Yasenia chuckled and asked, "Why don't you tell me about everything? I don't really care, but I'm curious about this mysteriousness."
Tatyana caressed her tail and said, "To not give you a very distant goal, little treasure. What can you do even if you know about the demons, divines, or, cultivation-wise, the transcendent realm?"
Tatyana looked at Yasenia and said, "Nothing, you will only have useless ideas floating around your head. How about knowing more about the political situation?"
Tatyana sighed, "Well, you could avoid offending someone, but will the people at the top be easily offended by a junior? They won't. Even the Long and Tang families were just waiting for a trigger to pick their sides. You just became the useful trigger. They showed only real anger in the auction house when they lost that formation core."
Looking at their thoughtful expressions, Tatyana elaborated, "That is also why some disciples of the academy and other sects died the first days. They were just triggers for the big players to move. These tournaments are much more than you think. They are not only a place to show the future generation's strength, but they are also a place to make alliances with the first-rate powers."
"For example, the slave house owned by Gilda changed sides toward us. They aren't strong cultivation-wise, but they have a good commercial value. However, this value only becomes real when you have the strength to protect it. Even If you knew all these things before arriving at the Challenger City, you would only have been worried all the time, leading to an unstable heart."
Tatyana saw that they nodded in understanding and smiled, "I will start telling you about more complicated matters when you reach the Dantian spiritualization realm. Until then, just focus on advancing and becoming stronger with your harem. Your conflicts for the moment are only small conflicts. So, don't worry and do whatever you like."
Cecile asked, "Will we be able to advance that far before the demons and the others arrive?"
Tatyana nodded, "With the too effective dual cultivation technique and your talent, you girls are flying through the mortal realms. To be honest, I'm impressed and expectant seeing your advancement speed."
Angel tilted her head, and Tatyana clarified with a seductive smile, "Expectant about the efficiency when I can finally absorb useful Yang energy from my little treasure. I will suck her dry daily fufufu~."
Yasenia tightened the hug and tap kissed Tatyana's cheeks, making her laugh. Yasenia whispered seductively, "I will also be able to get my mommy pregnant~."
Tatyana imagined herself carrying her daughter's child, and excitement rushed to her brain. She looked back and invaded Yasenia's lips. The others looked at the mother and daughter duo and got aroused. Yasenia stopped the kiss, looked at the others, and said huskily, "Later at night, my loves. Right now, I'm empty~."
They all calmed down and nodded.
The next thing to do was revise their loot! Tatyana looked at the ring and snorted, "I hate this the most. I was ordering loot for a while not too long ago."
Yasenia asked, "Loot from what?"
Tatyana answered, "I destroyed a second-rate branch of the demonic sect, and they had too many things to go through! What a pain. Can't they have fewer treasures?"
All of them but Yasenia choked, 'So it was you!? You were the mysterious cultivator that massacred a whole sect!'
Yasenia's tail wagged doing *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* sounds against the sofa, and she looked at her mother adoringly. Tatyana swallowed, she was weak to this look, but she controlled herself, 'At night, you will mess her up at night again, control yourself!'
They refocused on the ring and went through everything. Yasenia said out loud, "Poisons and antidote pills ranging from mortal quality to this one transcendent poison bottle... Transcendent poison bottle!? I was lucky he didn't use it. I wouldn't have known how I died." The others also got a big scare.
Yasenia asked Tatyana, "How would you fare against this poison, mom? I know that I would die with just a whiff from this!"
Tatyana looked at it and said, "I can bath in it, and I won't feel a thing."
Yasenia and the others burst into laughter and read the note that was beside the poison out loud. "My dearest student, you can use this poison on Headmistress Katherine. I'm sure that her strength is weak, unlike the rumors flying around. If she smells this poison, she will certainly fall unconscious for a while if nothing threatens her. During this time, you will be able to complete the mission of securing the dragon girl easily. Regards, your most beloved master." All of them burst into laughter.
Tatyana raised an eyebrow and looked at the handwriting, "Oh~ I know this man!"
Yasenia tightened her hug and asked, "Another past lover?"
Tatyana was surprised at her daughter's sharpness and nodded. Yasenia snorted, "Mom, how many lovers have you had?"
Tatyana held her laughter at the sour face of Yasenia and said, "I don't know. Do you count how much bread you eat? Do you want me to summon them? I'm sure they will be delighted."
Yasenia lowered her mouth and bit her neck. Tatyana couldn't hold it and burst into laughter.
Angel, however, was confused, "If he was a past lover of mommy Tatyana, why did he tell his disciple this lie?"
Tatyana said, "When I was with him, this poison would have worked, but… Did he truly think that I won't advance my strength during these millennia?"
Yasenia wanted to know a bit more about Tatyana, so she asked, "Mom do you have any past lover that you still… Like, love or keep contact with?"
Tatyana shook her head and looked through the window in reminiscence. "I don't, however… There is one regret about a girl I was with before I passed the mortal cultivation realms… She is the one I loved the most."
The five girls' eyes shined with curiosity. Tatyana chuckled and told them about her, "She was a formation master, like me. At first, we meet at a competition for a treasure in a formation match. However, I lost against her, very badly at that. I wasn't convinced, so later, I challenged her again. However, no matter how many times I challenged her, she kept stomping me. Even when our ages were quite close, and our cultivation realm was the same. "
Andrea whistled, "She must have been impressive."
Tatyana nodded, "Calling her heavenly genius wasn't an exaggeration. We got closer thanks to those competitions, and well, one thing led to another, and we ended up together. I stayed with her until I reached the Dantian Spiritualization realm half-step."
Tatyana shook her head, "At that time, I wanted to try a forbidden technique. This technique could only be used when passing to the Transcendent realm. She was opposed to it because the technique needed more than 500 years of closed-door cultivation to complete, but I was stubborn. The rewards were too tempting."
Tatyana smiled, "Well, in short, I managed to complete it, but at the end of the procedure, something went wrong, and I hurt myself grievously. I needed another 200 years to recover completely, making a total of 700 years of closed-door cultivation..."
Tatyana's face became calm as she said the next. "I was ecstatic and went out to share the good news with her. I went to her sect and asked about her. I still remember that day clearly. The elder guided me towards the back of the sect. When we reached the destination, what greeted me was her tomb."
Yasenia hugged her tighter. Tatyana finished her story by saying, "She had been dead for more than a century already, it seems that she tried to advance to the Transcendent realm, but her worries about me transformed into heart demons and consumed her during her tribulation... I really loved her."
Tatyana closed her eyes and gathered energy. The whole room seemed to enter another dimension of darkness and death, with black and green smog around. Tatyana opened her glowing red eyes and chanted, her voice bending the space before her. "You, who rules the undead, you who, even with that ascendancy, is under my command. Awaken, [Sovereign of the Underworld: Undead Empress]."
A green aura gathered before Tatyana in a whirlpool, and the space cracked. *CRASH* A black fissure opened in the air, from which the laments of countless dead souls were heard. From that space crack, a gorgeous female stepped out. Her pale white skin, phoenix eyes, and cold facial features gave her an ethereal beauty that could entrance mortals and gods alike. She was wearing green and white regal clothes, and her long white hair flowed because of her aura.
She had an elegant longsword in one hand, and her irises glowed with a ghostly green color. She looked at Tatyana and went to one knee; her voice was ethereal and gentle, "At your service, Death Empress."
The others were stunned; Tatyana said, "This is her, Jian Ying Yue. When she got transformed into my [Undead Empress], the only thing left of her was her facial features. At that time, I was so obsessed that I even dated my own undead summon for a while…."
Ying Yue lifted her head and said, "It was a nice experience, Empress. Thank you for giving me that opportunity."
Yasenia said, surprised, "She is sapient?"
Ying Yue looked at Yasenia and squinted a little, then opened her eyes, surprised. "Empress, you had a child? Hello princess, I am one of the five strongest undead under Mistress Tatyana. Moreover, I can speak and have my own thoughts."
Knowing her connection with Tatyana, Yasenia spoke gently to Ying Yue, "Hello, Ying Yue. It is a pleasure to meet you; my name is Yasenia. I hope we get along together from now on."
Ying Yue smiled, making all of them but Tatyana amazed at her beauty. "It is a pleasure to meet you, princess. I also hope we can get along together."
Yasenia nodded and asked, "Are you her strongest Undead Ying Yue?"
Ying Yue looked toward Tatyana, and Tatyana nodded. "I'm her majesty's third strongest undead, princess. Above me, there is her majesty's mount, the [Abyssal Dragon], and the [Ancient Overlord]. I have the honor to be stronger than my counterpart, the [Undead Emperor], and the final of the strongest five undead, [Undead Grand Marshal]."
Tatyana said, "Well, I will return you to the underworld. If anything comes up, tell me."
Ying Yue respectfully answered, "Yes, my Empress." Then, she dissipated like green smoke.
Tatyana and Yasenia looked into each other eyes. 'What are her emotions now that she knows about this? Has something changed?'
Tatyana looked into her golden slit eyes with that tinge of red growing from the pupil to a quarter of the iris. They seemed to carry the soft glow of the sunset, giving rest and pace to everyone who looked at them. There was vividness and determination to push forward no matter the challenges ahead. Her eyes looked at her as lovingly as before but with a trace of sadness in them.
After Jian Ying Yue disappeared, Yasenia looked into Tatyana's eyes. 'How many things do I not know about my mom? I'm... Practically a stranger of mom's more private affairs. But her eyes...'
Yasenia focused on Tatyana's red eyes. They seemed to carry the blood of the countless enemies she had slain during her years, giving people who looked too closely a sense of asphyxia and dread. However, below all of that, there was a trace of weariness and lethargy in them, tired of a life that kept giving heartbreaks one after another.
For Yasenia, Tatyana was someone that could hold the sky if it fell, but at the same time, a really pitiful person. The more she knows about her, the muddier her past becomes. It is only filled with revenge, death, loss, betrayal, and regret.
Yasenia doesn't know a single good thing that happened to Tatyana that lasts until today. That is why…
Yasenia smiled gently, and her eyes curved into crescents, "Mom, whenever you want to rest, I'm here. I will become stronger, protect myself, and always put our safety first. I won't disappear, I won't betray you, and most importantly, I will love you no matter what you are hiding inside you. It doesn't matter if you are a saint or a devil. For me, you are my dearest mother, the person I love the most in this world."
Tatyana's eyes trembled, and she leaned on Yasenia burying her face in her neck. "I am… a little tired… Can I rest a little?"
Yasenia couldn't help but tear up, but she responded with the same gentle tone, "Goodnight, mom. I love you." Tatyana, for the first time after millennia, fell asleep.