With only ten hours left, Yasenia reviewed the main advantages that could be won in this event. The summit was done to avoid conflict, so the results of this competition were the most important for the sects and other powers present in the Distancia Continent. If someone did well, they would enter a prosperous era until the next summit, and if someone lost or did badly, their power's survivability could be affected.
The main advantages that could be won by participating were resource allocations, rights to neutral hunting areas, overall position in the three major organizations—the Thirty-Three clans, Three Empires, and Nine Sects— and ownership and shares of the top five largest Parus mines in the Continent, and many more advantages.
Other than that, if a powerful clan were to fail miserably and score very low, there was a chance that enemies would use their rights to steal their land, shops, and other properties.
Of course, people could resist, but since this was a global agreement, those who resisted usually ended up in quite a bad place. After all, these World Summits were the main thing that maintained the delicate balance in the continent and prevented all-out wars between top powers.
Therefore, while Yasenia was interested in ranking high up, she wasn't eager to the point that she wanted to send five maids to compete.
With how her alliance was developing and the self-made gardens, mines, and other resource locations, the Astral Sky Clan was not only financially tight, they were making profits so high that if other top powers saw them, they would probably drool.
The Astral Sky Clan's economy was so prosperous that even if their sect had ten times the cultivators, they would still be making a profit.
For now, though, most of those profits were because of Yasenia's spatial ring and the herbs she grew there. Heaven-ranked herbs were extremely precious, so they fetched high prices. Other than that, every formation Angel did, every piece of equipment Andrea forged, every pill Kali concocted, and every dress Evelyn sewed sold for hundreds of thousands of Flawless Parus through their Astral Sky Merchant group. Sometimes, even fetching millions.
Then, if you added the occasional work the maids created, which was not calculated in the aforementioned profits, Yasenia was a happy dragon swimming in riches. Well, she was swimming in riches for Distancia. If she were to go to a higher-level World, this would be different.
In short, Yasenia's intentions were mainly to test her own strength in a regulated competition and help Andrea, Kali, and Cecile stabilize their foundation through intense combat while also gaining global recognition among the public.
The last spot was for Eira, the maid sword Master, after considering the kind of competition and who would be the strongest aid. So, with a sword master of her level, our girls would be relatively safe, even if their enemies aimed to kill them inside the event, which was very probable.
With everything sorted out, all the people from the Astral Sky Sect who came together grouped up and moved toward the competition area.
Laurina walked by Yasenia's side and asked. "Little sis, do you have confidence?"
Yasenia nodded with a smile. "While I might not be the strongest, or even categorized in the top bracket strength-wise, I'm capable of at least fighting off the people that will be participating."
Laurina nodded and smiled wryly. "You are getting further and further away, little sis." She kicked a rock and sighed. "I feel like I won't ever be able to catch up and help you in the future."
Yasenia looked at the depressed Nature Dragon, a creature that was supposed to be extremely powerful, and sighed. "Regardless of how strong I am, you'll always be my big sis."
Laurina smiled, a bit forced, and nodded. "I know. It's just… Nevermind." She smiled brightly and encouraged. "I'll be cheering, little sis! You better not lose!"
Yasenia nodded and gave her a small hug. "With you cheering me on, I'll be able to push beyond my limits."
Laurina laughed, snuggling her face in Yasenia's neck for a few seconds, and then retreated a step, going back with the other beast heirs into the group.
Yasenia looked forward, guiding everyone. However, as she guided her people, she also gave thought to what just happened. She could feel why most cultivators took cultivation as a lonely road.
Everyone's talent was different, and advancing at the same pace was almost impossible. One side would always need to slow down. Lately, Yasenia had stopped caring about that and focused on bettering herself the best she could, and it showed.
While her dears were still catching up, the difference in strength was getting wider. Even Andrea, who had an advantage cultivation-wise, had already been overcome by Yasenia strength-wise.
While Yasenia was at the high level of the Ethereal Soul, her Spiritual and Beast cultivation was extremely strong. 'At my current pace, I'll need around eight to ten years to stabilize my three paths and breakthrough perfectly.'
That would make her a fifth realm cultivator in three paths at the young age of around 65. A 65-year-old fifth realm cultivator was already considered monstrously talented if they just cultivated one path. Yasenia was cultivating three, and she was even slowing down to do so with perfect foundation.
By then, all her dears would've probably broken through, some of them even reaching the second level. Thinking so, Yasenia cheered herself. 'They can keep up. Even Andrea can keep up, thanks to her hard work and the aid of her Natural Treasure. Naturally, my dual cultivation is also extremely strong.'
Still, Andrea somewhat worried Yasenia. Evelyn had a God Inheritance, Kali had Valeria, Cecile was her [Interlocked Soul], and Angel had Mirrory and a Saint Inheritance. Kali and Evelyn also had Natural Treasures, which was the opportunity Andrea managed to find in the secret realm.
'However, I can't magically produce something to help her catch up.' Of course, Yasenia had confidence in the only being she had chosen to impregnate her. Her womb was quite literally Andrea-exclusive. 'Darling is not only hard-working and talented, but she is also extremely determined and has a perfect attitude toward cultivation. Honestly, she is the one who comes closest to a "normal" cultivator. And yet, she doesn't fall behind.'
Yasenia's tail almost started to wag in adoration. She was extremely proud of her darling. However, she had to control herself as behind her, the 400+ entourage followed her. 'My tail, stop! If you wag, my authority will take a hit!'
Somehow, she managed to stop herself.
As they walked, they approached the place for the World Summit. It was on top of a very tall mountain near the sea, which had an awe-inspiring view once near the top. They weren't still there, but Yasenia had heard the seniors speaking about it.
The mountain, to begin with, was around 200,000 meters tall. It not only touched but pierced the clouds.
At first, Yasenia didn't know what it was, as it was visible even from Ascending Ocean City. However, she got the information after she stopped her one-and-a-half-week session with Tatyana.
Once near the top, looking to the right, you could see the seemingly endless span of blue, and looking to the left, the lush environment that was most prevalent in Distancia would enter your eyes.
It felt as if the world was divided in two by the mountain.
Halfway through the mountain climb, Yasenia and the others could finally see a small city built into the side. Yasenia eyeballed the distances. 'The city is three-quarters up the mountain; we need… Hm… Around 20 kilometers left until we arrive? That should be right.' Of course, her "eyeballing" was probably more precise than many specialized items. A dragon's senses were ridiculously sharp, after all.
When they were 15 kilometers from the city, Yasenia stopped her group. People became confused, looking around, and someone asked. "Sect Master, why did we stop?"
Yasenia looked to the side. "Waiting for a few… guests."
Everyone followed her gaze, and 100 people appeared, led by seven creatures. These seven creatures all had 12 fleshy wings, horns, and a deep and dark aura that revealed their origins.
Yasenia heard the mocking voice of the leading demon. "Has your stay in the city been pleasant, dragon? I heard that you had a few… problems. Hahaha."
With a surprised expression, Yasenia commented. "Impressive, you are still seven demons! I thought that by the time the summit's date arrived, at least a few of you would have died. After all, the level of intelligence you demonstrated back then was impressively low."
Dyrathos, the Fire Demon, became angry, but Kyril, the Death Demon, stopped him. Their races were naturally not called as such, but for the sake of simplicity, let's go with that for now.
Kyril looked at Yasenia with her deep black eyes and commented. "I hope that no accidents happen during your stay at the World Summit. It would be a shame if everyone that came from your sect had an accident before the event begins."
Yasenia looked at her and smiled. "You are right. However, if my mind is working correctly, there are only 4 hours left until the summit starts. If something happened in this time frame, it would be quite a problem for the perpetrators, right? Defenses right before the start of the event are quite… tight."
Kyril coldly smiled. "Well, the perpetrators might not care about that."
Yasenia nodded. "I see."
Then, she turned around and continued her climb, ignoring them. "Let's go."
The people behind Yasenia were confused, but they followed her, giving that blue-skinned demon a weird look. 'Is it okay to ignore her like that?'
The female demon paused, her eyes flashing coldly. 'She dares to ignore me?'
One of the female demons, the one that instigated the Assassin Sect, pouted. "Senior Sister, why must we follow the rules of this place? We can ignore everything, and once we return with what we came to find, we can talk about this place to our seniors. I'm sure they will be happy to add this world with their rare Body Cultivation methods."
A male demon snorted. "We can't even use them because of our racial cultivation method. Why do you want them?"
The female demon looked at him disdainfully. "Can't we sell them to the humans? They are lost arts, if I remember correctly. Our seniors can probably buy a few worlds with them."
Kyril looked at Dyrathos. "Can you stop being so emotional?"
Dyrathos snorted. "The day you find a non-emotional fire-related demon, give me a call. I'll gladly bow down to you and lick your tail."
Kyril rolled her eyes. "Let's go. We need to prepare."
Meanwhile, in Yasenia's group, one of the Epoch Core elders asked. "Sect Master, why did we not use that flying ship you have to arrive at the meeting point? Wouldn't we avoid such situations?"
Yasenia answered calmly. "That's a problem. I wanted to see if there would be any ambushes."
Some people tensed, looking at Yasenia's back. That elder stuttered. "W-Why?"
The dragoness added. "I also wanted to see if there were traitors, which would usually be not impossible." Her laughter made a few people tremble. "It seems that they have decided not to act and become an honest member of the sect, though. Well, we'll see how they do in the future."
Nobody spoke, looking at each other with suspicious eyes.
Yasenia did not stop them. This kind of wariness would make it more difficult for someone to stir trouble from the inside. Actually, Yasenia had spoken without any basis whatsoever.
She didn't know if there were or not traitors inside. Still, if there were any, these words would be useful. If there weren't, even better.
While Yasenia was very confident in her management, she had allowed her sect members to roam free around the city in a show of trust. No matter how good her maids and information network were, it was impossible to control everything. One had to live with that. Hence, a habit of always taking into account such situations in a measured and non-paranoid manner was somewhat healthy.
'Do not mull over it too much, but also don't ignore the option completely.'
Their group arrived at a pair of enormous gates in silence. Two giant humanoid creatures with four arms guarded the gates on each side. Each of them with a height of 30 meters.
Yasenia's eyes flashed, and she remembered the female giant she had met when she arrived at Koran City for the first time.
'I wonder what she is doing now?'
These thoughts didn't linger too much in her head, refocusing on the task ahead.
*************************************************
Evelyn: Oh? Celestial Theater? It has been a while!
Andrea: That's right. How many questions are pending, author?
Author: Hm… A few. I wanted to save my fingers from writing extra for a while, but today, I feel quite perfect. So, let me answer… All of them!
Andrea: … All of them?
Author: Hehe. Yes! There are six questions pending, so let's try to burn through them at once! That way, the dears can start asking questions again without having those from 3 weeks ago unanswered.
Andrea: Makes sense. So, who are the ones that will be asking?
Author: Well, I summon you!
Dante: Hello! Hm?
Randomplant: Oh? We are quite a few.
Rizeres: Right. It's my first time here, though!
Ryru: It's my first time too!
Eila~: It's not mine, though~.
Angel: Wow~, so many people!
Author: Let's get to it. First, Dante.
Dante: Sure. First of all, congratulations on the impregnation, Tatyana! My question for Tatyana and Yasenia is: What are your aspirations for the child soon to be born? What are your predictions on their talent, bloodline, physique, etc.?
Yasenia: That's a difficult question.
Dante: How so?
Yasenia: I mean, my only desire is for her or him to be happy. Even if they are a mortal that can't cultivate, I wouldn't mind taking care of my child for all their mortal life, making sure that they are the happiest.
Tatyana: Well, I disagree a bit. I would prefer if they were born with an extremely strong bloodline and constitution and could become strong people who can protect themselves.
Dante: And if that doesn't happen?
Tatyana: What did you expect me to answer that I wouldn't care about them? I'm similar to Little Treasure in that regard. While I have expectations, if my child can't meet them, I'll just take care of them and make sure never to raise a Young Master.
Dante: That would be quite a… failure. Haha.
Author: Next~.
Randomplant: I have two questions. First question!
Randomplant: Seniors, are there worlds where there is different energy from the one you cultivate? What are some examples? Can you cultivate other different energies, or is the one you always use (which you only refer to as energy) the only one you can use?
Mirrory: "Energy" is the only type of energy in our cosmos. That should answer those questions.
Randomplant: It does. Now, then, having dual Cultivation with Yasenia increases all characteristics, but which of these characteristics is usually the most difficult to increase with treasures? And, wouldn't increasing the capacity for understanding, which I see as the cultivator's intelligence or analytical capacity, be like saying that having sex with Yasenia makes you smarter?!
Tatyana: Pfft. Well, you are not wrong. The most important quality that Dual Cultivating with Yasenia does is purifying her partner. Cultivating, eating pills, fighting, eating, etc., build up impurities over time. These impurities are usually expelled as black goo with certain specialized pills (which are extremely rare), major breakthroughs, and other methods. At the same time, these impurities can impair a cultivator's advancement speed, strength, intelligence, etc.
Tatyana: So, Yasenia being able to cleanse us while dual cultivating is quite a big deal.
Randomplant: I see.
Rizeres: My turn~.
Author: Yep! Go for it!
Rizeres: Well, The Tail-Slapping Dao is very interesting. It allows slaps across great distances without Yasenia's direct control. My question is, are there other such "odd Daos"? Maybe a Spoon Dao? How about a Milk Dao?
Mirrory: Well… There certainly are unlimited paths. AS long as the comprehension is deep enough, anything is possible. For example, a more common than you would think Dao is the "Wine Dao."
Mirrory: People who honestly follow this Dao increase their strength when drunk, and they can cultivate and gain strength by producing wine. Their beverages are one of the bests you can find across the entirety of the heavens.
Rizeres: Woah.
Ryru: Well, let me jump in, then.
Author: Go ahead, dear.
Ryru: is it possible for someone like Yasenia with multiple elements to merge/combine said elements or two people with different elements make a combo attack using the different elements? For example, could one combine the elements of fire and water or life and death?
Yasenia: I've done this in the past, haven't I? For example, my [Lunar Star Charge], or [Dawn] and [Dusk]. They combine Moon, Sun, and Star elements.
Cecile: My [Moon Freezing Catastrophe] combines Wind, Space, and Moon elements.
Ryru: That's right… I somehow forgot, haha.
Author: If this wasn't what you meant to ask, don't fear asking in the comments down below, dear. However, don't feel shy. We are here to answer all questions, even if they end up being "silly questions."
Eila~: Can I ask? Can I ask?
Author: Go ahead, haha.
Eila~: Taty! Do you consider Yasenia a tomboy?
Author: See what I'm speaking about?
Ryru: I see…
Tatyana: Well. A tomboy is a girl that acts… manly, right? If so, Yasenia is quite the opposite. Even when she walks normally, she is swaying her tempting hips and seducing everyone with unparalleled feminine appeal.
Eila~: Well… I can't deny that…
Tatyana: Then, her way of speaking is also feminine, and her actions, other than when she is overwhelming her enemies, is also relatively soft and charming.
Eila~: You are right…
Tatyana: So, nop. I don't consider her a tomboy.
Author: And that's all for today! Bye-bye, dears.
Everyone else: Have a great day!