Chapter 431: Found

'Now, let's dance!' Mira grinned and stepped forward to attack Number Three.

"Oh no, you don't!" Number One's flaming sword came crashing down on Mira!

*BANG*

Mira raised her scythe and blocked the attack, but she was still sent flying by the sheer power behind the attack.

'Fuck! I could barely react to that attack! Is this the true power of someone in the Nascent Soul Realm?' Mira thought to herself as she somersaulted in the air and gracefully landed on her feet.

The playful grin was now wiped off her face, and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

'It seems I may have underestimated them, but no matter. I'm not the same person from two months ago.'

Mira quickly regained her bearings and decided to focus on Number One for now. With her perception and instantaneous reflexes, she should be able to dodge Number Two and Three's attacks for now.

Number One noticed that Mira wasn't injured despite taking a hit from him. Although she did block it with her scythe, that attack still should've done considerable damage to her if she were a normal Stage 1 Core Formation Realm expert.

'It seems that old man was right. This girl is far from ordinary. No, I can't let her live past today! Who knows what kind of trouble she'll bring to the Sect! I'm sorry, old man, but even if we have the choice of capturing her, she still has to die today.' Number One thought to himself.

Killing Intent exuded from his body as he stared maliciously at Mira.

He took a unique stance and began gathering Qi around his sword, legs, and arms. Flames began swirling around him, and the temperature in the surrounding area rose greatly.

The trees caught fire, and the ground turned black.

Number Two and Three looked at Number One in surprise, but they, too, prepared their own attacks.

Mira felt immense danger from whatever Number One was preparing to do, and for the first time in a very long time, she wasn't sure what she should do.

Normally, in a situation like this, she would unhesitatingly charge in and disrupt this power-up, but she felt like it was already too late to do that. By the time she reached Number One, the attack would've already been unleashed, and she would then be forced to take the brunt of the damage.

However, she felt like running away wouldn't solve anything. In such close proximity and with how fast someone in the Nascent Soul Realm is, she'd still get caught up in the attack.

She could try and dodge, but her instincts told her that she wouldn't be able to dodge this attack. Although Mira didn't know why she felt that way, she trusted her instincts.

All that's left are her tails, but most of them wouldn't be very useful in this situation. The only ones that might be of some use would be her Golden Tail and Sapphire Tail(Shield). Maybe her Icy Blue tail would also be useful if she used her increased ice affinity and strength to create a shield around her.

However, she doesn't have nearly enough time to create a shield that could possibly block this attack in time.

'Heh. It seems like you're trying to take me out in a single blow, but do you think I'll just let you take my life just like that?!' Mira smirked and gripped her scythe with all her strength.

Instantly, she entered a fully focused state. Her brain was quickly analyzing the situation at near instantaneous speeds.

After it gathered all the necessary information, she immediately took action on how she could make the most out of the situation.

Her Sapphire and Icy Blue tail were activated, creating a blue barrier around her while also boosting her ice affinity.

Mira used every bit of her Qi to create a super dense and sharp edge around the blade of her scythe. She could've chosen to create an ice shield around her now that she's entered a pseudo-enlightened state, but subconsciously, Mira felt like doing that would be wasting some of the advantages she could take in this situation.

While turtling in a shield might be the best way to survive a deadly attack in some scenarios, this is not one of them.

The attack that Number One is charging up is plenty strong enough to go through both her Sapphire Tail's shield and an ice barrier. To make things worse, if she used everything on defense and still survived, she would be unable to attack. At least like this, she's still able to attack and can hopefully deal damage to her opponent as well.

Mira then flexed every muscle in her body that's used when swinging her scythe horizontally.

With the remaining time left until Number One attacked, she built up whatever momentum she could in her scythe and pushed her Turquoise Tail's ability(Perception) to the max.

Lastly, Mira coated her scythe in all of the hellish aura made by her cultivation technique.

At this exact moment, Mira felt a jolt of electricity run through her body and mind. No, it wasn't an attack, but it was more like her body and mind were in perfect sync right now.

Her body and mind were one at this moment, perhaps one of the most dangerous yet exhilarating moments in Mira's life!

She felt perfect, almost like she had reached a new profound understanding of her body.

Her eyes opened slightly, and although they were glowing with a crimson light, they were as calm as a lake.

Flames continued to condense and swirl around Number One for another two seconds before his eyes flashed, and he made his move.

*SWOOSH*

*ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRR*

Number One seemingly disappeared from his position, but what was left in his place was the formation of a large serpent made of fire'

'Descent of the Fire Serpent-First Stage! Die you bitch!' Number One shouted in his mind as he unleashed his technique and dashed at Mira.

The head of a flaming serpent formed around his sword as he jumped in the air above Mira's head and descended on her like a guillotine ready to behead its victim!

Surrounded by flames in the form of a giant fire serpent dozens of meters long, Number One fell from the sky, not giving Mira any time to react!

"DIE!"

Number One yelled as his sword fell on Mira's body.

Mira watched all this happen with eyes as calm as the surface of a lake. With her body primed and her scythe ready to kill, she used her golden tail to create a counter-force to help her not only partially sidestep the attack, but to create just a bit more momentum.

Then, with seemingly casual movements, her scythe horizontally swiped the air where Mira predicted Number One would be in another fraction of a second.

In that instant, Mira felt like the wall preventing her from learning Scythe Intent was quickly crumbling, and if she were given a bit more time, maybe she would've been able to make a breakthrough. But unfortunately, Mira didn't have that luxury.

As soon as Mira had that feeling, she and Number one collided.

*Ting*

...

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

An apocalyptic explosion resounded throughout the surrounding area. Apart from large chunks of the ground flying and scattering about, two silhouettes also shot through the air like a ragdoll at extreme speeds.

Unfortunately, dust and ash covered the area, so visibility was extremely low, causing Number Two and Three to lose sight of Mira and Number One.

The two of them were preparing attacks to back up Number One in case Mira was still alive, but they didn't know that he would cause such massive destruction! All life, except for them, was incinerated, and a large cobweb of cracks spread for hundreds of meters, maybe more around the blast radius.

Aside from that, such an explosion definitely caught the attention of all the surrounding disciples and, most likely, even a few of the nearby higher-ups of the Sect. Number Two and Three instantly realized this and knew they were in quite a predicament.

To them, as disciples of an Unorthodox Sect, getting captured is guaranteed death. Due to the nature of those in an Unorthodox Sect, the Sect has come up with a way to prevent their disciples from leaking sensitive information.

The way they prevent this differs from person to person and is also different in almost every generation, but the result is the same. Anyone who tries telling information to anyone not related to the Sect will die! It doesn't matter whether they are conscious of it or not. As long as the information comes from them, they will die.

So, without hesitation, they began looking for Mira and Number One. They didn't have much time as they could sense that numerous people were currently on their way over right now.

Luckily, the two of them are relatively strong and can search the surrounding area quickly.

"I found them!"