Niss's voice was soft and gentle: "The current head of the Trair family has also arrived and is waiting. Will you receive him?"
"No need!" Leilin Farell waved his hand dismissively. He had never been fond of people who shamelessly showed up trying to leech benefits.
Shortly after, he fell into silence. Seeing this, Niss tactfully withdrew.
A long while later, Leilin let out a deep sigh.
"Ni Lan really was a clever woman. Anna was a bit foolish, and as for Biji... I never expected she would have such perseverance..."
Leilin had always understood Ni Lan's personality — she read the times well, knew when to advance and retreat, and it was only natural that she would meet a good end.
Anna's forces had merely been a fallback Leilin prepared during his apprentice days. That they couldn't withstand the test of time was understandable.
What puzzled Leilin most was Biji. Her personality clearly didn't match that of a wizard who enjoyed bitter cultivation. It seemed the events of the past had affected her deeply, even changing her character.
For Leilin, these three had all been good friends, and he had even shared intimate relationships with them at one point. If he could still see them, he would naturally do his best to help each one.
But if he couldn't see them, then so be it.
After reminiscing briefly about the past, Leilin left the cemetery and returned to the luxurious room Black Bone Forest Academy had prepared specifically for him.
"Ancestor!" Krube bowed respectfully, but he was vastly different from before.
His original hair color and eye color had both changed, shifting toward a pure black hue. The lines on his face had softened, making him look considerably more handsome, and he now exuded a unique charm.
"Hmm! How does the body feel? Are you adapting well?" Blue luminescence shot from Leilin's eyes, scanning Krube's entire body.
There were many methods to temporarily boost someone's strength, but the most suitable for Krube was bloodline modification.
During this period, Krube had been receiving Leilin's bloodline transplantation — or rather, the contamination of a higher being upon a lesser one!
Although Krube's path as a wizard had already been set, he could reach at most the first rank. With Leilin's current methods, redirecting him onto the path of a bloodline warlock was a simple matter.
At this moment, Krube not only radiated the aura of a bloodline warlock, but his energy fluctuations had also silently crossed the boundary into the second-rank warlock tier.
"It's fine, it's just that my body always feels uncomfortable — even my bones feel like they're being burned..."
Truthfully, Krube was incredibly excited. For a wizard, the chance to gain tremendous power at the cost of only some pain from bloodline modification was something one could never dare to hope for.
In fact, after using the power of the bloodline to cross the second-rank threshold, he had become utterly devoted to Leilin's abilities.
"Hmm! That's a normal phenomenon from the bloodline transplantation. After you go back, remember to meditate with the Eye of Kemoyin a few more times!"
The Chip also fed the collected data back to Leilin at this moment, and he couldn't help but nod in quiet approval.
The modification of Krube had been part of Leilin's pre-established plan. After all, the Farell Family on the South Coast still needed a powerful guardian.
And once Krube had been implanted with the Kemoyin bloodline, thanks to the Snake Emperor's domination talent, Leilin's control over him would inevitably reach a new level.
"The boost from a fifth-rank Kemoyin Snake Emperor bloodline is truly extraordinary. Krube entering the second rank is only to be expected. There's even a very real possibility he could advance to the third rank within fifty years based solely on his bloodline. The chance of breaking through to the Morning Star tier down the road also exists..."
A sharp gleam flashed in Leilin's eyes.
What Krube had received was naturally fifth-rank Kemoyin Snake Emperor bloodline, but not Leilin's own blood.
Leilin's bloodline was far too powerful now — a single drop would literally burst Krube apart. The bloodline of a first-generation warlock was still far too much for Krube to bear. So what Leilin used was the umbilical cord blood he had collected at Xirui's birth.
A second-generation warlock's bloodline wasn't as concentrated as Leilin's own, but it was still authentic fifth-rank Snake Emperor blood. And since it had been diluted by half and was from an early developmental stage, it was perfectly compatible with Krube's body.
Having inherited this blood, Krube could now properly be called a third-generation warlock — Leilin's grandchild generation.
【Ding! Bloodline degradation chart complete. Estimated degradation to Kemoyin Giant Snake bloodline by the fifteenth generation, further degradation by the thirty-fourth generation...】
The Chip's mechanical voice rang out.
For warlocks, bloodline degradation was an unavoidable problem. To maintain the purity of family bloodlines, some even resorted to inbreeding or even more sinister rituals, hoping only to postpone the degradation. But even with all that effort, they managed to delay it by less than a century.
"So the possibility of a fifth-rank warlock appearing in the Farell Family again within fifteen generations is still quite high?"
Leilin stroked his chin, pondering slowly. Simply possessing the Snake Emperor bloodline didn't necessarily mean one could advance to the fifth rank.