Chapter 21: 21
[Blood Value: 14]
Looking at the pitiful value of fourteen, Lin Kai shook his head before looking at the wooden masks placed beside his bed.
He didn't immediately merge them but thought for a while before deciding to wait until his blood value recovered.
Because of the constant use of the blood value for merging, he was feeling weaker than ever. So, after thinking for a while, he decided to test his new powers first. He wanted to see how long he could stay in the state of silence and how much energy he would need along with its recovery time.
Even though it seemed useless, Lin Kai was unwilling to give it up. Even if there were no option of promoting this power, he still would have done his best to use it to his advantage. After all, in his mind, no matter how useless one thing might seem... it always has its usage.
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While Lin Kai was practicing with his new powers, a different scenario was being played inside a room far from Xiaofeng City.
At this moment, Han Ji was standing quietly behind an old man who was sitting in a bamboo chair with his back turned towards Han Ji.
Though the old man didn't speak, Han Ji could feel the increasingly invisible pressure. And with each passing moment, he was having a hard time keeping his composure.
It wasn't until a few more minutes passed that the old man let out a sigh. However, instead of helplessness, Jan Ji could feel his disappointment.
"Perhaps, I was expecting too much from you."
Shaking his head, the old man spoke softly. His voice was almost feeble to the extent that one would mistake him for a dying man.
And yet, Han Ji could feel an unquestionable authority from it.
"May I ask why?" Though he knew it wasn't a wise choice to ask the question, Han Ji still did. He wanted to know why the old man was disappointed in him. After all, he had completed such a difficult task.
"I did everything perfectly.
I didn't even resort to using any force, the price we paid was almost negligible. And yet... you are not satisfied.
WHY?"
By the time he reached the end of his sentence, he almost screamed.
With eyes that were filled with dissatisfaction and a fuming nose, he kept on looking at the back of the old man in front of him... wanting to know his answer.
"Fine then.
So be it."
The old man tapped on the chair's armrest with his finger as he slowly began to speak.
"Let's start with the very first thing.
When I gave you this mission, you immediately rushed out. You did not even take a moment to wait and think. You did not plan and neither did you try to get any information about the boy.
Instead, you rushed out in a hurry."
With a short pause, the old man spoke softly again. "As my disciple and the junior brother of the prodigy Lin Mei. Did you ever think about how many prying eyes were on you? Did it ever cross your mind that how every action of yours is constantly under the observation of others?"
"The news about this sudden departure of yours was already circulating before the passage of the day."
Taking a short pause, the old man kept on tapping the armrest of the chair before speaking further.
"The second thing was your overexcitement.
After reaching Xiaofeng city, you immediately rushed to the Cai family and handed them centuries-old herbs, just so you can act like a servant.
You even asked them to put you and that brat into the same group. And if that was not enough, you even asked them to promote him to a higher position.
Now tell me... Dear disciple... What message does it give out?"
"..."
"..."
"The third thing was your blatant moronic actions in the Beast Hall to sabotage the talent test."
Speaking till here, the old man let out a scoff as if he was growing more and more disappointed in his actions.
"And the fourth thing was to call Lin Mei there directly without contacting me first."
"So tell me...
What do you think that the people who consider Lin Mei a threat will do?"
"What would happen once they get to know about the bloodline transfer?"
With every word that the old man spoke, Han Ji felt his heart growing colder and colder. Till now he considered it to be a perfect plan and execution. But now that the old man pointed it out, he realized just how many things he overlooked in his pursuit to complete his mission as fast as possible.
"Your Senior Sister Lin Mei still needs around a month to completely merge with the bloodline.
What do you think will happen once someone gets their hands on that boy? Do you think they will leave him alive?
And what do you think will happen to the process of Lin Mei merging with the bloodline then? Do you even know the consequences of failing to merge with the bloodline?"
Listening to this, Han Ji clenched his fists tightly... his nails almost digging into his flesh. The more he listened, the more he realized how he messed up everything. The once seemingly perfect plan now seemed almost full of flaws.
"Even if we have spread the words that Lin Mei just wanted to meet her long-lost brother... Do you think everyone would believe it?
And for some, it is even better that a mere slave of a small wealthy family is a close relative of Lin Mei. They are even more than eager to put their hands on the boy."
"And you ask me why I am not satisfied."
With this, the room plunged into deathly silence as Han Ji's breathing got heavier. At first, he was ecstatic that his master trusted him with such an important matter. And when he successfully convinced Lin Kai to transfer his bloodline, he was even proud of himself.
However, he was oblivious to the fact that he was putting Lin Kai in the spotlight by doing so. After all, someone of his status suddenly became interested in a mere slave of a rich family... so much so that he even acted as one just to get close to him. Even if he now tried to mend the situation by announcing the relationship between Lin Kai and Lin Mei, it wasn't going to change anything.
Thinking about how Lin Mei's bloodline fusion would fail, and how he would be the reason behind it, Han Ji looked at the old man in front of him with a flustered face.
"Master... What do I do now?"
From flaunting his achievement to now asking for help... Han Ji felt his face burning while asking this question. But for the sake of his Senior sister and his master, he still did so.
Feeling the growing nervousness of his disciple, the old man let out a sigh before speaking softly.
"It isn't your fault completely. Till now, you have lived a comfortable life. You didn't have to suffer or think about anything. All the interactions that you had were with the same sheltered people of your age.
And the things you did were because of your inexperience.
So I personally wanted to teach you a lesson. A lesson about how the world around you works."
"And this...
This was the reason I gave this mission to you. I wanted you to grow and learn. I wanted you to know how every action of yours has a consequence.
And now... Looking at your willingness to accept your mistake... I would say this lesson was a success."
"Master..." Han Ji tried to speak but was interrupted by the old man again.
"Now...
What do you think we should do?"
Listening to the old man's question, Han Ji thought for a moment before replying. "Bring him here.
Even if he is the slave of the Cai family, we can pay a price. That way we won't have to worry about anything unforeseen happening to him under our care."
"Hmm... That is a wise choice.
Only...."
With a short pause, the old man shook his head.
"The problem is that your Senior sister doesn't like him very much.
If we really brought him here, then we would have to worry about your Senior sister killing him herself."
"Then what are we supposed to do, master?" Han Ji didn't know why but his senior sister hated her brother. So much so, that she couldn't wait to kill him if she got a chance.
"Remember, Han Ji. We only need to keep him safe for a month. His life or death has nothing to do with us after that."
"I have made some arrangements already.
Now, go back to your training and try to make some progress."
Waving his hand, the old man dismissed Han Ji.
It wasn't until Han Ji left and the room once again fell into silence that the old man muttered to himself.
"Pity... what a pity.
if only I knew about the boy early, I would have brought him under my care...
What a pity."
With a sigh, the room fell into silence once again, leaving behind the figure of the old man still sitting on his chair, looking into a distance unknown.
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Xiaofeng Town, inside the Cai family.
Lin Kai at this moment was sitting inside his house after finishing his duties for the day. Lighting up the candle at the table, he looked into the darkness outside for a long time.
During the entire day, he has been trying to find the limit of his ability. At first, Lin Kai thought that he could use his power of Silence for an hour or two before getting tired. He activated the power of silence in the morning and other than meeting the servants to hand them meal tickets and the other deacon, he didn't dismiss the power.
It was night now and more than twelve hours had passed. But still, there wasn't a trace of tiredness on his face. His power never stopped working and he never got tired even after using it for so long.
Looking inside his body, Lin Kai kept on observing the nine-petal flower whose one petal was still emitting black fog without any hint of running out of it. And every time the petal would emit the black fog, another wave of black fog even greater than before would rush from the surroundings before filling it up completely.
Speechless, Lin Kai could only come to the conclusion that this seemingly ordinary ability of his could be used all the time without any limitations. As for how it worked... Lin Kai had no idea finding it out for the time being.
Taking a deep breath, Lin Kai still kept using the power of silence while looking at the screen in front of him.
[Blood Value: 40]
After a day of rest, his blood value has now recovered successfully.
Looking at the neatly placed eight wooden masks in front of him, he exhaled a mouthful of air before picking a random one up and inserting it inside the screen.
[Gradeless Wooden Mask: A crudely made mask that can be worn.]
Looking at the properties, his breathing hastened for a moment before he picked up another one a inserted it inside the transparent screen in front of him.
[Merge Cost: 2]
Without any hesitation, Lin Kai clicked on the merge before the two wooden mask icons disappeared, replaced by a new one.
[Inferior Wooden Mask: A crudely made mask that can be worn as a disguise.]
"Eeh!?"
This was the only sound Lin Kai made after looking at the properties of the new mask.
"Let's see how different it will be after merging it even further."
Gritting his teeth, Lin Kai picked up the remaining six gradeless wooden masks before merging them together and ending up with four inferior-grade wooden masks.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone