The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 57

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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 a Fallen Clan, A Predestined Promise — Episode 57

“No matter what weapon we use, the Dan Mok Clan will not lose!”
Dan Mok Seong, who had been standing quietly at his side, suddenly burst out with the declaration.
At her outburst, Geum Jong Ha’s expression went slack, as if he’d been slapped across the face.
Then, just as quickly, he flared up himself.
“In Daoism Technique, we’re still the finest in Jeol Gang Province!”
“No! The Dan Mok Clan will not lose in any martial art, with any weapon! Absolutely not!”
“No, no, no! We’re the finest! Hmph! Does the Dan Mok Clan even have Daoism Technique?”
“Of course we do! Good heavens. Just because your family has nothing but Daoism Technique doesn’t mean everyone else is the same. The Dan Mok Clan has deep history and tradition — naturally we have Daoism Technique as well!”
“You do? Really? Fine, then let’s test ourselves with Daoism Technique!”
“Hey, you two — wait a moment……”
“Young Master, Young Master!”
The Geum Ga Jang household was equally bewildered.
But before they could collect themselves, Dan Mok Seong cried out again.
“All right! Let’s do it!”
All of this had unfolded in an instant. Geum Jong Ha counted on his fingers, reckoning the days.
“Then a month from now — since last time was at the Dan Mok Clan, this time we’ll face off at the Geum Ga Jang!”
“Fine! Do as you please!”
The Geum Ga Jang servants, fretting nervously, suddenly turned on their heels and hurried after Geum Jong Ha as he disappeared.
The moment they vanished from sight, Dan Mok Seong — whose eyes had been blazing with blue flame — quietly watched them go.
“Our clan really does have Daoism Technique, doesn’t it?”

* * *

“……”
“……”
“How…… how are we going to fix this, Young Master?”
The Geum Ga Jang people who had left first all stared at Geum Jong Ha.
“Aaaaahhh……”
But Geum Jong Ha himself was crouched down, clutching his head.
“Mother’s going to beat me, isn’t she?”
“S-surely the Madam wouldn’t…… would she?”
“She’s going to lose her mind that I fought Dan Mok Ryeon and still haven’t come to my senses!”
“Then why did you do it……”
“What am I going to do? Mother and Father will be upset, and the Martial Match — what about that? Dan Mok Ryeon probably knows everything already……”
His father, Geum Jeok Geol, had copied that letter Dan Mok Ryeon had written, kept the original safely stored, and read the copy countless times each day.
Geum Jong Ha was no different. The frustration at first refusing to accept the outcome had faded with time, and as he studied and practiced what Dan Mok Ryeon had written, his progress became visibly remarkable.
She had grasped their Daoism Technique with unusually keen insight.
Could Dan Mok Ryeon actually be a prodigy? No — she must be.
And that girl beside her would probably have her teaching her directly every moment……
“No, wait. No, I’m not like that. I’ve improved a lot too, haven’t I?”
Geum Jong Ha sprang to his feet and grabbed a servant by the arm. The servant’s eyes widened in alarm, and he quickly nodded.
Their young master had always been talented to begin with, and lately he had grown stronger every single day — so much so that everyone in the Geum Ga Jang was delighted.
“Yes, tremendously!”
But even at that reassurance, Geum Jong Ha’s expression grew more anxious, his fingertips worrying nervously at each other.
“Still, that girl really does understand it better than I……”
“Y-you shouldn’t speak of the young ladies of the Dan Mok Clan that way.”
“Whose side are you on?”
“Yours, Young Master — that’s why I’m saying it……”
The servant’s eyes grew watery as he spoke. Geum Jong Ha stared at that face and wracked his brain desperately.
The blunder was already made, irreversible.
“No…… no, actually it’s for the best.”
“How could it possibly be…… for the best?”
Now he might end up making an enemy of the entire Dan Mok Clan — how could that be anything but a disaster?
Losing to just anyone would be bad enough, but if I lost in an actual Martial Match? After I’ve already been beaten once!
“Well… anyway, Dan Mok Ryeon will be in that Martial Match… no, stop looking at me like that! Dan Mok Ryeon will be there too.”
“Is that so?”
“Then I’ll do a Post-Match Review with you as well.”
“Will… will you really?”
“Yes. Last time we had one more person and did it with three of us…….”
Geum Jong Ha flinched without meaning to as he spoke. The memory of that Martial Match had surfaced.
That day, all the way until he returned to the Geum Ga Jang, every time Dan Mok Ryeon raised her hand his body had flinched involuntarily…….
“So you just tell him the same thing this time.”
Geum Jong Ha had finished his calculations, even accounting for the Post-Match Review that would come after the future Martial Match.
Dan Mok Ryeon’s eyes were an answer key. His father seemed to think she was memorizing something she saw somewhere and writing it down for him, but Geum Jong Ha didn’t believe that was it.
A second Martial Match, known to no one else, was proving it.
Moreover, now he and Dan Mok Ryeon had become friends, hadn’t they? So wouldn’t Dan Mok Ryeon provide him with an ‘answer key’ again in this Martial Match, just as she had last time?
If that were the case!
If he could only obtain that!
Regardless of victory or defeat in this Martial Match, he would be the one to gain the most. Probably… yes, surely that would be it.
‘Isn’t that right?’
Geum Jong Ha gave his backside a casual brush, let his shoulders sag, and began to walk. He had to report what had happened today to his household.

* * *

When the daughter who had gone out returned home huffing indignantly, Dan Mok Hyeon Yo was thrown into an uproar.
“Seong, you didn’t… fight with Ryeon, did you……?”
“No!”
Dan Mok Seong shook her head firmly before her worried mother.
Then she calmly explained what had happened.
She had been showing Ryeon around the Street when they encountered Geum Jong Ha of the Geum Ga Jang.
When he casually picked a quarrel with them, she decided to meet him head-on and fight!
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo, who had sent her daughter off burning with eagerness to go to the Training Grounds with Ryeon right then and there, pressed her forehead and shot a sharp look at her younger brother standing beside her.
“You saw those Geum Ga Jang bastards and just let them go?”
In fact, within the Dan Mok Clan, Dan Mok Hyeon Yo was precisely the person who would grind the Geum Ga Jang to dust.
She had not the slightest doubt that it was Geum Jeok Geol’s intention that drove her brother to his death.
What accidental tragedy exists in this world?
The Symbiotic Blood Cave where her father and older brother had been wounded, the invasion that occurred on the day Dan Mok Ryeon was born—all of it was deliberate work of the Blood Coral Valley, not chance.
If one were to refine Dan Mok Hyeon Yo’s enmity toward the family that had murdered her brother and flourished thereafter, it would burn half the Martial World of the Central Plains and still leave embers.
“Why didn’t you draw your sword first of all!”
“Ah, well… he was just a child, sister. It was Geum Jong Ha, the son of the Geum Household Lord…….”
“Born into that house and enjoying all its comforts, and now you’re saying he’ll inherit it without even inheriting his father’s hatred?”
“That boy has already been beaten quite badly by Ryeon. He came for a Martial Match last time. Twice…….”
Geum Jong Ha had not told anyone about the second Martial Match, but the adults were not actually unaware of it.
How could they not notice when the boy who went to do a Post-Match Review and spar returned looking ragged, his eyes and nose running?
Since Ryeon, who was with him, had been so sorry and tried to apologize in every way, there was nothing for it but to let the matter rest.
“That… Ryeon did well then. She’s the best of our family. Except for Seong.”
“Yes, yes, I understand.”
“But then why did he keep approaching her despite being beaten like that?”
“Children grow up fighting when they’re young, or so they say.”
“Let that be as it may, but why didn’t you stop them when the children were causing trouble?”
Dan Mok Hyeon U gave a slight shrug.
“It was just children playing around, as you said. What’s the problem?”
“It hasn’t even been that long since Ryeon and that Geum boy did that, and you’re letting something this absurd happen?”
“We have nothing to lose, though.”
Dan Mok Hyeon U’s words were not wrong either. Since their household’s strength lay in Swordsmanship and Daoism Technique, even if they lost a contest against either, it was no great shame.
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo lifted her eyebrows.
“Nothing to lose? How can Seong’s words be wrong? We are the foremost martial family in Jeol Gang Province precisely because we do not lose to any weapon! If we lose here, people will whisper that the Dan Mok Clan cannot help but falter!”
Dan Mok Hyeon U thought to himself that it had been quite some time since the name “foremost martial family in Jeol Gang Province” had lost its shine, but he did not voice this aloud.
“What did Ryeon say?”
“What?”
At that moment, Dan Mok Cheon Gi, who had been merely observing his children’s dispute, spoke quietly. Dan Mok Hyeon Yo’s body trembled tensely as she shot back a question.
“Ryeon must have been there. What did Ryeon say?”
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo’s face showed she did not understand this sudden change of subject, but Dan Mok Hyeon U answered readily, as if he had been waiting for it.
“They said I should learn the technique and use it to win. So I went to retrieve the secret manual for the family’s Black Wind Single Heaven Saber.”
“Hmm.”
“B-but who’s going to learn that technique and face them?”
“Obviously…….”
Dan Mok Hyeon U had been about to say “Obviously Seong,” but he paused, hesitating.
Dan Mok Ryeon, who had received the Post-Match Review and learned swordsmanship before swiftly defeating Geum Jong Ha, showed no doubt about her talent.
That girl would certainly master the Daoism technique just as quickly.
“Well…… Ryeon could probably learn it too, couldn’t she?”
“What?”
“Since Ryeon hasn’t been awake long and hasn’t formally trained in our family’s swordsmanship yet, perhaps this would be a good opportunity for her to learn the Daoism technique…….”
“What nonsense are you talking?”
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo’s eyebrows rose sharply.

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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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