The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 77

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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 Doomed Aristocrat’s Limited Lifespan — Episode 77

Put gently, it was a grand method of hammering the entire body to clear blocked meridians and refine the sinews and bones. But according to rumor, it was really just a technique of beating a person half to death and turning them into a master.
The person performing it had to possess a complete understanding of the human body and cultivate deep internal energy and exceptional Striking Technique

to do it properly. Naturally, it was a stroke of fortune you couldn’t stumble across easily.
‘Damn it, so that’s why he was so confident I wouldn’t run…….’
If he took on something like this and then fled, he’d never know peace for the rest of his life.
Even someone as twisted as him—who took bitter joy in finding faults with every clean-natured martial artist he met—wouldn’t dare that.
And then there was the Hand Technique that boy had displayed. He’d stood helpless, beaten senseless the whole time…….
‘How can I not learn it? No, no, wait! Enough! This is already greed!’
His internal energy problem—a lifelong dream and source of pain—had been solved. What else could he possibly need?
But hope bloomed in a corner of his heart. There had to be a reason why he’d even taught him the Marrow-Cleansing Technique. If he meant to use him repeatedly, wouldn’t he teach him all manner of things?
‘He couldn’t have just beaten me half to death just to get in a good fistfight after all this time.’
“Could we go any faster?”
The thought that the boy might come looking for him tonight and discover he’d run made his vision swim with dizziness.
“You want to end up as a water ghost?”
“Oh no! I’ve got a thousand more years of happiness ahead of me!”
Laughter bubbled up from his throat unbidden. Baek Ui Myeong began to chuckle, and at the sight of that smile, the Boatman’s oars suddenly quickened.
“Oh! Now you’re moving fast! Come on, let’s go~!”

* * *

Word of the Dan Mok Clan’s recruitment spread throughout Hang Zhou, across every corner of Zhejiang Province, and sometimes beyond the province entirely.
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo had boasted with pride at how beautifully Seok Ban An had written and personally copied the letters sent everywhere.
Soon after, collateral-branch relatives and their followers began pouring in from all directions.
After two months of reception, and once the first round of screening had concluded, about twenty children remained.
Half of them—ten children—would ultimately pass the final selection.
The clan, which had been rather quiet except for the Medicine Hall, now bustled with people.
Though lodged in the Guest Hall, the collateral children and their attendants gazed about the main residence curiously, even as tension gripped them.
A small girl among a group admiring the blooming Osmanthus Flowers caught sight of Dan Mok Ryeon, tilted her head, and suddenly straightened her posture.
“Oh, ah, h-hello…….”
She bowed deeply, then sidled away with a cautious glance, making space for Dan Mok Ryeon to pass.
“You’re Dan Mok Wan, aren’t you?”
“……!”
The girl, who had been looking down, jumped in surprise.
“Y-yes, yes indeed.”
“You like Osmanthus Flowers? I do too—I love the scent.”
As Dan Mok Ryeon spoke, the girl, Dan Mok Wan, flushed crimson to her neck and dropped her gaze further.
“Y-yes! I do… I do like them!”
“Then should I break off a branch for you? You can put it in a water bowl in your room.”
“N-no! I couldn’t impose like that!”
Dan Mok Wan waved her hands frantically, her face pained. But by then, a flowering branch was already being snipped from Dan Mok Ryeon’s hands.
“Oh. I’ve already broken it off. What am I to do…….”
“N-no! I’ll accept it gratefully, very gratefully!”
The girl’s hands trembled visibly. The tension was palpable from here.
“Th-thank you, thank you very much!”
Afraid that any further words would drain the last color from the girl’s face, Dan Mok Ryeon opened and closed her fists once or twice, then simply handed over the flowering branch and withdrew.
“When did you notice her name?”
“That girl has talent. So I’ve been keeping an eye on her.”
“Ah, I see. So you were trying to tell her to relax, or to tell her to stay nervous?”
Hwa Ryun, who had followed behind, asked with a slight smile, and Dan Mok Ryeon gave her a sidelong glance.
“I was hoping she’d relax a bit, but it doesn’t seem to be working.”
Dan Mok Wan was among the collateral-branch children who had arrived this time, and if one were to name the truly talented ones, she would rank among them.
If timidity were her flaw, that was all; her nature harbored no cunning, which is why Dan Mok Ryeon was watching her closely.
‘I just hope she doesn’t get nervous and does well on the final test.’
She’d told Dan Mok Cheon Gi that she could personally select a few candidates herself, but still—wouldn’t it be better for everyone if they were properly recognized and remained with the clan?
‘Honestly, if I had my way, I’d recruit and train five hundred people.’
Setting aside whether the branch family even had five hundred members, the moment she thought about those parasites from Blood Coral Valley raising their heads again in ten years’ time, five hundred seemed laughable—she’d want to gather and train a thousand instead.
But a thousand would make the authorities prick up their ears, no matter what the unwritten rule about Non-interference of Official Authority said, and five hundred…
‘Five hundred would probably make the authorities nervous too, and aside from the authorities, frankly, we don’t have that much money yet. Ha.’
The purpose of this branch family recruitment was to cultivate martial artists who would grow up together learning the same arts, regard the clan as family, and remain loyal to it—in plain terms, it was like pouring a form of youth scholarship into distant relatives’ pockets.
Of course, she had to provide food, clothing, and shelter, and some spending money for their daily needs—without which the children would abandon their training to work elsewhere!—and then there were fine swords and martial robes to encourage their studies. She’d heard some clans even made direct admission into the main family a condition.
Only after doing all this for ten people over ten years would a decent martial artist finally emerge.
She’d set the number at just ten precisely because the clan’s circumstances weren’t yet completely stable.
The conclusion was that it would be better to accept more children once they could draw up a more long-term plan.
But if she had to do all this for five hundred? She’d probably never sleep again.
Always worrying whether she could even feed her people next month.
‘The Daoist and Buddhist Sects must have it easy.’
Their situation was somewhat different.
Since they were fundamentally gatherings of practitioners seeking to withdraw from worldly life, they needed less private funding, and what they did need came from temple donations made by incense visitors to their temples and steady contributions from their lay disciples…
‘I heard the Shaolin Temple even has enormous tracts of land granted by the emperor. Anyway, martial artists only invoke Non-interference of Official Authority when it suits them, don’t they?’
It was only natural that the emperor would make offerings to a temple of such ancient prestige and renown, but inside, Dan Mok Ryeon quietly resented Shaolin and grumbled.
‘I’ll recover all our family’s lands soon enough.’
Revive the withered orchards with Spiritual Energy, buy back the fields and shops we’d lost with the money from selling Clear Lotus Water, and raise disciples too.
“Sister, what are you thinking about so hard? Your eyes are practically blazing.”
“Making money.”
“Oh, no… I mean, shouldn’t you be thinking about Martial Arts like that?”
Hwa Ryun grumbled.
“About Martial Arts…”
Dan Mok Ryeon started to speak, then swallowed her words, but Hwa Ryun caught on quickly.
“It’s progressing on its own just fine?”
Dan Mok Ryeon smiled sheepishly and nodded.
“Money doesn’t work that way for you?”
“Not so much doesn’t work as there are too many things to spend it on.”
“What else do you need it for?”
“I was imagining training five hundred disciples. Already I think I won’t sleep a wink. Terrified I won’t earn enough and the children will go hungry…”
As Dan Mok Ryeon pressed her forehead and spoke, Hwa Ryun laughed loudly before barely catching her breath.
“Do you only ever imagine impossible things?”
“That’s what it means to be responsible for your followers. Do you understand?”
“I don’t… People should earn their own keep.”
“No, I mean… the head of a family still has to take responsibility. Otherwise they won’t trust me and follow, will they…?”
“They follow because you’ll take responsibility for them?”
Hwa Ryun narrowed her eyes.
“Following like that is all fake.”
“What? Then why would people follow a leader at all?”
“Because the leader is strongest. They trust and follow for that reason. No compensation needed.”
Dan Mok Ryeon’s eyes widened. Suddenly her throat felt parched and tears threatened to spill.
“No! No, Hwa Ryun, no! Absolutely not. Listen to me. Absolutely never like that. For people to live together, each has a different role. Of course strength matters—why does it matter? Because you have to protect your family…”
“Then that’s a transaction. Not trust.”
“Yes! Exactly!”
Dan Mok Ryeon practically leapt up and seized Hwa Ryun’s shoulders firmly.
“All of life is transaction. It’s not so cold and rigid like that—in simple terms, it’s give and take. You give one thing, receive another. Why? Because you love each other.”
“Shouldn’t you give infinitely if you love someone sincerely?”
‘I’m so incredibly curious how Ma Cheon Gyo even recruits talent. How did they find such an appropriate seed for a leader?’
Dan Mok Ryeon felt tears welling up again.

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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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