The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 30

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

The Final Years of a Fallen Clan — Episode 30

“Ah, you wouldn’t happen to be talking about the Cheong-ryeon-su, would you?”
“Yes! Yes, that’s the one. How difficult would it be to obtain just a single bottle? My boy passed the Provincial Examination—nothing to boast about, I know—but now he has the Tertiary Examination ahead of him, and I hear that elixir works wonders for it. Of course, just because my son uses it doesn’t mean he’ll perform miracles on the Tertiary Examination, but……”
The implication was clear: my son using it won’t threaten your son’s marks, so there’s no need to worry—couldn’t you tell me how to get some?
Gyeon Eon-jo narrowed his eyes and smiled.
“As for you, what couldn’t I give? But the problem is, there’s none in stock right now. Haven’t you heard? My sworn brother’s granddaughter makes it……”
Before Dae-haeng-su could respond, Gyeon Eon-jo rushed to add another thought.
“And even if we had it, it’s not a matter of mere pennies, you see……”
“Would a few pennies be a concern for us?”
A legendary elixir that grants Top Honors Graduation surely can’t cost that little!
Gyeon Eon-jo held up two fingers to indicate the size.
“A bottle this small costs one silver piece.”
Dae-haeng-su mentally calculated the sum for a moment.
Compared to the sums he handled on the battlefield, it was mere pocket change, but it was still enough to keep a servant employed for an entire month.
“But even so, someone’s already offered two silver pieces for it, and there’s another person seeking a batch……”
“Then I’ll offer three silver pieces. Why wouldn’t that work? Or better yet—five pieces for two bottles?”
“Hmm.”
As Gyeon Eon-jo fell silent and tilted his head thoughtfully, Dae-haeng-su leaned in closer with a smile.
“My goodness, you said your niece made this with such care and sincerity, didn’t you? It’s not as though batches of two or three just roll off the shelf. Five pieces for a single bottle should suffice. Of course it will.”
“I’ll speak to my sworn brother about it, but don’t raise your hopes too high.”
Gyeon Eon-jo answered with a subtle smile, and Dae-haeng-su mirrored it just as subtly. The two men’s conversation soon shifted to the celebration in honor of Gyeon Wi-hak’s Top Honors Graduation from the Provincial Examination.

* * *

Wheeeee!
“It came! The sound actually——Oh!”
For the first time, Ryeon—who until now had managed nothing but hollow wheezing sounds while holding the flute to her lips—produced a strong, clear note and sprang to her feet, only to sway as her breath ran out.
Baek-ryeon, the white cat who had been dozing contentedly in Hwa-ryun’s lap, leaped up and tried to steady Ryeon’s legs.
At the same moment, Hwa-ryun caught her left arm, while Danmok Hyeon-u, sitting across from her, sprang up to support her right.
Ryeon leaned on them both for a moment, catching her breath in ragged gasps, then looked up at Danmok Hyeon-u with delight in her eyes.
“Uncle, Uncle! You heard it, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did. To think you’re already producing tones—you must have quite an exceptional talent!”
Danmok Hyeon-u spoke with both pride and genuine sincerity.
Ryeon felt a flush of embarrassment. Hwa-ryun, stroking Baek-ryeon as the cat returned to his lap, seemed to sense her discomfort and let out a soft laugh.
It was nice to be happy about producing a sound, but hearing the word “exceptional talent” spoken to her face made her self-conscious.
“Oh, no. Well…… I just managed to get a sound out. It’s nothing special……”
“Getting a single sound is incredibly difficult. This really is extraordinary! Soon you’ll be able to play ensemble with me.”
“No, that’s absolutely not going to happen.”
Ryeon shook her head firmly. But it seemed Danmok Hyeon-u’s ears weren’t registering a word of it.
He pressed a cup of warm tea into her hands so she could catch her breath, then excused himself to fetch a score book with simpler melodies

and hurried out of the room.
“Ah…… Uncle……”
As Ryeon’s voice trailed after him into the silence, Hwa-ryun, who had been sitting quietly beside her, broke into quiet laughter.
“Won’t Hangju be in an uproar next year when they say Hyang So-ran’s been reborn?”
Hyang So-ran was a master of the Sound Martial Art, a man said to possess the power to kill or save others at will through the playing of his flute. He was said to have ascended to immortality long ago.
But when Ryeon offered no response, Hwa-ryun’s jest fell flat, and he looked uncomfortable.
“I mean, that’s what the medicine master was saying……”
But Ryeon’s silence wasn’t born of offense—she’d been thinking of something else entirely.
“Ryun, would you like to learn the flute too? Or the pipa? The pipa! What do you think of the pipa?”
Wasn’t it said that music education in childhood cultivated the spirit?
That was what Ryeon was after now. It wouldn’t do for only her to learn the flute. She’d spent some twenty years in this world and the only blood she’d ever spilled was her own when coughing it up—but that wasn’t true for him, was it? Still, if he learned from childhood, things could be different.
‘Could be……different, right?’
Hwa-ryun quickly pulled his hand away.
“Ah, seriously. Sister.”
“If you don’t like the Pipa, what about the Seven-String Guqin?”
Hwa-ryun, still seated, slowly edged backward.
“I’m confident I can listen to you play, Sister.”
“You’re really not interested at all? Think about it carefully. Wouldn’t it be fun to perform together? I’ll play the Flute and you play the Pipa.”
“But isn’t the Pipa supposed to be something Uncle plays? He’s the Greatest Master Under Heaven. The two of you should play together.”
“Then the Seven-String Guqin.”
“My fingertips might hurt.”
Baek-ryeon pressed her forehead briefly. It was difficult to accept that this boy, who claimed his fingertips would ache from plucking strings, had once risen to the rank of Minor Sect Leader at the Macheong Sect.
‘Is that wrong? Or is it actually good? That he now complains his fingers hurt instead of wanting to play the guqin?’
“Did you ask Bi-a what she wanted to learn?”
“Her fingers haven’t fully developed yet.”
“No, her fingers are already grown. They all are…….”
Hwa-ryun spoke with an expression of exasperation. Baek-ryeon moved both hands this way and that, gauging the sizes of the Seven-String Guqin and the Pipa, then nodded.
“I’ll have Bi-a learn the Pipa.”
Just as Hwa-ryun was about to burst into laughter, Jeong-yeong and Steward Gang-rip came running from a distance, their faces pale.
Baek-ryeon sensed the shift in the air and rose from her seat.
“Young Mistress! Young Mistress. I believe you need to go to Wol-yeong-jae right away.”
“What’s happened?”
As Jeong-yeong draped Baek-ryeon’s outer robe over her shoulders, Hwa-ryun lifted his gaze toward the distance. The boy’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Sister, we have a visitor.”

* * *

“From the Geum Jang?”
Gang-rip stood silently, his face revealing no emotion, though Jeong-yeong’s expression carried some concern. Baek-ryeon unfolded the letter that Danmok Cheon-gi extended toward her.
“So… you’re saying Geum Jong-ha, the eldest son of the Geum Jang’s master, is requesting instruction? From me?”
“Technically from the Danmok Clan…….”
But there was only Baek-ryeon in the clan who matched that boy’s age. She pursed her lower lip, lost in thought.
The Geum Jang was, to be honest, no different from her father’s mortal enemy.
If the Geum Jang had not insisted on a Martial Duel with Danmok Hyeon-seong back then, perhaps her father would still be alive.
Danmok Hyeon-seong, who had fought the then-Geum Jang master, had ultimately died after that duel.
Baek-ryeon’s brows furrowed deeply as she gripped the letter with both hands.
This had never happened before. Relations with the Geum Jang were ambiguous—enemies who pretended not to know each other.
“Well. I suppose I must accept.”
“But Young Mistress…….”
Gang-rip’s words trailed off. Geum Jong-ha, the eldest son of the Geum Jang’s master, would soon turn ten.
The prosperous Geum Jang master had naturally treasured him, raising him well on every conceivable tonic, and he was already a boy renowned throughout the region for his talent.
How could Danmok Baek-ryeon, who had only just recovered from her sickbed and learned the clan’s Sword Technique once, possibly hold her own against him?
“There’s no way to refuse anyway. And there’s no one else in the clan who could face him.”
In the Martial Arts Realm, a Renowned Martial Clan could avoid a duel only through earthquakes, floods, or perhaps a locust plague. So she had no choice but to accept. Just as her father had.
‘Unexpectedly clever, this granddaughter.’
Danmok Cheon-gi had achieved Enlightenment!
The former Greatest Master Under Heaven, the master who had saved the Martial Arts Realm, had advanced to a new realm despite his wounds. Now the Danmok Clan had only the path of promised restoration ahead.
No one would dare challenge Danmok Cheon-gi so recklessly now, but for the eldest granddaughter who had hidden away and whose face no one in Hangju had seen—the matter was different.
They might have thought it worthwhile to test her once.
“Can you do it?”
Danmok Cheon-gi asked quietly, his hand tucked into his sleeve.
Baek-ryeon thought his eyes looked as though they were laughing mischievously.
Since the day Danmok Cheon-gi had achieved Enlightenment, a strange bond had flowed between these two—one that held an unspoken secret.
“I can.”
“Then it’s settled. Have a letter sent fixing the date.”
Gang-rip looked at Baek-ryeon with worried eyes before rising to compose the reply.
In that moment, Baek-ryeon’s gaze went beyond the letter. The characters blurred but remained unmistakable—the very handwriting that had brought her here from the netherworld itself was speaking.

[Practice with Wooden Practice Swords can be conducted.]

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