Chapter 17 Lunar Fox City
Mira and the 10 other women started running to Lunar Fox City. Mira currently had mud all over her hair. She was wearing her animal pelt clothes and had on a black mask that only covers the top half of her face. Even though it covers her face, if you look hard enough you can still see her wine-red eyes. The black mask and her current appearance makes her look like a beast.
The 10 women slowed down their pace so that Mira could keep up with them. They were a bit surprised because she is faster than most people are at the Body Tempering stage.
It took them around 4 hours to get to the city with Mira's current speed. It was around midday when they arrived. The eleven of them then appeared around a kilometer from the city and slowed down.
This was Mira's first time seeing the city. It was huge for a city that seemed like it was located in the middle of nowhere. It had 7-meter tall walls made out of stone that went as far as the eye could see. Mira guessed that the whole city was surrounded by a stone wall. The gate at the entrance was a giant double-door wooden gate with an emblem of a white fox on each of the doors. This was apparently the Lunar Fox that the city is named after.
The ladies walked in front of Mira and started leading her to the gate. They soon made it to the gate where the 2 guards at the Qi Condensation Realm were standing. They were the same guards from the morning.
"Hello Miss Rineheart, how was your investigation? Did you meet the 'Forest Goddess'?" said one of the guards.
"We were able to complete our investigation," Ellen answered promptly ignoring the other question.
The guard was a little disappointed that she avoided the question, but didn't let it bother him as it had nothing to do with him. He saw a little girl with a mask and covered in mud behind them and decided to ask.
"Is the little girl with you?"
"Yeah, she's with us."
"I see. Well, thanks for chatting with me Miss Rineheart." The guard finished and let them pass.
Ellen, Mira, and the rest walked into the city together. Most of the women decided to go back to their families to report the situation, but Ellen and Ariel stayed behind. Ellen then spoke up.
"I will leave you in Ariel's care. She will lead you back to the Zaria family. I will go back to the Rineheart family to report that I've completed the investigation. If you need anything let me know. Farewell." Ellen said professionally.
Mira felt that Ellen was a very smart, punctual, and reliable lady. Mira just nodded her head and Ellen turned around and left. Ariel then looked at Mira and smiled.
"Welcome to Lunar Fox City. I will lead you over to the Zaria family and there you can find Maria. I'm sure she will be surprised to see you. For now, I will give you a bit of information regarding the city and where it's located. Lunar Fox city is located on the Western Continent. We are also located on the western side of the continent. There are 5 continents in this world. North, South, East, West, and Central. Each Continent is separated by an ocean. The Central Continent is the strongest for various reasons, but the main reason is that Qi is much thicker than it is on the rest of the continents. The further you go from the center the less dense the Qi there is. With Lunar Fox City located farther west than most other cities on the continent, we are generally known as the weakest city on the continent."
"The strongest person in Lunar Fox City is an 8th Stage Core Formation. He is the City Lord. The families and sects in the city also have Core Formation Realm experts, but they are lower than the City Lord. There are 5 main families and 5 sects in the city. The families are the Zaria, Rineheart, Wang, Silva, and Yang Families. The sects are Battle Maiden Sect, Immortal Sword Sect, 8 Profound Elements Sect, Heaven-Defying Pill Sect, and the Divine Beast Sect. The 5 families all have about the same amount of power. Nobody tried to mess with the sects though as they are just branch sects that the main sect has set up in cities all over the Western Continent. The Main Sect is located near the ocean that is bordering the Western Continent and the Central Continent. I'm sure you can guess what each sect focuses on."
"The Battle Maiden Sect only takes in girls. They teach women how to utilize their potential as a woman. Since women are generally more flexible than men even in higher cultivation. They teach you how to better use this aspect to fight. The Immortal Sword Sect only takes in sword users as that's the only thing they teach. The 8 Profound Elements Sect teaches one how to better use their element. They have a lot of elemental techniques that can increase one's battle prowess. Rumor has it that they also have places to help in comprehending an Elemental Dao. The Heaven-Defying Pill Sect only focuses on alchemy and generally only takes in people with an affinity for fire. The Divine Beast Sect is rather peculiar. They only deal with magical beasts. Anything regarding magical beasts. Abilities, evolutions, mutations, locations, the max rank of a species, anything. They take in people who have contracted magical beast companions. They also have lectures that you can pay to join as well that are open to the public."
Mira was taking everything in that Ariel was talking about. This city has more to it than she originally thought. Not just the families and sects, but just the common people too. Most people are in the Body Transformation realm and quite a few people are in the Qi Condensation Realm too. There are a ton of food stalls, restaurants, and shops. It seems there is a shop for everything as well. Beast parts, pills and herbs, weapons and armor, general stores, clothing stores, and magical treasures. There were also places similar to a mission hall where people will submit a request for something and someone will go out and do it for money.
A lot of people were staring at her as she walked down the roads. They were wondering what a girl covered in mud while wearing animal pelts came from. This girl was also wearing a mask, but when one would look at the eyes they'd feel a chill up their spine like they would die if they talked to her. Some people weren't as careful though as a young man approached Ariel.
"Yo Ariel! Why are you bringing along this little beast with you? You are even talking to it like it's a person. HAHA!" The young man said mockingly.
"I wonder." Ariel said not acknowledging him at all.
"Tsk, you're no fun. Oi, little beast why don't we form a contract and you can be my footrest HAHA!" the young man directed his attention to Mira and exclaimed.
The surrounding area's temperature immediately dropped and a thick killing intent radiated from Mira's little body. One could even see a faint red haze coming off of her body. The young man immediately stopped laughing and looked towards Mira. Mira was staring right at him. He looked at her eyes and saw that they were blood-red with a faint red haze coming out of the eye sockets in the mask. He froze. He felt like he could die at any moment as cold sweat started to form all over his body. He was regretting ever walking over here to mock them, but someone came from behind to diffuse the situation.
"Oh, Alexander Rineheart. What are you doing here?" It was a calm voice that came from behind the young man, Alexander Rineheart. Ariel saw where the voice came from and was glad to see it was someone from the family. It was Cole, Maria's father.
Alexander wanted to say something, but he couldn't. The killing intent was still there, locked on him.
"Little lady, could you give me some face and forgive this boy? I'm sure he was only joking around." Cole said with a hopeful smile.
"Why should I give you face? I don't even know you." Mira said in a low voice. Even though her voice was still childish, that only made it more eerie and scary.
Cole sighed as he figured that'd be her answer.
"I'll make sure that he doesn't bother you again. If he bothers you again then you can kill him and I will take full responsibility for it." Cole said still hoping to resolve this peacefully. Both Ariel and Alexander were shocked by his words. Alex swore in his mind not to mess with this girl again as he might actually die.
Mira raised her eyebrows at his words.
"Oh? Cole Zaria, head of the Zaria family, has the authority to allow me to kill someone from the Rineheart family?" Mira sneered but released her killing intent anyways. The surrounding area warmed up again and the pressure from the killing intent was gone. Everybody sighed in relief.
"Why don't you head back Alexander. I will accompany Ariel and this young lady back to the Zaria family." Cole said.
Alexander nodded and scurried off.
Cole looked at Ariel and Mira.
"Now then, shall we go?"
They both nodded and followed Cole.