That Fair-Faced 'Sage' {Completed}

37. Lin City Festival

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Shuǐ ChénLín had swiftly struck at LanFen with his sword, but it was met her fan, which had already appeared in her hand.

Her brows furrowed.

"Fènghuáng-Jun, are you finally trying to kill me?" Though she had addressed him properly, the way she had called his title, lacked any form of respect.

"You have to know your actions have consequences." Shuǐ ChénLín said, as he struck out with his free hand, but his palm met her palm, and the force sent them both gliding backwards, apart from each other.

"Hmph." He leapt towards her again, his sword going straight for her, but she swivelled out of the way, and then brought down her own sword towards him. His foot daintily touched the roof, and he twisted out of the way, but LanFen had sent several explosive talismans towards him.

He evaded them all, landing a short distance away. "How noisy!" One end of his lips could not resist lifting slightly.

"Hmph! Let them assume we started the festival early!" LanFen replied, as she speedily scribbled in the air. This created a large air talisman, which soon split into numerous smaller ones, before all heading towards him.

With a single hand seal, Shuǐ ChénLín had created a large qi shield, and the talismans crashed harmlessly against it.

LanFen had appeared behind him, but he was more than ready for her, and they both clashed for a while, before leaping apart, both of them unaffected by their attacks.

"Will you tell me what this is about?" LanFen fanned herself, her free hand behind her back. "If it's about this morning, I will apologise first... It was discourteous of me."

Shuǐ ChénLín rose a fine brow. "I'm amazed you know the meaning of the word. However, I'm not petty enough to remember this morning's trivial matter.

"I merely attacked to read your killing intent, and I've confirmed something..." His sword disappeared and he rearranged his sleeves.

"From fighting you just now, and on the day we met, I realized your aura when facing Zhou ZhuMin was on a completely different level, and you were filled with killing intent... If I hadn't arrived, wouldn't you have killed Zhou ZhuMin?

"Added to that, you followed the strange aura to a deserted place like this, without seeking me out first... I realized in Lode City that you know something about this strange aura, and possibly have some vendetta against its owner."

LanFen was mildly surprised at his deductive skills... She suspected the aura belonged to the Elder himself, but Shuǐ ChénLín likely didn't even know about the Elder, and she wasn't about to discuss it.

So she neatly avoided the topic, and redirected it back to Zhou ZhuMin instead. "Ever the Shuǐ genius... So what if I killed Zhou ZhuMin? Didn't someone else kill him, despite your great deed of preserving his life?

"He was my enemy and he killed many people, so I sought to end his life. Does the Shuǐ successor have something against that?"

"How can you think like this?" Shuǐ ChénLín asked. "Vengeance is a pointless venture, which paints one in blood. 'Hate begets more Hate'."

'Hmph. Didn't your own father keep me for revenge?' LanFen thought, but aloud she said,

"I intend to destroy my enemies at any given opportunity. The seas follow the Moon, but the Moon doesn't stop the seas from ruining the most formidable of sailors. You might be my master, but you won't stop me."

"Zhao LanFeng!" Shuǐ ChénLín had only risen his voice a little. "I know a few of the people you have in your mind. That bamboo scroll your Master enchanted, must be losing its spell, because I truthfully didn't do anything to keep it from returning to you...