Chapter 25
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 25
After sternly instructing the Bamboo Tube Beauty to never waste her power recklessly, the two returned to the Great Martial Dao outpost.
Hong Sa-deuk had initially brightened up, assuming their mission had concluded smoothly, but he scratched his cheek in awkward embarrassment after hearing the full story.
“Kim Si-won, you say... So that's the story behind it... What do you intend to do now?”
“First, I plan to report the situation to the main mountain and request permission to track down this cultivator.”
“They likely won't pay much attention to such a minor affair... but reporting it beforehand is certainly a good idea. When I send a messenger talisman, I'll enclose the wanted poster you showed me to see if anyone named Kim Si-won is registered among our affiliated cultivators. Soran, make copies of this wanted poster.”
“Yes, Master. How many should I draw?”
“Plenty. We'll probably need over a hundred. For now, just quickly draw a few.”
“Yes, sir.”
Bowing her head politely, the servant girl quickly began copying the wanted poster with brush and ink.
In the meantime, Ise voiced a thought to Hong Sa-deuk.
“Do you think Kim Si-won is his real name?”
The answer to Ise's question came from Seol Ryeong.
“It probably is. A cultivator's name carries their fate. That's why it's best not to use an alias if possible—especially while practicing cultivation.”
“Haha. Quite accurate,” Hong Sa-deuk agreed.
“Then, we'll leave this in your hands.”
Hong Sa-deuk advised them to rest and get a meal, assuring them it wouldn't take long.
Thinking to himself, He really is a good person, Ise filled his stomach, sat cross-legged, and engaged in light cultivation.
The 3-Star realm felt tantalizingly close, yet just out of reach.
Still, perhaps because his senses had been sharpened during his exchange with Juktong-i, the movement of his spiritual energy possessed a far sharper edge than before.
He felt that even if he couldn't wrap up the demon ghost hunt right away, he might still be able to break through to 3-Star.
Half a day after Ise began his meditation, Hong Sa-deuk returned with news.
“Has a reply arrived already?”
“Half a day is actually quite delayed. A messenger talisman takes only half an hour to make a round trip. Since it's a mission for initiate disciples, it seems to have been pushed down the priority list.”
Ise looked curiously at the talisman Hong Sa-deuk was holding.
It truly seemed like a convenient item.
Hong Sa-deuk handed the folded message directly to Ise.
Written inside were two simple characters: Granted (許), and None (無).
Just two characters.
Their meaning was clear: You are permitted to track the cultivator, and There is no such person registered under the Great Martial Dao.
Ise showed the characters to the other two.
“If he isn't a disciple of the Great Martial Dao or its secular branches, he must be a rogue cultivator. Tracking down a Qi Refining rogue cultivator based on fifty-year-old information is practically impossible, but...”
“Could you perhaps gather information from the nearby villages? I only intend to search for about a week.”
“Yes, of course. We must cooperate. I would just be grateful if you could score us generously when evaluating our mission support.”
“Of course.”
Beside him, Seol Ryeong chimed in cheekily.
“Hey, he's the top student of this intake. Make a good impression on him now, and you might get some sweet kickbacks later.”
“Haha. To think I am assisting such prominent figures. It is an honor if you simply remember me. How could I dare ask for more from inner gate disciples? I shall assist you with everything I have.”
“Thank you. Still, since the target is a cultivator, please tell your people not to overextend themselves and to be careful not to leave any traces.”
“Understood.”
Hong Sa-deuk stepped back briefly and gestured, prompting a steady crowd of people to pour in from somewhere.
None of them were staff from the Great Martial Dao's outer gate—they were clearly people employed by Hong Sa-deuk personally.
It was a scene that once again highlighted the sheer prestige of the Great Martial Dao.
Leaving behind the crowd as they dispersed in an orderly fashion, Ise and Seol Ryeong decided to do a circuit around Namsan Valley themselves.
However, actually trying to find traces of a cultivator from fifty years ago felt utterly daunting.
They searched all of Namsan Valley trying to uncover anything unusual, but the sun set without any real harvest.
The two sat at the entrance of the valley, lighting a fire and roasting sweet potatoes.
Seol Ryeong looked at Ise, who was poking at the embers with a blank expression, and asked,
“What are you thinking about?”
“Just... thinking it's strange.”
“Strange?”
“That cultivator was trying to steal Juktong-i's spiritual nature for his cultivation, right?”
“Probably. Unless he was a Daoist of the Great Martial Dao, encountering a spirit creature would be considered a heaven-sent fated opportunity.”
“The bamboo forest where Juktong-i lived must have been the optimal place for her to grow. If he had cultivated there, he could have exploited her spiritual nature for much longer. Why did that cultivator bother dragging her all the way up here?”
Prompted by Ise's question, Seol Ryeong put herself in the cultivator's shoes to analyze the situation.
I am a poor rogue cultivator with neither backing nor connections.
My talent is so meager that I couldn't even join a cultivation sect.
In that state, while wandering all over the Three Peninsular Kingdoms, I miraculously stumbled upon a fated opportunity.
What would I have done...?
The answer was relatively simple.
“You'd be terrified,” she said.
Undeserved luck breeds fear.
“He must have been scared. That place was likely rich in Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, so he would have judged that other cultivators could discover it at any time.”
“He found a precious opportunity to raise his cultivation realm, but he was terrified of when and by whom it might be stolen. So, the next thing a cultivator would do...”
“Is find a safe place.”
“Next strange point: Why didn't the cultivator destroy the spirit creature once he was done with it, but instead moved it elsewhere and abandoned it?”
“Mmm...”
Seol Ryeong wrinkled her chin in deep thought as she pondered further.
There were several hypotheses this time, but the most likely was this:
“If you tamper with a spirit creature incorrectly, it might corrupt and turn into a demon ghost like an earthbound spirit...”
“Which means the place he brought her to was extremely important to that rogue cultivator.”
A cultivator—especially a rogue cultivator without any backing—would consider such a place both immensely safe and absolutely vital.
“He had a cave abode here.”
“A cave abode.”
The two spoke almost simultaneously.
A cave abode was a cultivator's private, secret sanctuary.
While cultivators belonging to cultivation sects possessed a guaranteed safe environment within sect grounds rich in Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, the world of rogue cultivators was a literal battlefield.
Securing a safe place to cultivate was the very first step.
However, locations suitable for a cave abode were rare.
Because of the fluid nature of Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, it was difficult to maintain long-term cultivation in a single spot.
Yet occasionally, there were places where the energy flowing along the earth's ley lines did not disperse, but accumulated instead.
Places where Heaven and Earth spiritual energy pooled in abundance.
Such places were called grotto-heavens. The cultivator who discovered one would erect all sorts of barriers to claim it, construct a cave abode, and reside there long-term.
“If his cave abode is here and he is still alive, chances are high he hasn't left.”
Discovering a grotto-heaven, and obtaining a spirit creature.
For a rogue cultivator, he was exceptionally lucky.
“If we look for places where a cave abode could be, our search direction will become much clearer.”
Somewhere mortals wouldn't shed turbid qi.
Deep within the mountains, a cultivator's cave abode had to be hidden somewhere.
Searching for a 'cave abode' rather than a 'person' felt at least somewhat more tangible.
“The problem is the opponent's cultivation realm...”
Finding the cave abode seemed remote enough, but actually locating it posed its own problems.
They would need to be at a similar realm to even engage in dialogue with the owner.
Let alone the Foundation Establishment Stage, even a cultivator past the mid Qi Refining Stage might take offense at someone merely trying to speak with them.
And approaching someone's cave abode uninvited was practically a declaration of war.
“I wonder if this is the right move. The first rule of ghost exorcism is to never march toward an unknown enemy.”
“Why is he an unknown enemy? We have plenty of information to deduce things.”
“How does it look to you? Could that cultivator have reached the Foundation Establishment Stage?”
“No way. With talent so mundane that he couldn't even join a sect, most cultivators like that wouldn't even overcome the wall of 5-Star Qi Refining by age seventy.”
“It's that tough?”
“Do you think immortal cultivation is child's play? Seventy? Most rogue cultivators pass away without ever breaking through the first minor realm boundary at 5-Star Qi Refining. The average lifespan of a Qi Refining cultivator is 150 years... spending 150 years cultivating and still barely having a chance to cross into 5-Star—that is the harsh reality of the path of cultivation. Of course, that doesn't apply to off-the-charts geniuses like us.”
Minor realms.
Advancing in immortal cultivation was like climbing steps, but encountering a realm boundary felt as if a sheer wall had suddenly appeared.
Whenever a cultivator's progress stalled, it was usually one of these boundaries blocking their path.
Minor realm boundaries, like transitioning from 4-Star to 5-Star, or 7-Star to 8-Star.
Or major realm boundaries, like advancing from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment, or Foundation Establishment to Core Formation.
“Rarely, there are talented individuals who shine even on their own... but if he had enough talent to reach Foundation Establishment as a rogue cultivator, a cultivation sect or clan would have accepted him in the first place. He wouldn't have been roaming every corner of the peninsula in early Qi Refining searching for a fated opportunity.”
She added that he was likely a dullard at worst, or mediocre at best.
Concerned by her dismissive attitude, Ise pointed it out to her.
“So in the worst-case scenario, an off-the-charts genius could end up getting killed by such a mediocre dullard. There couldn't be a more pointless death.”
“...We'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen.”