.
It was scary.
Xuè Shèngrén had came out, and the first thing she had sensed was an unbelievably powerful aura that made the air colder than it was.
But then it suddenly vanished.
'What was that?' She wondered to herself, lost in thought, and now she felt even more apprehensive, since she remembered something similar...
'It's the same as that night!' The night she had attacked the Wang Clan, she had sensed something similar, but it had disappeared as well.
Behind her, Shuǐ ChénLín, Lu FengHo and the disciples all stared at the slim figure that had flown out of the restaurant.
'He' was so small, that it looked like he would fly a good distance with a single punch. The two female disciples in their midst were around his size, which meant most of the males would be bigger than him.
"Did that tiny person best Lord Meng?!" Asked one of the disciples, whose mouth was hanging open.
"I'm not exactly surprised!" Shuǐ JunHo, said with a clear, deadpan expression.
"You rude brat-!" Meng ZhuGuo tried to get up so he could discipline Shuǐ JunHo, but only ended up vomiting more blood, further staining the snow a bright red.
"You should really stay in one place." Xuè Shèngrén leisurely turned around to face them all, and the air was instantly filled with their collective gasps.
"Wah!" One of the female disciples exclaimed without thinking, and Shuǐ ChénLín shot her a quelling look. She flushed and hastily adjusted her expression.
But even Shuǐ ChénLín's own eyes had widened slightly, when the boy had first turned, and now their eyes met briefly.
'Those eyes... Zhao. Lan. Feng...?' Shuǐ ChénLín thought.
Meanwhile, the second female disciple was unabashedly staring at the young 'man', with her mouth so wide open that she would surely swallow a passing fly, if she didn't take care.
Even the men were in awe of such extraordinarily handsome features, and they didn't see any difference between his fair complexion, and the snow on the roof above him.
'Is he a man or a woman?!' Most of them wondered. But once again, at that thought, they were suddenly convinced that she was a man.
Xuè Shèngrén held out her hand, and an elegant black fan appeared, with a gleaming white tassel swinging from its end.
She smiled and fanned herself lazily, as her irises swept over all of them.
When her eyes settled on Shuǐ ChénLín, she cocked her head in curiosity, but her interest didn't last, and she turned back to Meng ZhuGuo.
"So you brought company? Hao! A person like you certainly needs help from his 'fellow disciples'."
"Pfft!" A few of the disciples were masking their laughter, and Shuǐ JunHo was openly smirking, his arms folded proudly across his chest.
But Lu FengHo sent Shuǐ JunHo a warning glare, and then stepped forward.
He inclined his head politely. "Young Master...? Forgive me, I don't know whether you're a man or a wom- -." But again, that only made him convinced that Xuè Shèngrén was a man.
"Ah, I apologise, Young Master. I will also apologise on Lord Meng's behalf, if he angered or underestimated you."
'Polite' was the first word that Xuè shèngrén thought, as she observed Lu FengHo.
Lu FengHo's hair was bound into a neat ponytail, and two narrow weaves lined the sides. He appeared generally easy-going and likable, so Xuè Shèngrén beamed at him.
"Handsome brother, I don't think the fatty would stand a chance, even if he takes me seriously."
The straight-faced response made several of the disciples burst into more disguised laughter, earning them a disdainful look from Meng ZhuGuo, and a forbidding look from Shuǐ ChénLín.
Lu FengHo himself gave a small cough, before continuing with an expressionless face. "Let us turn to more insistent matters... Numerous people died at the hands of a certain Xuè shèngrén... Are you that Xuè shèngrén?" Polite.
"I see you even set up an array." She observed, ignoring his question. "Were you hoping such an obvious array would stop me?" She held out her hand, and one of their array flags appeared, spinning around her finger.
The disciples all gasped at the sight, and she continued.
"I had already removed this before I came out here, but I replaced it with a cheap imitation, and tied it to my aura to fool you till now."
At that moment, the steady flow of aura that surrounded each of them, suddenly faded away, and the array was rendered useless.
"Hmph." She held up the flag, and it burst into black flames.
The disciples were staring at her in awe... The time from when Meng ZhuGuo had been kicked out, till when Xuè Shèngrén had come out, was mere seconds...
How had 'he' found the flag in that short time?!
Shuǐ ChénLín and Lu FengHo were not new to such speed, so they just glared at Xuè shèngrén...
One of the disciples stepped forward. "So what if you destroyed our array?! H- how dare you be so arrogant to Master Lu?!" He waved a fist as he spoke.
"Everything from look, to carriage, to age is inferior to Master Lu, yet he bowed to you politely, and you didn't return his bow! Now you won't even answer his question?!"
Xuè Shèngrén's frosty irises darted toward the disciple. "Hmm? Who permitted a mouse to speak, where two tigers are conversing?" She took one step down and directed a bit of aura toward the disciple.
The disciple was frozen in fear, then letting out a terrified yelp, he ran behind Lu FengHo.
Xuè Shèngrén shook her head. It wasn't that she didn't want to answer, but she could neither say 'Yes' or 'No'.
Yes, she had destroyed the two families, but No, her name was certainly not something as unpleasant as Xuè Shèngrén...
Some unreasonable fellow somewhere had probably had too much wine, and then drunkenly come up with that tasteless nickname!
She sighed. "Hmph. Because of this handsome man, I'll let you all go." She said, giving Lu FengHo another once over.
Lu FengHo flushed mildly, but his brows furrowed. He wasn't immune to being called 'handsome' by such a beautiful person, but that didn't mean he wasn't annoyed.
She ignored him and continued. "It's a white ribbon you've been using to chase after me, right? Return it, and I will permit you to go your way."
This sounded quite reasonable to a few of the disciples, but they knew Fènghuáng-Jun would never let it slide, if they acted like cowards here, so they unsheathed their swords, then spread out further to block Xuè Shèngrén.
Xuè Shèngrén couldn't keep her lips from tugging into a smile. "It appears the young ones don't yet know the difference between East and West... Why don't you all attack me at once? I don't want anyone to accuse me of bullying low-level disciples."
"Low-level-!!"
"You-!"
Several of the disciples, including Shuǐ JunHo, were now glaring at her.
"How arrogant!" Shuǐ JunHo brandished his sword. "Let's attack him! He won't be so confident, if we strike at once!"
"Don't engage!" Shuǐ ChénLín ordered, but the disciples had already charged toward Xuè Shèngrén with impressive speed.
However...
"Hmph." Xuè Shèngrén grinned and shut her fan.
"Lu Xian." Shuǐ ChénLín said, and Lu FengHo instantly performed several hand seals, and created small shields around the disciples, but too late.
A black blur had beat his speed and had already passed through the disciples' midst. The disciples felt something hit a few of their acu-points, and in the blink of an eye, they all found themselves on the floor, paralyzed from their shoulders downwards.
Meanwhile, Xuè Shèngrén remained where she had been standing, and only her moving cloak and ribbons, showed that she had even moved at all.
The disciples were now awkwardly craning their necks to glare at her, but she shrugged at their hateful glares, fanning herself.
"Oh my, don't glare at me... The ground should not blame the sky for being higher... It's not that you're weak, I'm just too far above your level."
'How arrogant!' Shuǐ JunHo thought, and they all kept glaring, but Xuè Shèngrén had already turned away from them.
The disciples would be stuck like that for at least an hour, so she studied the only two left standing.
"Now which of the two of you has my white ribbon?"
A stunned Lu FengHo quickly dashed over to the disciples, and began to check each of their wrists, but after a while, he could tell their paralysed state was temporary, and that they weren't hurt in any other way.
Still, an unbelievable anger filled him, and he turned to glare at Xuè Shèngrén.
"It appears you're indeed the Blood Sage, to pull off such a risky technique!" He was usually mild-mannered, but someone had nearly harmed his precious disciples.
Xuè Shèngrén merely held up her hand and wiggled four fingers. "It's called 'qi stopping shower'... Elder brother, I can teach you, if you follow me and call me, 'Teacher'."
"How rude!" Lu FengHo's scowl deepened. "They're at a crucial point in their training! What if you had missed and somehow destroyed their cultivation in some way?!"
Xuè Shèngrén's smile was slow and deliberate. "I never miss! But if you're so annoyed, why don't you avenge them?"
Lu FengHo's sword, BlueBird, appeared in his hand, and with a swift click, he unsheathed the base of the sword.
"Fine. Then, forgive me for attacking first!" Lu FengHo.
"Lu *Xian. Let's attack together." Shuǐ ChénLín said, but Lu FengHo did have a soft spot for the disciples, and gestured toward them.
*Xian- FengHo's birth name, usually only used by family, or someone close. Like 'Chén', for Shuǐ ChénLín.
"I will hold him off, while you attend to them." Lu FengHo said, then lunged at Xuè shèngrén.
"Be careful." Shuǐ ChénLín called out, then headed over to help the embarrassed disciples, into more dignified positions.
He would have left them like that, so they would learn their lesson, but he knew Lu FengHo wouldn't like that. And besides, if any passerby saw the disciples like this, dressed in the Shuǐ disciple uniforms, it would only embarass the Clan.
Meanwhile, Lu FengHo's sword, BlueBird, was at Xuè shèngrén's throat, but she had leapt backwards and was almost parallel to the floor, as she used qinggong to float away.
Lu FengHo chased forward as well, keeping the tiny distance between his sword and the enemy's throat, and they both vanished into the restaurant doors.
Outside, Shuǐ ChénLín glared down at the disciples. "How careless! What if he had decided to kill you all?! After begging us to allow you follow us here..." The disciples had begged Lu FengHo to convince him, so they could go after Xuè Shèngrén.
"Is this your level of preparedness?!" Shuǐ ChénLín's dark gray irises darted to Shuǐ JunHo, who would have flinched, if he wasn't paralyzed.
"Head disciple Shuǐ, I expected more from you at least. Even if the others chose stupidity and charged in, how could you follow?! Is this how you've been leading your other missions?!"
Shuǐ JunHo wished the ground would open up and swallow him...
Fènghuáng-Jun's temper was no joke!
They were cousins, but the look Fènghuáng-Jun was giving him, had no sliver of 'cousingly' feelings!
.
Inside the Restaurant, Xuè shèngrén quickly ran out of room to back away, so with a 'Clang', her fan deflected Lu FengHo's sword, and then she used the mild distraction to leap further away from him.
Lu FengHo didn't give chase.
Clashing with that black-as-night fan had felt odd...
People with fans for weapons weren't particularly rare, and Lu FengHo's own mother wilded a set of beautiful, but deadly fans.
He had trained with his mother numerous times, so he was used to the feeling of clashing against a fan.
But Xuè Shèngrén's fan had felt nothing like that.
"What is that fan?" Lu FengHo asked.
Xuè shèngrén rose an eyebrow, and her nostrils flared in amusement, "Oh? Handsome Elder brother, you're more observant than your easy-going image suggests."
A black void instantly surrounded the fan, and it changed into an all black sword. Even the blade was a shiny black, but the same white tassel swung from its hilt.
She brandished the sword like a brush. "My *Shubi is a special top-tier treasure."
*Shubi- vertical stroke in Chinese writing.
Lu FengHo frowned and swung his sword outward, surrounding it with his mild blue aura, and Xuè Shèngrén flung her sword outward as well.
"Elder brother. I thought you came to avenge your precious disciples?" She taunted, and Lu FengHo's annoyance grew.
He lunged for Xuè Shèngrén, but his sword was met by a small orb, surrounded by a black smoky aura.
About ten more of the orbs appeared, attacking Lu FengHo from every angle, but he blocked then, by creating an impressively precise number of shields, which destroyed the orbs on contact.
Lu FengHo himself charged at Xuè shèngrén, and they began crossing swords.
As they swung at each other, their sword clashes created small waves of aura that swept through the entire restaurant.
Xuè Shèngrén was a bit impressed.
She concluded that Lu FengHo was at least, in the early Purple realm stages, and his techniques were flawless for that level...
But he was no match for her, and she easily countered or evaded his attacks, not even bothering to attack him.
Then suddenly, she leapt upward, evading a low attack, and lightly landed on Lu FengHo's sword.
Though Lu FengHo couldn't feel any weight from her, the move angered him, and he swung upward to throw her off the sword.
But she had predicted his move, and she used his swing as a booster to leap up to the restaurant's high ceiling. She hung upside down for about a second, then kicked off the ceiling, slashing downwards toward Lu FengHo.
Lu FengHo barely saw the attack coming, and only managed to dodge by a hair's breadth, then turned to face Xuè Shèngrén again.
They were now on opposite sides of the restaurant.
Xuè Shèngrén's sword morphed back into the fan... "Handsome elder brother, are you with my white ribbon?"
"Even if I had it, would I give it to you?" He readied himself to attack again, but then he felt a silent 'Slash', which made his eyes widen, and he stood dazed for a few seconds.
But then, he suddenly sank to the ground, as his blood splashed to the floor, and he felt blood rise to his throat...
'What... What happened?!'
.