Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

Hana paced around the room, wondering if Mira really had entered the city.

'Did she really come here? But why? Does she have some sort of grudge against the Lionel Family?'

'Or could it be that she's here for me? Was her taking out the Silvermoon pendant and then storing it a few seconds later supposed to be some sort of message?'

'But if that's the case, why would she risk coming all this way instead of just going back to where she came from? Don't tell me… she figured out that I scammed her!'

'That still doesn't make sense, though! Why would she come here just because of that?! It's not like she got hurt or anything! She was also able to escape Azaar's pursuit! So, then, why did she come here?'

Thoughts raced in Hana's mind, but she couldn't wrap her head around Mira's motive for coming here.

Even if Mira was angry at her, Hana doubted that someone like Mira would come all this way just to deal with a little kid.

'She has to be after something-! Ah!'

That's when Hana remembered how adamant Mira was about learning her stealth techniques.

'Fuck!! She must've come to force them out of me! Why couldn't she just be satisfied with what I told her!? It's not like what I said was wrong… I also warned her that only Silvermoon's could practice that technique!' Hana began panicking because she'd rather be in the Lionel Family's hands than Mira's if she were being honest.

'That woman is simply too unreasonable! First, she almost killed a small, weak, mortal child like me! Then, she made me traverse the mountains for days without rest. She also made me swear a heavenly oath not to spill any of her information! I didn't even see anything during my time with her!! I might really die if she gets her hands on me!'

To her, Mira was like an incarnation of evil! While the Lionel Family might be blackmailing her by threatening to kill her mother if she does anything stupid, at least they don't treat her like complete garbage!

She could probably still live out a below-average life in their hands, but at least she'll have a life; something she might not have if she were to fall into Mira's hands!

However, that's only if the Lionel Family can find her pendant because, without that, she's useless. If after enough time passes and they still can't find it, well, her end will definitely not be good.

Mira, on the other hand, is a wildcard. With enough benefits, she might even be able to get Mira to take revenge for her, but if she can't prove her worth, then she might lose her head or, worse, be tortured.

'She might also just give the Lionel family the pendant just to spite me. Wouldn't I never be able to escape this place if she did such a thing?' Hana frustratingly thought.

To her, there weren't really any good options. She might've been able to fool Mira once, but that was only because Mira didn't have any time to try out her 'stealth technique'.

Now that Mira had lost all her trust in Hana, it would be close to impossible to fool Mira again. She'd have to show tangible proof if she wanted to get Mira to move.

Hana thought long and hard about what she should do.

Should she ignore Mira or not? If she decides to see Mira, then what? Escaping this place is almost impossible for a weak little girl like her.

There's only one exit in her room, which is always guarded by two people at the Nascent Soul Realm.

There is a window, but it's over twenty meters above the ground. She'd be lucky to survive if she jumped out the window.

Thus, sneaking out was pretty much impossible. Her only chance would be if she could jump out of the window, but she wasn't nearly strong enough to… do…

"Wait. That might be able to work. It's crazy, but it's the only shot I have! Hehehe~"

Hana chuckled and began formulating a plan.

***

An hour soon went by after Hana felt her connection to her pendant, and everything was seemingly normal.

Suddenly, they couldn't sense Hana's presence anymore!

"What?!"

"Don't tell me the girl escaped!"

The guards rushed into the room but were baffled by what they saw.

Hana was relaxing on the bed, not doing much of anything. However, even though she was sitting right in front of them, they still couldn't feel her presence.

Hana hastily looked up, struggling to hide her smirk, and said in a panicked voice, "W-What? What are you guys doing, barging into a young lady's room like that?! Don't tell me… you, the distinguished Lionel Family guards, are interested in my b-b-b-b-bo-!"

"NO! You're wrong! We just couldn't feel your presence for a second there! In fact, I still can't sense your presence, young lady. Are you trying to pull a prank on us or something? Because I can tell you right now, it's not funny." One of the guards said sternly.

However, Hana wasn't fazed by this.

"Eh? Aren't you guys just trash, then? How'd you become guards of the Lionel Family if you can't even sense a little girl? I mean, I have no cultivation and am sitting right in front of you guys. How can you still not sense, then blame me for your trashy senses? Sigh… No wonder you were reduced to mere guards…"

The guards felt a few veins pop on their heads and their eyes twitch, but they withheld their anger. If they were to harm Hana in any way, they might very well lose their heads. Plus, what Hana said wasn't wrong.

She's just a girl without any cultivation. How could she purposefully escape their senses?

They weren't exactly sure what to say as they weren't warned about any of Hana's abilities. All they knew was that they needed to guard this room and prevent the girl inside from escaping.

Without being able to say anything to rebuke her, they walked out of the room.

As soon as they left, a smirk couldn't help but appear on Hana's face.

***

Nine days passed by in a flash, and Hana learned that her guards rotate every 12 hours. From sunset to sunrise and from sunrise to sunset. The guards she initially fooled were part of the night shift, fortunately.

During the last nine days, Hana only hid her presence when the night shift guards came to help solidify their trash sensory capabilities.

However, Hana was smart enough to know that they would never report their inability to the Lionel Family since they didn't want to lose their job or, worse, get killed for being unable to watch over her properly.

This was all part of Hana's plan to escape. She knew that if she tried to escape immediately, the night shift guards would find out almost immediately and would report it to the higher-ups, thus running her plan.

So first, she had to make them drop their guard. She needed them to understand that even if they couldn't sense her, there was nowhere for her to go.

And finally, after a week, they had dropped their guard. Maybe not completely, but now they only checked on her every 6 hours or so. That gave Hana plenty of time!

However, she still had to wait another few days until she could finally escape this prison.

Therefore, after another 2 days, at around midnight, Hana looked up into the sky and saw a full moon.

She felt strength fill her body while basking in the moonlight, and in a few minutes, silver wolf ears with black stripes and a short fluffy silver wolf tail with black stripes appeared out of Hana's body.

It didn't stop there. Her canines and nails extended, her hair grew, her eyes sharpened, and her whole body morphed to look like something akin to a werewolf.

Lastly, a silver crescent moon tattoo appeared on her forehead.

However, even though all these changes took place, she was still just a mortal without any cultivation. Although it wouldn't be a problem for her to kill normal humans like she was slicing up cabbages, she wouldn't stand a chance against someone who had tempered their bones.

Still, she was at least strong enough to survive a 20-meter drop! So, without hesitation, Hana jumped out the window!

She suppressed a scream using all her willpower and, in a few seconds, hit the ground.

*Thud!*

*Crack!*

"Ugh!"

Unfortunately, her body still wasn't quite strong enough to take a drop like that without sustaining any injuries, and she was unable to suppress her groans.

"Hey! I think I heard something over there!"

Hana heard a guard in the distance shout.

'Shit! I need to hurry up and leave this place!' Hana quickly ran off while suppressing her presence to the maximum.

Thankfully, the full moon bolstered this particular ability, making it easier for her to escape the guard's senses.