Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

As the four of them were flying through the sky, Mira, Maria, and Celaine were thinking about the different possibilities and advantages of having an overpowered Phoenix as their guardian.

No more wandering lands aimlessly, lucky encounters would be a little less lucky and more intentional, and they'll finally have someone who can answer their questions.

They didn't plan on relying on Elenei every time they encountered a crisis though as Mira surely wouldn't allow such a thing. It just felt nice knowing they had a bit of backup whom they could rely on whenever they are against an opponent who is way out of their league.

They were right not to rely too much on Elenei as Mira already had a plan in mind for when they reach the next world.

While each of them was thinking about the future, it didn't take much longer before they crossed an invisible barrier and the scenery around them changed drastically.

The temperature went from deathly cold to rather hot, but it was nowhere near as hot as the Fire World they were in a few months ago where they met Kayda.

Not only that, but the land in front of them was incredibly bright, almost blinding. They couldn't tell how many, but definitely, more than 2 suns were being projected in this world.

Along with the brightness, the land in front of them was filled with tons of lush greenery, glistening ponds and lakes, and weird-looking golden crystals that also seem to be producing light.

While flying on Elenei's back, they can easily spot numerous beasts starting from Rank 4 and above. Mira spotted quite a few Rank 5 and 6 beasts as well, but there was something unique about all of these beasts. They all had a golden crystal somewhere on their body.

Mira was a bit dejected to see that as she assumed that the beast cores probably had a high light elemental affinity. They might be great, or at least better, for Maria to absorb but the efficiency would drop if she tried to absorb them.

Now for the next question, what are those golden crystals?

"What are those golden crystals?" Maria asked excitedly.

"Just call them Light Crystals and they have several different uses. They are similar to Spirit Stones since they hold Qi within them, albeit not that much. For those beasts that have them attached to their bodies, they have a higher affinity with Light and will find their powers boosted in areas containing lots of that element. For you, they can help increase your comprehension in your Light Dao, but you'll need a ton of them if you want to make any significant progress." Elenei explained, but Maria was already satisfied with that.

She was already feeling her comprehension in her Light Dao increasing right now and all she needs to do is go into seclusion to consolidate her gains, but she didn't plan on doing that. She was already bored of sitting around cultivating, it's time to go on an adventure!

Celaine, on the other hand, was feeling a bit down seeing how this place didn't cater to her element, but she was also excited about exploring a new place.

"Let's find a nice place to land," Elenei said. She felt Mira getting a bit restless on her back and some of her killing intent was leaking out while she was looking at the beasts below her.

The three of them agreed and Elenei found a nice secluded place they could land.

As soon as they hit the ground, Mira was the first to jump off and she even had her scythe ready.

"I'm going to let loose a bit. Maria and Celaine, you two go and have fun on your own. Elenei, there is no need to follow them, just keep an eye on them to make sure no Rank 7 beast or higher goes after them for some reason. This location will be where we will rendezvous whenever you two are done exploring. I need to continue tempering my body with Elenei's Frost-Fire so when I'm done letting loose, I'll be coming back here." Mira gave her instructions and ran off in a direction where she sensed numerous Rank 5 and 6 beasts.

"Wait! Aaaaannndd she's gone! Ugh!" Maria tried to say something before Mira left, but the latter was too fast.

"Well, you can't blame her too much. It's probably been close to a year since she's been able to let loose. Actually, the only time I saw her really let loose was during that war between Lunar Fox City and the Soul Devouring Sect. From what I know about her, she's not one to just sit still unless there is a legitimate reason to." Celaine pondered with her hand on her chin. Although she said that she was still a bit unsure why Mira was so fidgety and determined to kill.

"From what I know, Mira's always been like that. It's almost like she isn't comfortable unless she's killing something. Maybe it's her way of relieving stre-" Maria's words were cut off when she sensed a horrendous bloody and murderous intent spreading from the direction Mira ran off to.

"Ah! Looks like she's really pent up! But at least she isn't angry or this pressure would definitely be much worse!" Maria said nonchalantly and Celaine nodded.

Elenei, on the other hand, was busy wondering if Mira was actually a demon in disguise. She could guess that Mira has definitely killed millions of people, but her eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets when she heard Maria.

"You mean to tell me that this is merely just Mira letting loose her pent-up aggression? What would she be like if she's angry?! Is she really human?!" Elenei asked Maria in shock.

"I don't really know. I've only seen Mira actually upset a couple of times, but I don't think she was angry. I don't plan on finding out either. All I know is that just being in her presence when she's upset is enough to bring me to the brink of death." Maria explained while unconsciously trembling, remembering Mira's terrifying killing intent.

Elenei's expression turned grim after hearing that and an awkward silence hung over the three of them.

"Ah! But don't worry about trying not to offend Mira! As long as you don't bring up men and you don't betray her trust, she's surprisingly easy-going and tolerant!" Maria said innocently.

Celaine's face turned black after listening to Maria's words. Easy-going? Tolerant? Mira? Are you fucking stupid?! I've never met such a petty and short-tempered person before! Are you sure Mira didn't accidentally cripple your brain after all of the beatings?!

Celaine smacked Maria on the head with an angry expression.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Maria cried.

"Sister Elenei, don't listen to this idiot! Easy-going? Tolerant? The fuck are you saying? Are you trying to get Sister Elenei killed?! Listen, Mira is the embodiment of unreasonableness! If you didn't meet her expectations, prepare to be punished… harshly. If you try to slight her in any way, you might as well be asking for a beating! If you say something stupid, she'll definitely curse you out while beating you. If you make a mistake in battle, Mira might just kill you herself. What sucks even more is even if you are stronger than her or have some sort of advantage, you'll still only get beaten! She isn't afraid of death and is apathetic towards everything so threats don't work on her. She might hold some favorability towards Maria due to how long they've spent together, but she only sees me as a training dummy who holds a bit of talent with the saber. Morale of the story, don't fuck with her." Celaine finished explaining, but Maria really wanted to complain; Elenei was quicker though.

"Isn't that too much? Why are you following her then if she's such a terrible person?" Elenei was speechless at how low Mira's companion thought of her.

Celaine and Maria both let out a wry smile after hearing Elenei's questions.

"Those are the reasons why, at least for me. Sparring with Mira is probably more effective than hundreds of spars with other people. Not only that, but if you don't adapt quick enough, she will really kill you. Also, what I stated before is really only if she is guiding you. I guess you could say that she is somewhat tolerant of us because if Maria and I were just some random people following her, she might just kill us for bothering her too much. At least with us she only leaves us injured or at most half-dead." Celaine let out a chuckle, but her words didn't make Elenei feel any better.

She wasn't too worried about Mira doing anything to her right now as she's much stronger than her, but what about after she is reborn and hatches from her egg? Even if her cultivation ends up being higher than Mira's when she's born, it probably wouldn't be by much.

Her expression became worse as she thought about her future.

Maria and Celaine just ignored Elenei as it was her fault for making a deal with Mira before knowing what kind of person she is.

The two of them talked with each other as it was somewhat refreshing not having Mira constantly down their throats.

Eventually, Elenei stopped thinking about it and started talking with Maria and Celaine about random things like their adventures, family, wants, the future, and various other topics that Mira doesn't talk about.

The three of them talked for hours before it was about time for Maria and Celaine to go explore this new world and gain some experience without Mira's assistance.