Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 367

Tales of a Wandering Swordsman – Part 2, Episode 76

The Thirty-six Gates of Six Joints. It’s a gate, a tomb, and a final resting place all in one.

“Why would he devise something like this?”

Why would he seal his body, filling it with treasures and the essence of his life’s work?

And why make it so the seal could only be broken by six of his descendants, each capable of opening one of the Six Gates?

“Well, wasn’t it meant as an inheritance for his descendants?”

“Does the Insect World even have such concepts?”

“Not really.”

Affection between parents and children is rare in the Insect World.

You find a mate and lay eggs.

That’s usually the extent of it.

What happens to the eggs afterward is mostly irrelevant.

Some protect their eggs, but most leave them to fend for themselves after they hatch.

That’s the way of the Insect World, an instinct passed down through blood.

“Are you curious about that?”

“Aren’t you concerned? If the Honored One brings him, he’ll be entering this place soon.”

That was true.

They were looking at the massive corpse of a spider before them.

Dust and soil had accumulated, and grass had grown, but it was undeniably a spider.

If its head and legs weren’t attached, you could mistake it for a mountain; if it floated out to sea, calling it an island wouldn’t be far-fetched.

The spider was a Gold Leaf Earth Spider.

A spider with thirty-six eyes, also known as the Insect Mother.

But even such an Insect Mother eventually meets death, highlighting the futility of it all.

“Anyway, we’ll be able to open the Thirty-six Gates of Six Joints soon enough. We’ll know more once we go inside.”

They entered the mountain cave connected to the Gold Leaf Earth Spider and were met by a golden wall adorned with thirty-six eyes. The eyes were symmetrically arranged, accompanied by circular patterns and inscriptions on the sealed gate.

It was the Thirty-six Gates of Six Joints.

The seal prevented intrusion from outside.

The only way in was through this gate.

“Let’s wait patiently.”

The four figures in front of the gate appeared and disappeared without a sound.

* * *

At the same time.

Cheonbeom was heading towards the Thirty-six Gates of Six Joints, as the Honored One had instructed, leaving the Myriad Insect Labyrinth.

The fight between the Honored One and Tamlang had lasted for four months without a clear victor.

Eventually, their competitive spirit waned, and the fight ended naturally.

But there was a problem.

“Are you going to keep following us?”

“He said he wouldn’t be able to sleep until he settled the score.”

Whether it was wounded pride or sheer stubbornness, Tamlang was still tailing the Honored One.

“What are you whispering about, food?”

He still referred to them as food at every opportunity, except for one person.

“Honored One, is all of this your food? If they’re yours since the match hasn’t been decided, I won’t touch them.”

“Well, it’s better if you don’t touch them.”

The Honored One simply chuckled and accepted it, whether out of good nature or recognition of Tamlang as a rival.

Cheonbeom was dumbfounded, having suddenly been categorized as food.

In the past, he would have protested, but Tamlang was an Incense Immortal like the Honored One, and a powerful figure from the Myriad Insect Labyrinth.

There was no point in provoking him.

There was nothing to gain.

‘He’s not normal to begin with.’

His worldview revolved around everything other than himself being food, and he only treated those stronger than him or his rivals with a modicum of respect. He had a truly bizarre personality.

Cheonbeom resolved:

He never wanted to be friends with someone like that.

He told Tamhwa firmly,

“Don’t get close to someone like that. Absolutely stay away.”

“Okay, Father!”

Beom’s heart fluttered at Tamhwa’s bright response.

Like the morning sun piercing through the cold fog, Tamhwa’s smile radiated gentle warmth.

“So pretty.”

Beom hugged Tamhwa tightly, rubbed his cheek against hers, and then set her down.

“The food is making noise without knowing their place. Be quiet, big food, little food.”

“Are you talking to me?”

“Yes, you little food. Be quiet.”

He thought he was calling Beom big food, but he wasn’t.

The big food was Tamhwa.

“Am I big food? Hehe, he says I’m big!”

“It’s not something to be happy about, daughter.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s right.”

After correcting her, Tamhwa frowned and glared at Tamlang.

“That’s a feisty food. If you bear the name of an insect, you should be like that.”

When he first saw him, he thought he was a silent and imposing figure, but he wasn’t.

He talked more than expected.

Cheonbeom couldn’t tell if he was bored due to the lack of fighting or if he was simply talkative.

And it continued the entire way. He scolded them for being noisy and disruptive whenever they made a sound.

Beom, who had suddenly become small food instead of big food, felt a blow to his pride.

-Little food, pfft!

Hwaran burst into laughter inside Beom’s mind.

-Be quiet.

-Shouldn’t the one who needs to be quiet be the little food, not me? He’s scolding you like a mother-in-law; our little food must be very hurt.

Hwaran, seizing another opportunity, relentlessly teased him, calling him little food.

She was a woman whose loyalties were always questionable.

“Honored One, where are we going now?”

“Well, we’re going to the Spider Territory of the Insect World. The Thirty-six Gates of Six Joints are there.”

Spider Territory.

As the name suggested, it was a place teeming with spiders.

“All kinds of spiders from the Insect World have settled there. All the well-known spider Insect Saints and Insect Immortals are there. I don’t remember why… something about it being a place that spiders would like? I don’t know why they like such a place.”

The Honored One grumbled, seemingly unable to comprehend it, then continued.

“But it’s quite a distance to the Spider Territory, so we’ll use a teleportation formation. Using a teleportation formation near the Myriad Insect Labyrinth will get us to the Spider Territory quickly.”

Let’s see.

“We’re almost there….”

Then Tamlang narrowed his eyes and asked urgently,

“Honored One, are you perhaps trying to use the Winding Altar Hole Control here?”

“Oh, you knew.”

“You’re crazy. To think of using something so disgusting.”

He didn’t know what the Winding Altar Hole Control was, but seeing Tamlang, who was usually unhinged, react that way, he knew it couldn’t be good.

“I’m against it too.”

It was best to decline things like this quickly.

“I agree with the little food’s opinion.”

It was rare for Tamlang to agree.

“But if we don’t use the Winding Altar Hole Control, it might take at least fifty years to get to the Spider Territory.”

“Fifty years is nothing. A hundred or a thousand years pass by in the blink of an eye, so fifty years is nothing.”

Tamlang said it casually, but Beom felt differently.

“Fifty years is a bit….”

He didn’t want to spend fifty years just traveling to the Spider Territory.

“The little food has no backbone. If you’re not going to eat it, give it to me. I can chew it up and eat it.”

“That won’t do. The Thousand Immortal is essential to us.”

“Hmph, I’ll break you down at the right time and chew up all your food.”

“Okay, okay, I look forward to that too. But we have to use the Winding Altar Hole Control. If you don’t like it, why don’t you just go back to the Myriad Insect Labyrinth?”

“I can’t until I break you down.”

The Honored One chuckled, looked around, and a smile crept onto his face as he spotted a burrow in the mountains.

“Here it is.”

The Honored One, using his divine sense, located the Winding Altar Hole Control and reached deep into the burrow, pulling something out.

And it was pink.

A huge, pink thing.

“This is the Winding Altar Hole Control.”

Laughing heartily, he held up the pink larva.

“Isn’t this an earthworm?”

“Well, something similar.”

Beom, who had been momentarily speechless, tilted his head and spoke again.

“Didn’t you say we were going to use a teleportation formation? Why suddenly this….”

“Are you new to this? The belly of the Winding Altar Hole Control possesses a kind of spatial divine power…”

“These creatures have a strange habit of using spatial divine power to transmit what they eat to other members of their species.”

“They are distributed far apart, but the Winding Altar Hole Control near the Myriad Insect Labyrinth is said to be connected to those near the Spider Territory.”

“The teleportation formations you’re familiar with are quite far away. Besides, once you get used to using the Winding Altar Hole Control a few times, it becomes quite convenient.”

He couldn’t imagine how crawling into the belly of something resembling an earthworm or larva could be convenient.

According to the Honored One, he would cast a spell to prevent them from being digested, so there was nothing to worry about, but Tamlang frowned in disgust.

“To think you’re crawling into the belly of food with your own feet; there’s no one sane here.”

Unfortunately, Beom agreed.

“It saves time, doesn’t it? It would take decades to fly, and if Insect Saints attacked during that time, it would be a waste of strength and time.”

But the Honored One’s words made sense.

“I’ll do it!”

Tamhwa was smiling brightly, looking eager to jump right in because it seemed fun.

The Winding Altar Hole Control, a pink, eyeless creature resembling an earthworm, was licking its lips as it looked at Tamhwa, seemingly oblivious to its impending capture.

“Are you sure it won’t be digested?”

“I’ll go in too, so don’t worry about safety.”

It was a relief to hear that, but.

‘Even so….’

It was dirty, uncomfortable, and unappealing.

“Little food, you go first.”

“Why me?”

“You’re the smallest.”

He didn’t know what the criteria were.

‘Is it based on my original body?’

But whether it was or not, now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

It was a moment of decision: to enter the belly of the Winding Altar Hole Control or not.

“I’m going! Let’s go, Father!”

Cheonbeom was at a crossroads.

“Now that it’s come to this, there are a few things I want to ask, Honored One.”

“Why are those who have lived long enough making such a fuss about this?”

He scolded him, but Cheonbeom shook his head firmly.

“That’s not it. I meant, what benefits can I expect from opening the Thirty-six Gates of Six Joints? Until now, I’ve been following you to repay your kindness and to satisfy my own greed, but wouldn’t it be good to clarify things here?”

Beom didn’t know.

What was inside the Thirty-six Gates of Six Joints, and what rewards awaited them?

And.

‘Is it dangerous?’

Could he trust him?

He needed to reassess the situation.

At Beom’s words, the Honored One pondered for a moment before answering.

“We haven’t been inside yet, so we can’t say for sure what’s there… but I can probably promise you one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Among the treasures inside the Thirty-six Gates of Six Joints, there will be an elixir that will make you an Incense Immortal. I’ll give that to you. Will you cooperate with that?”

Elixir!

“Really?”

“If there isn’t, I’m willing to make one for you. Would an Eight Treasures Elixir be enough? It’s an elixir that’s good for Upper Immortals, so if you do well, you might become an Incense Immortal. It would be difficult for other Insect Immortals, but it’s one of the easier things for me, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Cheonbeom’s eyes narrowed.

These words could be false.

The Honored One’s character, as he had observed, wasn’t prone to lying, but anything could happen.

‘But it’s tempting.’

It was a sweet temptation.

He had strived to obtain an elixir suitable for Upper Immortals, but he had never managed to acquire a proper one.

Alchemy wasn’t well-developed in the Water Realm, and the circumstances had prevented him from leisurely searching for materials or pharmacopoeias related to elixirs.

‘It might not be bad.’

He had heard that there were four other Incense Immortals besides the Honored One and himself, and they would open the Thirty-six Gates of Six Joints together and venture inside.

‘Unlike during the Calamity of the Remnants [a past disaster], Tamhwa is with me….’

He could at least protect himself in case of an emergency.

The Sixty-Four Trigrams of the Five Elements Divine Art was weak, but it was still a possibility, and he could utilize Tamhwa’s Majestic Tiger Swallowtail Armor.

After a brief calculation, Beom made his decision.

Nothing happens if you do nothing. Beom chose action over inaction.

“I’ll go.”