The Reformed Genius of the Sichuan Tang Clan - Chapter 59

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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 59
“The second match is a martial competition between Dang Youxuan of the Sichuan Dang Family and Cheonglam of Huashan!”
As the two martial artists walked toward the center of the arena, cheers erupted from the crowd.
“Excellent! Now we’ll see true prowess clash with true prowess!”
“Huashan and the Dang Clan—this pairing hasn’t happened since they routed Noksoup. Who takes it?”
“Of course it’s the Crimson Blossom Sword Dragon. If he were just ordinary, would he have earned such an epithet?”
‘His reputation precedes him.’
The world held countless epithets, but among them, the character Dragon was reserved only for the most exceptional of the rising martial experts.
True to his reputation, Cheonglam was known as a master of ornate swordplay and solid Internal Energy.
The Twenty-Four Hand Plum Blossom Sword Technique—and among its techniques, the particularly elaborate Plum Blossom Wall.
Sword Aura that danced like petals, and a thick wall built with Sword Strength as solid as ancient wood—these were Cheonglam’s specialties.
‘I hope that reputation isn’t merely illusion.’
Meanwhile, his opponent Cheonglam harbored similar thoughts.
‘The Open-Heart Lone Wolf, they call him. A rising martial expert from the Sichuan region?’
But that was all.
He was the one who had long been known as the Crimson Blossom Sword Dragon, stirring the hearts of Shaanxi and the Central Plains.
He was hardly the sort to yield ground to some upstart talent.
‘I’ve already grasped all your methods.’
Ever since he’d confirmed his opponent, he’d been observing Dang Youxuan’s movements.
His Footwork, Hidden Blade Technique, the limbs he favored.
Even the smallest thing could reveal when and how he’d deploy his strength.
‘He hasn’t used poison until now, but how much longer can he abstain?’
To be honest, until now Dang Youxuan’s opponents had been mediocre at best.
Men who leaned on their clan’s backing and mistook it for their own ability.
Wanderers without clear purpose from schools that had lost their way.
So it made sense that Dang Youxuan had never shown his full strength.
‘But I will be different.’
Cheonglam had long since devised a strategy to stand against Dang Youxuan.
If he deployed his Hidden Blade Technique, Cheonglam would repel it with Plum Blossom Sword Technique; if he used poison, he’d seal his approach before it could begin.
‘Come on, then—let’s clash at full strength!’
Cheonglam squared his shoulders and waited for Dang Youxuan.
But the Dang Youxuan who now ascended the arena was eerily composed, unlike anything Cheonglam had seen before.
Like a man devoid of emotion.
‘What is this……?’
Cheonglam furrowed his brow at the wrongness of it.
In that moment, Dang Youxuan approached and clasped his fist in salute.
“I shall learn from you.”
“……I shall learn from you.”
Cheonglam shook off his confusion and plunged instantly into the duel.
His outgoing breath, the sound of bones shifting, muscles tightening and releasing in rhythm.
Even amid the clamor around them, Cheonglam’s ears caught every detail.
“Haaaah!”
Cheonglam rolled his feet with a shout.
As he channeled his Inner Power into his blade, an eerie crimson light rippled across its surface.
Plum Blossom Sword Technique—Cold Plum Blossom Flash Fall!
Cheonglam’s sword thrust toward his opponent’s lower abdomen.
Dang Youxuan spun his body just as the blade grazed his robe and slipped clear.
Crash!
He struck the blade aside with his palm, and Cheonglam somersaulted through the air before landing.
Screech!
As he repositioned his grip to press the attack, Hidden Blades flew from either side.
Clang! Clang-clang!
Cheonglam hastily adjusted his sword to deflect the blades.
But it didn’t end there.
Dang Youxuan immediately channeled his Inner Power into more Hidden Blades and hurled them.
The overlapping blades flew in tandem until, just before reaching Cheonglam’s sword, they suddenly shifted trajectory and split left and right.
Boom-boom-boom!
The Hidden Blades whirled with fierce momentum, descending from both sides.
Whoosh.
Cheonglam planted one foot back to anchor himself and swung his sword wide.
Twenty-Four Hand Plum Blossom Sword Technique—Plum Blossom Wall!
The red Sword Aura shimmered along the blade’s path, adding another stroke to the pattern.
One stroke.
Then another.
What began as a single line accumulated into a trunk, then branches.
What began as a single line accumulated into a trunk, then branches.
“That is—!”
“The Plum Blossom Wall of the Falling Blossom Sword Dragon!”
It lived up to its reputation; the Plum Blossom Wall he conjured was far thicker and more resonant than any he’d encountered before.
Clang!
The Hidden Blade rocketing toward his head crashed against the Sword Wall and stopped.
Screech-screech-screech!
It struck and scraped.
The desperate rotation of the Hidden Blade, straining to pierce through, gradually lost its momentum.
Dang Youxuan did not let up; he launched another Hidden Blade in quick succession.
Whoooosh!
After the Self-Mother Throwing Technique, the Five Thunder Chain Strike.
The assault came like a test of Cheonglam’s very limits.
Clang! Crash! Screech-crash-crash!
Against the barrage, Cheonglam’s blade descended again and again.
Just as Dang Youxuan’s hands did not cease, neither did Cheonglam’s arms.
Like bearing the cruel winds of winter, with each passing moment the Sword Wall grew thicker still.
Yet Dang Youxuan was not a man to stand idle and watch.
In the moment when the unbroken flurry of sword strokes grew strained and the Sword Wall weakened under the relentless barrage, the Hidden Blade hidden within his wrist shot forth in a perfectly straight line.
Crack!
The formidable Sword Wall, solid as the honeysuckle’s plum tree, crumbled.
In the spray of dissipating Inner Power and dust, Cheonglam bared his teeth and laughed.
“Not a bad opening.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
Despite the considerable Inner Power expended, neither fighter showed the slightest fatigue.
Though they’d applied more force than in their previous duel, they hadn’t gone all-out, so their breathing remained steady and even.
Cheonglam fixed his gaze on Dang Youxuan and gave his sword a light flick.
‘No surprises. I can press the advantage as planned.’
The same movements he’d witnessed before. If poison wasn’t brought into play, then victory belonged to the one who understood his opponent first—himself.
‘Had he used poison, the duel might have dragged on somewhat longer. But that’s all it would be.’
Cheonglam laughed with utter confidence.
But then.
Dang Youxuan saw through even that thought and gave a soft, derisive smile.
‘His expectations haven’t deviated by a hair.’
Understanding one’s opponent in a duel was the most basic of basics.
And equally fundamental was never trusting that one had fully grasped that opponent.
Cheonglam kept to the fundamentals only to abandon them.
‘And those who abandon the fundamentals shall fall to defeat.’
Dang Youxuan launched another Hidden Blade and opened the distance between them.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Hidden Blade arced left and right, tracing great circles through the air.
“Haaah!”
Cheonglam swung his arm in a broad sweep, knocking the Hidden Blade away.
Dang Youxuan recovered the tumbling Hidden Blade and launched it once more toward the same target.
Whistle!
Clash! Clang!
The offense and defense continued without variation.
To distant spectators, it would have appeared a fiercely contested exchange.
But it would not last.
“Ugh—!”
Cheonglam was the first to show a crack.
‘My arm, suddenly—!’
The attacks had seemed nothing more than straightforward strikes from left to right.
Yet he hadn’t countered immediately because they were subtly targeting his vital points.
So he’d only defended, seizing fleeting gaps to deflect them.
‘But why won’t my arm move?’
His arm should have risen without effort, but instead it trembled helplessly.
“Why aren’t you counterattacking? What’s the delay?”
“Has something happened to your arm?”
As speculation scattered through the crowd, Dang Youxuan spoke quietly.
“Is this your first time experiencing something like this?”
“……!”
“Then you ought to learn something useful from it.”
Whiiiissssh!
The Hidden Blade cut through the air with a clean whistle, grazing Cheonglam’s throat.
Whisper.
Severed strands of hair drifted down to the arena floor.
“This is the sort of thing you won’t learn anywhere else.”
For what it’s worth, I learned it from Sapha.
They’re relentlessly thorough.
I nearly died more than once.
Be grateful for the advance training I just gave you.
“The Sichuan Dang Family’s Dang Youxuan has claimed victory!”
Dang Youxuan laughed, a sound like clear water.
“Wow! The Cruel Wolf of Opening Heaven has defeated the Falling Blossom Sword Dragon!”
“It’s impossible. Shaanxi’s most rising martial expert—the Falling Blossom Sword Dragon?”
“Could this truly be the emergence of a Sleeping Dragon……!”
Cheonglam came back to himself only after the thunderous roar of the crowd broke over him.
“A defeat beyond dispute, I’m afraid.”
Cheonglam sheathed his sword and picked up the Hidden Blade that had fallen, handing it back to Dang Youxuan.
“I learned much. Should another day come when we can exchange martial techniques, I’d welcome it.”
“I concur.”
Dang Youxuan and Cheonglam clasped fists together.
“Well taught.”
“Well taught.”
Dang Youxuan descended from the arena with a faint smile playing at his lips.
But then—
“Changhae Geommun’s Hae Muyoung has claimed victory!”
The smile vanished in an instant.
“The Swordless Sword lost……!”
“The Dragon Phoenix Conference this year is impossible to predict!”
The crowd’s reaction became Dang Youxuan’s reaction.
‘Muo won? He defeated Muo?’
Even from what he’d felt at Jamwolsa, Muo was no simple opponent.
Despite being a Third Generation Disciple, he carried high renown—and the martial prowess to match.
He was a rising martial expert whose epithet was earned.
Judging from his performances in the preliminaries and first round of the main tournament, he was strong enough to contend for the championship.
And yet—Hae Muyoung had defeated him?
‘Has he reached the Supreme Peak? No, that can’t be……’
As Dang Youxuan walked, his gaze remained fixed on Hae Muyoung.
Hae Muyoung descended from the arena with his Straw Hat pulled low.
Ciiiiick.
“……!”
Their eyes met.
The corner of his shadowed mouth rose slightly, then fell.
Dang Youxuan felt it with instinctive certainty.
‘His target is me.’
Sichuan Dang Family Opening Heaven Prodigy
Author |
Lee Il-young
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(Co.) Samyang C&C
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Editorial Department
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The contents of this book may not be used 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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