The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 31

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

The Declining Sega’s Limited-Time Spirit Contract — Episode 31

* * *

“First and foremost, what I need is a fan.”
“A fan…… what?”
Gangnip blinked.
“Yes. And that house’s Geum U Swordsmanship manual.”

Gangnip readily nodded at this request for a martial manual — it was reasonable enough.
Secret martial manuals of major jianghu sects or noble families weren’t something you could easily access, even as a family member, but the foundational martial manuals of old, established schools could be acquired without much difficulty.

This was only natural — as lay disciples multiplied and branch lines sprouted, more people learned those martial arts.
Take the Danmok Sega’s Twelve Falling Star Swords: they taught it to all the family’s hired escorts, so you could get a copy in Hangzhou’s marketplaces for enough silver.

“For the fan, I want white with no patterns or drawings on it.”
“Would a folding fan suit you?”
“Any plain white fan will do.”
Baek Ryeon answered thus and folded the letter that had been sent from the Geum Family.
As the neat letter — likely penned by proxy for someone from the Geum Family — folded together, the overlapping characters scattered.
‘Rolling up my sleeves to peek at them, looking at empty air, checking mirrors — it’s too hard to read. I can’t keep doing that.’
And so she’d hit upon the idea of a fan.
True, a mere eight-year-old holding an open fan would look a bit ridiculous, but carrying around blank paper seemed odd too.
The next day, Gangnip the steward arrived with a white jade fan, its surface carved smooth and round by a craftsman’s hand, and a new, pristine book. The fan was one of the gifts sent from the Mansong Trading Company and looked remarkably precious.

White Jade Fan crafted by an artisan: Spiritual Power capacity 3
You may now inscribe spiritual qi upon it.

‘Wait, I can inscribe spiritual qi just with this fan?’
“Ah! This is wonderful.”
After so many times seeing characters float only on her billowing sleeves or reflected in a mirror where her own face showed through, seeing them appear on such a clean, flat surface brought a satisfied hum to her lips.
“…… You’re…… really that pleased with the fan?”
Hwaryun, standing nearby, watched her with a slightly uncertain expression and asked.
It was rare for Baek Ryeon, who never showed much desire for material things, to display such obvious joy.
Baek Ryeon glanced at Hwaryun, then boldly unfurled the fan.
“Hmm.”
Characters began to ripple across the white surface of the fan.

Hwaryun
Trait: Heavenly Demon Wave Sunyata

/ Partial synchronization failed.
Martial Arts: Partial synchronization failed.
Aptitude and Five Elements: Partial synchronization failed.
Concerns: Partial synchronization failed.

‘Still nothing appearing…… wait?’
Across the white, round fan, only the familiar characters settled into place. Then a strange word caught her eye.
‘Heavenly Demon……?’
She brought the fan close to her face to make sure it was the word she thought it was, but the characters stubbornly refused to change.
“You really do love it.”
“No, wait, I—you——”
Until now, every single synchronization had failed, but for the first time a word appeared in the aptitude descriptor—and of all things, it says Heavenly Demon?
Baek Ryeon’s face drained of color as she looked back and forth between Hwaryun and the fan, then her shoulders slumped.
She had known all along that Hwaryun had something unusual about him during their time together, but she’d come to think he wasn’t a bad child—and now his words felt like a direct refutation of that very thought.
“What? Why are you acting like that? You were so pleased just a moment ago…….”
Hwaryun approached Baek Ryeon’s side and peered at her white jade fan. It was smooth and merely translucent, radiating nothing but a pearlescent white.
“Ah, no, it’s nothing…….”
‘He’s still young! Perhaps it’s just because he hasn’t matured yet.’
Yes, that must be it.
Baek Ryeon unrolled the Geum Family’s basic sword manual with a dejected expression and thought it through.
If Hwaryun was born with something like the aptitude of a Heavenly Demon, then there would need to be more time to change it.
It was around the time when Baek Ryeon, thinking these thoughts privately, set down the fan and had reviewed the Geum Family’s sword manual for perhaps the third time.
“Would you like me to fight in your place instead?”
Baek Ryeon looked up. Hwaryun was leaning against the railing with White Lotus cradled in his arms, gazing out at the landscape beyond while tapping his toes idly.
Perhaps he was tired of merely sitting beside Baek Ryeon; his expression was languid, his chin propped in his hand.
Baek Ryeon glanced briefly at the warrior Jeong Young standing at a distance, then turned back to Hwaryun. The conversation here seemed unlikely to carry to those ears.
“Fight whom? Geum Jongha?”
“Yes.”
“Who would?”
“Me.”
“How? You’ve never wanted to learn martial arts, so you haven’t learned anything.”
“But I’ve seen and heard things. I can manage to some degree.”
“If we’re going by what you’ve seen and heard, then obviously I’d be stronger—wouldn’t I? Than baby Hwaryun?”
At Baek Ryeon’s grinning remark, Hwaryun finally turned his head and looked at her. For some reason, his expression was deeply frustrated.
“More than that Geum Family young master?”
“I’m not sure about that, so that’s why I’m studying now.”
“What if you lose the fight?”
“Then I lose.”
“Ugh, you’re exasperating.”
Hwaryun struck his own chest like an adult and spoke. Baek Ryeon couldn’t help but laugh, but Hwaryun eventually abandoned his lukewarm demeanor and hurried toward her. Yet Baek Ryeon waved her hand to stop him.
“If I lose to Geum Jongha, then Hwaryun, who’s weaker than me, will obviously lose too.”
“I might not lose.”
“How?”
“It doesn’t matter how.”
“Then you could beat me right now?”
“Of course…….”
Hwaryun, who had been about to say something more, suddenly slumped as though a great vessel had sprung a leak and drained completely, his shoulders sagging.
“Fine. Do as you wish, sister.”
“Our Hwaryun—were you worried that your sister might lose?”
Looking at him like this, the worry that had gripped her when she first glimpsed that aptitude descriptor—”Heavenly Demon” or whatever—simply melted away.
Baek Ryeon closed the book she’d been reading and smiled softly, moving closer to Hwaryun.
Hwaryun made a disgruntled face but did not push her away. Instead, he allowed her to roughly tousle his hair and muss it as she pleased. Only Baek Ryeon laughed openly with delight.
‘That’s right! Whatever he becomes in the future, whatever this aptitude thing is—what does any of it matter? The truth is he’s such a good child.’
The remarkably perceptive Hwaryun may well have sensed that if he, as the firstborn of the family, were to suffer defeat in this martial challenge, the Danmok Sega’s name would falter here in Zhejiang Province.
It seemed he thought it would be better if she, a servant, went out and fought in his stead instead.
Baek Ryeon ruffled Hwaryun’s hair vigorously and tried to embrace him tightly, but at that he grimaced and fled.
Baek Ryeon’s bright laughter rang out.

* * *

That evening, a strange guest arrived at the Sega. There was a man called Taeheo Jinin, dressed in tattered robes with oddly fluttering sleeves, and a young Daoist.
“Taeheo Jinin? Who is he?”
At Baek Ryeon’s question, both Jeong Young and her nurse wore expressions of bewilderment. It was clear they didn’t know who he was.
Still, it was certain that these visitors had come from very far away, and Danmok Cheongi, who had seen them, seemed delighted.
“People say he appears to be from the Kunlun Sect…….”
Hwaryun, standing beside Baek Ryeon, stiffened slightly. Baek Ryeon turned with a questioning look, but Hwaryun simply made a face as if to ask why she was staring at him, so she tilted her head and headed toward the Reception Hall.
In the Reception Hall, the entire family had already gathered. Wi Jicheong, who was inside, rushed out the moment he saw Baek Ryeon and lifted her into his arms, then set her down in embarrassment when he remembered the guest.
“My, how the young lord holds onto her! Had this been Kunlun Mountain, all would have named her a prodigy and placed her upon an altar to be revered.”
The guest, Taeheo Jinin, spoke in a soothing, playful manner to Wi Jicheong.
Baek Ryeon bowed politely while studying him carefully. In her past life, she had never received such a visitor.
“Baek Ryeon, greet him properly. This is Taeheo Jinin of the Kunlun Sect. He is your grandfather’s old friend.”
“It has been so long…… Oh? Friends, you say? I cannot accept such an honor, Elder!”
Taeheo Jinin started in surprise, his sleeves fluttering as he swept both hands through the air. The fabric of his robes was so long it dragged upon the ground, yet not a single teacup on the table trembled.
“When two souls understand each other and walk the great path together, what else would you call them but friends?”
Taeheo Jinin’s lips quivered slightly. Baek Ryeon glimpsed the true nature of their connection.
Long ago, it seemed — during the Eastern Lake Blood Incident when Danmok Cheongi had led the charge — they had walked that blood-soaked road together.
“I am honored to meet you, Taeheo Jinin. I am Danmok Baek Ryeon.”
Baek Ryeon pressed her palms together and bowed low. Taeheo Jinin broke into a smile broad as a basin, his head nodding in succession.
“How you have grown. Time moves so swiftly indeed.”
As he spoke, a strange expression crossed his face — wistful, bitter, and aggrieved all at once.
“That even her own age should remain unknown to the world…”
“Enough of such talk. What good comes from dwelling on it now?”
Danmok Cheongi tapped the armrest of his chair lightly, cutting off Taeheo Jinin’s words.
“But tell me — what brings you here after so many years?”
“Ha… well, one dawn I found myself seized by an inexplicable longing to pay my respects to you, Elder. So here I am.”
“Ten thousand li from Kunlun Mountain, yet you came for that alone?”
“Indeed, that is precisely so.”
“No one would fault you for not making such a journey.”
“That is true as well. And yet…”
Taeheo Jinin smiled faintly, as if bewildered by his own heart.
“And yet I thought — should a man not sometimes heed such promptings? So I had no choice but to come.”

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