by Fiery Moon
Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation
The Promise of Ten Years Part I
Written by Fiery Moon
Translated by DragonInWhite
Edited by MindLitUp
Translation Checked by GGP
© 2017 by Gravity Tales
All rights reserved. Published 2017.
Originally published as 仙武同修 in Chinese by Zongheng.com.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Cover Design by MindLitUp
Cover Image Provided Courtesy of Zongheng.com
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Table of Contents
Author’s English Publication Preface
Translator’s Preface
Editor’s Preface
Chapter 1: Tianwu Continent, Good-for-Nothing Xiao Chen
Chapter 2: Anger, Life-and-Death Duel
Chapter 3: Purple Thunder Divine Incantation
Chapter 4: Adventure, Seven Horn Mountain
Chapter 5: Panic, Mysterious Girl
Chapter 6: Awakening of the Azure Dragon
Chapter 7: Accidental Discovery, Shadowing
Chapter 8: Cave of the Predecessor
Chapter 9: Thunder Emperor Sang Mu, Treasure Trove
Chapter 10: Great Treasure, Moonstone
Chapter 11: Bitter Encounter, Enemies Meeting Face to Face
Chapter 12: Dangerous Battle
Chapter 13: Narrowly Escaping Death
Chapter 14: An Awkward Healing
Chapter 15: Decisive Battle with Xiao Jian
Chapter 16: Counterattack of the Good-for-Nothing
Chapter 17: Mysterious Woman, Top Quality Medicine Cauldron
Chapter 18: Owing A Big Favor
Chapter 19: Dangerous Battle on The Street
Chapter 20: The Valiant Zhang He, Battle in Anger
Chapter 21: Impasse
Chapter 22: Spirit Weapon Lunar Shadow
Chapter 23: Meteor Burst
Chapter 24: Refining Medicines
Chapter 25: Distracted in the Eleventh Hour
Chapter 26: Successful Refining
Chapter 27: Linlang Pavilion
Chapter 28: Nangong Yan
Chapter 29: Re-Entering Seven Horn Mountain
Chapter 30: Bloodmoon Demonic Bear
Chapter 31: Spiritual Sense Appears
Chapter 32: Universe Ring
Chapter 33: How Could It Be?
Chapter 34: Heaven Ranked Martial Technique—Return of the Azure Dragon
Chapter 35: Men in Black
Chapter 36: Gushing Undercurrent
Chapter 37: A Bitter Battle
Chapter 38: Martial Saint—Liu Fengyin
Chapter 39: Spirit Beast Uproar
Chapter 40: Six-Tailed Spirit Fox
Chapter 41: Where Two Are Fighting, The Third Wins
Chapter 42: Sword Spirit—Ao Jiao
Chapter 43: Advancing to Medial Grade Martial Disciple
Chapter 44: Demonic Beast Forest
Chapter 45: Vixen?
Chapter 46: Entering Linlang Pavilion Again
Author’s English Publication Preface
1As the author of Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation, after receiving the information that Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation was about to be published on Amazon as an e-book, I felt deeply excited. The fame of Amazon is something that is very well renowned, even in China.
I sincerely thank the translator for tirelessly working so that this novel could be published on Amazon, that our friends from overseas can see the work that I am proud of, and I also thank the readers for all their support and love. I feel very honored.
Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation is a story about dreams and adventures. The growth of a youth, and the transformation of the weak.
In my opinion, when the readers from overseas read Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation, it will be an adventure to them.
As this is a Chinese fantasy novel, even after being translated into English it may still be quite difficult to read. During this period, where Chinese literature has not become commonplace yet, you, as readers, choose to overcome this difficulty and read it seriously. This, itself, is a kind of adventure. This is very cool.
I believe that one day, Chinese fantasy novels will become commonplace throughout the whole world; like the main character of Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation, Xiao Chen, seeking honor and glory, and accomplishing his dreams.
I hope that when you are reading this book you will feel joy, and that you will remember your earliest dreams, where you will find an unending, hot bloodedness.
Regards,
Fiery Moon
Translator’s Preface
Before I started translating, I was, and still am, an avid reader of various webnovels. Starting with the translated Japanese webnovel, “Re: Monster”, I slowly drifted into the world of translated webnovels. The more I read, the more I found. Eventually, a few years passed and I came to a conclusion; I had been reading for free for a long time, and it was time for me to contribute back to the community. I found the recruitment on GravityTales.com and hesitated for weeks, before finally filling out the form and submitting it. Soon, a test came and I completed it, successfully becoming a translator under the Gravity Tales Banner. Thus, my journey as a translator began.
I first started by joining a group of translators working on another translated novel published on Gravity Tales and learned a lot through my experience on that webnovel. After a period of time, I began to search for novels that I liked and wanted to translate, looking specifically for a novel that I could call my own. After a couple of months of searching, I eventually came across a recommendation on translated novels’ forum, and I read through the initial parts of Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation. The story captured my attention, and I knew then that this was a story that I wanted to translate. Thus, the translation of Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation began.
I thank the author for writing this book, and would like to say that it is a very good piece of work. This translation would not have happened without you!
I thank Gravity Tales, and owner, GGP, for making this translation happen, as well as for providing a platform for chapters to be hosted and dealing with licensing rights for the novel.
I thank my web editors (DankOz, MindLitUp, Nora, and Chlocolatte) for making my translations so much easier to read, and for pointing out my common grammatical errors. They have been a great pleasure to work with, and I hope we will continue to work closely together.
I would also like to thank LordBlueFire for guiding me when I first started translating, as well as for all the advice and encouragement he has provided.
And, finally, I would like to thank all of the readers for the support you have all given me during this process.
Regards,
DragonInWhite
Editor’s Preface
As the final editor for Immortal and Martial Dual Cultivation: The Promise of Ten Years Part I, the first book of what I hope will be many in the series, I was set the task of not only editing for a translated work for the first time but also editing for one that has had multiple first draft editors during its production as a 2webnovel translation. Thank
s to the efforts of Dank Oz, Nora, and Chlocolatte, this book exists at all in its current form. They did the hard work of first draft editing a translated novel for the web. My gratitude goes out to all three of them!
Having no prior experience with Chinese, or the intricacies of the various genres that have arisen from Chinese webnovels over the years, I sometimes struggled with finding the balance of maintaining the knife’s edge between remaining faithful to the original meaning my translator (DragonInWhite) so diligently and artfully translated from Fiery Moon’s original content, and the difficulties of rephrasing various cultural ideas, tendencies, items, and other verbiage into terminology that a Western audience could understand and appreciate appropriately. Editing for translated works is a unique task, and it is not as simple as merely correcting punctuation for grammatical accuracy.
My favorite part of editing this book resides in the wealth of information I gleaned from the process, as well as the joy of collaboration with my translator to best create an English version of this novel that accurately reflects the original story in a way that provides accessibility to a whole new audience. It was a pleasure to play such an integral role in bringing this story to an English audience, and I am excited to continue forward with future adventures with the novel’s main character, Xiao Chen. I do hope you enjoy this first arc in his tale and keep an eye out for further installments!
All the best,
MindLitUp
Prologue
To eat or not to eat… This was the question that Xiao Chen pondered as he studied the dark-green “Immortal Pill” in his hand. His mind was in complete disarray. This “Immortal Pill” was given to him for free by the seller when he purchased a Compendium of Cultivation on Taobao.
At first, that 3Taobao shop seemed to be a little dumb. After he had bought the Compendium of Cultivation for 250 RMB, they had actually given him a seemingly rare Immortal Pill that was said to allow one to ascend to a higher plane.
Xiao Chen was usually very interested in immortal cultivation and the legends attached to it, and thus, without much consideration, he made the purchase.
For three years, Xiao Chen cultivated according to the methods outlined in the Compendium of Cultivation, but there had not been a shred of improvement. Aside from remembering the methods of refining pills, making talismans, formations, and refining weapons, he was not even able to make sense of the rest.
However, Xiao Chen did not give up; he placed his hopes on that Immortal Pill despite its incredible strangeness.
He once tried to use a steel hammer to smash it. However, when the steel hammer approached the Immortal Pill, it was slowed, as if there was a force field around the Immortal Pill. No matter how much strength he used, the steel hammer was not able to get near the pill.
The mystical immortal destiny of legend could be hidden within this Immortal Pill! However, Xiao Chen still hesitated due to the pill being very strange. It would be fine if he ate it and nothing happened but what if something happened and he turned into a monster – what would he do then?
This was why he did not dare to eat the Immortal Pill until now.
Eat? Or not to eat?
Eat!
Xiao Chen steeled his heart and made his decision; to eat this Immortal Pill. It was either make or break. There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world; it was not possible to have any rewards without risk.
Xiao Chen pinched his nose, shut his eyes, placed the Immortal Pill in his mouth, swallowing it. He clearly felt the Immortal Pill sink down until it arrived in the area where the Dantian was located. The Dantian suffused the pill’s surroundings with warmth while the Qi and blood in his body seemed to converge into his soul.
Xiao Chen could only feel that his mouth was dry and his head became dizzy. It was as though his soul was being forcibly siphoned out. His consciousness clouded up, and slowly... he became unconscious.
Chapter 1: Tianwu Continent, Good-for-Nothing Xiao Chen
Tianwu Continent, The Great Qin Nation, Qizi County, Mohe City, Xiao Clan.
Xiao Chen sat on the roof of a house in the backyard of the Xiao Clan. It was a fine sunny day with a clear sky, but Xiao Chen’s mood was extremely foul.
He swore that if he ever returned to Earth, he would never buy anything from Taobao again.
When he had purchased the Compendium of Cultivation for 250 RMB, the seller had also included an Immortal Pill that was said to be able to allow someone to ascend to the world of Immortals.
Xiao Chen was normally very interested in the legends and cultivation methods of immortals and had purchased the compendium on a whim.
For three years, Xiao Chen had followed the cultivation methods written in the Compendium of Cultivation, but there had been no progress at all. Aside from remembering the methods of refining pills, making talismans, formations, and weapons refining, he was not able to make sense of the rest.
However, Xiao Chen did not give up and placed his hopes on the Immortal Pill, a dark-green pill that seemed strange beyond compare.
He once tried to use a steel hammer to smash it, which revealed a force field around it as the hammer got close. Regardless of how much weight he put into his swings, the force field wouldn’t budge.
This mysterious occurrence caused Xiao Chen to make a decision and finally eat this Immortal Pill.
No one could have expected that after he ate the Immortal Pill, although he did indeed ascend to a different world, it was not the Immortal World of legend but rather a place known as the Tianwu Continent.
After ascending, he was muddle-headed for a long time before he slowly realized that he had crossed over and possessed the body of a person with the same name, Xiao Chen, as himself.
He would have been able to endure it if it were a regular ascension. Those of regular ascensions would end up being competent and arrogant, capable of singlehandedly defeating countless experts with their bare hands and sending crowds of beauties into screaming delirium with the wave of their hand?
The Tianwu continent was a realm where the strong were respected. However, the person whose body he possessed was absolute trash in the way of cultivation. He was already sixteen years old and yet, he still had not condensed his Martial Spirit.
The Xiao Clan was the number one clan in Mohe City, and Xiao Chen was the son of the clan head. This may sound very prestigious, but because of his lack of talent in cultivation, even the servants in his clan looked down on him. Xiao Chen’s reputation of being trash was known by everyone in all of Mohe City, causing him to be despised by everyone, even those outside of the clan.
“Young Master Xiao, the first elder has asked for you to go to the martial hall to test your abilities. If you have nothing to do, then you should quickly go. I have already passed on the message so whether you go or not is your problem.”
The voice behind those words promptly broke Xiao Chen’s train of thought. The person who spoke was a servant girl of the Xiao Clan. However, she did not even bother to look at Xiao Chen who was sitting on the roof of the house. When she had finished saying her piece, she just casually ignored Xiao Chen and left.
The servants of the Xiao Clan were people who could cultivate. The aptitude of the servant girl who spoke earlier was not high, but even she had successfully condensed her Martial Spirit when she was twelve years old. She was stronger than Xiao Chen, the trash who could not condense a Martial Spirit, even though he was already sixteen years old. Furthermore, Xiao Chen would normally rely on his status and tried to flirt with these servant girls, which had even more tarnished his reputation, so how could anyone possibly end up respecting him?
“Even a servant girl dares to despise me... what in the world did this Xiao Chen do?” After the servant girl had relayed her message, his mood worsened. He patted his butt clear of dust and then directly jumped off the roof.
What caused Xiao Chen’s mood to turn sour was not the attitude of the servant girl, but rather the message that th
e servant girl passed on to him. The Xiao Clan’s test of abilities that happened every three months was happening!
Through the memories of this body, Xiao Chen knew that everyone in the Xiao Clan, regardless of young or old, would be required to undergo a test of abilities every three months.
It assessed their current cultivation status; those who improved would be rewarded, and those who were lazy and stagnated were punished. The punishments could be either light or heavy depending on the severity of the case. Most of the young disciples of the clan would be in a good mood on this day, and those with outstanding talents, in particular, looked forward to this day so they could impress everyone and brag about their strength.
However, this day was a torment to Xiao Chen. Ever since he stagnated in his cultivation since the age of 8, he had been stuck at the 9th Grade of the realm of Spirit Refinement. He was not able to take the next step and condense a Martial Spirit, which would allow him to turn into a true cultivator.
For eight years, this event had turned into his nightmare every single time. Each time he was tested, he was at the 9th Grade of the Realm of Spirit Refinement without a shred of improvement. As for the other disciples at his age, they had already reached the peak of Martial Disciple, and some of the stronger ones had even advanced into the Martial Master Realm.
When Xiao Chen arrived at the martial hall, the huge martial training grounds of a few hundred square meters was filled with people. If counted, there would be no less than 800 people there, all disciples of the young generation in the Xiao Clan. They were no older than twenty, yet the weakest one had a cultivation at Martial Disciple Realm. Through this, the strength of Mohe City's number one clan, the Xiao Clan could be clearly seen.
He simply just found a corner and stood there. He did not hold any extravagant hope that he could shine here, wanting nothing than to come and go, quietly and peacefully.