The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 121

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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 Decline of a Great Clan: A Limited Lifespan — Chapter 121

While Dan Mok Ryeon and Hwa Ryun quietly bickered, Dan Mok Seong rolled up her sleeves as the representative of the Dan Mok Clan and approached Mo Yong Seol Ho.
“Mo Yong Seol Ho, what are you talking about?”
“Your cousin says you’re her friend—so why are you acting this way?”
“Our Ryeon is going to be a pillar of this clan’s future, so she can’t just befriend anyone.”
“So she can only be friends with those you approve of?”
“Of course, that’s not… I mean, it’s not quite like that…”
Dan Mok Seong glared at Mo Yong Seol Ho with an indignant expression, but he didn’t so much as blink.
“And am I lacking something to be Ryeon’s friend? I’m the one she gets along with best. Besides, I’m going to be the patriarch of the Mo Yong Clan.”
It was a remark that made the other children seem half-foolish, yet neither Nam Gung Seo Geon nor the children eavesdropping from a distance dared to refute him.
But Dan Mok Seong alone looked as though she’d won and spoke rapidly.
“True, you’re from the Mo Yong Clan. You live too far away.”
“What did you say?”
“A true friend should comfort each other in times of hardship, right here nearby, and exchange letters and gifts suited to each season—but the Mo Yong Clan is too distant. If you send a gift in spring, it won’t arrive until summer.”
“That’s… well…”
For the first time at a loss for words, Mo Yong Seol Ho stammered while Dan Mok Ryeon cut in.
“Never mind that. We should go find Seo Jin and Bi. You’re going to apologize to Seo Jin, right?”
With an expression that seemed to say ‘I trust you…’, she gazed at him intently, and Nam Gung Seo Geon flinched and averted his eyes. Dan Mok Ryeon huffed.
“You don’t even dislike your brother.”
“Of course I don’t. That was a mistake just now—I was startled…”
Nam Gung Seo Geon caught himself making excuses and fell silent.
“So, do you know where the younger ones went?”
Mo Yong Seol Ho, eager to find the children quickly, finish the matter, and explore what Professor O had said in today’s lesson with Dan Mok Ryeon, glanced around.
“When Seo Jin’s like this, there’s a place she always goes—the Cheon Hwa Hall, where we keep unused things…”
As Nam Gung Seo Geon pointed in one direction and took the lead, Mo Yong Seol Ho followed behind, muttering.
“Is this something that happens often—you chasing your brother away and making him cry?”
Catching the rebuke in Mo Yong Seol Ho’s voice, Nam Gung Seo Geon pressed his lips shut.
Just as everyone was about to follow, Hwa Ryun, who had been standing quietly watching, quietly attached herself to the group.
“Are you coming too? You could go rest instead—I’m just taking Bi with me.”
“Since when do servants go rest first?”
“You’re my younger sister, that’s why.”
Dan Mok Ryeon playfully twisted Hwa Ryun’s nose without hurting her. Though Hwa Ryun complained for show, she looked around once, then stayed beside Dan Mok Ryeon rather than heading back.
“Things feel a bit unsettled today.”
“Ah… you felt it too? Something’s gotten busier. People seem to be… is something happening…”
Suddenly, Dan Mok Ryeon recalled what Dan Mok Hyeon Yo had said before the lesson.
The adults had suddenly all gathered to discuss the clan’s defensive systems.
‘Defense means there’s something to protect. And if there’s something to protect, it means someone’s going to attack. But who? And why?’
Here, now, were gathered all the major pillars of the eastern clans in the Martial Arts World—one could think a single strike could yield great returns. Yet it also meant that those recognized as the martial backbone of the clans were assembled in one place.
So launching an attack now would be foolish thinking indeed.
‘Could it be Blood Coral Valley? But so soon?’
In her past life, Blood Coral Valley was the only force that had brought conflict to the Martial Arts World. Yet even they had been accumulating strength until, when she herself reached twenty, they had finally risen.
Wasn’t that why she and the children had been learning and growing together, watching ahead to ten years hence?
‘What’s changed…?’
A chill ran down her spine.
‘The Shadow of Blood cannot be avoided.’
Cheon Bi Palace had given her two pieces of counsel: one was to carry a Gemstone to manage her Spiritual Energy, the other was that ‘the Shadow of Blood cannot be avoided.’
Until now, Dan Mok Ryeon had vaguely thought of it as something ten years hence, but what if Cheon Bi Palace had been offering counsel about this journey instead?
What if it had been a warning of what was to happen now?
There were countless ways her present differed from her past life. The very fact that she was now awake and running about in health was different from before.
In her previous life, Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon had never opened—yet here it had. What had changed? And here she was entertaining such idle thoughts!
“Ryeon?”
Dan Mok Seong, walking a few paces ahead, stopped and turned back, and seeing Dan Mok Ryeon’s face had gone pale, quickly came to her.
“Ryeon, what’s wrong? Does something hurt?”
“Oh, no… it’s nothing. Nothing at all. Let’s hurry and find Bi and Seo Jin and bring them back.”
“Are you really sure? I can find the children just fine—you should go inside.”
“No…… Finding them together will be faster.”
The Nam Gung Family Residence suddenly felt far too vast.
Mo Yong Seol Ho, who had caught the low conversation between Dan Mok Ryeon and Dan Mok Seong, raised his head and scanned the surroundings. Yet he detected no sign of anyone nearby and tilted his head in confusion.
“Um…… So if we go this way, we should be able to… probably…….”
Nam Gung Seo Geon also pointed nervously toward one direction of the estate grounds.
Then several warriors rushed over urgently. One was Jeong Yeong, Dan Mok Ryeon’s guard, and the rest were Nam Gung Hye Min, the vice-commander of the Nam Gung Clan’s combat unit Moo Ae Dan, and his subordinates.
“Young Master, Miss.”
“Hm? Yeong, what’s the matter?”
As Jeong Yeong approached Dan Mok Ryeon and the Dan Mok Clan children, Nam Gung Hye Min stepped forward and spoke.
Though born to a collateral branch of the Nam Gung Clan, he possessed exceptional talent and spared no effort in his training, rising to the position of vice-commander of Moo Ae Dan while still young.
“We heard that today’s lesson has ended. The elders sent me to bring you inside at once.”
There was no reason to send all the way to the vice-commander of the combat unit just to tell children to go indoors.
Dan Mok Ryeon answered quickly.
“It’s just that Bi and Seo Jin are currently…… playing hide-and-seek, so we’re just going to find those two and be back.”
“However…….”
At the mention that two Young Masters had gone missing, Nam Gung Hye Min’s expression hardened.
“Then Yeong and I will go find the younger ones, so you all…….”
Dan Mok Ryeon was about to tell them to stay inside, but every child of the Dan Mok Clan present, as well as Geum Jong Ha, Paeng Ju Ran, and Ak So Hyeong, all bore expressions of stubborn refusal.
“I know where Seo Jin is.”
“I am a friend, so I cannot be absent from helping find a friend’s younger brother.”
Dan Mok Seong said nothing at all, her face merely declaring that coming along was the only natural course.
Hwa Ryun was the same. She simply stood quietly beside Dan Mok Ryeon, drawing no attention.
“……All right, all right. Then let’s all go find them quickly.”
They had no intention of hearing talk of staying behind. It seemed they would only waste time arguing and end up going along anyway, so Dan Mok Ryeon chose to save time and simply go together.

* * *

“But how do you know he’d be hiding in a place like this?”
After more than twenty minutes of threading through Nam Gung Clan buildings, Dan Mok Ryeon asked.
Nam Gung Seo Geon’s face flushed crimson as he clamped his mouth shut.
“Whenever your brother runs off crying, you always go find him?”
“Of course. I’m his older brother…….”
Even while resenting his brother for being more gifted than himself, when the boy cried, Nam Gung Seo Geon had no choice but to search for him.
He was about to blurt out that if he lacked talent and became “an older brother who doesn’t care for his brother,” no one would ever like him, but he caught Nam Gung Hye Min’s eye and closed his mouth instead.
In that moment, Mo Yong Seol Ho muttered under his breath.
“If he hadn’t cried in the first place, none of this would be necessary.”
“Don’t you have a younger brother?”
“I don’t. Whether my lacking a younger brother explains your actions, I couldn’t say.”
“…….”
“…….”
Nam Gung Seo Geon bit his lips hard and muttered.
“The northern lands must have strict discipline, seeing as no one’s dying or killing anyone.”
“Seo Geon, don’t say things in front of the children that you won’t own up to. If you’re going to speak, speak boldly.”
“It was merely saying that the Buddha and the Sage above surely watch over you with compassion.”
“The children are over there—both of you be quiet.”
At Dan Mok Seong’s words, both boys fell silent. True to her word, through a half-open doorway came the sound of Nam Gung Seo Jin and Dan Mok Bi huddled together, whispering.
“…… it’s just that you’re getting really strong.”
“Me?”
Nam Gung Seo Jin looked at Dan Mok Bi with reddened, tear-stained eyes. Dan Mok Bi whispered.
“Yes. That’s why you can knock your older brother down and tell him…….”
“Tell him what?”
“To play with you!”
“But I don’t want to hit my brother…….”
“Are you going to keep whining like this? You don’t like this, you don’t like that. How are you ever going to accomplish the Great Undertaking this way?”
Among those overhearing the children’s conversation, Dan Mok Ryeon’s face flushed without anyone noticing. The talk of accomplishing a “Great Undertaking” was one of her own habitual phrases. Lately, her Great Undertaking was raising Hwa Ryun.

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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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