The Reformed Genius of the Sichuan Tang Clan - Chapter 3

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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 3
‘There should be plenty of Spirit Elixirs. I need to build my Inner Energy first.’
After neglecting cultivation for so long, his body was thick with impurities.
Even if clear water poured down, if the vessel lacked capacity, the result would only be shoddy.
To unfold the martial techniques he knew, he needed to elevate his Realm.
‘The good news is my Qi is still pure. A little work and I can become strong enough—more than strong enough.’
As strong as he’d been once. Perhaps stronger.
Anticipation made his heart race.
Dang Yoo-hyeon rushed to his Private Quarters and dismissed all the attendants.
“It’s been ages since I did this properly.”
During the wars, he couldn’t afford to take time for proper posture and Qi circulation—had to leap from his bed at a moment’s notice.
Without peace to rest, there was no opportunity.
But now?
Thanks to this body’s owner living so extravagantly, no one would seek him out, and no one would disturb him.
It was the perfect environment for building Inner Energy.
“Insane bastard. I’m grateful enough to weep.”
Dang Yoo-hyeon ground his teeth and muttered the words.
He wanted to squeeze the reformation out of this reckless fool, but there was so much that needed changing.
“Breathe. One step at a time. One step at a time.”
He settled into a lotus position without delay and tossed a Spirit Elixir into his mouth.
Whoosh.
A refreshing fragrance like a summer Bamboo Forest spread across his palate.
‘This is no ordinary Spirit Elixir. What a thoughtful descendant.’
Dang Yoo-hyeon suppressed a smile and silently recited the incantations of the Dao-fan San-yang Gui-yuan Gong.
The Dao-fan San-yang Gui-yuan Gong was one of the Dang Clan’s secret inner techniques, passed only to direct descendants, and difficult to reach high Realms without a master’s guidance.
But who was he?
A man who had mastered the Dang Clan’s supreme technique—the Wan-liu Gui-yuan Shen Gong.
An experienced newcomer whom no one would refuse, one whose administrative experience alone could fill at least a hundred bamboo slips.
To unfold once-understood knowledge again was as easy as eating cold rice.
‘I am my own guide.’
Dang Yoo-hyeon exhaled deeply and drew his Qi up from his Dantian.
Clear, crystalline Qi merged with his own, triggering an explosive reaction.
It flowed gently at first, then scraped through his body harshly like something consuming him.
Crack!
Boom! Boom! Boom—!
Each time it reached a blockage layered with debris, violent shocks rippled through his body.
“Ugh!”
Dang Yoo-hyeon clenched his teeth and recalled the realizations he’d gained in the past.
When blocked, break through. When turbid, drive it out and fill with clarity.
Thus purity spreads throughout the body to achieve the Triple Yang, then returns to the Dantian.
As all living things return to dust, clarity to clarity and yang to yang.
Sending them back to that center.
This process was difficult, and most could not endure the agony of being battered in their bodies before reaching its extreme.
But Dang Yoo-hyeon did not yield.
Until purity drove out turbidity.
Until muddy water became clear stream.
Again and again, he circulated and recovered his Qi.
Shi-er Zhou-tian.
Shi-er Zhou-tian once more.
The frequency of completing the Xiao Zhou-tian cycles accelerated rapidly.
Whooooom!
With a resonant hum, his cross-legged body lifted into empty air.
Clear Qi filled his Dantian then streamed out again, purging waste from every limb.
His flesh transformed into an optimal state for mastering martial techniques, and toxins lingering in his blood were refined away.
His entire body wavered between shattering agony and the sense of achievement drawing near to his extreme—an endless cycle of torment and triumph.
“Ahhhhhh.”
Enduring the final pain, Dang Yoo-hyeon released a long, shuddering breath.
At the same moment, his body descended slowly back to earth.
As he stored all his Qi in his Dantian, exhaustion claimed him.
Rather than force himself to stand, Dang Yoo-hyeon simply collapsed onto his back.
“Done……!”
He had pulled a Second-Rate body up to First-Rate.
Compared to when he’d been called the Reckless One, it was still a drop in the ocean.
Yet the foundation had been laid to achieve something beyond his past self.
Didn’t he feel a wholly different, pure Qi flowing through his body now?
“Heh. Heh. Heheheh.”
A smile bloomed unbidden at the achievement that set his entire frame trembling.
He laughed in fits and starts, turning his head.
The sky had darkened without his noticing.
* * *
The next morning.
Dang Yoo-hyeon left his Private Quarters the moment dawn broke.
Without a word, he stepped forward, and his escort Dang Ho-yeong fell into step behind him at once.
“Where are you headed, sir?”
“The Library.”
“The Library?”
“I won’t be able to attend lessons for several days, so I thought I’d read some books.”
“Ah…… Yes, understood.”
There was a long pause before his reply.
You don’t believe it?
Even if he were in Dang Ho-yeong’s shoes, he wouldn’t have believed it either.
A reckless man reading books—a cow reciting scripture would be more credible.
But Dang Ho-yeong was Dang Yoo-hyeon’s escort, and he asked no further questions, simply following in silence.
Dang Yoo-hyeon was satisfied enough to overlook the suspicious glances and the occasional tilting of his head in doubt.
“I want to read quietly, so wait outside the front.”
“Yes. What about breakfast, sir?”
“The herbal decoction has made me lose my appetite. I’ll come out around midday.”
“Understood.”
“If nothing urgent comes up, turn away anyone looking for me.”
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”
Click—.
The moment the librarian closed the Library door, Dang Yoo-hyeon spread his Qi.
His escort was at the main gate, the librarian in his place, and no one else was in the Library.
‘Perfect!’
It felt as though heaven itself was aiding him.
‘Indeed, sneaking into a Secret Chamber has its own thrill.’
Every family had its Secret Chambers, and the Dang Clan had more than most.
Usually, the entrances were accidentally sealed during reconstruction, but in the Library he’d walked through just now, there were no such traces.
Which meant the secret passages were still active.
‘Well. If it’s blocked, I’ll just find another way in.’
After all, a Secret Chamber’s entrance was never just one.
Dang Yoo-hyeon hummed to himself as he ventured deeper into the Library.
In the deepest part of the Library stood a screen painted with Plum, Orchid, Chrysanthemum, and Bamboo.
He admired the faded painting, then circled behind it.
‘It should be around here…….’
Running his fingers along the dark wall behind the screen, he felt a small groove.
Dang Yoo-hyeon immediately inserted his fingers into the groove and pushed hard, driving his Qi through his arm.
Slide—.
As a panel large enough for a person to pass through slid open, a passage embedded with Night-Luminous Pearls was revealed.
It was a secret passageway meant for use in emergencies.
Who had made it?
‘I did.’
The entire thing had been created at Dang Yoo-hyeon’s suggestion.
‘Which is why it leaves no trace and is flawlessly done. If someone else had made it, it would’ve been discovered and blocked long ago.’
Apart from major structures like the Main Family Hall, there was nowhere in the compound his hand hadn’t touched.
Though he’d never imagined he’d use it this way.
Dang Yoo-hyeon gave a bitter smile and stepped inside.
Passing through the corridor illuminated by Night-Luminous Pearls, he found a massive wall standing firm before him.
It looked like a dead end, but it was no wall.
It was the gate to the Secret Chamber.
It had been so long since footsteps last ventured here that dust flew with every movement.
Dang Yoo-hyeon swept the door clean and bit his finger, drawing blood.
Kindness repaid tenfold; grievance returned a hundredfold.
The Family Tradition, inscribed in blood, gleamed vividly through the darkness.
When the correct words found their correct places, the earth trembled deeply and the doors split open to either side.
Rumble—crack!
On the left side, where gratitude was written: medicine and cure.
On the right side, where grievance was written: poison.
In the center, bridging the two, Secret Technique Manuals on Martial Arts filled the shelves entirely.
A step deeper, and more shelves materialized behind the first, beyond which Precious Swords, Precious Gems, and Gold Ingots lay stacked like mountains.
“So the Yue-ying Sword got sold off again, and this is all that’s left? I keep telling you not to neglect the blades.”
His grumbling tone belied the corners of his mouth, which had lifted high.
“Not a thing’s changed!”
The Secret Chamber had endured wars, fires, and invasions by remnants of the Demonic Sect—all while remaining hidden, steadfast and unmoved.
Of course, the problem was that none of the later generations knew of its existence.
“That’s what I mean—we shouldn’t keep it so secretive.”
Dang Yoo-hyeon tapped playfully at the Secret Chamber’s door.
“If no one knows of it, how can we decide whether to pass it down or lock it away?”
The words, spoken to one long dead, scattered into emptiness.
Above the silence, a bitter smile settled.
Yet it faded the moment his feet moved forward.
Dang Yoo-hyeon looked around and ran his fingers along the Secret Technique Manuals.
“This is a problem. I don’t know where to start. Really, no idea. What should I do? This is so very, very difficult to decide.”
Martial Arts thought lost to time, poison arts whose mixing formulas were forgotten, sword techniques whose lineage was unknown.
All of it could be passed on.
But if he stopped here, it would not be enough.
Lost arts like the Wan-tian Hua-yu would have to be rewritten by his own hand.
Writing them on new paper would invite suspicion of forgery; and even if he were fortunate enough to find old parchment, having only the needed secret manuals appear would raise questions of its own.
Passing on the manuals was one thing, but he also needed to ensure those who received them could truly understand them.
Otherwise, whatever secrets were unearthed would become nothing but scraps of paper.
Why would he allow value to be buried and lost when it could shine?
“I’ll have to teach it all, step by step, slowly.”
Dang Yoo-hyeon, making do with what suited the present Dang Clan, selected Secret Technique Manuals and tucked them into his robes.
Just as he was about to examine the shelves at the back for anything else to pass along, a small, separate shelf caught his eye.
“Hm?”
A grayish shelf piled thick with carefully bound ink sticks.
Dang Yoo-hyeon approached as if in a trance and opened a book.
Rustle.
“……There’s nothing here.”
No matter how many pages he turned, they were all the same.
The ones beside it too, and the ones beyond that.
Books of emptiness, bearing nothing but the marks of time—no titles, no content.
Why did such things lie tightly arranged on a small shelf in the corner of the Secret Chamber?
“Ah…….”
Belated understanding pierced through his mind.
The one who had placed them here all those years ago had known.
That someday there would come a time when the Clan lost everything and had to write it all anew.
‘But I’m sure they never wished for such a day to come.’
Dang Yoo-hyeon turned his head slowly, as if surveying the Secret Chamber.
In the past, he had taken no interest in the Secret Chamber beyond its blueprints.
He had never sought to know what lay within or what legacy those before him had meant to pass on.
All that mattered to him then was the Clan’s restoration.
Only after a long time had passed, after he finally entered this place, did he understand at last.
That generations of worry and love dwelt here, and had continued to be passed forward through the ages.
Now that he knew this, he could not remain idle.
Let them remain forever as faded gems?
For whose sake?
Dang Yoo-hyeon clenched his fists.
‘I will not allow such a day to befall us again.’
And with that, he gathered the empty books and ink sticks and made his way out of the Secret Chamber.
He rubbed away the characters written on the door with his hand, and the Secret Cave sealed shut.
He stood gazing at the wall-like door for a moment, then turned away.
Sichuan Dang Clan Redemption of Genius
Author |
Lee Il-yeong
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Editorial Director |
Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
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7th Floor, Gwangseong Building, 28 Bongeunsa-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
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G720:N+A063-20260615052
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blog.naver.com/dreambookss
Twitter (X) |
@dreambookss
Submissions |
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Without the written permission of Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books, the contents of this book may not be used in any form or by any means whatsoever.

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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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