Let's go back in time a bit.
After the entrance to the trial swallowed Yasenia, she appeared on a desolate land.
Broken weapons, dead bodies, half-dead people, the smell of blood and death, shouts in the distance, and clashes of weapons.
Everything around her let Yasenia know where she was.
She opened her mouth and voiced a single word. "War."
Nothing would be able to mimic this kind of brutality besides War.
Yasenia saw that the people around her ignored her, so she didn't move. She stayed calm and saw the War up close.
A man swung a sword and bisected another. With a shout of anguish, another took revenge for the first one, brutalizing even the body.
A woman used a spear to attack a horse-rider but was overwhelmed by the war-hammer-wielding cavalry. Her spear was deflected, and the weapon slammed into her face. The aftermath was what anyone would expect—a loud crunch sound followed by an explosion of gore.
Archers fired a round of arrows, hiding the scorching Sun in the sky for a second.
The shield-bearing soldiers raised their shields in hopes that they would be safe. However, the reality was cruel. Lucky or unlucky, depending on the side you battled, the arrows went through the gaps between the shields, killing those they wanted to protect and, sometimes, even the shield bearers.
Death, death, and more death.
Most people's eyes were filled with madness as they killed and tried not to get killed.
This was War.
Brutal, ruthless, and merciless combat where rules mattered to no one and all that was important for the soldiers was one thing. Not the country, not their loyalty, not their battle.
Returning alive.
They fought with their very souls to return alive from the battlefield, where hundreds died every second.
Even if only thirty seconds had passed, Yasenia felt like she had been spectating it for hours. 'To think I was excited to participate in the War. Thankfully, mom traded Feng Yuan's life for my safety.'
The dragoness sighed, 'However, it seems as if that luxury won't apply a second time.'
Suddenly, the voice of a man appeared in her mind. 'You are strong; you are a rapid learner; you are talented; your potential is limitless; your intelligence high. Yet, you are easily controlled by your instincts; you are inexperienced; you don't try to understand where your faults are; you don't try to understand yourself.'
Yasenia frowned at those comments. She wouldn't believe everything a random voice told her. Therefore, she spoke aloud, "It is true that my instincts easily control me sometimes. However, what do you expect from a young dragon like me?"
Yasenia looked up and said with a calm face, "I'm inexperienced. That's a given since I have lived for no more than 21 years. If someone as young as me could be considered experienced in front of thousand-year-old old monsters, it would be strange."
Yasenia sneered, "I don't try to understand my faults? Then, point to me, oh mighty and sage senior, which are these flaws, and I will tackle them head-on! Since I'm inexperienced, I'm unable to find my own shortcomings easily. I need guidance! However, that doesn't mean that once I know them, I will deny them. Once I know them, I will try my best to overcome and correct those faults!
The old man's voice said, "Excuses. So what if you are young? Does that mean your brain is less than an adult's? You always try to find someone to point out where your faults are, wanting to be spoonfed. How about trying to resolve them by yourself? Arrogant and spoiled, that is what your words convey.'
Yasenia laughed mockingly and glared at the sky, "Do we know each other? What do you know about me besides what you've seen in this secret realm?"
Yasenia continued challenging the voice, "Why are you not saying anything about the inexperienced part? You are trying to act like a wise old man, yet you fail to understand me. You ask me if my brain is less than an adult's. My answer is yes; you are correct. The time I have spent learning is so much shorter than experienced cultivators that it can't be compared. Therefore, even if I'm intelligent, I'm not wise enough when compared to the seniors!"
After Yasenia's shout, the sounds of the War going on around her remained.
Yasenia didn't hear the voice, so she continued. "You ask why I always ask for directions. I will ask you back. Why wouldn't I use the excellent teachers around me to guide my own growth without bumping into useless trouble that has been resolved in the past?"
"Should I cultivate without a cultivation method too? Cultivation methods are, in short, ways the seniors researched to absorb the Energy of Heaven and Earth. Therefore, it is something I shouldn't use, right?"
Yasenia calmly said, "I'm trying to advance my knowledge as much as I can, but I can't be hasty and try to gobble everything up, or one day, I will choke to death!"
"Therefore, I shall ask for directions!"
"Therefore, I shall not stall my growth with previously resolved troubles!"
"Therefore, I might be inexperienced but not stupid and ask for advice!"
Silence.
Pure silence descended around Yasenia.
Even the War around her came to a stop. Everything seemed to have frozen under her mighty declaration.
Five minutes later, the voice said, "Young, inexperienced, rash, and arrogant. A cultivator is someone that has to go through countless hardships, a person that is bound to lose and gain."
Yasenia's face was cold as she asked aloud, "And who decided that? Who decided what a cultivator was?"
The man's voice answered, "The Heavens!"
Yasenia sneered, "That useless thing that has to be empowered by some archaic seniors to hurt me? If it weren't because those two random seniors who appeared in my tribulation, I wouldn't even be tickled by the Heavens!"
A voice boomed inside her head, "INSOLENCE!"
Yasenia roared back without hesitation. "FOOLISHNESS! LIVING UNDER SOME KIND OF SUPERIOR FATE AND THINKING THAT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS IS ALREADY PREDESTINED!"
"I'm the one molding my fate! I'm the one making the decisions! And if the Heavens are in my way, I will just burst them open, creating a path toward MY future!"
Yasenia looked at the sky with wrathful eyes and roared, "I'm not the one that fears the Heavens!"
"The Heavens will be the ones trembling under my might!"
"The Heavens will rotate around me!"
"And those who try to stop my ascension will become my stepping stones!"
Yasenia's voice echoed through the battlefield, her will piercing the sky and her determination strong enough to make the trial around her tremble.
That was Yasenia's conviction.
That was Yasenia's core being.
She was not a normal cultivator. She was a challenger. A Heaven-defier. Someone that wouldn't hesitate to go against the World itself if her ideals were challenged.
After another minute of silence, the old voice said. "This mentality may help you reach the top of the World, but what about those surrounding you? Will they also become stepping stones for your ascension? Will you also burst them open if they come in your path?"
Yasenia's heart didn't even move. During this whole conversation, her mind remained calm and analytic.
At first, she thought that this was the trial, but the further she spoke, the more she realized that she was wrong. The voice speaking to her is a lingering consciousness of somebody, most probably the one that created the town or even the secret realm.
Yasenia answered with ridicule, "My dears becoming my stepping stones? My most precious treasures, those I pamper with all my being, becoming something I will use for my benefit? I really want to laugh to your face, but I don't know where to look to do that."
After her statement, an old man appeared before Yasenia.
He was exactly the same as the one that was outside the secret realm when it was opening and the one who spoke to Cecile.
Yasenia stopped looking up and looked at him with a smirk. "You finally decided to appear, senior. So, may I ask, what is this all about?"
The old man looked at Yasenia silently for a second and then said, "You are really similar to your mother. Both of you think you can go against the Heavens, yet you fail to understand that all the strength you have is because of them."
Yasenia lifted an eyebrow and answered, "I don't deny that. My current strength is certainly because of the energy I absorb. The World created this energy."
Yasenia's natural seductive smirk returned, and she said, "I guess the Heavens are something similar to the will of the World, right? Therefore, you telling me that my current strength is because of the Heavens is completely right. No one can argue with that point."
The old man's wrinkly eyes opened slightly wider for a second, but he relaxed almost instantly. He looked at Yasenia with his ancient and profound eyes and said, "You are too smart for your own good, young dragon. Your race always stirs some trouble one way or another. All of you believe that you are superior, that even the Heavens must bow down to you. Yet, not even the Sun God and the Moon Goddess one million years ago came close to achieving that. Only the Saints got close to that strength."
Yasenia easily answered, "But I'm not them. I haven't even done anything to offend the Heavens. My words may have been arrogant and despondent of them, yet I haven't gone against them once. Therefore, as long as the Heavens do not offend me, I will continue being an obedient cultivator and follow its rules."
Yasenia's gaze became piercing as her slit eyes thinned. "I said this in the past. I will follow the rules until I'm strong enough to make my own. Once I achieve that strength, I will continue living as I like, unbound and free from all shackles, able to protect all my loves without limits."
The old man sighed, "You are a child that has yet to grow up, spouting nonsense you don't even understand."
Yasenia didn't deny it. "I don't know if that's true. You may be right. My path may lead to destruction. But what I said were my true feelings."
The dragoness lifted her chin proudly and said, "I do not hide my true self when I'm facing something or someone who questions my motives. My goal is simple but, unfortunately, incredibly hard."
Yasenia sighed and looked at the battlefield, "I will certainly go through hardships. No matter how careful I am, times when I'm challenged and almost defeated will eventually happen."
Her gaze returned to the listening old man and proclaimed, "Still, I won't accept them as if they were something guided by Heaven or Fate. When those things happen is because I wasn't careful enough. At some moments during my journey, I will make a mistake, and that mistake will lead to trouble. No one is perfect, and that is unavoidable."
"However, when that happens, I will always fight against those hardships and, in the end, remain either victorious or not seriously damaged."
The old man asked, "What if any of your lovers die?"
Yasenia looked into the old man's eyes and said, "That won't happen."
"What makes you so sure of that? There isn't a certain guarantee that you will offend someone without knowing, and they deal an ambush when you aren't present. You can't guarantee their safety against someone that is overwhelmingly strong."
Yasenia nodded, "That's true. There isn't a guarantee. But that doesn't mean I won't do everything in my power to prevent that. And what would I do when that day comes? That is something I haven't thought about, I'm not thinking about, and I will not think about. I will protect them, and that's it."
The old man cryptically asked, "What if you can't keep your promises? What if that hurts your lovers enough to make them want to leave your side?"
Yasenia didn't answer as she found that there was more to his question. She frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"
The old man sighed and said, "The phoenix was also similar… You are truly a match made in Heaven. Follow me."