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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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“Do you have multiple lives?”
“Hoho. How could that be? That’s why I recruited the Feng Ying Hall Master. Please take good care of me so that assassins don’t come at night.”
The Feng Ying Hall Master made a shocked expression.
“Hohoho… Yes, I understand. Just don’t spread any rumors.”
In fact, I didn’t expect the Feng Ying Hall Master to accept this proposal.
No matter what, the Family Head was from a righteous faction, so I didn’t think he would send assassins after me.
But seeing the Feng Ying Hall Master accept this proposal, it seemed like a possibility.
Hmm, my throat feels sore.
I should refrain from drinking tea and snacks served in the Family Head’s quarters from now on.
When I arrived at the guest hall where outsiders stayed in the Tang family while having various conversations with the Feng Ying Hall Master…
“Hey, Brother Ya!”
The problematic Tang Do-gyeong was waiting for me.
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“Haha, I was waiting after hearing from Do-yeon that Brother Ya had arrived.”
“Hoho, it’s been a long time, Brother Tang.”
Tang Do-gyeong, whom I met after a long time, had a radiant appearance.
Judging from the leather strap on his shoulder packed with flying knives and the heavy belt, it was clear that he had various secret weapons.
After being assigned a room, I faced Tang Do-gyeong with the Feng Ying Hall Master in the next room.
“I’m sorry, Brother Ya. You were summoned from Sichuan because of me.”
Surprisingly, Tang Do-gyeong understood the situation.
“This Tang Do-gyeong was shamefully not interested in family matters at all. I didn’t fully understand what it meant when the Family Head summoned me and the bet between the Family Head and me. After being scolded by my father, I realized that fact, so poor Brother Ya ended up being harmed for no reason.”
“Then?”
“Hoho, but how can I take the match lightly? Rather than returning the secret weapons to the Family Head, I think it’s more problematic to give me preferential treatment in the bet.”
It was annoying to hear the perpetrator say the right thing, but he had a point.
Now that I had already shown off all my gambling skills to the Family Head without any tact, it didn’t make sense to go easy on him at this point.
Anyway, it was a rather favorable situation that Tang Do-gyeong belatedly gained awareness and showed enthusiasm for resolving the incident.
“For now, let’s talk later. There’s something urgent we need to confirm.”
“What is it?”
I set up the table.
How much gambling have we been doing all day today?
“Let’s play a round first.”
The most important thing was to first confirm how skilled Tang Do-gyeong was at gambling.
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Tang Guanglie rubbed his forehead.
‘It hurts.’
When was the last time he felt this kind of pain?
Ten years ago?
Since the bloody battle to drive out the evil faction in Sichuan, he had no occasion to experience pain.
‘Hoho, this Tang Guanglie has also grown old.’
Tang Guanglie laughed while looking at the taels neatly arranged in rows of five and ten.
He thought of finding Ho Cheon-an, who had tricked him, but that thought also cooled down when he remembered the last shell game mixed with internal energy.
He had to admit defeat to someone who didn’t use internal energy even after using eye techniques and brainpower to the extreme.
Tang Guanglie had no choice but to acknowledge the gap between himself and Ho Cheon-an.
Admitting that he had lost again and again in a game where internal energy wasn’t even used, Tang Guanglie couldn’t help but laugh at the words he had said.
How frustrated must Ho Cheon-an have been when he heard Tang Guanglie say that he could easily defeat Tang Do-gyeong by learning a few techniques?
‘Let’s learn.’
When Tang Guanglie sorted out his mind and raised his head, the morning sunlight was already entering the Family Head’s quarters.
Although it was early in the morning, Tang Guanglie nodded upon seeing the Feng Ying Hall Master and Ho Cheon-an entering the Family Head’s quarters.
No matter how much he thought about it, getting finger flicked was not something he could just forget.
‘And… let’s hit.’
Learn and learn… and pay back Ho Cheon-an with finger flicks.
With that thought, Tang Guanglie said,
“Please teach me well, teacher.”
Ho Cheon-an’s gambling lesson began.
Tang Guanglie opened his mind wide and absorbed all of Ho Cheon-an’s explanations and demonstrations.
A day passed, and two days passed.
The more the lessons continued, the more Tang Guanglie lamented inwardly.
‘I was truly a frog in a well!’
How to grasp the opponent’s psychology.
And how to induce instinctive reactions.
And how to utilize the narrowed vision based on that psychology.
Especially when Ho Cheon-an discussed blind spots in vision, Tang Guanglie felt his head bowing involuntarily.
How the human eye and brain process information.
Encountering a systematic analysis of such aspects, its vastness and complexity were no less than martial arts.
Tang Guanglie realized that he was just a childish boy who relied solely on strength and felt embarrassed.
He had been acting like the world’s greatest gambler with just the small bets made within the Tang family, the well he was in.
Tang Guanglie accepted in his heart the fact that he had encountered real gambling and lost to Tang Do-gyeong.
Tang Do-gyeong was a frog who realized the vastness of the world and his own shortcomings, but Tang Guanglie was just a frog who had lived his entire life in the well of the Tang family.
The world of gambling shown by Ho Cheon-an’s mouth and hands was vast and deep.
Human psychology and instincts.
Blind spots in vision.
Delicate hand techniques.
Even if based on just those three aspects, it wasn’t an easy task, but knowledge and experience about the synergistic effect and application of those three elements flowed like a torrent from Ho Cheon-an’s mouth and hands.
‘Have I been looking at the world with such a narrow perspective?’
Tang Do-gyeong talked endlessly about ‘Brother Ya’ until his mouth dried up, but Tang Guanglie just considered it humility.
Gambling techniques?
He created martial arts with that?
He had no doubt that it was Tang Do-gyeong’s talent that shone, creating martial arts by gaining inspiration from mere gambling techniques.
However, the more Ho Cheon-an’s lecture continued, the more Tang Guanglie could understand what Tang Do-gyeong had been trying to say.
Ho Cheon-an’s gambling techniques contained the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Dark Dragon Fighting Technique.
No, some of Ho Cheon-an’s gambling techniques were incorporated into the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Dark Dragon Fighting Technique.
Principles clearer and more distinct than what Tang Do-gyeong had explained and demonstrated while displaying the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Dark Dragon Fighting Technique sprang from Ho Cheon-an’s mouth and hands.
Tang Guanglie immersed himself in gambling techniques without a break.
During the day, he learned theories and hand techniques from Ho Cheon-an, and at night, he reviewed the theories and mastered the hand techniques.
Feeling his own growth and intoxicated by the joy of growth that he hadn’t experienced in a long time, Tang Guanglie forgot the passage of time and devoted himself to learning.
A week passed like a flash, and Ho Cheon-an nodded and said,
“I think it’s time.”
“Indeed.”
Tang Guanglie nodded.
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At that moment, Tang Do-gyeong was in a difficult situation.
“Oh, Do-gyeong! Why are you refusing to gamble?”
He was paying the price for emptying the pockets of the direct line members out of greed for secret weapons.
“I’m sorry, Brother. My health hasn’t been good lately…”
“No, it’s already been a week since you used that excuse! No matter what, I can’t let it slide today!”
Tang Do-gyeong had not been accepting secret weapon bets recently.
He had tried to lose intentionally, but Tang Do-gyeong was not a skilled gambler to that extent.
Although he could deceive his opponent with all his might, he was not at the level of deceiving his opponent without them even realizing they were being deceived, so the opponent immediately noticed, and the situation only worsened.
As a result, Tang Do-gyeong had no choice but to avoid bets.
Making one excuse after another, he delayed the bets for a week.
The direct line members, who had reached the limit of their patience, flocked to demand a bet.
The direct line members could have overlooked losing one or two secret weapons, considering it a gift to Tang Do-gyeong, who was newly entering the secret weapon techniques.
However, they couldn’t just back down in a situation where Tang Do-gyeong was sweeping away their main secret weapons.
“Brothers! The Family Head has summoned Do-gyeong.”
“Wait a moment, Do-yeon. I need to get a definite answer from him today!”
“My secret weapon training is being disrupted! How long are you going to avoid the match?”
Tang Do-yeon smiled and persuaded the blood relatives.
“The Family Head summoned Do-gyeong because of the secret weapon bets, so please let him go.”
The direct line members had no choice but to release Tang Do-gyeong.
It wasn’t a situation where a mere direct line member could object when the Family Head himself said he would directly resolve it.
“Phew. The Family Head called for me at the right time.”
“It’s because Outcast Ya is with him.”
Following behind Tang Do-yeon and entering the Family Head’s quarters, Tang Do-gyeong reminisced about the past days.
Many things had happened in the Tang family since he gained enlightenment and realized the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Dark Dragon Fighting Technique.
Demonstrating the Tang Family Fierce Tiger Dark Dragon Fighting Technique.
Instantly becoming a key figure in the Tang family because of that demonstration.
Receiving help from Tang Do-gi and members of his generation to train in secret weapon techniques.
And engaging in gambling bets with secret weapons at stake.
‘I’m sorry to the Family Head and Brother Ya, but I have no intention of going easy.’
When Tang Do-gyeong tried to lose intentionally in bets with his blood relatives, he clearly felt his own heart.
He didn’t want to lose with the gambling techniques he learned from Brother Ya.
At first, he thought he just got too excited because gambling was fun for the first time.
However, that wasn’t all.
In Tang Do-gyeong’s heart, Brother Ya’s gambling techniques were the best in the world, so Tang Do-gyeong didn’t want to act in a way that would tarnish that supreme gambling technique.
‘I don’t want to lose.’
Even if it was Tang Guanglie, the head of the Tang family who had also learned gambling techniques from Brother Ya, he didn’t want to lose.
Tang Do-yeon smiled brightly, thinking that the untimely secret weapon gambling bets happening in the Tang family would be resolved, and knocked on the door of the Family Head’s quarters.
However, Tang Do-gyeong took a deep breath, steeled his heart, and prepared his mindset for the match.
Inside the Family Head’s quarters, three people and a gambling table were waiting.
Ho Cheon-an.
The Feng Ying Hall Master.
And the Family Head, Tang Guanglie, sat at the gambling table.
“You’re here, Do-gyeong.”
“Yes, Family Head.”
“I lost all my secret weapons in the bet with you a week ago, so this is all I have left to bet.”
Tang Do-gyeong swallowed his saliva.
The secret weapon booklet Tang Guanglie placed on the table had the embroidered characters [Family Head].
Just the secret weapon booklet on the betting table was enough to feel Tang Guanglie’s determination.
“I’m sorry to the Family Head and Brother Ya, but I intend to give it my all here. Of course, even if I win, I will return all the secret weapons of the other blood relatives.”
“Hohohoho. Do-gyeong, you can say that after winning.”
Tang Do-gyeong burst into laughter.
Yes, he was right.
It’s not too late to say it after winning.
Tang Do-gyeong took a seat across from Tang Guanglie.
“Since I’m the one being challenged, I’ll spin the cups first.”
“Alright.”
The Feng Ying Hall Master clenched his fists.
Tang Do-gyeong, who had no match within the Tang family and swept away all the secret weapons.
And Tang Guanglie, who had been miserably defeated by Tang Do-gyeong but had honed his skills through a week of special training from Ho Cheon-an, who possessed divine gambling techniques.
This confrontation between the two was nothing less than a decisive battle to determine who had the best gambling skills within the Tang family.
‘Who will win?’
The Feng Ying Hall Master stared at the gambling table.
The showdown between Tang Do-gyeong and Tang Guanglie began.
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