Chapter 45
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 45
Lee Hyun examined the mnemonic formulas of the Swarm Imprinting Technique and the structure of the Spirit-Nourishing Seal in turn. His study covered everything from the fundamentals of engraving a Spirit-Nourishing Seal onto a single spirit insect to selecting the nucleus of a swarm and dividing that imprint into hundreds or thousands of branches.
I’ll need to practice this for a few months.
Click.
His two shichen of reading time were up.
When he stepped outside, the managing disciple collected the blue token.
Exiting the outer pavilion of the Scripture Pavilion, Lee Hyun looked up at the inner pavilion perched high above. At the entrance to the stairway leading into the cloud-shrouded structure, a translucent barrier still shimmered.
Once I become an inner-sect disciple, I’ll be able to access the inheritances in there as well…
Two and a half months later, his probationary period in the Outer Alchemy Courtyard came to an end.
Having completed all his assigned duties in the medicinal herb room, pill inspection room, and alchemy room, Lee Hyun applied for leave.
“Twenty-five days of leave?” Yang Jin-pyeong asked, looking over the ledger.
“Yes.”
Yang Jin-pyeong reviewed the quantity and quality of the pills Lee Hyun had submitted over the past three months.
“You’ve turned in more than the required quota and haven’t caused any trouble, so I’ll grant it.”
“Thank you.”
Nine days later.
[Tunnel No. 3]
Thud.
Lee Hyun dropped down from the ceiling into the cavern.
“It’s just… too far!”
Lee Hyun had traveled a staggering 58,000 li northwest from Crimson Sky Immortal City. This was because Tunnel No. 3 lay at the northwestern edge of the Earth Kingdom, while the Crimson Sky Sect was located east of the kingdom’s center.
The water supply can last for three years. I should probably lengthen the interval between visits next time.
Lee Hyun opened his spirit-insect pouch.
Bzzzz— Bzz-bzz-bzz—
Over a hundred Fluffy Bees poured out like a golden cloud. Released into an open space after so long, the little creatures zipped excitedly around the tunnel.
The Fluffy Bees already living around the hunting burrows and spirit field heard their wingbeats and swarmed in to join them. As the two groups merged, the number of bees drifting through the cavern swelled to over a thousand.
Squeak! Squeak-squeak!
“Have you been well?”
Squeak.
“Of course you have. All you do is eat and sleep.”
Instead of answering, the Fluffy Bees circled around his body and head. A few of them began tugging at his hair.
“Don’t pull.”
Lee Hyun led the Fluffy Bees to the widest cavern, where a shallow stone bowl he had prepared beforehand rested on the floor. He filled the bowl with water conjured via the Spiritual Rain Spell, then dissolved a spoonful of Hundred Flowers Honey he had obtained at a market. Following the mnemonics of the Swarm Imprinting Technique, he channeled a thin strand of Primordial Unity True Qi from his fingertip.
Wuuung—
A faint glow seeped into the sweetened water.
Catching the sweet scent, the Fluffy Bees surged toward the stone bowl.
“Not yet.”
Naturally, they did not understand his words.
Blocking the bees with a Spirit Light Shield, Lee Hyun first summoned the three mutated ones and placed them on his palm. As he formed an incantation hand seal with his left hand, thin strands of spiritual power gathered over his right palm. The lines connected and overlapped, forming a small seal. Inside a hollow circle, patterns resembling leaves and antennae intertwined.
It was the Spirit-Nourishing Seal.
Lee Hyun turned his palm over. The Spirit-Nourishing Seal split into three branches and descended upon the heads of the mutated Fluffy Bees.
All three spread their wings simultaneously. One startled bee tried to take flight, but the faint light smoothly permeated its fur and sank into its body. The bees’ spiritual power fluctuated for a moment before stabilizing.
Lee Hyun immediately withdrew his Primordial Unity True Qi.
Hardly any burden at all.
An identical mark had now formed inside each of the three bees. He set them down in front of the stone bowl.
“Drink.”
Though they didn’t comprehend the command, the moment the Spirit Light Shield vanished, the three bees eagerly began drinking the honey water as if they had been waiting for that very moment.
Squeak, squeak.
The rest of the Fluffy Bees surged forward all at once. With the three imprinted bees mingled in their midst, over a thousand of them jostled against one another to lap up the sweet liquid.
When Lee Hyun formed another hand seal, the Spirit-Nourishing Seals etched into the three mutated bees glowed simultaneously. Slender tendrils of light reached out from the imprints, branching out again and again. These divided lights connected sequentially to the other Fluffy Bees drinking from the same bowl.
Faint Spirit-Nourishing Seals appeared one by one on the bodies of the ordinary Fluffy Bees.
One.
Ten.
A hundred.
The identical imprint spread across the entire swarm of over a thousand bees.
Bzzzzzz—
The Fluffy Bees took to the air in unison, a golden cloud filling the cavern’s ceiling.
Lee Hyun inspected the condition of the imprints and slowly lowered his hand.
Looks like it worked.
As he raised his right hand, several nearby Fluffy Bees clustered around it.
“Come here.”
Bzz-bzz-bzz—
Around ten settled on the back of his hand and arm. The rest were still buzzing around the cavern or licking up the leftover honey water in the stone bowl.
“I said everyone.”
Squeak.
Lee Hyun loaded his intent into the Spirit-Nourishing Seals and repeated the command.
A moment later, over a thousand bees settled densely over both his arms, his shoulders, and his head. His entire field of vision filled with golden fluff and fluttering wings, completely covering his face.
“Back off.”
They didn’t budge.
“Back off, I said.”
The next day.
“Gather.”
Bzzzz—
The scattered Fluffy Bees gathered in front of Lee Hyun, forming a perfect sphere.
“Scatter.”
The golden sphere dispersed in all directions.
“Halt.”
Over a thousand bees froze in midair.
“Not bad.”
The Fluffy Bees obeyed basic commands reasonably well. However, complex instructions were still beyond their comprehension.
That’s likely due to their low intelligence, not a limitation of the Spirit-Nourishing Seal.
Lee Hyun packed a portion of the Fluffy Bees into his spirit-insect pouch, as they could detect Life-Bonded Insects and alert him to any approaching Insect-Bonded Warriors. He left the remaining bees to live around the hunting burrows and the spirit field.
After checking the water facilities, spirit field, and storage, Lee Hyun completed his tasks and departed Tunnel No. 3.
* * *
On the day he returned to Crimson Sky Immortal City, Lee Hyun was walking down a main thoroughfare when he spotted a newly opened bookstore. At the entrance, colorful illustrated novels were piled high on tables.
A general wielding a long spear.
A man and woman falling from a cliff.
Two martial artists crossing blades against the backdrop of an imperial palace.
Among them, a thick set of books caught his eye.
Slave Soldier Rebuilding the Ruined Kingdom.
I can tell what it’s about just from the title.
The bookstore owner chimed in, “That’s the best-selling new release in Crimson Sky Immortal City these days.”
“How many volumes?”
“Twelve volumes are out so far. The next one is due in two months.”
Lee Hyun pondered for a moment. Buying an unfinished popular novel meant suffering the wait for the next volume, but the vibe from the title and cover wasn’t bad.
“I’ll take the whole set.”
“Thank you, sir!”
* * *
Back in his quarters in the Outer Alchemy Courtyard, Lee Hyun lay comfortably on his bed, reading the novel.
The protagonist was the last prince of a fallen kingdom. Having lost his country in his youth and been sold into slavery in an enemy land, he drifted between frontline mines and military encampments. Surviving war after war, he mastered martial arts, rallied slave soldiers to his banner, and eventually came to lead three thousand iron cavalrymen.
Only then did the prince, who had hidden his identity for over a decade, reveal his true self and begin reclaiming his homeland. When he captured the first border fortress, former retainers and displaced subjects rallied to him; by the time he reclaimed the second fortress, his military force had doubled.
Yet with every stronghold reclaimed, troops were needed to defend it, and grain had to be distributed to the populace. The prince sought to recover all seventy-two fortresses between the border and the royal capital one by one, but by the time he reached the seventh fortress, fewer than a thousand of his three thousand iron cavalry remained.
Lee Hyun clicked his tongue as he turned the page.
He started out clever, but now he’s being frustratingly dense. If you leave men behind at every single castle you take, when will you ever reach the capital?
The protagonist’s strategist thought the exact same thing.
In the latter half of the tenth volume, the iron cavalry took refuge in a dilapidated mountain fortress to evade the enemy’s grand army. As the protagonist agonized over the castles on the map, the strategist spoke:
“Your Highness seeks to become king only after reclaiming every inch of lost territory.”
“How can I call myself king when I haven’t reclaimed my people or my land?”
The strategist pointed to the capital in the center of the map.
“Reverse the order.”
“The order?”
“Do not wait to become king until all lands are reclaimed. Seize the capital first and ascend the throne; then, reclaim the remaining territory by royal decree.”
In the end, the protagonist abandoned all the castles he had retaken, concentrated his forces, and launched a surprise attack on the capital via an unexpected route.
Lee Hyun nodded and was about to turn the page when he froze.
…Reverse the order?
His gaze drifted slowly across the page and halted on the illustration of the map. In the dead center of the vast kingdom was a single red dot marking the capital.
Wait a moment…
Do I really need to elevate my entire body to the Foundation Establishment stage all at once?
Just like seizing the capital first… what if I break through to Foundation Establishment in just one central dantian first?
He sat bolt upright. A memory from over a thousand years ago surfaced—words Wang Jin had once spoken in the lecture hall of Cheongha Valley:
—There is no distinct physical organ called a dantian inside the human body. A dantian is merely a storage zone for spiritual power designated by a cultivation art. Following the guidance of your art, you define a specific region below the navel, repeatedly gathering refined spiritual power there until it forms a dantian.
Lee Hyun placed a hand over his Qi Sea Acupoint.
Later generations modified the Primordial Unity One-Qi Art to treat only the Qi Sea Acupoint area as the dantian. If so, couldn’t I begin my Foundation Establishment in that same manner?
Inside his whole-body dantian, he could recreate a small, lower dantian centered around the Qi Sea Acupoint. He could leave the rest of his body at the early 9th layer of Qi Refining and temper only that lower dantian to the peak limit of Great Perfection. Then, he could take a Foundation Establishment Pill and focus its medicinal efficacy entirely within that confined space.
If successful, he could advance to the Foundation Establishment stage starting from his lower dantian, just like an ordinary cultivator. A method that required only one or two Foundation Establishment Pills was well worth trying.
Why did I think I had to liquefy fifty times the spiritual power of a normal cultivator all at once? Back then, I had no ambition to advance my realm, believing that being vastly stronger than my nominal realm made me safer. But that doesn’t mean I have to remain in the Qi Refining stage until I gather fifty Foundation Establishment Pills.
That’s it. Ever since making my entire body my dantian, I fell into the inertia of thinking I had to elevate the whole thing at once.
Lee Hyun was now a disciple of the Crimson Sky Sect. Sheltered inside a safe sect, he no longer needed an obsession with being fifty times stronger than cultivators of the same realm.
Besides, once I successfully establish my foundation and become an inner-sect disciple, I’ll gain access to superior inheritances. If I establish myself as a Tier 2 Alchemist, my chances of accessing the ingredients or refining process for Foundation Establishment Pills will increase dramatically. If fortune favors me and I obtain the pill recipe, I could take self-refined Foundation Establishment Pills to gradually bring the rest of my body up to the Foundation Establishment level, piece by piece…
Resolved, Lee Hyun immediately entered his cultivation room to circulate the formula of the modernized Primordial Unity One-Qi Art. As he slotted low-grade spirit stones into the Spirit-Gathering Formation, the inscriptions on the floor lit up in sequence.
Wuuung—
The surrounding spiritual qi converged into the cultivation chamber. For the first time in ages, Lee Hyun sat cross-legged rather than lying down.
Since this is a fresh start, let’s do it by the book.
* * *
Three years later.
The Outer Alchemy Courtyard.
Clatter.
As the pill cauldron’s lid opened, round brown pills rolled out onto a jade tray. Lee Hyun divided the pills into jade bottles and placed them into the return bin alongside the leftover medicinal herbs.
Over the past three years, Lee Hyun had quietly concocted pills and accumulated contribution points in the Outer Alchemy Courtyard. Once a year, he visited Tunnel No. 3 to inspect its facilities. With the Spirit-Nourishing Seals fully established, the Fluffy Bees were far easier to control than before.
“Time to pretend I’ve broken through to the ninth layer of Qi Refining.”
When he first entered the sect, he had disguised his realm as the 8th layer of Qi Refining, but there was no reason to maintain that specific cover forever. Raising Lee Dong-sam’s public realm to the 9th layer now would make it seem natural later on when he reached Great Perfection and sought a Foundation Establishment Pill.
Now that my cultivation is confined to the lower dantian, reaching the Great Perfection of Qi Refining shouldn’t even take ten years…
Lee Hyun slightly relaxed the aura concealed by his Spirit-Concealment Technique, making it appear as though he had just broken through to the 9th layer of Qi Refining.
The next day, the stewards of the Outer Alchemy Courtyard noticed that Lee Dong-sam’s realm had risen, but they thought nothing of it. It was hardly surprising that a diligent alchemist who had entered at the 8th layer would advance to the 9th after three years in the excellent environment of the Crimson Sky Sect.
* * *
Half a month later.
A small pavilion stood in the woods near the Outer Alchemy Courtyard, built over a stream fragrant with herbs. This was where purified runoff from the courtyard’s alchemy rooms and medicinal herb rooms merged with the mountain valley stream. While the water wasn’t dirty, subtle traces of various herbs lingered in it, causing the scent to shift with every breeze.
When Lee Hyun arrived, three people were already seated inside the pavilion.
Yeo Mun-deok, a man with a round face.
Dang Yeon-bi, her dark hair tied high and her sleeves neatly fastened.
Mun So-ha, resting a small wooden box for medicinal herbs on her lap.
Yeo Mun-deok was at the 7th layer of Qi Refining.
Dang Yeon-bi was a peer who had passed the Skilled Practitioner Selection alongside Lee Hyun and Yeo Mun-deok, entering the sect on the very same day. She was at the 7th layer of Qi Refining upon entry and had broken through to the 8th layer a year ago. Her family ran a modest medicinal herb merchant company in the southern Earth Kingdom.
Mun So-ha was a senior martial sister at the 8th layer of Qi Refining who had joined the Outer Alchemy Courtyard ten years before them. Better versed in herb appraisal and spirit-plant cultivation than pill refining, she assisted the stewards in determining the varieties and medicinal ages of herbs brought in by external merchant companies.
Over the past three years, the four of them had naturally grown close while handling pill refining and herb appraisal together. Whenever their schedules aligned, they gathered at this pavilion to discuss cultivation and share news from within and outside the sect.
Mun So-ha offered Lee Hyun a teacup. “Congratulations on breaking through to the ninth layer of Qi Refining, Junior Martial Brother Lee.”
“Thank you, Senior Martial Sister Mun.”
Dang Yeon-bi remarked, “Since you were already at the eighth layer when you joined, I expected Fellow Daoist Lee to reach the ninth layer first. Still, three years is remarkably fast.”
“I was simply fortunate.”
The conversation drifted across topics of pill refining and cultivation for a while: rumors that the quota of Foundation Establishment Pills allocated to the outer sect this year had decreased by one; a story about an inner-sect Foundation Establishment alchemist who went into seclusion after botching three consecutive cauldron batches of Tier 2 pills; the tale of a crane raised in the Spirit Beast Courtyard escaping and accidentally setting fire to a medicinal herb room.
Then, Dang Yeon-bi brought up news from the south.
“Word came from my family’s merchant company not long ago. They say the situation in the southern Chang Kingdom has been looking precarious lately.”
Yeo Mun-deok asked, “Has something happened in the Chang Kingdom?”
“The overseas cultivators who took over the Ram Kingdom have reportedly started showing up in the markets of the Chang Kingdom.”
It was common knowledge that the Ram Kingdom had fallen to forces from across the Southern Nether Sea. After centuries of protracted warfare, most of the Ram Kingdom’s great sects had collapsed, and those that survived were subjugated by the overseas powers.
Mun So-ha said, “I heard the war ended completely about a century ago.”
“That’s right. So everyone assumed they had settled down in the Ram Kingdom,” Dang Yeon-bi continued. “Yet lately, overseas cultivators have been sighted across multiple markets in the southern Chang Kingdom. Not just Qi Refining cultivators escorting merchant caravans, but also cultivators at Foundation Establishment and above whose origins are unknown.”
“They took over the Ram Kingdom, so aren’t they just looking to trade with the Chang Kingdom?”
“That could be part of it. But apparently, some are becoming guest retainers for local cultivator clans or inquiring into the Chang Kingdom’s spirit veins and sects.”
Mun So-ha’s expression tightened slightly. “Has the Myriad Insect Sect made any moves?”
“They might already be acting behind the scenes. My family’s merchant company has only picked up scattered rumors.”
Lee Hyun’s fingers paused on the rim of his teacup.
He recalled the twelve dark blue beads the Wanderer of the Azure Sea had unleashed when raiding the Everlasting Spring Sect long ago, and the pillar of light that had stretched across the southern sky.
So that faction ultimately seized the Ram Kingdom.
Vast ages had passed since he left the Everlasting Spring Sect. Lee Hyun didn’t know how the great sects of the Ram Kingdom, including the Supreme Harmony Sect and the Ziwei Sword Sect, had responded back then.
By now, the chance that anyone he knew was still alive was practically zero.
And now they’re crossing over into the Chang Kingdom…
For a power capable of crossing the vast Southern Nether Sea, the thirty-thousand-li sea between the Ram Kingdom and the Chang Kingdom would be a trivial obstacle.
The problem was, the Earth Kingdom—where Lee Hyun now resided—bordered the Chang Kingdom to the north.
While this wasn’t an immediate concern for the Crimson Sky Sect, the movements of this overseas power were creeping too close to be brushed off as mere rumors from a distant land.
If the overseas cultivators invaded, the cultivation world of the Chang Kingdom would be the first line of defense. Next would be the martial realm of the Heavenly Yang Kingdom, and the third in line would be the cultivation world of the Earth Kingdom.
Lee Hyun said nothing.
Nothing was certain yet. It was entirely possible the overseas cultivators were simply making moves for trade and territorial influence.
Dang Yeon-bi added cautiously, “My family still considers it mere gossip circulating among the merchant caravans. Even so, after what happened to the Ram Kingdom, it’s something worth keeping in mind.”
As the conversation lapsed, Mun So-ha set a wooden box from her lap onto the table.
“There’s something I’d like to ask your opinions on.”
“What is it, Senior Martial Sister Mun?”
“It’s not a medicinal herb, but a seed.”
Mun So-ha opened the wooden box. Inside lay a single, thumbnail-sized seed.
It was nearly pitch-black, like dried ink. Its surface wasn’t smooth but was instead shriveled like aged tree bark. A closer look revealed several slender silver lines spreading across it like fine cracks.
Dang Yeon-bi cast the Qi-Observation Technique to examine it.
“It looks like a dead seed. I can barely sense any life force.”
“It’s scarce, but not entirely gone.”
Mun So-ha produced a thin needle and brought it close to the seed. The blue light at the needle’s tip flickered, ever so faintly.
“I’ve verified it multiple times with a Vitality Needle from the sect’s herb hall. The reaction is exceedingly sluggish, but there is definitely still life force.”
Yeo Mun-deok peered at the seed. “What spirit plant is it from?”
“Have any of you heard of the Ringless Divine Tree?”
None of the three could answer. As if expecting this, Mun So-ha continued.
“I only learned of it myself after obtaining this seed. It’s a tree recorded only in fragments of an ancient compendium on spirit trees.”
Dang Yeon-bi asked, “Does ‘ringless’ mean it has no growth rings?”
“Precisely.” Mun So-ha picked up the seed. “Ordinary trees grow a little each year as their sap and spiritual qi circulate. But for the Ringless Divine Tree, the flow of spiritual qi is so extraordinarily slow that it hardly grows at all, even after hundreds of years. And if you were to cut one open, you’d find no growth rings, making it impossible to verify its medicinal age.”
Yeo Mun-deok asked, “What use is a tree that grows so slowly?”
“They say it begins to shine if you grow it long enough.”
“How long?”
“At least two thousand years.”
Yeo Mun-deok froze. “…Two thousand years?”
“After two thousand years, dark blue, lightning-like patterns form on its trunk and leaves. And once it reaches five thousand years, it can discharge a type of lightning called Profound Nether Freezing Lightning.”
“Profound Nether Freezing Lightning?” Lee Hyun finally spoke.
Mun So-ha looked toward him. “Is this the first time you’ve heard of it, Junior Martial Brother Lee?”
“Yes. What kind of lightning is it?”
“I only know what was written in the fragment,” Mun So-ha said, searching her memory. “It’s said that it doesn’t shatter or incinerate targets like ordinary lightning. When touched by Profound Nether Freezing Lightning, a cultivator’s spiritual power freezes solid, and even the thoughts of their primordial spirit are said to slow to a crawl.”
Dang Yeon-bi’s eyes shifted. “It even affects the primordial spirit?”
“The text even claimed that escape lights freeze midair. Whether that’s an exaggeration or the truth, I cannot say.”
Yeo Mun-deok looked at the seed again. “If that’s real, isn’t it an astonishing treasure?”
“Only if you can prove it’s authentic,” Mun So-ha said with a rueful smile. “The life force of a Ringless Divine Tree seed is so faint that it’s nearly indistinguishable from a normal dead seed. Sprouting alone can take anywhere from decades to a century. Even after it sprouts, you have to nurture it for two thousand years just for the first lightning patterns to appear.”
“Couldn’t even the Foundation Establishment stewards verify it?”
“They told me there was a high probability it’s authentic. But because it takes far too long to grow, they said they could only appraise it as a curiosity—a mere ancient spirit plant seed.”
“For how much?”
“Three low-grade spirit stones.”
“How much are you hoping for, Senior Martial Sister Mun?”
“Shouldn’t it be worth at least twenty low-grade spirit stones?”
Dang Yeon-bi looked at the seed and observed, “If it’s genuine, that’s a bargain. But to an ordinary cultivator, a harvest two thousand years in the future is no different from nothing at all. It’s no wonder no one is buying it.”
Mun So-ha let out a sigh. “A few years ago, it was mixed in with some seeds I received as payment for appraising herbs for an external merchant company. Handing it over to the sect for practically nothing feels like a waste, but growing it myself is pointless.”
She moved to return the seed to the wooden box.
At that moment, Lee Hyun spoke.
“I’ll buy it.”