Yasenia placed her hand near her neck, and Kaleina coiled around it.
Yasenia kissed her softly, making Kaleina squeak adorably. Yasenia's heart softened, and she decided on something.
Her gaze landed on the elders and told them. "She is my child, Kaleina. I was impregnated in the past by an unknown woman with both genitals. That person then disappeared... However, she left me with this beautiful present. I'm still unsure about her dragon species, but I will love her no matter what."
Elder Mu asked with a hidden meaning. "Hoh? Was she born not long ago?"
The elders thought of something and looked at Kaleina with more curiosity.
Yasenia blinked twice, feeling that the question had a hidden blade. She didn't rush to answer until the thing that felt wrong clicked.
She internally sneered, but her face was calm. "Yes, she hatched not long ago. More or less two weeks ago. I wasn't with the juniors until today because I was taking care of her. I wouldn't have come here if they didn't trigger the ritual."
Elder Mu nodded thoughtfully and didn't pursue the matter.
The others also relaxed, and their attention went away from Kaleina. Yasenia's eyes flashed with a hidden murderous expression, but she didn't show anything.
She just kept softly caressing and kissing her little dear.
Kaleina suddenly squeaked with a more piercing sound, taking Yasenia's attention. She knew that she would make this sound when she was hungry.
Yasenia looked at the elders and then at Kaleina. "Excuse me, elders. Will you be kind enough to stop surrounding me with your spiritual senses for a little while? She is hungry."
They were all grandfathers and grandmothers, so they understood. They complied with Yasenia's request.
The dragoness used her wide and long tail to block her chest and lowered her robes to allow Kaleina to latch onto one of her nipples.
The small dragon bit strongly and began drinking milk.
The elders couldn't see anything, and Yasenia continued the conversation while cradling Kaleina. "Well, since the presentations are out of the way. Let's get to business."
Their expressions had relaxed a lot after speaking with Yasenia, and now they treated her like another junior. After chatting for a while, they assumed that Yasenia was sharp and cold but with a soft heart for those close to her.
With a much better expression, Elder Yu said. "Well, miss Yasenia! The items your juniors gave us are interesting, but only their quality is high. Their functions are quite lacking. For example, the sword only has limited usages."
Elder Mu nodded. "The pill is decent, but it is very limited in terms of use. To ambient a room, I can use other things."
Kali and the others lifted their eyebrows. Kali even asked with a touch of incredulity. 'Hoh? Couldn't they think of better ways to use these items? Maybe they are faking it to buy a large batch for a lower price. Be careful, Yasenia.'
'I know. Thank you, honey.'
Yasenia chuckled softly. "Those are precious products with multiple applications. However, I can understand why you would not value them. As a matter of fact, we can create more useful things of that quality. Kali, show them a real pill."
'Take out something soul-related and something you can currently create. Do not be hasty and think carefully. It must be something we can produce in the future without complications.'
Kali nodded and sunk her consciousness inside the ring. She searched around the plethora of vials, pills, and items in her storage, and after five minutes of searching, she found something interesting.
This was one of the pills she got in Lost town. Its name was [Soul Refining Pill].
After Kali took out the exquisite vial, the eyes of the five elders were hooked. Kali then opened the cap on top, allowing the fragrance to fill the room.
Even Kaleina, who was happily sucking and drinking milk while getting her body caressed, paused for a second. However, Yasenia stealthily squished her breast, pouring some milk drops into her mouth. The sweetness and delightful taste hooked back the little dragoness to keep drinking from her mother.
Although dragons didn't need to drink milk when they were children, it didn't mean they couldn't, especially when it was as nourishing and delicious as Yasenia's.
Her milk was nutritional and gentle with Kaleina's body, making her feel fuzzy and warm inside. 'Mommy's milk is the best~.'
Yasenia glanced at Kaleina briefly, only to see her expression filled with relish. She almost laughed aloud because of her deep satisfaction and happiness. 'My little darling is so cute~.'
However, she restrained her facial expressions and focused on the Elders' expressions.
After the profound aroma, she could clearly discern their eyes changing from relaxed to interested.
She leaned on the couch with a smirk and then asked Kali. "Please, Kali. Explain to them what this pill is about."
Kali nodded respectfully and answered. "This [Soul Refining Pill] does as the name suggests. It makes the soul stronger, purer, and bigger. Moreover, it can also heal injured souls to a certain extent."
"The effects from consuming it would be a better synchronization between soul-mind-body. The ability to cleanse some impurities. Finally, the possibility to help deal with strong heart demons. It may not heal them, but it allows the cultivator to naturally suppress and cleanse a small part of them."
Kali wouldn't say that the effects were minimal in some aspects. This would only depreciate the value of the pill.
However, she wasn't lying and wouldn't have a guilty conscience since the Soul Refining Pill was precious and potent. She also wasn't lying about any point.
Kali saw their shocked expressions and smiled. "As you can tell, it is a very effective pill. However, it isn't easy to make."
Yasenia saw the expression of Elder Song, from the Pure Melody Sect, Elder Mu, from the Herb Fragrance Sect, and Elder Mao, from the Golden Body Sect, change drastically. The other two also had a reaction, but it was less exaggerated.
Yasenia couldn't discern if it were because they could control their reaction better or because they didn't find them as powerful.
Elder Mao asked with a low voice. "Is all of what you just said true?"
Yasenia smiled. "We would not dare deceive you. We are here to make friends, not some momentary profits. All of what my junior Kali said is correct. I've eaten one myself. The effects are indeed extraordinary."
Yasenia and the others had already eaten one each, so what they said was true.
What Yasenia didn't know or understand about their reaction was that the soul was the weakest part of a body cultivator.
Although their physical strength was extremely high, to the point that a body cultivator could punch to death an average cultivator with a single punch, body cultivation didn't nourish the soul as standard cultivation did.
When cultivating the standard path, you simultaneously use energy to strengthen your soul, mind, dantian, and body. The efforts are more spread, and a person focuses more on increasing the whole being to new levels.
However, when cultivating a body cultivation technique, that same energy was used for just the body and dantian, with a little bit used for the mind and soul so that it can keep up with the speeds and strength of your own body. Nevertheless, it was incomparable to an ordinary cultivator.
Of course, this made body cultivators absolute war machines.
Yet, if illusion-based sects from the Sky Continent arrived here, they would take over quite quickly. The fragility of the soul meant that any mind-disrupting techniques were much more effective. After crossing the Unification Realm, skills that targeted the soul were more abundant. Therefore, after considering everything, body cultivators weren't much more mighty than ordinary ones.
They were just two different paths.
Now you should understand their shock. Although these people hadn't met ordinary cultivators, they all knew their souls were weak to attacks or tools that focused on souls.
When Yasenia suddenly presented a pill that could reverse this problem, at least by a bit, they were shocked, ecstatic, and incredulous.
Yasenia was surprised when they seemed to like it more than she expected. Therefore, she decided to devaluate it a notch.
She sighed and commented. "Sadly, only we can create these pills because you need a strong soul to create them. If you don't have one, it will backfire during production and kill the alchemist. Our Astral Sky Clan has strongly emphasized the soul since infancy. Therefore, we are much stronger in that aspect than anyone at our level. That's our confidence."
They frowned, not believing her.
Yasenia wasn't in a hurry. She looked down and saw that Kaleina had finished and was drowsy. She smiled and patted Kaleina's back, allowing her to burp after eating her fill. Next, she nestled her between her breasts.
Kaleina fell asleep after a brief moment from pure comfort after the soft and fragrant flesh engulfed her body. 'Mommy's embrace is the best~.'
After ensuring Kaleina was comfortable, she lifted her dress and lowered her tail.
Then, Yasenia looked at Elder Mu and smiled. "How about a bet? You take one disciple from your sect, and we teach him or her. The way of teaching will be by allowing him to see the procedure from start to finish, inspect the ingredients, take notes, and then have Kali guide them step by step. The bet is about the outcome."
Elder Mu lifted her eyebrow and asked. "What are the stakes?"
Yasenia chuckled calmly. "If he or she dies while concocting, we won't receive any retaliation on your part. Moreover, we will be allowed to learn one valuable pill of the same quality from your part. On the contrary, if they learn it, we will allow them to return to your sect and use it as they like. They can teach you, spread it, or never practice it again. We won't care what they do with the knowledge."
Elder Mu's eyebrows jumped at Yasenia's confidence.
Yasenia pursued her lips and smiled. "Our training isn't something to scoff at, and I'm very confident in my assumptions. Of course, this one isn't our only special pill, so losing a monopoly over it won't matter much. Even if we lose a monopoly, the original creator is on our side, giving our pills a competitive edge."
Elder Mu frowned. 'Tsk, this junior is too tricky. There are traps laid out in every sentence.'
Yasenia didn't speak anymore and waited for Elder Mu's decision. Before agreeing, Elder Mu asked. "What alchemy level must one have to concoct that pill?"
Yasenia turned toward Kali, who answered nonchalantly. "To have more than an eighty percent success rate, one must have at least peak Heaven-ranked Alchemy Mastery. The soul strength also influences this factor. Therefore, it can vary from person to person."
Elder Mu opened her eyes wildly and shouted. "Impossible! Even I only have a high-level Heaven-ranked alchemy! How could a junior like you concoct this kind of pill!?"
Yasenia frowned. "Elder Mu, if I may be disrespectful, how strong are you inside your sect?"
Elder Mu saw Yasenia's genuine confusion and didn't get angry at her question. "I'm the thirtieth best alchemist. Even then, only around ten people in our sect have peak Heaven-ranked alchemy or above."
Yasenia got thoughtful. 'Their levels are that low? Kali is about to plant her foundation at the peak of Heaven-ranked alchemy firmly. She will need more cultivation and understanding before making a breakthrough, but she won't take more than five years.'
Curious, Yasenia turned toward the Black Hammer sect Elder, Elder Yu, and asked. "Are the levels of experts in your sect similar?"
Elder Yu nodded and crossed his arms before his chest. "Yes, we have fifteen people above or in the peak of Heaven-ranked Spirit Blacksmiths. I'm in near the thirtieth position too."
Yasenia stayed silent for a moment and went thoughtful. 'What to do? My plans must change accordingly. Hmm... Ah, I know.'