Chapter 31
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 31
“Sit,” Lee Hyun said curtly.
The members straightened their backs and took their seats on the various wooden crates and stone boxes scattered throughout the chamber.
Seon-gak had reached the natural end of his lifespan long ago, and Gray Rat had passed away even earlier. Over the past three hundred and fifty years, each seat in this meeting room had changed owners six or seven times on average.
Some masks found new successors, while others were retired forever, left hanging like hollow relics on the meeting room wall.
Yet the Badger Mask had appeared without fail, present in ledgers dating back more than three centuries to the modern day. Because of this, not even the current members knew whether Badger was a single long-lived man or a title passed down through successive generations.
Some whispered that the cultivation arts and secret spells of the Society Leader were inherited along with the seat itself. Others speculated that Badger had mastered some bizarre, esoteric art to stave off death and prolong his lifespan.
Even so, the cardinal rule of the Heaven-Seizing Society forbade prying into one another’s identities. However curious they might have been, no one dared give voice to it.
Lee Hyun listened to the reports one by one: fluctuations in spiritual pressure recorded at various Vein Cultivation Seats, the movements of prominent cultivator clans operating detection formations to hunt down rogue cultivators, and assignments issued to newly recruited members.
When the cultivator wearing the White Otter Mask snapped the ledger shut and delivered the final summary, Lee Hyun gave an approving nod.
“Good. See to it that the newcomers are properly instructed.”
“Understood.”
With the general briefing concluded, another member stepped forward and set an aged booklet onto the table.
“This is the spell manual for the Water Escape Technique you requested, Leader.”
“Mm, well done.”
Lee Hyun accepted the booklet and casually flipped through the pages.
Mm… Nothing unexpected. No need to study this one any further.
Over the years, he had acquired several different manuals detailing the Water Escape Technique and cross-referenced them meticulously. Unlike the closely guarded, pristine manuals preserved within major sects, texts circulating through the black market and wandering cultivators could never be trusted at face value.
Even so, by extracting the universal core principles across countless editions over a long period and pressure-testing the results, he had grasped the true essence of the Water Escape Technique, advancing it directly to the realm of Perfection.
He had mastered the Soil-Softening Technique through the very same painstaking process.
Thanks to those breakthroughs, his Reclining Escape Technique had evolved to an entirely new tier.
At present, Lee Hyun’s Reclining Escape Technique had mutated into an uncanny, bizarre art of survival—seamlessly merging the profound subtleties of the Earth Escape Technique, Water Escape Technique, Soil-Turning Spell, Soil-Softening Technique, Earth-Shrinking Step, and Spherical Qi Barrier. When executing it, land and water were indistinguishable to him; he could traverse either with absolute ease.
Lee Hyun slipped the booklet into his storage pouch and declared, “I’ll credit you fifty contribution points.”
“Thank you, Society Leader.”
As the provider of the manual retreated with a bow, another figure sporting a Monkey Mask stepped up, presenting a long, dark sword case in both hands.
“The magical artifact you ordered has been completed.”
Lee Hyun unlocked the latches and opened the case.
Resting on the velvet lining was a longsword forged of deep, pitch-black metal. The blade was visibly wider and thicker than standard swords, yet it possessed none of the crude, unwieldy bulk of the Earth-Shoveling Sword.
“This is the Mountain-Suppressing Sword. It sits at the absolute pinnacle of mid-grade magical artifacts—a masterpiece forged precisely to your specifications.”
The Mountain-Suppressing Sword bore no restrictions designed to aid telekinetic flight or the Sword Control Technique.
Instead, multiple dense layers of the Adamantine Form-Stabilizing Restriction had been inscribed onto its surface, heavily reinforcing the blade’s physical rigidity and structure.
Furthermore, its primary component, Spirit-Guiding Profound Iron, was a Tier 1 supreme-grade spirit material famed for its extraordinary resilience. It would never warp, crack, or twist, even if a violent torrent of spiritual power surged through it in a single breath.
Because of this single-minded focus in its forging, while the Mountain-Suppressing Sword was categorized as a mid-grade magical artifact on paper, the destructive force it wielded in direct physical combat rivaled that of a high-grade magical artifact.
Lee Hyun lifted the Mountain-Suppressing Sword from its case and gave it an easy, casual swing through the air.
Whoosh.
A pale, ethereal radiance quietly coiled around the darkened edge.
Wuuung—
“Hiss…”
A sharp breath of awe, tinged with sheer tension, rippled through the gathered members. Though the point of the blade was aimed at empty space, several veteran members instinctively lifted themselves from their crates, bowing their heads and clasping their hands in deference.
Noticing the atmosphere, a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator wearing a Black Leopard Cat Mask—who had joined the Heaven-Seizing Society only recently—awkwardly mimicked the elders. Utterly baffled, he sent a sound transmission to the veteran standing beside him.
[What is everyone so terrified of? Doesn’t every decent rogue cultivator own a mid-grade artifact? Most Daoists in this room are late-stage Qi Refining cultivators… yet the Society Leader’s cultivation looks to be merely at the 5th layer of Qi Refining.]
[Hold your tongue if you value your life!] the senior member snapped back via transmission. [You only talk like an idiot because you’ve never seen the Badger fight.]
[Is he really that terrifying…?]
[Take my advice and remember it well: never, under any circumstances, cross the Mad Badger.]
Though the newcomer behind the Black Leopard Cat Mask remained inwardly skeptical, he kept his head bowed and did not dare speak another word.
Lee Hyun sheathed the Mountain-Suppressing Sword back into its case with a clean click.
“Good. To produce an artifact of this caliber, that secretive artifact crafter of yours clearly possesses remarkable skill.”
“You flatter me, Leader.”
“Settle the remaining payment using the spirit stones I deposited beforehand. For brokering the commission, take fifteen low-grade spirit stones and thirty contribution points.”
“Many thanks, Leader!”
Over the past decades, Lee Hyun had sought out ways to compress and reinforce his spiritual aura by combing through martial manuals left behind by mortal masters of the Profound Realm.
To him, clashing with a blade held firmly in two hands felt infinitely more reliable than trusting telekinetic blade-steering or the standard long-range Sword Control Technique favored by cultivators.
This preference was largely born from practical experience: Lee Hyun rarely hunted others down, almost exclusively fighting defensive counter-engagements against those foolish enough to ambush him.
He was not the sort to carry an obsessive grudge and chase an enemy to the ends of the earth.
Through centuries of experimentation, he had realized a vital truth: the single most important quality in a close-quarters weapon was that it must never break when striking an opponent’s weapon or defensive artifact.
If an artifact shattered during a critical exchange, it created a fatal opening that could cost a cultivator their life. In such circumstances, relying on a fragile artifact was worse than using nothing at all.
In fact, during his private tests pushing spiritual power compression to its limit, several standard low-grade artifacts had literally burst at the seams.
Thus, Lee Hyun had discarded all flight and remote-control restrictions, pouring every ounce of the Mountain-Suppressing Sword’s design into brute hardness, durability, and spiritual conductivity.
Having wrapped up society business, Lee Hyun slipped away from Baekpo Market.
After shifting his disguise multiple times and confirming no hidden scouts lingered on his trail, he set off toward the Vein Cultivation Seat boasting the highest concentration of spiritual pressure in the society’s network.
Hidden River Valley, tucked away in the southern reaches of the Namryeo Kingdom.
Hidden River Valley was a peculiar geographical wonder where surface waters plunged into the earth halfway through the gorge, vanishing into subterranean caverns. It was also the ancestral domain of the Dam Clan—a Foundation Establishment lineage that controlled the local Tier 2 mid-grade Hidden River Spirit Vein.
Plunging into the soil fifteen li outside the valley’s borders, Lee Hyun utilized the Earth Escape Technique to sink down to the subterranean waterways.
Slither—
His body slipped into the rushing underground currents like an eel returning to deep waters. As his black robe billowed against the flow, the faint glint of chainmail beneath became visible.
Hugging his body snugly from the collar down to his wrists and ankles, this was a mid-grade defensive artifact: the Force-Dispersing Underarmor.
Woven from Spirit Gold Thread—a Tier 1 supreme-grade material—it moved as fluidly as silk mail while retaining terrifying tensile strength.
The Force-Dispersing Restriction woven into the fabric dispersed pinpoint kinetic shock across the entire surface of the armor, diffusing lethal strikes into harmless tremors.
Lee Hyun had acquired the underarmor thirty years ago from a society member, compensating the man handsomely.
After traversing the dark subterranean river upstream, an isolated natural cavern elevated above the waterline emerged in the dark. This was the Hidden River No. 1 Vein Cultivation Seat.
Inside the rocky cavern stood four unassuming stone pillars carved with the crest of the Heaven-Seizing Society. When Lee Hyun embedded a low-grade spirit stone into the central dais, a simple concealment formation activated with a hum.
Any spiritual fluctuations leaking from his cultivation immediately blended with the roaring currents below, erasing his presence entirely.
After sweeping the cavern to verify his safety, Lee Hyun settled comfortably onto the smooth bedrock and began circulating the Primordial Unity One-Qi Art.
Shhh—
A rich, thick draft of spiritual qi flooded through his meridians.
His Primordial Unity True Qi—long compressed to the absolute limits of the 5th layer of Qi Refining—greedily devoured the incoming energy, condensing drop by drop.
Two days passed in silence.
Gradually, the roar of the underground river faded into a distant murmur.
The surrounding ambient spiritual qi seemed to cave inward, collapsing toward Lee Hyun’s dantian.
Thud.
The cavern walls shuddered with a deep, resonant rumble.
Lee Hyun’s eyes snapped open.
Finally!
He had successfully broken through to the 6th layer of the Qi Refining Stage!
Raising his palm, Lee Hyun clenched his fist tight.
Pop.
The pocket of air trapped in his grip compressed violently and detonated with a crisp report.
He spent another full day circulating his technique to stabilize the foundation of his newly attained realm. Satisfied, he pulled out his wooden slate and etched an update onto his Handmade Status Window.
【Age: 1,088】
【Cultivation Realm: Qi Refining, 6th layer】
【Spiritual Power: 233 → 517】
【Physique: Primordial Unity Body, Stage 6】
【Spells (Perfection): Water Escape Technique, Soil-Softening Technique, Cheonggang Sword Formula, Sword Control Technique, Telekinesis Technique, Poison Analysis Technique, …】
In terms of sheer spiritual capacity, my reserve is likely more than ten times greater than an ordinary cultivator at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining…
Lee Hyun calculated his strength with cool precision. In a head-on battle against an Early Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, he was confident he now held a genuine fighting chance.
* * *
Lee Hyun returned to Tunnel No. 2.
Over three and a half centuries, the layout of his underground spirit fields had seen sweeping renovations.
Spirit fields No. 2-1 through No. 2-5 had been converted entirely into Spirit-Accumulating Ginseng beds. He had abandoned the cultivation of Three-Layered Leaf, Meridian-Protecting Lingzhi, and Vitality-Restoring Vine, which previously occupied fields No. 2-3 through No. 2-5.
He made this choice because the medicinal potency harvested from those three varieties did not improve once their rootstocks matured past a certain point.
Once grown sufficiently to serve as ingredients for Barrier-Breaking Pills, letting them age further yielded no additional benefits.
For a long time, Lee Hyun had dutifully tended, harvested, and replanted those herbs to craft Barrier-Breaking Pills for coin.
However, ninety years ago, the endless tedium of sorting eight different ingredients by age and hunting down scarce supplementary herbs like Spirit-Stabilizing Stone Milk finally wore out his patience.
He ceased alchemy altogether, dug up the lesser herbs, and replanted all five plots uniformly with Spirit-Accumulating Ginseng.
Dropping that chore brought him immense relief. The trickle of spirit stones earned from peddling low-tier breakthrough pills was simply no longer worth the headache.
Even without selling off his ancient herbs, Lee Hyun was incomparably wealthier than he had been in his youth.
Between transaction broker fees from the Heaven-Seizing Society, bounties from personal tasks, and the occasional sale of bulk goods, his reserves had quietly swollen over the centuries. He now possessed thirty mid-grade spirit stones and upwards of two thousand low-grade spirit stones.
While official society funds and dues were strictly allocated to administrative upkeep, his personal wealth had expanded naturally through the passive passage of time.
He had long since abandoned the seven ragged pouches and single insect bag he once carried.
At his waist now hung three high-grade storage pouches. The interior space of just one surpassed all seven of his old bags combined, matching the storage artifacts owned by well-off Foundation Establishment masters.
His spirit-insect pouch had similarly been upgraded to a premium vessel, capable of housing thousands of Fluffy Bees in complete comfort.
His decision to keep Spirit-Accumulating Ginseng was simple: unlike lesser herbs, its medicinal potency increased linearly with every passing decade.
It was destined to become his next great treasure reserve, following the foundational herbs he had once rescued from Cheongha Valley.
Currently, the five plots of the Second spirit fields nurtured 552 stalks of Spirit-Accumulating Ginseng aged at 172 years, alongside 916 stalks aged at 30 years.
The First spirit fields were equally prosperous.
In his oldest plot, spirit field No. 1-1, grew 101 stalks of Bone-Corroding Flower, 283 clumps of Yin Soul Grass, 73 stems of Purple Poison Orchid, and 52 clumps of Earth Vein Flower, carrying an average medicinal age of 341 years.
Across spirit fields No. 1-2 through No. 1-5, there flourished 433 stalks of Bone-Corroding Flower, 1,105 clumps of Yin Soul Grass, 293 stems of Purple Poison Orchid, and 205 clumps of Earth Vein Flower, averaging 307 years of maturity.
The Yin Water Lotus in field No. 1-6 and the Rock Honey Peach in field No. 1-7 had both reached 287 years of age. While he lacked pill recipes to refine them, Lee Hyun thoroughly enjoyed consuming the lotus seeds and peaches directly, and both plants naturally lured spirit insects that served as fodder for his hive.
Bzzzz—
As Lee Hyun strolled down the pathways between the fields, a cloud of Fluffy Bees drifted toward him.
Over the centuries, the colony had expanded dramatically, now numbering several hundred.
One bee touched down lightly on Lee Hyun’s shoulder, while another tumbled gleefully into the dry soil bordering the path.
Lying on its back, the little creature kicked its short legs into the air, squirming from side to side to rub off the sticky fluid and mineral dust clinging to its golden fuzz.
A second Fluffy Bee dive-bombed into the dirt right beside it.
Roll, roll.
The two collided, tumbled over each other in a clumsy ball, and then righted themselves with total nonchalance.
“Is rolling in the dirt really that enjoyable?”
Squeak.
One bee twitched its antennae as if answering, then promptly relieved itself on the path.
Lee Hyun flicked his finger, sending a wisp of heat that incinerated the tiny droppings into nothingness.
With their numbers booming, Lee Hyun kept a portion of the swarm safely sequestered inside his spirit-insect pouch, while connecting the cavern to nearby fissures to construct an underground hunting burrow. There, the bees could hunt naturally breeding subterranean pests and feast on insect eggs.
He always ensured a reserve of docile bees remained in his pouch, guaranteeing he could restart the colony should an unforeseen disaster strike his home.
* * *
A few days later.
Having thoroughly refined and bonded with the Mountain-Suppressing Sword, Lee Hyun emerged into a secluded surface ravine to test its limits.
Settling his footing, he assumed the opening stance of the Six Swords of the Single Ultimate.
Flash!
A razor-thin beam of sword light speared outward, cleanly piercing through the massive cliff wall opposite him.
Without dropping his guard, Lee Hyun shifted his weight and transitioned into a new stance.
Beyond the Square-Inch Step and the Six Swords of the Single Ultimate, there was one more martial doctrine he had recently cultivated to mastery.
The Boundary-Cleaving Saber Art.
It was a supreme martial style left behind by No Jik, a master who had attained the Profound Realm in the Heavenly Yang Kingdom long ago.
In his youth, No Jik had been a stonemason toiling in a vast quarry. Through decades of shearing colossal boulders into smooth, flawless slabs, he achieved sudden enlightenment in a single martial truth. The legacy he left behind was named the Boundary-Cleaving Saber Art.
Though developed as a saber technique, its profound truth had nothing to do with the shape of the weapon. Its core lay in cleaving an absolute boundary across space with a single line. Even when channeled through the heavy, broad form of the Mountain-Suppressing Sword, it functioned flawlessly.
The reason Lee Hyun had pursued this art was simple: he lacked an offensive answer against ‘lines.’
To defend against ‘surfaces,’ he possessed the Spirit Light Shield and Spherical Qi Barrier; to pierce through ‘points,’ he wielded the Six Swords of the Single Ultimate. To complete the triumvirate and gain mastery over ‘lines,’ he had incorporated the Boundary-Cleaving Saber Art into his arsenal.
Lee Hyun raised the Mountain-Suppressing Sword diagonally above his shoulder.
Slash!
A clean ribbon of sword light traced a diagonal line across the cliff face.
Lee Hyun’s wrist flicked twice more in rapid succession. Multiple crossing paths of radiant light intersected the first, slicing through the empty air like gossamer threads.
Rumble—
Massive slabs of the cliff sheared away along the intersecting cuts, sliding down the mountain in smooth, geometric blocks.
Lee Hyun brought the Mountain-Suppressing Sword up to examine the edge; the dark metal was entirely unblemished.
“Not bad at all. A fine weapon.”
Sheathing the blade, Lee Hyun walked over to the riverbank and sat down, quietly watching the water tumble over smooth stones.
Playing the Society Leader is growing stale. Perhaps it’s time to retire…?
He knew that without specialized breakthrough pills, ascending through the minor cultivation realms ahead would prove extraordinarily difficult.
Naturally, having just broken through to the 6th layer of Qi Refining, he still had plenty of room to accumulate raw spiritual power before hitting a wall.
Yet securing the pill formula for the next realm and gathering its esoteric ingredients could easily demand years—if not decades or centuries. It was never too early to lay the groundwork.
Relying solely on a spirit vein to bypass that requirement was impossible.
Even if he monopolized the highest-tier Vein Cultivation Seat under the Heaven-Seizing Society’s control, that alone would never carry him into the 7th layer of Qi Refining.
Between each minor realm of cultivation lay a stubborn, tangible barrier.
If bottlenecks could be shattered through environmental spiritual qi alone, cultivators at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining would simply borrow a Tier 2 or Tier 3 spirit vein for a month to reach Foundation Establishment.
The grand cultivation sects sat atop dozens of such veins; offering their peak Qi Refining disciples a temporary cultivation abode would cost them next to nothing.
If cultivation were that simple, Foundation Establishment Pills would never fetch such astronomical prices.
In truth, even titan sects backed by Nascent Soul ancestors regarded Foundation Establishment Pills as indispensable treasures, constantly going to war or expending vast fortunes to secure their supply.
Naturally, the threshold between the 6th and 7th layers of Qi Refining was nowhere near as terrifying as the gap between major cultivation realms. Yet in this modern era where the ambient spiritual qi of heaven and earth had degraded and thinned, crossing that threshold naturally without the aid of pills was a nearly impossible feat.
Just like with the Barrier-Breaking Pill, I’ll need to join an organization that holds pill recipes. But before that… I must acquire the recipe for the Tier 1 Bone-Tempering Powder as a final task.
Currently, every single Bone-Corroding Flower growing within Lee Hyun’s spirit fields had surpassed three hundred years of medicinal age. In practical terms, they had already transformed into spirit plants suitable for Tier 2 Bone-Tempering Powder.
Even so, mastering the Tier 1 recipe remained essential. Learning how to neutralize the inherent toxins of the Bone-Corroding Flowers, observing how their medicinal properties shifted under heat, and understanding how they harmonized or clashed with auxiliary herbs would provide an indispensable foundation for tackling higher-grade recipes later on.
Furthermore, if he could harvest seeds or young seedlings from the existing rootstocks to cultivate anew, he would eventually be able to refine batches of Tier 1 Bone-Tempering Powder entirely on his own.
* * *
Five years later.
Jeokyo Island, Southern Archipelago of the Azure Tide Merchant Alliance.
Situated two thousand li out to sea from the coast of the Namryeo Kingdom, Jeokyo Island was a desolate volcanic outcrop. Its jagged terrain was dominated by scorched crimson stone and sparse vegetation, with scorching plumes of white steam perpetually hissing from crevices across the ground. Directly above the island’s subterranean earthfire vein, the Azure Tide Merchant Alliance had constructed twenty-eight dedicated alchemy rooms, granting their resident alchemists access to earthfire at any hour.
Inside one of the chambers where roaring earthfire surged beneath the floor vents, Lee Hyun was carefully folding the final dose of Bone-Tempering Powder into medicinal paper.
Over the past five years, ever since passing the alliance’s guest alchemist examination, he had taken on steady commissions for the Azure Tide Merchant Alliance. He began prudently, refining common Tier 1 pills using widely circulating recipes. Once he had thoroughly established his credibility and built mutual trust, the alliance finally entrusted him with the proprietary recipe for Bone-Tempering Powder. Since then, he had delivered multiple flawless batches right on schedule.
To the alliance, he was known simply as Guest Alchemist Lee Muk.
Appearing as an ordinary, taciturn man in his fifties, he never caused trouble and unfailingly honored his deadlines with ironclad punctuality. Up until now, not a single person had paid him any special heed.
Looking down into the pill cauldron at the fine residue clinging to the bronze walls, he fell into quiet contemplation.
The process is second nature now… Next time, I might even produce high-grade Bone-Tempering Powder.
Right at that moment, two formidable presences abruptly registered just outside the alchemy chamber.
Both at Early Stage Foundation Establishment?
Rumble—
The thick stone slab serving as the chamber door swung open with a heavy thud.
Two Alliance Elders clad in the opulent robes of the Azure Tide Merchant Alliance strode across the threshold, their eyes narrowed in venomous certainty.
“So it really was you, you bastard!”
Lee Hyun set down his tools and looked up calmly. “Seniors, what are you talking about?”
“Drop the act!” the leading Alliance Elder sneered.
With a sweeping flick of his wide sleeve, a cultivator wearing a Black Leopard Cat Mask slipped into view from behind the elders’ backs.
“This man infiltrated your Heaven-Seizing Society five years ago and meticulously gained your trust,” the elder declared coldly. “During the secret gathering held at Baekpo Market a few days ago, he recorded your spiritual power fluctuations using a Tier 1 advanced Spirit-Tracking Talisman. Just moments ago, while you were refining the Bone-Tempering Powder, the talisman reacted with absolute precision. Who could have imagined that the elusive Chief of the Heaven-Seizing Society was hiding right under our noses, posing as a humble guest alchemist of our Merchant Alliance?”
“Mm…”
Lee Hyun shifted his gaze toward the masked figure.
Meeting Lee Hyun’s eyes, the cultivator in the Black Leopard Cat Mask visibly flinched. He shrank back half a pace, instinctively tucking himself behind the towering frames of the two Alliance Elders.
“I was actually planning to depart soon anyway,” Lee Hyun remarked casually. “You need not have gone through so much trouble.”
“A spiritual qi thief like you thinks he can just leave whenever he pleases?” the second Alliance Elder barked, his face twisting in disgust. “Do you have any idea how many cultivation clans have suffered catastrophic losses because of you vermin? Hand over the full roster of the Heaven-Seizing Society right now. Do that, and we might just spare your life.”
“Heaven-and-earth spiritual qi originally belongs to no one,” Lee Hyun replied, his voice even and unruffled. “Furthermore, the Heaven-Seizing Society maintains no roster of its members’ names.”
“Insolent scoundrel! If you want to walk out of here alive, summon every last one of your members and aid us in their capture!”
“As Society Leader, that is a demand I can hardly accept.”
“Whether it is acceptable or not is for us to decide!”
In an instant, the overwhelming spiritual pressure and divine sense of two Foundation Establishment cultivators surged forward like crashing waves, converging directly upon Lee Hyun.
Hum—
A brilliant, layered luminescence suddenly flared around Lee Hyun’s frame. The Spherical Qi Barrier, Body-Protecting Spirit Light, and dense currents of Primordial Unity True Qi welled up from his dantian, seamlessly locking together to form an impenetrable cocoon of light that shielded him from head to toe. The crushing aura of the two elders broke against it like water upon stone, failing to push him back even an inch.
Lee Hyun let out a faint, resigned sigh.
Shring—
From the scabbard at his hip, the Mountain-Suppressing Sword slid free.
A heavy, suffocating luminescence billowed outward from the edge of the blade, churning the air in the chamber with terrifying weight. As the crushing aura of the Mountain-Suppressing Sword completely flooded the alchemy room, the smiles vanished from the faces of both Foundation Establishment Alliance Elders. Their bodies stiffened violently, and their boots scraped against the flagstones as they instinctively retreated half a step.
Lee Hyun raised the Mountain-Suppressing Sword at an angle, resting its tip toward the stone floor.
“Tell me… have you ever heard of the Mad Badger?”