Chapter Eighty-Nine: The Condition

"If you dare lay a hand on me again, then don't blame me for being ruthless."

Yang Fan fixed Chen Hui with a cold stare, a chill gleaming in his eyes.

Meeting that unsettling gaze, Chen Hui shuddered, as though she had been pinned beneath a poisonous serpent's eye.

She was certain now that if Yang Fan had chosen to strike with full force, he would never have held back.

After that exchange, she had come to understand the gulf between them.

What had once been disdain was now nothing but awe.

"Please forgive my granddaughter, young sir. Her temper is a bit sharp," Chen Yangong hurried over and apologized to Yang Fan.

A powerful expert at the Innate level was not someone he could afford to offend.

He knew all too well how formidable such a person was; if he made an enemy of him, the Chen family would have no way to end the matter cleanly.

Yang Fan merely glanced at Chen Hui without saying anything, then turned as if to leave.

"Young sir, please wait. I have something I'd like to ask you," Chen Yangong called after him.

"What is it?" Yang Fan frowned, looking impatient.

"You just said I was near death. May I ask how you came to that conclusion?" Chen Yangong asked in confusion.

He knew his own physical condition better than anyone.

He was indeed ill, and already in the advanced stage. His remaining days were few.

"You have hidden injuries, and your meridians have been damaged for years. Your body is now like a candle in the wind," Yang Fan said, hands clasped behind his back, laying bare Chen Yangong's condition.

His words stunned both Chen Yangong and Chen Hui.

"How can you see my condition so clearly?" Chen Yangong asked in amazement.

To discern his illness with nothing but a glance, Chen Yangong felt Yang Fan was no ordinary man, but someone truly extraordinary.

The injuries in his body would have required a martial grandmaster to detect.

If he went to a hospital, they certainly would not uncover the true cause.

Yet Yang Fan saw through it with a single sentence, and that was enough to be shocking.

"Your internal energy is in disarray. Clearly, the problem lies in your meridians," Yang Fan said, his gaze resting on Chen Yangong. "If I'm not mistaken, every time you circulate your power, your meridians feel as though they are being pricked with knives, and it takes a long time to recover."

Hearing Yang Fan's reply, Chen Yangong was deeply shaken.

Every detail Yang Fan mentioned was exactly right, not a single point off.

In his heart, Chen Yangong became even more convinced that Yang Fan was a hermit master of extraordinary ability.

"Then do you have a way to treat my grandfather's injuries?" Chen Hui asked quickly.

Since Yang Fan could so clearly describe her grandfather's illness, perhaps he really had a cure.

Chen Yangong looked at Yang Fan, his eyes filled with hope.

"Of course I have a way to treat him, but I need rare and expensive medicinal materials to refine the elixir," Yang Fan said with confidence. "As long as the required herbs can be gathered, I am ninety-nine percent certain I can heal the injuries within his body."

"Is that really true?" Chen Yangong asked excitedly.

"If I say it, then I naturally have absolute confidence," Yang Fan said proudly. "But I have one condition. If you cannot agree to it, then there is nothing more to discuss."

Hearing Yang Fan's affirmative answer, Chen Yangong was overjoyed. As for the condition, he felt there would be no problem at all. It was surely just money.

"As long as you can cure my grandfather, no matter how much it costs, my Chen family will pay you," Chen Hui promised. "In Jiangcheng, my Chen family is a major clan. We are not short on money."

The Chen family was a prominent and powerful household in Jiangcheng, practically a force that covered the sky with one hand.

It could be said that no one in Jiangcheng dared provoke the Chen family unless they no longer wished to remain in the city.

And since Yang Fan had grown up in Jiangcheng, he naturally knew very well what kind of existence the Chen family was.

So when he learned that these two were members of the Chen family of Jiangcheng, he was somewhat surprised.

"I don't need money," Yang Fan said lightly.

His true purpose was the soul stone hanging around Chen Hui's neck.

Hearing that Yang Fan did not want money, Chen Yangong frowned. "Then what is it you want?"

"I want the stone hanging around her neck," Yang Fan said, his gaze falling on the soul stone at Chen Hui's throat.

Chen Yangong and Chen Hui were both a little taken aback.

"What use could that have for you?" Chen Yangong asked in confusion.

If Yang Fan did not want money, but instead the transparent stone hanging around Chen Hui's neck, then Chen Yangong found it very puzzling.

His first reaction was to assume the transparent stone must be something remarkable.

Otherwise, why would Yang Fan have set his sights on it?

"That stone is useful to me. As for exactly what I intend to do with it, I cannot disclose," Yang Fan said plainly. "My condition for treating you is that stone. I need nothing else."

At that, Chen Yangong fell silent, unable to discern Yang Fan's true purpose.

He also knew very little about the transparent stone, only that wearing it could calm the mind and make a person feel more refreshed.

"As long as you can cure my grandfather, I can give you this stone," Chen Hui said after some thought.

"Rest assured. As long as the herbs I need are prepared, I can refine the elixir and cure your grandfather's injuries," Yang Fan said with complete confidence.

Hearing that she still had to prepare the medicinal materials herself, Chen Hui felt somewhat displeased.

But after thinking it over, she still agreed.

"Tell me what herbs you need, and make me a list. I'll have someone prepare them when I get back," Chen Hui said.

"I didn't bring a pen. How about this: give me your phone number, and I'll send you the list of required herbs later," Yang Fan said after a moment's thought.

Chen Hui nodded, then gave him her phone number.

"If I can't reach you by phone, where should I look for you?" Chen Hui asked.

"Heh, I live right here," Yang Fan said with a smile, pointing to the villa where Yu Qian lived. "That's where I stay. If you want to find me, come there."

Learning that Yang Fan also lived in the Liyuan residential district, Chen Hui was a little surprised.

Chen Yangong smiled. "Then may I ask how I should address you, young sir?"

"Just call me Yang Fan," Yang Fan said with a shrug. "I'll head back first."

With that, he turned and left.

Watching Yang Fan disappear into the distance, Chen Yangong's eyes shone with intense curiosity. "If I'm not mistaken, that boy is the discarded son of the Yang family. I rather want to know exactly what he has gone through."

"Grandpa, do you mean that illegitimate son of Yang family's third son?" Chen Hui frowned. "I remember Yang Fan as a spoiled young master, good for nothing, which is why the Yang family cast him aside."

"Xiaohui, you mustn't underestimate Yang Fan," Chen Yangong said with a sigh. "At such a young age, he already possesses Innate strength. There is no second person like him in all of Yanhuang."

"What?" Chen Hui was stunned, disbelief flooding her eyes.

An Innate expert in his early twenties? That was terrifying.

She had practiced martial arts since childhood, and yet she still had not broken through to the Postnatal realm.

By her own estimation, her aptitude was not poor; among her peers, she was considered above average.

If Yang Fan was truly an Innate expert, then his talent in cultivation was monstrous.

"The Yang family is truly muddleheaded. What a tremendous loss," Chen Yangong said, shaking his head with a smile.

He naturally knew that Yang Fan's ties with the Yang family had been severed.

If the Yang family had Yang Fan to hold the line, it would only be a matter of time before they became Jiangcheng's foremost clan.

When Yang Fan returned to the villa, he found Yu Qian in the living room watching television, seated on the sofa with her long, pale legs crossed.

Seeing Yu Qian dressed so seductively, Yang Fan could only sigh inwardly.

Why dress so alluringly at home?