Chapter 32
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 32
U Jeol stared at Ise for a long moment before murmuring softly.
"Impressive."
The word was heavy with genuine admiration. At that, the whispering crowd fell dead silent.
"Let me explain why I didn't even bother mentioning the 5-Star realm," U Jeol said. "Anyone who has reached 3-Star, raise your hand."
Despite U Jeol's words, the room remained as still as a placid lake. Then, a single hand slowly rose into the air.
It belonged to Hae Un-chan.
"Even the exalted Heavenly Root Body remains at 3-Star. Now, those who have achieved at least 2-Star, raise your hands."
Fewer than ten hands went up.
That meant the vast majority of the disciples were still stuck at the 1-Star Qi Refining Stage.
"This is only natural," U Jeol continued. "Barely a month and a half has passed since you began. This means your rate of advancement is abnormally fast. Do you understand?"
"...Yes."
"It is nothing to be ashamed of, but do not let it breed arrogance. Envy is a venomous viper, and a wall comes for every cultivator eventually."
"I will take your teachings to heart."
U Jeol looked straight into Ise's eyes. They were clear—entirely devoid of falsehood or pretense.
It was a genuine relief.
The instructor had seen all too often what happened when those hailed as geniuses lacked the character to match their talent. Whether that character would endure the test of time remained to be seen, but for now, it was necessary to give the boy a reality check. He had to do it for the sake of Ise's own future development, and to spare the other disciples from comparing themselves, blaming themselves, and ultimately falling into despair.
"By the standards of the Great Martial Dao, breaking through from the Qi Refining Stage to the Foundation Establishment Stage takes a minimum of twenty years. To date, the fastest record belongs to Hall Master Woo Yu-hee of Winged Dragon Hall, who achieved Foundation Establishment in just nine years. She is the youngest person to ever reach the Core Formation Stage and the youngest to be appointed a Hall Master. Possessing a heaven-defying comprehension, she has shattered every record and is widely considered the only one capable of catching up to Hall Master Hae Il's realm."
Winged Dragon Hall Master Woo Yu-hee.
She was such a legendary figure that even Ise knew her name, though he couldn't recall her face since she had worn a mask during the final stage of the entrance exam.
"Even Hall Master Woo Yu-hee took a full year to reach 5-Star Qi Refining. Perhaps you might even surpass that."
"You praise me too highly," Ise replied humbly.
U Jeol brought his digression to a close and shifted to the main topic.
"The key insight of the 5-Star realm is Spiritual Energy Manifestation. It is the process of converting the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy inside your body into Dharma Power. This is a crucial stage that maximizes the power of your spiritual energy by manifesting the Five Elements or other natural attributes of heaven and earth."
Ise's eyes gleamed as he waited for U Jeol to continue, determined not to miss a single syllable.
"5-Star Qi Refining is the first true bottleneck that cultivators encounter... It is often called the Wall of Wailing, the hardest hurdle to overcome in the lower realms."
U Jeol hesitated, clearly lost in thought for a moment. Ise did not interrupt the silence.
"Explaining the process of cultivation is like explaining how to move your own limbs. You acquire the ability naturally, but putting it into words is terribly tricky. Spiritual Energy Manifestation is even worse. It feels like trying to move a tail that doesn't even exist."
A non-existent tail.
Ise thought the expression was exceedingly apt. Even for him, who had bounded up the previous steps of cultivation as if leaping over puddles, this wall was something he couldn't quite grasp.
"However, if I were to give you one meaningful piece of advice: obtain a secret manual that matches your Spirit Root and steadily practice its Dharma Spells. Let me recommend one for you. Your Spirit Root is..."
U Jeol stopped mid-sentence, searching his memory.
He suddenly remembered that the young cultivator standing before him was a subject under close observation, per the request of Hall Master Kang I-tae. Ise possessed a unique constitution; his Spirit Root type simply could not be identified.
Because of this, he would have to overcome the wall of this minor realm purely through his own comprehension. Whether that was a blessing or a curse depended entirely on the boy himself.
"It seems it's hardly my place to meddle," U Jeol finally said. "Do your best."
"...Yes. Thank you."
"We will end today's lesson here. You are all dismissed."
* * *
As soon as the lecture ended, three cultivators rushed over to Ise.
It was Hae Un-chan, Pi Ga-ram, and Seol Ryeong.
"Long time no see."
Except for Seol Ryeong, whom he had recently accompanied on a mission, it had been a while since he had seen their faces.
"I swear, when you went on that mission with me, you had just reached 3-Star..." Seol Ryeong groaned. "My god... How can the world be so unfair?!"
"That's just how it turned out," Ise replied.
"'That's just how it turned out' my foot!" Seol Ryeong burst out in frustration.
Despite her outburst, Hae Un-chan voiced genuine admiration.
"It's really incredible, Ise. Honestly, I know that speed defies all logic, but it's truly admirable."
"I just got lucky, I guess."
"Being that modest is just excessive at this point. A pace even faster than Hall Master Woo Yu-hee..."
Ise found it hard to reply, so he merely nodded.
It literally had just turned out that way. He knew he had focused harder than the others, but in truth, he had simply been born with the sheer luck of a special constitution.
Whether Hae Un-chan read the expression on Ise's face or not, he patted his friend's shoulder and added, "In the cultivation world, talent itself is strength and capability. As the saying goes, Heaven bestows talent upon those who deserve it."
"Coming from the mouth of someone with a Heavenly Root Body, that sounds thoroughly unconvincing," Pi Ga-ram deadpanned from the side.
Hae Un-chan burst into hearty laughter. "Hahaha!"
"Anyway, I'm thinking of taking on missions soon too," Hae Un-chan said. "I feel like just cultivating in seclusion has its limits."
"That's a good call."
"I'm keeping a close eye on you, you know. You're my rival, and my proud friend. I'll work hard to catch up to you, but I won't be impatient."
Ise looked at Hae Un-chan for a moment before nodding. He didn't really have anything to say to that. It was just this guy's habit to spout cringe-worthy lines without batting an eye.
Seol Ryeong grumbled from the side. "Seriously, you monsters are insufferable. How is someone who hasn't even raised their realm supposed to live through this heartbreak?"
"I hit 2-Star, though," Pi Ga-ram interjected quietly.
"You are the absolute worst, seriously!"
At Seol Ryeong's cute complaint, the three of them burst out laughing.
Her complaint didn't feel uncomfortable because there was no real envy or malice behind it.
Cultivation was a lonely battle. In the end, it was an absolute evaluation, not a relative one. The only things one had to overcome were their own constitution, talent, and comprehension.
"Ah, right. I heard news that Hall Master Hong Mi-hui will be distributing Dharma Artifacts to us soon," Ise said, speaking up as if he had just remembered.
All three of their faces brightened at once.
Seeing them look like younger siblings eagerly waiting for their New Year's gift money, Ise couldn't hold back a chuckle.
* * *
Three months later.
Personal Training Room in the Training Center.
"Heavens..."
Ise muttered, staring blankly at the patterns on the wall of his personal training room. He had stared at them so long they were now intimately familiar.
"Why am I..."
It had been three months.
"Still..."
For three full months, he had thrown himself against the barrier of the minor realm. Yet, far from breaking through, he couldn't even grasp a hint of it.
Truly, he hadn't found even the slightest sliver of a clue.
It meant he had simply been sitting in the training room, banging his head against a brick wall and wasting time.
He had tried everything he could think of.
Some might scoff, claiming three months was a short time for a cultivator, but he had been sleeping less than four hours a day. Giving up the mortal joys of food, he endured solely on fasting pills and devoted his entire existence to cultivation.
Yet the wall of the minor realm seemed to mock him, refusing to reveal even a glimpse of a breakthrough.
Let me just go on a mission.
In the past, the only thing that had broken through his stalled cultivation was actual combat. Besides, wasn't the cultivation art of the Great Martial Dao rooted in tempering the body and advancing realms through life-and-death battles?
Stop wasting time and go take a mission.
If secluded cultivation wasn't working, it was better to move his body. Having made up his mind, Ise stood up.
From a recent meeting with Park Gang-seo, he had heard that Hae Un-chan was still the only initiate disciple who had broken through to 3-Star. Most of the others, stuck at 2-Star, had gradually begun taking on missions.
Hearing that made him wonder if his current pace was actually completely normal, yet he couldn't stop the anxiety creeping into the corner of his heart.
He said it's hard to explain because it's something acquired naturally.
A non-existent tail.
He had been chewing on U Jeol's words for three months, and he still didn't understand them.
Just as Ise let out a heavy sigh and prepared to take a step toward the door—
Wuuung.
A bizarre vibration rippled across all of Cheongsan. An overwhelmingly destructive, yet strangely auspicious aura surged forth.
Startled, Ise reflexively looked around.
The flow of spiritual energy covering the entirety of Cheongsan was violently shifting in one direction. It was as if something colossal had suddenly descended, physically shoving the surrounding spiritual energy out of its way.
The source is...
Right in front of his personal training room.
Right under his nose.
He reflexively channeled his spiritual energy to protect himself.
However, at that exact moment, the entire personal training room building lifted into the air, leaving only the bare floor behind.
"......?"
Faced with this surreal and bewildering sight, Ise could only blink like an idiot.
"......?"
This was a space explicitly constructed for cultivators to train. The walls were reinforced with arrays; a building that wouldn't even crack under ordinary martial force... was simply being lifted into the sky?
What on earth—?
"There you are! Hello, babies."
Ise and the other initiate disciples, who had been exposed to the open air by this sudden natural disaster, looked up and discovered the source of the calamity.
It was a Core Formation cultivator holding a folding fan in one hand, dressed in an elegantly tailored red Daoist robe. Vermilion Bird Hall Master Hong Mi-hui.
She was gazing down at them casually, as if searching for a lost trinket in the grass.
Spotting Ise, Hong Mi-hui offered a sickeningly sweet smile.
Then, she set the massive building right back down as if it weighed nothing at all.
Thump!
A massive tremor traveled up through the soles of Ise's feet. Screams of sheer terror burst out from the disciples trapped inside the structure.
Without batting an eye at the screaming, Hong Mi-hui casually opened the door to Ise's personal training room.
By unspoken rule, a personal training room was a sacred space that no one could enter without permission. However, such unspoken rules were ultimately meant for weaker subordinates. To a mighty cultivator capable of casually lifting an entire building, it was apparently a completely useless rule.
"Baby."
"Yes, Hall Master."
Hong Mi-hui pulled an ornate box out of her storage pouch and smiled radiantly.
Just as Ise was thinking about how chillingly lethal that smile looked—
"I've made a treasure for you."
Ise immediately bowed with the utmost courtesy.
What did rules matter?
In front of a precious treasure, even that chilling smile looked like nothing less than captivating beauty.