The Forgotten Art of the Formation Sword
Had he heard such nonsense in his previous life, he would have dismissed it out of hand, asking what sort of spoiled food the speaker had swallowed to spew such drivel. Or perhaps he would have questioned whether the man had lost his mind entirely.
A Zhuge Clan that neglected mechanisms and formations? That was no different from claiming the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult no longer revered the law of the strong.
Yet, absurdly enough, Namgung Yun could immediately deduce the cause.
"Is it because of the 'Respect for the Strong'?"
"It is."
He had already suspected as much after witnessing the state of the Namgung Clan and the Anhui Mo Clan. From the stray rumors he had picked up in his travels, he knew full well that the entire Central Plains was drunk on this dog-eat-dog ethos.
Still, hearing that the Zhuge Clan had abandoned their legacy of mechanisms and formations for such a reason left him dumbfounded.
"And how is that working out for you?"
"It isn't."
Naturally.
The Zhuge Clan's martial arts had always lagged behind the rest of the Nine Factions and One Sect and the Five Great Clans. Suddenly prioritizing pure martial force wasn't about to make them competitive with the other great lineages overnight.
"So do you know nothing of formations at all?"
"I know some," Zhuge Chim replied. "If we were to abandon mechanisms and formations entirely, we might truly lose our standing as a noble clan."
How ironic.
To keep pace with the martial world's obsession with brute strength, they had chosen to prioritize raw martial arts over mechanisms and formations. Yet because their martial arts remained inferior, they couldn't bring themselves to cast aside the very legacy they sought to neglect.
Besides, the only reason the Zhuge Clan was invited on this expedition in the first place was to deal with traps and formations.
Whatever desperate efforts the clan had poured into remaking themselves, the world's perception of them hadn't changed in the slightest.
"Regardless, we need to move," Yun said. "As you pointed out, rescue is unlikely to come. And more importantly..."
Clang!
Yun flicked his blade, deflecting a razor-sharp claw that lunged from the pitch-black shadows.
"...if we stand around here, these things will tear us to shreds."
Zhuge Chim's face drained of color.
It was a harsh ordeal for someone with virtually no Jianghu experience. Yet the world was never so kind as to tailor its trials to a man's readiness.
Chim seemed to grasp that reality, tightening his white-knuckled grip on his sword.
At least he isn't completely useless.
Yun had worried the young master might freeze in terror and confusion, but Chim possessed more spine than that.
They do call him the rising hope of the Zhuge Clan, after all.
"Hah!"
Clang!
The stance Chim took to parry the Beastman lunging at him was surprisingly clean. Appearing roughly three years older than Yun, Chim was on the younger side among the search party.
Reaching First-rate at that age is fairly impressive.
Even among prestigious orthodox clans, where cultivation progress far outpaced the Jianghu average, his advancement was noteworthy. Judging by the demeanor of his elders, they had brought him along much like Namgung In or Mo Unseon—a prodigy meant to build connections and gain field experience.
Though they certainly never anticipated walking into a slaughterhouse like this.
"Which way do we go?" Chim asked.
Though he handled the Beastmen's strikes passably, his bewildered hesitation betrayed his inexperience.
"Follow me."
"...Do you understand this formation?"
"A little."
"Ah... now that I think about it, the Namgung Clan has always possessed a profound insight into formations."
Admiration shone in Chim's eyes. It was astonishing enough for someone so young to reach the First-rate realm, but to possess knowledge of formations as well?
Yun took the lead, with Chim falling in behind him. True to his word, Yun advanced with unhesitating strides.
Yet that did not mean their escape was easy.
"Khhk!"
A strained groan slipped past Chim's lips. Even focusing entirely on defense, the relentless onslaught of the Beastmen was more than he could bear. Worse, their ferocity only seemed to mount with every passing breath.
Damn it!
He slipped. A raking claw bypassed his guard, darting straight for his throat. Chim gritted his teeth, bracing for the worst.
Clang!
Yun spun around mid-stride, deflecting the lethal strike with contemptuous ease. Before Chim could even breathe a sigh of relief over his spared life, he had to scramble to block the next wave of attacks.
"Thank you!" he gasped, not forgetting his manners even in the chaos.
"Don't mention it."
Time and again after that, Yun stepped in to save Chim from fatal blows.
This is too much!
The physical prowess of each Beastman rivaled a First-rate martial artist. On top of their superior numbers, they lurked within the impenetrable gloom to launch relentless ambushes. That Zhuge Chim, who had only recently crossed the threshold of the First-rate realm, had survived this long was nothing short of miraculous. It was possible only because their movements were simplistic, and their presence was easy to detect so long as they broke cover.
We can't keep going like this.
In truth, Yun and Chim were being driven in the opposite direction of where they wanted to go. And with every step backward, the surrounding darkness grew heavier, thick and suffocating like congealing blood.
Fortunately, the Beastmen's attacks began to taper off.
Yet neither Yun nor Chim felt the slightest sense of relief.
"Are you holding up?"
"I-I'm fine," Chim answered through ragged breaths.
His stamina wasn't the issue; it was the sheer mental strain. Every clash was a gamble with death, like walking across thin ice over an abyss. Even so, his intellect remained sharp.
"They're herding us. Which means the path you chose must be the right one, Young Master Namgung."
He managed to deduce that even in the middle of this chaos?
He truly was a remarkable mind.
"However, our current strength isn't enough to break through," Chim continued. "...Or rather, my strength isn't."
He was holding Yun back.
The Zhuge Clan's generational intellect and his rigorous training to assess situations rationally forced him to look upon his circumstances with cold, terrifying clarity.
"Young Master Namgung, leave me and go alone. You should be able to break out by yourself."
The latter part was little more than wishful thinking without proof, but it was an undeniable truth that Yun's chances would skyrocket without dead weight dragging him down.
"No," Yun replied flatly.
"Why?"
"Because leaving you behind would not be a Chivalric Act."
"Is this really the time to gamble your life on chivalry?!"
"Yes."
For Namgung Yun, who lived his second life with the singular aim of reaching the realm he had failed to attain in his past, it was the only possible answer. But to Zhuge Chim, it was utterly dumbfounding.
"If I were the kind of man to give up now, I wouldn't have jumped in here in the first place."
"..."
No matter how one looked at it, it was a foolish choice. Yet as the beneficiary whose survival chances had just been preserved by that very folly, Chim could hardly criticize him. Even if his own life hadn't hung in the balance, he doubted he could have spoken against it.
He is dazzling.
Chim thought so from the bottom of his heart. By the nature of their clan, the Zhuge prioritized the mind over the heart, reason over emotion, and pragmatic gain over romantic ideals. Chim, too, had been shaped by those values; under normal circumstances, such words would have moved him very little.
Yet human nature is fickle; when one becomes the beneficiary of such foolishness, perspective changes entirely.
And right now, Chim was that beneficiary.
"They call you the Little Chivalrous Hero, do they not?"
"They do."
"It suits you remarkably well."
"Haha, I appreciate the compliment."
That sobriquet was living proof that the path he walked was not wrong, and Yun took genuine pride in it. Chim could sense that pride, and he did not find it unearned in the least.
"Very well. Since the Little Chivalrous Hero says so, I must do my part as well."
The form of address had changed; Chim was formally recognizing Yun's title.
"However, it remains a fact that we have little hope of breaking out as we are."
It wasn't despair speaking, but a cold, lucid appraisal of reality.
To that, Yun asked, "Will you place your trust in me?"
"...I don't know what you have in mind, but if it comes from you, Little Chivalrous Hero, I will trust it. Speak without hesitation. So long as it brings no dishonor to my parents or my clan, I will heed whatever you ask."
Yun opened his mouth.
And as he spoke, Zhuge Chim's expression twisted into something utterly bizarre.
The Zhuge Clan neglecting formations? When Yun first heard that, he had found it utterly preposterous.
Part of it was because formations were the clan's very identity, but there was another reason.
Those Zhuge bastards used to apply formations directly to their swordplay.
It was such a unique style that he remembered it clearly. Whenever he fought members of the Zhuge Clan in his past life, their blades traced the most bizarre, baffling trajectories. By all conventional martial logic, their sword paths made no sense whatsoever; had any of his cult disciples swung a blade like that, he would have beaten them black and blue for clowning around in training.
Yet the results it produced were astonishing.
A single thrust would split into two phantom blades before an opponent's eyes; the ground beneath their feet would seem to writhe; and the ambient qi in the air would suddenly condense into sharp, murderous forms that lashed out from blind spots.
Nor did their formation-infused swordsmanship stop there.
When executed within an active formation, their blade technique resonated with the array, exponentially magnifying the power of both sword and spell alike.
What was it called? The Formation Sword?
Of course, the Heavenly Demon had simply shattered all of it with sheer, overwhelming might.
Even so, the sheer ingenuity of the art had left an indelible impression on his mind.
The martial art Zhuge Chim was using wasn't the Formation Sword.
When Yun had questioned him earlier, Chim admitted that because the clan was phasing out formations, that particular sword art had naturally been sidelined as well.
Idiots.
It had taken superhuman restraint for Yun not to spit the word aloud.
No matter how much the era worshipped brute force, how could they discard the most ingenious, proprietary martial art the Zhuge Clan possessed?
Did they face so much mockery over their formations that they grew to despise them entirely?
That was about the only explanation that made any sense.
Still a bunch of fools.
Acting like that when they had no sword art superior to the Formation Sword in their repertoire.
Fortunately, Chim admitted that he had, in fact, learned the Formation Sword. It was a stroke of luck, though it only made Yun view the Zhuge Clan with even greater pity.
Just as they half-heartedly cling to formations while trying to reject them, they did the exact same thing with this art.
Still, the necessary piece was in place.
They were currently trapped inside an active formation. If Chim unleashed the Formation Sword, couldn't he turn the array's own power against it?
Of course, doing so was far from simple.
"To pull that off, I would need a thorough understanding of this formation," Chim had protested.
"I will provide the necessary details," Yun countered.
"I trust you, Little Chivalrous Hero, and I don't doubt your information would be accurate. But knowing the mechanics of a formation doesn't mean one can instantly manipulate its energy."
Understanding the mnemonics of a secret manual didn't mean one could execute the technique without prior cultivation.
"You don't need to understand all of it," Yun said. "Grasping just a fraction will be enough to harness part of the formation's power."
"With all due respect, attempting that will cause the formation's qi to violently backlash."
Formations were not child's play.
One of the absolute prerequisites for the Formation Sword was an intimate comprehension of the active array. That was precisely why the art had never spread across the Jianghu, remaining the exclusive domain of the Zhuge Clan.
Yet Yun remained resolute.
"I will handle the backlash."
"But..."
"Do you have an alternative?"
"..."
Never oppose a plan without offering a solution.
That cornerstone of Zhuge logic clamped Chim's mouth shut.
"...Very well. I will follow your lead."
Though he could not entirely conceal his anxiety, Chim had nodded.
Whoosh!
Chim's blade cut through the air.
Even while they conversed, the Beastmen's raids had never ceased. Now that they were moving once more toward the Life Gate, the frequency of attacks spiked violently.
Moments ago, Chim would have been overwhelmed and driven backward, but not now.
Clang!
He deflected an incoming claw. The follow-up strike, and the one immediately after that—he parried every single one.
Thud.
He took another step forward.
The assaults grew fiercer, yet neither retreated. Nor was there any reason to.
It's working! It actually works!
Swinging his sword again, Chim was awestruck.
By drawing upon the formation's latent power using the guidance Yun provided, a completely different weight infused Chim's blade. Moreover, by tuning into the ebb and flow of the formation, he gained faint premonitions of the Beastmen's ambushes just before they struck.
Naturally, holding the line became vastly easier.
Yet nothing came without a cost.
Wuuush—
The currents of qi weaving through the surrounding air twisted violently out of shape.
The very backlash Chim had feared was upon them.
Yet it never had the chance to inflict harm.
Thump!
A burst of pure qi discharged from Yun's palm struck the swirling vortex.
The chaotic spiritual energy of the formation instantly scattered into harmless wisps.
Once again, Zhuge Chim could only marvel in disbelief.