The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Doomed Heir of a Fallen House — Spirit Elixir, Episode 10

Dan Mok Hyun Woo believed that Ryeon had fallen into her current state because he had failed to protect her properly that day.
That thought had cluttered his mind and made his blade waver, allowing a Heart Demon to take root. It was a mercy that he hadn’t succumbed to Full Demonic Possession.
Dan Mok Hyun Woo still hadn’t overcome the Heart Demon. So even after he’d finished his secluded training, he’d sent Ryeon Ice Candy, Yak Gwa, and all manner of treats, yet couldn’t bring himself to face her — until he received orders from Dan Mok Cheon Gi to study characters, and only then did their eyes meet again.
“Do you remember what I said about how frequently practicing the characters you learn helps you master them?”
“Yes!”
“From today on, exchange letters with each other once a day. Even a single line is fine.”
Dan Mok Bi, eager these days to learn everything alongside his sister, nodded eagerly. He was looking forward to replies from sister Ryeon and Hwa Ryun.
After the character lesson comes Tea Ceremony time. Or more precisely, the time to drink tea prepared by Ryeon, which she had insisted on doing together.
Dan Mok Hyun Woo had tried to dissuade his niece from serving him tea every time, but Ryeon had pushed back with the reason that she wanted to practice the Tea Ceremony her grandfather had taught her.
‘Let’s see…’
Ryeon smoothed down her sleeve.

Dan Mok Ryeon
Harmony : 7-Star — Can go unnoticed.
Mind’s Eye : 4-Star — Can perceive flaws.
Purification : 2-Star — Can cleanse life force.
Stamina : 6 / 100
Spirit Energy : 52 / 100
Guidance : Raise the achievement of Purification. Keep Spirit Energy at 50 or below. If more than one month and six days pass in this state, death will result.

‘Tsk. Easier said than done.’
No one knew how to use this power called Spirit Energy. It was a frontier she alone had to pioneer.
Every day she brewed tea to feed those around her and cleansed the environment, burning through Spirit Energy, yet by the next day there it was again, and the day after that there it was again….
‘So this is what living hand to mouth feels like.’
It wasn’t a joke — she was literally living one day to the next, harvesting her own life force one day at a time.
Ryeon couldn’t afford to miss an opportunity to serve tea to three people at once.
It was why she brewed hot water even on sweltering days, gasping for breath.
When Ryeon poured out four cups in a row and set them down, Dan Mok Hyun Woo smiled warmly and looked at the young men.
“Remember to appreciate your sister’s tea, since she’s prepared it with her own hands.”
“Yes! Thank you, sister.”
“Thank you, sister.”
They studied characters every day and drank tea every day, and Dan Mok Hyun Woo said the same thing every day while the boys thanked her every day. Ryeon simply smiled, her face bright.
‘Drink up, drink up, and grow strong….’
“The people of Hang Zhou would come seeking this cup of tea with a fortune, I think.”
Dan Mok Hyun Woo sipped his tea, smiling faintly. Ryeon gazed quietly down at her cup.
‘That couldn’t be further from the truth.’
None of the tea leaves were newly purchased this year — they were all several years old.
They barely managed to taste decent, and yet Dan Mok Hyun Woo was always praising her.
Then Dan Mok Bi, who would twist in his seat from the boredom of Tea Ceremony and gulp down the tea hastily, added his own admiration in a few simple words.
Incredibly delicious, as tasty as yesterday’s Yak Gwa, I think an immortal would come drink it and leave — he cycled through such remarks every four days.
Finding her younger brother so endearing, she’d laugh, and then she’d notice Hwa Ryun beside Bi, quietly chuckling to himself with his eyes. From his gaze alone you could tell — he was teasing her with nothing but his stare.
What was a cup of tea prepared by an eight-year-old fidgeting away compared to one made by an immortal, no matter how good it tasted?
‘This rascal.’
“These aren’t mere pleasantries, Ryeon. I can taste in this tea how skilled your hands are and how deep your heart is. I can already see that when you learn the blade from the Grand Ancestor, your achievements will be remarkable. Your brother, too….”
Dan Mok Hyun Woo’s words trailed off suddenly, flustered.
Just as the atmosphere was about to grow awkward, Dan Mok Bi burst in eagerly.
“Sister! You’re learning the blade from Grandfather?”
His face was alive with envy. Dan Mok Hyun Woo’s expression, which had stiffened for a moment, softened at once.
“Once you memorize all the Thousand Character Classic, that’s when it will happen. Bi, if you memorize all your characters too, the Grand Ancestor will teach you the blade as well.”
“Yes! I’ll memorize them all!”
“That’s right. Once you do, I’ll give you all a reward. All three of you.”
Dan Mok Bi’s eyes sparkled at the mention of a reward.
Ryeon chewed over the fact that she’d heard something similar from Dan Mok Cheon Gi before this character study began, and nodded. Then she glanced sideways. When Hwa Ryun, whose expression had turned indifferent after he’d cut short his expression of joy at Dan Mok Hyun Woo’s words, met her eyes, he laughed quietly.

* * *

Cicadas shrieked so loudly it felt like they might rupture her eardrums.
Dan Mok Ryeon lay sprawled across the bamboo mat on her bed, panting against the heat as she worked through books stacked as high as a mountain, one by one.
‘If I’m going to erase every last one of these Hyeol Ra Gok bastards, I need to know something about them.’
She had died watching a future where Hyeol Ra Gok would flourish in just over a decade. There was no way she could let this slide.
Whether this was something she could accomplish alone remained uncertain, but neither could she simply sit idle.
So she’d made a study of characters her excuse to haul every relevant volume from the library shelves—
‘Hyeol Ra Gok’s Blood Art. Destructive. Cruel. Their signature: wounds like something has been clawed out. As for the Heart Method involved, no one has discovered anything yet…….’
Humans accumulate Inner Power over sixty years through the basic Expel Old Receive New Technique—the dantian breathing that exhales stale energy and inhales fresh—

which is called One Jiapza. A good Heart Method allows one to build it faster, but decades of time cannot be compressed into a year or two.
The same goes for any Spirit Elixir consumed. To absorb the Spirit Energy of an ingested elixir into one’s Inner Power requires both a proper Heart Method and sufficient Energy Circulation Regulation for a certain length of time.
But the warriors of Hyeol Ra Gok had none of that.
From the way they wielded their swords, they looked to have trained for perhaps a year or two at most, yet warriors with Inner Power exceeding One Jiapza streamed forth endlessly, thrashing about in madness.
That their martial arts were wicked—any person with even modest perception could sense that. But how exactly it was wicked, how to break it… that was unknowable.
The valley masters of Hyeol Ra Gok had changed several times over, and three entire factions of the Mu Rim Maeng had hurled themselves at the group to investigate thoroughly.
Even the Heuk Cheon Ryeon, who cared little for methods society frowned upon, had dug through them with eyes blazing—and still nothing had been uncovered.
‘Could there really exist a Heart Method that builds Inner Power so rapidly?’
There had been discussion that perhaps they’d been fed massive quantities of Spirit Elixirs, but that theory had been refuted.
Je Gal Se Ga’s calculations settled it: if they’d had that much financial backing, they could have dominated the Martial World with gold rather than force.
‘Regardless of the method, given the nature of their Inner Power, it won’t be long before madness takes root in them…… and that madness can only be soothed by drinking fresh human blood.’
Dan Mok Ryeon turned the pages slowly. Thanks to her Mind’s Eye, even a single glance let the words settle clearly in her mind.
‘The abnormal vitality of those who practice Blood Art. Even with their hearts pierced, they can move for half a quarter-hour. Moreover, the valley master of Hyeol Ra Gok is suspected to possess several treasures of the Martial World? Treasures? What could those be?’
She turned over in her mind what she knew of ‘treasures,’ then shut the book, exhausted by the heat.
Hyeol Ra Gok was important, true enough—but wasn’t that something for after she survived?
Just then, the door to her chambers opened quietly.
“Hm? Hwa Ryun?”
“So you really are sprawled out because of the heat?”
Hwa Ryun stood in the doorway with a rather smug expression. Dan Mok Ryeon propped herself up with a dour look.
Her chamber was the coolest place in the compound, yet whenever she stepped outside for even a short while, the heat would catch her and leave her breathless.
The steward, Old Jang, had sighed sympathetically, noting this weakness to summer heat was an old trait of the women in her family line.
“Just wait for winter.”
In summer she became like mushy rice paste, but come winter she’d be perfectly vigorous again—another family trait.
When Hwa Ryun saw her huffing indignantly, he merely raised an eyebrow and began scanning through the books she’d scattered about.
“What…… Hyeol Ra Gok?”
Dan Mok Ryeon felt an unaccountable flush of guilt and quickly began gathering the books together as she spoke.
“Have you ever seen Hyeol Ra Gok?”
The Dong Jeong Blood Incident, where they’d clashed with Hyeol Ra Gok, had been a tremendous affair—but that was twenty years ago.

When ten years see mountains change, two such cycles had certainly passed. These days, Hyeol Ra Gok was merely occasional slang replacing a curse from the elderly.
Typically some weathered old man would stumble into a cup of wine and shout, ‘That blood-sucking scum!’ and a brawl would break out.
“…… I’ve never seen them, but I’ve heard. Blood-drinking maniacs.”
“I see.”
“Why does sister know about them?”
“Well… well, our house is one of the pillars of the Martial World, and as the eldest, I should know history.”
Hwa Ryun looked at her with a somewhat surprised expression.
“Besides, our grandfather and father both suffered because of them…….”
Dan Mok Hyun Sung had died during a martial duel with Geum Ga Jang, but the wounds he’d sustained in the Dong Jeong Blood Incident had been burning through his life even before that.
Without those injuries, Dan Mok Hyun Sung—called a genius for the ages—would never have been brought to death’s door in a duel with the rising Geum Ga Jang of Hang Zhou.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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