The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 164

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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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A Falling Clan’s Limited Lifespan — Episode 164

“How could I not know your heart?”
Bing Xue Yan brushed Ryeon’s cheek once, then laid her own hand over the two girls’ clasped hands—Dan Mok Seong’s and Ryeon’s. It was a scarred hand, gaunt and creased with age.
“That the two of you sisters get along so well fills this old woman’s heart with boundless joy. When your mother and uncle were young, how they squabbled and gave me such worry.”
Bing Xue Yan caressed both girls’ cheeks in turn with her other hand. Dan Mok Seong spoke with composure.
“Ryeon and I rely on each other like a single body, and we do not quarrel.”
“In all the world, is there anything more precious than siblings who do not fight? You understand the principle well, Seong. You are very wise.”
Bing Xue Yan smiled with satisfaction, then turned her head toward Bing Xue Han.
“I wonder if the Palace Master has cared for the children well enough……but now that I have awakened, it is a duty that cannot be neglected.”
Every group is exclusive toward outsiders, and Bing Xue Yan, who had lived away from the Ice Palace for so long, knew well how insular the Ice Palace itself had become. She was keenly aware that the people of Beijing held her in regard precisely because they viewed the Dan Mok Clan with such disfavor.
“Ha, Xue Yan. Listen to you! I’ve already piled up snacks like mountains for the children!”
At Bing Xue Han’s boastful words, Bing Xue Yan narrowed her eyes, then turned her gaze to her daughter and son.
“Hyeon Yo, Hyeon Woo. It is too cold here—take the children away and give them something warm and sweet to eat.”
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo began to demur, but remembering her husband Dan Mok Cheon Gi, who had remained silent behind them all this while, she nodded instead.
There would be things the two of them could only discuss when the children and grandchildren were absent—matters whose depth and sorrow could not be measured.
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo wrapped her arms around Ryeon and Seong.
“Children, bid your grandmother farewell, and let us go on ahead.”
“Yes, Mother. Grandmother, your grandchildren withdraw first.”
Dan Mok Seong bowed first, deliberately making her movements large so that Ryeon would know exactly how to do it.
Ryeon’s throat tightened at the sight of her sister’s care; she managed an awkward smile, then mirrored Dan Mok Seong’s motion and bowed.
“Grandmother, your grandchildren……withdraw first. We shall visit you again.”

* * *

As the children left, the Palace Master herself withdrew as well.
Bing Xue Yan turned her head slowly, thinking how the elegant space with its billowing white drapes seemed vast and desolate.
It was her husband’s face, which she had not seen in a very long time. A face scarred and marred.
“And here I thought Dok Seon was going to accomplish something remarkable—turned out to be nothing.”
At Bing Xue Yan’s abrupt remark, Dan Mok Cheon Gi touched his own face. Seeing this, Bing Xue Yan broke into a sly smile.
“Of course, since Dok Seon accomplished nothing, the man wasted all those years rotting away in Wol Yeong Jae like a ■■■. I don’t know what Dok Seon even is anymore. Drop the”
(Sage)
character from his name, and just call him Dok Foolsconce or something.”
“Taking liberties with another man’s epithet…… that seems rather inappropriate, does it not…….”
He found himself momentarily dumbfounded that this was their first conversation after such a long reunion, yet the fact that she was still the Bing Xue Yan he had known made his chest suddenly tight and his eyes sting.
But Bing Xue Yan flared up and cried out.
“Why did I marry you in the first place!”
“Why…….”
“I married you on the strength of one handsome face, and now look at the state of things! That ■■ Dok Seon promised me solemnly that I should trust only him, and this fool ■■…….”
“He, he did do his best, so do not be so angry…….”
“Are you on my side, or are you on the Sichuan Tang Sect’s side?”
Bing Xue Yan pointed an accusatory finger, then turned away and began to cough.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi started in alarm and moved toward her.
The coughing fit was not violent, but it persisted. Dan Mok Cheon Gi’s expression grew dark as ash.
Bing Xue Yan barely managed to stop coughing and looked back at Dan Mok Cheon Gi.
“Now that I think of it, I heard there were people who helped cure Ryeon, so I sent tokens of gratitude to be delivered—were those properly conveyed?”
“One was given to Yu Seong Do immediately upon our return to the clan after Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon concluded, and one went with my daughter-in-law when she took Bi A to Hwa San. That is why they could not come.”
“When a martial artist is young, each day drains the blood from one’s veins, so it is only right that they do so.”
Bing Xue Yan trailed off, her words trailing away. The thought that the old, too, have their blood drained away day by day before time rose to her throat and dispersed.
Instead, Bing Xue Yan looked at Dan Mok Cheon Gi and spoke of something else.
“Seong…….”
A deep shadow fell across Bing Xue Yan’s face. She was not speaking of Dan Mok Seong.
Her wrinkled face grew tense and drawn. It was the face of someone whose heart had been torn and crushed into a thousand, ten thousand pieces.
Bing Xue Yan had learned of her son’s fate not long ago.
Because Bing Xue Yan’s health had not been good until now, neither the Ice Palace nor the Dan Mok Clan had wished to inform her during her recovery.
Had it not been for her ailing granddaughter’s Funeral Rites Ceremony, Bing Xue Yan would never have known. That night, she had the Spirit Tablets prepared for those who had aided in her granddaughter’s ceremony, and wept without ceasing until dawn.
“Foolish creature……. And yet he couldn’t even see his own wife and children…….”
Even when hope lay beyond reach, he could not release his desperate grip.
She understood why he had done it. If he, sick as he was, could defeat the eldest son of Geum Ga Jang, it would be his self-vindication, and at the same time prove the vitality of the Great Family itself.
The successor of the Dan Mok Clan still stands firm, there is nothing for you to fear…….
Perhaps he had thought it the one method to resolve the clan’s crisis in a single blow. It might have worked—had he only lived.
“What makes restoring a household so grave a matter? Why must proving one’s strength be such an urgent thing? Why…….”
Bing Xue Yan trailed off into a cough. Blood tinged the edges of it. Dan Mok Cheon Gi rushed forward to steady her, but she shoved him away.
Then she looked at him, her face still wet with tears.
“……if that’s the case, why have you come?”
“Why have I come? I…….”
Something lodged in Dan Mok Cheon Gi’s chest, choking him.
He had anticipated she might not welcome him, but he had not expected to be asked why he had come at all.
“You never visited once in all these years—so what reason do you have for coming now?”
“…….”
Dan Mok Cheon Gi closed his mouth.
Though he thought there was much he wanted to say, his words felt sealed as if glued shut.
After a long silence, he finally forced his voice out.
“You lost everything because of me…….”
“Because of me?”
“Everything.”
“So you didn’t come to see me?”
“……I thought you wouldn’t want to see me…….”
“Then why are you here now?”
“Because if you despise the sight of me, I had to hear you say it.”
“Who told you that?”
“……Dan Mok Ryeon.”
Bing Xue Yan exhaled a long sigh.
The daughter his eldest son had left behind. Her granddaughter, who bore eyes identical to her own.
It was plain at first glance that the child possessed an uncommon clarity of mind. Yet she had not expected that this girl would persuade Dan Mok Cheon Gi to journey all the way to Beijing.
A brief silence fell, and Bing Xue Yan spoke with her spine held straight.
“Do you truly believe yourself so noble?”
“What do you mean, suddenly…….”
“My choice to leave Bing Palace all those years ago was mine, not yours. I wanted to leave. I—I wished to live in Hang Zhou.”
“…….”
“I made the decision to stand against Blood Coral Valley. Are you alone in righteousness? Are you the only one who thinks of the people and worries for the Martial Arts World? Am I nothing but a puppet dancing to your tune? Did you accomplish what even the Master of Moshan School could not?”
Moshan School was a sect that skillfully wielded Incantations, Qi Men Array Formations, Talismans, and Illusion Techniques.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi’s expression grew troubled. He had never won against Bing Xue Yan when she was angry like this.
“That’s not what I meant, I’m saying…….”
“Hang Zhou became my home as well, because I chose to live there. That is why I resolved to protect those people—because I have the strength to do so! Unless you’re telling me you were some secret operative of Blood Coral Valley? Is everything your fault?”
These were words he could never have spoken to Dan Mok Cheon Gi, who had lost nearly everything in the struggle against Blood Coral Valley. But because it was Bing Xue Yan who spoke them, he held his silence.
Had she not also lost everything she possessed? Her strength, her position as Palace Master, her eldest son…….
Bing Xue Yan let out a bitter laugh.
“Is everything in this world your fault? How arrogant you are!”
“That’s not it, I don’t mean…….”
“To think that you could sway the will of Chul Dam Bing Hun as you pleased—if that is not arrogance, what is? To bear the weight of all things as your own responsibility—if that is not arrogance, then what is!”
Dan Mok Cheon Gi felt an urge to weep. Yet the claim that it was not his fault seemed like mere self-justification. It was only an excuse, spoken for his own sake.

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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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