The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 186

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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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The Falling Clan’s Limited Lifespan — Episode 186

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Before attending the banquet hosted at the Beijing Ice Palace, Ryeon headed to that familiar hot spring with Bing Xue Han, Bing Xue Yan, and Dan Mok Cheon Gi.
“Oh…. Was this what you meant to tell me?”
There had been a massive Ice Crystal that cast its shadow across the hot spring’s mist, but now that shadow lay shallower than before. One entire corner had caved inward—bitten away, like an apple someone had taken a chunk from.
‘I had no idea it would melt so much!’
Ryeon’s face flushed crimson as she stared up at the Ice Crystal.
She had shared the glad news honestly at the same moment: that through some stroke of fortune, the Ice Crystal’s power had seeped into her.
Bing Xue Han had shown no anger whatsoever—only curiosity, gently insisting they go see for themselves. That was why they now stood before the Ice Crystal, just before departing for the banquet.
“So that ice truly…. possessed such numinous power.”
Bing Xue Yan murmured. The spring below remained unchanged, even though so much of the ice had melted; clearly, Ryeon had absorbed it all herself.
And Bing Xue Han’s attention had already turned from the sunken, half-melted Ice Crystal to something else entirely.
“You said this was the fruit that cured Bing Xue Yan, didn’t you? Do these trees usually bear this abundantly at this time of year?”
Along the hot spring’s edge stood hawthorn and dogwood trees laden with crimson fruit.
There were the ordinary fruits left unharvested, and then the Red Fruit that had bloomed overnight in such profusion that the trees looked almost like flowering gardens at first glance.
While Ryeon smiled shyly, Bing Xue Yan gazed over the branches and released a trembling breath, moisture glistening in her eyes.
The fruits that had ripened against all season—they testified to how fiercely her granddaughter had struggled on her behalf.
Bing Xue Han wore a satisfied expression as he patted his cousin’s back, then turned to Ryeon.
“Now I understand what happened.”
“Yes?”
“Your filial devotion created these burning fruits, and these fruits melted the Ice Crystal. Is that not so?”
“Ah….”
“Beijing’s long history has been one of seeking to dissolve this Ice Crystal’s power and make it their own.”
Yet until now, no one had ever succeeded.
“We brought every searing flame imaginable to bear on it, and it wouldn’t budge—but the Ice Crystal’s power seems to have naturally gravitated toward you. And even if it hadn’t, since you raised up Iron Courage Ice Soul, Bing Xue Yan, what harm comes in giving a fragment of the Ice Crystal that no one else has ever possessed?”
“The capable seize power—why did you trouble yourself with such worry?”
Even Bing Xue Yan chided her, as though scolding. Embarrassed, Ryeon simply laughed and quickly pointed toward the dogwood and hawthorn trees.
“Well, since we’re here anyway, shall we gather some fruit? It’s good for the body, so it would be nice if we all ate some together….”
As Ryeon shyly redirected the conversation, the master of the Beijing Ice Palace, the former Greatest Master Under Heaven, and Iron Courage Ice Soul all began eagerly plucking fruit alongside the girl.
When Bing Xue Han had filled half his sleeve with fruit, he spoke as if something had just occurred to him.
“I heard you’ll be studying the Internal Cultivation Method from now on.”
“Yes? Yes!”
In truth, when Bing Xue Han learned of Ryeon’s situation, he had been far more startled by the fact that she had never cultivated internal energy at all than by her absorption of the Ice Crystal’s power.
How, then, had she laughed so brightly all this while, guiding other children and teaching them, helping them achieve their goals?
“You have no interest in the Bing Bai Divine Technique?”
“Your Highness!”
Bing Xue Yan stopped gathering hawthorn fruit and cried out in greater surprise still.
“I mean no disrespect to the Dan Mok Clan’s Internal Cultivation Method, but if what you say about absorbing the Ice Crystal’s power is true, wouldn’t the Beijing Ice Palace’s methods suit her better?”
To openly reveal the core method of one sect was hardly a simple matter.
An Internal Cultivation Method was the very heart of a martial sect—and so the Beijing Ice Palace called theirs the “Divine Technique.”
“The young ones have made such dazzling progress, especially Moon Bi. I heard it was all your doing.”
When Moon Bi and Ryeon had their non-duel, everyone thought Ryeon’s talent was extraordinary—but Bing Xue Han had seen deeper.
‘It cannot be expressed merely as extraordinary talent.’
What world did this child see? What was she perceiving?
She seemed closer to something other than human—like those Immortals of the Highest Celestial Realm that the sages of the Central Plains sing of.
Her only weakness had been her inability to cultivate internal energy. That was likely why Dan Mok Cheon Gi had still not decided on the clan head position.
But now even that weakness had dissolved away.
“More than that, you have steadied the young palace master’s heart and restored Iron Courage Ice Soul—such grace cannot be called small.”
“Grandmother is my grandmother, and the palace master…. he is as a son to Grandmother and to Great-grandfather, so he is almost like an uncle to me.”
To help them was ultimately to help family, and therefore a natural thing to do.
Bing Xue Han smiled gently.
“By the sword you showed, by the push you gave the palace master’s back, by raising Bing Xue Yan to her feet—I have taken one step further forward myself. The achievement of the Ice Palace master is worth its weight in gold.”
“That is….”
Ryeon hesitated for a moment.
Ever since she’d gained the ability to build her internal energy, Bing Xue Han had achieved something once more. Whether it was a breakthrough earned by releasing the burden in her heart and revisiting the Bing Bai Sword that Ryeon had shown him that day—whatever the reason, her Luck Value, which had been scraped clean to the very bottom, surged back again.
How shocked Ryeon had been at that moment.
‘So it’s true—a master of overwhelming skill can find gold dust even in a handful of sand.’
After all, the reason she’d been able to fill her Luck Value completely and trigger this miracle was because Bing Xue Han, who had been living so earnestly all this time, had made progress with just a small opportunity.
And now that she’d also absorbed the power of the Ice Crystal, she felt embarrassed to ask for anything more.
“I’m just glad it was helpful!”
“That simply won’t do!”
Suddenly Bing Xue Yan burst out loudly.
“When you do kindness for the poor, you receive gratitude in return. But when you do kindness for the rich, you must receive a house as payment!”
“Really…… to that extent?”
Ryeon wasn’t opposed to accepting something if people with the means to pay offered it in return for her help.
“Xue Yan speaks rightly.”
Dan Mok Cheon Gi also spoke sternly. After all, neither he nor Bing Xue Yan had ever failed to support their families this way.
Ryeon, cradling an armful of Red Fruit in her embrace, looked at the three elders and nodded.
“Then…… if you could just show me the secrets of the Bing Bai Divine Technique once, I would be grateful.”
“Why?”
They’d said they would teach it, so why did she only ask to see it?
Ryeon smiled gently.
“I’ll be learning the Meteoric True Seal of the Dan Mok Clan…… but I also understand that your point about the Bing Bai Divine Technique being helpful is correct.”
At Ryeon’s words—that simply seeing it would be enough to thank them—Bing Xue Han smiled in a peculiar way. Behind him, Dan Mok Cheon Gi beamed with a satisfied expression, as if to say ‘See what I mean?’
“That’s no great difficulty. But the scales between what you’ve received and what you’ve been given aren’t balanced, so what shall we do?”
“In that case…… these fruits I picked today—if I clean them well, dry them, and preserve them in sugar, could you lend us the skill of a master chef? When I try, the flavor always turns out strange.”
……
……
Bing Xue Han, who had been muttering “the scales still aren’t balanced,” lifted the corners of his mouth and answered.
“Our Beijing Ice Palace’s head chef is one who could boldly claim to be the greatest chef under heaven, so I shall have them gather all these fruits and prepare them for you.”
“Thank you!”
Ryeon laughed brightly.
Behind her, Bing Xue Yan tapped her cousin’s waist and raised her eyebrows, as if asking ‘You’re not really settling this with just that, are you?’ Bing Xue Han sighed and replied, ‘Of course not.’

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The banquet that the Beijing Ice Palace threw in genuine joy was far too warm and lavish to match the word “Beijing.”
Though evening had fallen, lanterns and braziers lit the surroundings as brightly as midday, hot enough to be uncomfortable, and an endless parade of steaming, delicious dishes—made abundantly with fish, meat, and even rarer, the freshest vegetables—continued to arrive.
For the adults came precious warmed wine; for the children, freshly pressed fruit juice and sugar-sweetened goat milk; and in between, the Beijing Ice Palace’s martial masters displayed the Ice Skating Art itself, freezing the water of the lake with the Ice Technique and performing upon the frozen surface.
Later, Ryeon and Dan Mok Seong went down to the ice as well to learn their Ice Skating Art. The children of the Beijing Ice Palace gathered one by one, and soon laughter and chatter filled the air.
“I don’t remember the last time the Beijing Ice Palace was filled with such vitality.”
Bing Xue Han drained a cup of strong spirits in one go as he spoke.
Bing Xue Yan, sitting beside him, kept her eyes on her granddaughters as they played and was too busy applauding to answer, so Dan Mok Cheon Gi responded to his words.
“The sound that children make is the voice of hope and joy, is it not.”
With that miraculous eye for martial principles, Ryeon quickly grasped the secrets of the Ice Skating Art, gliding across the ice as nimbly as if she’d been born on the Beijing Ice Palace’s lake.
Then she performed a spinning trick. The dancing ice particles swirled in a pattern as beautiful as a delicate snowstorm.
Bing Xue Han swallowed an inward cry of admiration. He already knew that his great-great-grandson had accepted the power of the Ice Crystal.
‘But how, in just a single night……’

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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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