Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 356

Narrative of Nangsungan – Part 2, Episode 65

“Helping you out of the blue? What are you talking about? And why me of all people?”

“Doesn’t the blood of our family, the blood of our ancestors, flow in the veins of the Head of the Ministry of War and Culture! So we can never say we are strangers!”

*Damn that bloodline.*

*Are you asking me to go this far just because the blood of some guy I don’t even know flows in me?*

*I don’t even know if we really share the same blood, but why are you so brazenly asking for help?*

“Haa….”

Just looking at that desperate face is already making me tired.

“So, what’s going on?”

Then, suddenly, Huhae started to sob, shedding tears like chicken droppings.

“I don’t want to see a grown man crying in front of me.”

After a little coaxing, I was finally able to hear the story, stammering.

“Huh… so you’re saying your brother was attacked by a Phantasmal Beast and his life or death is unknown.”

“Yes, that’s right!”

Cheonbeom clicked his tongue, picked his ear once, and replied.

“…So?”

“W-What do you mean, ‘so’! The head of our family is missing!”

“Yeah, I know. I just heard it. So… why are you telling me this? If that’s the case, you should submit a petition directly to the Water Palace to resolve the matter, not rudely grab the ankle of a cultivator on vacation.”

*Vacation, vacation.*

*The reward for hard work is a meager salary, but vacation is also important.*

*A vacation should feel like a week is seven hours and a month is a day.*

*Even a Great Firmament Immortal shouldn’t interfere with such precious and sacred vacation time.*

“That’s absurd, a petition! It’s an attack by a Phantasmal Beast, but they did it intentionally! If I write a petition, it will obviously be ignored!”

“So you came to me?”

Something doesn’t add up.

“After my father passed away, all the families who were close to us turned their backs on us. My brother told me to ask the Head of the Ministry of War and Culture for help if anything happened to him!”

Was that so.

Come to think of it, the current head of the Hu family seemed to know something about the matter between Beom and the previous head, and even sent a telepathic message.

*‘I almost forgot.’*

I was going to meet him separately, but I couldn’t find the time because I was busy with official and private matters.

“Still, wouldn’t it be better to ask the Water Palace for help than me? Even if it was disguised as a Phantasmal Beast, the Water Palace wouldn’t be able to ignore it.”

In that case, one of the Cheonmu Generals would lead the Musun [Military Unit directly under the Water Palace’s command].

“But my petition won’t even reach that far. Someone will intercept it or it will disappear in the middle.”

“Why do you think so?”

“That’s what happened to the Gon family.”

…If you say that, I have nothing to say.

“Your brother, the head of the Hu family, do you still think he’s alive?”

When asked, Huhae shakes his head.

“Then you will be the next head of the family.”

Then, his eyes gradually turned red and his shoulders began to tremble.

“If only our family heirloom had been properly passed down, this wouldn’t have happened…!”

Ouch.

“T-That can’t be….”

“It’s true! If we had the Twin Annihilation, our family heirloom passed down for generations, my brother, no, the head of the family, wouldn’t have been attacked by such a Phantasmal Beast!”

For some reason, one side of my chest stings.

“…Is that so?”

“Of course! The Head of the Ministry of War and Culture may not know it well, but our family heirloom, the Twin Annihilation, is a Yeonjabo [a powerful artifact or treasure] that is rare even in the Water Realm, and its power is one of the best!”

“It is powerful.”

“Yes?”

Beom cleared his throat.

My conscience pricks me if I pretend not to know.

He keeps singing about how things would have been if he had the Twin Annihilation, so how could I not?

*‘I will return it when the time comes.’*

The time just hasn’t come yet.

*‘But even if I return it now, it won’t solve anything….’*

The Twin Annihilation has Bulcheonbulbyeok [an extremely dangerous and chaotic energy] in it, so if I return it now, I’ll only get cursed at.

So, listening to the story first is the priority.

“First, let’s talk calmly. You haven’t even properly explained why you came to me yet.”

Huhae roughly wipes away his tears and quickly bows his head.

“I’m sorry, Head of the Ministry. Please forgive my rudeness in visiting you without even showing proper respect because I was so flustered.”

The guy who was so arrogant at the Martial Arts Competition bows his head like this.

I pat Huhae’s shoulder and ask.

“So, what do you want me to do for you?”

“Please, deal with the Phantasmal Beast that has nested in our family’s territory and the bastards behind it who are controlling it!”

Behind the scenes, huh.

“You seem to know who is behind the Phantasmal Beast attack.”

“Of course!”

“Who is it?”

“It’s those damn Peng family bastards!”

Cheonbeom’s eyes narrow at the word Peng.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course!”

If you say this much, I can’t help it.

“I’ll hear the rest on the way.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much, Head of the Ministry!!”

I can’t ignore the Hu family either.

*‘At this rate, my vacation will be all gone.’*

* * *

Northeast from the Water Palace.

The area called Yungyeon (融聯) is the land where the Hu family is located.

I remember hearing that the mountains are steep and the strangely shaped rocks that look like pillars soar to the sky, so they lead a prosperous life with the Seoncho [spiritual herbs] and Seonseok [spiritual stones] that only come from this place.

“Is it true that Yungyeon’s Seonseok are very good for making magical items?”

“Of course! Miseonbang (尾務), a Seonseok mined in our Yungyeon, is one of the Seonseok that was used a lot when building the palace of Tongcheon Water Palace!”

He seems to feel a great sense of pride.

Miseonbang is literally a stone containing Seongi [spiritual energy] that resembles a circular fan, and unlike its appearance, its hardness is said to be indescribable.

That’s why it was used a lot in the palaces and cabinets inside the Water Palace.

A unique property is that once heat is applied, it stretches like rubber without limit, and once it hardens in that state, it becomes resistant to heat.

“It must be expensive.”

“It’s a specialty of Yungyeon. Of course, it’s not cheap.”

Cheonbeom, who arrived in Yungyeon by carriage, stroked his chin as if he was intrigued.

*‘Miseonbang….’*

If I take it to Sangseo [a high-ranking official], the quality of the magical items produced in Geukyangsangsan will definitely be improved.

When I asked casually, the price of Miseonbang was so high that even Cheonbeom shook his head.

One bundle costs one nyang [a unit of currency] of Wongeun [a precious metal].

It was too expensive.

But if I can handle this situation well, I might be able to make a deal under good conditions.

“By the way, where is that Phantasmal Beast? Come to think of it, I haven’t even heard what kind it is.”

“That guy….”

Drrrrr!

Just as Huhae was about to say something.

The ground shook violently and an earthquake occurred in the area.

In an instant, Beom, who scanned the underground in a modern way, grabbed Huhae by the back of the neck and flew up.

Kwaaaak!

Something huge rises from underground, opening its mouth.

The head looks like a turtle, but it looks as hard as a rock.

Mounds of dirt scatter and the monster’s body begins to appear with it.

It has a strange body as if it were made of connected stones.

“It’s a Togapryong [Earth Turtle Dragon]!”

The size wasn’t that big. It had a head that could swallow a house whole, a body that was nearly a hundred *chapters* long, and only front legs.

Cheonbeom throws Huhae into the sky and immediately takes out the Hwanhohwan Sword and flies it.

The Hwanhohwan Sword, which tore through space and disappeared, soon flew towards the head of the Togapryong from behind.

Taeng!

But it bounces off without success.

*‘It’s harder than I thought.’*

I vaguely ignored it because it was a Phantasmal Beast, but it’s harder than I thought.

Cheonbeom retrieves the Hwanhohwan Sword and flashes his golden eyes.

Then, the Togapryong’s movement stops abruptly and its eyes turn blank.

“It’s caught in the illusion.”

Soon, he makes a hand seal and throws a few talismans into the air to create a magic circle.

Golden chains pop out from the magic circle and tightly bind the Togapryong’s body.

Then, he takes out a blue talisman from the wooden armor and sticks it on the Togapryong’s head.

The monster’s body turns into smoke and is sucked into the talisman.

“It’s… simple?”

I wondered how he could be attacked by something like this, so I turned around and saw Huhae staring with wide eyes as if he was a little surprised.

“If it’s this level, I don’t think I needed to come.”

The Togapryong is hard as if it’s wearing armor and it’s not easy to deal with because it swims in the ground, but it’s not enough to destroy a family.

The Hu family is a great family even though the previous head of the family died.

The Gon family has a special constitution, but the Hu family is not. The number of Gaseon [family cultivators] in the family is incomparably larger than other families.

When I asked in doubt, Huhae also nodded as if it was natural.

“If it was just one of them, our family could have handled it well enough.”

I thought so.

At this level, even if it wasn’t a Cheonmuseon [Heavenly Martial Immortal], but just five Pyeongmuseon [Ordinary Martial Immortal] came, they would have been able to handle it.

“That guy is a baby.”

“A baby? Are you talking about just now?”

However, Beom couldn’t help but be a little surprised at Huhae’s words that followed.

What kind of baby is over a hundred *chapters* long!

“I wish you would tell me in detail.”

“The Togapryong’s attack swallowed our entire palace. In one bite. Soon, all the Gaseon of the family came out to fight, but the monster attacked from underground with hundreds of babies, and in the middle, my brother was swallowed by the monster, and so were the other Gaseon.”

Only Huhae escaped to deliver the news, but most of the families refused to help, and he thought that even Tongcheon Water Palace would do the same, so he came to me.

“I’ve never seen such a big Togapryong before. It must be a Togapryong that has been around for tens of thousands of years.”

“But how can you be sure that the other family, the Peng family, intentionally planned this?”

“I saw it!”

Someone behind the giant Togapryong that turned Yungyeon into a living hell.

“There’s no way that such a Togapryong would attack Yungyeon for no reason.”

Surely someone intentionally did that, and the Peng family is behind it.

That’s what he meant. I couldn’t believe all of Huhae’s words, but I should prepare myself.

*‘The one I caught is a baby….’*

I felt a little embarrassed.

If this guy is a baby, I can’t even imagine how big the mother is.

It’s not now, but it used to be a family sitting in the Five Great Families.

It must have been a huge giant, and it swallowed it in one bite.

“Did you say this is near the entrance of Yungyeon?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The Hu family’s base will be in the center of Yungyeon, and the Togapryong’s babies will be rampant around the area until we get there….

*‘They must have completely planned to wipe out the Hu family.’*

But then I understood.

“The Gon family may have been attacked by these guys too.”

If a huge Togapryong and dozens of its babies appear, even Tongcheon Water Palace will not be able to clean it up easily.

*‘Hmm….’*

Cheonbeom looked at the talisman containing the Togapryong he had caught and put it in his arms.

*‘It’s perfect as a gift for Tamhwa.’*

Togapryong.

It was perfect as a special dish for Tamhwa.

There are dozens of babies, and the mother is said to be huge.

“Tamhwa will like it.”