Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Sima Clan's Utter Wastrel (2)
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The heart of Henan Province and its bustling hub, Luoyang.
There, a clan bearing the surname Sima had flourished for generations.
They had banded together to form the Sima Clan, and while they lacked any particularly outstanding hereditary martial arts, they consistently produced a fair number of experts and renowned scholars through their sharp intellects and quick adaptability.
But those days were now little more than a distant memory.
"Even in peaceful times, only two warriors guarding the entrance?!"
The Heavenly Demon couldn't conceal his disappointment the moment he arrived at the Sima Clan gates with his group.
Just two men stood watch at the Sima Clan's entrance.
Of course, quality mattered more than quantity for warriors, but the issue was that even those warriors...
"They're barely scraping by as third-rate."
"With just two of them, how do they expect to fend off outsiders?"
Yang Hui-gun and Sogang were utterly baffled, feeling nothing but bewilderment and awkwardness.
What was even more absurd was the clan's exterior.
This clan had long dominated the prosperous lands of Luoyang, with wealth said to rival that of major merchant caravans, yet...
The entrance—the very face of any sect or clan—was not merely shabby but teetering on the edge of outright ruinous, while the plaque overhead was so worn and filthy it was caked in thick white dust.
Above all, having spent so long in the opulent Stone Family Manor just prior, the contrast was all the more glaring.
"Ahem, ahem. Does the exterior matter? It's the substance inside that counts."
The Heavenly Demon, who had been crestfallen, reminded himself that blood was thicker than water.
'The Sima Clan is like a hometown that took in Sima Hui when he had nowhere else to turn.'
He felt it improper to casually disparage such a place, so he held his tongue.
"R-right you are. Who knows? The inside might be dazzling."
Quick on the uptake and ever the smooth operator, Sogang chimed in agreement to brighten the mood.
And so, the Heavenly Demon finally approached the Sima Clan.
"Is the Sima Clan Lord at home?"
He drew on his signature hearty bravado, but the response was far from welcoming.
"Who're you?"
The two Sima Clan warriors—mere second-rate at best—glared down at the Heavenly Demon and his companions like so many beggars, addressing them with utter disdain.
"Ah, we come from Ghost Sword Manor..."
"Save it! The Lord has decreed no visitors for the foreseeable future."
"Looks like you came a long way. Tough break."
They smirked as they spoke words of regret, only stoking the Heavenly Demon's rising fury.
"Heh heh, come now. Surely there's some way around it?"
Sogang held back the Heavenly Demon on the verge of exploding and deftly slipped them a few silver pieces with practiced ease, but they wouldn't budge.
"You must not know our Lord well."
"Might sting to hear, but there's only two ways to see him."
"And what might those be?"
"Courtesan or musician. Pick one."
"......!!"
The Heavenly Demon was left utterly speechless.
Courtesans and musicians were mere banquet companions, weren't they?
'Seems the intel from the Stone Family Manor was spot on.'
The clan might not have produced world-shaking geniuses, but it had birthed fine lords down the generations—until lately, when dark clouds had gathered. And it looked like that was true.
"Found another way in, have we?"
The Heavenly Demon flashed his trademark easygoing grin.
"What do you..."
"What else? This."
The Heavenly Demon brandished his fist and struck without warning!
Thud! Thwack!
Mere second-rate warriors couldn't so much as react before collapsing, unaware of what had even hit them.
"Aaaagh! My eyes! My nose! My mouth!"
"Th-these damned intruders! Raise the alarm—invaders!"
The Sima Clan warriors, their faces suddenly bloodied and battered, wailed on the spot while sounding the alert.
"Better this way. No drawn-out bickering—just charge in and throw down."
Favoring bold pragmatism over stuffy protocol, the Heavenly Demon was pleased instead.
He'd thrash every Sima warrior that swarmed them, then school their fearlessly boozing wastrel of a young lord.
Yet even after time dragged on and they'd pressed inside to wait, not a single warrior appeared.
"What the hell is going on here?"
"Any normal clan or sect sends reinforcements the moment the gates fall, right?"
Sogang and Yang Hui-gun broke into cold sweats, flustered by the unprecedented situation.
The Heavenly Demon, meanwhile, stared silently ahead before simply advancing.
"If they won't come, all the better. Keep pushing forward."
Eventually, they'd reach the lord's quarters—no need to worry.
Even beggars thrive for three generations, as the saying went. Though the once-wealthy Sima Clan's buildings were crumbling and decrepit, the grounds were absurdly vast; they walked on with no sign of the main hall.
"Hm? Something... feels off."
The Ghost Shadow Sword Yang Hui-gun, after briskly covering about fifteen minutes' worth of ground, voiced his growing unease.
"Even a sprawling sect shouldn't take fast steps for a full quarter-hour without spotting a soul or a structure. Something's fishy."
Sogang might lack martial prowess, but his instincts were sharp; he spotted the anomaly at once.
"Heh heh heh heh. This is fun. Truly lives up to being Hui's home clan."
As the pair fretted, the Heavenly Demon kept flashing an enigmatic smile, clearly amused.
"Gunryong lordship. What's got you so pleased?"
When Sogang asked, the Heavenly Demon pointed at the ground.
"Check those footprints. Those marks. The bloodstains."
"Eh? No way?!"
Yang Hui-gun's voice rose in shock.
Every trace matched those left when he'd smashed the second-rate guards' faces at the entrance.
After advancing a full quarter-hour, they'd circled back to the very same spot—what did that imply?
"We just walked right back to the beginning?"
Sogang sensed the unnaturalness and turned to the Heavenly Demon.
"Not quite the start. If it were, we'd see that shabby entrance and those rude guards right around these traces. But do we?"
The Heavenly Demon subtly indicated the space behind the marks.
Incredibly, the entrance was gone. It was as if the same eerie space had been endlessly duplicated and stitched together.
"Wh-what manner of sorcery is this?"
Yang Hui-gun, prodigy though he was, had limited jianghu experience and reeled in astonishment.
"No sorcery."
"Then..."
"It's a formation."
The Heavenly Demon declared with utter confidence.
Formations were none other than his old comrade Maan Cheonnoe—Sima Hui's—specialty. He'd encountered them countless times in the Demonic Cult's secret vaults.
"F-formation?!"
"My first go with one!"
Yang Hui-gun and Sogang were thrown into total disarray at their inaugural brush with a true formation.
"If I may be so bold... Heavenly Demon, do you know formations well?"
Sogang mustered his courage to ask, barely masking his trepidation.
"Formations? Not really."
"Then how do you plan to break it?"
"I don't know formations well. But I know this one."
"What?!"
The Heavenly Demon's utterly unforeseen words left them stunned.
Sogang gawked at Yang Hui-gun, who met his eyes in mutual shock.
Every prior astonishment stemmed from the Heavenly Demon's martial might or battle-hardened savvy.
Never formations. Never raw intellect.
Yet here he claimed mastery of this otherworldly array—unbelievable.
"Is that for real?"
Yang Hui-gun stared at his liege, hesitating.
He'd have bought "punch through it," but this?
"Told you, it's real. You two won't believe me."
He sensed their skeptical stares.
No choice—time to prove it.
"Just don't go insisting brute force is the answer."
Irritated at being pegged a one-trick brute, he stepped forward.
"This is a simple variant of the Four Directions Array. Add up and down to east, west, south, north—call it the Six Directions Array."
Thus proving he wasn't some muscle-headed oaf but a man of well-rounded genius.
"The uninitiated flail across those six axes seeking escape, perishing of thirst. But the exit—departure from the array—is right here."
Without further ado, he led them back to the initial clash site.
From there, he took exactly six precise steps backward.
Swish. Swish!
After the sixth step, the impossible unfolded.
Fwaaah!
The endless space shattered like glass in an instant, unveiling the true interior of the Sima Clan.
As it turned out, they'd been circling a mere six paces from where they'd floored those second-rates.
"Ooh! Ooooh!"
"As expected of Gunryong lordship! You flipped the formation inside out! The ultimate trickster!"
They'd braced for a smash-fest, but he'd dismantled it with pinpoint precision. Sogang and Yang Hui-gun cried out in awe.
How did the Heavenly Demon know the Six Directions Array's weakness?
The answer was surprisingly straightforward.
"Hui used to deploy it all the time back in the day. Simple and handy."
The Heavenly Demon reminisced idly.
—Even you need to pick up at least one formation in this era, Heavenly Demon.
My Six Directions Array is basic yet incredibly versatile. Commit it to memory.
It's the foundation and gateway to every formation out there.
The young prodigy Sima Hui—demonic beauty in a man's form.
Without that earnest plea, the Heavenly Demon might still be lost.
'Smart move listening to Hui.'
Do that, and fortune falls in your lap—even in your sleep.
"H-heek! The formation's already broken?!"
"Someone who cracks the Six Directions?!"
Meanwhile, the two face-bashed warriors shot to their feet mid-bandaging, faces pale with terror.
"Ah, so that's why they posted just two second-rates at the gate."
"If top experts are unstoppable anyway, why bother with middling guards? Just trap 'em in the formation."
Yang Hui-gun and Sogang nodded, finally piecing it all together.
How brilliantly calculated.
'Maybe... that useless wastrel of a Sima Clan Lord is sharper than he lets on.'
The thought even crossed their minds.
The Heavenly Demon, expression inscrutable, waved cheerfully at the warriors as if meeting them for the first time.
"Pleased to meet you. Mind showing us to the Lord's quarters?"
After the brutal beatdown mere moments ago, his genuine warmth sent the pair into shuddering dread.