The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 34

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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 Family’s Limited-Time Heirloom — Episode 34

It seemed he was pouring all his strength into catching the eye of Tae Heo Jin In and becoming his disciple in full.
While the sword Qi wasn’t yet sharp enough to take visible form, the speed of his sword movements and footwork were anything but ordinary.
But then.
‘This is… working?’
Ryeon glimpsed how the momentum she’d gathered and released carved a deep gouge into the ground.
Of course, Yeop Un’s blade came flying at her immediately, so she had to parry it swiftly.
As his movements and speed grew faster, she predicted his path and guided the strikes where she willed, dispersing the excess force in a yielding fashion—after more than six or seven exchanges like this, Ryeon suddenly had a thought.
What if she could meet this momentum head-on and strike back at the same strength?
The instant that thought took shape, Ryeon’s wooden sword moved at an odd angle, and just as Yeop Un’s blade drew within striking distance, she met it with a perfectly opposing motion—cleaving the momentum away.
Crash!
Tae Heo Jin In’s eyes snapped wide open.
He had lived through countless trials and tribulations; the sparring of young children ought to have felt almost like playtime to him. Yet because it involved Yeop Un, whom he thought of as his own disciple, and the daughter of a departed friend, his emotions stirred in unexpected ways.
That was precisely why he had not dared to expect—much less hope for—the scene unfolding before him now.
The small girl had taken the initiative first, and her sword path was quite skillful. She seemed to understand the Kunlun Sect’s sword technique as if she’d been studying it for a very long time.
He found it rather surprising. They’d had almost no warning of this sparring, yet she’d prepared herself systematically, and though she’d learned only from books, she was holding her own against Yeop Un like this.
But as the exchange between them deepened, Tae Heo Jin In could not remain still—his body kept tensing with anticipation.
He noticed the moment Yeop Un, becoming absorbed in the bout, began to channel his Inner Power, yet he didn’t stop him, because Ryeon caught each strike perfectly, as if she’d been waiting for exactly that.
The girl’s blade held no hesitation. Though she was clearly watching and making judgments with her eyes, there was not a shred of doubt in her flow—every movement was smooth and seamless.
Just as a sparse river of stars has no breaks in it, so too did Ryeon’s blade flow without interruption.
‘She’s… dispersing the momentum?’
Tae Heo Jin In’s eyes narrowed to slits. At the instant her blade met Yeop Un’s, he saw the force carried along that sword path scatter ever so faintly.
It was like the feeling of a river’s waters dispersing as they met the sea.
A few more exchanges and he felt he could unravel exactly how she was doing it, but in that moment the girl’s eyes flashed with sudden light, and her blade shifted into a peculiar form against Yeop Un’s.
It was at that exact instant that Dan Mok Cheon Ki and Tae Heo Jin In both moved—drawing on premonitions honed by years of training.
Crash!
The moment the two men wrapped their arms around the children, both wooden swords shattered into fragments that scattered through the air.
“Yeop Un!”
“Ryeon!”
Dan Mok Cheon Ki cradled Ryeon with one arm while sweeping the other in a gentle arc. The exploding splinters of the wooden sword hung suspended in mid-air for a moment, then—as though time itself were running backward—drifted slowly down to the ground.
‘The Void Grasp Technique……!’
This was Inner Power cultivation approaching the realm of the miraculous. Gasps rippled through the assembled onlookers, and Dan Mok Cheon Ki, seeing the surprise on Tae Heo Jin In’s face, smiled with playful mischief.
“More importantly, the children seem quite startled. Are you both all right?”
“Yes, yes…… I’m fine, but is Master Yeop Un all right?”
Though they had sparred several times back in Seon Gyeong, they’d never ended like this, so Ryeon was deeply shaken. She gazed at Yeop Un’s expression with undisguised alarm.
It had seemed like a good idea to try counterstriking against the Inner Power manifesting outward from a martial artist’s body by meeting it from the opposite direction, but she’d never imagined the weapon wouldn’t be able to withstand the clash and would simply shatter!
A thin line of bright red blood marked Yeop Un’s cheek.
“I told you not to use your Inner Power. Why did you act so rashly, Yeop Un?”
“I… I apologize. I was too eager, and I… I apologize, Miss.”
Yeop Un quickly clasped his hands together in apology. Dan Mok Cheon Ki, observing this, shook his head.
“No. I think it’s this girl who owes an apology, not your son.”
“It was Yeop Un who used his Inner Power first and gave her the opening…….”
“And did you have to meet it so deliberately and create this whole mess? Dan Mok Ryeon, why aren’t you apologizing?”
Ryeon clasped her hands without a word and bowed her head deeply, though Tae Heo Jin In pressed his lips together and barely suppressed a smile.
If you listened carefully to Dan Mok Cheon Ki’s words, the tone was reproachful, but the content was pure pride. ‘Our granddaughter managed to do something like this!’
He’d actually thrown the opponent back with vigor in a bout, and this was supposed to be scolding rather than praise?
But Ryeon, unaware of the meaningful glances passing between Dan Mok Cheon Ki and Tae Heo Jin In, turned toward Yeop Un with an embarrassed expression.
Even she thought she’d been in the wrong. After all, he’d been concentrating, unknowingly using force, and she’d chosen to meet that strength head-on…….
‘I never dreamed the wooden sword would splinter like that, though.’
But there was something gained from it.
It meant counterattacks were possible even against someone with Inner Power. Even if she herself possessed not a shred of cultivation.
“Still, how on earth did…… .”
Yet while Ryeon was grinning and savoring her newfound understanding, Yeop Un stood gazing at the Training Platform where they’d sparred, his face flushed red with bewilderment and shame.
Ryeon recognized that look.
‘Never lost a single match.’
Tae Heo Jin In had been arranging various experiences for him, yet had not formally taken him as a disciple.
He intended to let Yeop Un become the Master’s formal student once they returned to Kunlun Mountain.
With talent as exceptional as his, how could he have ever tasted defeat among his peers? Since taking up the sword, he must have won every contest.
“I…….”
Yeop Un’s face flushed crimson as if he didn’t know what to say, his lips working soundlessly. He seemed almost angry.
“This can’t be…… something must have gone wrong! Let me try again, please let me…….”
“Yeop Un!”
Tae Heo Jin In called his name softly then.
Yeop Un, who had been glancing back and forth between his own hands and Lian, snapped to attention, his face flushing even deeper as he hung his head.
“That was an excellent sparring match.”
“But…….”
“But?”
Yeop Un seemed unable to accept that this had been an ‘excellent sparring match.’ His lips worked for a long moment before he finally forced out words.
“I lost…….”
“Since when did you believe victory was your due?”
Tae Heo Jin In dropped his usual easygoing manner and spoke sharply.
Yeop Un stared at him blankly, then bowed his head deeply. Beside him, Dan Mok Cheon Ki intervened.
“Don’t press the boy so hard, Jin In.”
“Master.”
Tae Heo Jin In lowered his voice. Dan Mok Cheon Ki’s lips moved slightly. It was Sound Transmission Secret Speech.
─ Didn’t you yourself assume that Yeop Un would naturally beat Lian and then teach her?
It was a fair point, and he had nothing to say in return.
“If a martial artist accepts every defeat without resistance, can we truly call that talent? The fire of shame and frustration—that too is a kind of talent.”
Tae Heo Jin In pressed his lips tight. Yeop Un wiped his reddened eyes forcefully and straightened his spine. A belated sense of shame for his behavior washed over him.
“That…… was an excellent match, Miss Lian. I showed you my shortcomings. I…… apologize.”
Now it was Lian’s turn to feel awkward. She thought that if there were only people who applauded a clean loss like this, then this would be a world worth living in.
“No, it’s all right!”
As she waved her hand, Yeop Un seemed to grow even more embarrassed by his own behavior.
Tae Heo—breaking the tension—gave a deliberate cough and approached Lian.
“Ahem! Hem. But…… just now, may I ask exactly how you did that……?”
His tone was very cautious. Even Yeop Un, whose eyes had been red, perked up his ears. Lian nodded readily.
“Just now, at the end of the sword path of the final form that Master Yeop Un used…….”
“The final form of the Tae Cheong Sword. The movement goes like this.”
Tae Heo moved his hand lightly. His sleeve rippled gently in the wind, yet unlike Yeop Un’s, it did not flutter roughly but settled down smoothly. Lian quickly nodded and continued.
“Yes, it seems like a tremendous sword technique. The footwork moves like a dragon floating among clouds, while the sword technique resembles both lightning striking down from those clouds and water flowing down a mountain ridge…….”
Before getting to the main point, Lian voiced her impressions as they came to mind.
Though it was clear that Yeop Un had only recently begun learning both the Tae Cheong Sword and the Cloud Dragon Eight Techniques, even through the tip of his sword, Lian could sense the landscape of Kunlun Mountain.
“Ah! That’s why. The inner power that arose following that sword path felt exactly like…… moving along the terrain.”
Her use of the word “feeling” was, strictly speaking, because Yeop Un hadn’t actually channeled his inner power into the sword—he hadn’t used Sword Qi at all. The momentum had simply arisen naturally following the logic of the sword technique.
“Like looking down from a high place to below. The way water flows downward through a valley, and stones at the peak roll down. To redirect that…… it’s actually difficult. Like climbing a mountain is hard. So I thought, um, more like using a lever to flick a stone upward…….”
“……A lever?”
“Yes. I thought of the sword as a lever, and with the contact point as the fulcrum, I applied force from a little further away to redirect the momentum—that kind of feeling? I thought that if I applied more force toward the flat of the blade rather than the edge, I could redirect it with less effort, but I didn’t expect the wooden sword to break…….”
Tae Heo’s mouth fell open and closed repeatedly.

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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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