Chapter 37
Translator: penny
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Lesser Dragon (6)
“Is this the spirituality of a lesser dragon?”
After spending time with Ahan, I rented some extra lodging and began examining the lesser dragon spirituality I had awakened.
Dragon.
They command the rain and clouds, possess lifespans as vast as the heavens, and boast such extraordinary spirituality that they awaken to the Dao from the moment of their birth, comprehending divine abilities unique to themselves.
The lesser dragon's spirituality was far inferior to that of a pure dragon—mixed as it was with dog and blood—but even so, this innate Primordial Infant-grade lesser dragon spirituality came with an exceptional understanding and insight into divine abilities.
I was merely at Foundation Establishment and couldn't wield divine abilities myself, but I could clearly sense that my comprehension of them had risen dramatically. On that foundation, I could reinforce the spells and combined arts at my disposal.
‘Since the lesser dragon originally possessed wood spiritual power, it's especially easy to refine wood-element spells like Vine Bell Bind.’
Vine Bell Bind had originally been nothing more than a technique that used wood spiritual power to seize an enemy's body and halt their movements. But drawing out its true potential through the lesser dragon spirituality, I refined the spell and transformed it into something entirely new.
‘Let's make it stealthier... and more powerful.’
First, I addressed its weakness—the raucous bell tolls—suppressing the sound as much as possible. Next, I refined the mere grasping effect to deliver genuine physical pressure.
‘I'll name this spell Silent Clamping Cudgel.’
Vine Bell Bind evoked binding through the toll of a bell, so I drew from the torture device known as the clamping cudgel—one that bound and tormented prisoners without a sound.
Next, I turned my attention to Blazing Palm Seal, the attack spell I relied on most often. Part of me wanted to dive straight into All-Scattering Ethereal Projection, but all things must follow their proper sequence.
Blazing Palm Seal was the very first spell I had ever learned, a staple in my combats, and the one that unleashed the purest destructive might from my fire spiritual root—the highest aptitude among my dragon spiritual roots.
Enhancing a spell like that would prove immensely helpful.
‘Hm?’
As I pondered this and reviewed Blazing Palm Seal through the lens of lesser dragon spirituality, I realized its incantation held profundities far beyond what I had imagined.
‘What is this? Is Blazing Palm Seal a watered-down version of some superior spell?’
I scrapped my half-baked strengthening plans, assumed the proper stance, and pored over every incantation of Blazing Palm Seal one by one, deepening my understanding.
‘Oh, yes... so this incantation works like... Ha. Masterfully crafted.’
Examined properly, Blazing Palm Seal proved to be an exceedingly refined spell.
I did have a talent for spells, but mastering it after a mere glance at the spellbook was possible only because Blazing Palm Seal had been designed with such consideration for aspiring cultivators—making it that accessible.
I began uncovering the hidden nuances in Blazing Palm Seal's incantations, laying them bare one after another.
‘There it is. The next stage of Blazing Palm Seal. Whoa... this completely transforms the spell's form?’
Blazing Palm Seal had simply been about expelling fire spiritual power from one's palm or sole. But excavating its concealed insights and incantations had altered its shape dramatically.
‘Sun-Imprisoning Jade Seal!’
Having comprehended this new spell, I sensed hidden depths in its incantations as well—but realized I couldn't grasp them yet. I decided to investigate later.
Next came the water-element spells: Water Essence Bullet Art and Water Shield Box.
‘These two aren't pressing.’
With the Vast Bounty Gourd Bottle in my possession, my water spells already outclassed their peers in power by a wide margin.
Thus, I devoted my remaining time to understanding All-Scattering Ethereal Projection.
All-Scattering Ethereal Projection was both a divine ability and a spell, infused with Geum Yang-pyeong's contemplations on the path of cultivation.
The distant path of cultivation.
Geum Yang-pyeong had watched his Dao companion—vowed to share his life with—fail to surpass Core Formation and wither away in old age. He learned that his friend, whom he regarded as his lifelong rival, had failed to break through the realms and perished after a thousand kalpas. He had seen cultivators older and more advanced than himself despair at the true nature of the realms, descend into madness, and meet their end at others' hands.
The further he trod the path of cultivation, the more everything he had believed eternal dissipated like smoke. In the end, Geum Yang-pyeong walked alone.
Qi Refining Realm, Foundation Establishment Realm, Core Formation Realm, Nascent Soul Realm, Soul Transformation Realm, Soul Harmony Realm, Body Fusion Realm...
Having ascended to unfathomable heights, Geum Yang-pyeong realized that the world he inhabited was but a single grain of sand in a colossal cosmos. He resolved to leave behind a grain that would endure eternally.
High Heaven Sect.
A sect devoted to treading the ancient ways.
As it had been in that distant, hazy past.
As it would be in the endless future yet to unfold.
The name was born from his wish: that cultivators born with spiritual roots, setting foot on this path, would turn their eyes from all else—like their ancient predecessors—and steadfastly pursue cultivation, enlightenment, and transcendence alone.
If All-Scattering Ethereal Projection embodied the loneliness Geum Yang-pyeong felt, the futility of karmic ties and bonds, and the cruelty of the cultivation path... then High Heaven Sect embodied his resolve to trust in his descendants and juniors despite it all, paving the way for them to follow.
And so, All-Scattering Ethereal Projection—this spell that proclaimed all things mere scattering vanities, yet manifested in tangible form, betraying its own contradiction...
“Ah.”
I felt a certain insight that had begun to dawn within me suddenly flicker and vanish.
“Damn.”
I wiped my face.
I regretted how futilely it had crumbled to dust, but since it wasn't an insight permitted to me, I brushed it aside.
‘I'll grasp it more firmly once I've grown further.’
In the end, I had missed it not for any other reason, but purely because my cultivation was insufficient.
Still, it wasn't entirely fruitless.
‘My understanding of All-Scattering Ethereal Projection has deepened. I should be able to cast it faster now, with far less spiritual power.’
The gains didn't end there.
‘More than the spell itself, my insight into the cultivation path has grown. It's fortunate to learn in advance the resolve I'll need for this endless journey.’
I wasn't born into this world of immortals and cultivators.
I hailed from a fleeting realm where human lifespans scarcely topped a century, where lives snuffed out over the pettiest trifles.
Thus, the two centuries of Foundation Establishment felt impossibly vast to me. Even at fifty-one, the prospect of living three times longer struck me with awe and wonder.
At the same time, I couldn't help worrying whether I could endure such an existence.
‘Let me engrave this insight in my heart.’
Gathering all my insights, I spent my final day in Fang City wandering it with Ahan.
I hadn't come here by choice, but now that I was, sightseeing was in order.
‘In the immortal tales I know, every Fang City has an auction house as standard fare—but this one's too small for one.’
Recalling the fortuitous encounters Mun Yoo had snagged at an auction house in Black and White Immortal Chronicle, I let out a wry chuckle.
‘No use dwelling on it. Who knows if I'd even get them anyway.’
But after the ordeal with the Wood Fiend Queen, I'd decided to stop obsessing—save for the few encounters I was certain to claim, ones that would aid me without fail.
Consider this.
No matter my power to leap great realm boundaries, that place held two Core Formation Perfected cultivators and an innate Primordial Infant spirit beast.
Yet after clashing with me, they suffered only losses—death or severed arms—and in the end, wasn't it I, a mere second-layer Foundation Establishment cultivator, who claimed the Wood Essence Lotus Flower and the lesser dragon?
And having obtained the lesser dragon, my swift ascent to fifth layer had reshaped my thinking entirely.
The world's fortuitous encounters weren't limited to Mun Yoo's. Clinging solely to his was unwise.
Fortuitous encounters weren't things one obtained merely by desire; only those heaven deemed their owner could claim them.
Indeed, when I took the Refined Flying Sword, Mun Yoo had procured some unheard-of sword manual from who-knows-where and swung it at me during the direct disciple trial.
In other words, even if I intercepted his encounters midway, a protagonist with Mun Yoo's heavenly luck would simply acquire others suited to him in their stead.
Damn that protagonist.
Cursing Mun Yoo under my breath, the first shop Ahan and I visited was a clothier.
There, I bought myself a fresh pink robe, clothes for Ahan, and—just in case—entrusted the pale pink robe Hyang Mae had given me to a mender.
“At this level of damage, wouldn't it be better just to toss it?”
“It's precious to me. Please repair it properly, by all means.”
“Any idea when you'll be departing?”
“Tomorrow morning. Do what you can by then—if not, no harm done. I'll pay regardless.”
“Mm. Very well, honored customer.”
After dropping off the robe, we strolled the market. I gave Ahan a book on formations, and picked up a tome on combined arts for myself.
‘I want to cut down the spiritual power cost of my combined arts.’
This book contained knowledge on efficient combined arts—might prove useful. Treasures or manuals suited to combined arts could help too.
This Fang City was modest in scale, so unearthing treasures rivaling those in High Heaven Sect's markets was no easy task.
But the abundance of obscure tomes the sect wouldn't bother with made for fun bargain-hunting.
Better yet, with itinerant cultivators from across the land converging here, the snippets of gossip overhead offered intel impossible to come by in High Heaven Sect.
“Sword cultivators have gotten downright terrifying lately.”
“How so?”
“One woman's lugging around this freakish sword twice her own length. Says she's headed to High Heaven Sect, demands everyone clear the way, and picks fights left and right.”
“Heh. Could just sidestep her.”
“Exactly. Then there's this other fellow—not wielding spiritual power, but some bizarre energy. Calls himself a demonic cultivator or whatever; that energy's so vicious and overwhelming, no one's a match.”
I overheard what sounded like reports on Mun Yoo, but prying yielded no precise locations. Tracking him down seemed pointless.
If he'd shown up briefly then vanished, he'd likely stumbled into some cave abode or hidden realm and was claiming an encounter there.
“...”
Ha.
I'd resolved not to obsess over encounters, yet here I was, fixating again.
Mun Yoo snagging more grated on me fiercely.
At first, it was because he posed a threat—irritating, infuriating. But nursing that grudge for fifteen years had warped it into simple loathing: I hated Mun Yoo, and everything about him.
‘I wonder if he feels the same.’
If that bastard gobbled up encounters, I'd claim my own in kind.
“Maybe I'll enter the Pioneer Assembly after we get back.”
I muttered to myself.
The Pioneer Assembly was a grand tournament hosted by High Heaven Sect, gathering all cultivators below Core Formation.
The champion earned entry to the sect-managed Prize Secret Realm—a massive boon for anyone shy of Core Formation.
As depicted in the story, one year of cultivation inside matched a century outside in efficiency.
Moreover, anything gained there—no matter how priceless—belonged outright to the disciple who claimed it.
In the original tale, Mun Yoo—still too weak—had missed out entirely. It was a special boon High Heaven Sect bestowed on its disciples every fifty years.
Only, this particular Pioneer Assembly had one catch...
“The Pioneer Assembly? Master could surely take the crown!”
“Yeah. I hadn't planned to enter... but I've changed my mind. I will.”
In the original, this assembly's victor was Yeom Suk—Sea Severing Peak's pride, its strongest direct disciple, a Core Formation powerhouse with no equals below Nascent Soul.