It's you again

Going back to the start of the incident, Shui approached the two guards that stood in front of the Blue Waves Sect's gate. Both guards were outer sect disciples with cultivations in the Mortal Realm, so they wouldn't be able to stop Shui, and they knew this since he wasn't hiding his cultivation. However, with the Blue Waves Sect behind them, they were able to grit their teeth and block his path.

"Halt. State your name and business."

As Miur, Wince and Yumi were well-hidden behind him, the guards couldn't notice them and only faced Shui. The three were surprised by the extent of the equipment's stealth effect, but even that couldn't be noticed by an outsider. Shui could have knocked the guards aside, but since he didn't want to offend the entire sect, he tried the polite approach.

"My name is Shui. May I ask that-"

"Wait, your name is Shui?"

"Yes."

As the guards shared a cryptic glance before one of them left the area, Shui was relieved to know that at least one of his objectives would likely be coming to him.

"A-and, could you restate your business?"

Now that he confirmed that Shui was a threat, tension filled the guard's body. Shui nodded in appreciation of his valour, not that it would deter him in any way.

"It's fine. You've already set things in motion so it seems waiting here would achieve the same effect."

The guard gulped in fear as he realized that the action of his compatriot hadn't been overlooked, but was relieved that Shui took a passive approach. Meanwhile, the other guard sent a report to Cris' uncle, core disciple Sigil. Next to him, Cris smirked maliciously as he imagined his uncle paying Shui back for scaring him, but as Sigil read the report, his expression grew grave.

'He's in the Earth Realm? This could be troublesome.'

Sigil was a genius at the third level of the Earth Realm, so he still thought that he had a good chance of winning against some common rabble, but he had to be wary of the possibility of losing. The sect master of the Blue Waves Sect was always a woman, but that meant he had much more competition for all of the other high ranking positions. Considering that he was barely a top candidate for one of those positions, this was definitely not the time for him to suffer a stain on his record, but it was too late to climb off the tiger's back.

Without letting Shui wait too long, Sigil and Cris appeared, albeit still later than spectators who had assembled at the scent of drama. Cris was confused at first since he couldn't recognize Shui, but his uncle didn't have that problem. When their gazes intersected, Sigil stepped forward. He had been hoping that the report was wrong or that there would be some sign of weakness in Shui's aura, but he was left disappointed.

"You're Shui?"

"That's right."

Cris was surprised to learn that the charming gentleman was the same man that had bullied him. Shui's looks were on a level that could inspire his envy, but he comforted himself by recalling that his uncle would disfigure him soon.

"So, I heard you had a problem with my nephew, is that why you're here?"

"Well, actually I have something more important planned, but since he bragged about you, I figured I could use a workout first."

As he didn't want to take risks, Sigil had tried to lead their conflict to a peaceful resolution, but Shui crushed that possibility with one line. He didn't want to waste any time and attracting attention would allow him to advance his other plans so there was no reason to be amicable.

"You-! You dare mock me and the prestigious Blue Waves Sect?!"

Sigil didn't seem committed to fight yet, but Shui wasn't in the mood to play along. Instead of generously responding, Shui raised a hand to point at Sigil, and then taunted him by waving his index finger back and forth. With such a blatant show of disrespect, Sigil had no choice but to let his aggression explode. He wasn't in a position that would allow him to take advantage of the sect's foundation, but the abundant water supply was a great boost to his water-attribute cultivation method. After purposefully knocking his nephew away with mental control, Sigil commanded the nearby water to serve him. Like a knight's full suit of armour, water covered his body, only leaving space to show his face.

"Are you prepared to meet your end here?"

If this was a duel between sect disciples, then they would have to use one of the designated areas, but there were no strict rules for fighting vagrants.

"Normally, I would return that question back to you, but don't worry. I don't plan on leaving a corpse today."

"Ah!"

Dashing off like the passionate flames of his fury, Sigil struck with his fastest attack. His right hand transformed into a lance, hoping to land a critical strike on his foe. In the face of this move, there were countless techniques and spells which Shui could employ, and he decided to go with an option he rarely used. To counter the spiraling lance that pointed at his chest, Shui attracted water to his palms and then used it to capture the lance by creating a shell that spun in the opposite direction to the lance. The two spirals clashed at equal strength, resulting in mutual destruction, but Sigil was stunned by the fact that Shui had reacted and perfectly dealt with his attack.

Shui saw no need to give him time to recollect his himself, so he then targeted his armour. He planted his palm on the water breastplate and froze it in an instant before breaking it open with a punch. Sigil wasn't agile enough to dodge an attack at this range, so he was forced to endure one of Shui's fists. Shui was holding back so that Sigil didn't die, but a direct hit was still enough to send him flying until he plunged into the reception building. One must note that the sect didn't skimp the cost on any of their facilities, so it was hard for the disciples to make a dent on them, and yet Sigil's unconscious body now fitted into the wall like a puzzle piece.

"Wow, did you see that?!"

"With one punch?"

"How did he do that with his cultivation?"

"Couldn't he be tricking us into thinking he's a member of the younger generation?"

"Indeed, someone like that has to be an elder or something."

While the gallery discussed what they just witnessed, Shui maintained a calm face, however, there was a slight panic going on in his head.

'She won't ask me to pay for that, right?'

Shui could confidently bet that he could take out the rarest items out of anyone here, but his supply of spirit gems was in a dire state, especially after sponsoring Ragley. As he had experience in fighting against an average-level sect, even if it was just a faction, Shui was sure he could fight his way out of footing the bill, but that would leave more trouble than it was worth.

'Looks like I really need to find Cleia, but before that...'