The Reformed Genius of the Sichuan Tang Clan - Chapter 7

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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 7
At that, Dang Young’s eyes lit up with keen interest.
“Oh my. Why?”
Look at this.
Dang Youxuan raised one eyebrow.
The arc of his gaze made it clear that every question carried deliberate intent.
The question was whether it was friendly or otherwise.
“You didn’t attend the meeting a few days ago?”
“Ah, well, I was busy having tea with Moyong that day.”
“Of course.”
At least the answer was predictable.
“To deceive the enemy, you must first deceive your own allies, mustn’t you?”
“I’m listening.”
“I heard a rumor that someone was trafficking poison in Sacheon.”
“In Sacheon, where the Dang Clan resides?”
In an instant, a chill crystallized in Dang Young’s eyes.
No matter how careless and bold she seemed, she was still a daughter of the Dang Clan.
There was no way she lacked a ruthless streak.
“Yes. In Sacheon.”
If this lie were exposed, there’d be blood to pay.
Dang Youxuan answered deliberately, not bothering to gauge the reactions around him.
“At the Gilu I frequented, I didn’t give poison to anyone who seemed sound of mind. To receive it, you had to act like you’d lost your senses.”
“Not as a screening method, then?”
“That’s right.”
“And the poison? You got some?”
“Lucky me.”
“What kind of poison? How dangerous is it? Should we flip over every establishment in Sacheon while we’re at it?”
“No need. Youxuan handled it all.”
A boy with his hair braided down one side answered in his stead.
“You flipping things would mean flipping the Dang Clan. Don’t make things hard on Father and Mother, yeah?”
Another youth, hair pulled back taut in a topknot, added his voice.
Though they studied in the same place and appeared equal, the Dang Clan had a clear hierarchy.
To intrude on a direct lineage conversation meant you carried sufficient weight to do so.
‘About time they showed up.’
Dang San, the clan head’s eldest son, and Dang Eunho, his third son.
The two who had appeared at the emergency meeting now materialized late, as if tidying up the situation.
“If you were curious, you should’ve come to the meeting. Raised your hand and said, ‘Might I speak, if I may?’ and then — how impressive it would’ve been to lay out the secret technique right then and there.”
‘As if I would.’
Dang Eunho raised his hand and mimicked Dang Youxuan’s words with playful exaggeration.
In the next instant, Dang Young rushed at him, cheeks puffed out, and smacked him repeatedly.
Dang Eunho made half-hearted sounds—”Ah. Ah.”—as he took the blows.
Dang San watched this for a moment, then gently placed a hand on Dang Young’s shoulder and drew her back.
“I know what you feel, but let’s not torment him further.”
“Tch. Fine.”
“Youxuan brought back the Dang Clan’s Secret Technique through painstaking effort. We can’t very well question him when we should be welcoming him with warmth. It must have been hard on him all this while.”
Dang San, as the eldest son, held the greatest chance of becoming the next clan head.
Was there any guarantee more certain than his word?
Everyone present knew this truth.
As if to prove it, the murmuring quieted for a moment, then swelled again.
“The Secret Technique!? It’s really true?”
“I kept doubting it even after hearing… so all those absences from class were for recovering it……?”
“What about the kids he was hanging around with?”
“Hey. If they’d been involved, wouldn’t they be punished too? Look at today—only one of them showed up.”
The murmuring soon shifted targets, becoming mockery.
Someone’s voice cracked as they rushed out of the room.
But Dang Youxuan had no attention to spare for that direction.
His gaze remained fixed solely on Dang San.
‘This is bigger than I thought.’
With this, everyone who’d missed the meeting now knew of Dang Youxuan’s achievement.
In other words, there was no longer any opening to attack Dang Youxuan on the grounds of reputation.
I had barely added a single word.
As Dang Youxuan stared intently, Dang San caught his gaze, broke into a radiant smile, and pulled him into an embrace.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Dang Youxuan had hesitantly begun to raise his arms to return the embrace, but Dang San’s words made him pause.
There was no malice in it.
Just a pure wish for his well-being.
Was such a thing possible between brothers?
That single phrase revealed how deeply loved Dang Youxuan had been, how carefully he had been raised.
‘What merit did you accumulate in your past life to meet such an affectionate family—and such remarkable ancestors besides?’
He had once heard that the more one possesses, the less one treasures what one has. But he never imagined that axiom would apply to his own descendants.
‘Ungrateful wretch.’
As he offered a measured smile and stepped back, Dang Eunho and Dang Young wore expressions of quiet satisfaction.
Now the picture came into focus.
His brothers had not approached him to fuel malicious gossip.
They had come to clear the misunderstanding.
‘Blessed fool.’
Dang Youxuan added a few more silent rebukes to his wayward descendant before allowing his face to settle into a genuinely warm smile.
“Thank you.”
He would have to be careful not to let his lies show.
‘It’s been ages since my conscience troubled me like this.’
Kindness seemed like a tale from a distant land.
Just as Dang Youxuan was wrestling with this unfamiliar feeling, dozens of sturdy men filed into the Yeonmujang.
‘That’s—him, isn’t it?’
Elder Dang Jongcheon of the Thirteen Elders. Dang Youxuan’s eyes lit up at the sight of the familiar face.
‘Was he an instructor at the Yeonhakgak? So we meet again like this.’
“Is everyone here? Then let us begin the lesson.”
At his clipped voice, the children scattered to their assigned positions with unified precision.
Dang Youxuan too rummaged through his memory and took his place with practiced ease.
“Hmm.”
Dang Jongcheon and the chief instructor Dang Jingi led the other instructors in taking up their stations.
Though they were clearly restraining themselves for the sake of those unfamiliar with their level, the depth of Internal Strength and Killing Intent that radiated through Qi Perception were on an entirely different plane.
“Let us begin.”
At Dang Jongcheon’s words, Dang Jingi brought his sword down against the Yeonmujang floor twice.
“Starting with the first row, make your way around the training ground and return!”
“Yes!”
Taking his place in the front row alongside his brothers, Dang Youxuan began to run.
‘Their fundamentals seem solid enough. Let’s see how well they’ve truly been taught.’
Well-taught or not, this would definitely become a custom-tailored lesson led by his ancestor from a hundred years ago.
Those who couldn’t keep up would be dragged along by the collar!
‘From my experience, even the ones who said they couldn’t do it managed fine after a little encouragement. Heheheh.’
But the lesson unfolded in a direction contrary to Dang Youxuan’s expectations.
“First, we practice the Throwing Technique. The instructors will assist from the side—aim for the center as accurately as you can!”
Dang Youxuan looked down at the Bamboo Darts before him.
They were sharp points carved from bamboo.
‘They want me to throw these?’
He lifted his gaze and saw a target marked red at its center.
‘Just to hit that?’
Tap! Tap!
Looking around, he saw the children enthusiastically embedding their darts into the ground.
‘Pathetic.’
Apart from a few with any real talent, none of them could hit the target properly, let alone the center.
Dang Youxuan squeezed his eyes shut.
‘I had to watch this?’
Crude darts made without consideration for weight, a target marked only at the center so skill couldn’t be properly assessed, children of abysmal ability.
It was a perfect recipe for frustration.
‘Which is why I kept saying someone ought to look after the youngsters, wasn’t I?’
He directed silent growls toward his brother, the previous family head.
‘Pouring everything into war and diplomacy—look what’s happened to the children!’
But there was no one in the heavens to hear his complaints.
“Won’t you try?”
All that’s here is an instructor urging him to throw the Bamboo Dart already.
“No, sir.”
When you’re told to do something, you do it.
Regardless of what came before, he’s a student now.
Dang Youxuan sighed and extended his arm without thinking.
Whoosh—!
Crack!
A sharp whistle of air.
The Bamboo Dart struck dead center.
An awkward stance had yielded a perfect result, and the training ground fell silent.
Even the instructor who should have offered commentary each time the Bamboo Dart was released found himself at a loss for words.
“Wow…….”
“Huh……?”
Then, one by one, gasps broke free.
It was the kind of reaction that came when people witnessed something so astonishing they doubted their own eyes.
‘Why? Does mine have to miss?’
As Dang Youxuan glowered at the target, the other children began stealing sideways glances away from him.
Yet whenever an opportunity arose, they couldn’t help but sneak peeks at Dang Youxuan, and the number of those throwing properly dwindled further.
‘These kids really are……hopeless!?’
Dang Youxuan, with nowhere to vent his frustration, threw another Bamboo Dart.
‘You lot!’
Thunk!
‘You need to move!’
Thunk!
‘So I can watch and give you advice!’
Crack—!
Every Bamboo Dart embedded itself in a perfect line, as though measured with a ruler.
That alone would have been marvel enough, but the final Bamboo Dart split the one lodged in the center clean in two.
At the sight of the Bamboo Dart piercing through another Bamboo Dart, everyone fell silent.
Had the wind not stirred a few leaves, one might have thought time itself had stopped.
“Ooooh.”
Someone, thoughtlessly, began to clap.
From that spark, the sound swelled.
“Did he just hit a Bamboo Dart with another Bamboo Dart? Is that even possible?”
“Wasn’t that only theoretically possible?”
“Haha.”
“Look at the others too. The spacing looks uniform, doesn’t it?”
“What? Seriously?”
“Hahaha.”
Dang Youxuan buried his face in his hands.
It wasn’t just that this was awkward—first, he needed to hide the corners of his mouth that refused to come down.
Even though he thought it was nothing special, hearing them praise him like this kept drawing out his laughter.
“Quiet.”
In an instant, the applause that had swelled Dang Youxuan with pride ceased.
Dang Jongcheon, who had been observing the children from a step back, approached Dang Youxuan.
With him so close, Dang Youxuan had to lift his head and look up.
“Your skill has improved greatly in the time we haven’t seen each other.”
“Thank you for the praise—.”
“But your stance is a mess.”
‘Then what do you want. You told me to hit the target.’
Yet Dang Youxuan was an adult who knew how to choose his words to suit the moment.
“If you point out my shortcomings, I will work to correct them.”
“Your feet aren’t properly planted on the ground, so your center collapses. You don’t straighten your back, so your line of sight wavers. You don’t extend your arm fully, so your power scatters.”
As though he’d been waiting for this moment, the criticism continued methodically through each joint and muscle.
Dang Youxuan discreetly wiped a fleck of spittle from his face and reflected.
‘Why are you like this with me?’
He’d felt it from the moment of that glare in the emergency meeting, but in many ways they simply didn’t get along.
Letting it go in one ear and out the other, time passed quickly enough.
“……Do you understand?”
“Yes. I understand.”
I haven’t the faintest idea.
Dang Youxuan bowed his head and walked toward the rest area where the children had finished their training.
Even as they rested, they made no effort to stop—he could see from a distance how they continued hurling Bamboo Darts at the targets.
‘That’s good.’
Dang Youxuan dropped down onto the floor with a heavy sigh.
Watching the children hit their marks far more consistently than before, as if they’d been spurred on by something, eased his mind.
‘……Wait. Please tell me not every class is like this.’
* * *
‘They all are.’
Dang Youxuan squeezed his eyes shut, offering one arm each to the weapons instructor and Dang Jongcheon.
‘Both of you, enough already!’
Sacheon Dang Clan—A Genius Reformed Through Tribulation
Author |
Yi Il-yeong
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(주) Samyang C&C
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No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted 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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