Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: The Sama Clan's Good-for-Nothing Young Master (4)
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"Has everyone gathered?"
Na-ryong Sama Hon, showing a serious demeanor for once instead of his usual drunken state.
But was it because he still hadn't earned his subordinates' trust?
Not only did they mistake his serious expression for a hangover...
"What could the family head possibly do?"
"Yeah, right. Won't he just beg the deputy head to handle it again?"
"From what I know, his martial prowess is nothing special either."
The harsh price of wandering lost in the swamp for so long.
Now, the Sama Clan had lost all credibility from those around them and was being thoroughly undervalued.
"You lot! How dare you speak that way about the family head?!"
The one who knew better than anyone just how brilliantly talented Sama Hon was—Furious Flame Elder Sama Baek-hyeon—roared in fury.
"Deputy Head, it's fine. We need to focus, so keep it quiet."
"Understood, Family Head."
Sama Hon gave a slight smile.
It was because Sama Baek-hyeon, who stood by him unwaveringly whether he shone brightly or crashed miserably, felt so precious and grateful.
'For Deputy Head Sama Baek-hyeon if nothing else... I must protect it no matter what!'
Sama Hon stared piercingly at the subordinates casting him distrustful glances and steeled his resolve.
He didn't mind that they didn't believe in him.
Their distrust was entirely his own responsibility.
Still, he vowed to save them all.
"Huuu."
Sama Hon slowly loosened his body, then deployed the supreme formation he had secretly acquired and mastered from a manual—one with the highest completion he could achieve at his current level.
He activated the Dream Mist Barrier Formation.
As it was a formation personally crafted by Ma Ancheonnoi Sama Hui, the supreme strategist and unparalleled formation master, its reliability was immense.
Shwaaaaa!
Normally, formations made by Sama Hui were nearly impossible for ordinary folk or common warriors to replicate perfectly.
No—even seasoned formation experts could only manage clumsy imitations at best.
Yet here it was.
Behold the waves of pure white mist spreading like mad.
The implication was crystal clear.
The Dream Mist Barrier Formation, transcending 200 years, was finally unfolding from new hands.
Ooh, oooooh!
Truly exceptional arts mesmerized even outsiders at a glance, in rapturous splendor.
Whether martial techniques or formations, it made no difference.
The Dream Mist Barrier Formation Sama Hon was deploying transcended mere formation work—it appeared as wondrous illusionary sorcery, astonishing and profound.
"I-Impossible! When did the Family Head gain such power?!"
"Didn't you know? Even rotten, he's still a top-grade one. Our Family Head was once hailed as the Sama Clan's greatest talent in history."
"Our Family Head does it when the time comes."
Those who had quietly endured the usual disparagements.
In other words, the rare few subordinates who truly knew Sama Hon's worth stepped forward slyly to praise him.
The Dream Mist Barrier Formation was that extraordinary.
Shwaaaaa!
With perfect completion, the Dream Mist Barrier Formation spewed forth pure white mist, isolating and thoroughly shielding the Sama Clan's main hall.
As it completely severed ties with the outside, the subordinates leaped in unbridled joy, one and all.
"Family Head! When on earth did you learn such a formation?!"
Even Deputy Head Sama Baek-hyeon approached him, beaming with delight.
He had long known of Sama Hon's exceptional talent as a strategist and formation master, even before sending him to the Heavenly Martial Academy.
'But that talent had vanished as if castrated after he returned from the Heavenly Martial Academy.'
So he had wondered if he'd been mistaken all this time—but no.
Sama Baek-hyeon's discernment was spot on.
There were fewer than three formation masters in the world today who could deploy something like this.
"Did you learn it at the Heavenly Martial Academy?"
"W-Well..."
Sama Hon faltered, unsure where to begin explaining—right then.
Kwaaaaaang!
The unbelievable happened.
In a shocking spectacle of colossal sword aura he'd never witnessed before—beyond imagination—the Dream Mist Barrier Formation he'd poured his all into was disarmingly dismantled as if waiting for this moment.
'This... this can't be happening.'
Sama Hon, the Sama Clan's so-called good-for-nothing yet bearer of greater extraordinariness, watched the formation crumble in devastation with unprecedented bewilderment.
How on earth was this possible?
A bit earlier, the moment the Heavenly Demon's group spotted the Dream Mist Barrier Formation.
"The Dream Mist Barrier Formation... You mean the legendary supreme formation created by Strategist Ma Ancheonnoi Sama Hui?!"
Sogang, the passionate follower of the Heavenly Demon from back then, cried out in astonishment.
"That's right. That very formation."
The Heavenly Demon nodded in agreement.
For reference, the Dream Mist Barrier Formation was the one deployed to protect treasures and assets in the Demonic Cult's hidden Central Plains secret vault, which the Heavenly Demon had raided earlier to aid Ghost Sword Manor.
Its signature feature: billowing fog and mist that ensnared foes as if walking in a dream.
"Then you know how to break it too, right?"
"Of course. There are two ways."
The Heavenly Demon promptly drew the Heavenly Lord Demon Dragon Sword, as if he'd been waiting.
As he gripped it, Yang Hui-gun, attending at his side, gazed in rapture.
'Behold the killing intent and perfection radiating when the Heavenly Demon wields the Heavenly Lord Demon Dragon Sword.'
For one walking the sword path, no stance or form could be more flawless.
To Yang Hui-gun, the Heavenly Demon's display was the ideal, the very paragon.
"The first method is orthodox: a formation master finds the life gate and dismantles it. The second method is—!"
Recalling how he'd broken the secret vault's Dream Mist Barrier Formation just months ago, the Heavenly Demon calmly swung the Heavenly Lord Demon Dragon Sword.
The second way to break the Dream Mist Barrier Formation—a special provision by Ma Ancheonnoi Sama Hui.
It was none other than executing the first stance of the Heavenly Demon Asura Heart Sword—the supreme sword art only the supreme-over-all-fiends Demonic Cult Leader, the Heavenly Demon, could wield.
Sama Hui had anticipated the Heavenly Demon's poor memory for formations and thus designed it so that unleashing Asura Vast Heart would dismantle the Dream Mist Barrier Formation perfectly, regardless of power.
To illustrate: Sama Hui had crafted the formation's lock to fit only the Heavenly Demon's universal key.
Kwaaaaaang!
The Asura Vast Heart stance slid forth magnificently, its colossal sword aura cleaving the formation itself in twain just before completion!
The legendary Dream Mist Barrier Formation, unbreakable by any, yielded flawlessly as if expectant, disgorging the shielded Sama Clan main hall.
Simultaneously, the pure white mist and fog vanished clean away, heralding its end.
"I-Impossible! How could the Dream Mist Barrier Formation...!"
With the formation's collapse, Sama Hon and his subordinates finally faced the Heavenly Demon's group.
They panicked greatly, confronting these total strangers.
"Found you."
The Heavenly Demon easily pinpointed the one who had deployed the Dream Mist Barrier Formation.
His senses for talent and genius were unmatched; he couldn't be wrong.
"You're that Sama Clan's good-for-nothing family head, right?"
The Heavenly Demon approached Sama Hon and asked.
'He doesn't resemble Hui much.'
Unlike Yang Hui-gun, who was a spitting image of Loyal Ghost Sword Yang U-ryang, Sama Hon differed greatly from Sama Hui.
Sama Hui boasted androgynous beauty that blurred gender lines, whereas Sama Hon had a gentle, cute impression with strong masculine traits.
Yet he was certain because:
'Those sparkling, vibrant eyes brimming with spirit. That's just like Hui.'
It was the distinctive gaze overflowing with keen intellect unique to brilliant minds.
Gazing into Sama Hon's eyes evoked the illusion of seeing Sama Hui himself.
As the Heavenly Demon drew near, staring intently at Sama Hon, the subordinates bristled.
"How dare you address the Family Head so rudely?!"
"Good-for-nothing or not, he's our Sama Clan's leader!"
The Sama Clan warriors reacted fiercely to the young Heavenly Demon's casual address.
No matter how useless, he was their family head—they'd curse him themselves.
But Sama Hon's reaction was odd.
"C-Could you be...?!"
Sama Hon stared at the Heavenly Demon in utter shock.
"The Six Directions Array and now the Dream Mist Barrier Formation. You're Sama Hui's successor, aren't you?"
"What?!"
Sama Hon's shock paled next to Sama Baek-hyeon's fervent reaction to the Heavenly Demon's precise words.
How could anyone from the Sama Clan not know Ma Ancheonnoi Sama Hui?
Every ambitious soul dreaming of fame had resented him.
"I... I..."
Sama Hon vaguely guessed who Gunryong was.
For some reason, he hesitated briefly before shaking his head vigorously.
"What are you all doing? Drive out these intruders at once!"
Sama Hon made a firm decision and drew his fan.
He instinctively knew that if this handsome youth was truly that legendary figure, the Sama Clan's forces couldn't touch him.
There was only one answer.
For him to deploy another formation.
Thus, Sama Hon ordered his subordinates to buy time until completion, then calmly prepared the next one.
The next formation was surely the Chaos Great Agitation Formation, plunging foes into utmost turmoil.
Paaat!
Sama Hon was a mere step from finishing—
Kwajijijik!
The formation reverted to nothingness in an instant, disrupted by overwhelming energy before it could announce completion.
Naturally, the Heavenly Demon's profound inner arts had descended to interfere.
"I-Impossible. This can't be."
To destroy the formation's completion faster than it formed with mere inner arts projection.
At that insane level, Sama Hon gaped at the Heavenly Demon like a man possessed.
"Hui's descendant. I seek neither the Sama Clan's destruction nor your death. I simply... wished to feel Hui's lingering presence."
The Heavenly Demon spoke in an unexpectedly gentle tone.
Not solely because the youth before him was Hui's descendant or successor.
The Heavenly Demon harbored no grudge against the Sama Clan, nor any desire to destroy it.
As he said, he only wanted to know what became of Ma Ancheonnoi Sama Hui—whom he'd thought met the world's most peaceful end—and why his traces lingered here.
For a moment, Sama Hon wavered under the Heavenly Demon's earnest, sincere gaze.
"Don't spout nonsense! The Sama Clan has no more ties to... the Demonic Cult! None!"
Sama Hon cried out hysterically.
His shout voiced the Sama Clan's collective heart.
All bearing the Sama surname had suffered discrimination and prejudice in the martial world, great and small.
Thus, they recoiled in disgust at any mention of the Demonic Cult, the root cause.
"Why seek Ma Ancheonnoi Sama Hui from us innocent Sama Clan folk instead of your Demonic Cult? Didn't he abandon the clan ages ago for the Heavenly Mountains?!"
Sama Hon, voice breaking into sobs amid his cold shout—right then.
Shwaaaaa!
Another astonishing event unfolded.
Incredibly, radiant light surged from Sama Hon's chambers—the family head's room.
Strictly speaking, not his room but below it.
From near the secret passage only Sama Clan family heads could access, brilliant light welled up.
The truly astounding scene began now.
Swoooo!
Dazzling light strangely flashed toward the Heavenly Demon.
What could this mean?
"It's as if... Sama Hui is calling me to follow."