The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 166

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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 Fallen Clan’s Terminal Fate — Chapter 166

‘Why?’

The residual Blood Corruption has not been completely eliminated.
For the complete removal of Blood Corruption, the Crimson Fire Persimmon

is required.
Some abnormal conditions in Bing Xue Yan’s state have been treated.
Current Fortune Stat: 97/120 (3▲)

At some point the blood that had been flowing from Ryeon’s nose ceased, and with her coughing now stopped, Bing Xue Yan’s complexion had noticeably improved—yet her body still carried traces of Blood Corruption.
“What… what is this…?”
Those who have wandered through the pitch-black darkness of suffering can perceive the light appearing before their eyes faster than anyone else.
So it was with Bing Xue Yan, just as it had been with Hwang Gyou-on.
The black bloodstains she had coughed up were gone, and her body felt lighter—her astonishment was natural.
But the puzzlement did not linger long. A violent cough erupted from within the chamber, and the guards stationed at the door promptly rushed in with the physician.
The guards who had been standing watch seemed utterly baffled as to how the two children had slipped past them, but the physician gave it no thought and went straight to Bing Xue Yan.
Jin Yi Won examined the area around Ryeon and was somewhat startled. He had assumed that upon hearing such vigorous coughing, the girl must have coughed up blood—but neither the child nor the space around Bing Xue Yan showed even a trace of blood.
Yet despite the absence of blood, at the sound of coughing he moved to examine her hastily, when Bing Xue Yan raised her hand.
“No, I am fine—attend to the child first!”
“Yes, yes?”
Jin Yi Won, who had been steadily attending to Bing Xue Yan all this time, widened his eyes at her forceful cry and gazed upon the small girl who sat nestled in her arms.
‘From the Dan Mok Clan?’
He already knew she was Bing Xue Yan’s granddaughter. Had not the Lord of the Palace sent an escort to welcome her? Though among the people of the Ice Palace, the recognition was less of her being the grandmother’s granddaughter and more of her being a child of the Dan Mok Clan.
“The child suddenly coughed up blood….”
Bing Xue Yan grabbed the physician’s arm and spoke urgently, her words trailing off.
Just as she herself had, the child had clearly coughed up blood—yet nowhere in the surrounding space could any trace of it be found.
“Blood…?”
“I am fine. I was startled seeing Grandmother coughing. Please, attend to Grandmother first.”
And Jin Yi Won was struck again as he watched the girl speak the Beijing dialect with clear, fluent precision, before turning his gaze back to Bing Xue Yan.
As she said, the girl did appear somewhat pale—likely from the distress of witnessing her grandmother’s suffering directly—so the more urgent case was indeed Bing Xue Yan.
“I shall examine you first, Elder.”
“I said examine the child first!”
“No, Elder, you are the more critical case!”
Jin Yi Won raised his voice and pressed his fingers to Bing Xue Yan’s wrist, taking her pulse.
Even as he did, his mind was measuring the time she had remaining.
Each violent coughing fit caused her to noticeably diminish. He calculated that few occasions remained—though he had never spoken this thought aloud to her.
‘No…?’
Yet as he felt her pulse, the physician’s eyes grew wider and wider.
Word that the physician had rushed to Bing Xue Yan’s chamber had reached even Dan Mok Cheon Gi and Lord Bing Xue Han, who came hurrying—only to receive an answer wholly at odds with their expectations.
“Heavens! My Lord! By the grace of the Ice Eternal, how could such a miracle occur….”
The physician, who had long treated Bing Xue Yan and had always maintained composure, now opened his eyes wide as lanterns and took her pulse again, examined her heartbeat

with a trembling voice.
“Her condition has not recovered completely, but it is incomparably better than these past days. We must observe her progress, but….”
“She has been healed?”
“I have been healed?”
“That is… we must continue to monitor her progress. But she is truly stable now.”
Jin Yi Won proceeded to ask Bing Xue Yan a series of questions.
Whether she felt any coldness in her limbs, any nausea or vertigo or discomfort in her stomach, whether any area of her body caused her pain….
To each, Bing Xue Yan shook her head. And in doing so, she came to perceive even more vividly that all the things which had tormented her until now had vanished in an instant, as though they had all been lies.
The same was true for Jin Yi Won.
Even here in this dimly lit chamber illuminated by lamplight on a dark night, Bing Xue Yan’s complexion had visibly improved—it was plain to see.
Presently Dan Mok Hyeon Yo and Dan Mok Hyeon U came rushing in, gasping, only to see an unexpected, warm and peaceful atmosphere—and could only blink in confusion.
“Mother……? Father?”
“How could this…… such a thing…… It must be thanks to your family coming to visit…….”
The physician’s voice still trembled as he spoke.
But could a physician’s heart truly be forged of ice and steel?
Watching a patient he saw every day—once the beloved heir of the entire Ice Palace—waste away hour by hour was no less agonizing.
Even boasting of being Beijing’s finest physician, he could do nothing. How long had those helpless days stretched, replaying that fact over and over in his mind?
The Ice Palace Lord stared at Bing Xue Yan and the physician in turn, eyes wide with disbelief.
“Is it really true? Bing Xue Yan has almost recovered? So…… so suddenly? But didn’t you say you heard her coughing terribly just moments ago?”
“I cannot say with certainty whether her martial prowess will fully return, but such improvement is nothing short of miraculous, is it not? Had we only sent someone to the Dan Mok Clan earlier……. Or perhaps, from the very moment we brought her to the Ice Palace…….”
“No.”
Bing Xue Yan cut off the physician’s self-recriminating words with a firm declaration, her gaze fixed directly on her granddaughter.
“What?”
“If she were to recover simply from the joy of seeing family, she would have recovered the moment we heard that Hyeon Yo had visited long ago. There is no way you failed to cure her during all this time.”
While the physician fumbled for words, Bing Xue Yan lifted her head and looked toward Dan Mok Cheon Gi.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi kept his lips pressed shut, his eyes—streaked with both joy and worry—flickering between Bing Xue Yan and Dan Mok Ryeon.
Bing Xue Yan changed her tone.
“……No, you are right. She recovered thanks to her granddaughters coming.”
“That’s correct, Mother! I too broke free from my Heart Demon the moment I saw Dan Mok Ryeon!”
“Well done. At least don’t burden your cousin with needless worry!”
“N-needless, you say. It wasn’t entirely pointless, though.”
“Yes, well, everyone falls into a spell of anguish once or twice in their life.”
Dan Mok Cheon Gi, normally stern with his children, found himself defending his youngest son without thinking, yet Bing Xue Yan didn’t so much as blink.
“Are all these troubles some Dan Mok family trait? Never mind. Never mind. Bring a warm bowl of rice porridge for poor frightened Dan Mok Ryeon, and since I mean to sleep beside her tonight, the rest of you may leave.”
“But she still needs stability…….”
“I’ve been ill for years—do you think I don’t know my own body? Bring the porridge at once, will you! Didn’t you just say she recovered the moment she saw my face!”
Forced to repeat her own words, Bing Xue Yan’s exasperation boiled over, yet Bing Xue Han and the physician only beamed wider, their faces alight with genuine joy as they cried out that they would fetch the porridge straightaway and hastily fled the room.
Bing Xue Yan watched Dan Mok Cheon Gi, the last to remain, then lifted her chin to gesture toward the door. He too was to leave.
Only when the noise of the household had faded did Bing Xue Yan, who had been sitting still, reach out her hand to Dan Mok Ryeon.
Dan Mok Ryeon drew a little closer.
“Are you well? I did not press the physician for details, sensing you did not wish it to be known.”
Bing Xue Yan spoke as she examined Dan Mok Ryeon’s complexion closely.
She knew too that Dan Mok Ryeon had done something arduous for her sake, though she could not say what.
“I’m fine…….”
Dan Mok Ryeon smiled and tried to wave her hand dismissively, but Bing Xue Yan, her expression stern, traced both her granddaughter’s cheeks and pressed her fingers to Dan Mok Ryeon’s wrist to check her pulse before finally relaxing her expression somewhat.
Only then did she turn her head and regard Hwa Ryun, who still stood waiting, with an inscrutable gaze.
The boy’s face had gone rigid—surely from worry over Dan Mok Ryeon.
“You are called Hwa Ryun, yes?”
“……Yes.”
His answer came surprisingly heavy.
“Your sister will sleep beside me tonight. You are to withdraw now.”
Bing Xue Yan waved her hand lightly toward the door as she spoke. Though the boy had called himself a servant, since her granddaughter had called him brother, she would address him as such—her eyes conveyed this clearly.
The boy, whose chest swelled with words left unsaid, drew a deep breath, nodded, and turned to go.
Just then, as he was leaving, Bing Xue Yan recalled something and called him back.
“Wait, boy.”
“……What is it?”
Hwa Ryun, turning back from the doorway, showed no expression on his face.
“To guard only a person’s body is not to guard them at all. Neither is it protection to give them wealth and luxury and comfort.”
“……I beg your pardon?”
The boy’s eyes widened at these unexpected words. Bing Xue Yan gave a low chuckle and waved her hand again. He was to leave now.
After Hwa Ryun had withdrawn, Bing Xue Yan asked quietly.
“What did you do?”

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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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