Rachel thought there would be differences between the federation and the coalition; however, that didn’t seem to be the case at all. When she rode on the airship, flying over the cities located on a planet, she got the same exact feeling as she did when flying over the federation’s cities. The people down below did the same things, behaved the same way. It was funny how the two intergalactic societies were at war with one another—like seeing two righteous sword sects disagreeing over who owned the rights to a mine. Since the situation was practically the same, the solution to the situation would probably also be the same. When two sects couldn’t agree, they would each send their strongest representative and have them duke it out. If the losing side was unwilling to accept the result, then a sect extermination began.

It wasn’t official, but Rachel considered herself to be the strongest person from the federation. The Moon Lotus Sect hadn’t joined the intergalactic society for long, but the only thing that mattered was power. The citizens of the federation would gradually accept the Moon Lotus Sect as their leader as the tales of Rachel spread. Defeating the coalition’s false immortal wasn’t a necessary step in taking over the federation, but Rachel was desperate to test out her newfound strength. If she won, which she would, then she might as well flex the Moon Lotus Sect’s muscles over the coalition as well. There was never anything wrong with claiming more territory. As for the case where she lost, Rachel never even considered it. Preparing for the impossible was useless, and doing so would bring harm to her cause. How could one have an unbending will when they always left a way out for themselves?

The airship Rachel was on was one of the coalition’s latest military models. It was faster than Grandpa Vremya’s whale golem by at least ten times. There was no one else on the plane with her except the pilot. Since she knew mostly nothing about the coalition’s geography, she could only hope the pilot was taking her the right way and not planning something stupid like accelerating into the ground. It wouldn’t kill her, but she’d have to retaliate against the coalition’s impudence by destroying a planet or two. Killing people so wantonly might lead to her eventual death through tribulations, but it wouldn’t be her first time drinking poison to quench her thirst. Sometimes, during cultivation, self-harm couldn’t be avoided.

“We’ll be arriving shortly.”

Rachel observed the ground. Unlike the cities the plan had passed, the area they were currently flying over was full of greenery and mountains. It seemed like the false immortal enjoyed his solitude, or this was the area designated for the fight between them. Rachel assumed it was the latter; if a false immortal were sent to challenge her, she wouldn’t fight them in her own home. Someone else’s home, like Grandpa Vremya’s and Azalea’s, sure, but her own? Nope. A moment later, Rachel’s expression flickered. Beyond the greenery and the mountains, resting in a valley, there was a nine-sided building, its structure made of black steel. Golden formation lines shone on top of the building, and a haze of spiritual energy visible to the naked eye was coming off of it. It was the most advanced sect-defending formation she had ever seen.

However, Rachel wasn’t intimidated. As someone who commonly occupied the offensive position, she understood the difficulties of attacking someone in their home ground. Most sects had sect-defending treasures, treasures with great defensive or offensive properties that were too costly to activate unless the sect was on the verge of demise. In response to sect-defending treasures, the offensive-based sects created sect-destroying treasures. Unfortunately, Rachel didn’t have a treasure befitting her cultivation level, yet she was still planning on confronting the false immortal down below. “He’s in that building, right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the pilot said. “The false immortal is waiting for you inside.”

It was clearly a trap. Willingly entering a fortified building to fight an opponent, that was only something the incredibly stupid or incredibly confident would do. However, was Rachel one to consider the odds of victory before engaging in battle? She fought a false immortal when she was still a soul-seed cultivator. Now that she was a false immortal herself, there was nothing in the world that could affect her unwavering determination. Much to the pilot’s dismay, Rachel exited from the craft by ripping the side of it apart and walking out. While the plane attempted to save itself, Rachel stood in the air above the nine-sided building.

From the illusionary words, she had been given a technique to survive the tribulation. It allowed her to take the tribulation lightning’s power inside of her body, using it to transform her physique. Although there weren’t any offensive or defensive techniques included in the Lightning and Frost Tribulation Body Technique, that didn’t mean she couldn’t come up with any on her own. Black wings extended from Rachel’s back. They grew and grew until they were three times bigger than the building down below. When she was satisfied with their size, Rachel flapped her wings. Black sparks of lightning rained down, falling like snow. It was a peaceful sight, the lightning drifting towards the building, sparkling like fireflies. However, when one of the sparks made contact with the building, there was a tremendous explosion. A hole was blasted apart on the building’s roof, and the edges of it were frozen over. That was just the beginning. Thousands of little lightning sparks made contact with the building one after the other, razing the structure in less than a minute. A flustered individual flew out of the wreckage, his face covered in soot and black ice.

“Who the hell are you?” the individual asked. “A newly born false immortal dares to cause trouble with me? Do I look like an easy person to pick on?”

Rachel raised her hand. A sword made of black ice crackled into existence, extending from her palm. “I’m not here to exchange words with you.” With that, she flapped her wings, launching her so quickly towards her opponent that it seemed like she had teleported. She swung her sword, and in response, her opponent retrieved a weapon that looked much like a shotgun from his interspacial ring and fired it at her. Sensing the spiritual energy on each individual pellet, Rachel decided it was against her best interests to let them hit her. Getting injured in the first exchange of the fight would cut down on her time experimenting with her newfound strength. Her sword’s trajectory changed, switching to blocking the pellets from reaching her instead. Every time the pellet made contact with her sword, there’d be an explosion which forced her back. By the time she had blocked all the pellets, the distance between her and her opponent was even greater than when they had first started. While she was defending, her opponent hadn’t been idling about. The shotgun in his hands had shifted into something that resembled a tank’s rocket launcher.

Twenty-four projectiles shot out of the false immortal’s weapon. They each moved as if controlled by different people, all of them taking their own path towards Rachel, reaching her right at the moment the explosions from the shotgun pellets ended. Although the rockets were large projectiles, Rachel couldn’t help but feel like they resembled a sword formation. It was as if twenty-four different sword cultivators were attacking her at the same time. A grin appeared on Rachel’s usually unchanging face as she struck the projectiles with her sword. Who knew that the coalition’s false immortal would take such an unconventional path? With the bodily improvements accompanying one’s breakthrough, most false immortals would give up on weapons, but this person hadn’t. He used his spiritual energy as a false immortal to increase the firepower of his weapons instead. The projectiles exploded, engulfing Rachel in a storm of spiritual energy. This was it! This feeling of combat was what she was living for! Laughter rang out of Rachel’s mouth. Her body was covered in blood, and her clothes were a mess, but she looked a lot worse than she actually was. It took a lot to defeat a false immortal. Rachel pointed her sword at the false immortal. “More! Show me everything you have!”

The coalition’s false immortal frowned. Great. Of all the people who could’ve ascended, it had to be a batshit-insane woman. If this was another society’s false immortal, then it meant he’d have to clash with her often. Just thinking about the future was giving him a headache. Dealing with her in the present made his stomachache. Why couldn’t she just maintain the status quo instead of making his life more difficult?