Chapter 308: Zhuge Clan (6)
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As long as I had entered the Zhuge Clan, whether Zhuge Yan had consumed the gu worm was no longer important. Because if she had failed to keep her promise and tried to deceive me, it would already have ended with that.
However, Zhuge Yan did not turn hostile upon seeing us. Rather, it felt as though she was relieved that we had come.
“Though I could deactivate the formations and mechanisms of the Outer Garden, the Inner Garden was difficult. Because the Inner Garden is where the Clan Head resides, it is a place that operates continuously at all times.”
“The Inner Garden servants will have to stay sharp when walking around.”
“Formation accidents do happen several times a year, after all.”
She spoke nonchalantly, as if such things happened in an ordinary noble clan as well. As far as I knew, the Zhuge Clan was the only place that deployed formations within their clan so pathologically.
“That is why, except for a few intersections, the Inner Garden is always one-way. It is to prevent formation accidents. Because if one takes a wrong turn, one has to take quite a detour. It would be best to go in one try if possible.”
“Normally, people ought to feel the greatest sense of security in their own home. A house arranged as a one-way system. I never even imagined it.”
“Outsiders never have reason to enter all the way into the Zhuge Clan’s Inner Garden, so they do not know. I too found it unfamiliar at first, but grew used to it.”
“Unfamiliar?”
“Young Lady Peng beside you said she knew, did she not? That I am from a collateral branch.”
Peng Chae-hyang, who had remained silent all this time, flinched. Peng Chae-hyang wore a somewhat embarrassed face. Was it because it felt as though she had laid bare someone’s origin?
“It is fine. I am going to run away from the Zhuge Clan anyway. Origins no longer matter now.”
Zhuge Yan took the initiative first.
“Rather, I was grateful. Because someone of Young Lady Peng’s caliber remembered me.”
“I am hardly anyone special.”
“Young Lady Peng is a rising talent receiving attention in the martial world, while I am merely a component for the Clan Head. Our uses are different.”
“……Those are slightly sorrowful words.”
Peng Chae-hyang felt awkward. However, the Peng Chae-hyang I knew had not been such a treasured princess either. Because her father, Peng Gyeong-seung, had given her much cold treatment.
“Anyway. So, because I know the way, please follow me.”
Zhuge Yan clapped her hands softly.
Peng Chae-hyang and I nodded. Zhuge Yan quietly opened the door. As if newly oiled, the hinges did not make the slightest sound.
I walked while looking at Zhuge Yan’s small back. It was a distance where I could sever her neck right away if I stretched out a blade.
Only then was I able to trust Zhuge Yan. A person named Zhuge Yan was fundamentally similar to the me of my previous life. She was at least not someone who offered loyalty to the clan. She merely offered loyalty to the clan in order to survive.
If Zhuge Yan were to betray me here, regardless of what happened to me, Zhuge Yan would unconditionally die by my hands. There was no way Zhuge Yan did not know that fact. In that respect, the current situation was not a true trap. Zhuge Yan truly wished to escape from the Zhuge Clan.
Just before entering the Inner Garden, I asked quietly.
“By the way. Could you not simply flee in the night with your guard? Seeing him, it seems the guard possesses quite a bit of martial arts as well.”
“That is absolutely impossible. Do you know how many of the Zhuge Clan’s state secrets I hold? They would pursue me to the ends of the Central Plains.”
“Then is it not the same even if I take you out this time?”
“Because the you I know is not someone who would leave the Zhuge Clan alone.”
I let out a smirk.
“Then we should rewrite the contract. Rescuing Zhuge Yan and making the Zhuge Clan fall are on completely different levels of difficulty, are they not?”
“It is a similar story. If I disappear, the Zhuge Clan will fall within a year.”
“What immense confidence.”
“Because it is the truth.”
I knew very well that it was not mere confidence, but the truth. Because I had seen Zhuge Yan’s capability in my previous life.
In a perilous situation like now, with Zhuge Gyeom unable to regain his senses, the fact that the Zhuge Clan could endure was at least thanks to Zhuge Yan.
“Let us think about it slowly for now. After looting the Heavenly King Divine Art first.”
“Very well.”
Zhuge Yan nodded. We quietly entered the Inner Garden through a side gate. The Outer Garden had been desolate, but the stillness of the Inner Garden was murderous.
Because multiple formations overlapped, one could not properly spread one’s qi sense here. To martial artists, qi sense was like eyes. If restrictions were placed on one’s eyes while walking, feeling anxious was only natural. As if anxious, Peng Chae-hyang stuck slightly to my side.
We advanced very carefully and slowly. At times, Zhuge Yan even walked into areas like lawns that were not paths. Since she had said it was one-way, it meant that places that looked like paths were traps. The mindset of installing such traps even in the Inner Garden, which no one outside the clan could see, could only be described as venomous.
“The Heavenly King Divine Art secret manual is in the treasury behind the Clan Head Hall. Even so, there are guards there. If it is you, you can subdue them without making a sound, right?”
“Since I do not know the level of your guards, I cannot guarantee it.”
“I do not know the level of martial artists well either. Even so, would not someone of the Association Leader’s caliber belong to the considerably strong tier?”
Since Zhuge Yan was not a martial artist, she might not know well. That was something I had to see for myself to know. The only positive point was that because qi sense could not be spread, it was good for an ambush.
Still, just as Zhuge Yan said, it was also true that I could quietly handle ordinary clan guards.
The treasury was located at the back, visible when rounding the Clan Head Hall, and a considerably severe distortion of energy was felt near the Clan Head Hall. It meant that powerful formations were present to that extent.
Zhuge Yan, who had spoken quietly until now, also stiffened her expression and fell silent near the Clan Head Hall.
Only after putting the Clan Head Hall behind her did Zhuge Yan let out a deep sigh.
“We have passed the most dangerous place.”
“That is a relief.”
The path to the treasury was easier than expected. Apparently, because the Clan Head Hall was guarded most murderously with formations, they seemed to have left the treasury relatively loose.
“Over there.”
Zhuge Yan rested her back against the wall and gestured with her chin. On both sides of the tightly locked iron door were two men with wide-open eyes.
“Is that the treasury?”
“Yes.”
“They look formidable.”
Since I could not feel qi sense, it was impossible to confirm how strong they were. In the end, there was no choice but to actually clash with them.
However, the risk was too great. I shook my head at Zhuge Yan.
“Subduing both without sound seems impossible. To be precise, there is no need to do so.”
“Then what?”
“I have a method. Instead, you just open that door for me. Then I will slip inside through the gap.”
“Does that make any sense?”
“It does.”
Because natural energy was something profound and wondrous beyond measure.
“Chae-hyang, you stay still here. And conceal your body as much as possible.”
“Yes.”
Our respective tasks were established in orderly fashion. I closed my eyes and assimilated with natural energy. That immortal man had said so. That I possessed divine energy. If so, beyond merely assimilating with nature, even toying with it would be possible.
With a stiff expression, Zhuge Yan advanced toward the treasury. I followed behind Zhuge Yan’s back. Because I was assimilated with natural energy, those martial artists could not detect me.
As Zhuge Yan walked up lightly before the treasury, the martial artists grew wary and raised their swords. Confirming that the person approaching in the darkness was Zhuge Yan, they lowered their swords again.
“Outer Garden Hall Master?”
“I came because I have something urgent to check. I would like you to open the door.”
“……Because the treasury belongs to the Inner Garden, we cannot open it without the Clan Head’s permission.”
“I know. Do you think I am doing this because I do not know that? Do you not know what situation the clan is in right now?”
Zhuge Yan snapped sharply. Speaking in a low voice because of the dawn, her skill at disciplining subordinates was truly first-rate.
“Will you take responsibility if the clan is ruined because of you? Do you not know what heavy responsibilities I currently shoulder in the clan? Are you a person that helpful to the clan? Even more so than me?”
How bloodthirsty. If I were disciplined in such a manner, I would simply quit and leave.
“I do not mean that. It is merely that according to the principles……”
“Will you discuss principles even when the clan’s pillars are uprooted and the signboard is burned? What foolish words. A bottom-tier measure without a plan is negligence. Wrapping that in conviction is shamelessness.”
“……Understood. My apologies. Instead, we ask that you come out within a quarter of an hour.”
“I will handle it myself, so mind your own business.”
Zhuge Yan gestured with her chin in an arrogant posture. It was an acuity as if she had hidden seven blades on her tongue. When the iron door of the treasury closed, I released my assimilation with the energy and clicked my tongue.
“Your skill at cooking your subordinates is tremendous.”
“I think your side would not be far behind either.”
“I am not to that extent. Rather than giving such humiliation, I would simply cut them off.”
“That is because you are a merchant company person. If one is a clan person, one must go together through thick and thin. Because we are kin after all.”
“I did not know that either.”
“There are many things in the world one is better off not knowing. I did not want to know either.”
“There are many things in the world one is better off not knowing. I did not want to know either.”
Zhuge Yan spoke nonchalantly. But looking at the result, we had somehow managed to enter easily. Of course, since Peng Chae-hyang was outside, we had to grab the Heavenly King Divine Art secret manual as quickly as possible and flee.
“Do you know where it is?”
“In the treasury? No, managing the treasury is not under my jurisdiction.”
“Hmph. Then it means we have to search one by one.”
“Since we are stealing and running anyway, let us grab a hefty share.”
I looked at Zhuge Yan as if dumbfounded.
“You seem to have not a shred of lingering regret for the Zhuge Clan.”
“A shred of regret? I have never once liked the Zhuge Clan. I only held the surname because I could not choose it.”
Zhuge Yan spoke coldly.
I felt a strange sense of kinship with Zhuge Yan. Was not Zhuge Yan also a person who had never felt a sense of belonging within the fence called family? In a way, she had aspects more similar to me.
Of course, now was not the time to indulge in such sentiments. Just as Zhuge Yan said, since we were committing theft anyway, it was time to take a hefty share and leave.
“Though it is a bit awkward for an orthodox person to steal.”
“Though it is a bit awkward for an orthodox person to steal.”
“How surprising. I thought you would not hold such petty senses of belonging.”
“Calling it petty.”
“I thought you were a person of a more independent nature. Ah, take this. It is a Golden Toad Statue, and despite being this small and useless, it is worth five thousand taels of silver.”
Zhuge Yan tossed a golden frog figurine from the shelf toward me. Although it had the value of five thousand taels of silver, because it was not hers, she showed no hesitation.
“This is the Night Moon Sword Secret. Take it if you need it. It is said to be the formula of a fairly famous swordsman.”
Passing between the shelves, Zhuge Yan explained the important treasures one by one. Truly, one by one, there were many treasures that would shock people if brought out into the jianghu.
“The Zhuge Clan possessed virtually all the treasures of the Central Plains.”
“Because our clan’s martial power is weak, they say such desire for collecting has existed since ancient times.”
Passing a shelf, Zhuge Yan came to a sudden halt. An old book bound with green thread.
“Found it.”
And even before Zhuge Yan finished speaking, I could instinctively feel it.
That that.
“The Heavenly King Divine Art secret manual.”
“The Heavenly King Divine Art secret manual.”
Was indeed that.
It was a moment where an item to trade with the Martial Talent Shop was created after a long time.