Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

"Alright, that's enough, Sandra. Hello, Maria. My name is Aelina Verlice, and I'm the Sect Master of the Battle Maiden Sect."

Maria was stunned! She never expected that she would meet the Sect Master of the Sect so soon. She's just a weak little girl from the Outer Court. Why would she need to meet the Sect Master? No, why would the Sect Master actually come and see her?

'Ah! She must be here to talk about Mira.' Maria thought to herself, then glanced at Elder Sandra.

'Mira did say she felt like she was being watched every so often ever since we joined the Sect. It seems it was Elder Sandra who informed the Sect Master of Mira's talents. I can already guess what they want to know.'

Aelina was inspecting every little movement Maria made and was a bit surprised to see that Maria had probably already pieced together their reason for being here.

'It seems she much more intelligent than she lets on. Is this her true self, or is she usually like how she acted with Sandra? Interesting…' Aelina smiled internally but outwardly kept a neutral appearance.

"Ah! Nice to meet you, Sect Master Aelina! My name is Maria Zaria! And I hope you don't take offense to this, but you have quite an impressive aura. I always wondered what the Sect Master of the Battle Maiden Sect would be like with all these crazy Elders running around, but I must say, I'm impressed. You're nothing like the others I've seen so far." Maria cupped her hands and bowed politely towards the Sect Master.

Normally, she wouldn't do such a thing since the only person she respects enough in this world to bow to is Mira alone, but from just a glance, she could tell how amazing Sect Master Aelina was.

Call it her intuition or instinct, but just from the way Aelina conducts herself in the presence of someone like her, although she couldn't say she had already grasped her personality or strength, she could tell that Aelina is extraordinary.

"Hahaha! You sure are bold, kid! To talk to the Sect Master so brazenly, I wonder who gave you the guts to do such a thing?!" Elder Angella roared in laughter. She couldn't help but find Maria incredibly amusing.

Even Aelina couldn't help but raise a brow, and a glint of interest appeared in her eyes as she looked at Maria.

"Oh? What do you mean my aura is extraordinary? I'm sure that I've hidden it quite well. Forget someone like you, even the Elders of the Sect shouldn't be able to learn anything from my aura." Aelina asked.

"That's why you're so extraordinary. Everyone, no matter who they are, whether they are ordinary people without any cultivation or experts like you, radiate an aura unconsciously. I guess calling it an aura isn't exactly correct, but that's beside the point. This aura is essentially an amalgamation of your current emotions and personality. For example, that person behind you with crazy hair gives off the aura of a maniac who enjoys war and torture. Elder Sandra's aura is more indifferent but also has hints of bloodlust and admiration." Maria explained and thoroughly shocked the three in front of her.

Even Aelina was now looking at Maria more intently as the glint of interest in her eyes intensified.

"How interesting. Then, what kind of aura do you see from me?" Aelina asked as she was quite curious as to what answer Maria will give.

However, Maria just shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know. I can't tell."

"Eh?"

Although they might not have been expecting much, they were willing to listen to Maria as she might be right. On the off chance that she was able to see through the Sect Master with only a Core Formation Realm cultivation base, their priority in nurturing Maria would've risen a notch.

"Before you say anything, let me explain. That's why I said that the Sect Master is impressive. I can't sense any kind of aura. What I feel from the Sect Master is nothing. It's almost like I'm looking at a normal person. Keyword being 'almost' because even an ordinary person would still have some kind of aura around them. I can only sum up Sect Master's aura in one word: mysterious. That, combined with your purple eyes and ashy-colored hair, everything about you screams mysterious! That's why I said she is so impressive! I've only met one other person who has such perfect control over her emotions, and that's why you have my sincerest respect, Sect Master!" Maria explained and ended with another bow.

However, she wasn't just respectful towards the Sect Master for that reason alone. While being able to control one's emotions and aura to such an extent is amazing, it's not so amazing that only a handful of people in the world are capable of doing it.

No, she respects that the Sect Master has even thought about doing something like that. Most people don't even realize that only controlling one's outwardly appearance doesn't mean you can completely hide your inner feelings.

Those who have extraordinary intuition can sense the changes in one's emotions regardless of their body language or tone of voice.

Most, if not all, people don't care about learning ways to hide this, as those with such extraordinary intuition are incredibly rare. Maria wasn't sure how rare they are exactly, but she's never encountered someone other than Mira who was able to read people regardless of their appearance.

So, just the fact that Sect Master Aelina focused on such a small detail and trained it to such an extent shows proves that she's an incredibly meticulous person who doesn't want to leave any chinks in her armor.

That's a person she can respect!

This time, Aelina was actually stunned! Although on the surface, what Maria said wasn't hard to figure out. Most people who interact with her think she's impossible to see through, but that's pretty much all they think.

On the other hand, while Maria still couldn't see through her, she still gained some insights into her personality, how she interacts with others, how she wants to portray herself, along with the time and training she's put into controlling her thoughts and emotions. From this, she was able to conclude that she was a good leader and someone she could respect.

'This girl… Her intelligence and intuition are frightening. To think that with me barely having said anything, she was able to gain so much. Now I'm starting to get more and more curious about this Mira girl.' Aelina thought to herself.

"I see. However, you seem to be quite the mysterious person yourself. To be honest, I can't fully see through you either, despite being several Realms higher than you. I wonder, was it Mira who taught you this?" Aelina asked, neither confirming nor denying Maria's conjectures.

"Yes and no. I've always had a fairly good judge of character, but I was too naive to realize it back when I was young. Mira just helped point me in the right direction."

Aelina nodded her head but didn't continue this conversation. Instead, she wanted to get to the reason why they were here.

"Anyways, let's stop talking about that now. The reason why I'm here is partly because of Mira. A group of people had trespassed on our territory and captured Mira. From what we know, Mira clashed with a Stage 2 Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, and the resulting impact knocked her unconscious, causing her to be captured. I was wondering if you might have any leads into who was the one behind this."

Contrary to what they expected, Maria smiled brightly after hearing Aelina's words, then let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Haaaa… Good. It seems Mira is going to be fine."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Aelina raised a brow and asked.

"Well, you see, for as long as I've known Mira, she's never fallen unconscious in the midst of battle. Hell, I bet even if she died, she still wouldn't lose consciousness! So, if what you say is true, then she probably let herself be captured. As for the reason why you'd have to ask her."

"Now, for the reason why she was captured, Mira told me some young man with a murky red aura tried to kill her not long after we joined the Sect. Unfortunately, the young man was saved by a transparent old man. Oh! She did say that she gave the young man a heart demon and that he was a Stage 1 Nascent Soul Realm cultivator. That's pretty much all I know." Maria said, feeling like a weight was lifted off her chest.

Now that she had gotten confirmation about what had happened to Mira, she wasn't too worried anymore.

She was still going to ask Alicia and the other subordinates to look out for any information about Mira, but she wasn't too worried about Mira's survival.

"I see. Thank you for the information. We'll look into the reason behind her capture along with the perpetrators and properly serve justice to those who dare to trespass on my territory. I'll also send someone to inform you should we find any information on Mira. Sandra, Angella, you two go gather the other available Elders and meet with me tomorrow morning back at the top of the mountain. I'm going to stay here for a little longer."

"Understood!" x2

Elder Sandra and Angella didn't dare to question Aelina and left without a fuss.

Maria stared at the Sect Master, curious as to her reason for staying here.

Aelina released a slight smile and said, "Let's have a little talk, shall we?"