After her conversation with Evelyn, Yasenia got thoughtful. 'Who do I call, Andrea or Cecile? Cecile was in the middle of something, so she may not answer me. I will call her first and get it out of the way.'
She inserted energy and tried to contact Cecile next. First, she sunk inside herself and focused on the connection. The feeling of her soul being connected one more time relaxed her whole being. During the time inside the Trial, the connection with Cecile basically disappeared. During the first years of the Trial, she felt strange and restless, but she got used to ignoring those feelings after a while.
Now that she could feel it one more time, she was honestly filled with many different and complex feelings. The longing, excitement, love, and attraction meshed in the sense of happiness and eagerness to meet. The fact that this connection remained meant that Cecile was completely fine, relaxing the restlessness inside of her.
Yasenia lost track of time as she felt that cool and refreshing feeling inside her heart and soul. After waiting for almost half an hour, her call got through. Next, Cecile's cool and calm voice was heard from the communication device. "Hello, my love. It has been a while. Is everything okay? I can feel your feelings somewhat turbulent."
Yasenia felt her heart squeezing with delight and fear. Cecile's voice felt like a refreshing wind in the middle of a hot summer. The feeling reignited some buried feelings, almost urging Yasenia to meet with her again right in that instant. Yasenia asked hopefully, "Are you done with your thing, Cecile? I finished what I had to do and would like to reunite. I-I want to see you again."
Cecile was currently sitting cross-legged and naked in the middle of the Phoenix Tear Lake. The water had more energy than it had in the beginning; clearly, something with extreme power had hit it recently.
Cecile's bloodline, physique assimilation, and cleansing had already finished, transforming her into a complete Moon Phoenix. From now on, she and a normal Moon Phoenix would not have any differences. Cecile could feel she was about to unlock her beast form once she assimilated every massive power-up she had. Her current strength was honestly out of the charts.
Nevertheless, she had to bathe in the lake for more time to complete this assimilation in the future without problems. Hence, she couldn't leave that place yet. With regret in her voice, Cecile said, "I'm almost done, my love. I just want to absorb the residual energy in this place to be able to consolidate my cultivation in the first level of the Unification Realm. However, until then, I can't leave."
Yasenia felt her heart sinking. But knowing that Cecile was in an important phase and was unable to come to her, she controlled her emotions. Her tone became calm and collected again, and she changed the subject. "How big was your spiritual sense area when you awakened it?"
Cecile blinked and looked at the device for a second. It was not the question that surprised her but the way Yasenia spoke. 'She is holding back her emotions with me? Since when did Yasenia bottle up her grievances with us?'
Cecile frowned for a second but then returned to normal. She answered her question normally. "Ninety-four meters."
Yasenia was impressed.
Each meter after the ninety meters was honestly a big jump in potential. The fact that Cecile reached ninety-four meters spoke volumes of her improved innate talent. Yasenia had always thought Cecile would be between eighty-nine and ninety-one meters. Yasenia commented, "That's impressive, Cecile. When you finish absorbing the energy, call me again."
Yasenia suddenly heard Cecile speaking, "My love, I don't know what happened, but you can always vent with me all you want. We are together in everything, even in life and death, so don't hold back."
Yasenia frowned, feeling surprised. 'Why did she say the same thing as Evelyn? I don't think I said anything strange, did I? Moreover, I'm controlling my emotions perfectly.'
Yasenia regulated her emotions and tone again and said calmly, "I'm perfectly fine. I just miss all of you. That's all."
Cecile looked at the communication device with some worry in her icy blue eyes, 'Should I insist? I know she disappeared for two weeks since our connection was cut off for that time. It truly gave me a scare. Thankfully, I knew what happened thanks to Kali, or else I might have left this place.'
Cecile thought for a second and decided against it, 'I rather ask her in person. I won't be able to feel her clearly since we are so far away. Once she is in front of me, she won't be able to say half-truths.'
Cecile smiled and said, "Don't think you can hide your worries from me for too long, my love. I will contact you the moment I finish with this. Then, I'm going to make you tell me everything."
Yasenia looked surprised at the device. She let out a small laugh and answered with a smile, "Good. I will be waiting for your call."
Cecile answered tenderly, "En, I love you."
Yasenia paused for a second as she felt her heart skip a beat. Her face bloomed in an uncontrollable smile as she answered, her tone softer than she wanted it to be. "I love you too."
Cecile heard the clear affection and smiled to herself, 'Good, since she can still say things with that tone, it shouldn't be a big problem. At first, I felt as if she had lost some feelings, but this "I love you" relaxed me a lot. They are not lost but slightly buried because of something.'
Yasenia cut the communication and stayed thoughtful. 'Why do they keep asking if something is wrong? Am I that different from before?'
Yasenia shook her head and called Andrea. The conversation went similarly, but it was more lengthy. Yasenia learned that Andrea had been wandering in a labyrinth inside a volcano.
She has picked so many heaven-ranked minerals that her rings were full of them. That meant that she had thousands of tons of material with her. Furthermore, unlike the others, Andrea had managed to break through the Unification realm without the help of any treasure.
Yasenia thought that Andrea always managed to surprise her one way or another, being able to keep her lead in strength.
The tribulation was a big event, but Andrea's strengthened body, thanks to the dragoness's nourishment, managed to resist it with relative ease.
However, her armor broke too much to do quick repairs, so she was wearing a spare one with low-level Heaven rank strength. It was quite lacking compared to her previous middle-level Heaven-ranked [Knight's Promise].
Andrea said with a cheeky tone, "By the way, I still have to reach the center of this place, and there is a powerful treasure there, so I might be able to break through again. Be careful, or I might leave you behind."
Yasenia was curious how she would fare off against Andrea. Each time Andrea advanced in strength, she was honestly extremely strong and skilled for someone at her level. It was as if she had innate combat sense. Yasenia remembered that each time they fought, she felt helpless even when she was above her raw-strength wise. 'But now, things will be different.'
Yasenia commented, "Don't think that you can win against me because your strength has increased, Andrea. I'm much stronger than you may think."
Andrea asked, her tone soothing and deep. "And why is that, my love?"
Yasenia stopped for a second, her tail curling around her leg, "The Trial was very instructional."
Andrea let out a long hum as if waiting for something more.
Yasenia felt strangely at a loss for words before that hum. Andrea suddenly said to Yasenia in her deep and attractive voice, "Dear, I want you to tell us about your experience once we all gather together, okay?"
Yasenia felt worry wash over her. 'How will they react?'
Still, she didn't have the plan to hide anything from them once they reunited, so she said. "O-Okay, I will tell you everything."
Andrea heard a small stutter from her voice, so she relaxed the dragoness, "Don't worry, Yasenia. You know how much we love you. If you explain everything honestly, we won't be angry at you no matter what."
Yasenia gave a weak laugh, "Yes, I know. But... Sigh, never mind. I will go to find Angel and Kali. When you leave the labyrinth, contact me."
Andrea said, "It shouldn't take more than a day. I just have to beat up the final guardian and gain the prize for overcoming it. Then, I should be teleported outside since there are many cues that point that way. I could have done it earlier, but this place is a treasure trove, so I was filling my ring and another three to the brim."
Yasenia nodded, "That's good. See you later, Andrea."
Andrea looked at the communication device and sighed, "I can't get used to Yasenia calling me Andrea. I like it much more when she uses the coquettish "Darling."."
Then, she smirked, her light green eyes flashing with a determined light, "However, don't think this will last for long, my love. Soon, I will make you my well-behaved, pampered, coquettish girl again."
After saying their goodbyes, Yasenia accelerated and shot toward the town. Since she had been advancing at a moderate pace between the calls, she was very close.
After one hour of running, she approached the surrounding forest around the Lost Town. Her steps changed, and all sounds she made disappeared.
Her stealthiness was incomparable to what it was before. Although she still wasn't an expert, currently, only a Unification Realm expert would be able to sense her if the cultivator didn't use their Spiritual Sense.
Yasenia arrived at the gate and looked around. There was a lot of traffic, so she thought about how to enter in the most stealthy way possible. She retrieved a bed sheet from her ring and skillfully transformed it into a long cape with a hood.
She placed it above herself and curled her long tail around her waist and one leg. Running with the leg latched in that way didn't bother Yasenia, so it wasn't a problem.
Then, she controlled her aura and walked normally forward. Instead of crossing through the Heaven Gate, Yasenia chose the Earth Gate. Since she had already overcome the Trial, it didn't matter which door she entered the town through.
Without any problems, Yasenia entered undetected.
Once inside, she jumped on top of one of the roofs and used her speed to run toward the Mayoress' house. She wasn't the only one using the roofs, so it wasn't inconspicuous. Running on the roofs to avoid bumping into mortals was a good method of traveling.
Without any problems, Yasenia reached the Mayor's manor. She wanted to question Han Xue about the [Crystal Key]. With that lead, Yasenia would have a point to begin her search.
After entering the Mannor, Yasenia walked inside and took out the cape, revealing herself.
The guards that were about to stop her froze in pure visual shock. 'Who the hell is this goddess!?'
Yasenia ignored them and barged inside, following the Mayoress' scent trail to find her.
After some minutes, Yasenia found her room and went inside. However, Yasenia didn't expect to find Han Xue in that position.