The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 173

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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 Declining Clan’s Limited Lifespan — Episode 173

Bing Xue Yan’s eyes glimmered with fine sparks of light.
“Bing Mun Bi has made considerable progress.”
“Ha ha. Among the children Do Wi teaches, she’s always been the most diligent—and sure enough, she proves it.”
At first she’d kept glancing sidelong at Bing Xue Yan, but now she was completely absorbed, lost in her own world, gazing only forward. More precisely, toward where Dan Mok Ryeon and Dan Mok Seong stood.
“Mm…”
Following the footwork, she approached step by step, and when the final sword stroke descended from above to below, Dan Mok Seong—who hadn’t yielded an inch—turned Dan Mok Ryeon behind her and drew the sword sheathed and all, raising it to block.
Clang!
At the same moment, Bing Mun Bi jolted awake from her concentration, startled, and retreated a step backward.
Right before her stood Dan Mok Seong and Dan Mok Ryeon, and beside them were ranged Bing Xue Yan, Dan Mok Cheon Gi, and Bing Seol Han. The sight of them made Bing Mun Bi flinch, and she quickly lowered her sword and bowed her head in confusion.
“Ah… I’m sorry, so very sorry!”
“When a warrior becomes absorbed in training, such things are bound to happen. I’ve heard that you work hard, but I never imagined it would reach this extent.”
It was neither a sudden ambush nor a hostile child’s attack—the one performing the sword forms had clearly grown deeply immersed partway through—so no one present thought to reprimand such a breach.
“You’re… you’re too kind!”
Bing Mun Bi’s face flushed crimson. It was clear she felt genuine joy at receiving such praise from Bing Xue Yan.
“Yet one must not grow complacent in modest progress and neglect training.”
“I will remember that, I will.”
Even as she bowed deeply and stepped back, Bing Mun Bi cast a sidelong glance at Dan Mok Ryeon and Dan Mok Seong. Her expression was perfectly satisfied.
“Dan Mok Ryeon, Dan Mok Seong—now that you’ve seen the Bing Baek Sword, what do you make of it? Do you think you could attempt it? Don’t be too nervous; your great-uncle will watch over you.”
As Bing Seol Han spoke, the eyes of both Dan Mok Seong and Dan Mok Cheon Gi fixed on Dan Mok Ryeon at once.
Dan Mok Seong wore an expression of satisfaction rivaling that which Bing Mun Bi had just displayed, while Dan Mok Cheon Gi’s face held a trace of concern.
And in the midst of them all, Dan Mok Ryeon alone was clouded with conflict and worry, her gaze wavering between Bing Mun Bi and Bing Seol Han.
‘What if the child loses all her confidence?’
Dan Mok Ryeon rubbed her forehead with her fist clenched, her eyes searching Dan Mok Cheon Gi’s face. It was a look asking for guidance.
That was when it happened.
“The Bing Baek Sword is difficult even when one watches and tries to imitate from the start—wouldn’t it be impolite to our guests to put them in such a position?”
Another boy standing beside Bing Mun Bi spoke up quickly.
Bing Mun Bi seemed to be the finest of her generation, since Do Wi was said to be the most exceptional of the older cohort—the boy’s tone carried a note of pride on her behalf.
In other words, he was worried that the Dan Mok Clan children would be embarrassed by their inability to match the sword form.
At the same moment, Dan Mok Seong fixed the boy with a sharp stare, let out a snort of derision, and stepped forward.
“Though I am currently devoted to the Dao Method rather than sword forms, since I have witnessed such fine technique, may I not attempt to imitate it first?”
She offered a respectful bow to the adults, then added:
“There is no need for Dan Mok Ryeon to take the stage. As guests in this place, we ought not risk wounding our hosts’ pride.”
The implication was that if Dan Mok Ryeon drew her sword, they would all weep and wail.
The words alone were enough to make not just the boys and girls of Bing Palace but even the young men’s eyes blaze—and as if waiting for this very moment, Dan Mok Hyeon U stepped forward.
His smile was the kind that those who knew him from childhood would have run from on sight.
“Oh, Dan Mok Seong. But can you really exclude Dan Mok Ryeon from this learning session?”
“Ah! Uncle, I was short-sighted. This is a place where knowledge is shared—there should be no cause for hurt feelings, should there?”
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo looked utterly exasperated, her gaze flickering between her daughter and her brother, whose thoughts aligned so perfectly with hers, and she shook her head with a slight smile.
‘Well, even if something goes wrong here, it would just be a little embarrassing.’
Word of what happened in this distant Beijing would hardly reach Hang Zhou, and as Bing Xue Yan said, children learning and mastering skills by sparring with one another was nothing to be ashamed of.
‘If that were shameful, wouldn’t all the clans who participated in the Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon competition have sealed their gates in humiliation?’
The way the children had organized their nighttime self-training sessions was practically ‘Assemble under Dan Mok Ryeon!’
With that thought, her heart eased somewhat.
“I hear that Dan Mok Seong is studying the Dao Method. What if I showed her some techniques separately? Beijing has some truly splendid Dao Methods.”
It was then that the Palace Keeper spoke up unexpectedly. At the mention of Beijing’s Dao Methods, Dan Mok Seong’s eyes gleamed with sudden brilliance.
“That would be an honor!”
For the Palace Keeper to demonstrate personally was no small matter. Even the people of Bing Palace stirred in surprise, and amid the murmuring, Dan Mok Ryeon swallowed hard.
Since Dan Mok Seong would now receive separate instruction in the Dao Method, it fell to Dan Mok Ryeon to step forward first here.
As Dan Mok Ryeon took a step forward, all eyes snapped toward her like arrows finding their mark.
Dan Mok Seong and Dan Mok Hyeon U had provoked her and then conveniently stepped aside—and so their gazes burned all the fiercer.
Dan Mok Ryeon had made her resolve.
‘Yes. I need to reconcile with Bing Palace.’
She could not go on forever as the side that took her grandmother away, and the side left behind.
If words won’t work, then action will. Isn’t that what friendship is — fighting and scrapping with each other until the bond takes root?
‘I wish I could have seen the sword technique proper, but there’s no help for it.’
Bing Mun Bi truly took pride in Beijing and had spared no effort in demonstrating that sword with her own body.
There were still rough edges and gaps in her execution, but she understood the underlying logic of the blade-path and showed it clearly enough that Dan Mok Ryeon encountered no great difficulty in unfurling it anew.
Dan Mok Ryeon’s eyes began to sparkle like starlight.
‘Divine Insight, Divine Insight, Harmony, Harmony!’
As she murmured the words like an incantation, Spiritual Energy surged forth. Whether it was the remarkably stable state ever since arriving at Beijing, or the ornaments dangling from her head and arms, her energy filled rapidly once more.
And Dan Mok Ryeon moved.
Though she had said at Bing Palace that she would only display sword technique, footwork naturally followed — she was not simply standing in place and swinging her arms.
Her steps unfolded with fluidity, one pace flowing into the next.
It was the Baek Un Bo, the footwork of Bing Palace. She moved like treading clouds — supple and elastic — and the blade swept through the air like a blizzard in motion.
Bing Mun Bi’s footwork, harmonized with the Bing Baek Sword Dan Mok Ryeon had witnessed, was reborn as the intricate Baek Un Bo.
‘But not a sword of only coldness.’
Recalling Bing Xue Yan’s words — that this sword technique held enough heat to melt ice in a single breath — Dan Mok Ryeon unfolded the blade as Bing Mun Bi had, and cold and heat began to weave through her movements in alternation.
Though she could not accumulate internal energy and did not know Bing Palace’s Heart Method, the coldness and heat seeped naturally as Dan Mok Ryeon followed the sword-path unfurling from her own hands.
The subtle principles embedded in the blade-path were reproduced without the slightest error, and the transformations the blade-path intended followed of their own accord.
‘Ah, so here it moves this way for that purpose!’
Bing Mun Bi’s sword technique and footwork — which, incompletely mastered, had never harmonized perfectly — became one in Dan Mok Ryeon’s hands and feet as she displayed it.
‘This is rather enjoyable.’
Every martial art carries the principle its first founder wished to impart, so each bears its own nature, and though she had seen many — diverse and varied — there was something novel in heat and cold sweeping together like this.
As heat and cold moved, vaporous mist rose and enveloped Dan Mok Ryeon. Moving without a shred of internal energy meant nothing grand — it was but the finest mist — yet in this Training Grounds, no one there failed to perceive it.
“This can’t be…….”
“Heavens, what on earth…….”
And when Dan Mok Ryeon finally stilled, grinning wide with delight, she had to stop that grin.
Everyone stood with mouths agape.
And in that same moment, a notification arrived from the system.

Fortune Value increased
Bing Seol Han’s Enlightenment +2
Bing Xue Yan’s Enlightenment +2
Do Wi’s Learning +2
Bing Mun Bi’s Learning +3
Current Fortune Value: 106/120 (9▲)

‘Isn’t this practically a gold mine?’
The Fortune Value climbing steadily felt almost like a dream.
As Dan Mok Ryeon slowly lowered the sword to settle it, the Palace Master of Bing Palace scarcely managed to compose her expression, but Bing Xue Yan did not.
“Good heavens! Dan Mok Ryeon! You learned that in a single viewing and reproduced it?”
“Yes, yes. It was thanks to Bing Mun Bi’s excellent demonstration. My skills fall short, so I beg your indulgence…….”
Dan Mok Ryeon demurred politely, but Bing Xue Yan shook her head sharply.
“Nonsense! Even instructors who train their whole lives to perfect their demonstrations before others could not unfold it with such precision. Heh heh…… heh…… Master, did you glimpse something of value?”
Because Bing Xue Yan herself had caught a glimmer of that light, she asked Bing Seol Han without hesitation.
Bing Seol Han’s face had gone slack — as if struck from behind by a stranger — before he slowly nodded.

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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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