Everyone sat down at the dinner table. The house lady did not skimp on celebrating the two young men's success. All the food on the table looked delicious, the girls who had previously made excuses to decline the invitation drooled. They were thankful to the house lady for insisting on them to stay.
Du Bai raised his cup and said.
"Han Seol, Lian, you two passed the exam just like us, so this party is in your honor too. So let's have a toast on our exam success."
Du Bai turned to Zi Yun and said with a smile, "Just to let you know, this is juice, not wine… again cheers."
The house owner smiled and looked at the two young women congratulating them. "Congratulations to you girls for your success in the exam, and you girl, why don't you take that thing off your head?"
Lian held her cap tightly. She was happy when Du Bai said the party was in her honor too, but she started to remember her deformed face, and she didn't want to spoil everyone's joy or lose their appetite because of it.
"Sorry, I think I should leave. Thank..."
"Lian, don't worry, we're not like that bitch and her friends, so you don't have to worry about these things with us."
Jin interrupted her. He was able to read the people's feelings around him and anticipate their reactions. As an assassin, he had always relied on it to survive. However, he had some worries about Han Seol's reaction to Lian's appearance.
Lian was convinced by Jin's words, she lowered her cap, revealing her pale and slender face. She had a large pair of eyes the color of pink, just like the color of her hair, with a moderate nose and a small red mouth. Despite the scars on her left cheek and neck and her pallor and boyish hair, she was still considered beautiful.
The ugly burn appearance put everyone into silence before Han Seol broke it. "It makes sense that you hide your face under that thing...."
Everyone stared angrily at Han Seol, who continued her words.
"Your hairstyle is so bad. Did you lose a bet or what?...it doesn't matter. It will be long again soon enough."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They thought she was going to say something inappropriate. Even Jin got surprised. Han Seol wasn't complimenting in her words and didn't seem upset by Lian's deformed face. She was really focused on Lian's hair and nothing else.
But Du Bai had a different opinion and exploded in anger.
"What do you mean by bad hairstyle? It looks like my hair."
"Exactly, that's what I meant...." Han Seol said as she rolled her eyes at Do Bai.
Du Bai didn't give up and started arguing hard about the beauty of his hairstyle. At the same time, Lian couldn't help but smile, feeling warm inside her heart.
-----------------------
Each one of the girls came here for a different reason, but they found themselves part of the celebration party, so after the celebration ended, the house lady left to make room for them to discuss their outstanding issues.
It was necessary to talk about what they came for, and before they could say anything, Jin preceded them."Well, everyone seems to have things stuck with me that can't be delayed, so why don't we start with the prettiest girl here."
When Han Seol heard that, a small smile appeared on her face and opened her mouth to speak, but she was surprised when she saw Jin talking to Lian without paying attention to her.
"Lian, you're here to ask about the saint's spirit form and the serenity pills, but first answer my question, those burns on your face were caused by a great mage's fire, right?"
"Yes, it is, burns that don't heal with pain that doesn't stop, and I have been suffering from it for years, that's why I wanted the serenity pills." Lian nodded, surprised that Jin knew what caused her burns.
The serenity pills were medicinal pills that had the advantage of relieving pain. It was clear that Lian's body no longer responded to ordinary painkillers, the appearance of the girl who had been steadfast in the face of this pain for all these years was majestic and poignant, no one found the right words to say, but Jin stopped them from thinking about it after he put on the table a medicine that released powerful magical energy.
"The serenity pill will not work in your current situation. So take this. It is a medicine made by a great magician that will relieve the pain and heal you."
A medicine made by a great magician cost a fortune, and the serenity pill was nothing compared to it. Jin gave her the medicine as if it was nothing, everyone wanted to know from where did Jin got this medicine, but the situation in front of them only made them watch silently.
And the reason was the tears of Lian, the girl whose highest dream was to stop the pain, today her dream will not only come true but she will also be healed.
"Thank you"
That word was all she could say to express her gratitude.
"And what would the word thank you do for me? Don't forget about the winged flower saint spirit form issue, which means you still need me. So you have to stay by my side and think of a way to pay off your debts." Jin said with a faint smile on his face.
Han Seol turned toward Lian and asked.
"What does he mean by that you should stay by his side....?"
When she saw that Lian's face turned red, she continued, "Lian, are you okay?" Han Seol didn't hear an answer from her.
Lian was frozen in her place, motionless, her face turning red.
Jin turned to the girl who summoned him to this timeline and said.
"Li Chui, you are here for this, the talisman with a grotesque bird painted on it, right? take it."
Jin took the talisman with the bird inscription on it out of his storage ring and handed it to Li Chui.
Li Chui, for personal reasons, did a crazy thing a few months ago as she tried to summon the legendary guardian Ashtria using the talisman she had spent all her savings on to buy it, but instead, she summoned Jin from the future who stole the talisman from her.
"It's basically mine, so don't expect me to thank you."
Li Chui was still mad at him for stealing the talisman, so without hesitation, she took it and put it in her pocket.
"Li Chui, you are here for this, the talisman with a grotesque bird painted on it, right? take it."
Jin repeated his words for the second time, which made Li Chui stare at him strangely, but what shocked her was the talisman that appeared in his hand again, causing her to check her pockets, staring at him in anger before snatching it from his hand and storing it inside her storage ring.
"Don't you want it? isn't that what you came for?" Jin said, looking at her innocently.
For the third time, and even after she stored it inside her storage ring, the talisman appeared in Jin's hand. The girl checked her ring searching for the talisman, but she found nothing, making her panic and ask him.
"How is that possible? How did you get it back into your hand? What trick is this?"
Everyone stared at the talisman in confusion. This time Zi Yun herself started examining the talisman to find out the secret. Her eyes widened as she stared at the talisman before looking at Jin, trying to gather her thoughts to say.
"It is a spiritual tool, and it is attached to you. Wherever you leave it, it will return to your hand. It may be of great value... Have you found out what its purpose is?"
Spiritual tools are mysterious magical tools with different abilities. They are made by the ancient holy magicians. Only magicians who have spiritual powers can activate those abilities.
The simplest example of this is the spirits mirror. When everyone used it to know their spirit form and measure their strength, Jin used it to summon his spirit form from the spirit world.
After hearing Zi Yun's question, Li Chui and Jin stared at each other. They both knew its ability to go back in time, or more precisely, send a soul to the past, but Jin had no intention of revealing such a secret, so he answered calmly, "No, I do not know what the use of this talisman yet."
"In this case, you should not let anyone see this talisman before discovering its purpose, as it may be dangerous."
Jin nodded in affirmative and stored it inside his storage ring. At the same time, Li Chui sighed sadly, realizing that she had lost the talisman which she had spent everything she had on it forever. Jin noticed her sadness and smiled.
"I don't take anything for free. I'll pay you somehow in the future."
Then Jin turned to Zi Yun and added.
"For you, my beautiful lady, I apologize. I have no desire to be the great magician disciple, but I would be grateful if you could help me become an honorary student."
Zi Yun expected Jin to know the reason for her coming. As a brilliant young man like him, he must have known that the great magician had chosen those with spiritual powers as his disciple, but what surprised her was his refusal, who in this world would dare to refuse such an opportunity.