Yasenia sauntered toward the Tribulation Plaza. The area was located on a large mound that you could climb with stairs or a path that circled around it. Because of its nature, the plaza was meant to be a bit isolated, so the images in the sky showed Yasenia gently tapping the floor as her body moved up the slope.
Her dress fluttered with elegance, and her calm face was a testament to her ability to withstand pressure. People couldn't help but feel awe because no one was usually this calm when facing Heavenly Tribulations, especially not between the spectators, who were average cultivators for the most part.
After climbing the slope, the dragoness stopped and looked around. 'Well, I need to give a reason for the public show, right? If not, people might create stupid rumors.'
Then, she spoke. "There is one reason I wanted to make my Heavenly Tribulation public." Yasenia started. "While the world looks at me as a genius, they look at me as someone with inborn strength; many look at me and feel that I'm just lucky to be born with a good constitution and bloodline. That I'm blessed by the heavens and that my efforts to reach my current strength are none existent."
The dragoness shook her head. "I want to prove that, while I've had many opportunities, my hard work is what allowed me to gain those opportunities."
Yasenia stopped there. 'Hm. This should be enough. After all, I'm a young person for most people. Searching for approval from the world should be a reason good enough for almost everyone. Only those who understand my character deeply would know that what I've just said is just a cover.'
The people around discussed her words. "Well, it is the truth that while Sect Master is talented, I've never seen her stop working."
"Right. I even saw her working on some documents while she carried Little Sect Master around."
A new disciple blinked. "Little Sect Master? Who is that?"
That middle-aged man said. "Oh? You don't know about Miss Kaleina?"
The new disciple shook her head, and the man answered. "Miss Kaleina is Sect Master's Daughter!"
The new disciple's eyes widened. She asked. "A daughter? She has a daughter!? Isn't Sect Master super young? I heard that she is less than 60 years old!"
The middle-aged man nodded with a smile. "At her age, she is raising a daughter while pushing this entire sect forward. Honestly, she is an incredible woman. Even if she was weak, I would not mind following her."
The new disciple nodded.
Then, Yasenia walked forward toward the center of the Tribulation Plaza, and after reaching that point, she sat cross-legged. Her long tail circled around her legs as she relaxed her mind and body and focused on her Dantian.
The defensive formations around the Tribulation Plaza activated, creating a transparent dome several kilometers in height.
Right after, fifty auras of immense magnitude descended all around the area, making the entire sect feel like the air had stilled. The fifty maids, otherwise known as Astral Fairies, floated in the air, wearing their maid uniforms and wielding their weapons. For the first time, they didn't hide their cultivation level, making everyone who looked felt insignificant under their tsunami-like pressure.
An Astral Elder, a title given to middle-level Epoch Cores, exclaimed. "Impossible! How can their cultivation be so high!?"
One of his disciples, who couldn't even discern their level, asked. "Master, how strong are they?"
The Astral Elder spoke solemnly. "They are all in the Middle-Level Epoch Core and above. There are ten of them whose level I can't discern accurately, so I imagine those are peak-level Epoch cores."
The people who heard gasped. "10 Peak Level Epoch Cores!? That's more than the top three sects combined!"
However, they were far from being done. Above the formation, suddenly, a woman wearing a red royal dress appeared. Her aura and appearance were unrivaled as her imposing red eyes looked down on the world. "[World Might Formation]."
Tatyana lifted her hand, summoning a formation pen that twisted space with just its overbearing presence, and began writing complex and unintelligible formation lines and runes. Not a single formation master in the surroundings understood what she was doing, but the speed, complexity, aura, and profound energy were enough for everyone involved to understand that it was probably the most complex formation they'd ever seen.
When she finished, Tatyana lifted her pen skyward, her face cold and indifferent, and someone else appeared in the sky.
The woman who appeared felt as if she had no aura, but her long red hair, voluptuous body, and green eyes were somehow mesmerizing. The otherworldliness emanating from every inch of her existence forced the spectators to hold their breaths.
Then, the woman extended her hand, and a massive translucent hand grabbed the formation that Tatyana summoned. Her perfect lips opened as a voice that majestically echoed resonated with the World. "[Divine Truth: Law Denial]."
Mirrory's enormous translucent hand absorbed the formation Tatyana summoned, filling the entire divine-looking arm with complex black and green runes. The aura changed from godly and pious to murderous and chilling.
Then, the translucent arm moved skyward at blinding speeds as Mirrory pointed up. "Shatter."
BOOM!
CRASH!
The entire sky shattered like glass for a single instant, freezing still, and everyone stood there in pure shock. Then, after a few seconds, the sky mended itself.
Mirrory looked around and muttered. "Angel, swallow the Quasi-Transcendent energy pill. [Divine Truth: Forget]."
A pure white ripple swallowed the entire sect and its surroundings, forcing everyone to forget the last ten seconds. The last thing they remembered was seeing Tatyana finish her formation.
Tatyana and Mirrory disappeared, and everyone else other than the maids and our girls blinked a few times, confused as if they'd dozed off for a short time.
Memory alteration was one of the most complex feats to accomplish, as it meant remodeling not only the current thoughts but also the need to change the soul so that subconscious memories wouldn't remain. If Mirrory wasn't who she was, even with Tatyana's levels of strength, such a wide-area memory manipulation would've been impossible in such a short time frame.
The effort needed to use such a skill was large enough that most cultivators just marked Memory Alteration as either forbidden or impossible.
Reading minds was very different since it looked at what the soul was "thinking" and involved actions that high-level cultivators could easily perform against low-level ones.
Just to show how potent the memory-wiping skill was, looking at Angel would be more than enough. She was currently being carried by Andrea because she didn't have the strength to stand up, even after eating one of their highest-quality energy recovery pills. Just these two moves left Angel, who had entered the Dantian Spiritualization Realm, exhausted and energyless.
Mirrory didn't disappear into Angel, though. She stayed outside while looking at the sky with a cold face. 'Now, come out, Change'er, Tai Yang. Let's see what games you are playing.'
Right as Mirrory thought of that, in the center of the Tribulation Plaza, the Empyrean Dragoness' released her auras.
BOOOM!
The air around her burst as if a bomb had exploded, releasing visible shockwaves that spread against the Tribulation Plaza formation Shields.
All the maids stood still while their spiritual sense spread around like a complex information net. They weren't allowing anything to approach, not even bugs. They instantly killed whatever got 100 meters within the limits of the Tribulation Plaza formation, bugs, birds, and even subterranean creatures. Under their absolute and protective watch, nothing could approach within 100 meters of the formation.
Yasenia's aura got increasingly more assertive as time passed as if a monarch was descending. At first, it had strength equivalent to an average low-level Dantian Spiritualization Realm cultivator, but that changed quickly.
As her energies circulated through her meridians and prepared to tackle the triple bottleneck of her three cultivation paths, the air around her crackled with energy as the pressure ionized the air and forced small lightning bolts to appear around her.
The sheer pressure was forcing her surroundings to bow down under her continuously increasing might. The gradual augment of her aura was slow, but after 6 hours, the people were looking at Yasenia as if she was a monster of another dimension.
The feeling around her was similar to top experts they'd seen before.
Yasenia's eyelids slowly lifted, revealing her mesmerizing eyes. Yet, the people around were stunned to find not the usual golden hue but a Celestial Blue Color swirling with starlight. Her pupils, shining with an imposing golden light, augmented the etherealness of her gaze.
Looking from not far away, Soluna was immediately mesmerized, and her exotic Moon and Sun eyes became resolute. 'After the tribulation, I'll ask her.'
Meanwhile, Yasenia's red and full lips opened, filling the surroundings with her attractive and echoey voice. "[Celestial Pearl]."
When an aura profound and indomitable stacked on top of every overwhelming feeling, a change occurred.
The ethereal dragoness's dress slowly transformed. The material became similar to opaque gauze. It became looser without revealing anything as if it was a nebula filled with stars. Like Empyrean clouds, it fitted her body perfectly, complementing her glowing dragon tail.
Dragon scales began to appear all around her body, covering her forearms, side of the neck, jaw, corner of her eyes, and side of her legs. Her hands also became beautifully dragon-like.
Yasenia not only didn't lose any of her femininity, but her beauty increased further into a territory that people didn't think was possible.
"Goddess."
Someone muttered that in awe, and those hearing it couldn't help but agree. The woman standing in the middle of the Tribulation Plaza looked like an Empyrean Goddess.
The people that were watching and publishing those beauty lists swore to place Yasenia first in every list they made from now on.
Yasenia looked skyward, her entire being ethereal like the stars in the firmament. However, even when she looked up, the sensation was not of a creature challenging the Heavens but that of a Monarch of the Skies looking at her domain.
Inside her, the [Celestial Pearl] spun, filling her body with its energy and increasing her understanding of the Celestial Energy by connecting with herself. For a few moments, Yasenia felt that she could look much further into her path as if she was having visions of her future self.
A dragon so big that planets couldn't compare.
A dragon so immense that it could be mistaken for the background Universe.
Then, with an elegant and slow wave of her hand, she spoke while carrying the momentum of a monarch. "Come."
Right when her words left her mouth, the sky felt as if it had broken down as a thunder loud enough to be heard across a quarter of the continent echoed.
RUMMMMBLEE!!!!!!
The skies roared as they prepared to strike down the creature who wanted to challenge them.
Behind Yasenia, the image of her dragon form appeared. The phantom dragon sunk its golden claws into the ground as it took in a deep breath and roared skywards.
ROAAAARR!!!!!!
The Dragon's roar shook the core of every creature, making their souls tremble with deference. The feelings behind the roar were profound yet incredibly easy to summarize. It was defiance, a challenge to one's inevitable fate.
Two beings appeared in the sky after the dragon and the firmament released their battle roars. Yasenia looked at them and smiled. "It's been a while, Sun God, Moon Goddess."
Tai Yang, the handsome Sun God with a golden dragon tail behind him, looked at Yasenia with a cold face. "Indeed, it has, junior."
Change'er, the aloof and peerless beauty with a silver dragon tail, smiled lightly. "It seems that you've improved quite a bit."
Yasenia laughed once, her lips arching higher. "Oh. I bet I did."