The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 193

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Declining Clan’s Limited Lifespan — Episode 193

Cheong Sa Geom’s end was identical to Jeok Sa Geom’s.
And as Cheong Sa Geom’s neck was severed, Huk Sa Geom seized the moment, his eyes burning crimson, and swung his blade toward Dan Mok Cheon Gi.
“Hraaaagh!”
Clang-clang-clang-crash!
Steel met steel in a violent collision, sparks erupting between them.
As Dan Mok Cheon Gi deflected Huk Sa Geom’s Sword Energy, the stray blast tore across a Blood Coral Valley blood demon standing nearby.
“Cough!”
The demon fell, a blade wound carved across its back, but Huk Sa Geom didn’t blink—his gaze fixed on Dan Mok Cheon Gi alone, his sword never faltering.
Whoosh-whoosh-whump!
Crash!
Robes fluttered violently as Huk Sa Geom’s blade and Dan Mok Cheon Gi’s crossed again in a vicious collision.
“I will drink your blood and live again!”
Clang-clang-clang!
Crash!
Even as they clashed ferociously, Huk Sa Geom was trying to make sense of the battle’s turn.
‘How is this possible?’
This was not the plan.
While the three of them pinned down Dan Mok Cheon Gi—even if they couldn’t overpower him—the others were supposed to raid the carriage and seize the object. Yet for some reason, neither had Dan Mok Cheon Gi been truly contained, nor had the carriage raid gone as intended.
Cheong Sa Geom and Jeok Sa Geom were already dead, and the martial artists of Blood Coral Valley were like the sea itself—an endless tide that surged forward only to break into foam upon the shore.
Were the warriors of Beijing Ice Palace and the Dan Mok Clan truly this strong?
But the standoff did not last long.
Alone, Huk Sa Geom could not match Dan Mok Cheon Gi’s blade even while his attention was divided.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi’s final move shattered Huk Sa Geom’s sword and drove deep beneath his chin.
“How can this… be….”
“Fool, did you truly think there was no way to contend with you?”
In that moment of desperation, Dan Mok Cheon Gi halted his blade at Huk Sa Geom’s throat and spoke with grave finality.
“Order those men to stand down! And I will spare your life.”
For the first time, terror flickered in Huk Sa Geom’s eyes—then vanished just as swiftly.
“Hah! Those men will never stop until they have slain every last one of you!”
“Do you lack the power to command them?”
Huk Sa Geom’s face twisted at being mocked for his powerlessness.
“They obey only Gok Ju’s command.”
“And what was Gok Ju’s command?”
“To kill every one of you and seize the Spirit Tablets you carry!”
Dan Mok Cheon Gi looked down upon this fool steeped in wickedness. He had never intended to let him live.
“Do you also obey Gok Ju’s command? Even after he deceived you?”
“No! Gok Ju deceived us in nothing! Jeok Sa Geom and Cheong Sa Geom were fools who harbored false suspicions, so they died…….”
“There are no Spirit Tablets.”
Dan Mok Cheon Gi spoke plainly. Huk Sa Geom let out a bitter laugh.
“You grasp at straws to drive us back! But our valor…….”
“Did your vaunted Gok Ju tell you which Spirit Tablet it was?”
“What?”
“The Great Return Pill, the Tae Eul Divine Pill, the Cold Lotus Carp Dumpling, the Tae Cheong Pill—there are countless renowned Spirit Elixirs in the Kangho. Did he ever tell you which one we possess?”
“……!”
“He could not have.”
How could he speak of what does not exist?
These hundreds of blood demons had come this far knowing nothing—only following the word to find a Spirit Tablet.
In that instant, as Huk Sa Geom sensed his final moment approaching, his eyes trembled violently.
If the Dan Mok Clan truly possessed no Spirit Tablet, then Jeok Sa Geom and Cheong Sa Geom had died for nothing—and so would he?
At the end of this vast, hollow farce?
Then what was Gok Ju trying to do? What could he possibly want by turning this mountain into a massive tomb?
“You wretched creature whose life was written only in sin—if there is one kindness in all your years, it is that you came to offer your neck beneath my blade.”
Dan Mok Cheon Gi spoke without emotion and adjusted his grip on the sword.
“Did you think I could manage such a thing? How curious. I wasn’t aware word of my new breakthrough had spread so widely.”
“Ha! I took it for nothing but street gossip circulating through Hang Zhou’s markets! Otherwise, there’s no way the master of Geum Ga Jang could still be alive!”
Huk Sa Geom spat blood. The blade sank deeper because of it, but he showed no concern.
“I never imagined you’d prove such a coward—gaining strength yet refusing even to avenge your own son!”
Dan Mok Cheon Gi looked down at Huk Sa Geom with a face devoid of pity.
“You’ve wasted your entire life smashing the earth and breaking the sky, living in vain until now.”
“What nonsense—”
“You stumble over a stone and curse the earth; you’re caught in a downpour and rage against the heavens. Is there a man more foolish than you?”
“Was your son nothing to you but a stone and a downpour? He weeps in the sky even now.”
Dan Mok Cheon Gi’s eyes went cold and distant.
“I know your whole life. You bump shoulders with everyone in the world, crying that the world hates you—and now that you’ve gained such power, all you can do is kill those whose shoulders you’ve brushed against.”
“You—!”
Huk Sa Geom’s face flushed crimson, but Dan Mok Cheon Gi continued without pause.
“Your heart is no wider than a soy sauce dish. What good is strength that reaches to the heavens when it springs from such a shrunken soul?”
Then he moved the blade.
“Your neck will be severed by Hyeon Seong in the world below.”
Shwack!
Dan Mok Cheon Gi plunged his sword into Huk Sa Geom’s heart, then withdrew it. Blood sprayed across his cheek.
Over three hundred Blood Demons cared not whether the three who’d led them lived or died—their eyes blazed red as they charged mindlessly forward.
They did not flinch when the man beside them fell. They did not hesitate when pierced by steel.
The warriors of the Beijing Ice Palace and the Dan Mok Clan, surrounded by such numbers, looked pressed—yet they held firm, fighting in tight formation around the carriage.
‘That they can hold their own against so many Blood Demons is itself a marvel.’
Every warrior present was performing above their usual station.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi glanced at the carriage his son and daughter were desperately defending.
On this journey, Ryeon had been far more active than usual, moving fluidly among the warriors.
She had sought to share what she knew, had drawn close to those hungry for insight, and had spared no effort in lending them her strength.
‘Was this what she was preparing for?’
It had been Ryeon who insisted on bringing reinforcements from the Beijing Ice Palace.
It was Ryeon who’d attached herself to those warriors, drawing out their potential by any means she could.
This past week of time was keeping those warriors alive.
‘Yet they cannot hold much longer.’
Though it seemed at first glance that the Dan Mok and Beijing Ice Palace warriors were holding steady, their opponents were Blood Demons—all of them radiating internal energy above Master Warrior rank.
These warriors flinched from pain; their enemies knew neither fear nor agony.
When one fell, the next rushed forward. In a prolonged exchange, the disadvantage lay decisively with the living.
“Arrrgh!”
“Fall! You coward!”
“Die! Die! Die!”
Warriors began to fall one by one, bloodied and gasping. All of them were drenched in their own blood.
Then a small window of the carriage creaked open.
“Grandfather! Fire! There’s fire! A wildfire!”
Ryeon’s small hand pointed toward the distance as she cried out. But only a faint form—whether smoke or mist was unclear—could be seen.
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo, wiping her blood-soaked face on her shoulder, hurriedly pushed Ryeon’s hand back inside and closed the window.
In that moment, something flashed across Dan Mok Cheon Gi’s vision. A quick, precise series of light reflections—repeated several times over.
It was one of the mirror signals used by martial artists who’d fought Blood Coral Valley decades past.
In the chaos of war, even when one tried to send messages through Telepathic Transmission, it was often impossible to know where the listener stood.
And what that reflecting light meant was—
‘Fire Technique
!’

Dan Mok Cheon Gi glimpsed, far off among the trees and undergrowth, a figure with dark hair and white—an elderly man—moving between geysers of scarlet blood.
‘Baek Dam and Huk Dam?’
Those martial artists from the Central Lands who’d survived until now were, in the end, all comrades-in-arms.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi himself had once stood shoulder to shoulder with those two men against Blood Coral Valley.
‘What are they doing here?’
It seemed the sparse presence he’d felt intermittently on the road to the Beijing Ice Palace had been them.
Since they appeared so rarely and from such distance, and showed no Killing Intent—

—he’d left them be.
But his hesitation was brief. Followers of Ma Cheon Gyo generally held Blood Coral Valley in utter contempt and loathing, and it appeared they were busy exterminating them even now.
“Father! If Ryeon is right—”
When Dan Mok Hyeon Yo heard the word fire, she moved closer to Dan Mok Cheon Gi.
Though the smoke appeared faint, Dan Mok Cheon Gi began to move without hesitation.
“Ryeon doesn’t speak nonsense, and setting fires with such ruthless methods is nothing short of Blood Coral Valley tradition. Even if the flames seem distant now, they’ll spread rapidly, so we must prepare accordingly.”
One of Blood Coral Valley’s specialties—destroying everything they cannot possess—was the Fire Technique.

Demons willing to burn an entire mountain, heedless that their own allies remained within!
The old scars on Dan Mok Cheon Gi’s body stirred with memory.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————