The Reformed Genius of the Sichuan Tang Clan - Chapter 16

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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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Episode 16
“Well. How shall I put this to use?”
Dang Youxuan murmured to himself as he gathered a Ledger and several Superior Spirit Elixirs.
So Red Tiger Stronghold was connected to Gwayweol-ru—that much was clear.
But he lacked both the martial prowess and the standing to move against Gwayweol-ru directly.
‘Then I’d best elevate what I can, while I can.’
Dang Youxuan took No Samho’s sword and pushed the door wide open.
“Sort everything and bring it back to the Dang Estate.”
“Yes!”
The shadows that had been trailing him materialized suddenly and set about clearing Red Tiger Stronghold.
As Dang Youxuan moved forward without looking back, one shadow fell into step behind him.
“Return immediately, sir?”
“No. I have something else to attend to first.”
“Understood.”
Dang Youxuan made his way back to White Flower Tower, now a wreck.
He pushed through the crowd of onlookers—curious about what had transpired but too afraid to venture inside—and climbed onto the flat stone in front of the tower.
“Dang Youxuan? The Second Young Master of the Dang Family—why are you here……?”
“Did the Wastrel do something again?”
“Hey! Watch your mouth, will you? You’ll get yourself arrested!”
Whoosh.
At a raise of Dang Youxuan’s hand, the crowd fell silent in an instant.
No matter how infamous a Wastrel might be, he was still a member of the Dang Family.
More than that, the presence of one who had made a name as both Poison Master and Best in the World naturally commanded the crowd’s attention.
“I am Dang Youxuan, Second Young Master of the Dang Family.”
After a brief introduction, he moved straight to his point.
“As of today, White Flower Tower and Red Tiger Stronghold are no more.”
“White Flower Tower? Isn’t that the place run by the female proprietor? There were guards aplenty—no one dared lay a hand on it!”
“And Red Tiger Stronghold was the mountain brigand gang that’s been causing trouble lately……!”
“Now that I think about it, that sword looks like the Tiger King Who Breaks Strongholds’. Could he really have taken down both of them?”
It was scarcely believable, yet the blood-stained clothes and the sword in Dang Youxuan’s hand spoke truth.
Still, complete trust would take more than this.
“And though it may strain belief, I too have changed.”
Dang Youxuan surveyed the crowd, his eyes meeting theirs—a mix of doubt and astonishment.
“Even if I had reasons for my past, you would need much time and many words to understand them.”
The reasons were indeed complex.
After all, one man had died, and another had taken his place in that body.
“So give me time to prove it. Watch and see that I love this place, Sacheon, as dearly as you do.”
His voice was resonant and commanding.
Even those who had doubted him mere moments before found themselves nodding almost involuntarily.
“After words like that, we may as well trust him once, don’t you think?”
An older merchant long settled in Sacheon spoke, and those nearby murmured their accord.
Yet several younger men crossed their arms and sneered.
“Anyone can talk! The Second Young Master loves Sacheon? That’s a laugh!”
The voice cut through the murmuring, and Dang Youxuan turned his head toward it.
The gang of young ruffians who had been eyeing him with displeasure went silent the moment his gaze fell upon them.
Yet Dang Youxuan made no cutting remark and simply turned away.
For now, a small shift was enough.
* * *
Dang Youxuan returned to the Dang Estate and handed over everything he’d brought from Red Tiger Stronghold to the Treasury Chamber.
“This, this is……!”
Dang Mounjae, the Treasury Chamber keeper, gaped as he beheld a sum that nearly approached a year’s budget for the entire family.
Yet compared to times past, it was little more than a drop in the ocean.
Stunned by this unexpected windfall, Dang Mounjae and Dang Gangheon summoned Dang Youxuan separately the next day.
“……And thus have I obtained these items.”
Having arranged his account in the most advantageous light, Dang Youxuan laid two documents bearing Seal Stamps before them.
Immediately, their eyes fixed upon that very spot.
Documents stamped with a Seal Stamp alone.
Unlike money, which vanishes when spent, these could contain any words and remain permanent.
In other words, the Dang Family could now control White Flower Tower and Red Tiger Stronghold to their advantage, and moreover, exert influence over the shadow world of Sacheon itself.
At such unexpected fortune, Dang Mounjae broke into a radiant smile.
“Young Master, you’re truly exceptional! I always believed you’d accomplish this!”
“You said something different before, though.”
“What did I say?”
Dang Mounjae deflected with practiced ease.
It was obvious—he’d clearly scolded Dang Youxuan for squandering the family coffers not long ago.
‘Well, that fool’s mistake, granted.’
Still, he’d brought something to contribute, however modest. He hoped it would prove useful.
Heaven knew how much worry these youngsters had borne.
Dang Youxuan gazed at his descendants with warmth in his eyes.
Yet his youthful features made his pleased smile at their praise seem almost innocent—the joy of a boy praised by his elders.
‘Heh heh heh.’
‘Still a child, after all.’
Smiles bloomed across the faces of Dang Gangheon and Dang Mounjae as they watched.
The adults had burdened him too early, saddling a young boy with heavy responsibilities—they should at least grant him these moments of respite.
“You’ve done splendidly. Truly, I’m grateful.”
“Ha.”
“He’s surely a genius unprecedented in the Dang Family!”
“Heh heh.”
Dang Youxuan’s cheeks flushed with pride.
Each time his barely-contained laughter escaped, Dang Gangheon and Dang Mounjae added another word of praise.
“You’ve brought something truly remarkable. I should reward you. Is there anything you desire?”
Desire?
Right now, there was only one thing.
“I wish to see the Welyoung Sword, the Dang Family’s heirloom blade.”
“What is that?”
“Pardon?”
These people—hadn’t they even passed down the story to the next generation?
“I believed it was one of the Poison Master’s beloved weapons.”
“That can’t be. The Poison Master’s only beloved weapon was the Bi Do.”
“I see.”
It doesn’t exist—they don’t even know of it. Not in the records either.
Very well.
This ancestor will obtain it for you.
“Ah, it seems I was mistaken.”
“No matter. If you’re curious about other ancestors’ beloved weapons, visit the Yeonhwa Workshop. You’ll be able to view them at your leisure.”
“Understood. I shall visit another time.”
Dang Youxuan bowed respectfully and left the House Lord’s Hall.
His expressionless eyes had grown sharp and still, like a blade settling into its sheath.
‘The Dang Family has no Welyoung Sword. So Gwayweol-ru truly did make a move.’
How dare she lay hands on Dang property right here in Sacheon, where the family openly ruled?
He could march in immediately and ensure she never operated on these lands again—it would feel well-deserved—but he lacked the strength for such action now.
‘Forget Harmony Realm—I haven’t even reached Mastery Stage.’
I’m still short.
The fact that he could command No Samho, who stood at the threshold of Mastery Stage, like a limb meant he possessed power beyond that.
In other words, Gwayweol-ru was at minimum an expert at Ultra-Mastery Stage.
Even with poison and experience, he’d need martial skill of a comparable level to fight her with any real hope.
‘So first, I must raise my cultivation.’
Dang Youxuan rushed immediately to the empty Training Ground.
It would be better to strengthen his body gradually with spirit elixirs at his Residence, but even the time spent traveling between them seemed wasteful.
“It’s unfortunate that it’s only an Intermediate Spirit Elixir, but this will suffice.”
Dang Youxuan sat in cross-legged meditation and swallowed the elixir in one gulp.
Using the Yungi Josik technique, he purified his body and succeeded in drawing his power up to First Rank.
The rest would be simple.
Lay the foundation and build upon it—nothing more.
‘First, I’ll expel the remaining impurities.’
Dang Youxuan recited the secret formulas of the Doban Samyang Gwiyuan Gong once more.
What, you think all internal cultivation techniques are the same?
Nonsense!
Depending on which spirit pill one consumed, the current state of one’s body, and who guided the process, even identical formulas produced different results.
The Doban Samyang Gwiyuan Gong was especially sensitive to such variations.
Where did the Three Yangs come from in the first place?
Yang within Yin,
Yang within Yang,
Yang within Yin and Yang.
Three different Yangs converging from three places flowed through his body; even a brush of contact purified filth, and the density of internal energy heightened.
It seemed superficially similar to the Samhwa Chwijung, but it operated on an entirely different plane.
The Doban Samyang Gwiyuan Gong, when properly executed, did not remake the body into one of celestial purity—nor did it expel impurities.
Instead, it burned the unclean and transformed it into nourishment for the pure.
And so, naturally, there was no waste.
Dang Youxuan drew the energy flowing through his blood meridians upward slowly, then sent it back, repeating the cycle.
The faintly lingering turbid Qi evaporated and was reabsorbed into the flow of energy.
‘Ugh!’
But not expelling anything was the same as continuously holding it within.
Yang Energy circulated from his Dantian through his Heavenly Palace and throughout his entire body, causing the heat that could not escape to surge upward.
As if he held the sun in his heart and Dantian both, his whole frame burned.
Dang Youxuan swallowed the Spirit Pill he had been holding in his mouth to temper the Yang Energy.
A struggle between the force of burning and the force of cooling.
Pain rose to the point where his mind grew distant, yet Dang Youxuan kept his consciousness focused until he achieved what he desired.
The moment the moon overhead crossed from left to right.
At last, the Yang Energy that had churned through his blood meridians began to subside gradually.
“……Gasp!”
Only once his body settled into a stable orbit did Dang Youxuan breathe like a man who had been submerged too long.
“Hah, ah—I thought I was dying.”
If a man burned to death, perhaps it felt like this. It was terrible.
But the gain from enduring that pain was unmistakable.
“Now I’m starting to look like a true Mastery Stage master.”
With the impurities gone, his internal energy swelled, and the force circulating through his body gained elasticity.
With continued training added to this, reaching Ultra-Mastery would be no distant dream.
“Good. Let me test it right away.”
Dang Youxuan quickly chewed and swallowed spirit elixir and Dang Confection to restore his vitality, then picked up the Bi Do.
Though he had set a target before him, he did not throw it at once, but instead rested it upon his palm.
He could deploy the Bi Do as many times as he wished.
Precision and speed were matters of pulling his senses to the peak; he could adjust them as desired in an instant.
The problem was the gap between mind and body.
If his body could not keep pace with experience and instinct, in the worst case he might die.
‘I didn’t return for this. It cannot be.’
Dang Youxuan steadied his resolve and calmly infused internal energy into the Bi Do.
He had to feel it.
The energy flowing from his fingertips into the blade.
Soft as wind, at times fierce as a rushing current.
Like a straight tree extending its roots, the energy circulating from his Dantian extending outward.
As Dang Youxuan quietly sensed the flow, he suddenly hurled the Bi Do.
Crack!
The Bi Do embedded itself in the dead center of the target.
‘Too slow.’
But he had not yet reached the level he desired.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of the Bi Do striking the target echoed in rapid succession.
Multiple throws from the same stance, then dozens more with varying postures.
Dissatisfaction still filled Dang Youxuan’s face.
He looked at the fragments scattered around his feet and the sweat falling upon them, then exhaled deeply.
‘Do not rush. There is nothing that cannot be achieved through effort.’
He believed in the power of repetition.
If it could not be done once, he would do it ten times; if not ten, then twenty; if not twenty, then a hundred.
‘And in that way, change becomes possible.’
Dang Youxuan picked up the Bi Do again.
The force that had sustained him countless times before lifted him once more.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Impact sounds rang out through the Training Ground once again.
* * *
The boundary between night and dawn.
The Training Ground held nothing but the sound of ragged breathing.
“Huff…! Huff…!”
Dang Youxuan lay sprawled on his back, unable to make a sound.
“I must be insane.”
Even raising Second Rank to Mastery Stage didn’t solve the problem of stamina — it was a different matter entirely.
He’d been so consumed with trying to align his mind and body that he’d overlooked the cost.
“Now I can’t move a single hand.”
Beyond that, there were limits to training alone.
The flow of energy, his own movements — he knew them now, but whether he could feel them without hesitation in the chaos of real combat was another question entirely.
“Anyone who got wind of this will be too frightened to stick their necks out. I won’t get a chance to test myself on a stronghold.”
Tap. Tap.
As he lay there muttering to himself, footsteps echoed toward the Training Ground.
A wide, measured stride.
Dang Youxuan didn’t bother rising from his exhausted sprawl — he only opened his eyes.
The figure approaching from afar stopped at his head and bowed at the waist.
It was Dang San.
Her upside-down face smiled gently as she asked, “Is something troubling you?”

She was asking while pretending not to notice the Bi Dos and target marks scattered across the Training Ground.
“Shall I help?”
‘How can something that smiles so prettily hide snakes in its belly?’
The best policy was to avoid entanglement with such people as much as possible.
Yet Dang San had helped Dang Youxuan once before at the Study Chamber.
Many reasons came to mind, but at least she seemed to look after her own family — there was no harm in accepting.
“Yes.”
At that, Dang San smiled with satisfaction.
“Good thinking. I know just the place.”
Sacheon Dang Family — A Wastrel’s Path to Genius
Author |
Yi Il-young
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Samyang C&C Corp.
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Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Corp. — DreamBooks
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This book may not be used in any form or by any means without the written permission of Samyang C&C Corp. — DreamBooks.

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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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