Chapter 45
Translator: T_Fan
Lee Hyun examined the mnemonic formula of the Swarm Shared-Seal Art and the structure of the Spirit-Nurturing Seal in turn.
From the basics of inscribing a Spirit-Nurturing Seal on an individual spirit insect, to choosing the core members of a swarm and splitting their imprints into hundreds or thousands of branches.
‘I’ll need a few months of practice.’
Click.
His two shichen (about four hours) of reading time came to an end.
When he stepped outside, the disciple on duty took back the blue token.
Lee Hyun left the Outer Pavilion of the Scripture Pavilion and looked up toward the Inner Pavilion.
A translucent barrier still hung across the entrance to the stairs leading up to the Inner Pavilion, which seemed to touch the clouds.
‘If I become an inner disciple, I’ll be able to see the inheritances in there too…’
***
Two and a half months later.
The probationary period at the Outer Alchemy Court ended.
After completing all the basic duties assigned to him in the medicinal-ingredient room, pill inspection room, and alchemy chamber, Lee Hyun applied for leave.
“Twenty-five days of leave?”
Yang Jinping asked as he looked over the ledger.
“Yes.”
Yang Jinping checked the quantity and quality of the pills Lee Hyun had submitted over the past three months.
“You’ve submitted more than the required amount and haven’t caused any trouble, so I’ll approve it.”
“Thank you.”
…
Nine days later.
「Tunnel No. 3」
Thud.
Lee Hyun dropped from the ceiling into the cavern.
“It’s too… far!”
Lee Hyun had traveled a staggering 58,000 li (about 22,700 km) northwest from Danxiao Immortal City!
That was because Tunnel No. 3 lay at the far northwestern edge of Kun Kingdom, while Danxiao Sect was situated east of the kingdom’s central region.
‘The water-supply system can last three years, so from now on, I’d better stretch out the interval between visits a little more.’
Lee Hyun opened the spirit-insect pouch.
Bzzz– Bzzzzzz–
Around a hundred fuzzbees poured out like a golden cloud.
After finally emerging into a wide-open space again, the fellows flew frantically around the tunnel.
The fuzzbees living around the hunting tunnel and spirit field heard the beating of wings and came swarming over as well. Once the two groups mingled, the number of fuzzbees drifting through the cavern swelled to over a thousand.
Chirp! Chirp chirp!
“Have you been well?”
Chirp.
“All you’ve done is eat and sleep, so of course you have.”
Instead of answering, the fuzzbees circled around his body and head.
A few of them began tugging on Lee Hyun’s hair.
“Don’t pull on it.”
…
Lee Hyun led the fuzzbees into the largest cavern.
A shallow stone bowl he had prepared beforehand sat on the floor.
He filled the bowl with water created using the Spirit Rain Art, then dissolved a spoonful of Hundred-Flower Honey he had bought at the cultivator market into it. Following the mnemonic formula of the Swarm Shared-Seal Art, he then released a thin stream of Primordial True Qi from his fingertip.
Hummmm–
A faint glow seeped into the sweetened water in the bowl.
Catching the sweet scent, the fuzzbees crowded around the stone bowl.
Bzzzzzzzz–
“Don’t eat yet.”
Chirp?
The fellows did not understand Lee Hyun’s words.
Lee Hyun blocked the fuzzbees rushing toward the stone bowl with a Spirit Light Shield, then called over the three mutated ones first and placed them on his palm.
As he formed a hand seal with his left hand, thin strands of spiritual power gathered above his right.
The strands connected and overlapped, forming a small seal. Within a hollow circle, patterns resembling leaves and antennae intertwined.
It was the Spirit-Nurturing Seal.
Hummmm–
Lee Hyun turned his palm over.
The Spirit-Nurturing Seal split into three and descended onto the heads of the mutated fuzzbees.
Chirp!
All three spread their wings at once.
One of them tried to fly off in surprise, but the faint light passed through its fur and head before naturally seeping into its body.
The fuzzbees’ spiritual-power fluctuations wavered chaotically for a moment.
Lee Hyun immediately withdrew his Primordial True Qi.
‘There’s almost no strain.’
Identical marks appeared inside all three fuzzbees.
Lee Hyun set the three mutated fuzzbees down in front of the stone bowl.
“Eat.”
They had not actually understood the command, but as soon as the Spirit Light Shield disappeared, the three began drinking the water mixed with Hundred-Flower Honey as if they had been waiting for the chance.
Chirp chirp.
The rest of the fuzzbees rushed in all at once.
Once the three bearing Spirit-Nurturing Seals mixed into the center of the swarm, over a thousand fuzzbees jostled against one another as they drank the sweetened water.
When Lee Hyun formed another hand seal, the Spirit-Nurturing Seals inscribed on the three mutated fuzzbees lit up simultaneously.
Hummmm–
Thin rays of light extending from the imprints split again and again. The divided strands connected one by one to the fuzzbees drinking the sweetened water from the same bowl.
Faint Spirit-Nurturing Seals appeared one after another on the ordinary fuzzbees.
One.
Ten.
A hundred.
The same form of imprint spread across the entire swarm of more than a thousand.
Bzzzzzzzz–
The fuzzbees all took flight at once.
The golden swarm filled the ceiling of the cavern.
Lee Hyun slowly lowered his hand as he examined the state of the imprints.
‘Looks like it worked.’
When he raised his right hand, several nearby fuzzbees gathered around it.
“Come here.”
Bzzzzzz–
Around ten landed on the back of his hand and his arm.
The rest were still flying around the cavern or licking up the sweetened water left in the stone bowl.
“I said all of you come here.”
Chirp.
Lee Hyun sent his mental intent through the Spirit-Nurturing Seals and repeated the same command.
A moment later, more than a thousand fuzzbees densely covered Lee Hyun’s arms, shoulders, and head. His vision filled with golden fur and wings.
Bzzzzzzzz–
The fuzzbees even covered his face.
“Back away.”
The fellows did not move.
“Back away.”
Chirp?
“….”
…
The next day.
“Gather.”
Bzzzzzz–
The scattered fuzzbees gathered in front of Lee Hyun and formed a round swarm.
“Scatter.”
The golden sphere dispersed in every direction.
“Stop.”
More than a thousand fuzzbees froze in midair.
“Not bad.”
The fuzzbees had become quite adept at following basic commands.
They still could not understand complicated instructions.
‘That’s probably a problem with their intelligence rather than a limitation of the Spirit-Nurturing Seal.’
Lee Hyun packed only some of the fuzzbees into the spirit-insect pouch. They could detect Life-Bound Gu and alert him to the approach of gu warriors.
He left the remaining fuzzbees to live around the hunting tunnel and spirit field.
After checking the water-supply system, spirit field, and storeroom as well, Lee Hyun finished everything he needed to do and left Tunnel No. 3.
…
The day he returned to Danxiao Immortal City.
While walking along one of the city’s main avenues, Lee Hyun spotted a newly opened bookstore.
A table at the entrance was piled high with novels bearing colorful illustrations.
A general wielding a long spear.
A man and woman falling from a cliff.
Two martial artists crossing swords before an imperial palace.
Among them, a thick set of books caught his eye.
《A Slave Soldier Rebuilds a Fallen Kingdom》
‘I can tell what it’s about just from the title.’
The bookstore owner spoke.
“It’s the best-selling new novel in Danxiao Immortal City these days.”
“How many volumes are there?”
“Twelve have been released so far. The next volume should come out in two months.”
Lee Hyun thought for a moment.
Buying an unfinished popular novel meant having to wait for the next volume, but the atmosphere suggested by the title and cover was not bad.
“I’ll take them all.”
“Thank you!”
…
The Outer Alchemy Court residences.
Lee Hyun lay comfortably on his bed and read the popular novel.
The protagonist was the last prince of a fallen kingdom.
After losing his homeland as a child and being sold into slavery in an enemy nation, he drifted between mines and military camps along the front lines. He survived battle after battle while learning martial arts, gathered slave soldiers who were willing to follow him, and eventually came to command three thousand iron cavalry.
After hiding his identity for more than ten years, the prince finally revealed who he was and began reclaiming his homeland. When he seized the first fortress on the border, former retainers and displaced subjects flocked to him, and by the time he reclaimed the second city, his forces had doubled.
But every city he reclaimed required soldiers to defend it and food to distribute among the people. The prince tried to retake the seventy-two cities stretching from the border to the royal capital one by one, and by the time he reached the seventh city, fewer than a thousand of his original three thousand iron cavalry remained.
Lee Hyun clicked his tongue as he turned the page.
‘He was clever at first, but suddenly he’s become frustratingly stupid. If he leaves people behind every time he captures a city, when does he expect to reach the royal capital?’
The protagonist’s strategist had thought the same thing.
Near the end of the tenth volume, the iron cavalry fled the enemy’s massive army and hid in a ruined mountain fortress.
As the protagonist stared bitterly at the cities marked on the map, his strategist spoke.
“Your Highness is trying to become king only after reclaiming all the territory you have lost.”
“How could I call myself king when I have recovered neither my people nor my land?”
The strategist pointed at the royal capital in the center of the map.
“Reverse the order.”
“The order?”
“Do not try to become king after reclaiming all your territory. First seize the royal capital and become king. Then reclaim the rest of your territory by royal decree.”
In the end, the protagonist abandoned every city he had reclaimed, gathered his forces into a single army, and launched a surprise attack on the royal capital along a route no one had anticipated.
Lee Hyun nodded and was about to turn the next page.
‘…Reverse the order?’
Lee Hyun’s gaze slowly shifted before coming to rest on the map.
In the middle of the vast kingdom was a single red dot marking the royal capital.
‘Wait….’
‘Do I really need to raise my entire body to the level of Foundation Establishment all at once?’
‘Just like taking the royal capital first, what if I choose a single dantian as the center and advance only that to Foundation Establishment first…?’
He sat upright.
A memory from more than a thousand years ago surfaced.
It was something Wang Jin had said in a lecture hall at Qinghe Valley.
– There is no separate organ inside the human body called the dantian. A dantian is simply an area designated by a cultivation art for storing spiritual power. Following the guidance of the cultivation art, you designate a certain area below the navel and repeatedly gather refined spiritual power there until it becomes a dantian.
Lee Hyun placed a hand near his Sea of Qi Acupoint.
‘The later version of the Primordial One-Qi Art was modified to use only the area around the Sea of Qi Acupoint as the dantian. If so, couldn’t I begin Foundation Establishment the same way?’
He would create a small lower dantian centered on the Sea of Qi Acupoint within his whole-body dantian.
He would leave the rest of his body at the early phase of Qi Refining Stage 9 and temper only the lower dantian to the limit of Qi Refining Great Perfection. Then he would take a Foundation Establishment Pill and concentrate its medicinal strength within that narrow area.
If it worked, he could advance the lower dantian to the Foundation Establishment realm first, just like an ordinary cultivator. It would be worth attempting this method with only one or two Foundation Establishment Pills.
‘Why did I assume I had to liquefy fifty times as much spiritual power as another cultivator in the same realm all at once?’
‘Back then, I wasn’t particularly interested in advancing my realm, and I thought being stronger than my realm suggested would make me safer. But that doesn’t mean I have to stay in Qi Refining until I can get fifty Foundation Establishment Pills.’
‘I see. Ever since I turned my entire body into a dantian, I’ve been trapped by the assumption that I had to advance the whole thing at once.’
Lee Hyun was now a disciple of Danxiao Sect. Within the safety of the sect, there was no need to obsess over becoming fifty times stronger than other cultivators in the same realm.
‘Besides, if I succeed in Foundation Establishment and become an inner disciple, I’ll gain access to better inheritances.’
‘If I establish myself as a Tier 2 alchemist, I’ll also have a better chance of coming into contact with the ingredients and alchemy process for Foundation Establishment Pills. If I’m lucky enough to obtain the pill recipe for the Foundation Establishment Pill, I could take Foundation Establishment Pills I refined myself and gradually raise the rest of my body, aside from the lower dantian, to the level of Foundation Establishment as well….’
…
Lee Hyun immediately entered the cultivation chamber and decided to try circulating the mnemonic formula of the later, modified Primordial One-Qi Art.
When he filled the Qi-Gathering Formation with low-grade spirit stones, the formation inscriptions on the floor lit up one after another.
Hummmm–
The surrounding spiritual qi gathered inside the cultivation chamber.
For the first time in a long while, Lee Hyun assumed the lotus position instead of lying down.
‘Since it’s my first time, let’s do it the proper way.’
***
Three years later.
Outer Alchemy Court.
Rattle.
When the lid of the pill furnace opened, round brown pills rolled out onto a jade tray.
Lee Hyun divided the pills among jade bottles, then placed them in the return box along with the remaining medicinal ingredients.
For the past three years, Lee Hyun had quietly refined pills at the Outer Alchemy Court while accumulating contribution points. Once a year, he visited Tunnel No. 3 to inspect its facilities.
The fuzzbees whose Spirit-Nurturing Seals had fully stabilized were much easier to handle than before.
…
“It’s about time I pretended to break through to Qi Refining Stage 9.”
When he entered the sect, he had made his realm appear to be Qi Refining Stage 8, but there was no reason to maintain the disguise indefinitely. Raising Li Dongsan’s apparent realm to Stage 9 now would make it seem more natural when he eventually reached Great Perfection and sought a Foundation Establishment Pill.
‘Now that I’ve limited my cultivation to the lower dantian, it doesn’t seem like it’ll even take ten years to reach Qi Refining Great Perfection….’
Lee Hyun loosened the aura he had been concealing with the Spirit-Concealing Art just enough to make it appear as though he had broken through to Qi Refining Stage 9.
…
The next day, the stewards of the Outer Alchemy Court noticed that Li Dongsan’s realm had risen, but thought little of it. There was nothing strange about a diligent alchemist who had already been at Qi Refining Stage 8 when he entered the sect reaching Stage 9 after three years in Danxiao Sect’s excellent cultivation environment.
…
Fifteen days later.
A small pavilion in the woods near the Outer Alchemy Court.
A stream carrying the fragrance of medicinal ingredients flowed beneath the pavilion.
This was where purified water from the Outer Alchemy Court’s alchemy chambers and medicinal-ingredient room merged with the mountain stream. It was not dirty, but faint traces of various medicinal ingredients remained, so the fragrance changed whenever the wind blew.
When Lee Hyun arrived, three people were already seated in the pavilion.
The round-faced Lü Wende.
Tang Yanfei, her black hair tied high and her sleeves neatly fastened.
Wen Xiaohe, with a small wooden box for medicinal ingredients resting on her lap.
Lü Wende was at Qi Refining Stage 7.
Tang Yanfei had passed the Special Selection for Skilled Practitioners alongside Lee Hyun and Lü Wende and entered the sect on the same day. She had been at Qi Refining Stage 7 when she entered and had broken through to Stage 8 a year ago.
Her family ran a small medicinal-ingredient trading company in southern Kun Kingdom.
Wen Xiaohe was a Senior Sister at Qi Refining Stage 8 who had entered the Outer Alchemy Court ten years before the other three. She was more skilled in medicinal-ingredient appraisal and spirit-plant cultivation than alchemy, so whenever medicinal ingredients arrived from outside trading companies, she helped the stewards identify their varieties and medicine ages.
Over the past three years, the four of them had naturally grown close while working together on alchemy and medicinal-ingredient appraisal. Whenever their schedules aligned, they gathered at this pavilion to discuss cultivation and exchange news from inside and outside the sect.
Wen Xiaohe handed Lee Hyun a cup of tea.
“Congratulations on breaking through to Qi Refining Stage 9, Junior Brother Li.”
“Thank you, Senior Sister Wen.”
Tang Yanfei spoke.
“You were already at Stage 8 when we entered, so I knew Fellow Daoist Li would be the first to reach Stage 9. Still, three years is quite fast.”
“I was fortunate.”
…
For a while, they talked about alchemy and cultivation.
A rumor that the number of Foundation Establishment Pills allotted to the Outer Gate this year had decreased by one compared to last year.
A story about a Foundation Establishment alchemist in the Inner Gate who ruined three consecutive furnace batches of Tier 2 pills and entered secluded cultivation.
A story about a crane raised in the Spirit Beast Garden that escaped and set fire to the medicinal-ingredient room.
Then Tang Yanfei brought up news from the south.
“I received word from my family’s trading company not long ago. They said things have been rather unsettled in southern Cang Kingdom lately.”
Lü Wende asked.
“Has something happened in Cang Kingdom?”
“They say the overseas cultivators who took over Lan Kingdom have started appearing in the cultivator markets of Cang Kingdom as well.”
It was already widely known that Lan Kingdom had fallen to forces from beyond the Nanming Sea. After a war that had dragged on for hundreds of years, many of Lan Kingdom’s great sects had collapsed, while the surviving sects had submitted to the overseas forces.
Wen Xiaohe said.
“I heard the war only ended completely around a hundred years ago.”
“That’s right. That’s why everyone assumed they had settled down in Lan Kingdom.”
Tang Yanfei continued.
“But recently, overseas cultivators have been spotted in several cultivator markets throughout southern Cang Kingdom. It isn’t just Qi Refining cultivators accompanying trading companies. There are supposedly also Foundation Establishment cultivators and above whose origins no one knows.”
Lü Wende asked.
“Now that they control Lan Kingdom, aren’t they simply trying to trade with Cang Kingdom?”
“That could be it. But I also heard that some have become guest retainers of local cultivation clans, while others have been asking about Cang Kingdom’s spirit veins and sects.”
Wen Xiaohe’s expression grew slightly tense.
“Has Wangu Sect made no move?”
“They may already be moving. But my family’s trading company has only picked up a few rumors.”
Lee Hyun’s fingers stopped against the rim of his teacup.
He remembered the twelve dark blue-black orbs produced long ago by the Azure Sea Wanderer when he attacked Changchun Sect, and the light that had stretched beyond the southern sky.
‘So that force eventually took over Lan Kingdom.’
A great deal of time had passed since Lee Hyun left Changchun Sect.
He had no idea how Lan Kingdom’s great sects, including Taihe Sect and Ziwei Sword Sect, had responded at the time.
By now, there was almost no chance that anyone Lee Hyun had known was still around.
‘And now they’re crossing into Cang Kingdom….’
They were a force that had crossed the vast Nanming Sea, so crossing the thirty thousand li of sea between Lan Kingdom and Cang Kingdom would hardly be difficult for them.
The problem was that Kun Kingdom, where Lee Hyun now lived, lay directly north of Cang Kingdom.
It had nothing to do with Danxiao Sect for the moment, but their movements were drawing too close for him to dismiss them as mere rumors from some distant country.
If the overseas cultivators invaded, Cang Kingdom’s cultivation world would be the first to respond, followed by the martial world of Qianyang Kingdom. Kun Kingdom’s cultivation world would be third.
Lee Hyun said nothing.
Nothing was certain yet. The overseas cultivators might simply be moving for trade and the expansion of their influence.
Tang Yanfei cautiously added.
“My family still considers it nothing more than rumors circulating among trading companies. But considering what happened in Lan Kingdom, it’s probably worth remembering.”
…
When the conversation lapsed for a moment, Wen Xiaohe placed the wooden box from her lap onto the table.
“There’s something I’d like to ask the three of you about.”
Lü Wende asked.
“What is it, Senior Sister Wen?”
“Rather than a medicinal ingredient, it’s a seed.”
Wen Xiaohe opened the wooden box.
Inside lay a single seed about the size of a thumbnail.
The seed was nearly ink-black.
Its surface was not smooth, but wrinkled like old tree bark. Upon closer inspection, several thin silver lines spread across it like cracks.
Tang Yanfei used the Aura-Reading Art to examine the seed.
“It looks like a dead seed. I can barely sense any life force.”
“Barely, yes, but it isn’t completely dead.”
Wen Xiaohe took out a thin needle and brought it close to the seed.
The blue light at the needle’s tip trembled ever so slightly.
“I’ve checked it several times with the medicinal-ingredient room’s Vitality-Detecting Needle. Its reaction is extremely slow, but there is definitely life force remaining.”
Lü Wende peered at the seed.
“What spirit plant is it?”
“Have you ever heard of the Ringless Divine Tree?”
None of the three answered.
As though she had expected as much, Wen Xiaohe continued.
“I only learned about it after obtaining this seed myself. It’s a tree recorded only in a fragment of an extremely old spirit-tree compendium.”
Tang Yanfei asked.
“By ‘Ringless’, do you mean it has no growth rings?”
“That’s right.”
Wen Xiaohe picked up the seed.
“Ordinary trees grow little by little each year as sap and spiritual qi circulate through them, right? The flow of sap and spiritual qi through the Ringless Divine Tree is said to be so slow that it barely grows even after being cultivated for hundreds of years. And because it has no growth rings even when cut down, you can’t determine its medicine age either.”
Lü Wende asked.
“What use is a tree that grows that slowly?”
“They say it becomes worthwhile if you grow it long enough.”
“How long?”
“At least two thousand years.”
Lü Wende froze.
“…Two thousand years?”
“Once it passes two thousand years, dark blue lightning markings supposedly appear on its trunk and leaves. After reaching five thousand years, it can release a form of lightning called Profound Nether Frost Lightning.”
“Profound Nether Frost Lightning?”
Only then did Lee Hyun speak.
Wen Xiaohe looked at him.
“Is this your first time hearing of it too, Junior Brother Li?”
“Yes. What kind of lightning is it?”
“I only know what’s written in the fragment.”
Wen Xiaohe searched her memory for a moment.
“It said it doesn’t possess the power to shatter or burn its target like ordinary lightning. When Profound Nether Frost Lightning touches someone, it supposedly freezes magical power and even slows the primordial spirit’s thoughts.”
Tang Yanfei’s gaze changed.
“It can even affect the primordial spirit?”
“There was a line in the record saying that even a cultivator’s streak of light would freeze in midair. I don’t know whether that’s exaggeration or truth.”
Lü Wende looked at the seed again.
“If that’s genuine, isn’t it an incredible treasure?”
“Only if you can prove it’s genuine.”
Wen Xiaohe gave a bitter smile.
“They say the life force in a Ringless Divine Tree seed is so faint that it’s difficult to distinguish from an ordinary dead seed. It can take anywhere from several decades to a hundred years just to sprout, and even after it does, you have to grow it for two thousand years before the first lightning markings appear.”
“Even the Foundation Establishment stewards couldn’t determine whether it was genuine?”
“They told me it was very likely authentic. But since it would take far too long to cultivate, they said they could only value it as the seed of some ancient spirit plant.”
“How much?”
“Three low-grade spirit stones.”
Lü Wende asked.
“How much are you hoping to get for it, Senior Sister Wen?”
“Shouldn’t I receive at least twenty low-grade spirit stones?”
Tang Yanfei looked at the seed as she spoke.
“If it’s genuine, that would be cheap. But to an ordinary cultivator, a harvest two thousand years in the future might as well not exist. It’s no wonder no one wants to buy it.”
Wen Xiaohe sighed.
“It was mixed among some seeds I received a few years ago as payment for appraising medicinal ingredients from an outside trading company. It feels wasteful to hand it over to the sect for next to nothing, but there’s no point in growing it myself either.”
Wen Xiaohe was about to return the seed to the wooden box.
At that moment, Lee Hyun spoke.
“I’ll buy it.”
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