The Outcast Writer of a Martial Arts Visual Novel-Chapter 131: Storm of the Tang Clan, Volume 2 - 4

From Daeheung County in Hubei Province, through Yichang, all the way to Shaanxi.

Tang Geo-ho had followed a long and winding road to track down his test subject.

He imagined Hwa-rin would be surprised to see him again—but she’d welcome him. If he refrained from talking about himself and simply listened to what she’d been through, that alone would make her happy.

And when the mood ripened just enough, all he had to do was offer her the Poison Pellet under the pretense of granting her official status as a full member of the Tang Clan. A child starved for affection would accept with only the slightest coaxing.

If Tang Hwa-rin became a Poisoned One, it would finally prove that he could create one through his own means. And if the experiment failed... it was a shame to waste so much effort, but he could always erase the evidence and start anew.

Would this experiment, over a decade in the making, end in success or failure?

With a heart pounding in anticipation, Tang Geo-ho knocked on the grand gates of the Shaanxi estate.

“What do you mean, you abandoned her?”

The girl who should’ve come running barefoot upon hearing he’d arrived was nowhere to be seen. That alone was enough for Tang Geo-ho to sense that something had gone wrong.

But abandoned?

“Hahaha... well, you see...”

Hwa-rin’s mother offered a strained laugh in an attempt to dodge his fury.

“You filthy wretch. Are you even human?”

She had left her daughter behind just to save herself. A daughter who was sick and barely able to move.

“Please, Daehyup. She’s an adult now. I figured she could take care of herself.”

“You miserable—!”

Tang Geo-ho stormed toward Hwa-rin’s mother, rage boiling over.

“Protect the madam!”

Realizing the situation was escalating, the guards and servants rushed in to surround him.

“Worms, all of you.”

With a dismissive flick of his hand—like swatting away a bothersome fly—Tang Geo-ho released a poison into the air.

“Guh!”

“Uagh!”

In an instant, everyone in the estate collapsed under the effects of his poison. Tang Geo-ho paid no mind to the fallen as he turned back to the woman now shaking with terror.

“I’ve worked with all kinds of poisons in my life—but never have I met a creature as filthy and venomous as you.”

“Hahaha... Daehyup Tang—no, Brother Geo-ho. Let’s not talk here. Come with me to the bedroom and we can—”

She had once seduced two lords of the Seong Family Manor. Still strikingly beautiful for her age, with the appearance of a woman in her early thirties despite being in her forties, she now tried to charm him out of fear.

“I deal in vipers. I don’t sleep with them.”

Tang Geo-ho seized her pale neck with one hand and lifted her off the ground.

“Gggkkk!”

“Though I loathe you, I allowed you to assist me only because you cooperated in turning Hwa-rin into a Poisoned One.”

The poison that had taken down the Seong family lord? That was his doing.

“As much as I’d like to turn you into a puddle of blood right here and now, I’ll take you alive—for Hwa-rin’s sake.”

That child had hated her mother for years.

Their relationship had crossed a point of no return.

If he brought the mother along, offering Hwa-rin a chance at revenge, she would take the Poison Pellet without resistance.

Tang Geo-ho pulled out a vial of poison from his sleeve and forced it into the gasping mouth of Hwa-rin’s mother.

She lost consciousness immediately.

“Daehyup Tang! The madam has done wrong, yes—but this isn’t something a righteous man would do! The martial world will point fingers at you!”

One of the guards, barely managing to stand, shouted at Tang Geo-ho.

“...You’re right.”

Tang Geo-ho glanced around, seemingly reflecting on the words, and nodded quietly.

“Daehyup...”

Was he calming down? The guard let out a breath of relief.

“There can’t be any witnesses.”

That was the last thought the guard had in this world.

“GUHHH!”

Tang Geo-ho unleashed a deadly poison from his sleeve, wiping out everyone in the estate.

No witnesses, no condemnation.

This was how a man as venomous and shadowy as a snake could still be called Daehyup.

“Hwa-rin. Where are you?”

He slung the unconscious woman over his shoulder and exited the mansion.

She wasn’t in Yichang. Not in Shaanxi. Hopefully, she was at the inn where she’d supposedly been abandoned—but that was unlikely.

He had no way of locating a single person in the vast Central Plains.

Was he about to lose a test subject with whom he was only one step from completing his research?

“...I suppose I’ll have to borrow some help.”

Tang Geo-ho’s eyes gleamed with unrelenting madness.

*******

The popularity vote was a resounding success.

“Suk-jeong Tea Set, two please.”

“Three Hyang-ah Coffees for me.”

Their wild passions had finally found a direction—and with that, the noise inside Daseogak subsided significantly.

“You go too far. Are you saying the Most Beautiful Woman in Sichuan lost to some lowly courtesan?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“You bastard—!”

“Ahem.”

Of course, the arguing hadn’t vanished entirely, but now even the Daseo Society argued in hushed tones, wary of causing a scene.

“This shopkeeper’s watching us. If we don’t want to be kicked out, let’s keep it down.”

One of them shot me a nervous glance, lowered his head, and muttered quietly.

“Tch. Guess I’ll just sip my Suk-jeong Tea Set.”

“We’ll drink the Hyang-ah Coffee we ordered, then.”

Each side quietly began consuming the special set named after the woman they supported.

Please—please, let’s stop fighting and just drink the tea. Better to argue with your wallet than your fists.

“Indeed, this Suk-jeong Tea... just a single sip, and the fragrance evokes the elegance of the Most Beautiful Woman in Sichuan. Her beauty shines from afar.”

A member of the Suk-jeong Camp praised the tea like a gourmet judge in a cooking manga.

Of course, the tea was made with completely ordinary leaves.

“Ridiculous. This Hyang-ah Coffee—the balance of bitterness and acidity perfectly reflects Du Eung-hyang’s charm.”

That coffee? Basic beans.

“What about the snacks? Their sweetness brings to mind the delicate beauty of Gu Suk-jeong.”

“These snacks remind me of Du Eung-hyang’s honeyed voice.”

The truth? They were the exact same snacks—just dyed differently—sourced from the same supplier.

“If you try the Suk-jeong Set, you’ll realize how superior it is to mere coffee.”

The man pushed the Suk-jeong set forward.

“Try this one instead. The coffee and snack pair much better than that weak tea.”

“Tch. As if I don’t see through your plan—you just want an excuse to order another one.”

“Right back at you!”

If they just swapped and tried the other side’s menu, they’d instantly realize how full of nonsense their evaluations were.

But it seemed that might take a while.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

--------

Sometimes, running a popularity vote leads to the most unexpected situations.

“Ah, Scholar Hwang, welcome. Shall I get the Suk-jeong Tea Set ready for you?”

Scholar Hwang, a key member of the Daseo Society who’d helped out countless times, had dropped by Daseogak again. But something was off—he looked pale. Avoiding eye contact, even.

“N-no need for the Suk-jeong Tea Set.”

He shook his head, declining the usual order. Maybe his wallet wasn’t doing so well lately?

“Then shall I prepare an iced Americano?”

“It’s not that... I’d like a Hyang-ah Coffee Set, please.”

...What?

“...Scholar Hwang. D-don’t tell me—you’ve defected?”

This man—this man—was the very embodiment of the Suk-jeong faction. The kind of fan who would volunteer to be a matchmaker if Tang Jeong and Gu Suk-jeong existed in real life.

“Shh! Keep your voice down—someone might hear you!”

He glanced around nervously, lowering his voice. Was he seriously ordering a Hyang-ah Coffee Set? Did he really just switch his vote in the Main Wife War? This was monumental.

“All right. I’ll prepare one.”

I turned and, with an amused smirk, added a stroke to the tally under Du Eung-hyang’s name, then got to making his coffee.

“Brother! Just what are you doing here?!”

As I worked, a furious voice rose from behind.

“Little brother? How did you...?”

Scholar Hwang turned around in surprise, staring at the man who looked remarkably like him. Must be his younger brother.

“I heard rumors that you were neglecting your studies and hanging around with this... this Daseo Society crowd, so I followed you here in secret. Brother, you should be preparing for the Provincial Examination! To think you’d waste time with these degenerates—shameful!”

He looked like someone who’d just caught his older brother playing games at a PC bang after saying he was going to cram for exams.

Wait. Provincial Examination?

Scholar Hwang isn’t just a regular student—he’s a Licentiate.

In the Central Plains, one has to pass the local exam to even qualify for the Provincial Examination. Just passing that made you a Licentiate—a title that earned social status and respect.

Even so, the Provincial Examination and the national exam above it were nearly impossible. They were so notoriously difficult that even geniuses often gave up, satisfied with being a Licentiate. It was like trying to date a K-pop idol as a guy with a shattered face.

“Little brother. It’s just a book club. Nothing wrong with a scholar attending a reading group.”

Scholar Hwang awkwardly tried to brush it off, like a test-taker caught playing League and insisting it was just stress relief.

“It depends on what books that club reads! They’re reading smut! Trash novels! Reading filth like that will rot your brain. A true scholar—”

The little brother launched into a full PSA about the evils of smut, like some morning TV show guest expert.

Wow, I haven’t heard someone trash my novel like this in a while.

This guy’s giving me flashbacks to the angry commenters back home.

“Even if you’re my brother, I can’t let you insult Author Ho-pil. Besides, you’ve never even read Storm of the Tang Clan!”

“I don’t have to! All that garbage is the same. I don’t understand how a smart man like you could read this trash—”

“You dare call Storm of the Tang Clan trash?! How dare you insult Author Ho-pil like that?!”

Scholar Hwang looked ready to explode. Honestly, I was fine, but he... he was clearly reaching critical mass.

This was gonna turn into a brotherly brawl if I didn’t intervene.

“Hyang-ah Coffee Set, two orders.”

I cut in smoothly before anyone could throw a punch.

“I only ordered one.”

“It’s on the house. Please, enjoy it with your brother.”

“T-thank you...”

Scholar Hwang had done so much for me—it was nothing, really.

“And this,” I said, handing a copy of Storm of the Tang Clan, Volume 1, to the younger brother, “is a service for you.”

You’re insulting it because you haven’t tasted it yet. Here—try it, just once. Try it.

“I don’t want it. Recommending vulgar filth like this to me? Says a lot about this bookstore’s quality.”

He whipped his head away dramatically. If Hwa-rin had seen that, she’d have smacked him on the spot.

I took a deep breath. Customer service, customer service... Keep the smile on...

“Little brother!”

“Confucius said: Those who cling to prejudice and refuse to learn fall into arrogance. How can a scholar insult something his brother loves without even reading it?”

I used one of Confucius’s favorites to gently push back, keeping my tone sincere.

“You—how does a barbarian quote Confucius?!”

He looked at me like I’d grown two heads.

What, did he think black-haired barbarians wore bear skins and grunted around bonfires?

God, people in the Central Plains really are something else.

“And yet, even a so-called barbarian knows this truth. Are you going to ignore it, then? What does that make you?”

If a barbarian understands it and you—a self-proclaimed scholar—don’t, then you’re worse than a barbarian.

I smiled sweetly as I delivered that gentle jab.

“Tch. I’m with the Yichang Literary Association. If this book turns out to be the vulgar trash I expect, I’ll issue a formal public critique under the Association’s name.”

Yichang Literary Association? What is that, like a literature analysis club? So you’re a hardcore literary purist, huh. Well, go ahead. I’m confident enough to put the book in your hands.

He snatched the book and retreated to a corner.

“Shopkeeper Kang... have you studied for the civil exams before?”

Scholar Hwang watched this unfold and asked me in awe.

“I’ve only picked up scraps of the Four Books and Five Classics. I’m nothing like you, Scholar Hwang.”

Kang Yun-ho of Joseon? Not a Licentiate, no. But I did get private lessons from some guys who were top scholars. Not that I ever actually studied...

“Such humility. It’s clear now why you’re a kindred spirit of Author Ho-pil. Anyway, thank you. Here’s payment for the sets.”

“One order is enough.”

“No, take it all.”

“It’s fine, really.”

He kept trying to pay even as I declined.

Why’s he so insistent?

Then, with an apologetic look, Scholar Hwang leaned in and whispered:

“Then... please. When you tally the board—just now I ordered two—but I only saw you mark one stroke. Please add one more for Du Eung-hyang.”

Ahhh. So that’s why.

“Understood. I’ll make sure she gets her due.”

And with that, I, still stunned that Scholar Hwang had actually switched sides, added another stroke to the tally for Du Eung-hyang.

--------

“Haah... This is troubling.”

Scholar Hwang sighed deeply as he sat in his room at home.

His younger brother—he’d always idolized him, ever since he passed the exam and became a Licentiate. He used to go around bragging about it to everyone.

In truth, he wasn’t all that amazing.

“...This might reflect poorly on Author Ho-pil.”

Storm of the Tang Clan was addictive—even the most casual reader would fall for it. But his younger brother was part of the ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) Yichang Literary Association. A purist. A lover of the classics.

The novel was amazing, sure—but if his brother hated the genre and started badmouthing it publicly? That’d ruin his relationship with both Author Ho-pil and the Daseo Society.

“Maybe I should go talk to him. Make sure he doesn’t say anything too harsh, even if it’s not to his taste...”

Just as he stood to rush to his brother’s room—

“Brother.”

His younger brother’s voice came from beyond the door.

“Come in.”

“B-brother...”

“What is it?”

Scholar Hwang opened the door—and was stunned.

His brother looked like he’d just taken a direct hit to the brain. Eyes wide with shock. Once inside, he couldn’t even meet his brother’s eyes.

“...Did something happen?”

Was it bad news? Some kind of disaster?

But the response he got was... completely unexpected.

“...Brother, I’m sorry, but... The Top Courtesan of Hubei—n-no, um... Do you have Volume 2?”