Chapter 55
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 55
Three pure-blood cultivators stood stiffly in a neat row on the opposite side of the sparring arena.
Their hands fidgeted at the ends of their scabbards, and they kept their heads bowed, swallowing dry coughs. One of them stole nervous glances at Ise before hurriedly looking away.
Their attitude was undeniably polite, but anyone could tell it was far from normal.
Ise narrowed his eyes slightly.
‘The effect is definitely there... but like this? Will this even be a proper dharma battle?’
It was true he had handled them a bit harshly to prevent any future trouble. Still, he couldn't leave official disciples of the Great Martial Dao as complete wrecks. Ise let out a soft sigh.
Organizing his thoughts, he looked at the three cultivators. Just meeting his gaze caused their shoulders to tense up automatically—it was quite a sight.
“Relax. As long as you don't cross the line first, I have no intention of laying a finger on you again. I'll go easy on you, so show me what you've cultivated. Your families are watching, after all.”
Breathing sighs of relief at his calm tone, the cultivators immediately shouted back, “Yes! Thank you for your mercy, Senior!”
...Why do they keep shouting?
Ise waved his hand to dismiss them.
Gazes landed on him from both sides. It was Hong Won-seo and Hae Un-chan.
“...Just what on earth have you been doing since coming to the Main Mountain?”
“Establishing a hierarchy.”
“……”
Hong Won-seo shook her head in disbelief.
“Haha. You really are something,” Hae Un-chan let out a dry laugh, looking over at their retreating opponents. Perhaps disappointed by their cultivation realm, he exhaled a barely audible sigh. “Can I ask you two a favor? I'd like to face them alone in this dharma battle.”
“Go ahead.”
Knowing that these cultivators from the Main Mountain wouldn't be a match for Hae Un-chan even if all three attacked at once, Ise agreed without complaint. Once this dharma battle ended, they, too, would realize that a cultivation realm wasn't everything.
Hong Won-seo looked back and forth between Hae Un-chan and Ise before answering nonchalantly, “Sure. Go for it.”
Hae Un-chan offered a bright smile.
Soon, the current match of the Dharma Battle Tournament for Qi Refining Cultivators came to an end, and the stage was cleared. When their turn was called, the three of them stepped onto the sparring arena together.
Hae Un-chan stepped forward while the other two backed away. Instantly, murmurs spread through the crowd.
“What is he doing?”
“Looks like he's going to fight them alone?”
“No way. Is he joking?”
“There were rumors that the disciples from the Training Center this time have insane talent...”
“Has anyone from the Training Center ever won in the Exchange Meeting over the past few decades?”
The mortals chattered curiously at the sight, while the cultivators—after checking Hae Un-chan's cultivation realm—criticized him for his arrogance.
“Taking on three at once? Quite an arrogant fellow.”
“That cultivator... he's that guy. The grand-nephew of Hall Master Hae Il.”
“Turns out he has the confidence to match.”
Finding the surrounding chatter amusing, Ise snickered, prompting Hong Won-seo to scold him.
“At least pretend to prepare.”
“Begin.”
At the announcement, Hae Un-chan slowly placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. It was his signature sword-drawing stance—a flashy, exaggerated posture that Hae Un-chan pushed as his own personal, badass style.
The hand gripping the scabbard slowly loosened, then tightened again. At that single, small motion, the shoulders of the three pure-bloods stiffened even further.
Then, the draw.
Streams of water shot from the blade, turning into crescent moon shapes as they flew toward each of the opposing cultivators.
Watching with interest, Ise pointed out, “If he's going to use dharma spells like that, wouldn't it be better to do it barehanded?”
“They say that sword explosively amplifies the power of Water Attribute dharma spells,” Hong Won-seo replied.
“So he's a fake swordsman.”
The three cultivators blocked Hae Un-chan's initial attack in their own ways, then split in three directions and rushed him simultaneously—front, left diagonal, and right diagonal.
The tip of Hae Un-chan's foot pivoted slightly. A dharma spell unfolded alongside his clean, downward sword strike, blocking the cultivators' advance and forcing them onto the defensive instead.
Then, in a flash, the dharma spell seamlessly shifted. The shooting stream of water stopped and extended outward from the tip of the blade like the Flow-Dividing Art, swirling violently into a vortex.
Gale Water Illusion Art.
Vortex Art.
Ise's eyes turned serious.
As a Single Spirit Root Cultivator, Hae Un-chan could not master anything other than Water Attribute dharma spells. Honestly, while his fast cultivation speed was a plus, Ise had always thought this limitation made his weakness far too obvious.
However, the power of the dharma spell Hae Un-chan just demonstrated far exceeded that of a 5-Star. It was strong enough to completely overturn the elemental counter relationship of Earth Overcomes Water.
The other two cultivators had already been swept away by the vortex and flung out of bounds. Ju Gu-yeon, who had tried to block the attack with an Earth Attribute Defensive Spell, strained with all his might before his defense shattered, sending him collapsing to the ground.
‘So he wanted to show me this.’
Hae Un-chan likely wanted to show off his achievements and his current level, as if shouting that he was right on Ise's heels.
Hae Un-chan ran a hand through his disheveled hair, lifted his chin, and looked at Ise. His eyes seemed to ask, ‘How was that?’
Ise nodded slowly.
An impressive dharma spell. For a 5-Star.
*
No sooner had the dharma battle ended than cultivators from the Main Mountain swarmed around Hae Un-chan.
“I heard there was a genius among this batch of initiates. So it was you!”
“Why not stop by our gathering sometime? It's a place where fellow daoists who walk the path of the sword often hang out.”
“By any chance, are you in touch with Hall Master Hae Il?”
“Senior, do you have any intention of going on a mission together? I'm a Dark Snake with a very high mission success rate.”
Clearly not expecting such a crowd, Hae Un-chan was trapped and flustered, unsure of what to do.
Taking advantage of the situation, Ise slipped away from the crowd. Hong Won-seo naturally fell into step beside him.
“He sure likes being the center of attention,” she remarked.
“Thanks to him, it ended comfortably for us,” Ise replied. “Draws less attention to us, too.”
Just then, the sound of clapping came from nearby.
“Hoho, things turned out completely different from what I expected. Then again, there was no need for Senior to step up, was there?”
It was Park Gang-seo. He approached with a pleased expression. Feigning innocence, he lightly draped an arm around Ise's shoulder and leaned in close to whisper in his ear.
“By the way... there's a rumor going around that you beat up all the pure-bloods beforehand to give them some mental discipline?”
“It's a false rumor. Who's spreading such malicious lies?”
“Who else? Senior's left-hand man.”
“Bu Chun?”
“Yeah, Senior's left hand. Naturally, I'm the right hand.”
Thinking he really needed to teach Bu Chun how to keep his mouth shut, Ise pushed Park Gang-seo's arm away. He checked briefly—no Lingering Scent Powder had been left behind on his clothes.
“When did you two get so close?”
“Isn't it good for the right and left hands to get along? Anyway, Senior, when are you going to check on my cultivation progress?”
“When I have time.”
“When will that be—hey, wait for me!”
*
That night, at his residence.
Ise sat cross-legged and slowly began to circulate the spiritual energy inside his body.
The wall of the 8-Star realm. He was facing the minor bottleneck head-on.
The core mantra of the 8-Star was Cleansing Turbidity and Purifying the Spirit. It was the stage of sifting out the turbid qi from the spiritual energy flowing through the body and discarding it, leaving behind only the purest spiritual energy.
In the subsequent 9-Star stage, Rebirthing Bones and Casting Spirit, one would use that refined spiritual energy to break their mortal bones and reshape them into Spirit Bones.
Upon reaching Great Completion—Shedding the Mortal Body and Rebirthing the Spirit—even the skin and internal organs would be broken down and remade.
When that happened, only the brain remained untouched. It was a grueling, almost gruesome process to be reborn with a body completely devoid of turbid qi.
From this point on, a single misstep could turn a cultivator into a cripple. Every step had to be taken with the utmost care.
At the end of it all, a body possessing Invulnerability to Swords and Blades and Invulnerability to All Poisons would be completed, finally granting the cultivator the right to step onto the threshold of the Foundation Establishment Stage.
Ise let out a long breath.
It sounded simple enough when put into words, but the actual process was far from easy.
First, one had to empty the spiritual energy inside their body until it was almost completely depleted. Then, utilizing the Profundity of Spirit Attraction of the 7-Star, one had to selectively draw in only the pure energy—completely unmixed with turbid qi—from the countless spiritual energies wandering between heaven and earth.
This had to be done until the body developed a constitution that naturally rejected turbid qi and accepted only pure spiritual energy.
It was a task of endlessly repeating the same process, like shaking sand through a sieve over and over to filter out every single impurity.
Tedious and stifling, but there were no shortcuts.
Once he clearly identified the nature of the wall ahead of him, his mind actually calmed down. What he needed right now was not enlightenment, but spiritual energy and time—and vast amounts of both.
His instincts told him that the amount of energy required to leap into the 8-Star realm was easily double what he currently held.
He lightly got up from his seat.
Reach Great Completion before the Secret Realm opened, obtain a fated opportunity inside, and cross the threshold into the Foundation Establishment Stage in one bound.
That was the route he had mapped out.
The following day, at the start of the new year, Ise headed to the Mission Pavilion in the Administrative District.
The Mission Pavilion was the most crowded building in the entire Administrative District. It was a three-story pavilion, neatly finished in black wood from its foundation all the way to its eaves.
The first floor was a plaza-like hall responsible for posting and accepting missions, its walls densely lined with notices on all sides.
On the second floor sat the officials managing contribution points and organizing tasks. The center of the third floor was wide open, with countless messenger talismans flying back and forth while cultivators busily scurried around to catch them.
Realizing that all those messenger talismans flying around had actually been operated manually this whole time, Ise let out a dry chuckle.
‘I guess this is semi-automated in its own way.’
Formal Disciples continuously filed in and out of the first floor to check the boards. Ise slowly swept his gaze along the walls as well.
– Exterminating Plague Ghosts around Dongheung Valley. (Requirement: Shaman at Mid Qi Refining Stage or higher.)
– Seeking a private tutor for a child cultivator (Three-Spirit Root, 8 years old) preparing for the entrance exam. (Requirement: Top or second rank in the entrance exam.)
– Search for missing persons in Soha County. (Requirement: Dark Snake at Mid Qi Refining Stage or higher.)
– Custom Dharma Artifact crafting request. (Requirement: Artifact Crafter at Late Qi Refining Stage or higher.)
– Supervision of workers at the Spirit Stone Mine during the First Month. (Requirement: None.)
– Infiltration of Jeong Empire, monitoring movements of Saehyun Gate. (Requirement: Foundation Establishment Stage, available for at least three years. Official mission transferable.)
– [URGENT] Request for rescue of mission team. (Requirement: Nang Pavilion, Foundation Establishment Stage.)
The scale and variety of the missions were impressive enough to naturally evoke a single thought: ‘As expected of the Main Mountain.’
Ise's fingers slowly skimmed across the mission notices.
Missions to hunt demonic beasts suitable for spirit food ingredients; missions to hunt demonic cultivators for a lucrative extra income; safe and reasonable escort missions.
The choices suited for novice mission-seekers usually revolved around those three categories. Ise's hand naturally drifted in that direction.
Then, his finger stopped over a certain mission.
He read the details once more, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
‘...Looks like an interesting mission. And the perks that come with it are pretty sweet, too.’
In particular, the fact that retrying the mission was impossible—meaning there were severe penalties for failure—made it feel almost as if the task had been waiting for him.