Chapter 1668 — Very Strange

When You Panhu heard that the other party had ties to the Ice Palace, he knew at once that his uncle would never stand up for him. Even with the Profound Elixir Sect, one of the ancient sects, watching over his family, they would never go to war with the Ice Palace over a trifle like this. That was simply unrealistic.

But You Panhu was not willing to swallow the loss. Thinking of Tang Yun's fresh, dewy beauty and the formidable backing behind her, his eyes shifted and a scheme rose in his mind. "Aunt, that Tang Yun and I are old acquaintances, after all. I like her. Do you suppose you could ask Uncle to decide the matter and betroth her to me? That way this whole business would turn from a feud into a bond, and our You family would lose no face at all. It would become kin joined to kin, and everything that happened before would be written off as a misunderstanding. What do you say?"

Once You Panhu learned of Tang Yun's background, the notion of simply toying with her and being done with it was flung to the back of his mind. What he thought now was that if he could marry Tang Yun and bring her home, he would be made. For one thing, Tang Yun was the sister of the Ice Palace's palace master; for another, she was his uncle's daughter. Thus he would have the double backing of the hidden Tang family and the Ice Palace, and with such deep foundations behind him, his standing in the hidden You family would surely turn sharply upward.

As for whether Tang Yun had a boyfriend, he gave it no thought at all. He figured that if she had one, she would certainly have brought him along; she would not be traveling about with her sister and her sister's husband. That was why he had raised the request without a moment's hesitation.

You Panhu's demand left both You Zhentian and You Xiaoxin stunned, and in that instant each of them began silently weighing the pros and cons of the matter.

To be sure, marrying Tang Lingtou's daughter to You Panhu would be a good thing. It would bind the hidden You family and the hidden Tang family more tightly together and strengthen the cooperation between them. But what made You Zhentian wary was Tang Yun's other connection: she was Bingtang's sister.

That connection, he felt, threatened his son's position as young heir. If You Panhu really did marry Tang Yun and had the Ice Palace at his back, then what if he set his sights on the seat of family head?

You Xiaoxin, for her part, thought much as You Zhentian did, except that she dwelt only on the advantages. Who became the young heir of the hidden You family was no great concern to her.

After brooding a long while, You Zhentian still decided to accept You Panhu's proposal. Even with the Ice Palace behind him, it would do You Panhu no good. The hidden You family was a hidden clan built on alchemy and medicine, and its principal patron above was the ancient Profound Elixir Sect, whose favored man was his own son, You Panlong. With the backing of the ancient Profound Elixir Sect, it was only natural that his son should become the next head of the hidden You family. You Panhu's standing might rise, but at most he would enter the council of elders.

"Little sister, I think Panhu's proposal is a good one," said You Zhentian, his mind made up. "The hidden You family and the hidden Tang family are in-laws already. Now, if Panhu marries Tang Yun, it will be kin joined to kin, and a fine thing indeed."

"That is just what I was thinking," You Xiaoxin said with a nod, agreeing. "Tonight I will speak to Tang Lingtou about it and have him announce little Hu's betrothal at the old master's birthday banquet."

"Thank you, Uncle, Aunt, for arranging it!" You Panhu was overjoyed. This way he would win back some face as well. Once he had married Tang Yun, everything that had happened before would be a misunderstanding.

"Enough. Let me have a look at that leg of yours first," You Zhentian said, waving a hand. He bent his head and examined You Panhu's leg; after a few glances he gave it a few casual manipulations, then fished a bottle of pills from his robe, took one out, and handed it to You Panhu. "The acupoints on your leg have been sealed by someone. I have opened most of them by manipulation. Take one of these Sinew-Relaxing, Blood-Quickening Pills and you will be fine."

"Yes. Thank you, Uncle!" You Panhu hastily swallowed the pill You Zhentian handed him, and at once felt sensation return to both his legs.

Having finished with You Panhu, You Zhentian rose to examine Lan Mao's injuries. Lan Mao was an Earth-rank expert, and in the hidden You family he counted as a considerable asset; whatever could be saved should be saved. So whether or not Lan Mao was You Panhu's trusted man, You Zhentian would do his utmost to heal him, for he was now the head of the You family, and what he weighed was the overall condition of the whole clan.

If the hidden You family and the hidden Tang family were joined in marriage, it would undoubtedly bring the two families one step closer. In truth, marriages between clans were often staged for others to see: useful or not, to outsiders the two families would appear allied and their strength would seem to have grown, so that any clan thinking of making an enemy of the hidden You and the hidden Tang would have to think twice.

"Eh?" When You Zhentian laid his hand on Lan Mao's meridians, he started in surprise. "He has taken a severe blow to the head?"

But even as he asked, You Zhentian shook his own head, for whether Lan Mao's head was injured was plain at a glance. Lan Mao's injuries were all concentrated in his chest; there was no wound on his head at all.

Yet the results of the examination left You Zhentian thoroughly puzzled.

Lan Mao's chest was injured, several ribs were broken, and some of the meridians in his chest were severed, but taken altogether it was not too difficult to cure. One Channel-Unblocking Pill and proper rest, and he would have no trouble recovering his strength.

Rare and precious as the Channel-Unblocking Pill was, that was only so for other hidden clans. As an alchemist clan, the hidden You family would hardly begrudge a single Channel-Unblocking Pill. You Zhentian himself had some chance of refining such a pill, though the odds were pitifully small; the old master of the You family, however, could refine them, with a success rate of about fifty percent.

For an Earth-rank expert like Lan Mao, the hidden You family still had a high regard, and giving him a Channel-Unblocking Pill after an injury was no great matter.

But the crucial problem now lay not in the wound on his chest, but in his head.

You Zhentian was well versed in alchemy and medicine. For Lan Mao's injuries he needed only to send his true qi coursing once through the man's body to be certain: the meridians of Lan Mao's chest were blocked, and the meridians of his head were blocked as well, and the blockage there looked even more serious than in the chest.

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