Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 545

Tales of the Spirit Lancer – Part 2, Chapter 254

Tap, tap.

The owner of the small hand tickling his shoulder.

Tamhwa asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

“Why aren’t you talking to Mother?”

Had it been about three years since they left Chunggye?

It had already been three years since they set sail on a small boat.

Without even rowing, just drifting along, the journey felt endless, and the destination was nowhere in sight.

From the start, it was a long, long journey, a leisurely trip on a boat to spend time before the end.

But he never knew the journey would feel this tedious.

“We have some differences of opinion… we both need time to think.”

Should they share a conversation to pass the time? Cheonbeom and Hwaran hadn’t spoken since that day.

Differences of opinion.

What other words could clearly define their positions?

“Are you fighting?”

“We’re not fighting. We just have different positions and arguments, so we’re taking time to think.”

“Isn’t that fighting? Hwadam and I fight often too.”

“You guys actually throw punches…”

These days, Hwadam wasn’t as obedient as before, or perhaps he had grown up.

He no longer simply indulged Tamhwa’s stubbornness.

As a result, Damhwa, with her fiery temper, would throw the first punch, but Hwadam had learned not to just take it after three years at the village school.

Once they started fighting, they would destroy mountains and cause chaos.

“Is it different?”

“It is different. At least your mother and father don’t harm those around them.”

He stroked Tamhwa’s head and held her in his arms, and she snuggled right in.

“Are you worried?”

“No, I’m not worried.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“Mother told me to ask!”

Indeed, three years was nothing more than a short nap for Tamhwa, so she wouldn’t worry.

“That woman… she could just talk to me herself, but she’s making the child do it.”

Hwaran and Cheonbeom were at opposite ends of the boat. They were close enough to hear, but there was no way they hadn’t.

Yet, Hwaran stood at the bow, arms crossed, pretending not to hear, which was absurd.

‘What is she trying to do?’

She wasn’t going to change her attitude, but she seemed worried about Cheonbeom’s feelings.

As he cursed inwardly, Tamhwa took out a king-sized dumpling from her arms and bit into it.

“Where did you get that?”

“Mother gave it to me!”

She smiled brightly, as if she had completed her task, and chewed happily.

“Do you want some?”

“No, thanks.”

Then Hwadam, who had been walking beside the boat, approached and said.

“Just one bite.”

“Get lost.”

“….”

Tamhwa’s change in attitude was stark.

It was probably normal for them, as Hwadam didn’t seem offended.

As if nothing had happened, he walked on the water’s surface and turned his gaze to Cheonbeom.

“Old man.”

“What is it?”

“There seem to be some water sprites ahead. Is that alright?”

“The Heavenly Sword ahead will take care of it. He came to greet me, so he will guide us.”

His ears perked up when his story came up, but he didn’t turn around once.

Why did he make Tamhwa do such a pointless thing?

“I just don’t understand.”

He muttered loud enough for them to hear.

The fog of Geonwon Sea lifted, revealing a slightly larger structure.

“A bridge.”

A bridge connecting islands.

A rather large bridge at that.

What was somewhat unusual was the strange pillars erected around it and the various enchantments and spells cast upon it.

Aside from that, it was just a long, large, ordinary bridge, but….

“We can’t cross it.”

“What do you mean? It’s broken in the middle, so we can go through there.”

He thought there wouldn’t be enough space for the boat to pass, but upon closer inspection, the middle of the bridge was partially destroyed, making it possible to pass through.

Various spells and enchantments were cast, but they weren’t enough to bother them.

“Anti-air restrictions and… things that make you lose your way are the majority. Why would they do this?”

He was puzzled, but did it matter?

Hwaran didn’t say anything either, so she would take care of it.

As they were about to go through the middle of the bridge, avoiding the pillars with bizarre characters written on them.

“Stop.”

A man’s and a woman’s voices stopped the group simultaneously.

Wondering where the voices were coming from, he looked up.

A woman was sitting on top of one of the erected pillars, calling out to them.

“Please look over there.”

A woman and a man were sitting cross-legged at either end of the broken bridge.

The well-groomed man and the beautiful woman were cultivators with cultivation around the Incense Offering stage [a stage in cultivation]. They seemed to be at a profound level, but the sight of the woman and man confronting the broken bridge aroused his curiosity.

Unlike Hwaran, who was about to draw her sword without interest, Cheonbeom rose from his seat and asked.

“What’s going on?”

“We have been waiting for those who would pass this bridge for ages.”

As he asked, the fog cleared, and this time an old man appeared on top of a pillar, leaning on a cane.

“The bridge? Why?”

“To determine the rights and wrongs between me and this woman.”

Then Cheonbeom’s eyes narrowed.

“Golden Jar Unbroken (金甌無缺).”

“You know of it?”

“I’ve heard the story.”

When he delved deeper into the One Mind Myriad Heavenly Jade Scripture [a powerful cultivation technique], he had examined various scriptures and read about it then.

“It’s said to be one of the aimless sealing techniques created by ancient immortals.”

As the name suggests, it was a flawless sealing technique that was impossible to escape once caught. However, he knew that the conditions for the sealing incantation were extremely strict and unique, making it difficult to undo and difficult to get caught in.

“That’s right. But we know the method to break this Golden Jar Unbroken.”

“I know.”

Cheonbeom nodded after hearing what the old man and woman said.

“But you don’t have enough power, it seems.”

“You guessed it right away. Do you see that man and woman over there?”

“I see them. They make a good couple.”

“This is a bridge called Ojakgyo [Bridge of Magpies, often associated with a tale of separated lovers], and it is a Golden Jar Unbroken with a strange condition that the seal is activated when lovers who love each other passionately fight here.”

“…I’ve heard it’s unique, but it’s really an absurd sealing technique.”

A seal that is activated when lovers who love each other passionately fight.

It was so absurd that he was speechless.

While Cheonbeom began to admire the structure, Hwaran asked about the reason.

“They are the ones who fought, so why are you here?”

“That’s the same reason you came here.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“The Golden Jar Unbroken here is a curse that lovers who pass through Geonwon Sea will encounter. Unless this curse is lifted, many lovers will come and be trapped here forever.”

“Since you have also entered the Golden Jar Unbroken, you will not be able to leave as you please.”

At those words, Hwaran drew her sword and cut down the pillar, slicing it clean off.

“Gasp!”

She thrust her sword through the broken bridge, piercing the space and creating a gap in the Golden Jar Unbroken.

At the same time, the huge bridge, the man, and the woman turned into a handful of mist and scattered, and the Geonwon Sea, full of fog once again, welcomed them.

The sight of them disappearing like a fleeting mirage, but Hwaran calmly returned her sword to its scabbard.

“It’s just a trick of the Geonwon Sea. You should have known that it wasn’t a Golden Jar Unbroken.”

“I just played along. They seemed to want to deceive us so sincerely. The content was quite interesting too.”

Hwaran glanced at him, seemingly displeased with Cheonbeom’s chuckling, and then turned her head again.

“It might not have been bad to enjoy it for a while. Did I do something unnecessary?”

“Well, from the start, we…”

There’s no such thing as a fight.

“It’s just a difference in what we seek.”

The path of the Great Dao [a fundamental concept in cultivation, referring to the path to enlightenment] in their hearts is just a little different.

In the end, it’s just that difference.

‘Even if her Great Dao is regrettable, I can’t do anything about it.’

He is also one who walks the Great Dao.

This is just.

A question of whether to be a cultivator or a man.

“Can I ask you just one thing?”

“Yes.”

“If I wasn’t a cultivator, but just, just a man who loved passionately like the lovers of today. If that were the case, would your Great Dao be a little different?”

When he asked that, Hwaran turned her back to Cheonbeom again and answered while looking only at the front of the bow.

“…That’s a meaningless question.”

“Whether it has meaning or not is up to me to decide.”

When he said firmly, Hwaran also turned back to look at Cheonbeom and narrowed her brows.

“You’ll regret it if you hear the answer.”

At Hwaran’s answer, Cheonbeom chuckled.

Showing a bitter smile, he replied.

“I’ve regretted it my whole life.”

Her smile was so sad that Hwaran turned her gaze away again.

And she opened her mouth, hesitated, and barely answered.

“…It would have been different.”

At her answer, Cheonbeom stopped smiling and nodded.

“If I had only been her man….”

“It’s futile. Stop it.”

Cheonbeom closed his mouth and looked in the same direction as her, next to Hwaran.

He looked and looked again at the fog of Geonwon Sea, where he couldn’t see an inch ahead, for a long, long time.

“I’m sorry.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Everything.”

“Everything? What is everything?”

“That I can’t be a man, and you can’t be a woman.”

All of those things.

Everything that hinders it.

Everything that is simply obvious.

All of that.

“I can’t give it to you.”

He was an infinitely weak man.

Just a futile, powerless man.

“For making you like that.”

I’m sorry, I’m sorry.

‘You must want to be a woman too.’

She must have dreamed of and wanted to achieve a simple life. She wouldn’t have had to carry the grand Great Dao in her heart.

“It’s alright.”

But Hwaran didn’t care about his words and drew her sword and pointed it.

“Long ago, I cut it off a long time ago.”

“…Is that so.”

“That day, the day the Mountain Lord’s life ended. I cut off most of what was inside me.”

“I see.”

That must have been the case. She had pulled him back from death several times until now.

“I cut off the woman, I cut off you inside me, and I cut off the sky.”

“I see.”

“I went to him and cut off most of his sword with my own hands.”

That’s how she must have become stronger.

“I will continue to cut off in the future.”

“I see.”

“So don’t worry. Don’t apologize. Someday in the future, I will cut you off too.”

Even at her resolute cry to cut off everything, Cheonbeom nodded with a calm face.

‘She said she cut off everything.’

Cheonbeom smiled bitterly because he saw one thing she hadn’t cut off.

Thud. Thud.

Ignoring the falling drops of water, Cheonbeom turned his back to her.

“Today.”

Could she not have cut off even tears?

“It looks like it’s going to rain.”

The sky he looked up at was unusually clear.