The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 17

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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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Fallen Clan’s Limited-Time Spirit Creature — Episode 17

Ryeon wanted to snap back at Hwaryun’s words, but there was nothing fundamentally wrong with what he’d said.
‘No, actually it’s spot on. I need to grow stronger. I need to grow stronger, and the clan needs to become stronger too.’
Only then could they avoid disaster, calamity, and illness—live long and well.
‘And this one…….’
Ryeon gazed at Ogolgyeo—or rather, the black phoenix, or rather, the one with the dazzling, radiant eyes—with a complicated expression.
Ogolgyeo moved her head with elegant grace, tapped once at the remaining grain, then extended her beak slightly beyond the iron bars. Ryeon found herself gently stroking that black beak without thinking.
Ogolgyeo pecked softly at Ryeon’s fingertip, then released it. Ryeon felt a warmth emanating from that touch.
“If she were a true Spirit Creature, wouldn’t she have escaped by now? She shouldn’t be staying here like this.”
“But the person who feeds her is here.”
“Ah……!”
That was true.
Ryeon let out an inner sigh. If the Spirit Creature was becoming what she was by consuming her spiritual energy, then of course she’d stay here rather than leave—what was she thinking?
“Still, I’ll need to separate the Chicken Coop. This can’t keep going as it is.”
For the sake of the other chickens, it couldn’t remain like this.

* * *

“What? The chicken escaped already?”
“While I was building the new Chicken Coop, I had to separate her temporarily, but she’s so strong…….”
The Kitchen’s Jeon was nearly in tears. Ryeon too stared at the half-destroyed makeshift Chicken Coop with a startled expression.
It was just wooden fence boards with a roof barely laid on top, but no ordinary chicken could have ever broken through it.
Following the direction where Ogolgyeo had flown, they found their way to the southern Wall. One of the roof tiles placed atop the Wall was shattered—apparently that’s how she’d kicked her way up and over.
While Jeon pressed his head in distress, Ryeon sent him back first, then stood before the Wall and held back a sigh.
‘Did she head for the mountains? Then…….’
“Ryeon, what are you thinking?”
“That even though the person who feeds her is here, she’s gone and escaped.”
…….”
Hwaryun, who’d called out to her, approached her side with an awkward expression, avoiding her gaze. Ryeon didn’t turn to look at him as she continued.
“I think I need to go find Ogolgyeo.”
“……You were already thinking something strange.”
“It’s not strange. It looks like she ran off toward those mountains. What if Ogolgyeo wanders the night path and gets caught by wild beasts?”
“She’d be the one doing the catching, not getting caught. With that size of hers…….”
“She eats a lot to maintain that size. How’s she supposed to find food in those mountains when she’s only ever lived in a Chicken Coop?”
“Then just send someone else to find her and bring her back.”
“The thing is, though she has a vicious streak from what I can tell, I’m still worried something might happen. And the way she came into being is unusual—that unsettles me too. What if someone steals her?”
“Steal the clan’s chicken? No one would do that unless they had a death wish…….”
Hwaryun mumbled. Hearing those words, Ryeon turned toward him in shock.
An awkward silence fell between them.
Still, would you really kill someone just for stealing a chicken?
‘Is this…… the caliber of the future sect leader of Macheongyo……?’
Had he always been so extraordinary, even from childhood?
Hwaryun seemed to come to his senses under her gaze, hastily feigned ignorance, then spoke in a flustered rush.
“So what do we do? Are you really going to search for her?”
“Yes. Blackie might be wandering lost, unable to find the way back…….”
And so a dramatic rescue mission for Ogolgyeo—presumed Phoenix—was formed.
Consisting of three people: Ryeon, who insisted on going herself; Hwaryun, who couldn’t bear to leave her; and Jeong Young, the escort warrior who was astounded to hear that a sickly young lady intended to climb a mountain.

* * *

Ryeon climbed the hill following the faint trace of Ogolgyeo’s presence. Her breath came ragged, and her vision blurred at times from the unexpected exertion, but she pushed through.
‘The natural forces here are too strong. Good grief, this is suffocating. I absolutely cannot live separated from people. I’m staying somewhere crowded and bustling no matter what.’
Her body was already depleted of strength because of her spiritual energy, and ascending a mountain where spiritual energy flowed as naturally as breath left her gasping for air.
The surreally beautiful autumn foliage, the breath catching in her throat, the spiritual energy slowly beginning to burn red, all of it made her dizzy.
After wandering for so long, Jeong Young and Hwaryun were on the verge of suggesting they give up. Then, beneath a towering tree, they finally spotted it—a chicken with black and crimson feathers that flickered like flame.
“Ogolgyeo!”
Ogolgyeo sensed Ryeon’s presence and lifted her head sharply. But she did not approach. She simply stood beside the tree in elegant repose.
“Ogolgyeo……?”
“She doesn’t seem to have any intention of coming here.”
Ryeon raised a finger to Hwaryun—a soft “hush”—and drew her collar close, moving forward with careful steps. As she drew near, Ogolgyeo rubbed her cheek gently against Ryeon’s sleeve.
“Ogolgyeo, how did you get this far? Wasn’t it hard? Come now, let’s go home…….”
But the moment Ryeon tried to embrace her, the chicken rose gracefully, drifting backward like water in motion. Not even the whisper of wing-beats disturbed the elegant gesture.
Ryeon stood startled, watching, when Hwaryun stepped closer beside her.
“Hm. Looks like she’s leaving after all.”
“I told you to stay quiet.”
Ryeon shot a withering look at the needlessly clever Hwaryun, then turned her gaze back to Ogolgyeo.
But no words came. As sunlight filtered through the branches and touched the chicken, she began to shimmer with an almost divine radiance.
“Wait…… you’re really leaving?”
At Ryeon’s question, the bird dipped her head once. Then, slowly and silently, she slipped away into the tall grasses beyond the tree and vanished.
……
……
……
Ryeon stood transfixed, staring not at the bird, but at the empty space beneath the tree where Ogolgyeo had been.
“Now? Just like that? She said she’d come, and then she really just…… left?”
“It seems so.”
“Just like that?”
All the feeding, all the care—and she simply dissolved into nothing?
“A chicken doesn’t abandon her escape midway and come to say farewell without some weight to it…….”
As Ryeon’s senses returned, she hurried toward the tree in a panic.
Though finding a vanished chicken seemed unlikely.
“We should go back down now.”
Hwaryun approached Ryeon where she stood dazed and tugged gently at her collar.
“Your sister collapsed recently. I can’t leave you to search the entire mountain for herbs again, can I?”
“No, it’s not that…….”
But how could she simply let go of the attachment? That chicken she’d cherished—she’d seemed to understand speech, to nod as if in answer, and then vanished in a flutter. How was one supposed to release such a bond so easily?
As Ryeon hesitated with wavering eyes, a sound reached them from far away—something between a rending and a splitting of the very air itself.
Shrieeeeek!
At that instant, a brilliant, auspicious light of five colors blazed across the sky. And a vast shadow fell over them.
It was the form of an enormous bird. The radiance from behind made it impossible to see clearly, but this much was certain: a creature of incomprehensible size, with wings broad enough to cover the mountain, a trailing tail, and a magnificent crest in every imaginable hue, hung luminous against the sky for a long moment before dissolving like mist.
From that great distance, Ryeon thought she heard the cry of a chicken.
And as it faded, feathers drifted down from the heavens like petals, falling slowly until several came to rest in Ryeon’s outstretched palm. They were a brilliant scarlet, as if still burning.
……
……
By then, Ryeon had made peace with her yearning.
“Well, I’ll simply tell the head cook that the chicken became a phoenix and flew away. No one will doubt it.”
“……Sister, be careful the magistrate doesn’t arrest you.”
“Doesn’t the Official Non-Interference Principle apply?”
“If the magistracy has a change of heart? And a phoenix—that alone wouldn’t just bring the magistrates. The Baekdomaeng, the Heukcheonryeon, every faction would descend.”
“If they arrest me for creating a phoenix, you’ll need to bring me danggwa in prison.”
“Just danggwa?”
“Bingdanghoro too. Not the kind Uncle made. And will only the Baekdomaeng and Heukcheonryeon come? The Macheongyo will arrive as well.”
As she spoke those last words, her voice trembled slightly.
‘Did I speak carelessly? Could they sense some pull through the Soul Bond?’
But Hwaryun merely gave a soft laugh.
“That place is far too distant. Ten thousand li from here.”
“Right, it’s far, very far…….”
Ryeon was in the midst of thinking whether to suggest they all stay here and live together peacefully for a thousand years, never even dreaming of leaving, when—
The feather in Ryeon’s hand suddenly burst into flame.
“Ah, ahhhh!”
“!”
“Oh, Miss!”
All three of them startled, wrapping her hand in cloth and pouring water from their flask, but it made no difference whatsoever.
“Ah…… wait…… but it’s not hot? Oh. The fire’s gone…… it disappeared?”
The three of them leaned together, looking down at Ryeon’s open palm.
A bucket’s worth of water had been poured over them, leaving only dampness—her hands were clean, not even ash remaining.
“Are you all right? Are you hurt……?”
Heukcheonryeon shook her head, waving her hand.
“I’m fine. Really fine. I’m completely unharmed. Jeong Young, you didn’t use Sammaejinhwa or anything like that, did you?”
It was meant as a joke, but Jeong Young looked at her with oddly wounded eyes.

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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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