Fiona froze for a second as she looked towards the sound and saw a figure coming from where the dart came from. It was none other than Ana while the beast was Ananta.

‘ Fiona realised in an instant that the attacker was Ana.

‘ Ana said with a smile on her face.

Fiona still did not understand the reason behind her actions. She felt both humiliated and furious. She approached Ana and pointed the ice sword towards Ana's neck. Ananta wanted to protect it's master but Ana stopped it.

‘ Ana asked Fiona as she squinted at her.

Fiona looked confused as she then looked at her cloud tiger.

‘ Ana affirmed .

‘ Fiona found it hard to believe that the cloud tiger possessed the power of ice.

‘ Ananta....’ Ana called her war beast gesture it to attack.

Ananta immediately jumped towards the cloud tiger. The cloud tiger sensed the upcoming danger and immediately brandished it's claw. An ice claw then shot out of it's claw in an instant and was aimed at Ananta. Ananta dodged the attack as the ice claw went straight into the bamboo grove and blasted a couple of bamboos to bits and pieces.

Fiona was shocked by what she just witnessed. She turned rigidly toward Ana and asked her,‘ What the hell is the meaning of this? How did the cloud tiger learn to do all of that?’

‘ You've always treated it as a war beast that was only good at it's strength. That was your mistake. The cloud tiger always had potential with ice in it's body similar to a spiritual beast. Once activated, such ability can be used by the war beast the same way spiritual beasts do ’, Ana explained to Fiona in detail.

‘ How did the cloud tiger aquire a spiritual beast's power with ice?’ Fiona still couldn't fully grasp the concept Ana was telling her.

‘ The ancestors of the cloud tiger were probably a combination of a war beast and a spiritual beast. I believe this also applies to other war beasts, not just cloud tiger. Many of them have some sort of hidden potential within them’, Ana started having these clues after her study on cloud tiger.

‘ Then how did you discover that there was some sort of ice ability within the cloud tiger?’ Fiona followed up with more questions.

‘ This is where I make my living. Sorry, but I cannot tell you anything about it’, Ana gave a mischievous smile.

‘ Thank you’, Fiona stared at Ana and thanked her with sincerity.

‘ What?’ Ana had never expected Fiona to tell her those two words. This was definitely a first.

Fiona said with affirmation before she took off with the cloud tiger.

Ana smiled without giving it too much though.

Ana went back to the bamboo grove after Fiona's departure and stared to cultivate the spiritual martial arts that she learnt from her training with Mia.

Meanwhile, in a room full of aroma with pink portieres inside a magnificent residence at the northeast corner of the royal City, there was a beautiful women in a pool of hot water with herbs floating around her. Many candles lit up the room like it was day light. The skin of that women was tender and white while her hair was jet black. She wore no makeup yet her face was charming and lovely. She was young,energetic and lively.

Ana would have still found this scene a treat to her eyes despite thier last encounter.

The women was none other than Marcia Ximen.

She was leaning on the edge of the pool as she enjoyed the water around her body. A frivolous smiling face suddenly came into her heart as she opened her eyes.

‘Marcia shouted at herself in anger and a bit of confusion.

She then stood up from the water. Her curvy body was then exposed in the air and was indeed intoxicating. There was a mark of silver lines on her back that shone bright under the candle light. They were all very beautiful.

Frowning, Marcia touched her back unconsciously. Worry was written all over her beautiful eyes. So tense up, she began to mumble to herself,‘ Oh, no. I should not have trusted that girl. What if she cannot keep the secret? What if she accidentally let it slip? To avert a disaster, I have to take precautions.

In the first place, she has lied about her name, but since she is a royal spirit manipulator, it will not be difficult to find her. To get started, I'll need to investigate her whereabouts. I can't rest until I find her. Only then will I be at peace...’ suddenly, Marcia calmed down and stopped mumbling. An unexpected idea had struck her.

In an abrupt turn, her eyes sparkled with excitement,‘ Where are the maids?’ she commanded.

Promptly, two maids in white brocade showed up and bowed respectfully. They asked,‘

The dragon mark on the left arm of Marcia flickered, then by a mere lift of her finger. The water below then swooped through a thin and long drift. An outline of a face soon condensed into shape by her magical powers.

‘ She is a royal spirit manipulator. I need you to find her at all cost. I don't mind even if you have to search the entire imperial city. As soon as you find her, come back and let me know. By all means, keep it all below, to avoid suspicion’, Marcia cautioned, after thinking for a moment.

‘ Yes, as you wish’, the two maids readily took the order.

They left and began thier search straight away, but they made every effort to stay under the rudder. So everything went on as usual, for several days without any surprise.

Daily, Mia made things so difficult for Ana that she wondered if this was karma, paying her back for misdeeds of her previous life, a life she had no control over. Has she dumped her for another woman in thier former life? Mia was pushing Ana to the wall with her so called ‘ special treatment ’.

Right now, a girl and a beast were embroiled in fierce fighting, deep in the thick woods.

‘ yelling at the top of her lungs, Ana moved in a split second and flew up to kick.

However, Ananta was equally Swift in defense, leaping and dodging every kick without any sign of panic. On counter attack, it hit on at Ana with it's quick, powerful palm.

‘ at the meantime Ana had no intention to retreat.

With powerful bolts of energy from each sides, they raised a cloud of smoke and dust.

‘ Ana exclaimed, slowly getting down on her knees as gesture for a ceasefire.

Ananta also followed Ana to the ground, excited about the competition. It was yearning for another bout.

‘ Ana couldn't help but chuckle. Thanks to Ananta for being a great sparring partner, Ana had improved a lot in such a short time. But to her surprise, Ananta was also leaning a great deal from sparring with Ana in practice.

Ana sat still to cultivate for a whole night. When she went back to her room in the morning, she was surprised to find everyone busy, preparing for what appeared to be an important event ahead. There was even a group of handy men, hanging festival red satin and arranging potted plants and flowers.

Wondering what was going on here, she keenly followed the conversation. Then she saw Mia together with some ministers she once met in the Grand Dragon Hall. For such dignitaries from the Holy Dragon Empire to come here, Ana guessed thier unexpected visit was herald to something big. She decided to stick around, trying to find out what the big event was about.

‘ one of the ministers could not wait to ask.

‘ Ana thought curiously. Totally unaware of the looming crisis.

‘ Mia too, was surprised. All in all, Marcia was now in a very high position. Usually, she would not be interested in trivial things such as training of newly promoted royal spirit manipulators.

one of the ministers shared his thought.

Marcia was cherished by the whole Holy Dragon Empire. So even the slightest bad behaviour or mistake towards her would cause great disturbance in the entire Empire.

The fact that she was coming to review the training program called for through, meticulous work.

A/n: Ik you guys have been waiting for this 😆

Enjoy🎶🎶(~￣³￣)~.