The Unorthodox Faction Elder could sense that the killing intent had come from about 50 kilometers away, which startled him slightly. Although it's easy for someone at his level to sense or hear things up to a few dozen kilometers away, it's not so easy for someone to specifically direct their killing intent at a particular area from that far away.
'Is someone targeting me to draw me away from the mine?'
The Elder guessed, but then he sneered.
'So what? If they're trying to lure me out, it means they aren't strong enough to confront me head-on. If they can't face me head-on, they must not be at the Mortal Shedding Realm yet.'
His thought process was a bit simple, but he wasn't necessarily wrong. He's only at the 1st Stage of the Mortal Shedding Realm. So, as long as someone was within the Mortal Shedding Realm, theoretically, they should be able to confront him.
Anyone below that level would be forced to resort to petty tricks.
Hmph! A punk below the level of an Elder dares to confront me?!' He snorted, leaped up in the sky, and flew over in the direction from which he sensed the killing intent.
Within seconds, he crossed 50 kilometers and hovered over the area Mira and the others were hiding.
'Oh? A Heaven-Grade Illusion Array? Hah!! Do you seriously think such a low-level array can fool me?!' The man roared inwardly and waved his hand, dismantling the array.
Now, he could see five women holding hands, releasing all their Qi to create the giant illusory woman above them. The Elder could feel that the power of the illusory woman with the great sword was at the Peak of the Soul Transformation Realm. Maybe, it even had the power of a Half-Step Mortal Shedding Realm expert.
He nodded and couldn't help but praise them for their effort.
'If I were in the Soul Transformation Realm, I would've been in big trouble, but unfortunately for you, I'm not!' The man smirked.
He stared at the five women sweating, trying their best to create the thing above them, and chuckled mirthlessly, oozing bloodlust, "Hehe. Did you girls seriously think such a weak attack would hurt me? Really? You interrupted my cultivation with such a-"
"NOW!!"
Suddenly, he heard a sixth woman's voice coming from somewhere behind the trees and immediately turned his head in her direction.
However, before he could drag her out of her hiding spot-
*Vwooom!*
-he saw a dome appear around him, and then an unknown power invaded his body, bringing his strength down to the Peak of the Soul Transformation Realm!
"What?!"
The man sensed that something was wrong, as he failed to notice the Suppression Array.
'Where was it?! How did I miss such a thing?!'
However, he wasn't too worried since he could feel that the Suppression Array was still within the Heaven Grade.
But just as he was about to cancel the effects of the array, returning his strength, he felt incredible danger coming from the side!
He turned around and saw a giant illusory greatsword falling from overhead like the sword of Damocles.
At that moment, he realized he was too careless!
"NOOOOOOO-!!!!"
*SWOOSH!*
*BOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
Before he even had time to react, the sword crashed into his body, cleaving him into two pieces and spraying blood everywhere.
Everything happened so fast that despite being an Elder in the Mortal Shedding Realm, someone praised by the masses for his strength and status, he could not react in time to defend himself. Thus, he died.
Of course, part of the reason he died so quickly was that he refused to believe that someone below his level could even hurt him.
Secondly, he could sense the young women's cultivation, which was only at the 3rd Stage of the Soul Transformation Realm, boosted to the 5th Stage by the Blood Burst Technique. This only reaffirmed his previous belief.
Lastly, one of the main reasons Mira's group could take him down so easily was because he decided to talk before killing them.
There's also the fact that Mira and the others coordinated their timings perfectly. Mira shouted to divert his attention from Nova and the others, further delaying him from removing the effects of the array.
Then, she activated the Suppression Array, stunning him for a split second, which Nova and the others took advantage of and attacked using their full power, killing him.
After he died, the illusory woman vanished, and Nova and the others dropped to the ground, panting.
"Haaa… Haaa… Haaa…."
They had exhausted all their Qi and a ton of blood in that one attack! Looking closely, one could see that their skin had shriveled up a little, and their faces were as pale as a sheet of paper.
Meanwhile, Mira and Maria popped their heads out of the trees and walked over to them.
However, before doing that, Mira quickly looted the Elder's body and placed it in her Storage Space.
She didn't want someone to somehow track them down because of something in his Spatial Ring. They'll distribute the loot once they return to the Sect.
"Good job, guys! You worked hard!" Maria walked up to Nova and the others with a smile and began healing them, helping them replenish some of their lost blood.
They gave her a grateful look and a light nod before setting down a Qi Gathering Array and closing their eyes to cultivate and refill their cores.
They still had a mine to raid, after all!
An hour later, their eyes opened, and with Maria's healing, they were now back in peak condition.
"That was an amazing technique! Was that given to you by the Sect Master last month?" Maria asked.
Everly nodded, "That's right. It's a technique called the Warrior Maiden Battle Array. It works similarly to an array or formation but uses our bodies and Qi as the medium instead of other objects. As you can see, we combine our Qi in such a way that it produces something beyond our capabilities."
Maria nodded, and Mira, who was listening in, couldn't help but become interested in this technique.
'Wouldn't something like that be useful for my subordinates to have? They mainly work in groups, so giving them a technique like that would be like giving a tiger wings.' Mira thought but then shook her head.
They already have enough on their plate as is. Hana and Maria had been putting them through the wringer over the last month.
"Does it always exhaust all of your Qi after one move?" Maria asked, but Everly shook her head.
"No. Normally, we can last around a minute in that state, maybe a bit longer, but we can't afford to hold back against someone in the Mortal Shedding Realm."
After talking a bit more, they decided it was time to raid this mine and plunder all its loot!
"Alright! There's no need for any complicated strategies or anything like that," Mira pointed at Nova and the others, "You five will focus on killing anyone in the Soul Transformation Realm,"
Then she pointed at herself and Maria, "Maria and I will focus on killing anyone in the Nascent Soul Realm and below."
"Maria, you also have another job: to heal us whenever we get injured."
"That's about it. Maria and I will infiltrate the mine first and stealthily kill all the weaklings. Afterward, you five will swoop in and finish the job. Once we're done, we can steal the loot and move on to the next target."
Although it wasn't much of a strategy, their main hindrance in this mission was already dead, so now they just had to pick up the scraps.
They were all supreme geniuses and wouldn't lose to anyone within the same Realm, especially against Unorthodox Faction members. Thus, there was no need for fancy strategies when they could just brute force their way through, killing everyone.
Nova and the others didn't have a problem with this arrangement and agreed to it.
Now, they could officially begin the raid!
***
After a few minutes, Mira's group entered within range of the Spirit Stone Mine. On the surface, it wasn't that big, maybe a kilometer in diameter, but its depth was incredible! In fact, they couldn't even see how far down it went from where they were standing!
Mira took out the dagger and Throwing Knives the Sect Master had given her and manifested Qi Threads around each of the Throwing Knives. After practicing her Qi Applications over the last month, she had improved her Qi Manipulation to a much higher degree and could now easily control these eight knives from a distance with the Qi Threads.
Maria took out her sword and stared at Mira, waiting for her signal.
Mira glanced at her teammates, giving them a nod, then made a gesture toward Maria. She nodded back, and the two ran off to begin killing and wreaking havoc in the mine!
