Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Not far from the Battle Maiden Sect, in Snow Maiden City, Master Izaria and Ryuu had just finished watching the torture session. Their mouths were wide open as if they had swallowed a golf ball, and they could only stare blankly into space, not knowing what to think.

In fact, Ryuu's eyes had closed at some point as the scenes became too grotesque for him to handle. Although he'd killed beasts and even some humans before, not once had he ever tortured someone, nor did he have any intentions of doing so.

Thus, watching the masked man peel Erika apart as if she wasn't a living creature disgusted him down to the bone.

Hell, even Master Izaria's hair stood on end as she was thoroughly sickened by the sight of Erika's mutilated body.

"...Master… what was that?" Ryuu asked in a low voice, still having a hard time comprehending what just happened.

"This… I'm not sure. Maybe all those nasty cultivation techniques finally drove them crazy?"  Master Izaria answered with a shake of her head, "While everyone knows that the Unorthodox Faction is a bunch of vile scum who will resort to anything for power, they usually never step this low. There's no benefit to doing something like this. It only breeds unnecessary hate and disgust toward their own Faction."

She truly couldn't understand the motive behind such an action. From her point of view, broadcasting such a vile torture session was of utmost foolishness.

"...But it seemed like they were targeting Mira and Maria for some reason. I mean, that masked man did introduce those two as Maria's parents…." Ryuu muttered, a deep frown forming on his face. While he thought of Mira as a beautiful yet terrifying individual, that didn't mean he hated her. Rather, he quite liked the woman. What hot-blooded male youth would hate a goddess-level fox beauty like Mira? She was also talented enough to contend with him, which made his impression of her rise another notch.

However, even after only interacting with Mira for a day, angering her was the last thing he wanted to do.

Thus, learning that Maria, her lover, had just gone through something so traumatic, Ryuu felt that Mira might do something rash in hopes of satiating her rage.

"Ah! It did seem that way, didn't it? I can only imagine the pain Maria must be going through right now after seeing something like that. To make matters worse, they broadcasted their deaths to billions of people… and in such a horrific fashion too…" The more Master Izaria thought about it, the more pity she felt. She wouldn't wish what the Unorthodox Faction did upon even her worst enemies.

"Do you think we should stay here? You know, to help Mira and Maria go through these tough times? And maybe… prevent them from going crazy and killing everything that moves?" Ryuu said that last part half-jokingly, but Master Izaria narrowed her eyes.

'From the deep-seated rage, hatred, and killing intent embedded deep within Mira's soul, I wouldn't put such an action past her.' Her brows creased in thought, but a second later, her expression brightened.

"Hahaha! So, that's how you want to conquer those fair maiden's hearts, Little Ryuu? By giving them a shoulder to lean on and someone to rely on! How thoughtful!" Master Izaria clapped with a smile, "Very well! We will stick around and assist your two future wives! Hahahaha!"

Ryuu's looked away from his Master, his face turning red from embarrassment.

He wanted to deny her words at first but couldn't as they weren't entirely untrue. However, he really had good intentions and only wanted to help them as a friend and potential rival.

After having a good laugh, Master Izaria wrapped her Qi around both of them and teleported back up the mountain.

***

Somewhere hidden on the Western Continent, inside the enclosed space where the Fox Clan resides, Lisica had just finished watching the torture broadcast. A deep frown formed on her face, and she fell into thought, but after several minutes of thinking, she could only come up with one question:

"Why?"

It was such a simple question, yet it had multiple meanings.

Why did she just watch that? Why did the Unorthodox Faction do that? Why were they targeting Mira? Why show that to the whole Continent?

There were so many things wrong with what she had just watched that she didn't know how to express it any other way.

However, out of all her questions, Lisica was certain of one thing.

"This won't end well."

She said this partly because they were angering a nine-tailed fox-human hybrid, whose bloodline and talent should be similar to Dragons and Phoenixes. Yet, even if she removed Mira from the picture, the Unorthodox Faction wouldn't have a good ending.

Usually, the Unorthodox Faction obtains disciples through force or word of mouth. There are also plenty of Branch Sects that people can go and apply at, in which they recruit disciples every year or so, but this is most people's last resort.

Everyone wants to be the protagonist of the world and soar through the heavens, and using Cultivation Techniques that can harm their foundation is the opposite of what most people want. Still, if their talent is too poor, then it's better than nothing.

However, since the Unorthodox Faction usually does its dealings in the dark, with this one move, they've essentially shown the world how disgusting and evil they are.

'I can estimate that fewer people will want to join their Sects voluntarily in the upcoming years. More than likely, Unorthodox Faction disciples will be hunted down and killed in the name of justice by some of the Orthodox Faction Sects.' Lisica mused, but she didn't care too much about this subject either way.

Whether the Unorthodox Faction was wiped from the face of the Earth or not had nothing to do with her.

But what made her frown were the people behind this whole event.

'That guy named Cole said a name 'Sue Ming'. Is that the person behind all this? Is she the one that was searching for Mira? Why does this seem more like a personal revenge plot than anything else?' Lisica felt she wasn't too far off the mark there.

Her Fox Clan has the largest information network on the Continent and perhaps even the world. As the leader and as someone who has lived a very long time, what kind of things hasn't she seen?

Revenge is a common trope, even amongst mortals without any cultivation. According to her experience, what just happened made it seem like this 'Sue Ming' character had a deep, personal grudge against Mira.

With Mira's character, Lisica didn't find it odd that she might attract enemies. It's just… this time, the enemy was a bit too abrupt and powerful, leaving many holes in her analysis.

"Hmmmm~ The two are sure to clash after this, and I do not doubt that it might drag the Continent into chaos. The only question now is, which side should I take? On the one hand, Mira is part fox and extremely talented. On the other hand, Sue Ming is either strong enough or has the connections to bend the Unorthodox Faction Leader on his knees… What a tough choice." Lisica knew that the broadcast that just happened had to have been allowed by the Faction Leader, as it was impossible for something on this scale to happen without it.

While she was brooding over her decision, her expression suddenly distorted. Her tails stood as straight as an arrow, and all the hairs on her body went from being smooth and luscious to sharp needles!

"Who dares to invade my Fox Clan?!" She roared in rage, teleporting outside the building.

There, in the sky, Lisica faced 11 kingdom-toppling beauties, all exuding strong auras that went beyond their cultivation realm. The one leading them had pink hair, her nose was upturned as she looked at Lisica in disdain, and the aura around her was extremely overbearing-to the point that it wasn't any less than hers.

Lisica's frown deepened as she stared at the invaders, but she wasn't worried. Just like she thought after her roar reverberated through the place, 20 other fox women appeared in the sky, all in the Mortal Shedding Realm and a few even in the Divine Sea Realm.

The pink-haired woman in front of the foxes stared at them in amusement, not putting them in her eyes at all. Tensions rose as the two sides stared at each other for several minutes, neither one making a move.

That is until the pink-haired woman opened her mouth.

"You're Lisica, the head of the Fox Clan, correct?" She asked, but it was more a statement than anything else.

Lisica slowly nodded, still feeling a bit apprehensive about this situation.

"That's me. Now, can you tell me who you are and why you invaded my clan?" Lisica asked, her voice as cold as a winter's night.

The pink-haired woman just chuckled, not bothered by this at all, and instead asked, "I see… but what are you doing on the Western Continent?" She asked innocently.

However, hearing her question, Lisica's eyes dilated, and her body trembled for no longer than a nanosecond before recovering, but this didn't escape the pink-haired woman's eyes.

Lisica's tails waved around fiercely as if waiting for the order to attack, but she controlled herself and said, "I believe I asked who you are." Her tone was so frigid that the air crystallized.

"Oh my! How careless of me! My name is Sue Ming, and I'm here to have a little chat with you. Why don't you invite me in?"