Grandfather's Realization
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The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan
Chapter 45
“……Did you notice Taeheo Jin-in's intentions?”
“Ah…… yes. Even though he insisted you weren't his disciple, he clearly cherishes Yeopun Dosanim so much, and since Yeopun has such remarkable talent, I thought that might be why……”
Being able to glimpse others' worries sometimes made her wonder if someone had actually voiced them aloud.
“I see……”
“But I'm not sure if that's necessarily a good idea……”
“Hm. What do you think?”
“Yeopun Dosanim seems to want Taeheo Jin-in as his master. He said he was drawn to him from the start and joined the Kunlun Sect because of it.”
“Yes, that's right.”
“If he already holds someone in such deep respect in his heart, wouldn't taking another master just breed inner turmoil?”
“Taeheo has a naturally free-spirited nature, so he lacks the time to settle in one place and teach disciples—that's likely why he feels that way.”
“Even though Yeopun Dosanim follows him everywhere now?”
“Now that he's decided to make Yeopun one of the sect's key future pillars, he plans to raise him within Kunlun Mountain as much as possible once they return. That's how organizations work. They may have gathered to become immortals, but they're still human—how could it be any different? People naturally feel more affection for those they've seen even one extra time.”
“Ah…… that makes sense. I just thought, since Yeopun Dosanim is truly so talented…… if we're talking pure skill, he has nothing to worry about becoming sect leader someday. And he's a good person too.”
Danmok Cheon-gi felt he'd shared too heavy a topic with a child not yet ten, but he wasn't surprised that Danmok Ryeon understood. He gazed quietly at his granddaughter, who nodded in agreement, and continued.
“Do you think a prodigy of such caliber deserves daily instruction from you?”
“Pardon? Me, teach…… teaching him?”
Ryeon startled and denied it reflexively.
Danmok Cheon-gi chuckled softly at her reaction. Her hair, neatly braided into round twin buns on either side, trembled like butterfly wings.
“Yeopun may seem gentle on the outside, but he's never lost a single match before facing you, so his pride runs deep. Yet when it comes to your words, he listens with wide eyes, absorbing every bit. Am I wrong?”
“Eyy, he said he never had any friends before. I'm his first real friend, so we're just close like that.”
“So, his astonishing progress since becoming your friend is just because he finally has a companion?”
“When your heart feels at ease, your achievements come faster!”
“And the enlightenment you gave Geum Jongha this time? Did that child become your friend too?”
He'd left practically in tears, cheeks and nose flushed red—who could call that friendship? Ryeon knew it too, falling silent with an awkward expression.
Danmok Cheon-gi watched his granddaughter, who sat primly with her eyes downcast, then spoke.
“Could you see it?”
“……”
No specific reference was needed; both knew exactly what he meant. Danmok Cheon-gi added quietly.
“You've given me guidance too.”
Even for a once-in-a-millennium prodigy, helping a peer was one thing—guiding the former world's greatest martial artist to take even a single step forward was another level entirely.
“That path…… that sword path, that direction…… it was visible to your eyes?”
Ryeon pressed her lips tight, then nodded slowly and silently.
Nod, nod.
“Hah…… so you could see it all…… you understand it all.”
Nod.
She nodded once more. Danmok Cheon-gi closed his eyes briefly, then opened them and extended his hand across the desk.
Ryeon hesitated a moment before placing her hand atop his. In his scarred hand—burns mingled with countless cuts—hers looked small, pale, and childlike.
Danmok Cheon-gi let out a hollow chuckle.
“How does a martial artist so easily offer their wrist like this?”
“Ah.”
Ryeon smiled sheepishly. He gently stroked the back of her hand.
“May I examine it?”
She nodded. At that moment, Danmok Cheon-gi deftly gripped her wrist and closed his eyes. As the candle illuminating their midnight faces flickered faintly, the lanterns hanging from distant eaves winked out one by one—whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
The crickets fell utterly silent. In the hush so profound a falling star might be heard, his power quietly coursed through Ryeon's meridians.
These were the channels he'd probed dozens of times while the child lay unconscious and feverish. What he'd never understood then now revealed itself.
A power overwhelming like Taesan Mountain capped in eternal snow. A fierce force sweeping him away like the heart of a storm-tossed sea raged within this tiny body.
The moment Danmok Cheon-gi opened his eyes, the crickets resumed their chorus, and the candle flame danced once.
Before him were his granddaughter's pupils, sparkling like stars newly kindled.
“This power…… this Spiritual Energy…… it healed me.”
Ryeon nodded mutely.
“This is why you can't accumulate neigong.”
“Yes……”
“How could a human body hold such power……”
Murmuring in awe or lament, Danmok Cheon-gi suddenly stiffened, realization dawning.
“They say your Qinglian Water is so effective…… is that thanks to your Spiritual Energy too?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop the medicine business at once.”
“Pardon? G-Grandfather?”
“What grandfather fattens his belly on his child's blood and flesh?”
He spoke lowly. From his viewpoint as grandfather, she could see why he'd think that way.
Ryeon waved her hands frantically.
“No, no! First off, it's not blood. Wait, that's not the point. Actually, if this power builds up too much, it's bad for me……”
“Builds up too much? What do you mean?”
Danmok Cheon-gi's brows twitched. Ryeon continued cautiously, a touch tense.
“The Spiritual Energy is so potent it keeps accumulating, and when it does…… my body starts hurting.”
“……Hurting?”
“Yes…… so I have to use it in time.”
“How…… how does it hurt?”
Danmok Cheon-gi pressed urgently. Ryeon considered softening it but opted for honesty—vague reassurances would only stoke his worry.
“In bad cases, I vomit blood…… or get fevers…… or come down with something like a flu…… but if I use it properly, I'm perfectly healthy! Healthy enough to beat Geum Jongha!”
She mimed swinging a sword for emphasis. Danmok Cheon-gi's face paled, flushed, and drained with each word, ending in utter exhaustion.
“……So you truly must use this power to stay healthy?”
“Yes. So the Qinglian Water business is like having your cake and eating it too? Or hitting two birds with one stone.”
“Tch. Reciting proverbs now? You've grown up.”
Danmok Cheon-gi clicked his tongue and pressed his forehead. If not using it harmed her body, what could he say? Then a thought struck him.
“Your mother…… she suffered just like that.”
“Pardon?”
“She lived with a persistent cough. Fevers were her daily routine. In severe bouts, she even spat blood. Even famed physicians couldn't cure her.”
Ryeon couldn't imagine her current vibrant mother like that. She wasn't a martial artist, but hardly frail either.
“Then when she conceived you, it was chaos. A sickly woman bearing a child……”
Ryeon paused at that, puzzled. Danmok Hyeon-seong was the family heir, Wijicheong his wife—yet Grandfather spoke as if they'd never expected children.
How had such a marriage proceeded?
“But from the moment she carried you, she became astonishingly healthy, so everyone called you a blessing……”
Danmok Cheon-gi trailed off. While Wijicheong carried Ryeon, all hailed her a blessing—but the day she was born, the entire clan was attacked. Though not directly her fault, Ryeon's strange state emerged after, and Danmok Hyeon-u entered secluded training. Some pondered if misfortune shadowed her birth.
“Please don't tell Mother, Grandfather.”
But Ryeon's concern now wasn't her past moniker. A mother who'd witnessed her miracle birth after her own frailty—how could she stay sane hearing her child suffered the same? Especially after over seven years of watching her lie insensate……
“……I understand. I won't say a word.”