Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 136

Nangseon Gi Hwan Dam – 135

Me… Me.

I was born in a small village called Minang. Ever since I was young, people told me I had a unique temperament and was quite bright.

One day, a Taoist [a follower of Taoism, a Chinese philosophy and religion] passing through told me I was a natural.

That day, I became a disciple of Kunlun [a mythical mountain range in Chinese mythology, often associated with Taoism and immortality].

The path of Tao was chaotic and mysterious, but I liked it.

Pioneering an unknown path was difficult and arduous.

Some said it was distant, and others said it was like an abyss.

But I was different.

I, Yang So-peng, was different.

I stood at many crossroads, but I always walked straight ahead, never deviating.

As a result, envy and jealousy loomed around me.

But I didn’t care.

If I just go my way…

Wouldn’t there be dawn on that road?

My master said it was only temporary, and I was no different from others.

Then, at the age of 342, when I reached Hwanseon [a high level of Taoist cultivation], something happened.

“…I’m sorry, Brother Yang.”

She was a woman named Cha Ryuk.

She possessed outstanding beauty and a heart as soft as silk.

I, too, gave my heart to her gentle nature and swore to be together for a hundred years.

I promised to marry her when I became a Taesun [a high-ranking disciple] and the Supreme Elder of Kunlun.

But that dream was shattered.

A fellow disciple, who could be called my rival, stood by her side.

He wore the smile of a winner.

My insides churned.

It felt like something dark was steadily piling up, like snowflakes.

But I didn’t show it.

Because it was her choice.

The problem must have been me.

It was my fault for not paying more attention to her and focusing only on training.

“Congratulations.”

That’s all I could say.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that there was nothing else I could do.

The eyes that always looked at me were shaking and becoming more blurred.

Those eyes bothered me.

But I turned my back.

If it’s for those two, wouldn’t it be right for me to disappear?

It’s right to forget the person who left and focus on training.

My master also said so.

The path of Tao is distant, and there are countless stumbling blocks in front of it.

She must have been my stumbling block, too.

The sad heart can be folded in both hands and sunk deep within.

I devoted myself even more to training.

Then came Cha Ryuk’s wedding day.

I finished my closed-door training and left.

I don’t know why.

I just wanted to see her with my own eyes one last time.

Because she would be more beautiful than anyone else on her wedding day.

Lastly.

I wanted to keep that beautiful figure in my mind one last time.

I didn’t want to cause a disturbance.

If they knew I had arrived, it could cause unnecessary trouble.

So, I used a hidden technique to peek.

“Tsk, tsk, I feel sorry for Lady Cha.”

“What are you going to do if someone hears you?”

“What does it matter if they hear? The fact that Seongmong is forcing Cha Ryuk to marry him is a fact that everyone knows except for Senior Brother Yang!”

It was a conversation between disciples.

And I don’t remember what happened after that. When I came to my senses, many people’s blood was on my hands.

It was the blood of the disciples who tried to stop me.

And my whole body was tied up.

The elders and my master personally suppressed me, and I was trapped in a cave.

I heard that.

My master, who knew my heart, said so.

“Forget it. Forget it. How can you advance to the path of immortality if you are swayed by a mere woman in front of the path of the Great Tao?”

I said.

“How can an incompetent man who cannot even protect his own woman advance to the path of immortality?”

My master shook his head.

He said that many disciples were injured because of my riot.

“Cool your head.”

The cave had tremendous restrictions, and I couldn’t get out.

Like that, 10 years passed.

I lived like a cripple.

Then one day.

A wind blew in one corner of the cave.

It was a stone chamber that should have been blocked on all sides.

The fact that there was wind was as good as saying there was a hole.

I spent 10 years unlocking the chains, digging a hole, and leaving Kunlun.

It’s a story I heard later.

The elders said that my golden elixir [a Taoist concept of internal alchemy and immortality] should be abolished, but my master earnestly requested that it be stopped.

The hole was also my master’s arrangement.

With that, I swallowed tears of blood, swore to return, and set out on the road.

I didn’t know what the path of Tao was yet, but I knew one thing: A man who cannot protect his woman cannot achieve anything.

* * *

Born in Suwolmun [likely a fictional sect or clan], my path was determined from birth.

“Kangryong. Are you training again today?”

“I am an incompetent disciple and cannot understand my master’s teachings, so shouldn’t I at least work hard at training?”

I was sometimes pointed at for not knowing who my parents were, but my parents are my master and my hometown is Suwolmun.

I don’t know how long my life will be, but all I can do is train.

“Kangryong! There’s a festival in the village of ordinary people today! Do you want to go?”

“Sorry, I have to train today.”

“Hey, let’s go. Ryong is always training.”

All I can do is train.

I don’t know anything else.

I don’t want to know.

One day, my master said to me.

“Our lives are bound to be tough. Aren’t you living by defying the heavens and exceeding your appointed lifespan? Taoists are those who aspire to defy the heavens and become beings who reach the heavens. But how can you wish for a life like colorful clothes?”

“Are we defying the heavens?”

“Well, Sasukjo [grand master] taught me that way, but I think differently. We are being tested by the heavens.”

“A test?”

“Yes. You can also call it an ordeal. The heavens are always asking questions. I think the answer is answered by our choices, and that is providence.”

My master’s words were too profound for a child to understand, so I couldn’t understand them. But there is something I realized.

A Taoist is a being who defies the heavens.

At the same time, a being being tested.

Those who cannot overcome trials are reincarnated like other ordinary people.

That’s why I couldn’t stop training.

A Taoist who stops training is like an ordinary person.

Then you can’t be in Suwolmun.

That’s why I devoted myself to training.

Then one day.

“These guys are failures.”

“Hehe… The spiritual stones and precious objects that went in were not insignificant… There’s nothing I can do. I’ll put the failures in my original Seonbeop [a type of martial art or technique] defeat.”

“Hey! What are you talking about? Elder Ki did it last time too.”

“What do you mean by eating it! What kind of harsh words are those!”

“If it weren’t for Kangryong, Elder Ki wouldn’t be able to live like this. Because it is a forbidden technique to artificially create a natural person!”

“Hey, hey! What kind of speech is that!”

It was the day I accidentally obtained and used the hidden technique of the demon beast Yoyangjeongryu [likely a fictional technique or entity].

My master and Elder Woo didn’t notice me at all, and I seemed to have learned one secret of the sect.

But I didn’t ask.

I think I was afraid.

That the place where I would be would disappear.

I think I was scared.

* * *

The Hwasan sect [another fictional sect] was filled with the scent of plum blossoms today as well.

I had outstanding beauty and natural talent, so there were no obstacles to training.

My father made a fuss, saying that an immortal with divine roots was born.

My mother and I scolded him for his lack of dignity, but he didn’t care.

Looking back now, I didn’t hate it.

“Hwaran.”

“Yes, Sister Hwabong.”

“Let’s go play.”

“You have to train today. Or do you have a man you secretly matched your belly button with?”

There would be no one else but her who would speak so boldly to me, the daughter of the Hwasan sect leader.

But I liked it because of that.

“What are you talking about, you little girl? Let’s go! It’s my father’s birthday today, so I’m going to give him a huge treasure as a gift!”

“Even if it’s a treasure, isn’t it like the last time you were going to give him a scrotum pouch of an Itong demon beast?”

“No. This time it’s a real treasure.”

Hwaran and I left the Hwasan sect and headed to a forest somewhere in Honghae.

There was a place called Yeokcheongok, where the valley was said to go against the mountain.

I had buried something I had accidentally found there last time, and I was planning to bring it this time.

“Hwaran, hurry, eup.”

I don’t remember who it was.

I was kidnapped by someone at that time.

“Is this the year?”

“That’s right. Hwasan sect leader’s adopted daughter.”

“Adopted daughter is funny.”

At that time, I didn’t know yet.

That you can’t have children if you become a Taoist.

To my young self, that fact was like a bolt from the blue.

Fortunately, my father quickly noticed the kidnapping and stepped in, so it was quickly resolved.

But my heart was not resolved, and resentment only piled up.

And when I reached Hwanseon.

Master Gogyu came and raised his voice with my father and attacked the Hwasan sect.

But he didn’t have any countermeasures either, so somehow my mother and I became hostages.

And at that time.

My father abandoned my mother.

My mother died at that time.

Her dantian [an energy center in the body, according to traditional Chinese medicine] was attacked by the devil’s claws, and my mother, who was a Hwanseon, died.

I couldn’t help but be surprised.

I’m just an adopted daughter.

But I wondered why he saved me and killed my mother.

After the funeral, I ran to my father and asked. Why did you do that? Why did you save me and kill my mother?

Then my father answered my question with a bizarre story.

“Actually, you are not Hwabong but Yunryeong. Before you became who you are now, you were originally married to me and shared the affection of a couple.”

“Yes? What, what does that mean….”

“In your lifetime, you learned the reverse transmission technique, so if you feel the crisis of death, your growth is reversed and you turn into a child. At that time, I didn’t know what to do with you, no, you. I also knew it at that time, so I hurriedly raised you as my adopted daughter.”

Unjustified betrayal gnawed at my body like a poisonous insect.

I couldn’t say anything.

I blankly listened to my father’s story for a long time like a person who had lost his mind and went back.

* * *

My young sibling.

And parents.

He said that all the people in the village were eaten by demon beasts.

I came to hate demon beasts.

I couldn’t understand why demon beasts existed in this world.

With a childish mind, I took a hand ax and chased after the demon beast’s tracks.

Then I found a demon beast and swung my hand ax at the back of its head.

I thought its head would be broken, but that was a miscalculation.

It was my wrist that was broken, and the hand ax I was holding.

My desire for revenge disappeared like evaporation, and my heart was filled with fear.

Its height was about 10 feet, and its whole body was covered with reed-like fur.

It was a creature I had never seen before in my life.

I could only wonder how such a thing could exist and move.

The beast scratched the back of its head where I had hit it, tilted its head, and then screamed.

When it opened its mouth, its dull face was hideous with sharp teeth.

Tears came out. Fear and revenge were mixed together, becoming something that was neither one nor the other.

I threw everything I could grab with the feeling that it would be whatever it would be.

It was then.

Suddenly, laughter was heard from the forest, and a person appeared with the sound of the wind.

He introduced himself as a shaman Taoist and killed the demon beast with one blow.

It was cool.

It was longing.

I immediately told him that I also had the qualities to become a Taoist, so take me with him.

The Taoist laughed in disbelief, touched here and there on my body, and then allowed it.

That’s how I became a shaman Taoist and traveled to various places, killing demon beasts.

I killed and killed again.

I killed without question.

I thought that all demon beasts were evil, so the only good demon beasts were dead demon beasts.

Then one day.

In front of me, a small child who was afraid of death was trembling.

It resembled a human but had animal ears on its head and a furry tail on its butt.

It was a mixed blood.

Half demon beast blood.

Half human blood.

It was a truly ambiguous existence.

I put away my sword.

I needed to know if that child was a being that harmed humans.

I headed to the child’s dwelling.

But at that time.

There was a demon beast in the child’s dwelling, and I killed the demon beast with one blow.

“Ah!”

The mixed blood, who couldn’t speak, hugged the demon beast and shed tears.

I couldn’t understand.

Then the mixed blood suddenly ran at me, bared its teeth, and attacked.

I killed the child in a daze.

I was confused.

Was what I killed a demon beast or a human?

Then I met a Taoist.

We quickly became friends, formed a brotherhood, and lived as brothers.

My confusion subsided.

And I killed demon beasts as usual.

I killed and killed.

Because demon beasts are bad.

Mixed blood is also a potential bad thing that will become a demon beast.

So I kill.

Wherever my feet went, if there was a demon beast, I killed it, and if there was mixed blood, I killed it.

It was one day.

My brother came to visit.

I welcomed my brother.

But my brother’s expression is unusual.

He was shedding tears of blood.

When I asked why, he suddenly threw a sword at me. We fought for three days and nights.

There was no victory or defeat.

My brother suddenly collapsed.

Then he transformed into a demon beast, not a human.

My brother was Yuksa [likely a specific type of demon beast].

A demon beast that has gained intelligence.

And among the demon beasts I killed were my brother’s wife and children.

I was confused.

“Why! Why did you kill them! Our family has never harmed humans!”

I was dizzy.

Vomiting surged.

My brother’s words pierced my heart, and the images of the demon beasts I had harmed began to come to mind.

Actually, I knew.

I was feeling it vaguely.

That they also have families, hearts, and intelligence.

I knew.

I had just been pretending not to know.

I staggered back to the Mudang sect [another fictional sect].

I wanted to calm my mind and body.

I needed time to sort out my thoughts.

I missed my master.

But when I arrived, my master was lying in bed, about to die today or tomorrow.

My master said this to me.

“I’m sorry….”

“Why are you sorry?”

“It’s not the demon beast’s fault.”

“What… are you saying.”

My master’s words were like this.

In those days, it was not a demon beast but my master who killed my family.

My master raised a revenge to improve his training, but it went wrong and he couldn’t control it, so he killed my family.

He said that because a person died due to a mistake by a Mudang sect Taoist, he was afraid of being blamed if it was revealed, so he killed everyone in the village.

“How can a Taoist do that!!”

I was angry, but my master apologized and asked.

“It’s also funny for those who defy the heavens to do good. Don’t wear such pretenses and live only for yourself. In the first place, Tao is just the greed for immortality.”

My master passed away.