The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 54

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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 Decline of the Dan Mok Clan — A Limited Life, Episode 54

Ryeon read their mood and graciously shifted the conversation.
“Then can I buy some herbs today as well?”
“Of course. Since this is your first visit to our medicinal herb shop, please allow me to gift them to you. Just say what you need, and I’ll have them sent to the Dan Mok residence…….”
“No, that’s all right. We came by carriage, so I’ll take everything with us.”
Jeong Yeong nodded with a smile. He thought the girl simply wanted to show off the herb names she knew.
But a moment later.
Jeong Yeong sensed something unusual about this young lady.
Dan Mok Ryeon examined the herbs and medicinal materials arranged on the shelves and named the items to purchase with precise accuracy. When all of them were gathered together, it became clear that she had selected only premium-grade products from the entire stock of the medicinal herb shop — to such a degree that he was amazed such high-quality items had been hidden away.
As these items came to rest in a single basket, they appeared to him like a pile of gold ingots.
‘How did she pick out only these? Was it coincidence?’
It didn’t seem that Dan Mok Hyeon U had helped. In fact, Dan Mok Hyeon U didn’t appear to understand much about the condition or quality of the herbs Ryeon had selected.
“Thank you, Jeong Yeong.”
“Ah…… no, not at all. The hall is quite extensive, and you’re not looking around the other sections……?”
“No, this is fine.”
When she said they were leaving now, light returned to the eyes of Dan Mok Seong, who had been bored beside her.
Jeong Yeong grew visibly uneasy and hovered around Ryeon as he wrapped the herbs.
He had already offered to give them freely, so now he couldn’t very well ask her to choose something else instead of these.
After the Dan Mok party left, Jeong Yeong immediately searched through his medicinal herb shop, but found nothing comparable to what he had personally wrapped and sent out with them.

* * *

After leaving Ho Sun Medical Hall, Ryeon visited every medicinal herb shop of note in Hang Zhou.
But all she learned was that Jeong Yeong’s claim that Ho Sun Medical Hall was the finest in Hang Zhou was not a lie.
‘Is my Divine Eye Standard simply too high?’
Ryeon pondered this, fluttering her White Jade Fan.
When she swept her gaze across the herb shelves and activated her Divine Eye with focused intensity, only a few items registered as Superior Grade — the vast majority were Mid-Low Grade.
‘Most of all, I thought I might run into Yeo Yeong Cheong if I wandered enough herb shops.’
Yeo Yeong Cheong was the herb gatherer Ryeon had known in her former life.
She knew the mountains scattered throughout the region as intimately as the lines on her own palm, and she could bring back herbs so rare that most people would never lay eyes on them in a lifetime.
Among herb gatherers, to speak of Yeo Yeong Cheong in Hang Zhou was to invoke a living legend.
That such a legend had formed a connection with Ryeon was, of course, because of Ryeon’s condition.
Many had labored to help Ryeon, who wasted away day by day without any apparent illness.
Even the Sichuan Dang Sect, which had broken off the betrothal long ago, had sent physicians several times, and the Sect Master Dang You Byeok had personally visited once.
It was Yeo Yeong Cheong who gathered the rare herbs suited to the various secret remedies that Dang You Byeok had prescribed. What began as a hired arrangement…….
“What are you planning to do with all those bellflower roots?”
Dan Mok Hyeon U had purchased three Candied Fruit Skewers at a nearby confectioner’s, distributed them to his two nieces, and was slowly savoring one himself when he asked Ryeon this question.
Dan Mok Seong had bitten lightly into his Candied Fruit Skewers and squeezed his eyes shut in enjoyment of the sweet-tart flavor. Ryeon nodded, thinking of the basket overflowing with bellflower roots.
“I’m thinking of making Bellflower Root Preserve.”
“Bellflower Root Preserve?”
“Our medicinal herb shop seems to have a talent for making and selling medicinal preparations.”
“But Clear Lotus Water wasn’t made by our medicinal herb shop…….”
Dan Mok Hyeon U hesitated over how to speak of what his young niece had created on her own, then swallowed his words along with the Candied Fruit Skewers.
‘Could Ryeon really have been taken by an immortal and then returned?’
Dan Mok Hyeon U did not believe in or rely upon immortals, Buddhas, or the Old Master of Heaven — yet his heart wavered when he looked at Ryeon.
Perhaps he simply wished to believe such things. He wished to believe that his niece’s childhood had not been spent in vain.
“I’m thinking of making Bellflower Root Preserve and sending it to grandfather and to Huashan in the west.”
On Huashan was her Maternal Uncle, who had helped her with her Martial Training. He had become sworn siblings with her mother.
As she spoke, Ryeon estimated whether the quantity of bellflower roots she had purchased today would be enough to distribute to everyone.
In truth, more than anything else, the quality of the bellflower roots fell short of her expectations — that was the real problem.
It was then.
Jeong Yeong, who had been standing watch at some distance, approached.
“Young Master, Miss. There is said to be a place a little further in that handles herbs of excellent quality, though they are somewhat expensive.”
“Who told you that?”
“That’s…….”
Jeong Yeong hesitated for a moment before speaking carefully.
“Someone from the Man Song Merchant Guild recognized you, miss. They asked if perhaps the essential oils they supply weren’t to your liking, or if you were searching for them directly. I told them it wasn’t that—I was looking for different herbs instead—and they pointed me here.”
The merchant guild representative’s face had looked as though they’d just escaped from hellfire itself, visibly relieved.
“Then let’s go!”
At Jeong Yeong’s words, Ryeon’s eyes widened. If even the Man Song Merchant Guild acknowledged this medicinal herb shop, then perhaps Yeo Yeong Cheong might be there.
“Think so?”
Jeong Yeong had absorbed the directions quite thoroughly and guided them without hesitation.
Sure enough, as they ventured deeper into the street, a proper medicinal herb shop came into view. A quick look suggested it had undergone recent expansion.
The shop was moderately busy with customers—physicians examining stock, people seeking herbs for urgent remedies sent by their employers, shop assistants…….
“My goodness, the young master and young ladies of the Dan Mok Clan!”
Just as Ryeon delicately picked up a piece of dried herb to examine it, a middle-aged man burst from the back with a low but boisterous voice of welcome.
Dan Mok Hyeon U turned his nieces behind him and cast a sidelong glance at the man.
“You know us?”
“Of course I do! How could I not recognize such distinguished bearing? But what brings you here for the first time……?”
“We’ve come to look at some herbs.”
Dan Mok Hyeon U seemed somewhat pleased at being recognized by the herb merchant, yet he kept his nieces shielded from the fawning trader’s view.
Ryeon observed the merchant from behind Dan Mok Hyeon U.
‘Has word spread already?’
Dan Mok Hyeon U was the head physician of the Dan Mok Clan’s medicinal shop, and here he was visiting herb merchants one by one—perhaps rumors had circulated that the Dan Mok Clan was regaining momentum and intended to expand their medicinal operation. After all, the Man Song Merchant Guild representative had recognized them too.
“I’d like to see some bellflower root.”
“Bellflower……root?”
Bellflower root wasn’t expensive enough to warrant such hesitation, yet the merchant paused briefly before quickly producing a basket.
“These bellflower roots are of particularly fine quality. As are all the herbs in our shop.”
Ryeon examined the roots with a tilted head. They truly were excellent—when first dug, even the herb gatherer who found them would have been amazed.
‘They’re similar to the superior-grade herbs we saw at the Ho Sun Medical Hall.’
Among all the medicinal herb shops she’d visited so far, this one had the best quality. Though management could have been better—the top layers had wilted somewhat.
However, only a few herbs at the very top were genuinely superior; when she lifted the basket slightly, beneath them lay merely ordinary herbs that only appeared similar on the surface.
The herb merchant, now quite animated, tried to recommend various items, but Ryeon shook her head at each one and selected only a few of the highest quality specimens.
“Yeo Yeong Cheong isn’t working yet, is she……?”
Dan Mok Seong showed no interest in browsing the shop further and stepped outside quickly. While Dan Mok Hyeon U sent a servant to settle payment and wrap the herbs, a young boy working at the medicinal shop quietly approached Ryeon.
Ryeon, who had been scanning the shop alone, tilted her head. The boy servant who approached her seemed quite nervous.
“I…… are you perhaps looking for Yeo Yeong Cheong……?”
His whispered words were so soft they were difficult to hear without listening closely. Ryeon’s eyes widened as she looked at the boy.
“You know Yeo Yeong Cheong?”
“My grandfather passed away last year…… and she’s been selling herbs here now.”
Ryeon recalled the unusually superior-quality herbs among the shop’s stock.
But why did he need to speak of it so secretively?
The boy turned his body slightly away as though not speaking to Ryeon at all, making a show of organizing items.
“There’s a house with a broken fence inside Western Street…….”
A house with a broken fence inside Western Street—Ryeon silently memorized the words.
“All the most expensive herbs here were dug by Yeo Yeong Cheong, but this gentleman wants to…….”
But the boy servant’s words could not continue.
“Dan A! Go fetch the embroidered silk wrapping cloth. The one in the bottom drawer.”
“Yes, sir!”
Despite Dan Mok Hyeon U’s polite refusal, the merchant bowed and smiled, insisting on presenting the silk. The boy servant lowered his head and wrapped the herb bundle in the cloth.

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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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