Chapter 11 - Mister Ai
This time, Lin Haoxue had serious internal injuries. Originally, she thought it would be serious enough to affect her cultivating speed, but under the help of the ring"s mysterious power, her wounds had completely recovered. Not only had she recovered but because her body had been pushed past her limits and she fully drew out her fighting potential, her foundation had stabilized and her profound power had even grown a little.
After fighting hand-to-hand with He Long, Lin Haoxue now truly understood the importance of practicing profound skills. When they were fighting, she discovered that He Long"s real strength wasn"t that amazing, what really forced Lin Haoxue into a corner was his profound skills.
If she had powerful profound skills to use while fighting, she wouldn"t have been in such a difficult situation. She wouldn"t have had to rely on external power to help her.
So, after her wounds recovered, she practiced the Ceramic Flame skill day and night. Just when she was finally about to reach perfection in this skill, she had the odd feeling that the Ceramic Flame skill wasn"t complete.
That same day, Lin Haoxue got a piece of good news: her sister, Lin Ruoxue, who had been practicing at Profound Pract.i.tioner Academy, was back. Hearing this from Cui Lan, Lin Haoxue let go of the doubt in her mind and went to see her sister.
In the living room, Lin Haoxue finally saw her sister who had been away from home for a whole year cultivating.
Lin Ruoxue was wearing the white robe of a water elemental cultivator from her Profound Pract.i.tioner Academy and the fabric was embroidered with ice-blue water drops. Her facial features were sixty percent similar to Lin Haoxue. They both had delicate appearances and slender bodies; however, the fifteen-year-old Lin Ruoxue appeared more mature and tender.
"Sister, you"re finally back," Once Lin Haoxue saw her, she called out happily. Ever since she could remember it was always her sister who took care of and protected her; therefore, she was very close to her sister, even closer than her grandpa.
"Un, I"m back," Lin Ruoxue smiled. Even though she was more mature than her sister, whenever she saw the other, whom she loved and cared about, she always felt child-like happiness inside. Taking a step forward, she held Lin Haoxue"s hands.
"So this is Young Miss Haoxue," Just when they had started talking, someone disturbed them. Lin Haoxue looked at this person and saw a young man with a unique temperament. He was wearing white clothes as well but there weren"t any patterns on them, so she couldn"t tell what kind of profound veins he had.
Actually, when she came into the room, she had noticed the young man standing next to her sister, but she thought he was her sister"s boyfriend and didn"t really pay him any attention.
But now that she looked closer, it didn"t seem like they were dating. The way he looked at her sister wasn"t pa.s.sionate, instead, he was focused on herself more.
"Who are you?" Lin Haoxue frowned.
"Haoxue, don"t be rude. This is the principle of Profound Pract.i.tioner Academy, Mister Ai. Lin Ruoxue noticed her sister"s behavior and was worried that she might have offended their guest, so she immediately introduced him.
"Mister Ai?" Lin Haoxue looked at the young man in shock. He seemed merely twenty-something years old. His maximum age might be twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. How could he be the famous Mister Ai?
She had heard before, from the Zheng family head, that this Mister Ai had extraordinary strength. Therefore, she thought that he was an old man who was at least more than fifty years old. How could he be so young!
Seeing Lin Haoxue"s surprised face, Mister Ai smiled happily and didn"t care about her rudeness at all, instead, he spoke, "I"ve heard that you have double elemental profound veins?"
"What"s wrong with that? Lin Haoxue alertly looked into his eyes. But when she made eye contact, she felt a strong pressure pushing down on her. This kind of pressure wasn"t just on her body - she could feel it in her mind as well.
His mysterious aura seemed to be slowly forcing her to bow down to him; however, she was stubborn and unwilling to so. Therefore, she summoned all the power in her body to resist the pressure and forced herself to stand straight.
This power really was strong.
When she had met He Long, she could also feel his aura pushing down on her, but it wasn"t so great. Now, though, it felt as if the person in front of her could kill her with but a thought. Perhaps in front of him, n.o.body would dare to have any thoughts of resisting.
No, I can"t lose.
Just when Lin Haoxue was about to fully use her profound power to fight against his pressure, it vanished.
Actually, not much time had pa.s.sed, and even though it was only a small amount of time, to Lin Haoxue it felt like years.
Seeing him faintly smiling at her and discovering that both her grandpa and sister hadn"t felt anything, she realized that the pressure was targeted at her.
"Good, very good!" Mister Ai took a look at her then spoke to Lin Geng, "Lin family head, can I have a moment alone with Young Miss Haoxue?"
"Of course you can, Mister Ai!" Lin Geng responded. Ever since Mister Ai arrived, he knew that he had come for Haoxue.
Of course, he wouldn"t turn him down since his visit was beneficial to the Lin family and to Haoxue. Therefore, Lin Geng asked Ruoxue to leave with him.
Once grandpa and her sister left, the living room fell into an awkward silence.
"I"ve heard that you have double elemental profound veins?" Mister Ai said while sitting down in a nearby chair as he continued looking intently at Lin Haoxue.
"What"s wrong?" Lin Haoxue looked at his eyes which seemed as though they could see through her very soul making her feel very anxious. She didn"t like the feeling of being seen through. Therefore, she was fully alert as she faced him. Lin Haoxue evaluated everything he did, including his words, his appearance, and anything that could give her the upper hand.
"Let me tell you a secret!" He didn"t seem to notice her alertness and just talked about what he wanted to say.
"Before I turned ten years old, I was viewed as a person who brought bad luck to everyone and for this reason, I was kicked out of my family. Do you know why?"
Lin Haoxue looked at him and didn"t say anything.
Mister Ai didn"t seem to care much if she responded to him or not, and he just kept talking, "That was because I was born with profound eyes which let me see things that others can"t. For example, when someone is in front of me, I can see how many elemental affinities one"s profound veins have awoken!"
"So?" Lin Haoxue felt her heartbeat increase as if it were going to explode, but she still acted like she was calm and replied.
"So, I know that you do not have double elemental profound veins, but in fact, have," Mister Ai paused for a bit, then shockingly said, "eight elemental profound veins."
Eight elemental profound veins? This was a secret that she had never told anyone, so when she heard him say it, she felt shock take over. Now she was sure that Mister Ai knew everything about her profound veins.
Even though she was very shocked in her mind, she still looked calm.
Mister Ai noticed Lin Haoxue calm demeanor causing himself to feel surprised. He didn"t have a choice but he had to say that this twelve-year-old young lady"s state of mind was very strong. He couldn"t find any faults with her at all.
"You didn"t even tell your family about your talent, I can see that you don"t want others to know such a thing, correct?"
Lin Haoxue didn"t respond to him, she just stared quietly at him. Now as he was observing her, she was certain about one thing - even though Mister Ai was the strongest cultivator in Taixing town, with him being at the Profound Saint realm, she was still not afraid of him.