Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 386

Nangseon’s Romantic Fantasia – Part 2, Episode 95

Clang.

Two guards protecting the Tongcheon Library raised their spears to block him.

But soon, the spears were lowered again.

“Are you not Head Instructor Moon-Moo?”

“Hmm? Oh, you remember me.”

“Of course. It’s only been seventy years; it would be strange not to remember. I heard the rumors, but it’s a relief you’re still alive.”

“It seems you’ve made some progress. Congratulations.”

“Haha, it’s an honor you recognize me. It’s all thanks to Head Instructor Moon-Moo’s test! I struggled with it for about thirty years before finally solving it.”

The guard showed his Enhanced Body Technique, a diluted version of the Gyuncheon Bohwa [a powerful body strengthening technique] that Beom had included in the problem.

He seemed to have modified it to his liking, but it wasn’t bad.

“Excellent.”

“I’m just embarrassed. Ah, I’ve been so absent-minded, blocking the Head Instructor’s path. Please, go inside.”

“Thank you. What’s your name?”

“Bi-ryeom.”

“I’ll remember it.”

“It’s an honor.”

After the heartwarming conversation, he entered the library, greeted not by the old man who managed the place, but by a child.

“It’s been a while.”

Beom greeted with a fist salute, while the child waited with crossed arms.

The Divine Soul of the Great Heavenly Warrior.

Joo-yak glared at Beom with displeased eyes.

“Not true, is it?”

He asked abruptly.

Many words were omitted, but Beom understood.

It must be about the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams Divine [a complex martial arts technique].

Seeing him ask as soon as they met, he must have sensed the slight change in Beom’s energy.

The Five Elements Sixty-Four Trigrams was originally part of an Enhanced Body Technique that divided Mount Extreme into sixty-four trigrams and placed them in the body, granting power far surpassing the usual.

Therefore, it required a period for the sixty-four trigrams to mesh with the body, and time to understand the eight trigrams into which they were divided.

In short, it meant that the more it was absorbed into the body, the more gradual the effect of the Enhanced Body Technique became.

Thus, Joo-yak, who knew the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams Divine, couldn’t help but notice the change.

“It is true.”

“Liar! What did you do for seventy years to master that!”

“There were various things. Although there are still four hundred and thirty years left, the outcome of the bet has already been decided.”

The bet with Joo-yak seventy years ago.

If Beom won, he would be allowed to browse all the books in the library, and if he lost, he would become Joo-yak’s slave.

“I can’t accept it!”

However, Joo-yak stubbornly refused to admit his defeat.

His argument was that he had lived here for a long time, mastering many cultivation methods, but he had never seen anyone master the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams Divine.

So, it was understandable that he found it hard to believe that Sangseon had mastered it in just seventy years.

“Then how can I make you acknowledge it?”

“I can’t acknowledge it until I see it with my own two eyes!”

His own two eyes.

That wouldn’t be difficult.

He immediately summoned the Five Elements Extreme Mountain and moved his lips, causing each element to scatter its energy and transform into trigram forms.

Soon, the five elements turned into eight trigrams, and the eight trigrams divided into sixty-four trigrams, spreading in all directions, and a mandala [a symbolic diagram representing the cosmos] bloomed.

The sixty-four trigrams took their places throughout his body, seeping in with a golden hue, and his entire body glowed.

Five Elements Sixty-Eight Trigrams.

As it unfolded, it seemed as if the entire domain of this library was in Beom’s grasp.

The golden eyes shone more brilliantly than ever, and everything around him felt like his own.

“Do you acknowledge it now?”

It was then.

Whoosh.

Joo-yak, who had disappeared like smoke, rushed in from Beom’s blind spot.

A strike so intense that it could be described as piercing the void.

Thud!

“Oh, you blocked that?”

But Beom blocked it.

Though his expression wasn’t good.

Regardless, Joo-yak spoke with amazement and disappeared into the void again.

“Why are they making such a fuss in the library…”

Hyang Eui-jeong, Hyangjang [likely a title, perhaps ‘Head Librarian’], who had been watching quietly, grumbled and waved his hand.

The trees that had been like pillars of the Tongcheon Library were swallowed by darkness.

He must have hidden them to protect the books.

‘This isn’t right.’

Joo-yak seemed to be having fun, and as he blocked his attacks, he began to increase his power more and more.

Boom, Bang!

It was just fists colliding, but the roar and tremendous aftermath began to spread.

Whether it was a Light Body Technique using Space Divine Power, he disappeared through the void and suddenly attacked, piercing through space.

That made it difficult to read his movements.

Moreover, he mixed various footwork techniques at a speed invisible to the eye, making it impossible to predict his movements.

If it weren’t for the heightened senses due to the characteristics of the Five Elements Sixty-Four Trigrams, he wouldn’t have been able to block, let alone counterattack.

‘Is this the difference?’

Honestly, he thought he could handle even the Divine Soul of a Late Stage Celestial.

But even as a Divine Soul, it was the Divine Soul of the Great Heavenly Warrior, the best martial artist in the Water Realm.

What would happen if they fought seriously? Beom couldn’t picture a future where he would win.

‘If I use all my skills, maybe 50%.’

If he fought only with Enhanced Body, it would be about 30%.

Even with this much difference from the Great Heavenly Warrior’s Divine Soul, he couldn’t even fathom how strong her main body would be.

“So it’s true.”

When the tension reached its peak.

Suddenly, Joo-yak’s hollow voice echoed softly in the library.

And soon, he revealed himself, showing a neurotic expression.

“Ah, I wonder if I’m going to get scolded by the main body…”

He scratched the back of his head, making all sorts of faces.

It seemed to be quite a headache.

Only then did Beom relax and withdraw the Five Elements Sixty-Four Trigrams Divine.

A sense of exhaustion seeped in, and he frowned at the considerable depletion of energy.

“But I’ll keep my promise.”

Joo-yak said that and asked Hyang Eui-jeong to do so.

Hyangjang said he understood and asked Beom for the spirit badge, and after handing it over, a moment later.

He could feel an unknown divine technique being applied to Beom’s spirit badge.

“Originally, it’s not allowed… but the Great Heavenly Warrior will take care of it.”

Hyangjang said that and disappeared, and Joo-yak remained by his side.

“I said you could see all the books, but no matter what, I can’t let you see the forbidden books of the Tongcheon Library. You’re smart, so you know what I mean.”

“Are you going to monitor me so I can’t see them?”

“Kind of? I’m also curious about how you mastered the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams Divine. No matter how I look at it, it’s a little different from what I knew… can you tell me about it?”

“I also have questions. Can you tell me about them?”

“Hmph, obvious. Questions about the Great Heavenly Warrior, that is, my main body, right?”

“That too, and also about you, Joo-yak. I’m not in a position to be taught by anyone.”

“You want my teachings?”

“I’m the type to receive teachings from anyone if I can get them.”

“You’re a funny guy the more I look at you. Fine! Since we both have a lot of questions for each other, let’s make a deal.”

After that, Beom opened all the law books in the Tongcheon Library while talking with Joo-yak.

Joo-yak kindly told him about the law books, which showed how long she had been cultivating with the books here.

“There are about a thousand law books in the Tongcheon Library. Since all the laws are said to be three thousand, it’s safe to say that a third of them are here.”

There were three thousand types of laws in total.

Among them, the three absolute laws were called True Laws.

“True Laws… what are those three?”

“Time, space, and Qi [life force or energy].”

“Qi?”

Time and space were understandable, but it was plausible yet not quite convincing that Qi was among the three absolute laws of law.

“The original energy of your body itself. The natural divine energy. The world and the sky are made up of various energies. The beings of the beginning were also conceived and born from that energy, so if energy isn’t a True Law, then what is?”

Certainly.

Hearing it like that, it made sense.

Among the laws of all things in the world, there was nothing that didn’t involve Qi.

Beom reflected on his foolishness.

“There’s no need to be ashamed. I was like that too. And all three thousand laws gather and the True Laws are mixed and placed…”

Creation.

‘The mixing of all three thousand laws is the law of creation…’

Beom couldn’t dare to close his mouth at the enormity of creation.

He had thought that seeing a fraction of creation in the Fourth Month Ritual was everything.

‘It was a mere seed.’

He couldn’t help but feel empty.

In his foolishness and the vastness of the laws, Beom suddenly couldn’t shake off the wandering of his heart like a lost child.

For the law of creation, it was necessary to master the other three thousand laws.

“Has there ever been anyone who could create?”

No matter how he thought about it, it was an absurd law. A law that could only be used after mastering all the laws.

“Well, as far as I know, there were about three people in the Upper Realm? I’ve heard.”

It was said that those three divided the Upper Realm into five, looked down on the chaotic world, created boundaries, and created the concept of cultivation.

“And they went up to the sky of Daeracheon… I don’t know the details.”

It was interesting.

“Many of the things they achieved are absurd… and it’s such an old story that not many believe it, but I think it’s a plausible story.”

Three Worlds, Three Energies.

The old immortals called them that and revered them.

Joo-yak smiled constantly, as if he was satisfied just by telling the story.

Beom quietly looked at Joo-yak and thought of someone.

“What, why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s nothing.”

In any case, Joo-yak’s story was generally very helpful.

Stories about the Three Worlds and Three Energies, and most of the things about the three thousand laws, were information that was not easily heard.

There were only about a thousand law books in the Tongcheon Library, but mastering them all was no easy task.

It took tens of thousands of years to properly master even one simple law, so how many years would it take to master a thousand laws?

“I tried to master them as much as possible, but I only mastered about three.”

Even Joo-yak, who lived here, was like that, so how could Beom master them?

It didn’t seem easy.

“But why are you cultivating alone here, Joo-yak?”

If he was the Divine Soul of the Great Heavenly Warrior, wouldn’t it be better to learn from her or cultivate together?

When he asked with curiosity, Joo-yak looked at him as if he was dumbfounded.

“You really don’t know anything.”

He clicked his tongue.

“Why is that?”

He only knew that Divine Souls were difficult to control and acted as they pleased.

He had heard that it was because they contained the unconscious ideology that had separated from the main body, but it didn’t seem impossible to control Joo-yak, who had this much reason, knowledge, and ideas.

“A Divine Soul is originally an existence that has separated from the main body. When it’s a Divine Jade, it becomes the standard for unifying the mind, body, and energy, but as soon as it becomes a Divine Soul, it becomes half of the main body.”

In the Early Stage Celestial, a Divine Soul is formed.

In the Mid Stage Celestial, the Divine Soul separates from the body and has its own will.

And in the Late Stage Celestial, it gradually grows and wields powerful laws and divine powers.

“But in the future, it’s a body that has to compete for life with the main body anyway.”

“Yes? Compete for life…”

“It means that one of us has to die. We are beings that must be shaken off and at the same time, we must step on each other to ascend.”