The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 140

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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 House — A Limited Lifespan Promise — Episode 140

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Because Dan Mok Han So never asked what Dan Mok Hyeon U was carrying or what the purpose of this outing was, they were able to reach a secluded corner of West Lake in silence.
Since the lake was naturally beautiful, it was difficult to find a spot without pavilions, but the rain had at least thinned the crowds compared to usual.
Under the umbrella Hwa Ryun held for her, Dan Mok Ryeon pushed through the tall grasses along the shore, searching for the right place.
Even with only a light drizzle, the long grass and drooping branches made the view hazy as she walked along the lakeside.
“I think we may have picked the wrong day for this.”
“Tch.”
“But who said a rainy day was auspicious?”
Dan Mok Ryeon suddenly sensed a chill in Hwa Ryun’s voice. It wasn’t just the falling rain.
‘What is it? It feels like if anyone near her starts spouting superstitious nonsense, she’ll kill them.’
Just a feeling, perhaps?
Dan Mok Ryeon glanced back at Hwa Ryun, who was holding the umbrella, and awkwardly laughed while brushing wet strands of hair from her cheeks.
“Why? Are you struggling much? Do you want to wait here?”
“No, I’m just curious. I’m wondering when else I’ve met someone who says things like that.”
“Oh, I mean when we went to Cheon Bi Palace. There, at that place—”
Hwa Ryun’s face darkened at once. She looked ready to strike with lightning at the very suggestion of believing in something as fake as Cheon Bi Palace.
Before Hwa Ryun could say anything, Dan Mok Ryeon quickly cut in.
“Besides, I like the rain. I liked it so much I even wrote a poem about it, remember?”
Hwa Ryun narrowed her eyes, looking at Dan Mok Ryeon, and murmured the poem’s lines.
“…’A desolate rainy night, waiting for the rain to come.'”

A desolate rainy night, waiting for the rain to come.
In that instant, Dan Mok Ryeon’s face flushed deeply. Hearing someone else recite a poem she had written was more embarrassing than reciting it herself.
Dan Mok Ryeon quickly changed the subject.
“D-did you memorize all of that?”
“How could I not memorize something so short?”
“W-well, anyway, it’s raining, and I like it so much that I even waited for rain while it was raining.”
“That said—”
Hwa Ryun trailed off as she heard the poem referenced again by her own surname, and at that moment, a suitable patch of shore appeared ahead of them.
“Ah! That spot will do perfectly.”
Dan Mok Ryeon quickly changed the subject. The shallow water spreading out and gradually deepening as it extended was perfect for releasing Hong Rin.
Jeong Young and Dan Mok Han So stepped back to give the three of them space to complete their task.
“Hong Rin will be able to live even more happily in this vast lake from now on…”
Dan Mok Hyeon U gazed down at a carp filling the basin and murmured wistfully.
Dan Mok Ryeon felt an inexplicable unease at those words, but she was too preoccupied with reaching the shore before the rain stopped completely to dwell on it.
“Should I just turn the basin over like this? The fish won’t get hurt, will it? Or should I submerge the basin in the water? But the lake water seems cloudier than I expected…”
Because pavilions and tall structures lined the shore, the water didn’t feel as clear and pure as one might hope.
“This fish was raised on only the finest things in clear water. Will it really be able to survive here?”
While Dan Mok Hyeon U hesitated with worry, Dan Mok Ryeon quickly dipped her hand into the lake water and swirled it vigorously.
“No, no! Uncle, look at this! It’s clear, isn’t it?!”
“Hmm? Is it? It does… yes, it does seem to be. But when people change the water for fish, they mention something called Water Acclimation…”
Dan Mok Ryeon cupped the lake water in her hands and stirred it into the basin. Hong Rin moved with a joyful, lively energy. Since the basin was brimming full, it only scattered droplets in the rain.
Dan Mok Hyeon U smiled at that light spray of water.
“Such a spirited thing. That’s thanks to how well you’ve cared for it, Dan Mok Ryeon. It must grow well and repay your kindness, yes? Do you understand?”
In that moment, Dan Mok Ryeon winced slightly.
“No, no need for anything like that. Just go far away and live healthily… don’t get caught by anyone… don’t bother the other fish either…”
This was something she added, remembering how Heuk Wol had killed all the chickens in the surrounding area before leaving.
“Go well, Hong Rin. I’ll miss you.”
Dan Mok Ryeon put her hand into the basin and shook it gently. Hong Rin’s gleaming dorsal fin brushed past her fingers with a whisper.
Not long after Dan Mok Hyeon U slowly pushed the basin into the lake water, Hong Rin leaped into the water.
In that moment, something glimmering flew up and struck Dan Mok Ryeon’s eye.
“Oh!”
“What’s wrong? Are you all right? Don’t rub your eyes.”
As Dan Mok Ryeon reached up to rub her eyes with the back of her hand, Hwa Ryun quickly caught her wrist and pulled it down.
Dan Mok Ryeon squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them. Hwa Ryun leaned in close and examined her pupils carefully.
“I don’t see anything. Does it still hurt?”
“It feels all right now. Just before it stung terribly—something scaly must have grazed it.”
“I see. Now it just looks like it’s gleaming…”
Hwa Ryun was about to say something when she stopped abruptly, released the hand she’d been holding, and changed the subject.
“Didn’t something similar happen before?”
Speaking in a deliberately lowered voice, Hwa Ryun drew Dan Mok Ryeon into hushed conversation.
“Before?”
“When Heuk Wol left, there was a feather as well…”
“…!”
Dan Mok Ryeon’s eyes widened and she rubbed her eyes again.
“I told you not to rub them.”
“Hmm. You didn’t get anything in yours? Are you all right?”
“I felt a little sting too, but it’s fine now.”
Dan Mok Hyeon U watched with pleasure as Dan Mok Ryeon and Hwa Ryun huddled together, chattering away, but then he felt the drizzle suddenly turn into a downpour and hurried to gather the children.
Far out on West Lake, he glimpsed a large form thrashing about, sending up sprays of water, though he couldn’t be certain it was Hong Rin.
Catching sight of the distant ripple, Dan Mok Ryeon suddenly pressed her forehead with alarm.
“What’s wrong? Does your head hurt?”
“What if Hong Rin isn’t just staying in West Lake?”
“She’d probably go somewhere else?”
“What if she takes the Canal upriver to the Yellow River?”
“She could. She’s already entered the Kangho before us.”
“That’s not the point. Up the Yellow River there’s the Dragon Gate

—if she becomes a dragon, what then?”
The Dragon Gate truly exists in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. The current runs so fierce that not even boats can pass, and it’s said that fish cannot swim against the rapids—but if one does manage to ascend, one becomes a dragon. Thus it is called the Dragon Gate.
“…!”
Hwa Ryun flinched and spun around to look at West Lake, but Hong Rin was nowhere to be seen.
“If she becomes a dragon…surely becoming a dragon there would be good.”
“Good?”
“At least the Dragon Gate is far away.”
“Ah.”
“We created a dragon in Hang Zhou—I don’t think anyone would believe we sent it all the way there to ascend to heaven.”
“That’s…that makes sense. Then it’s all right?”
“And surely she doesn’t actually intend to become a dragon.”
“Of course not. So it should be…”
In that moment, Hwa Ryun’s expression turned stern.
“It won’t be all right. You mustn’t create anything else.”
“I didn’t mean to create her in the first place—”
“Leave her be, even if she is pitiful. Don’t grow attached to her.”
“I never grew attached.”
“You even gave her a name.”
“Uncle gave her that name.”
“Because Sister wanted to call her Red. Don’t pick up strays, don’t name them, don’t feed them.”
Hwa Ryun spoke with her eyes narrowed to triangles. Dan Mok Ryeon merely pouted her lips and gazed toward the far end of West Lake.
She’d mentioned the Dragon Gate as a possibility, but surely such a thing wouldn’t actually happen?

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In the carriage cutting through the downpour, Dan Mok Ryeon kept rubbing her eyes, trying to peer out through the window.
“I don’t see anything different, though.”
At her words, Hwa Ryun shrugged.
“Last time a feather fell into your hand, but you didn’t shoot out a palm wind either.”
“True enough…”
That time it hadn’t released a palm wind, yet it had protected her from the flames.
Dan Mok Ryeon, wondering aloud whether this too might have some different effect, looked down at her own palm.
“Now that I think about it, how does palm wind work anyway?”
“Palm Strike at Distance

or Splitting Sky Palm

—something like that?”
Among the various techniques of palm arts, the Palm Strike at Distance and Splitting Sky Palm were methods of unleashing palm force from a great distance—both realms that one could scarcely dream of reaching without considerable internal energy.
“I’ve never learned palm techniques, so I wouldn’t know.”
Ryeon rotated her hand in a circle, then stretched it forward with a quick gesture, tilting her head slightly before breaking into a sheepish smile.
At that moment, Dan Mok Han So, who had been sitting in the corner of the carriage—when the downpour began, Jeong Young had taken over driving the horses—perked up and leaned closer.
“Miss, are you interested in studying palm techniques?”
“Oh, no. This is a carriage, and I haven’t really thought about taking up palm techniques.”
“Our clan has focused so heavily on the sword that our training in fist and palm arts is somewhat lacking. You may have seen the martial manuals in our library, but there is a palm technique called the Army-Breaking Palm

that we practice. You move your hands thinking of them as short swords, coordinated with the Infinite Footwork, and once you reach the proper level, you can deploy the Palm Strike at Distance as if throwing a short blade.”
“Hands as short swords?”
Ryeon thought of the Falling Star Twelve Swords and experimentally moved her hands with quiet grace.

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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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