Even if she couldn’t become a great master of the Murim, she simply wanted to run around in good health.
Stars twinkled within Danmok Ryeon’s eyes.
“I’m going to get rid of everything that gets in the way of my Long and Healthy Life!”
It felt unfair that in the past, despite possessing this power, she had collapsed helplessly because she didn’t know what it was. However, Ryeon quickly shook her head to clear her thoughts.
She wasn’t fully healthy yet, and she was already looking at a warning about dealing with her Spiritual Energy within two months, but somehow, it would work out.
Ryeon thought positively and reached for the fan placed by her bedside.
She intended to use one of her abilities, ‘Purification.’ A gentle breeze seemed to rise, and with the illusion of wind chimes ringing somewhere, the air became refreshing.
Immediately, her Spiritual Energy stats dropped just as she expected.
“Whoa!”
Health: 4 (1▲) / 100
Spiritual Energy: 75 (1▼) / 100
It was a very small amount, but still.
Excited by the idea, Ryeon couldn’t suppress a beaming smile as she fanned every corner of the room, purifying the air.
When she had circled the spacious quarters once, suddenly, her vision spun slightly.
“Uh… huh?”
Health: 1 (3▼) / 100
Spiritual Energy: 79 (4▲) / 100
Warning: Do not concentrate Spiritual Energy…
“What in the world…”
Ryeon stared at the fan with a ghastly expression. The Spiritual Energy section had turned bright red, as if written in cinnabar, and the number had surged.
In air far clearer and fresher than a mountaintop, Ryeon alone slumped onto her bed with a hollow look on her face.
The surroundings were completely saturated with the Spiritual Energy she had scattered. The Spiritual Energy, which had been cleansed while purifying the air, was slowly returning to her.
*
Purification: 2-Star (1▲)
Health: 4 / 100
Spiritual Energy: 68 / 100
Ryeon glared at the mirror.
Warning: Let’s make an effort to keep Spiritual Energy below 50.
The text floating on the mirror seemed to be mocking her.
This display could manifest anywhere she could read text. On the white surface of a fan, wide sleeves, the canopy of a bed, a mirror, or even on the surface of water in a bowl.
She had regained consciousness in the autumn, just before the frost set in. Since then, the year had turned, her birthday in February had passed, and she had spent several full months recuperating until she turned eight. During that time, her lifeline had fluctuated wildly as well.
Two months remaining, one month and fifteen days remaining, back to two months remaining…
Using it for purification wasn’t as simple as it sounded either.
She had excitedly purified her surroundings, which raised her Purification skill to 2-Star, but the effect of that purification was the problem.
Even as winter approached, the trees near the window of Ryeon’s quarters remained vividly green without dropping a single leaf, which began to draw people’s attention.
Because of that, Ryeon had to stop practicing purification out the window.
Before rumors like, ‘Seeing that the flowers and trees at the Young Lady’s quarters aren’t withering, it’s certain a divine spirit took the Young Lady for a while and sent her back,’ could spread any further…
Furthermore, a purified, confined space had the effect of amplifying Spiritual Energy, making it harmful to Ryeon’s body.
But she couldn’t just use her power, so what was she supposed to do?
“Ryeon-a! Ryeon-a, Mother is here!”
While Ryeon was mulling over this and that, the door burst open, and the person she had been eagerly waiting for appeared.
A person with neat and beautiful features, as if a celestial maiden had drawn them with delicate brushstrokes. It was her mother, Wi Jicheong.
At that moment, the text on the mirror Ryeon was looking at changed rapidly.
Wi Jicheong
Traits: Beauty / Inheritor / Devoted / Yeonriji
Hwasan Swordsmanship: Basic
Falling Star Twelve Swords: 2-Star
Talent and Understanding: Mind’s Eye 3-Star Unlocked
Concerns: Danmok Ryeon becoming healthy, Danmok Ryeon living happily, Danmok Ryeon’s future
Hint: It is important to shed unnecessary guilt!
The information for others was quite different from her own.
She could see the level of their martial arts achievements, but nothing else was visible.
However, it seemed she might be able to see their Talent and Understanding if her Mind’s Eye achievement increased.
The ‘Concerns’ section particularly caught her eye. It was likely what the person was currently most preoccupied with.
Just like Nanny Jang, Wi Jicheong always smiled broadly whenever she looked at her. As if there were no bad things in this world, only good ones.
But how could that truly be the case? She had no way to handle her worry and anxiety, but she couldn’t show it to her young daughter…
A Long and Healthy Life was her dream and hope as well. Even though it was something she hadn’t achieved in the future she had experienced.
A sad ending where she was swept away by the turbulent state of the Murim as the Hyulla Valley bastards went on a rampage again, moving here and there until she simply collapsed, unable to handle her Spiritual Energy.
Wi Jicheong had never once given up on her daughter, who hadn’t responded for the past seven years.
And in the future Ryeon experienced, when her daughter died prematurely just past twenty, Wi Jicheong withered away in tears until she died.
Ryeon forced herself to shake off the past. It was a future that wouldn’t happen anyway. Because now she could see many things and do even more.
“My daughter! Were you eating ?”
Wi Jicheong immediately lifted Ryeon up into her arms.
At the same time, the text floating on the mirror scattered. Ryeon melted into her embrace.
“Mother! You’re here? The Medicine Hall Master made this for me. It’s sweet and sour and delicious.”
Wi Jicheong smiled again as she listened to Ryeon’s voice, clear as a silver bell.
Seeing that expression, Ryeon took a piece of the candied fruit she was eating and popped it into Wi Jicheong’s mouth.
Since she had woken up in this body after seven years and started speaking, her speech was very slurred at first. But perhaps thanks to the power of Harmony among her abilities, she was soon able to speak clearly. The elders of the clan were surprised to see it, but in the face of the great miracle of the child waking up, minor miracles were just fragments of joy.
“This is very delicious. To think he broke his closed-door training midway because of you, Ryeon-a, and even took the care to make this…”
Wi Jicheong instructed the servant to send a return gift to Danmok Hyeonu, Ryeon’s younger uncle and the Master of the Medicine Hall, then beckoned to the servant she had brought along.
“Now, Ryeon-a. Will you look at what Mother brought?”
The servant carefully set something down in front of Ryeon.
Small, grain-like white flowers were clustered together between thick branches; this was the source of the sweet fragrance she had smelled earlier.
“I cut these to decorate your room.”
Ryeon stared at the bunch of flowers with a bewildered face. Wi Jicheong smiled brightly as she arranged the flower branches into a white porcelain vase.
“They are jasmine flowers. If we put them in your room, the scent will be nice and it will look elegant.”
Wi Jicheong took one of the small blossoms and decorated Ryeon’s ear with it. Then, her eyes crinkled as she beamed.
“I can’t tell where the flower ends and the person begins. Isn’t that right, Nanny Jang?”
“Of course.”
Nanny Jang chimed in from the side.
If she were truly an eight-year-old, she might not know better, but Ryeon couldn’t stay calm hearing such words. As her daughter’s face turned bright red, Wi Jicheong laughed.
“What does our Ryeon-a find so embarrassing?”
Ryeon pulled the blanket up to cover her face in shame, but she didn’t take off the flower Wi Jicheong had placed behind her ear. Wi Jicheong stroked Ryeon’s cheek.
“Looking at it today, fresh sprouts have come up in the garden that had been dry all this time. You don’t know how surprised I was to see leaves sprouting again on the fragrant olive tree we thought was dead. It seems all creation is celebrating Ryeon-a waking up.”
It was likely due to her Spiritual Energy rather than that, but Ryeon didn’t say anything and leaned her cheek against her mother’s hand.
“If Seong-rang had seen this, how happy would he have been…”
“Madam…”
Her fingertips were trembling, and Wi Jicheong turned her head away.
Looking at Wi Jicheong’s shaking back, Ryeon recalled something she hadn’t thought about for a moment.
Her father, Danmok Hyeonseong, had passed away five years ago. It was shortly after her younger brother, Danmok Bi, was born.
Wi Jicheong seemed to think it was too early to tell Ryeon such things, so she struggled to compose herself, wiped her wet cheeks, and smiled.
“You heard that we are going to pay our respects to Grandfather today, right?”
Ryeon nodded.
“Grandfather is the one who helped make the medicine that will cure you, Ryeon-a.”
Wi Jicheong explained softly as she dismissed the nanny and personally adjusted Ryeon’s collar. It was still early spring, so the air was cold.
“He gave up the ‘Ten-Thousand-Year Supreme Blood Treasure’ that goes into your Marrow Cleansing medicine. Originally, it was meant to be used for Grandfather’s medicine, but he yielded it for your sake, Ryeon-a.”
Ryeon’s eyes widened in shock.
