Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 563

Tales of Nangkun – Side Story 2

“You didn’t even appear in my dreams once.”

I never thought I’d see you in a place like this.

How long has it been?

To see her again.

For an immeasurable time, he had only pictured her in his mind.

He missed her.

There was never a time he didn’t miss her.

But because he felt he knew her end.

Because he had a hunch.

He tried to look away.

He tried not to think about her.

That’s who she was to him.

A relationship that started badly, but whose bond turned into that of a married couple.

A relationship that seemed impossible to establish somehow easily bore fruit before the passing of time.

But he didn’t hate it.

Her figure, striding forward for the revenge and revival of her clan, was always confident and noble.

He liked that about her.

She was an empress whom everyone looked up to when the sun was out, but a woman who blushed in front of him at night.

She was a good mother to her children and a lovely woman to her husband, so how could he not think of her?

He thought about her a thousand, ten thousand times.

But that had to remain in a corner of his heart ever since his ascension [to a higher plane of existence].

Because he didn’t have the power.

He didn’t have the strength, time, or leeway to go to the Lower World, so he couldn’t take care of her.

He was too weak in those days to sustain the bond of a couple separated by the heavens, and he couldn’t do anything about the bad relationships surrounding him.

Sending an avatar to the Lower World like this was also mixed with such reasons.

Hoping that he might at least know her end.

That intention was very strong.

‘But how can her image be reflected in this….’

Of course, he was happy to see her face that he missed, so he couldn’t help but feel a longing blooming in his heart.

‘Mountain within a mountain. Fire within a fire.’

These are the only letters left.

The rest are hard to read properly, and there are many unconnected words.

But that was enough for him.

‘Yeongnae Mountain.’

There’s no need to think of anything else.

He thought it was strange from the start.

Even if the Heavenly Origin Energy had disappeared, Cheonbeom had previously taken many measures on Mount Baek.

There were many treasures and formations, as well as the spirit children of the Divine Tree planted on Mount Baek and the Guardian Butterfly and Silkworm protecting it.

‘But all of that is gone.’

Cheonbeom cannot know whether someone has taken it away or whether it has simply disappeared due to the ravages of time.

“If it were my main body, I would know….”

Since that is not the case, he has no choice but to dig it up himself.

“What’s wrong, friend?”

Beom, who had risen from his seat, examined the surroundings of the mountain lodge and groped around one of the walls.

‘The mountain lodge connected to Cheonho Cave….’

The cave where he stayed when he was the Mountain Lord of Mount Baek must be connected to this place.

Even though he is just an incarnation, it cannot be difficult to permeate into Mount Baek.

“Ah, no!!”

Suddenly, Cheonbeom’s hand pierced through the wall and disappeared as if being sucked in.

* * *

Swish.

When Cheonbeom, who had seeped into the inner mountain of Mount Baek, opened his eyes, he saw frozen iron.

The space was made of ice and iron, so cold that it was chilling in all directions.

“Hmm….”

He knows this place.

It has completely changed, but this is definitely the space where the inner mountain is located.

This place, where the inner mountain of Mount Baek was located, had Yeongnae Mountain, and a blue-burning flame was always present.

Cheonbeom himself had received the Bongak Blue Flame here and trained, so he cannot not know even if it has changed a little.

Even now, if he closes his eyes, the memories of when he was the Mountain Lord come to mind one by one.

But now….

“It’s not here. No… is it here and not here?”

Yeongnae Mountain was not visible.

He wondered if it was hidden or sealed, but that was not the case.

Cheonbeom, who once raided Yeongnae Mountain, knows very well what happens to a high mountain that has lost what can be called the essence of energy.

“It collapses easily.”

But Mount Baek is not like that.

Clearly, the essence exists, but it is not functioning properly.

Then what is this frozen iron?

Everything is full of questions.

But there’s no need to worry.

“I came to see it.”

It was not created naturally.

Someone intentionally created it.

Cheonbeom brought his hand to the ground and pulled out the memory of this.

In his mind with his eyes closed, a memory that rises like smoke is faintly visible.

Four figures are faintly visible.

Two women and two men.

‘Familiar….’

It’s familiar.

The two men and women were surrounding Yeongnae Mountain here, restless.

As if waiting for someone.

Looking at Yeongnae Mountain, which was in the form of a blue-burning flame.

But then the blue flames flickered ominously, and when their expressions turned bleak, one of the women jumped in.

A small woman jumped into Yeongnae Mountain and disappeared with the flames.

The expressions of the man and woman were filled with despair.

They seemed to be crying and grieving, but soon they made a hand seal and took out several milky-white jade stones and cast a sealing spell.

They did so, shedding tears as if they had agreed in advance.

Soon, the surroundings were covered with iron and turned into ice, freezing everything.

Swish.

Cheonbeom’s brow furrowed as he opened his eyes.

“Why….”

The woman who jumped into the dying flame was also a woman he knew well.

And all the people gathered there. They were all people with deep ties to Cheonbeom.

How could he not know?

“Cheonyu and Unmo.”

His daughter and son-in-law.

“Somang and Jangcheon.”

How could he not know Somang, whom he regarded as a younger sister, and Jangcheon, his close friend?

All of them were involved in the events here. In those days, the four of them were among the strongest in Hacheon [Lower Heaven] in the land where Cheonbeom disappeared.

What could have happened that would make such people gather and grieve like that?

“Yoho… what on earth did you do?”

He became anxious.

He skimmed through the memories, but they were not perfect.

Above all, it is because so much time has passed that their energy no longer remains.

The more he read, the more questions he had, but an impossible hope kept rising like smoke.

“The extinguished Bongak Blue Flame.”

The disappeared Yoho.

The close aides who were there.

Somang who jumped in.

‘My granddaughter and great-grandson did not know her whereabouts.’

It was highly likely that she had gone missing while wandering through Hacheon.

But that’s not it.

If it’s sealed….

“Could it be….”

Thud.

Cheonbeom’s steps become heavy.

Click.

When he flicks his finger, the area changes.

Crash, crash, crash!!

In an instant, the ice breaks and scatters, and the iron covering it cracks.

Behind it, what is visible is numerous distortions.

[Space Distortion.]

If an ordinary being were to approach, they would be swept away and unable to save their lives.

It is a crack and distortion artificially created to prevent people from approaching.

But the level is that of Hacheon.

Crack, crack, crack.

When he crushes the crack itself with his foot, it cracks and shatters in all directions like broken glass.

Crash!

In the dark clouds.

An endless abyss swallows him.

At the same time, the insect monsters lurking here reveal their teeth.

They approached with ferocious eyes and bared teeth as if they would tear him to pieces, but in that handful of lightless place, golden eyes sparkled.

When two golden eyes opened, golden waves spread in all directions, and light shone.

“Get lost.”

At one word, those things, like darkness, disappeared as if washed away with ink.

Then, naturally, a small fire, like a speck of dust, reached his sight.

“Is that it?”

A precarious blue flame that seemed to go out with a small breath.

At the same time, the inner core of Mount Baek.

It was Yeongnae Mountain.

But when it reached Beom’s hand, the flames soared for a moment, took the form of a phoenix for a moment, and then subsided.

“…So that’s what happened.”

The inner core of Mount Baek had deep scars.

It was so precarious and unstable that it was difficult to even build a shape.

That it has existed until now is probably thanks to the efforts of the person inside her and the person who made it so.

Suddenly.

The scenery is turned upside down once again.

The abyss, where he could not see an inch ahead, was soon replaced by the blue vegetation he knew well.

But the fresh smell of green grass soon became dry and rotten, and a stench filled the air.

The rain is pouring down.

The puddles created by the pouring rain soon became swamps, and bugs swarmed.

Even that rotted and festered, and a jet-black poisonous fog was spewed out, making it reluctant to approach.

“…….”

In the changed scenery.

A sorrowful voice that could not be ignored was heard from within the poisonous fog, where it was difficult to see even an inch ahead.

-I am resentful and wronged….

Cheonbeom’s fist clenched, and his foot strode forward.

The scenery has changed, but the dead trees that are faintly visible are those of the Divine Tree that he had planted before.

Even though he doesn’t know how they changed like that, looking at that appearance, he could easily guess what would be at the center covered by this poisonous fog.

Only.

He just doesn’t want to admit it.

He just doesn’t want to see it.

He just wants to look away.

But even so, the reason he has no choice but to go is there.

-I am wronged… I am wronged….

Suddenly.

Cheonbeom’s hands and feet stopped and began to be poisoned by the poisonous fog.

His hands and feet turned black and bloated.

But the stop was only temporary.

The more he walked, the more the poison dug into him and tore at his flesh.

But he couldn’t stop.

He could have removed this poison, even if it was just an incarnation, but he didn’t bother to do so.

-The one who said he would come has no news….

He wondered if it was possible.

That was natural.

“In my mind, you are already dead. No, I killed you. Of course, I believed without a doubt that that would be the case.”

Who would have thought?

-I am sad….

If you don’t ascend, you can only live for less than ten thousand years before you die.

Her life, which has a lifespan, should have disappeared while he was training.

“How can you be sitting there like that….”

Cheonbeom’s face contorted.

Splash, splash.

His body, which had been walking through the poisonous puddle, collapsed and knelt down.

Looking at the dying woman, hugging a rotten corpse and leaning against the rotten tree stump.

“With a rotten body….”

Hugging a withered body, what is so unfair that you cry out? What are you so resentful of that you wail and wait!

“Why… why!!”

Enduring the pain that would have been better to die, why did you wait?

For this wretched guy who didn’t even want to think of you!

“What’s so good about this… damn guy that you couldn’t die and waited!!”

Even if he shouts at the top of his lungs, it doesn’t reach her.

She is just repeating the same words without moving.

Her ears are deaf, and scabs have formed and festered.

Her beautiful face has changed so much that he can’t recognize her.

What is holding on to her, who would not be strange if she had died and disappeared long ago, is it regret or a longing for her lover?

Or is it resentment towards him?

He didn’t know.

How could he fathom her time, confined here for so long?

His jaw trembled.

Tears hotter than fire welled up and fell. The tears flowing down his cheeks kept flowing without end.

I’m here.

Even if he tells her to look this way, it doesn’t reach her.

-I am wronged…….

Just like a person who has lost their soul, like the countless years she has been doing so.

Like the always existing rock or sea.

She was doing that.

Soon, when he reached out his hand.

Whoosh.

It turned into a handful of black smoke and disappeared.

And what was visible was a huge tomb.

It was her tomb, filled with sorrow.