The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 197

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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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Falling Martial Family’s Limited Lifespan — Episode 197

“To be precise, I wasn’t looking for your daughter and niece!”
“That’s right! We had no intention of harming those children!”
In that moment, a thunderous crash echoed across the mountainside, followed by another, and another.
Somewhere nearby, stones tumbled down in a roar—it seemed as though a rockslide had broken loose. In that same instant, the faces of everyone standing there went pale.
“That madman’s wild swing triggered this rockslide!”
“Why didn’t you kill him faster? What were you doing?”
Heuk Dam and Baek Dam rounded on Dan Mok Hyeon Yo with accusations, stamping their feet in frustration. They had no idea where the children had gone, and now they couldn’t even pursue them.
“The divination cup… Let’s consult the divination cup!”
“Ah!”
The two old men exchanged a glance, chuckled as though they’d hit upon a brilliant idea, and quickly fished a cup from their robes.
Just then, rain began to fall. One drop, then another, until the drizzle became a downpour and the cup began to fill.
The moment something gleamed inside it—as if light had refracted through crystal—Heuk Dam and Baek Dam launched themselves into the air and vanished at dizzying speed.
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo and the martial artists standing there couldn’t follow such pace.
Yet they couldn’t simply abandon them, not knowing what those two intended.
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo spat out a mouthful of blood, then straightened her back.
Enemies or not, their destination was the same—there was only one thing to do.
“Pursue them!”

* * *

……
……
……
It was the first time Ryeon, Dan Mok Seong, and Hwa Ryun had watched a boulder the size of a small hill roll past their very eyes, so all three fell silent for a moment.
A tree lodged into the mountainside had barely caught and held them.
Once Ryeon had caught her breath, she examined the condition of the two children and the cat. Fortunately, all three bore nothing worse than minor scrapes.
“Auntie really is strong……”
“Did… Mother win?”
That was when it happened.
Crack!
“Huh?”
The tree roots that had been sheltering them began to emit an ominous sound. The ground trembled beneath them, and dirt rained down from above.
Hwa Ryun glanced around and spoke.
“The falling rocks have damaged the tree—it looks like it’s going to be uprooted entirely……”
But weren’t they sheltering inside these roots? If the tree fell…?
“What… what do we do?”
A sheer cliff lay directly beneath their feet, roots cradled them above, and escape meant jumping sideways to either side.
Looking down made her throat go dry. Vegetation clung to the mountainside thick enough that a fall might not be instantly fatal, but serious injury seemed inevitable.
Yet there was no time for deliberation. Another sharp crack rang out as the tree began to tilt slowly sideways, and the root they clung to started to rise on one end.
“W-wait… wait, Seong! That tree! Jump to that tree!”
Beside the cliff, a sturdy branch hung low enough for a child to grab.
Crack!
As the wood splintered loudly, Ryeon turned to Dan Mok Seong and spoke rapidly.
“Seong! Get ready!”
“R-ready?!”
“Three! Two! One!”
The moment she cried “One,” she pushed Dan Mok Seong forward.

Luck has been consumed!
Luck Points: 13/240 (2▼)

Dan Mok Seong leaped reflexively, caught the thick branch with her hands, and barely managed to pull herself up onto it, gasping for breath and drenched in sweat.
Ryeon exhaled with relief. In that moment, the stone and earth around the root began to crack and crumble, and the ground lurched beneath them.
Ryeon’s eyes darted about frantically. It seemed unlikely that both people remaining on the tree with Dan Mok Seong could make it up.
“Ah! There! A bit farther, but!”
That way led toward the tree roots. It was lower and therefore farther, but no other option seemed visible.
“Sister first, quick—!”
“Hwa Ryun and Baek Ryeon, get ready! Three, two, one!”
“Are you insane?”
Ryeon didn’t even listen to what Hwa Ryun was about to say—she trusted the Luck Points and his talent, shoving him first.
Hwa Ryun moved with such fluid grace that it seemed impossible he’d been pushed at all, leaping to catch a tree root with one hand while bracing his leg against a protruding stone in the cliff face, then hoisting Baek Ryeon upward with his other arm before hanging by both hands.
— Yow-owwww!
Behind Baek Ryeon’s urgent cry, Hwa Ryun turned to Ryeon with an astonished expression.
“Sister!”
“I’m coming too!”
With the sound of earth splitting, the tree groaned and toppled, and in that same instant, Ryeon launched herself upward.

Luck has been consumed!
Luck Points: 12/240 (1▼)

As the massive tree fell behind her and plunged over the Cliff, sweat streamed down Ryeon’s spine.
Thud-bang, crack-crunch, tumble-tumble, crash-boooom!
The tree where the three had briefly sheltered struck the ground, and dust billowed up in a thick cloud.
“Huh—huh…?”
Before the dust had even settled, the entire mountainside seemed to hum and groan in response to the great tree’s impact.
Crack-crackle!
“Huh—huh….”
And before Hwa Ryun could even finish speaking, Ryeon saw soil clumps dropping away from the exposed part of the tree root where she and Hwa Ryun were hanging.
The weight of two children seemed more than it could bear.
“Rye—Ryeon!”
Dan Mok Seong, barely having made it to safety, cried out in a voice like a scream.
“Seong, stay there! Don’t come down! Hwa Ryun! You go up first! Climb up and—!”
That was the moment.
“■■■…….”
Hwa Ryun muttered something harsh under his breath, barely audible, then turned to Ryeon with an expression full of irritation.
His movement seemed oddly slow somehow.
And without hesitation, Hwa Ryun let go.
As cleanly as if he’d never clung to anything at all.
In that fraction of a moment, Ryeon tried to comprehend what she’d just witnessed. She couldn’t believe it.
Why had Hwa Ryun let go? What was he thinking? What did he mean to do?
And before she could blink even once, Ryeon let go as well and threw herself after him.
“Sister, you’re insane, ugh!”
Even as she fell, Ryeon grabbed Hwa Ryun and pulled him close, wrapping around him.

Luck has been consumed!
Luck Points: 8/240 (4▼)

“Unnngh! Wait a second!”
“You really are insane!”
“That’s you!”
“■■■, even I think I’m insane!”

Luck has been consumed!
Luck Points: 4/240 (4▼)

Luck has been consumed!
Luck Points: 0/240 (4▼)
All Luck Points have been expended!

‘Depleted…! Thank goodness it’s raining, but did I really have to burn through all my Luck Points right then?’
Still, Ryeon counted herself fortunate that they’d made it this far, that they’d fallen safely at all—and that was the moment her eyes squeezed shut.

Spirit Energy has been consumed instead of Luck!
Spirit Energy: 70 / 120 (20▼)
As the flux of Spirit Energy widens, the burden on your body increases. Be cautious.

‘Heavenly deities! I’ll bear it! I’ll bear it!’

Spirit Energy consumed instead of Luck!
Spirit Energy: 45 / 120 (25▼)

Spirit Energy consumed instead of Luck!
Spirit Energy: 20 / 120 (25▼)

In what felt like the blink of an eye yet stretched into eternity, the Spirit Energy burned like paper in flames.
Unlike Luck, which drew on reserves of borrowed power, this depleted her actual essence—a force with no true substance—and it was hacked away in great, ragged chunks, barely holding back the worst of the damage.
When the Spirit Energy finally dropped to ten, a single ornament that had hung from Ryeon’s hair throughout the chaos—miraculously never falling—shattered with a sharp crack, scattering into fragments.

Stored Spirit Energy consumed instead of Luck!

She barely rolled clear of a jagged stone outcrop.
“Ahhhhh!”
As she tumbled down the Cliff, Ryeon desperately threw her arms around Hwa Ryun, trying to shield her.
When Ryeon drew the Spirit Energy out directly, such things never happened—but when she had to burn through so much so quickly, the jade and gemstones shattered and fell to pieces.
The same must be happening to her body as well.

Stored Spirit Energy consumed instead of Luck!
Stored Spirit Energy consumed instead of Luck!
Stored Spirit Energy consumed instead of Luck!

‘Nam Craftsman! Thank you! Thank you! If I make it back alive, I’ll carry you on my back for a full loop around the Estate!’
“Ngh!”
But even the reserves of Spirit Energy that Nam Craftsman had helped her build were gone.

Luck and Spirit Energy depleted.
Luck and Spirit Energy depleted.
Luck and Spirit Energy depleted.

Ryeon, who had not shed a tear until now, felt the sting of it suddenly threatening to spill over.
Seon-gyeong’s voice shot out in urgent succession, bright and red as if written in haste with a syringe, but how could Luck and Spirit Energy simply reappear when they were already gone?
Soil and stone, tree roots and thorns scraped past her sides. Each moment Ryeon could not control, Hwa Ryun desperately shifted the angle, changing direction to shield her.
‘Hwa Ryun, hold on somehow…!’
It was then.

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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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