The Reformed Genius of the Sichuan Tang Clan - Chapter 6

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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 6
Excellent parents maintain clarity in reward and punishment.
Dang Gangheon, falling into that category, led Dang Yoohyun directly to the Ga Ju’s private repository.
Inside the dark wooden structure, shelves lined densely with ancient texts seemed to bear witness to an obsession with preserving Bi Jeon.
Dang Yoohyun followed slowly, committing every spine to memory.
‘I need to know what’s here to know what’s missing.’
As he craned his neck to take in the full extent, Dang Gangheon tapped the wall lightly to draw his attention.
“Not there.”
“Ah. Yes.”
Dang Yoohyun feigned confusion to buy time, memorizing the names of every text in the process.
Dang Gangheon waited for Dang Yoohyun to draw near, then slid the Candle Stand to one side.
Click.
He pushed the wall, and a hidden chamber opened behind it.
‘Ah? So he managed to preserve this, did he?’
It was a relief that despite the family’s decline, they hadn’t lost everything.
If they had, he wouldn’t have dared attempt to restore the Bi Jeon at all.
‘So the family held on.’
The faces of his family from before he left the Dang household surfaced unbidden, stirring an unexpected ache in his chest.
“Follow me inside.”
“Yes.”
As he entered behind Dang Gangheon, he saw a cavern-dark space lit only by the faint glow of Ya Myung Ju.
“This is the Secret Repository of the Dang family. It is passed down only to each Ga Ju, and only they may enter.”
‘And I built it.’
“Because we were so careful to keep it hidden, even I didn’t receive it from your grandfather until I was nearly fifty.”
‘That old codger certainly was suspicious.’
Dang Yoohyun waited for the explanation to end, summoning an appropriately reverent expression from within.
‘No, really—if you’re going to give me the Bi Jeon, just hand it over. Why all this tedious explanation?’
If not for his father’s presence, he’d have liked to knock him senseless and explore on his own.
‘Am I a child?’
His body was, yes.
‘But do I not know the Dang family?’
He’d assume the boy didn’t, simply because he was still young.
‘Damn it. Is this what I came here for?’
If he hated it, he could always be born again.
Snap.
Distracting thoughts vanished along with the expression that had briefly revealed them.
The eerily blank mask smoothed back into the precocious countenance of a fifteen-year-old.
‘What was that?’
Dang Gangheon’s eyebrow rose as he observed the shift.
Normally, when shown a family’s secret repository, the young would react with surprise or assume a grave demeanor appropriate to holding such a significant secret.
Yet Dang Yoohyun showed no such response.
There had been a change, but it was so subtle as to be nearly imperceptible.
‘……Could it be!?’
Understanding struck Dang Gangheon like a blow, and he pressed his hand to his mouth.
‘After enduring everything alone for so long without a soul to lean on, he’s buried his emotions as habit, acting unaffected!’
Though that wasn’t quite it.
But Dang Gangheon, ignorant of the truth, harbored his misunderstanding firmly and exhaled a sigh laden with pity and self-reproach.
‘I’m a father who doesn’t even understand his own son’s heart……!’
Had Dang Yoohyun heard this, he would have exclaimed that his father was the problem, not the other way around—what more could he possibly do?
“Ahem.”
Dang Gangheon cleared his throat.
“All of the Sacheon Dang Family’s remaining Bi Geup are gathered here. Take your time and choose slowly.”
“Thank you.”
Despite the measured tone, Dang Yoohyun felt the weight of his father’s intense gaze and returned a slightly awkward bow.
‘He seems to be laboring under quite a significant misunderstanding…….’
What could be done about it?
He could only hope it was a favorable one.
“Hmm.”
Dang Yoohyun surveyed the shelves.
It seemed copies had been kept separately in the eastern wing, for aside from a handful of overlapping Bi Geup, what remained were relatively moderate works.
‘Passing on only such weak techniques has rotted the children’s minds.’
By “weak,” he meant solely those secret arts with low lethality by his own measure—but no one else would ever know.
‘At this rate, there’s no standing against Ma Gyo.’
Those lulled by peace, unprepared, could never overcome Ma Gyo—an organization that had spent the last hundred years honing the blade of vengeance.
To begin with, those who would stop at nothing to fulfill Cheon Ma’s will had to be faced without mercy; half-measures and compromise would never work against them.
If he didn’t want to be helplessly trampled, he too would have to cast aside all restraint in his methods.
‘Hmm. Should I throw in some of my own martial arts as well?’
There was a time when, scouring old martial texts, he had compiled techniques born from subtle insights and refined movements—optimizing practical lethality.
Officially, they had been shelved as too dangerous due to their killing power.
Even if that hadn’t happened, few would have dared attempt them without considerable talent, and the physical toll was severe enough that the number of practitioners would have been minimal.
But was this the time to be choosy?
He needed to master whatever he could and face them in open combat.
‘What should I teach them… If I slip a few of the Dokun Moo Gong techniques into a separate volume, no one would notice, would they?’
As he recalled the burnt characters, it seemed he heard that voice driving him forward again.
—Never reveal your Dokun Moo Gong to another soul.
Father. With the Sacheon Dang Family about to collapse, does that really matter?
The descendants matter.
‘I’ll nurture the Sacheon Dang Family with utmost care and raise it to become the finest house under heaven—so please don’t worry.’
Dang Yoohyun let out a soft chuckle and drew out a secret manual.
“I will choose this one.”
He turned the martial arts manual toward Dang Gangheon.
Fei Ying Bian Wei Bu.
A secret footwork technique that could only be learned with the Ga Ju’s approval, specialized in disorienting opponents through afterimages and optical illusions.
It was also the very technique that had allowed Dang Yoohyun to achieve mastery and earn his reputation as Dokju.
“Do you know what that secret manual contains?”
‘As if I wouldn’t?’
Dang Yoohyun smoothly concealed his thoughts and bowed his head.
“I am eager to listen.”
“A hundred years ago, in the Jeong Ma Dae Jeon, our Sacheon Dang Family’s Dokju led a suicide squad and slew Cheon Ma—you know this, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“The Fei Ying Bian Wei Bu was precisely what that master achieved through supreme cultivation.”
‘Oh. So it was passed down correctly after all?’
“You too must devote yourself to discipline, endless discipline, so as not to bring shame upon his honor.”
“I will keep it close to my heart.”
Even afterward, Dang Gangheon seemed worried that Dang Yoohyun might go astray again, and spent a considerable while recounting the greatness of Dokju and his achievements both within and beyond the family.
The meaning was clear: even such a great figure had worked tirelessly in every way to earn his name, so Dang Yoohyun should follow his example.
It was the same lecture he’d heard countless times before, but it didn’t feel tedious.
In fact, he was in good spirits.
So Dang Yoohyun deliberately widened his eyes as though he didn’t fully understand.
Thanks to this, Dang Gangheon’s blind praise and his history lesson dragged on for roughly half an hour.
“……Do you understand?”
“Yes. I will remember it well.”
Only after hearing the same answer dozens of times did Dang Gangheon finally relax and step back.
‘Does distrust run in the blood?’
Normally, the family descendants would have wailed that they’d failed at raising their children, but this time, given his own role in it, he settled the matter with a simple reflection.
“Then let us return.”
“Yes.”
Once Dang Gangheon closed his mouth, their conversation ceased.
They maintained silence throughout until they had exited the Secret Repository, and only then did they speak again.
“Your body seems to have recovered considerably.”
“That is thanks to your care.”
Dang Yoohyun smiled faintly, recalling the weighty pouch of Young Dan in his possession.
“It looks as though you’ll be able to return soon.”
“Return where?”
“To the academy.”
Ah… Really?
‘Do I have to go back and learn all those tedious subjects again?’
…… I hate it.
Yet he was only fifteen, with much still to learn.
There was no way to escape.
‘No. This is an opportunity.’
If I brought in one student and cultivated them, the others would watch and learn.
At that age, they all crave something just a little higher than what their peers achieve.
Polish rough stones long enough, and people naturally gather around.
‘I don’t exactly mesh well with children. ……Will it be alright?’
By nature I’m poor with people, and this body’s owner is a notorious troublemaker—nothing but mediocre brats the lot of them.
Besides, even those will scatter after the emergency council incident.
This is maddening.
‘No. Somehow it will work out.’
I made all that fuss just to turn around one reputation—surely I can manage to gain a single friend?
* * *
I cannot.
Dang Yoohyun stood alone in the vast Yeon Hak Gak.
Where he stepped, the crowd parted like the sea, and everyone kept a fixed distance whenever he moved.
‘I’m not some plague.’
Not long ago, I was something close to it.
Now even those I used to play with treat me like a traitor, spurning me entirely.
Watching the whispers and sidelong glances from a distance—not from those within our circle, but from the masses beyond—a bitter laugh escaped unbidden.
So the plan changes.
During lessons, if I notice something wrong, I’ll point it out as if by accident.
One step at a time. I walked toward the Yeun Mu Jang, laying out the strategy with measured patience.
The moment my foot touched the blue stone floor,
“Elder brother—!”
A crystalline voice called out to stop me.
‘What? What is it?’
I looked up to see a girl with rolled sleeves striding toward me.
Hair gathered at the sides and fixed with an ornate hairpin, a pale green robe, and cheeks painted with a healthy flush.
It was Dang Young, the youngest daughter of Dang Gangheon and my younger sister.
Perhaps because there was no younger sister in my past life, the mere fact of her existence felt remarkable.
This newly acquired younger sister was truly…….
“Finally you’ve come to your senses!?”
She was loud.
Thanks to her, even those who’d paid me no mind began turning their attention toward me.
‘I wanted to slip in quietly.’
I wanted to tell her to lower her voice, but looking at that innocent face, I couldn’t bring myself to do it—and besides, I had no right to.
“Yes, yes. My wits have been sharp all along.”
Even if I had gulped down drinks with those sharp wits.
Dang Yoohyun stated the facts calmly.
“What do you mean? Going to Giru in broad daylight and stumbling home drunk—that’s not being in your right mind!”
Right. Everything you said is correct.
But is it necessary to broadcast it like that?
Silence broke, and whispers rose up.
‘I can hear my reputation crumbling.’
Whose reputation, I wonder?
It must be mine.
‘Damn it.’
I thought I’d burn from the inside out just flipping my reputation around—and now they want me to do it again?
‘Where did I hide that liquor?’
Dang Yoohyun burst into laughter at intervals, as if enlightened.
“That’s exactly why it was all done in my right mind.”
The Sacheon Dang Family’s Prodigal Reborn as a Genius
Author |
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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