Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

After Sue Ming left the White Tiger Clan, she went to three other Divine Grade beast Clans; the Fire Wyvern Clan, the Diamondback Ant Clan, and the Poison Frog Clan.

She chose these three clans and didn't visit any more deliberately. Beasts, much like humans, don't like it when their prey is snatched from them. If she went to too many Clans and informed them of Mira's whereabouts, the chances of them fighting each other instead of Mira would be extremely high.

Thus, she chose another three clans that wouldn't interfere with one another unless absolutely necessary.

Unfortunately, she didn't find another beast clan similar to the White Tiger Clan that shouldn't be in the Mortal Realm.

Other than that, Sue Ming's subordinates spread the rumor about Mira extremely fast among the weaker Beast Clans, as almost everyone was talking about it within a couple of hours!

"Hey, did you hear? There's a rumor that a 9-tailed fox is wandering the mountains alone."

"Yeah! I heard that the first person to find her will be able to mate with her before anyone else!"

"What?! Really?! I suppose it's time to get off my tail and start searching! It'd be my bloodline's good fortune to have children with a 9-tailed fox!"

"Yeah, right?! You're so weak and stupid that you couldn't even catch a normal fox, much less one with 9-tails."

Although most of the conversations were more growls and body language than actual speech, many beasts, Rank 7 and above, knew that a 9-tailed fox was somewhere in the mountains. Not only that, but they wanted a piece of the action!

The main problem, though, was that no beast had ever seen a 9-tailed fox and had only heard of them in legends. Their bloodline is supposedly similar in rank to the ancient Dragons and Phoenixes, yet their fertility is much higher, and their physical prowess is lower.

That's all the general public knew about 9-tailed foxes. Whether or not that was wrong didn't matter. Even if Mira turned out to be infertile and couldn't have children, eating her flesh and devouring her blood would be beneficial.

Therefore, many beasts that heard this rumor didn't hesitate to set off and find the treasure trove that awaited them. Though, some of the more intelligent beasts decided to wait and see, as what are the chances that a 9-tailed fox is actually running around the mountains for no reason?

Thus, after this rumor spread, a wave of beasts from all different species and strengths rushed out of their Clans!

However, what neither Sue Ming nor anyone else expected was that this swarm of beasts would attract the attention of every other power on the Western Continent.

***

Mira, not aware of the storm brewing around her, flew off to find a nice secluded place to meditate. The current trial she was going through during this Hell made her worry, and she couldn't be disturbed by nonsense if she wanted to complete it.

"So, my Yin Fire is suppressed, and my Darkness affinity is more pronounced," Mira muttered after finding a deep ravine to hole herself up in, "Can you explain to me why it's not Light and Darkness? Because, as far as I know, I can't use the Light element. So, shouldn't that be my weakness?"

The Guardian snorted at Mira's ignorance, but instead of answering, he asked, "Why do you think you can't use the Light Element?"

"Err…Eh?" Now that Mira thought about it, she had never asked herself that question, "I don't know, but I assume it has something to do with the F.LD.I.L."

The Guardian hummed, "Well, you aren't exactly wrong, but you aren't right either." Then, he asked, "Now, can you tell me what the Light Element is and what it does? What purpose does it serve?"

Mira closed her eyes and thought about it. She remembered all the times Maria used her Light affinity and also just light itself and came to a reasonably rudimentary answer, "Light is a unique form of energy that allows us to see the world as it really is."

"Hmmm~ Again, you aren't wrong, but you aren't quite right either." The Guardian paused to think about his next words before saying, "Alright, now do you think Darkness is the antithesis to Light?"

Mira nodded, as that seemed pretty obvious, but she also doubted things were so simple.

If Mira were in front of the Guardian right now, she would have noticed him nodding his head with a smile on his face as he read her mind, "That's right. Light and Darkness are opposites and can't exist without each other. At least, in theory. Whether or not that's actually true, I suppose you'll just have to find out for yourself."

"However, have you ever thought about why light seems an excellent element for healing and darkness is so corrosive and consuming?" The Guardian asked.

Mira shook her head. She couldn't say she had, as that's just how things were. Though, thinking about it now certainly was weird.

The Guardian cleared up some of her doubts, "All the elements in existence complement one another or are linked to each other in some way. The reason why Light is such a great healer is that it's closely tied to the element of Life, while the opposite is true for darkness."

Mira's eyes widened, not because this was some groundbreaking discovery, but because many things now made more sense!

Although the Guardian noticed her surprise, he wasn't done explaining, "You've probably never heard of anyone having the Life Affinity or Death Affinity, as truthfully, those 'elements' are more specific and complex than something as broad as ice or fire. However, that doesn't matter right now. You just need to know that life, as you know it, can't exist without Light and that life wouldn't exist if there were only darkness."

Mira nodded her head, lost in thought. There were many ways to understand what the Guardian just said, and she was trying to pick those apart. That's when Mira remembered a theory in one of her lives, the one on Earth.

"So, it's kind of like Schrödinger's Cat theory? That, if there was a cat in a box, it could be both dead and alive until the box was opened?"

The Guardian chuckled, amused that mortals could even figure something so profound out, "Yes, you can see it like that. You could also relate it to the saying, 'if a tree falls in a forest, but nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?'. If you can't see that life exists because there is nothing but darkness, then is there really life at all?"

Mira nodded in understanding, and even though that was an extremely oversimplified version of Light, Darkness, Life, and Death, she could still form a basic understanding of the elements from that.

Still, there was one thing she was confused about, "That's great and all, but how does this involve me not being able to use the Light Element?" Suddenly, it was like a lightbulb went off in her mind, and she had an epiphany, "Is it because of my black runes?" She asked, but she already knew the answer.

"HAHAHAHA! Finally, you put two and two together. Yes, the reason you can't use the Light Element as of yet is because of them."

"As of yet?" Mira tilted her head, catching those words, "Does that mean I'll be able to use it in the future?"

The Guardian chuckled again, but this time more mysteriously, "Maybe~ I'll let you figure that out yourself as that would make things more interesting, but all you need to know is that those black runes are more special than you think."

Mira nodded, but she already knew that. She knew she wasn't using them to their maximum potential, but the problem was that she didn't know what they were or how she could improve her use of them.

Now that she knew they were tied to elements like Light, Darkness, Life, and Death, it was like the fog in her mind cleared up. While she still didn't know how to make them stronger, she at least had a general idea of the path forward.

However, she had to put that aside right now and focus on the task at hand: finding a way to increase her comprehension of the Darkness and Yin Fire elements!