Chapter 94
Translator: T_Fan
Black Wolf stared down at the jade slip for a long while.
Crane and False Badger were anything but weak. Even Black Wolf would have struggled to emerge unscathed from a fight against both at once.
Yet after killing those two, their attacker had even sorted through the goods and ledgers in the warehouse?
This had been no hurried strike followed by a retreat. The attacker had stayed there for quite some time after the fighting was over.
‘Did the possibility of a trap not concern them? Or the chance that another senior elder might arrive? If a Nascent Soul cultivator is behind this…’
A sense of dread crept over Black Wolf.
‘Could that cultivator already be close by…?’
– Nothing in this world happens by chance, and by the time the danger becomes clear, it is already too late.
It was the iron rule Black Wolf had lived by while enduring the hardships of a rogue cultivator’s life and rising from nothing to the Golden Core realm.
Across from Black Wolf, Crow asked cautiously.
“Should I send word for the remaining senior elders to gather here?”
Black Wolf’s eyes narrowed briefly before he spoke, his voice as calm as ever.
“Yes. Tell the senior elder in Heng Kingdom and the one in northern Jing Kingdom to come here. You are to keep watch for anyone coming from Qingshi Ridge.”
“Yes, grand elder!”
Black Wolf immediately opened his storage pouch once Crow had left.
…
The next day, Black Wolf’s residence was deathly quiet.
After spending the night watching the outskirts, Crow returned to find the secret warehouse’s stone door standing wide open. The sight left them speechless.
The warehouse was empty.
Black Wolf’s personal collection was gone, along with the goods entrusted to the outpost by members and every spirit stone the Council of Senior Elders had amassed through tolls.
Only ash and fragments of shattered jade slips remained on the shelves that had held the ledgers.
A single jade casket, however, sat alone on a table farther inside.
It held the members’ primordial-spirit imprints.
***
Ten days later.
A small contact outpost in western Xuan Kingdom.
Settlement records lay before Lee Hyun, who wore the Cicada mask.
Across from him sat a cultivator wearing the Otter mask.
Until recently, that person had been Toad.
“Word has arrived from Jing Kingdom. Black Wolf reportedly took everything and fled, including the members’ entrusted goods and spirit stones.”
“Cunning bastard.”
“Black Wolf even abandoned Crow, who served directly under him. Crow passed on all the outpost locations and transaction details they knew to us, then disappeared.”
“What about the imprints of the Jing Kingdom members?”
“The entire jade casket was left behind. Crow handed that over as well.”
“Bring it here. Once I’ve checked the imprints, I’ll remove them.”
Otter bowed his head.
“And the remaining senior elders?”
“The senior elder in Heng Kingdom also took the goods and fled. The other senior elder in northern Jing Kingdom left their residence, and no one has heard from them since.”
…
Once the senior elders fled, the outposts that had sided with them rushed to contact the inspector.
Two Golden Core senior elders had died at Qingshi Ridge following a visit from the inspector, Cicada. Then the grand elder and the remaining senior elders had disappeared as well. It was clear whose rules they should follow.
After checking the contents of the jade casket against the binding method, Lee Hyun removed the remaining primordial-spirit imprints.
He also had records of the stolen goods and proof of the transactions collected. After returning the property recovered at Qingshi Ridge to its owners, he ordered that some of the remaining spirit stones be used to compensate those who had suffered losses.
That would not cover every loss, and Lee Hyun could not pay for everything himself.
Nor could he scour several countries for the senior elders who had fled.
He did not even know what Black Wolf looked like, and both the Sinking Moon Sword and Six-Leaf Shield were damaged.
He recorded the Council of Senior Elders’ abuses and all verified descriptions of its members, then ordered new contact channels and outposts established to replace those known to the fugitives.
He also investigated the backgrounds of the two dead Golden Core cultivators. Cross-checking the letters and transaction records from their storage pouches against information from other outposts revealed that both were rogue cultivators currently unaffiliated with any great sect. Nothing suggested that a sect had been involved behind the scenes.
…
A few days later, reports began arriving from the other outposts as well.
Trade resumed first in the places that had suffered the least damage, and medicinal ingredients whose supply had been blocked by the Council of Senior Elders began arriving again.
The ingredients for Essence-Cultivating Pills also became easier to obtain than before.
‘Now I can get back to my own work.’
***
The next day.
Lee Hyun laid out the notes on operating the Golden Light Pagoda and Azure Thunder Mother-Child Rings, then tested both magic treasures.
When he poured Primordial True Qi into them, the Golden Light Pagoda’s surface brightened and the Azure Thunder Mother-Child Rings rose into the air. But that was as far as he got.
Whenever he tried to activate the core restrictions according to the notes, the flow of spiritual power was blocked. Pouring in more made no difference.
‘It seems only a Golden Core cultivator’s magical power will work. In that case…’
There was no reason to keep spoils he could not even use yet.
Still, he was reluctant to sell them in Yunzhou. Cultivators who had known the dead men might recognize their magic treasures.
‘What about selling them in the south?’
The Two Heavens Society had outposts in Kun Kingdom as well.
Kun Kingdom lay within the Nanming Twelve-Sect Alliance’s territory and had little contact with Yunzhou. There was much less chance of anyone knowing who the magic treasures had belonged to.
Lee Hyun submitted a request to arrange a sale.
…
After returning to Tunnel No. 3, he retrieved a jade casket he had stored deep inside.
He released the seal, revealing a small incense burner and a brush lying side by side.
Lotus-petal patterns encircled the incense burner’s body. A faint aura lingered on its lid, the result of years of nurturing.
Beside it lay a magic treasure shaped like a painting brush, called the Cloud-Mist Brush. Its shaft was carved from clear jade, and silver hairs from a spirit beast were neatly bound at the tip.
Wang Shulin had acquired these magic treasures after reaching the Golden Core realm. Following her death, Lee Hyun had collected them along with her storage pouch.
They were in an entirely different class from the ordinary drawing board and brush she had given him before leaving, when she had encouraged him to try painting.
He had tried using these treasures before, only to encounter the same limitation.
Lee Hyun lightly ran his fingertips along the incense burner’s rim and the smooth shaft of the Cloud-Mist Brush.
He could still picture her vividly, painting in the air with incense burning beside her.
He lingered for a while, then returned the incense burner and brush to the jade casket.
He had no wish to sell these treasures. Nor did he intend to erase the traces she had left behind and bond them to himself, or melt them down to make something else.
***
Three months later, on the western coast of Kun Kingdom.
Luochao Market stood on a black basalt headland jutting into the sea.
The place had an entirely different atmosphere from the cultivator markets of Yunzhou.
At the docks, corpse puppets wrapped tightly in cloth carried cargo. Nearby, a cultivator haggled while feeding spirit insects to a centipede that had crawled out of their sleeve. The stalls displayed dried venomous insects, gu insect eggs, and venom sacs from sea beasts.
Wearing the Lion mask, Lee Hyun entered a dried-seafood shop tucked away in an alley.
An elderly cultivator wearing the Seahorse mask managed the Kun Kingdom outpost.
“So you’re Lion, the inspector who brought the goods from Yunzhou.”
“Where is the buyer?”
“The buyer is already here and wishes to inspect the goods personally before naming a price.”
A female cultivator sat in the underground stone chamber.
Her hair was tied in a high bun, and a sword case as tall as she was stood beside the table. She was not even wearing a mask.
And she was a Golden Core cultivator!
Lee Hyun placed the Golden Light Pagoda, Azure Thunder Mother-Child Rings, a cracked stone stele, and mirror fragments on the table. Her gaze lingered briefly on the shallow marks left by sword qi on the Golden Light Pagoda’s exterior.
“The previous owner’s aura is still strong inside.”
“The owner is gone.”
“I’ll give you one hundred and twenty high-grade spirit stones for the two intact ones.”
“One hundred and sixty.”
“A Foundation Establishment cultivator brings in a Golden Core cultivator’s magic treasures and has the nerve to ask for more?”
As the woman released a wave of razor-sharp pressure, the elderly cultivator in the Seahorse mask quietly edged toward the wall.
Lee Hyun did not answer. He simply extended his divine sense.
The pressure bearing down on him parted to either side as though it had struck an invisible wall. The woman’s eyes narrowed.
‘Tch… The Aura-Concealing Art? I’ve never seen a guy conceal his realm this thoroughly.’
She withdrew her pressure.
“Very well. One hundred and sixty. But the broken mirror and stele fragments must be included.”
“Agreed.”
She took two jade caskets from her sleeve and opened them. Both were packed with high-grade spirit stones.
Lee Hyun accepted the spirit stones and handed over the goods.
…
Before leaving the cultivator market, he also sold the materials from the Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle through Seahorse.
He kept only a few wing bones for his bone puppet research, selling the sealed demon core, claws, beak, and other materials to a merchant house that dealt in demon beast materials.
The intact early Tier 3 demon core fetched 1,300 mid-grade spirit stones. The remaining materials brought in another 320 after the brokerage fee was deducted.
With the accounts settled, Lee Hyun put the spirit stones in his storage pouch and headed north.
***
Fifteen days later, in Hua Kingdom, north of Xu Kingdom.
Hua Kingdom, one of the Nine Kingdoms of Yunzhou, was home to the Myriad Artifacts Sect, a great sect renowned for its artifact-refining art.
As artifact refiners from the Myriad Artifacts Sect opened workshops nearby or founded cultivation clans, knowledge of the artifact-refining art spread throughout the country.
Qianlu Mountain was a gathering place for these artifact refiners. The cultivator market at its foot was so large that some called it Qianlu Immortal City.
On his way to Qianlu Market, Lee Hyun looked up.
A massive flying boat floated overhead, though he could not tell which sect it belonged to.
Its hull was more than one hundred zhang (about 330 m) long, with passenger cabins arranged across three levels below deck. At the bow sat an enormous bronze crane puppet with folded wings, scanning the wind and clouds ahead with beams of light from its eyes. Human-sized puppets even checked passengers’ jade tokens and carried their luggage.
As he traveled, taking in the sights, Qianlu Mountain soon came into view.
It was an immense mountain with dozens of linked peaks. Chimneys crowded every summit, their smoke forming a red band across the sky.
Earth fire drawn from deep underground shone red through the mountain’s fissures. The whole mountain brightened and dimmed as though it were breathing.
The sky was crowded too.
Palm-sized bird puppets flew in flocks with letters in their beaks. A giant beetle puppet laden with ore descended toward a warehouse halfway up the mountain, its six pairs of wings buzzing.
Higher up, a cultivator who had been testing an unfamiliar disc-shaped magic tool was spiraling downward, trailing smoke.
…
The cultivator market rose in terraces along Qianlu Mountain’s southern slopes.
The lowest level was devoted to trading raw ore and spirit materials. Cart-sized lumps of ore lay piled beside the road, and appraisers scanned them with divine sense while calling out prices. Higher levels offered more processed components, restriction plates, puppet joints, and spirit silk used to weave the sails of flying boats.
Above those streets lay the workshop district.
The ringing of hammers was incessant. Furnace heat spilled into the streets from every building, while flashes from the engraving of restrictions shone through gaps around the doors.
The larger shops even accepted commissions from Golden Core cultivators, while smaller workshops handled only magic tool repairs or the refining of particular components.
Lee Hyun first visited a large shop.
The artisan examined the Sinking Moon Sword and spoke politely.
“We can repair it. However, we have a backlog of commissions from Golden Core Seniors, so it will be about two years before we can begin.”
Lee Hyun put the sword away.
After obtaining estimates from several other workshops, he found that repairing the Sinking Moon Sword alone would cost between 400 and 800 mid-grade spirit stones.
One workshop proposed cutting away the shattered tip and attaching a new one made from a different material. Another examined the Six-Leaf Shield as well and claimed it would perform better if they replaced its entire set of restrictions with newly engraved ones.
Lee Hyun had no wish to spend so many spirit stones on repairs that would change the items’ properties. He only needed them until he reached the Golden Core realm, so he wanted them restored to their familiar original condition.
He visited more workshops before finding a small shop tucked away in an alley.
The owner’s name was Murong Ke.
The elderly cultivator had reached late Foundation Establishment and was well regarded for skill in the artifact-refining art, though somewhat prickly in temperament.
“If you’re in a hurry, go elsewhere.”
Lee Hyun set down the sword case.
“Look it over first and tell me whether it can be repaired.”
Murong Ke took out the Sinking Moon Sword and examined it at length.
Only after inspecting the tip, studying the hairline cracks along the blade, and tracing the restrictions within did Murong Ke speak.
“A fine sword. Is it from the south?”
“How can you tell?”
The Sinking Moon Sword had disappeared from the Nanming Hundred Artifacts Register long ago. To earn a place in Yunzhou Artifact Appraisal or the Nanming Hundred Artifacts Register, a magic tool had to distinguish itself regularly in the hands of Foundation Establishment cultivators. But Lee Hyun often disappeared for centuries at a time, so the exceptional supreme-grade magic tools in his possession had inevitably slipped out of the rankings.
Murong Ke’s words interrupted his thoughts.
“Southern artifact refiners tend to apply Moon Shadow Stone powder in a thin layer like this. The Light-Retracting Restriction is done in their style too. What’s the sword called?”
“The Sinking Moon Sword.”
“Never heard of it.”
The elderly cultivator held the sword at an angle.
“This looks like damage from a clash with a magic treasure… but this section was blown out from within. What in the world did you do to this sword?”
“….”
Murong Ke set the sword down.
“I can repair it. The core restriction is intact, and the Thick Earth Refined Metal has retained its properties. But I’ll need to add more material and reshape the shattered tip.”
Lee Hyun then took out the Six-Leaf Shield.
The elderly cultivator’s eyebrows rose.
“This too?”
“I’d like both repaired.”
Murong Ke laid out the six shield plates one by one.
“A shield made up of six plates… A lot of work went into this. Each shield plate needs its own restrictions, and they all have to work together. Few artifact refiners make them this way these days.”
The two plates that had taken the attacks head-on had broken edges, while the remaining four had fine cracks and were slightly warped.
“Two will have to be remade. The rest can be salvaged. But the restrictions distribute the force across the whole set, so I’ll have to adjust all six to match the new shield plates.”
Murong Ke wrote out an estimate.
Repairs to the Sinking Moon Sword would cost 450, and the Six-Leaf Shield another 550. The total came to 1,000 mid-grade spirit stones.
It was expensive.
It would have been an enormous burden for an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator, but not for Lee Hyun.
‘The spirit stones from selling the Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle alone will cover it, with some to spare.’
“How long will it take?”
“Fifteen days. It may take longer if the materials turn out to be in poor condition.”
“Very well.”
Lee Hyun also took out the Golden-Thread Cold Iron and showed it to Murong Ke.
“I was wondering… Could adding a Tier 3 spirit material like this make a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s exceptional supreme-grade magic tool more durable?”
Murong Ke examined the spirit material, then shook their head.
“Simply mixing it in won’t make the sword better. Altering the blade’s properties too much could destroy the qualities that make it effective.”
“I see.”
“The same goes for the Six-Leaf Shield. It would be a different matter if you planned to redesign it, but using this for the current repairs would be a waste.”
Murong Ke tapped the Golden-Thread Cold Iron with a finger.
“Besides, my furnace can’t melt it. I’d have to borrow Tier 3 earth fire from one of the workshops higher up. I’ve never worked with this material before, either.”
Lee Hyun put the Golden-Thread Cold Iron away.
…
He watched as much of the repair work as Murong Ke permitted.
He paid another 100 mid-grade spirit stones for permission to observe, and 50 more for a jade slip setting out the essential formula for the repairs.
The essential formula covered how to heat sections containing Thick Earth Refined Metal, how to check the flow through the restrictions after sealing fine cracks, and more. Lee Hyun had only reached Novice proficiency in Tier 2 artifact-refining art, so there was much for him to learn.
Even when striking the same spot, Murong Ke subtly varied the hammer’s angle and the force of each blow. Lee Hyun watched intently, determined not to miss those differences.
…
The repairs were finished after fifteen days.
The Sinking Moon Sword’s tip was as smooth as when Lee Hyun had first seen it, and all six plates of the Six-Leaf Shield fit together perfectly.
On his way back, he paid 300 mid-grade spirit stones at a workshop on a lower level for six yellow flying swords of supreme grade.
He felt he lacked options for fighting at long range.
In a pinch, he could also use them to unleash the Great Unity Wisdom Sword, which he had yet to master. With six of them, damaging one would be less of a concern.
***
One month later.
A deserted mountain valley in southern Xu Kingdom.
Lee Hyun established an alchemy site far from the coast. He checked for signs of powerful demon beasts nearby and set warning restrictions at the valley’s entrance.
He had no wish to be ambushed at his pill furnace again, as he had been by the Silver-Eyed Sea Eagle.
Before long, a small dark cloud gathered above his head.
Crackle.
A bolt of lightning struck.
Boom!
Purple light spread across the pill’s surface.
At that instant, a strand of concentrated medicinal strength inside the pill suddenly surged.
Crack.
The pill split.
Silver-purple light seeped through the crack, then quickly faded.
Lee Hyun stared at the pill, now broken in two.
When he had made his first Dao pill, he had thought he only needed a little more practice.
Yet even reproducing the same fire control and hand movements had failed to yield the same result.
He placed the fragments of the failed pill on a jade plate and examined them with divine sense.
‘It’s incredibly sensitive…’
…
After that, Lee Hyun began examining the medicinal liquid more carefully once the Refining stage was complete.
Just before Pill Condensation, he identified pockets where the medicinal strength had not blended evenly and recorded which areas solidified first.
He guided the flame threads of the Flame-Threading Art more slowly than before, adjusting the flames whenever the flow inside the pill changed.
Sometimes he widened the gap through which the tribulation lightning could enter. At other times, he delayed closing it.
Making Dao pills remained difficult, but he was gradually improving.
…
Ten years later.
He was now producing Dao pills in two out of every ten furnace batches.
Compared with the mere three or four Dao pills he had managed to make during the first few years, it was a tremendous improvement.
Lee Hyun was delighted.
…
Another hundred years passed.
After returning from an alchemy session, Lee Hyun spread his jade slips across the table and reviewed his recent alchemy records one by one.
「Most recent 100 furnace batches.
Essence-Cultivating Dao Pills: 52.」
“Over fifty percent!”
***
After that, Lee Hyun’s life settled into a regular routine.
Forty-eight furnace batches a year.
Circumstances sometimes forced him to cut back on alchemy or concentrate it into shorter periods, but averaged over the years, it came to roughly that amount.
He produced a little over twenty Dao pills a year, or nearly thirty in a good year.
He consumed about sixty ordinary Essence-Cultivating Pills each year and sold the rest.
The plan he had first drawn up was now his everyday routine.
He rotated among several alchemy sites, never lingering where tribulation lightning had appeared.
He also bought medicinal ingredients and sold pills through separate outposts.
His surplus Essence-Cultivating Pills reached different regions in small quantities, so there was never a sudden flood of stock in any one place.
The members of the Two Heavens Society welcomed the steady stream of good deals.
For rogue cultivators, a reliable supply of Essence-Cultivating Pills for cultivation was reason enough to remain in the trade network.
Every ten years or so, he sold a few of the older spirit herbs from his spirit field to cover any shortfall in spirit stones.
…
Whenever turbid qi accumulated in his body, he stopped taking pills for a while and let his body recover, eating Yin Water Lotus seeds and Stone Honey Peaches as he continued his qi circulation cycles.
He inspected the spirit field every day as well.
He replaced leaking irrigation pipes and transplanted spirit herbs that had grown too close together. He replaced Bonefuzz’s worn joints and cleared the passages the fuzzbees had blocked.
After cultivation, he read novels or painted.
He practiced techniques steadily and kept up his sword training.
On days when his sword condensation faltered, he practiced with less power, learning to withdraw it before it could damage the blade.
Whenever the Sinking Moon Sword developed a small nick, he repaired it himself using the methods he had learned from Murong Ke.
…
After a long absence, Lee Hyun returned to Qianlu Market to have the Sinking Moon Sword inspected.
The skies above Qianlu Mountain were still crowded, and the workshop’s signboard was unchanged.
But Murong Ke was not the one who greeted him inside.
The elderly cultivator had died several decades earlier, having reached the end of their lifespan. A disciple now ran the workshop.
…
The people wearing the Two Heavens Society’s masks changed one by one as well.
When the person behind the Goose mask grew old, someone else took their place.
One year, Lee Hyun stopped hearing from Toad, who had survived Qingshi Ridge and switched to the Otter mask. When he looked into it, he learned that Toad had handed his duties to a successor and left to spend his remaining years in retirement.
The Council of Senior Elders incident became an old story told to new members.
Other members reached the Golden Core realm, but none proclaimed themselves senior elders and tried to seize control of the trade network.
…
And so Lee Hyun cultivated, practiced alchemy, ate, and rested.
Faces came and went, and the streets of the cultivator markets changed.
Some pills grew more expensive, while some medicinal ingredients became cheaper.
His success rate in producing Dao pills varied from year to year as well.
Still, time moved steadily on…
***
Three hundred and thirty years after Lee Hyun had begun studying the Essence-Cultivating Dao Pill in earnest.
A stone chamber in Tunnel No. 3.
Lee Hyun sat in lotus position.
Spiritual power circulated throughout his body along the pathways prescribed by the Primordial One-Qi Art.
It flowed through his limbs and internal organs, his sinews, bones, and skin.
He continued the qi circulation cycles slowly, keeping the energy from concentrating too heavily in any one place.
Countless times, he had directed medicinal strength into the areas that had long lagged slightly behind, refining them until they reached the same level as the rest of his body.
It happened as the medicinal strength of a single Essence-Cultivating Dao Pill completed a full circuit.
Hummm–
A vibration spread from deep inside his body to every limb and bone.
As the medicinal strength seeped into the last areas still lagging behind, all the energy in his body resonated as one!
Whoooosh–
The dark stone chamber was instantly flooded with light.
An auspicious glow rose like mist from Lee Hyun’s entire body, gently enveloping him in a rounded cocoon as he sat in lotus position.
The clear radiance flowed through his skin, sinews, and bones as though celebrating his achievement.
Dust drifted up from the stone floor with the light, then settled again.
How much time had passed?
The light filling the chamber gradually sank back into Lee Hyun’s body.
For an instant, his skin shimmered with light. Then it returned to normal.
His entire body had reached Foundation Establishment Great Perfection!
As Lee Hyun slowly opened his eyes, a clear gleam flashed in their depths.
“Finally!”
He looked down at his hands and flexed his fingers.
With even the slightest movement, he could feel the energy filling his entire body.
After examining the state of his body for a while, he took out the stone tablet, erased the old inscriptions, and carved new ones.
【Age: 3,191 years】
【Realm: Foundation Establishment Great Perfection (whole body)】
【Spiritual Power: 18,100 → 24,500】
【Constitution: Primordial Body, Foundation Establishment Great Perfection】
【Cultivation Art: Primordial One-Qi Art (Foundation Establishment Section)】
Lee Hyun withdrew his hand after engraving the final character.
It had taken so many long years.
Through patient, tireless cultivation, he had finally laid the foundation for the Leakless Golden Body.
Had he chosen to advance just his lower dantian first, he would have reached another realm long ago. But Lee Hyun had refused to compromise, and at last, he had made it this far!
⚬──────────✧──────────⚬
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