The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 99

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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 Noble House: A Limited Lifespan — Chapter 99

“That’s right. Keep listening to your sister, even when you’re all grown up. You hear me? Promise.”
Hwa Ryun was about to answer that he understood, but he hesitated and fell silent.
“What if I break the promise?”
“If you break the promise?”
Already trying to get out of listening. Dan Mok Ryeon felt laughter bubbling up inside, but she held it back.
“Then I won’t talk to you anymore.”
Dan Mok Ryeon said this with a pout, her arms crossed.
“You won’t talk to me forever?”
“Not forever. For a hundred nights.”
“A hundred nights? Can’t you just do ten days instead?”
“What kind of great undertaking can you accomplish in ten days?”
“Is raising a child really such a great undertaking?”
“Of course it is. I’m raising little Hwa Ryun, after all.”
“If you’re raising a child, then a hundred nights isn’t nearly enough.”
Realizing he had a point, Dan Mok Ryeon frowned in thought, then suddenly flicked him on the forehead.
“Why are you already thinking about breaking your promise? If you keep it, we can talk every single day.”
But Hwa Ryun, clutching his forehead, had no chance to protest.
Just then, someone aboard the boat—summoning tremendous courage—spoke up.
“W-w-w-w… Moonless Sword Master…”
It was the martial artist who had overturned the basket of tangerines moments before. His entire body flushed crimson with tension.
When he addressed Dan Mok Cheon Gi, everyone on the boat regarded him with a mixture of envy, awe, and admiration.
The moment Dan Mok Cheon Gi, who held a weiqi stone in his hand, lifted his head, the deck fell into a silence so profound that only the soft lapping of water could be heard.
“Hmm? Do you know me?”
He had sensed the man’s approach long beforehand and was not startled, but puzzled that a stranger would address him so deliberately. Dan Mok Cheon Gi looked back and forth between the man and his two children.
At his questioning gaze—do you know him?—both of them shook their heads.
The man swallowed hard and opened his mouth.
“I… I am Jin Cheon Rak.”
Having said that much, the man looked as though his face might burst. He glanced down at his own palm and spoke hurriedly. Though smeared with ink, his palm bore tiny characters written as though they were a script for what he meant to say.
“When Blood Coral Valley fell, sir, you saved us, and so I entered a small martial hall and learned the sword… My brother tends tangerine orchards, and when I heard the rumor that you would be coming this way to attend the Gyeong Hang Un Ryeon gathering, I thought perhaps I could offer my thanks, so I brought tangerines… the tangerines… these are…”
Speaking without pause, he ran out of breath by the end, his face darkening to an even deeper red.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi, whose eyes had been blinking rapidly at the torrent of words, narrowed his gaze at the word “tangerines” and slowly retrieved a memory from the past.
“Ah, I remember now. It was when I passed through Guangdong Province… A certain couple had planted tangerine trees for their children. The tangerines I was served then were not bitter at all—very sweet.”
“…!”
Jin Cheon Rak went rigid, his expression one of disbelief as he stared at Dan Mok Cheon Gi.
“You… you remember?”
“There were three brothers in all, weren’t there? The two younger ones are farming tangerines now?”
“Ah, the youngest… the youngest is pursuing his studies.”
Having said even that much, Jin Cheon Rak hurriedly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
Then, remembering that he had not come here simply to bare his own history, he tightened his grip on the items he held.
But Dan Mok Cheon Gi spoke first.
“Yet you came all the way from Guangdong Province? That’s no short journey.”
“Ah, no! My brother and I… we live in Zhejiang Province now! Tangerines don’t naturally grow in the northern regions, but my brother improved the strain, and now… in Zhejiang too… cultivation became possible…”
Jin Cheon Rak wanted to strike himself on the head.
Why would the Moonless Sword Master have any interest in the cultivation of tangerine trees!
“That is… that’s why I came all this way… to offer my thanks for saving us then… My parents, even until the day they passed, never forgot their gratitude. A-and I also brought letters from my siblings and the people of our village!”
Jin Cheon Rak hastily thrust his hand into his chest. Normally, when martial artists made such a motion facing each other, someone would have drawn a blade by now—but what might come from that chest!—yet in the presence of Dan Mok Cheon Gi, no one moved.
And Jin Cheon Rak, consumed with nervousness, oblivious to how his actions might appear to others, fumbled for a long moment before abruptly producing a bundle of letters worn from handling and a box containing tangerines.
His hands trembled.
“T-t-to meet you again… it was… it was an honor. Back then, thank you for saving us. S-since then, I heard rumors that your health was not good, that you saw no visitors, so I couldn’t bring myself to call… but this time… I gathered my courage… and at last I have come. Please… please forgive me…”
As Jin Cheon Rak spoke, tears fell from his eyes in drops, leaving wet marks on the letters. Startled, he tried hastily to wipe them away, but the ink still on his palm smudged, and he grew even more flustered.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi watched him for a moment in quiet wonder, then smiled gently and accepted the box and letters from his trembling hands.
“Here is a martial artist with such tears.”
“I-I… I apologize. I’ve been plagued with regret that I should have come to see you sooner, and that’s why I’ve taken this liberty despite my poor manners…”
“How could I think that coming to offer thanks would be a burden?”
“There must be tens of thousands of people like me in the Martial Arts World of the Central Plains. I was afraid that if they all came to visit you, it might cause you trouble…….”
But this time, he couldn’t let it pass. Jin Cheon Rak’s eyes welled up with tears he kept wiping away with the back of his hand.
Suddenly, he realized that it wasn’t right to refrain from offering thanks simply out of fear of being a burden.
Ever since then, he’d been restless, yet lacked the courage to cross the high threshold of the Dan Mok Clan—until finally arriving here.
Dan Mok Hyeon Yo and Dan Mok Hyeon U, who’d been quietly watching him, their eyes too grew red.
Beginning with Jin Cheon Rak, everyone who’d boarded the vessel approached Dan Mok Cheon Gi, offering small gifts they’d brought and words of gratitude.
Dan Mok Cheon Gi, understanding that they’d boarded this boat bound for Yangzhou simply to seize the chance to speak with him, felt momentarily taken aback before a smile crossed his face.
The line of those offering thanks seemed endless.

* * *

“It seems I…… was more diligent than I thought.”
“What are you talking about?”
Hwa Ryun peeled a tangerine and set it nearby, grumbling. Ryeon lay in the cabin, feigning seasickness.
The endless line of people who’d boarded to offer thanks to their grandfather—merely watching it was enough to stir the heart.
And there, both Ryeon and Dan Mok Cheon Gi had simultaneously arrived at a splendid idea.
Most of those who’d boarded the vessel to seize even a moment to offer thanks to Dan Mok Cheon Gi were martial artists.
That is to say, those who treasured the counsel of the Greatest Master Under Heaven more than gold.
Seeing it as a fortuitous connection, Dan Mok Cheon Gi suggested that those in need of guidance might exchange insights through Sword Discussion, and all warmly agreed.
Beside him, Ryeon laid out brush and ink, and as Dan Mok Cheon Gi offered his counsel, she supplemented it with observations gleaned through Divine Insight, organized them neatly, and handed each person a sheet.
At first, all was well.
Until then, Ryeon had been feigning seasickness, rolling a tangerine in her palm while gazing down at the rippling waters of the canal—reading the vivid red warning displayed before her eyes.

*Current Spiritual Energy: 75 / 120*
*Warning! Maintain Spiritual Energy at 60 or below.*
*Remaining Lifespan: 3 weeks 5 hours*

By observing so many people through Divine Insight and expending Spiritual Energy, those who gained insight would raise her fortune value as well, and if these people grew stronger, wouldn’t that ultimately prove helpful in the coming conflict with Blood Coral Valley?
‘This is why they say education is a century’s design. I’ll start with ten years’ design.’
So thinking, she’d happily giggled and worked diligently—but somewhere along the way, she’d become far too absorbed.
The Spiritual Energy that had been overflowing and troublesome was now, when she finally came to her senses, down to barely ten remaining.
The moment Ryeon’s hand paused—just briefly—as she organized the final sheet for the last person, it was Hwa Ryun and Dan Mok Cheon Gi, hovering closest beside her, who noticed first.
She caught Hwa Ryun, whose face had gone rigid and was about to show concern, and claimed seasickness as her excuse.
Dan Mok Hyeon U, assuming it natural that a child would be exhausted after spending the whole afternoon writing for her grandfather and the adults, made such a fuss about it that Ryeon came down to the cabin with Hwa Ryun.
In the meantime, all the Dan Mok family members had visited one by one, fretting greatly. Even Dan Mok Bi sat pressed against her side, eyes glistening with tears.

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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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