That Fair-Faced 'Sage' {Completed}

47. Sugar-Coated Hawthorns

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Meanwhile, Shuǐ ChénLín had stormed a considerable distance before stopping.

LanFen, who had been pulled along behind him, found herself flustered, and her eyes fell on his hand clutching her wrist.

She yanked her hand away, which caused mild color to crawl up Shuǐ ChénLín's own neck.

He had done it without thinking.

And he realized he had done the same thing at Lin City, when Jin ShuLin had bullied Zhao LanFeng.

He turned away. "Ahem. From your wrist just now, I can tell you're fine." He fished out a handkerchief and held it out to Zhao LanFeng.

"Wipe your mouth and stop going around like a discontent ghost!"

LanFen had completely forgotten that she had coughed blood earlier. "Ah! Thank you!" She accepted the handkerchief and wiped her bloody lips.

Lu FengHo had caught up and was now eyeing her with some worry. "Younger brother, are you okay? How do you feel? What happene-?"

But Shuǐ ChénLín cut in. "He'll explain when we get back."

The streets were slowly getting more crowded and several traders hawked one thing or the other as the three made their way back to Luòshuǐ mountain.

LanFen bought three sticks of sugar-coated hawthorns, and then at the base of Luòshuǐ mountain, they all leapt to the nearest trees and began the journey up the mountain in silence.

A little over two hour later, they arrived at the training grounds, and LanFen's feet had barely touched the ground, when Lu FengHo turned to face her.

"Younger brother, what exactly happened? How come you were about to fight Healer Wang?"

"Ho? I thought Fènghuáng-Jun was the impatient one!" LanFen joked, tossing one of the sugared hawthorns to him.

He caught it deftly. "I'm only concerned... If he means you harm, then I have wronged you by stopping your fight."

"Tsk! 'Handsome ones are too serious...' Didn't I say I owed him a favour? It's good that you prevented us from crossing swords." She said.

"As to why we were about to fight, I chased after a wraith, but instead I found a blind old man with a fearsome aura... The conclusion I drew is a sensible one. I'm certain Healer Wang has something to do with that wraith."

"That Healer's aura is no joke, and he wasn't too interested in hiding it..." Shuǐ ChénLín added. "I think he wanted us to know how powerful he was, so it's a good thing that Lu Xian stopped your fight."

LanFen nodded. "I have to agree."

Shuǐ ChénLín turned to her seriously. "I'm more interested in why you didn't evade that arrow from earlier. The same thing happened at the 'Tea Haven', the day we captured you."

LanFen hesitated.

Telling them that the strange wraith had managed to fill her with that inexplicable pain, somehow felt like exposing a weakness.

Something she wasn't used to doing.

On the other hand, she reminded herself that, if both of them remained around her without knowing, it might endanger their own lives.

"That is an interesting story..." She began, then proceeded to tell them about the two times the strange aura had nearly led to her death.

"It's intentions each time are clear. The pain will create enough of a distraction to endanger my life in someway. At Camellia city, it wanted me to be captured, so I would be sentenced to death by the Clan Leaders. And just now, there was that same arrow that killed Zhou ZhuMin."