Chapter 46: The Fog Lifts (3)
Perhaps the Supreme Patriarch and the family head would end up pointing their swords at each other.
It wasn't a formation that could be resisted just because one possessed profound inner energy.
Every time he saw the Supreme Patriarch and the family head, his guts twisted with resentment inside.
If my father had been the family head, the young lord's position would have been mine!
Then, people had reached out to him, and grasping their hand, he had resolved himself.
He would wipe out this pathetic clan and seize the world.
The Soul-Confusing Dark Fog Formation before him was just the beginning.
Spreading both hands, he poured his inner energy into it, activating the formation.
He grinned.
Jegal Yul couldn't fathom what was happening.
He was in the midst of rounding up those who had sided with Jegal Dong-u.
But then, amid the roaring thunder and lightning, a dark fog began enveloping the clan estate.
And the clan's warriors started turning their weapons on each other.
"Damn it!"
He instantly realized this was no natural phenomenon.
Before becoming the family head, he had specialized in formation research.
Of course, he excelled in other areas too, but his greatest talent lay in formations.
That's why he recognized that everything happening now was the work of a formation.
Did Uncle prepare something like this?
But as far as he knew, Jegal Dong-u was hopeless with formations.
They had only kept it quiet for the sake of his reputation.
The problem was that this was dangerous if it continued.
Casualties would start mounting soon.
Moreover, the formation's influence was creeping toward him too.
What allowed him to hold out now was the ancestral sword passed down through generations of family heads.
The Sword of Evil-Slaying, one of the divine weapons, kept his mind clear just by its presence.
But the sword's trembling told him it was struggling.
I must break this formation quickly! If not, I might lose control and kill my own clansmen!
Knocking out those charging at him, he pushed toward the formation's core.
Subduing foes without injury was harder than simply cutting them down.
Finally, he reached the source.
He was the head of the prestigious Jegal clan, after all.
A position not won by gambling.
"This place..."
He couldn't help but be shocked.
It was none other than the quarters of his nephew, Jegal Kyung.
At that moment, his father, the Supreme Patriarch, arrived dragging the bound Jegal Dong-u.
"Father!"
Crying out, he quickly stepped back.
His father might be under the formation's influence and attack him.
The Supreme Patriarch spoke to him.
"Ah, I'm fine."
"Pardon? Are you truly alright?"
"Fortunately, I know a way to maintain my sanity."
"That's a relief. But this formation... don't tell me it's the Soul-Confusing Dark Fog Formation I know?"
"Indeed."
In truth, the Soul-Confusing Dark Fog Formation had been discarded immediately upon creation.
It was a formation that defied heavenly principles by forcing one to kill fellow disciples or family.
Yet he wondered why it still lingered and why it had been set up in the Jegal clan.
"In any case, we must break it quickly!"
But the situation was far from easy.
Clansmen were charging at them with weapons drawn.
"Father! I'll hold them off. Please hurry and dismantle the formation."
A chaotic melee soon erupted.
Family head Jegal Yul desperately blocked the warriors, while the Supreme Patriarch subdued interferers and headed for the core.
But as the saying went, numbers overwhelmed them, and they grew weary.
That was when it happened.
"Everyone, snap out of it!"
A booming voice echoed from somewhere.
A lion's roar infused with majestic inner energy.
At the sound, the clansmen halted, looking around in bewilderment.
"Huh? W-why am I here?"
The clansmen began regaining their senses.
The lion's roar continued several more times, and soon its owner appeared alongside Jegal Yu-a.
It was Eun Seo-ho.
I recalled something I had overlooked.
It was the formations.
Half the Jegal clan had died due to a secretly tested formation, or so I'd heard.
And I knew a bit more about that incident.
A child who survived the clan's bloody purge had testified.
They had mistaken each other for enemies and swung their weapons.
But that testimony had faded from people's memories.
I, however, had a good memory and hadn't forgotten. I anticipated this formation would be used in this incident.
The problem was how to break it.
Typically, destroying the core at the center was fastest.
Which meant punching through to the heart...
Could I manage that with my skills?
I was on the cusp of peak first-rate, but still just first-rate.
No time to hesitate, though.
Something would work if I got there.
As I mounted up in haste, my master approached with a word.
"That formation won't harm you, young master."
"Pardon?"
"Just shout with the lion's roar technique."
"...?"
"You'll see."
Racing at full gallop, I arrived at the Jegal estate and knew disaster had struck at a glance.
The dark fog-shrouded clan grounds were a scene from hell.
Fighting each other, screaming...
The clash of cold steel weapons rang from all sides.
"Th-this!"
The Supreme Patriarch's attendant and guards were stunned by the unexpected chaos.
Even breaking through looked impossible.
Then I remembered my master's advice.
Gathering strength in my dantian, I unleashed the lion's roar.
"Snap out of it!"
Good thing I'd recently learned it.
I understood why Master had advised me.
The warriors who heard my roar began regaining their senses.
One effect of the Greater Yin Ice Sea Divine Art was clearing the mind—not just for oneself.
The inner energy carried that property too.
Master had specifically said that formation.
Did that mean he knew about it?
Or had he anticipated its use?
My head spun, but I shook off the thoughts.
At least I didn't need to force through the melee.
One roar wasn't enough, so I repeated it several times. My energy drained in a rush, leaving me exhausted.
I felt like I might collapse.
My limbs trembled.
Not my first time depleting my inner energy, but I'd never get used to it.
The nausea assaulting me from all sides only worsened it.
I surveyed the surroundings.
Fortunately, casualties weren't too heavy.
Then Jegal Yu-a came running from that direction.
"Young master Eun!"
"Ah, you're safe."
"What in the world..."
"More importantly, shouldn't we hurry to the Supreme Patriarch and family head?"
"They're probably over there."
We followed her and soon reached Jegal Kyung's quarters.
The Supreme Patriarch and family head seemed unharmed, thankfully.
"Are you alright?"
They looked at me in surprise.
"How did you get here?"
"Explanations later."
That was when it happened.
Creeeak.
The door opened, and Jegal Kyung emerged from within.
The true mastermind behind the clan's near-destruction had appeared.
Seeing us before him, he smiled.
"Well, you figured it out faster than expected."
But from his trembling hands, quivering pupils, and dripping sweat, I could tell.
He was extremely flustered right now.
Well, he had reason to be.
People weren't succumbing to the formation anymore.
He was just feigning composure to hide his panic.
"What is the meaning of this?"
To the Supreme Patriarch's question, he replied.
"Orders from above to wipe this place out."
"Whose orders made you do this!"
"Didn't the letter warn you? Refuse the offer, and there'd be a price."
Their faces darkened at his answer.
Letter?
I recalled the letter I'd seen in the Supreme Patriarch's residence.
The one stamped with the Murim Alliance's mark?
The Supreme Patriarch shouted.
"How can you wear human skin and commit such atrocities!"
"Many in the Alliance are already involved."
I didn't know the full details, but I could identify the culprit.
The Murim Alliance was behind this.
No other group warranted the term "Alliance."
"So, what did you gain for erasing this clan? The clan itself?"
"No. Do you think I'd do this for a pathetic clan like this?"
"Then what?"
"What do you think? Care to guess?"
Watching their exchange, I sensed Jegal Kyung was after something.
It felt like...
He was stalling for time?
Waiting for someone to rescue him?
But why would the Supreme Patriarch play along?
Unless he planned to execute whoever came to aid his escape?
Their conversation continued.
"Did you supply the poison to Dong-u, then?"
"Yes. Hard to obtain, and he wasted it... tsk tsk."
At that, the bound Jegal Dong-u cried out.
"Then you were the one who approached me, telling me to kill my brother and drive my nephew mad?"
"Yes."
"H-how! How could you!"
"You dreamed of usurping the family head, just like me. No difference."
"If I'd known you were the Alliance's filthy dog, I never would have taken your hand!"
Ah, he hated the Murim Alliance too.
That's why, even after he seized control, the Jegal clan vanished.
"So, what did you stand to gain from all this? You still haven't answered."
"Guess."
"..."
"That look says you can't."
As he dragged it out with feigned leisure,
"What I was promised...!"
He suddenly vomited blood.
"Cough... what the..."
"You thought someone would come to rescue you?"
His eyes confirmed I'd hit the mark.
The Supreme Patriarch clicked his tongue.
"Tsk tsk. The current Murim Alliance has abandoned righteousness! They wouldn't come for trash like you on purpose."
His face twisted as he shouted.
"N-no! They would!"
"With so many sects and clans yet to fall under their grasp, they can't reveal their hand. They'll cut off loose ends like you to leave no evidence..."
Exactly.
The Alliance had discarded Jegal Kyung like a used rag.
And the Supreme Patriarch had known no one would come for him.
"How could you bear the Jegal name and not see their true nature? Shame of the clan!"
At the Supreme Patriarch's words, Jegal Kyung sneered.
"You say that even seeing your own granddaughter? The true shame is Yu-a."
"Yu-a is the shame? Ha! Is that so? Yu-a?"
So the Supreme Patriarch had known Jegal Yu-a was acting all along.
That's why he'd looked at her with pitying eyes.
"Oh? Really?"
Jegal Yu-a stepped forward.
"If I'm that good at acting, I must have done well."
Her completely different demeanor shocked Jegal Kyung.
"Y-you were acting?"
Ignoring his shock, the Supreme Patriarch continued.
"Just as you stalled hoping for rescue, I stalled too. To make you realize hope was despair—that's your punishment."
What a terrifying man.
Fitting for one who had led the clan.
"Urk..."
Jegal Kyung clutched his throat in agony. Watching bitterly, the Supreme Patriarch spoke.
"Another reason that formation was discarded: it activates by devouring the caster's congenital essence. And you triggered it without knowing?"
At that moment, the Supreme Patriarch raised his sword and hurled it at him.
Whiiish!
The arrow-swift blade flew past Jegal Kyung, smashing the wall behind and embedding in the center of the crimson formation array.
Crackle! Sizzle!
Boom!
Sparks flew as the formation shattered.
Only then did relief wash over me, and the nausea tormenting me vanished.
The black fog over the Jegal clan finally lifted.