Andrea sat with one leg over the other and commented while looking at Yasenia thoughtfully. "Speaking of which, how is your Ethereal Soul Cultivation and Body Refinement going? The last time we spoke about it, you hadn't started with it, right?"
The girls realized and looked at Yasenia with curiosity. Evelyn added. "You first wanted to reach the peak in both the spiritual and beast paths, right? You managed to do so a while ago."
Yasenia nodded while she looked at Flame and Kaleina playing around near the pond. "Yes. After reaching the half-step Unification Realm, I took two months to stabilize the cultivation realm. While I still can grow a lot at the same level, I concluded that I could start with my Ethereal Soul realm path. Training to the maximum of the Unification Path and Beast Path, while I use the [Celestial Cosmos Body Refinement] method, is dangerous because I might be unable to hold back my breakthrough."
Angel tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
Yasenia added. "Imagine that each cultivation path is a bowl that you need to fill with water. As you cultivate, that bowl is filled with water. Each path has its own bowls, so to speak, and you need to "open" the different faucets to fill each of the bowls."
The girls nodded, understanding it, and Yasenia commented. "However, while all paths are different bowls, there is a small connection between each of them. Usually, you wouldn't notice, but when I practiced body refinement as a test, I felt that while 90% of the energy went toward the 'Body,' the rest trickled on the other two paths."
Evelyn realized what was going on and spoke. "I see. If you fill the Spiritual Path 'Bowl' to the brim and you start body refining, that water will start overflowing, forcing you into a breakthrough. The reason this can happen to you is because you have practically no bottlenecks."
Yasenia crossed her legs, leaning forward as she placed her chin on the palm supported by her leg. "That's right. So, I've stabilized the Spiritual and Beast paths, reaching the last level before the breakthrough, and now I'm using that to Body Cultivate."
Andrea frowned, looking a bit worried. "Love, doesn't that make cultivation extremely painful?"
Yasenia smiled wryly. "It is painful. I had reached the middle level of the Ethereal Soul Realm, now I'm at the high-level after my Dual Cultivation session with Tatyana. Still, each time I did a cultivation session, I felt like my bones and muscles had liquified."
Andrea patted her head softly. "Thank you for your efforts, my love."
Yasenia smiled and leaned on her. Andrea quickly supported her waist, making Yasenia fit snugly in her arms. "Well, the results are quite worth it. I think I could fight a peak-level Ethereal Soul cultivator with relative ease by only using my Body Cultivation Path. Even resisting a low-level Epoch Core is not completely out of the question. Of course, winning would be very difficult with just the body cultivation since an Epoch Core is extremely adept at taking punishment."
Andrea nodded in understanding. "I've already reached the limit in both Body and Spiritual paths, so I can tell that the next time I improve either of them, there will be a very large jump in strength."
Yasenia smirked. "However, my current strength is not bad at all for some with a bit more than three years of Body Cultivation."
Andrea laughed. "No one is going to tell you otherwise."
Evelyn rolled her eyes. "Not bad at all is an understatement. Didn't you take double that time to reach that level on the spiritual path? You are advancing at ridiculous speeds."
Yasenia blinked. "But, all of you are at the peak level. Higher than me."
Evelyn looked at her with a deadpan. "Do you think our speed would be like this without your Dual Cultivation's aid?"
Yasenia didn't speak. It was true that her Dual Cultivation was a very large boost to their speed. Moreover, it helped without weakening the foundation. On the contrary, if they had cultivated by themselves and reached the same level, they would probably be weaker than they currently are.
Kali chuckled. "You are a living cultivation treasure, love. If other beings knew about it, you would probably be targeted as if a rare heavenly treasure had appeared."
Tatyana, who was sitting on Yasenia's other side, nodded. "That's true. If Yasenia's Dual Cultivation strength is discovered, even seniors would not be able to resist the temptation to capture her."
Kali blinked. "Is it that serious?"
Tatyana looked at her and spoke. "Imagine that your children can ingest something, and with it, their strength, cultivation speed, foundation, soul purity, comprehension abilities, bloodline level, and constitution level could increase. Would you try to get that thing at all costs, yes or no?"
The girls got silent, looking at Yasenia thoughtfully. Sierra, who was listening, asked with a surprised expression. "Wait, she can even increase constitution and bloodline?"
The girls nodded. Evelyn commented. "While the names of my bloodline and constitution have not changed, if I compare the quality before and after I met Yasenia, I might as well compare a rock on the side of the road with a spiritual ore."
Sierra nodded, thoughtful. Evelyn lifted an eyebrow and teased. "What, interested?"
Sierra rolled her eyes. "There is no being between this Heaven and Earth that would not be interested after hearing that." Sierra smiled. "Still, I know that I mustn't. I won't betray the woman I've chosen for such profits…" Sierra looked at Yasenia and laughed. "Not that Lady Yasenia would mate with me."
Yasenia looked at her and asked. "Why not? If you need strength in the future, since you are soul-bound to Evelyn, I wouldn't have minded helping. Of course, we are talking about a far future scenario, but it wasn't completely out of the question."
Sierra blinked a few times. "Really?"
Yasenia titled her head. "You are soul-bound to Evelyn, Sierra. As long as the girls don't mind, I will help you. Your strength is Evelyn's strength."
Sierra realized. 'Right.'
Yasenia smiled. "But, let's not speak about that for now. This is a talk that might happen very far in the future."
Sierra nodded with a smile.
Ebirah sneaked a glance and asked with a blush. "Even me?"
Yasenia looked at the petite lobster princess and smiled gently. "Of course."
Ebirah nodded and looked down. No matter how careful Andrea was, Ebirah had seen more than once Andrea and Yasenia mating. So, she wasn't completely ignorant. Her mind flew, imagining herself in the middle of Andrea and Yasenia, and her face became as red as a cooked lobster.
Andrea looked at Ebirah amusingly. Andrea has never seen Ebirah as a romantic partner, and neither did she right then. Ebirah was something similar to a little sister for her.
Still, these were talks that were too soon to have. For now, everyone was advancing at a good pace, so there was no need for methods such as this one.
The dragoness looked at Andrea and asked. "By the way, are you going to break through before or after the summit? You are already at the limits of both paths, right?"
Andrea rubbed her chin. "I will do it after. I don't know how strong this tribulation will be, so if I become too heavily injured to participate, I will probably regret it. My current strength is not bad, so even if I lose, it won't be a stomp. This summit will also help me consolidate my strength, which will probably help a lot."
Yasenia nodded. "Agreed. The reason Cecile, Kali, and you are participating with Eira and me is to consolidate. Fighting is a good way to see if all of what you've practiced is good enough, and it also allows the bodies to acclimatize better to their own strength."
Yasenia looked at her two beast lovers and smiled. "You two have also reached the limits in the three paths, right?"
They both nodded confidently. Kali chuckled. "With your Dual Cultivation technique, it honestly feels too easy."
Cecile commented. "It is to the point that I fear that I won't be able to cultivate without you. So, I've used these one and a half weeks to cultivate alone and see if I lost any proficiency."
Evelyn nodded. "So, it was that the reason you went into closed-door cultivation. How was it?"
Cecile answered lightly. "I found out that I'm even better at it."
Evelyn tilted her head. "Really?"
Cecile affirmed it. "That's right. It feels much smoother, faster, and easier to absorb energy than before. I recommend all of you to go into a one-month close-door cultivation when we return."
The girls didn't dismiss her claims.
Unsure, Andrea asked. "Why is that?"
Tatyana answered. "It's normal. Cultivation is the art of using breathing and meditation techniques to absorb, manipulate, and transform energy for your own use. Yasenia's Dual Cultivation technique doesn't feed you energy at will. Instead, it teaches your body through the union of Yin and Yang how energy works on a much more profound level. Why do you think Dual Cultivation is faster than other types of cultivation?"
Angel blinked. "Because Yasenia's Yang energy is very yummy?"
The girls and maids laughed. Tatyana nodded. "Well, I can't deny that. However, Dual Cultivation in general is faster because you skip one of the steps while dual cultivating."
Tatyana continued. "A cultivator needs to swallow, purify, move, nourish, and then absorb the energy. With Dual Cultivation, because it is an internal exchange, the first two steps are completely skipped."
Kaleina, who had been listening, approached and blinked her large golden eyes. "Can I Dual Cultivate as well?"
Yasenia called her and held her head, kissing her snout softly. "Not yet, love. You are too young. To Dual Cultivate, you first need a mature body and mind. You also need to find a partner you love."
Kaleina looked at Yasenia with sparkling eyes. "Can I do it with Mommy, then? I love Mommy the most! I want to Dual Cultivate with Mommy!"
The girls flinched, and Yasenia answered with a laugh. "You can't. Dual Cultivation must be done with a special person." Scratching her chin and making Kaleina purr in comfort, Yasenia smiled. "Don't worry too much about it, Kaleina. We will teach you everything in time."
Kaleina squinted as she purred and nodded.
Yasenia asked. "So, where do you want to go next, love?"
Kaleina's eyes sparkled, and she exclaimed. "The sea!"
With that, all the girls stood up and left the park, moving toward the underwater part of the city.
Looking at the water in the distance, Yasenia commented. "Look, Kaleina, Flame. We are almost in the underwater part."
Kaleina and Flame looked over and saw the city submerging into the ocean. Looking further, they saw a vast expanse of blue that stretched toward the horizon.
Kaleina and Flame opened their eyes largely to the vastness of the ocean. This time, both of them were being held by their hand by Yasenia while Yasenia's tail coiled around Tatyana.
"Wow, the ocean is so big!"
"Aunty Yasenia, how far does the city go into the ocean?"
Yasenia titled her head. "I'm not sure, to be honest. The underwater city goes not only far but also deep, so the measurements are a bit difficult to say with certainty."
Flame nodded.
Evelyn chuckled as she looked at Yasenia's tail. "Did you girls realize our dragoness has not stopped holding Tatyana during our entire outing."
The girls got thoughtful and realized that it was true, making them laugh. Yasenia, who heard them, coughed a bit, feeling embarrassed.
She was about to answer, but as they approached the ocean, our group heard a strangely harmonized double voice that cheerfully called their dragoness with a dragged-out tone. "Yaseniaaa!"
Turning to look at the place where the sound came from, our girls raised their eyebrows.