Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

After Mira announced such a generous reward to her two companions, they began trying to come up with some sort of plan. The keyword here is ‘trying’. The three of them didn’t actually know anything about Natural Formations. They didn’t even know much about normal Formations!

Elenei came out of her shock and watched as the idiot trio kept coming up with ideas to get out of this place and realized that they knew nothing about Natural Formations, much less one that has illusion and spatial elements to it!

She couldn’t understand why Mira would even guess such a thing. It was almost like…

Elenei just thought of something that left her a bit unsettled, but she was sure that her speculation wasn’t too far off. Someone or something was watching them from afar and provided Mira with the necessary information.

All the clues point towards this conclusion. Core Formation Recipes. Knowledge on something that she shouldn’t have ever come across in some backwater town like Lunar Fox City and the Sects surrounding it. Elenei also had a vague premonition that she was being watched ever since Mira came back. Don’t underestimate the instincts of a Phoenix. They aren’t one of the most fearsome races of the Universe for no reason.

Elenei didn’t know if it was the one who gave Mira the inheritance or if it was the inheritance itself that was watching over them, but Elenei knew enough about the Universe to understand that whatever Mira received in that nasty place was definitely not ordinary so it wouldn’t be that shocking if she now had a protector following her around to make sure she doesn’t die by some old monsters.

With her thoughts now sorted out, Elenei decided to finally speak up.

“If this really is a Natural Formation, then we must first find the Core of the Formation. The Core is almost always at the center of the Formation and for any normal Natural Formation, it wouldn’t be too difficult for me to find it, but if this Natural Formation is truly what you say it is, then we can safely assume that finding this Core will be incredibly difficult, especially if you want to do it within the next 2 weeks.”

Elenei paused to let the information sink in before continuing.

“Natural Formations are also filled with resources and various treasures and this one shouldn’t be any different considering its rarity. You could say that the possible resources we could get our hands on in this place would make us wealthy even among some of the larger clans or families in the Center Continent, but that’s only if we can find them.”

“As for how we can get out of this place, there are several ways to go about doing it. First, we can wait until the Core runs out of energy, but the problem with that is we have no idea when that might be. Second, we can find the Core and break it. That’s probably the easiest method though breaking the core will definitely take some effort. Thirdly, we can look for flaws in the barrier of the Formation, but considering what type of Natural Formation we’re in… Let’s just say it’d be equivalent to looking for a needle in a stack of illusory needles. And considering Mira’s karmic luck, this possibility drops to basically zero. Lastly, when we find the Core, one of you can try and become the Master of this formation. That last option could either be the easiest route or the most difficult, it really just depends on the person. Don’t forget that although this Natural Formation is technically ownerless, it was born from Heaven and Earth. So unless you have the capability to go against the Heavens or are accepted by the Heavens then becoming this Formation’s owner won’t be possible.”

After Elenei finished talking, everyone had thoughtful expressions on their faces. They weren’t too concerned with the options to leave this place because as long as they find the core, then they’ll be able to find a way out. Yes, as long as they find it. That’s where the real problem lies.

It’s great to know that it’s in the Center of the Formation, but where is the center?

All of a sudden, Mira’s eyes lit up as she thought of a possible solution.

“I think I might have a way for us to find the center of this formation, or at least come close to it. So, this whole place should be in the shape of a sphere, right? All we need to do is travel in opposite directions, leave marks every 10 meters or something like that, then after a certain amount of time, let’s say 6 hours, we retrace our steps counting how many marks we made and start making assumptions on our current location based on those results. Then rinse and repeat until we find the center.”

Mira explained her thought process which caused Maria and Celaine’s eyes to beam in excitement that there was such an easy solution. Unfortunately, there were a few glaring flaws in her plan and Elenei was soon to point them out.

“That would work great if this was a normal Natural Formation, but this one has illusory and spatial properties! What if we get randomly teleported somewhere? What if the Formation mimics our marks and makes it seem like we are always in the center, when in fact we aren’t? Wouldn’t we be walking around in circles without even knowing it?”

Those were exactly the reasons why this Natural Formation was tricky. Luckily, Mira already had a solution to those problems. A very simple solution!

“Your blood!”

Elenei was stunned and felt like she just heard something ridiculous.

“Excuse me? My what?”

“Your blood! Hehe~ We just need to use your blood as the marks we’ll be using to track our location. Your body contains the bloodline of two Top-Tier Immortal Beasts, right? I doubt even the Heavens of this Mortal World can mimic your blood, much less a Formation. It can try to simulate it and can probably get pretty close to the aura your blood exudes, but I doubt it can mimic it perfectly and as long as it can’t do it perfectly then it’s fine. As for getting teleported around? That sounds like a huge pain in the ass, but as long as we can sense your blood, then everything should be fine. It’ll just take some extra work.”

“Oh! We could also use Rhydian’s blood as well because I don’t even know how high her bloodline is rated. She has the word ‘Empyrean’ in her species name so it can’t be that low.”

Elenei turned speechless at Mira’s reply and wanted to retort, but found herself unable to say anything. It’s true that her blood is not something that this Formation can even hope to replicate even if it’s just an illusion.

But… But… to use her blood for something like this…

It’s just degrading that her, a majestic and powerful Phoenix, is stuck in a situation where she needs to use her blood as a tracker!

She still has her pride as a Phoenix, you know?! Her blood isn’t just some random pigeon’s blood that one can find just about anywhere! Just a drop of her blood would cause wars even in the Immortal Realm! Yet, Mira wants to use it like it’s some random cabbage she can pick up by the roadside?!

BLASPHEMY!!

She’s unwilling to do such a shameful act!

Elenei took a few deep breaths to calm down before looking at the three girls in front of her.

“Unless it is absolutely necessary, I will not use my blood in such a manner. Rhydian’s blood will be more than enough and I’m sure her blood would actually be more potent than my blood in this scenario. Plus, that dumbass wolf might finally wake up if you start draining her blood.”

Elenei grumbled, but none of them were upset with her. Mira wanted to say something, but immediately stopped herself. She was about to start dismissing her pride as irrelevant, but Mira knew that saying that would be a bit too hypocritical. She also has her own pride and she would also be angry if someone wanted to stomp on that pride.

She also felt like it was about time her useless beast companion finally woke up and contributed a bit.

“Alright. We’ll do as you say.”

Mira nodded and started walking over to her ‘pet’ with a slightly demonic grin that sent shivers down her companion’s spines.