Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 497

Tales of Nangseon – Part 2, Episode 206

For a while, I existed on the moon.

It was secluded here, and I couldn’t quite grasp the passage of time.

A year felt like a month, and days like a hundred years strung together, endlessly.

“Phoenix, why are you on the moon?”

I asked.

“It’s because of the Ice Lotus here. I found it fascinating that a flower made of ice bloomed even in this place, bathed in sunlight. So, I observed it, and surprisingly, the Ice Lotus wasn’t just a flower made of ice. It was 70% filled with yang energy [the active, masculine principle of the universe in Chinese philosophy].”

“That’s amazing.”

“The Ice Lotus uniquely absorbs fire energy and turns it into ice, you see? Isn’t it fascinating?”

“So, that’s why you’re here.”

“That’s right. Among them, the Great Chaos Ice Lotus is the most special. It will greatly help me regain my power.”

Regain power.

Phoenix had a goal.

Something I didn’t have.

“What will you do once you regain it?”

“I’ll return. To Daeracheon.”

A place to return to.

A place I didn’t have.

Phoenix glanced at me and asked.

“Do you want to come too?”

“…Could I even go?”

“Probably not. You’ll probably die soon, won’t you?”

“Then why did you ask?”

“Who knows.”

Phoenix gave a cryptic smile.

Her giggling laughter was quite different from the great Phoenix of Daeracheon.

“Tell me about Daeracheon.”

“Daeracheon… I don’t remember much either, but there are a few more phoenixes like me, a nine-headed dragon, the Three Thousand Daeras who are one with the laws and support Daeracheon, and above them…”

The stories of Daeracheon I heard from her were mysterious and delightful.

Lin often argued that they were just absurd tales and lies, but I didn’t think so.

Listening to stories from another world was quite enjoyable.

But while I was so engrossed in enjoyment,

A lot was happening beneath the surface.

One day.

On a day like any other.

Things went awry.

“San, I think we need to go down below now…”

Lin was holding a talisman, a Gongribu [a magical message delivery system].

“What’s that?”

“It’s from Shinwi.”

As I touched the Gongribu, Shinwi’s voice echoed in my head.

“[I’m sending this Gongribu, using the mark I placed on you before as an anchor. Right now, this place is in the throes of war, with many lives being lost. The war between the Lesser Immortals has now spread to the disciples… It’s like a lamp before the wind. Lin, if you’re with San, please return quickly… Agam is badly injured.]”

It was a dire message of escalating war and Agam’s serious injury.

“San…”

“Lin, let’s prepare.”

“…If we go this time, we won’t be able to escape until the war is over.”

“Even so…”

It couldn’t be helped.

A friend was hurt.

How could I, as a friend, comfortably rest in a remote place when they were asking for help?

I couldn’t do that.

To me, who had no family or anything, my fellow disciples and friends were like family.

“Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

And so, we left again.

Phoenix was inwardly disappointed but didn’t show it.

When we returned to the Upper World with Lin’s divine power, the situation was even more dire than expected.

“San! Lin! You’ve come!”

“What’s going on?”

“They’re isolating us.”

The situation was this.

The Collapse Realm, the Death Realm, and the Insect Realm had joined forces to attack the Immortal Realm.

No matter how skilled they were, there was no way to overcome an overwhelming numerical disadvantage, and the front lines were gradually pushed back to right in front of the Heavenly Palace.

It was against the rules for disciples to participate in the war between the Lesser Immortals, but…

“They broke the rules first.”

Disciples who saw the Immortal Realm’s power as a threat launched a surprise attack.

“…How’s Agam?”

“This way.”

Following Shinwi through several walls, I soon saw a massive structure above the misty clouds.

The structure, shaped like a sword, had countless swords hanging on it.

Some were pristine, others had chipped edges.

And many were stained with blood.

“Swords upon swords.”

A sense of unease surged within me.

“Agam’s condition isn’t good. Please keep that in mind.”

“Okay.”

Soon after.

Shinwi and I entered Agam’s room and saw him constantly muttering something.

He was caressing a sword with his injured body, surrounded by unfamiliar men and women.

“No… No!! With this kind of sword… With this kind of sword, I can’t cut them down!!”

Thang! Chaeng.

Agam threw the sword away irritably and moved his lips to chant an incantation towards the gathered people.

He dug into the wound on his side, smearing his finger with Agam’s thick blood, and used it to draw letters on the man’s forehead and chest.

Then, with a mysterious light, the man transformed into a sword.

“…Agam!”

I shouted in surprise.

Agam turned his head sharply and rejoiced.

“Oh, San! San has come… San has come!”

Agam’s complexion was terrible.

So pale it was almost ghostly.

But he grinned and clasped my hands.

“I’ve been waiting for you. I can’t create a sword no matter what I do with my skills… I think I need your fire, San.”

“A sword…”

I looked at the people gathered around.

Agam referred to them not as people, but as swords.

Something, something was twisted.

“San, look at this wound! My fellow disciples ambushed me! Isn’t this an indelible disgrace, a shame!!”

He seemed out of his mind.

I glanced at Shinwi, who shook her head in pity.

She had said.

His condition was very bad…

“So, that’s why you need my help. Even to the point of turning these people into swords.”

“I need a sword. A sword that won’t break no matter what!! I have to prove it. My sword, only the sword… proves me. Therefore, it maintains my existence!! I must create a sword!!”

He had been like that since he was young.

That the sword was the best.

But now that it was being denied.

He was very shaken and precarious.

“There’s no need to turn these people into swords…”

“No, you don’t understand. The power of life is the source of all celestial powers. The power of origin encompasses the world!! If I create a sword with that life itself, I can create a sword that will cut through all the heavens… a Celestial Sword!! San!! Please help me! I can’t do it alone. But if it’s you… if it’s with you, it’s possible!!”

Agam’s condition was not good.

He was showing many signs of mental instability. His appearance had also changed a lot.

Unlike us, he was old.

Like the Lesser Immortals.

I was so worried about his condition that I couldn’t bring myself to say no.

“What do you need me to do?”

“I need your fire! Fire to temper and forge the sword…!!”

“Then how about sending them away? They’re innocent people.”

Then Agam laughed and said as if I was saying something funny.

“They gathered voluntarily.”

“Voluntarily?”

“They are among the Lesser Immortals with outstanding talent and strong pride. Therefore, they gathered by my side with the desire to protect the Immortal Realm with their own lives.”

Wishing to protect the Immortal Realm with their lives. They came to Agam themselves, hoping to be made into swords to slaughter the enemies.

“The swords I had forged and tempered throughout my life were all broken by them. I needed a new sword, and they came to be my new swords. Isn’t that a commendable spirit! San, don’t you think so too?”

It was a touching and cruel story.

But the eyes of the one who was telling it.

Were very different from the one I had seen before.

“Yeah…”

If I had known this would happen, when I often argued with Yedong.

I would have told him that swords were better.

I never knew that those childhood days would come back so painfully.

‘It’s no use regretting it now.’

The past is gone, I can’t hold on to it.

All I can do is lend him my strength until he is satisfied.

As Agam said.

I lent him my fire.

And he put all the Lesser Immortals, now called Upper Immortals, into my fiery pit.

Their bodies were burned in the flames, and their souls were mixed together.

Screams echoed every day.

But the more it happened, the more Agam twitched his lips in anticipation.

His hair, eyebrows, and beard were all turning white.

One year passed, ten years passed.

And even after a hundred years, a thousand years, the flames did not go out.

Rather, they burned even more fiercely.

Many children were sacrificed.

Many cultivators threw themselves in.

And so.

Many swords were born.

“Yedong is not much different either.”

When Agam seemed satisfied, Shinwi came to my side and said.

“Yedong too…”

“Do you want to go?”

“…Yeah.”

When I went, he was no different either.

He was a little better than Agam, but the ideas themselves were not different.

He was making arrows.

They were two people who didn’t want to resemble each other, but in the end, they were similar.

“What made them like that?”

“War. And… the Heavens.”

The Heavens… I couldn’t hide my bitterness at Shinwi’s words.

“How’s Lin?”

“She’s in seclusion. What are you going to do?”

At Shinwi’s question, my whole body was engulfed in flames.

My flames created armor all over my body, and I held a spear in my hand.

A ring of fire formed beneath my feet, spinning endlessly and lifting me into the air.

“I will stop the enemies. If possible, I will drive them far away.”

“I’ll go too. I don’t know what Lin will say if I send you alone.”

I chuckled.

Then Shinwi smiled too.

Was she also a child who could smile like that?

The smile that bloomed in the muddy reality was bitter yet sweet.

A few days later.

My departure was widely spread throughout the world.

On that day, many people flocked to the Heavenly Palace, and there were several who were once disciples but were now enemies.

Their words were different, but there was one thing in common.

The death of the Lesser Immortals enriches the origin of heaven and earth.

We witnessed it through their war, and we wondered what it would be like if it were us, the Celestial Beings, not the Lesser Immortals.

And a while ago.

Our fellow disciple died, and there was a fellow disciple who absorbed that energy by his side and gained greater power.

A higher realm.

The sky that the master headed for.

They wanted it.

“San, I don’t want to waste my strength on you, the master’s first disciple. Hand over Agam and Yedong.”

“What if I refuse?”

“If you refuse, you will be on the same path.”

There were quite a few of them.

There were many disciples of the master.

There were about thirty or forty people here alone.

But only Shinwi and I stood against them.

“You must know that there is no hope, so why are you trying to die like moths to a flame! San, we all have no grudge against you!”

“I don’t either. You are all my fellow disciples of the master. The master is like a parent to us, and you are my brothers.”

“But why…”

“How can I stand by when brothers are trying to kill brothers?”

I couldn’t stand by and watch.

“San, then we have no choice but to kill you.”

“That can’t be helped either.”

There is only one thing I have realized while living an almost infinite life.

How one faces death.

Everything is just shabby in the face of death.

There is no such thing as complete immortality.

If our lives are destined to wear out someday, then it would be a great sin not to be proud of the life we have lived so far.

“Come. If you don’t come, I will go.”

My first and last battlefield unfolded.

The rivers and mountains changed, and the land and sky were turned upside down several times.

For a long time.

I faced them and tasted countless crises and countless deaths.

And finally.

I led them all to their deaths.