Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 199

Clatter, clatter, clatter!

The metallic clang of chains echoed as they lashed out in all directions the moment San-gun and Hori vanished.

“Did you think you could handle this Samgui with such petty tricks!”

Samgui roared, gathering his energy.

His body swelled, tearing his clothes as white fur sprouted all over, transforming him into a massive ape.

Thump, thump, thump!

He pounded his chest and roared, making even the Taoists flinch.

His aura was one of pure savagery, a wave of violent energy.

Transformed into a white giant ape, Samgui moved his hands like waves.

Then, in an instant, he unleashed a punch.

The force of his blow turned into a white beam, shooting out like lightning.

The Taoists were sent flying, coughing up blood, by the fist that moved too fast to follow.

“Don’t falter!”

Tae-seon, who had been fighting Samgui, shouted sharply, but it was no use.

Samgui made a hand sign, and another head, which had been closed, snapped open its eyes.

Keeeeeeng!

In an instant, a flash of light burst forth, and a great scream echoed all around.

“Kahahahaha!! If Samgui is going all out, I can’t just sit still!”

It was Sipgui.

He had transformed, his entire body dyed black.

“Taste the wonders of this body’s Diamond Shift!”

Whoosh!

Sipgui’s body turned into a black beam, rampaging through the ranks of the sea demons.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

The hapless sea demons struck by his physical assault were sent flying in all directions, covered in blood.

“That doesn’t seem like a shift…”

Sagui watched the scene, scoffing in disbelief.

He thought he was going to use some great divine power, but he was just hardening his body and running headfirst into things.

Kuaaaaaaak!!

But its power was not to be underestimated. He might have been easily defeated by Yukgui, but Sipgui’s skills were nothing to scoff at.

He might only hold the tenth position among the Siphaemancheokgui [Ten Direction Myriad Ghost Kings], but he was still Sipgui.

A Demon King.

In the Taoist world, his name alone was enough to cause cold sweats from tension, so what more needed to be said?

No matter how great the Taoists were, or how powerful the Demonic Path was, facing a Demon King who ruled over the Siphae [Ten Directions] was a difficult task!

“Die!!”

It was then.

Tae-seon lunged at Sagui, unleashing a deadly attack.

Thwack!!

Tae-seon’s hand blade pierced deeply into Sagui’s body.

A hand stained green, a stab imbued with poison.

No matter how powerful a Demon King was, he couldn’t be unscathed by poison spreading through his body.

Smirk.

But the smile was on Sagui’s face, not Tae-seon’s.

“I’ll take that.”

Crack, crack!

A gruesome cracking sound came from the arm that pierced Sagui’s body.

Tae-seon, his face pale, struggled to pull his arm out.

“Kuaaaak!!”

Where his hand had been, only bare bones remained.

“Not bad. 3 out of 10? Decent taste for a human.”

“Damn it!!”

The man’s scream echoed far and wide, but the tide of the battle had already turned.

As the Demon Kings revealed their true forms and rampaged, those who were swept away or unable to withstand the onslaught fled in droves.

The Demon Soldiers, emboldened by the Demon Kings, attacked with vigor, while the enemies could only roll their eyes in dismay.

“Now is not the time for us to be fighting each other.”

A Demonic Path practitioner, exuding demonic energy, spoke with a serious expression.

At those words, the Tae-seon of the Taoist sect nodded in understanding.

But only for a moment.

The Tae-seon of the Taoist sect suddenly leaped away.

Using his escape techniques to the extreme, he began to flee.

“Have you ever seen such a cowardly bastard!”

“What does cowardice matter in the Taoist world! They are all cultivators who fear losing their lives, so of course! Their own lives are the most important thing!”

The Tae-seon of the Taoist sect ran towards an entrance that looked like a cave.

It was the cave where they suspected the opportunity they had been longing for was located.

It was clearly no ordinary place.

They didn’t know what dangers lurked within, but it was better to take a gamble than to die here in vain.

Who knew?

They might be on the verge of death due to the Demon Kings, but they might miraculously survive!

Having made up his mind, the Demonic Path practitioner gritted his teeth and turned into black ink, chasing after him.

“Why are you following me! Instead of fighting the Demon Kings! Don’t you know we’ll both die if you do that!?”

“Hmph! Even if I die, I’ll take you with me!”

“You, you!”

Swish.

Between the two streaks of light flying back and forth, a blue petal fell. A blue petal the size of a thumbnail.

The startled Taoists flinched and stopped, but their vision did not.

Suddenly, their heads fell off like blue petals!

Just before the heads of the Demonic Path and Taoist sect practitioners hit the ground, their eyes widened, and they turned into streaks of light, soaring high into the sky, heads only.

Their faces were pale, and they were filled with terror.

“Ugh, aaaaaaak!!”

How would they feel, having their heads cut off when a petal suddenly appeared?

No matter what, fear would have spread throughout their bodies.

It was a pity to lose a body that had been cultivated for a lifetime, but what could they do? To survive, they had no choice but to escape, leaving only their heads behind.

“P, please save me! Save…!”

They were screaming to someone they couldn’t see as they flew away, but how could the world always go as planned?

Whoosh!

Suddenly, their heads were engulfed in blue flames and burned. A mournful scream echoed and disappeared into the blue flames.

The Demon Kings, who had been commanding the battlefield, swallowed hard at the bizarre sight.

Seeing them easily kill two Tae-seon [Great Immortals] with a stealth technique they couldn’t even detect sent shivers down their spines.

“But… where is Yukgui?”

* * *

At the same time.

Flutter, flutter.

A blue petal floating in the air landed on a man’s palm.

The owner of the petal was Yukgui.

It was San-gun.

‘What a mysterious place.’

San-gun and Hori, who had entered the cave, couldn’t help but be amazed.

Inside the cave, there was a staircase leading underground, and as they descended, a large cavern greeted them.

“Ooh… how fascinating! We clearly entered a cave, but how is there a night sky on the ceiling?”

The ceiling was adorned with starlight as if it were a night sky, and on the ground, four bizarre totem poles stood, seemingly dividing the area into east, west, south, and north.

Behind them, paths diverged, but a chilling mist obscured what lay at the end.

‘Even Danryeong Geumjeong [Golden Eyes of Spiritual Insight] doesn’t work.’

Even San-gun’s Danryeong Geumjeong couldn’t pierce through the mist.

He didn’t know who had created this cave, but it must have been a divine immortal with great powers.

The ceiling was adorned with countless stars, and the stellar energy emanating from those stars was undoubtedly genuine.

‘So it was true that Cheonyang Jibo [Heavenly Sun Treasure Sword] was made of meteorite iron.’

When he took out Hyeonhoe Sword from his chest, a strange aura emanated from it, different from usual.

It seemed to be resonating with the stellar energy floating on the ceiling.

San-gun narrowed his eyes and suddenly raised his hand towards the sky. The five-colored energy flowing from his hand went straight towards the stars in the night sky.

The glittering meteorite iron began to vibrate in a chain reaction, and the light intensified.

“Hmm….”

But San-gun soon made a sound of disapproval and withdrew his hand.

As he stopped, the entire cave vibrated faintly, as if waiting for him to do so.

Koo-oong….

It seemed that some kind of seal was placed on the meteorite iron on the ceiling. Tampering with it carelessly would surely bring great misfortune.

“What were you doing?”

“You don’t need to know.”

San-gun hesitated for a moment and then clicked his tongue.

Seeing so much meteorite iron, which was rare to see in the Lower World, hanging here, this was no ordinary cave.

It was not naturally formed, so someone must have created it artificially.

‘If they used meteorite iron as bait, does that mean there’s an even greater treasure inside than meteorite iron?’

A sense of anticipation welled up.

Cheonyang Jibo, or Sipsaeng Geumeocho [Ten Life Golden Herb], might be there.

San-gun’s brow twitched.

“Yukgui! So you were here!”

He smiled faintly at the man’s voice that broke his reverie.

“Samgui, have you already finished cleaning up?”

“It wasn’t going to take long.”

Samgui, who walked up to his side, smiled meaningfully.

“Even if I’m not as good as Yukgui… those guys are nothing more than a punch away!”

Sagui and Sipgui, who were next to him, nodded in agreement.

“Someone didn’t even use their fists, though, kahahahahaha!”

Sipgui burst into laughter, finding something so amusing. Anyway, it seemed they had already cleaned up the situation outside.

‘They’re faster than I thought.’

The Demon Kings and San-gun silently stared at each other.

They were smiling on the outside, but no one opened their mouths.

A strange atmosphere flowed.

It was then.

“Which way are you going to go?”

The men were just staring at each other, so it seemed strange.

Hori, with her arms crossed, began to urge them to decide quickly.

“Samgui, do you know the way?”

“No, I don’t know either. The scriptures only mentioned that there was such a cave, but there was nothing about the path….”

That meant he didn’t know.

“I’d like to say let’s split up into four groups and search….”

But this was a place where they didn’t know what dangers lurked.

An artificial cave without a proper name, a place that might have been created by an immortal. It was not a place where one could rashly wander around without three or four lives.

“You decide, Blackie.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. There are no proper clues, so it’ll be the same no matter where we go.”

Hori examined the totem poles embedded in the east, west, south, and north for a while.

The totem poles all looked different, but their expressions were all playfully smiling.

Only one of them was expressionless.

The totem pole embedded in the south.

Hori found it suspicious.

“Let’s go here.”

“The south….”

Looking at the other Demon Kings, they had expressions that said they didn’t care.

“Did you block the entrance?”

“The Demon Soldiers of Siphaemancheok are guarding it like an iron wall, and we’ve blocked it tightly, so no one will be coming.”

Then they had time to spare.

They could quickly look around the south and then look around all the other sides.

With San-gun at the lead, the Demon King party moved towards the south.

And a moment later.

Clatter, clatter, clatter.

The jaw of the motionless totem pole began to move, and its expression began to change.

[Why is it so noisy? Is it time for the Gold Ring Eclipse again? How tiresome.]

[I know, right? But those guys….]

[To think they’d go south… they really have no luck at all.]

The totem poles twisted and moved, beginning to chat.

He didn’t know how they could speak like humans, but they really seemed to be alive, causing those who saw them to be amazed.

Tsk, tsk, the totem poles clicked their tongues and looked at the totem pole guarding the south.

[You’re lucky. Since those guys went south, there might be a chance for you to be freed from that tiresome body.]

When one of the totem poles said that, the rest of the totem poles chuckled.

[Brother Buk. It’s been more than ten thousand years since we became totem poles here. We all know that we’ve given up, so why are you giving him false hope with such pointless words?]

Another totem pole scolded him, but he also had a smile on his face.

But the southern totem pole remained silent.

It maintained its expressionless face from beginning to end.

[If we can’t even make jokes like this, what’s the point of living? We can’t even die as we please!]

At those words, the totem poles’ expressions were filled with worry. They were probably not totem poles from the beginning, and they seemed to have a story that no one knew about.

[This Gold Ring Eclipse will probably be no different from the others. Most of the guys who come here are aiming for opportunities, so it’ll be the same as before. Everything that belongs to the Taoist world is just consumed by greed…]

[Now I regret making that pointless bet. Because of that, I can’t even say a word to the cultivators who come and go here….]

It was then.

Step, step.

Footsteps were heard.

The totem poles were startled and stopped moving.

They looked like ordinary totem poles to anyone.

After a while.

Many cultivators turned their steps here and there from the four-way intersection.

Among them were women, children, men, and old people. As if there was more than one entrance, those who had entered from various places scattered to the east, west, south, and north.

The totem poles stole glances at their backs and clicked their tongues in pity.

[I hope they don’t die….]

I wish they would free us.

[They’re all going to die… tsk, tsk.]