The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 44

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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 House’s Limited Elixir — Chapter 44

At the moment Dan Mok Hyeon Seong’s daughter wavered at the end of that martial competition, the nightmare of that day pierced through Geum Jeok Geol’s skull like a skewer.
He could not help but cry out—what kind of righteousness and chivalry of the martial world forced even a sick child onto the competition stage? Was this truly necessary?
Geum Jeok Geol gazed quietly at Dan Mok Hyeon Seong’s ancestor tablet, then closed his eyes. The tablet remained silent.
No lightning struck. The earth did not tremble. No accusing voice echoed from the heavens to condemn him.
Only stillness remained—deep enough that he could hear the incense burning in the ancestral shrine.
Geum Jeok Geol swallowed the many words that rose in his throat. He swallowed too the question of whether he harbored regret.
How could he not regret, having burned every precious moment he might have spent with his family to prove himself?
“Do you hold no resentment?”
Geum Jeok Geol asked.
The question, with its target unnamed, hung unspoken between them; Wi Ji Cheong stepped forward and lit incense, then watched the smoke rise in silence.
“How could one live without some resentment? Yet it is bearable.”
Wi Ji Cheong did not say toward whom his resentment was directed. The incense burned for a long time.

* * *

“This must be what blessing in disguise means.”
Gyeon Eon Jo spoke while clapping his hands.
Having observed the entire martial competition, Gyeon Eon Jo had spent it struggling not to show his anxiety, and afterward, once Ryeon won with ease, he had to work equally hard not to grin.
After the Geum Family Estate people departed, he gravely watched the three of them—Ryeon, the boy who claimed to be her servant, and the young Taoist novice of the Kunlun Sect—chatting together in one corner of the inner courtyard.
“Could it be that an immortal truly raised her and then released her?”
“What nonsense are you spouting now?”
Dan Mok Cheon Ki’s tone suggested the remark was absurd, yet even with eyes downcast and lips pressed firmly together, he could not entirely conceal the satisfaction brimming beneath.
“Do you know how Geum Jeok Geol raises his only son? The Elixir that children his age normally consume—the Geum Family Estate has likely drained all of it.”
“Is that so?”
“Since he hasn’t awakened his Heart Method yet, there is said to be enough inner strength within him to rival a young dragon.”
Yet against such a boy, Ryeon had won as effortlessly and plainly as a master teaching a small child.
Dan Mok Cheon Ki cleared his throat, struggling to suppress the satisfaction that swelled his chest.
“So is that why you speak of immortals and such? Forget that—tell me instead about your third son. Hasn’t he gone to sit for the metropolitan examination? Do you have time to dawdle here?”
“He sits the examination, not I. I merely provide the funds—my part is done.”
Yet even as he said it, Gyeon Eon Jo’s face beamed with uncontained pride.
To pass the provincial examination with top honors would be glory for generations to come—but to achieve first rank in the metropolitan examination!
What father could hear such praise of his child and not overflow with joy?
“And if he truly manages to place in the metropolitan examination as well—what then? If the boy decides to leave Hangzhou and serve as an official in Beijing, it would be throwing good money after bad. Though I doubt he’d even consider such a thing.”
Dan Mok Cheon Ki burst into hearty laughter at this boastful yet self-deprecating display of paternal pride.
“How wonderful for Ryeon—she gains an uncle in Beijing. Let the boy do as he will and be done with it!”
“Is it only you who gains pleasure from this, sir?”
Gyeon Eon Jo indulged himself thoroughly in bragging about his son, then slowly straightened his posture. Speaking of sworn brothers and children had been deeply enjoyable, but it was not his true purpose.
“So—have you heard that Cheong Ryeon Soo sales have surged dramatically?”
He had heard. He knew his granddaughter had been bustling about all week in excitement, manufacturing the stuff and delivering it, but Dan Mok Cheon Ki merely cleared his throat and feigned ignorance.
“Should the household stir over a minor goods trade item from an apothecary?”
“This is no mere apothecary item—it is something the child made with her own hands in this family. And that little thing is selling in staggering quantities. The ranking of wealthy merchants in Hangzhou is about to shift.”
“To that extent?”
“This is exactly why one cannot discuss money with martial world folk……”
Gyeon Eon Jo clicked his tongue playfully, then his expression turned serious.
“If word spreads that drinking Cheong Ryeon Soo increased inner strength by a full level, wouldn’t every martial practitioner in the world come running? Among those preparing for the civil service examinations, it has become something of an elixir. Naturally it sells tremendously.”
“But such effects are not truly real, are they?”
“Not real? My own son used it and achieved first rank in the provincial examination, did he not? What medicine in this world clarifies the mind, eliminates wandering thoughts, grants sound sleep when you need it, and ensures wakefulness when you must wake? Does such a thing exist?”
“Not everyone can achieve first rank simply by using it.”
“That is the fault of the user, not the medicine. And besides, Cheong Ryeon Soo had long been rumored to be a panacea. Our counting house clerks and shop managers have already purchased it by the crate.”
Gyeon Eon Jo spoke with facile eloquence. Dan Mok Cheon Ki shook his head and changed the subject.
“But it grows expensive and precious—aren’t people ordinarily giving up on it? Yet you say it still sells in great quantity?”
“Precisely why Pure Cheong Ryeon Soo has also seen prices skyrocket. As for True Cheong Ryeon Soo—the aristocratic families are buying it with eyes ablaze. Ryeon’s words were correct.”

─ If it were known that “someone used Cheong Ryeon Soo and passed the palace examination,” wouldn’t people come forward with a single bottle and a gold coin in hand?

Gyeon Eon Jo recalled how the acting master of Ihwa Jeon Jang, who had initially quoted him five silver coins per measure of Cheong Ryeon Soo, had sent someone just yesterday to raise the price to a gold coin.
All of this was owing to Ryeon’s sound judgment in entrusting the Cheong Ryeon Soo to Wi Hak—not her first or second child, but her third, who had no hand in family affairs.
Now that girl had brought down the heir of the Geum Family Estate.
Gyeon Eon Jo recognized that the sharp instinct which had guided him to success as a merchant was now fixed upon this girl.
Though her innocent face resembled her mother’s precisely, whenever he heard her laughter, the young Dan Mok Hyeon Seong he had once known would suddenly cross his mind.
Did heaven take with one hand only to give with the other?
“Hmm. The fact that the Cheong Ryeon Soo matter turned out so well because your third child passed the palace examination is remarkable enough, and I’ve noticed your second has been running about diligently of late. Why are you taking credit for it yourself?”
“My children’s accomplishments are my own.”
Even as Gyeon Eon Jo answered so, his thoughts turned to his second son.
He was decisive and clearheaded in all matters, always handling whatever task was given with competence, so Gyeon Eon Jo had not paid him particularly close attention. Yet lately, seeing how his second son looked after his elder and youngest siblings in his own way, he found himself impressed.
But the moment he thought again of his firstborn, his chest grew tight. His second was even mobilizing the Heuk Cheon Ryeon to make a man of his elder brother, and yet all the first was doing was losing his wits…….
While Gyeon Eon Jo was turning his second son’s efforts over in his mind, Dan Mok Cheon Ki spoke.
“Still, don’t hold Ryeon back with empty praise.”
Gyeon Eon Jo raised his brow sharply.
“What empty praise are you speaking of? Surely you don’t think that merely talking about the brisk sales of Cheong Ryeon Soo would make Ryeon arrogant and presumptuous? You have a tendency to raise children too strictly, brother.”
Dan Mok Cheon Ki opened his mouth as if to reply, then simply waved his hand dismissively.
Though Ryeon had brought down even Geum Jong Ha, the girl could not accumulate Inner Power.
It worried him that she might withdraw too hastily from family affairs and devote herself only to the merchant house. Yet he could not bring himself to speak of it.
He understood well enough that earning money and sustaining a livelihood were important, but in light of present circumstances, even if one attributed it merely to fortune or chance, he could see his granddaughter possessed genuine talent. And yet…….
“Ah.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
Dan Mok Cheon Ki waved his hand again, saying it was nothing.
Only then did he realize where his own heart had truly been pulled.

* * *

On a night when the moon hung high and insects chirped in the grass, Ryeon heard that Dan Mok Cheon Ki had called for her suddenly. She set down the ledger she had been studying and made her way to his quarters.
“Don’t strain yourself.”
Ryeon smiled softly, but Dan Mok Cheon Ki knew full well what she had been poring over without sleep all this while.
“Sustaining a livelihood is a noble pursuit, but it is not urgent. The most important thing is you yourself.”
“I shall keep your words in mind, Grandfather.”
Ryeon nodded in agreement.
“Goodness. You’ve been making Cheong Ryeon Soo for a week straight, yet you speak of keeping something in mind?”
“Hehe…….”
Ryeon laughed with an innocent expression, but Dan Mok Cheon Ki could not.
He had already received a report from Seol Gwan Hui at the Jaegyeong each mansion.
Exactly what Ryeon intended to do with the money she had earned from this round of Cheong Ryeon Soo sales.
“……How do you find the Yeop Un?”
“Yeop Un? He really is remarkably clever.”
Though he had brought up Yeop Un’s name abruptly, Ryeon answered without difficulty.
“I came to understand why Tae Heo Jin In was trying to place him under the sect master.”
With such talent and effort combined, it was no wonder the sect master would harbor the ambition to nurture him carefully and make him the Kunlun Sect’s chief disciple of his age and the next sect master.

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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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