The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 98

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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 Limited Lifespan Warning — Episode 98

“She distributed dumplings that winter, and they say the taste was absolutely extraordinary. So naturally everyone’s making a fuss over it.”
“As good as the braised pork belly we just ate?”
“That’s why they’re all cheering like that over there. The dumpling skins were fluffy yet chewy, filled with finely minced vegetables and meat, and when they were freshly steamed and handed out, the warm steam rose up and the meat broth and vegetable juice blended in an almost intoxicating harmony inside their mouths—that’s what I heard.”
“Then no wonder they’re so excited. When does she hand out those dumplings again?”
“Next year around this time?”
“What! Why on earth?”
“Apparently she distributed them on the birthdays of the Dan Mok Clan’s children, handing them out in the streets.”
“Haven’t all those birthdays already passed?”
“They have.”
Heuk Dam’s shoulders slumped in visible disappointment.
Baek Dam gazed out the window at the lengthening procession and murmured to himself.
“But it seems that rumor we heard on the way to Hang Zhou was true after all.”
“What rumor?”
“The one about the Moonless Sword recovering his realm. Otherwise, how could someone who’s been in seclusion all this time suddenly make an appearance at the Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon?”

“Whether the Moonless Sword has reached his current realm or not doesn’t matter to us. What matters right now is that our Stellar Compass shows absolutely — absolutely no movement at all!”
Heuk Dam pulled out the compass from his breast as though hurling his frustration into the world.
Sigh.
Baek Dam’s spirits had also flagged considerably.
“True, there were occasional reactions in between, though…….”
“The child’s lifeline isn’t flickering on and off, is it?”
If word got back that they’d gone out on the Successor Candidate Search and failed to locate the candidate before the child’s death, there was no predicting what the sect leader would do.
Baek Dam shook his head.
“Rather…….”
“Rather?”
“What if this little child knew how to conceal her own spiritual energy?”
“What nonsense are you spouting, Baek Dam! That child can’t be more than seven or eight years old at most.”
When they’d set out last year, they’d estimated her at five or six, so with the year that had passed, she’d be seven or eight by now.
“But Heuk Dam, if that weren’t the case, how could the Stellar Compass be responding so fitfully like this?”
“You’re saying a newborn child would’ve already learned to suppress her own momentum?”
“Seven or eight isn’t exactly newborn anymore. She’d have full use of her limbs by then, wouldn’t she? Even a tiger cub knows how to hide its true nature when it’s young.”
“Then…… if what you’re saying is true…….”
Heuk Dam’s eyes wavered as he looked at Baek Dam.
If the child was concealing her Inauspicious Star…….

If that’s why the Stellar Compass couldn’t get a proper lock on her…….

“Then how are we supposed to find her now?”
“Ah.”
The two old men stared down at the Stellar Compass with deeply somber faces, but the compass offered no answer.

* * *

A large sail-rigged boat cut through the waters of the Canal, heading toward Namjik Rye Seong.
And aboard the unusually crowded vessel, a peculiar tension hung in the air.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi sat with his arms crossed, playing Go with his daughter Dan Mok Hyeon Yo, while Dan Mok Hyeon U sat beside them, offering commentary on his sister’s and father’s game.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
The fellow passengers, knowing nothing of one another, pretended the situation had nothing to do with them, as though they understood nothing at all, while subtly sliding their eyes to observe the others.
And on that ship suspended in an inexplicable tension, Dan Mok Ryeon, lazily waving a fan as if merely playing around, swiftly read the Celestial Vision shimmering across its surface and found herself smiling before she even realized it.
‘So this is what it all meant…….’
At a slight distance from the boat, Ryeon gazed down at the Canal’s waters and was about to smile when Hwa Ryun appeared with a small kumquat, striking up a conversation.
“Sister, is the seasickness any better?”
“I’m fine, really. I’m just not fond of making friends with nature, that’s all.”
Ryeon’s complexion had turned ashen just before boarding, and she’d grown dizzy enough that her family fretted over her without pause until they’d set sail.
Dan Mok Seong had even cut back on his own sleep to keep watch over her condition, though he was resting now.
“Usually people say they enjoy nature as a companion, don’t they? And even if you disliked it, there are so many people on this boat right now that it’s practically a marketplace.”
“It’s still not enough. There should be far more.”
Ryeon spoke playfully.
Since leaving the clan and halting production of Clear Lotus Water and White Medicine Elixir, the rate at which her spiritual energy depleted had outpaced the rate at which it accumulated—and just recently, the limited lifespan warning had begun flashing again.
At first she’d thought it would suffice to spend all her spiritual energy purifying the Canal’s waters, but when she saw the fish swimming alongside the boat suddenly multiply and their movements grow lively, she’d stopped.
She couldn’t have spiritual beings emerging in the middle of a canal, let alone in the heart of the clan.
What troubled her more was the barnacle-like creatures clinging to the boat’s railings—clearly ones the crew hadn’t managed to scrape away—which unsettled her mind further.
‘What if all of these become Thousand-Year Purple Clams

when aged?’
The pearls of the Thousand-Year Purple Clam possessed a quality that repelled evil

and warded off toxins merely by being possessed—a spiritual creature of considerable worth.
While the term typically referred to pearl oysters aged roughly a thousand years with spiritual energy settled within them, having witnessed a perfectly ordinary black-feathered chicken transform into a vermillion bird and take flight, Ryeon saw no reason why barnacles couldn’t become Thousand-Year Purple Clams.
“But where did the kumquat come from? How did you get it?”
“People say that smelling something sour helps when you’re seasick.”
Though it wasn’t actually seasickness and smelling the kumquat wouldn’t truly help, Ryeon held the small golden fruit close to her nose and breathed in its fragrance.
The scent made her mouth fill with saliva and carried such intensity that she could taste the bitterness—it lifted her spirits.
“Where did the kumquat come from?”
“People gave them to me when they heard you were feeling ill.”
At those words, Ryeon nearly dropped the kumquat.
“People? Which people?”
“I don’t know. But there’s nothing strange about them, so it’s fine.”
A scolding rushed to the tip of her tongue—how could Hwa Ryun possibly know that, had she really accepted something suspicious from a stranger, never to speak with strangers, to stay glued to her sister’s side—but she stopped herself short.
Over Hwa Ryun’s shoulder, a broad-shouldered martial artist was holding a basket overflowing with kumquats, beaming as he watched her.
When Ryeon gave him a nod, he returned the gesture, only to spill all the kumquats and cause a commotion.
“Yes, I don’t think there’s anything strange about them, actually… They’re all just people who miss Grandfather.”
“Oh, is that what it was?”
Small clusters of people gathered here and there, individuals standing alone, some wearing bamboo hats with their eyes hidden….
Each bore a weapon at their waist, and they all watched one another with palpable wariness—a sea of martial artists bound by subtle tension.
The moment Ryeon sensed something was amiss about the surroundings, she began fanning herself earnestly. And as she did, the Starry Sight flooded her perception with the names of those aboard, the techniques they’d mastered, their qualifications and peculiarities, cascading without end.
Yet one thing remained constant among them all: their worry.

Word had spread that Dan Mok Cheon Gi had emerged from his long seclusion, and these people had all converged on this boat hoping to see him.
“You didn’t even know that, and you accepted something from a stranger? If an unfamiliar adult offers you something or asks for help, you mustn’t follow them or do anything they ask. Do you understand?”
“…….”
“Hwa Ryun, you need to answer for that to count as being a good child.”
“But sister, that’s what you do.”
“What?”
“You help and rescue all sorts of adults and children passing by—you’re always in some kind of chaos about it.”
“No… when did I ever…! When have I ever done that!”
Hwa Ryun fixed her with a look brimming with disbelief.
“That ‘when did I ever’ is the very first thing a guilty person says in front of a magistrate, isn’t it?”
“Are you afraid of magistrates? The magistrate is far away—I’m right here.”
“Yes… Sister scares me more. Yes, you do.”
“Besides, everything I do is for our family. Our family….”
Ryeon trailed off. What if she’d used what she’d devoted to her Martial Training elsewhere?
If she’d spent the money from those elixirs and remedies on restoring the clan instead? Perhaps she should have indulged in luxury at least—wouldn’t that have brought joy?
If Dan Mok Han So and Cheong Yun Jin In hadn’t lost their inner cultivation and had glimpsed even higher realms….
Hwa Ryun, sensing Ryeon’s sudden melancholy with sharp perception, hastily spoke up.
“You teach the branch members too, sister. All of them.”
Ryeon’s eyes widened in surprise, and she gently flicked Hwa Ryun’s nose with a fingertip.
“Of course they’re family too. And when they grow stronger, I benefit, don’t I? It means ‘Our clan’s martial artists are this formidable!'”
The strength of a clan’s martial artists was the strength of that clan itself, and that translated into power. It was only natural that Ryeon devoted herself to their training.
“What matters is that you don’t talk to people you don’t know. If an adult asks for help, you can’t follow them. Proper adults don’t ask children for help. Don’t eat food given by strangers either. Do you understand?”
“…….”
“You need to answer me, Hwa Ryun.”
“Yes, yes.”
“What did I say?”
“That I should listen well to my sister.”
Ryeon pressed her fingers to her brow but couldn’t bring herself to scold Hwa Ryun further. That playful expression made it clear she understood perfectly—and was choosing her words that way on purpose.

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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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