The Chaotic Immortal Wood Sect: Immortal Cultivation War - Chapter 5
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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5. Kicking Away Even When Given a Chance to Live?
“Gurgle! W-wait a moment…”
Lee Tae Ho with a dagger stuck in his throat.
But he doesn’t die easily.
The vitality of a cultivator who has already awakened their Spiritual Root and entered the realm of Spiritual Energy Techniques cannot be compared to that of ordinary people.
In the Cultivation World where bizarre Cultivation Methods exist that can reattach even severed heads, a mere throat stab has ways to somehow recover from it.
Even just using the Healing Pills currently inside Kang Hyeon or In Deok’s sleeves would make saving Lee Tae Seong not a difficult task.
‘Killing is easy. But saving is difficult.’
Kang Hyeon grabbed the collar of Lee Tae Seong, who had collapsed with his throat stabbed, and fell into brief contemplation.
“Kang Hyeon!”
In Deok ran over to Kang Hyeon’s side and stood close to him.
“He’s not dead yet.”
Kang Hyeon spoke to In Deok in a calm voice.
Then the three children who had followed Tae Seong also came to their senses and opened their eyes wide.
“What are you going to do?”
In Deok asked.
“Since he tried to kill me, killing him would be right.”
“But…”
“This bastard has entered the realm of Spiritual Energy Techniques. If we hesitate here, we might be the ones who get hurt instead.”
“W-wait. Our big brother is not only a descendant of the Lee Family, but also a disciple candidate specially marked by Hyeonhae Palace. So…”
“Are you saying that if I kill this bastard, the Lee Family and Hyeonhae Palace will take revenge on me?”
One of the three children who followed Lee Tae Ho tried to threaten him to save Lee Tae Ho, but it only resulted in touching Kang Hyeon’s nerves instead.
“Th-that’s…”
“Do you think I’d spare you if I kill this bastard? Then how would they know it was me who killed you?”
“N-no.”
“You’re going to kill us too?!”
“But we just followed big brother Tae Ho…”
“In Deok, catch them if they try to run.”
“Uh-huh, o-okay.”
Whatever the three children said, Kang Hyeon told In Deok to prevent their escape, and In Deok nodded slightly.
“Can that thing be used again?”
Kang Hyeon pointed with his chin at the bamboo tube that had fallen to the ground and asked.
Since it wasn’t a question directed at anyone in particular, the three children hesitated before one of them mumbled.
“I-it can be used five times…”
“So it can be used four more times?”
“We’ve used it three times so far, so it can only be used two more times…”
“You already used it two more times besides on me? Where did you use it?”
“Th-that’s…”
“You killed other trainees, didn’t you?”
Kang Hyeon immediately guessed such facts from the child’s hesitation and pressed him sharply as if interrogating.
Then the child squeezed his eyes shut and tried to avoid Kang Hyeon’s questioning, but that alone was more than enough of an answer.
“A young bastard has been going around doing wicked things.”
Kang Hyeon glared at Lee Tae Ho, who was hanging by his grabbed collar, then moved the dagger he was holding in his other hand.
Stab, stab stab!
“Gurrrrgle!”
“Ahhh, big brother Tae Ho!”
“Big brother is…”
“H-he really k-killed him!”
Kang Hyeon pulled the dagger out of his throat, then immediately stabbed his chest twice.
The children thought Lee Tae Ho had died and were startled, making a big fuss.
Thud!
When Kang Hyeon let go of Lee Tae Ho’s collar, Lee Tae Ho rolled on the ground.
“What do we do now? Kill those bastards too?”
In Deok approached Kang Hyeon and whispered in a low voice.
Since they were people who had achieved Spiritual Energy Resonance, they wouldn’t be unable to hear this level of voice, but he habitually lowered his voice.
“Hey hey, he’s not dead yet.”
“Huh?”
“I said he’s not dead. I just made it difficult for him to recover immediately.”
“R-really?”
In Deok’s expression relaxed at Kang Hyeon’s words that he hadn’t killed Lee Tae Ho.
In Deok had been thinking that if Kang Hyeon had killed Lee Tae Ho, then the remaining three children would naturally have to be killed as well.
So he had been preparing to join in when Kang Hyeon moved, but it seemed there was no need for that right now.
In Deok felt both relief and disappointment at the same time.
“You guys over there.”
“U-us?”
“Take this guy and go.”
“You’re just letting us go?”
At Kang Hyeon’s words, one of the three children asked back with a suspicious expression.
“Who said I’d just let you go?”
“Th-then?”
“You need to hand over everything you have before leaving. Strip down to your underwear. Strip this guy too.”
Kang Hyeon pointed with his chin at Lee Tae Ho lying collapsed.
“A-are you really going to spare us?”
Another of the three children asked again as if confirming.
“Of course I’ll report this incident to our Cheonroemun seniors. What happens after that is up to the seniors to decide.”
“I-is that so?”
“Well, that’s…”
“Th-thank goodness.”
The children showed expressions of relief at Kang Hyeon’s words.
Seeing this, Kang Hyeon surmised that the Hyeonhae Palace instructors were allowing attacks on other trainees outside the Tower.
“What are you doing? Empty everything out and strip your clothes like I said.”
Kang Hyeon glared at the children.
The children exchanged glances with each other, then carefully approached the fallen Lee Tae Ho and began searching his belongings and stripping his clothes.
“Will this be okay?”
As Kang Hyeon watched this scene, In Deok approached and asked cautiously.
“Why? Would you have preferred I killed them?”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
“Killing wouldn’t be difficult. If that guy had properly used his power it would have been troublesome, but he was more stupid than expected.”
Kang Hyeon said while gesturing toward Lee Tae Ho being stripped down to his underwear.
“Is that so?”
“Not only had he learned Spiritual Energy Technique, but he even had offensive Dharma Techniques. If he’d used them properly, we would have been in trouble too.”
“Right. If you hadn’t blocked that first attack… Ah, thinking about it now, it was incredibly dangerous? We could have died, couldn’t we?”
In Deok recalled when Kang Hyeon had blocked the hidden weapon, realizing it had been a more dangerous moment than expected, and his face contorted.
But right at that moment.
“Die!”
“Go!”
Whoosh! Swish swish swish!
“Defense!!”
The three children who had been stripping Lee Tae Ho’s clothes suddenly launched attacks toward Kang Hyeon and In Deok.
Two of them attacked, while the other deployed a water-formed defensive barrier.
“These bastards!”
In Deok was the first to react.
As In Deok released his spiritual energy, the clothes he wore took on a golden hue and swelled up.
That golden color soon formed into the shape of a massive shield, blocking in front of In Deok and Kang Hyeon.
“Tsk, I was going to spare you…”
Kang Hyeon clicked his tongue as he watched the children’s fireballs and needle hidden weapons blocked by In Deok’s golden shield.
“That was the wrong choice!”
Kang Hyeon then launched his body, piercing through In Deok’s shield and shooting toward the children.
“Huh?!”
“D-damn it!”
“Get it together, we have a barrier. Prepare to attack again!”
As Kang Hyeon charged at them, two children panicked and floundered, while another child concentrated spiritual energy on the water barrier and shouted.
The two panicking children also straightened their resolve, tearing talismans and activating bamboo tube hidden weapon Dharma Techniques.
Whoosh! Swish swish swish swish!
“Hmph!”
But Kang Hyeon seemed to have already anticipated such attacks, as his body that had been charging straight suddenly shifted to one side, evading the children’s attacks.
He then thrust the dagger in his hand toward the water-formed barrier.
“Hmph!”
The child who created the barrier snorted with a confident expression at Kang Hyeon’s attack.
It was a snort filled with confidence that the barrier could never be broken.
Thunk!
And true to that confidence, Kang Hyeon’s dagger only managed to penetrate halfway through the blade before being blocked.
“Hahaha. You’re as good as dead now.”
Seeing this, the child laughed loudly and shouted.
And the reason for that confidence was Lee Tae Ho.
Lee Tae Ho, who had suffered serious injuries from Kang Hyeon, was pushing himself up with trembling arms, raising his upper body.
Kang Hyeon belatedly realized that the children had secretly given Lee Tae Ho something like a Healing Pill while avoiding his gaze.
“There’s no time. Let’s finish this quickly.”
Kang Hyeon muttered this and concentrated spiritual energy at the tip of the dagger piercing the barrier.
Green spiritual energy condensed at the dagger’s tip and instantly swelled up.
Whooooom! Whoooom!
“What? What is that?”
“S-spare me…”
“Grooooar!”
“Huff!”
The green spiritual energy that swelled from the tip of Kang Hyeon’s dagger instantly became a massive tree.
The trunk’s diameter alone was 3 zhang, with a height of 5 zhang.
The massive tree, peculiarly with roots protruding above ground, was moving its body while emitting heavy rumbling sounds.
The treant instantly tore through the protective barrier surrounding the children and wrapped Lee Tae Ho and the children with its branches and roots.
“Huh? Wh-what is that thing?”
In Deok ran to Kang Hyeon and asked with a surprised expression.
“Treant.”
“Huh? What?”
“Just a tree. A moving tree.”
“You mean a tree demon?”
“It’s a bit different from that, but let’s talk about it later. Let’s deal with those things first.”
Kang Hyeon said this and instructed the treant to deal with the children.
The treant was spiritually connected to Kang Hyeon, so it could read and act on Kang Hyeon’s will without needing verbal commands.
Auuuung! Auuuuung!
Creak creak, creak creak creak.
The treant wrapped the children it was holding with its roots and branches like cocoons and pulled them directly into its body.
“Huh?”
In Deok’s mouth fell open at the sight of the treant devouring the children.
Then he suddenly turned his head to look at Kang Hyeon and asked.
“What? What is that? That’s a tree demon, right? No wait, since you’re controlling it, it’s not a demon but a spirit beast or something?”
What cultivators tame, whether it was originally a demonic beast or demon, is simply called a spirit beast.
So from In Deok’s perspective, the treant also appeared to be a tree spirit beast.
“Yeah, just think of it that way. There’s not much difference anyway.”
Kang Hyeon thought it would be better to just let him understand the treant, which had many difficult aspects to explain, as a tree spirit beast.
“Did that thing just devour the children?”
“Sigh.”
Kang Hyeon let out a long sigh at In Deok’s question.
The children devoured by the treant were actually still alive and not yet dead.
Even now, if Kang Hyeon changed his mind, he could take the children out and save them.
But Kang Hyeon’s eyes turned coldly calm.
Though he had only turned twelve in this Daecheon World, in his previous life he had lived until his mid-thirties.
Moreover, his profession at that time was hunter.
He had not only hunted monsters in Gates and Dungeons, but also frequently had to fight against fellow human awakeners.
For someone like him, killing someone was not particularly troubling.
It was just that the ages of In Deok and the captured children weighed on his mind now.
“Will it be okay? If Hyeonhae Palace finds out…”
In Deok said with a worried expression.
“You’re not bothered by the children dying?”
“They deserved to die. Not only did they kill other children, but they tried to kill us twice?”
“I see.”
Though In Deok wasn’t naturally cruel-hearted, even from his perspective, this incident seemed unforgivable.
“Kang Hyeon, are you bothered by those guys dying?”
But instead, In Deok looked at Kang Hyeon with a worried expression and asked.
“Huh?”
“Don’t be like that. Senior Hyeon Gak said so, didn’t he? That the Cultivation World is a place where killing and being killed happens frequently. Since we’re going to live in such a place, think of it as something that would have happened eventually.”
“You speak well. Don’t you remember trembling in fear earlier?”
“That couldn’t be helped. I was panicked.”
“Are you okay now?”
“Yeah, I had prepared myself to fight.”
“Did that preparation include being ready to kill?”
“Of course! When you first stabbed that guy’s throat with your dagger, I was really shocked, but I soon realized it. That I need to be able to do that too.”
“Even if you say that, it won’t be easy when you actually have to do it. I wish you never had to experience such things…”
Kang Hyeon had to trail off his words.
The Cultivation World of Daecheon World was too harsh a place for his wishes to come true.
Auuuuung! Auuung!
“Huh? Why is it acting like that?”
Just then, when the treant showed unstable behavior while trembling, In Deok asked in surprise.
“It’s because my Mental Power is exhausted. Whew.”
Kang Hyeon answered like that and stretched out his hand pointing at the treant.
Whoooosh!
Then the treant changed back into a mass of green spiritual energy and was sucked into Kang Hyeon’s palm.
“Huh?”
At this, In Deok once again opened his eyes wide and looked around in amazement.
“Let’s clean up first. Collect the Purple Bell Flowers and erase traces of the children too.”
After calling back the treant, Kang Hyeon said this with a pale complexion and moved first.
In Deok was worried about Kang Hyeon, so he stayed close by his side and helped him with his work.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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