With the deals struck and the agreements in place, Aelina's plans began to unfold. Across the Continent, the various sects and powerful families commenced their campaigns against the beast tides, turning their misfortune into an opportunity for growth.
Each battle provided valuable combat experience for the disciples, cultivating their strength and tempering their wills. Meanwhile, the corpses of defeated beasts were collected and sent to the Battle Maiden Sect in vast numbers.
In the Immortal Sword Sect, Sect Leader Alexander stood at a mountaintop, watching his disciples in the training grounds below. Their determination and sword techniques were growing by leaps and bounds as they faced one wave of beasts after another. His lips twitched into a smile, seeing them rising to the occasion.
"The deal with Aelina might have been forced, but it has brought unforeseen benefits," he mused. "Perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing after all."
Though he was a bit bitter about being used, he could see the potential gains from this situation. He knew that the other sect leaders probably felt the same.
He turned his eyes to the horizon, where the sun was setting, casting a golden hue over the land. His thoughts wandered to Aelina and her audacious and cunning move. 'I wonder what she needs all those beast corpses for?' he couldn't help but think.
Part of him wanted to keep them for himself, but he just couldn't justify it. Sure, beast corpses were great for many things, such as creating weapons, arrays, and ingredients in alchemy, but they were a sword Sect. They didn't need a large amount of these to solve their yearly needs.
After dealing with the beast tide, as well as going around hunting in other areas, at most, he would've sold them off anyways. Therefore, taking Aelina's offer was way better in both the long and short term.
'Still, she must be working on a huge project if she was willing to go through so much trouble and give away so many precious resources.' Alexander didn't even know she had so many treasures in her possession.
It was as if she was giving away the entire treasury!
'...I hope I didn't make the wrong decision,' He closed his eyes, his mood turning somber. Although Aelina was an ally, they were really more like acquaintances with a mutual goal.
There could very well come a day when she turned on him and vice versa.
'I guess we'll just have to see when the time comes.'
***
This deal that was made between the Sect Leaders didn't go unnoticed by the Beast Clans. Neither did the slaughtering of their kind, which happened swiftly and ruthlessly.
Thus, the Guardians, who were sitting outside the large barrier deep within the Ancient Beast Mountain Range, started to move. However, strangely, no such beast approached the Battle Maiden Sect.
At least not on the surface.
***
At the Battle Maiden Sect, the collected beast corpses were piling up in vast storage chambers, each one meticulously cataloged and sorted according to their species, element, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and cultivation. Aelina oversaw the process, her violet eyes gleaming with anticipation.
Mira was standing there next to her with a deadpan expression on her face.
"So, all you need to do is extract the Blood Essence from all these corpses, and we can start the next phase of the plan," Aelina said with a cheerful smile.
However, Mira wasn't amused. Her face remained as cold as ice while staring at the small mountains of corpses in front of her. She knew it was partially her fault for agreeing to do this, but it looked like a whole lot more work seeing everything in person.
Now, she was starting to regret her decision.
'This is going to take me weeks!' Mira thought, her frown deepening.
Still, she was unwilling to give her technique to Aelina just so she could speed up the time a little.
"...Fine." Mira unwillingly agreed, putting a larger smile on Aelina's face, only for it to disappear after Mira's next words.
"But, you have to work with me to create a set of Martial Arts and a few Techniques for Rhydian-"
"What?!"
"-every day."
"Aren't you a bit too shameless?! I'm still the Sect Master, you know? I don't have the free time to take care of your little pet."
"Oh?" Mira cocked an eyebrow, her crimson eyes glowing, "But you had the time to spy on me when I was creating that gravity ball?"
"..."
"What about the gazes I feel when I'm in the middle of cultivating?"
"..."
"Seems to me you have plenty of time on your hands, 'Sect Master'." She put a heavy emphasis on "Sect Master".
"Haaa…" Aelina sighed, trying her best to keep her cheeks from twitching. "It's not that I don't want to help you…"
Mira rolled her eyes, but Aelina continued.
"It's just that you're really asking for too much. Beasts can't use human techniques. You should know that. As for Martial Arts… you're probably more experienced in this area than me, considering you literally created a [Martial Manifestation] from it."
"Useless. What's the point of being so old if you can't even do this?"
"..."
Aelina really, REALLY had to resist the urge to pummel Mira into the ground. She wasn't that old, alright?! And what did age have to do with transforming human techniques into something a beast could use?!
"And, here I was, ready to get to work. Unfortunately, it seems I'll be 'too busy' peeping on the new disciples to get anything done." Mira added, fueling the flames that were ready to burst out of Aelina's eyes.
'God help me, please. If I don't kill this woman today, grant me some good fortune.' Aelina closed her eyes and prayed, taking a deep breath to calm herself.
For some reason, Mira's ability to get under her skin had improved lately, and she wasn't a fan of it at all.
"Ugh!" She groaned, "Fine, whatever. I'll clear up my schedule so I can help your little pet. Happy?"
Mira shrugged her shoulders and stepped forward toward one of the many mountains of beast corpses. "I'm glad we've reached a consensus." She said, then bent down and swiftly extracted the Blood Essence from the corpse, storing it in an air-tight vial.
After doing a few more, she turned around, seeing Aelina just standing there, watching everything… not doing anything.
Mira pointed to the side where Rhydian, who had turned back into her smaller beast form, was sleeping. "What are you doing, standing around like a creep? Get to work!"
"..."
Aelina stood there, dumbfounded at the fact that Mira was ordering her around like some kind of servant. Her! The Sect Master! A servant!
'This little-! I'm actually going to kill her!' She clenched her fists, her eyes glowing with a sharp light that threatened to destroy everything in its path.
Mira obviously felt the clear hostility in Aelina's gaze and chuckled coldly, "Next time, don't spy on me." She met the Sect Master's gaze with an unwavering one of her own.
One that, to Aelina, said, "Go on. Kill me. I dare you."
Which was all the more infuriating.
Therefore, so that she could cool down her head a little, she could only begrudgingly walk over to Rhydian, kick her awake, and force her to transform.
'Dammit! I should've never agreed to this shitty plan! It was all a rouse to put me to work!' Aelina grumbled inwardly, but as she's been tested by Mira time and time again today, she decided to show her that she isn't a Divine Sea Realm master for nothing.
'I'm going to put you through hell, little pet! Hahahaha~'
Rhydian, who was unknowingly caught in a battle between two unstoppable forces, shivered in terror. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to escape.
"Ah! One last thing." Mira exclaimed, causing Aelina to frown. "Can you call Nova here? I'd like to talk to her before I get too into things," She asked.
The Sect Master paused for a second, then nodded and closed her eyes to look for Nova with her Divine Sense before sending her a Thought Transmission to come to their location.
Within a few minutes, a fiery-haired young lady stood before them, much livelier than she was a few days ago.
"You called, Sect Master?" Nova asked curiously.
Aelina nodded, feeling that this was the way a disciple was supposed to act toward her: respectfully. Putting that aside, she pointed at Mira. "She's the one who asked to see you."
Nova looked over, a little surprised to see Mira extracting Blood Essence after Blood Essence from a pile of beasts, but she didn't mention it. She had a high enough EQ to understand that now wasn't the time to talk about it.
"What's going on, Mira? Why'd you want to see me?"
Instead of answering her question, Mira pulled out a vial. Immediately, the room was filled with the heavy aura of a Dragon. Nova's heart beat like a drum when she felt it pounding in her chest. In an instant, she recognized whose bloodline that was, causing her eyes to widen.
"I-Is th-that-?"
Mira nodded, "Do you want it?"
"OF COURSE!" Nova practically screamed. Her whole body, down to her very existence, was telling that she wanted this. That she needed it!
"A-Ahem!" She cleared her throat, feeling embarrassed about her outburst, before she said in a much calmer yet still quivering voice, "O-Of course, I do. Who wouldn't? For someone with a Fire Affinity like me, that's pretty much the best bloodline I could obtain."
Mira nodded indifferently, but her mouth curved up into a smirk, and the next words to come out of her mouth turned the place silent, "Then, go kill a few dragons for me, and I'll give it to you."
"..."
"...Eh?"
