Chapter 147
Chapter 147
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 147
Chapter Title: The Darkness of the Zhuge Clan
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Startled by the familiar voice, Geun-yeong whipped his head around.
His half-slipped mask came completely undone and fell to the ground as he tumbled backward, but Geun-yeong paid it no mind.
His eyes had caught sight of the one person he had desperately hoped not to see here.
“…Elder Council Head.”
“Yes, it is I, First Young Master. What brings you all the way here? Heh heh heh….”
The figure who appeared before Geun-yeong was a venerable old man.
The old man’s name was Zhuge Yong-hwi.
He was the head of the Elder Council, where the retired elders of the clan gathered.
“You look quite shocked. I hope you’re not injured anywhere? Come now, stand up.”
Yong-hwi approached Geun-yeong and extended his hand, looking exactly as he always did.
His snow-white hair and thick beard gave him the air of an immortal sage.
Even the warm, kindly gaze he fixed on Geun-yeong.
Yet that image clashed so starkly with this blood-soaked cavernous prison.
It almost made him wonder if he was trapped in a terrible nightmare.
‘…Get a grip.’
Geun-yeong shook his head.
It couldn’t be a dream.
He was merely weak-willed, wishing it were one.
This blood-drenched cavern,
the man turned monster by the Violent Blood Technique,
they were all unavoidable, inescapable reality.
Repeating this to himself, Geun-yeong steadied his mind, recalled his original purpose, and reminded himself what truly mattered.
Forget the shock of his worst fears being confirmed,
and the lament of encountering Yong-hwi here of all places.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was Mu-yeong’s safety.
Picturing his brother’s face in his mind, Geun-yeong gritted his teeth.
He ignored Yong-hwi’s outstretched hand, stood on his own, and glared straight at him.
Yong-hwi withdrew his hand and gave a wry smile, sensing the resentment etched on Geun-yeong’s fierce expression.
“Oh dear, it seems the First Young Master is angry with this old man.”
“…I won’t ask what this place is or what you’re doing here.”
“Ho ho, then what exactly do you intend to ask?”
His eyes widened slightly in surprise, then curved deeply at Geun-yeong’s next question.
“Where is Mu-yeong, my brother?”
“…Heh heh heh. You came here all alone just to find your brother? What admirable brotherly love.”
“Stop dodging and answer straight.”
Geun-yeong’s voice brimmed with fury.
Wiping the smile from his lips at the icy response, Yong-hwi stroked his white beard.
“Well now. I don’t know why you’re looking for this young master here.”
“Don’t play dumb. Mu-yeong’s letter to me clearly said to investigate this place.”
“…So that’s how you found your way here.”
Having grasped the situation from Geun-yeong’s words, Yong-hwi clicked his tongue briefly and shrugged as if there was no helping it.
“Since you already know, there’s no point hiding it. Yes, this young master is here.”
“…! Where? Is he safe? Any injuries…!”
“Calm down, now. You’ll see him soon enough anyway.”
Yong-hwi raised a hand to halt Geun-yeong’s barrage of questions and spoke with loaded meaning.
Right then, a group of figures surged forward from behind Yong-hwi.
“Th-these are…!”
Geun-yeong’s eyes bulged as he took in the group.
No, saying he took them in was inaccurate.
They all wore black masks concealing their faces.
Shadow Corps.
Unlike the Heavenly Vanguard, they were the clan’s secret enforcers, unknown to the world and answering only to the Elder Council.
Their appearance now meant…
“…You plan to take me too?”
“If you come quietly, we’ll escort you with all due respect. You are one of the pillars who will lead our clan’s future, after all.”
In other words, refusal meant capture by force.
And naturally, Geun-yeong had no intention of complying.
-Shing
His sword slowly slid from its sheath, aimed at Yong-hwi.
Wrinkle-lined sorrow surfaced on Yong-hwi’s face at the sight.
“Heavens, you’re forcing this old man to commit a sin after all?”
“…Hah.”
Geun-yeong let out a hollow laugh at the absurd words.
It was as if he had committed no wrong until now.
How could he be so brazen after everything Geun-yeong had witnessed?
“You’re saying researching the Violent Blood Technique isn’t a crime? This is a grave sin that could doom the entire clan!”
The bloodthirsty monster of a man and the prison holding him.
Those two alone made it obvious what had transpired here.
Research into demonic arts, and human experimentation to achieve it.
His father, obsessed with martial prowess, and the clan elders had crossed a line they never should have.
Geun-yeong glared at Yong-hwi, his face filled with rage and betrayal.
But Yong-hwi’s response beggared belief.
“A sin? This is devotion. Every member of the Zhuge bloodline has sacrificed themselves willingly for the clan’s shining future.”
“What nonsense is… Wait, bloodline…?”
Geun-yeong snapped his head toward the prison at those weighty words he couldn’t ignore.
“Kuaaaagh!”
The man still bellowed in rage, flailing his arms beyond the bars.
Geun-yeong examined his face closely.
A face overgrown with unkempt beard, as if neglected for ages.
But peering carefully, bit by bit, he glimpsed traces of the man’s former self.
Realization dawned, and Geun-yeong’s eyes shook wildly.
“Un-Uncle… Cheon-kyeong?”
The Uncle Cheon he spoke of was Zhuge Cheon-kyeong, his father Su-kyeong’s younger brother.
Like Mu-yeong in the past, he had left the clan on a long-term mission—only to end up a blood-craving monster locked in this prison.
Geun-yeong frantically scanned the cavernous prison again.
Dozens of cells, by rough count.
“…All the ones locked here are…?”
Yong-hwi nodded at Geun-yeong’s unfinished question.
“Yes, all of them are our blood kin. My own son is among them.”
He’s insane.
That was the first thought that flashed through Geun-yeong’s mind at Yong-hwi’s answer.
Sacrificing unrelated people was wrong, of course—but using their own blood kin as guinea pigs for demonic arts…!
Geun-yeong trembled at the realization that all those who had left the clan on “long-term missions” had become test subjects.
Then it hit him that Mu-yeong was here too, and his face drained of color.
“N-No way, Mu-yeong too…?”
“We were just in need of fresh subjects. This young master will be the final piece of the undertaking.”
Geun-yeong finally exploded at Yong-hwi’s nonchalant reply.
“Uwaaaah—!”
With a roar, he charged at Yong-hwi.
From his fingertips unfolded the Shining Star Sword Technique, honed over a lifetime.
-Kang!
Geun-yeong’s sword slashed fiercely.
But his attack was blocked by the Shadow Corps warriors who stepped forward to shield Yong-hwi.
“He is the future of our clan. Even if it costs your lives, you must not harm him.”
Yong-hwi retreated and issued a firm command to the Shadow Corps warrior blocking Geun-yeong.
An unreasonable order: subdue the bloodthirsty Geun-yeong, sword drawn, without injury.
Yet the Shadow Corps moved in perfect unison, without a whisper of complaint.
“Out of my way—!”
Half out of his mind, Geun-yeong thrashed wildly, unleashing the forms of the Shining Star Sword Technique.
It was only a cut above the third-rate Three Disasters Sword Technique, but decades of grueling training had honed its edge razor-sharp.
And the Shadow Corps’ response to those sharp strikes was simple.
-Puk!
“Wha…?”
The sound of sharp metal tearing flesh.
One Shadow Corps member threw himself defenselessly onto Geun-yeong’s blade without even swinging his own weapon.
And it didn’t end there.
He shoved the sword deeper into his own gut, then seized Geun-yeong’s hand gripping the hilt.
Geun-yeong could no longer swing.
The other Shadow Corps members seized the opening and swarmed him.
“Urk, let go! Let go, I said!”
Geun-yeong was swiftly subdued and forced to kneel before Yong-hwi.
“First Young Master. I have no desire to make an enemy of you.”
“Shut your mouth! To think I revered a monster like you as my grandfather’s equal…!”
“Won’t you try to understand me? Understand us?”
“What am I supposed to understand? Your demonic arts research? Sacrificing your own blood kin? Turning my brother into a monster?”
“Our desire to be scorned no longer!”
“…!”
Yong-hwi’s voice rose sharply at Geun-yeong’s biting words.
Geun-yeong flinched.
The face that always beamed with kindly warmth was now hideously contorted.
The resentment hidden in the wrinkles of age burst forth with the distortion.
“You know it well enough, First Young Master—how the other clans and sects have viewed us.”
“That’s…”
Yong-hwi poured out the scorn he had bottled up, seeing Geun-yeong momentarily speechless.
“A half-baked martial house without a single true master, merchants who don’t know their place, a disgrace to the Five Great Clans. Those are the things we’ve heard all these years, and we couldn’t even properly protest.”
“…….”
“That effort to spare the next generation such shame—is it truly so wrong?”
Geun-yeong couldn’t refute immediately.
Memories flooded back of his time as branch head of the Zhuge Clan in Wulin.
Wulin’s bustling commerce meant he met outsiders far more than those back at headquarters.
He knew better than anyone how others saw the Zhuge Clan.
-The Zhuge Clan? Aren’t they just worthless scum who bought their way into the Five Great Clans with money? Hahaha!
Mockery and disdain.
-W-We’ll entrust our cargo to another escort firm. Sorry…
Wary, suspicious glances.
He couldn’t help but know, and he had swallowed his rage knowingly time and again.
So he understood exactly what Yong-hwi meant.
But understanding the grievance didn’t mean condoning the actions.
“…I won’t sacrifice my blood kin or my brother to erase that scorn and suspicion. Spare me your lip service about devotion. These people are victims of nothing but your greed.”
“Heh…”
Yong-hwi’s face clouded with regret as he took in the fury and disgust blazing in Geun-yeong’s eyes.
What an upright young man.
That was precisely why he knew he wouldn’t accept it, why he hadn’t planned to reveal it until everything was done.
Yet to be discovered now, when the undertaking was nearly complete.
‘Just one step left.’
The undertaking was reaching its end.
Soon, an absolute master bearing the Zhuge name would be born.
The strongest warrior in the world, surpassing even the Ten Supremes.
The supreme under heaven with the Zhuge surname.
Only one step remained until that birth.
He couldn’t let one man, Geun-yeong, ruin the step they had awaited for over twenty years.
“…If you cannot join us, we cannot let you leave this place.”
He would likely be imprisoned for many long years.
Perhaps forever.
Sensing this, Geun-yeong struggled to break free, but the Shadow Corps’ grip was ironclad, his efforts futile.
“Take him away.”
As the silent, bowing Shadow Corps moved to haul Geun-yeong to his feet at Yong-hwi’s command,
-Shwaaak!
A gleaming crescent moon flew in from the entrance of the dark prison.