Biding for Time

Mary, the blonde Sky Plane cultivator sent to find Crux, stared into the soldier's eyes with a penetrating gaze. "What's that? I didn't hear an answer."

The soldier looked to the ground, finding himself hanging fifty feet above the ground, held by the woman's grip. "I-I was saying that we needed to use…."

A massive ice spear materialized twenty feet from the woman's face, pointing at her before turning upward.

"My technique." A cool voice replied from below, "It proves useful when we're overrun but it's also costly."

Mary looked at the spear, [crudely made] without refined edges, with a mocking smile. "I take it you're the person who will claim to have built this army?"

"Claim is a rather suggestive word, considering that's what I've done." Evalyn replied dryly, looking at the woman, still holding her soldier above the ground.