The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 48

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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 Clan’s Limited-Time Engagement — Chapter 48

“Your cousin is coming along as well. Her name is Danmok Seong, and she’s a good girl. I do hope you’ll become a fine family and friends together.”
Wi Jicheong spoke of Danmok Hyunyeo’s return with such obvious delight that his smile shone plainly across his face.
Hwaryun heard the name “Danmok Seong” for the first time in ages and sat for a moment in a daze before swallowing hard.
“But why come back so suddenly?”
“Hmm? Well, I suspect she heard news of the match with the Geumga Clan and rushed here. She seems to have ridden hard all the way from Hanan Province. Fortunately, our Hwaryun managed it splendidly.”
“Ah, I see.”
Hwaryun smiled and nodded, yet she could see straight through Danmok Hyunyeo’s thoughts.
How could she not have rushed here? Danmok Hwaryun—whom everyone had expected to be sickly and fragile all her life—had suddenly stood up properly and fought the heir of another great clan to the death.
She must have worried that Danmok Hwaryun’s defeat would bring shame upon the clan’s face, and she must have considered that whoever won against the Geumga heir might become the clan’s successor.
But she could never have anticipated that the match would end so swiftly—and in victory.

* * *

“What, you don’t like your cousin?”
Hwaryun had picked up her brush to write when she set it down again and turned to look beside her.
Hwaryun, who had finished his character practice with surprising speed, had started the conversation.
At the table beside them, Danmok Bi was busy committing characters to memory, his brow deeply furrowed. Hwaryun spoke quietly.
“I’ve never even met her. What would I dislike?”
At least, not in the way you mean.
“Your expression seemed rather troubled. Should I beat her up for you?”
“That would be a disaster.”
“I really could do it.”
Hwaryun regarded Hwaryun with a distant look.
Every so often, when Hwaryun forgot that Hwaryun had once been the Minor Cult Master of the Majeon Sect, Hwaryun would remind her with remarks like these.
“That’s not it at all. You absolutely cannot do that. Understood? Besides, just don’t appear in front of Seong, all right?”
“Why not?”
“Because Seong looks beautiful—she takes after her mother and father. And yet…”
Hwaryun turned her gaze back to the characters and continued speaking as her brush moved.
“And because of it, she seems to like boys like you. Well, she does, apparently. What if she takes one look at you and asks me to give you to her? That’s why you need to stay inside, all right?”
“……”
“And please, for heaven’s sake, don’t go anywhere saying you’ll beat someone up. Don’t beat anyone up at all.”
“Do I really seem like that?”
“Hm?”
The unexpected reply made her look up, and she found Hwaryun grinning widely at her.
“What?”
“Whether your cousin would want to take me away from you.”
“Oh, I… ah.”
Hwaryun suddenly realized what she’d said and reached over to ruffle Hwaryun’s hair roughly.
“Of course. Our Hwaryun is absolutely adorable.”
“No, wait—I was asking genuinely, and you’re making a mess of my hair!”
As the two of them bickered, Danmok Bi lifted his head and widened his eyes.
“Sister! Me too!”
“Bi, our Bi is also absolutely ador—no, no, I’m falling over! I’m falling!”
The small boy came charging over with such force that Hwaryun nearly toppled backward in her chair. Hwaryun, letting out a sigh, quickly moved his feet and hands to steady the chair and shook his head in resignation. Danmok Bi, cradled in Hwaryun’s arms, broke into a broad smile.

* * *

Danmok Hyunyeo was a striking beauty. Her face possessed the vivid loveliness of a peony in full bloom, and when she stood beside her daughter Danmok Seong, the two seemed like a large peony and a small one standing side by side.
When Danmok Hyunyeo arrived in Zhejiang Province, the rumors she had heard felt too grand and magnificent not to doubt.
The story that her father, who had been living like a dead man in seclusion at Woryeong Pavilion, had achieved a new enlightenment and risen again seemed too sweet to be anything but a dream, and the tale that a precious elixir called Cheongryeonsoo created by the clan had sold like wildfire, making her niece who crafted it a fortune seemed mere hearsay.
She could find no Cheongryeonsoo anywhere on the street, which only deepened her suspicion. Every medicine shop and apothecary she visited said only that they were sold out!
And though they claimed to have earned such vast sums, when she arrived at the clan, what greeted her was a scene little different from before—dilapidated clay walls, an unrepaired roof, rotted wooden pillars, and a desolate courtyard where dust swirled in the wind.
After paying her respects to the Grand Patriarch Danmok Cheongi, Danmok Hyunyeo broached the most important matter first.
“Your mother has improved greatly. She was delighted when she heard that Hwaryun had awakened.”
“…….”
Danmok Cheongi remained silent for a long moment before opening his lips with effort.
“Have you seen him?”
Danmok Hyunyeo shook her head.
“No. I’ve tried to visit several times, but the doors were still sealed then. Fortunately, Mother wrote me some letters.”
“I see…….”
With those words, Danmok Hyunyeo withdrew a bundle of letters from her robes. The rustling papers, worn from handling, had faded slightly in color.
Danmok Cheongi gazed at the bundle for a long while, his fingertips tracing it gently, before carefully placing it in the drawer beside him and releasing a long breath.
“Nothing troublesome on the road here?”
“No. I came almost as if flying. But Father, I heard all sorts of rumors on the way.”
Danmok Hyunyeo asked her father what had transpired in her absence.
Whether the news about Danmok Cheongi’s enlightenment or the Cheongryeonsoo were mere rumors, she would learn in time. What had truly captured her attention was the martial contest with the Geumga Clan.
Having heard the details of that confrontation, Danmok Hyunyeo let out a sound that was difficult to classify as either admiration or exasperation.
“Good heavens. So Hwaryun has awakened—and true to being that man’s daughter, no less.”
“My lady.”
The man who spoke quietly from the side in gentle remonstrance was Seok Banan, the third son of the Poonglim Jangpae’s master from Shanxi Province, who had come to the Danmok Clan as a son-in-law.
Danmok Cheongi clicked his tongue softly.
“What reckless talk is that?”
“I rushed here like my tail was on fire when I heard trouble had struck the Geumga Clan, but it was all for nothing.”
“I did not summon you for that reason. Did I not instruct you to settle your residence in Hanan Province? I had intended to call you here in any case.”
“What? Why! This is exactly when things are at their busiest!”
Danmok Hyunyeo burst out indignantly. Danmok Cheongi raised his teacup leisurely and spoke.
“Busiest with what?”
“Have you not heard? The Murim League will soon establish a Delegation of Four Leaders. Our Clan stands to take one position…….”
“And whom would you place as Delegation Head?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“A Delegation of Four Leaders means four Heads. Even accounting for two Deputy Heads, that is eight seats. The Gupha Ilbang and the Paldae Sega compete for those eight positions, while the Heukcheonryeon’s Thirteen Heavens and the Majeon Sect—half of them at least—stake their claims. If our Clan were to secure one seat in such circumstances, whom would you propose?”
“There are, um, two Deputy Heads. So technically there are twelve seats. And regarding that, it would be Danmok Hanseo of the Ryeongseong Knife”

…….”
“He is currently wandering.”
“……I beg your pardon?”
Danmok Hyunyeo’s mouth fell open slightly, then she turned to look behind her—as if she might somehow find the absent Danmok Hanseo in the room.
“Wandering? Since when? Why?”
“Some months now.”
“Several months? How can an Elder who should be firmly supporting the Clan suddenly…… the Beolmo Sesusu!”
Understanding struck her mid-sentence, and Danmok Hyunyeo cried out.
“Hwaryun performed the Beolmo Sesusu on him, didn’t he? How much Internal Power was lost? That’s why he left the Clan…….”
“Enough.”
At Danmok Cheongi’s quiet command, Danmok Hyunyeo’s face crumpled with hurt, and she lowered her head.
She too had heard the tale of Hwaryun’s Beolmo Sesusu, but only after everything had concluded.
Had she known beforehand, she would have protested—railed against pouring money into a hopeless nephew—but there had been no opportunity.
The expected matrimonial alliance with the Sacheon Dang Sect had fallen through, and while someone clearly possessed great power to have performed the Beolmo Sesusu, she could not discover who. Loss of Internal Power was undeniably a grave weakness. Having lived as a warrior all these years and achieved such mastery, he must have countless enemies—so the identity of those who performed the Grand Technique remained a closely guarded secret.
Loss of Internal Power was undeniably a grave weakness. A Murim warrior of such achievement could not have lived without accumulating enemies, and thus the identities of those who performed the Grand Technique were kept strictly confidential.
‘If only that money had been spent on Danmok Seong instead!’
Danmok Seong certainly had far better prospects than a sickly child who’d been ailing for seven years straight.
Danmok Cheongi looked down at Danmok Hyunyeo with a bitter expression and spoke quietly.
“In any case, the Hwasan Sect, Shaolin Temple, the Jegal Clan, and the Sacheon Dang Sect will claim four seats. The Thirteen Heavens of the Heukcheonryeon will claim four more. The remaining four will go to the Majeon Sect. Stop this foolishness and come down to Hangzhou completely.”
Hyunyeo’s eyes flickered with resentment and disbelief.
“We could seize a few seats from the Majeon Sect or the Heukcheonryeon!”
“Could you? If that were possible, there would be no need for the Murim League to include even the Heukcheonryeon and the Majeon Sect.”
Hyunyeo bit down hard on her lip, barely restraining herself from crying out in fury.
The Hundred Branches Murim League had accepted both the Heukcheonryeon and the Majeon Sect and formed the unified Murim League to stand against Hyeollagok. Even then it had not sufficed—they had borrowed the strength of the Bukhaebingung as well.
And the cost of that victory remained before her eyes now, carved into flesh and scars—beside her father, whom she could place nowhere else.

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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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