The Reformed Genius of the Sichuan Tang Clan - Chapter 63

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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 63
Even if your mouth is crooked, your words should be straight.
If Dang Youxuan had been willing to yield the seat of natural enemy to something as simple as a Fist Technique, he would never have earned the name Poison Master, nor would he have become the finest martial artist under heaven.
‘Besides, is there really such a thing as a natural enemy in martial arts?’
The one who reads his opponent faster is the one who survives.
Unlike his bold entry, Dang Eun-ho returned with his shoulders sagging.
Not only Dang Youxuan, but his other brothers had some sense of what words had passed between them, and their expressions darkened.
Even if they maintained their usual composure outwardly, their insides seethed with anger.
“You’re back?”
Even in this moment, Dang San’s tone was gentle as silk.
“……I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
“But because of me, the Dang Clan’s reputation…….”
“If our standing could be shaken by this much, it would have fallen long ago.”
Dang Youxuan asked without relaxing his slanted posture.
“Did you do your best?”
“I did try, but…….”
“Then that’s enough.”
The moment Dang Youxuan settled the matter so simply, Dang Young bobbed his head vigorously.
“Exactly! We’ve built up so much over the years! More than that, I’m worried about your health!”
“I’m fine. Coughing up blood was deliberate—I was breaking through my Qi Meridians.”
“Ha. Still, it must have hurt?”
Dang San smiled coldly, his gaze fixed on the Arena—or more precisely, on Hwangbo Taegang beyond it.
“Don’t worry. We are the sort who repay our debts of gratitude, no matter what. Anyone who brings tears to your eyes will weep blood.”
Only after hearing this did Dang Eun-ho realize that the pain Dang San spoke of was not merely physical suffering.
They had dismissed the bond between brothers as nothing more than a half-brotherhood.
Dang San could not forgive that.
“Since they severed the thread first, we simply need to strike back. That’s all there is to it.”
The match had unfolded peacefully, with no one sustaining serious injury.
It was the bout between Dang Eun-ho and Hwangbo Taegang just moments ago that had broken that peace.
Other sects would now come forward with greater intensity, so there was no reason to refuse them.
“In fact, this works better.”
It was cleaner this way to return the humiliation Dang Eun-ho had suffered in kind.
“Mm. We should give him an Antidote.”
“That would be the cleanest approach.”
“To whom? Surely not to that muddy-fisted fool?”
“Young. It’s not Muddy Fist, it’s True Fist.”
Dang San laughed without protest at Dang Eun-ho’s correction.
A moment later, his eyes as he answered Dang Young’s question were cold as a serpent’s.
“A person who has tasted absolute defeat—a defeat with no room for excuses—finds it nearly impossible to rise again, so crushed with despair.”
Dang Youxuan nodded, showing his agreement.
A perfect defeat with no margin for doubt.
That alone could break Hwangbo Taegang’s stubborn pride.
Otherwise, he would simply retreat behind excuses—that the poison had clouded his judgment, or his condition had been poor—and evade responsibility for the result.
This was why they would give him the Antidote even while despising him.
Dang San was willing to bear small losses for the sake of far greater gains.
“Brothers. Please see this through to the end.”
Soon it would be the turn of Dang San and Dang Youxuan.
Knowing this, Dang Eun-ho lowered his voice as he spoke.
“Of course.”
“Naturally.”
The two answered in unison.
“Don’t worry about this either. As long as we desire it, there is nothing we cannot achieve.”
In other words, if there was something they wanted, they would obtain it without fail.
“But first, we must overcome the rare talent of the Jegal Family.”
Even as he adorned his opponent with such grand epithets, his face showed no lack of confidence.
“The third match is between Dang San, courtesy name Sohuiap, of the Sichuan Dang Family, and Jegal Serin, young lady of the Jegal Family!”
* * *
“It’s been quite a while.”
“Indeed it has.”
On the Arena stood a dark-haired beauty, Jegal Serin, who spoke first—and Dang San offered a sufficiently lukewarm reply.
Her ink-black hair cascaded to her waist, and her eyes held a faint blue luminescence that was captivating; yet Dang San’s expression remained thoroughly unimpressed.
“If you answer with a look of pure denial, I’ll be hurt. You might as well say it outright instead.”
“I know you’re denying nothing.”
“My. This is precisely why overly clever people are such a bore.”
Jegal Serin laughed softly and flicked open her fan.
Each rod of the fan was a lethal weapon—the Iron Wire Fan.
Five hundred years ago, it had belonged to Jegal Lan, the Sword Maiden who destroyed the Black Blade Society.
At the time, to refute the insult head-on—that she was nothing but a corpse without Array Technique, or merely a clever commoner if stripped of her formations—she had set down her jewels and taken up the Iron Wire.
The way she suppressed enemies resembled a dance, and because her Fan Energy took the form of a butterfly, she came to be called the Sword Maiden.
‘Is that the Iron Wire?’
The Iron Wire Fan, symbolizing the Sword Maiden’s command and Martial Prowess, had been passed down through generations and now rested in Jegal Serin’s hands.
This meant she intended to carry on the Sword Maiden’s legacy, and her family had sanctioned it.
“You’re not bringing the Flower and Bird Fan today, I see.”
“My opponent is the small clan’s successor. I can’t afford to be careless.”
Yet in truth, Jegal Serin could easily slay a dozen men with nothing but the Flower and Bird Fan she normally carried.
“I confess I don’t understand why you chose to address me.”
“Why not? We’re acquainted, after all. A bit of conversation shouldn’t be out of place.”
“Hah. Must I wear my voice thin explaining it again?”
…….
“You have your interest directed elsewhere, do you not? At my younger brother—Youxuan, specifically.”
“If you understand that, then make room for me.”
“I refuse.”
Dang San offered a genial smile, then turned and took his position at the designated mark.
Jegal Serin exhaled sharply at his brazen composure, then likewise moved to her predetermined starting point.
“The martial match shall―commence!”
Boom!
Won So’s final words were swallowed by the deafening sound.
A thunderclap in a clear sky—so violent that not even dust rose to mark it.
The spectators erupted in confusion at what had happened so suddenly.
“What? What’s going on?”
“Look, look at those two there!”
A breeze rippled across the crowd, whose attention snapped to the two smiling figures now standing at opposite ends of the Arena.
Jegal Serin had unfurled her Iron Wire with its blade angled downward, while Dang San gripped his Hidden Blade loosely.
“I never imagined we’d think alike even in a matter like this. How disagreeable.”
“Agreed.”
Dang San adjusted his grip on the Hidden Blade and read the currents in the wind.
Slash!
A pale jade-colored Fan Energy carved toward his right face.
Dang San twisted his waist slightly and drew his Hidden Blade to deflect the aura away.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
As he abandoned counterattack and held to pure defense, absorbing her momentum, the sparse Fan Energy that had come before grew dense and unrelenting.
Whoooosh!
Long, thin lines of Fan Energy descended in succession.
Dang San dropped one knee low and angled the Hidden Blade to target her lower body.
Clang!
His blade collided squarely with the Fan Energy.
As he’d anticipated, Jegal Serin had struck from beneath the torrent of aura she unleashed like a wind-blade.
“Tch.”
Jegal Serin clicked her tongue low as her attack was read, then planted her feet in the True Stance.
“Haaaaaaah!”
She folded the Iron Wire and thrust it forward like a spear.
Slash!
Dang San threw his Hidden Blade, aiming for her shoulder.
Jegal Serin pivoted to evade, then flowed the Iron Wire open in a graceful arc.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang-clang!
When she folded the Iron Wire once more and drove it through the gap, Dang San aimed the Hidden Blade at the wire’s tip and flicked it back outward.
“Are you truly determined never to make room for me?”
“I had none before, I have none now, and I shall have none hereafter.”
“How heartless. Yet you won’t throw the match either, will you?”
“Who dreams of defeat in an arena?”
Whoosh!
The Hidden Blade, which had been drifting through empty space, trembled and instantly spawned dozens of Sword Shadows.
The number of Sword Shadows rushing forward with terrible speed multiplied.
Where the Hidden Blade had passed, the trails left behind accumulated like petals of some enormous flower.
“Ordinary flowers serve their purpose, don’t they?”
“The Dang Clan has flowers too, though.”
Dang San infused Internal Energy into the Hidden Blade and released it.
At once the Hidden Blade created a vortex and swept through with violent force.
“You’re right, Won So. There’s no reason I need to be a flower at all.”
Click-click-click.
The sound of fans striking and scraping against each blade rang out.
“Do you know? Many fans together look like a full-bloomed flower, but a single pair moving alone resembles butterflies.”
Next, densely layered Fan Energy came rushing forward.
What had been only a single stroke accumulated again and again, taking on the shape of a butterfly.
Jegal Serin spun with both arms stretched upward.
As her body rotated, she twisted her wrists and opened her arms, shifting the direction of the Fan Energy.
A pale blue aura followed her movements, carving a path and forming the shape of butterflies.
Hundreds of butterflies—born from the wingbeats of the west stirring winds in the east—surged toward Dang San.
Burst!
Shattered. Crushed.
Yet blooming anew. Striking forward.
Unlike ordinary butterflies that land on flowers to drink their nectar, these butterflies and flowers crumbled the moment they touched.
There was no full bloom.
Only one single flower, fully opened.
Toward that one bloom, the butterflies charged ferociously.
Whoooosh!
A whirlwind rose from the Fan Energy.
Clang!
The Fan Energy and Hidden Blade collided, petals scattering.
Shriek!
A sharp blade aura tore through the wind.
Crackle!
The air shimmered like shattered glass, filling the entire field of vision.
“This is the Sword Illusion of Jegal Lan…!?”
“So brilliant and beautiful!”
“The Jegal Family never truly fell!”
Shriek!
When Jegal Serin swung the Iron Wire Fan, a straight line was drawn across empty space.
‘Just a little more…!’
Gust!
Beneath the wind-tearing Fan Energy, a deep green Blade Projection suddenly appeared.
Whoosh!
In the next instant, something grazed past Jegal Serin’s ear.
Though Jegal Serin could not see it, she knew what it was.
Dang San’s Hidden Blade.
Jegal Serin let both arms fall and closed her eyes.
The wind she felt just beside her face was cool.
“This is my defeat.”
“You concede quickly.”
“Why would I refuse to concede? If you think me the same as those in yellow robes, that would be a grave insult.”
“I wouldn’t judge you so harshly.”
“You know what I mean but pretend ignorance. If you fancy Dang Young, then arrange a meeting. I’m interested in that mind of his.”
“Which is precisely why I won’t introduce him.”
Won So, unable to hear their exchange beneath Dang San’s aura, hastily ended the match.
Were they not both renowned as exceptional minds within their respective clans?
If they were to share something, it would be a loss for Shaolin.
“The victor is Dang San Won-so of the Sichuan Dang Family!”
Yet even Won So’s declaration could not prevent him from picking up the scattered Hidden Blades from the Arena and handing them over.
“If you wish to meet my brother so badly, visit the Dang Clan formally. We do not turn away guests.”
“My, how generous of you to show such forbearance.”
“Forbearance?”
“Yes. Forbearance.”
“Should I take that back?”
“Of course you’re magnanimous. The noise must have made you mishear.”
“Let’s leave it at that.”
“Haha.”
The two exchanged warm smiles and clasped fists.
“A worthwhile match.”
“Indeed, worthwhile.”
But the moment they turned away, their expressions flickered, lips curling downward ever so slightly.
‘Tch.’
‘Ugh. What a performance.’
Yet Dang San managed his face flawlessly in front of his brothers.
‘Deceitful bastard. Wonder who he takes after.’
But a smile played at the corner of his mouth.
Who else would he take after?
It was all blood — his blood.
“Elder brother!”
“Just as expected! I knew you could do it!”
Dang Eun-ho placed his palms together reverently, his eyes gleaming with fervent admiration.
“If you’re making such a showing, I won’t be outdone.”
Dang Youxuan rose from his seat with playful confidence.
“The fifth match is between Hae Muyoung of the Changhae Sword Gate and Dang Youxuan of the Sichuan Dang Family!”
“At last, the clash of two dragon prodigies!”
“This should be the most spectacular bout of the day.”
“Both are destined to become pillar talents of their respective sects — I’m curious to see who holds the advantage.”
Dang Youxuan and Hae Muyoung were those who had demonstrated exceptional prowess throughout this Yongbong Gathering.
It was only natural that all eyes turned toward them.
Hae Muyoung waited atop the Arena, having arrived first, as Dang Youxuan stepped forward.
Rather than returning the bow immediately, Dang Youxuan regarded him quietly.
“Won’t you show your face?”
“I saw no need.”
His voice was cold and measured.
It wasn’t an unreasonable answer.
The fact that he’d worn the bamboo hat throughout the tournament meant Shaolin had verified and approved his participation.
Yet could there not be some caution — concern that someone might recognize him by his features?
Hae Muyoung flicked the bamboo hat with his finger and continued.
“But if you wish it…”
Thup.
He tossed the bamboo hat down from the Arena.
Sichuan Dang Family: A Prodigy Reborn
Author |
Yi Il-young
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
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Editorial Department
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(주) Samyang C&C – The contents of this book may not be used in any form or by any means without written permission from Dreambooks.

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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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