Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Chapter 912 Viewing

In a dark space, a tall man dressed in all black was relaxing. His legs were propped up on a recliner, casually sipping a spiked ambrosia, giving him a bit of a buzz. Nothing that he couldn't immediately dissipate, but enough to help him pass the time.

Since Mira didn't enjoy him spying on her, he respected her privacy. As a Guardian, he could at least do that much for his future 'Empress'. Still, that didn't stop him from watching those around her.

"Tsk. Tsk. That mermaid's a little crazy, isn't she? No wonder Mira wants nothing to do with her." He thought aloud, watching Coralia pump out artifact after artifact. He had to admit that the girl was rather talented, but it was clear she wasn't interested in forging.

"Well, whatever." He shrugged. "At least it's good she's making friends."

That was a bit of a stretch, and he knew it. Mira didn't consider any of them to be 'friends'. Maybe somewhere deep in her subconscious, she did. Not like she'd ever admit that, though.

"At least Dominique's growing nicely." He clicked a remote-like object and switched to watching the blood fox. She was currently facing off against a never-ending onslaught of beasts that Elenei had corralled.

"However, there was no need for her to endure so much pain. Mira should've just linked all of her centers together. With her current strength and Dao, she should be more than capable of that." Despite thinking that, he knew Mira would never do such a thing.

The more help she provided, the more wanted to make the other party suffer. Since she was giving hand-outs, the least they could do was go through a bit of pain.

He soon got bored of watching Dominique fight one life-or-death battle after another and switched the 'channel' to Hana.

"Should I speed up her aging a bit?" He wondered before shaking his head. He should let the girl enjoy her youth before being tossed into a world of blood and death. Right now, she's just a mortal.

Most cultivators won't pay her any mind. It was already bad karma for cultivators to harm innocent mortals, which only became worse the stronger one became. Not to mention, harming mortals was nothing more than a waste of time for cultivators.

Thus, in a sense, she was still 'protected' by the world. Having Mira around counteracted that a bit, but she was still in a completely different world compared to everyone else.

However, that 'protection' was gone once she reached the Qi Condensation Realm. She would now be in the world of cultivators and be treated as such.

'I know she wants to get stronger, but it's smarter to wait until her body matures. Her foundation will be deeper, meridians wider and stronger, bones and muscles fully developed, and with Mira's training, be in peak condition once she breaks through.' If she were to start cultivating now, she'd be losing out on so much potential.

The same went for Dominique… at least before her transformation. After those trials she went through in the Firmament, combined with all the training and the Harmonic Trinity Technique, she made up for those flaws. Even if she hadn't fully matured, it didn't matter.

'She'll get it all back in the Mortal Shedding Realm, anyways.' He thought. Mira and the others didn't know it, but there was actually a secret ability of the Mortal Shedding Realm. As the name suggests, it's about leaving their 'mortal' selves behind and transitioning into something greater.

This is the only realm in the entire cultivation system allowing practitioners to fix flaws in their foundation and physical body. However, doing so makes each stage significantly harder, nearly impossible if they recklessly rushed through the realms.

Thus, if Dominique wanted, she could forcefully mature her body in the Mortal Shedding Realm. The same went in the reverse. Those old fogeys could bring their bodies back to their peak when they were younger.

Unfortunately, the Mortal Shedding Realm was hard enough on its own. Most opted out of doing such a thing. It would make the Divine Sense and Ascension Realms exponentially more difficult, but most didn't have any hopes of reaching such levels of strength anyway.

So, technically, Hana could start cultivating, quickly reach the Mortal Shedding Realm, and opt to fix her foundation. It's just that, as she's about a decade away from full maturity, she'd make each stage 100 times harder (and compounding) than normal, possibly more if she didn't perfectly cultivate each Realm prior.

Just to save 10 years early on, she might lose a thousand, if not tens of thousands of years down the road.

"Haaa… Poor Dominique… Forever a loli." He jokingly sighed, knowing that Dominique would opt to mature her body.

Clicking the remote, he moved onto Linnea but got bored. She was just meditating.

As for the last being, Rhydian was currently lazing in a large nest, ordering a bunch of weaker beasts around to provide her with treasures and food. Then, once that herd had used up its usefulness, she'd kill them all and move on to the next place, repeating the cycle.

"Efficient but boring. Though it is in her nature, I suppose." The Guardian chuckled.

Clicking the remote again, he switched over to Maria, only to raise an eyebrow, a bit surprised. "Eh? She's coming to the Northern Continent? About time! Celaine's coming, too? Hahaha! Wonderful!"

He then saw them approaching Captain Jorvik and couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Hahaha~! Poor guy! I really can't tell if he's cursed or blessed!"

In a sense, he was both.

"Well, he should experience good fortune with Maria on board, unlike her counterpart!"

He took another sip of his ambrosia to get a good buzz going before his expression changed slightly.

"Oh?" He smiled smugly. "It seems our little stalker is getting impatient." He looked out of the veil he had created and narrowed in on Serein, who was currently heading straight for their world with a small army behind her.

"Hmmm~~ That's quite a few Ascension Realm experts. What to do… What to do…" A bunch of options ran through his mind as he tapped his finger on the recliner, wondering which one he should pick.

He really didn't want to get too involved with Mira's life. From his point of view, if she couldn't overcome this tribulation, she wasn't worthy of becoming the inheritor of the Firmament of Limitless Death and Infinite Life.

Still, this was a bit much. If just one Ascension Realm being came down, it was unlikely Mira could do anything, much less if dozens descended. Their strength would be limited to a certain extent as they were descending from the Immortal Realm, but that 'god' clearly did something so that they'd remain in near-

peak condition.

"You know what? Fuck it. I'll just let them come." He decided, nodding his head. "Mira's been having it a bit too easy lately."

But he certainly couldn't just allow them to teleport right on top of her. So, he waved his hand. The veil rippled and changed slightly, something that went unnoticeable by all those watching.

"There. Now, they'll be dropped on the Central Continent." He wiped his hands like he had just finished something dirty. "There are a few old monsters there that certainly won't take kindly to invaders. Hell, they might actually look forward to it." He couldn't help but chuckle at the trouble Serein and her crew would have to go through just to survive, much less bother Mira.

He watched as they entered the world, only to be blasted back by an old man's palm technique that lit up the continent, covering the sky. Then, like a chain reaction, a blaze of elements and attacks reigned down on the unsuspecting intruders, pushing them out into the void.

"Hahahaha! Look what we found, brothers and sisters! Our entrance into the Immortal Realm!"

"Same rules apply. You keep what you kill."

"Then, I call dibs on the leader!"

"Fuck you! She's mine! She'll make a great cultivation furnace!"

"Heh~?! You think absorbing her essence could really push you to the peak?"

"No, but the loot she has in her spatial ring should!"

"...Now that you mention it…"

"Kill her! Kill them all! This is our chance to leave this shitty world!"

Like a bunch of possessed demons, all the hidden Ascension Realm monsters came out of seclusion and confronted the invaders. A chance like this didn't come around often.

Those in the Ascension Realm could live an extremely long time. Most spent their long existence in secluded cultivation, using all their energy on ascending. Worldly affairs meant next to nothing to them.

However, living that monotonously, 24/7/365, for thousands of years, some, maybe even tens of thousands, drained the spirit. On a year-to-year basis, they saw almost no progress. It couldn't be helped. Ascending was supposed to be hard.

Doing such a thing for so long could make one go insane. While they could fight others in the Ascension Realm for resources, there wasn't much of a point. They were each as poor as the next person in terms of items that could assist them. There were just too few natural treasures for people of their strength.

Not to mention, an Ascendant-Grade herb could take up to a million years to form. Who has the time to farm and wait for a million years?! They were better off cultivating!

Now that a group of "walking loot" had appeared before them, how could they not take advantage of this opportunity?

The Mortal Realm might have nothing for them, but what about the Immortal Realm? Such items should be in abundance!

As for how they knew these invaders came from above… Their aura was saturated in Immortal Qi(unofficial name). There were also too many of them.

The Guardian watched in satisfaction as the Central Continent was embroiled in a sudden war that could very well affect the entire world. "Ahh~ It's good to be young~!" He chuckled and sat back, sipping his ambrosia.