Chapter 2073: How to Tame the Unruly Youth 22

Ji Siyou, in fear and intense pain, clearly heard the sound of his own bones breaking, with no room for maneuver.

He suddenly screamed, flung to the ground like a scrap of paper, his whole body soaked in cold sweat.

"Leg……my leg……"

Ji Siyou trembled as he reached to touch his numb, painful right leg, instantly losing all color.

His leg was brutally broken!

Jin Chen's eyes were deep as a cold pool, reflecting Ji Siyou's terrified expression.

"Before I get the antidote, every time Laizhi has a poison attack, you will break a bone."

"No……on what grounds!"

Ji Siyou no longer dared say he didn't know; at this moment he cherished his life especially, yet still felt angry.

"It wasn't me who poisoned him, it's Father! He said Laizhi is a beast, not me!"

"Sir, please understand… I was also forced!"

Jin Chen: "You are a vested-interest beneficiary."

His tone remained cold, easily exposing Ji Siyou's lies and self-deception.

"All these years, without Laizhi, you wouldn't even count as mediocre talent."

"And how could you steadily sit in the position of Young Manor Lord?"

"Of course, Ji Yuanshan, I won't let you off either." Jin Chen flicked his sleeve and left the room.

Ji Siyou steadied for a few seconds, then suddenly lost all strength and collapsed heavily to the ground.

He knew Jin Chen was prepared to never let him go, no matter what……

How could he still participate in the Martial Forest Assembly!

After Jin Chen left and all sound vanished completely, Ji Siyou then tried to call for help.

The slave who had just been unable to hear anything hurried over, frightened, and quickly helped Ji Siyou up, asking, "Young Manor Lord, is there an assassin?"

Ji Siyou broke out in a cold sweat, "Go……go fetch the physician, and my father!"

"This……" The two slaves exchanged a glance, lowered their heads, and said: "Young Manor Lord, the Young Master said he was feeling unwell tonight, and Mister Jin summoned all the physicians of the Sword Manor to the Cloud-watching Abbey; before dawn it's unlikely we can get one."

Ji Siyou: "……"

Under the moonlight, the Cloud-watching Abbey grew ever more tranquil.

The physicians Jin Chen had invited blankly drank tea in the courtyard, then were sent back by Mohei Chouyuanlu.

At present, the only person in the Cloud-watching Abbey is the sleeping Ji Laizhi in the side room——Jin Chen's side room.

Since Jin Chen discovered the toxin, he has not allowed Laizhi to go back to sleep, saying the feng shui is bad whenever asked.

The youth believed it without doubt and suddenly understood; no wonder he's slept poorly all these years.

Until now, they have tacitly agreed and mutually understood not to mention preparing a room, but this tacit understanding is partly due to Jin Chen's deliberate guidance; as for the emotionally half-open Ji Laizhi, it remains unknown, he simply wants to stay close to Jin Chen.

Laizhi suffered pain tonight, still buried in the bedding scented with Jin Chen, sleeping in a daze.

Jin Chen removed his outer robe and got into bed; as soon as he lay down, a warm body filled his arms, so he naturally held tight and gently patted through the covers a few times.

"Did you just go out?" Laizhi murmured dazedly.

He slept uneasily, always feeling something was missing nearby; only now did he gain a sense of safety for deep sleep.

"Mm, sleep peacefully." Jin Chen replied softly, placing a few light kisses on his lips; Laizhi's back skin beneath his inner garment was gently stroked, soothing, revealing a porcelain-like delicate pallor and……several long‑old scars.

Laizhi said, those were from childhood fights he didn't win; afterward, he rarely had injuries that couldn't heal.

But how much he had paid to avoid being beaten and punished, he never said, nor needed to.

Feeling a bit itchy from the touch, Laizhi wriggled, burrowing deeper into Jin Chen's embrace, and fell completely into deep sleep.

——

Medicine King Valley is still working overtime to analyze the toxin, striving to develop an antidote as soon as possible.

And the day of the Martial Forest Assembly is also drawing near.

The one most looking forward to it is Laizhi, after all Jin Chen promised him that after participating in this Martial Forest Assembly, he would never have to return to Azure Cloud Sword Manor.

The Martial Forest Assembly is at the end of August; at the beginning of the month, all sects gather in the Cangzhou Martial Forest Alliance, and also recluses who have been in seclusion for years come out to join the fun, making Cangzhou unusually lively.

Recently, Ji Siyou, tormented by Jin Chen to the point of nearly losing half his life, left the Sword Manor the day after receiving the invitation, more like fleeing for his life than going to the assembly; Xu Duanming, though unaware of what happened, still rode alongside him.

The sun was poisonously hot enough to fry an egg, a thatched tea stall stood beside the official road.

Ji Siyou pulled open his sweat‑soaked collar, the bamboo chair squeaked under his sway, the tea cup rim stained with three dazed green‑headed flies, while Xu Duanming seemed unfazed by the heat, his blue‑gray long robe wrapped tightly, his gaze toward Ji Siyou inevitably filled with concern.

"If we followed the Sword Manor's entourage, we wouldn't be this disheveled." Xu Duanming said, "Siyou, why are you so impatient?"

Ji Siyou choked a little, the bones that had been broken before ached faintly all over.

He couldn't possibly say that staying longer would get him beaten to death by Jin Chen.

Ji Siyou said nothing, and the topic dropped.

'"Sirs, try the newly arrived Jun Mountain Tea..." the tea attendant lifted the long‑spout copper pot closer, his words suddenly shattered by horse hooves.'

Two gray mules laden with coarse‑sack bags swayed into the tea stall, the riders' straw raincoats and hats covered in yellow dust, clearly the guise of escort agents.

But Xu Duanming, out of the corner of his eye, suddenly focused, seeing a great wind sweep past; one man's hemp cloth split half an inch at the back, revealing a piece of dark heavy iron——clearly the curved moon blade of the Black Iron Double Hooks, its edge etched with the nine‑linked ring cloud pattern, the exclusive mark of the "Liuyun Jushi"; the other man was Zhuyue Jushi.

But the Liuyun and Zhuyue recluses, aren't they already hidden away for many years?

Xu Duanming's Adam's apple rolled, the tea splashed onto the blue‑stone slab with a hiss and steam, making Siyou frown and ask, "What's wrong with you?"

The two leaned together and whispered a few words.

Ji Siyou's expression shifted slightly, he glanced behind without a trace, and a secret excitement welled up in his heart.

If Laizhi can take the mysterious Jin Chen as his master, why can't he?

The Liuyun and Zhuyue recluses have been hidden for years; now they appear and just happen to meet him—how is this not a stroke of fate?

Meanwhile Xu Duanming was still pondering secretly, wondering if the Martial Forest Assembly had another purpose, when he saw Siyou deliberately kick over a stool, crash into the tea table, and a half‑bowl of boiling tea splash straight onto the rain‑coated guest's sleeve.

"Sorry, sorry!"

Ji Siyao said as much, but his palm secretly used a seizing hand to prop up the opponent's elbow—this move 'Probing the Moon in the Waves' is a yin technique of the Azure Cloud Sword Method for testing inner force depth; unexpectedly, his fingertip felt as if pressing into a pile of cotton, and the threefold force sank like a mud ox into the sea.

"Young friend, your seizing hand is skillful, but..."

The older straw‑clothed guest suddenly spoke, his voice like the morning bell of an ancient temple shaking dust from the beams; he lifted his straw hat to reveal the face of a rustic farmer, save for a vermilion mark on his forehead, which made him extraordinary.

Tea must be drunk while warm; strength must be released in harmony.

Before the straw‑clothed guest's words faded, a continuous stream of Dao inner force surged into Ji Siyao's wrist, pushing him to stagger back into his seat; the teacup landed exactly in his palm without a spill.

Ji Siyao broke out in a cold sweat on his back, yet his face lit up with an ever brighter smile as he thought, 'Sure enough, it's the two of Liuyun Zhuyue—people say idle clouds and wild cranes cannot compare to Liuyun Zhuyue; today I've seen their true selves, this tea money should be paid by the junior generation.'

Xue Duanming: ……

Xue Duanming looked dazedly at Ji Siyao paying the tea money for the two, not understanding what he was really up to.