Yin & Yang Pleasures of Cultivation

Chapter 291: Great Return

In just a span of a few minutes, Darcel, Aniela and Masami were already a couple miles away from the Frozen Prison Domain. 

Upon leaving, the trio was surprised by several things.

Firstly, it was far easier to leave the Frozen Prison Domain than to explore it. 

While in the Domain, the trio always felt like they were going in circles with the repeated scenery. And sometimes, they could swear they were actually revisiting the same places.

Darcel fathoms the only reason they found the Royal Orb so quickly was because of the groundbreaking abilities his Chaotic Energy holds. 

Compared to this, leaving was just a simple breeze.

By simply flying far away from the Frozen Prison Domain as a whole, they quickly left the area. 

There wasn't any need to do complicated twists or turns. Plus, they didn't even encounter any more massive snow-white eagles.

However, the strangest aspect that had occurred was a loss of a distinct sensation. It was like when they were far enough, a chill that the trio didn't even realize was in their bodies suddenly left them.

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami all assumed that it was related to that haunting Demon spirit. 

But none of them were inclined to go back and check; they had much more critical tasks on their plates.

And as they traveled out far enough to where it seemed completely safe, Aniela and Masami suddenly dashed ahead of Darcel. 

They both promptly flew in front of him, causing him to curiously stop. For a while now, he could already tell something was bothering them, but he chose to wait until they were securely alone.

Then, like they were in sync, both girls crossed their arms under their varying size busts, and Masami spoke first, her tone being surprisingly serious. 

"Darcel, no way should keep those damn shady Mages badges! I think we have trouble brewing right under us."

"Indeed. I can't say I know everything about what they intend to do with us, but all of their actions just show how suspicious they are. Their first red flag came as soon as they somehow managed to find us among all the other ruined Ice temples." Aniela calmly spoke out her reasoning. 

Under this context, it indeed seemed like the girls were correct in their doubts. 

When recalling the Lightning Mages' actions, Darcel could admit they all were highly suspicious. Hell, he already deemed them suspicious during their brief exchange. 

With all this in mind, the logical move should be to immediately discard the Lightning badge. 

However, Darcel was genuinely hesitant to do so.

There was one thing that the Lightning Mages said that had undoubtedly piqued his interest. That is something about his and the girl's latent Magical Aura potential.

As they talked, Darcel could see it in each of those Lightning Mage's eyes. They all couldn't conceal the glint of greed, as if they all had just encountered great treasures. 

And since they all apparently thought this way, Darcel believed they could milk this for everything it's worth. 

Darcel took a few moments to organize his thoughts in a straightforward manner before telling the girls,

"Right, I know how suspicious those guys were. And most likely, they have some kind of treacherous plans for us. But I'm sure you two also spotted that greed within their eyes. For sure, they really value our Magical potential and probably want to use it for their own means. Meaning, we can take it for everything it's worth."

Aniela and Masami paused for a moment, their previous firm momentum leaving them. 

Of course, they had also noticed the strange glint within the Lightning Mage's eyes. It's what further pushed them both to raise this badge issue. 

And then, when Darcel brought this point to life, both Aniela and Masami could understand his reasoning. 

Mainly what they need right now is an abundance of high-quality resources if they ever want to make any kind of significant progress in their cultivation. And now that they are Mages, they would also need resources for their Magical progress.

Having access to two Mage group's resources seemed like an excellent way to gain a big start on this. 

Although, Aniela and Masami weren't entirely convinced. Despite how good it sounds, their lingering doubts couldn't be quickly cleared away. 

"That all sounds good, Darcy but.I'm still not so sure it can work so smoothly for us. Anything could go haywire." Aniela spoke out her doubts. 

"Yea! I mean, those guys might even see through us trying to play a fool out of them." Masami perfectly followed up with her own doubts.

Heeding the girl's lingering suspicion, Darcel thought it over for a moment. 

Almost immediately, a somewhat suitable idea popped into his mind, and he told the girls, "Alright then. How about this? We won't go to that group until we're far stronger than we are now. Once we're so powerful that they can't really touch us, we could also attempt to enlist that whole group under our command. Either way, they're not going to come after us now. And if they do, we'll be protected by the Siren Mages."

"Hmmm." 

Both Aniela and Masami grumbled a bit as they contemplated Darcel's reasoning. They stayed like this for a few seconds before Aniela relented first.

With a quiet sigh, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "I rarely ever see you make a wrong judgment call Darcy. I guess we can temporarily keep this badge for now." 

"But! At the first sign of danger, destroy that thing immediately!" Masami similarly relented but still pressed on her caution. 

Giving one last nod of assurance, Darcel took back the lead in front of the girls. 

Now that they were on the same page of agreement, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami continued flying back towards Azog Ice Town with greater speed.

.

At Azog Ice Town; the Siren Blood Mage Organization. 

As per usual, within the Siren Blood Mage group, all Mages were performing their daily tasks. 

From the first moment Darcel, Aniela, and Masami left their group, nearly all Siren Mages forgot about them entirely.

After all, those masked youths left their buildings seemingly as much of a failure as any other foolish cultivator. 

There were only a few Mages that were bored enough with what they're currently doing that recalled Darcel's group as a meandering talking point. 

Within the main lobby of their organization, one such group of Mages had Darcel's group as their meandering discussion. 

"Really, you should've seen it to believe it. Those three brats were practically oozing this hot gas of confidence. And you know what happened? They all had to walk out of here in utter shame."

One of the Siren Mages said in a disdainfully mocking tone. Laughter began to erupt between his other four teammates. 

"Haha! Seriously, when will these cultivators ever learn? They're simply too lowbrow to ever understand our powers."

"Heh! In all honesty, I still don't see why we need to enlist all kinds of trashy help. Ever since the Mercenary Exchange Event, both the Kilri Circle and the Trithua Rouge group have been cooped up into their places like cowardly hermits. Most obviously, they're becoming weaker while we only grow stronger."

As one of the few Mercenary groups that didn't participate in the event, mostly everyone in the Siren Blood Mage group felt as if they lucked out. 

With the losses of numerous powerful figures, Mercenary groups that were once all-powerful are now brought back to a contentious level.

At this rate, nearly all Siren Mages were inscribed with the hope that they could finally rise to the very peak of all Mercenary groups. They believed it was only a matter of time now.

And soon enough, at least the regular Siren Mages members were coming to believe their rise in power has no place for any cultivators. 

Right then, as that specific set of Siren Mages was about to continue their meandering talks, a loud bang was heard at the front door.

Nearly everyone in the lobby got suddenly distracted, immediately directing their attention straight at the entrance. And when they saw who had barged in, their curious gazes promptly turned disdainful.

Three familiar-looking masked youths stood tall and confidently at their entrance. Then, without any hesitation, the trio boldly strolled up to the lobby's main desk.

"Tch? This shit again? Are these three too brain-damaged to know it's useless?" 

One of the Siren Mages who were previously talking down on Darcel's group before spoke in a not-so-subtle tone of voice.

From his comment, it was like a dam of jeers erupted throughout the Siren Mages. 

Despite leaving for a few days, this cultivation trio returned to their Mage group almost entirely the same?

When inspecting the trio with their Magical Senses, none of the regular Siren Mages could detect even a trace of Magical Power. At this point, this cultivation trio would just waste their time!

As other Mage's annoyances continued to rise, the only one who had a different reaction was the high-level Siren Mage behind the main desk. 

And her reaction wasn't anything subtle. 

She outright stared at Darcel's group with immensely shocked eyes. It was like she was just fed mind-shattering news that violently shook her very soul. 

However, because Darcel, Aniela, and Masami were taking all of the attention, nobody had noticed her reaction.

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami were seemingly indifferent to the rising jeers and mocking comments until they abruptly stopped. 

Then, before any one of the Siren Mages could react, Masami's aggressively loud voice boomed throughout the entire lobby.

"So much bullshit without any knowledge." 

'Hua!' 

At that moment, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami didn't give any of the Siren Mages time to breathe, immediately unleashing their latent Magical Aura!

In an instance, Magical Energy soared out Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's bodies and whipped around the entire lobby like a spiraling hurricane. 

Now, neither Darcel, Aniela, or Masami's Magical Energy were particularly powerful. In fact, in terms of realms, the trio was still at the starting realm of Magical Energy. 

However, this didn't matter at all to the Siren Mages. At that moment, complete and utter silence engulfed the entire lobby.

Some Mages had their eyes protruding from their sockets; others even rigidly stood upright, utterly forgetting about what they were previously doing. 

Nobody wanted or could believe it. But, it was impossible to fabricate Magical Energy and Aura in any capacity. 

A multitude of intense emotions ran through everyone in the lobby. Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's latent Magical Aura weren't merely better than other weak Mage cultivators.

It was immensely pure and dense, almost like the trio were suns of Magical Energy. 

The final mind-shattering point was how compared to the Siren Mages who are far into the realm of Magical Energy, they all felt inferior to Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's latent Magical Aura!