章 87: Borrow
In a backroom deep inside the Liu clan's headquarters.
Liu Hao and Liu Han both opened the door and entered inside, going each to the bedside as they checked on their old man.
The room was mostly empty, beside the bed in the middle, only a few shelves with some furnitures placed on were present.
Liu Dan was inclined on his bed, looking even paler than usual, but otherwise there wasn't much change about him.
"How do you feel?" Liu Hao asked, concerned.
"After you fainted, you slept for nearly a day." Liu Han added, anxious.
"Who do you guys take me for, I just overexerted myself a bit and fell due to exhaustion. I am not that young anymore after all, without sleeping and barely eating at my age, it's natural something like this would happen."
"Don't worry about me, sons, in a few hours I will leave this bed completely recovered, rather, tell me how the situation evolved in my absence."
Liu Dan quickly changed the subject.
Theses days, all he thought about was how to deal with this little demon that was haunting his clan.
Liu Hao quickly summarised how he brought every members back and reinforced the defenses of the clan.
"I know you really want to catch Ye Mo, at least as much as I do, but I didn't have much of a choice, we lost too much forces in the jungle." Liu Hao explained himself.
He knew of the temperament of his father, since he left his retreat, he put all his efforts and worked solely to catch the kid and obtain answers about Liu Huan and Liu Hualing's death.
Liu Hao was afraid that, learning everyone was called back while no one found their target, he would flare up and fall ill again.
Instead, Liu Dan shook his head, reassuring his son, "You made the right decision, we can't leave our base defenceless. We must not forget these hungry clans are our true enemies, the kid is just a trivial matter, motivated by our own personal grudge, what can he achieve by himself?"
"What should we do now, are we really going to let Ye Mo go scot-free?" Liu Han asked gritting his teeth, he was unwilling to abandon his hatred after it accumulated through weeks and months, they had to kill him at all costs!
"The principal now is to grow our forces and hold strong against any attacks. As for Ye Mo, not everything was lost in this expedition, don't forget we have our own source now. With him, we can monitor the kid and learn all of his doings, we can strike or retreat at the most opportun time, the situation is completely in our control." Liu Dan was confident, as long as their spy in the Tiger Martial Institute remained unsuspected, they would have the edge in this confrontation.
"That's right, our members told us they didn't see him so he might not even be aware he was betrayed and that squads were sent against him. As long as Fang Jishen isn't revealed, Ye Mo won't be able to hide anything from us and we don't lose anything by retrieving the members that were left spotting at the entrance of the institute." Liu Hao added assured.
The atmosphere of the room eased up as the three continued talking for a bit before each returned to their own occupations.
In the meantime, on his way towards the Tiger Martial Institute...
"Fang Jishen is the one who betrayed me." Ye Mo thought calmly as he walked among the pedestrians.
When he contemplated about it logically, it couldn't be anyone else but him.
The Liu clan didn't know how solitary Ye Mo was so they didn't think he would find the culprit so easily.
In their mind, there is thousands of members in the institute so how could he know who sold him.
However, although Ye Mo remained nearly eleven months there, he spent most of his time cultivating behind closed doors and the rest training his battle skills by himself.
He seldom interacted with people and the number of time he talked with one could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Among them, only Fang Jishen fitted this role.
He was the only one who knew a bit of his history with the Liu clan and hated him enough without having the courage to confront him, he's also not anyone powerful or influent in the institute so he can move around and observe people without attracting attention on himself.
"But this situation, I can also take advantage of it." Ye Mo chuckled as he passed the gate of the institute after showing his token to the guards.
He quickly reached the disciple district and kept going north-east.
Fang Jishen was still sleeping when a servant informed him of a guest waiting for him at the entrance.
He stood up half-asleep and walked down the stairs while rubbing his eyes before he opened the door on the ground floor.
When he saw Ye Mo's face on the other side, he took a second to react before he jerked back violently, falling on his butt in shock.
"Why are you so surprised to see me? Come, let's sit, I have something to tell you." Ye Mo said with squinted, suspicious eyes before he went inside, closing the door behind him.
Fang Jishen was still on the ground, looking at him like he was a phantom while Ye Mo made his way to a study room and sat on the main sit.
"How is he still alive, did he come to kill me?" Fang Jishen's heart was filled with fear and trepidation.
His eyes were wide open and not a trace of drowsiness was left in his body as the shock completely awoke him.
The night when Ye Mo set out, he was in the vicinity.
Since his disillusion of last time, Fang Jishen was disconcerted and his aspirations were broken. At this time, he took the habit to pass by the stone house when going out or returning.
He wanted to see for himself if Ye Mo left the cultivation pagoda and how strong his cultivation progressed, most of all, he wished to find some secret to explain his formidable growth or maybe a weakness to exploit against him.
He was desperate, he didn't wish to remain in Ye Mo's shadow or become some goon to be ordered around, most of all, he was very disheartened after discovering someone with lower talent surpassed him so easily, even after all the efforts he put, thus he started to spy in the surroundings from time to time.
However, Ye Mo was always secretive, working by himself behind four walls, wether in the pagoda or his house so nothing could be found from the outside.
That is, until this night when Fang Jishen passed by and noticed him leaving his house from afar.
He immediately found something was amiss after seeing this person always holed up in some places, leaving his dwelling in the middle of the night.
He decided to follow him, but remained at a great distance, he was still inwardly afraid of Ye Mo, even if he wouldn't admit it, he prefered to stand so far there was a chance he would lose him than to stand a bit closer, taking the risk to be noticed and incuring his wrath.
He used the trees paving the side of the road or the various buildings in the way to take cover and continued to pursue his target.
Fang Jishen was before a small bridge and could observe Ye Mo being close to the gate of the institute in the distance when the latter started to look around for any witnesses.
He was so scared to have been found out at this time he threw himself to the ground and used the mound of the bridge to remain hidden.
When he found the courage after half a minute to raise his head and take a look, Ye Mo had already disappeared.
However, it was easy to understand where he went from his last position and the direction he moved to - He left the institute!
"This might be my chance, the Liu clan hate him to the core. If I tell them about this, Ye Mo is as good as dead!" With this understanding, Fang Jishen left in turn and informed Ye Mo's ennemies of his departure.
He knew if Ye Mo survived, there were great chances he would find out what he did, but in his perspective, he was just one kid by himself against a whole clan that abhor him.
They would probably deploy at least one elder and much forces to exterminate him, there was no way he would return from this expedition.
Now that he was here and seemed completely well, Fang Jishen couldn't help but be frightened.
"No wonder the Liu clan deteriorated so much and even Ye Mo could play them, these retarded bastards, incompetent swines, can't even deal with one guy alone even after I risked myself, shouldn't have counted on them, now he definitely came to kill me!" Fang Jishen's mind was in turmoil.
"No wait, he didn't mention anything, he might not be aware I betrayed him. I must act natural, let's pacify him first, understand the situation, then deal with anything as it comes!" That was his thought as he stood up and joined Ye Mo in the study room then sat in front of him.
Ye Mo leisurely smiled as he said "Fang Jishen, I am short in gold, give me two thousand coins."
Fang Jishen was stupefied by his demand, what kind of request is this, who would give you this sum without saying anything?
But in the end, he was relieved that it wasn't about the Liu clan affair and answered, "I don't have this much gold, I am short on money too."
Ye Mo laughed lightly, adding "I know you don't have the gold, but your Fang family does, take it from them."
Fang Jishen looked down with a dim gaze as he told him, "Even if I ask they won't lend me the gold just like that."
Hmph, what are you taking my family for, some kind of money farm?! If I could receive this amount so easily I wouldn't need to expand all the monthly allowances I saved up till now just for a small breakthrough in my cultivation!
Fang Jishen complained in his heart.
He receives only fifty gold coins each month from his family, sometimes he could take a bit more but this amount would be deducted from his next allowance, he couldn't push further.
Without being a genius or highly seen by anyone, but only an ordinary member, you can't obtain any more and the amount given was strictly regulated by the head of the family.
"I am not asking your family to give it to me for free, I am just borrowing the gold. I can even sign a receipt for loan under the rules of the Tiger Martial Institute." Ye Mo said with 'sincerity'.
Fang Jishen pondered, "If he signs the receipt, he will have no choice but to pay up at some point. The longer he takes to do so, the more interests accumulate over his debt and after half a year, if he still can't pay, his belongings would be sold until he can repay everything and if it's not enough, he will be forced to work as a servant of my Fang family till he completely cleared his debt. No one would sign without being assured of paying back everything soon after, obvisouly he must have his own ways."
"Even if you say so, it's still a bit much..." In the end, Fang Jishen still tried to refuse. He was unwilling to help Ye Mo, actually, he didn't want him to benefit from his family even if the deal was also advantageous to them or lend a hand in any situation that could profit him.
"This is a nice necklace you got there." Ye Mo suddenly said pointing at the chain embedded with a blue gem around Fang Jishen's neck.
When the latter heard this, his heart skipped a beat.
This gem was a small reward from the Liu clan for selling Ye Mo, it was engraved with small formations that increased the density of the Qi around the wearer.
Although it couldn't be compared to the rooms of the pagoda, one was a drop of water while the other was the sea, but it still gave a small advantage and over time and efforts in your cultivation, the difference would be seen.
Ye Mo remarked it because he never wore this before.
"Since there is no disadvantage, I will do it." Fang Jishen quickly returned to the previous subject to avoid suspicion and agreed spontaneously to Ye Mo's request.
He knew his family would probably accept as well, if the receipt loan was signed then they didn't lose anything by momentarily handing the gold and if Ye Mo was just a bit slow to pay back then they would even gain money through this transaction.
Arriving to this conclusion, he picked up a brush and paper from the drawer.
Ye Mo wrote the receipt for loan and signed with a drop of blood.
Fang Jishen placed it in his pouch then both of them made a trip to the Fang family.
Ye Mo patiented in front of the mansion while Fang Jishen went inside and talked to them.
It didn't take long for him to return and transfer two thousand gold coins to Ye Mo's pouch.
In less than an hour, he was back to the streets, making his way towards the Ironheart Weaponsmiths establishment.
"I've finally succeeded." Ye Mo satisfiedly nodded his head, feeling the ten thousand gold coins laying in the space of his pouch.
As for paying his debt, hehe...
If everything goes as planned, he won't be in Azure Water City anymore at this time.
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