41. Zhan family

Unfortunately, the space inside the storage ring wasn't frozen in time, so the hand began to rot and so as blood in it. Only the blood inside the bottle would not turn bad because the bottle was specially made to keep it fresh as long as possible.

After sorting out her thoughts, Mei Lin slowly opened her eyes. She found herself lying in a bed in an unfamiliar location. As she attempted to sit up, she realized she had no strength to do so. After pondering her next move, Zhan Xia suddenly entered the room and smiled at Mei Lin which was laying completely defenseless in the bed.

Mei Lin suddenly felt extremely weak, realizing that she was once again just a mortal. However, this time, it was Zhan Xia who held her life in her hands.

"How have you been? I didn't think you could survive, but father told me that you surely would, so we made a bet and I lost. I bet that if you died, I would take your storage ring, but fortunately I wasn't able to took it, so I it will not be possible even if you were dead. It was a silly bet, because neither my father nor I could open it." Zhan Xian looked in Mei Lin's red eyes like she was child and found a doll to play, but than, from her sparkling childish eyes excitement faded away and was replaced by two deep oceans and serious look. "Do you need help with anything?" Zhan Xia asked respectfully.

She had never had a brother or sister before, and now someone was right in front of her, needing help and bearing a striking resemblance to be her younger sister. Zhan Xia also knew that Mei Lin's master was somewhere in the caravan, so befriending Mei Lin could make the caravan safer. Despite the age difference Zhan Xia appeared to be eighteen, but was actually over thirty and her protective instincts were still in, so she wanted to help Mei Lin as much as possible.

Not long after, Zhan Xia returned back into the room with a new bamboo hat adorned with a white veil. Mei Lin gratefully accepted the hat and, with a graceful wave of her hand, summoned a beautiful red cultivation robe before her. With Zhan Xia's assistance, she changed into the robe, and together they exited the room heading into the main room. Inside, Zhan Liang and Li Lue were seated, sipping tea.

As Zhan Xia and Mei Lin entered the main room, they took their seats behind the table, with Zhan Xia's parents seated opposite them. Tea was promptly served by the servants and placed before them. While no one need to eat, Mei Lin, being the only one who required energy from the food, instinctively scanned the table for food. The shifting of her white veil drew puzzled glances from the others in the room.

Mei Lin looked like a corpse, her once white hands looked dry same as a rest of her body. She didn't ate or drank for ten days and as her body was healing her wound on the chest rest of the body was sucked out of nutrients. That was also reason why she couldn't walk on her own and along the way Zhan Xia was supporting her. Everything inside her body was stripped from blood all the time, so her muscles and everything else didn't response to do the right job and every movement was extremely painful.

As tea was placed on the table and steam was slowly moving up from the cups, Mei Lin saw small bowl with spirit fruits chopped into shaped of small moons placed in front of her. She examined everything cautiously, a lingering fear of poison tainting her thoughts.

As Mei Lin gazed upon the small bowl of beautifully carved spirit fruits, her heart fluttered with a mixture of longing and apprehension. The tantalizing aroma of the fruits wafted towards her, tempting her senses with promises of sweet indulgence. Yet, lingering beneath the surface was a shadow of doubt. A fear born from past betrayals and treacheries.

With cautious deliberation, Mei Lin examined the fruits, her eyes searching for any sign of tampering or deceit. Each delicate curve and intricate detail spoke of careful craftsmanship, yet beneath their alluring facade lurked the potential for danger.

Memories of poisoned gifts from her master flooded Mei Lin's mind, casting a shadow of suspicion over the offerings before her. Despite her longing for the sweetness of the spirit fruits, she dared not take any risks, unwilling to jeopardize her safety for the sake of a moment's pleasure.

Similarly, Mei Lin hesitated to partake of the tea, her senses on high alert for any hint of foul play. The steam rising from the cups seemed to mock her, a silent reminder of the dangers that lurked in the shadows.

And so, with a heavy heart and a sense of resignation, Mei Lin refrained from touching either the fruits or the tea, choosing instead to remain vigilant in the face of uncertainty. For in a world rife with deception and betrayal, caution was her most trusted ally, guiding her steps as she navigated the treacherous waters of intrigue and deceit.

Before any more hesitation, Mei Lin gently touched the cup and from finder which was inside the cup dropped inside little bit of her blood. 'If they tried to poisoned me, they have best opportunity add some of the poison into the tea and I will not be able to discovered it.' As Zhan Xia saw Mei Lin strange behavior she asked curiously. "Is something wrong with the tea?"

Zhan Xia didn't understand Mei Lin's behavior, and reason why she was so scared of tea. On the other hand Zhan Liang saw that Mei Lin even put her blood inside the tea, even if this act was very discrete.

"The tea and food aren't poisoned. Why would we do that," said Zhan Liang. Mei Lin looked at Zhan Liang with her red eyes trying to understand if he was telling the truth or not, but his face was like jade stone without any emotions what so ever despite his older appearance. Zhan Xia in the same moment glanced at Mei Lin's tea. "Has someone ever poisoned your tea before?" Suddenly, Mei Lin was very scared about the tea. Even though she was nearly first stage BT, there were poisons strong enough to kill her in the instant.

"Yes, my master poisoned me twice. I nearly died both times. So I won't drink it without knowing if it's poisoned or not," Mei Lin explained. All of them looked at Mei Lin with pity, though only Zhan Liang understood that this kind of training was necessary for survival. Mei Lin's master was truly old school. When he was young, his own master had also tested him and many of his friends with poison, but Zhan Liang was already at a higher stage of BT and had certain ways to found the poison beforehand.