Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Maria immediately stopped what she was doing when she heard the announcement and a bad feeling permeated throughout her body.

For some reason, she had a feeling Mira was related to this announcement in some way.

Emotions that she's never truly experienced before surfaced in her heart, and quite frankly, she wasn't sure how she should feel or what she should do.

She felt angry that someone dared to covet her woman, but at the same time, she felt helpless.

Maria knew Mira's strength, so if she was somehow captured, then it either means the person she was fighting was vastly superior to her in terms of strength, or she wanted to be captured.

However, Maria didn't understand why Mira would want to be captured, so she naturally assumed that the attacker was way stronger than Mira.

Knowing this, she wanted nothing more than to charge out there and begin looking for Mira, but her rational side prevented her from acting recklessly.

"Be safe, Mira. I'll come for you soon." Maria muttered to herself with her fists clenched.

***

Meanwhile, in a dungeon somewhere underneath the mountain, the middle-aged woman and Number One were having a 'nice' conversation with one another.

"AAAAAAAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!" Number One howled in pain as the middle-aged woman began skinning him alive, starting from his feet.

"Hmph! Weren't you very daring a few hours ago? You even dared to trespass onto our territory and kidnaped one of our disciples! Where'd all that go? Don't tell me you can't even handle this little bit of pain. Tsk, what a fucking pussy!" The woman said while peeling off more of his skin.

In this dark room, Number One had his strength sealed and was bound to a table with all kinds of torture tools around him. The scent of blood and death permeated the area, but oddly enough, there were no bodies or prisoners.

"Before we get started, why don't you tell me why the Unorthodox Faction is making trouble with the Battle Maiden Sect? I doubt you came here of your own volition, but those old farts shouldn't be dumb enough to try and make trouble with our Sect, not after what happened last time. Or maybe it's been so long that some of them have forgotten…" The woman asked.

Number One stopped howling in pain and looked at the middle-aged woman in shock!

"How… How did-"

"How did I know you were from the Unorthodox Faction? Simple! You people from the Unorthodox Faction all have the same disgusting aura. You may be able to hide it from others, but as someone who has killed plenty of you insects, I would know!" The woman raised her chest and said proudly.

Now, the fear in Number One's eyes was replaced by confusion mixed with rage!

"IF YOU ALREADY KNOW THIS, THEN WHY ARE YOU TORTURING ME?!" Number One bellowed, but what he got in return was one of his toes being ripped off.

"ARGH! YOU BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure~~ you will. Hehehe~ As for why I'm torturing you… it's mainly because that other guy disappeared somewhere, and I have no idea where he might be. However, I promised him that I'd skin him alive, turn him into a woman, and let the beasts have their way with him before eventually killing him. I already made this promise, and as an Elder, I can't go back on my word! But since he's gone and is nowhere to be found, you'll have to take his place! But don't worry, when I find him, I'll allow him to experience the same thing you're about to! Hehehe~"

Number One nearly fainted from rage and fear, but the pain of being skinned alive forced him to stay conscious.

He couldn't even kill himself by trying to spill sensitive information about the Crimson Slayer Sect because the woman just kept flaying him like some sort of animal!

Just from this alone, Number One could tell that the woman had no intention of asking him any questions as if she knew what the outcome would be. At this point, he could only accept the fact that she was torturing him simply because he dared to trespass on her territory!

'Fuck me! Fuck that old man! Fuck everyone who even thought of wanting to kidnap Battle Maiden beauties! Who would want to have sex with these crazy bitches?! They've all lost their minds!' Number One roared inwardly as he deeply regretted taking this mission.

Half an hour later, the middle-aged woman looked at the torture table that Number One was on and nodded in satisfaction.

On the table was someone, no, something that looked like it crawled out of the abyss! It looked like a human, except it had no skin, and blood was constantly leaking out of it. Next to the table, on the floor, was the missing skin.

The woman did such a good job at skinning Number One that she was able to completely remove all his skin without cutting it into pieces. So, the skin on the ground nearly resembled a person, just without the insides.

The woman also decided to cut off his genitals and cripple his cultivation.

"Alright! Time to hand you off to the beasts! Have fun!"

One of the walls nearby opened up upon her saying that, and she threw Number One into the dark room.

Then immediately after, she shut the doors as even she didn't want to witness the horrors that were about to go down in that room.

Afterward, Elder Sandra appeared in the room and looked at the middle-aged woman expressionlessly before saying, "Did you find out anything, Elder Angella?"

The middle-aged woman, who Elder Sandra called Elder Angella, stared at Elder Sandra for a few seconds in slight surprise before saying, "It's rare of you to be so interested in a disciple, especially an Outer Court Disciple, Sandra. Is that fox girl really as amazing as you say?"

"She's more amazing than I originally thought she was! You might not know this, but I've been checking in on her every once in a while over the last two months, and you know what she learned during this time?" Elder Sandra said excitedly.

This piqued Elder Angella's interest as normally Elder Sandra is indifferent to everyone and everything unless it can benefit her or the Sect. So, for her to act like this was quite surprising.

"Well, don't leave me in suspense! Spit it out!" Elder Angella spat and looked at Elder Sandra with half-expectant eyes.

"She learned Intent! However, the Intent she comprehended is quite peculiar as even I don't know what it's for or what it can do. All I know is that when I checked up on her progress a few weeks ago, I sensed something different yet familiar about her. And having just been with the girl's friend, Celaine, who has learned Saber Intent, I could easily tell from the aura that Mira learned some form of Intent!" Elder Sandra said with shining eyes.

Elder Angella was shocked when she heard this. How many people in the Sect, no, on the Western Continent have learned some form of Intent? Maybe a handful? A few dozen? Who knows? But she does know is that anyone who can learn Intent is almost guaranteed to become a powerhouse should they survive long enough to reach that point.

That's because not all the Realms of cultivation require only an accumulation of Qi. In fact, every Realm after the Core Formation Realm needs something other than just Qi to progress.

One's comprehension becomes a big part of whether one'll be able to break through to the next Realm or not. Therefore, if someone is able to learn some form of intent, it generally means that their comprehensive abilities are quite high.

Of course, just because someone doesn't have high comprehensive abilities doesn't mean they can't learn Intent or break through some of the later Realms.

Intent is a very mysterious and fleeting power. Talent is important, but one's foundation with their weapon is equally as important. It could even be said that younger people have more of a chance of learning Intent compared to those who are a bit older or who have advanced deep into their cultivation journey.

However, that's just a theory and can't be proven since Intent is already hard to learn on its own.

Thus, knowing that Mira, someone who recently comprehended a form of intent, got captured…

"THOSE UNORTHODOX BASTARDS! I'LL KILL THEM ALL!"

… would, of course, send Elder Angella into a fit of rage!

Mira can already be considered one of the strongest disciples in the Outer Court despite only being at Stage 1 of the Core Formation Realm! Now that they know she's learned an Intent as well, it wouldn't be an underestimation to say that she might grow up to be one of the future pillars of the Sect!

It took Elder Angella a while to calm down as she wanted nothing more than to go storming the Unorthodox Factions and start slaughtering them, but when she eventually calmed down, she looked at Elder Sandra with a serious expression.

"We should report this to the Sect Master!"