"Master, who was that woman? Why did she seem so scary even though I couldn't sense any aura or strength coming from her?" One of the men near the old man asked.
The old man smacked him on the back of the head and said solemnly, "That woman… That woman was incredibly dangerous, even for me. I'm afraid that if any of you were to attack her, you all would've died without an intact corpse."
Not just the man who asked the question but everyone in the building was shocked by what the old man just said.
They weren't sure how to respond to that. The strongest person they knew was the old man in front of them, who was a 9th Stage Core Formation Realm cultivator.
So, for that woman to be stronger than the old man, she had to have the strength of someone in the Nascent Soul Realm!
'To think we almost attacked a Nascent Soul Realm expert!' That thought flashed through nearly everyone's head.
However, they were also a bit confused. Why would someone of such strength conceal their aura? And for what reason did she appear in the Outer City?
The old man understood their thoughts, but he didn't know the answer to their questions, and quite frankly, he didn't want to mess with such a woman who would kill him the moment he annoyed her.
The room descended into a heavy silence, but they all felt like they had just escaped the jaws of death.
***
After Mira left, she quickly went through all the information she received, then found an isolated place where she could undo her illusion without being seen.
'It seems the Inner City is mostly full of Core Formation Realm and Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. The heads of the various businesses, shops, and families there might have a Soul Transformation expert, but they are few and far between.'
'It seems that even with the Lionel Family's strength, they don't want to allow too many Soul Transformation experts to stay in their city. Well, I guess that's not too much of a surprise since the rumored highest cultivation someone has on the Western Continent is the Divine Sea Realm.'
Mira thoroughly analyzed the information she received.
With the strongest people in the City being Mortal Shedding Realm experts, Mira could assume that the number of Soul Transformation Realm people in the Lionel family probably didn't exceed a few dozen.
Another reason for this conclusion is because of the location of Brightclipse City. It is located at the very edge of the Ancient Beast Mountain Range and is even lower in elevation compared to the Battle Maiden Sect's Outer Court.
The Qi in the surrounding area is probably only dense enough to naturally bring people to the Core Formation Realm, given they have the talent and the right cultivation technique.
The Nascent Soul Realm should be possible with enough time, talent, and resources.
However, the Soul Transformation and Mortal Shedding Realms are different. One would need a constant influx of talent, resources, connections, time, and luck to be able to reach this Realm in Brightclipse City.
So, from Mira's shallow understanding of beastmen combined with the information she received from the old man and her own inferences, she could assume that the number of Soul Transformation Realm beastmen in the City is not high.
This gave Mira a bit more confidence in infiltrating the City, finding Hana, and having her revenge!
Unfortunately, since Azaar captured Hana, she was most likely in the Center City with the Lionel Family.
'I guess I should make my into the Inner City to scope out the area and see if I can learn anything that the old man wasn't able to find out.'
Mira thought, but she didn't intend to go into the Inner City the normal way…
***
In Blightclipse City, there existed 3 walls that separated the Center City from the Inner City, the Inner City from the Outer City, and the Outer City from the wilderness.
The Outer City's Wall was nothing more than stones stacked on top of each other, but the Inner City and Center City's walls had extra preventative measures to keep intruders out.
This includes formations, extra guards, arrays, and various traps.
To enter the Inner City without being deemed an intruder, one needed a specific token that would let the Formation around the Inner City know you are allowed entry. To gain this token, one would need to reveal their identity, strength, affiliation, and reason for entering and would also need to pay a corresponding price.
If one entered the Inner City without this token, they'd be marked with a location tracker by the Formation, and the authorities would be notified, and the intruder would be chased.
At the same time, this formation would alert the Lionel Family that someone had invaded their territory. Although it's highly unlikely that they will come down to deal with the intruder immediately, they would receive reports about it.
Mira knew this, which is why she had thought of a way to go around this. To not alert the Lionel Family, Mira had to somehow sneak into the Inner City without giving them any of her information.
If she only had to record her strength and affiliation and pay the price to enter, she'd be fine with that, but she couldn't allow them to catch a glimpse of her identity.
Even if she could conceal her tails, she wasn't skilled enough to create a different face with her illusions. So, if they asked her to remove the mask, Mira felt that the possibility of her getting reported to the higher-ups was extremely likely.
After all, who is more beautiful than Mira in this world? A transcendental beauty like her entering the city would definitely cause a commotion.
Over the last 5 months or so, Mira has been captured twice by beings more powerful than her.
Naturally, she was sick of it!
Thus, this time, she was going to do things a bit differently…!
***
"Why do we have to guard this gate? It's not like any of those Outer City commoners would dare to come here." A beastmen with a wolf tail said to his buddy, who was guarding an entrance to the Inner City with him.
"C'mon, you know it's not like that. We aren't guarding against the Outer City commoners, but those that are trying to use the Outer City to sneak into the rest of Brightclipse." The wolf beastman's friend, a bear beastman, replied.
"Ugh! I know, but isn't that what the formation around the walls is for? We spend 99% of our days doing nothing! I could be cultivating or spending time with my family rather than doing this shit!" The wolf beastman complained, causing his friend to sigh.
"At least we're getting paid, right? Our talent isn't that great, to begin with. Stage 9 of the Core Formation Realm is our limit. At least by doing this job, we can help pave the way for our children." The bear beastman replied, and one could tell that although he wasn't fond of his job, he would gladly do it if it could make his children's lives easier.
The wolf beastmen couldn't say anything to rebuke his friend, but that didn't mean he felt any better.
He was only a few hundred years old, a young man in the world of cultivation! And like any young man, he didn't want to be stuck doing this shitty job for the next few hundred, to possibly even 1,000 years!
No, he wanted to get out there and explore the world! He wanted to break through his limits and obtain the power he had always dreamt of!
It was agonizing for him to be stuck at the 9th Stage of the Core Formation Realm without any hope of going any further!
However, he knew deep down it was nearly impossible to break through his limits.
The wolf beastman wasn't the only one to feel this way in this world. In fact, it could be said that the majority of people in this world will feel or have felt the exact same way.
The wolf beastman kept grumbling for a while, and while he was complaining, a pink mist slowly crept up to him, quickly entering his orifices.
Soon after, illusory hears shone in his pupils, showing that he had successfully been charmed.
Immediately after, a command entered his mind, one he couldn't refuse.
-Prepare a token that will allow me to enter the Inner City, but make sure your buddy doesn't get suspicious of you.
After receiving the command, he turned toward the bear beastman guard and said, "I'm gonna go take a short break to cool off. Can you cover me for a few minutes?"
The bear beastman sighed but nodded anyways, almost as if he expected this.
"Fine, but be sure to come back soon."
With that, the wolf beastman left his post and entered a small building right inside the Inner City. He quickly filled out all the necessary forms, prepared a token, and after a few minutes, he came back out.
-Now punch your friend in the face and throw the token about 100 meters to the west. Be sure to hit him hard enough to knock him out.
The bear beastman released a sigh of relief, seeing his friend come out, but what he didn't expect was his friend to suddenly punch him!
*Bam!*
Without warning, he was knocked unconscious. At the same time, a token was thrown out of the hands.
Mira caught the token, bound it with her blood, and entered the Inner City, leaving the two guards and the Lionel Family none the wiser.
