Not Enough Karma Translator: Xzy ***
Seeing that this was also an evasion art, it seemed that similar types of Dharma spells were all placed nearby.
In any case, the title was 'Cloud Dragon Evasion Art', and it was a higher-tier Dharma spell than the Wind Cloud Spell he had currently learned.
Compared to the Five Elements Heavenly Evasion Art, it felt less versatile, but the advantage of this evasion art was in flying long distances quickly and efficiently.
It also seemed to have the subtle function of creating or manipulating clouds to conceal one's aura.
This seemed like it could be operated in various ways in various situations, not just when flying.
The book next to it, titled 'Dark Shadow Evasion Art', was a Dharma spell that focused on concealing one's aura while moving, and the book next to that was a Dharma spell for combat containing the subtleties of offense and defense, titled 'Starlight Heavenly Evasion Art'.
'The Five Elements Heavenly Evasion Art isn't absolutely the best, then.'
It seemed that better evasion arts could exist for specific purposes in specific situations. In fact, that was the basic principle of the world.
But no matter what anyone said, what Han Yu-jin needed most right now was the Five Elements Heavenly Evasion Art.
This was because, before learning this Dharma spell, he could separately learn and utilize each of the subordinate Dharma spells: the Fire Evasion Art, Lightning Evasion Art, Wind Evasion Art, Water Evasion Art, and Earth Evasion Art.
Having made up his mind, he stored the Five Elements Heavenly Evasion Art book in his storage pouch.
A small amount of precious Spiritual Energy was consumed in using the storage pouch, but the book was too thick and large to just carry around.
Afterward, he passed by the evasion art books and examined the books in the next section.
This time, they were cultivation art books. They were all ones that could be cultivated from the Dharma Soul Stage to the Nascent Soul Stage, but there were more in the form of Jade Slips than books, which slightly dampened his motivation to look through them.
This was especially because it was common sense that one could only cultivate a single cultivation art.
'I'm going to come back again later anyway, so even if I decide on one now, a cultivation art I like more will probably show up when I look then.'
Thus, he passed by with just a very light skim of the titles and contents. A few cultivation arts strongly piqued his curiosity, but he managed to endure it.
In the next section, he could find Dharma spells for combat. There were many amazing ones, but what unexpectedly caught Han Yu-jin's interest was a book with a relatively simple title.
'Five Elements Dharma Spells.'
When he opened and looked through it, it did indeed contain many kinds of useful Dharma spells of the five elements' attributes.
From very basic Dharma spells like the Fire Control Art, Fire Resistance Art, Lightning Control Art, and Lightning Resistance Art, to offensive Dharma spells like the Fire Spirit Bird Art, Lightning Strike Art, Wind Blade Art, and Water Wheel Art, and even to grandly named defensive Dharma spells like the Dharma-Breaking Lightning Wall Art and the Purple-Gold Radiance Art.
It was at a level where it had compiled almost all the Dharma spells belonging to the five elements.
Moreover, the more he read, the more he felt he understood the true purpose of this Five Elements Dharma Spells book.
It seemed that the intention was not to learn each and every one of the Dharma spells recorded in this book, but to grasp which Dharma scripts were used in which type of Dharma spell and how, and thereby realize the method of applying and creating them on one's own.
In fact, when he looked at the back, there were even words written with the author's such intention.
'This is the Five Elements Sect for a reason.'
Thinking this, he glanced at the remaining Dharma spell books.
'It would take an eternity just to try and learn this one…'
This was a judgment that even took into account his own transcendent language comprehension.
Even though he could get the most difficult hurdle, the Dharma scripts, for free, and even though he could just know all their ambiguous meanings, application methods, symbiotic and antagonistic relationships, and the methods of operating Spiritual Energy and Dharma Power.
This means of the immortal path, the Dharma spell, was truly not to be underestimated. The same was naturally true for cultivation arts and the like.
'Growing stronger through Xianxia-style cultivation is good.'
Han Yu-jin thought.
'But if I focus only on this method… can I really reach the True Immortal Stage?'
It was a question that had suddenly popped into his head.
The path of cultivation he had just begun to walk was truly not easy.
Thanks to his transcendent language comprehension, he had come this far with relative ease, but it was obvious that it would get more difficult the further he went.
In the long history of the cultivation world, could there really have been no one with as much comprehension as himself?
That couldn't be. There must have been someone who had greater comprehension than Han Yu-jin himself and even possessed a Heaven Spiritual Root, and who had even possessed a Spirit Body that was constitutionally advantageous for cultivation.
But did all such people reach the True Immortal Stage?
'Forget the True Immortal Stage, there weren't even many who were said to have reached the Nascent Soul Stage, which is four stages below that.'
A Spirit Transformation Stage cultivator, just one stage above that, was considered to be half-legendary.
At least, that's what it was like according to the cultivation-related books he had looked through so far.
'I need to utilize my awakened ability more.'
He was already utilizing it, but he had to try more active and different methods.
After spacing out for a little longer, he shook his head and brought his thoughts to a close.
And he continued the task of looking through the books in this library pavilion.
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The reason he didn't take all the books was that he was certain he wouldn't be able to look through them properly until he reached the Dharma Soul Stage, even if he did.
He was in a situation where he wouldn't have enough time even if he focused solely on learning the Five Elements Heavenly Evasion Art and the Five Elements Dharma Spells he had already taken.
And it wasn't like he had a generous amount of Karma left over either.
In addition to those two, Han Yu-jin took only two more Dharma spell books.
One was a book containing the knowledge needed to raise and teach spiritual beasts, called the 'Enlightened Beast Taming Art', and the other was a book called the 'Bloodwood Essence Fruit Brewing Art'.
There was no need to speak at length about the Beast Taming Art book. The Bloodwood Essence Fruit Brewing Art was quite unique.
The core of the book was about brewing a Spirit Wine that aided cultivation, but Han Yu-jin's attention was actually on the part about the Bloodwood Essence Fruit at the beginning.
The Bloodwood was originally a very common type of demonic tree. A Nascent Soul Stage cultivator had selectively bred it to be docile, making it absorb blood from the carcasses of beasts containing Spiritual Energy to bear fruit. Solely for the purpose of brewing and drinking wine from that fruit.
What was important here was the fact that the fruit produced in this way could aid cultivation. To a degree where there was almost no loss compared to directly cooking and eating the meat of a hunted beast.
Considering that the more meat there was, the more time it took to eat it all, and considering that as time passed, Spiritual Energy loss would occur in the meat that was left uneaten and neglected, it was an unconditional gain to make it into Bloodwood Essence Fruit and consume it.
This was also true in that he would be able to eat more in a short amount of time. Being able to skip the troublesome process of butchering and so on was a bonus.
Naturally, to perform this Dharma spell, he needed the seeds of that selectively bred Bloodwood, and there were three seeds placed neatly in a jade box next to the Dharma spell book, so he could take them with pleasure.
Although they were already dead seeds from having gone through the catastrophe of the End of Dharma, he would be able to restore them in the reward selection process.
After looking through the entire library pavilion like that, he resumed his exploration of the Inner Sect area.
In most places, there were no particular results. This was even the case in the Armament Pavilion, where various Dharma artifacts and Dharma treasures were stored.
A Dharma treasure could be thought of as a higher-tier item than a Dharma artifact. Since it was an item that could only be properly used from the Core Formation Stage, it was just a pie in the sky for the current Han Yu-jin.
The Dharma artifacts that he might have been able to use effectively even at his current level had mostly lost their power, making it difficult to grasp their purpose. So, he couldn't gauge how much of a result he had obtained at all.
Of course, that wasn't to say he didn't take anything. He used his head as much as possible and put everything that looked useful into his storage pouch.
But, there was an item that was clearly impossible to use but which completely captured his gaze.
It was the item placed on the central dais on the top floor of the Armament Pavilion, where strict restrictions must have once been laid.
'Is this that Heaven-Piercing Spirit Treasure…'
It referred to a Spirit Treasure, a higher-tier item than a Dharma treasure, and an item that could be classified as a special grade even among such Spirit Treasures.
According to the common sense of the cultivation world that he knew, a Heaven-Piercing Spirit Treasure possessed a spirituality no less than a person's and could transform into a human form or create such an avatar. And it was said that it could display at least Nascent Soul Stage-level abilities even without a master.
The Five Elements Sect's Heaven-Piercing Spirit Treasure was, unusually, a giant, smooth, jet-black rock. It was called the 'Five Elements True Spirit Greatstone' and was also the item that was the source of this Five Elements Sect's founding.
'I wonder how much Karma would be needed to obtain it through reward selection.'
He would probably only be able to bring this item to reality after diligently accumulating Karma based on a Nascent Soul Stage-level ability.
'If that's the case, it means I might visit here again when I become a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator.'
It really seemed like he would be visiting this place over and over again, as if stewing a bone for broth. He let out a chuckle and left the Armament Pavilion.
A moment later.
Han Yu-jin stood in front of the last remaining unexplored place in the Inner Sect area. It was a large cave entrance blocked by a rock of a frightening size.
A sphere of brightly burning flame was created above his raised hand. Pouring all his power into the cast Fire Bullet Spell, Han Yu-jin was inwardly shocked.
The amount of Spiritual Energy consumed felt like it was nearly three or four times as much as in the primeval forest. It was the first time he had cast a Dharma spell with all his power here, so he hadn't realized it until now.
'The catastrophe of the End of Dharma is truly terrifying!'
He would just wake up in his bed in reality if he died, but he felt he could understand a little of how despairing the cultivators who had to face this great catastrophe without even being able to run away must have been.
Simultaneously with his thoughts, the Fire Bullet Spell, which had swelled to its limit, left his hand and directly hit the rock.
KABOOM—!!
An explosive roar that seemed to shake the entire silent Five Elements Sect ruins erupted. Even Han Yu-jin, who had caused it, frowned slightly.
But, the scene revealed after the dust cleared left him dumbfounded.
The rock was only very slightly cracked and broken on the surface. To be this hard despite not containing a single wisp of Spiritual Energy, it was to the point where he doubted his eyes.
"Crazy."
He spat out a curse without realizing it and immediately gave up on breaking through this rock. It seemed he would have to try again after reaching the Dharma Soul Stage.
Or, he could learn the Earth Evasion Art and pass through it without breaking it. He didn't know what it was like in the past, but it should be possible now since this rock contained no Spiritual Energy at all.
In that case, all that was left was to explore the Outer Sect area and get results. There wouldn't be as many results as in the Inner Sect area, but he might be able to obtain more trivial cultivation world common sense or information there.
As he was heading down the mountain towards the Outer Sect area again, he happened to look at the darkening sky and thought that the timing was similar.
When he had first visited this place, the sun had set not long after he had gone down to the Outer Sect area again.
Suddenly recalling the thirst and hunger from that time, he opened the cap of the Spirit Liquid Gourd and took a small sip of the spirit liquid. It was an act of strictly adhering to the proper amount, not drinking his fill like in the primeval forest.
'I have to last a long time.'
Since it was a place he would be visiting again more than a few times in the future, he was thinking of making a perfect map on this occasion. He didn't want to miss even the most trivial of gains.
And there was one thing he was concerned about, which was that the material of the book in which the Five Elements Heavenly Evasion Art was written was no ordinary thing.
He could end up overspending Karma by mistake compared to when selecting a regular book as a reward. So, he was planning to memorize all the necessary parts.
If he just memorized around the Water Evasion Art and the Earth Evasion Art, he wouldn't need to take the entire book for the time being.
'This is going to be a bit of a struggle.'
Entering the Outer Sect area, he let out a small sigh.
It seemed he would also have to prepare a method for how to return comfortably without pain when he had finished all his work to his satisfaction.
And he also needed to plan again what he would do after leaving here.
'I don't have enough Karma.'
Considering the amount of Karma that had been consumed when he had selected the cultivation result of having completed a twenty-seven percent Dharma Soul sublimation, the Karma he had left now was definitely far too little.
'Maybe it's about time…'
It seemed the time had come to start Hunter activities in reality.
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