The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 13

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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 Declining Clan’s Limited-Time Living Elixir — Episode 13

One can see the tide rising when watching the waves, but trying to hold back the sea itself—that’s an entirely different matter. Ryuna’s predicament was exactly that.
She’d learned the identity of the warrior guarding her quarters: Jeong Yeong, a man destined to claim one of the seats among the Youseong Eighteen Venerables, the elite of the clan. For now, he was simply filling the gaps where bodies were needed, pressed into service by the shortage of hands.
“Money? Is it money?”
So it came down to money after all?
Ryuna admitted to herself that she’d been naive.
She was a Living Elixir, and Danmok Bi had the makings of someone destined for greatness—she’d thought restoring the clan’s fortune wouldn’t be difficult at all.
The Danmok Clan was in decline because of Grand Patriarch Danmok Cheongi’s incurable injury and the death of Minor Patriarch Danmok Hyeonseong. This should have been solved naturally once Danmok Bi made her name in the Martial Arts World.
Surely a clan or sect blessed with a healthy, young, living paragon destined for greatness would not fail to prosper.
Yet looking at the state of the clan now, it seemed unlikely to hold on until Danmok Bi came of age.
‘That’s right. In the future I saw… they didn’t hold on either. Even accounting for how expensive I was to maintain.’
Danmok Bi had done her best to care for her sickly older sister and hid the hardships inside and outside the household, but now, looking back…
Ryuna strained to grasp the hazy memories, then felt the strength drain from her body. There was no point dwelling on what the past had been.
She sprang to her feet.
“I have to… I have to earn money.”
There was a reason other clans ranked above the Danmok Clan now, even without masters who’d reached Danmok Cheongi’s level.
Masters who weren’t quite at Danmok Cheongi’s caliber but were in good health, uninjured, skilled to a respectable standard—and money!
They had money!
That was what the Danmok Clan needed now: money.
With money, you could take disciples, nurture them, build the clan’s power—couldn’t you?
Ryuna let out a dejected sigh. With her small frame, she had no idea how she could possibly earn money.

* * *

Every martial clan operates a medicinal hall of its own.
Since these were groups engaged in arduous training and sparring every day, the demand for medicine was naturally enormous.
That’s why medicines like Wound Medicine—even those—were valued more highly when made by martial clans and sects rather than by prestigious Medical Pavilions. After all, they were verified through tens of millions of clinical trials.
The Danmok Clan had its own medicinal hall as well—separated from the Medical Pavilion decades ago, when the clan began to decline.
Though even its master, Danmok Hyeonwoo, had abandoned everything not long ago to pursue Closed-door Cultivation alone, leaving the hall in disarray.
“Why are you dressed so lightly!”
Danmok Hyeonwoo had been examining the medicinal hall since before dawn, touring the herb storage room—driven by guilt at having neglected it for so long.
When he stepped out to greet a visitor, he found his small niece waiting for him in a thin undershirt with nothing but a fur vest thrown over it, her nose reddened by the cold wind. The guard beside her looked utterly at a loss—the vest, it seemed, was his.
The guard’s helpless expression made it clear the vest belonged to him.
Danmok Hyeonwoo was startled and immediately shrugged off his Wind-Blocking Robe, wrapping Ryuna up in it and lifting her into his arms.
“Going out dressed like this in the early morning—if you catch a cold, what then! And if I hadn’t been here…!”
“Achoo!”
Before he could finish, Ryuna sneezed, and Danmok Hyeonwoo abandoned his lecture, hurrying inside instead.
The herb storage room wasn’t warm, but it was better than outside.
“What brings you here at this hour? Is something wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”
Danmok Hyeonwoo spoke with a note of concern. Ryuna shook her head and answered.
“The sneeze was from the vest’s fur. I came because I’ve memorized all of the Thousand Character Classic. You said you’d give me a reward when I finished, Uncle.”
“Even so, couldn’t you have come during your lesson later today?”
“I was worried Bia and Hwaryun might feel left out if only I received a reward.”
Danmok Hyeonwoo blinked for a moment at her words, then nodded in understanding. He carefully wrapped the Wind-Blocking Robe to cover down to her forehead before heading toward his quarters.
He had a servant bring charcoal and ordered a strong fire lit in the brazier. Then, with an uneasy expression, he shut all the open windows, accepted a hand warmer

that a perceptive servant brought, tucked it into Ryuna’s hands, and finally sat across from her.
“A promise is a promise—let me test whether you’ve truly memorized all thousand characters.”
He quietly moved his brush, randomly selecting several passages from the Thousand Character Classic and sliding them toward Ryuna. She calmly read each one he presented.
“Fruits prized for their sweetness include the plum and the pear; among vegetables, mustard greens and ginger are most valued. When you recognize a fault, you must certainly correct it; once you’ve learned something, you must never forget it. When lies spread and the truth grows distant,

Do not speak of others’ faults, nor rely upon your own virtues.
”
“…….”
Danmok Hyeonwoo stared back and forth between his niece and the characters she had written, his expression bright with astonishment. Since she had written them at random, it seemed she truly had memorized the entire Thousand Character Classic.
He wrote out a few more passages just to be certain, but his niece recited them again without the slightest hesitation, each character crisp and clear.
“Ah…… already, remarkable…… truly remarkable. Extraordinary. Most impressive. Yes, what is your heart’s desire? I shall grant you anything.”
What could he possibly refuse a niece who had awakened less than a year ago? All the more so when her brilliance was such a source of joy to him.
Ryuna looked up at him and smiled softly.
“I’d like to try making something at the medicinal hall.”
“What? At the medicinal hall?”
“Yes!”

* * *

She’d used the excuse that she didn’t want the other children to feel left out, but Ryuna didn’t believe her own words.
If she’d told her sister, Danmok Bi would surely have been delighted to hear that she’d already memorized the entire text and earned their uncle’s praise, and as for Hwaryun…….
‘She clearly doesn’t care about this sort of thing at all.’
What on earth was her problem?
Ryuna groaned inwardly and pushed the thought away. So the reason she’d rushed to Danmok Hyeonwoo at dawn to tell him she’d memorized the Thousand Character Classic was so she could slip away at an hour when no one else was awake and examine the materials stored in the medicinal hall.
Danmok Hyeonwoo, standing behind her, looked bewildered and puzzled in equal measure, though he indulged her wish.
‘I need to make money. Right now.’
But how could she earn it?
The simplest method was to make something here and sell it. The market was already assured.
This was Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou.
As the old saying goes:
Above in heaven lies Paradise; below on earth lie Suzhou and Hangzhou.
A beautiful and prosperous city, they said—where even the heavens could not compete. There were many people here. Hangzhou was so wealthy that there was a saying against boasting of one’s riches.
A city full of the wealthy meant there would be merchants aplenty to appreciate fine goods.
Many wealthy people also meant many potential buyers when quality goods appeared.
So what should she sell?
Ryuna racked her brain until it ached. It should be something small, at least. That would make distribution easier.
It should be easy to make as well. Simple production meant lower labor costs.
The raw materials ought to be readily available. And yet the performance and efficacy had to be superior…….
Then a thought struck her like lightning—her own strength.
It didn’t need to be medicine miraculous enough to astound a divine immortal. It only needed to be somewhat more effective than what was ordinarily sold on the market.
Rather than true medicine, she thought it better to focus on something common folk used frequently—and her first thought was platycodon syrup.
Platycodon, also called White Medicine,
could be sold under the name White Medicine Syrup, couldn’t it?
She herself had no talent for cooking whatsoever, but who would complain if medicine tasted bad?
Besides, everyone in the Danmok Clan preferred wearing white—the name would suit perfectly.
But when Ryuna entered the medicinal stores following Danmok Hyeonwoo, she found herself forced to abandon her plan.
“Ah…….”
She deliberately activated her Divine Eye and swept through the herb storage, and information bloomed clearly before her among the organized medicinal materials.
Names and grades appeared together—bright blue, the sign of highest quality, was vanishingly rare. Most were average or below, and platycodon in particular glowed red. Inferior Grade.

“Uncle, where do these medicinal materials come from?”
“We receive medicinal herbs from the Hoseon Medical Pavilion. That was the arrangement when the clan separated the medical operations.”
‘The Hoseon Medical Pavilion? Is that where the problem lies? Or is it that the clan can’t move its own inventory?’
Either way, making anything with such dried-out platycodon would be worse than not making it at all. A shadow crossed Ryuna’s face, and Danmok Hyeonwoo looked at a loss.
“P-perhaps next time we could visit a medicinal herb shop outside the clan?”
“Is that allowed?”
If it was a supplier problem, she’d simply have to change their source. That was Ryuna’s immediate thought when her eyes fell upon a shelf holding several small sealed jars.
“What’s that……?”
“Essential Oil? Would you like to see it? Shall I show you?”
The moment Danmok Hyeonwoo sensed that Ryuna’s interest had shifted away from the dried platycodon, he quickly retrieved one of the jars.

Ryuna’s eyes had moved to something other than the shriveled platycodon, and Danmok Hyeonwoo hastily brought out one of the jars.

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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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