The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 91

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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 Se Ga’s Doomed Young Master, Chapter 91

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The new year had passed, and winter’s chill crept in. With the autumn flowers all fallen away, children warmed themselves with light running and gathered in the center of the Yeon Mu Jang.
Today was the day of the selection trial for those who would go to the Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon.
The children who had passed the test were brimming with confidence, while those who hadn’t wore expressions heavy with gloom.
“Has everyone finished their warm-up exercises?”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
All the children answered in unison.
“Then are you ready to take the test?”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
“Who would like to challenge it first?”
“Uh, well… if we fail, is that the end of it?”
Dan Mok Wan asked. Dan Mok Hyeon U smiled and shook his head.
“If you wish to challenge again, you may.”
Then one child in the middle quietly raised his hand.
“Um… if I go first and the person after me copies what I did, what happens…?”
“You are all one family. Why would you hesitate to learn something good from each other?”
Dan Mok Ban, the boy who had asked, fell silent. Though Dan Mok Hyeon U’s words were right, he still felt a pang of unfairness.
“However, this is also a test, so each of you must do your very best to show the method you have devised. Understood?”
“Yes!”
At those words, Dan Mok Ban’s expression brightened, and with renewed confidence he laughed and raised his hand high along with the other children.
“The five of us will challenge together!”
“What?”
Dan Mok Hyeon U was taken aback for a moment, but then recalled that he had not forbidden it, and he nodded.
Dan Mok Ban, Dan Mok Poong, Dan Mok Gwon, Gong So Ok, and Dan Mok Hae stepped forward simultaneously. Dan Mok Poong ran just two quick steps, then knelt and offered his back.
Next, Dan Mok Gwon pushed off with one step, sprang into the air, leaped over Dan Mok Poong’s back, and knelt just as he had.
“Ooh!”
As everyone marveled at this unexpected method, the five children repeated the pattern—each using the child ahead as a springboard—until all of them had somehow managed to cross the long distance.
Naturally, more than three footprints remained on the ground, but the children paid it no mind.
After all, no one could leave only three footprints anyway; if they did their best, they believed they could still go to the Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon.
“How did you come up with such a method?”
“You said we are all family, so we thought of a way to move forward through cooperation! Isn’t what you can hold in one hand the hand of family itself?”
“Haha… it wasn’t the intended answer, but it is not a wrong one either. Well done. Who will go next?”
Next came Dan Mok Gyoo and Yeo Seon Hwan. Yeo Seon Hwan had brought a long pole. All eyes turned toward him.
But despite his momentum, he could not jump high enough, and he stumbled at the landing point, failing to get even halfway across.
Yeo Seon Hwan tried about five more times, but it ended when the pole snapped on his final attempt.
And Dan Mok Gyoo, attempting a handstand—thinking that hand prints instead of footprints might be acceptable—could only go halfway before tumbling over with a laugh.
Then Dan Mok Wan stepped forward. He took a deep breath, then scattered something he had been holding onto the ground ahead of him.
“Pebbles?”
Small stones the size of an adult’s finger scattered across the ground. Having fixed the position of the pebbles in his mind, Dan Mok Wan lightly sprang up and treaded along the Infinite Footwork technique, stepping only on the pebbles.
Tap, tap, tap!
The pebbles were deeply dented, but indeed no footprints were left. However, there was a limit to how many pebbles could fit in one hand, so in the final section, pebbles ran short, and he ended up making exactly three footprints.
“Wan, that was splendid!”
But everyone had to acknowledge it. Dan Mok Wan, his face flushed with pride, stepped back shyly.
Next were Seo Geuk Lim and Mae Sin Yu.
Mae Sin Yu appeared holding a water pouch in one hand. Then, moving with the Infinite Footwork technique, he erased the footprints with water from the pouch as he went, crossing the final line.
“I never would have thought of something like that—truly remarkable!”
As everyone let out sighs of admiration, Seo Geuk Lim stepped forward last. The ground was slightly wet, so he drew a new line and stood, took a deep breath, then drew his Mok Geom.
“Huh?”
Everyone looked puzzled, but only Dan Mok Hyeon U and Dan Mok Ryeon met each other’s eyes and smiled knowingly.
“I’m going.”
Seo Geuk Lim drew in a breath and took a step forward. At the same moment, the Mok Geom in his grip began to move with him.
The Twelve Stars Falling Blade unfolded from the tip of his wooden sword, and the blade wind rose up, sweeping away his footprints. With each step, the Twelve Stars Falling Blade flowed seamlessly.
But the blade wind was still weak, and the sword form and footwork hadn’t yet merged completely, so he couldn’t erase all the prints. About three sets of footprints remained, each half-visible.
The children, belatedly grasping the point of the test, let out sighs.
Dan Mok Hyeon U smiled warmly and patted Seo Geuk Lim’s shoulder.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“I fell short, sir……”
Seo Geuk Lim bowed his head deeply. Dan Mok Hyeon U shook his head and opened his mouth with a smile.
“Everything we learn guides us toward the Way of the Martial
(武)
Do you understand?”
“Yes!”
Dan Mok Hyeon U swept his gaze across the children once more, then drew his own sword.
Then, just as Seo Geuk Lim had done, he began moving forward, employing both the Twelve Stars Falling Blade and the Infinite Footwork together.
It looked almost like a sword dance. The wind rose along the arc of the blade, sweeping the ground clean.
When Dan Mok Hyeon U reached the endpoint, even the line he had originally drawn was gone, leaving behind only bare earth with not a trace remaining.
“Wow……!”
The children gazed with eyes sparkling in wonder, and Dan Mok Hyeon U laughed softly.
“Even without a shred of internal energy, a sword form held with proper stance can contain power in itself. I too did this without drawing upon my cultivation. You can all do it.”
“But we’re still small, and our arm strength isn’t enough yet……”
Dan Mok Gyoo spoke in a deflated voice. Dan Mok Hyeon U shook his head and gestured for Ryeon to step forward.
“Whether you’re small or weak, if you learn it precisely and can bring it forth beyond your body, then Gi Se will dwell within it.”
As he said this, Dan Mok Hyeon U stepped back to the side. It was a signal for Ryeon to try.
All eyes turned toward Ryeon.
When an adult like Dan Mok Hyeon U accomplished something, no matter how remarkable, it felt inevitable; but when a peer like Dan Mok Ryeon did it, that was another matter entirely.
“Hmm.”
Ryeon grasped the Mok Geom in a graceful motion. Then, just as Dan Mok Hyeon U had, she advanced forward, employing both footwork and sword form.
The Infinite Footwork and Twelve Stars Falling Blade that Ryeon unfolded meshed with perfect precision, as if they had been a single martial art from the very beginning rather than two separate disciplines.
Each step became a foundation for the sword form, and the blade carved through empty air, cutting down an imaginary opponent, opening the path before Ryeon.
When Ryeon finally came to a stop, just as with Dan Mok Hyeon U, even the line marking her position had been completely erased.
“Wow, wow, wow!”
“It really works……”
“Amazing.”
“Incredible……”
Dan Mok Gyoo burst out with wonder, his eyes wide, and the other children voiced their admiration in turn. Ryeon set aside her wooden sword and wiped the sweat from her brow.

* Mae Sin Yu’s Learning +1 *
Dan Mok Gyoo’s Learning +1
Dan Mok Wan’s Learning +1
Seo Geuk Lim’s Learning +1
Current Luck Value: 44 / 120 (↑4)

The Luck Value rose with a cheerful chime. Ryeon gazed at the children with eyes full of affection.
‘Oh, these clever, beautiful, good-hearted ones!’
“I said this was the correct answer to today’s test, but devising other approaches was also truly excellent. Even different paths are not wrong answers—whatever path you take, if your thoughts and intentions are directed toward learning the Way of the Martial, then that is the correct answer.”
“Yes!”
“But a promise is a promise! This time, Dan Mok Wan, Mae Sin Yu, and Seo Geuk Lim will go to Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon.”
The children nodded their heads and offered congratulations to Dan Mok Wan, Mae Sin Yu, and Seo Geuk Lim.
Though there was some disappointment, having felt the gap themselves, they couldn’t help but accept it.
Since they had completed the test today, Dan Mok Hyeon U stepped back to give them free time, and the children hesitantly approached Ryeon.
“We were really startled just now……. How did you do that?”
“Will we be able to do it too?”
“I still don’t understand the Sim Beop well, and that’s why……”
The last to speak was Dan Mok Gyoo. Ryeon bit back the words ‘I haven’t built any cultivation myself!’ and said nothing.
“The Infinite Footwork is a truly wonderful technique. It can support every martial art in our Se Ga. Anytime, anywhere.”
‘Those old masters really were something special.’
The Infinite Footwork was almost like a universal foundation beam.
No matter what martial art from Se Ga you brought to it, it fit as if they had been one from the beginning. Though that was only possible when you truly understood it from the fundamentals down to every detail.

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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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