The Outcast Writer of a Martial Arts Visual Novel-Chapter 172: Sichuan Tang Clan - 1

“So you’re the child from the rumors.”

The Outer Hall Leader looked me up and down as if scanning me. So he’s heard about me in advance? That makes this easier.

“If you already know, then call the Clan Head.”

I glared at him with all the pressure I could muster, face held high and proud.

“How arrogant. The Clan Head is not currently in the Tang Clan. If you wait outside, he will be summoned separately.”

The Outer Hall Leader shot me a disapproving look for not using an honorific when referring to the Clan Head, then turned his head as if to walk away.

So the Clan Head isn’t here and I should just wait? What is this, “The person in charge isn’t available right now, please call again later”? Sounds exactly like some civil servant dodging responsibility with passive-aggressive redirection.

In that case, I have a method.

“This incident stems from an issue with the Tang Clan—are you saying you’ll just turn your back on it? Countless lives were sacrificed to get here! There’s someone in our group who may not survive the day!”

Hey everyone! Look over here! We’ve got a negligent public official on duty!

I raised my voice so that everyone nearby ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) who was blocked from entering the Tang Clan could hear.

“Quiet! There are ears listening.”

The Outer Hall Leader quickly turned back toward me, flustered. He spoke in a low voice, just loud enough for me to hear. So this is one of those things no one else is supposed to hear?

“The Tang Clan’s illegitimate children, the Poisoned Ones, Tang Geo-ho, traitors, the Demonic Sect. Which one should I keep quiet about? Just tell me and I’ll leave out only that one.”

I gave a thin, mocking smile and leaned in, voice low like a whisper. The Poisoned One incident is a shameful secret of the Tang Clan. You don’t want that getting out, do you? Then let us in.

“You bastard!”

“You can glare at me like you want to kill me, but I won’t turn away. Someone is actually dying. How could I turn my head?”

I’ll have you know I’m a man who trained to endure the killing intent of the Heavenly Killing Star. This level of pressure? Doesn’t even make me flinch.

We stared each other down for a moment. When it became clear I had no intention of backing down, the Outer Hall Leader let out a small sigh and spoke.

“Let them in.”

He gave the order to the soldiers behind him without dropping his mocking smile.

“Outer Hall Leader! The Council of Elders gave clear—”

“I only follow the words of the Clan Head. As for the Council, this much counts as pretending to obey. Open the gate.”

So it wasn’t negligence—it was a breakdown in the chain of command.

“Yes, sir!”

“Come in.”

And with that, we entered the Sichuan Tang Clan, guided by the Outer Hall Leader.

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But entering the Tang Clan didn’t mean everything went our way.

“Don’t even think about taking a single step outside.”

The Outer Hall Leader herded our group into a guest building and surrounded it with armed guards.

Detained for a full week.

A few people came and went, but we never once saw anyone who looked like a superior, let alone the Clan Head.

Hwa-rin still hadn’t received the Poison Pellet of the Face of Humanity and was only surviving thanks to medicine provided by the clan.

“A large-scale purge is underway.”

Just when I was wondering what was going on, one of the Medical Pavilion members brought news from inside the Tang Clan.

“A purge?”

I looked at him in confusion.

“They’re arresting everyone connected to Tang Geo-ho, one by one. They’re investigating whether those people were involved in the Poisoned One experiments or were agents of the Demonic Sect.”

“A bloody wind is blowing through the Tang Clan.”

“Yes. Since Tang Geo-ho is a direct bloodline member, it’s a serious issue. From the day our message arrived, they sealed all exits and started hunting down the rats hiding inside.”

The Medical Pavilion member told us that things were so tense inside, it was practically a battlefield.

Understandably so.

The mere fact that the forbidden Poisoned One experiments were being conducted in secret was shocking enough. But the fact that Tang Geo-ho—a direct descendant—was the one running them?

That alone could shake the entire Sichuan Tang Clan to its core. But that wasn’t all.

“If the news spreads that the Tang Clan conducted Poisoned One experiments in alliance with the Demonic Sect... it’ll be disastrous.”

And the Demonic Sect was involved. It’s too large-scale to claim it was just a rogue element.

Dozens of the clan’s illegitimate children had died. Medical Pavilion members had been sacrificed in the combined attack by Tang Geo-ho and the Demonic Sect operatives.

“Yes. On top of that, the Clan Head’s son reportedly entered qi deviation due to Tang Geo-ho’s schemes. The Clan Head himself is said to be personally tracking down the fugitives.”

“So that’s why the Clan Head wasn’t here. But if we’re the people directly involved in this case, why were we the ones kept out?”

When we arrived, not just us—everyone was barred from entering the Tang Clan. But why were we, the key witnesses, not allowed in?

“That part, I’m not sure about. There must be more to the story, but it’s hard to find out just from rumors.”

The Pavilion member bowed his head apologetically.

“You’ve done more than enough, considering we’re all stuck here together.”

It’s hard to get insider info when you’re locked up just like everyone else.

“I’ll explain the rest.”

Just as I was wondering how to learn more, a voice came from behind me. I turned—and saw someone unexpected.

“Dang-Pae? How are you here?”

It was Vice Pavilion Head Dang-Pae of the Medical Pavilion. He looked genuinely happy to see us.

----------

“I’m glad to see you all made it safely.”

Dang-Pae explained that he had arrived later after helping evacuate the injured Pavilion members.

After a brief round of greetings, he continued with what he had learned from inside the Tang Clan.

“The situation with Lady Hwa-rin is partly the Tang Clan’s fault, but also tied to the Demonic Sect. If they allow a Poisoned One into the clan now, it would be like admitting all the guilt—so the initial decision was not to let her in at all.”

“What bullshit.”

The curse slipped out before I could stop it.

“I heard you caused quite a scene at the gate, Young Master Kang. Because of that, the people who tried to cover it up and delay things got reprimanded hard. Well done.”

Suddenly I remembered the Outer Hall Leader’s sigh. So it was the sigh of a middle manager caught between orders.

“Anyway, we’re in now. Why haven’t they administered the Poison Pellet of the Face of Humanity?”

“That pellet is one of the Tang Clan’s most precious treasures. It can’t be used without the Clan Head’s direct approval or the Elder Council’s consent. But the Clan Head is away, and the Council is arguing bitterly about it.”

“So there’s strong opposition to giving Hwa-rin the poison pellet?”

“The Elder Council sees her as just another failed Poisoned One.”

“If they saw her fight even once, they wouldn’t be able to say that.”

Anyone who had seen Hwa-rin fight would know instantly—she was a nearly perfected Poisoned One.

At my words, Dang-Pae nodded and continued.

“Unfortunately, all they’ve seen is Lady Hwa-rin unconscious. There are some who believe it would be a waste to use the poison pellet on an incomplete Poisoned One.”

“Didn’t I write all of this clearly in the report? Hwa-rin is a victim of the Tang Clan. And once healed, she’ll become a perfected Poisoned One—the Tang Clan’s secret weapon. Why hesitate?”

Has everyone in the Tang Clan contracted the classic RPG disease—Consumable Hoarding Syndrome? I don’t care if it’s a priceless elixir or a unique poison pellet—if you’re at the final boss, you use it.

“Yes, there are many who say the same. But when news of Young Master Kang spread, it caused a divide—some supported it, others strongly opposed it.”

“What does my news have to do with the poison pellet?”

I frowned and asked Dang-Pae.

“It seems word of you reached the Clan Head and part of the Elder Council. The Clan Head said he wanted to meet the boy and talk to him when he returned—so now everyone’s in an uproar.”

So the news about me reached the Clan Head, huh. It feels like learning that a report I botched made it all the way to the company CEO.

“The Clan Head learning he suddenly has a new son... I suppose that would be shocking.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Whether or not I was flustered, the Clan Head must be even more so. If there really was a child between him and Hyang-ah, then he probably already knew—so he wouldn’t deny it.

“Under normal circumstances, you’d be nothing more than an illegitimate child. But the current situation is... complicated. The issue with the Young Lord, and now a child who may become a perfected dok-in has appeared alongside Young Master Kang.”

Dang-Pae looked at me with a probing gaze, as if asking, “Do you understand what I’m getting at?”

The Young Lord... and a perfected dok-in. It was a simple puzzle. My brain quickly assembled it based on the clues I had.

Now I see where this is going.

“The Young Lord is on the brink of death after entering qi deviation, and a perfectly healthy son suddenly appears. On top of that, this illegitimate child could receive the full support of a perfected dok-in... then yes, this could be a major incident that completely overturns the Tang Clan’s line of succession.”

A perfected dok-in is not just any martial artist.

If Hwa-rin becomes a perfected dok-in, then as Tang Geo-ho said—Sichuan Tang Clan would become Tang Hwa-rin, and Tang Hwa-rin would be the Sichuan Tang Clan. She would be its living emblem.

If Tang Hwa-rin becomes a perfected dok-in and publicly supports her one and only friend, a black-haired illegitimate child, as successor to the Tang Clan?

In the martial arts world, where lineage is important but martial ability is revered even more, that’s not something easily ignored. And there are bound to be people who don’t want that to happen.

“You’re exactly right. Some of the Young Lord’s faction, once they heard the news, are doing everything they can to block the use of the Poison Pellet of the Face of Humanity.”

Dang-Pae nodded in agreement.

“Do you think the Clan Head will give Hwa-rin the poison pellet once he returns?”

“Rumor has it he’s being incredibly cautious in his pursuit, and it’s been difficult to track the fugitives.”

“So it’ll take time.”

“There’s even talk that, before the Clan Head returns, they should make it so this illegitimate child can never become the Young Lord. So for now, it’s best to wait here until the Clan Head returns.”

“Hah. What, are they planning to assassinate me or something?”

I joked lightly toward Dang-Pae.

“...The Outer Hall Leader is one of the Clan Head’s closest aides.”

Dang-Pae didn’t confirm it aloud, but he glanced at the guards posted outside the guest hall as he spoke.

The fact that he didn’t outright deny it... made it impossible for me to keep the joke going.

----------

“So it wasn’t imprisonment—it was protection.”

I muttered that to myself as I stared at the Outer Hall’s soldiers, deep in thought after hearing the whole situation.

I thought they were here to keep us from escaping. But they might be here to guard us from hostile forces.

‘Should I wait until the Clan Head returns?’

It’s a complicated situation.

If I make the wrong move here, they might accuse me of leaking clan secrets, or frame me for assassination attempts, or worse—label me a collaborator of the Demonic Sect or Tang Geo-ho.

If I wait for the Clan Head to return, everything could be resolved.

‘But if we wait for a Clan Head who might never return in time... Hwa-rin could die.’

That’s the real problem—I don’t know how much time Hwa-rin has left.

“If we just wait like this, we’ll end up as nothing more than sacrificial pawns on the board. And the last thing the comrades who died for Hwa-rin would want is for her to die now.”

I turned and spoke to Dang-Pae and the other Medical Pavilion members who were waiting for my response.

I can’t lose my friend like this. I can’t lose the real heroine candidate. Besides, Hwa-rin has to survive—otherwise there’s no way I’m making it out of this tiger’s den alive.

So many people died to protect her. If she dies, their sacrifice will have been meaningless.

Only if Hwa-rin survives can we prove their sacrifice had value. And with that, everyone nodded.

“So then, what do you intend to do?”

Dang-Pae asked me.

I looked around at the Medical Pavilion members.

I was already prepared to walk into the tigers’ den and face the fangs.

For Hwa-rin’s sake—and for the sake of not being torn to pieces by those same tigers—

I had to move now.

“Let’s flip the whole board.”

I began laying out the strategy I’d devised to the Medical Pavilion members.

*********

“Vice Pavilion Head Dang-Pae, what are you reading?”

One of the Tang Clan members asked as he noticed Dang-Pae deeply absorbed in something.

Dang-Pae, as if the move had been rehearsed, slowly lifted the book’s cover to reveal the title and spoke with the reverence of someone preaching a holy doctrine.

“You. Do you know a novel called Storm of the Tang Clan?”