The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 40

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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 Withered Lineage’s Limited-Time Remedy — Episode 40

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Standing opposite Yeon on the Martial Arts Arena was Geum Jonghá, a boy with an impressive build. Beside him, Yeon—recovered from the sickbed and grown reasonably sturdy—looked almost fragile by comparison.
‘What on earth did this boy eat to grow so tall? Has he hoarded every good thing in the world?’
Yeon grumbled internally while maintaining an outwardly serious expression, eyes fixed on the opponent.
Geum Jonghá, too, wore a look of intensity—his fair face furrowed with determination between the brows.
Tae Heojin-in stood between them. Though he had come as a guest of Danmok Cheon-gi, his rank as elder brother to the sect leader of Kunlun made him the natural choice to oversee the match.
The Martial Arts Match was proceeding smoothly without a hitch, yet for some reason Geum Jonghá kept glancing back and forth between Yeon and his own father with a look of mild bewilderment.
‘What is it?’
His father, Geum Jeokgeol, shook his head with a stern expression—a silent command to focus on the match.
“This is a Martial Arts Match undertaken to gain mutual understanding, not a duel to the death. Therefore, lethal moves are forbidden, as are cowardly tactics. Do not mock your opponent. Face them with straightforward skill.”
The grave warning rang out across the arena with weighty solemnity.
In the same instant, boy and girl gripped their wooden swords and faced each other.
Yeon gazed at Geum Jonghá’s face, recalling the swordcraft of the Geum family that she had studied.
‘The Geum Woo Sword Technique.
A style employing thin blades,
focused on cutting motions—wielding force through momentum to strike in sweeping arcs.’
The spectators had filled every available space.
Yeon briefly considered that if she won decisively here, it might even aid the sale of Blue Lotus Water, and her body trembled slightly.
It was sheer joy.
‘Can I go further still?’
Stars glimmered in Yeon’s eyes. This was a match she could not afford to lose. She drew upon the Keen Eye, Harmony, and even Purification—a technique whose necessity she could not quite define—and took a breath.
At that moment, Geum Jonghá raised his arm and moved.
“Haaah!”
Yet Geum Jonghá’s arm seemed to be pointing not at Yeon but elsewhere. The Keen Eye blazed brilliantly.
‘A blade that circles wide and arrives from an unexpected angle. The greater the force poured into the swing, the stronger the strike becomes—so the opponent encounters the sword coming from an unanticipated direction only when it’s too late to react. As one grows proficient, as experience accumulates, it can become overwhelmingly strong…….’
Yeon twisted her body smoothly. Geum Jonghá’s pupils wavered as he struggled to redirect the blade in his grip.
‘Because it comes from a distance, changing direction is difficult—that’s the weakness. When they say a skilled practitioner becomes overwhelmingly powerful, it means that before mastery is achieved, the technique lacks efficacy.’
Without the wisdom to observe and predict the opponent, such a technique is nearly useless.
Yeon received Geum Jonghá’s wooden blade—weakened by his desperate twisting—and stepped to its side. Her sleeve fluttered, obscuring his vision so cunningly that he flinched.
‘And it excels at offense. But defense—that’s where it falters.’
Once driven onto the back foot, it becomes nearly impossible to recover without either exceptional instinct or grave sacrifice. That was its true weakness.
“Huh, haaah!”
Yeon’s blade moved nimbly, threatening vulnerable points across Geum Jonghá’s guard.

‘What! That is……!’
Tae Heojin-in barely suppressed the urge to leap from his seat. A glance to the side showed that Yeop Un, too, watched the match with wide eyes, unable to look away.
The martial way of Kunlun is modeled on the form of immortals dancing across treacherous mountain peaks. Thus, when a Kunlun swordmaster’s art reaches its pinnacle, the attacker’s feet never once touch the ground throughout the assault.
During those extended periods of airborne time, to maintain bodily control, the Kunlun sect’s practitioners employ nearly every means at their disposal—so much so that they can move even the hem of their garments as though it were another limb.
That movement Yeon had just displayed—subtly fluttering her sleeve to guide and deceive her opponent’s gaze—was the very specialty of Kunlun’s blademasters.
One might dismiss it as merely the light swaying of a collar, yet even the smallest motion carries profound difficulty: to deceive and compel the opponent to move as intended.
It becomes all the more challenging when weapons cross at speeds far exceeding ordinary breath.
And Yeon had done it. Geum Jonghá had fallen completely for the feint.
His blade point veered toward empty space, and the girl—now free—reached his back in merely two steps. Geum Jonghá moved with urgency.
‘That boy’s raw strength is truly remarkable!’
The determination with which he repeatedly twisted the blade’s path to pursue his intent was worthy of praise.
Yet the Geum Woo Sword Technique seemed ill-suited to Geum Jonghá’s build and power. Tae Heojin-in lingered on this thought for only a moment before dismissing it.
It would be impolite to judge whether another house’s heir’s technique truly matched his gifts.
And at that very instant, Yeon arrived at a similar conclusion.
‘This boy would be far better suited to the Dominating Way, I think.’
With such a physique, his mind scarcely needed to labor—Geum Jonghá was the very embodiment of that principle.
“Huaah!”
“Hup!”
Clang!
Yeon barely deflected Geum Jonghá’s blade as it fell toward her crown. She’d anticipated the move and braced herself, but his raw strength was such that her wrist sang with the impact.
Yet Geum Jonghá’s attempt ended there. Yeon pushed his deflected blade smoothly to the right, and while he twisted to recover, she took two swift steps to position herself behind him, pressing her wooden sword against his neck.
“Ah…!”
A gasp erupted from Geum Jonghá’s lips and simultaneously from the crowd watching.
With his rear exposed, defeat was certain.
Yeon kept her breathing measured while holding the wooden sword’s tip steady, unwavering. Sweat beaded on her forehead, plastering strands of hair to her skin.
Geum Jonghá’s shoulders trembled violently as his fingers gripped the hilt.
His face flushed crimson, nearly bursting as he tried to turn around, but he flinched the moment the wooden sword’s tip touched his neck.
At that same instant, Tae Heojin-in leaped lightly onto the Martial Arts Arena, his robes fluttering as he descended. Everyone held their breath at the sound.
Tae Heojin-in studied Yeon and Geum Jonghá for a moment, then seized both their weapons with his hands, pressing them downward as he called out.
“The victor—Danmok Yeon!”
“Uwahhhhh!”
“Waaahhhhh!”
The crowd erupted in cheers and thunderous applause. The only faces that hardened like stone were those of the Geum family.
Geum Jonghá spun to face Yeon, his eyes blazing with indignation and wounded pride.
“Again! We—we go again!”
“What?”
“You used a trick! There’s no way you could’ve beaten me otherwise!”
As jeers began rippling through the crowd, Geum Jonghá’s face turned scarlet.
“Again—another match—”
“Geum Jonghá!”
The sharp rebuke came from Geum Jeokgeol. His harsh tone silenced even those who’d been jeering.
Geum Jonghá stared at him as though betrayed, tears welling in his eyes.
“The match is finished.”
“But Father, I was fighting for you—”
As Geum Jeokgeol’s expression hardened further, Geum Jonghá finally closed his mouth, though the glare he directed at Yeon never wavered.
Yeon merely shrugged. The boy was a scrawny thing, two or three years her junior, so it was no wonder he felt the sting of defeat.
‘I could have shown him the true gap in our strength.’
Yeon jutted out her lower lip in a pout, then made her way down from the Martial Arts Arena with a measured tread.
“So the victor is from the Danmok family after all.”
“It’s no easy feat to overcome such a storied house.”
“And yet, with all that age difference, the Danmok family’s eldest daughter won so decisively!”
“The Crown Prince’s bloodline doesn’t go anywhere, does it.”
“If only the Crown Prince had lived…”
“That’s the fault of the Geum family head—”
“Hey, you there! Keep it down, they’ll hear you.”
Such murmurs continued, overlapping and jumbling until they became an incomprehensible din.
That was when it happened.
Yeon’s vision flashed red, and characters blazed across the empty air before her eyes, appearing almost like a shout.

*Warning! Do not allow spiritual energy to drop below 10!*

‘I know! I know that already!’
During the match, she’d burned through her spiritual energy using the Keen Eye, Harmony, and even Purification—she regretted using that last one—and since she hadn’t started with much to begin with, it had depleted quickly.
The warning appeared alongside a wave of dizziness. To be honest, it wasn’t just the exhaustion making her lightheaded; it was the terrible thought that after winning so decisively, if she collapsed here, how humiliating would that be? That fear alone threatened to double her vision at the edges.
Suddenly, hands grabbed both her arms.
The force was so strong it lifted Yeon briefly off her feet.
“Yeon…!”
“What do you people think you’re—”
An angry voice cut in from the side. Yeon slowly tried to regain her balance, turning toward the source of the outburst.
Her right arm was being held by Danmok Cheon-gi, while her left was gripped by Geum Jeokgeol, whose face had gone an ashen gray.
Cold sweat beaded his forehead—he wore an expression as though someone had just run a blade through his heart. Anyone observing might have thought Yeon was Geum Jeokgeol’s own ailing daughter.
“If the child was in poor condition, you should have cancelled the match! How can you be the same now as you were then, not changing one bit—!”
Geum Jeokgeol’s voice cracked with emotion as he shouted, then trailed off mid-sentence.
Danmok Cheon-gi regarded him with an expression of pure bewilderment.
Geum Jeokgeol seemed to regain his senses upon seeing that look.
“What… what are you saying right now?”

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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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