A few days after Sect Master Jane made it back to the Battle Maiden Sect, she announced the Inter-Sect Tournament to everyone. She informed the disciples that the tournament will be held in Lunar Fox City and that only the Top 15 Core Disciples would be able to compete in the tournament. Hearing these words straight from the Sect Master's mouth made their competitive spirits soar.
This wasn't the end of it though as the Sect Master talked about the Secret Realm. She explained the various benefits that the Secret Realm can bring along with the treasures that are held within it. And only by doing well in the tournament would they be able to enter such a precious place. This only further increased the disciple's desire to get stronger.
Though there was only a year left, that doesn't mean that progress can't be made. The disciples started to take things a bit more seriously now that the Secret Realm is within their grasps. This didn't affect the training atmosphere that has gone through the Sect in the past year, but the mindset of the disciples was more determined than before.
The Sect Master was pleased to see her disciples working so hard so she just left them to their own devices and waited for an opportunity to speak to Mira.
After a few days, Mira was called to the Sect Master's office.
"Hello, Mira. I can see that you are improving little by little every day and I'm glad that you're helping our Elders by sparring with the other disciples." The Sect Master said with a gentle smile. Mira just slightly nodded her head waiting for her to get to the point.
"Ahem, I brought you here today to discuss some things about the tournament with you. To be honest, I'm a little nervous to bring you to the tournament. As you may know, the cultivation world is mostly dominated by males. The Inter-Sect tournament is no different. Many hot-blooded youths will be participating and our Battle Maiden Sect is full of beautiful women. They might come up to you trying to start some sort of trouble, but I hope you don't take offense to their naivety." The Sect Master said with a calm voice.
Mira narrowed her eyes when she heard this. She knew what the Sect Master meant by this. She wanted her to just be a good girl and deal with it. If things get out of hand, don't do something that will put the Sect in a tough spot.
"I'd rather kill the chicken to scare the monkey, Sect Master. If you want to prevent things from getting out of control then you'll have to find another way to deal with it. But don't worry, I know when and when not to cause trouble. As long as nobody tries anything funny, I won't make a move." Mira said slowly. The Sect Master started feeling a headache.
She knew that with Mira's beauty, even if she wears a mask, there will probably be countless people trying to hit on her. She also knew that Mira wasn't lying, she would definitely kill them if they tried to make a move on her.
The Sect Master started rubbing her temples and sighed.
"I got it. I'll make some preparations beforehand, just don't go looking for trouble." The Sect Master said lightly. The only thing she could think about right now is how troublesome Mira is. The Sect Master doesn't want to see her disciples being taken advantage of, but Mira pushes this to the extreme. There's also no good way to handle this. Mira's not quite strong enough to protect herself from the Elders of the various Sects. Even if she has a good reason to kill a disciple from another Sect, she won't be able to get out of it alive unless the Battle Maiden Sect protects her. The Sect Master could only sigh in resignation.
Mira left the office and went back to her training. Time passed by swiftly.
The disciples were making incredible progress during this period of harsh training. The fight for the Top 15 Core Disciples was unbelievably fierce. The Top 5 have basically already been decided. The Top 2 being Alexa and Cleo, 3rd being Mira, 4th is Jade, and Maria actually making it up to 5th place in the Core Disciple rankings.
Maria tried to fight with Jade in the arena on several occasions and after many intense fights, Jade would barely win all of them. Though the gap between the two was slowly closing due to Elder Bridget's teachings. Mira wanted to spar with Alexa and Cleo, but those two were never in the Sect so she never had a chance to fight them. If Mira could make it to the Late-Houtian Stage, she wouldn't have to worry about her strength lacking while facing the two of them.
Mira wasn't sure if she should take a pill to boost her cultivation or not so she can make a breakthrough into the next stage. The reason she was a bit hesitant to take pills to help boost her cultivation was that she didn't want it to ruin her foundation. Right now, she had a rock-solid foundation but if she uses a pill to boost her cultivation then she'll have to spend more time consolidating it. Consolidating is the process of letting her body get used to her newfound strength. If your body doesn't adapt and stabilize before your next breakthrough, then your cultivation will only get worse and worse before you find it impossible to continue cultivating. Of course, some pills and treasures can prevent this, but they are incredibly rare.
Mira was extremely hesitant to do this and decided that she'll see how far she can make it without any help. If she's almost able to breakthrough, then she'll take the pill to help push her over the edge, but if she's not that close then she'll just wait.
Even though the disciples were training like crazy over these next few months, the Sect wasn't that hectic.
Dominique was also making great progress in her training and actually made it to the Meridian Opening Stage over the last year. She could've made it to the Qi Condensation Realm already, but Mira wanted her to grow a bit more along with prioritizing her physical body. The stronger her body is in the Qi Condensation Realm, the better it'll be for her.
The other disciples also loved Dominique. Seeing a little girl like her working so hard inspired quite a few of them. They all knew that Mira was training Dominique, so they didn't have any problems with her staying here but there were plenty of rumors between the two.
Some thought that Dominique was Mira's that she ran away from home with. Others didn't care as much and just thought of her as Mira's disciple. But no matter what the other Disciples thought, whenever they'd see Mira with Dominique together they'd always think that she was her child. They both came out of nowhere, they both have different hair colors, and they are both crazy hardworking. Dominique also looks at Mira with eyes full of love and admiration which only furthers this thought.
Dominique soon turned into something like a mascot for the Sect. Though Dominique didn't realize this as she was only focused on training.
The days passed by and soon they were only around a month away from the start of the Inter-Sect Tournament.
On this day, Mira was on her way to pick up Celaine. It's been around 2 years since Mira dropped her off and she was looking forward to seeing her progress.
When she entered the ruins and walked towards where she thought Celaine might be, she felt some fluctuations in the air and wondered what was happening. When she walked over to the source, she saw the Caretaker watching over Celaine as she tried breaking through to the Foundation Realm. Honestly, Mira was a bit surprised at how fast Celaine made it to the Foundation Realm. Over two years ago, she was still in the early stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, and in a little, over 2 years she advanced an entire realm.
Normally she wouldn't have been able to do this, but the trial shaved off several years of cultivating and Mira guessed that she probably used the Energy Gathering Pill to help breakthrough to the Foundation Realmbreak through.
After many hours of waiting, she felt Celaine's aura rise higher and higher. At the end of it all, she finally sensed that she successfully broke through to the Foundation Realm. Celaine slowly opened her eyes and had a large smile plastered on her face. She slowly stood up and walked towards the Caretaker only to notice that someone else was standing next to him. Her body froze up as she stared at the person that was the cause of all her nightmares!
"You!"
Mira sized up Celaine and slightly nodded.
"It seems like you took my advice. At least you didn't waste the last 2 years. Gather your things, it's time to go." Mira said as she turned around to leave.
"Not like I had a choice!!! I had to kill them all even if I didn't want to! Why'd you send me to such a hell hole?! Do you know how much I suffered?! I know I got stronger, but I would've rather stayed at the Sect and slowly progressed! Then I wouldn't have had to go through this crap!" Celaine started to release the 2 years of pent-up rage she felt towards Mira.
But Mira just ignored her and walked away. Though she was somewhat satisfied with the behavior Celaine was showing. Not as meek and weak-willed as before. She was looking forward to sparring with her.
Not long after, Celaine gathered her things and reluctantly walked over to Mira. They left the area soon after that.
On their way back, Mira informed her about some of the things happening in the Sect and that if she wants to participate in the Inter-Sect Tournament then she needs to be in the Top 15 Core Disciples. Before Celaine left, she was already in the Top 15, but she slowly got pushed out after all of the battles and needs to regain her position.
Mira knew that Celaine shouldn't have a problem with this. Celaine also shared some of her experiences in the trial. She was able to complete it and most of the rewards were normal. She also got a Low-Stage Heaven Grade Saber. This one was many times better than her previous weapon and Celaine immediately fell in love with it.
The two of them soon made their way into the Sect where Celaine would make her debut after being away for 2 years.
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