It was much easier for Zen to deal with the remaining blue Murlocs once he had mastered the trick of
raising his speed through vibrations.
After shuttling a few more times, he killed the remaining five of them.
As the flying knife glided back into his hands, Zen continued to swim in the lake quietly. He looked
down into its depth contemplatively. Without wasting another breath, Zen dived in.
He seemed to have forgotten that his reserve time was almost up.
"He killed each of the six blue Murlocs..." the steward mumbled grimly, seated on the stone bench next
to the shores of the Lake of the Magical Fish. His face had turned dull in the state of shock.
On the other hand, Roger was mostly calm when he saw what happened.
He had gone for training once he returned from the south. Now that he was confident that he had
greatly improved in his skills and strength, he came to the Lake of the Magical Fish for further practice.
When fully prepped, he could only dive in about seventy meters deep into the water. He knew there
were many more blue Murlocs in the lakebed. He couldn't fight so many of them at once.
However, Zen, on his first go itself, dived deeper than even Roger could. He even killed six blue
Murlocs! Roger didn't know what to make of Zen. The only word he could think of to describe him was
'extraordinary'.
There was no feeling of frustration in Roger's heart, even though Zen had clearly rattled quite a few of
the others. He was good friends with Zen, and the latter had come to owe him a favor back when they
were in the south.
Looking at the speed of his cultivation, Roger was sure his friend would become a man of great power.
He thought of what Zen had promised him in the south, and figured that he would come to the Meng
family's aid in the future.
The better Zen performed, the higher Roger's expectations would be with regard to him.
Just then, a group of people walked up to the slate.
There were about seven or eight of them, all dressed in jet-black robes, indicating that they were inner
disciples.
Truth be told, almost all disciples who came to the Lake of the Magical Fish were inner disciples, most
born and brought up in the noble clans.
Outer disciples were not powerful enough to dive down the lake at all, and there were only a few inner
ones who could afford the points to practice in the Lake of the Magical Fish.
"Cao, is there anybody in the Lake of the Magical Fish currently?" asked one of the disciples from a
distance.
The steward's last name was Cao, so everyone referred to him as that.
As soon as he saw the inner disciple, steward Cao got up and greeted them with a smile. "Hello, Bob.
There is still a disciple in the Lake of the Magical Fish. He has it reserved for two hours. He should
come out anytime soon."
Bob Pei? Roger, who sat on the bench next to where they stood, frowned as he heard the name.
The top seven noble clans always schemed against each other. They were well-versed in backstabbing
and betrayal.
But no matter how fierce their secret battles were with each other, they pretended that all was good on
the surface, never revealing their venomous thoughts.
Besides, the Pei family and the Meng family had always loathed each other.
This man, Bob, was a direct descendant of the Pei clan. He had the same status as Roger. However,
Bob was several years older than Roger, so he was undoubtedly stronger too. He had already reached
the nature level consummation, which was only one step away from the Illuminating Soul Realm.
Presumably, Bob had been making the best use of his time lately. Roger was sure that Bob was ardent
in his endeavor to reach the Illuminating Soul Realm.
Despite the friction between the two families and Bob's obvious strength, Roger didn't feel threatened
on seeing him. With an expressionless face, he sat silently by himself, avoiding Bob as if he hadn't
noticed his arrival at all.
The young man named Bob Pei walked toward steward Cao, his footsteps hitting the ground with force.
He stared at the magic array plate in the steward's hands. "How much longer would it take?"
"Bob, the disciple went into the Lake of the Magical Fish at two o'clock. He reserved it only for two
hours, so he should come out at four. Look, the clock says the time is nearly up. He should be out
soon," steward Cao replied politely, respect for Bob evident in his voice.
He was deferential toward Bob only because many elders of the Pei clan occupied important positions
in the Cloud Sect. One of them was a superior he answered to. Cao needed to be in the good books of
Pei clan if he hoped to get a promotion in the future.
Glancing at the clock, Bob huffed, "Time is already up. Call him out now!"
"Bob, please wait for some time. You only need to stand by for fifteen more minutes," steward Cao tried
to persuade him. He knew Bob was an impatient man, but he couldn't pull Zen out of the lake right now
when the boy was obviously training.
At the steward's words, Bod nodded and asked the group behind him to take seats.
After a while, steward Cao looked at the magic array plate and murmured, his brows drawn together,
"Time is almost up. Why hasn't Zen come out yet?"
Roger glimpsed at the magic array plate and found that Zen was still underwater. He had encountered
a few Murlocs, then it seemed he dived more than ninety meters into the depths. Did the boy have a
limit at all? The pressure of the waves was very high at that kind of distance downward.
If Zen hadn't been exceptional, he would have been flattened into a meat pie by the intense pressure.
It was difficult for even a nature creature to fight the indomitable pressure faced down at ninety meters,
but Zen looked like he strove to dive even deeper.
Roger was eager to know how much more Zen could get to. "Perhaps he wants to test how deep he
can go!" he exclaimed.
"But the time is up, and there are some others waiting here..." steward Cao retorted in an anxious
voice.
As a steward of the Cloud Sect, he had a good eye.
He knew well about Zen's potential, whose performance at the Lake of the Magical Fish was
exceptional and rare amidst the talents at the Cloud Sect. With time, Zen would only get better. He was
a boy to watch out for, as he would certainly rise through the ranks in the future. Cao was aware that
soon he would need to curry favor with Zen.
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