Chronicles of the Mad Demon - Chapter 169

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 169. Parasite (3)

People say that the worst kind of superior is one who is incompetent yet has strong pride, and if they’re the type to occasionally show off their jealousy, there could be no more terrible organizational life for a subordinate.

Jang Chun thought that statement was wrong.

The real worst was a superior who was stupid and incompetent yet possessed passion.

The former only torments oneself, but the latter can threaten the entire organization with just one person. In this harsh world where making a living is difficult, with the former case one could pull out the option of insubordination, but with the latter, there’s no answer except escape.

Naturally, someone who leaves an organization faces immediate difficulties in making ends meet. Therefore, if you encounter such a superior, it’s better for your well-being to look for another place to work as soon as possible.

In that regard, Jang Chun was a lucky person. The lord he served was smarter, more diligent, and more responsible than anyone else.

For Jang Chun, who lived a quite satisfactory organizational life, if there was one complaint, it was that it was difficult to read the heart of the lord he had served for so long.

“I see.”

His lord’s face, with unchanging eyes and expression, looked like an artwork preserved with leather that wouldn’t decay even after a thousand years.

“As expected, they moved quickly.”

“That’s right. Furthermore, according to intelligence just received, the Jegal Clan has activated formations and mechanisms in the Outer Courtyard.”

“So it has begun.”

“It appears so.”

Jang Chun felt anxious.

Frankly speaking, even though it wasn’t his own family, the fact that the Jegal Clan was experiencing a crisis made his heart feel tight.

And his lord, who should be more urgent than that, maintained his usual rigid expression as always.

“Jeogal Family Head is by no means a reckless person. At least in terms of ability, there’s no room for doubt.”

For such a person, it feels like he was defeated too easily. Moreover, isn’t the Jegal Clan one of the Six Great Clans?”

“Is that so surprising?”

“Honestly, I still don’t understand. Martial arts aside, the fact that the Jegal Clan, renowned for their wisdom, is crumbling so easily…”

“Then how would you explain the Moyong Clan, which collapsed in less than three days, let alone three years, after the Previous Alliance Leader’s death?”

Jang Chun was flustered by his lord’s question.

“That was…”

“Of course, the Ho Yeon Clan Members had been preparing for a long time. But at that time, the Moyong Clan had an unprecedented family head and warriors like dragons and tigers.”

There might have been divine strategies and brilliant schemes, but still, the opponent was the Moyong Clan. To bring down the Moyong Clan, which had fired the signal flare of revival and made a name as a martial family at the peak of Jianghu, they would have had to cultivate the poison to overcome terrible fear and the patience not to blink an eye even if lightning struck from a clear sky.

Many think that courage and patience are the exclusive domain of good people, but that’s not the case.

The moment evil people claim that exclusive domain as their own, the world becomes precarious in just a few days.

“There’s something people greatly misunderstand. That groups with strong martial power don’t collapse easily.”

“Isn’t that true?”

“Are you saying that in front of me, a Sima?”

“…”

“What splits rock is not lightning, but water that falls for a long time and creates holes in the surface. In the sense that even healthy people can fall ill in an instant from mental shock, we can see that spears and swords are not necessarily needed to kill a person.”

“I see.”

“At that time, the Moyong Clan was a family that boasted power and reputation that overwhelmed the current six families. Even such a family can collapse in an instant – that’s the world.”

The saying that nothing would be strange no matter what happens in this world.

Jang Chun knew those words too. Honestly, he didn’t feel it in his bones, but in a society composed of human beings, such things happen easily.

Still, he couldn’t understand about the Jegal Clan.

“The Jegal Clan is a family great not only in martial power but also in wisdom.”

“Wrong.”

“Pardon?”

“There aren’t really many wise people in the Jegal Clan. Even if there were many wise ones, what’s more important than that is temperament.”

“Temperament…”

“Even if you obtain the world’s finest sword, it’s useless to someone who’s afraid to swing that blade.”

“Are you saying the Jegal Clan is like that?”

“They valued both literary and martial arts. But that doesn’t mean they were proficient in both.”

“However, they actually receive such evaluation.”

“What I mean is, you cannot cut literary and martial arts in half like cutting radish and show equal amounts of interest and respect to both. The current Jegal Clan has a tendency to regard literary arts as far more valuable learning.”

“…?!”

“The current Jegal Clan accepted an unprecedented number of scholars. And they told their subordinate warriors to serve them as teachers, forcing more than one hour of study per day.”

“Isn’t that good?”

“If literary and martial arts had respected each other, nothing could have been better.”

Jang Chun unconsciously let out an exclamation.

Sama Jin Gung shook his head. His head shake seemed to show both disdain for the foolish Jegal Clan and pity for them.

“Jegal’s warriors are dignified and noble. However, that doesn’t mean they want to be dominated by literary arts. They are warriors, and the Jegal Clan is a martial family.”

“…Jeogal Family Head didn’t know that.”

“Rather than not knowing, he probably knew but tried to change the warriors’ hearts.”

It was something that could be understood with just a little thought.

Just look at Jeong Gal Ryun. He was a man evaluated as having the greatest martial talent among the current Jegal clan members. If he had invested intensively in martial arts, perhaps by now he might have grasped martial power that far transcended the family head.

But Jeong Gal Ryun put more effort into literary arts than martial arts.

In the end, he might have somewhat compensated for his weaknesses, but failed to properly bloom his innate talent.

“Did that become a source of discontent?”

“Such a situation became the foundation for the current precarious situation they’re experiencing. The real issue is separate.”

“The real issue?”

Sama Jin Gung let out a bitter smile.

It was a rare sight, but Jang Chun was more surprised by his lord’s next words than his expression.

“In a family centered on blood relations, the beginning of internal collapse is always family.”

“…!”

“It’s family who cause rebellion, and family who suffer from it. Enemies, hostages – they’re all family. In such situations, even the famous sword of wisdom is useless.”

“You mean that affection and worry for blood relatives… caused this current situation.”

“The mastermind of this incident must know Jeogal Family Head’s personality very well. If not, they couldn’t have cornered him this much.”

“By cornered, do you mean they created a situation where he can’t even dare to resist?”

“That’s right. Jeogal Family Head Jegal Dan possesses martial arts befitting a head of the six families and decent character, but his affection for blood relatives is excessively overwhelming.”

Jang Chun couldn’t be certain whether the expression “excessive” really suited the phrase “affection for blood relatives.”

“If it were me, I would never have accepted so many scholars. The Jegal Clan accepted even mediocre scholars under the pretext of wanting more wisdom. They said all of them had something worth learning.”

“I know that too. That’s why many people respected the Jegal Clan.”

“Phenomena are merely fragments of the essence; they don’t represent it. Behind Jegal Dan’s desire thirsting for learning was our Sama Clan.”

Jang Chun was startled.

“The Sama Clan?”

Bitterness appeared on Sama Jin Gung’s face.

“During the time when the Previous Alliance Leader waged a long war against that Ruthless Sacred Blood Palace, the Jegal Clan always fell behind the Sama Clan.”

“Ah!”

“Their ancestor was a legendary genius who made a name as an unprecedented strategist and administrator in this land. Indeed, the Jegal Clan had long been a family of military strategists representing the orthodox faction.”

“But the one who held the position of Grand Strategist of the Martial Alliance in the past was your Grandfather.”

“Though they didn’t show it, the Jegal Clan’s pride must have been torn to shreds. From the fact that they endured that self-reproach and cooperated with the Main Family House to the end to defeat the enemy, we can see that their patience deserves respect.”

“…”

“If they had pondered what would be a better path based on that patience, perhaps the current situation might not have occurred.”

The fact that they brought even mediocre scholars into the family due to their sense of defeat against the Sama Clan meant that anyone could come and go from the Jegal Clan.

Half-baked scholars, fools pretending to be scholars.

And spies of the demonic faction disguised as scholars could have infiltrated the Jegal Clan more easily than anyone.

“How astounding.”

While Jang Chun understood the Jegal Clan’s ambition, he couldn’t easily accept their choice.

“To think that they, who value intellect and wisdom more than the sword, showed such a huge gap by being swayed by mere emotions…”

“The greater the family, the more gaps they have. Just like that Moyong Clan.”

“…”

“The Moyong Clan proved that even with strong martial power, they could easily collapse due to schemes, and the Jegal Clan proved that even with wisdom, they could rot away without being able to do anything due to carelessness.”

“…”

“If there’s a common point between the two families, it’s that they cared for their blood relatives to an excessive degree. Affection is stronger than anything else, yet it makes people weak. And that is…”

Sama Jin Gung’s face darkened.

“The same goes for this world right now, including the Main Family.”

“Pardon?”

“I love my family. But so that I won’t be blinded by love and meet a miserable end, I am making efforts even at this very moment.”

Jang Chun realized for the first time that his lord was a far more emotional person than he appeared.

It didn’t take long for Sama Jin Gung’s face, which had been filled with bitterness, to return to its original coldness.

“Moyong Sohyeop must have entered with Jegal Chung Ho’s help.”

“That must be the case. But I’m not sure if they’ll be alright. Not only the Outer Courtyard of the Jegal Clan, but the formation techniques cast over the Inner Courtyard have nothing to do with martial arts skill level.”

“I believe he has infiltrated.”

Jang Chun was greatly surprised.

He didn’t say there was a high possibility of infiltration, or that he would have infiltrated, but that he believed he had infiltrated.

These weren’t words that should come from the mouth of his lord, whose coldness could only be compared to the eternal ice of the distant North Sea.

“He is the owner of a mind that noticed the anomaly at the Jegal Family hundreds of li away from the incident that occurred in Wuhan. He himself said it wasn’t intelligence but experience and instinct, but whatever it was, he certainly possesses insight that ranks among the best in the world.”

It meant he believed that such a man wouldn’t stake his life on something with no possibility, and if there were no possibilities, he would somehow create them.

“Where have ‘they’ whom the Jeogal Family Head requested help from reached by now?”

“They should have entered Yongjoong Mountain by now.”

“Indeed, they’re fast.”

“It would have been good if they were even faster.”

“The risk of internal interference couldn’t have been eliminated. It’s a decision befitting the Jeogal Family Head.”

“Then what should we do?”

“Dispatch the armed forces of the Huabei Alliance immediately to blockade the entire area around the Jegal Family.”

Not infiltration, but blockade.

Sama Jin Gung rose from his seat.

“I too must see what the true capabilities of my traveling companion are.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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