Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

"You all should be aware of this, but the Central Continent Competition is only 20 years away." Alexander began. After everyone nodded, he continued, "Do you think your Top Disciple of the younger generation will be able to enter the Top 3 this year?"

Everyone's heads dropped as they fell deep into thought, but after a few minutes of thinking, they shook their heads.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I don't think my Sect's Prime Disciple will be able to make it, but if he works hard enough, maybe he can make it into the Top 10," Damon said without his usual arrogance.

However, his answer surprised the others as they didn't think Damon would think so highly of his Prime Disciple.

"I feel pretty much the same way. Maybe if my Prime Disciple gets lucky sometime within the next 20 years, she could enter the Top 10, but it'd be hard to get higher than that." Flora answered.

The Ghost Reaper King didn't answer and instead held up a piece of paper with poor handwriting that said, "Assassins have a hard time during these competitions."

Although what he said was short, there was a lot of meaning behind those words or a lack thereof.

The Hidden Blade Sect is essentially a den of assassins. They work in the dark and kill pretty much anyone for money. Their headquarters is unknown, and even most of their Branch Sect locations are unknown. The only known ones are the ones the Hidden Blade Sect wants to be known, but even then, the general public is left unaware.

The foundation of a great assassin organization is secrecy. What good is an assassin if you know they're coming?

The next thing that makes a great assassin organization is the ability to gather and control information. The world is massive, and if every one of their assassins has to spend days, weeks, or months collecting basic information about their target halfway across the world, then that severely limits their business. For any great assassin, speed and efficiency are essential; the same goes for the organization.

But it doesn't stop there. Assassins must also learn not to leak any information that could jeopardize the whole Sect!

So, naturally, as one of the strongest Sects on the Continent, the Hidden Blade Sect has reached the pinnacle of these practices.

Therefore, the Ghost Reaper King did everything he could to limit any information the other leaders could gather about himself or his Sect. In fact, none of the leaders present even knew if what sat before them was his real body.

However, what he said wasn't wrong. Assassins generally do have a hard time in competitions, even ones that aren't staged. That's because even when thrown into a Battle Royale-like environment, the competitors are on especially high alert against assassins. This goes for almost any competition.

So, nobody was surprised by what the Ghost Reaper King said.

Alexander continued, "I also don't have any hope for my disciple entering the Top 3. In fact, I'm probably worse off than you guys. I don't even think he'll enter the Top 10, like every other year. Too many people use swords, after all. This doesn't change on the Central Continent. Instead, most people are used to fighting against sword users. Either that or their techniques are much more advanced," He sighed, but nobody ridiculed him for his words.

What he's describing is like if you were forced to fight a clone of yourself, except this clone had 100 years of experience, had trained all their lives, had a better weapon, and had higher physical attributes. The outcome is obvious; the clone would win 100% of the time.

Central Continent swordsmen are the clone in that example. Everything about them is superior to those in the Immortal Sword Sect. Their cultivation. Their weapons. Their techniques. Their experience. Everything.

Although that's nearly the case in every aspect, it's more prevalent amongst the swordsmen since that's basically the default weapon.

Still, just because the Top Swordsmen of the younger generation are superior in the Central Continent doesn't mean Alexander's Prime Disciple is weak and untalented. All Prime Disciples of the Top 7 Sects are talented and shouldn't be looked down on. They just aren't as good as those from the Central Continent, and that's the problem.

"Now, let me ask you this. What kind of resources or training do you think we should give our disciples so they can match up to those from the Central Continent?" Alexander asked.

They all fell deep into thought, but they were unable to come up with a definite answer.

"I'm… I'm not really sure. There's not exactly one thing that would raise the strength of our disciples by a notch. Pills, Inheritance sites, Ancient Battlegrounds, Uncharted Lands, arrays, etc. All these things are capable of that." Damon muttered, and everyone agreed with him.

Flora added, "Yes, but the level of these things is still a grade below those from the Central Continent. However, the Ancient Beast Mountain Range is an exception to this."

Alexander clapped his hands, "Exactly! So, forget about invading the Battle Maiden Sect! What we should really be focusing on right now are the beasts! They control all the good stuff on this Continent! Whatever the Battle Maiden Sect has is just a piece of the pie. No, they don't even have a fraction of what's here!"

The other leaders were shocked for a moment, except for the Ghost Reaper King, who showed no reaction due to his mask.

They had never thought of that! While they kill droves of beasts every day, it hardly occurred to them that they should invade the territories of the beast clans. Fending off the weaker beasts on the outskirts of the Mountain Range is already hard enough, after all.

How could they possibly invade the beast clans residing in the middle of the Mountain Range?

"Are you crazy, Alexander?! The last time the Top Sects dared to do something like that, they were wiped out. After that, the beast clans came to a consensus and 'gifted' us our current territories! They'd destroy us before we could even set foot on their lands!" Flora yelled, and the others agreed.

"That's right, Alex! It's impossible for us to take a firm foothold on the Mountain Range!" Damon declared.

Alexander snorted coldly, "Hmph! I don't know about you guys, but I don't particularly like living under the beast's watch and rules. Although we aren't exactly their subordinates, we aren't far from it. I want us to be treated as equals! I want my disciples to have access to all the resources the Mountain Range has to offer!"

"You aren't the first person to think like that, and you probably won't be the last, but the beast clans have dozens, if not hundreds, of Rank 10 (Divine Sea Realm equivalent) beasts! Our Human Race, at least on the Western Continent, at most has a few dozen Divine Sea Realm experts, and that's being generous." Flora raised her voice.

"Not only that but there are enough creatures all over the mountains to wipe out our Sects 1,000 times over! If we were to try and do something like that, forget about entering the Central Continent, we'd all be annihilated!"

Hearing all that, Alexander smiled, "Do you think we could even the playing fields a bit if we could match all those Rank 10 beasts?"

The three of them thought for a second before shaking their heads.

"It's not just about the number of Rank 10 beasts. The beast clans' foundations are deeper than ours. They'd surely have countermeasures against invaders. Hell, they're beasts, for crying out loud! They probably invade each other all the time!" Damon said.

"I agree. To add onto that, if we leave our Sects, who will stay behind to defend them and our disciples? We don't have the strength or manpower to keep up with the onslaught of beasts that is sure to attack the moment we show ourselves." Flora added.

The Ghost Reaper King held up a piece of paper that said, "I've heard rumors about an Ascension Realm beast living in the depths of the mountain."

That one statement, though not said, sent shivers down the leaders' spines. Although he said, that was just a rumor, that still wasn't a statement they could take lightly. There is no Ascension Realm human on the Western Continent, so if there really is an Ascension Realm beast, there's not much they can do.

Alexander took this information especially hard. After all, he had numerous plans to conquer parts of the Ancient Beast Mountain Range!

"Are you sure about this information?" He asked solemnly, but the Ghost Reaper King shook his head, allowing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief.

He regained his composure and released a wide smile, finally nearing the end of this meeting, "As long as there's not an Ascension Realm beast, I have found a way we humans might be able to fight back against the beasts and finally take control of a piece of this Mountain Range!"