I Prayed for a Murim Reincarnation, But I Was Born as the Youngest Imperial Prince - Chapter 70

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 70
Zhuge Jun moved covertly, leading Seonwu and Absolute Shadow to a spot perfectly suited for observing the formation.
Using the formation to extend the reach of his Sound Transmission from afar, the Zhuge Clan Head spoke secretly.
[Your Highness, Your Humble Servant should naturally accompany you and offer explanations, but doing so would draw far too much attention.]
[The Clan Head should tend to the Clan Head’s duties. Zhuge Jun’s explanation will suffice for Me.]
[Your benevolence is boundless.]
The Clan Head spoke to Zhuge Jun once more.
[Attend to him well.]
[Do not worry.]
Zhuge Jun reassured Seonwu once again.
“This is a genuine clan secret… while it’s not something you can just recreate on the fly after seeing it once, you mustn’t go around bragging about it anywhere, alright?”
“I told you I won’t. Still, the timing worked out perfectly for a good show.”
Absolute Shadow nodded contentedly from the side.
‘Since Your Highness wished to see it, the Zhuge Clan is acting appropriately and right on time.’
However, it was awfully coincidental.
Surely it was no mere stroke of luck.
‘It must be an order Your Highness handed down to the Clan Head. That fellow speaks like that only because he remains ignorant of the truth.’
Seonwu noticed Absolute Shadow’s misunderstanding but said nothing.
‘Sorry. But remaining ignorant is medicine for you too, isn’t it?’
“I hope they activate it quickly.”
“Even if you don’t pester me, it’ll activate any moment now.”
“Right, I’ll just drink some tea and wait leisurely.”
“Shall I give you a brief lecture in the meantime?”
“Sounds good.”
“The Divine Wind Eight Trigrams Grand Formation is an improved version of the Stone Sentinel Eight Trigrams Grand Formation—a formation deployed long ago by the greatest of our clan’s ancestors, Zhuge Liang, to halt the pursuit of the Eastern Wu Army led by Sun Quan and Lu Xun, thereby allowing the heavily injured Emperor Liu Bei to escape. Once activated, it’s potent enough to thoroughly discomfit even two masters of the Realm of Creation.”
“Oh-oh.”
The Stone Sentinel Eight Trigrams Formation.
He had heard of it.
‘In my past life, it was naturally a fiction created by Luo Guanzhong, not a historical fact.’
Yet here, it was real.
Could Luo Guanzhong have perhaps dreamt of this place and used it as a reference?
“Afterward, to block the Wei Army advancing into Hanzhong, Zhuge Liang further refined the Stone Sentinel Eight Trigrams Formation to create and install the Divine Wind Eight Trigrams Grand Formation, ultimately protecting Shu.”
“Huh? Wasn’t it because the paths were rugged, so they just built passes to block them?”
Zhuge Jun stared at Seonwu as if asking what on earth he was talking about.
“No matter how rugged the paths are there, at best they would only stop the march of second and third class warriors. How could they stop the march of masters?”
“I… I suppose so.”
“Even I barely pay attention to that kind of terrain.”
Even for a High-class Master, a free fall down a truly deep abyss would be fatal.
But no matter how rugged people claimed it to be, paths like plank roads still existed.
A High-class Master could lightly tap and scale even a sheer cliff without much difficulty, so how much of an obstacle could that really be?
Needless to say, it was even less of an issue for anyone at or above the Peak Realm.
“Ah… indeed.”
Seonwu lamented, wondering how his own adaptability to the Wulin could be lower than that of Zhuge Jun.
“Anyway, it’s that magnificent of a formation, right?”
“Yeah. While the scale encompassing the Main House is only enough to protect the Main House itself—and not enough to protect an entire country like back then—its sheer might is absolute.”
Yet, even as they waited, the formation did not activate.
“Does it take a long time to evacuate the people and all that?”
Zhuge Jun found Seonwu’s question puzzling.
‘That shouldn’t be it? The time for activation has already passed.’
At that exact moment.
The Zhuge Clan Head was trembling with rage.
“How could no one know that this crucial formation was broken!”
No one could offer an answer to the Clan Head’s furious roar.
“If an enemy had covertly infiltrated and targeted the Main House, were you going to ask them to wait until the repairs were finished!”
“We beg for your forgiveness.”
It was true.
Astonishingly, the formation was broken.
“We never neglected the inspections.”
“And yet nobody knew?”
“……”
Indeed, what meaning was there in claiming to have thoroughly inspected it when the formation failed to function?
Yet, even while roaring in anger, the Clan Head analyzed the situation on another level.
‘It is not as though they skipped the inspections entirely or let discipline collapse.’
It wasn’t a total mess like a provincial army when a nation goes to ruin.
In other words, everyone had performed the basic inspections properly.
‘This isn’t a failure to properly detect natural wear and tear; someone sabotaged the formation with extreme cleverness, hiding it from standard inspections.’
A few of the components comprising the formation had been sneakily swapped with counterfeits that couldn’t be identified without an exceptionally close look.
Or perhaps partial inspections made it seem operational while the overall connection was subtly disrupted.
‘An expert in formations, one whose skill is not inferior to mine, did this intentionally.’
And they themselves had remained entirely unaware of it.
If an invasion had occurred under these conditions….
A shiver ran down the spine of the Zhuge Clan Head.
Slowly, the other clan members began to realize what the Clan Head had deduced.
They, too, belonged to the Zhuge Clan.
‘Is it the Demonic Practitioners!’
‘My goodness, the Clan Head was right.’
With things turning out this way, all complaints vanished regarding how much loss this inspection would incur or how much of a nuisance it was to those living around the Zhuge Clan.
If the formation failed to activate properly when needed, how could the Zhuge Clan, or those dependent upon them, ever remain safe?
“You must thoroughly inspect the other formations that have not been activated as well.”
“Yes, Clan Head.”
“Test all of those that haven’t been activated in a long time.”
“Acknowledging orders.”
At this moment, the authority of the Zhuge Clan Head soared boundlessly.
“As expected of Zhuge Ganyun… our Clan Head is indeed….”
“Magnificent. It was we who had grown complacent.”
“Were it not for the Clan Head’s foresight….”
“The enemy who broke it like this would surely have chosen a day to….”
Meanwhile, Seonwu finished his tea and stared blankly at Zhuge Jun.
“Didn’t you say it would be any moment now?”
“I… I’ll go find out.”
Zhuge Jun hurriedly fled the spot.
Once the two of them were left alone, Absolute Shadow grumbled through Sound Transmission.
[This must surely be a task Your Highness commanded the Clan Head to perform, so how can they still fail to comply.]
[Now that they’re actually trying to do it, the preparations must be taking longer than expected. There’s no rush, so why worry?]
[However, this is a matter Your Highness is personally overseeing….]
[If you have time to complain, you might as well read the formation commentary book here. Learning basic lectures on how to respond when trapped in an unfamiliar formation to raise your survival rate is quite helpful too.]
Though it might be useless in front of an expert, there would still be a difference between knowing the basics and knowing nothing at all.
‘But seriously, why is it taking this long? Is the Zhuge Clan more lax than it looks?’
Just then, his Demon-Subduing Divine Dragon Sword started chattering inside his mind.
[In my opinion, these bastards have clearly lost their discipline and did a sloppy job with the inspections.]
[No way. When it concerns their own safety?]
[Hey, does the border guard train sloppily because it’s not their own problem when push comes to shove?]
[Hmm, now that you mention it, that does sound plausible?]
[Once discipline slips, it doesn’t matter if it’s your own business or not. Or maybe some fellow smuggled out the components to make a quick buck and replaced them with fakes.]
[Surely not.]
[It’s only because you haven’t truly witnessed proper corruption.]
[No, I’ve seen it too… but this is literally their own clan’s affair.]
Could the Zhuge Clan really be that rotten despite everything?
Seonwu tilted his head in puzzlement.
* * *
Zhuge Jun was able to grasp the situation in no time.
He urgently sought out his father.
“Father… Clan Head.”
Considering it an official matter, he corrected his form of address.
“Is it true that all the grand formations of the clan are broken?”
“Yes. The three grand formations—the Divine Wind Eight Trigrams Grand Formation, the Heavenly Martial Illusionary Soldier Grand Formation, and the Golden Fortress Sword Pavilion Grand Formation—were all broken. Though the lesser ones beneath them were at least intact….”
“…If a powerful enemy had raided us, the clan might have perished while we were left wondering why things weren’t working.”
A chill also ran down the back of Zhuge Jun’s neck.
This wasn’t a ruin caused by collapsed discipline or sloppy maintenance; the truly subtle hand of someone else could be felt.
‘It must be the work of a Demonic Practitioner.’
And once such a deed was finalized, the next step would surely be launching a rebellion on a chosen day.
They had been mocking the Namgung Clan for facing ruin, yet hadn’t their own clan come close to going beyond mere ruin and straight into total annihilation?
From the side, the executives flattered the Clan Head.
“Since the Clan Head read the heavenly secret and thwarted the enemy’s insidious plot like this, you are truly a divine calculator.”
“Instead of spouting such sycophancy, go perform more inspections right now!”
Though they had to scurry away without gaining anything.
As the Clan Head, hearing himself praised as Zhuge Ganyun right now brought him not an ounce of joy.
He spoke to Zhuge Jun via Sound Transmission.
[Indeed, the eyes of a dragon soaring in the heavens are different from someone like me who possesses nothing but an empty reputation. Only now do I realize that His Highness knew of this fact and allowed us to realize it on our own. It wasn’t merely to test the capability of the Main House.]
[Pardon?]
Zhuge Jun was dumbfounded.
Of course, it was a relief to escape such a great crisis thanks to this, but Seonwu had ordered it knowing the truth?
There was no way.
It was absolutely, one hundred percent certain.
He could bet that Seonwu merely harbored the wicked desire to view the famous formations of the Zhuge Clan since he happened to be reincarnated into the Wulin.
[We cannot just sit idly like this; I ought to go and offer our gratitude for saving the Main House… but I must supervise the reinspection right now, so I have no such leisure.]
[Father, sometimes mere coincidences do exist in the world.]
[I used to think you were clever, but for some reason, you have become increasingly disappointing lately. How could this be a coincidence? He clearly discerned the plot of the Demonic Practitioners through the Imperial Family’s intelligence organization and came to warn the Main House. Would King Wuryong really come all the way to the Main House out of sheer boredom just to look at some formations?]
‘He definitely came to play.’
The sightseeing schedule had simply been altered a bit; there couldn’t possibly be such a grand reason for his visit to the Zhuge Clan.
As friends who could even talk about what each other’s first experiences were like in their past lives, he could guarantee it one hundred percent: this was merely a case of a rat stepping backward and catching a cow.
‘Right, this isn’t even a cow catching a rat; it’s a coincidence on the level of a rat catching a cow.’
[Father, when expectations are too high, one tends to view the other party as larger than life. It is a relief that we found out, but there is no need to overevaluate His Highness because of this….]
[Instead of uttering such sacrilege, why don’t you go immediately on my behalf to offer our gratitude to His Highness!]
[…Yes.]
* * *
When on earth was the formation going to activate?
Seonwu wasn’t impatient, but he was curious.
‘By this point, it feels like something has definitely gone wrong.’
And Zhuge Jun returned to confirm that suspicion.
“I’m sorry, but the formation turned out to be cleverly broken.”
“Eh? Seriously?”
‘Father should be looking at that surprised expression right now.’
“How did that happen?”
Seonwu was bewildered as well.
What was wrong with the Zhuge Clan too?
Of course, it wasn’t as if they had committed evil atrocities like the Namgung Clan, and it wasn’t anyone else’s place to scold them regardless of whether their formation was broken or not.
“Hey, your clan has the smallest number of masters among the Five Great Clans. If the formation doesn’t activate in an emergency, won’t you guys be ruined?”
“Hey, you punk. Even if it’s true, did you really have to explicitly state that we have the fewest masters?”
At that moment, something that couldn’t quite be called killing intent emanated from Absolute Shadow.
However, something very similar to it flew forth and lightly pricked Zhuge Jun.
[How dare that irreverent fellow speak to Your Highness in such a manner!]
To address him with a title too presumptuous to even utter.
If they weren’t currently traveling incognito.
Zhuge Jun also snapped out of it under that threat.
Even if it was fine via Sound Transmission, putting it into spoken words was dangerous.
‘I keep reverting to our past-life way of speaking whenever I talk to Seonwu.’
“Anyway, because of that, the whole clan is completely turned upside down right now.”
“Haha, well, it’s still a relief that it was discovered now.”
“Yeah, it’s better than discovering it after an enemy invades.”
Zhuge Jun shook his head side to side.
“But it is a worry. This means someone… and someone capable of catching the Main House off guard like this, was targeting our clan.”
“Hmm… does that mean it wasn’t just a case of poor maintenance?”
“Our clan isn’t that careless. We aren’t some conscripted peasant army; would we really perform such a slipshod inspection on the very formation that protects us in emergencies? This was completely engineered.”
“True, since it concerns their own safety.”
Don’t even salary thieves who do a half-hearted job on other people’s matters become meticulous when it comes to their own?
“Still, then isn’t it a huge relief that it was discovered now? Just like I said before.”
“Well, that’s true. A blessing in disguise. It’s just that if this fact becomes known to the Jianghu, it will be a disgrace to the clan.”
“Oh, then are you going to give me hush money?”
“…Do you really think rumors won’t spread just because you keep your mouth shut? Too many people found out for us to suppress it.”
“Ah.”
Seonwu smacked his lips.
It could have been a fine chance to get treated to a drink.
“Anyway, that’s why I think I have to join the comprehensive grand inspection now. I’m sorry, but could you return to your room and wait?”
“Sure, let’s do that.”
Since Seonwu wasn’t incapable of understanding how much of an emergency the Zhuge Clan must be in, he readily agreed.
All while having bestowed an immense favor upon the Zhuge Clan without even realizing it himself.

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