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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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After the morning’s storm had passed, Tang Do-gyeong gathered all the outcasts and demonstrated his fist technique, reciting the verses.
Tang Do-gyeong fully revealed the entire Fierce Tiger Fist technique to the Sacheon outcasts.
[You have understood the first 7 moves of the [Fierce Tiger Fist technique].]
[You have learned the first move of the Fierce Tiger Fist technique [Martial Art: Tiger’s Emerging Paw].]
[You have learned the third move of the Fierce Tiger Fist technique [Martial Art: Fierce Tiger’s Chaotic Strike].]
[You have learned the fourth move of the Fierce Tiger Fist technique [Martial Art: Light Summer Seven Strikes].]
[You have learned the fifth move of the Fierce Tiger Fist technique [Martial Art: Half Lotus Throw].]
[You have learned the sixth move of the Fierce Tiger Fist technique [Martial Art: Eight Strikes One Fierce].]
[You have learned the seventh move of the Fierce Tiger Fist technique [Martial Art: Tiger’s Roar Strike].]
I also learned diligently.
In fact, this Fierce Tiger Fist technique had several shortcomings that prevented it from being considered a transcendent martial art.
However, compared to the martial arts I could currently learn, it was of a much higher grade, so it was suitable to acquire it even if I couldn’t use it.
I had already learned the second move [Martial Art: Twin Tiger Fist] before, so I had now acquired all seven moves of the first half of the Fierce Tiger Fist technique.
“This Tang is lacking, so the Fierce Tiger Fist technique is just an incomplete martial art with only the first half. However, I hope it will be of help on your path, outcasts.”
The outcasts showed their gratitude with numerous fist salutes.
I sighed as I watched Tang Do-gyeong exchanging warm conversations with the outcasts while returning their fist salutes.
In fact, even now, I couldn’t understand Tang Do-gyeong’s choice…
“Senior?”
“Ah, what do you need, I’m already dying of worry as it is.”
“Aren’t you curious about Tang Do-gyeong’s personal history?”
I turned my head towards Black Cat.
She had already put away her popped rice and seemed to have become more serious.
“Do you know something?”
“About as much information as you want, Senior.”
I looked at Black Cat for a moment before shaking my head.
I had guessed that Black Cat had some standing in the underworld.
She would have some influence if she were at the transcendent level or close to it.
It wouldn’t be strange for her to have information about Tang Do-gyeong.
Hearing the story from Black Cat wouldn’t have been a bad choice, but I shook my head.
“This kind of thing needs to be certain. Let’s go hear it directly.”
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In an alley near the Soyogin, I had Black Cat release her internal energy.
One of the Tang family’s transcendent masters we had seen yesterday appeared, seemingly to spy.
Then Tang Do-gi appeared in the alley.
His complexion looked dark, clearly showing he was perturbed about Tang Do-gyeong.
“You really have guts. To think that the one who came out with the innkeeper then was the person involved in that incident.”
Tang Do-gi seemed to remember me from when I had met him with Yu Sa-yeon.
Although my face was covered by the black hat, for masters, it was enough to read my body type and the habits ingrained in my body.
Tang Do-gi didn’t seem to know why I had come to meet him.
“There are a few things I’d like to ask, so I came to see you.”
“Hah… you’re really shameless.”
Killing intent flashed in Tang Do-gi’s eyes.
“If only you hadn’t caused that commotion in front of the Hwang Gold Clan…! No… no… hoo… it’s just what was meant to happen, happened.”
Tang Do-gi waved his hand silently.
Did he mean for me to say what I had to say and leave?
“If he cuts ties, what does the Tang family intend to do with Brother Tang?”
“I don’t know. Even I…! How could I guess something that’s happening for the first time in the Tang family’s history? I can only do my utmost to prevent any punishment.”
Is this really the first time in the Tang family’s history?
Cutting ties is a big deal, but the offense’s nature is light, so I’m not sure what will happen.
“It might be a rude question, but may I ask why Brother Tang has such resentment towards the family?”
“Haha, that’s truly a rude question. What’s your reason for coming to me and asking this?”
“Don’t we need to know the cause to come up with a solution? To turn Brother Tang’s heart back, we need to know the reason why his heart turned away in the first place, right?”
I don’t know Tang Do-gyeong’s personal history.
However, I know the characteristics, abilities, and list of martial arts of the Tang Do-gyeong.
I’m also familiar with Tang Do-gyeong’s battle patterns.
The Tang Do-gyeong I knew would never choose the option of cutting ties.
That’s why I was confused.
To resolve this confusion, I needed to know more about the person Tang Do-gyeong.
Even if just to narrow the gap between the choice made by the human Tang Do-gyeong I know and the information I have about Tang Do-gyeong.
“…This story must never be revealed outside.”
Black Cat and I nodded.
There was nothing to gain from spreading the Tang family’s story around.
And anyway, Black Cat said she already knew, so…
“Do you know about the Tang family’s direct line, branch line, and martial line system?”
“Yes.”
In ordinary families, the family head’s bloodline is the direct line.
And the rest become the branch line bloodline.
But the Tang family is different.
The Tang family has too many people using the Tang surname to be confined to such a vertical structure.
That’s why the Tang family [selects] their direct line.
The Tang family is composed only of members with the Tang surname, but the form of the organization is closer to a sect than a clan.
It’s like forming a sect called the Tang Gate by gathering only those with talent in martial arts among thousands of Tangs.
Ordinary clans accept outside personnel to fill up insufficient numbers.
Still, the Tang family, which has sufficient numbers of just the Tang clan members, has no need for that.
In addition, the unique point is that the Tang family’s prominent martial arts are assassination techniques and poison usage.
To use assassination techniques and poison techniques, they need to constantly produce poisons and assassination tools, and the more they consume, the higher the power each individual can boast.
Those who qualify to use the Tang family’s secret assassination tools or secret poisons, not just mass-produced ones, and who specialize in learning assassination and poison techniques inherit the Tang family’s authentic martial arts and become the direct line.
The branch line refers to ordinary martial artists who can learn the Tang family’s martial arts but cannot use secret assassination tools or secret poisons.
The martial line refers to those who bear the Tang surname but do not professionally use martial arts.
Although called the martial line, they, too, are important forces for the Tang family.
Gatherers who collect materials to make poisons, merchants who buy various materials, craftsmen who learn ironworking techniques to make assassination tools, pharmacists who compound poisons or medicines, and so on.
Unlike sects that deal only with martial arts, the Tang family has comprehensive capabilities, which is why they call themselves the Tang Family (唐家) rather than the Tang Gate (唐門).
“Dividing into direct and branch lines was not only due to differences in talent but also to consider the differences in nature between the direct and branch lines. Those with talent suitable for the Tang family’s secret techniques became the direct line, while those who weren’t suitable for the secret techniques but had innate qualities for general martial arts were classified as the branch line.”
“The problem… yes, the problem probably started when the war with the evil factions broke out in Sacheon.”
Tang Do-gi sighed.
“The quantity of secret assassination tools the Tang family could produce was limited, so to increase our strength in the war against the evil factions, we had no choice but to greatly increase the branch line rather than the direct line. After the war with the evil factions ended, our Tang family’s territory greatly expanded. We even had to give away territories to other sects because we couldn’t handle it all. But does occupation of territory alone end things?”
“I suppose not.”
“Various disturbances continued to occur. That’s why the branch line members worked hard. The direct line members could handle whips, but their main specialties were still assassination tools and poisons. It was difficult for them to throw special assassination tools or use poisons for miscellaneous disturbances, so the branch line had to be dispatched.”
“As time passed and things stabilized, when people thought of famous masters in the Tang family, they all thought of the branch line members. Tang Do-gyeong’s father and my close friend, Tang Moon-gi, was also one of those branch line members. There were many in the branch line who excelled in fist techniques, but among them, Moon-gi was unparalleled.”
“After the great war with the evil factions, Sacheon underwent numerous changes. The Sacheon outcasts. Sacheon City. The Langyaxian. The closure of the Zhongnan Sect… Our Tang family was also in turmoil, no different from other sects, just buried under other rumors that shook all of Sacheon. It just didn’t leak outside the Tang family compound.”
“It was Tang Moon-gi’s declaration of challenge to the direct line.”
Tang Do-gi didn’t specify, but I understood enough.
Moon-gi’s challenge must have been an event representing the dissatisfaction of the branch line members.
“With all the evil factions in Sacheon uprooted, there were extremely few occasions for the direct line to step forward, and it was the branch line who were struggling in the explosively expanded Tang family territory…”
“Moon-gi argued that times had changed. He said that even if he, who handled fist techniques, had sufficient qualifications, he should be recognized as part of the direct line, and demanded a duel with the direct line.”
“And he lost, I presume.”
“Haha, that’s right.”
I don’t know how strong Tang Moon-gi was.
However, there’s no way he could have won in a serious duel with the direct line.
Why do the martial arts representing sects and clans represent those groups?
Because they are the strongest.
If Huashan’s Plum Blossom Sword Technique was weaker than the Plum Blossom Palm Technique, why would Huashan have become a sword sect rather than a palm sect?
The same goes for the Tang family.
Moreover, assassination techniques have a characteristic.
They become stronger if you throw money at them.
Would the secret assassination tools that the Tang family’s specially nurtured craftsmen make, at best one a week or one a month, really be weak?
They produce them despite only being able to make one a week because they’re worth that much.
Even if Tang Moon-gi was a prodigy in fist techniques born in the Tang family, the Tang family’s fist techniques would inevitably lack depth compared to their assassination techniques.
No matter how talented he was, he would have inevitably crumbled in the face of the difference in martial arts and the power of money.
“It was a painful defeat for Moon-gi. Hehe… where do you think Do-gyeong’s temperament came from? He inherited it all from Moon-gi. Moon-gi, defeated by the direct line, abandoned his martial arts path and returned to the martial line… and Do-gyeong… was greatly shocked by the sight of his father like that.”
“So that’s how it happened.”
“Moon-gi’s challenge was a turning point for the Tang family too. It became an opportunity to narrow the distance between the direct and branch lines, and for the leadership to hear the voices and achievements of the branch line. However, Do-gyeong stopped his assassination technique training, in which he had been showing promise, and suddenly turned to fist techniques.”
And after that, I suppose he became the current Fighting Dog Tang Do-gyeong.
“Was this enough to satisfy your curiosity?”
“Yes. Thank you for your words.”
Young Tang Do-gyeong plunged into the path of fist techniques to restore his father’s honor.
However, as Tang Do-gyeong grew up, his father’s incident became just a ‘past event.’
As the distance between the direct and branch lines narrowed, the dissatisfaction with the branch line would naturally subside, and Tang Do-gyeong would have genuinely become a troublemaker for the Tang family.
An impulsive person who kept bringing up a past event that had already been well resolved.
That must have been how the leadership viewed Tang Do-gyeong.
What about from Tang Do-gyeong’s perspective?
What thoughts did he have as he watched the Tang family becoming more harmonious year by year?
Is Tang Do-gyeong, who developed his own martial arts and single-mindedly pursued that goal to fulfill the will he set in his childhood, really a childish kid who doesn’t understand the family’s intentions?
Or is he a great man who set a firm will from childhood?
Is the changed Tang family wrong?
Or is the unyielding Tang Do-gyeong wrong?
It was a complicated matter.
Tang Do-gi returned to the inn where he was staying, and watching his retreating figure, I sank into thought.
“Senior.”
“…What?”
“From Senior’s perspective, hasn’t this incident ended ideally?”
Black Cat’s words were, in a sense, hitting the nail on the head.
“Since Tang Do-gyeong has declared he’s cutting ties, all those small rumors about Senior will be swept away, so from Senior’s standpoint, things have worked out well, and now you don’t need to step forward anymore, right?”
“…Well.”
Why did I initially want to get Tang Do-gyeong out of the Outcast Inn as soon as possible?
Because if rumors spread that Tang Do-gyeong was frequenting the inn to compete with me in shell games, my fame would rise day by day.
And now it seems I no longer need to worry about that.
Tang Do-gyeong’s bet is no longer important.
What’s important now is that Tang Do-gyeong has declared he’s cutting ties with the Tang family.
He openly stated that he likes the outcasts, so he’s frequenting the Outcast Inn.
The rumor that he’s visiting the Outcast Inn for gambling will also die down.
Now, the whereabouts of the Blood Jade Plaque or the shell game surrounding it have become entirely unimportant.
Once a rumor has spread, it can’t be helped.
Still, the news that will be on people’s lips for a while will be Tang Do-gyeong’s declaration of leaving the family, not the bet surrounding the Blood Jade Plaque.
So now, whether Tang Do-gyeong is expelled from the family after a week, I won’t suffer any loss.
Generally, in martial world clans, cutting ties is no different from expulsion in other sects.
It’s common to physically damage the body so that the martial arts learned from the sect or clan can never be used again.
Even for a lenient measure, destroying the dantian is basic.
Of course, considering that situations where expulsion is usually handed down are for crimes that are utterly unredeemable, Tang Do-gyeong, who hasn’t committed any real crime, might just have his surname revoked.
Even if he receives an excessive punishment and Tang Do-gyeong becomes a cripple and lives whatever life, it’s a path he chose himself and has nothing to do with me.
“He needs a different kind of martial art.”
However, there was a reason to intervene with Tang Do-gyeong.
Because the decision of the Tang Do-gyeong I had seen in Murim Cheonha and the Tang Do-gyeong of the real Murim now was so different.
When Tang Do-gyeong gains enlightenment, he gains a new characteristic.
That characteristic is [Family Love].
It was a characteristic that increased abilities when acting with other colleagues bearing the Tang surname or occasionally throwing assassination tools to save colleagues with high favorability when they were in danger.
Because Tang Do-gyeong awakens such a characteristic when he gains enlightenment, I thought that affection for the family would naturally lurk in his inner self.
That’s why I thought that he would inevitably bend his stubbornness and respond if an extreme conflict with his family arose.
“What are you talking about, Senior?”
I will give enlightenment to Tang Do-gyeong and confirm my hypothesis.
What is enlightenment?
How far can the power of enlightenment change a person?
Can Tang Do-gyeong, who chose to cut ties, open his eyes to family love just by understanding a few words or phrases, like in the game?
Since I couldn’t declare that I would enlighten Tang Do-gyeong, I made an excuse about martial arts.
“Hmph~”
Even though I thought it was a crude excuse, I could only remain silent in front of Black Cat, who snorted as if it wasn’t worth laughing at.
“Well, let’s leave it at that.”
I decided to give enlightenment to Tang Do-gyeong.
However, I also did not intend to receive a gratitude plaque from Tang Do-gyeong.
A gratitude plaque only has meaning when handed over in people’s presence.
Since a gratitude plaque is almost like a blank check, it needs to be declared in advance to handle matters without hesitation.
If it gets out that I gave enlightenment in this incident, too, it would genuinely be irreversible.
So, I needed to create a situation and environment where he couldn’t think I had given it to him.
With the cooperation of the Outcast Inn members and using Yu Sa-yeon, it didn’t seem entirely impossible to convey enlightenment.
Let’s call it Operation Slip Tang Do-gyeong Enlightenment.
“Why pretend? I don’t know. You can just say you like Tang Do-gyeong if you do.”
“Ha.”
I just snorted at Black Cat’s misunderstanding because it was so absurd.
I was merely curious if enlightenment could change a person, even in such a situation.
It’s not like I remembered Tang Do-gyeong’s appearance when he retreated cleanly, even amid his anger.
While learning it, it’s not like I was admiring Tang Do-gyeong’s heroic aspects or feeling the passion infused in the Fierce Tiger Fist technique.
It’s not like I heard Tang Do-gyeong’s inner thoughts from the conversation between him and Tang Do-gi and started rooting for him.
It’s not like I would think about it every time I went to sleep if Tang Do-gyeong’s dantian was destroyed or his tendons were cut.
I’m not at all concerned about Tang Do-gyeong’s words praising my composure.
“Hmm~ I see~ So you have no feelings at all~”
Ignoring Black Cat’s teasing, which was slandering me who had decided to give enlightenment to Tang Do-gyeong out of pure curiosity without any ulterior motives, I headed back to the Outcast Inn.
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