Yasenia slowly moved her body, her entire being following the movements of the Body Cultivation Technique. Along her way, a trail of starlight followed. She had been practicing this for months already without stopping a single moment.
Yasenia breathed in the energy around her, and her meridians and Dantian moved it across her entire body and fed every inch of it. Her body cultivation was already at the peak level of the Ethereal Soul Realm, allowing her to compress her energy increasingly further.
As she continued, a surge of energy coursed through her, threatening to burst from her body. Sensing this, she swiftly moved to a peculiar-shaped bathtub, a place she had prepared for this very moment.
The wooden bathtub had the usual shape, but the bottom part was thicker, making it look peculiar. The shape was done to fit Yasenia's tail in that circularly protruding bottom part section.
The dragoness removed her clothes, went completely naked, and calmly walked to its side. She looked into her ring and searched for a few Spiritual Herbs, throwing them out into the bathtub once she was done selecting them.
Then, Yasenia snapped her fingers, and a surge of golden fire appeared right below the bathtub, surrounding it. The dragoness looked at the boiling water with calm eyes and saw how the spiritual herbs began secreting their essence.
Her tail moved and stirred the bathtub in circles, allowing the boiling water to mix with the substances she threw in. The fire was hot enough to vaporize normal water in an instant, yet the previously boiling water had calmed down and was now steaming very lightly.
However, this didn't mean that the water was colder. On the contrary, it was getting so hot that even the peak-level Heaven-Ranked wood was cracking slightly. Of course, this bathtub was specially designed for this, so it was far from breaking.
The cracking sounds were the wood constantly repairing itself by using the ambient energy.
When the water became a transparent reddish color, Yasenia used her energy to scoop out the leaves that had lost their luster and essence.
The leaves floated and landed in a corner of the room, where a pile of those types of Spiritual Herbs had been stacked. Yasenia didn't store them back in her ring because the pile of Spiritual Herbs gave off a faint spiritual energy aura as they slowly mended back with the environment.
Spiritual Herbs didn't rot the usual way unless they were in nature. In nature, there were microorganisms that ate the dying spiritual plants after they died and lost their natural defenses, creating the rotting effect.
In Yasenia's cultivation room, there was nothing like that. Therefore, the herbs that had lost their essence just dissipated into the atmosphere, becoming one with the world once more.
After scooping the herbs out, Yasenia lifted one of her dainty and beautiful feet and slowly dipped it in the reddish water.
The sound of sizzling was heard as her skin was slightly burnt, making Yasenia pause. This mixture was the mixture of the [Celestial Cosmos Body Refinement].
She had been using it for a long time already, so she was accustomed to the brutal pain. But even then, she couldn't help but pause when the piercing pain went up from the tip of her toe to her brain.
However, her face didn't change at all as she looked at the bathroom water indifferently. Then, she slowly dipped her foot in. The soles were covered, and then her perfect ankle.
The reddish transparent water sizzled as her skin was burned, but Yasenias face didn't even change. Her developed yet slender calf was covered next, and by the time the water reached above her knee, she touched the bottom of the bathtub with her feet.
Using it as a support, her body was raised, and she went on to dip in her other leg. The water amount was perfectly calculated so that it wouldn't spill, so no water fell over the edges.
Yasenia bore the pain with a straight face and gently submerged. Her thick and smooth thighs were slowly surrounded by the water, and finally, her genitals entered the mixture.
Yasenia's eyebrow twitched as she paused briefly, but after taking a deep breath, she continued submerging.
The water gently curved around her fleshy butt, and the root of her tail was submerged right after, together with her navel. Using her submerged tail as support, her body gently fell backward.
Her stomach was finally submerged, and the water began curving around the prominent shape of her large breasts. Her voluminous chest pushed the water outward, following the shape of her chest, and when her nipples were submerged, Yasenia sighed.
Her body continued falling backward, and after she closed her eyes, her entire body got submerged in the mixture.
Below the water, Yasenia didn't close her mouth and started breathing in the burning water. The water was a unique mixture that carried concentrated energy and could be absorbed by her lungs in the form of breathing. She also didn't stop it from filling her stomach and going down, nourishing her insides.
The feeling of being burned inside and outside was utterly terrifying and uncomfortable to an instinctive level. Any creature in this situation ,drowning and burning, would have had their survival instincts going crazy and try everything in their power to escape this situation.
Yasenia struggled a lot the first time, feeling so uncomfortable that she almost stopped. However, by now, Yasenia had managed to reign in those body reactions, even though she wanted to escape this agonizing bath.
'Bear it, you've gone through this many times already. You can resist. You can do it.'
Her skin became red as it was burned, and while her lungs, stomach, and internal organs bore the heat, Yasenia felt her body slowly being tempered. The refinement that she was going through was very similar to the process weapons went through.
It was a very brutal and slow process with truly minimal gains. Even after this session, she would perhaps manage to increase her body strength and the ability to compress her energy by one percent
Yet, Yasenia knew that the effects stacked. The same happened with her Spiritual Cooking. Her dishes gave minimal permanent effects individually, but when all the benefits were stacked, the boost in strength was very noticeable.
This refinement was constant and would continue throughout her entire life, or at least until she became strong enough to find a better Body Cultivation Method or a better Body Refining Method.
And the dragoness knew that something like that wouldn't happen anytime soon. As an Immortal Ranked Technique, it was something that even peak-level transcendent cultivators would kill over.
Not to mention those in the Transcendence Realm, even those above that realm would be interested.
Time passed, and the temperature of the bath and the level of water slowly decreased as Yasenia absorbed it while meditating. Her entire body was red as if she had been cooked, but her senses and mind were highly active. The powerful feeling of pain kept her alert.
The bath lasted for three days and three nights, and then it finally cooled down completely.
Yasenia opened her eyes underwater, looking blankly at the ceiling through the calm water's surface. 'It's over.'
Slowly, Yasenia straightened, and her face came out of the water. As soon as she did so, she opened her mouth to cough out the water inside her lungs.
After coughing for around ten seconds, she took in a deep breath of fresh air and then exhaled. "Done… for now."
While it was true that Yasenia was getting ridiculously strong for her level, that was not without effort and sacrifice. Yasenia worked extremely hard every day without fail, other than extraordinary days or when her dears told her to rest.
Yasenia wondered. "How much time has passed since I entered close-door cultivation?"
She slowly stood up, the water falling over her curves and highlighting her seductive and gorgeous body. She lifted her arms to gather her long black hair, which moved her breasts up because of the gesture, and then squeezed the water out of her locks.
She slowly stepped out of the bathtub and looked back into it. The previous transparent water had turned a murky light gray as the mixture seeped deep inside her and squeezed out any impurities she might've had.
Yasenia waved her hand, stored the water in her ring, and threw it in the place where the low-level Spiritual Herbs grew. Even if it had a few of her impurities, the Heaven-born Earth Core she got in the secret realm, [Earthquake Splitting Rumbling Earth Core], could quickly purify those while using the rest to nourish the plants. The plants would also benefit from the medicinal effects that she couldn't absorb because her body had reached its absorption limit.
As soon as she emerged, her natural regeneration kicked in, and the red skin slowly returned to a white and lustrous color. Her skin looked divine, and the white and supple aspect was enough to drive any creature crazy with the desire to touch it.
Her skin had a perfect natural elasticity that would allow your fingers to sink in while being springy enough to return to its shape immediately after you stopped pressuring. Coupled with her midnight black hair, beautiful and impactful golden slit eyes, and the charming dark blue tail with golden rings, she looked like a Divine dragon goddess.
Yasenia moved barefoot toward the corner of the large room where a large bed was placed with a single full-body mirror. She stopped before it, looking at herself with analytical eyes. 'Hm. My skin is slightly better, and the glossiness has become more natural, which makes my skin appear moist and tempting.'
Yasenia smiled, her charming and oh-so-kissable lips arching and moving the tiny mole below her eye. The dragoness's golden eyes focused on that mole as she approached the mirror to look closer. "To be honest… Why do I have a mole here?"
Her long and elegant finger traced it, feeling the skin over it as smooth as in other places. "Hm… Is it one of those birthmarks I read before?"
Honestly, that small mole under her eye gave her gaze an increasingly seductive feeling, so Yasenia wasn't really complaining. However, she always thought that it would eventually disappear when purifying her body. 'Not to mention, I've reconstructed my body entirely during the rebirth and changed back from my dragon form into my human form.'
Yasenia laughed. 'Did I like it, so that I recreated it subconsciously while transforming back into my human form?'
Yasenia smiled and winked at the reflection. 'Hm~, well. It does look good.'
Happy with how her refinement went, the dragoness looked at the energy inside of herself. 'Hm. I have enough to break through at any moment without anything else to increase in strength with. Now it is time to increase my [Celestial Intent] to level 4.'
Stopping for a second, the dragoness looked at her face and saw that it had become indifferent. "After that, I need to fight the Tribulation and meet the Moon and Sun Gods. I have a few questions for them, to be honest." She muttered. "But asking is a bit dangerous. What if they became alert from then on?"
Yasenia remembered that Mirrory also seemed to want to speak with them, making her thoughtful. 'I wonder how that will go as well…'
She shook her head and moved toward her bed, sitting cross-legged, and becoming ready to meditate and try to unravel the mysteries of Celestial Energy further to increase her intent to Level 4.