The Reformed Genius of the Sichuan Tang Clan - Chapter 71

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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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Chapter 71
“Semi-final round five, first match: Dang Youxuan of the Sichuan Dang Family versus Baek Yeong of Huashan. Begin!”
Beneath the chorus of praise for beauty and martial prowess, the roar of support rang out so deafeningly that it threatened to shatter eardrums.
“Yeoooonnnng! Let’s goooooo!”
“Make it to the finals, brother! Crush them all!”
‘They’re fired up.’
He’d caught on from the moment Sect Leader Myung Jin laughed so heartily, but it seemed this was standard at Huashan.
Dang Youxuan smiled faintly and cupped his fist in salute.
“I look forward to learning from you.”
“I look forward to learning from you.”
She seized the moment.
The instant Dang Youxuan lowered his arm, Baek Yeong grasped his hand.
He was taken aback.
If this was standard at Huashan, he’d never quite adjust to it.
“I’ve been wanting to meet you so badly!”
“A fortunate coincidence. I felt the same.”
“Really? That’s such an honor!”
Baek Yeong’s smile was radiant.
“I truly wanted to meet you more than anything.”
“If I hadn’t participated in the Yongbong Tournament, I would have regretted it deeply.”
“Your accomplishments have spread far and wide—there was no way you wouldn’t come!”
Baek Yeong explained with animated gestures, her whole body speaking.
“You smile often. It’s pleasant to see.”
“Pardon?”
“I was saying that a match with you promises to be enjoyable.”
“I think it will be for me too!”
Dang Youxuan gently extracted his hand from hers.
‘It’s not that I dislike you, but the pleasantries were getting long. Let’s actually fight now.’
Fortunately, Baek Yeong withdrew with a cheery laugh, moving into position.
Dang Youxuan likewise traced the Hidden Blade with his fingers as he took his stance.
‘Genius cannot overcome those who strive; those who strive cannot overcome those who find joy. Yet all three walk the same knife’s edge.’
But they were all separated by the thinnest of margins.
‘Then who defeats one who finds joy?’
Dang Youxuan buried the answer he could dimly sense.
This match would prove it.
A soft breath of wind.
Five paces from the center of the Combat Arena.
At a distance of ten paces from Dang Youxuan, Baek Yeong assumed the Huashan Guard Stance.
A faint whisper of movement.
The moment Dang Youxuan’s hand disappeared into his sleeve, Baek Yeong rolled forward with a sharp shout.
“Ha-yah!”
Her blade traced a straight line that dissolved into an elegant curve.
Plum Blossom Sword Technique—Plum Blossom Scattering!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Sword Qi of varying lengths and shapes rained down like scattered petals caught in the wind, chaotic and unyielding.
‘Of course. Huashan means Plum Blossom.’
With his vision engulfed in blossoms, Dang Youxuan closed his eyes and unleashed the Hidden Blade.
Screeeee!
The Hidden Blade spun with blinding speed like a tempest, shredding and parting the delicate petals as it surged forward.
A light thud.
As the phantom petals scattered and brushed against his body, Dang Youxuan caught the sound of Baek Yeong’s footsteps and immediately hurled the Hidden Blade.
“Hah!”
Baek Yeong gasped and ducked low.
But before relief could settle, the Hidden Blade that had passed beyond her suddenly shifted direction and came screaming back.
‘That technique from before!’
Clang!
Baek Yeong swung her blade wide, batting the Hidden Blade away.
‘If I want to slow it down at all, I have to pin it into the ground!’
Even masters of blade arts lost time extracting a Hidden Blade once it was buried.
She didn’t have much to spare.
Even that brief opening would be enough to seize victory.
Baek Yeong traced a circle through the void.
After forming a smooth arc like the sweep of a whirlwind, she slashed it horizontally.
Crack!
Plum blossoms surged forward like a torrential current.
At the unmistakably altered sound, Dang Youxuan opened his eyes.
Then he hurled the Hidden Blade downward like a hammer against the wave of blossoms.
Whistle—! Whishhhhh—!
Fierce energy wove together in a dense lattice.
As the final gaps sealed shut, a massive barrier rose before Baek Yeong.
With the solid Sword Barrier erected, Dang Youxuan retrieved the Hidden Blade and took his stance before it.
Crash! Crash! Boom!
The plum blossoms hammered against the Sword Barrier.
They collided again and again, as though to shatter it and topple it utterly.
Yet the formidable barrier did not crumble—it held firm.
Crash! Boom! Boom…….
The sound gradually diminished, then cut off entirely.
Only then did Dang Youxuan step forward and extend his arm.
Whoooosh.
With the lightest touch, the Sword Barrier crumbled.
Through the scattering energy, Baek Yeong appeared, breathing hard in a half-crouch stance.
‘This won’t be easy.’
It was true that Baek Yeong’s sword work and her Plum Blossom Scattering were formidable, but certain flaws existed.
First: if her opponent’s focus does not waver, it cannot achieve its full effect.
Second: the movements are intricate and demand both power and flexibility, making it costly in stamina.
Without a countermeasure prepared, the pleasure he sought would end quickly.
Shhhhh.
As the dust settled in the wind, Baek Yeong’s expression came into clear view.
In her eyes, which held the light of the sun, joy and curiosity gave way to a new emotion.
Dang Youxuan caught sight of that shift and smiled faintly.
So, what will you do now?
* * *
“Hah. Hah.”
Baek Yeong breathed hard and fast.
She knew herself well.
She knew what level her Martial Prowess reached, and how far her skill could climb when matched against a formidable opponent.
For that reason, she had unleashed the Plum Blossom Scattering with confidence in both her speed and power.
Yet Dang Youxuan’s barrier was unyielding, unmoved by the flower storm.
The moment every petal fell to rest, the barrier crumbled as though it had been waiting.
He beyond it wore a faint smile.
“Hah.”
Her mind was suddenly clear.
Or perhaps a fire had been kindled in her chest.
‘I don’t care. I’m going. Let me just collide with him!’
Baek Yeong did not hesitate, drawing a long arc from her waist up to her head.
Plum Blossom Sword Technique—Plum Flow Piercing Sky!
Sword strikes cascaded up and down in relentless succession, leaving no gap for defense.
It was unlike the Continuous Unbroken Sword Technique wielded by the Wudang master.
It was soft as spring breeze, yet concealed sharp petals within—like the cold blade-wind of late winter.
Dang Youxuan remained unshaken and launched the Hidden Blade.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The Hidden Blade tore through the air and barred the Sword Qi.
Though it bounced away with each collision, it flew again and again, finally breaking the flow and slowing her advance.
Dang Youxuan observed this silently, then hurled the Hidden Blade forward, driving it toward the center as though spearing through.
The Hidden Blade, wrapped in energy, pierced through the layered Sword Qi and burst forth.
Rip!
From the midst of the overlapping, seemingly impenetrable Sword Qi, the Hidden Blade suddenly appeared.
“Ungh!”
Baek Yeong urgently twisted her wrist to deflect it.
But the forced posture left her wrist throbbing with pain.
Baek Yeong shook out her wrist, and the Sword Qi cleanly severed.
“You’re not tired already, are you?”
Shrieeeeek!
A second Hidden Blade spiraled around the first one shooting straight toward her, encircling it like a coil.
“You really don’t hold back—going for the difficult angles!”
Baek Yeong gritted her teeth and swung her sword.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang-clang!
Having lowered her stance and braced herself beforehand, she deflected one cleanly, but the straight-flying Hidden Blade scraped across her blade’s flat with a metallic shriek.
Crash—!
After a fierce contest of strength, Baek Yeong drove the Hidden Blade down and gasped for breath.
“Hah! Hah!”
“Hmm…….”
Dang Youxuan showed no sign of strain, simply extending his energy to retrieve the Hidden Blade.
Baek Yeong braced herself on her knee, yet a laugh escaped her unbidden.
A sense of vast distance opened within her.
Elegance meant nothing before Dang Youxuan.
Perhaps speed amounted to the same.
‘Then what can I possibly oppose him with?’
She had already experienced defeat enough times to find nothing new in it, or so she thought—yet the sting of loss and hunger for victory crowded her mind.
‘How can I win?’
Her thoughts scattered.
But they didn’t run so long as to interfere with the match.
‘What’s there to think about? Just keep going until it works.’
Baek Yeong pulled up the corners of her mouth and kicked off the ground.
Dang Youxuan observed her shift carefully, then threw a Hidden Blade to intercept her path.
‘Good.’
He liked the will that would not easily break.
He liked that even when others would falter at this stage, she charged forward with her whole body, undeterred.
‘This is the hallmark of one who truly enjoys the art.’
Dang Youxuan poured Internal Energy into the Hidden Blades held in both hands and hurled them.
Shrieeeeek!
The Blades flew in tandem as if overlapping, then split left and right just before touching her sword.
‘The same technique?’
Anticipating that the other blade would attack from behind at a different angle, Baek Yeong spun her body and traced a wide circle.
But only one Hidden Blade bounced away from her sword.
Whoosh!
The other altered its trajectory, weaving left and right like lightning before suddenly diving in like a meteor.
“Hah!”
Baek Yeong leaped high and swung her blade.
Her strike cleaved through empty air.
Clang—!
Dang Youxuan flicked his finger, and a sphere of concentrated energy collided with her Sword Qi.
Boom!
Her heart thundered.
Not from shock at the explosion.
It was exhilaration, joy, thrill—a cascade of pure feeling.
Baek Yeong could not contain the electric thrill coursing up her neck and burst into laughter.
“Ha! You really don’t give an inch!”
Baek Yeong, still suspended in midair, channeled Internal Energy into her blade.
The sword’s edge trembled under the weight of the sudden surge of power.
Plum Blossom Sword Technique—Cold Plum Winter Blooming!
Shriieee-crash-crash-crash-crash-crash!
The Hidden Blades, struck by her Sword Qi, scattered in all directions.
Thud.
The moment Baek Yeong’s feet touched ground, she lowered her stance.
Whoosh—!
Before she could even catch her breath, a Hidden Blade materialized before her eyes, aimed at her left temple.
“Ah!”
She twisted her head at once, but the sound of the blade cleaving air was sharp enough that a few strands of hair must have been shorn away.
‘Still, that’s a bargain compared to losing my neck.’
She dodged the first strike, but the next blade came rushing in immediately.
Baek Yeong raised her sword edge to deflect it, slowly pushing herself upright.
When she swung her sword in a state of absolute focus, her thoughts scattered once more.
‘How can I defeat an opponent this impregnable?’
Should she resort to a higher sword technique?
Or should she return to basics and deploy the Six Harmony Sword?
Or perhaps something else entirely……
“Empty your mind.”
A low voice, wrapped in casual composure, lodged itself in her thoughts.
“If it brings you joy, then savor it.”
Sichuan Dang Family — A Genius’s Redemption
Author |
Lee Il-yeong
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
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Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. — Dreambooks
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G720:N+A063-20260615052
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Submissions |
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This book may not be used in any form or by any means without written permission from Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. — 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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