Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 387

Divine Sword Legend – Part 2, Episode 96

That was the first time he’d heard such a thing.

In essence, it meant that the Original Spirit and the Main Body were destined to kill each other from the moment they were born.

Why must one fight their Original Spirit to achieve Ascension?

It was hard to understand.

The Source Jade was a core element in achieving Immortality.

It could be considered a heart.

The Source Jade was one of the elements that allowed the spirit, energy, and body to unite and ascend to the ranks of the Immortals, yet he had to kill the Original Spirit that the Source Jade had transformed into…

Only then could he become a Source Immortal.

It was difficult to accept.

‘Difficult…’

He had no master.

No parents either.

He had given more teachings than he had received.

Most of what Ju-yak said was new to him. Yet, he understood it skillfully.

Such a principle would unfold upon becoming a Fragrant Immortal.

Indeed.

It was a principle.

As it was a principle of cultivation that unfolded simultaneously with becoming a Fragrant Immortal, he had to understand and accept it.

For Cheonbeom, who had no parents or master, such a thing was very familiar and natural.

A new fact.

Learning something he didn’t know had become a joy.

He couldn’t easily hear such things even if he paid for them.

‘Come to think of it, I should start preparing.’

There was no need to rush.

But there was no need to dawdle either.

It was time to slowly prepare for Ascension.

The cultivation beyond the peak of the Supreme Celestial Outer Appearance Divine Art was open to Fragrant Immortals.

Cheonbeom’s vessel, who had mastered the Supreme Celestial Outer Appearance Divine Art at the realm of Superior Immortal, achieved Gyuncheon Treasure, and learned the Sixty-Four Trigrams of the Five Elements, was like a well already filled to the brim. This was a principle for living beings and a natural law for nature.

A prelude to taking a step forward to a better place.

That was all it was.

‘Thinking about it, the timing isn’t very good.’

The non-Ascension cultivator would face the first Heavenly Tribulation, the Initial Calamity, a thousand years after Ascension, which overlapped with the Immortal Slaughter War.

Around the time the Immortal Slaughter War would be waged, Cheonbeom had to prepare for the Heavenly Tribulation.

No matter how fast, the Ascension of a Superior Immortal would happen after enduring the first Heavenly Tribulation.

A Superior Immortal who had not received the energy of Heaven could not become a Fragrant Immortal. They had to endure the energy of several Heavenly Tribulations, absorb it thoroughly, and slowly make it their own.

That was the punishment and reward given by Heaven, or in other words, a trial.

That was how one took a step forward.

‘That period is roughly ten thousand years.’

Ten thousand years could never be called short, but it was neither short nor long for those who had reached the Upper Realm.

However, Beom was worried whether he could properly undergo the Heavenly Tribulation in the midst of the chaotic war.

Even if he overcame the tribulation, it was questionable whether he would have time to fully manage it.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

Ju-yak smirked as if he understood Beom’s contemplation.

“You won’t find an answer by worrying about it now, will you? It’s still too early for you.”

Certainly.

There was no use worrying about something that would happen nine hundred years later.

In the end, it would depend on the situation at that time, so it would be better to prepare than to worry now.

“Since it’s a rare opportunity, I’d like to look through most of the cultivation books.”

“Go ahead. It’s a promise with me, so Head Jang will allow it. I have a few I’d like to recommend, how about it?”

“I would be grateful.”

Ju-yak threw him a cultivation book, which was very thin.

“Knowing the laws and being able to handle them are worlds apart. And understanding them is an immeasurable difference. They say that around the level of Source Immortal, one becomes one with the laws and creates their own principles.”

“Principles…”

“These three cultivation books are the most basic and also the framework of laws that are called absolute.”

Basics.

Reason.

Order.

The laws that make it so.

The principles that make up the world.

That was the Three Great Laws: Time and Space.

And the Qi [life force or energy] of all things.

“It’s a law cultivation book where a distinguished cultivator wrote down the enlightenment he achieved throughout his life while dealing with the Three Great Laws. The name is Three Worlds, Three Bodies.”

“Three Worlds, Three Bodies (三世三身)…”

Three worlds and three bodies.

It seemed to contain a simple yet profound meaning.

“Ju-yak, are you going to show him that?”

The Head of the Fragrant Chamber of the Tongcheon Archive, who had been smiling gently, revealed a stern face.

It was quite a negative view.

“He’s a guy who has mastered the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. No, the Sixty-Four Trigrams of the Five Elements, so I’m showing him about the Three Worlds, Three Bodies.”

Ju-yak spoke as if telling him not to interfere, but the Head of the Fragrant Chamber didn’t care.

“Head of the Martial Arts Hall, the Sixty-Four Trigrams of the Five Elements that you have mastered are also difficult, but this, the Three Worlds, Three Bodies, is so difficult that it is second to none.”

“Is it that much?”

“It’s not a cultivation book that I can recommend to a young man with a bright future.”

Just how much was it that the Head of the Fragrant Chamber came to stop him?

But Beom didn’t care.

There was no need to rush when it came to laws.

He could read it and look at something else if it didn’t seem right.

He wondered why there was a reason to stop him so much.

“Perhaps, is it dangerous?”

“It’s not like that. I can guarantee the stability.”

Ju-yak said it wasn’t.

Then he wondered what it was and looked at Head Jang.

“It’s not like that… it’s not. It must be an old man’s unnecessary interference.”

The Head of the Fragrant Chamber shook his head and disappeared.

Beom looked down at the Three Worlds, Three Bodies in his hand with a strangely uneasy attitude and pondered for a while.

“It’s not a very long g訣 [cultivation formula or mantra]. Read it quickly and memorize it.”

Although he was suspicious, it was not difficult to memorize the g訣.

When he unfolded the Three Worlds, Three Bodies, there were only a few things written.

‘The three worlds mean the gods, and the three gods mean the worlds.’

The god is the world, and the world is the god, so my god is the world.

“What is this?”

Beom asked Ju-yak as soon as he read the g訣. Ju-yak smiled as if he found it amusing.

“What is it?”

“Is this really a law cultivation book?”

He looked at Ju-yak as if he was dumbfounded, but that didn’t resolve his doubts.

After staring at him for a while, he opened his mouth as if he couldn’t help it.

“When was it… the last Fragrant Immortal who saw the Three Worlds, Three Bodies divided his consciousness into three and died from 반서당 [banseodang – likely a misremembered term, implying a place of learning or cultivation gone wrong]?”

“Divided his consciousness into three?”

“He said he had gained great enlightenment and went into seclusion and didn’t come out, so I looked…”

He spoke as if it was an unfortunate event.

“Didn’t you say earlier that you could guarantee the stability?”

“That’s for the g訣, and I can’t guarantee how you interpret this and what the end will be. It’s natural to drink water, but there are also minor immortals who die from choking while drinking water, right?”

“That’s…”

That was not wrong.

“The Three Worlds, Three Bodies is a cultivation book that is extremely profound. A Source Immortal whose understanding reached the heavens created it by gathering his enlightenment, but it is an extremely unkind cultivation book.”

“Are you saying that it depends on how I interpret it?”

“Yes. I have invariably recommended the Three Worlds, Three Bodies to those with excellent talent, and most of them either gave up or died.”

There were those who divided their bodies into three, and there were those who divided their arms into three.

There were those who divided their consciousness into three and died, and there were those who made their original divine law tablet into three.

Half of them died, and half of them did not properly realize the Three Worlds, Three Bodies.

“I just wanted to see your Three Worlds, Three Bodies, so I recommended it.”

Beom kept his words to himself.

It was a cultivation method that varied greatly depending on how one interpreted it.

The Three Worlds, Three Bodies had no right answer.

It was originally a law cultivation book made that way.

‘It doesn’t matter as long as I’m not bound by it.’

Beom nodded and read a few other law cultivation books before leaving the archive.

Shortly after.

The Head of the Fragrant Chamber appeared next to Ju-yak, who was left alone.

“It’s a budding sprout.”

“He’s a remarkable fellow.”

Ju-yak also answered as if he knew when he suddenly said that.

“The Three Worlds, Three Bodies that I see is no different from a demonic book. A demonic book that devours young people with bright futures. Even those who were fine are devoured by the profundity of the Three Worlds, Three Bodies and fall into a swamp….”

Ju-yak wore a faint smile next to the Head of the Fragrant Chamber, who clicked his tongue.

“I somehow think it will be different. Head of the Martial Arts Hall will be different.”

“How are you so sure?”

Ju-yak looked up at the Head of the Fragrant Chamber and smiled.

“A feeling, a feeling without reason.”

* * *

Beom, who returned to the Martial Arts Palace from the archive, looked after the cultivators who were training and sat on the head seat to do his work.

“Have a cup of tea and do it.”

It was Yang-mi.

There was something other than ordinary tea in the warm teacup.

‘Is it moju [a Korean rice wine-based drink]?’

Moju is a wine made by adding warm medicinal herbs such as ginger, jujube, cinnamon, and pear to makgeolli [Korean rice wine] and simmering it gently to allow it to infuse.

As it was a boiled wine, the alcohol content was lowered, making it no different from medicinal wine.

When Beom asked for wine instead of tea last time, she seemed to have used her head.

“Thank you.”

Yang-mi smiled and looked expectant as if telling him to eat it quickly.

When he drank a cup without refusing, he was surprised that it was more potent than he thought.

When he glanced at her, she laughed.

“The taste is very good. The scent is no different from tea, but it’s very strong.”

The potency was perfect.

It was a wine that Beom liked.

“I added a precious spirit herb that becomes more potent the more it’s boiled. With this, it looks like you’re drinking tea on the outside, but the content is wine. It’s hot when you swallow it, but surprisingly, it’s not easy to get drunk.”

“Did you come up with it yourself?”

“Yes!”

Beom couldn’t help but smile at Yang-mi’s happy appearance.

“You don’t have to do this much….”

It wasn’t something he should say after ordering it, but he didn’t know she would do this much.

Yang-mi said that it was her job and that she had only done what was natural.

As he quietly looked at her, Beom took out a brush and wrote a letter in the air, and when he blew on it, the black ink letter seeped into the white Korean paper.

Beom handed it to Yang-mi.

“This is….”

“A reward.”

It was a kind of test.

She was the child who had solved Beom’s problem first, albeit by chance, before.

Whether that was a simple coincidence or not could be found out through this test.

“If you solve it, something good will happen.”

“Thank you!”

Beom watched Yang-mi, who had returned excitedly, look at the darkening sky and returned to the Martial Arts Hall.

Tam-lang and Ju Gyeol-gyeong were waiting in the Martial Arts Hall.

After greeting them for a while, he immediately took out the Sumyeong Yeosan [a type of mountain or landscape painting] in the Martial Arts Hall and put it down, and went inside.

Soon, the flames inside the Sumyeong Yeosan soared as if welcoming him, and Beom entered the inner mountain, facing the Bongak Cheonghwa [likely a specific type of artifact or location] with his whole body.

Beom, who was in front of the sleeping Bong’s figure, took out the g訣 [cultivation formula or mantra] of the cultivation book from his head as if he was familiar with it and spread it in the air, and all kinds of treasures were also taken out and lined up.

Without having to create a separate training cave, this inner mountain where Bong was located was now the safest place for him.

That’s why he could practice here and study various treasures and divine powers a little further away.

Beom first looked at Ssangmyeol.

“Hmm….”

The state of Bulcheonbulbyeok [likely a specific type of energy or power] contained in Ssangmyeol was slightly different.

He originally thought it would be good to have it contained in Ssangmyeol like it was contained in the divine tree, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“The energy of Ssangmyeol has weakened a little.”

If you only looked at that, it wasn’t a good thing.

What was Ssangmyeol?

It was a treasure among the treasures called the most powerful among the Yeonjabo [likely a category of treasures] in the water realm.

A treasure that was weak when used by the weak, and became stronger when used by the strong.

That was Ssangmyeol.

But the energy of Ssangmyeol had weakened, so it could be a big deal.

But Beom’s expression was ambiguous.

The reason was that the energy of Bulcheonbulbyeok that had permeated into Ssangmyeol had become stronger.

‘The energy has been steadily increasing greatly since 잔잔경정도 [likely a specific event or state].’

He thought it was because he had swallowed Ho Jun-seong’s Baeksucheonnoe [likely a specific technique or power], but that wasn’t the case.

“Is it eating Ssangmyeol?”

It was a slight degree.

But if hundreds or thousands of years passed, Bulcheonbulbyeok would absorb all the power of Ssangmyeol.

Beom couldn’t tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

But he couldn’t forcibly remove it.

He had tried to remove it several times, but it tried not to fall off with all its might, and he couldn’t do that because he was afraid that Ssangmyeol would be damaged if he forcibly dropped it.

For now, it was best to leave it alone.

“This is….”

Ssangmyeol was a family treasure of the Hu family that had to be returned later.

But Bulcheonbulbyeok was eating Ssangmyeol like that….

“I can’t return it.”

When the time came, Ssangmyeol might not be in this world.

As he was scratching his head at an unintended event, a ripple suddenly arose in the air and a talisman reached him.

It was a simple jeoneumbu [a type of communication talisman], and it contained the voice of Ju Gyeol-gyeong.

[Great Heavenly Martial General has visited.]

Great Heavenly Martial General arrived at the Martial Arts Hall at this time? Beom couldn’t erase his doubts and took all the treasures and divine powers and went outside.

Outside, Great Heavenly Martial General and Ju Gyeol-gyeong were together. As soon as Great Heavenly Martial General saw Beom, she said urgently without even greeting him.

“Preparations have been made.”

“What… preparations are you talking about?”

She asked in doubt and she answered.

“You must leave for the Immortal Realm.”