The Reformed Genius of the Sichuan Tang Clan - Chapter 43

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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 43
Dang Youxuan laughed softly and pushed back his sleeve, revealing the Moon Shadow Sword.
“If you wish, I can demonstrate the difference right here and now.”
Eyes widened and brightened, fixed upon Dang Youxuan with sudden intensity.
‘How could you possibly…?’
Meeting those questioning gazes steadily, Dang Youxuan replied with measured calm.
“I happen to be rather talented.”
“What arrogance! There are limits to such presumption! Let me just―”
“There’s no need. The Dang Clan’s position has already been sufficiently proven.”
As Seol Cheongyun rose to the provocation, Beop Gye stepped in to restrain him.
It was an obvious trap.
A fifteen-year-old boy could hardly deploy the family’s secret arts.
Yet his confident bearing meant he had grounds for such confidence—and walking into that snare would be foolish.
If he did unleash those techniques, the careful balance they’d constructed would shatter.
‘That cannot be allowed.’
Seol Cheongyun, unaware of Beop Gye’s reasoning but sensing there was one, quickly fell silent.
‘Not for nothing is he the head of Jeongpa. His instincts are sharp.’
Dang Youxuan had never expected the provocation to land.
So he would simply finish what he’d prepared.
“Let us move to the next point, then.”
“There’s more?”
“The credibility of the witness, sir.”
“You still won’t concede? Isn’t that matter already settled?”
“It seems Gae Bang may have been slow to receive certain information regarding this case.”
Dang Gangheon opened his palm upward, and Dang Youxuan drew a Bamboo Slip from his robe, placing it in his father’s hand.
“This is an assessment prepared by the Dang Clan’s Medical Division regarding the witness’s mental state. Wang Hanshi, known as the Jade-Eyed Divine Physician—most of you know him, as he once served as both the Dang Clan’s physician and the Murim League’s official healer.”
“That man…!”
The Jade-Eyed Divine Physician, Wang Hanshi.
A healer whose eyes turned jade-blue after an accident while saving a life—hence the name by which he was known.
Physician to the Dang Clan and once the Murim League’s appointed healer at their request, he had since stepped down and departed.
What his name signified was simple.
‘Irrefutable.’
Should anyone question his judgment, it would be interpreted as doubt cast upon the Murim League itself, which had vouched for him.
‘Those who wish to preserve the current balance will hardly welcome such scrutiny.’
And so they had no choice but to accept the Dang Clan’s position.
Even if it meant the fall of Jeom Chang and Gae Bang.
“Then why did you call him a madman?”
“The physician sensed a presence similar to his own in Youxuan. According to the assessment, since the witness can barely see and judges people by their spiritual presence, did he not make an accurate determination?”
‘A mistake!’
Finding the flaw in the testimony had been well done.
But speaking without full knowledge of the witness’s condition had the opposite effect—elevating Dang Youxuan instead.
“This cannot be…”
Faced with total defeat, Seol Cheongyun slumped in his seat, his expression hollow.
“To parade distorted history as fact, to declare a sound mind unsound—such deception.”
The eyes of the Dang father and son turned toward Seol Cheongyun.
Yet everyone understood.
This reproach was not meant for him alone.
“We may not believe in your way, but we have not forgotten righteousness. Your carelessness is most regrettable.”
Dang Gangheon speaks.
Your way and our way are not the same.
And Dang Youxuan speaks—as does the Lord of the Dang, Dang Hyeonchul.
You have abandoned your way.
“I see no need for further discussion.”
At Beop Gye’s words, all present cleared their throats and straightened in their seats.
Shock and calculation are separate matters.
The decision of whom to support and whom to abandon had already been made.
“However great the victory in the Jeongma Tournament may have been achieved through combined effort, who contributed most and where is abundantly clear. The theft of another’s merit is a grave wrong; therefore, the Dang Clan shall calculate appropriate compensation and send it to Jeom Chang, which shall accept it as restitution.”
“…We accept, sir.”
‘I’ve been lenient enough—why the sullen face?’
Cold as his words sounded, Shaolin had not abandoned Jeom Chang.
The fact that the Dang Clan was simply told to settle the matter internally, without a fixed compensation amount being set, made it all too clear.
The moment he demanded more than what they had in mind, they would mobilize the Gae Bang beggars and denounce him as an unprincipled opportunist.
The reason for acting this way was obvious.
Facing the Five Great Clans growing in strength, they wanted to maintain the current Nine Sects and One Gang, so they must have reasoned that holding onto Jeom Chang was more advantageous, even at a loss.
Any tenuous thread was worth grasping if it might prove useful.
“Then let us conclude this conference.”
With the closing declaration finished, the leaders of the Nine Sects and One Gang filed out of the meeting hall—all except those from Wudang and Huashan.
“The Dang Clan’s merit has been properly recognized. My congratulations.”
“At last, things seem to be flowing as they should.”
“This is what young blood accomplishes. Hahahaha!”
“I am grateful to all of you.”
The clan heads of the Five Great Clans, led by Namgung Won, the Azure Dragon Sword Emperor, and Myeong Jin of Huashan, the Sage of Huashan Sword, offered their congratulations.
Most of it was less genuine felicitation than eagerness to see the power structure shift away from Shaolin’s dominance.
It was certain that the Dang Clan’s resurrection would strengthen the hand of the Five Great Clans.
“It has been quite some time since I’ve seen the second son. That you’ve brought him along suggests he acquitted himself well in this affair?”
“Indeed.”
“I hear he’s made a name for himself recently as Gae Sin the Lone Wolf? The prospects are most promising.”
“The Dragon Phoenix Gathering draws near, at that. I look forward to what comes next.”
The leaders each offered their words and drifted away.
Beop Gye fixed his gaze on Dang Youxuan.
Behind eyes disguised by benevolence, wariness glinted.
“Will Gae Sin the Lone Wolf also participate in this year’s Dragon Phoenix Gathering?”
“Yes.”
“With such remarkable achievements already displayed, one cannot help but expect great things.”
“I am still lacking.”
“With such humility as well, the alias has found its rightful master.”
‘So you’ve decided I’m a dragon now, have you.’
After hearing all manner of flattery over the years, this was almost endearing.
Dang Youxuan offered a perfunctory bow with an unmoved expression and turned away at once.
There was no reason to linger with those beneath his regard.
* * *
After the Jeongpa conference, the Dang Clan was ablaze with talk of Dang Youxuan.
“The young master has restored the Dang Clan’s honor!”
“His trip to Yunnan before must have been for this purpose? Everything he does has meaning.”
“I knew all along he was a man of quality!”
“But tell me—doesn’t this mean the clan head is placing his support behind the young master?”
“Should we be picking our sides now?”
“Let’s wait and see for now.”
A reversal of reputation and a shift in power.
Yet the very architect of these rumors lay sprawled in his quarters, his brow furrowed in thought.
“Something feels off about this……”
During his time as the sole heir, the Dang Clan, while perhaps not the supreme family under heaven, had stood on equal footing with the Namgung Clan—and had grown even stronger behind the scenes.
For it to crumble in merely a century seemed incongruent with all that had been accumulated.
“Unless multiple parties conspired to obliterate the Dang Clan……”
Suspicion existed. The reactions at the Jeongpa conference made that plain.
But there was no hard evidence.
Claims without proof were merely boasting.
“So I need to understand why the clan fell.”
According to witnesses, a village that had seldom traded with the outside world had received an outsider from Dalzhou.
“The sudden appearance of a stranger in a village wholly self-sufficient—”
Something about it was suspicious.
Dang Youxuan rose abruptly and dressed himself.
A place where all information in the world converged, and one not hostile to the Dang Clan.
He needed to go to the Hao Men.
* * *
If the Gae Bang gathered information through beggars scattered across the land, the Hao Men was the network of branches established in each region.
Though called branches, they appeared outwardly no different from ordinary taverns or inns.
Dang Youxuan stepped into a sundry shop called the Fortune House.
Its primary clientele appeared not to be commoners, for along with expensive wares—fine books, delicate jewelry, intricate wooden figurines—there were numerous tables where one could sit and sip tea while browsing.
Because of this, despite the humble exterior, the atmosphere inside rivaled that of an elegant pavilion catering to the gentry.
Dang Youxuan found an empty seat and sat down. A server approached him at once.
“Wait. I’ll take this guest.”
A man in black silk robes took the tea from the server’s hands.
“I never expected to meet you here.”
Though he knew the man’s true identity, his tone remained playful.
It was Seonwoo Yoon.
“What brings you to this place?”
“I’m looking for something. But what about you—what are you doing here?”
“My father has taken me into the fold. He heard tales of my exploits in Sichuan, or so he said.”
Seonwoo Yoon shrugged, his expression unconvinced.
“News travels fast these days, doesn’t it?”
In truth, the Dang Clan had spread the name of Hao Men before any rumor could, so the story had simply fallen into place of its own accord.
Still, the fact that they’d accepted Seonwoo Yoon suggested the arrangement wasn’t entirely without profit.
“You mentioned you were looking for something. What information do you need?”
“Do you have paper?”
“Of course.”
Seonwoo Yoon quickly produced paper and brush.
‘I’m curious by nature, you see. I won’t rest easy until I know why the Dang Clan fell.’
And if he could land a blow on those responsible along the way, all the better.
Dang Youxuan smiled faintly and wrote down the name of a temple he’d seen mentioned in the testimony.
Janyuol Temple.
“Find out what you can about this temple.”
Sichuan Dang Clan—Redemption Through Virtue, Genius
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Yi Il-yeong
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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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