Around the Death Empress, the gathering of Death energy started slow, but it quickly ramped up.
From a breeze to a gale to a hurricane of black strands swirled around her.
Every creature that looked at the events would feel it in their souls that a person who could control such energies was not something to be provoked.
Wild animals ran, birds flew away, and the flora around Tatyana began withering.
The few strands at the start had already transformed into a titanic vortex.
While Death energy gathered around Tatyana, her aura became heavier, her facial expression became more solemn, and her eyes gained an otherworldly red glow.
The strong gales didn't dishevel her. Instead, they elegantly moved her black dress and glossy long hair, giving her increasingly otherworldly aura a captivating beauty.
Tatyana stopped walking and focused in front of her. Her spiritual sense spread like a tide, enveloping hundreds of kilometers ahead of her. All creatures that had died entered her "vision range," allowing the Death Empress to start using her skills.
Her voice echoed with a feeling of oppressive might.
"[Innate Skill: Death absorption]."
With her chant reverberating, hundreds of thousands of strands flowed from the battlefield with the wail of the dead.
These strands were blacker and purer than what Tatyana was gathering around her, and they didn't mix with the torrent of Death Energy around the Empress.
Instead, those strands move unimpeded, landing on Tatyana and being absorbed by her. The Death Empress felt refreshed, and her lips arched. 'Finally, I can eat~.'
BOOM!
Like a bomb exploding, Tatyana's aura violently expanded and quickly multiplied, covering everyone in the area with a tyrannical presence.
Tatyana's aura ballooned several times over, and the leaders opened their eyes in stupefaction. Tengliu asked, stunned. "She broke through? Just like that?"
That's right, Tatyana had gone from the peak of the eighth level to the half-step Unification Realm, entirely skipping the ninth level.
Moreover, the aura around her was incredibly dense and sturdy, showing that she was not that far from breaking through into the Dantian Spiritualization Realm. After her raging aura stabilized, it became like a calm ocean, profound and almost impossible to see the bottom.
Through slaughter, Tatyana grew the fastest.
Before, the leaders didn't really feel a substantial threat from Tatyana, but now… They probably wouldn't want to make enemies out of her even if you paid them.
Coraline looked at Yasenia and saw her smiling and wagging her tail, making her almost burst into laughter, even in this situation. The look of adoration on her face was undeniable.
'Well, it seems that regardless of their peculiar relationship, their mother-daughter bond is undeniable.'
However, Tatyana was far from being done. This was just the beginning act of her following actions.
The Death Empress waved her hand, and the torrents of Death energy spun around Tatyana and began twisting in complex shapes. 'Hm, this seems the only way. Tsk, if I had with my original body, I could do it in an instant.'
When she realized what she was doing, Valeria's eyes opened, and she exclaimed. "Impossible!"
The leaders and girls were surprised at Valeria's sudden exclamation. Even Mirrory materialized as she observed Tatyana with wonder in her eyes.
Kali asked, curious. "What is happening, Valeria?"
Valeria muttered to herself a few things, her eyes and spiritual sense scanning what Tatyana was doing to confirm her doubts. "Mirrory, is she really…"
Mirrory nodded and smiled wryly. "Truly… She is a peerless genius."
Valeria heard the confirmation and was awed. Then, she explained. "The skill Tatyana wants to use is too high level for her current body. So, in a normal situation, it should be impossible to cast."
The leaders realized and nodded, feeling as if they could understand why Valeria exclaimed.
However, our girls knew that something like that was nothing for these two ancient seniors and continued listening attentively.
As they expected, Valeria continued. "Therefore, the usual way to cast them is to burden the meridians and Dantian in the body or simplify the skills. However, Tatyana is doing neither."
Valeria watched the complexly moving death currents in the middle of the vortex and spoke solemnly. "Tatyana is currently using the World as her Dantian and Meridians, allowing her to cast the skill without placing any burden on her body."
They all froze, their eyes opening wide enough that one would fear they would pop out.
The Forest Sky Empress stuttered. "E-Excuse me, w-what did you just say? I can't understand."
Valeria looked at her and explained. "The Death Energy streams are moving in those complex patterns and gathering around Tatyana in a ball because she is using the ambient energy as a medium to create something similar to a Dantian and meridian net. This, in theory, should be impossible. After all, to do this, you have to literally steal control from the Heavens of the area you are using."
Valeria smiled wryly and continued. "However, Tatyana is doing just that. She had first used a large part of her energy to summon part of another dimension around her, severing the connection between the Heavens and herself, and now, she is absorbing all the Death Energy around her and moving it as if she were casting the skill through her meridians. The precision, control, understanding, and focus one must have to do something like this is godly."
Although the words Valeria spoke could be understood individually, once they were strung in sentences, it felt as if they were crashing the poor, fragile minds of these leaders.
Their eyes gazing at Tatyana appeared as if they were looking at an incomprehensible being.
Valeria clarified. "Doing this in a normal situation is impossible, though. A small attack or lack of concentration can make all that energy berserk and explode. If that happened, even Tatyana would probably be unable to save herself."
As Valeria explained, they saw Tatyana throw a small crystal into the air.
The crystal burst, and then, their eyes changed as a gargantuan pressure wave descended and the sky darkened.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
All of them, with Mirrory and Valeria as exceptions, fell face-first against the ground and forcefully kneeled.
It was the prelude to the descent of Tatyana's soul strand.
A titanic illusory phantom of Tatyana appeared, reaching over 1,000 meters tall. The phantom image wore a gorgeous royal dress with a tiara-like crown on her head.
Inside the soul strand, all the energy Tatyana was manipulating began spinning as if it were flowing through the soul's meridians and dantian.
Then, her chant echoed around as if it were the decree of a goddess.
"Death, the end of everything; an unavoidable fate for all living beings, no matter the strength, no matter the status, no matter who they are. Death claims all."
Her voice was infinitely cold and powerful as if Death Itself was speaking.
"But death isn't the end, for my power bends Fate! For my power bends the meaning of Death!"
Raising her hand forward, the massive illusory image followed her movements, and the rivers of death followed her will inside the phantom self.
Then, as she made the gesture, her voice echoed and spread several kilometers around, making every creature that heard her cower in fear.
"Thus, I call you to live eternally in your death under my command until the day I perish and beyond!"
All the Death energy gathered in the raised arm of the phantom Death Empress, and with a phantasmal undertone, Tatyana's voice spread like the whisper of the Underworld.
"[Death Empress Decree: Eternal Legion Awakening]."
The world became silent for a second as a massive wave of Death energy flew from the Phantom Tatyana's hand and descended.
BOOM!
The World quaked under Tatyana's might when it crashed into the ground. The black wave of Death energy swallowed the entire area where the maids fought, and the army previously stood, absorbing all creatures, whether alive or dead.
The pressure disappeared, and the Phantom Death Empress vanished, returning the world to normal and allowing the leaders and other beings present to stand up.
Their eyes were trembling in fear as they watched the indifferent-looking, floating black-haired woman.
A few seconds of silence followed, and right after, the cries of a myriad of ghosts enveloped the entire valley with their laments as all the creatures previously swallowed by Tatyana's skill began awakening.
The chilling air, darkened sky, and malevolent spectacle that unfolded combined into a hellscape that everyone but those who knew Tatyana feared.
As they gazed upon the hell that descended by the hand of a single woman, the mind of one of the leaders, the Golden Body Sect Patriarch, suddenly clicked, and he immediately shared his thoughts.
After hearing what he said, they all were filled with fright, looking at Tatyana as if she were a taboo existence that couldn't be touched.
The reason? It wasn't just because of the events they were currently spectating.
The Golden Body Patriarch had realized that the person who hurt the Heavens more than five years ago was her.
It was Tatyana.
The one that made the heavens cry in pain and sliced the sky in half was this person before them.
It had been a mystery who did it for a long time, and these superpowers kept silent, agreeing to forget the event. After all, provoking the person who could create such a death zone and literally slice the Heavens in half was not a prudent action.
Now, they realized that the "person they couldn't provoke" was the mother of the "person they had been about to provoke."
The horror they were feeling inside made them sweat coldly. They knew that all this time, they had been one step away from offending someone they shouldn't.
'Thanks to the Heavens that I agreed to the alliance with Yasenia!'
After all the Undead gathered in front of Tatyana, the Death Empress sighed. "So weak."
The leaders looked at the legion of a few hundred thousand and felt their lips twitch. However, who dared defy her words after what she did? Not them!
Yasenia trotted over and hugged her arm with a wagging tail. "Are they really weak, Mom?"
Tatyana looked sideways and smiled gently, giving her a peck. "Yes. Look, there are only two who are in the Dantian Spiritualization Realm, while there are only 1000 that are in the Unification Realm. The rest are not even worth being called cannon fodder. Well, I can't complain since I have lacked a large army since arriving here, making 90% of my skills useless. I excel at army combat, not at one-on-one combat, after all."
The girls whom she had beaten up repeatedly could only wallow in their inferiority.
Coraline, who had a good relationship with Tatyana, coughed and asked. Her voice was respectful. "Lady Tatyana, what is this Unification Realm you are talking about?"
Tatyana turned to look and met eyes with a bunch of obedient people, looking at her like a mouse before a cat. The corner of her eyes twitched. "What are those looks? I don't bite."
'No, you do worse!'
They wanted to shout that, but who would dare? Not them!
Yasenia chuckled and answered. "Once you formally join the alliance, you will eventually learn about that. Between the benefits, there will be 'common knowledge' and other kinds of information you can buy."
The leaders nodded, thinking that they should join with their allies as soon as possible.
Yasenia saw their eager looks and coughed. "It will take a while to create the regulations and such, so don't expect me to be able to accept all of you at once."
The Forest Sky Empress laughed. "Don't worry, little Yasenia. Just go at your pace. We won't run away."
Tengliu suddenly smirked. "Hey, isn't Fu Lang Zu a bit pitiful?"
All the leaders realized and lit a candle in their hearts for the wolf. 'May you go painlessly… Or at least, quickly.'
Coraline coughed. "Tengliu, shouldn't you care about your own situation first?"
The harpy stiffened and looked at Tatyana.
Tatyana smiled sweetly back at her, making all the feathers on her body stand up. Yasenia laughed, and after discussing a few details, all the leaders went their way to prepare.
Meanwhile, Tatyana saved the army in her domain, and they left this place with an extra 200 thousand undead.
Who would've thought that, after the war, they returned with more numbers instead of less?
*********************************************************
Evelyn: I was wrong. The percentage was too low! Heavens, Tatyana is too sexy!
Andrea: You… Nevermind.
Evelyn: What? I'm not embarrassed to admit that my panties are like a defective dam, leaking everywhere!
Andrea: …
Evelyn: Moreover, I'm not the one who is the worst. Look at Angel and Yasenia!
*Yasenia sprawled all over Tatyana and licking her face.*
*Angel completely red-faced and snuggled in Tatyana's arms.*
Andrea: …
Evelyn: Not to mention, those at home probably aren't any better!
Author: Cough. Let's move on. I summon you!
Arfa42: Hi!
Kali: Welcome, Arfa42.
Arfa42: Thank you, Kali.
Arfa42: Seniors, if I remember correctly, the higher a cultivator realm, the higher one's skill in controlling one's body. So, how much control can one get in every stage of cultivation? And can a person control their senses, like if someone can numb the pleasure in non-consent sex or numb their pain?
Mirrory: Well, that's a difficult question. However, complete body control happens right after the Unification Realm. However, the path of energy control is endless. As Tatyana has shown in this chapter, the limits one can reach with it are extraordinary.
Tatyana: That's right. If one could control energy perfectly, they probably would become peerless monsters in the same realm.
Arf42: I see.
Tatyana: As for your second question. It is possible. However, if the other person had better control and forced pleasure onto you, then you would eventually succumb to pleasure. Of course, it's not a pleasant sensation, even if you feel pleasure.
Arfa42: Thanks for answering, Mirrory, Tatyana!
Mirrory: Hm.
Tatyana: No problem.
Author: And that's all for today, see you tomorrow ~.