Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

"So that's how it is, huh?" Aelina's clone muttered after old man Cyrus, the Sect Master of the Crimson Slayer Sect, finished explaining everything.

He didn't leave anything out. He explained how his disciple attacked Mira for her treasure, but he almost died to her, so he was forced to come out and save him. However, Mira planted a heart demon in his disciple, and in just a short two months, he began losing his mind. So, in order to save his disciple and dispel his heart demon, he ordered a few people to go capture Mira.

Cyrus figured that if his disciple killed Mira, then that should dispel his heart demon. He also said that he never ordered them to infiltrate the Battle Maiden Sect.

Aelina listened to his explanation, but truthfully, she didn't care too much about the fact that they captured Mira. As someone who has the potential to be a pillar of the Sect in the future or perhaps even the next Sect Master, Mira will have to go through things worse than this.

If she can't even survive something like this, then Aelina can only say that Mira and the Battle Maiden Sect weren't fated.

What Aelina really cared about was how little Cyrus thought about her Sect. The Battle Maiden Sect has many secrets, none of which should be exposed to the world lest a calamity befall the Sect.

While it's unlikely that the team sent to capture Mira would uncover some of these secrets, it's not impossible. Anything is possible in this world, and Aelina wasn't so arrogant to think that she knows of everything in this world.

"Alright, enough about that. Let's talk about compensation now. I think 10% of your reserves should be more than enough to compensate me for my losses!"

Cyrus nearly vomited blood, hearing Aelina's demand.

'What losses?! This bitch not only killed disciples of my Sect but also blew up three branch Sects! That shitty fox disciple of hers also implanted a heart demon in my disciple! If anything, I should be asking for compensation, you fucking thief!'  Cyrus screamed inwardly but didn't dare say anything out loud.

He didn't want more of his Branch Sects to be destroyed!

Still, he couldn't give up 10% of his Sect's reserves so lightly. That's decades, if not centuries, worth of resources! Doing that is the same as crippling the foundation of the Sect!

"10% is impossible! Please be a bit more reasonable. And before you say: "I can just kill you and take all of it." I assure you, you won't get a single thing if you kill me now." After saying that, Cyrus became oddly calm, and Aelina couldn't help but inwardly click her tongue.

'Tch. Old fox. Whatever. I don't care about this trash's resources anyways. I came here with another thing in mind. Hehe~' Aelina smirked inwardly.

"Fine, I'll settle for 2% of your Sect's reserves, a copy of all Human and Mortal Grade techniques you have in your possession, and 2 Peak-Grade Spirit Stones. That should be more than enough incentive to leave my Sect alone~."

Cyrus was a bit confused by her new demands. Although 2% of the Sect's reserves would hurt, for a large Sect like his, it would only set them back a few decades, which is nothing to a Sect with a history of thousands of years. Human and Mortal Grade Techniques are useless to them, so he's not really losing anything on that front. Every disciple in the Sect uses at least Earth-Grade techniques.

However, surprisingly, the 2 Peak-Grade Spirit Stones would hurt the most.

Peak-Grade Spirit Stones aren't like Low, Mid, and Late Grade Spirit Stones. For the most part, up until the Divine Sea Realm, Spirit Stones technically aren't needed. While using them can help boost one's cultivation speed without affecting one's foundation, they aren't needed for cultivation.

However, increasing one's cultivation in the Divine Sea Realm and above is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, without Peak-Grade Spirit Stones. There are a few reasons for this, but the main reason is the atmospheric Qi simply isn't dense enough to keep up with the absorption rate of someone at that level.

For example, although the density of Qi at the top of the mountain the Battle Maiden Sect resides on is almost dense enough to liquefy, to keep up with Aelina's absorption speed, she'd probably end up hogging all the Qi on the mountain!

Even then, that probably wouldn't be enough.

That's where Peak-Grade Spirit Stones come into play. Peak-Grade Spirit Stones have so much Qi that just a single one would be enough to increase one's stage in the Divine Sea Realm by one.

Of course, it's not like that'd happen overnight. It takes years or even centuries even for someone at the Divine Sea Realm to extract and refine all the Qi within Peak-Grade Spirit Stone.

There are also many other uses for Peak-Grade Spirit Stones. Still, most people just use them for cultivation because aside from alchemic products or special treasures, that's really the only way for people in the Divine Sea Realm or above to cultivate.

At least, that's how it is for people on the Western Continent.

Cyrus knew this, and that's why he felt very reluctant to give up any Peak-Grade Spirit Stones, especially to someone he considers an 'enemy'. Although he has more than two in his possession, each one is still incredibly precious.

Cyrus planned on giving them all to his successor to use, as his lifespan would probably run out before he could make use of them.

Thus, what Aelina proposed could almost be considered as crippling the future Sect Master of the Crimson Slayer Sect!

"Err… I really can't give you 2 Peak-Grade Spirit Stones. I can give you one, along with a few Late-Grade Spirit Stones, but two is too much." Cyrus countered, and Aelina pretended to consider his offer for a few seconds before surprisingly agreeing.

"Alright, that's fine."

Cyrus' eyes lit up as he could finally get rid of this bandit, but before he could go fetch the agreed-upon items, Aelina's clone spoke up again.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I'll come back in five years to fetch that kid who tried to kill my disciple a few months back. The two need to settle their differences without us, the older generation, interfering, don't you think? Don't worry. Even if she dies, I won't pursue this matter. However, I expect the same thing from you. Alright, now you can go get the stuff I asked for." Aelina's clone waved her hand in dismissal, causing the old man's face to darken once again.

When has he, the Sect Master, ever been treated in such a way?

This bitch comes into his home, kills his people, steals his resources, and even dares to order him around like he's some measly servant?! If it weren't for the fact that he knew he couldn't win against the entity before him, he would've already attacked!

However, he knew it was useless even if he did attack. The thing in front of him wasn't even a real person! It was just a clone or an avatar! So, even if he did attack, it'd just be a waste of time and energy.

Not to mention, the resulting impact of their clash would obliterate his Sect's headquarters. He might also lose all his Branch Sects as well, effectively destroying the Crimson Slayer Sect as a whole.

There's too much risk involved in attacking the entity in front of him with literally no benefit.

Therefore, he could only grit his teeth and do as she said. At this point, he was just glad she didn't loot the entire fucking treasury!

With a slight nod, the old man left, and within a few seconds, he returned with a spatial ring with everything she asked for inside it.

He silently tossed it over to Aelina's clone, allowing her to inspect what's inside.

As soon as she saw what's inside, Aelina's main body smiled widely. This was an incredibly abnormal occurrence, considering her face was always neutral, but Aelina couldn't help.

With little to no effort, she got a Peak-Grade Spirit Stone, 2% of the Crimson Slayer Sect's wealth, and 20 Late-Grade Spirit Stones.

But that's not the reason why she was so happy.

She found 2 Cultivation Techniques she's been searching for, for a long time.

One was the Human-Grade technique, [Blood Extraction].

The second was a Mortal-Grade technique called [Blood Infusion].

Although on the surface, these techniques are considered evil and trash as they force one to absorb the blood of other living beings to cultivate, leaving the user with one of the worst foundations imaginable. That's only on the surface.

In actuality, these two techniques have a much deeper history, one that Aelina was looking forward to uncovering.

The clone grasped the ring and said, "It's a pleasure doing business with you."

With that said, the clone disappeared, leaving an extremely angry Cyrus behind.