The Reformed Genius of the Sichuan Tang Clan - Chapter 11

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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 11
Dang Yoohyun drooped like a man walking toward his own execution.
He’d forgotten that parents always hear about their children’s misdeeds first.
‘This feels like I’m about to get scolded.’
Dang Gangheon possessed the qualities of an emperor, but he was also a stern father—unbending when it came to matters of principle.
Especially regarding the Way.
“Ugh.”
Dang Yoohyun scratched his head frantically.
He couldn’t brush off his father just because his father was his father.
He’d decided to nod along appropriately and let it pass—but then Dang Unyeop tapped on the door in that measured way of his.
“Patriarch. Young Master Yoohyun is here.”
“Let him in.”
The walk to Dang Gangheon felt to Yoohyun like an offering being led to the altar.
Thump.
The moment the door closed behind him, he dropped to his knees—just as he had done not long before.
Both Dang Gangheon, seeing him again, and Dang Unyeop, seeing him for the first time in this posture, blinked in surprise.
“What’s the meaning of this?”
“Well… I thought it seemed like the right thing to do?”
“What have you done wrong now?”
“I caused trouble with the Beloved Weapon.”
“Don’t worry about that. Thanks to you, we’ll likely be able to expose the corruption of the three elders.”
“Oh.”
This he hadn’t expected.
‘So you’re more capable than I thought?’
‘A most impressive descendant indeed.’
Dang Yoohyun grinned and began to rise cautiously.
“Then why did you call for me, Father?”
“Do you remember what was discussed at the clan council meeting?”
“Yes.”
“At that time, I promised you a reward besides the Secret Manual.”
‘Ah. The Secret Blade.’
“I’m giving it to you now.”
“Now? Really now?”
Dang Yoohyun’s eyes widened in shock.
Receiving a Secret Blade crafted by the master artisans of the Dang Clan was no trivial matter.
The clan’s craftsmen were so busy with weapon commissions that they could barely keep to their schedules, and their temperaments were so difficult that they refused most requests outright.
Even Dokju, who had earned his reputation as a legendary smith, was rejected seven times out of ten.
“Why? Are you unhappy?”
“Not at all!”
Dang Yoohyun shook his head vigorously, making a sound like wind whistling past.
“Thank you, Father!”
“Heh heh.”
At his earnest reaction, Dang Gangheon and Dang Unyeop exchanged warm smiles.
Their instinct was right—Dang Yoohyun’s joy was utterly genuine.
‘No waiting at the gates, no three pilgrimages—I’ve heard the stories of craftsmen refusing requests seven times before accepting on the eighth! And here I’m getting one without any obstacles at all!’
His thoughts ran in a slightly different direction than intended.
“Come now, rise and walk with me.”
“Yes, Father!”
Dang Yoohyun followed him with a bright smile on his face.
For the first time in a while, his steps felt light.
* * *
To the north of the Dang Clan lay Artisan Village, where countless workshops clustered together.
The artisans who lived there devoted themselves entirely to creating their respective works.
Walking past workshops that made jewelry and bronze vessels, then venturing deeper inward, the air grew heavier, pressing down upon them with palpable weight.
“Wow.”
Flames shot up from dozens of furnaces at once, and at the sound of massive hammers striking metal, Dang Yoohyun let out a gasp of wonder.
A space of white-hot intensity—somewhere his younger self would never have dared set foot.
The heart of Artisan Village, where weapons were forged.
From among the artisans, too immersed in their work to notice visitors, an elderly man emerged.
His back, curved by the weight of years, and his hair, turned white with time, caught the eye immediately.
Yet the passion and seasoned wisdom burning in his eyes could not be concealed.
“Jin Cheolyun of the Yeonhwa Workshop bows before the clan head.”
“Rise. This is not an official occasion, so there’s no need for such formality.”
Dang Gangheon’s characteristic warm smile never faded.
“He is the one who has always maintained the Secret Blade for the Dang Clan. He watched over me when I was young.”
A familiar face.
Dang Yoohyun gazed upon the countenance of someone who might be his ancestor and bowed.
“It is my first time meeting you.”
“I see the young master. Might I ask the purpose of your visit today?”
“I’ve come to have a Secret Blade forged for Yoohyun.”
“A Secret Blade for the young master?”
Jin Cheolyun tilted his head in confusion.
‘Wait. Wasn’t that settled?’
Dang Yoohyun looked up at Dang Gangheon in bewilderment.
His expression was composed, but the corners of his mouth raised higher than usual gave away his amusement.
‘What is this?! Shouldn’t you handle things properly?’
The moment Dang Yoohyun turned his head sharply, Jin Cheolyun’s eyes posed a question.
For that reckless one?
‘His consistency is rather amusing, I must admit.’
A laugh escaped him.
How recklessly must one live for every person they meet to have that same reaction?
And the workshop was where rumors arrived last of all.
Since it was the place through which all gossip passed in the end, it was certain that news of his search for the Secret Manual had not yet reached there.
Dang Yoohyun laughed at himself and looked up at Dang Gangheon steadily.
‘You explain it.’
Dang Gangheon opened his mouth.
Ordinarily, he preferred to wait for the person involved to speak first, but the moment he met Dang Yoohyun’s eyes, he felt compelled to speak himself.
“I’ve recently recovered the Secret Manual after a lengthy covert operation, and I intend to reward him with a Secret Blade.”
He wrapped it in a grave tone, though the discomfort in his expression could not be hidden.
‘……Is this right?’
‘It is right, so don’t doubt it.’
When Dang Gangheon’s gaze turned toward him, Dang Yoohyun signaled him with his eyes to look forward.
Dang Gangheon dutifully looked ahead once more.
Jin Cheolyun let out a strangled noise at the incredible news.
“The, the Secret Manual?!”
Dang Gangheon quickly composed his expression and nodded.
“Then all the rumors these past years were…….”
“Part of an operation to infiltrate the depths of Giru.”
At his matter-of-fact tone, Jin Cheolyun’s expression twisted.
From disbelief to shock, from shock to horror.
His wavering eyes posed a silent question.
Did you make him do this?
Dang Gangheon spoke as if making an excuse.
“He moved first, before I could even speak.”
A father who didn’t even notice what his son was doing?
The eyes that had asked whether he truly should forge a Secret Blade for that reckless one now reproached Dang Gangheon as a father.
Have you been sacrificing your son for so many years because the Secret Manual was so important to you?
Under that burning gaze, Dang Gangheon looked to Dang Yoohyun as if seeking refuge.
‘I’m sorry. Bear with it a little longer.’
You’re good at explaining, after all.
This old ancestor isn’t as skilled with words as you are.
Dang Yoohyun glanced away slightly.
“Well, yes. The clan head has also achieved great deeds ‘in secret’ like the previous clan head, so there’s no difference between him and the second son.”
“Mm.”
“No wonder it’s been so quiet lately. This is the first time I’ve seen someone inherit not just the mannerisms but the very character itself.”
‘What. It was hereditary?’
Dang Yoohyun looked up at Dang Gangheon with an expression of exasperation.
His brothers were all well-behaved, so he’d wondered why this one alone kept running about.
At least that one accomplished something. If not for him, Dang Yoohyun would have been nothing but a reckless fool.
“Thanks to you, I’ve heard an amusing tale after a long while. Even a forge needs the bellows to keep the flames alive, after all.”
Jin Cheolyun regarded Dang Yoohyun with a steady gaze.
His eyes ran deep, as though he could see straight through to the core of a person.
When Dang Yoohyun did not look away, Jin Cheolyun straightened and gestured inward.
“This conversation may take some time. Please, come inside.”
Dang Gangheon nodded, and Jin Cheolyun led the way.
Beyond the long corridor that opened deeper into the workshop, Secret Blades of every conceivable size, shape, and condition were arrayed in perfect rows.
Save for one empty space.
The man who had carried the Dang Clan’s fame across the realm, a warrior of unmatched skill—he and all his kin.
Among the beloved weapons of countless warriors stood that one bare pedestal.
Only his.
As if unwelcome.
‘The time to stand beside him has not yet come,’ he thought.
Dang Yoohyun smiled bitterly.
With his back to that smile, Jin Cheolyun gazed upon the walls lined with Secret Blades and spoke.
“Whenever the clan head commissions a Secret Blade, I come to this place with its future master. Only then can I truly say I have ‘made’ it.”
“This place is…”
“They say that a master warrior leaves his very soul inscribed upon his weapon. This place preserves the souls of those who loved the Dang Clan.”
His gaze, moving as though tracing old memories, came to rest in the space where Dang Yoohyun stood.
“Yet the beloved weapon of Dokju—the greatest swordsman of the Dang Clan, the greatest of all his age—remains empty.”
He had not found it after all.
Several had been buried deep within the Cheonma’s body, and others had been lost in that final battle, so in a way it was inevitable.
“We know neither its name nor its form. Most who might have remembered have passed beyond, and even among the living, no one has ever seen clearly the shape of that blade as it flew like a swallow.”
His heart grew heavy.
Dang Yoohyun lamented that he had left nothing behind for the Dang Clan.
Peace in Joongyeon?
That fleeting respite belonged not to the Dang Clan alone.
It was the wish of all people and the aim of the Murim Alliance.
When old garments burn, when those who remember pass away, when records are lost or forgotten, all that remains is a name, a reputation, and one line of history.
The line that read: Dokju Dang Hyeon-cheol fought alongside his sworn brothers against the Cheonma and rests eternally upon Shipman Daesan.
“Yet from the history you left behind, we divine something of your spirit. There will never be another like you.”
So speaks a regretful descendant.
That you have left something behind.
That peace honors you under the name of history.
The descendant turned to face the ancestor of old.
“So take your time. Look around and consider well what your Secret Blade will hold, and in what direction that spirit shall journey.”
……
“For a warrior of the Dang Clan should be able to sense what your forefather meant to convey.”
His chest thrilled with a sharp, keen sensation.
An opportunity had been given.
A chance to convey what remained unspoken.
A chance to set a crooked history straight.
The path his Secret Blade would point toward—that is exactly it.
“I…”
He did not look further around.
The spirits of the past pressed against his back, and that single empty space called him forward; there was no reason to hesitate.
His eyes, holding a clear, steady light, gleamed.
“I wish to illuminate the soul.”
Yours and mine, and that of all.
To be a lamp and light the way, to shine upon you.
And let that radiant light illuminate another, and that other shine upon one more.
So that none are left in shadow.
I will transform that light into history and pass it forward.
This time, without fail.
Sichuan Dang Clan: Redemption and Ascension of a Prodigy
Author |
Lee Il-young
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Samyang C&C
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Editorial Department
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No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of (주) Samyang C&C – Dream Books.

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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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