Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 322

Nangseon’s Romantic Tale – Part 2, Episode 31

“No! That’s not it! I… I didn’t do it, sir!”

Lord Gyeong, a scion [descendant] of the Mi family, covered his mouth with his sleeve, recoiling from her blood-soaked figure and the foul stench of blood.

“Even if your cultivation isn’t progressing well, there’s no need to kill Lesser Immortals in a fit of anger!”

Only a madman would do such a thing. Gyeong looked at Gon Sabi, who had butchered the Lesser Immortals as if possessed, with disgust, as if the charming facade she had presented to him was a complete lie.

“No! This… this is someone’s plot! A… a trap!”

“…You don’t seem well. Let’s talk another time.”

“Ah, no! Please believe me, sir!”

“Believe what, exactly? I saw it clearly with my own two eyes.”

Gyeong regarded Sabi as if she were a rabid beast and moved away.

Despondent, Sabi stared blankly at the Lesser Immortals she had slaughtered.

Organs and flesh were scattered everywhere.

“Ugh!”

“What is going on here!”

Just then,

A furious female immortal appeared, shouting at the top of her lungs.

She was Saha, a subordinate of the Minister.

“Young Lady! How could you harm the Lesser Immortals of the Sa family! They were like family to me. The weight of life is as solemn as mountains and rivers. You will have to take responsibility!”

The Sa family’s Lesser Immortals?

She hadn’t even known they were from the Sa family.

She felt utterly wronged.

“The young master of the Mi family witnessed it too. Are you going to keep denying it? If you continue to play dumb, I will directly ask him to be a witness!”

She clutched her head and staggered.

She wanted to suppress them with the power and authority of the Gon family as usual, but with her betrothed from the Mi family involved, there was nothing she could do.

“But I didn’t…”

Clench.

No matter what, no one would believe her anymore.

The circumstances were damning, and with multiple witnesses, the situation she was in felt inescapably real.

‘Hmph… it’s just three or four Lesser Immortals. I can pay the price and smooth things over.’

Sabi gnashed her teeth and slowly opened her mouth.

“What… do you want me to do?”

“The weight of life is infinitely heavy, so I dare not determine its true value, but I know that they had families and lives waiting for them. Therefore, I demand the return of a Superior Immortal and thirty *nyang* [a unit of currency] of silver as compensation!”

Thirty *nyang* of silver!

And even a Superior Immortal!

Sabi’s brow furrowed.

“That’s too much.”

Just yesterday, she had been accused of a crime for the deaths and injuries of the Gon family’s Lesser Immortals, and now they were demanding thirty *nyang* of silver on top of that! How could it not be excessive!

“Too much? Did you say it’s too much?”

Saha raised the corners of her mouth as if she had been waiting for this. Sabi’s heart sank.

“Young Lady, you told me yesterday… How can you put a price on the weight of life? Because you know that weight, and because you know the lives they would have continued, you can never put a price on it.”

Saha fluttered her fan and circled around Sabi, who was clutching her skirt.

“But how can a cultivator judge the weight of life, belittle it, and say that the compensation is too much!”

‘캬 [an exclamation of satisfaction], this is it.’

It was as refreshing as downing a bottle of Yongma wine that made her throat tingle all the way down. [Yongma wine is a fictional strong liquor.]

The plan was clearly Beom’s, but she hadn’t expected Saha to execute it so well.

“Surely, the young lady of the Gon family isn’t going to go back on her words from just yesterday, is she?”

Saha brought her mouth close to Sabi’s ear and whispered.

“Your betrothed is still listening, isn’t he? There isn’t a man who would want to marry an ignorant woman who contradicts herself.”

Flinch.

She turned her head slightly and saw the figure of the Mi family’s heir, even from a distance.

Now, Sabi’s hands, which were holding her skirt, were trembling, and tears welled up in her eyes.

“Hic, I… I will do as you say.”

“Huh? What did you say? Could you speak louder?”

“I said I will do as you say! Hic!”

Sabi shouted, sobbing, and ran away with her servants.

* * *

Thump, thump.

In the carriage, Beom, who was once again on his way to the Underwater Palace, chuckled.

“Ah, that was exhilarating.”

While he was in the Gon family, his chest had always felt constricted, as if he had indigestion from eating sweet potatoes, but now he finally felt a little relieved.

It was as if ten years of indigestion had been completely cured.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

But Saha stared at him as if she didn’t like something.

“Would it hurt you to tell me in advance?”

It seemed to be because he hadn’t said anything and had declared he would become a guest of the Gon family.

“I didn’t have time.”

He thought it was better to say that he would become a guest and accurately assess the situation than to sign a document stating that he would pay the silver.

‘If I’m inside, I might find a way.’

As a result, it wasn’t bad.

“Still, if you had given me a hint, I wouldn’t have…”

Saha recalled her own disgraceful behavior and shut her mouth.

“Wouldn’t have what?”

“Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“How boring.”

Beom leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

“But what did you do with the Lesser Immortals? I was so surprised when I saw them, thinking they were really dead.”

“They’re puppets.”

He had been researching it from time to time, and a time came when he could use it, so he mixed it with illusion magic to make it look that way.

It was Beom’s own modification of the corpse manipulation technique that Yeun had used in the Lower Realm.

In any case, Gon Sabi was probably wondering right now, why were the Sa family’s Lesser Immortals there?

‘It’s already too late, though.’

The only way for Gon Sabi to get out of it is to reveal that it was an illusion on the spot.

Even if she claims it was an illusion later, it will only be seen as an ugly act of desperation.

In any case, this matter was resolved safely, so now all that was left was to arrive at the Underwater Palace and compete in the Martial Arts Competition.

“How much further is it?”

“Well, if we travel for about a month, we’ll reach the directional transfer formation [teleportation circle]. If we pass through the transfer formation there, we’ll reach the center of the Water Realm.”

The center of the Water Realm.

It is the Lower Void.

Above that is the huge palace floating in the sky.

It is the Underwater Palace.

“How wide is the Water Realm that we have to use a transfer formation even after coming this far? It must be terribly vast.”

He had seen it on a map, but experiencing it was another story.

“It is vast. Even if you cut off grains and only flew, it would take several years to get from the Minister’s office to the Lower Void. That’s why there’s an old saying that Lesser Immortals die before they can even see the Water Realm if they don’t have a transfer formation.”

“It’s a terrifying size.”

Whoever made the transfer formation should really be given an award.

He created something so convenient, so he must have crossed the Sea of Origin and become a Great Immortal.

Who else but him would be worthy of being a Great Immortal?

“In novels, this is the perfect timing for something to go wrong with the transfer formation.”

So there are disruptions to the journey.

“Don’t say such ominous things. The directional transfer formations located in the east, west, south, and north of the Water Realm are protected by strict security, so they don’t break down so easily.”

“That’s a relief then.”

And a month later.

The ominous premonition was a perfect match, almost to an excessive degree.

“Beom, you should refrain from flapping your tongue recklessly from now on.”

“It’s not my fault.”

“I know that, but…”

How could it be such a ghostly match? The story he had told as a joke had really become a reality.

“What should we do?”

There was no way out.

It seemed that not only they but also the merchants from other regions were frowning, as if they were in trouble as well.

A large number of immortals gathered in front of the directional transfer formation and complained.

“But there’s nothing we can do. A mysterious malfunction suddenly occurred…”

They only repeated the same words.

“How much time is left?”

“About a month now.”

“If we fly?”

“We can arrive in about fifty years.”

“Ha….”

Nothing is easy.

Why did the transfer formation have to break down at this time?

“Can’t we go to another transfer formation?”

“We’re at the transfer formation in the south right now, and the directional transfer formations are located in the east, west, south, and north. Do you know what I mean?”

“You’re saying it’s very far.”

“That’s right. The transfer formations are connected by region, but they can’t travel as far as the directional transfer formations.”

You can go by using the transfer formations for short distances several times.

But if you do that, a month will pass quickly, and you will be late for the Martial Arts Competition.

“Aish, do I have to go through all this trouble to participate in the Martial Arts Competition? When is the next Martial Arts Competition?”

“Well, in about a thousand years? Maybe longer.”

He wanted to give up everything right away, but a thousand years was too long for that.

‘The Law Codex is essential for the advancement of cultivation.’

And it wouldn’t be bad to have the position of Heavenly Martial Immortal in order to exert influence in the Water Realm.

It would be insufficient to be an ordinary guest immortal to go to another realm.

‘It would be a little late to become a Heavenly Martial Immortal in a thousand years.’

Beom sat on the cart of the Sa family’s procession and took out a hairpin from his chest.

It was a hairpin made of pure white wood.

“What are you doing here… what’s with the hairpin?”

Saha asked.

Beom was silent for a moment and then answered.

“Before I ascended… my wife gave it to me.”

It was the same Peach Blossom Hairpin that he had given her as a gift. It was a hairpin that both women and children would like because of its excellent peach scent.

Before ascending, Choa gave Beom a pair of hairpins that were the same as hers.

She made them react to each other, so if they ascended in due time, they could find each other with this.

“Beom… you were married.”

“Didn’t I say that?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yeah, I have sons and daughters too. Twins.”

Beom told the story of Cheonyu and Cheonwoo to Saha, who was flustered.

Saha smiled awkwardly and answered, “I see.” Then she disappeared somewhere.

“They’ll be up here in a thousand years.”

She was a woman with enough talent.

If it were Yoho or the children, it wouldn’t matter since he was in the Water Realm, but Choa was different because she was in a human body.

She was a woman who would go to the Immortal Realm.

‘It is rare for a cultivator of the Water Realm to go to another realm.’

It is dangerous, and there is no reason to do so. If there is, it is rare except when a war breaks out.

Moreover, even if you try to go, it will take hundreds of years just to travel, so of course it will be difficult.

It is reasonable to assume that it is almost impossible to go to another realm without a special transfer formation prepared in the Underwater Palace.

So Beom must become a Heavenly Martial Immortal.

Even if he didn’t know before, now that he knows, there is no reason not to become one.

‘Yeona will be in the Immortal Realm too.’

His disciple will be there alone, so he can’t help but be curious.

“But since things are twisted from the beginning, it’s as if someone is blocking my path.”

Beom stroked the hairpin, put it carefully in his chest, and got up from his seat.

Since there is a problem with the transfer formation, he has no choice but to find another way.

Since he doesn’t have the skill to fix the transfer formation, it is right to find an alternative.

Thanks to this, there are many people who are troubled.

It was then.

Suddenly, the gathered immortals became noisy, buzzing.

When he wondered why, the crowd parted as if the seawater was splitting, and in the middle of it, an old woman was standing with a cane taller than her own height.

“Who is that old woman….”

“Shh! Isn’t that the elder of the Gyo family, one of the Five Great Families!”

The elder of the Gyo family?

“Ah, the Gyo family that is on bad terms with the Ji family?”

‘The Ji family….’

It was not a surname to be ignored.

The Ji and Gyo families are enemies.

That’s interesting.

‘Come to think of it, the Sea Dragon Clan wasn’t one of the Five Great Families. Is that why?’

That’s why they might be enemies with the Gyo family.

In any case, Beom quietly stared at the old woman of the Gyo family, and the old woman glanced around and then tapped her cane on the ground, drawing attention to herself.

“All the cultivators here who have expertise in Lightning Divine Power, follow me.”

That was all.

The cultivators all frowned in doubt or looked around, but no one dared to ask.

Then, an old man with no hair on his head opened his mouth from the crowd.

“Why are you looking for cultivators who have trained in Lightning Divine Power?”

“Since the transfer formation is broken, we need to go to the Underwater Palace by another means, that’s why.”

“D, do you have a way?”

The bald old man, startled, opened his eyes wide.

“I need quite a few people, but I have a way. I will use my secret technique and your Lightning Divine Power to create a temporary transfer formation, so if you are someone who can wield powerful lightning, follow me, Gyo Cheong of the Gyo family.”