Yasenia flew with Draheart toward the Sect's entrance, her face thoughtful. 'I didn't expect the humans to show up. I wonder what might've happened?'
She was really confused. After all, An Meiling and her companion, Ou Junwei, seemed like very intelligent people. If she was them, she would stay in the human territory that's mid-growth and gather as much strength as possible while fortifying her defenses. Coming to her sect in such a forward way was nothing but a sign to the World that humans were her ally.
Now, that could be taken both ways, good and bad. If their alliance intentions were good, then it didn't really matter from the outside perspective, as her side would gain An Meiling and her otherworlder humans as allies. Their influence in the grand scheme of things was higher than almost all local powers.
But if their intentions were not good, her coming here might be a ploy to frame her as a "human ally" and use that as a pushback in the opinion and political war that was ongoing together with the military war.
Achieving victory in a war didn't mean defeating the enemy soldiers. If the winner couldn't really convert the losers into part of their overall power, then the war was meaningless. In the far future, an extremist group appearing in the conquered lands was very likely, eventually causing more war and repeating the cycle.
Hence, planting a seed of doubt or resentment in the citizens was a good way to fight back in a losing war while having sights in the far future. When Yasenia looked at records of mortal wars, it was something that people were very bad at.
In most mortal wars, instant benefits were the priority, almost never taking into account that future events might unfold in a direction you never wanted. Those mortal powers that did eventually became a dominating force and managed to re-emerge.
Yasenia pondered. 'Do they think they can trap me into something like this because I am young? So, perhaps, my sights are more on immediate profits without taking into account long-term benefits?'
When Yasenia arrived, she saw the human group waiting near another group.
It was clearly the Undead group, covered in their usual black robes and giving off an eerie aura. The dragoness knew that it was not on purpose, as their appearance was even worse than their current look for most living creatures. Moreover, that eerie aura came from the dissonance living beings had toward undead creatures.
She first approached the Undead with a smile and said. "A welcomed surprise. What made your mysterious group decide that you wanted to pay me a visit?"
The male undead at the front, the one that gave the most profound aura, spoke. "I am Xu Enjiang, the leader of our Undead group together with Yan Baimei here."
A cold and flat phantasmal voice came from the robed undead he gestured at. "Nice to meet you."
The dragoness blinked, not knowing why she was being so hostile when suddenly, Xu Enjiang slapped the back of the woman's head. "Can you not speak so stiffly? What if you give her a bad impression?"
Yan Baimei spoke coldly again but with a stutter in her voice. A very strange combination that amused Yasenia. "I-I am not being that s-stiff. I am calm."
Yasenia laughed and turned to look at An Meiling and the other six humans. "If their visit was a surprise, yours was completely outside of my calculations. I always thought that you would hole up in your region and slowly accumulate strength."
An Meiling didn't hide it. "That was the plan if that Tang woman didn't mess up big time."
The dragoness smiled. "While I expected that, I thought she would be more clever. I guess she is much more gone than I thought. Well, let's talk inside."
"How about you also invite us in, Yasenia Dravory?"
The dragoness continued walking toward the inside without even looking at the new arrivals as if she had been expecting them all along. However, she spoke. "Sure, come in, Divine Selioranis. I am quite curious about your intentions as well."
Selioranis and the other Divines landed on the ground with suspicious looks. Auriel asked. "You knew we were here?"
Yasenia stopped and slightly turned to look at them with a deep and meaningful smile. "I did. Of course, I did. You've been quite patient. Waiting for two entire days during this busy time is quite commendable." Then, she continued walking inside, her tail moving from side to side, and her hips moved mesmerizingly with the swing of her tail.
The Humans and Undead looked at the Divines once and walked after Yasenia. Selioranis spoke. "Let's go."
An Meiling couldn't help but take a closer look at Yasenia, who had changed a lot from the last time she saw her at the World Summit. Then, looking at her people, she saw that the men were looking around, but their eyes would sometimes flick to look at the dragoness's attractive back, making her speechless.
She sighed and said. "No wonder you have Tang Xian crazy with jealousy. Say, can I get the secret for your skin-treatment or something? How is everything so… tempting?"
The dragoness blinked twice and laughed. "I didn't expect you to be someone that cares for beauty!"
The human woman snorted. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Yasenia smiled while looking at her. "Not in a bad way. You feel like a cunning woman who can manipulate people at will."
The humans didn't know if they should take that as a compliment or an insult. Still, An Meiling could feel that it was a sincere praise, although a strange one. "Thanks, I guess? Regardless, how about you tell me the secret?"
The dragoness shrugged. "I guess lots of love? I really don't use any cream or ointments."
An Meiling snorted, but that reminded her about Yasenia's lovers. "Speaking of which, your girls are pregnant. I guess it wasn't a rumor that you have both things as a woman, right?"
Yasenia didn't mind at all; she was very proud of what it allowed her to do. "I've never denied it. I do have both female and male genitalia."
Auriel, the Divine woman, exclaimed. "No way!"
The dragoness looked at her with a bewildered expression. "You didn't know? The fact that one of the top beauties in the world has…" Yasenia smirked. "...an additional 'weapon' is quite known even among the normal public."
Auriel said, her face strangely red. "I thought it was a lie to attract us, Divines!"
Yasenia and the humans almost tripped, and An Meiling and Yasenia exclaimed at the same time. "What does that even mean!?"
Selioranis smiled charmingly. "Well, among us, a being with both functioning genitals is considered a perfect creature. After all, a creature that can bear children and sire children is a marvel of the world, of nature, of the heavens. Creatures like that are nothing but a miracle produced by the perfect mix of Yin and Yang."
Yasenia tilted her head and commented. "Well, if you say it like that… it truly is something admirable. However, many that have this end up with one of the sexes becoming nothing more than a deformity, right?"
Selioranis nodded. "That's why I added functional!"
Auriel approached Yasenia with large, blinking eyes and asked. "So, Yasenia Dravory, what do you think of the mix of Dragon and Divines? I think the offspring would be really strong!"
An Meiling looked from the side with a deadpan and sighed. Ou Junwei smiled. "You shouldn't have talked."
An Meiling snorted. "First time hearing that Divines are a perverted race that venerates people like her. My aim was actually quite the opposite since I thought Divines were all about purity or something!"
The dragoness sighed and spent the rest of the journey back avoiding flirting attempts from all Divines.
Once they arrived, they saw Yasenia's girls standing in front of the door. However, their eyes were sharp and locked on the Divines.
Yasenia laughed and walked forward to give them all a hug and a kiss. "I am back, dears. I am going to take them to the main office room. Do you want to come with me?"
They all nodded and followed behind. When they arrived, Tatyana was sitting on Yasenia's chair, her belly much more noticeable than in the past. The slight bulge that clothes could hide was gone, and in its place, a more pronounced one emerged.
Yasenia approached and lifted her with care, sitting on the chair and placing Tatyana on her lap without interrupting Tatyana's reading.
"Sit around and make yourselves comfortable."
After everyone took their seats, Yasenia looked at the Undead and spoke. "Well, let's start with your group. What happened so that the mysterious Undead decided to come to us?"
Yan Baimei spoke stiffly, making her sound cold and indifferent. "We want to ask you about something we are going to do and if we are allowed to do it."
In truth, she was stiff because of the red-eyed woman sitting on Yasenia's lap. Every single particle of her soul was telling her never to provoke her, and she didn't know why. 'What's with that woman? I can't feel anything, but my instincts are screaming!'
The dragoness was confused. "You want to ask me for permission?"
Yan Baimei nodded, making the humans and divines look deeply at the Undead. Such a declaration was quite a clear sign that the Undead were very sure of Yasenia's victory.
After all, who would ask permission to a loser? Not to mention, the fact that they asked instead of banding with Yasenia's enemy as they did their thing also translated to them feeling that their strength was not high enough to be influential.
The strength of the human and Divine groups was not that different from that of the Undead group. Hence, such a sentence made their thoughts run deep and made them reconsider many things.
Yasenia pondered for a few seconds, and after a while, she agreed. "Ask away."
The Undead woman nodded and started. "We are building a [Soul Path Conversion Altar], and we want to activate it in one month. Do you know what that is?"
The dragoness frowned while Tatyana's eyes flashed, and she looked up from her documents for the first time. "Oh?"
Yan Baimei didn't expect to get the attention of the woman she so wanted to avoid speaking to and froze. Tatyana hummed and leaned on Yasenia's body languidly while asking. "A [Soul Path Conversion Altar] is a powerful structure to be built in Distancia. No wonder your group was so silent all this time. Where is it?"
Yan Baimei's face was hidden under her robe, but strangely, the sensation that Tatyana's red eyes were seeing right through was constant. "U-Um, we've built it to the west from here near the Fleeting Sky Mountain Range."
Tatyana hummed and smiled. "Quite a good spot. So, why are you building a structure made to absorb the souls of the dead?"
Yasenia's eyebrows raised while the humans and divines frowned, showing a bit of hostility. Messing up with souls was taboo for almost all creatures.
Yan Baimei swore that if her sweat glands would still function, she would be drenched right now. 'I want to speak with Yasenia! Not this thing that is scarier than even the strongest undead in my world!'