Changes to the Future

The sudden change in direction was well times and the moment that she had moved that way, the location that she had been moving forward towards had suddenly been hit with a cold flame that was thrown from above.

The people that would have been the last ones to block her way had been hit by the cold flame which caused a layer of frost to spread across their body the more it lingered on their bodies. "Gaa.."

"So cold.."

"Why.."

They felt betrayed at that moment once they were getting closer to death and they had realised who was behind their suffering.

Everyone that was a part of the group were working towards one goal but that did not mean that each of them were not expendable.

Each of them came from different backgrounds and others would have prioritised themselves or the success of the mission before the lives of others.

If they had to stab others in the back for their own selfish reasons or to ensure that the mission was without problems then they would be happy to do so since most of them came from criminal backgrounds that were used to doing that.

The Sect that was located further north beyond the control of the other influences was by a lawless zone that birthed many kinds of criminals that had grown in that environment into dangerous people.

The person who was up in a high position was a member of that Sect and the moment that they had judged Ki to be a problem, they had decided that it was worth risking the lives of others that were working with them if it meant taking Ki down.

Ki was not so naive to walk into the range of the attack that she knew could be coming once she had stepped into the range of it.

The allies of them would have been caught up in it along with her and it was more likely that such a thing would have happened if she did not change the direction that she was travelling.

Those deaths were not done by her and they were the result of the actions of another so she did not need to worry about their deaths weighing on top of her heart demon.

Even if those that were stabbed by her needles had died due to blood loss, infection or having their wounds affected by the severe cold, it would be the result of them being unable to get their wounds treated or being able to get to somewhere safer to manage their wounds.

Once the cold fire had taken effect, the people in front of her were slowly being transformed into ice sculptures and their movements became much slower so Ki was able to run by them without being obstructed.

The needles in her hand had suddenly been thrown towards the figure that was in a high vantage point.

One hit their shoulder and the other had hit their other arm which had caused them to fall back once their skin had been pierced and the force had pushed them back. "Gah."

The cold fire that was being summoned after they had thrown one was dispersed upon them being distracted by their injury.

There was no delay in the movements of Ki who had ran forward without being stopped by anyone else.

Those chasing behind had been unable to keep up and once they reached their allies, they had to quickly decide whether to continue their chase or to tend to the wounded.

"Split into teams and search for her. Inform the others about this and report back to me about this. The plan will continue as we had discussed, this is just a minor setback."

Ki was just a minor obstruction to their plans and even if she had lived, it did not interfere with their true goals.

She was just a small bonus task that could be achieved but they had already wasted enough time and efforts on her.

The only reason they continued to send some others to pursue her was to prevent her interfering in the task any further but if given the right opportunity, they would gladly arrange for her to be killed.

Meanwhile Ki was climbing up the mountain at a steady pace and was slowly disappearing from the sight of others due to the heavy winds that had scattered the snow around and the clouds above that the mountain top had passed through.

There was a look of determination on her face as she took a quick look back down the mountain before climbing higher. 'I have delayed this for too long. I cannot keep going on like this.'

Ki trusted in those around her to allow her the time to take things slow in her progress in martial arts as she suppressed her opportunity to break through to the next realm.

The previous experience with her heart demon had left her hesitant to attempt her break through even if she had worked hard to prepare herself for it.

Everyone around her had grown enough for her to trust in them to defend themselves in times of crisis or to provide enough of a protective wall around her so that she did not have to show her abilities to others.

She did not know about the snow dog race before she had left her home or that there would be an ambush since there had been some changes to the future of the Northern Lands that she was aware of.

She thought to herself. 'It must have been my influence that may have caused something like this or it could have happened in my previous life but I never heard of it.

Without the Warlord Sect to be the ones to lead the charge on the Central Lands and for other sects to ally themselves with them, their actions would have turned towards others to ally with or to target.

Of course the nobles of the capital within the Northern Lands may have been excellent targets for them but what makes them so brave to risk angering the major sects of the north? If I and others are caught in something complicated like this then I cannot delay any further.'

What was happening could easily be the cause of a future war between the major sects and factions so Ki would have to either drag her own people back to the Central Lands while fighting off the various threats or she would have to be prepared to deal with any kind of problems.

She could not be held back by some no killing rule if she wished to successfully keep everyone from being harmed and she needed the power to be able to contend with any unknown threats that could possibly be involved.

The resolve of Ki had become much stronger as she was determined to face her fear of failure and of what she would be confronted with at that time.

The cold had little effect on her body but as she climbed higher, the air had become thinner so it was more difficult to breathe but Ki was able to manage her body well without wasting any excess breathes and energy.