Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 258

낭선기환담 – 257화

“What did you just say?”

Cho-ah, who was treating patients in Baek-san, asked again with a serious face upon hearing a message from a disciple.

“According to a message from the eastern border guards, the Sea Demons and the Demonic Path are fighting each other, waging war.”

It was out of the blue.

The sudden war between the East Sea and the Demonic Path was quite surprising. Both were powerful forces, and they were practically enemies of Baek-san.

So, from Baek-san’s point of view, it was a great situation. If they played their cards right, they could take advantage of their war and gain significant benefits.

After all, the East Sea held a great grudge against Baek-san due to the war, and the Demonic Path was no different, having harmed Myung-hwa’s children.

“This is an opportunity.”

At that moment, someone coughed and spoke. Turning his head, Man-sam was getting up from his sickbed.

“Elder Man.”

“Master, you shouldn’t get up now.”

“I’m fine now.”

Ignoring Myung-chil’s dissuasion, Man-sam added,

“We should immediately gather the most elite Taoists [practitioners of Taoism] of our sect, take advantage of their victory or defeat, and seize the opportunity to gain benefits.”

“I agree with Elder Man.”

As soon as he added, Myung-hwa, as well as Man-ho and Woon-mo, appeared as if they had been waiting, and reported to Cho-ah.

They had rushed over after hearing the news.

“Baek-san has suffered enough under the pressure and oppression of those bastards for the past hundred years, and now we have shed a lot of blood.

Until now, we had no choice but to endure and persevere, but now that the Sect Leader and his wife have returned, shouldn’t we repay the grievances we have suffered? Only then can we soothe the spirits of the disciples who died in vain.”

Myung-hwa, who suffered the greatest loss, spoke with more urgency.

In the solemn atmosphere, the eyes of the disciples lying in the sickbeds were burning with revenge.

As he said, whoever wins will lose a lot of power, so if we take advantage of this opportunity, we can avenge our disciples on a large scale, and on a small scale, we can enrich Baek-san with the spoils of war and gain great benefits.

But.

“Baek-san has lost a lot of its strength. Everyone is still recovering from the war, so how can we…”

“Woon-mo is right. Even if we gather the elite, it won’t be a thousand, and if we fail, Baek-san’s damage will be beyond words.”

Unlike Man-sam and Myung-hwa, Woon-mo and Man-ho expressed different opinions.

“But Elder Man-ho, opportunities don’t come often.

If we miss this opportunity, Baek-san will have to spend a long time repairing the wounds!”

“That’s only if we successfully seize the opportunity. We are not in a position to gamble now, and we don’t need to. The Sect Leader, the master of Baek-san, has returned, so why take such a risk?”

His words made sense.

Now that the Sect Leader has returned, the foundation for Baek-san to rise again is as good as ready without taking such risks.

There was no need to gamble.

“How long will you rely on the Sect Leader and put the burden on his shoulders? He always has heavy shoulders!

There is no one here who has not received his grace, and I am the same, so I don’t want to put more burden on him, even if I can’t relieve him.”

That’s also true.

“He will soon be preparing for ascension. How long can we be in his shadow!”

“That’s…”

They are running on parallel lines with different opinions, but they all make sense.

Baek-san’s financial situation was not very good because exchanges with many sects had been forcibly cut off for the past years.

In addition, the number of disciples has decreased sharply due to the last war, leaving only revenge and wounds, so it was not that the elders’ hearts were not understood.

The hearts of the disciples in Baek-san must also be divided like that.

“Elder Myung’s words are no different from driving the tired and wounded disciples to death again!”

“What nonsense. I’m saying we shouldn’t miss the opportunity that has come!

I’m not saying we should attack recklessly, but we’re dealing with tired enemies, so why oppose it so much!”

Their stories were something that could not be said to be right, so someone had to make a decision.

And that decision was limited to only one person in the absence of the owner of Baek-san.

The mountain wife of Baek-san.

It was none other than Cho-ah, the Sect Leader’s wife.

“I have heard both of your stories well. Both stories make sense, and I am very proud that everyone has a great heart for Baek-san.”

But.

“It seems that the elders are missing one important thing.”

“Yes? What is it?”

An important matter.

What is more important than the war between the East Sea and the Demonic Path!

“The Demonic Path and the East Sea can also be said to be our enemies. But ultimately, they are not our enemies.

Think about it. How did they fight with our sect and kill our disciples?

You must know the essence.”

“That’s…”

The reason they attacked Baek-san was not because they had a grudge against them.

It was because there was someone who made them do so.

“It’s because of that bastard Yoo-jung, who is an enemy of the Sect Leader.”

It can be said that everything started because of that bastard.

“Even now, that bastard is trying to destroy Baek-san.

But what if we move for the sake of immediate gain in that situation?”

It is clear that the bastard will target Baek-san.

Even if Cho-ah is there, it is clear that the situation will be unfavorable.

“Then…”

“Even now, that bastard is hiding somewhere and plotting to destroy Baek-san.

He will try to attract other forces like the East Sea and the Demonic Path.”

Considering the circumstances so far, there is a high probability that this will happen.

‘If he heard that the Sect Leader massacred the Sea Dragon Clan, it would be even more so.’

Since he is a clever bastard, he cannot rule out the possibility that he noticed the level of San-goon.

“Then… it can’t be helped.”

It was a tone full of regret.

If it wasn’t for Yoo-jung, Cho-ah would have done as Myung-hwa said, so she could fully understand the disappointment.

However, she suddenly raised the corners of her mouth and took out a letter from her bosom.

“But even if we can’t move, it doesn’t mean we can’t strike those bastards.”

“Yes? What do you mean?”

It’s not that they really don’t understand the meaning of the words.

Cho-ah’s words meant that if they couldn’t move, they could strike those bastards through other forces.

“The spoils we get will be reduced, but it’s better than just sucking our fingers like this.”

At first glance, it can be seen as a clever plan suitable for Baek-san’s situation, but unfortunately, it was a plan that could not be achieved.

“Madam… for the past hundred years, our relationship with the sects that have had friendly relations with us has been cut off, so there are no forces to help us.”

Baek-san has been played by Yoo-jung and Ji-sol’s schemes for the past hundred years, and it has been a long time since it was cut off from the sects that had friendly relations.

“Even if we persuade them now, no sect will trust our words and send out troops. Even if they do, it will take a long time, so we will inevitably miss the opportunity.”

Although there is a full-scale war between the Demonic Path and the East Sea, the outcome of the victory or defeat will not take long.

‘At least a month.’

It will be over within that time.

So, if you think about the time it will take to persuade other sects now and the time it will take to deploy troops to the East Sea, there was a high probability that they would miss the opportunity.

“Madam, are you thinking of Go-seon by any chance? We have asked them for a lot of help, but they don’t want to take lives, so…”

Go-seon is famous for taking a neutral stance even in the Taoist world.

The reason why Baek-san has been holding out until now is because Go-seon has been maintaining exchanges, but that’s it.

Further help was difficult.

“No. I wasn’t thinking of Go-seon either. It would be great if it were possible, but considering their tendencies, they wouldn’t allow it.”

“Then…”

“If this was a fight between Taoists and Baek-san in the Taoist world, we wouldn’t be able to use it, but now that it’s a fight between the East Sea and the Demonic Path, there is one card we can use.”

“Yes…? Could it be…!!”

A force that has been in a relationship of killing and dying with Taoists for a long time.

“Send a message to Sip-hae-man-chuk [Ten Thousand Barbarian Tribes of the Sea] right now.”

* * *

At the same time.

San-goon and his party were standing on top of a pit in the middle of Cheon-mang-do.

“This is the place.”

This was the pit created when Chuk-myung-cheon-nyeo ascended to immortality, and it was called Cheon-mang-gaeng-no (天葬坑路) [Pit of Heavenly Burial].

“It’s a very strange place.”

It was just as he said.

It’s a very strange place.

Whether there is a bottom or not, the inside of the pit is only a thick darkness.

It is so deep that the bottom cannot be seen. With a figure like Naraka [Buddhist hell], and a strange energy emanating from around the pit, it was truly a strange place.

“Indeed, I understand why he chose this place to hide.”

“There is no better place to hide.”

The pit was so deep that its depth could not be estimated, and there were several naturally formed caves around it, making it an ideal place to hide.

“It’s no use. As long as I have my spirit worm, there’s no way he can escape from our hands, so let’s go with peace of mind.”

“Let’s do that.”

Soon, San-goon jumped into the pit in one breath, and the others followed.

After a while.

The party, who had been going down for an hour, could finally see the bottom. Surprisingly, a huge bronze floor greeted them at the bottom of Cheon-mang-gaeng-no.

Constellations and Sipjangsaeng [Ten Symbols of Longevity] with all kinds of shapes were carved on it, so you could feel that it was an unusual object just by looking at it.

San-goon tried to get closer out of curiosity, but.

“Stop. The moment you step on this door, Dae-gyeong-hwan-jin (大經喚眞) [Grand Sutra Illusion Formation] will unfold and we will all be trapped in the illusion world!!”

He stopped at the urgent tone, narrowed his eyes, and made an expression that he seemed to know now.

“Is this why you needed my bracelet?”

“You guessed it right. It may look like a huge floor, but in fact, it can be said to be a kind of gateway.”

Peng-jo explained that you can only go to the place where Cheon-ro-deung [Heavenly Dew Lamp] is by passing through this door embedded in the ground.

“I’ve heard of it. It’s called Cheon-ro-hwa-eung-mun (天路和應門) [Heavenly Path Resonance Gate], right?”

Ye-woon also seemed to have heard of it, perhaps because it was a very famous door.

“That’s right. But in order to pass through this Cheon-ro-hwa-eung-mun, only those who have obtained the choice of heaven can pass, and you must have the token to open the door.

Otherwise, as I said before, Dae-gyeong-hwan-jin will unfold and you will be trapped for a long time or die.”

“One of the other Ji-seon [Earthly Immortal] who investigated this place with me before was trapped in Dae-gyeong-hwan-jin and died, so be careful.”

San-goon nodded and then looked around and found something strange.

Strangely, there was no dust on Cheon-ro-hwa-eung-mun, but only a little dirt was on the plate that was made round in the middle of the door.

Looking at the traces, the dirt was made like a human palm.

“Venerable Wan-gyeong, where is that bastard?”

“Hmm, that’s… I don’t know if it’s because of Cheon-ro-hwa-eung-mun.

I’m sure it’s near here, but it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact location.”

San-goon’s brow furrowed at his words.

It was then.

Ye-woon, who had been looking at Cheon-ro-hwa-eung-mun for a while, said while looking at the palm print.

“Didn’t he open the door and go in?”