The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 141

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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 — Terminal Fortune — Episode 141

‘If I channel internal energy here, would it become a palm technique?’
The notion was cryptic, neither quite clear nor wholly obscure. Seeing that expression, Dan Mok Han So quickly added his thought.
“Most palm techniques emphasize the subtleties of the Inner Family Heavy Hand Technique

most deeply. Even the Wall Void Palm you mentioned attacks an opponent at a distance—or more precisely, their internal body. It is a profound cultivation of internal palm energy.”
“So I’m attacking the opponent using internal energy that has left my hand?”
“Precisely. A thin filament of internal energy connects the two, like gossamer thread.”
“Ah!”
Ryeon’s eyes gleamed. She shifted both hands in a subtle gesture—her left hand steadying, her right moving as though wielding a blade.
“Like this, and then if I just…… Snap!”
The way Ryeon called out “Snap!” sounded as light and playful as a child’s game, yet Dan Mok Han So, sitting directly across from her with her palm facing him, felt his heart drop into his stomach.
Her motion had seemed simple and slow, yet in the mere instant his gaze caught on her left hand and shoulder, her right palm opened.
For a master of Dan Mok Han So’s caliber to lose sight of even one hand’s movement, however briefly, should have been impossible.
‘If she had truly meant to strike—if there had been internal energy behind it—if she had actually deployed the Wall Void Palm in that instant……’
As his eyes fell, he saw his own chest. His heart lay there.
Dan Mok Han So replayed her movements in his mind once more.
Why had his attention been drawn away by that seemingly light motion of her left arm? Because that left hand had appeared as though about to attack.
The subtle contraction of muscle had taken the exact form of a martial artist executing a strike.
And so, without his knowing it, his attention snagged on that precise moment—and her right hand opened.
‘She has never studied palm techniques, never read any martial treatises……’
He had offered the explanation during a moment of free time precisely because he hoped she might grasp something of the Wave Army Palm’s fundamental principles on her own. But to actually achieve enlightenment into its basic nature in mere moments——
“Oh, I got so caught up in learning that I was rude…….”
As Dan Mok Han So sat motionless, his expression dazed, Ryeon quickly apologized.
She had, after all, just assumed an attacking posture toward a fellow clan member sitting in the same carriage. At her apology, Dan Mok Han So snapped from his reverie and hastily waved his hand.
“No, no, no—not at all. Could you perhaps show me that movement one more time……?”

* Dan Mok Han So’s Enlightenment +5 *
Current Fortune Value: 79 / 120 (5▲)

* Jung Yeong’s Learning +2 *
Current Fortune Value: 81 / 120 (2▲)

* Dan Mok Hyeon U’s Learning +2 *
Current Fortune Value: 83 / 120 (2▲)

Ryeon blinked in brief surprise, then broke into a smile.
“What I just did? I was only mimicking the feeling of using a short blade…… nothing more.”
“Excellent! Truly excellent!”
“Hmm, like… this way?”
“The movement of your left hand…….”
“It draws the opponent’s awareness momentarily toward that side, while simultaneously creating a small recoil that aids the deployment of the right hand. It’s a bit embarrassing to do sitting down, but that’s essentially it. If one were left-handed, it would simply be reversed?”
Ryeon switched her hands without difficulty and demonstrated the mirrored version.
“It feels a bit awkward though. I probably couldn’t use it in actual combat…… I’d need to practice.”
Though Ryeon looked sheepish, Dan Mok Han So sat with his mouth hanging open. Dan Mok Hyeon U, who had scarcely studied palm techniques, looked ready to tear his hair out.
‘It seems the Three Circles uncle

isn’t the problem here……’
His uncle was turning out to be inferior to his niece.
“I…….”
Dan Mok Han So lost his words and could only stare at Ryeon in a daze.
As numbers of Fortune Value blazed silently in the air before her, Ryeon startled and turned to look back at them.
Was there really someone gaining enlightenment just from watching this silly hand play?
‘I really should study palm techniques too, shouldn’t I?’
Now that I think about it, how wonderful it must be to attack an opponent without needing a weapon. It’s useful even when caught without a thing.
When the carriage arrived at the Dan Mok household, amidst the downpour, the nursemaid Mrs. Jang came out to greet Dan Mok Ryeon and Hwa Ryun.
“Oh my, I was so startled to hear you’d gone outside in this weather!”
Though she was merely a nursemaid, Mrs. Jang—who feared nothing when it came to Dan Mok Ryeon’s wellbeing—fixed a grave stare upon Dan Mok Han So and Dan Mok Hyeon U. The two men quickly bowed their heads.
Dan Mok Ryeon hastened to appease the nursemaid.
“It wasn’t their fault—I insisted on going. I wanted to see the West Lake in the rain…… We didn’t expect it to come down so hard on the way back.”
“Young miss, you may wish to go, but……”
Her gaze was stern: adults mustn’t simply agree and then take her out in such weather.
“I’m going to bathe! I want to bathe! Let’s bathe together, Hwa Ryun!”
While Dan Mok Ryeon quickly distracted the nursemaid, Dan Mok Han So, Jeong Yeong, and Dan Mok Hyeon U bolted away.

* * *

“Wow.”

— I don’t follow merchant affairs closely, but I’ve organized what I do know. Will that suffice?

Seok Ban An appeared startled by Dan Mok Ryeon’s request, but soon nodded. Within days, he’d produced an entire volume. Dan Mok Ryeon was now poring over it.
Meanwhile, Hwa Ryun performed a remarkable feat: balancing a tray with teacups and a kettle in one hand, closing the room’s door with the other, and using his foot to draw over a small stool to keep it from swinging in the wind—all before settling before her.
“What’s that book?”
“You know I asked uncle to look into Trading House affairs for me? He went to all this trouble for it.”
For someone claiming limited knowledge, the details inside were remarkably thorough.
Though he’d said he paid no attention to merchant matters, it seemed he’d been watching how those in that world conducted themselves.
“Are you going into the Trading House business, sister?”
“I’m still a child—what Trading House business would I do?”
Hwa Ryun nodded as though he understood.
“We have a Trading House at our clan that’s just a hollow shell. I thought I might try to revive it.”
“That’s what doing Trading House business means.”
“No, I mean—letting the other adults try reviving the Trading House instead.”
Dan Mok Ryeon mumbled sheepishly. As Hwa Ryun shook his head, the white cat Baek Ryeon sprang into her lap.
“I think I should bring Baek Ryeon along on this trip to the North Sea.”
“Mm.”
Ordinarily a cat wouldn’t move residences or take walks, but remembering how small and shrunken this particular cat had become during the time apart from Dan Mok Ryeon, she couldn’t bear to leave him behind.
Hwa Ryun gazed at Baek Ryeon for a moment, then asked quietly,
“The North Sea…… It’s really quite far. Do we absolutely have to go?”
“I can’t not visit grandmother just because it’s far.”
“Grandmother……”
Hwa Ryun murmured the word as though it were utterly foreign. Dan Mok Ryeon suddenly remembered that he had neither grandparents nor parents.
“It’s just—grandmother gave Spirit Pills to those people who helped me with my condition. I owe them a debt, so…… I should go and offer my thanks.”
“But you said family gives without limit. Why go all the way to the North Sea just to say thank you?”
“Giving is one thing, and gratitude is another. It’s not a trifling sum—she gave it all for my sake.”
“It’s just some Spirit Pill—”
Hwa Ryun began to speak, then suddenly turned his head away.
“What?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking it’ll be winter by the time we return.”
As he spoke, he gazed slowly at the courtyard visible through the window. Dan Mok Ryeon ruffled the back of his head and laughed loudly.
“When we get back, let’s carve something out of snow. Should I make you a rabbit?”
“It doesn’t even snow here.”
“It might, though……”
“Then make me a duck instead.”
“……”
“A baby duck would be nice.”
As Dan Mok Ryeon pressed her lips shut, Hwa Ryun broke into laughter and reached toward Baek Ryeon.
Baek Ryeon leapt into his lap.
“Baek Ryeon, ask your sister to make you a snow duck.”
Meow.~
Baek Ryeon lifted his chin proudly and mewed. In the end, Dan Mok Ryeon laughed along with him.

* * *

“Isn’t it too early to expand the Trading House’s staff? Wouldn’t it be better to recruit after we return from the North Sea?”
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo posed the question. The schedule leading up to the North Sea journey was already rather tight.
“I’d like them to come with us to the North Sea.”
“What? Taking the Trading House staff with you?”
“We’ll need more escorts anyway, so why not hire and bring them along as we go? It would be good experience for the staff on a long journey like this. And since grandfather is coming too, it should be relatively safe.”
Unlike Yangzhou’s Namgoong Clan, which could be reached directly by the Canal, the North Sea lay beyond the borders. The experiences to be had there would be on an entirely different scale.
“Hmm. That does sound reasonable.”
“Doesn’t it?”
The two stood side by side, speaking in hushed tones, while watching Dan Mok Seong, who was receiving instruction from Dan Mok Han So at a short distance away.
Dan Mok Seong’s eyes burned with focus as beads of sweat rolled down her face, and beside her, a single attendant stood nervously clutching a water bucket.
“Dan Mok Seong is a strict master, but a fair one. The attendant knows this well. You needn’t worry.”
“Ah, well.”
The incident that had occurred during the last recruitment of Branch Disciples had been no trivial matter, so Dan Mok Hyeon Yo remained vigilant about the attendant who had stayed on from that time.

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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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