Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 405

Tales of the Divine Swordsman – Part 2, Chapter 114

“Really?”

Even after hearing it, Yeon-ah found it hard to believe.

It was because of the identity of the miserable old man lying on the bed.

“I’ve often heard stories about Hwanmang Seonsa [Taoist hermit] since I was young.”

The stories, big and small, about a prince of a small kingdom meeting Hwanmang the Taoist and achieving great enlightenment to build a great nation, or about defeating a giant serpent that was tormenting farmers in a rural village, usually ended with the two words ‘Hwanmang’.

After entering the capital, I was surprised that he was still alive. Taalui Daebeopju Hwanmang [Great Dharma Master of Taalui] was someone in a position that was difficult to approach.

“I’ve vaguely heard that he had a small connection with my master. But…”

Yeon-ah looked at the current Hwanmang with trembling eyes.

The disheveled hair was all damaged, like pig bristles, and there were many scars here and there, as if he had been oppressed for a long time.

There were quite a few wounds that had not healed because they had not been treated in time, and the biggest penetrating wound in his side was large, as if he had been stabbed by a spear.

“How did he end up like this…”

Even someone with no connection would look at someone this injured with pity.

Moreover, since it was Hwanmang Seonsa, who had a significant impact on the entire Lower World, the regret was bound to be deep.

“I don’t know.”

There was no way to know what had happened. I guessed that he had been caught up in the fight between the Inseon [Celestial Immortals] and Honseon [Chaotic Immortals] and ended up being sold here as a slave.

‘According to them, he seemed to have a pretty low status even among the Inseon….’

Anyway, I can’t hide that my heart is heavy.

“Treatment comes first. The wounds are wounds, but his vitality is too damaged. Recovering his energy is the priority.”

As a matter of urgency, they secured a place in an inn near Hyeonmu Castle, so Cheonbeom ordered Yeon-ah to protect him and concentrated his mind.

“Master.”

“What is it?”

“Are you going to share your divine power….”

“That’s right.”

Hwanmang needs proper treatment now. If not, he will surely die.

Since he is in the form of a Hwasin [Incarnation], he cannot share a large amount, but looking at his current state, a large amount is rather poison.

Even if he is given a large amount of divine power, he does not have the strength to make it his own.

“Master is in the form of a Hwasin. Wouldn’t it be better for me to do it?”

“No, I’ll do it. I want to.”

They are not strangers.

When he was an ignorant child, he gave me great enlightenment and helped me.

If it hadn’t been for Hwanmang, I might not have been able to focus my mind in the divine sword fusion formation with my senior brothers and been eaten by the simma [inner demons], becoming a different being.

I have a debt of gratitude.

So, shouldn’t I repay it?

“…I understand.”

Besides, it’s a cautious act.

Pumping divine power into another person’s body can be very dangerous.

I have already accepted the divine energy into my body and made it my own for a long time.

Putting that into someone else’s body is like injecting mismatched blood into a blood vessel.

‘I have to filter it out.’

Since it is the body of a Hwasin made of Hwajeong [Fire Essence], the energy of fire is strong.

It will be possible to hand this over to him after filtering it out as much as possible.

Tap tap.

In preparation for any possible situation, Cheonbeom tied Hwanmang’s body with pressure points, placed a seal to bind his limbs, and then stretched out his hand to his chest and concentrated his mind.

He gathers divine power at his fingertips.

As the golden light flickered, Cheonbeom made a hand gesture with his remaining hand and began to recite the divine script, moving his lips.

Then, the golden light slowly faded, leaving only a faint light.

The divine power slowly seeped into Hwanmang’s body and began to spread.

However, he could not inject a large amount at once.

After injecting a certain amount of divine power, he took out a medicine bottle from his pocket and poured it into the affected area, and with a sizzling sound, the wound began to heal.

He repeated this process, maintaining a constant interval without rushing.

That’s how a whole day passed.

He couldn’t do anything about the internal injuries, but the wounds engraved on his body were mostly healed using precious medicinal ingredients.

He gradually began to recover his energy with the divine power injected little by little, and his face color also improved a lot.

“I can rest easy now.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“I was lucky that you had suitable medicinal ingredients. It seems to be quite precious, did you bring it from Cheongung [Azure Cloud Palace]?”

“Yes, thankfully Hwanmang Seonsa has overcome the crisis.”

“…Yes. It’s a relief.”

However, Cheonbeom’s face was dark.

“You don’t look very good.”

“It’s nothing, it’s just because I’m a little tired, so don’t worry about it.”

“Shouldn’t you get some rest?”

“It’s okay. It’s not too late to rest after hearing the whole story. Isn’t that right?”

Suddenly, he asked Hwanmang, who was lying down, and his eyelids slowly rose.

“Who….”

Cheonbeom disguised himself as he was in the Lower World and stood in front of him.

“Do you recognize me?”

Hwanmang, who was looking at Beom with blurry eyes, soon focused, and instantly widened his eyes.

“Baek, Baek San-pa’s head… [Head of the Baek San Sect]?”

It’s been a while since I heard that title.

He smiled and answered yes, and was greatly surprised as if he couldn’t believe it.

“How did you get here… Am I dreaming now? Or maybe I’ve crossed the threshold of the afterlife.”

“No. This is inside the Hyeonmu Castle Inn in the Hmong Realm. By chance, I went to Amjang and saw Hwanmang Seonsa, and our master rescued him.”

Yeon-ah clasped her fists and replied that it was an honor to meet the Taoist she respected the most after her master in the Lower World.

“That side is….”

“He is my disciple. He succeeded in ascending to immortality before me and is now called the Cheonnyeo [Celestial Maiden] of Cheongung.”

“Cheo, Cheonnyeo…!”

Hwanmang Seonsa coughed violently, startled.

“To, to see a Cheonnyeo like this, I am honored.”

Then, looking at Cheonbeom, Hwanmang took a deep breath with an indescribable face, as if feeling a sense of time.

“I came here briefly as a messenger of the Water Realm. As my disciple said, I happened to go to an underground market called Ak Gok Jang to trade goods… and saw Hwanmang Seonsa.”

“I… was I there?”

“Yes, you were. You were being sold as a slave. What on earth happened?”

Hwanmang’s divine power was so broad and deep that there were no competitors on the same level even in the Lower World.

So, even after ascending to immortality, his treatment should not have been bad, but Cheonbeom was curious as to why he had become a slave.

“Haa… is that so.”

Hwanmang stared into the distance with dazed eyes, then looked at Beom.

However, his gaze seemed to reflect something further away.

“When I became a god after ascending to immortality, I pretended to be gentle, but my heart couldn’t help but flutter like a fish caught on a hook. Because I had spent a long time cultivating and succeeded in ascending to the heavenly path.”

When I first ascended to immortality, everything was abundant and peaceful.

I had lived my whole life cultivating, and the fact that there was a higher wall to climb after successfully ascending to the Immortal World rather came as a joy.

Having reached the Immortal World, the purpose that had become blurred was rekindled just by the fact that there was a wall to climb again.

“You must have been similar, but those who ascended from the Lower World all have a lot of experience due to the harsh environment and rough lives.”

That was often directly related to survival, and survival is the law of nature that results in someone’s death.

Humans are also just beasts, wretched beings who cannot live without killing something.

Anyway, that’s why the ascended cultivators were treated specially in the Immortal World and were treated quite well.

“After my realm stabilized to some extent, I tried to find traces left by the Taalui ancestors, and I found some of the ancestors’ arrangements, and my small wish was to spread their will widely even in the Immortal World.”

“There was no Jongmun [Sect] named Taalui in the Immortal World, was there?”

“As you know, the place where we were born and raised is classified as the Lower World here, and it is just one of many Lower Worlds. In some places, it is also called Hacheon (Lower Heaven).”

Compared to the Upper World, the Lower World is a small, narrow sky like a millet.

Several cultivators who came up from that millet-sized sky could not even dare to squeeze into the large and small sects already established in the vast Immortal World.

“After finding the arrangements of the ancestors little by little, I prepared to spread my great will in my own way for the descendants who would come up later. But in an instant, a thousand years passed and all my work was ruined.”

A thousand years.

Something comes to mind.

“The Chogeop [Great Tribulation] came down.”

“That’s right. I underestimated it too much. I thought about the Cheongeop [Heavenly Tribulation] of the Lower World. At that time, I was very confident in my skills, so I thought that even if the Cheongeop was dangerous, I could somehow endure it.”

But the result is as you can see.

“The Cheongeop here was different from what I thought in the Lower World. It wasn’t a Cheongeop with the Five Elements Divine Power.”

“Then….”

“Do you know that there are hundreds of types of Cheongeop in the Upper World? I didn’t know. I was ignorant! I was so ignorant! That’s why I am like this now…!!”

Cough cough.

He coughed up blood as if he was excited, and lay down with a painfully distorted face.

“I was arrogant… and ignorant. The end of that is now.”

Cheongeop.

The two words did not leave Cheonbeom’s head.

“I barely managed to save my life, but the internal injuries caused by the Cheongeop were not healed and remained inside me, eating away at me.”

He could not properly absorb the heavenly energy and could not discharge it from his body.

When he realized that fact, his body was already ruined, and he tried to do anything to survive, but there was no place to use a cultivator who could not properly use his strength.

“I was kicked out of the Jongpa where I was staying, and later I worked as a servant for a certain family and accumulated wealth little by little. But even that was far from enough to treat the body ruined by Cheongeop.”

Then, he was caught while escaping with the family’s children from a place where war had broken out.

Hwanmang’s memory was up to that point, and he said he didn’t know what happened after that.

“Have you gone through Cheongeop?”

“Not yet.”

“Be careful, you will regret it for the rest of your life if you ever underestimate it….”

With that, Hwanmang lost consciousness again and fell asleep, and Cheonbeom sat in front of him, lost in thought.

Hundreds of types of Cheongeop in the Upper World.

I had vaguely heard of it, but I had not tried to find out more.

In the Tongcheon Palace of the Water Realm, there is a legal treasure called Geopjeong that reduces the power of Cheongeop.

But after hearing Hwanmang’s story, I wondered if I had been too complacent with just that.

“Yeon-ah.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Have you gone through Cheongeop?”

“Yes, I have.”

Beom slowly got up from his seat and hugged Yeon-ah warmly.

“Well done.”

The great Hwanmang became like that because of one Cheongeop.

I can’t help but be proud.

“What kind of Geop was it?”

“Yes, the names are slightly different, but most of them called the Geop I went through Ban Geop [Repeating Tribulation].”

“Ban Geop?”

“It’s Ban Geop, using the Ban character for repetition.”

Repeating Geop.

It was difficult to guess what kind of Geop he had gone through just by hearing it.

“Can you tell me in detail?”

“Ban Geop… is a Geop that endlessly repeats something.”

“Endlessly repeats?”

It’s hard to understand even after hearing it.

“While going through Ban Geop, I endlessly wielded a sword as a commoner.”

I was born, wielded a sword, died as an old man, and was born again as a child, endlessly wielding a sword vaguely.

“Living the life of a commoner, endlessly wielding a sword, repeating hundreds of reincarnations, not knowing why I was wielding it, not knowing who I was, I wielded the sword endlessly like that.”

And at some point, he gained enlightenment, realized himself, realized the truth of swordsmanship, completed Gyuncheonjiche [Heavenly Sword Art], and mastered Gyuncheonbohwa [Heavenly Steps].