SWNOVELS Chapter 82
Chapter 82: Chapter Seventy-Eight: Mark of Struggle
Translator: 549690339 00
The eighth of April is suitable for a burial, worshipping ancestors, and avoiding marriages, breaks, adoptions and forming
alliances.
“Brother, why are you looking so drained?” The young kid was genuinely worried as he stared at Tang Luo, who had dark circles
under his eyes.
“Slap.”
With a poker face, Tang Luo slapped the kid upside the head, moving his light-obstructing head aside, “Go practice. These are
the battle scars of fighting for our clan.”
Okay.” The kid clutched his head, retreating into the training room with every third step he took.
Only after hitting the young kid did Tang Luo finally feel a good sense of satisfaction. Since the day he delegated martial arts
responsibilities, he hadn’t had a good day’s sleep.
“What you guys are doing is inhumane by making us work overtime.” Tang Luo had pointed out the unhealthy work conditions in
the Secret Arts Pavilion several times, but they turned a deaf ear to him.
Competing for stamina with a group of middle-aged men, who were at least at the peak of transcending the mortal realm, Tang
Luo admitted defeat. Could these individuals, who recuperated with zest after an hour of meditating, truly be considered human?
He could only marvel at them for transforming complicated martial arts techniques, which could only be understood by
researchers, into volumes of iron scrolls that warriors could learn from. It was a real waste not to put them into scientific
research.
He also learned why newly developed secret techniques had to be turned over to the Secret Arts Pavilion before they could be
printed in volumes for martial artists to learn. That was because you could never imagine how martial arts practitioners from their
youth could be so academically barren.
For each martial arts technique that Tang Luo revised, the bulkier ones had about seven or eight pages, and the slimmer ones
only two or three. The rest was all content that was already included in the original martial arts method, and didn’t need to be
reiterated.
But after the heavy reprographics of the past few days, he realized just how profound those contents that supposedly didn’t need
to be mentioned in the Secret Arts Pavilion were.
Even martial artists who had been practicing for over a decade couldn’t state the precise location of their acupuncture points.
The routes they’ve practiced since childhood were all memorized by rote.
Leaving aside the minor collateral channels in the human body, even the proper channels and extraordinary meridians weren’t
completely recognized. To Tang Luo’s surprise, a martial artist who could clearly identify the twelve divergent channels, the
twelve tendon channels, and the twelve skin regions was considered learned.
But to someone who wanted to research martial arts, these things were but the basic knowledge of an apprentice.
So what the Secret Arts Pavilion had to do was to simplify the names of those minor channels into easy-to-understand
guidelines. They would then highlight which routes the spiritual energy should take from an introspective angle.
The content of a single page, after being translated, could become ten or more pages. If it involved complicated channels, this
number could be further multiplied.
As for submitting martial techniques, to outsiders, it was as simple as submitting their ideas. But within the Secret Arts Pavilion, a
significant part of their job was to evaluate the value of a piece of martial arts and to translate it.
Then they would teach it to designated instructors or martial artists, with the goal of spreading it widely.
While others were breezily translating three to five martial arts segments and calling it a day, Tang Luo had to translate a total of
ninety-seven.
Among them, the route of martial arts was incredibly complicated.
The elders of the Secret Arts Pavilion finished their work in the first few days, and then helped Tang Luo with his translations.
And Tang Luo’s dark circles were the result of these days of tirelessness.
So even with his spiritual power accumulating to 2941.2, he couldn’t feel any shred of happiness. He just felt like he had no
energy to do anything.
And he himself had established the rule that the Secret Arts Pavilion wouldn’t keep idlers, so even in his agony, Tang Luo had to
keep his spirits up and continue revising martial arts.
Luckily, the Tang Clan had a rich inventory, and there were plenty of martial arts with lofty ambitions for him to modify. If not, he
wouldn’t know what to do.
“It should be fine when I reach the Mortal Realm in a few days.” He comforted himself in this way while fighting against his
discomfort.
Once in the Mortal Realm, he could start studying martial arts of the Yellow Rank. His work pressure would instantly be cut by
five times, and he would no longer be as exhausted as he was currently.
Tang Mansion Dining Hall
As both brothers weren’t around, the generally hustle and bustle of the mansion was slightly dismal. Fortunately, Tang Sen
returned home every night to have dinner with Xu Shuhui. Otherwise, if it were only her, she wouldn’t know how she could stand
the cold quietness.
Having Tang Sen at the dinner table meant it would always be extraordinarily lively. That was because he was a martial artist
who found everything delicious and ate excessively.
The entire table could only hear his gulping noises. Tang Luo always suspected that Tang Nuannuan’s chubbiness was partly the
work of their father.
“Slow down, I have something to ask you.” Xu Shuhui held Little Nuannuan with one hand and slapped Tang Sen, who was
hunched over his meal, with the other.
Mm.” There were still grains of rice on the corner of Tang Sen’s mouth as he raised his head with a puzzled look, looking as
naive as ever.
“After having three kids, how can you still act so childish?” Xu Shuhui removed the grains of rice from Tang Sen’s face and
teased him.
“Heh heh.” Tang Sen smiled, looking both honest and simple.
“What’s making you so happy, dolt?” Xu Shuhui rolled her eyes in annoyance and shoved the grains of rice into his mouth before
getting down to business.
“Do you think that if Luo Er really awakens some sort of bloodline power, our nephew this time might want to take him back to
Yuanzhou?”
She couldn’t help but worry. Originally, she thought it impossible for Tang Luo to awaken any bloodline power. But since the
Secret Arts Pavilion meeting on the first day of April, more than ten clan and sect elders had paid her deliberate visits.
After some small talk, they all mentioned that Tang Luo was a veritable martial arts genius. They felt relieved that they could trust
the future of the Secret Arts Pavilion to him, and so on.
This heightened her concerns. She had a deep understanding of the Xu Family’s dominance.
If it wasn’t for her brother risking his life to create an opportunity for her all those years ago, there was no way she could have
eloped with Tang Sen.
She was well aware of how the Xu Clan treasured those with bloodline powers. If Tang Luo hadn’t awakened, it would have been
fine. But once he did awaken some sort of bloodline power, even if it was a useless power,
Given the Xu Clan’s temperament, they would forcefully take him away. As a family that has had a saint, the Xu Clan always had
an air of superiority. Although the Xu Clan was no longer the strongest family, their pride remained unchanged.
This worried her greatly.
Tang Sen could sense his wife’s unease. Extending his hand, he clasped Xu
Shuhui’s hand and murmured, “Don’t worry, I’m here.”
Xu Shuhui smiled at Tang Sen, gripping his hand in return. The hand was still as sturdy as before, instilling a sense of security.
Tang Sen held Xu Shuhui’s hand in this manner and resumed eating.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
Watching her husband efficiently eating with one hand, Xu Shuhui involuntarily giggled.
Chuanyuan
The City of Baling Mountain
The elegant room of Hundred Fragrances Inn
“Bring out all your girls-” The young noble with peach blossom eyes casually asked of the innkeeper, throwing over a golden leaf.
“Very well, sir, please wait-” The innkeeper, back bowed, pocketed the gold leaf and left the room, lifting the door curtain.
Soon after, more than a dozen girls filed into the room with a sensual sway, smiling coyly, “Greetings, young master-”
“You, you, you, you, you, you, and you, stay, the rest can leave.” The young man casually pointed and kept eight girls..