Chapter 80: Chapter Seventy-Six: Duel
Translator: 549690339
“Tang Xiuyong is the son of Tang Yushan.” Tang Guangyu said to Tang Luo.
“The fact that ‘like father, like son’ doesn’t change.” Tang Luo admired Tang Yushan’s bravery, but his view of Tang Xiuyong remained unchanged. Instead, he felt his son had brought more shame to the family.
“Like father, like son, maybe.” Tang Guangyu did not want to argue with Tang Luo. “Tang Xiuyong lost his father, and only his mother and he were left in his mansion.”
“At the age of thirteen, his mother violated clan rules and was executed by law.”
Tang Luo frowned, this kind of vague speech made people come up with all sorts of ideas.
Despite the Tang Clan’s corruption due to the vast number of clan members, the care they have for each clan member is undeniable, especially for those who have sacrificed their lives for their clan. The family provided even more support to widows who wanted to go into business.
If such a high-status clansman was executed, what did she do?
“Afterward, Xiuyong couldn’t bear the gossip in the Martial Hall, so he returned to the mansion.”
“He then met some fair-weather friends and gave up martial arts, which is how he became the Tang Xiuyong you see now.”
Tang Guangyu took a moment to steady his emotions, then looked at Tang Luo and asked, “If these things happened to you, how do you think you would have reacted?”
Perhaps every despicable person has a pitiable side. Losing his father and being disgraced by his mother’s execution was undoubtedly devastating for a boy in his early teens. Hanging out with fair-weather friends in his time of emptiness, drowning his sorrows in drink and dreams.
It’s sometimes just this easy to ruin a gifted youth.
“So you’re doing this at his behest to make things difficult for me.” Tang Luo smirked, feeling utterly bored. In the face of such a pitiful person, he couldn’t even muster the motivation to crush him. He thought to himself, ‘Might as well just consider it as bad luck.’
“This has nothing to do with Xiuyong.” Tang Guangyu shook his head, his face pale. “Because of your actions at the main mansion gate, Xiuyong has become a laughingstock to the entire second house again. Are you satisfied as the talented son of the Sect Head?”
Is it my fault because he’s weak? Tang Luo had nothing but contempt.
“Heh.” He stood up using the table for support, sneering, “Maybe you care about that piece of trash, but I have to tell you. If he acted honorably, the one who would be the laughingstock today would be the oppressive Tang Luo.”
“If you think that sticking up for him is caring for him, or that it can even make up for your guilt toward Tang Yushan, then you are gravely mistaken. If you really want to help him, you should take on the responsibility of teaching him. Not serving as a buffer for his degeneration.”
Tang Guangyu’s pupils dilated, he was about to respond when he noticed a white-haired elder carrying a box into the Secret Arts Pavilion.
“Elder… where should I put your box?”
“I’m so sorry. If I had known you were coming from the scripture storage room, I would have carried it myself.” Upon hearing the voice, Tang Luo hurriedly turned his head and took the large wooden box from the elder’s shoulder, thanking him profusely.
The elder merely nodded, speedily exiting the Pavilion’s main hall.
Tang Luo plopped the wooden box onto his desk, glanced contemptuously at Tang Guangyu’s two small boxes, gave a snort, and sat down on his chair.
After understanding Tang Guangyu’s motive, he found everything dull, the boredom even seeped into his heart.
With neither of them speaking any further, time flew by quickly, and the members of the Secret Arts Pavilion gradually gathered in the main hall.
As everyone passed by Tang Luo, they all cast sidelong glances at his large wooden box.
“If these are improved martial arts techniques, how many could there be?”
Such ponderings lingered in everyone’s minds. Even if they were all just ordinary martial arts techniques, this was still a considerable number.
The elders sat anxiously in their sits. Initially wanting to deflate Tang Luo’s arrogance, they quickly sensed that things didn’t seem so simple.
Upon seeing that all the elders of the Secret Art Pavilion had arrived, Tang Hongtao announced, “Now, let’s see the results of your modifications over the past three months.”
“I’ll go first.” An elder with small eyes and a bit of a belly stood up. As one of the most disgraced members from the last monthly meeting, he felt compelled to restore his dignity.
He opened his box and unveiled his accomplishments one by one for the elders to review.
Of course, these were not the results of a single month’s work, but the culmination of many years. Three of the techniques were his trump cards, which he reluctantly brought out in a desperate bid to reclaim his dignity.
Tang Hongtao couldn’t help but sigh. Maybe he was wrong before, he had thought that by continuously increasing the benefits of the Secret Arts Pavilion, these elders would eventually bring out their treasures. Little did he know that it wouldn’t take years of planning, but instead, a simple provocation and rule change from Tang Luo, and it was all laid out before him.
He was caught off-guard by this windfall. Tang Hongtao exhaled, put down the manual, and announced, “Tang Feizhou, seven improved Yellow Rank martial arts, one improved Yellow Rank body-protecting technique, two applications of a Yellow Rank body movement. A total of ten Yellow Rank techniques, 50 points contribution to the Secret Arts Pavilion.”
“Tang Bokang, eight improved Yellow Rank martial arts, two improved Yellow Rank body-protecting techniques. A total contribution of 50 points to the Secret Arts Pavilion.”
“Tang Xiangwen, one improved Yellow Rank martial art, three improved Yellow Rank body techniques. A total contribution of 20 points to the Secret Arts Pavilion.”
Maybe Tang Luo’s provocation was too intense. In this crazy month of April, everyone put forth their best efforts to show Tang Luo.
No one was merely aiming for the minimum contribution, instead, they all brought out their precious assets. The person with the least contribution had a total of 20 points.
As each elder showed off their contributions, it was finally Tang Guangyu’s turn.
“The foundation of the Secret Arts Pavilion is not something you can insult.” He glanced at Tang Luo and opened his two wooden boxes.
“Hiss.” Before he could finish showing his contributions, a collective gasp echoed throughout the Pavilion.
Five, ten, twenty.
Among the 22 improved techniques, what caught everyone’s eye was how he had turned two ordinary techniques into Yellow Rank, and designed an excellent training path to complement a Yellow Rank martial art. This boosted the value of an ordinary technique by a hundredfold instantly.
“It’s your turn now. Let’s see what’s in that big box of yours.” Tang Guangyu said coldly. He didn’t believe for a second that the whole box was filled with martial art scripts. This must be a trick by Tang Luo.
With Tang Guangyu’s remark, all eyes in the pavilion were fixated on Tang Luo. He was the only one left who hadn’t unveiled his contributions.
“Are you so eager to lose?” Tang Luo raised an eyebrow and opened his large wooden box.
Box after box of manuscripts were neatly stacked inside.
“Impossible!” The chubby, small-eyed Tang Feizhou was the first not to believe his own eyes. Filling the entire box could mean nearly a hundred martial art techniques, which was what he didn’t want to believe.
“He must have mixed in a large amount of unmodified martial art techniques.” With that belief, he was the first to pounce on Tang Luo’s box and start flipping through the modified martial arts techniques.
Under Tang Feizhou’s lead, the other elders who were initially reluctant to scrutinize other’s martial art techniques also stepped forward. Each of them picked a few from Tang Luo’s box to study.
The hundreds of secret manuals in the box were swiftly emptied as everyone passed the books between them..
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