Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 359

Tales of a Wandering Swordsman – Part 2, Chapter 68

“A Lawful Eye Illusion Realm [a unique mental space created by individuals with specific genetic traits], is it?”

It’s not common.

A divine gift possessed only by those with special bloodlines.

Among them, the Lawful Eye Illusion Realm is an exceptionally rare divine gift, doubling its uniqueness.

“Impressive. It’s beyond the level of a Superior Immortal.”

Paeng Gong-yeon was genuinely impressed.

To be able to unfold a Lawful Eye Illusion Realm of this magnitude meant he was already far stronger than a typical Superior Immortal.

When observing an illusion realm, the most important aspect is, of course, how well it deceives the opponent.

No matter how large-scale an illusionary formation is, if its quality of deception is poor, it’s meaningless as an illusion realm.

Considering that, Cheonbeom’s Lawful Eye Illusion Realm, the Six-Division Boundary, was an extremely outstanding illusion realm.

“I can’t tell what’s real.”

Currently, there are six distinct perspectives before his eyes.

Whether he looks straight ahead or up at the sky, everything appears divided into six.

And each of those six pieces of the sky is different, making it impossible to discern what is illusion and what is real.

[The first gate sees the eye with the eye.]

Suddenly, Cheonbeom’s voice echoed within the illusion realm.

Due to the field of vision being divided into six, even a slight movement of the eyeballs caused dizziness and confusion.

[The second gate sees what is heard with the ear.]

Sees what is heard with the ear?

However, before he could fully grasp the concept, the next words followed.

[The third gate sees what is smelled with the nose.]

Only then did Paeng Gong-yeon realize.

Cheonbeom was explaining the nature of the six landscapes he was currently experiencing.

Everything was as Beom described.

Among the six landscapes, one was ordinary, while the second showed sounds visualized as sound waves.

And the third was similar.

He was seeing a landscape composed of smells, as if that’s what it would look like if you could perceive scents visually.

[The fourth gate is the tongue, the fifth is the body.]

A world existing through taste and a landscape felt through touch coexisted.

And the last one.

[The sixth gate sees intent, that is, meaning.]

Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind (眼耳鼻舌身意) [the six sense organs in Buddhist philosophy].

Soon, when he had experienced all of them.

[You will see the most painful thing.]

It was then.

Like stirring ink dropped in clear water, his vision suddenly swirled and mixed.

Soon, the landscapes of the six gates all disappeared.

What appeared was his younger self.

[Why! How long must we suffer like this, Father! What is so great about those Five Great Families!! Are they the kings of the Water Realm?! I will never submit like you, Father! Never!!]

And soon, what appeared were his parents, now cold corpses.

‘Ah… Ahh….’

The sadness and grief of that day permeated his entire body, filling him to the depths of his bones.

[Why! Why do we have to go through this! Tell me, Brother! Why aren’t we one of the Five Great Families! Why do we have to live being treated like this! Why!! Why… Why!!]

A burning candle slowly melted, shedding tears of wax incessantly.

[Why… did my parents have to die in my place! Why…!!]

The rising tears and sorrow remained as grief, accumulating and scattering.

The flame burning on the weak wick flickered, consuming itself as if about to go out.

“Why, I… forgive….”

[There is nothing as empty as the courage of the powerless.]

The candle, with no body left to burn, eventually had its flame extinguished.

“After doing all that, I’m still their puppet… How futile.”

Poof.

In the extinguished darkness, all that remained was the pure white smoke rising from the burnt wick.

Crack, crackle.

Crash!!

Within the shattered landscape, what appeared was himself, pierced by a golden sword.

“Ah….”

What he saw was Cheonbeom shedding tears of blood.

And Superior Immortals, skewered to death by tens of thousands of swords.

Paeng Gong-yeon understood in an instant.

He felt chills as he died.

Was this truly an illusion realm created by a Superior Immortal?

The tendons in his wrists and ankles were all severed, and the sword embedded in his chest was cutting off all his qi [life force] and blood.

The sensation in his body disappeared, and the divine power he had accumulated for thousands of years scattered.

Paeng Gong-yeon used his last strength to grab Cheonbeom’s sleeve.

“…You still… don’t know. How vicious and terrifying… those bastards are.”

“I’m gradually learning.”

“A nail that sticks out… is bound to be noticed… I’ve been completely caught. But that Lawful Eye Illusion Realm, you don’t seem used to it.”

Beom still couldn’t open his eyes, tears of blood streaming from them.

Paeng Gong-yeon, with his mouth full of blood, pulled Beom’s sleeve and whispered in his ear.

“…Be careful… of Daecheon….”

Thud.

Beom, who had collapsed next to the fallen Paeng Gong-yeon, soon sat cross-legged.

“If you came to help, how about stopping spectating and standing guard?”

Then, a pure white fox ran out of the bushes, and U-myeong appeared.

Bibi rubbed her head against her master’s body, as if delighted.

“…There was no need for me to come.”

His face remained indifferent, but U-myeong felt chills all over his body.

He had clearly witnessed with his own eyes his ability to instantly kill twenty Superior Immortals and one Scent Immortal, so it was only natural.

“This one is…”

The moment he approached the Head of the Civil and Military Bureau.

There was something wriggling; it was Hu-hae, the youngest son of the Hu Clan.

He was foaming at the mouth, rolling his eyes, and convulsing.

He seemed to be caught in the Head of the Civil and Military Bureau’s illusion realm.

The mountain-like Giant Earth Dragon Armor had thousands of golden swords and a spear embedded in its forehead.

‘Twin Annihilation….’

He had a mountain of questions he wanted to ask, but U-myeong held back.

And after a while.

Cheonbeom rose from his seat.

“Bureau Head, your eyes….”

“Ah, I can’t see well.”

The golden eyes that had been full of spirit had become clouded.

They turned gray, as if something was stuck in them.

“It can’t be helped.”

It was the aftermath of unfolding such a great illusion realm.

Rather, this was not bad.

Judging by his condition, it seemed he would recover if he rested a bit.

Honestly, he had consumed so much divine power that he thought his eyes might burst.

‘I need to be careful.’

The Six-Division Boundary was definitely a powerful divine ability, but he realized it the moment he used it.

‘My eyes and body don’t match.’

He thought they were well connected as soon as he became a Superior Immortal, but opening the six gates seemed to be a bit different. He would need to become a Scent Immortal or take other measures to use it properly.

“Many are coming.”

He couldn’t see well, but he could feel the energies gathering here.

They were quite familiar energies.

Soon, several beams of light fell from the sky.

The light faded, and what appeared were Paeng Ga-yeon and the members of the Civil and Military Unit.

They all frowned at the sight of the battlefield’s carnage.

“Bureau Head, your eyes…!”

“Your journey wasn’t in vain. It seems there are still cubs left after the mother died.”

“Yes? What do you mean by that?”

“Don’t worry about me and deal with those guys. It seems they don’t want to let me go back peacefully after killing their mother.”

Rumble rumble rumble!

The Giant Earth Dragon Armor cubs that had been scattered in all directions began to gather.

A roar like an earthquake began to be heard, and unlike Beom, who was raising the corners of his lips, the members of the Civil and Military Unit took a combat stance with tense expressions.

“The rest will be done after annihilating all those guys.”

“Yes, sir!!”

* * *

Something with six eyes opened in the darkness and muttered in disbelief.

“Someone who has opened the six gates has appeared.”

“Which direction?”

As if waiting, someone with a rough voice answered.

“This direction is either the Water Realm or the Immortal Realm.”

“Bullshit! There’s no way those beastly bastards could open the six gates. The same goes for the Immortal Realm! A human’s weak body would cause their eyeballs to burst from opening the six gates. They can never open it!”

“But I felt it. It is the six gates.”

Then everyone made strange expressions.

It was a look that said it could never be.

“Unbelievable.”

“Anyway, the fact that someone has opened the six gates is something to celebrate. We even sent incarnations to the Lower Realm but couldn’t find them. Now that we’ve found them, this is also a blessing.”

However, the others couldn’t shake off their uneasy expressions.

“Now that someone has opened the six gates, and there are six of them, we have a chance to open the Thirty-Six Gates of Nourishment (育節三十六門) [a powerful and potentially dangerous technique].”

Soon, sinister laughter followed.

“Who will go?”

At the words “Who will go?” the laughter instantly stopped.

The five figures began to look at each other, no one stepping forward. Eventually, someone opened their mouth.

“I will go. I’ve been seeing things that bother me in the Water Realm anyway.”

Soon, one figure disappeared, and only then did the others close their eyes again and disappear into the darkness.

* * *

Late at night.

In Yungyeon, they were fervently hunting mystical beasts.

The Civil and Military Unit, who had come to help Beom, used their respective illusion realms, illusions, and martial arts to defeat the Giant Earth Dragon Armor cubs.

Cheonbeom merely watched from behind, and the subjugation of the Giant Earth Dragons was carried out under the instructions of the adjutants.

“They’re fighting.”

He couldn’t see with his eyes, but he could feel everything one by one as he unfolded his divine sense [spiritual awareness].

Watching them safely face one Giant Earth Dragon each in groups of three, he felt a subtle emotion that the training over the past month had not been in vain.

Among them, the ones who had achieved the most were undoubtedly the adjutants, Paeng Ga-yeon and U-myeong.

They were issuing instructions to the Civil and Military Unit through telepathy and separately facing one Giant Earth Dragon each.

U-myeong’s illusionary formation was somewhat lacking in quality when Cheonbeom saw it, but it wasn’t bad.

Paeng Ga-yeon was also fighting, taking advantage of the strengths of both the Civil and Military Paths.

Her Body Strengthening Technique was a bit weak, but she was fighting with a good balance as usual, so there were many more benefits than before.

As late dawn approached, the subjugation of the Giant Earth Dragons ended, and the gradually brightening sunlight shone on them.

They were out of breath, but most of them had bright expressions.

It was only natural since the results of their tedious sparring training were unfolding before their eyes.

They had not felt the achievements of their training in their daily lives, but they felt overwhelmed as they subjugated the Giant Earth Dragons, so it goes without saying that they felt a surge of emotion.

“Bureau Head! Did you see?”

The one who had watched over their training was none other than the Head of the Civil and Military Bureau, so they ran up like children and shouted excitedly.

“Bureau Head, did you see? I unfolded an illusion realm and blah blah, huh? Like this, yes?!”

“What are you saying, speak properly! You’re startling the Bureau Head!”

However, they soon fell silent because Adjutant Paeng’s atmosphere was unusual.

Cheonbeom lightly praised them and advised them to take a rest.

The Civil and Military Unit, including U-myeong, calmed their excited hearts and left the scene.

“May I ask for an explanation?”

Paeng Ga-yeon’s voice was trembling with confusion and conflict, unlike her usual self.

“There’s nothing to explain. Superior Immortal Paeng Gong-yeon coveted what I possessed and tried to kill me to take it. He lost in that confrontation and his life ended.”

“He is my uncle.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

As he spoke emotionlessly, Paeng Ga-yeon’s killing intent turned towards Beom.

“I know that the reason you came to the Civil and Military Palace wasn’t very good.”

“If you knew, why didn’t you kick me out?”

“Because the judgment wasn’t made. But now the result will come out. Which are you, a daughter of the family or an adjutant of the Civil and Military Palace?”

Paeng Ga-yeon couldn’t answer.

She thought she would naturally say family, but she couldn’t.

“I have the will of the former Head of the Hu Clan and the clan’s heirloom, Twin Annihilation. The Hu Clan Head entrusted this to me, wishing for the well-being of the Hu Clan, and then passed away. And I intended to hand it over to the Hu Clan at the appropriate time for that promise.”

But the Hu Clan was destroyed.

By the hands of Paeng Gong-yeon and other families.

“He tried to drag me here and kill me, so I had no choice but to kill him as well.”

Their ideologies were simply different.

He would continue to be hostile to the Paeng family.

There was a high probability of that.

And it wouldn’t just be the Paeng family.

“Why are you telling me that?”

There was no need to say it in such detail.

But Cheonbeom smiled faintly, as if he knew everything, and answered.

“Someone once said that fate is a question thrown by God. The answers are what we make.”

What about you?

Beom said that and moved towards where the Civil and Military Unit members were.

Paeng Ga-yeon, left alone in front of the miserable scene, clenched her fist as she watched her uncle’s corpse slowly losing its transformation.

And looking at him with the unit members, she disappeared into the sky, tearing through the heavens with a streak of red light.

‘I guess so.’

Beom clicked his tongue in disappointment and felt the approaching dawn.

“I need to clean up.”

It was a bittersweet result, but he couldn’t dwell on that emotion forever.

Cheonbeom began to collect the spoils from the dead.

There were many things in Paeng Gong-yeon’s engineering bag, but there was an enormous amount of Miseonbang’s Sunstones, a specialty of Yungyeon.

It seemed he had destroyed the Hu Clan and scraped them all up.

Cheonbeom took out one Miseonbang.

A thin stone that looked like a plate at first glance.

When he heated it with golden flames, it drooped down.

It was definitely genuine.

There was only one ounce of gold in a bundle with a few of these….

Beom, who had been deep in thought, muttered something.

“I wonder if I can’t tear off the mountain range itself where the Miseonbang’s veins flow.”

Somehow, it seemed possible.