Mira's [Death Dominion] absorbed the man's dead body, replenishing her Qi and boosting her cultivation to the peak of the 5th Stage of the Core Formation Realm.
Afterward, she canceled her techniques and looked at the rest of the battlefield with a slight smile.
'It seems like I've improved quite a bit over the last month, enough to overwhelm someone in the Soul Transformation Realm. Is this all because I know how to apply my Qi properly? Or is this perhaps a result of my techniques?'
Mira mused but concluded that it was probably both. However, what she found interesting was that both techniques seemed to excel in prolonged '1 vs. Many' rather than 1 vs. 1 scenarios. Though, she did feel that the 2nd Stage of the Ruler of Death technique, [Reaper], did feel overpowered in that battle.
'In that state, I can ignore most physical attacks, my speed is off the charts, and my attacks ignore armor to a certain extent. On paper, it's an unreasonably powerful ability, and it didn't disappoint in practicality either. No, it's even stronger than I thought it would be. I had only used it for a second, but that guy couldn't even react before he died.'
Since she dealt with someone at the 1st Stage of the Soul Transformation Realm so quickly, Mira couldn't help but wonder what her limit was.
Unfortunately, Nova and the others were already dealing with the tougher opponents, leaving the Core Formation and Nascent Soul Realm fodder for her and Maria.
'I suppose now would be a good time to test out the 2nd Stage of the [Ice Empress] Technique.'
Mira raised her hand, channeled 90% of her Qi, and thought, '100 Glacial Warriors.'
Then, in front of Mira, 100 ice golems with swords manifested in front of her, all exuding auras that didn't fall behind some of the weaker Nascent Soul Realm cultivators!
Mira felt a small link formed between all 100 golems and gave them a simple command, 'Kill!'
After receiving Mira's order, the ice golems ran around, killing everything in their path, while Mira hovered in the air, watching everything with an indifferent expression.
Whenever one of them went after Maria or her teammates, she would command it to go in a different direction.
With 100 'helpers', Mira, Nova, Maria, and the others made quick work of this Spirit Stone Mine. Mira didn't bother intervening in battles that her teammates were already embroiled in and only took care of those who had thoughts of running away or who were about to join the battle.
Once she finished that, Mira flew into the Spirit Stone Mine and began slaughtering her way through there, leaving Master Izaria and Ryuu to stare at her with complicated expressions.
"Is this the kind of woman you like, Little Ryuu? A fierce, cruel, and unyielding woman? One who doesn't distinguish between the innocent and guilty?" Master Izaria had lost her playful expression. While she didn't care about the life or death of anyone but Ryuu, since she had the power, she wouldn't use it on those who had done nothing wrong to her.
However, Mira wasn't like that. As she killed, there was no ripple in her eyes. After she killed one, she just moved on to another. To her, these people were just numbers that added to her already sky-high death count.
In fact, Master Izaria doubted that Mira even saw them as human beings. To her, killing them was probably no different than throwing away trash or kicking a roadside pebble.
Ryuu went silent after hearing his Master's questions. Only after a few moments passed did he finally open his mouth, "...Shouldn't we stop her? This feels… wrong."
Master Izaria shook her head slightly, but she smiled proudly as she looked at her disciple. She preferred a kind and righteous man to an apathetic and ruthless one.
"You can if you want, but I'm not going to do anything. Just think about it for a second, my disciple. Even if you did stop her, would that change her mindset? Do you think she'll be more mindful of the common people in the future?"
It was a rhetorical question, but Ryuu shook his head anyways.
Master Izaria continued, "No, she definitely won't. And honestly, I don't personally think what she's doing is wrong. You haven't experienced much of the world yet and have me as your backer, so you might not understand, but this world isn't a kind place. If she let one of those weaklings run away out of pity and they reported what they saw today to the higher-ups of the Unorthodox Faction, she'd be met with endless trouble. Unless she secluded herself for years, she'd likely die very soon."
Master Izaria understood the principle of 'pulling out the roots to prevent future trouble.' If Mira were to let a single person lives, the consequences of that would be unimaginable. Literally.
The Unorthodox Faction might do nothing and just forget about this whole situation. Or, the Faction Leader might descend from his mountain and kill her. Hell, tensions between the Unorthodox Faction and Battle Maiden Sect might rise, throwing the Western Continent into chaos.
So, Mira's approach, as a cultivator, isn't wrong when considering her safety along with those from her Sect.
Ryuu stared at his Master, not knowing what to say or think. He fell into deep thought as he considered her words, no longer thinking about stopping Mira.
Master Izaria chuckled while inwardly patting herself on the back.
'I'm glad I took him out to explore the world. Where else would he learn valuable lessons like this?'
Then, her eyes narrowed as she watched Mira's ice golems kill everything in sight.
'There's much Little Ryuu could learn from that woman. I just hope she doesn't turn into an enemy.'
Then, she turned to Maria, Nova, and the others who had just finished killing the rest of the people around the Spirit Stone Mine and nodded.
'All those girls are pretty talented, huh? It seems the Battle Maiden Sect has some good seedlings for the Central Continent Competition. Though, not as good as my Little Ryuu! He's going to place in the Top 3 in this century's competition!'
Master Izaria turned to Ryuu and said with a smile, "It seems like they're about to finish up, so let's go down and meet them."
Ryuu nodded absentmindedly, and the two flashed in front of Maria, Nova, and the others.
Master Izaria then raised her hand, releasing a stream of Qi, which went inside the mine and wrapped around Mira, teleporting her to their location.
"What the…?!"
Mira's eyes opened wide, but when she saw that it was just Izaria, she frowned in dissatisfaction but calmed down.
"I'll get straight to the point. The people from the Unorthodox Faction are probably on their way right now. With your strength, it'll take you a while to harvest all the Spirit Stones, so I'll offer you a deal. I'll harvest them all, and we can split the profits 60-40. I get 60%." Master Izaria offered.
Nova, Seraphine, and Eden frowned, but they knew she was right. Without much hesitation, Nova agreed, "That's fine. We wouldn't even be able to get 40% if you weren't here."
Master Izaria nodded with a smile, appreciating Nova's decisiveness, then shot up in the air.
She raised her hand up in the air and released a torrent of Qi, creating a thin but massive sword. The sword was hundreds of meters long but only a few meters thick. However, from the shine on the blade, one could tell that its sharpness was beyond belief.
After she finished forming the massive sword, she swung it down along the edge of the mine!
*KRRRRrrrrrrrr!*
*SHEEEEEEKKK!!*
The sword cut through the ground like it was nothing! After she finished one side, she did the same thing for the other four and kept repeating this until she dug out the entire Spirit Stone Mine.
Finally, she cut the mine into numerous smaller, easier-to-handle chunks and canceled the sword.
With a wave of her hand, she scooped up those chunks and put them into two different Spatial Rings, one with 40% and the other with 60%.
All of this only took her at most half an hour to complete, dumbfounding everyone, including her own disciple.
"Alright! It's all done! Now, let's go shove your achievements in your Sect Master's face!" She tossed the Spatial Ring with 40% of the loot toward Nova and said.
Nova, Seraphine, Eden, and Everly were all thrilled that they were able to finish this mission so soon, but Master Izaria's words dampened their mood.
"Ahahaha! We've already taken up so much of Senior's time. There's no need to follow us back to the Sect," Nova tried to decline politely, but Master Izaria shook her head.
"Nonsense! You all are very talented! How dare Aelina send you on a death mission!? Plus, how can I miss this opportunity to show off in front of her?!"
She didn't even wait for their opinion, wrapped everyone in her Qi, and shot off toward the Battle Maiden Sect.
