."
"Yeah, really famous spot."
The three headed amiably toward a certain building.
A woman emerged from the shabby structure.
The woman hurried over upon seeing the trio.
The dark-eyed woman, Investigator Seol, greeted them.
"Hello! Shall I show you around right away?"
Husband Geum nodded.
"Yes, please."
The group entered the building.
Geum Yeongyeong realized the truth about the shabby building.
Sunken-eyed inscription artisans, and all sorts of materials.
This was an artifact workshop.
But it was worlds apart from the ones in the Gold Forge Sect.
The building and facilities were rundown, the materials low-grade.
Geum Yeongyeong's worldview crumbled in real time.
But it couldn't be helped.
Though both were artifact specialist sects, the gap between Gold Forge Sect and Manbyeong Sect was beyond imagination.
Like comparing a full moon to a firefly.
The Gold Forge Sect's artifact workshops were akin to cutting-edge semiconductor factories in manufacturing terms.
Luxury goods only a massive sect could unveil after eons and fortunes in R&D.
Not for nothing was it renowned across the West Continent.
Manbyeong Sect's situation was different, however.
The ultimate super-unlucky counterpart to Gold Forge Sect.
No fine materials, no master inscription artisans.
All a minor sect had was people.
So they just ground through people.
Manbyeong Sect's mainstay products were disposable artifacts.
Talismans, mostly.
Performance was downright shabby, but the prices were dirt cheap.
Thin margins, high volume—their strategy.
Sustaining it demanded massive production volumes.
That was why Manbyeong Sect cultivators pulled voluntary overtime today too.
By now, even the oblivious Geum Yeongyeong had to catch on.
Why else bring an inscription artisan like her here.
Geum Yeongyeong spun around to flee at once.
But she was caught before reaching the workshop exit.
Geum Yeongyeong wailed desperately.
"Why, why are you doing this!"
The parents ignored their youngest daughter's cries.
"Investigator Seol, she's lacking in every way."
"Please take good care of her."
The artifact workshop head, Investigator Seol, replied.
"Of course, no worries. Metal hardens the more you hammer it. People are roughly the same."
The parents left the workshop, sorrow of parting behind them.
They didn't want to do this either.
But no other options remained.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
Closed-door training was the same.
Lock her away for a millennium, and without resolve, it'd just be hibernation.
Labor, unlike cultivation, could be forced.
Sweat through work, and she'd surely miss the pure cultivation days. Probably.
Thus, the fallen young lady Geum Yeongyeong parted from her family for a time.
Afterward, her 'Okay okay, minor sect' life began.
*****
While Geum Yeongyeong was locked in the 'no quota, no exit' room, Seran was cultivating.
Seran marveled after consuming the Golden Immortal Fruit.
"Wow, so this is the life of a Dual Spirit Root Holder?"
Her sense for spiritual energy had dulled sharply.
How do others even cultivate in this state?
Suddenly, multi-root holders seemed admirable.
Yeom Mujin's letter detailed precautions for Five-Colored Heart cultivation.
Don't supplement another spirit root before fully taming the new one.
Untamed spirit roots were shackles.
Greedily handling multiples at once, and you'd pay the price.
A thought struck her.
What about Quad- or Quintuple Spirit Root Holders?
Shackled with three or four from the start?
Good thing she wasn't a true Single Spirit Root Holder.
The brutal spirit root hierarchy of the cultivation world.
If life's unfair, just become a Single Spirit Root Holder yourself.
Maybe in the next life.
Seran dove straight into technique cultivation.
The metal-aspect primal spiritual power technique, 'Unyielding Ironclad Gold.'
And the earth-aspect primal spiritual power technique, 'Crimson Earth Conduction Scripture.'
Yellow Pure Earth Spiritual Power and white Pure Metal Spiritual Power swirled around Seran at the center.
The Pure Earth Spiritual Power she'd nurtured thus far obeyed her control well.
But the new Pure Metal Spiritual Power was trouble.
Thus began the serious cultivation.
Seran opened her eyes ten full days later.
Primal spiritual power cultivators needed little sleep.
Seran let out a deep sigh.
"Ha..."
Harmonizing disparate spiritual powers.
Now she knew why primal spiritual power was the grave of geniuses.
It'd only get harder ahead—worry loomed.
With cultivation stalled, Seran sought Geum Gyo-wol.
And chattered away.
Ten days of nonstop cultivation bumped the 'modern generation' cutoff even higher.
Geum Gyo-wol took a shine to Seran.
So she offered earnest advice without stint.
And capped it with this admonition.
"Child, remember this. Diligence is good, but excess can turn to poison. You must know how to empty your mind now and then."
Seran reflected on the words.
She had stubbornly pushed when things didn't click.
During Foundation Establishment, and Qi Building too.
Body and mind unweary, yet she needed to broaden her view always.
Seeing Seran convinced, Geum Gyo-wol got to the point.
"Then how about touring the artifact workshop today? As you know, Gold Forge Sect is famed for inscription arts. And since you're a puppet artisan too, I'll personally grant entry."
Seran replied excitedly.
"Thank you so much, Investigator Geum!"
Thus Seran entered the artifact workshop.
Opulent top-grade materials and state-of-the-art facilities.
Inscription artisans crafting artifacts.
All centuries-old master craftsmen.
She ran into the guide from before.
"This way, Investigator Ryu."
Seran followed the man, roaming here and there.
She asked questions whenever curiosity struck.
The man seemed quite knowledgeable—nothing stumped him.
Then something Seran knew came up.
"Ah, I know that one. Sacred White Ore, right?"
The man replied, slightly surprised.
"You know Sacred White Ore. It's not well-known, yet your knowledge is impressively broad."
"Not many know it?"
"No, indeed. Extremely rare, so few know or can handle it. But even a little boosts an artifact's spirituality immensely."
"Ooh..."
Seran recalled the ingot piles in the warehouse.
No wonder they kept foisting 'bribes' on her.
She hadn't known it was this precious.
Mermaids sure knew how to pick nice gestures.
Seran surveyed the bustling workshop.
Watching others create stirred her own inspiration.
Her combat puppets were all smashed anyway.
Time to return as an artist once more.
Seran licked her lips in anticipation.