The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 203

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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 Declining Clan’s Limited Lifespan — Episode 203

Ryeon waved her hand with a smile.
“Enough, enough! No Cultivation Training today.”
“Pardon?!”
“Deputy Commander! It’s because the Commander prepared that palanquin that the young lady’s feelings are hurt, isn’t it!”
“Ah, no — that was the Commander’s idea! Young lady! We’ll prepare something else instead of the palanquin, so please!”
“No, it’s just that you mustn’t overdo it, so I’m saying there’s no training. Today you should rest well.”
“But…….”
The Cheon Rang Division knew their departure day was drawing near, and it showed in their faces — as if each word of kindness from Ryeon was too precious to waste.
Ryeon smiled broadly and produced a bundle of papers she’d kept prepared.
“So I wrote down some things I thought might be good to look over while resting.”
“Gasp! Young lady…… Oof!”
Someone had started to speak thoughtlessly before taking an elbow to the ribs and hastily clamping their mouth shut. The warriors who’d carried the palanquin also abandoned it halfway and their eyes gleamed with excitement.
She distributed one sheet to each person present, gathered the papers for those absent, and handed them to Deputy Commander Ak Hwa.
“Young lady…… I don’t know how to repay such kindness…….”
“It helps me too!”
Carefully observing and contemplating another’s Martial Arts Mastery was itself invaluable experience. It was like having a second person for the Sword Discussion she had to conduct alone.
Moreover, ever since the Cheon Rang Division returned, they were essentially walking bundles of Luck Points.
And right now, Ryeon was glad to have something to do and to stay busy.
The members of the Cheon Rang Division clutched the papers like treasure, bowed respectfully to Ryeon and Dan Mok Cheon Gi, and turned to leave.
Ryeon glanced up at her grandfather’s face.
It was etched with worry and love.
“……Are you all right?”
“Yes? Of course! Though it was a bit surprising.”
She hadn’t expected to see Gok Ju’s face.
‘I couldn’t even see Gok Ju’s information…….’
It was just like the first time she’d seen Hwa Ryun.
“There’s no need to worry too much. The elders of the Ma Cheon Gyo said they wounded him severely.”
Ryeon composed her complicated expression. The fact that those elders had once stood on the same front as Dan Mok Cheon Gi against Blood Coral Valley had startled Dan Mok Hyeon Yo so much that she didn’t know what to do with herself.
— Those people…… rather, those respected elders made such a fuss about finding my daughter and niece that I simply followed out of confusion…….
It was less following and more pursuing. She’d even pointed fingers and cursed at her father’s former comrade. Dan Mok Cheon Gi had laughed heartily and praised Dan Mok Hyeon Yo.
“Grandfather, what I’m concerned about is…… Blood Coral Valley seemed to be searching for something. They said they were looking for a Spirit Elixir, but they didn’t even seem to know what it really was. What if they didn’t come on incorrect information about the Spirit Elixir’s existence, but rather came chasing some kind of spiritual aura, and that something was perhaps…….”
Me?
Ryeon swallowed the last words. She remembered Seon Un Sin Ui’s warning never to speak of it even to the beast she would raise.
That caution was born from fear that while confiding in a pet, someone else listening nearby might overhear.
Though no one could draw close enough to eavesdrop on Dan Mok Cheon Gi’s energy sense.
“On the day I was born, Blood Coral Valley attacked the Dan Mok Clan. And at Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon, and now again…….”
The White Sand Sword had been tracking separately in waiting, and the pursuit that ended when Gok Ju finally appeared — both had been directed at where she was.
“……I cannot deny it may be so.”
Dan Mok Cheon Gi answered honestly.
“I suspect the Master of Blood Coral Valley possesses a mystical object capable of tracking his intended target.”

“He called it the Divine Direction Needle.”
“A tool to find the direction of spiritual power…….”
Dan Mok Cheon Gi sighed at how such a thing had come into that man’s possession, yet regarded his granddaughter with grave eyes.
“Whatever he intended, whatever his thoughts — none of it is your fault. Don’t burden yourself with useless worries.”
“……Yes.”
Ryeon nodded slightly. But there was one more strange thing.
“Grandfather, but…… the way those Blood Demons behaved was odd…….”
“We shall understand that in time.”
Ryeon opened her lips then closed them again. The fact that Blood Demons would harm each other was something Dan Mok Cheon Gi found strange as well.
So why was it only she who had encountered Blood Coral Valley twice and witnessed such a thing both times?
One coincidence could be explained, but two?
“Don’t trouble yourself with pointless thoughts.”
Ryeon bit down hard on her lip.
Gok Ju spoke as though he’d divined exactly what the Divine Direction Needle had truly been pointing to, then left.
As if it had been Hwa Ryun all along. As if he would pursue Hwa Ryun from this moment forward.
Why had Hwa Ryun done it? Why had she stepped into his path, why had she tacitly accepted Gok Ju’s reasoning as correct?
What gain was there in that?
Ryeon would be safer for a time, yes—but in the meantime, Ma Cheon Gyo would bear that danger. Hwa Ryun would bear it.
Hwa Ryun’s calculation was strange.
But there was no one here to ask.
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo had noticed that the servant child Ryeon cherished was gone. She’d offered to send search parties since the girl was family, but Ryeon had refused.
She’d said she would find a new servant once they returned to the clan, but Ryeon had shaken her head at that too.
‘Sand slips through the palm of your hand.’
A saying she’d heard long ago in an old shrine came back to her. She’d thought she was holding it tight, but she hadn’t been. And that hurt.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi, perceiving whom Ryeon was thinking of, reached over and stroked her hair.
Heuk Dam and Baek Dam had come this far and fought alongside them against Blood Demons before vanishing without trace. Ryeon’s servant had done the same.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi, who knew well the uncommon spirit of that boy, suspected the child had headed toward Tian Shan with the elders, where Ma Cheon Gyo would be.
And he knew that Ryeon understood this as well.
“Every person has their proper place in the world.”
“…Grandfather.”
“Each finds different clothes that suit them, each seeks a different place. Neat garments and warm weather fit no one equally well.”
Ryeon conjured Hwa Ryun’s youthful face, then only her lips moved silently before her shoulders sagged.
When she thought back on it, Hwa Ryun had never left any opening. She’d refused the formal adoption into the clan, refused even a new set of clothes.
From the very beginning, she must have been planning to leave far away.
The clan name Ryeon had wanted to give her, the new clothes, perhaps even a future—these were things Hwa Ryun already possessed.
She would have gone. No words, no affection, no gesture could have held her back. Nothing at all could have.
Thinking it through that way, strength drained from her shoulders.

— Sometimes, knowing that there was nothing you could do becomes its own strength.

It was something she’d heard in that old shrine. She’d thought it was meant for her grandmother, but had it been meant for her?
Then Dan Mok Cheon Gi patted Ryeon’s shoulder and smiled faintly.
“Your friends seem to be arriving. This old man will go on ahead.”
“I’m sorry?”
Ryeon started to ask, but Dan Mok Cheon Gi rose without answering.
Not long after, a small voice called out from beyond the courtyard wall.
“Ryeon!”
It was Moyong Seol Ho, trailing servants behind him.
“I came to eat some.”
“Um…?”
The servants, looking bewildered, brought a brazier and a basket of sweet potatoes, setting them down carefully in the courtyard of Ryeon’s quarters.
“It tasted so good back then.”
“Right, it did……”
Ryeon was mentally retracing whether the sweet potatoes they’d roasted at Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon had really been that delicious when she caught the furtive look in Seol Ho’s eyes and realized that wasn’t the point.
A few breaths later, Dan Mok Seong appeared with an awkwardly stiff manner.
“What? Sneaking something like this in the middle of the night? What are you doing?”
“We came all this way……”
“Well, just this once. Be careful with the fire. We had a forest fire already, remember.”
“……”
Dan Mok Seong and Moyong Seol Ho exchanged awkward lines like actors in a play.
Ryeon was so startled by their obvious charade that she stared in blank surprise before nearly laughing.
They must have plotted this together when they noticed her spirits had fallen. She felt a little embarrassed—had it shown so plainly on her face?
“Well then, shall we roast some sweet potatoes?”
As Ryeon smiled and answered, both their expressions lit up at once.
It was a summer night with cicadas droning ceaselessly.
The brazier scattered sparks with sharp pops, embroidering red light against the black night before dimming and flaring again.
As the children placed the sweet potatoes on the brazier, they began to chatter.
“People in the clan are all excited, saying the Cheon Rang Division has gotten so much stronger than before. You did that, didn’t you?”
“Huh?”
Feeling a little embarrassed and wanting to play ignorant, Dan Mok Seong stepped in boldly.
“Who else would have? We’re alive because of what you did.”
“No, it’s just that, Seong…….”
“Beijing Ice Palace has it good. Ryeon being the Palace Master’s great-grandchild and all—a whole martial division grows overnight.”
“Hmph, the Dan Mok Clan has it best, really. We’ve got Ryeon as our young mistress…….”
Dan Mok Seong caught herself mid-sentence, swallowing the words in a rush. Moyong Seol Ho’s eyes narrowed slightly, but Dan Mok Seong quickly steered the conversation elsewhere.

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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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