It's not easy being a Master

22

Shen Zhixian leaned back on the bed with his eyes closed, as if he’d fallen asleep.

His face was as white as a sheet of paper, and the tear-shaped mole at the corner of his eyes was particularly red. Due to coughing too much, his collar was disheveled, exposing a section of collarbone that was exquisitely carved and white as porcelain.

The whole person looked like a tired and sickly beauty.

Yan Jin stood beside the bed, not daring to alarm him even for a moment.

The white wrist hanging on the bedside moved, causing the jade strings that was wrapped around the wrist to make a slight noise. Yan Jin look at it subconsciously.

Shen Zhixian was naturally slender, but after a few days of illness, he’d lost a lot of weight. The jade string wrapped around his wrist had loosened. It slid down the back of his hand, exposing the little section of skin that was originally covered by the jade string.

A small dark scar immediately caught Yan Jin's attention.

…What was that?

Shen Zhixuan had injured his wrist before? Did he purposefully wear the string of jade beads to hide it?

The exposed scar looked faintly irregular, the angle and shape clearly indicating that it was not a sword wound nor a knife wound. Yan Jin didn’t know how Shen Zhixian got hurt. He glanced back at the scar once and then looked away. He returned his focus to kneeling on the bed with one knee, and quietly staring at Shen Zhixian.

Shen Zhixian finally opened his eyes, looked down wearily, and inadvertently met Yan Jin’s gaze directly.

"..."

"..."

The two people were silent for a moment. Shen Zhixian sighed first and asked, "Have the people at Third Peak visited Shilian Mountain yet?" 　　

It took Yan Jin a moment to respond, even though he understood the meaning behind Shen Zhixian’s words.

His altered formation on Shilian Mountain hadn’t been restored. Since he hadn’t been able to return yet... Third Peak was good at formation. If they discovered any clues and delved deeper ...

Master had just woken up and was now already thinking about this? 　　

Yan Jin became worried and didn’t respond. Shen Zhixian saw that he was anxious and tried to soothe him, “Don’t worry. If they ask, just tell them I did it idly for fun. It’s not a big deal, and Third Peak’s people most likely won’t make me loose face over this.”

He’d said so much within such a short time frame that he became a little breathless. He coughed slightly and tried to suppress the itch in his throat. 　　

This time his heart ailment was really a bit severe, even worse than the previous time in the hot spring. He’d woken up for so long, and he still felt uncomfortable even now.

If it hadn’t been because he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to guilt trip Yan Jin, he would have gone back to sleeping tightly under the comforter by now. 　　

Yan Jin became nervous as soon as he heard the cough. He stood up to pour a cup of medicine for Shen Zhixian.　

Shen Zhixian had just drank the elixir and didn't want to drink it anymore. He waved his hands weakly, frowned, and coughed twice before he tiredly said, "I don't want to drink. I'm fine. Go and rest."

He purposefully didn't mention Yan Jin's scheme on Shilian Mountain. Aside from stating that he’ll shoulder the responsibility of changing the formation, he'd said nothing more.