The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 176

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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 176

‘After all…… it seems there’s a limit to how far you can develop when you’re sealed off like this, wrapped up tight.’
Just look at Dan Mok Seong—she’d experienced explosive growth only three times: during her martial match with Geum Jong Ha, at the Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon, and now.
‘If you just hole yourself up and train in secret, you end up as someone who’s simply good at wielding one sword technique. That’s all.’
She’d heard that the famous martial clans these days had a tendency to avoid public matches.
Since the clans already possessed sufficient power, they found the shame of defeat more unbearable than any lessons they might gain from testing themselves.
‘They’ve all gone soft!’
That’s precisely why Blood Coral Valley had caused such a stir when it reappeared!
Hwa Ryun grumbled inwardly as she began formulating plans for her return to Hang Zhou.
What if they revitalized the Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon and held regular matches between the nearby martial families?
The Dan Mok Clan growing stronger alone wouldn’t solve anything. She already knew the outcome—it would only produce more people like Dan Mok Hyeon Seong.
‘The Geum Ga Jang seems like they could manage it.’
Geum Jeok Geol, the head of the Geum Ga Jang, acted as though he owed a debt because of some matter involving her father Dan Mok Hyeon Seong, and Geum Jong Ha in particular seemed like he’d come running the moment she asked.
While Hwa Ryun was laying out these various plans, a servant appeared to inform her that bathwater had been prepared.
Once the servant who’d informed her about the bathwater had left the room, Bing Mun Bi looked in that direction and murmured thoughtfully.
“It seems people really can’t be swayed by words alone.”
“Right? Everyone…… what? No, wait!”
Hwa Ryun had been responding absently when she suddenly came to her senses and leaped from her seat in alarm.
“What? What is it?”
“Words, of course! Words come first. You absolutely must talk first. Understand?”
“No, what are you suddenly…… what do you mean?”
“Even if you don’t like the other person…… you can’t just strike first. Got it?”
“Like I said before, there must be a reason the other person bothers you. They probably did something wrong.”
“Like I said before, there could be a misunderstanding.”
“But if they caused the misunderstanding, that’s their mistake too.”
“You could have made a mistake and misunderstood them yourself, that’s what I’m saying.”
Hwa Ryun spoke with great earnestness, her voice full of worry. Bing Mun Bi, watching her quietly, mischievously quirked up the corners of her mouth.
“So talk first? To decide if they live or die?”
“No, no—I mean talk about what the misunderstanding was…… explain that first.”
“Hmm. What’s so good about doing it that way? It just wastes more time.”
Bing Mun Bi bit at her lip, clearly already amused at the thought of teasing Hwa Ryun.
It seemed to please her when Hwa Ryun, acting as though she had no interest in others, always jumped in surprise—there was something mischievous in her expression.
But Hwa Ryun had a counterattack ready.
“If you keep acting that way, I won’t bring any more peculiar servants into the household.”
This time, Bing Mun Bi’s eyes widened.
“Why are you bringing that up all of a sudden? We already agreed we wouldn’t do that.”
Hwa Ryun simply continued with what she wanted to say, as if she hadn’t heard.
“If you become strong but don’t lose your compassion, and protect the weak, care for them…… and try to talk first, becoming that kind of wonderful person, then I won’t need to hire any peculiar servants, will I?”
Even so, her eyes held desperate sincerity.
‘This girl isn’t fundamentally cruel. Even if she doesn’t truly understand, maybe if I just make her memorize it, it’ll work out somehow?’
Even if she couldn’t internalize why you had to talk before beating someone, if she could practice it through habit alone…….
“If the other person won’t listen even when you talk, think about what your sister Hwa Ryun would do~? Promise me.”
“A promise? Just like that?”
“Yes, promise quickly. I need to go bathe. I’m busy.”
There really was something pressing, though the urgency was less about actual necessity than her desire to pin her down to a promise through sheer insistence.
Bing Mun Bi looked reluctant but nodded her head.
“Fine, fine.”
“Promise kept!”
“What if I don’t keep the promise?”
“You’re always trying to find a loophole. Just keep it, won’t you?”
“I’m saying what if.”
Hwa Ryun pressed her damp fingers to her brow and considered seriously before delivering her answer.
“A hundred flicks to the forehead?”
“A hundred flicks? I’ll die doing that…….”
“Oh, what—how am I supposed to hit someone with a chestnut cuff so hard they die…….”
Dan Mok Ryeon floundered for a moment before managing to collect herself.
“I, I’m saying this because I think it’s good for you, so…… if you don’t keep your promise, then you don’t, and I’ll just be the one crying…….”
“Why are you crying again?”
“Fine, I’ll cry. Keep…… sniffling and sniffling…….”
‘She says she’ll keep hitting until the person dies, so what am I supposed to do?’
Tears were already threatening, but she held them back. Still, because she’d said she would cry, Hwa Ryun was fidgeting anxiously. Watching her, Dan Mok Ryeon felt there was still some hope after all.
In the end, Hwa Ryun nodded with an expression of defeat.
“Fine, fine. Don’t cry.”
“But if anyone bothers you, don’t think twice—just beat them senseless.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
……
Hwa Ryun answered so matter-of-factly that Dan Mok Ryeon belatedly realized she needn’t have worried about that at all.

* * *

……
……
Two girls stood silently in the corridor, regarding each other.
One was Dan Mok Seong, her hair bound up neatly in a single knot at the crown; the other was Bing Mun Bi, her hair braided.
Since they were hardly on intimate terms, both simply stood there, their gazes somewhat frigid.
After a moment of silence, Bing Mun Bi gave a slight bow and turned to leave, but Dan Mok Seong spoke.
“I hear you’ve been trailing after Dan Mok Ryeon every morning lately?”
Bing Mun Bi’s expression shifted visibly. From behind her, Dan Mok Seong—arms folded—continued.
“When you were trying to drive her away, where were you then? And now, without so much as an apology, you’re pestering her for lessons here and there—don’t you think that’s rather shameless?”
Dan Mok Seong’s Beijing accent was so fluent there was no missing her meaning, and the words cut all the deeper because Bing Mun Bi knew they touched a nerve.
“That’s…… that’s…….”
Dan Mok Seong tilted her chin upward, her expression inviting Bing Mun Bi to continue if she had anything to say.
Bing Mun Bi’s lips opened and closed repeatedly before she couldn’t help but speak.
“But, but young Miss Dan Mok Ryeon doesn’t say anything, so why…….”
Knowing her excuse was cowardly, her words trailed off. Dan Mok Seong’s arms remained crossed, her expression stern.
“That’s her generosity—that’s her nature. And Dan Mok Ryeon is destined to become the next Family Head of the Dan Mok Clan, so it’s only natural that I assist her!”
“What? Young Miss Dan Mok Ryeon is the clan head, the……?”
“Not yet.”
“I beg your pardon? Or…… did the Former Family Head decide it? Or Grandmother……?”
“I told you, nothing’s been decided yet.”
‘Then it’s not decided, is it…….’
Bing Mun Bi didn’t say it aloud, only her lips moved. Dan Mok Seong, taking this for the doubt of a doubter, spoke with conviction.
“But it will be.”
“That’s…….”
By whose authority does that happen? Bing Mun Bi wondered—but the moment she thought of Dan Mok Ryeon, she understood.
Watching her in silence, Dan Mok Seong swept back a strand of hair that had slipped from her shoulder, and spoke.
“Do you feel any remorse toward Dan Mok Ryeon? If not, that’s fine. What use is a false apology?”
“No, I do…… I am sorry…….”
Bing Mun Bi’s lips stammered.
In truth, at the gathering where their martial skills were displayed a few days ago, she had been so mortified—as if experiencing a lifetime’s worth of shame in one moment—that she’d counted her humiliation as an apology. There was no small measure of that calculation in her.
Having suffered such humiliation before her, she’d assumed Dan Mok Ryeon would surely have forgiven her by now…….
“But Grandmother went all the way to the Central Plains and came back bearing such grave injuries…….”
The moment those words left her lips, Dan Mok Seong’s eyes flashed. The gaze of a tiger that had held its breath, waiting for a rabbit to bound into its den.
“Is that our fault? Grandmother made the decision to go to the Central Plains of her own accord. And the one most heartbroken that Grandmother has protected so many people and fought so hard against Blood Coral Valley and ended up like this—is us! She’s my grandmother, after all.”
“But…….”
Bing Mun Bi bit her lip with an aggrieved expression. Watching her, Dan Mok Seong spoke—the way a tiger swishes its tail to lure a rabbit forward.
“Actually, if you’re being fair about it, the one you should hate most is Blood Coral Valley, isn’t it?”
“That’s…… true…….”
But Blood Coral Valley had already been entirely destroyed, hadn’t it? Which was why her resentment, having nowhere else to go, had been misdirected at the Dan Mok Clan.
“Then go apologize properly to Dan Mok Ryeon now, and from this moment forward, join us in the wholehearted effort to destroy Blood Coral Valley.”
“What?”
Just now?
Bing Mun Bi’s eyes widened at the unexpected turn.

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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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