The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 94

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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 Declining Clan’s Doomed Young Lord — Episode 94

“Well, that’s… of course, there are good people who don’t think like that, but…….”
Baek Ui Myeong hesitated.
“Look, handle it as you see fit. Since you’re keeping him around, make sure you educate him properly so he doesn’t get strange ideas.”
“Ed, educate him?”
Baek Ui Myeong, who had never considered such a thing, floundered. The boy raised his eyebrows.
“So what were you planning to do with him just sitting there beside you?”
“Just… feed him, clothe him, let him sleep…….”
“While you’re at it, teach him properly so he doesn’t do anything foolish.”
“But how would I teach him?”
“If you really don’t know, take him to the Dan Mok Clan and have them brainwash the foolishness out of him.”
“Mad…….”
The word ‘mad’ had nearly escaped his lips. Had it not been for the painful memories of Chugung and Blood-Qi, he would have said it aloud.
‘Is this person even from Baek Do? Something doesn’t add up.’
He had joked to himself once that some Demon Lord from somewhere had been reincarnated, but when he discovered the boy actually was someone from the Dan Mok Clan, he could only offer an awkward cough.
Yet perhaps his original suspicion had been correct after all?
“This elder, your name is…… what…… exactly…… is it……?”
“I told you — Hwa Ryun.”
“But your family name……?”
Though he’d heard it was Woo Hwa Ryun once before, Baek Ui Myeong asked again with desperate hope in his heart.
The boy, who had been about to speak, furrowed his brow and looked at him.
“Suddenly, why do you want to know that?”
‘Why won’t you just tell me!’
Baek Ui Myeong had been prepared to forget, to pretend he didn’t know, and to believe whatever the boy said — whether it was a lie or not — if he would just say his name was Dan Mok Hwa Ryun. But the boy would not help him.
Baek Ui Myeong summoned his last shred of courage and asked.
“……You are from Baek Do, aren’t you?”
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“Ahaha, no, no, I was just asking…….”
‘He’s not! He’s not! He’s not!’
So he wasn’t from Baek Do?
Hek Cheon Ryeon? Ma Cheon Gyo?
‘Who was the Demon Lord with the surname Woo?’
Or could it be……?
‘It can’t be Blood Coral Valley, can it? No, it couldn’t be. They said everyone there was dead. Besides, if this elder were from Blood Coral Valley, I wouldn’t have lived to see this day.’
I would have been drained dry and left as a withered husk in some alley long ago!
In any case, if that were true, then why was he, neither from Baek Do nor even part of the Murim, getting involved in Dan Mok Clan affairs like this?
“Well, anyway, he’s…… a child of the Dan Mok Clan, so there shouldn’t be any real problem with me keeping him, should there?”
The fact that he was a blood relative of the Dan Mok Clan weighed heavily on his mind. No matter that the child had followed him of his own accord and that he had no choice but to keep him…….
“That cadet branch was struck from the clan register. They have no connection to the Dan Mok Clan now.”
“……!”
He’d never harbored expectations of reward for taking good care of the child, but he hadn’t expected such a cold answer either.
“Well, at least you’re better than a family that beats their children……, even if you fall short in other ways.”
“Why do you keep saying I fall short?”
“Then are you clever?”
“Reasonably so.”
“The fact that you think that is precisely where you fall short.”
The boy clicked his tongue and shook his head. After a moment’s hesitation, he reached into his robes and pressed something into Baek Ui Myeong’s hands.
“Ha…… it’s a waste, but…….”
“What…… what is it?”
“Dumpling. Go share it with him.”
“A dumpling? What’s with the dumpling……?”
“They say good things eaten on good days are good things. If that brat looks like he’s about to do something strange, either bring him to me or tell me about it.”
“Ah, yes, understood!”
The boy turned as if to leave, but then paused and turned back toward Baek Ui Myeong again.
“Why, why, why are you looking at me like that?”
Under that scrutinizing gaze, Baek Ui Myeong hunched his shoulders and stumbled over his words.
“You should know how lucky you are.”
“Yes, I know…….”
Otherwise, he’d never have stumbled upon the fortune of receiving guidance in balancing Qi and Blood while simply walking down the street.
The boy folded his arms and asked.
“What Heart Method are you cultivating?”
“I’m sorry?”
Baek Ui Myeong couldn’t keep pace with the sudden change of topic and merely blinked, before answering carefully.
“I’m… practicing Samjae Qigong…….”
“Samjae? Hm, what?”
“Samjae Qigong…….”
Baek Ui Myeong muttered the words so quietly, his voice seemed to shrink.
Samjae Qigong
(三才氣功)
—also called the Samjae Heart Method. It was a third-rate Heart Method, the kind you could buy at any street stall for the price of paper, with mysterious techniques scrawled inside.
Along with Yuk Hab Quan and the Samjae Sword Method, you might call it one of the three brothers of third-rate martial arts.
“Well, where else would someone like you learn any proper Heart Method?”
“D-do you perhaps wish to teach me something……?”
Baek Ui Myeong looked up with earnest eyes, but the boy waved his hand.
“You’ve already learned a Heart Method well enough—what more could I teach you?”
“But, but sir—it’s Samjae Qigong! Not some third-rate Heart Method like this. Surely you could teach me…….”
“You’ve already studied without knowing what I might teach you.”
Baek Ui Myeong’s heart lurched, and he sealed his lips shut.
Seeing his reaction, the boy laughed and scratched his forehead, gathering his thoughts.
“Samjae Qigong—you’ve learned it well. It’s perfect for your situation. Just pay attention to the technique. First, when you inhale, draw the breath in deeply. Once the Qi has spread throughout your entire body, hold it for the same duration you spent inhaling, then slowly draw up what’s inside and exhale it over the same interval. Did you follow?”
“Yes? Yes…… yes?”
“Your Qi and Blood have been tangled and unwound once already, so before you attempt anything difficult or obscure, the priority is to cultivate your Meridians through simple practice. Don’t go chasing after strange Heart Methods—focus on refining this foundation first. Spread the Qi you’ve inhaled throughout your body, gather it inward, and expel only the corrupted Qi outward.”
“Yes…… yes! But please, would you just explain it once more……!”
The boy fixed him with a sharp look, recited the sequence once more at rapid pace, then turned away and vanished.
Baek Ui Myeong stood alone in a daze before hastily chanting the formula under his breath and hurrying after him.
“Inhale deeply, throughout the whole body, same timing, same timing…….”

* * *

“Wow! These are really delicious. I’ve never tasted meat dumplings this good before. Seriously!”
“But why dumplings? Since morning?”
“It looks like she’s been preparing a huge batch of them for the past few days or so?”
“Is it someone’s birthday again?”
“It’s Dan Mok Ryeon’s birthday.”
“What!”
Mae Sin Yu was the one who revealed that it was Dan Mok Ryeon’s birthday, and Dan Mok Wan was the one who jumped up in surprise mid-dumpling.
While the children huddled together eating dumplings and chattering, Dan Mok Ryeon sat in her quarters eating her own share.
Wi Ji Cheong watched Dan Mok Ryeon eat with warm satisfaction, never forgetting to set aside dumplings for Dan Mok Bi and Dan Mok Hwa Ryun.
“The dumplings taste even better this year. Perhaps we should have held a proper celebration…….”
“The weather’s cold, and I prefer sharing dumplings with everyone like this. Besides, we didn’t hold a birthday celebration for Seong, so I couldn’t change my mind just for myself, could I?”
Dan Mok Seong, born in January, had asked around about how Dan Mok Ryeon typically celebrated her birthday when her own approached.
Perhaps she had wanted to match her sister’s tradition, but hearing that Dan Mok Ryeon only distributed dumplings to everyone, she decided to do exactly the same.
Although Dan Mok Hyeon Yo had pouted and thrown herself on the floor—it would have been the clan’s first grand birthday celebration—Dan Mok Seong refused to budge and stubbornly insisted on making dumplings to share with everyone.
“That’s why I say we should have given Seong a proper birthday celebration.”
“Oh, both Seong and I prefer it this way, really.”
After Dan Mok Ryeon repeated herself several times, Wi Ji Cheong finally smiled and nodded.
“Even so, sharing a birthday meal with your mother before leaving for distant lands—that’s a treasure in itself.”
“I think so too!”
Dan Mok Bi said this and ceded her own portion of dumplings to Dan Mok Ryeon, her eyes full of tenderness.
Dan Mok Ryeon kissed Dan Mok Bi’s cheek repeatedly, then doubled the dumplings and returned them. A smile as wide as a basin bloomed across Dan Mok Bi’s face.
After the meal was cleared, it was time for Dan Mok Ryeon and Wi Ji Cheong to play Baduk.
Unlike her slower progress with the flute due to her physical condition, Dan Mok Ryeon’s skill at Baduk had grown remarkably fast—a testament to her mother’s excellent instruction.
“Your father was skilled at almost everything, yet somehow he was hopeless at Baduk.”
“Really?”
“Did you ever tell me the story of how you met your father?”
“No! Please tell me now!”
Ryeon’s eyes sparkled with delight. Wi Ji Cheong lowered her gaze and moved a Baduk stone with measured grace as she spoke.
“When I was in Shaanxi Province… it was likely when your father was returning to Hang Zhou after visiting the Martial Alliance. We first met at the Medical Pavilion

below Hua Shan. We were both waiting for a physician, and out of boredom, we ended up playing Baduk together.”
At the mention of meeting at the Medical Pavilion, Ryeon felt a small ache in her chest.
At that time, her father had already suffered irreversible wounds from the battle with Blood Coral Valley, and her mother was suffering from an inborn illness that had plagued her all her life.
“But goodness, he played so poorly. He was a bit better than most, but not as good as you are now, not by a long measure.”
“Really?”
“Yes. And he kept saying he’d never lost before and wanted to play another game. Wouldn’t he just insist on it?”
Their rematch fell through when the physician arrived, but the two of them played match after match whenever they crossed paths at the Medical Pavilion over the course of two months.
“Then one day he said he had something to tell me—but only if he won. No matter how I told him to just speak, he insisted on saying it only after he’d beaten me. I thought at this rate I’d have to wait until the next life to hear what he wanted to say…”
“So you let him win?”
Wi Ji Cheong’s eyes crinkled as she smiled.
“It was terribly difficult. Even when I deliberately made a clumsy move, he’d catch on at once, as if he had a sixth sense.”

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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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