"Thank god!!"
Maria yelled as soon as she saw where they were teleported. From the familiar landscape to the familiar Qi density and noticing the familiar people waiting for their return! They are finally back home and didn't get dragged into some random space warp that took them somewhere completely random!
Celaine was also delighted to see this as well and had a slight smile on her face, but Mira was a bit disappointed. If she's being honest, she was kind of hoping they got teleported to some random area as things would be a bit more fun that way.
'Hehe~ It seems that I'm truly not the protagonist of this world and don't have golden opportunities dropping onto me from the sky. Oh well, it doesn't matter. I'll just have to make these golden opportunities myself. But this is fine as well since I can just get Elenei to take us wherever we want to go. There shouldn't be many beings in this world that can kill her. Even if her cultivation isn't the highest in this world, it should still be hard for even those old monsters at the peak of this Realm to kill her. I mean, she's a Phoenix for fuck sake! Not just any Phoenix, but a Frost-Fire Phoenix!'
Mira was already thinking of the future when she eventually leaves this backwater city and Sect. She completely ignored the mix of joyous and somber atmosphere around her. She just blankly followed Maria and Celaine while still stuck in thought.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere around the Sects was somewhat heavy as they realized that the casualties were rather high.
On average, it seems only around 30-40% of the disciples that entered the Secret Realm made it out alive. Even the Battle Maiden Sect only had a 70% survival rate as only 14 out of the 20 disciples that went in, made it out alive.
Mind you, most if not all of these disciples were trained by Mira in some form or fashion. Even if she didn't spend much time increasing their skills, Mira's teachings aren't only about how to kill, but they can also be comprehended on how to survive. So while the other Sect's disciples might have more skill or killing power, the disciples from the Battle Maiden Sect should be more trained in how to survive.
"Greetings, Sect Master Jane!"
"Greetings, Sect Master Jane!"
"Greetings, Sect Master Jane!"
The Battle Maiden Sect disciples ran over to the Sect Master and greeted her, Maria and Celaine included.
"Good! Good! Good!! It seems all of you made substantial progress during your time in the Secret Realm! Unfortunately… sigh… 6 of your sisters were unable to make it back. If any of you know what happened to them or have their remains then please let me know."
Sect Master Jane greeted them back with a smile before turning sad knowing that 6 of her prized disciples died in the Secret Realm.
Everyone looked at each, other than Mira, to see if anyone heard what happened to them or seen their fellow sisters.
"I haven't seen or heard anything about our fallen sisters. My group was teleported to a world full of exotic beasts and plants that were constantly trying to kill us. Surviving in that place was already hard enough and we didn't even get the chance to travel anywhere else."
"Same here, my group was teleported to an underground maze city that was nearly impossible for us to escape. Luckily this place contained an extremely dense amount of Qi, ores, essence crystals, and other treasures making our stay worthwhile."
"Lucky! We barely got the chance to do anything other than cultivating as we were surrounded by colonies of giant bugs! EEK!! Just thinking about those disgusting creatures makes me want to puke!"
The girls started sharing their stories and Sect Master Jane listened closely, trying to determine if any of them were lying, but so far everyone seemed to be telling the truth. Not to mention that the 6 that died were separated into 2 groups of 3 and there wasn't a single group of the survivors that had any teammates missing.
After listening to them, Sect Master Jane could only conclude that those disciples just got unlucky and weren't backstabbed by their own sisters. Maybe they were killed by the other Sects, but that's somewhat unlikely.
At this time, Mira decided to speak up as she saw through what Sect Master Jane was trying to do.
"Those fallen disciples probably just got unlucky and were teleported to some incredibly dangerous world. The things in that Secret Realm… let's just say that they aren't simple. Even we three almost died countless times and caught a glimpse of beings whose power is beyond our comprehension. We should just count our lucky stars that 14 of us survived as that place is not meant for Foundation Realm cultivators."
The atmosphere became somber when everyone heard Mira's words because although they were blunt, they couldn't deny what she said either. Most of them are just lucky to have survived and have experienced near-death experiences countless times in the last 3 years.
That's why everyone that survived was now in the Core Formation Realm or at the Peak of the Foundation Realm and not just any normal Core Formation or Peak Foundation Realm cultivators either. Almost all of them should be able to fight those at a higher cultivation than them.
Sect Master Jane saw everyone's expressions and figured what Mira said to be the truth. She could also feel that most of her disciple's auras were as strong if not stronger than the Elder's auras. Some seemed to be even stronger than her while girls like Celaine and Maria gave off an oppressive feeling even if they are only at the Peak of the Foundation Realm.
Part of the reason for this is that Maria and Celaine have been surrounded by so much killing and death over the last few years that their auras and natural disposition are much more wild and threatening than they used to be.
While she couldn't feel Mira's aura clearly as the latter had reigned it in, whenever she looked at Mira she felt like she was staring at an ancient beast. But this actually had more to do with Elenei resting in Mira's Soul Sea than Mira herself, but Sect Master Jane didn't need to know such details.
"I see. I will inform their families of what happened and do what I can for them, but in the meantime why don't we head back to the Sect. I have something to discuss with you all, seeing how strong you've become."
Sect Master Jane said as she gave her disciples one last deep look before turning around and started walking in the direction of the Battle Maiden Sect.
The disciples didn't have anything against following her so they all started walking after her. Even Mira stopped thinking about her future plans and was somewhat intrigued by what Sect Master Jane has to say.
