Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Sama Clan in Total Ruin (6)
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“What? What did you say? The records saying Sama Hui died peacefully in the Demonic Cult's Heavenly Mountain are all lies?!”
Sama Hon had cursed and hated Sama Hui.
Precisely because of that, he had also tracked and delved into his life's deeds.
Of course, he had encountered various conflicting opinions and rumors regarding his final moments.
Just like how famous figures' deaths always attract gossip, he had believed that was the case with Sama Hui as well.
What on earth had really happened?
For Sama Hon, the option of burning this precious record no longer existed.
As a strategist and scholar, he felt his scholarly passion and curiosity ignite, drawing him fully into the text.
-I feigned my death and finally ended my long, drawn-out life on Heavenly Mountain.
I thought my scheme for a fake death was flawless, but in hindsight, perhaps the Second Heavenly Demon and the leadership knew of it and tacitly allowed it.
“That makes sense. Executing him directly would be hard when he was the Demonic Cult's hero and symbol of the First Heavenly Demon, Ma-an Cheon-noe. But leaving him alive would hinder opening a new era.”
Thus, Sama Hui's quiet departure might have been a scenario satisfying everyone.
-And so, I found peace and freedom.
Or so I thought.
For me, Ma-an Cheon-noe Sama Hui—who had endured and triumphed through a life of daily brutal warfare—peace and freedom became poison instead.
At first, I even tried to revive my one and only liege, the greatest being in the world, Heavenly Demon Gunryong.
But the moment I stood before the vast Eternal Ice, I realized it.
This was not something I could accomplish alone.
After that, I roamed the vast Central Plains, secretly visiting even Ghost Sword Manor, enjoying pleasant days. But peaceful indolence, and a life where I could no longer proclaim my name across the Central Plains, proved utterly exhausting and agonizing.
“Ah, aah!”
At this point, Sama Hon ended up shedding tears.
He had clearly hated and cursed the man, yet now fully immersed, he had become one with him—Sama Hui was Sama Hon, and Sama Hon was Sama Hui.
That passage had evoked such deep empathy in him.
-After that, I lived a life untrue to myself.
My body aged, yet my mind's brilliance only sharpened with time, refusing to dull. But I could not reveal it to the world.
It wasn't living at all.
Sama Hon trembled uncontrollably.
He couldn't regain his composure at these passages that seemed to understand him perfectly.
-Amid the mounting confusion, I suddenly grew curious about my roots, my origins.
Everyone wonders about their roots at some point, and I was the second-generation descendant of the Sama Clan that had migrated to the Demonic Cult.
Naturally, I became curious about the Sama Clan.
Was it heaven's guidance?
On that deep night when I arrived secretly at the Sama Clan undetected by anyone...
Just then, the Sama Clan was under assault by greed-blinded wretches gathered under the pretext of righteousness.
They had branded it for producing me, Sama Hui of the Demonic Cult, and were plundering freely.
That was no righteous faction's conduct.
Even if divided into two branches, an arm bends inward—I didn't want to see the main Sama Clan line plundered.
No, I didn't want to see it collapse because of me, Sama Hui.
Thus, Sama Hui used his martial arts and formation skills to save the Sama Clan.
-Thank you, benefactor.
Who are you?
The Sama Clan's lord at the time, overjoyed at the savior who had prevented their annihilation, asked his name.
-I could say nothing.
What could I possibly say?
And so Sama Hui replied,
-I am someone who once received great aid from the Sama Clan.
May I stay a few days?
He fabricated a story of hiding his identity and status, staying briefly at the Sama Clan before vanishing.
This was because, while navigating the underground passages of the Sama Clan, he had stumbled upon a suitable hiding spot.
That space was actually one an ancient Sama Clan elder had created for secluded training long ago, equipped with dried rations and even underground water.
Afterward, Sama Hui stayed in that hidden space, aiding the Sama Clan unknowingly whenever it faced dire crises.
Perhaps the Sama Clan's survival to this day was all thanks to Sama Hui.
-The moment I found that space, I realized.
This narrow, secret place unknown to all was the grave heaven had granted me.
So I prepared for death here slowly.
Not wanting my insights lost unknown if I just vanished, I compiled them.
When this book—condensing all my abilities, the Ma-an Cheon-noejiseo that you now read—was complete...
Heaven opened.
“What?!”
Sama Hon panicked at the sudden mention of heaven opening.
Moreover, nothing followed—it was the final page.
Great confusion gripped him over what it meant, but he soon understood.
“I see. Lord Sama Hui... achieved ascension to immortality.”
Ascension to immortality.
The pinnacle realm of martial and scholarly arts, where one attains profound enlightenment, transcends human limits, sheds mortality, and ascends to the immortal realm.
But from the moment of ascension, one could no longer remain in the mortal world or take any actions.
Sama Hui, upon ascension, hurriedly finished the Ma-an Cheon-noejiseo and busied himself preparing 'provisions' for the Heavenly Demon.
“I see. So that's how it was.”
The Heavenly Demon's heart ached thinking of Sama Hui, who hadn't met the peaceful end rumored in the world but had suffered into old age, confined in this cramped space, pondering endlessly.
Especially infuriating was that a transcendent figure like Ma-an Cheon-noe Sama Hui couldn't remain on Heavenly Mountain and was driven out.
“After that, I drowned in drink and revelry by day, devouring this Ma-an Cheon-noejiseo by night. Later, I even pretended to be drunk by day while studying the formations Lord Sama Hui left behind at night.”
This was studying by night while pretending to toil by day like no other.
Only in those moments studying Sama Hui's Ma-an Cheon-noejiseo and formations by night did Na-ryong Sama Hon truly feel alive.
“His insights felt written just for me. I mastered everything from the Six Directions Formation to the Dream Mist Barrier Formation in less than a year.”
“Oho!”
The Heavenly Demon showed genuine surprise at the tale.
'The formations Hui left were uniquely complex and difficult—even our cult's brilliant talents dared not touch them casually.'
Of course, Sama Hon had focused desperately since mastering them was his lifeline, but it was still astonishing.
“Clan Lord! You mustn't say that!”
“To have studied the Demonic Cult's wicked demonic scripture!”
“Deny it!”
The Sama Clan members, who had suffered lifelong woes from Demonic Cult ties, reacted heatedly, rejecting Sama Hon's admission.
But the benefits they'd reaped from his formations were undeniable fact.
“Shh.”
As everyone clamored noisily,
the Heavenly Demon quietly raised a hand for silence.
Incredibly, all fell silent.
How could they not? The Heavenly Demon's handsome, noble face was drenched in sorrow and grief.
“Where is the place he departed from? Where his robes remain?”
In the Heavenly Demon's vision, only Sama Hon and himself existed.
“Right here.”
Sama Hon's feelings toward Sama Hui mixed resentment with later-born admiration.
Thus, the items Sama Hui left—his robes, even his fan—remained untouched, perfectly preserved in place.
“It's the White Crane Five Friends Fan.”
Among Sama Hui's relics, the Heavenly Demon spotted the White Crane Five Friends Fan, a supreme treasure even in the Demonic Cult, which had uniquely shielded Sama Hui's strikingly pale face from the sun.
Made from pure white crane feathers, the White Crane Five Friends Fan.
Was it because it had been neglected so long?
That fan, blackened with grime and abandoned,
shoooo!
incredibly, blazed with brilliant golden light the instant the Heavenly Demon's hand touched it.
Come to find out, the source madly emitting golden light was none other than the fan, the White Crane Five Friends Fan.
The truly astonishing scene began now.
Srulk, sruuurlk!
Now emerged the final provision Ma-an Cheon-noe Sama Hui had left upon his ascension to immortality.
It wasn't particularly flashy.
Sama Hui's provision was merely four characters enchanted to shine eternally through ages.
Those four characters were:
-Ascend to Heaven and Observe!
A vow to forever watch from the heavens.
“Hahahahahaha!”
The Heavenly Demon clutched his belly and laughed upon confirming the characters.
Last time at Ghost Sword Manor, Yang U-ryang had left eight characters from the grave, making him laugh and moved to tears.
“As expected of my subordinates—acting in perfect pairs like this.”
Though his words said otherwise, the Heavenly Demon's face beamed with delight.
He no longer felt pity or sorrow for Ma-an Cheon-noe Sama Hui's more tragic-than-expected life.
On the contrary, Sama Hui had protected both his roots—the Demonic Cult and Sama Clan. Compared to Yang U-ryang's unfortunate end or the Heavenly Demon's own sealing, he was the ultimate victor.
He'd safeguarded the Demonic Cult and Sama Clan, escaped mortal life's limits via ascension, and vowed from heaven to watch the Heavenly Demon's supremacy—even if unable to intervene directly. Perfect in life and beyond.
“Indeed... the world's most pointless worry is fretting over Hui.”
The Heavenly Demon chuckled, reciting a Demonic Cult saying-not-saying passed down through ages, truly pleased for the first time in ages.
Even Yang Hui-gun, Ghost Shadow Sword and Yang U-ryang's descendant, had worried much, but he delighted in Sama Hui's clever four-character provision.
“Lord Gunryong, you were never alone. Not even in those moments you felt so.”
Sogang, the fervent follower of the First Heavenly Demon, was equally moved and awed.
“Yeah. With nosy subordinates aplenty.”
The Heavenly Demon, too, felt his nose tingle with emotion.
Then he approached Na-ryong Sama Hon—Sama Hui's reincarnation, or another Sama Hui.
“Sama Clan's lord, Sama Hon.”
The Heavenly Demon calmly called his name.
“Hey! Who dares call our esteemed elder's sacred name so casually?!”
“He's younger than you, but our proper Sama Clan Lord!”
Some who still hadn't grasped the Heavenly Demon's majesty and identity rampaged.
Ignoring them, the Heavenly Demon continued.
“I understand your heart well. The world felt too narrow, didn't it? Sometimes you wanted to shatter it.”
This was no empty flattery.
When Heavenly Demon Gunryong had recruited Ma-an Cheon-noe Sama Hui, the situation was similar.
Sama Hui, pure Demonic Cult blood, had suffered internal rivalries and checks— the Heavenly Demon had found and saved him then.
“I am Heavenly Demon Gunryong. With me, you can fulfill that will. You, inheritor of Sama Hui's legacy... I wish to take you as my subordinate. Will you stand with me until our cult blankets the heavens once more?”