Heaven, Earth, Me

Yasenia crossed her arms and pondered deeply. Her tail was slapping the ground behind her constantly while her gaze looked inside her Celestial Energy Star. Now that energy was solid, the way a cultivator drew energy was not moving the actual solid energy through the meridians.

Solid energy radiated energy, and the cultivator used this energy. The energy radiated from the solid energy was several times purer than the liquid energy and much more efficient, giving the cultivator not only a larger energy pool but also a more efficient way of using the energy.

Half the cost and double the results would be selling short how big an upgrade this was. The thing that was bothering Yasenia, or, well, things, were the following. First, why did her energy core form inside of the Celestial Energy Star? And second, why was her energy core so… round?

“Wasn’t my Level 7 core supposed to be irregular? Level 7 to Level 9 is divided by the transformation of the first pile of solid energy into a rough sphere, which accumulates a very large amount of energy in the solid state. Then, you compress the solid energy you have accumulated into a perfect sphere during the half-step. The more perfect the sphere, the stronger you will be compared to your peers.” Yasenia looked at her Energy Core, and her eyebrow twitched, somewhat annoyed. “So… Why are you already an almost perfect sphere?” 

The dragoness sighed and looked toward the ceiling. “I should test my strength, right? How much stronger am I compared to before?” The dragoness stood up and relaxed her mind. Then, she moved the energy around her body and punched forward.

BOOM!

The space around her exploded with violence, making the dragoness’s eyes widen. “What…?”

She looked at her hand with bafflement and looked sideways at Soluna. “That… did you see that?”

Soluna was frozen stiff; her eyes widened with stupor. Feeling that the spirit was a bit too shocked to answer, Yasenia frowned and calculated. “I am… Ten times? No… more. I am more than ten times stronger compared to before.”

That was ridiculous. Her previous strength was already egregious. Yasenia expected to be two or three times stronger when reaching this realm. However, her estimations fell woefully short. She didn’t want to sound arrogant. Still, she couldn’t help but think that perhaps, under the Sixth Realm, she was unbeatable. “My strength is really… Too high for my realm. I have yet to practice Soul Cultivation as well.”

Speaking of Soul Cultivation, Yasenia wondered if her dears had started practicing it. They had the techniques, after all. She remembered what she learned about the Soul Cultivation realms.

The first realm is shaping the soul. The soul was formless, but Soul Cultivation focused on using, controlling, and developing the soul.  

The second realm was similar to the Body Realm, where you connected your meridians to your soul instead of your body. Similar to body cultivation, soul cultivation could be cultivated prior to having a mature body. “Hm… It is a shame we didn’t have lots of Soul Cultivation techniques to give my babies back then. If not, Body and Soul complement each other quite well prior to maturing…” 

Yasenia paused and thought about the cultivation paths. “These three feel very similar to my attributes. The Sun attribute and Moon attribute are opposite attributes that are linked by the mysterious Star Attribute. Meanwhile, Body and Soul are opposites in what they focus on, linked by the balanced Spiritual Path.”

She tilted her head, interest in her eyes. “That’s quite nice… I wonder, will I be able to fuse these paths to create something like Celestial Energy?” 

Yasenia shook her head, forgetting that for now. “I have to get a Star Attributed Cultivation Technique to start cultivating my Soul. Thinking about it before then is a waste of time. Let’s refocus on what happened with my solid energy.”

Soluna at the side laughed, grabbing Yasenia’s attention. Seeing the dragoness look over, Soluna chuckled again and asked. “Do you like speaking to yourself?”

Yasenia blinked twice and answered honestly. “I do, why? It helps me order my thoughts quite efficiently.”

Soluna giggled. “You are cute~.”

Yasenia accepted the compliment with slight confusion. Then, she continued muttering. “So, do I just need to make it bigger to advance my realms now? I’ve done everything else, right?”

Yasenia wanted to prove her theory and sat cross-legged. Then, she started absorbing energy with her cultivation technique. The energy swirled toward her at a much higher pace than before, as if her energy core had its own gravitational pull. She was like a vortex.

Energy flowed through her now thicker meridians, reaching the dantian and rushing toward the [Primordial Energy Core]. There, Yasenia purified the energy and allowed it to flow toward the Celestial Energy Star. Unlike before, she threw everything toward it. 

The Celestial Energy Star didn’t absorb a single strand of energy, allowing it to flow toward the energy core. This surprised the dragoness. Still, even if she had some doubts, she didn’t stop and continued. She wanted to do a full cultivation cycle before reaching any conclusions.

The energy flowed without stopping, and once it reached the energy core, it dissolved into it. With the new energy, the Energy Core radiated energy that flowed out of the Celestial Energy Star. This time around, the Star didn’t hold back and absorbed part of that. The rest of the energy nourished herself and her other treasures.

Dramel, Draheart, and Soluna all made comfortable sounds when the energy entered them. Soluna sighed pleasantly. “Ah… Your energy was delicious before, but not… I don’t think I can live without it. I want more~.”

Yasenia’s eyebrow twitched. ‘That sounds… strangely obscene.’

Without stopping to think further about it, the dragoness continued her cultivation for a month. The cultivation was fast and effortless, different from her hellish attempt to breakthrough. After this month of cultivating, she stopped and analyzed the Energy Core. “Hm… It is indeed bigger.”

What made her speechless was that its roundness was still intact. “So… I just forget about the shape of the core altogether, no? Absorb energy like crazy and push forward.”

Soluna muttered, asking rhetorically. “I wonder why you had so much trouble when you are so talented? Were you impatient this time around?”

“Impatient?” Yasenia asked. “Explain.”

Soluna commented. “Perhaps, due to your large amounts of energy and strength, the process to start the Solid Energy creation was much slower. So, if you had tried for a decade or two straight, you might’ve been able to cross that boundary without any extreme methods.

Yasenia blinked a few times and then frowned. “But… gambling two decades of my life is not something I want to do.” 

Soluna chuckled. “I know. That’s why I didn’t really stop you. Who knows if what I am saying is right, though? Well, this result is far better than what I suggested.” 

Yaseia hummed, agreeing with her. She then closed her eyes and spoke. “I’ll cultivate to the peak of the ninth-level of the Dantian Spiritualization Realm, Epoch Core Realm, and ninth-level Legendary Beast realm. Be attentive and tell me if the girls need me.”

Soluna grinned. “Okay~! Oh, wait.”

Yasenia opened her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Well,” Soluna rubbed her chin. “Why not cultivate until the half-step?”

Yasenia paused and commented, somewhat reluctant. “Isn’t that too much time away from my dears? I don’t want to stay absent for so long…”

Soluna bonked Yasenia’s head. “You’ll have plenty of time after you cross that realm. Moreover, you have the [Core Collapsing Pill] to use. Your strength after you eat that pill will be ridiculously higher than before! Are you willing to be a weakling for that much longer?”

Yasenia sighed and smiled. “You are right. Let’s reach the Half-step, then.”

She crossed her eyes and started her first serious cultivation ever: No stops, not caring about anything else except her realms. 

Outside, the girls wondered, curious. “How much time do you think Yasenia will stay cultivating?”

Evelyn hummed and commented. “I give it three years or so. Perhaps five?”

Cecile tilted her head. “I feel that it will be longer.”

“Longer!?” Angel pouted from the bed. It has been more than a year already, so she was able to stay awake and walk around slowly if needed. Of course, she still had lots of recovery to do. 

Andrea chuckled. “I feel it as well. Perhaps we won’t see her for ten years.”

Tatyana crossed her arms and smirked. “Twenty-five years.”

The girls blinked and looked at Tatyana with surprised eyes. Kali frowned. “That long? I feel that’s too much.”

Tatyana shrugged. “If she wants to reach the half-step in a single cultivation session, she will need that much.” 

Kali was startled. “Half-step? Why would she cultivate all the way there?”

Tatyana raised her eyebrow. “Well, she needs to consume the [Core Collapsing Pill]. If not, she will be much weaker than what she could potentially be.”

The girls paused and became thoughtful. This would be their first time without Yasenia’s presence by their side for such a long time. Tatyana looked at them and raised her eyebrow. “Yasenia managed to stay away from all of you for twenty-three years without losing her love for all of you. I wonder, can you girls do the same after all of what you’ve gone through?”

The girls snorted. Andrea crossed her arms and answered, her eyes somewhat cold. “I don’t like being doubted in this regard, Tatyana. Even if it is you who does it.” 

Tatyana saw that gaze, and her lips arched slightly. “That’s what I like to hear.” She looked toward the star map by her side and commented. “Oh, we are close to that star Yasenia told us about. I wonder what we will find here?”

The girls turned their heads and saw that they were indeed close. Angel sighed, looking at herself. “I still can barely move… How long until I recover completely, Mirrory?”

A formless shadow appeared around Angel, and then, this shadow spoke with Mirrory’s voice. “Two more years at least.”

Andrea looked at the shadow and sighed. “To think that you are only able to materialize as a shadow now… When will you recover your shape?”

The shadow answered again. “Two more years at least.”

“Oh.” The girls blinked. When Angel was completely recovered, Mirrory would be able to manifest herself again.

While the girls thought, Angel looked at Kali with a dazed expression. The Fox woman blinked and looked at Angel, her lips arching. “What’s wrong?”

Angel shook her head, her cheeks blushing slightly. “It’s just… You are now so pretty.”

Kali laughed gently, making her pristine facial features soften. “Thank you, Angel.”@@novelbin@@

Evelyn coughed. “Oh, Heavens. We had Cecile as the peerless cold beauty, Tatyana as the elegant and aloof one, and now we have an extra gentle and refined beauty!”

Kali’s face, completely healed from all scars and ailments, had regained her former gentle beauty. The facial features were round with some defined angles, creating a mature and gentle face that could relax anyone looking at her. The foxy eyes created a contrast of allure, making her equally lethal compared to Cecile or Tatyana. 

The girls were honestly worried that some people might start coveting the fox and lose their lives when Yasenia heard of them.