Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 598

2.307 – Special Side Story 24

“Damn it…!!”

Kwaang!!

In a dark space, amidst columns carved from marble, bizarre sculptures, and an altar-like structure, a woman exuded a terrible, murderous aura.

“Ugh! Kuheok!”

But soon, she vomited dark red blood.

The amount of blood, unbelievable for coming from such a frail body, created a puddle on the pure white floor.

Only after vomiting blood did she catch her breath, as if finally able to live.

Seo Hwangmo clutched her side and gnashed her teeth.

“How did he know…”

No matter how much she tried to piece it together, she couldn’t figure it out. Did he read her mind?

He was meticulous to a fault.

“But it doesn’t matter. I tried to take over his daughter’s body and inflict pain, but even if that doesn’t work, there are many other ways.”

Oryong’s body would have been perfect, but even if not, there were plenty of options.

The woman he cherished, or any of his weaknesses—she knew them all.

She hadn’t thought it necessary to go this far, so she had left it alone.

But now, there was no other way.

“Haa….”

She didn’t want to go this far, but there was no more time.

As she was thinking this,

Tuk.

Seo Hwangmo’s body trembled.

“…!!”

Seeing the approaching shadow, she was startled and bowed her head.

“H-How did you get here…”

Seo Hwangmo was so surprised by his presence that she forgot her pain for a moment.

Seo Hwangmo prostrated herself.

However, the one who approached clicked his tongue and slowly approached her.

“The reason I left you alone was because I thought you would be good nourishment for him.”

But.

“Now I see that my thinking was short-sighted. I didn’t know you would be so corrupted. I didn’t expect you to resort to such petty tricks.”

“B-But!”

“Enough. You have served your purpose. Now you can rest in peace.”

Tuk.

In the darkness, an old, rusty scepter lightly touched Seo Hwangmo’s shoulder. Then, her entire body instantly turned into rusty iron, transforming into a small iron lump the size of a palm.

“Something that should not exist intervened, causing his cycle to flow even faster.”

It was a monologue filled with regret.

“I didn’t know you had a habit of eavesdropping.”

This time, it wasn’t a monologue.

Tuk.

As he tapped the ground with his rusty scepter, a wave of energy spread out, revealing the figure of a man in the darkness.

A Taoist immortal with eyes shining brightly even in the darkness, wearing a black robe.

It was Cheonbeom.

“You know me.”

“Of course. I’ve been watching you for longer than you think.”

An old man with ordinary features.

His neat Taoist robe, snow-white hair, and beard exuded an aura of such antiquity that it was impossible to guess how many years he had lived.

As soon as Beom saw him,

He sensed an immeasurable depth of heavenly energy and realized that his body was involuntarily tensing up. From the start, Tamhwa, coiled around his wrist, was nervous, and Hwadam was trembling, so how could he not be?

“Do you know who I am?”

“I have an idea.”

“I’ve shown you an unsightly sight, so I suppose you do. You’re quick on the uptake.”

He knew him.

He had erased Seo Hwangmo from this world in an instant.

He had clearly seen her turned into a bizarre iron lump.

Moreover, from the fact that he had tolerated her existence, he could vaguely guess his position.

‘Celestial Venerable.’

He must be one of the three Celestial Venerables called the Three Pure Ones [highest deities in Taoism].

“Are you Taishang Laojun [one of the Three Pure Ones]?”

“Hehehe. How did you know?”

“I’ve heard stories. The Celestial Venerables of the Three Pure Ones are originally one, divided into three heavens.”

The three are divided into the Small Man, the Great Man, and the Old Man.

The other two are said to be in the form of a child and a man, so there was no way he couldn’t know the identity of this man with the appearance of an old man.

Taishang Laojun.

Or the one called the Moral Celestial Venerable.

And.

“You were once the teacher of all people under the name Hwangcheon.”

The one who blocked the Upper Heaven.

The one who laid down the Dao [the fundamental nature of the universe] and closed the heavens was this man.

Beom felt a small sense of hostility and a strangely overwhelming longing in his heart.

“May I ask you one question?”

But Taishang Laojun shook his head.

“You’re wondering why I closed the heavens and raised disciples, aren’t you?”

Beom listened attentively, as if affirming.

“Closed the heavens… are you curious about that? It’s meaningless now.”

“Many sacrifices were made to reopen the heavens that you closed.”

“Wasn’t it slaughter rather than sacrifice?”

“….”

“Closing the Upper Heaven was…”

Tuk. Tuk.

After pondering for a moment, he tapped the floor with his scepter and replied.

“…because I expected it.”

“Expected?”

“Yes, we were waiting and expecting someone to appear.”

They were waiting for a sage with such great power and enlightenment to break through the Upper Heaven that they had blocked.

“But in the end, no one appeared. We were disappointed, and then we decided to create one.”

“That’s Yujeong.”

The one with all the opportunities.

The one loved by fortune.

A bitter taste lingered in Beom’s mouth.

“Yes. That’s right. But even that didn’t go as planned.”

“Because I appeared due to Seo Hwangmo’s intervention.”

He created an intentional destiny.

He had even made a plan.

But all of that was shattered in an instant by the existence of Cheonbeom.

“But it wasn’t bad. No, rather, in a fleeting moment, you grew through many hardships and amazed us.”

“But didn’t you call me a lost Dao?”

“The Dao, ridiculously, doesn’t have a set path. Going anywhere is the Dao, so where is the path? The place where your feet reach is the path.”

In that respect.

“I quite liked your true name. Nangseon. Nangseon…. Isn’t it a truly mysterious and nostalgic name?”

“Is that so?”

“Everyone uses the title Nangseon when wandering around. I do, and anyone who cultivates the Dao becomes a Nangseon at least once.”

In that respect, his true name was a truly nostalgic name. A name that reminds everyone of their memories.

“Taishang Laojun.”

“Yes.”

“Why are you pleased with my existence? What was the reason for creating Yujeong’s destiny in the first place?”

“Hmm… do you like fishing?”

“……I don’t dislike it.”

“Then let’s go fishing. This isn’t a very good place to have a long conversation.”

* * *

“Destiny is like fishing.”

Taishang Laojun opened his mouth, leisurely casting his fishing rod.

“What do you mean?”

“Waiting. Destiny is a kind of waiting. Life is the same.”

Nothing appears if you don’t wait. Doesn’t the saying go that joy comes at the end of waiting?

“Fishing is no different from a Dao.”

“Does that include my existence?”

With a flick.

Taishang Laojun, having thrown the bait, silently affirmed.

“Do you know why I throw bait?”

“To lure fish.”

“Then why do I do that?”

“Isn’t it to catch fish?”

“Has that answered your question?”

“…….”

“You’re going to kill someone with your eyes. Hehe, but my answer remains the same.”

Destiny is like fishing.

You wait and fish.

You throw bait for that.

To fish for what gets caught.

“Am I a fish?”

“That’s right. You’re that kind of fish. But you’ve become such a big fish that it’s become burdensome.”

There are many kinds of fish.

“I think you’re a shark or a whale. Something like a mixture of a whale and a shark.”

Taishang Laojun fiddled with his fishing rod and spoke as if humming. Cheonbeom’s expression was naturally distorted by the roundabout story.

“Then please tell me now.”

“The reason I intended Yujeong’s destiny?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm… where do you think the end of the sky is?”

The end….

Beom thought for a moment.

The end of the sky.

The Supreme Emperor said it was the Black Heaven [a realm beyond the conventional heavens].

Even in the Black Heaven, there may be an end, but unless you approach that place, there is no end to the sky.

He pondered for a moment and replied.

“It’s the mind.”

“The mind? Why is that?”

“Isn’t the end of the road the same as not having one? If you decide it’s the end, it’s the end, and if not, it’s not. That’s what the road is.”

The sky is the same.

If you think the sky you’re looking at is the end, then it’s the end.

If not, there is a higher sky. Everything depends on how you think.

That was Cheonbeom’s answer.

“The end depends on what you think.”

Taishang Laojun nodded, as if it was a very satisfactory answer.

Then, the fishing float swayed and plunged into the river.

A calm ripple formed.

However, Taishang Laojun did not lift the fishing rod.

“Aren’t you going to catch it?”

“Isn’t it my destiny? Even if I lift the fishing rod, the ones who will shake off the hook will shake it off.”

Even if I leave it alone, the ones who can’t shake off the hook will eventually tire and fail to shake off the trap that binds them.

“It’s a matter of waiting.”

Wait a moment.

As he said, the fish, exhausted on its own, thrashed for a while and then drooped.

The hook seemed to be firmly stuck in its mouth. Taishang Laojun watched the calmed float and lifted the fishing rod without effort.

It was a carp with plump flesh.

Its mysterious appearance and beautiful color were so beautiful that Taishang Laojun took out the hook pierced in its mouth. And when he lightly touched the bleeding wound on its mouth, the carp’s wound disappeared as if time had reversed, and it regained its vitality.

Soon, he threw it into the river, and the carp swam quickly around as if thanking him before disappearing.

Taishang Laojun re-baited the hook, threw the float, and threw the bait.

“When I intended Yujeong’s destiny, I did it with the same mind as when I’m fishing.”

But no matter how prepared you are, do you always catch fish as you wish?

Water temperature and weather.

And even if you match the time appropriately, you can’t catch it unless the sky helps you. That’s what fishing is.

“Even if you throw bait here and there, fish won’t gather if there are interrupters. It was just like that.”

“What were you trying to do by catching the fish?”

“I was going to shake off my destiny.”

“Taishang Laojun’s destiny?”

“Yes.”

“Shouldn’t you be outside the influence of destiny, being a being of your level?”

“There is always a heaven beyond the heavens.”

Taishang Laojun smiled bitterly.

Everyone has the desire to be free from all of that, but not everyone can achieve it.

“Do you know about the Outer Gods of the Black Heaven?”

“I don’t know.”

“They are aiming for the Great Firmament [the highest of the Thirty-six Heavens in Taoism].”

From a very, very long time ago.

“Rather than aiming, they are trying to play with it. To gain their own benefits. So we needed someone to stand against them.”

That’s exactly.

“Intended destiny. Lost Dao.”

Cheonbeom.

“You are a being created to oppose the Outer Gods of the Black Heaven.”

Black Heaven. Outer Gods. Created destiny.

He had thought that such things might exist.

But hearing it suddenly didn’t resonate, and he couldn’t even feel it. Rather, it was like a story from a distant place.

“Are the Outer Gods such great beings? To the point that you fear them so much.”

“I’m afraid. Originally, what is the reason why the unknown is frightening?”

It’s because you don’t know.

You can’t know anything, so you don’t know what kind of physiology they have.

What their purpose is.

You don’t know what kind of power they wield.

That’s why you can’t help but be afraid.

Because you don’t even know what kind of death they will inflict on you.

“Please protect the Great Firmament.”

Beom’s answer to that was swift.

“I refuse.”