That Fair-Faced 'Sage' {Completed}

33. The Hidden Card

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The Mist grew thicker and thicker...

LanFen had vanished from behind Shuǐ ChénLín to go and face the puppet demon, and Shuǐ ChénLín shook his head in her absence, as he considered the purple lotus that had appeared in her hand.

'That is certainly a White Realm technique...'

The Zhao Clan's long lost 'Divine Lotus Fury', a technique he wouldn't even know about, if he didn't have a penchant for reading every single thing in the Shuǐ Library.

And besides, the method Zhao LanFeng must be using to see through the mist, was probably the same way he had always 'seen' them coming after him, before his capture, and it closely resembled the 'Divine Piercing Eye' technique.

Another White Realm technique.

'This 'disciple' of mine...' He thought. 'Just what is his real level? And why does he hide it?'

Instinctively, Shuǐ ChénLín didn't think Zhao LanFeng meant any harm, but it was pretty clear he had a hidden agenda.

As to whether that agenda, or whether Zhao LanFeng's methods of achieving it, went along with the Shuǐ Clan's own principles, he still wasn't certain.

For now...

Shuǐ ChénLín drew another air talisman, and directed it to his left, and it crashed into a horde of approaching monsters, just as he swivelled to his right, avoiding the attack from another large ape-like monster.

'Soul ape demon. Can draw out a person's lifeforce.' He recognized the creature as he mentally recited..

That certainly explained how the people in Lode City had been dying. This demon had been used to pull out the victims' lifeforce, leaving their corpses with the dried out, ashen appearance.

"Shuǐ ChénLín!" He heard LanFen's voice from somewhere a good distance away, and he scowled that she had addressed him by his name again.

But before he could say anything, he was suddenly surrounded by strange looking people, who stood just outside the ring of his glowing air talisman.

Shuǐ ChénLín was about to attack them, but then noticed that they had their backs to him, and were fighting the lesser demons.

"You've mastered the lost Shuǐ Water Puppet Technique, right?" LanFen's voice rang out. "How about you use those powerful puppets, so you can defeat the enemy's own puppets? They can see through the mist on their own, so it should make things easy for you."

It was then that Shuǐ ChénLín realized the strange individuals were likely more of Zhao LanFeng's demons.

"Where did you learn about that technique?!" Shuǐ ChénLín shouted out with his brows furrowed.

Only a few select members of the Shuǐ Clan, knew about the Shuǐ Water Puppet Technique, and how it actually worked.

"Er... Ahem!" LanFen gave a small cough.

No way she was telling him that she had snuck into her Master's library to research the Shuǐ Water Puppet Technique, because her master had lightly commented that a certain Shuǐ ChénLín, from the Shuǐ Clan, had already mastered it...

"I heard it somewhere." LanFen vaguely replied. "Is this the place for such a discussion?"

Shuǐ ChénLín didn't hear anything after that, and he scoffed.

"Hmph! This disciple of mine..." Shuǐ ChénLín formed a series of hand seals, and a thin layer of clear water surrounded the demons around him, before seemingly disappearing, but now, their auras were all on completely different levels.