After walking around the sect, Yasenia returned to her cultivation room. She could go visit her dears, but she wanted to advance in her Body Cultivation Path. At the moment, other than Body cultivation, Yasenia was ahead of her dears.
Still, one thing was supporting them with all her might, and another was neglecting her own growth. She wouldn't purposely slow down for them, but she would make small sacrifices so that they would speed up.
In short, everything was about finding a balance inside of herself.
Opening the door to the cave carved into the mountain, Yasenia walked inside. The light in the cave was created through natural paths and formations that aided the energy and light outside to be gathered here.
Moreover, although Yasenia called it a cultivation "room," the size was enormous after spatial alterations due to the complex nature of the formation. It was at least 500 meters tall and 3000 meters long and wide.
If you looked at the cave from the outside, the measurements were 100 times smaller.
The insides were also clean and tidy. There weren't a lot of things around besides one small human-sized resting room at the corner.
Everything in this space was optimized for accelerating Yasenia's cultivation. All the girls had similar cultivation caves, each infused with their elements.
Also, it was this big so that Yasenia could transform into her dragon form without problems. After all, to practice or, better said, increase her beast cultivation, becoming a beast was the best.
After entering her massive cultivation cave, the dragoness leisurely walked forward as her clothes changed back to her usual alluring blue dress.
While walking at a normal speed, she took out her Body Cultivation manual and sunk her mind into it, observing the initial parts of the technique.
As said before, unlike Spiritual Cultivation, which needed the cultivator to meditate in a state of tranquility, Body Cultivation needed the cultivator to meditate in a state of combat trance. What did this mean?
To practice body cultivation, martial arts moves were used to guide energy around the body.
Her eyes landed on the words and actions the example did with a concentrated expression. While this Cultivation Technique was created, it naturally created a guide as to how to advance.
Yasenia took 20 minutes of slow walking to reach the center of the room. All this while, she read the technique and memorized everything until she could recite it backward.
It was an action she had already done many times, but she always did this at the beginning to freshen her thoughts.
Yasenia released the scroll, and it flew into her Dantian.
Then, Yasenia began preparing.
First, she took a deep breath, absorbing the thick energy of the surroundings. Then, she dissipated the energy from her body to feel the minute changes it could create.
Andrea shared many insights with them, and she applied them. Of course, as a cultivator, not everything worked the same even while doing the same, so it was imperative that while listening to advice, it should only be used as a reference.
After ten seconds of preparation, Yasenia took a stance, and she gently and firmly began following the movements written on the technique.
Starting with a step forward on her right foot, she synchronized her right arm's movement, both extending forward in a fluid motion. Transitioning seamlessly, she slid her other foot sideways into a crouching position leaning sideways.
Continuing the momentum, she descended and then ascended smoothly, leveraging her extended leg as if riding a wave, culminating in a poised one-foot stance, her left arm gracefully extended to the side.
Without pause, she transitioned, executing three swift kicks into the air with her lifted leg before lowering it behind her. As she raised both arms, fingers straight yet relaxed, her torso twisted into a backhanded strike, followed by a powerful palm strike that reverberated with a muted sound.
Meanwhile, the trailing leg traced an expanding arc as her body dipped, setting the stage for a spinning back kick, utilizing the generated momentum.
Her tail dragged behind her movements, dancing around her like a cloud but never bothering the dragoness.
As she moved, energy was supposed to be created inside of her perfectly synchronizing movements, but nothing was happening.
Yasenia was not impatient, though. Her body continued the beautiful and fluid martial arts movements to the point of perfection.
Still, even after an hour, Yasenia had no energy coursing through her body; she couldn't sense the spark that Andrea and the others talked to her about. 'Move, not fast, but feeling each step.'
Her arm pushed forward, creating another palm strike. 'Each fiber of the body moves meaningfully, not by instincts, but for a purpose.'
Neither anxious nor rushed, the dragoness continued her beautiful routine. Her mind was calm as her body moved with fluidity and beauty.
Instead of martial arts, she looked as if she were dancing.
Her long, soft black hair and dress moved along behind her like clouds swirling around a mountaintop. Her blows, kicks, and sweeping motions were silent, cutting through air perfectly so as not to make a single sound. Her tail never came in her way, interlocking with her strikes in a beautiful, balanced motion.
Ethereal, sublime, enthralling.
Yasenia's dance was mesmerizing to the point of making everyone who looked at her forget about the World outside the swaying dragoness.
However, no matter how well she copied those movements, how well Yasenia received the mnemonics, or how much comprehension the dragoness had about Heaven's Path, Yasenia could not feel anything.
This made her sincerely confused. 'What am I doing wrong?'
Her charming motions didn't stop as she thought. 'Are my movements too perfect? With no personal essence?'
The dragoness stopped copying what she learned and began improvising without going out of the movements presented by the technique.
She maintained the essence of the technique, but she started adding her personal touch to it.
Unlike the previous grace and elegance, now there was an underlying feeling of raw power, and instead of moving silently, the sound of whistling air followed her movements.
She didn't increase the strength of her body, as her movements would even be able to be followed by an average human. However, the previous ethereal and aloof feeling in her dance was slowly changing, sublimating into more beastly, more charming, more seductive motions.
After a palm strike, Yasenia would curl her fingertips and create a swiping motion; her gaze stopped being calm and aloof, and her eyes deepened as she looked intently at her invisible enemy.
Previously, her kicks were straightforward, but now, they were attacking the lethal points of her invisible enemy, gaining a layer of killing intent behind each strike that gave that overbearing a dragon should have.
Her extra motions added a wild charm and dominant feeling, seducing the viewer to surrender to her.
Punches, kicks, evasive motions, excellent footwork… Everything combined into the ethereally violent yet seductive routine that would leave those watching her breathless.
Alluring, domineering, cold.
The essence of who Yasenia was to her enemies, her movements reflected that. Others would call her a demon, others would call her a seductress, and others would curse at her ruthlessness.
However, for those who could rest inside the deepest and softest part of her heart, Yasenia didn't mind how she was called.
If one came her way and challenged her, she would defeat one.
If one thousand came, she would deal with them all.
If a powerful force faced her, she would uproot them from the face of the world, leaving nothing behind.
Bam!
Her punch, even with her minimum strength, created a loud explosive sound as her pupils thinned. Yasenia remembered Tatyana's words as she moved.
'Attacks must be quicker.'
Yasenia sped up.
'They must swiftly aim for weaknesses.'
Her every move aimed for a weak point.
'Be ruthless, even if it is seen as dishonorable.'
She began targeting the joints, eyes, and all the most vulnerable parts.
'Be merciless because if your enemy survives, they will come back later, stronger than ever.'
She struck the heart, the dantian, and lethal acupuncture points.
'Kill every enemy, and if those related try to retaliate, slaughter until no one is left to bother you for their deaths.'
When she landed a lethal strike, she moved around as if there were more enemies, as if she were surrounded.
'Good and kind rulers do not build the path to supremacy. Every large city, every kingdom, every powerful sect, every empire, every powerful leader has rivers of blood and mountains of corpses behind them. Maybe not by their hand, but definitely by their will.'
Yasenia remembered when she was in the trial, and her body began to feel sticky with the touch of blood.
She remembered fighting in the front lines, killing tens of enemies that were as strong as her.
She remembered the first time she killed a superior fighter. She almost lost an arm. By the end of that battle, it was just hanging by a tendon and was later healed.
That battle was the cause of her first promotion.
Yasenia's movements continued, her face devoid of emotions, as if she had become a killing machine.
In front of her, waves and waves of soldiers came at her like a locust, and she used her own strength to carve a path of blood to victory.
In front of her, the army she guided slaughtered an entire enemy city, leaving nothing behind and securing a crucial stronghold.
In front of her, the capital of the enemy Empire burnt, tainting the sky in a bloody red.
In front of her, the Emperor and Empress begged for their lives. However, without a single ripple of guilt or hesitation, she beheaded them, ending the War that killed millions of soldiers and as many non-combatants in indirect ways like famine and many others.
Around Yasenia, the killing intent was palpable, and she moved, never stopping, never tiring; something broke through in her mind.
Bam!
Sadly, it wasn't the Body Cultivation technique. It was her [War Intent] that reached level 3.
Yasenia's heart didn't ripple even then, and she continued attempting to break through. 'This is not enough… Why? What am I lacking? Is it something complicated or something simple?'
As Yasenia moved tirelessly, six hours went by.
Usually, this amount of exercise would not be enough to make someone with her stamina sweat, but Yasenia's forehead and skin glistened as her breath was slightly accelerated.
On the contrary, instead of making her look bad, the extra sheen added a carnal allure that tempted the people observing to hug her tightly and melt in her embrace.
The dragoness's movements had become more natural as time passed, more intricate, and more personal.
The bloodthirstiness had also greatly reduced, becoming more like a deep and tranquil ocean. On the surface of this Ocean, the usual Yasenia existed.
She looked tempting, seductive, graceful, intelligent, and with a hint of ruthlessness.
Even the look in her eyes had softened, and her lips had naturally raised in a sensual smirk.
Each motion, each step, and each look was enough to send a shiver of pleasure across someone's body. However, when she narrowed her eyes with coldness, those shivers would change to ones of fear.
Her dress and hair followed her steps, sometimes hiding half of her face to add a sliver of mysteriousness.
And yet, she was still unable to trigger it.
The dragoness didn't stop, but she sighed in her mind. 'It's probably something fundamental I'm missing, but what?'
************************************************
Evelyn: What can it be?
Author: It's something a bit silly, to be honest. In the next chapter, she realizes it.
The girls: Something silly?
Author: What do you think, dear reader? Any clue of what she is missing? If you read attentively, you can notice it~.
Yasenia: Really?
Author: Yep. You got everything correctly except one silly little thing.
Yasenia: Sigh.
Author: Let's move on, hahaha. I summon you!
VolfKami: Hello!
Evelyn: Hi!
Volfkami: Author, can you summon Oliver?
Yasenia: Big bro?
VolfKami: Yup.
*Puf*
Oliver: Hm? I've been summoned-GUFAUGH!
Yasenia: *Giving a bear hug* Big bro!
Oliver: Little sis? Wow, you've grown so much stronger!
Yasenia: *Smugly* Right? What about you? What realm are you in?
Oliver: Well, I'm already about to break through into the Unification Realm.
Yasenia: Not bad! You are just about to reach 30 years old, right? A 30-year-old Unification Realm expert is really powerful!
Oliver: Yep. I can't compare to you, though, hahaha.
Yasenia: Well… I'm now 51 years old, so…
Oliver: ????
Yasenia: I'll tell you when we meet in the future. Now, answer his question.
Oliver: Sure.
VolfKami: Yo, Oliver! Did your parents ever succeed in making you, and by extension Yasenia, a little sibling due to the relationship the two of you share? I remember it was mentioned a long time ago, and I joked about them having a daughter so that she could make you jealous in 15 years; that's no longer applicable due to how things have developed, but I wanted to mention it cause it still makes me chuckle.
Oliver: Cough. Well, they are 'trying.' But you know how it is for Transcendent Realm cultivators, so there has been no luck.
VolfKami: I see. That's a shame.
Oliver: Agreed. I want a true little sister that I can protect and pamper!
Yasenia: Oy!
Oliver: Little sis, not to be rude, but I don't think I can even damage one of your scales going all out.
Yasenia: Well… That's true.
Oliver: … really? I was exaggerating a bit.
VolfKami: Oh boy, you are in for a surprise once you meet again. Your little sis has become quite a monster.
Oliver: Sigh. Well, I already expected it.