Perhaps the Grand Elder and the Clan Lord might have ended up pointing their swords at each other.
This wasn’t a formation that could be resisted just by having strong internal Qi.
Every time he looked at the Grand Elder and the Clan Lord, his stomach churned.
‘If my father had been the Clan Lord, the position of Young Lord would’ve been mine!’
There were those who reached out to someone like him, and when he took their hand, he made up his mind.
He’d destroy this pathetic clan and seize the world.
The Mist of Delusion Formation before him was the beginning.
He extended both hands and poured his Qi into the formation to activate it.
Wuuuuuuung—!
A violent sound erupted as a wild storm swept through the surroundings.
Then, in an instant—
Rumble! Crash!
Thunder and lightning roared across the skies above the Zhuge Clan estate.
And from every direction, a thick fog rolled in, so dark it was hard to call it anything but black.
He grinned.
Zhuge Yul had no idea what was going on.
He had been in the midst of capturing those who had sided with Zhuge Dong-u.
But then—
Thunder and lightning crashed overhead, and dark fog began to envelop the estate.
The clan’s martial artists began turning on one another, weapons drawn.
“Damn it!”
He immediately realized that this was no natural phenomenon.
Before becoming the Clan Lord, his primary field of study had been formations.
Of course, he was skilled in many areas, but his most exceptional talent lay in formations.
That’s why he recognized this for what it was.
‘Uncle really prepared something like this?’
But as far as he knew, Zhuge Dong-u had no talent for formations. Everyone just kept quiet about it to preserve his honor.
The real problem was that this situation was dangerous.
If it continued, people would start dying.
Even he was beginning to feel the influence of the formation.
The only thing allowing him to endure was the ancestral sword passed down through generations of Clan Lords.
The Demon-Cleaving Sword (斬邪劍), one of Zhuge’s Clan sacred weapons, helped maintain a clear mind simply by being wielded.
But he could feel the sword trembling in his hands, straining under the pressure.
‘I have to break the formation fast! If I delay any longer, I might go berserk and start killing my own people!’
He knocked out those attacking him without wounding them and made his way toward the source of the formation.
Disabling opponents without injuring them was far harder than cutting them down.
Eventually, he reached the formation’s core.
He was, after all, the Clan Lord of the Zhuge Clan.
It wasn’t a title you could win by gambling.
“This place is…”
He was stunned.
Because the source of the formation was none other than the residence of his nephew, Zhuge Gyeong.
Just then, the Grand Elder arrived, dragging the bound and captured Zhuge Dong-u behind him.
“Father!”
Calling out, Zhuge Yul quickly retreated.
There was a chance his father might also be affected by the formation and attack him.
The Grand Elder spoke to him.
“Ah, I’m fine.”
“What? Are you truly alright?”
“Fortunately, I know how to maintain my clarity.”
“Thank goodness. But this formation… could it be… is it the Mist of Delusion Formation I think it is?”
“It is.”
The Mist of Delusion Formation was a formation that had been discarded as soon as it was created.
It drove people to kill their own kin, violating the natural order.
So how had it survived? And why was it installed in the Zhuge estate?
“Either way, we need to break the formation immediately!”
But it wasn’t going to be easy.
Martial artists of the clan were charging toward them with weapons drawn.
“Father! I’ll hold them off. Please break the formation!”
Chaos broke loose.
Clan Lord Zhuge Yul desperately blocked the attackers, while the Grand Elder moved through the enemies standing in his way and headed toward the formation’s heart.
But as the saying goes, there’s no beating overwhelming numbers. They were growing tired.
Then—
“Everyone, come to your senses!”
A powerful voice echoed from somewhere.
A lion’s roar imbued with immense internal Qi.
Hearing it, the Zhuge Clan warriors faltered, blinking in confusion as they looked around.
“Huh? Wh-why am I here?”
The clan members began to regain their senses.
That roar rang out several more times, and then the one who had shouted it finally appeared alongside Zhuge Yu-ah.
It was Eun Seo-ho.
I recalled something I’d overlooked.
It was about the formation.
It was said that half the members of the Zhuge Clan had died during a secret formation experiment.
And I happened to know more about that incident.
A single child survivor of that bloodbath testified that everyone had mistaken each other for enemies and drawn their blades.
But that testimony was forgotten by most.
I, however, had a good memory and never forgot that account. I suspected this formation would be used again during this incident.
The problem was figuring out how to break it.
Most formations are best broken by destroying the core.
Which meant I’d have to break through to the center somehow…
Was that even possible with my martial skills?
Even if I was on the verge of reaching Peak level, I was still only at a First-rate stage.
But there was no time to hesitate.
If I went there, maybe I’d find a way.
Just as I mounted my horse to rush ahead, Master approached and said,
— That formation won’t harm you, young master.
— Sorry?
— Shout using the method of the Lion’s Roar technique.
— …?
— You’ll understand once you try.
We galloped full speed and reached the estate, and even from a distance, I could tell something had gone terribly wrong.
The Zhuge Clan estate was completely swallowed by a dark mist. A field of carnage.
People were fighting. Screaming.
The clash of steel against steel rang out from all directions.
“This is insane…”
The Grand Elder’s attendants and guards looked flustered by the unexpected scene.
Even getting through looked impossible.
Then, I remembered Master’s advice.
I tightened my core and shouted using the Lion’s Roar technique.
“Everyone, come to your senses!”
Thankfully, I’d recently been practicing the Lion’s Roar.
Now I understood why Master had advised me as he did.
The martial artists who heard me began to snap out of it.
One of the abilities of the Supreme Yin Ice Sea Divine Art was clearing the mind—not just for oneself, but embedded within one’s Qi as well.
And now that I thought about it, Master had specifically said “that formation”…
That meant… Master knew about this formation.
No—he must’ve already known it would be used.
My head spun for a moment, but I pushed the thoughts aside.
What mattered was that I didn’t have to break through the chaos to get here.
Shouting once hadn’t been enough, so I’d yelled several times. As a result, a wave of internal Qi drained from my body, leaving me a bit exhausted.
I felt like I was going to collapse.
My hands and feet were trembling.
This wasn’t the first time I’d run out of internal Qi, but I could never get used to it.
On top of that, the nausea coming from all around made me feel even worse inside.
I looked around.
Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be many casualties.
Just then, Lady Zhuge Yu-ah ran over from the other side.
“Young Master Eun!”
“Ah, you’re safe.”
“What in the world is happening…”
“More importantly, shouldn’t we hurry to the Grand Elder and the Clan Lord?”
“They should be over that way.”
My group followed her as we ran and soon arrived at Zhuge Gyeong’s residence.
Fortunately, the Grand Elder and the Clan Lord appeared unharmed.
“Are you alright?”
At my question, they looked surprised.
“How did you get here?”
“I’ll explain later.”
Just then—
Creeaak.
The door opened, and Zhuge Gyeong stepped out.
The true mastermind behind the fall of the Zhuge Clan had arrived.
He looked at us and smiled.
“Well, you figured it out faster than I expected.”
But I could tell from his trembling hands, his eyes, and the sweat on his brow.
He was clearly panicking.
And understandably so.
People weren’t falling under the formation’s influence.
He was only pretending to be calm to hide his panic.
“What is the meaning of this?”
The Grand Elder asked.
He answered with a shrug.
“I was ordered from above to wipe this place out.”
“Who ordered you to do such a thing!”
“You were warned in the letter, weren’t you? That there would be consequences if you kept rejecting our proposals.”
Both the Grand Elder and the Clan Lord’s faces darkened at his reply.
A letter?
I remembered the letter I saw in the Grand Elder’s residence.
The one bearing the Murim Alliance’s seal?
The Grand Elder roared,
“How can someone wearing a human face commit such a thing!”
“Many people within the Alliance are already involved.”
I didn’t know the full circumstances, but I now knew the identity of the real culprit.
This was the work of the Murim Alliance.
No other organization would be referred to simply as “the Alliance.”
“Then what did you receive in return for destroying this clan? Was it this estate?”
“No. You think I’d do all this for something as petty as this clan?”
“Then what?”
“Would you like to guess?”
Watching the exchange, I realized Zhuge Gyeong must be after something.
This felt like…
He was trying to buy time.
Waiting for someone to rescue him?
But why was the Grand Elder playing along?
Could it be he was waiting for the would-be rescuer so he could deal with them all at once?
Their conversation continued.
“So you were the one who supplied Dong-u with the poison?”
“Yes. It was hard to get, and he wasted it… tsk tsk.”
At that, the bound Zhuge Dong-u cried out,
“Then you’re the one who approached me and told me to kill my brother and drive my nephew mad?!”
“Yes.”
“H-how could you!”
“Were you any different, dreaming of usurping the clan for yourself?”
“If I’d known you were the Alliance’s filthy dog, I’d never have taken your hand!”
Ah, so he hated the Murim Alliance too.
That must be why even after taking control, the Zhuge Clan was wiped out.
“So, after all that, what were you promised? You haven’t answered yet.”
“I told you—try to guess.”
“…”
“You look like you don’t know.”
Just as he continued his smug charade—
“What I was promised…!”
Suddenly, he vomited blood.
“Cough… what is this…”
“You thought someone would come to rescue you?”
His eyes widened. The truth had struck a nerve.
The Grand Elder clicked his tongue.
“Tsk tsk. The Alliance as it stands today has already abandoned all righteousness. Do you really think they’d come to save you?”
He shouted, his face twisted with disbelief,
“N-no! That can’t be!”
“There are still clans and sects the Alliance hasn’t seized yet. They can’t risk exposure. Of course they’d cut off the tail to erase the evidence…”
That’s right.
The Alliance had discarded Zhuge Gyeong.
And the Grand Elder knew no one would come for him.
“How could you, a man bearing the Zhuge name, fail to see their true nature? You disgrace the clan!”
Zhuge Gyeong scoffed.
“You say that while looking at your own granddaughter? The real disgrace to this clan is Yu-ah.”
“She’s a disgrace? Hahaha! Is that so, Yu-ah?”
So the Grand Elder had known all along that Lady Zhuge Yu-ah was pretending.
That’s why he looked at her with such pity.
“Oh my, is that so?”
Zhuge Yu-ah stepped forward.
“If you went so far as to say that, I must’ve acted the part quite well.”
Her expression and tone were completely different from usual, and Zhuge Gyeong was visibly shocked.
“Y-you were acting?!”
Whether he was shocked or not, the Grand Elder continued,
“Just as you stalled for time, hoping for a rescue, I also stalled for time. I thought it would be a fitting punishment for you to realize that your last hope was actually despair.”
A terrifying man indeed.
But then again, he had led a great clan. Of course he had such depth of insight.
“Grrrk…”
Zhuge Gyeong clutched his throat in agony, and as he writhed, the Grand Elder watched with a bitter smile and said,
“Another reason the Mist of Delusion Formation was discarded—because it draws on the user’s innate Qi as fuel. You activated it without even knowing that?”
At that moment, the Grand Elder drew his sword and hurled it at him.
Fweeee—!
The sword flew past Zhuge Gyeong, shattering the wall behind him.
It pierced directly into the center of the dark-red formation painted on the wall.
Crackle! Spark!
Boom—!
The formation burst into flames and was destroyed.
At last, I felt relief. The nausea that had tormented me vanished.
And the dark fog that had blanketed the Zhuge estate lifted.
–TL Notes–
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