The words had barely left Aelina's lips when the atmosphere, already thick with tension, became electrified. A tumultuous storm of rage seemed to brew within the hearts of the beast clans, their pride, and honor squarely struck by the sharp arrows of her taunting words.
The beast leaders exchanged uneasy glances. It seemed as if a mighty, unseen pressure was choking their very souls, constricting their thoughts and actions. They had been humiliated, made to feel inferior in the face of Aelina's prowess and the astonishingly intimidating aura emanating from Mira.
Aelina, still hovering above, wore a satisfied smirk. Her eyes scanned the sea of beasts, evaluating their determination and their hesitance.
Mira, standing by Aelina, kept her senses sharp. Her blood-red eyes gleamed as they darted around, making quick mental assessments of their enemies. However, her focus was primarily on the Rank 9 beasts.
'I wonder if I can take them on now?' The thought of absorbing all that energy made her shiver in anticipation.
She could feel that the efficiency of her black rune's ability to devour one's vitality and cultivation had improved. By how much, she wasn't sure, but she was eager to find out.
However, just as a battle was about to break out, the Wyrm that had stabilized the portal to the Primal Ascendance Convergence stepped up.
"That's enough." A deep voice echoed out of the massive, scaly, serpent-like creature.
A heavy pressure descended on both sides, forcing all the Clan Leaders and Sect Masters to settle down.
With slightly narrowed eyes, the Wyrm turned its giant head to Aelina and said, "Go, Battle Maiden Sect Master. Nobody will stop you. We were too weak and arrogant to protect our treasure and paid the price for it. However, you may come to regret what you've done."
He glanced at Mira, along with many of the Battle Maiden Sect disciples behind her, as if implying that nobody was safe.
Aelina's smile receded. She could feel the subtle threat in his voice.
'...But why does it seem like he's not the one I should be worried about?' She wondered but didn't think much about it.
'So what? I got what I wanted, and everyone got stronger. If there's some hidden danger, I'll deal with it in the future.' Such vague threats, while useful, couldn't affect her mentality.
"Thanks for the warning," Aelina said, her casual grin returning. She was satisfied with how things turned out. Whether they were able to leave peacefully or war broke out, she would make sure she was the biggest winner.
Turning around, she faced her disciples, whose numbers had dwindled significantly since before they invaded the Beast Clans, around 20% of them dead. However, what they lost in numbers, they made up for it in strength.
The Outer Disciples took the biggest hit, but their strength improved the most. Either they are now in the Nascent Soul Realm or at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm, about to break through.
The Inner, Core, and Direct disciples had also all seen significant strength boosts, whether that be in terms of cultivation or something else. Even the Elders had improved, albeit not quite as much.
Just as a rough estimate, Aelina figured that the total strength of the Battle Maiden Sect disciples had risen by at least 50-100%, not including her, Mira, Nova, and the others. With her, the Elders, and everyone else included… she couldn't put a number on it as even she could feel a subtle danger emanating from Mira.
'I'm looking forward to seeing just how powerful you are, Mira.' Aelina thought with a grin, only to receive a glare from the woman in question. 'Tch. Her senses have gotten stronger.'
"Disciples!" She yelled, enhancing her voice with Qi. "Let's return!" She raised her fist victoriously.
""YES, SECT MASTER!""
The other Sect Masters also realized that now was their time to dip and immediately called out to their disciples to leave. Everyone gave one last glance at Aelina before shifting to Mira, watching as her ten tails danced around.
Some hadn't noticed it until now, nor were they sure how to react, but there really were ten tails!
'What does that mean? Is that strong or not?'
'Is she still a fox?'
'Why did it feel like she could dominate me with just a thought?'
"Haaa… If only she would dominate me…"
"I'd die happy if I could just lick her feet…"
"..."
The beasts moved away from those two creeps.
Still, the same question was on everyone's minds: 'What was she?'
Unfortunately, they may never get an answer.
Meanwhile, the Leader of the Shadowfangs watched Aelina leave with darkness practically spewing out of his eyes. However, instead of causing a scene like everyone thought, he just huffed coldly and walked away, followed by his underlings.
'Don't think you're free yet, Aelina…' He sinisterly thought, giving his Elders the side-eye. They immediately understood his intentions and went ahead first, disappearing into the ground. 'I'll take your head soon enough.'
He wasn't the only one who felt this way either, as several other Beast Clans began secretly planning.
The Wyrm just shook his head, seeing all this, before turning around and leaving. If they wanted to die so badly, who was he to stop them?
***
The journey back was filled with excited chatter amongst the disciples, everyone recounting their experiences in the PAC(Primal Ascendance Convergence). The expedition into the Beast Clans' territory, despite the challenges and losses, had proven to be fruitful, especially for the Battle Maiden Sect.
Not long after they left the vicinity, Mira remembered the familiar aura she felt earlier.
'Maria!' She inwardly exclaimed, immediately sending a pulse of Qi into her engagement ring. The signal still felt chaotic and fuzzy, but there was a connection! She was alive!
Mira's shoulders slumped as she let out a deep breath, her jumbled mess of a mind settling down. All it took was one second, but it felt like a mountain had just lifted off her shoulders.
Still, she was puzzled about something.
'Why… Why didn't she greet me?'
Normally, Maria would've come flying at her as soon as she neared, but the opposite actually happened. The more time passed, the further away she got until, eventually, she completely disappeared from her Soul Sense range.
She moved so fast that she didn't even get to see if Maria had improved at all.
'No, wait.' Mira paused for a moment. 'Was Maria in the Secret Realm? How'd she end up there?'
She pondered but realized that wasn't what she should be asking. Her eyes widened with realization, but she almost couldn't bring herself to ask what was really important.
'Ugh! Fuck!' She scratched her head, her previous anxiety returning. 'She must've felt me killing her, right? That was really her in there, right? Fuck!' She wanted to smash something; perhaps a nearby mountain would do, but she reigned in that impulse.
She was better than that.
However, a part of her wanted to believe that maybe Maria just didn't want to see Mira right now. 'Maybe she's preparing for a big breakthrough and wants to show me then? Or, she could've received word that something had happened to her business while she was away. The possibilities are endless.'
Of course, her instincts leaned more toward the first option, but she wouldn't know unless she asked.
And… she had no intention of doing that. For now.
She knew better than anyone that dying sucked, and it was infinitely worse in the FLDIL. That pain, that emptiness, was something unique. Not to mention, the cause of it was a loved one, someone whom she trusted with all her heart.
Just that thought caused a slew of memories to resurface, ones Mira didn't particularly want to think about. A small part of the reason she was on this path to vengeance was because dying was so tortuous.
'I wonder if she hates me…' A hint of depression started to set in before she immediately wiped those thoughts away.
'Damn! A heart demon almost took place!' She cursed, quickly clearing her mind of all intrusive thoughts. 'If I want to know how she feels, I'll just ask her directly! Until then, I'll just assume that she doesn't!'
Satisfied with that coping response, she stopped thinking about all this. Everything would be sorted out in due time, but that time wasn't now.
'I'll give her some space.'
With that, thoughts about Maria no longer lingered in her mind.
However, she was receiving strange gazes from those around her. It seemed they could feel the rapidly changing emotions within her and gave her some space, not wanting to be killed should she go on a rampage.
Mira's face returned to its natural, indifferent look, and her aura became even more reserved than it already was. Everyone around her gave a sigh of relief but still left her a dozen meters of space.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before they reached the Sect.
