Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 200

Nangseon’s Adventures – 199

The San-gun party, heading south, walked through the darkness for an hour.

How long had they walked?

After walking and walking, a path made of stupas [Buddhist commemorative monuments] and a huge gate at the end of the path suddenly appeared in the eerie mist.

The gate, soaring high into the sky, was adorned with images of demons and various beasts. The gate was inscribed with large characters: “Yeomcheon Trial Gate (炎天試門).” [Gate of Fiery Trials]

“Hmm…”

San-gun cautiously touched it but couldn’t figure out what material it was made of.

It felt like metal with its smooth and cold texture, but the scent was like wood, or perhaps flowers.

It didn’t seem to be something found in the Lower World.

‘Of course, it’s not Woon Steel…’

He wanted to tear it off and fill Gong Jeong-gang [likely a container or item he possesses] right away, but it was forbidden for now.

He thought he should take care of it when returning from Bidong.

“Why don’t you open it quickly?”

Samgwi, as if unable to bear it, approached San-gun and pushed the gate.

“Huh?”

But the gate didn’t budge.

Samgwi’s face turned bewildered.

“What are you doing? Samgwi! Did you already run out of strength fighting those Taoists?”

“N, no way. Wait and see.”

Samgwi tilted his head as if something was wrong and rolled up his sleeves.

“Haaap!”

He gritted his teeth and pushed the gate with all his might, but it remained unmoved, not even budging.

“Come on, let me try! When it comes to strength, I’m the strongest, and I can push this gate with one finger!”

Seeing this, Sipgwi stepped forward confidently, pushing Samgwi away.

Samgwi kept tilting his head as if he couldn’t believe it and carefully looked at the painting on the gate.

The painting seemed to have subtly changed.

“Yukgwi.”

“I know.”

San-gun seemed to have noticed something and kept his mouth shut. Whether Sipgwi knew this or not, he sneered and brought one finger to the gate.

“Watch closely how powerful this Sipgwi is!”

Creak!

The sound of bones cracking came as he put strength into his finger.

His finger turned white from the force, and veins bulged on Sipgwi’s forehead.

“Huuuuh!”

However, the gate didn’t budge.

“Th, this!”

Sipgwi’s face turned red as if he was getting angry.

Crack!!

“Agh!”

Sipgwi’s finger bent sideways and broke because he put too much force into it. He screamed with all sorts of expressions, then clenched his fist after resetting his finger back to its original position.

“This damn gate!”

Thud!!

He punched it without anyone stopping him, but the gate only vibrated slightly, and nothing changed.

Except for one thing….

‘The color of the painting…’

…had deepened.

On the right was a demon.

On the left was a divine beast painted on the gate.

Among them, the gate with hundreds of demons painted on it was turning red.

“What the hell is this gate!”

Sipgwi shouted, banging on the gate repeatedly as if he was angry.

Bang! Thwack! Boom!!

However, the more he did, the darker the color of the demons became, and he had a bad feeling.

“Step aside.”

San-gun pushed Sipgwi away and stepped in front of the gate, raising his spiritual energy.

As pure spiritual energy filled his hand, a blue aura overflowed.

“Did you figure something out?”

“I’m just testing it.”

As San-gun’s hand reached for the gate, the blue energy spread throughout the gate.

The gate began to absorb San-gun’s spiritual energy as if it had been waiting for it.

Then, the color of the demons faded, and the color of the divine beasts began to deepen.

“Was the answer spiritual energy?”

Sagwi shouted in surprise, but San-gun’s expression wasn’t good.

“I can’t give you a definite answer.”

He had an ambiguous look on his face.

That’s because he had already poured out 10% of his spiritual power, but nothing had changed.

The gate showed no sign of opening.

“This lady will help too.”

Then, Hori suddenly approached the gate.

Then, the color of the demons deepened.

“Geomdunga, a little…”

Just as he was about to tell him to step back.

The demons and divine beasts, whose colors had deepened, slowly began to move.

“Huh?”

* * *

At the same time.

An old woman and a woman in white robes stopped at a certain gate.

The gate soared high into the sky, and what was carved on the outside were beasts and demons.

“I don’t know what this is.

How could a mere Lower World earth immortal know the arrangements of a celestial being? But I know why this exists.”

As the old woman’s hand touched the gate, the paintings of the divine beasts and demons came to life and began to bite and fight each other.

“It is a gate that cannot be opened without a certain level of physical ability and pure spiritual energy.

I have not achieved dual cultivation of body and law, but I can temporarily create a body similar to a Vajra Warrior [a figure known for immense strength and resilience] by mastering Cheongeunmyeonhwa (天根面話) [likely a specific martial art or technique], so this divine power is possible.

Perhaps the celestial being who created this Bidong achieved dual cultivation of body and law, possessing not only divine power but also strong physical abilities.”

Otherwise, how could they have created such a complex gate?

“It’s a kind of test to prevent just anyone from entering their Bidong.

It’s a gate that can be easily opened by properly adjusting spiritual power and brute force, but it’s not a gate that anyone can open.”

Creak…!

The thick gate opened, creating a rough noise that scraped the floor.

“Pass through. It’s a gate that twists and closes again like a spinning top the moment you release your strength.”

Its thickness alone could easily crush a person.

It was a foot thick, so what more could be said?

The white-haired woman swallowed unknowingly and passed through the gate.

Creak… Thud!

The old woman, dusting off her hands, walked over and looked around.

Inside the gate, there were stone steps that seemed to soar into the sky, and pavilions and stupas floating in the air mingled with the clouds.

It was truly a celestial realm.

It was a house and scenery where immortals would live.

“They scattered to the east, west, south, and north with their comrades, but all news has been cut off except for the north, where I had been. At least the Northern Gate, Hyeoncheon Trial Gate (玄天試門) [Gate of Dark Trials], is the safest.”

“Then the other places…”

“A thousand years ago, the Southern Gate, Yeomcheon Trial Gate (炎天試門) [Gate of Fiery Trials], was the place with the thickest smell of blood.”

The old woman smiled coldly as if reminiscing about the old days.

“Rather than that, worry about your own path. I will be heading to a place that even I couldn’t enter out of fear a thousand years ago, so you must be prepared!”

The woman silently nodded at the old woman’s nagging.

She stared at the firmly closed gate and turned her steps towards the stairs.

* * *

Meanwhile.

San-gun and his party were standing with strange expressions on their faces.

The divine beasts and demons carved on the gate fought and intertwined with each other, and it was quite impressive that the gate opened.

But the problem was what came after that.

“Another gate?”

It was a clearly different gate.

Previously, it was a painting where divine beasts and demons coexisted, but now it was not.

The huge gate soaring high into the sky was full of only demons.

What was different was that it was marked with Ilmun (一門) [First Gate], Imun (二門) [Second Gate], Sammun (三門) [Third Gate], Samun (四門) [Fourth Gate], Omun (五門) [Fifth Gate], and Yugmun (六門) [Sixth Gate] according to the height, and the appearance and size of the demons varied greatly depending on the stage.

“Is it just me, or does it look ominous?”

When Sagwi said that, the others nodded as if agreeing.

“Sipgwi, why don’t you try it? There are a lot of demon paintings, so it seems better for you, who uses strength, to open it.”

San-gun subtly stepped back.

And he asked Hori, who was next to him, with telepathy.

-Did you learn the Vajra Body Technique?

-Hongyeon told me to learn it.

San-gun’s eyes narrowed.

Dual cultivation of body and law is a term used by human Taoists.

It is a technique to temper the body with magical power, making the soft human body no different from that of a divine beast.

But that is only according to human standards, and dual cultivation of body and law has little meaning for divine beasts. The body of a divine beast is inherently strong. It can be called dual cultivation of body and law from birth.

Of course, you can become stronger by learning the Vajra Body Technique, but it is not efficient.

You have to constantly temper your body to make it strong, and you also have to train in Tongsul (通術) [likely a specific type of magic or skill], so it takes twice as long.

Therefore, most divine beasts either learn only the Vajra Body Technique or do not learn it at all.

‘But…’

I don’t know what Hongyeon’s aim is in making Hori learn dual cultivation of body and law.

‘What is she trying to do by making a guy with ordinary talent learn dual cultivation of body and law?’

It’s like doing two things at the same time, so all I can see is a future where he dies from old age.

“Hmm!”

Sipgwi went to the front of the gate, flustered.

Unlike before when he was talking about his fingers, he pushed the gate with a serious face.

“Hup!”

Creak.

The gate opened a little.

And from the bottom of the gate, the painting with the demons engraved in red became darker.

They were demons belonging to Ilmun (一門) [First Gate].

“Hwaaaap!!”

Thud!

The gate opened completely.

The reddened aura rose as high as Sipgwi’s height.

The eyes of the demons painted on the gate blinked, and their heads began to move.

Sipgwi flinched and stepped back.

The demons reddened up to Ilmun (一門) [First Gate] moved as if they were dancing all at once.

Then, suddenly, the red energy disappeared and returned to the painting.

“What the hell is going on…”

At that moment when he was sighing.

Swish!!

Hundreds of red hands popped out from the gap in the opened gate and snatched Sipgwi.

“Aaaagh!”

Whoosh!

Creak, Thud!!

It was a moment’s happening.

Hundreds of hands grabbed Sipgwi all at once, took him away, and then closed firmly.

A strange silence flowed.

It happened so quickly that it was difficult to express any impressions.

They were dumbfounded.

“S, shouldn’t we save him?”

Hori said.

But no one answered easily.

“Even if we save him, we must properly recognize the situation and have a guarantee of safety before we can properly implement it.

Otherwise, it will only result in creating one more corpse.”

When San-gun said that, Hori narrowed his brow as if dissatisfied.

But he didn’t open his mouth any further.

It was a difficult decision.

As he said, if they recklessly went to save him and encountered even greater hardships, they might end up in a situation where nothing could be done.

“I think this gate, unlike the previous one, seems to be summoned somewhere in proportion to one’s strength.

Probably… I don’t think they will go to a very good place.”

At the bottom of the gate, Ilmun (一門) [First Gate] had small demons.

Above that, Imun (二門) [Second Gate] had bigger demons than that.

In that way, the demons increased in size and had fierce appearances in proportion to the number.

At the end, Yugmun (六門) [Sixth Gate] had demons that could be called giants, painted in a hideous manner.

This would also be proportional to the strength of the one opening the gate.

“Then it’ll be okay. Only the smallest demons were reddened for Sipgwi.”

But it was just a guess.

San-gun subtly approached the gate.

Soon, when he gave strength, Sammun (三門) [Third Gate] was reddened at once, and the demons’ heads moved.

Thud.

As soon as he stepped back, the gate closed and the red aura disappeared.

“Geomdunga. You open it.”

“M, me?”

“Yes.”

Hori, who was glancing anxiously, spread out his hands and pushed the gate.

Creak.

The red aura that soared up to Ilmun (一門) [First Gate] made the demon paintings come to life.

“H, how long do I have to open it?”

“Open it all the way! Completely!”

“I don’t know what will happen!”

Thud!

The gate was wide open.

The red energy disappeared, and soon, a black energy rippled inside the gate.

Soon, hundreds of red demon hands stretched out like tentacles.

“Heeik!”

Hori, making a hoarse sound, stepped back.

Just as he was about to stumble because his feet were tangled.

Thud.

“Yukgwi!”

San-gun was behind him.

“Just shut your mouth for a moment.”

Soon, a blue treasure sword appeared in his hand. The blue burning treasure sword instantly split into hundreds of swords.

“Go.”

Papapapat!

The Hwaran of Many Swords and One Sword [likely a specific sword technique] that was fired tore apart the demon’s hands.

At the same time.

San-gun, carrying Hori on his back, jumped into the gate.

“Uwaaaaagh!”

Hori’s scream echoed, and with a thud! the gate closed.

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