Chapter 326: 326

“So, what do we do now?” Michelle asked as she looked around.

Since the danger of the Heart Twins killing her was gone, what were Eleanor and Asher planning?

“Why did Master send us here?” she added.

Asher and Eleanor led Michelle to one of the ravine walls, where a huge rock was hanging from the side, creating something like a roof.

“We always come here to train our detection. The first time, we were just detecting nearby monsters and beasts. But the final goal is to find the place where the Heart Twins’ main body is.” Eleanor explained, while Asher checked the boulder above them to see whether it would suddenly fall down and crush them.

Michelle raised a brow.

“The Heart Twins are that hard to detect?”

Eleanor nodded. “It took me two years under Master’s guidance to even sense their extended vines. Up until now, I can’t sense the main body. And I’ve been trying for seven years.”

Michelle was fairly surprised by that. Was the improving process that slow, or were the Heart Twins that good at hiding?

Since their Master, Marcus, was one of the best Masters of Detection in the upper realm, rivaling even experts from the heavenly realm, his training and tutelage probably let his students improve at a steady speed.

That meant the problem had to be the Heart Twins.

“And Master can sense it?” Michelle got curious.

If even Marcus couldn’t sense it, there would be a high chance that the Heart Twins were similar to her in their concealment, somehow using the Heavenly Law to their advantage.

Eleanor nodded. “Master has been able to sense it the first time he brought us here. And for some reason, the Heart Twins even let him bring us to them. He must have proven to them that he, nor anyone he brings here, would cause harm to the ravine.”

When Eleanor spoke, respect was clear in her voice.

Though she was sometimes annoyed at her Master and disagreed with him, she held him in high regard when it came to his abilities.

The more Michelle listened, the more curious she got about her new Master’s detection technique. How different would it be from her own?

When she detected presences or changes, she either used the Sensing Net or intuition, or she felt for any changes in the energy around her.

And since all energies were made of smaller parts which affected one another, with enough concentration, she could actually detect changes quite far from her.

But that technique wasn’t reliable when something remained static.

“How does Master’s detection technique work?” she asked.

Hearing Michelle’s question, Eleanor showed a nasty frown.

“He didn’t teach you the basics yet?” She was clearly in disbelief.

When Michelle nodded, Eleanor felt like spitting blood from anger. “So not only did he send you to a place where you can die any moment, but he also didn’t teach you anything! And you became the disciple of quite a reliable Master!”

Michelle felt like smiling. “Maybe he wanted you two to teach me…” She let a snicker slip.

“That much is understandable!” Eleanor was clearly unhappy. “How can that man be so reckless?!” she grunted.

Asher also wasn’t exactly satisfied.

But he was much calmer compared to Eleanor.

“Senior Sister, for now, let’s teach Junior Sister the basics. She’s talented, so she might grasp them quickly.”

Eleanor glanced at Michelle and nodded a bit.

“Asher, you go ahead and train. I’ll explain the basics to her.”

Asher agreed promptly. He knew that Eleanor was much more fluent and better at explaining than he was.

And as she had been Marcus’ disciple longer than he had, she was better at detection and had a better grasp of it.

She knew what was better to be explained and what should be left for Michelle to find out on her own.

Asher sat down by the ravine wall and pressed the back of his head to it. Then, he closed his eyes and completely stopped moving.

Even his breathing slowed down so his chest was barely rising and falling, making him look dead.

Looking at him, Michelle was greatly intrigued.

Was that just Asher’s pose while using the technique, or was that something needed?

Of course, Eleanor noticed Michelle’s gaze on Asher. Michelle wasn’t trying to conceal it in the least.

“Asher’s just weird with that. You don’t have to pretend to be dead to use the skill.”

After Eleanor’s words, Asher’s eyes flickered open for a moment, but he closed them again just as fast.

Seeing that, Eleanor snorted a bit.

Just from those two small movements, Michelle could tell that Asher and Eleanor had both made some adjustments to how they used their Master’s technique and were having a constant fight over whose alternative was better.

So, would Michelle use Eleanor’s or Asher’s alternative, come up with a completely new alternative, or use Marcus’ exact method?

She didn’t know herself since she didn’t know the method or the alternatives.

While Asher went on to train, Eleanor explained things to Michelle.

The technique was actually simple and similar to Michelle’s technique when she sensed around using energies.

One just had to constantly keep their spirit energy, or any other energy they wanted to use, pulsating under their skin.

The pulsating of the spirit energy under their skin would make the spirit energy just outside the person’s body react to it and start trembling.

To an untrained person, it would be unnoticeable, and even those using the same technique could find it hard to detect if the one using it was subtle about it.

So, the layer around the person’s body would start shivering, which would stimulate another layer of spirit energy to shiver.

That one would push on the other, and that on another.

Basically, the shiver would run through the world like a wave in the sea until it crashed into something.

And as long as the user kept their spirit energy pulsating, the waves would constantly generate, letting them sense around for a prolonged time.

Because once the wave of shivering spirit energy crashed into something, it would get recoiled back, coming back to the sender.

And then, it would hit against their pulsating spirit energy, and they would feel it.

When the outside world’s spirit energy affected the spirit energy within one’s body, it was impossible to ignore.

It rarely happened and could only be caused by strange phenomena or techniques such as the detection technique.

So there was a high possibility that a cultivator not versed in detection would never feel it.

But if they ever did feel it because of a different element, they would instantly notice it.

After Eleanor explained things to Michelle, Michelle looked over at Asher.

The position he was in made a question rise within her.

“Isn’t it a well-known fact that spirit energy can phase through objects like they don’t exist? What would it have to crash into to send a wave back?” she asked.

“Also…” she continued. “If the wave of spirit energy is recoiled back, wouldn’t it crash into the new waves being sent out? If two forces of equal strength meet, they cancel each other out. Why doesn’t that happen with the waves?”

Eleanor looked at Michelle and smiled. “Well, that’s for you to figure out on your own.”

Hearing that, Michelle’s eyes narrowed.

For some reason, she had a feeling that as long as she didn’t understand those two things, she wouldn’t even be able to succeed in creating the waves the right way.

Or was she just being paranoid?

Sitting down on the ground, she was about to start trying the method when Asher’s eyes snapped open.

At the same time, Eleanor visibly tensed up.

Turning around, Eleanor looked through the ravine, waiting for something.

Seeing how the two were acting, Michelle also looked where Eleanor had her gaze locked, and her breath stilled for a moment.

She couldn’t identify the creature, but a massive monster was walking through the ravine, its nose sniffing the air carefully as it walked.

It was still far, unable to sniff them out.

The reason Eleanor and Asher were able to sense it from such a distance was because of their detection skills.

Others would have been left unaware until the moment of surprise when the monster crept behind them.

Because even though it was huge, it moved silently. Like a ghost.

Normally, Asher and Eleanor wouldn’t have been worried.

That wasn’t the first time they had encountered that specific monster, and they had always been able to get away safely.

But this time, Michelle was with them. And staging as Ana, she was only of Divine rank.

That was what Asher and Eleanor thought as well.

They highly doubted they would be able to get her to a safe place before the monster got to them.

It had good eyesight, and once it spotted something moving, it would change its leisurely silent walk into a rumbling, deadly sprint, shaking the ravine walls.

Rocks would start falling on all sides, and the monster would quickly catch up.

As Monarch rankers, they both had enough speed to get away, but Michelle…

They were nearly sure she wouldn’t be able to move fast enough to lose the monster.

Back when they were in the ravine for the first time, alongside Marcus, they had encountered the monster too. But as a peak Monarch ranker, Marcus had been able to pick them up and carry them away with him.

Looking at Michelle, the two knew they wouldn’t be able to do it.

As mid Monarch rankers, they would only barely be able to outrun the monster on their own.

With anything slowing them down, they would be as good as dead.

In reality, there wasn’t that much difference between start-up, mid, and peak Monarch rankers when it came to speed.

But the difference was enough that a start-up wouldn’t outrun the monster, mid would barely do it, and peak could do it easily, meaning they could also take along heavy loads.

Of course, that didn’t apply to cultivators focusing on speed.

If Michelle was one like that, they were saved.

But as far as they had heard, Michelle, as Ana, had weak spirit veins, so she rarely even cultivated and was extremely weak.

Expecting her to have high speed was the same as wishing for it to rain Life Stones.

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