Over the last month, Mira and Maria were busier than they had ever been before. Not only did they practice the various applications of Qi, Qi Control, and techniques, but they also learned the Hidden World Technique from Hana.
Thanks to Mira's enhanced brain functions and comprehensive abilities, she didn't need to sit down and only focus on practicing one thing. She could practice her Qi Applications, Control, Techniques, and Hidden World simultaneously. Though typically, if she wanted to refine her Qi Control, she could only do it in tandem with her Hidden World practice sessions.
Maria didn't have the same comprehensive abilities as Mira, but they were slightly enhanced after breaking through to the Core Formation Realm.
Mira mainly used Maria as her punching bag over the last month to test her progress, and because of that, Maria also learned and improved rapidly.
After a month of hard work, the two successfully achieved the 4th Stage of the Hidden World Technique, [Desolate Earth]. The Realms before this were [Breathless Steps], [Silent Wind], and [Masked Scent].
Mastering all these stages allowed them to be silent, odorless, traceless, and their bodies wouldn't affect or create air currents as they ran.
They effectively became ghosts!
With Hana helping them almost all day, the two made swift progress but got stuck at the 5th Stage, [Heavenly Connection]. This stage actually involved the use of Qi, unlike the previous four, and since Hana was still a mortal without any cultivation, she couldn't help them.
Thus, unless they wanted to waste weeks of their time hoping to comprehend the next stages of the Hidden World Technique, they settled with what they had and moved on to something else.
Mira and Maria silently glided across the ground toward the entrance of the mine without leaving any trails behind. The latter had her sword out, while the former had 8 Throwing Knives and a dagger.
Normally, Mira would use a scythe here, but the inside of the mine is too cramped and narrow, not suited well for a scythe.
Patrolling around the Mine walked a group of three middle-aged men in the 3rd Stage of the Nascent Soul. They were barely paying attention to their surroundings, minding their own business, clearly bored out of their minds.
"Hey. I snagged a few Mid-Grade Spirit Stones from the mine. Wanna cultivate with them?" One of the men nudged the man next to him.
The other man shrugged indifferently, "Sure. Why not? It's not like we're doing anything."
"Fuck! I know, right? If only I had an Elder of one of the Sects backing me, I wouldn't be stuck doing this shitty job!" The man spat, and the others just rolled their eyes at him.
They all knew that was a dirty lie. He was just a talentless coward that had nowhere left to go. They all were. That's why they're stuck here!
"Alright. Go get Ben to cover for us so that Elder bastard doesn't come and chop us up!" One of them said, and the man next to him nodded and then ran off.
However, before he could take more than a few steps-
*Shing!*
-for some reason, his perception warped, and the world turned upside down.
'What?'
He tried to speak, but no words came out, and then he saw something that scared the living hell out of him.
*Thump!*
A headless body hit the ground with blood spurting out of its neck came into his view, and he couldn't help but think, 'Is that my body?' before he lost consciousness and died.
His two buddies had their backs facing him, but when they heard the noise, they turned around, and their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
A busty blonde woman in gold armor with a sword stood over their friend's headless corpse!
"What?!"
"When the fuck did she get there?!"
As the two pulled out their weapons, eight daggers flew in from the side, puncturing their temples, forehead, and heart. Their expressions were still laden with surprise and disbelief as blood gushed out of their bodies.
The two dropped to the ground without even knowing how they died.
Mira then materialized right above them, collected their belongings, and looked over at Maria.
The two of them nodded at each other and disappeared from their positions, running off to kill more guards.
***
On the other side, Nova and the others dealt with the few Soul Transformation Realm guards, who were a bit different compared to those at the Nascent Soul Realm.
On the Western Continent, with the Divine Sea Realm being the peak, a Realm which only a few dozen people at most have stepped foot into, finding people in the Soul Transformation is quite rare.
Although they aren't as rare as those in the Mortal Shedding Realm, as there are probably less than 1,000 humanoids who have reached that Realm on the Western Continent, it is considerably hard to find those with enough talent to become a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator.
If someone's in that Realm, there will between a vast difference in treatment between them and everyone below them.
In just a few minutes, Mira's group entirely cleaned up the outside of the mine, killing all the guards so silently that not a single person inside heard them.
***
Inside the mine, Mira, Maria, and the others met up with one another to make sure they killed everyone, not leaving a single person behind.
"Well, that was easy," Everly said, and the others nodded, but a few weren't happy, mainly Seraphine and Nova.
"Hmph! I didn't even get to do anything," Seraphine pouted.
"That's because you're too rambunctious, Sera. Everything's going smoothly so far. We don't need you messing everything up. You'll be much more useful when shit hits the fan, so don't worry. You'll have your time to shine," Eden said, trying to cheer her up a bit.
Seraphine's eyes glittered, and she nodded excitedly, "Mhm! I'm looking forward to it!"
Mira interrupted them, "Alright, that's enough chit-chat. Let's finish up this mine so we can move on to the next."
Mira turned around to descend into the mine but then stopped halfway and looked over her shoulder, her eyes glowing.
"Oh, and remember… No survivors."
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺