The Reformed Genius of the Sichuan Tang Clan - Chapter 62

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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 62
Hearing Hwangbo Tae-gang’s quiet murmur, Dang Eun-ho let out a hollow laugh.
They say position makes the man.
But this—this was position making someone stranger than ever.
‘I was a fool to think that becoming Little Clan Leader would change things.’
In the meantime, Hwangbo Tae-gang approached Dang Eun-ho and offered a fist salute.
“I look forward to learning from you.”
After the brief greeting, Hwangbo Tae-gang pressed his lips shut.
Dang Eun-ho was not blind to the words hidden behind those sealed lips—something like, ‘What could I possibly learn from you?’
But he gave no sign of it and returned the fist salute.
“I look forward to learning from you.”
Even after the formal exchange, the crowd remained restless.
The murmurs continued without pause: their temperaments were poorly matched, the man from the Hwangbo Clan was skilled with poisoned needles, but surely he couldn’t match his older brother.
It was insulting.
Yet Dang Eun-ho only laughed lightly.
‘Being skilled at something and winning are two different things.’
Once Dang Eun-ho and Hwangbo Tae-gang had put sufficient distance between them, Won So bellowed loudly.
“Let the Martial Contest begin!”
Whoosh!
As Dang Eun-ho flicked his sleeve, five Feathered Needles shot forth.
They flew with vicious momentum.
Yet Hwangbo Tae-gang did not move—he simply extended his palm.
Hum!
Yellow Qi wrapped around his hand.
Crack!
The Feathered Needles shattered against the Qi.
But just as everyone knew, Dang Eun-ho’s opening move was nothing more than bait.
Whoooosh!
When Dang Eun-ho flicked his sleeve again, a far greater shower of Feathered Needles scattered like rain.
“It’s true the Dang Clan’s poison is formidable,” Hwangbo Tae-gang murmured quietly.
He swung his fist.
“But in a situation where you cannot fully employ that poison, it amounts to nothing more than a trivial trick!”
Boom! Boom!
Successive waves of Qi rent the air.
Against the solid barrier, thin needles crumbled.
Mount Tai Eighteen Palms!
Hwangbo Tae-gang drove his fist forward.
A single, slow yet weighty strike, bearing the heavy presence of Mount Tai itself.
Yellow energy-laden palm technique crashed down upon Dang Eun-ho in an instant.
“So you still think the Dang Clan is nothing without poison. Haven’t you learned anything all this time?”
Dang Eun-ho slipped Hidden Blades between his fingers.
Slice!
Three silver arcs cut through the air from left and right.
Whishhhhh!
Just as Hwangbo Tae-gang swung his fist to meet them, the rapidly spinning Hidden Blades abruptly changed direction before his eyes.
……!
Hwangbo Tae-gang immediately crossed both arms and unleashed a wave of force.
It was an action born more of instinct than calculation.
And why?
“My older brother must have shown you this many times?”
Dang Eun-ho mimicked Dang San’s movements.
And Hwangbo Tae-gang was a man who had trained to the point of death to counter Dang San’s attacks.
“You whelp! How dare you speak his name—”
“Shouldn’t a younger brother be allowed to praise his own older brother?”
“I’ll make you regret bringing him up!”
“It’s not ‘him’—it’s my older brother!”
Dang Eun-ho pressed his hands together, then swept them apart.
Crack!
Without drawing upon any Qi, a sound like rending air tore through the space above.
Two Hidden Blades flew forth overlapping one another.
‘No. Not two.’
Six.
The Parent-Child Throwing Method typically releases two Hidden Blades in overlapping succession.
But Dang Eun-ho had released six blades at once, wielding them like a single blade through the sheer size of his hands.
‘In some respects, he’s even more formidable than his brother.’
As if to confirm Hwangbo Tae-gang’s thought, the straight line of incoming blades split into six trajectories in an instant.
‘But I won’t concede victory so easily!’
Hwangbo Tae-gang steadied his breath and proceeded to deflect each blade methodically, as though running through a drill.
Clang! Clang!
The blades ricocheted off his palm strikes and scattered across the arena floor.
Yet Dang Eun-ho’s assault did not end there.
He retrieved the blades caught in the Pressure Point Step, deployed the Continuous Tail Throwing Method, and then launched them again in the Five Thunder Continuous Ring formation.
Though his movements appeared almost casual, Hwangbo Tae-gang found himself driven steadily toward the arena’s edge, his own movements growing more constrained.
By now, even Hwangbo Tae-gang could not mistake what was happening.
Dang Eun-ho had no intention of dragging this into a war of attrition or forcing a direct confrontation.
He was merely probing.
Like a predator gauging its prey before the final strike.
All for a single genuine blow.
Through dozens of feints, he had mapped precisely how Hwangbo Tae-gang deployed his Qi, how he parried each attack.
‘I have him.’
The corner of Dang Eun-ho’s mouth twisted upward.
In mere exchanges, he had deciphered every pattern of Hwangbo Tae-gang’s defense.
Poisoned needles coming from the lower right — he’d deflect by rotating his wrist.
Straight-on attacks — he’d push them away.
Strikes from above — he’d slip them by turning his body slightly.
By restricting his opponent’s options so entirely, the patterns became simple as they came.
‘Perhaps because I’ve seen it all before, it’s easier than I expected.’
Snap!
Dang Eun-ho suddenly opened the distance and crossed both arms.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
Dozens of poisoned needles poured forth simultaneously.
Whistle-whistle-whistle-whistle-whistle!
Behind them came ten Hidden Blades, each veering onto a slightly different trajectory.
“Truly a situation with no way forward or back!”
“Was the Crimson Poison master’s disciple truly this remarkable?”
“Even True Heaven Fist is no trivial opponent… how will he escape this?”
Murmurs of admiration and anticipation rippled through the crowd.
Barraged by countless poisoned needles, Hwangbo Tae-gang could not afford to disappoint the expectations now riding upon him.
Yet he laughed with shameless arrogance regardless.
“Is that all?”
Boom!
Hwangbo Tae-gang instantly drew forth an explosive surge of Internal Energy.
A demonic, overwhelming force enveloped his body before radiating outward.
Swept up in the wave of Qi, most of the poisoned needles were sent spinning away.
Ping!
Between the scattering needles, a single thread-thin needle pierced through.
Hwangbo Tae-gang twisted urgently, but could not entirely avoid the needle’s path as it grazed his cheek.
A fine line of blood remained on his left cheekbone.
“You certainly possess the caliber worthy of competing in the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.”
Hwangbo Tae-gang flicked the blood away with his thumb.
“But you still fall short of your brother.”
Thud.
Hwangbo Tae-gang planted the Pressure Point Step.
A single stride.
Yet in that one step, his entire presence transformed.
Dang Eun-ho instinctively launched his blades.
But this time, Hwangbo Tae-gang did not deflect the poisoned needles away.
He blocked only what was necessary, leaving the rest untouched.
It didn’t matter.
Nothing could pierce a body wrapped in such consolidated Internal Energy.
Thump. Thump.
Dang Eun-ho unleashed a relentless barrage of poisoned needles and hidden blades.
Yet Hwangbo Tae-gang did not slow.
Seven palms.
Five palms.
Three palms.
Hwangbo Tae-gang closed the distance without obstruction, pressing into the range that Dang Clan fighters dreaded.
‘I can’t lose like this!’
Dang Eun-ho reached into his sleeve and withdrew the Black Sphere.
Boom—!
A Poison Mist Bomb that restricted all movement within three paces of detonation.
The Black Sphere burst overhead, its dark mist obscuring all sight.
“What—? What’s happening?”
“Did he use a smoke bomb?”
Dang Eun-ho dove into the haze and aimed for Hwangbo Tae-gang’s throat.
‘This is it!’
Shriieeeek!
Dang Eun-ho infused the hidden blade with Internal Energy and hurled it in a straight line.
Clang!
But what returned was the sharp report of Internal Force meeting blade.
“What!?”
Whoosh!
Before Dang Eun-ho could register shock, Hwangbo Tae-gang’s fist erupted from the poison mist.
Dang Eun-ho crossed both arms in desperate defense.
“Ugh!”
The fist was wrapped in Internal Force, and the impact sent waves of pain through the struck limbs.
Dang Eun-ho clenched his teeth and twisted his wrist to tighten his grip on the hidden blade.
Shriieeeek!
The blade drove toward Hwangbo Tae-gang’s vital point.
Crash!
But as he swung his arm, Dang Eun-ho was hurled backward in an instant.
“You’re even weaker than your brother.”
Boom!
Hwangbo Tae-gang’s fist struck hard against his chest.
Skrrrrch.
Dang Eun-ho dug his feet into the ground and braced himself, but was driven all the way to the edge of the Martial Arts Arena.
“Cough!”
His vision spun.
Yet that dizziness allowed him to know where he lay.
Outside the Martial Arts Arena.
‘I have to get up…’
By Dragon-Phoenix Gathering rules, if he did not re-enter the arena before the referee counted to three, defeat was certain.
He knew this.
But the severity of his internal injuries left his body refusing to move.
“Hack!”
He toppled forward.
Dang Eun-ho coughed blood and fell to his knees.
Hwangbo Tae-gang did not press the advantage, but withdrew his fist.
“Even among brothers born of different mothers, your skill is rather wanting.”
He spoke knowing full well that Dang Eun-ho could not rise and attack.
“I’d suggest you spend less time throwing yourself mindlessly into battle and more learning to think, as your brother does. Or else cultivate your strength to match your ambitions.”
“Hmph.”
“Or perhaps curb that reckless charging altogether. You skulk with poison like a coward, yet your epithet bears the tiger. That seems rather misplaced.”
“I grant you, I fall short of my brother. But that is a bitter pill to swallow.”
The comparison to Dang San itself did not sting.
Such judgments had clung to him since birth.
What burned was that he could not break the pride from this man, could not land a single retort against his words.
“The victor: Hwangbo Tae-gang of the Hwangbo Clan!”
“Raaaaaah!”
At Won So’s declaration, Hwangbo Tae-gang did not extend his hand to help Dang Eun-ho rise.
It was an expression that he wasn’t worth the effort.
‘How does someone like this become the Little Clan Leader of an entire clan?’
Dang Eun-ho clicked his tongue inwardly and walked over with heavy steps, offering a Fist Salute.
“Well fought.”
“Well fought.”
The moment Dang Eun-ho and Hwangbo Tae-gang descended from the Martial Arts Arena, the crowd’s judgment followed.
“Zhen Tianquan broke the Dang Clan’s momentum!”
“No matter how skilled in poisoned needles, everyone bows before sheer Internal Force!”
“There it is—Zhen Tianquan! Brilliant!”
“Lie Du Ganghu put on a respectable match, though.”
“Fist techniques are the natural enemy of the Dang Clan, who excel in poisoned needles—to fight that well is quite impressive.”
Hell.
Who says we’re the natural enemy?
Dang Youxuan tilted his head to one side, watching the crowd.
Sichuan Dang Family—Reformed Prodigy
Author |
Lee Il-yeong
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(Inc.) Samyang C&C
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Editorial Department
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(Inc.) Samyang C&C – Dream Books
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G720:N+A063-20260615052
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Without written permission from (Inc.) Samyang C&C – Dream Books, the contents of this book may not be used in any form or by any means.

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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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