Chapter 307: Zhuge Clan (5)
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At Chwihwaru, for some reason, not Zhuge Yan but shadow guard Won, whom I had seen last time, was there.
“This is different from what was promised.”
I spread my qi sense and checked if there was anyone in the vicinity. Because the moment I saw Won’s face, the possibility of a trap came to mind.
“……Are you the Association Leader?”
“Yes.”
“Aha.”
Only after hearing my voice did Won withdraw his suspicious gaze.
“Your disguise technique is outstanding.”
“Setting that aside, I said this is different from what was promised.”
Cushions for Peng Chae-hyang and me were prepared, but I had no intention of sitting just yet. Won spoke in a troubled voice.
“You do not need to be so wary.”
“Those are somewhat shameless words.”
“I know. The young lady could not come out due to circumstances.”
“You must know that these words drastically lower your credibility.”
“I know that as well. But it is the truth.”
Won’s expression grew considerably grim. For now, I sat across from Won. As I sat down, Peng Chae-hyang lightly sat beside me as well.
“It might be a lie, but I should at least hear it out. What happened that she could not come out to such an important meeting?”
“To put it briefly, the young lady touched the Clan Head’s temper.”
“Touched his temper?”
“Yes.”
After that, Won added further explanation. That while trying to unearth intelligence to use in our transaction, she ended up drawing the Clan Head’s suspicion. To erase that suspicion, she had to stay right by the Clan Head’s side to attend him for the time being, which was naturally difficult for me to believe.
“What a coincidence.”
“Indeed it is.”
“Then is this contract null and void?”
“Naturally not.”
“What do you propose, then? Just believe you?”
I slightly raised my voice. Won flinched. As expected, primitive methods were best when making a transaction. Even if I was not agitated, pretending to be agitated induced the other party’s intimidation.
“Here is the young lady’s letter.”
From his robes, Won handed over Zhuge Yan’s letter. It was a letter like last time, but the handwriting was smaller and clearly written in great haste.
However, since even this could easily be fabricated if they intended to, I did not lower my guard.
—This is Zhuge Yan. I apologize for not keeping our promise. First, I felt I had to say these words. I will omit the general circumstances, assuming you have heard them from Won.
She must be in a hurry indeed. When given Zhuge Yan’s meticulous nature, she would normally have touched upon everything once more.
—First, I will acknowledge that I have no way to prove I consumed the gu worm. Therefore, for this contract to be established, your trust is in a state of absolute necessity. However, I will not rely unilaterally on your goodwill. Tell Won to give you what was prepared.
“She tells me to say to give me what was prepared.”
I looked at Won. As if he had already been prepared, Won stood up and opened the floor. It was a secret compartment. In that place was a piece of old paper folded multiple times.
I received the paper from Won and unfolded it. I was slightly surprised.
“……This is.”
Won wore a grim expression. Won seemed to know the identity of this paper as well.
“It is a map of the Zhuge Clan manor. It details where mechanism formations are located and between what hours the formations operate. It can truly be called a treasure of the Zhuge Clan.”
In the corner was the official seal of the Zhuge Clan Head. A seal that looked quite old since it had been stamped. That at least could not be forged. Knowing the official seal of the Zhuge Clan Head, I could be certain this map was authentic.
“Moreover, it is an edition to which the young lady personally added all of the Zhuge Clan’s recently reinforced formations and mechanism formations.”
Looking closely, that was indeed the case. In explaining the formations and mechanisms, there was bold, thick handwriting as if added recently.
This was no exaggeration to call both the reverse scale and treasure of the Zhuge Clan. Of course, it was unknown whether the recently added formations and mechanisms were also true, but at least the structure of this manor was real. Knowing just that was sufficiently helpful.
Looking back at the letter, Zhuge Yan continued writing as if having seen through my thoughts.
—I know. That you will doubt even that map. However, if you know the official seal of the Zhuge Clan Head, you will have no choice but to acknowledge it is real. If the leak of that is discovered, I would even face execution by beheading within the clan. I hope you will recognize that I have taken on that much risk.
Certainly, if all this was real, Zhuge Yan was truly taking an immense gamble. Along with being that desperate.
—From here on is the strategy I propose. It is also an area of faith. If you like my strategy, please tell Won. Because we must make preparations.
I was reading all of this shared with Peng Chae-hyang. Peng Chae-hyang and I read Zhuge Yan’s strategy.
Zhuge Yan’s strategy was bold beyond measure. To the point where Peng Chae-hyang and I clicked our tongues in astonishment simultaneously as we read it.
Having finished reading the strategy, I let out a low groan. The risk was great for Zhuge Yan, but the risk was great for us as well.
Furthermore, considering when the strategy failed, the side in greater danger was Peng Chae-hyang, whose martial power was relatively weaker.
“Let us try it, Gaga.”
Right then, Peng Chae-hyang spoke abruptly. It was as if she had read my thoughts.
“Hm?”
“It is not merely goodwill or trust.”
“Then?”
Peng Chae-hyang looked at Won in front of us.
“Did you say Guard Won?”
“That is correct.”
Won answered. Peng Chae-hyang stared intently at Won. With her staring so blatantly, Won looked slightly flustered. After some time passed, Peng Chae-hyang opened her mouth slowly.
“Because I saw you so long ago, it was faint, but I thought you were a familiar face.”
“……Pardon?”
At Peng Chae-hyang’s words, Won’s face froze.
“And when you said it was not the ordinary relationship of a protected person and a shadow guard with Young Lady Zhuge, I noticed a hint.”
“……Young Lady Peng possesses outstanding discernment. Normally, direct-line scions of prestigious houses are slow in such matters.”
Won said. I had no idea what the situation was. In times like this, staying still was the best course of action.
“You are Zhuge Won, correct? I understand you are siblings with Young Lady Zhuge Yan, so why are you serving as a shadow guard?”
At Peng Chae-hyang’s words, I was surprised. To think his surname was Zhuge. Furthermore, they were siblings.
Siblings of the same bloodline, yet Zhuge Yan was a direct line and one person served as a shadow guard without even being able to use his family name. Just from a glance, it was clearly not a normal situation.
“There are circumstances. But it seems inappropriate to speak of them here.”
Won, no, Zhuge Won showed sorrowful eyes.
“However, this much I can say. That the young lady, no, our sister, has not a shred of falsehood in this current situation. That is how desperate we are right now.”
If a younger brother was involved, it felt as though the credibility rose slightly. Regardless of how much Zhuge Yan cared for her younger brother, if she kept using him as a shadow guard, it would not be the bond of ordinary siblings.
“The Young Lady Zhuge I knew was a gentle and kind person. Especially when she was involved with her younger brother.”
Peng Chae-hyang added. Crossing my arms, I let out a groan. Zhuge Won and Peng Chae-hyang looked at me. They were waiting for my answer.
I was not swayed by goodwill. I merely weighed the risks I had to bear and the profits I would gain.
“Fine. Let us try it.”
“Thank you! Association Leader. I will never forget this grace.”
I made my decision. Zhuge Won bowed his head deeply.
It was something I was doing for myself, but there was no need to specifically tell him that.
* * *
The late hour of the third watch. Amidst the stillness where even the sound of mice running through alleys sounded loud, Peng Chae-hyang and I lightly landed atop the wall of the Zhuge Clan.
Having truly memorized the map by heart over several days, I could now draw the Zhuge Clan manor more clearly than the structure of Wudang Sect’s main mountain.
Originally, when stepping onto this wall, a formation should have activated. Since there was currently no place outside the Zhuge Clan where formations were not operating.
However, just as Zhuge Yan had said, the formation did not activate. This was Zhuge Yan’s strategy.
Zhuge Yan communicating internally to open the formations, and secretly looting the Heavenly King Divine Art from within.
A golden opportunity to secretly steal it away without paying ten thousand taels of silver. It was clearly the ultimate profit. Provided this was not a trap.
However, I had to erase the possibility of a trap from my mind now. Since we had already entered here, I would trust Zhuge Yan. Faith was strength in itself, and doubt was weakness in itself. If one was to push forward with something, faith was better than doubt.
I gestured to Peng Chae-hyang. We had laid out our route meticulously. To be precise, Zhuge Yan had laid out our route truly meticulously.
Amidst the dense formations and mechanism formations, Zhuge Yan had halted them one by one. We had to take only that path. Because if a formation or mechanism triggered, our stealthy infiltration would be exposed.
Peng Chae-hyang and I moved slowly, clad in black face cloths and night-travel attire.
—It truly is terribly huge.
—The Zhuge Clan is probably the wealthiest next to the Namgung Clan. And since they have many books, they need places to store them as well.
We conversed via voice transmission. I had visited the Zhuge Clan a few times, but I had only visited a few specific places, so exploring the entirety like this was a first.
Through the path Zhuge Yan had arranged, we avoided five mechanisms and two formations. First, we had to stop by the Outer Garden to meet Zhuge Yan. The Outer Garden was located on the outer perimeter in any sect or clan, so it was easy to find.
—It is over there.
Peng Chae-hyang found the Outer Garden first. Seeing Peng Chae-hyang’s pointing finger, I nodded as well.
Being the hour of the third watch, there were no servants or guards wandering about, making it desolate. With formations and mechanism formations packed so tightly, having guards wander about would rather be dangerous.
—Let us enter.
Naturally, we could not enter through the main gate of the Outer Garden, and the room at the right end was said to be Zhuge Yan’s office.
Walking lightly half a step at a time, we reached the front of Zhuge Yan’s door. Lifting the door handle and knocking lightly, a presence was heard from within.
Soon, the door opened and Zhuge Yan appeared. It sounded somewhat strange, but it was the Zhuge Yan I had wanted to see so much.
As if she had been preparing already, Zhuge Yan was also dressed in black night-travel attire like us.
“You have arrived. Please come inside for now.”
We slipped into Zhuge Yan’s room lest anyone see. Zhuge Yan’s room felt like an intermediate safe zone amidst the bloodthirsty Zhuge Clan manor.
“You look quite gaunt. You must have had severe peace-of-mind distress lately.”
“There has never been a day where it was not severe. Perhaps I simply cannot endure it anymore. As time goes on, it becomes difficult to manage my expression.”
Zhuge Yan gave a bitter smile. Speaking of expressions reminded me that in my past life, Zhuge Yan had walked around wearing some strange iron mask. Had she walked around wearing a mask because of such shattered emotions?
There was no time to indulge in sentiment. Since Zhuge Yan was colluding internally and I had infiltrated enemy territory.
“The plan is simple. You steal the Heavenly King Divine Art secret manual and escape while taking me and Won with you.”
“Good.”
“Let us move immediately. Because the place where the Heavenly King Divine Art secret manual is located cannot be traversed through the formation unless one is a person of the clan.”
“Right.”
Zhuge Yan, Peng Chae-hyang, and I exchanged glowing gazes.
The unprecedented looting of the Zhuge Clan had begun.