Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance Chapter 291 Inside Quake City

Chapter 291 Inside Quake City

Mira didn't miss the lecherous expressions plastered on the two burly men's faces and she couldn't help but curse in her heart.
She didn't understand why these fuckers even had those expressions on their faces. Not only does she look like an 8-year-old child, but she's wearing a baggy robe and a black mask. Hell, she probably barely looks like a girl right now. The only sign that might give away her gender is her hair, but even that is tied up in a bun to not get in her way. Even if they were degenerate scum, there should be a limit, right?
Mira originally thought that the people who lived in this kind of environment should have fairly reliable instincts. She knew that she had an icy death aura that was constantly surrounding her and it was almost impossible for her to completely hide the malice deep within her eyes. These two men should have been able to notice the danger she poses, but it seems their minds were already too far gone.
Mira was able to sense their cultivation as they got closer and found that these two men were in the 1st Stage of the Core Formation Realm.
Although they were a Stage above her in cultivation, Mira felt no danger from them and figured that they probably forcefully raised their cultivation to this level.
"Hehehe! Hey little lady, how about you follow this big brother here? I can protect you from all the baddies in this-!"
Mira didn't have the time nor patience to deal with such nonsense, so she formed an ice blade and swiftly removed their heads from their bodies.
Mira didn't move for a few seconds after she did that as she took in the scene in front of her. Her mood and seemingly her whole personality started shifting as she reverted back to how she was before grouping up with Maria and Celaine.
She's felt restricted for a long time, constantly suppressing her desires, and having to always choose a more peaceful route when she took Maria in. Now, she no longer has to suppress herself!
If she wants to kill, then she'll kill. If someone has a treasure that she needs then she'll take it by force. She can finally keep her interaction with people to a minimum. There'll be no need for peaceful solutions unless absolutely necessary. To top it all off, Mira won't have to deal with these types of situations anymore! Death is the only outcome for those who approach her with ill-intent!
After a few seconds, Mira came out of her daze, took the two spatial rings from their bodies and slowly walked into the City. She looked exactly the same as before she killed those two men, but the air around her was completely different. It was much more unapproachable and murderous.
Not only that, but if one was paying attention they'd notice her eyes took on a more demonic red color rather than the usual wine-red.
Mira slowly made her way in the city and was surprised that nobody really cared about the two dead bodies in front of the city gates.
There were a few people who were curious about her as they've never seen a little girl in this City before, but that was the extent of their thoughts. These people didn't miss the thick stench of death that loomed around her, unlike those two men from before, and knew that she wasn't simple.
Mira slowly walked around studying the city trying to get a decent grasp of the situation and it didn't take her long to understand that this place was a shit hole.
She didn't even feel like it deserved to be called a city because most of the houses and buildings were rundown. People were fighting and killing each other out in the open. The only buildings that seemed to have any sort of business were bars and liquor stores. She could hear the sounds of people having sex in some of the rundown buildings and even saw several gangbangs happening in a few of the alleyways.
There was no sense of order, no comradery, no half decent people, no stores, nothing. Just chaos, disorder, and debauchery.
Before coming here, Mira had heard a bit about this city from Sect Master Jane, but the woman didn't know much. All she told her was that it was a lawless place that the Mercenary Association controls, but that's it. Naturally, Mira wanted to check-out such a place because she thrives in places like this.
Though it seems Sect Master Jane was putting it lightly when she said this was a lawless place. No, this was a den of wolves where each wolf seemed to be from a rival pack. Everyone was at each other's throats!
Well, it's not like Mira's complaining as she preferred this kind of place where everything is done out in the open versus those other cities where the same kind of stuff happens but only in the dark.
Here, it doesn't really matter if her luck is good or bad because everyone in this city is the lowest of the low. She has to be careful of everyone here which in a way is refreshing. Plus, she doesn't have to worry about killing some young master and having his family chase her to the ends of the earth before eventually dying.
She can kill whoever she wants here!
A few hours after she entered the City, Mira felt her first Earthquake. That's when things started to make more sense and she started to understand why this place looked so rundown. The Earthquake she felt was more than enough to cause significant disasters back in her previous lives and would probably kill many people while destroying many cities or even small countries. And according to the locals, that was just an average quake that happens nearly every day.
Thankfully, this is a world of cultivation and everything is stronger so hardly anyone was killed and the damage was minimal, but Mira understood why nobody lived here.
Unless one had an overabundance of materials necessary for rebuilding and repairing their house or shop, then living here is nothing more than a joke. Especially if those types of Earthquakes happen everyday. It would be a huge waste of resources to try and build something on the surface. They would undoubtedly fall apart within a week or so if they weren't built out of strong, sturdy materials and had a deep foundation.
Another reason why nobody would do this is that such a building would definitely be overrun by people who wanted to take it for themselves. The original owner of the building would either be forced to run away or die in such a situation unless they were strong enough to protect it.
But that's the thing. If they were that strong to fend off so many people, then why would they live in a shitty place like this when they can go into the chasms, create a cultivation cave isolated from the rest of the world, and just live there?
After nearly half a day of looking around the city, Mira had a basic understanding of how the city worked.
It seems that, in general, the majority of people prefer to keep to themselves and stay out of trouble but a large minority of people don't care about this and prefer to do most of their business out in the open.
Not business like they are opening up a shop and selling things because that was quite rare in the city. More like they committed crimes like stealing, murder, r*pe, fighting, and other similar activities.
Those are the kinds of people who live on the surface in general, but they aren't the only people. There is a constant stream of people, otherwise known as mercenaries, who are both heading down into the chasms and/or who are returning from the chasms. These are the people who prefer to avoid useless trouble unless absolutely necessary.
Another thing to note is that everyone in this city is part of the Mercenary Association. That wasn't surprising to Mira because from what she gathered, the Mercenary Association building is pretty much the only place where one can buy and sell goods and services.
From what Mira could tell, the Mercenary Association had a monopoly over every type of industry in the city. What she found interesting though was that they didn't charge abnormally high prices for everything even when they had full control over the market.
Basically, the value of a Low-Grade Spirit Stone didn't change much which Mira thought was weird, but she soon understood why.
The people who live in Quake City and in the chasms are all decently powerful cultivators who could make money just about anywhere. From what she could tell, most of the cultivators here were at least in the Core Formation Realm.
The only reason they are here is because they feel like they can make more money and increase their cultivation speed here compared to other places. Obviously, if the Mercenary Association made people pay sky high prices for low-level items, nobody would stay.
Not only that, but people would come here, take whatever they can find in the chasms, leave the city and sell those items in a place where they will fetch a reasonable price.
Of course, the Mercenary Association could prevent this but that would cost an abundance of manpower and time for no extra gain. Not only that, but they'd lose their workforce! A workforce that was more than willing to work for them under the right conditions.
Mira found this whole situation funny because the balance between the Mercenary Association and the people living here is only tied by a thin thread. Part of her felt a sadistic desire to break this balance, but she knew she wasn't strong or rich enough for that to happen.
Anyways, Mira's found out everything she wanted to know about the city and its people. Now it was time for her to step into the Mercenary Association building.