When that figure showed the first signs that she was about to appear, the Sanctuary Master was nonchalantly acting, staring at the lake with his hands behind his back. Even her Mana Sovereign aura was not enough to faze him. But when he saw her face and recognize who that person really was, his reaction completely changed. 

“Impossible!” The Sanctuary Master was only able to deny the scene that his eyes were capturing. 

The Lake Mother looked at his direction and asked in a cold intonation: “Why are you so surprised?” 

“No… This is Impossible! You should have been dead! Or at least almost dead.” 

“Snort! Did you think you were infallible? Your useless abilities were not enough to destroy my old bones.” 

The Sanctuary Master stopped for a moment and calmed down. That woman was just going to be a small hurdle in their path and nothing more. 

“Ahahaha… Good. This time, I’ll make sure to finish the job then. I would feel guilty if I couldn’t let you reunite with your beloved daughter.” 

The Lake Mother immediately furrowed her eyebrows in displeasure. If she were not an old and experienced person, she would have already started attacking him in fury, giving in to her enemy’s taunts. 

However, if she were to lose her life that way, it would be a waste. Her temperament and state of mind was not the same from when she was young anymore, so she was able to see through her enemy’s taunting words. 

However, their conversation could be heard from the inside the lake, where the Palace Masters were reunited and there was a person getting heavily affected. 

Lan Xue was not demonstrating, but there was an intense hatred building up inside of her and hateful thoughts about the Sanctuary Master, were quickly surging. Her hands were already aching to rip his bones and muscles apart, or freeze him to death. 

The other Palace Masters were too focused on the scene playing outside to notice that. 

“It’s a pity then… I and the Palace Masters will never allow you to do whatever you want to; be it killing me or harming anyone from my sect.” The Lake Mother suddenly operated the formation and eleven other water vortexes formed underneath the feet of the Palace Masters. 

One by one, eleven beautiful women surged from inside the water. Some of them were very shaken, but others like Yushui and Shanhu, the ones that were more experienced, were very calm and composed. They stood behind the Lake Mother, waiting for her commands. 

The only one still missing, was actually Lan Xue. 

The Lake Mother swiftly sent a sound transmission to her granddaughter to prevent her from leaving the sect on her own. 

“You’re not coming out yet. You are going to be one of our trumps, so I hope you can clear your mind of any unnecessary thoughts. And remember… Your bloodline can’t be exposed so easily.” 

The Lake Mother was a wise old lady. She knew her granddaughter must be facing some complex thoughts and decided to let her stay behind. Other than that, it was highly possible that the Illusive Ethereal Sanctuary was there for their bloodline leakage. 

Impressively Lan Xue realized her state of mind was not normal and understood her grandmother’s decision. However, she kept observing the situation, ready to enter the stage on any given time. 

The illusive Ethereal Sanctuary’s forces, were not only formed of thirty-six elders, one Grand Elder and the Sanctuary Master, but there were more than two hundred disciples accompanying them. All of which were Mana users and were completely ready to battle. 

When Eleven Palace Masters appeared out of the water and exuded their powerful aura, those disciples felt a heavy pressure affecting their energy veins and were compelled to release their aura in order to fight back. 

With more than two hundred practitioners releasing their powerful might, fierce waves started to form on the surface of the lake, threatening to swallow everything around. 

In the middle of that raging tide, the Lake Mother suddenly took a step forward and as if the water obeyed her will, the whole lake calmed down. She kept moving forward, until she arrived at a certain distance away from the Sanctuary Master, but other than her, no one moved. 

When she stopped, the aura those two hundred practitioners were releasing had no more effects on the lake. It was as calm as ever, like that particular day, was the same as any other normal day. 

“Sanctuary Master… May I know what are you intending to do with our entrance lake? You better give me a good explanation, because I don’t feel like letting you guys stay here for any longer.” 

The Sanctuary Master smiled and replied: “We don’t plan on doing anything special… We just need to retrieve some of our people that had gotten lost inside your sect territory. I promise not to injury anyone from “your” sect in that process.” 

When the Lake mother and the Palace Masters heard his words, they all furrowed their eyebrows. Every single one of them knew what he was talking about. 

There really were some people with the Illusive Ethereal Sanctuary bloodline residing inside of their sect. One of the was that girl that Seth had brought a few months ago. She was still in their sect, in one of the rooms inside the Eleventh Palace. 

However, the second person was none other than the Twelfth Palace Master, the granddaughter of the Lake Mother and one of their own kind. Just for that fact, they wouldn’t permit that the Sanctuary Master and his people could enter their territory. 

But the thing that left them really surprised, was that the Sanctuary Master seemed to know that at least, there was more than a single person with the Illusive Ethereal bloodline, hiding there. 

The Lake Mother’s expression didn’t change after hearing his phrase. She just outright denied his affirmation. 

“What are you talking about? There isn’t anyone from your stinky sanctuary inside my sect.. Go back to that wormhole where you hide, since we won’t permit your entrance inside our sect territory.”