Right after Aelina defeated Cyrus and the war with the Crimson Slayer Sect ended, a tall, lanky man with snake-like eyes and a subtle aura appeared right outside the Battle Maiden Sect.
Spreading his Divine Sense, he found that the mountain was layered with Formation after Formation, causing him to sigh. Although he had expected that to be the case, seeing it in person was a different story.
The Battle Maiden Sect was a literal fortress!
'Even if I were to attack with my full power, it would take me at least a minute to destroy all of them.' The Toxic Blade Sect Master, Dorian, thought, wondering what he should do next.
'At least Aelina isn't here and is busy with Cyrus. While I doubt he'll win, he should be able to hold her back long enough for me to break through these Formations and raid the Sect.' He thought as he prepared to attack.
However, before he could move, a voice entered his mind, sending chills down his spine.
"I didn't think you'd actually show up, Dorian. I figured you'd stay holed up in your little forest conducting experiments, then come all the way here for a breath of fresh air." A feminine voice laced with amusement rang in his mind. That voice undoubtedly came from Aelina…
'But how?! She should be fighting Cyrus right now!!' He panicked, wracking his brain for a solution.
A second later, his eyes lit up in understanding, 'No, this can't be the real Aelina. It's probably just an apparition or some sort of voice transmission technique she's used to scare me. The real one should be many kilometers away from here.'
Coming to a suitable conclusion, Dorian refocused his attention on the Formations and prepared to attack once again, but before he could, he heard Aelina's playful voice again.
"I know what you're thinking. You think that I can't possibly be real. That I should be out there fighting Cyrus, right? But is that really the case? No, perhaps the correct question should be…" She paused for a moment.
"Do you understand the consequences if you're wrong?" Although her voice sounded as sweet as sugar, to Dorian, it was no different than the Devil's whisper.
He paused.
'Dammit! She's right! If I'm wrong and whoever's talking to me is the real Aelina, I'm as good as dead if I actually follow through with this!' Of course, this could all be a trick like he initially thought, but could he take that risk?
The answer was a resounding no.
He wasn't an idiot like Cyrus. He knew that Sue Ming had come to pay Aelina a visit not too long ago. However, ever since then, Sue Ming's status has been unknown, and Aelina has been alive and well.
There was no way he could kill someone like Sue Ming, but if Aelina could, and she did…
Well, needless to say, walking into her Sect while she's there was a terrible idea. He would not risk his life over some shitty deal with a probably already dead Cyrus!
"Tch. Dammit!" Dorian clicked his tongue in annoyance, "You're one annoying bitch, you know, Aelina? How'd you even know I was coming."
"Haha! I'll take that as a compliment," Aelina chuckled, "And like I said, I didn't think you would come. I just figured it was a possibility."
"Your mistake was thinking the outcome of the battle with Cyrus would turn out differently or that he could hold me back long enough," Aelina's voice echoed in his mind again, her tone laced with a chilling, deadly calm. "But now that you're here... aren't you going to stay for tea?"
Dorian's eyes widened, his heart pounding in his chest. Aelina's words weren't a simple invitation. It was a thinly veiled threat.
If he declined her invitation… The possibilities are endless. She might attack him, do nothing, or go straight to his Sect. Hell, she might do none of those and go with a different option he hadn't considered.
However, if he accepted, the chances of him dying were significantly higher. On the flip side, so were the chances of him living. After all, he hadn't done anything bad… yet.
While the latter might seem like the worst choice, the threat of the unknown from the former was much more terrifying, in his opinion.
"Dorian, you've always been known for your cunning and strategy. I didn't expect you to be this spineless," Aelina's voice echoed in his mind once more, a hint of mockery lacing her words.
Dorian clenched his fists, frustration evident in his serpent-like eyes. She was toying with him, manipulating him, cornering him. He was the Sect Master of the Toxic Blade Sect, a renowned figure across the cultivation world, yet here he was, being played like a puppet.
But he wasn't done yet. He still had a few tricks up his sleeve.
"Fine," he sneered, his tone spiteful, "Let's have tea."
With that decision made, Dorian's aura changed. His frustration, briefly overpowering his usually cool demeanor, dissipated like a wave retreating from the shore. Instead, a steely determination took its place, reflecting in his snake-like eyes. He wasn't going to let Aelina toy with him so easily.
"Good. I'm looking forward to our tea session, Dorian," Aelina's voice was laced with amusement again. A silent, haunting laughter echoed in his mind. It was as if she could see through him, sensing his every thought and action.
Dorian stood outside the Battle Maiden Sect, his gaze focused on the mountain before he noticed a small hole in all the Formations for him to pass through. While keeping his guard up, he walked through the hole and shot toward the summit where Aelina was.
Unfortunately, as the Formations filled themselves in, he failed to catch that another, weaker one had activated in addition to those already in place.
***
Meanwhile, in the Forbidden Forest, Rayna was sitting cross-legged, cultivating inside the Toxic Blade Sect. Ever since Mira and the others went into retreat, Rayna had come straight here.
With a poison affinity, there wasn't a better place than the Forbidden Forest and, subsequently, the Toxic Blade Sect to train.
It was easy for her to infiltrate such a place as well since she had a similar aura, cultivation technique, and smell to those in this Unorthodox Sect.
All she had to was kill a disciple, steal their items, and alter her looks slightly to match her victim, and nobody would know that she wasn't a genuine disciple, at least not in the short term.
While she didn't make long strides in her cultivation or strength like the others during these last few months, she did learn quite a few things that would benefit her future.
Suddenly, she was jolted out of her cultivation when she felt a buzz in her robe. Knowing that it was her communication talisman, she picked it up and sent Qi into it.
"Do it." Those were the only two words that came out of it before disintegrating.
Rayna nodded, her cold, almost dead-like eyes gleaming for a moment. She got up and walked out of the door, where numerous disciples immediately greeted her.
"Are you finished with your closed-door cultivation, Senior Sister Virelai?"
"It seems like you've gotten stronger again, Senior Sister Virelai! I've prepared a nice 'herbal bath' using a new concoction I just discovered. Want to see its effects?"
"Wanna try this poison, Senior Sister? I think this one might be able to kill you!"
The words the disciples used were a bit strange, but Rana didn't pay them any mind. She wasn't their 'Senior Sister Virelai', after all. That woman's body had already turned into fertilizer a few months back.
Rayna walked through the Sect for a few minutes before she eventually stood in front of one of the Toxic Blade Sect's herb gardens. These herb gardens all housed highly toxic plants that normal Sects wouldn't even consider growing, as their scents alone could kill people.
The disciples guarding the garden nodded at Rayna, but then they saw her do something peculiar. She took out a palm-sized red bead called an Inferno Ignition Bead, something Sect Master Aelina had given her personally.
"What's that, Senior Sister Virelai? A new poison?!" Their eyes couldn't help but shine as they thought that.
However, these were to be their final thoughts as Rayna infused the bead with her Qi and hastily hurled it into the garden, swiftly pivoting and sprinting as far from the impending chaos as she could muster.
"Wha...?!" Utter confusion marked the faces of all the onlookers, perplexed by her seemingly erratic actions. Their questions were answered but a moment later—
BOOOOOOM!
An immense explosion detonated, spewing a massive pillar of flame upwards into the night sky, accompanied by the blood-curdling cries of those caught in the unexpected inferno. This tumultuous event sent a wave of shock rippling through the entire Sect. Yet, this was merely the prelude to the forthcoming pandemonium.
In the coming seconds, multiple detonations echoed throughout the Sect, all occurring in unison. As if to add to the terror, rings of searing flame sprouted all around the Sect's perimeters, setting the surrounding forest ablaze.
All the while, Rayna disappeared within the chaos, heading deeper into the Sect as Elders and other Core Disciples rushed out to check on the scene.
