Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Mira's eyes shone, and she nodded in approval, witnessing Rhydian's power first-hand. It's been a while since she's watched her fight, and Mira almost forgot just how powerful her beast companion was.

'I usually just use her as a mount that I forget she's probably stronger than me if she went all out.' Mira thought, watching Rhydian mow through her enemies.

The beasts surrounding the Star-Horned wolves didn't stand a chance. One flap of her wings sent wind sharp enough to cut them into pieces, and a wisp of her flames turned anything it touched into ash.

Although Rhydian was only a Low-Stage Rank 7 beast, she could easily fight Late-Stage and Peak-Stage Rank 7 beasts.

'Perhaps only Rank 8 beasts or Soul Transformation Realm cultivators could put up a fight against Rhydian. Though, I suppose a Rank 7 beast with a Divine-Grade bloodline might give her a bit of trouble.' Mira mused, but she's never seen a beast with such a bloodline and thus couldn't confirm the validity of her thoughts.

A few minutes later, the winds picked up the ashes of the fallen beasts and carried them down the mountain, the atmosphere turning silent.

Rhydian's eyes swept across the baby Star-Horned wolves, who couldn't help but tremble in fear. The horde of beasts from before was already scary enough, but now they had to face something that could kill them all in an instant?!

"WOOF!" Rhydian barked, sending a wave of Qi through her vocal cords, causing all the wolve's knees to buckle and bow before her. The wolves didn't even have a chance to fight back as they felt pressure fall on their bodies and bloodline, forcing them to listen to the being in front of them.

However, this only served to terrify them further. Some of the weaker-willed wolves fainted directly on the spot as the stress was too much for them to handle, while others could do nothing but quiver in fear.

Rhydian hardly noticed their emotions and stood before them with her head held high.

"Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! (Since I have saved you from extinction, I will be your new lord starting today!)" Rhydian announced, but her message wasn't as well received as she thought it would be.

They struggled to lift their heads as they looked at Rhydian with confusion, worry, and fear. However, there were a few in the group that showed willingness, as having such a strong pack leader would allow them to survive.

Mira facepalmed at this scene as she realized once again that although Rhydian might be strong, she wasn't the smartest. At least not by human standards.

Fortunately, the former leader of the Star-Horned wolves walked over to the pack and began explaining the situation. It didn't take long before they understood what was going on and the look in their eyes switched from fear to shock and admiration as they gazed upon Rhydian's majestic figure.

As time passed, Mira became less interested in the situation, so she shifted her attention to the mountain. Despite the lack of life on this mountain, her intuition told her it held numerous precious resources and treasures underneath it.

Mira walked away from the pack of Star-Horned Wolves, leaving Rhydian to do her thing, and flew up the mountain.

Unlike many of the other mountains in the Ancient Beast Mountain Range, this one wasn't very tall. On the contrary, compared to the peaks around it, the mountain looked more like a large hill than the peaks around it, nor was the Qi as dense.

However, now that Mira was more in tune with her affinities, she could sense its uniqueness.

Within minutes, Mira landed on a jagged rock at the peak, which was as black as night. She leaned down and swiped her finger across the top of it, and soot immediately engulfed it.

"Interesting." She said, flicking the soot off of her.

"Let's see what other secrets this mountain is hiding," Mira muttered before closing her eyes.

*BOOM!*

She slammed her foot down on the rock, then sent a wave of Earth Qi into the mountain. Immediately, an image of the mountain's interior appeared in her mind. This is a new technique that came to Mira's mind when she increased the grade of her Earth Affinity. She'd seen this technique before, at the Battle Maiden Sect, but since she never used her lackluster Earth Affinity, she didn't bother learning it.

The Technique is called [Earth Sense] and works similarly to Soul Sense, but only people with an Earth Affinity can use it.

With her Qi running through the ground, she sensed many small ore veins, tunnels, insects, beasts, and even Spirit Stones.

Although many of those resources would be worth a lot, it wasn't what Mira was looking for, so she searched deeper, sending more Earth Qi into the ground.

Suddenly, a wisp of electricity touched the Earth Qi she sent in, disrupting her concentration and canceling the technique. Her expression changed, and a small smile bloomed on her face.

'Found you!' She thought, canceling her Earth Sense.

"I never thought those little wolves would lead me to a Lightning Spirit Stone mine." Mira muttered before sighing, "I could tell that lightning continuously strikes this mountain, but I didn't expect to get this lucky. Just when I'm looking for something to help increase my Lightning Comprehension, this happens?"

After pondering this far, Mira's smile faded, and her face became cold. Every time she encounters a bit of fortune, misfortune is right around the corner. To make matters worse, unlike those protagonists who can benefit even from bad situations, these are just bad. There's nothing for her to gain from them except more enemies and troubles.

The thought of hopping on Rhydian and leaving this mountain crossed her mind, but she dismissed it. She wasn't a coward who would run away from trouble, nor could she pass up the Lightning Spirit Stones.

In the end, she could only shake these thoughts away, "Sigh… What will come, will come. I can't pass up this opportunity. I only have a week to raise my Wind and Yin Lightning affinities to the Middle-Stage Heaven Grade before I lose them. Anything that can help me do that is worth the potential trouble that follows."

Thus, without hesitation or communication between the Star-Horned Wolves, Mira condensed a thin layer of Martial Intent around her body and surrounded her fists with Qi, then-

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

-the ground shook as she smashed the ground, creating a massive crater and turning many of the rocks to dust.

This alerted not just the Star-Horned wolves but also the surrounding beasts. They all looked in her direction and rushed over to check what was happening. The only one who wasn't in a hurry was Rhydian, as she could feel Mira's intentions and knew she was digging for treasures. Shaking her head, the winged wolf flew up in the air and began hovering and Mira to protect her.

Meanwhile, the person in question sensed numerous beings converge on her location, but she didn't care.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

She launched another fist into the mountain, caving it in and creating something akin to a small cave.

Mira stopped for a second and stared at her fists in wonder.

'Cultivating the Magma Dragon Body has really increased my physical strength by a significant amount. If it were before, I never would've been able to cause this much damage in just two punches!' Her crimson eyes shined with battle lust, eager to test out her newfound strength on a worthy opponent.

Readying her fists again, she slammed them into the ground, obliterating everything in her path! She did this over and over again as if this mountain was her worst enemy!

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

…

This went on for several minutes until Mira's figure disappeared into the mountain, and then she finally calmed down.

Not wanting the entire mountain to collapse, she switched from destroying everything in her path to digging out a tunnel. Which, with the help of her physical strength and Earth Affinity, went smoothly. At some point, she even used the [100 Glacial Warriors] to assist her!

It took her another few hours until she reached the Lightning Spirit Stone mine, and a smile couldn't help but appear on her face.

The stones were translucent blue and had mini lightning arcs pulsating around them. From the density of the Qi inside them, Mira could tell they were all Mid-Stage Spirit Stones, which made her smile widen.

She couldn't sense that with her [Earth Sense] before, but now that she stood right before them, it wasn't hard to tell. There weren't all that many, but there were more than enough for her needs.

Thus, not wanting to waste any more of her time, she carved out a few stones, sat down, and began meditating.

The lightning Qi from the Spirit Stones passed from the stones into her meridians, shocking every centimeter of her body. Mira focused on this sensation and kept revolving this lightning Qi through her body without sending any to her Core.

Despite the difference between this and Yin Lightning, her comprehension training with the Guardian and the strength of her Yin Fire allowed her to convert normal lightning into Yin Lightning.