The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 53

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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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A Falling Noble House’s Limited Remedy — Episode 53

“Seong, once you’re back from the medicinal herb shop, let’s buy some shaved ice. I’ll treat you.”
Dan Mok Seong swallowed hard as she met the eyes of Dan Mok Ryeon, whose gaze held innocent starlight dancing across it.
“Do you have money?”
The last she’d heard of the Dan Mok Clan’s circumstances came from her mother, Dan Mok Hyeon Yo, during her time in Ha Nan Province.
Her mother had said the family was struggling and in dire straits, but that they must rebuild it—that both she and Dan Mok Seong herself had to try with all their strength. She’d carved those words deep into her heart.
So while she herself was fortunate enough to receive an allowance from her prosperous birth family, could afford comfortable circumstances, wore pretty clothes, and wielded fine weapons, this cousin likely had no such luxury.
Dan Mok Seong saw Ryeon patting at her waistband and moved to press her hand still.
That was when Dan Mok Hyeon U intervened.
“I make shaved ice myself, remember?”
Dan Mok Hyeon U interjected smoothly, but seeing the young nieces’ expressions grow awkwardly unclear, he let his shoulders slump.
Ryeon murmured in slight embarrassment.
“Uncle’s is… medicinal herb shaved ice, after all.”
“Ah.”

* * *

Ryeon had prepared her heart well before deciding to visit the medicinal herb shop at Ho Seon Yi Gak.
How would people who had once separated from the fallen clan react when they faced the clan members again?
“My! Young Master! My goodness, so you’ve finished your Closed Door Cultivation! When did you become so refined?”
But the welcome was not what she’d imagined, and even Dan Mok Hyeon U was somewhat surprised. Ryeon too felt befuddled and glanced around.
A man from the medicinal herb shop with a cloth wound around his head came rushing over half-running, greeting them with a bright smile.
“Ah, no… Jong Yi Won. It’s been so long…”
“Has it been five years? Six years? Goodness. Look how refined the young master has become.”
“D-don’t embarrass me like that. And I wasn’t that small back then…”
“Of course, of course. That’s why I recognized you at once.”
Jong Yi Won clung to Dan Mok Hyeon U and fussed over him for some time before belatedly noticing the young women, and started in surprise.
“Goodness, these young ladies… is this Miss Seong? You look just like Miss Hyeon Yo. Then this one must be…”
Jong Yi Won recognized Dan Mok Seong. Though it was said that eldest daughters usually resembled their fathers, the granddaughters of the Dan Mok Clan unmistakably took after their mothers.
It was not difficult to recognize Dan Mok Seong, who resembled Dan Mok Hyeon Yo—renowned even in Hang Zhou for her beauty—so exactly.
Jong Yi Won’s gaze shifted to the slightly smaller girl beside Dan Mok Seong. Where Seong was brilliant, this one was more composed. Yet her eyes held a brightness that caught the eye.
“This would be our elder brother’s firstborn, Dan Mok Ryeon. I don’t believe we’ve met before…”
Dan Mok Hyeon U trailed off. The reason this man, once belonging to the clan, had never seen the face of his direct lineage was simply that Ryeon had never been in a position to venture outside.
Fortunately, Jong Yi Won was perceptive—or rather, he knew far more than mere perceptiveness would grant.
“Could it be… that Clear Lotus Water…?”
While he didn’t seem to completely trust the rumors that Dan Mok Ryeon alone had created that Clear Lotus Water, neither did he hastily suspect. His gaze was careful and measured.
Strange and remarkable things did happen in Kangho, after all, and if it was about remarkable talent, he had seen such a thing during his time with the clan before—
through none other than Ryeon’s father, Dan Mok Hyeon Seong.
“Ah! You know about it, Jong Yi Won?”
“Of course I do. We’ve been using it at our shop. How in demand that Clear Lotus Water has been lately…”
“Really?”
That youngest of Man Song Merchant Guild, the one said to be dissolute, passed the Provincial Examination using it. The day the exam results were posted, the shop was nearly paralyzed from the commotion.”
Jong Yi Won shook his head in disbelief.
At that time, every notable family near Hang Zhou was ransacking nearby medicinal shops and pharmacies with fervor, desperately seeking that “Jin Cheong Ryeon Water” that Man Song Merchant Guild’s youngest was said to have used.
Had Guild Master Gyeon Eon Jo not quietly opened a separate sales channel for the wealthy, there would certainly still be lines stretching outside the shop even now.
‘What if Gyeon Wi Hak also passes the examination when he goes to Beijing?’
Then some of Hang Zhou’s medicinal shops might actually explode.
Jong Yi Won had that dizzy thought for a moment, then quickly shook his head to clear it.
“…But what brings you all the way here, Young Master?”
“My niece was adamant about coming to this shop. I told her the clan sources its medicinal herbs from here, and she took an interest.”
Which niece it was became clear at once. Dan Mok Seong seemed not particularly delighted to be there, whereas Dan Mok Ryeon’s eyes gleamed brightly.
Jong Yi Won quickly retraced who had been managing the medicinal herbs Ho Seon Yi Gak sent to the Dan Mok Clan all this time.
‘Was it the senior clerk? Did this bastard pull some trick with the goods we sent to the clan?’
The bright gleam in the girl’s eyes looking up at him felt far from ordinary.
When Jong Yi Won first saw Dan Mok Hyeon U appear at Ho Seon Yi Gak, he wondered briefly if the Dan Mok Clan was attempting to absorb the medical practitioners there once again.
The Dan Mok Clan had declined after losing an heir and watching their patriarch struggle to recover from injuries, yet recently their name had begun circulating with increasing frequency.
The Clear Lotus Water, said to be made by the Dan Mok Clan’s sole legitimate heir—a youth who had never once appeared beyond the clan gates since birth—was slowly but unmistakably spreading throughout Zhe Jiang Province.
A single drop of that transparent, refreshing oil that bordered on a universal remedy.
It seemed it should be simple enough to replicate, yet no one could match the efficacy of the original concentrate provided by the Dan Mok Clan.
‘Just how much money has flowed into the Dan Mok Clan through this Clear Lotus Water in these past few months?’
The initial rumors had spread first among the clerks and accountants of the Man Song Merchant Guild.
Word circulated quietly that those whose wrists and finger joints suffered from endless ledger work had tested the efficacy beforehand and purchased every drop of Clear Lotus Water available, and it did not take long for even the smallest clinic in Hang Zhou to stock the remedy.
Meanwhile, the entire city was astir with tales that this young girl had defeated the heir apparent of Geum Ga Jang.
Geum Ga Jang had been rising to fill the space left by the waning Dan Mok Clan, but after the martial contest, that momentum was checked.
At this very moment, when everyone was murmuring about how the deep reserves of an established, tradition-bound noble family were indeed difficult to imitate, Dan Mok Hyeon U had suddenly appeared at Ho Seon Yi Gak.
He had not simply come to look around.
There was clearly something afoot.
“Ho Seon Yi Gak’s herbal store is the finest in Hang Zhou. Shall we step this way?”
The herbal store had already earned renown when Ho Seon Yi Gak operated it independently, but after absorbing the Dan Mok Clan’s medical expertise, their reputation had grown even brighter. Yet.
“Hmm…….”
Dan Mok Ryeon rose on her tiptoes and glanced around with a rather wistful expression in her eyes.
It was not boredom—that much was evident from what Dan Mok Seong beside her was displaying.
“Is this really the finest herbal store in Hang Zhou?”
“Well……yes, it is.”
Faced with Dan Mok Ryeon’s calm question, Jong Yi Won found his spirit flagging and answered with a slight stammer.
Yet his assertion that this herbal store was the most excellent was not merely because he belonged to Ho Seon Yi Gak.
This store handled more than half of Hang Zhou’s medicinal herbs while simultaneously maintaining unceasing research to discover and refine new medicinal properties, and constant efforts were made to ensure a steady supply of the highest-quality herbs.
“Hmm.”
Dan Mok Ryeon swung a small White Jade Fan that looked like a child’s plaything back and forth, pursed her lips in a gesture of deliberation, and thrust them out slightly.
A young child’s serious expression carried more of an air of cuteness than weight, and for some reason Jong Yi Won could not bring himself to laugh, growing flustered instead before offering words in a roundabout way of excuse.
“In fact, decades ago, the Yak Seon Mun

held this place firmly, but after the Yak Seon Mun vanished during the Dong Jeong Hyeol Sa incident……herb procurement suffered greatly, and it has only recently stabilized, yes indeed.”
“Yak Seon Mun?”
Ryeon’s eyes widened at this unfamiliar tale. Jong Yi Won, now feeling like an old man recounting ancient history to his granddaughter, spoke with a pleased smile.
“In the west lay the Dang Mun, and in the east lay the Yak Seon Mun, or so the saying went. In those days they were held in such high regard that it was said ‘poison for the Dang Mun, remedy for the Seon Mun.'”
“But it disappeared?”
“Yes, overnight. Since those people possessed the bearing of immortals, some say they achieved Ascension to Immortality, but……”
“That’s quite enough of that.”
Dan Mok Hyeon U, unwilling to expose his young cousins to frightening tales, cut him off.
In truth, it was not that something so absurd as living people becoming immortals had actually occurred, but rather that some members of the Blood Coral Valley had attacked the Yak Seon Mun and annihilated them, and since all the Blood Coral Valley martial artists present had been slaughtered there as well, strange rumors had circulated.
As the story threatened to devolve into something bloody, Jong Yi Won hastily closed his mouth.

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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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