The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 126

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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 Antidote, Chapter 126

Dan Mok Hyeon Yo’s eyes had grown hollow, her cheeks hollowed further in just these few days, her jawline sharpened to a knife’s edge.
While Dan Mok Hyeon U and Dan Mok Cheon Gi watched in silence, Dan Mok Hyeon Yo seized Ryeon’s cheeks between her palms and turned her face this way and that, speaking rapidly.
“Does anything hurt? You’re not hearing things, or running a fever? Can you hear me clearly?”
Without waiting for Ryeon to answer, she turned on the physician and pressed him urgently.
“There’s nothing wrong, is there? The child barely speaks — isn’t her throat damaged? From what I’ve heard, after a fire, the throat and lungs are always injured…”
“No, no! Aunt, I’m all right.”
“My dear……”
She said she was fine, but her voice came out hoarse and thin from having lain abed for days before speaking at all.
Dan Mok Bi heard the unfamiliar timbre of her sister’s voice and burst into tears, squeezing between Dan Mok Hyeon Yo and Ryeon to nestle whimpering against her.
Ryeon gathered her younger sister close and managed a faint smile. The physician, too, spoke through a sheen of sweat.
“Yes… yes, indeed. Heaven and earth have surely watched over her. The young lady is in good health — she has simply been lying abed these past days, so we ought to begin with light walking, and then…”
“How can she possibly be in good health if she’s done nothing but lie in bed all this time?”
The physician, meeting a look that said ‘Is this charlatan a fraud?’, chuckled as if such skeptical guardians were nothing new.
“Aunt, truly! Don’t you think the Dharma Washing Ceremony might have done real good?”
“Is that so…? You really are truly all right?”
“Yes, yes. I think I could even run right now.”
“The physician said to walk, not run. Absolutely no running — do you understand?”
“Yes, understood.”
When the physician seized the chance to reiterate a few more precautions, Dan Mok Hyeon Yo repeated them back as if committing them to memory.
“…I’m sorry to have caused you such worry.”
“Worry? Why would I worry? I was only thinking that if anything happened to you, I’d have no face to show your mother.”
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo rose abruptly from her seat as she spoke.
But her intention to stride from the room did not come to pass. Dizziness overtook her, and though she stumbled and stubbornly tried to press onward, she failed and sank down halfway to the floor.
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo insisted stubbornly that she was fine, but the moment she reached her quarters she drank down the medicinal brew and fell into what might as well have been unconsciousness.
While her elder sister lay collapsed, Dan Mok Bi, who had sobbed through every moment, vowed never to leave Ryeon’s side again and barely managed to drift off, huddled at the edge of the sickbed. Only when Dan Mok Cheon Gi and Dan Mok Hyeon U remained did the room finally fall quiet.
Ryeon heard the patter of drops falling to the floor and lifted her head, then exhaled a sigh.
“Uncle…”
Dan Mok Hyeon U simply stood there, weeping. His tears traced down his jaw and fell to the ground.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi did not scold his son, but silently drew a hand down his back once.
Dan Mok Hyeon U wiped his tears as if he had not been crying at all and took a seat by Ryeon’s sickbed, yet his tears would not stop flowing.
“That’s enough now.”
At last Dan Mok Cheon Gi spoke, and Dan Mok Hyeon U shook his head while wiping his eyes with sleeves already soaked through.
“As if that were within my control.”
“Still, is this any reason for you to weep so in front of your niece, barely recovered?”
“Father doesn’t understand how I feel.”
“And do you understand how I feel? Hmph.”
After their bickering, Dan Mok Hyeon U finally managed to stem his tears a little and clasped Ryeon’s hand tightly.
“Do you know how many people have been beside themselves with worry?”
“Is it… did only I collapse?”
“That’s right! Everyone says they escaped that inferno because of you, but when you alone suddenly fell and wouldn’t wake, this uncle’s very heart was torn to shreds. If only I could show you how it’s been dripping away through my fingers like this…”
“What grotesque thing are you saying!”
“It’s less grotesque than Father’s face, surely.”
“Ha, you rascal!”
“Ryeon, your grandfather said he would only add another scar if it meant going into the flames to find you. Go scold your grandfather first.”
“Now, what do you mean by that!”
Dan Mok Cheon Gi opened his mouth to retort sharply, then pressed his lips shut.
He could not bring himself to speak the words aloud again: ‘Were you not trying to die?’
He sighed at how all his children seemed to think nothing of throwing their lives away, yet after hearing Nam Gung Hwan grumble, ‘They’re spitting images of you, aren’t they,’ he found himself reflecting first on his own failings.
“That’s enough. Stop your fussing in front of a child who’s only just recovered.”
“It’s Father who’s making the fuss…”
Dan Mok Hyeon U continued to answer back even as he sniffled, but when he caught sight of his father’s stern gaze, he finally fell silent.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi looked at his granddaughter, whose face had grown gaunt these past days but whose eyes gleamed now with life, like starlight, and barely suppressed a sigh of relief.
“Your grandmother will have quite a scolding for you when she sees you…”
“What? Are we going to visit Mother?”
Dan Mok Cheon Gi nearly burst out, ‘Can’t you act with even a shred of sense?’ — but then he belatedly remembered that for years now, he’d seen nothing but foolishness in his son, and a hollow laugh escaped him instead. How treacherous the human heart could be.
“Yes. We’ll visit her once Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon is over.”
“Really? Truly?”
“Yes. Though if your sister finds out……”
“She’ll be so happy she could faint!”
His hands shot up, his face radiant with laughter — streaked and ruined with tears.
Only after he’d finally composed himself did Dan Mok Cheon Gi speak.
“They were blood fiends from Blood Coral Valley.”
“I thought as much. Already……”
“They hadn’t fully recovered their strength — not by a long measure. Every last one was clumsy as a fawn. The fact that you could face them at all says everything.”
The children had poured out the entire account of what happened inside Cheon Hwa Hall the moment they’d recovered.
For children so young, what they’d witnessed there had clearly left a deep mark.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi had listened to the whole tale and prepared to scold Dan Mok Ryeon soundly when she came to — to demand why she’d done something so reckless.
But he himself had done the same, and Bing Xue Yan had done the same, and Dan Mok Hyeon Seong had done the same. How could he fault his granddaughter, born to such a father, having learned and seen only this?
“But why did Blood Coral Valley suddenly attack us like that? So foolishly……”
His granddaughter, oblivious to his anguish, merely tilted her head in bewilderment. Dan Mok Cheon Gi exhaled softly and spoke.
“They were searching for something. I hear the Nam Gung Family has crafted a new Spiritual Pill — they were after that, it seems.”
“A Spiritual Pill?”
Dan Mok Ryeon was startled that something so ordinary should be mentioned.
“The strange martial techniques of Blood Coral Valley rapidly trigger blood frenzy, and drinking blood eases the symptoms — but only temporarily.”
“Ah! If they consume a Spiritual Pill infused with mystical power, that frenzy would……”
Spiritual Pills fundamentally boost internal energy, so yes, they’d covet them — but Blood Coral Valley’s hunger exceeded all reason.
“You cannot imagine how many assaults Shaolin Temple has endured since the Dong Jeong Hyeol Sa affair.”
Shaolin’s Great Returning Pills and Small Returning Pills were renowned throughout the Kangho, so Blood Coral Valley had plainly lusted for them desperately.
Then something flickered through Dan Mok Ryeon’s mind.
“But are you certain they were after what the Nam Gung Family made? We have one too, don’t we? The one the Mo Yong Clan gave us……”
The Spiritual Pill the Mo Yong Clan had gifted was itself potent enough to enhance internal energy by decades in a single dose — precious enough for a smaller manor to treasure as an heirloom.
“At first I wondered the same. They swarmed toward the guest hall initially — but seeing the rest move toward Cheon Hwa Hall, I suspect they were after the Nam Gung Family’s internal pill instead.”
“But how does that make it the Nam Gung Family’s possession……”
The color drained slowly from Dan Mok Ryeon’s face.
“Don’t tell me the internal pill was…… stored…… in Cheon Hwa Hall……”
But the entire hall had burned to ash!
Seeing his granddaughter’s stricken expression, Dan Mok Cheon Gi was briefly taken aback, then let out a hollow laugh.
“Compared to what you’ve done, the loss of an internal pill to flames is hardly worth marveling at. Why are you so alarmed?”
“But it’s an internal pill worthy of Blood Coral Valley’s pursuit! That means it must contain such immense power……!”
Dan Mok Ryeon counted on her fingers, then realized she hadn’t heard exactly what kind of internal pill it was, and withdrew her hand back under the blanket.
“The internal pills were kept in a secret vault beneath Cheon Hwa Hall. All the ones they’ve made are safe — they even gave us one.”
“What?”
“We saved the Nam Gung Family’s heir from nearly perishing in those flames. A mere Spiritual Pill is a pittance beside that.”
“Oh.”
Dan Mok Ryeon’s eyes widened.
“They have that many Spiritual Pills?”
“Hmm?”
“Well, there were several people there — I just wondered if there were enough to share among them all……”
At his granddaughter’s hesitant words, Dan Mok Hyeon U finally smiled.
Though his eyes were still wet and reddened, his smile brought life back to his face.
“Why distribute it to everyone? You saved all those children, didn’t you? Many times over. So this is our gift of gratitude to you.”
“Even so, never again……”
The words ‘never do this again’ had risen all the way to Dan Mok Cheon Gi’s throat — but he could not bring himself to speak them aloud.

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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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