Chapter 103
Translator: T_Fan
“You mean all of them?”
The red-furred merchant swallowed.
‘He just drove Black Horn Immortal Lord knee-deep into the ground… What on earth should I charge him…?’
The merchant was terrified of the great demon before him. His manner was nothing like when he haggled with other members of the demon race at the market; he found himself bowing deeply.
“Most have reached Tier 2, and the rest are all beyond the mid stage of Tier 1… A few of them even know how to handle medicinal ingredients or repair artifacts….”
“So how much?”
“If you take all of them, I will let you have them for three thousand mid-grade spirit stones.”
Lee Hyun looked the people over again.
The collars around their necks suppressed their energy, but the merchant did not seem to have lied about their cultivation realms. One man, however, could not fully straighten his right leg.
When Lee Hyun’s gaze lingered on the man, the merchant hurriedly added,
“With timely treatment, he should have no trouble working.”
Instead of answering, Lee Hyun opened his storage pouch.
Clunk, clatter.
Swords and sabers, small shields, and rings piled up on the stone slab. A box of pill bottles and bundles of talismans landed beside them. These were the items he had decided to sell off from the spoils taken from the Nanming cultivators.
“Do you take things like these as well?”
The merchant’s eyes widened.
After a cautious glance at Lee Hyun’s expression, he picked up the nearest flying sword. He ran a fingernail along the blade, then nodded.
“Yes. Though… I will need to check what kinds of pills these are.”
“I see. All the other items were used by humans, too. Will that be a problem?”
“An artifact simply needs the right owner. There is more demand for talismans like these than one might expect.”
The merchant pushed two pill bottles aside.
“These pills are intended specifically for the human race, so taking them ourselves could be risky. I will have to sell them on to a merchant who trades with humans, which means I cannot offer as much as they would fetch in a human cultivator market.”
“I don’t mind getting a little less for them. Just take everything at once.”
Only then did the merchant’s hands begin to move a little faster.
As he examined the items one by one, he seemed to forget his fear for a while.
He inspected the patterns on the talismans and opened the pill bottles to smell their medicinal fragrance. He also fed a little demon power into each magic tool to check that its restrictions were intact.
Lee Hyun waited for the appraisal to finish without rushing him.
Glancing between the iron post beside him and Lee Hyun standing before it, the merchant took greater care with his appraisal than usual.
After a while, he set down a small mirror.
“If you include this, the items will cover the price.”
“Very well.”
Selling the items individually at cultivator markets might have earned him a few more spirit stones. But taking all that clutter from shop to shop and haggling over it would have been a nuisance.
It was immensely satisfying to clear the clutter out of his storage pouch.
While Lee Hyun cinched the storage pouch shut, the merchant unfastened the chains attached to the iron post and handed over twelve jade tokens. He also included a small jade slip containing instructions for controlling and releasing the restrictions.
“Please take these.”
Finally, he brought out an old bundle.
“These belonged to that lot. None of it is worth anything, but there are some records kept by the ones who claim to know a craft. You may find them useful.”
Lee Hyun put away the jade tokens and the bundle.
Several of the twelve people tensed, as though only now realizing they had been sold.
“You bought quite a few humans.”
Tan Yue approached and looked down at the twelve people.
One of the nearby cultivators drew a sharp breath as his massive frame, nine chi (about 3 m) tall, cast a shadow over them.
“What will you have them do?”
“I thought I might put them to work improving the mountain.”
“Hmm. Even when I bring humans back with me, I never have much for them to do.”
A potbellied great demon drinking nearby laughed.
“Raising them on spirit herbs isn’t a bad idea, either. It cuts down on the gamy smell.”
The color drained from the people’s faces.
Master Hu adjusted his jade spectacles and moved a little closer to Lee Hyun.
“Are you planning to eat them?”
“No.”
Lee Hyun was dumbfounded. What made them think he was so vicious?
“Quite right. Eating just anything is a good way to upset your stomach.”
Tan Yue nodded as well.
Lee Hyun was reminded once again that they belonged to the demon race.
‘These damned beasts! Taking human form certainly hasn’t made them any less savage…’
As the conversation continued, the white-robed mountain lord watched the human cultivators and Lee Hyun from a short distance away, his pupils narrow vertical slits.
***
Back at Qingshi Mountain, Lee Hyun brought the twelve people into the guest room of the cave abode he had prepared aboveground.
As Lee Hyun carried them over the forest in a streak of light, they had been too frightened to speak. They could only stare at the endless sea of trees below or at his back as he led the way.
Little changed after they reached the guest room.
A young cultivator seated near the door glanced at the lake outside, then immediately looked away.
This was the residence of a Tier 4 great demon.
Even without the collars, none of them would have dared try to flee without being noticed by a being on par with a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Lee Hyun examined the jade slip the merchant had given him once more, then raised the first jade token.
“Stay still.”
He channeled his divine sense into the jade token according to the mnemonic formula, and a tangle of threadlike patterns appeared within it.
A middle-aged man’s shoulders twitched.
After examining the energy linking the jade token to the collar, Lee Hyun undid the restrictions one by one. Only when the restraints around the man’s primordial spirit had loosened did a faint sound come from his collar.
Click.
The heavy collar fell to the floor.
The middle-aged man ran a hand over his neck.
“…?”
“Next.”
Lee Hyun released the restrictions on the others in the same way.
As the patterns in the last jade token dispersed, the only sound left in the guest room was the cultivators’ hushed breathing.
Lee Hyun gathered the jade tokens and collars in one place, then gave them water and Hunger-Warding Pills. He also handed healing medicine to the man with the injured leg and the female cultivator whose arm was badly wounded.
The cultivators were all too tense to reach for the medicine.
“The medicine is suitable for you. You can examine it before taking it.”
The middle-aged man cautiously accepted a pill bottle.
After smelling the pills and examining their surfaces, the look in his eyes changed slightly. He passed the bottle to the female cultivator beside him and lifted a bowl of water in both hands.
Only then did the others begin to move.
The sound of gulping continued for some time.
…
Once they had calmed down somewhat, Lee Hyun asked their names, where they came from, and how they had been captured.
Five had been active in the Xu Kingdom, while the other seven said they had come from the Hua Kingdom to the north.
Most had been captured while trying to gather rare spirit plants along the border between the Xu Kingdom and the Cangmang Forest.
As he listened to their stories, Lee Hyun untied the bundle the merchant had handed over with the slaves.
Anything valuable had already been removed.
All that remained were worn robes, small tools, and a few books and jade slips.
“Take back your belongings.”
The people exchanged uncertain glances.
Only after Lee Hyun pushed the bundle a little closer did someone finally reach out. It was the middle-aged man whose collar he had removed first.
The man had just picked up a well-worn jade slip.
“What does that contain?”
“Records concerning medicinal ingredients.”
“May I look at it for a moment?”
The middle-aged man quickly handed over the jade slip, and Lee Hyun sent his divine sense into it.
Images of several medicinal herbs and step-by-step instructions for preparing them passed through his mind. The records were commonplace, but his hand stilled when he reached a section on handling poisonous medicinal herbs.
‘Huh?’
“Where did you learn this?”
“At the Yanxia Sect, in the west of the Xu Kingdom…”
If the middle-aged man offended a Tier 4 great demon, he could be subjected to the Soul-Searching Art and left witless. His safest course was to answer every question obediently.
‘The Yanxia Sect?’
Lee Hyun remembered a small valley with a Tier 2 spirit vein, a courtyard where medicinal ingredients were dried, and disciples’ residences arranged in tiers.
It was the sect founded by Song Qiming, Fang Jiyun, Yue Wugou, and Mei Sujun, who had fled with him when the Danxiao Sect fell long ago.
By his last visit, all that remained of them were their names and memorial tablets in the Ancestral Hall. He himself had taught this method of preparing medicinal ingredients to the sect master there.
“Is the sect still in that valley?”
Confusion spread across the middle-aged man’s face.
Lee Hyun returned the jade slip.
“I mean you no harm. A human cultivator who helped me when I was young said he was from the Yanxia Sect.”
A faint glimmer of hope appeared in the middle-aged man’s startled eyes.
“Yes. As far as I know, our sect has never relocated.”
“Then things must be going well there?”
“Yes. We have had no major troubles.”
Lee Hyun nodded.
“You’re fortunate. Since fate has brought us together, I’ll find a way to get you out of the forest when circumstances allow. Don’t worry. For now, focus on recovering.”
“When you say out of the forest….”
“I mean I’ll set you free and send you back to human lands.”
The cave abode fell silent.
The youngest-looking cultivator blinked several times, then abruptly lowered his head. Tears dripped onto his knees.
“Thank you.”
Words of thanks soon came from all sides. The twelve people’s faces, previously dull with despair, came alive again. Seeing their joy lifted Lee Hyun’s spirits as well.
…
The next day.
Lee Hyun called over the three people who said they knew the artifact-refining art.
Two had made a living repairing magic tools in the Xu Kingdom’s cultivator markets. The third had worked at a flying-boat workshop, where he had been responsible for auxiliary formation inscriptions.
All three had experience working with Tier 2 artifacts.
Lee Hyun brought them to a broad rock beside the lake.
“This is the boat that will take you home.”
He took a small flying boat from his storage pouch.
As the shrinking restriction came undone, the hull resting on his palm slowly expanded. A long deck, cabins, and metal bands around the underside of the hull came into view, and a huge shadow spread over the rock.
It was the medium-sized flying boat he had seized from Yan Wuzhen’s group.
He had removed its sect insignia and tracking restriction long ago. But the hull’s construction and the formation within still clearly marked it as a Yin Bird Sect vessel, so he had not dared sell it or use it openly.
The craftsmen’s expressions tightened.
“Senior, this is….”
The man who had worked at the workshop circled the hull once, then bowed to Lee Hyun.
“With our level of skill, it would be difficult to alter the internal restrictions.”
“I don’t expect that much. Change its appearance and conceal whatever exposed formation inscriptions you can.”
Lee Hyun rested a hand against the hull.
“It only needs to be different enough that no one can tell from a distance that it came from Nanming. Is that possible? And don’t worry, I won’t punish you if you can’t do it.”
The man inspected the boat again.
“We can alter the exterior. It will take some time, however.”
“There’s plenty of time. This is the flying boat I’ll use to get you out of here, so you’ll be helping yourselves.”
“I understand. We will give it a try.”
…
From that day on, the human cultivators began working on the flying boat beside the lake.
Those who had regained their strength came out of the guest rooms to carry materials and sort the removed exterior panels. Under the direction of the Tier 2 artifact refiners, those who knew alchemy helped evenly heat the materials used to join the panels.
Lee Hyun also supplied them with suitable spirit materials. He had been setting aside useful materials from his spoils over time, so he had quite a variety on hand.
He watched from nearby as the Tier 2 artifact refiners worked on the formation inscriptions connected to the exterior restrictions.
“Couldn’t you cut the connection here and reroute it through a new panel?”
“That is an excellent suggestion. However, on vessels like this, the internal formation inscriptions and exterior restrictions sometimes overlap in the same section.”
The man pointed to the edge of the panel.
“We must check here first. This flying boat appears to have been made by a highly accomplished artifact refiner from Nanming. Its structure is quite intricate.”
Lee Hyun extended his divine sense to investigate. Sure enough, another formation inscription had been cleverly layered beneath the thin outer plating.
‘Such fine craftsmanship!’
Lee Hyun liked the flying boat more and more.
The Juniors were sometimes surprised by his questions.
“You even know about this? Few among the human race know such things…”
“I studied a little of the artifact-refining art. I’ve just never built a boat.”
…
Despite their initial fears, the human cultivators lived comfortably on Qingshi Mountain.
The only warning mountain lord Li Dongwu had given them was not to wander off. He said they might be captured by other members of the demon race if they ventured into the forest.
***
Several days later, at night.
Lee Hyun sat in his cave abode and reflected on recent events.
He recalled killing Xiahou Heng and Xiahou Zhen, exchanging blows with Black Horn Immortal Lord, and the words he had traded with the white-robed mountain lord at the gathering.
When the white-robed mountain lord had cast doubt on his bloodline, his very first impulse had been to kill him. Something about that felt wrong.
‘There were plenty of other great demons there….’
Wanting to kill anyone who caused trouble was hardly a good habit. Besides, it was not as though that approach would work against everyone under heaven.
‘Has my way of thinking changed? Is it because of the Golden Core Condensing Pill?’
Lee Hyun closed his eyes.
The Essence-Protecting Seal in his sea of consciousness still held its shape. The protective flow around his primordial spirit showed no abnormalities either, steadily consuming small amounts of magical power.
He visualized the All-Hearing Heavenly King to settle his mind, then examined his primordial spirit and body in turn.
The demon markings were unchanged.
No lingering thoughts from a demon beast remained within them. Nor was there any sign that the impure qi he had expelled while refining the Golden Core Condensing Pill had resurfaced.
Yet whenever he directed his mental intent, a razor-sharp aura accompanied it.
That aura grew more distinct when he pictured an opponent’s throat and vital points. At the same time, a sharp edge crept into the energy circulating through his body.
‘Isn’t this… baleful qi?’
He withdrew his mental intent, then repeated the process.
There was no trace of an outside consciousness invading him.
He had produced it himself.
‘That’s it! All that hunting of Tier 3 demon beasts has caused baleful qi to accumulate in my body. And I’ve fought plenty of human cultivators, too.’
Lee Hyun realized that he had grown accustomed to slaughter without even noticing.
Neither the Essence-Protecting Seal nor the sacred image of the Sumeru Visualization Scripture could prevent every such change. This had come from within him, not from an outside intrusion.
After examining his primordial spirit for a while longer, Lee Hyun suddenly remembered something and opened his storage pouch.
He laid out the jade slips he had acquired during his long stay at Baoguang Temple and checked them one by one. His hand paused over a particular slip.
《Demon-Subduing Baleful-Qi Refining Scripture》
It was one of the Dharma teachings he had copied during his time with Wang Shulin.
He had not examined it closely then, but he remembered reading that practitioners of the Demon-Subduing Court commonly studied it.
Lee Hyun sent his divine sense into the jade slip.
…
Intent to kill was a state of mind.
But when cultivators repeatedly stirred up intent to kill and infused it into their energy, its influence sometimes lingered rather than dispersing, settling in their bodies, their weapons, or the places where they fought.
The Demon-Subduing Baleful-Qi Refining Scripture was a cultivation art for gathering and refining the baleful qi left behind.
Practitioners who spent many years fighting monsters could easily accumulate both the baleful qi they generated themselves and the malign energy picked up on battlefields. Left unchecked, baleful qi could seep from their bodies even when they were not fighting, and circulating their energy could turn their thoughts violent.
This inheritance taught how to contain baleful qi with vow power, purge its unwanted influences, and store it separately for use.
「Blood baleful qi damages flesh and blood, while yin baleful qi is well suited to infiltrating other energies. Earth baleful qi can also arise naturally in old ill-omened sites or earth veins.
The baleful qi tempered by the Demon-Subduing Baleful-Qi Refining Scripture is called Vajra Baleful Qi. Vow power consolidates the baleful qi so that it does not easily disperse upon clashing with other energies.
Baleful qi is ranked from Grade 9 to Grade 1. Foundation Establishment cultivators typically handle Grade 8, while Golden Core cultivators handle Grade 7. Without sufficient refining skill, however, a cultivator may struggle to produce baleful qi of a grade befitting their realm…」
The inheritance went on to describe how to infuse refined baleful qi into weapons and how to nurture and refine artifacts to keep that qi from dispersing. According to the text, cultivators at sufficiently high realms could even condense baleful qi into definite shapes.
Both the amount of baleful qi a cultivator could handle at once and the grade they could refine depended on their cultivation level. Trying to wield baleful qi beyond their capacity could damage their primordial spirit.
‘Using vow power to control baleful qi…’
With the vow power he had built up through the Sutra of Refining Intent into Vow and the baleful qi accumulated within him, he seemed to have what he needed to reach the Novice level in this inheritance.
…
During the day, Lee Hyun checked on the flying boat. At night, he studied the Demon-Subduing Baleful-Qi Refining Scripture in his cultivation chamber.
After about half a month, a small change occurred.
He drew forth a steady, even flow of vow power from the mind seal within his primordial spirit. As he used that power to slowly draw out the sharp energy remaining in his body, a faint thread formed at his fingertips.
‘It’s actually working?’
The thread writhed slightly above his finger, threatening to unravel.
He kept the flow of vow power steady while reciting the inheritance’s mnemonic formula.
After a long while, the thread’s trembling finally subsided. It was far thinner than when he had first gathered it, but the energy it gave off was just as strong.
‘Success. So this is Vajra Baleful Qi…’
Following the prescribed testing method, Lee Hyun applied small increments of magical power to the thin strand of baleful qi. The thread held for a while, but when its tip began to fray, he immediately withdrew his power.
‘It’s barely Grade 8. I’ll need more practice before I can refine it to Grade 7.’
He picked up a small jade bottle he had prepared in advance. Following the instructions in the inheritance, he had engraved a restriction inside it. He slowly guided the thread from his fingertip into the bottle.
Lee Hyun replaced the stopper, sealed the bottle, and held it up.
‘If I build up a supply, I’m sure I’ll find a use for it.’
…
After that, Lee Hyun gathered the baleful qi from his body a little at a time.
Most of the aura radiating from him came from his demon markings, so refining the baleful qi did not make him any less intimidating. Still, the sharp edge to his aura was slowly fading.
***
About a month after he had brought the people back, work on the flying boat’s exterior was largely finished.
They removed the tall ornament at the prow and replaced the curved railings with straight wooden ones. With new exterior panels fitted over the hull, the formerly sleek flying boat now looked like a plain cargo vessel.
Some of the formation inscriptions exposed along the hull had also been altered.
However, the modifications caused the hull to vibrate slightly at higher speeds. The artifact refiners conducted trial runs with people and cargo aboard, adjusting the altered sections one by one.
…
Meanwhile, as he watched his human Juniors work spirit materials with fire, Lee Hyun remembered that, having reached Golden Core, he could now use a Tier 3 core flame himself.
While consulting related records, he found a note in a jade slip suggesting that the Flame-Threading Art could be adapted to control White Bone Yin Fire. He had written it himself while examining the spoils taken from Yan Wuzhen.
‘Come to think of it…’
Lee Hyun converted some of his Primordial True Qi into Profound Yin White Bone True Qi and kindled a small wisp of White Bone Yin Fire. With his other hand, he kindled Clear Yang Purifying Fire using Buddha-Light True Qi formed by adding vow power.
Both flames could now be considered Tier 3 spirit fires.
‘Their spiritual nature still seems lacking compared with the Azure Void Glass Flame Tan Yunsheng used all those years ago… How do I imbue a flame with spiritual nature?’
He split the flames into tiny wisps and moved them about, then suddenly stopped his hands.
‘One is yin, and the other is yang… What happens if I use them together?’
He drew the two flames into fine threads and brought them close together.
Crack!
The point of contact flared violently, and both flames dispersed. Changing their proportions only caused the weaker flame to die out first.
After several more attempts, Lee Hyun tried slowly rotating the two flames around each other in the pattern of the yin–yang symbol.
This time they did not go out immediately. A moment later, however, their balance collapsed, scattering tiny sparks in all directions.
Lee Hyun withdrew the flames and recorded what had happened in a jade slip.
‘Something interesting might come of this… I’ll have to keep studying it, a little at a time.’
***
Another month passed as they continued testing and adjusting the flying boat.
By then, the injured cultivators had almost fully recovered.
‘It should be about time to send them home…’
Lee Hyun unfolded a map and examined the route east.
Since they had agreed at the gathering to tighten security, getting caught trying to sneak out might only make matters worse.
Taking the flying boat to a very high altitude was no better. Sharp-eyed bird demons could easily spot it, and flying so high would only make his actions seem suspicious.
Traveling underground would be troublesome, too. Going alone would have been one thing, but he could not use the Earth Escape Art to carve a passage for twelve people to walk through across such a vast distance.
Cultivators at Foundation Establishment or below could not go long without breathing. Nor could all the human cultivators use techniques such as the Breath-Sealing Art or Air-Clearing Art to get around that problem.
‘I’ll just leave openly, then.’
He had the standing of a Tier 4 great demon. Who would object if he took the humans he had bought out for a trip aboard his flying boat?
…
The flying boat rose a little over one chi above the rock beside the lake.
“It’s ready!”
The man from the flying-boat workshop spoke.
His voice was full of relief.
Lee Hyun circled the boat to inspect it, then climbed aboard.
“Let’s go.”
Once his human Juniors were aboard, the flying boat slowly gained altitude.
The people gripped the deck railings and gazed at the scenery below.
They had not even left the forest yet, but several of them already had red-rimmed eyes.
Standing at the prow, Lee Hyun turned the vessel east.
…
The eastern border of the Cangmang Forest.
As the flying boat approached, two streaks of light shot up from among the branches.
“Who goes there?”
Lee Hyun slowed the boat and floated his identification token where it could be clearly seen.
The approaching demons hurriedly bowed.
“Greetings, mountain lord. Please proceed!”
The flying boat continued past the prohibition markers.
…
Even after leaving the forest, the flying boat continued east for some time.
The giant trees grew sparser, and paths cut by humans appeared along the mountainsides.
The flying boat landed at the foot of a mountain some distance from a cultivator market in the west of the Xu Kingdom. Carts driven by humans came and went along the highway ahead, and the market’s halls were visible beyond a distant hill.
The people disembarked one after another.
Once the last person had stepped off, Lee Hyun shrank the boat and put it in his storage pouch.
Only after the boat vanished before their eyes did the twelve begin patting themselves, trying to be sure they were not dreaming.
They had truly made it out of the Cangmang Forest unharmed!
Lee Hyun took some mid-grade spirit stones from his storage pouch.
“Use these for the journey home.”
The middle-aged man waved both hands in refusal.
“You have already saved our lives. We could not possibly accept this as well….”
“Let a Senior treat his Juniors. Go buy yourselves something nourishing and build your strength back up.”
When he gave each of them ten mid-grade spirit stones, they were all delighted.
After putting away their spirit stones, the people bowed to Lee Hyun.
“We will never forget your kindness, Senior. From now on, we will not kill members of the demon race indiscriminately.”
“Hm? You can kill demons. The demon race is just a name that lumps countless different races together. There’s no one else in the Cangmang Forest who shares my bloodline.”
The twelve bid Lee Hyun farewell, descended to the highway, and soon disappeared beyond the hill.
Lee Hyun lingered alone at the foot of the mountain for a moment, then turned to leave.
…
He was well on his way back toward the forest.
As he passed through a deserted rocky valley, Lee Hyun suddenly looked up.
A white speck was descending from beneath the clouds.
It soon stretched into a long streak of light and shot down onto a rock across the valley.
Thud.
‘A Tier 4 demon? This guy…’
It was the white-robed mountain lord he had seen at the recent gathering!
‘What was his name again…’
“Fellow Daoist Li. First you buy human slaves, and then you even give them money for the journey home.”
The white-robed mountain lord kept his distance rather than coming closer.
‘What a nuisance.’
Before answering, Lee Hyun spread out his divine sense.
He scanned behind rocks, between trees, and along the ridgelines on either side of the valley in turn. He also used the Aura-Reading Art and Farsight Art to inspect the more distant ridges.
He could detect no other presences.
Only then did he look back at the guy in front of him.
‘At least that’s a relief. Early Tier 4, is he…?’
“What brings you here?”
“I came to satisfy my curiosity. Plenty of fellow practitioners don’t eat humans. I have no intention of interfering with that. But to purchase them, care for them for two whole months, and then let them walk free?”
“Do I need permission to dispose of my own property?”
“No, but…”
Lee Hyun watched him in silence.
“Have you grown attached to humans after living in their lands for so long? Or perhaps… are you human?”
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