Fenrir's Journey : I Shall Devour The Heavens!

After taking the four rings, Fenrir noticed there was ambient energy preventing her from inserting a thread of her consciousness into them. It didn't really make much difference to her, however, as she unhesitantly tossed them into her mouth, causing the energy of the items contained within to break down within her mouth. She didn't care about the look of shock on the faces of the five men and swallowed down the energy-rich liquid, allowing it to be processed by her body as she said, "I am Fenrir, a Mercenary Queen. Since you have apologized, I will spare you this time. You should teach your disciples to show more restraint and humility. If they go around acting like idiots, they will likely offend someone that can't afford to offend...this is the only warning I will give you..."Huo Yan Er was shocked to the core when he saw the emblem that had been produced by the young woman before him. He knew she was strong, but the fact she was associated with the Mercenary Guild meant they had just survived pulling on the tail of a dragon. A cold sweat began to spread across his body as, much like the four men behind him, he bowed at a forty-degree angle and exclaimed, "Thank you for your mercy, Queen Fenrir! We will take your words to heart!"Fenrir gave a small nod when she saw the men bow, deciding they could be useful for information so she asked, "Tell me, what is the most powerful Ice, Water, or Yin cultivation technique you have heard of...?" Since she hadn't been able to get any information on cultivation techniques from the Mercenary Guild, even with her rank, Fenrir decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask a Sect. They were supposed to be a group of people who focused on cultivation so, even if they didn't have a method of their own, it was possible that they would know of a suitable technique located elsewhere.Though he was a little confused about why such a powerful person was asking them about cultivation techniques, Huo Yan Er buried the matter in his heart as he answered, "The strongest technique I know of personally would belong to the Palace Master of the Heavenly Moon Sect, Wen Xiulan. She is a known practitioner of the Sacred Ice of the Divine Phoenix technique...as for other techniques, I'm afraid this old man is unaware of anything stronger..." This wasn't entirely true, but Huo Yan Er didn't want to inadvertently offend the young girl by telling her about rare techniques that were only passed through rumors. If she came back, accusing him of lying to her, there would be little he could think of to escape her wrath the second time...Fenrir turned her eyes towards the massive mountain looming to the north, asking, "Is she at the top of that mountain...?" Even without waiting for the answer, Fenrir knew this was the case since the men were startled by her words. Since she had the information she wanted, Fenrir left the area without bothering to listen to what they had to say. She suspected they would try to warn her, or say something about trying to foster friendship between them, both things she didn't care about at all. Since she already knew where to go in order to increase her strength, the only thing Fenrir needed was a cultivation technique that suited her. If this person, Wen Xiulan, had such a technique, Fenrir would ask her to hand it over...whether she was willing or not...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'Wen Xiulan...I hope the compensation you seek is not too severe...for both of our sakes...)

Not caring about anything within Heavenly Moon City, Fenrir quickly made her way through the sky, heading towards the place where the city had earned its name, the Heavenly Moon Sect. It was located at the top of a massive mountain, nearly 300km in height, but Fenrir wasn't daunted by its size and quickly began ascending up the steep slope. Since it was very difficult to fly when you ascended higher, Fenrir ended up landing and used her instant movement technique, [Shundo], to race up the mountain like it was flat ground.Fenrir noticed that, the further she climbed, the greater the density of energy within the environment, especially those related to Ice, Wind, Snow, Water, and Yin elemental energies. At the same time, there was a higher concentration of Qi present, which Fenrir was able to suck in through her mouth, using her [Devour] skill to process it as simple as some people drew breath. She was trying to compensate for the expenditure of her energy while also increasing her strength, even if it was by a very marginal amount...Though it would have taken normal disciples several hours to ascend the steep slopes of the Heaven Moon Mountain, Fenrir had made the journey in under ten minutes. The increased density of energy made her feel very refreshed and, even though the winds were cold enough to freeze a normal person in an instant, she felt comfortable within the icy environment. This didn't last for long, however, as she quickly approached a massive wall that was several hundred meters tall and manned by several men and women wearing white robes with blue accents on them. Their sleeves had small moon emblems sewn into them while a jade slip was fixed to a loop attached to the sashes many of them wore.Seeing an unexpected arrival at their front entrance, a few of the gate guards came forward while their leader shouted, "Halt, traveler! State your business or leave this mountain. If you wish to join the Sect, you will need to go to Heavenly Moon City and apply through the outer branches first!" Since the girl before them looked very young, they assumed she was someone that wanted to joined the Sect and, though they were impressed she had made it up the mountain, there were procedures that everyone had to follow.Though their Sect Master advocated individual strength, their Palace Master still enforced the practice that everyone had to start from the bottom and work their way up. Those that didn't have the patience to rise through the ranks with hard work would also lack the patience to truly reach the peaks of cultivation. She believed that advancing too quickly, without going through the same experiences as your fellow disciples, would cause people to become arrogant and corrupt, causing more trouble than the investments into their cultivation would have been worth...Fenrir, unaware of these things, simply shook her head and explained, "I don't care about joining your Sect. I have come here to speak with the Palace Master, Wen Xiulan. Tell her that the Mercenary Queen, Fenrir, has come to speak with her..."Hearing the young girl before them refer to herself as 'Mercenary Queen', many of the guards were shocked while some amongst them couldn't believe it at all. However, none of them refuted her claim outright since offending someone at the Foundation Building Realm, especially when they looked very young, simply wasn't worth it.The head guard who had stopped her simply asked for verification of her status before sending a messenger to pass word to the Palance Master. They then tried to invite her into a small waiting area for tea but Fenrir refused them and said she will wait for Wen Xiulan to arrive. Seeing how she was behaving, many of the disciples began to worry that trouble had come to their Sect without warning...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'This place is very relaxing...hmm...')

Having been unable to even follow the movements of the young girl in front of them, Huo Yan Er knew he would be inviting a tragedy unto his Sect if he antagonized her. They had already heard the reports of someone wiping out the Fen Clan and, as it was likely related to the person who killed his nephew, Huo Yan Er had allowed his brother to go investigate. The fact that she was here, while none of their members had returned, meant that his younger brother was likely dead. However, though he would have normally sought vengeance, Huo Yan Er knew what kind of person his nephew was and it wasn't worth sacrificing their Sect trying to avenge the father-son pair of fools...Lowering his head in a subservient manner, Huo Yan Er deferentially stated, "Forgive us, Senior, but it was never our intention to seek trouble with you. Though you have the right to redress the offenses that were brought upon you, please do not direct your anger towards the innocent. If it would please you, allow us to compensate you for your troubles...I believe we would both benefit from a mutual friendship..." With their Second Elder bowing, the other four men also bowed, even the one who was desperately using his energy to keep blood from squirting freely from his arm.Fenrir snorted but didn't take any action to bring harm to the men, realizing they had already given up the fight before it even began. She didn't want to be the type to bully the weak and, unless they offended her, Fenrir didn't want to kill people arbitrarily. Instead, she pointed to the jade rings on each of their fingers and said, "I will take those rings as compensation. Since I would have taken them from your corpses anyways, it shouldn't cause you any significant loss to part with them willingly..."Huo Yan Er felt like he was going to choke on his own blood when he heard the young woman's words. The majority of his personal wealth and collection was contained within his interspatial ring, much like most cultivators. However, knowing there was truth in the woman's words, Huo Yan Er begrudgingly took off his ring and tossed it over, prompting the other four men to follow suit. When one of his friends was going to help the one-armed man remove his ring, Fenrir furrowed her brows slightly and said, "You have already paid the price...keep your ring..."This small mercy that she had given them came as a surprise to all five of the men, including Huo Yan Er. He realized that the girl before him wasn't actually a ruthless and domineering expert, but someone that their Clan had likely wronged unjustly. Now, instead of feeling grief towards the loss of his brother and nephew, Huo Yan Er was cursing them for offending someone they likely would have been able to befriend. Having such a young expert on their side would have been able to elevate their entire Sect to a higher status. Now, however, he had to part with more than a century's worth of accumulated wealth to pay off the debts of a dead man...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'Hmph...it seems there are some smart people in this world...')

Chapter 51: Lead