Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 83

Nangseon’s Romantic Tale – 82

“You speak amusingly,” he said.

His tone was intrigued.

“What difference does it make if a fox sits in a tiger’s den? When the tiger returns, the fox will only be devoured.”

He gave a look that suggested he thought it was nonsense.

However, the Mountain Monarch smiled.

“That meal could cause trouble.”

It was a meaningful remark.

Hwanmong’s face remained unchanged, but he closed his mouth, effectively admitting he was listening to the Mountain Monarch to some extent.

“Wings and spirits may be exploring the den, but that is a trap to catch the tiger.”

Hwanmong’s eyes narrowed.

‘Wings’ referred to Gung Biho.

‘Spirits’ undoubtedly meant the Siphaemancheok ghosts. He couldn’t be unaware that the trap was meant for them, and his face showed curiosity about what it could be.

“A very wicked tongue.”

“Even if their trap doesn’t harm Hwanmong Seonsa [Immortal Hwanmong], you will have to endure indiscriminate sacrifices.”

Already, many had died in the battles against Guieum Narachal and the strategists.

The Tae [Great Virtue] of the Great Dharma Priest who protects Goseon [Ancient Korea].

Hwanmong couldn’t ignore that.

“Many have died. The blood of the innocent soaks the ground, and lamentations drift through the sky, but those who are meant to live must live.”

“…….”

He was silent, but his contemplation didn’t last long.

“Speak.”

The Mountain Monarch moved his lips with pleasure, and Hwanmong listened quietly.

After a while.

Cough!

A fit of coughing came from the rapidly acting poison of Dasageum [a potent poison].

Blood soaked the floor, and his body felt as if it was burning.

As the tension eased, the poison seemed to rush in all at once.

His mind became hazy, and his vision blurred.

“Your sin is deep. You have dragged the Myriad Poison Flame into the world….”

Myriad Poison Flame.

The Mountain Monarch couldn’t recover that ominous poison flame. He didn’t have the time, nor the strength.

Now that a disaster that had gained spiritual energy had been unleashed, many living things would face death simply by its existence.

“Tsk. But I cannot help but save you.”

Hwanmong clicked his tongue and waved his hand.

Then, the Mountain Monarch’s body floated into the air, and intense heat poured out from his seven orifices.

“Ughhhhh!!”

Whirr!!

Red flames burned like a curse.

His remnants were being extracted from his body.

It was a strange experience, as if organs were being pulled from his body.

In the midst of extreme pain.

The Mountain Monarch heard.

“There are a few conditions.”

He wanted to answer, but he was in no condition to speak.

“First, you clean up the mess you made.”

He must be referring to the Myriad Poison Flame.

He had that in mind.

It would be a headache, but he could somehow recover it if he prepared.

“Second, never set foot in Goseon again.”

Nothing bad about that.

If he achieved spiritual enlightenment by enduring the Tribulation of a Thousand Autumns [a severe test of spiritual endurance], he wouldn’t set foot in Goseon for a while.

Even if he did, this promise would be meaningless if Hwanmong disappeared later.

“Third, stab your woman with a sword.”

What was that….

“You will know when the time comes.”

In his fading vision.

The Mountain Monarch felt a sense of unease and lost consciousness.

Thud.

Leaving him collapsed, Hwanmong looked at the man who had appeared.

“Will it be alright?”

A question of whether it was okay to save him.

Hwanmong’s eyes sank deeply.

“This too must be fate. I only feel sorry for you.”

Hwansun, wearing rags and a mask.

It was Jangcheon.

“Please don’t say that.”

Jangcheon bowed deeply.

Hwanmong stroked his beard, pondered, and then suddenly disappeared.

After that.

Dozens of belated rays of light fell from the sky. They wept mournfully, gazing at the headless beast.

* * *

Three days later.

He lifted his heavy eyelids.

A faint light illuminated the stone chamber, and his hazy mind seemed to refuse to wake up.

He closed his eyes again, wondering why he was sleeping here, and fell back asleep.

It felt like something was in his arms, but a wave of sleepiness washed over him, and he couldn’t bother to care.

How much time had passed?

When he opened his eyes again, he suddenly woke up.

[…….]

In an instant, the past events rushed in like a wave, and he saw them in his mind like a mirage.

He shook his head, but the mistakes of the past were not easily shaken off.

As his disguise faded and he stood there as a tiger, something white suddenly appeared from his arms.

“Are you awake?”

“No, first tell me what happened. How long have I been asleep?”

“You’ve been sleeping for about three days.”

His physical condition wasn’t bad.

The wounds had already been healed.

Smelling the wolf scent, it seemed this was Sawolrang’s residence.

If so, she would know about her death.

“Was the funeral held properly?”

“Ah…. Yes. There were many things that happened.”

The Mountain Monarch listened to Choa’s story for a while, nodding his head.

Gung Biho and the Five Ghosts, who had tried to attack Tae, were instead defeated, and most of them did not survive.

The Five Ghosts and their subordinates had their heads cut off in an instant, and Gung Biho also could not escape death.

Hwanmong had even uprooted and annihilated the strategists in an instant.

After that, Tae was mostly restoring the ruined Goseon with divine powers.

That was all about Tae.

“The funeral for the woman who helped Master was held for three days and nights.”

The funeral, where hundreds of wolves gathered and turned everything golden, was truly spectacular.

“Where are you going?”

“Shouldn’t I go?”

He was not without responsibility for her death.

He didn’t know when he would be bedridden, but now that he was awake, it was right to go.

Choa hesitated and followed the Mountain Monarch. He also had many things he wanted to say, but there was something he had to prioritize.

Leaving the stone chamber and looking around the surroundings, he caught sight of Sawolrang’s Six Soldiers.

They all seemed unchanged from before, but there was no smile on their faces.

He greeted each of them and continued on his way. The sky was clear and the wind was cool, but the streets were filled with silence.

He could feel the gazes watching him with every step. He knew those gazes.

Enduring them, he entered a palace-like building, and Ryun bowed his head as if he had been waiting.

His eyes were red.

The Mountain Monarch nodded, pretending not to notice.

“I have been waiting.”

“Where is she?”

“This way.”

His steps were heavy.

Each step he took towards her felt so heavy.

He silently moved his heavy steps, passed through the thicket, and arrived at a place where sturdy trees soared high into the sky.

Despite it being winter, this place was green. There, a small child was holding his hands behind his back.

“Have you come?”

It was Geummyeongokseo, the leader of Sawolrang.

“Yes.”

He didn’t know what to say.

How could her heart be alright?

Sawolrang cherished her clan.

Moreover, she was Okseo’s daughter.

Her heart must have broken dozens of times.

“Our clan cremates the remains and places the ashes in this dogwood tree. The tree eats the bones and grows to bear fruit, which we call Yangmae [Chinese Bayberry]. It is sweet and sour, and tastes very good. If you make liquor with it, there is no better fine liquor.”

“Is that so.”

“Yes. The vegetation has already grown by absorbing Jisu’s bones, so it will bear fruit this spring.”

It was an unfamiliar funeral custom, but the Mountain Monarch seemed to know why they were holding such a funeral.

They would make liquor with Yangmae and raise a glass on her anniversary.

It must be a tradition created to not forget the dead.

“I have shown an unsightly appearance. I tend to talk too much in front of my daughter.”

“It’s not.”

Okseo stroked the tree for a while.

The dogwood tree where she resided.

“Then may I hear it now? The last moments of my daughter.”

“Yes.”

The Mountain Monarch, who took a small breath, spoke.

A journey that was short if short, and long if long.

He told everything from beginning to end, leaving nothing out.

And.

Even the part where she sacrificed herself for him at the end.

Okseo, who had heard everything, was silent for a long time before raising her head.

“It has become a trade for the Blood Collapse.”

The Mountain Monarch took out the Blood Collapse from his arms.

He handed it to him without any regrets.

Okseo looked at the Blood Collapse with eyes filled with various emotions before putting it in his arms.

“Tell me whenever you need the Tribulation of a Thousand Autumns.”

With that, he disappeared.

After that.

A sobbing sound was heard from behind.

It was probably Ryun.

He heard that they had been together since childhood.

How small could that sadness be?

The Mountain Monarch was silent.

There were many things he wanted to ask.

There were also many things he wanted to hear.

But he didn’t open his mouth.

Just.

He buried it in his heart.

* * *

A day passed, and the Mountain Monarch, who had returned to the stone chamber, was busy.

He also had to make the elixir he received from Yoho into a pill, and he also had to guide the training of Mansam and the Tae Yang Hwa Ri couple, whom he had neglected during that time.

It was as if he was being chased by something.

Choa was full of complaints but decided to wait for now.

That night.

“Hwaran.”

“Yes.”

“Since when?”

It was a tone that said she didn’t know what he was talking about.

But the Mountain Monarch was firm.

“Then how much time is left?”

Hwaran’s eyebrows narrowed.

“How did you know?”

“There’s no way I wouldn’t know.”

Hwaran was in a complicated mood but was trying not to show it.

“When the boundary completely opened. The connection between the Mountain Monarch and me wavered. It must have been from then.”

She thought this would happen someday.

A Changui [a type of spirit] is a ghost.

A ghost is an existence without a vessel.

It cannot be immortal.

In the first place, a Changui is a fierce ghost that deceives people and leads them to a tiger.

“In the future…. 10 years at most.”

It could be said to be long, but it was a short period for the Mountain Monarch, who would live for over a thousand years.

The Mountain Monarch, who had a stern look on his face, took out a small incense burner from Gongjeonggang.

“What is this?”

“I received it from the Great Elder of Gung Biho. There are many treasures that trap souls, but there are not many that protect and preserve them.”

It was something that would come someday.

The only thing is that the date has been brought forward.

The Mountain Monarch put his hand on the incense burner and asked.

“100 years.”

Hwaran’s eyelashes fluttered.

“Stay in here for 100 years.”

The incense burner makes it possible.

And 100 years would be enough to find a solution.

“You can just sleep for a while and come out.”

“…I don’t want to.”

When he asked why.

“It’s obvious that you’re going to overdo it again. I’ve already lived a long time. It’s not bad to enter the path of reincarnation as it is. Who knows? Maybe in the future, the reincarnated me and the Mountain Monarch will meet again.”

That might be the case.

Perhaps such a meeting would be better than what he was trying to do.

But.

He didn’t want to lose anything anymore.

“I command you as your master.”

Go in.

The moment that small reverberation spread.

Hwaran’s face contorted, and she was sucked into the incense burner.

An inhibitory power that was unrelated to her will.

The Mountain Monarch commanded Hwaran for the first time.

“I’ll slap you when we meet again.”

“Anytime.”

Hwaran disappeared like smoke, and the Mountain Monarch sighed.

There are so many things to do.

Myriad Poison Flame, Gung Biho, Hwaran, and even reaching Yeonggyeol Hukyeong, and then the Tribulation of a Thousand Autumns.

“I have to talk to that child too.”

Her who will be waiting silently.

A child like a white lotus.

Choa.

“Did you call me?”

Speak of the devil.

Choa was standing in front of him, wearing a very thin white dress.

She also let down her hair, which she always tied up.

Her snow-white hair, which reached her waist, seemed to shine faintly.

“I brought a table of drinks….”

The Mountain Monarch’s eyes narrowed.

Strangely, her cheeks were red.

Even in the middle of winter.