The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 11

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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 Fallen Great Family’s Time-Limited Covenant — Episode 11

“In any case, we should look into it. They said it might not have been completely eradicated.”
“So they’re enemies of our family too?”
“There’s probably not a single place in the Murim where these people haven’t made enemies. Anyway, you see, one must know history to prepare for the future. So you need to study hard too, Hwa Ryun.”
At her words, Hwa Ryun made a face of distaste and shook his head, but he didn’t flee the room.
Instead, he unwrapped the cloth that had been covering the bowl he’d brought. At the same moment, Ryeon sprang up from her seat.
“Oh! Ice!”
Hwa Ryun rummaged through Ryeon’s drawer with practiced ease, found a fan, and began fanning the ice before her.
As the cold breeze from the ice brushed against her cheek, Ryeon’s expression melted like snow.
“Ahhhh… Where did you find ice?”
“I helped with some work outside and got it in exchange.”
“Helped with what? Where exactly did you get this ice?”
“Master Ju at the Fabric Shop had bought ice because his son was sick. I told him I’d find medicinal herbs to cure him quickly in exchange for the ice.”
Ryeon’s eyes widened. As Hwa Ryun spoke, he continued fanning half-heartedly, but his gaze never left her face, carefully watching her complexion.
“You found medicinal herbs? How?”
“There was a child I used to roll around with in the Slums with the same symptoms. He suddenly wasted away, became terribly pale, nothing we fed him helped, and I thought he was going to die. A wandering sage passed by gathering Black Stone Grass from the mountains and said to feed it to him, so I did that and he recovered.”
“I see…”
Ryeon noticed that the cuff of Hwa Ryun’s sleeve was stained with a pale yellow and soaked through. It looked as though dirt had been caked on and then washed away.
Looking closely, small cuts were visible between his fingers. As if he’d dug through soil and stone with his bare hands.
“Is the ice not cooling you enough?”
“No, no, it’s wonderful! Wonderfully cool. Feels great. But, more importantly. Um. Hwa Ryun, are you really not going to learn Martial Arts?”
“Here, all of a sudden?”
Hwa Ryun stopped fanning and looked at her. Ryeon nodded quickly.
“I haven’t even memorized all the characters yet. You said I need to learn all the characters before I can learn anything else, didn’t you?”
Ryeon snatched the fan from his hands and turned it toward him, muttering complaints while deliberately sending her inner energy flowing gently.
“Don’t lie. You’ve already memorized them all.”
But despite her words, the boy just pouted his lips and shrugged. ‘No, I still don’t know.’ That’s what it meant.
Ryeon considered pressing the boy further but gave up.
Even if he had no interest in Martial Arts now, watching him learn by her side might spark his curiosity.
Especially since he was around the same age as Dan Mok Bi—seeing what that child could do might change his mind.
‘And at this age, what you want comes and goes anyway.’
Once he felt that he had talent, he might find it fun. If he still didn’t show interest, then…
‘It would be a shame, but it might actually be for the best.’
If he truly didn’t develop interest, then the Hwa Ryun she’d seen in her Future Sight was someone who’d forced himself to do something he hated that much.
Being able to avoid such a detestable path this time would be a blessing in itself.
“But then, sister, what do you plan to do after learning Martial Arts? Become Number One Under Heaven?”
Hwa Ryun snatched the fan back and turned it toward Ryeon as he asked.
A member of a Great Family household of the Murim, Hwa Ryun was so reluctant to learn Martial Arts that Ryeon had been privately pondering what she should teach him to benefit his future. Now her eyes widened.
Hwa Ryun blinked expectantly, waiting for her answer. Ryeon shook her head.
“No.”
“No?”
“Whether I want to become Number One Under Heaven doesn’t make it happen by wanting.”
“Why not? You just need to become the strongest among all the Murim practitioners.”
“Well… I mean, technically yes…”
Was this truly the measure of a former Lord of the Macho Sect?
Ryeon’s eyes widened in surprise, then slowly softened as she laughed, the way one might calm a child.
“Things don’t work out simply because you will them to.”
“Then what’s the point of learning Martial Arts? To create a Number One family?”
“…Why do you like Number One Under Heaven so much?”
Hwa Ryun blinked his large eyes and gazed at her steadily.
His face held the unspoken assertion that nothing else mattered unless it was Number One Under Heaven.
‘Is this the moment? When character education becomes important?’
Ryeon clenched her fists and opened her mouth carefully.
“Hwa Ryun, of course it’s wonderful to work hard and grow stronger, but you don’t need to be Number One Under Heaven for that. I just need us to be able to live together happily for a long time, all of us together.”
“But what if someone steals it from you?”
“That’s why I’ll work hard to become strong enough to protect what’s around me. Just that.”
“What if the Number One Under Heaven tries to take it?”
What kind of child was she? Watching her compete over who was stronger—so perfectly fitting for her age—Ryun broke into a gentle smile and softly stroked Hwa Ryun’s cheek.
“Then I’ll ask my friends for help.”
“Sister doesn’t have any friends.”
“……ah…… Why would I have none?”
“I’ve never seen you with any.”
“I’ll have them in the future. And you’re here, aren’t you? My friend.”
Hwa Ryun’s expression was difficult to read—half amused, half sullen, utterly inscrutable.
“But didn’t you say we were like brother and sister?”
“Well…… yes, that’s right. Because we’re like family, we should help each other more…… shouldn’t we?”
“I don’t even know Martial Arts.”
“Whether you know Martial Arts or not doesn’t matter.”
“I don’t know Martial Arts, so how can I possibly help you?”
“Just by being beside me, Ryun—that’s helping me! It gives me strength.”
“But I’m telling you, I never learned Martial Arts!”
“That’s exactly why I’m saying it doesn’t matter.”
Just you living, just you being here with me—that’s enough to give me strength. Ryun spoke each word carefully, distinctly.
Yet watching her, Hwa Ryun’s eyes grew dim. There was something achingly tender in his gaze.
Like watching an innocent child draw the moon from a pond, the way one might witness faith in the Moon Goddess—that very image.
“Ryun, are you…?”
“…Sigh.”
“Why! Why do you have that expression?”
“It’s nothing.”
Hwa Ryun shook his head slowly. The gesture was strangely mature.

* * *

Time passed—the cicadas’ songs faded, leaves fell, and the sweet fragrance of osmanthus blossomed abundantly around Ryun’s quarters—until one morning, after much deliberation, she rose from her bed.
The sun had barely begun to climb, and the household was wrapped in silence.
She opened the door softly, and found no one about. The nursemaid was likely busy preparing breakfast.
Only Jung Young, the warrior who guarded Ryun’s quarters, looked up in mild surprise. Ryun placed a finger to her lips and made a hushing sound.
“Young Miss…… Where are you going? The nursemaid hasn’t even arrived yet.”
The flustered warrior Jung Young, looking down at her, quickly removed his vest and offered it to her.
It wasn’t a fine garment, but with no way to fetch her outer robes without entering her chambers—and equally no way to stop her—he did what he could.
Ryun adjusted the vest, which hung nearly to her ankles. She didn’t feel the cold much, so it wasn’t truly necessary, but she didn’t refuse the gesture; instead, she extended her hand to him. Jung Young’s expression turned uncertain.
“Pardon?”
“Your hand.”
“Ah! Yes!”
“I want to go to Jae Gyeong Pavilion.”
“Um, right now, to Jae Gyeong Pavilion, you say?”
Ryun nodded and, with Jung Young’s hand clasped in hers, gently swung their linked arms as she led the way forward.
Jung Young hesitated, glancing back at the quarters, but ultimately took her hand and followed.
Though Jung Young fumbled with how to treat a child, Ryun didn’t think him clumsy at all.
The glowing characters that shimmered across the silk of his sleeve proved it.

Name: Jung Young
Traits: Sincere / Tenacious / Unwavering / Grit
Falling Star Twelve Swords: 5-Star
Limitless Steps: 3-Star
Falling Star True Formation: 3-Star
Aptitude and Star Rating: High-Medium
Concern: Why Dan Mok Ryun woke at dawn
Guidance: Trust in grit and tenacity. They sometimes surpass inborn talent.

His hand bore calluses, and even at this early hour his eyes shone clear.
Glancing down, she could see he was training his Stepping Technique even as they walked slowly forward. He was one who never neglected his cultivation.
‘Why is someone like this guarding my quarters?’
Shouldn’t a person of his caliber be training for a position among the Falling Star Eighteen Experts—the very elite of the Dan Mok Family’s shock troops?
‘Surely I haven’t been outmaneuvered in family politics…… No, that can’t be it.’
The Dan Mok Family’s circumstances were too dire for internal power struggles to take root.
‘Is there something I can do to help?’
Jung Young quietly activated his Mind’s Eye. Fragments glimmering like starlight bloomed across his vision.
And in that same moment, he grasped what he’d glimpsed the day he first met Hwa Ryun.
Mind’s Eye at four stars reveals flaws; Harmony at four stars can shatter discord — and when woven together, they align into something more.
‘So I can see the weakness, and the way to mend it reveals itself before my eyes.’
In Hwa Ryun’s Stepping Technique, he could trace the trajectory of the flaw that had slowed his progress, watching his footfalls map its pattern.
And with that clarity came the knowledge of how to correct it.

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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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