Immortal Ice Empress: Path to Vengeance

A few days later, Celaine and Maria finished comprehending, studying, and memorizing the technique Kayda handed out to them.

They got up and made their way over towards Mira and Kayda, who were in the middle of talking. Well, it was mostly Kayda talking, but Mira would occasionally chime in.

Mira noticed that people approaching them and looked over.

"Good, you two are finally done," Mira said and got up. She was ready to begin. She could've started without them, but decided to spend this time getting more acquainted with Kayda.

It seemed Kayda had the same idea and probably wouldn't have let Mira begin even if she wanted to.

"Heh heh heh! This Great One will now lead you, weaklings, to the place where your suffering will take place!" Kayda said with a smug look on her face and started walking away.

The three of them followed after her and soon made it to a tunnel that was a slight angle to allow people to walk down.

Kayda didn't say anything and just started running down this tunnel. Mira and the others followed suit but their speed was no match for Kayda's even though she's probably only using a fraction of her speed.

They ran for what seemed like hours, maybe days until they finally spotted a light at the end of the tunnel. Except for their hardship finally coming to an end, this was only the beginning of the pain to come.

""FUCK!!"" The three of them cursed at the same time when they felt the heat coming from the light.

"You might want to remove your clothes before coming any further. They won't last long down here. Heh heh heh!" Kayda's voice resounded throughout the cave and the three started stripping.

Kayda then came forward and blocked a lot of the heat for them so they could approach the magma at the bottom of the tunnel.

The three could only grit their teeth and follow Kayda since they didn't want to ruin this opportunity.

It didn't take them long for them to arrive near the magma and even with Kayda blocking most of the heat they could still feel how hot the magma was. They felt a heavy pressure weighing on them while standing in the vicinity of it which just showed how hot it was.

"This is the coldest magma pool here. It is useless to this Great One and its only purpose is to torture weaklings such as yourself! Heh heh heh!" Kayda informed them which caused them to pale.

Even Mira had little confidence in actually being able to succeed and decided to voice her concern.

"Are you sure we can even survive, Sister Kayda? I'm confident that we would turn to ash as soon as you retracted your aura. You wouldn't get much entertainment out of us only suffering for only a second, now would you?" Mira chose her words carefully and was subtly asking for assistance from Kayda.

Kayda heard Mira and put on a thoughtful expression like she didn't think of this beforehand. Their bodies trembled when they noticed that Kayda hadn't even thought of this. They almost died for nothing due to this idiot's negligence!

"Hmmm… You are right, Mira! How can I enjoy your suffering if you die so quickly?! Very well, I will make sure you don't die so quickly! That way, I'll be able to enjoy the show that is about to come! Heh heh heh!" Kayda said which made the three sigh in relief.

They didn't feel good about leaving their lives in the hand of this idiot, but do they have any other choice? This is the perfect place to cultivate this technique and they also had an actual Magma Dragon looking out for them. It doesn't get much better than this.

"Alright, puny mortals, let's get on with it! Don't make this Great One wait!" Kayda said and the three reluctantly stepped towards the magma.

They stood at the edge and just couldn't bring themselves to jump in the magma. Even Mira was a bit reluctant since her life and death were now in the hands of someone else. Someone that she didn't deem smart enough to be able to handle things properly, but she could only shrug her shoulders and resign herself to her fate.

Before they could even make a move, the three of them were lifted into the air and dropped into the middle of the magma.

Each of them was separated by about 100 meters. They looked up and saw Kayda walking towards them while preventing any magma from actually touching them.

"I said, don't keep me waiting! Now, let's begin!" Kayda said and removed part of her protection.

Mira, Maria, and Celaine's minds shook as they felt the scorching hot magma come in contact with their skin.

"NnnGGHH!!" Maria and Celaine grunted in pain while Mira's face contorted in pain.

They regained their bearings and began to absorb the minuscule amount of magma into one of their meridians like the technique instructed.

A tiny stream of magma made its way into their bodies and was sucked into their meridians. The magma ate away and burned everything in its path.

The Qi in their meridians were instantly turned to nothing and this continued until there was nothing left.

After finishing the process for the first meridian, they moved onto the next one.

They had to do this for all Eight Extraordinary Meridians and the Twelve Principle Meridians, so 20 times in total, before they could move onto the next step.

Kayda noticed that they completed this step and removed a bit more protection.

They grunted in pain, but were more prepared this time and proceeded to the next step.

This time, they used the magma inside their meridians along with the magma touching their bodies to destroy and rebuild their skin.

"AHHHH!!"

"NNgg!"

Mira grunted while Maria and Celaine screamed, but this didn't stop them from continuing.

One layer of skin began to turn to ash at a time, but they couldn't begin rebuilding their new skin until it was all destroyed.

This type of pain is on an entirely different level than anything Maria or Celaine have experienced, but at least Maria has a bit of experience with lava and was able to keep her mind steady for the most part.

Celaine, on the other hand, has never experienced this type of torture before and was having trouble keeping her mind steady. She stole a quick glance at Mira and Maria and noticed that even though they were in pain, they were able to stay sane.

Celaine's determination rose through the roof and she tried to just suffer through the pain and tough it out until the end. This is the only way she would be able to live after all. With her newfound determination, she kept destroying her skin into nothing.

The three of them made sure not to rush this step and took their time.

After an unknown amount of time, their bodies have been reduced to a mass of flesh, bones, and organs. They had no skin remaining on their bodies and looked like something only found in nightmares.

Even Kayda, who was watching the entire process, felt her stomach churn a bit seeing such a horrifying scene.

But the pain was only beginning as it was now time to reconstruct their skin.

This process is much more complex than destroying their skin since they need to create something new instead of just trying to heal their skin.

They had to use the magma flowing through their meridians, the leftover Qi in their body, part of their vitality, blood, and the external magma to create their new skin.

They sent the Qi flowing through their meridians to the location where their skin is supposed to be.

After that, they urged some of the leftover Qi in their body and some of their blood and vitality towards the area where their skin should be.

Now they had to merge these together before slowly incorporating the external magma into the mix, finally creating their new skin.

One might think that their Qi and blood would immediately dissipate into nothing as soon as it touched the lava, but this wasn't the case. Using the magma in their meridians, they were able to use the Qi in the magma and the Qi in their body to help merge these together into something new.

Even though their blood would dissipate, it wouldn't escape from the magma and would instead be absorbed into it.

It took a while to merge these different entities together, but after a while they finally did it. All they had left to do is merge the external magma into the mix and form their new skin.

Kayda removed a bit more protection, causing them to groan in extreme pain but they used the extra magma to merge and create their new skin.

This magma is much more rampant and violent than the magma that has been sitting in their meridians for a while now. But after a long time, the chaotic magma finally merged together and it actually looked quite beautiful.

The magma was very smooth, contained no impurities, and looked very refined.

Now it was time to start the long process of creating new skin. First, they set the refined magma along their body, then they pressed it onto themselves, forcing some of it to enter their body.

As the refined magma seeped into their bodies, a similar scene began and their flesh began to turn to ash, but they were forced to ignore that for now and continued to form their new skin.

It took a very long time to complete this process, but they were finally able to form a new layer of skin on their bodies. Their new skin was still scalding hot, but even so, it looked very refined and pure, like a fairy.

The three wished they could rest their minds a bit after this, but unfortunately, they weren't given that luxury.

In fact, their bodies were quickly turning to ash at a rapid pace. They were forced to undergo a similar process to their flesh and blood. Leaving only skin, a skeleton, and organs. It looked like someone attached a vacuum cleaner and sucked out everything that was inside of their body except for the stuff that wouldn't fit, like the organs.

Their minds were constantly on the verge of collapse due to how much pain they were in. So much so, that their subconscious was taking over and going through the motions. This just goes to show how much they studied this technique.

While they were fixing their broken minds, their bodies were also being reconstructed as well. The blood that was consumed was directly absorbed into the lava, merging together with it, forming new blood, flesh, and muscles.

Mira was slightly surprised that her bloodline and physique haven't reacted yet, but this wasn't the time to worry about that. She had to focus on the task at hand.

All that was left was her bones and organs. The bones were rather simple compared to the others, but the organs required finesse and absolute perfection.

Mira, Maria, and Celaine started with their bones and it didn't take long for them to reduce to ash, merging with the magma, bones, and the rest of their body.

The newly refined magma turned into bones, but unfortunately, their new bones wouldn't be complete until they got a little time to cool off and solidify.

This was part of the process though and didn't discourage them at all. The only thing left was to refine and create new organs. This isn't dangerous for the most part, but it would be problematic if they missed something like lungs or their heart.

Kayda was now able to remove her protection entirely and could now sit back and watch them complete the last step.

Maria and Celaine's mind was about to break, but adrenaline rushed through their bodies and their minds entered a strange state that was between life and death.

Time slowed down to them and they were able to continue the process like they previously did. The only difference was that they weren't entirely conscious and their bodies were just doing everything they could to stay alive.

Mira, on the other hand, hasn't completely lost her mind. The pain that she faces during her forced reincarnations was still worse than this and she hasn't broken yet. But she did have to admit that this is the second worse pain she's ever felt by far.

,m An unknown amount of time passed for the three of them and the process went relatively smoothly.

Maria and Celaine finished first and their minds collapsed as soon as they were finished. They needed a good long rest before they would wake up.

Kayda went ahead and dragged their bodies out of the magma and got a good look at them.

Their bodies were incredibly hot, just about as hot as the magma in front of her, and their bodies were white-hot due to the heat. But they still looked incredibly beautiful.

She brought them away from the magma and looked towards Mira.

Mira was finishing up with the last step and it didn't take much longer before she finally finished and she felt an insane amount of power rush through her body, but she felt like something wasn't right. Her intuition was screaming at her, but she had no idea what was going on.

…

"No no no… Don't start now! Fucking goddamit!! Nnnngghh… aAaAAaAAAAHHHHH!!!" Mira cursed out loud and screamed in pain. A pain much worse than her forced reincarnations and the tempering she just went through.