As they approached the first city inside the [Forgotten Star Area], Yasenia asked aloud, not bothering to hide from An. "Alaia, do our energy formations work?"
Alaia answered right away. "Everything is working again, Young Miss. It looks like the interference was only from the outside."
An spoke. "The formation covering this place has been here even before the oldest cultivator. It is normal for your formations not to be able to see through them."
Yasenia laughed softly. "Something being ancient doesn't mean that it is powerful. Still, I wonder… Alaia, how many sixth realm cultivators are there?"
Alaia's tone was filled with uncertainty when she answered. "The formation has spotted seven of them… But I feel like there are more. What do you think, Young Miss?"
The dragoness pondered for a while and spoke slowly. "Miss An, how many Sixth Realm cultivators are there?"
An blinked and asked. "Sixth realm? What do you mean?"
Yasenia looked at An closely, her golden eyes peering through her as she analyzed her body's energy. After deducing that she was a Body Cultivator, she spoke. "Beyond Epoch Core Realm. Epoch Core is the fifth realm, so I am talking about those beyond it."
Yasenia explained it redundantly so that An perfectly knew what she meant. She blinked a few times and asked. "Beyond Epoch Core? That's… Impossible, no?"
Yasenia sighed. "The worst type of leaders… Shadow leaders."
Kali asked, curious. "Why are they the worst type?"
"Well, if you are in a place with a king or an emperor that has a very strong cultivation base, you can somewhat be at ease that they won't meddle in your business as long as you don't poke your nose in theirs." Yasenia explained. "But, with shadow leaders, they like to micromanage everything. So, if you suddenly sell something to the wrong person, they might just send people to eliminate you before you understand what you did wrong."
Kali and even An realized.
"Wait." An paused and looked at Yasenia with widened eyes. "There are beyond Epoch Cores in this place!?"
Yasenia nodded. "There are a few. At least seven, and at most… I don't know, to be honest." Yasenia ordered. "Let's change ships. We'll enter in the peak-level Heaven-Ranked ones that we built in Distancia."
An asked. "Distancia? That little demon? What do you all have to do with that awful being?"
The dragoness and the others looked at An with surprised eyes. "Distancia… I mean, it might not be the same being… Can you explain why you call him "little demon," Miss An?"
An frowned and looked at them. She crossed her arms and stated. "First, explain your relation to him. If I consider you dangerous, I'll call the guards so that they can arrest you!"
The dragoness laughed. "You have guts! You aren't afraid that I will kill you right here so that nobody knows that I have ever mentioned Distancia?" Yasenia leaned forward, matching An's eye level. "That's honestly the safest course of action, Miss An. Now, what are you going to do?"
An gulped at the predatory look in Yasenia's eyes. However, she gritted her teeth and exclaimed. "Then, kill me! My companions will avenge me!"
The dragoness stretched her hand and summoned a golden flame that gave off a terrifying heat. An's eyes reflected the golden flame, making her legs tremble. Being burned by that flame would be quite the torture. Still, she didn't speak and stubbornly looked at Yasenia.
The dragoness pondered. 'Hm… She either has a really brave heart, or she is just as dumb as a brick and thinks I don't dare kill her…'
Kali spoke from the side. "Miss An, just tell us why you spoke about Distancia in that manner, and then, we will tell you how we are related to him. I swear it is not something that will make you upset regardless of who Distancia is or what he's done."
An looked between Kali and Yasenia. The pressure from the dragoness increased by the second, filling her will with cracks. Then, Kali's gentle persuasion seeped through those cracks and finally convinced her. "Okay, okay. I will speak, but you need to promise me that you will tell me about your relation to that creature!"
Yasenia dissipated the flame and straightened her back. "Sure. I promise."
An looked at Yasenia and commented. "A dragon's promise has a lot of weight! Don't you dare break it?"
The dragoness smiled. "I've never broken a promise since birth. You can rest assured."
"Hmm… Okay. Then, Distancia is the one that made our World the way it is." An began her little story with quite a bombshell of a declaration. Even then, from those words, Yasenia could guess the rest.
As Yasenia expected, An spoke in a resentful tone. "When Distancia arrived at our world, he quickly made a name for himself. He even managed to charm one of the most popular princesses that existed back then! And, instead of repaying the largest kingdom of that era with goodwill, because someone angered him, he fought against most of the World in a massive war."
An sighed. "Eventually, he was almost defeated. It was then that an elder of that era sacrificed themselves to try and finish Distancia off. Sadly, it backfired and Distancia somehow managed to divert that energy toward the Heavens. Angered, the Heavens counterattacked and forced the entire World to fight back. Distancia eventually managed to destroy our World's Heaven and then fled with his people, leaving behind our dying world. The [Forgotten Star Area] is as prosperous as it is because those left behind joined hands to create an artificial Heaven through formations."
Yasenia's eyebrows raised in surprise. "An artificial Heaven?"
An scratched her head. "I don't know how it exactly works, but it uses the energies from outer space or something and transforms them. This has slowed down our world's decay by hundreds of thousands of years. It was the last hope of those ancient people that the future generations would come up with something that could save the world."
Yasenia asked, intrigued. "And? Did they manage to do it?"
An snorted. "Didn't you hear me say that nobody knows how the formation works nowadays? We've gone backward! Not forward!" She then sighed and pointed at Yasenia with her chin. "Your turn."
The dragoness smiled and said. "We come from Distancia's origin World. But we are not natives of that place or this one. While traveling, we came across the Distancia Continent and used it as a temporary base."
An blinked a few times, trying to digest the short but explosive sentence. Kali smiled. "Don't worry. We are not fond of what Distancia did in his native world, either. So, you calling him a demon or whatever doesn't bother us." Kali smiled. "Now, do we change ships, Yasenia?"
Yasenia shook her head. "No. I changed my mind. It would be better if we stayed in this one for safety measures. While the other one will go under the radar, so to speak, this one can defend against Transcendent Realm cultivators. Let's approach one of the cities with them. Ayanduin must be in one of these cities."
An asked. "Ayanduin? Who is that?"
After thinking for a few seconds, the dragoness answered truthfully. "I am poisoned, and we think that Ayanduin will have the cure for said poison. If I don't get the cure in around six years, I'll be in deep trouble."
"Y-You are poisoned?" An asked, stupefied.
The dragoness smiled under the veil. "I am."
An frowned and commented. "How about we go to the largest commercial area of this place? Perhaps you can find a cure without searching for that Ayanduin or whoever he is!"
The dragoness gestured An to follow and guided her to the three-dimensional map. "Where is the place you are speaking of here?"
An looked around with baffled eyes and asked. "What is this?"
Yasenia briefly explained. "Spatial and Illusory formations mixed with a wide range energy pulse that analyzes the surroundings and transforms them into this map thingy."
An giggled. "Thingy~. It sounds cute coming from you."
Kali raised her eyebrow. "Trying to flirt with my wife in front of me? You have guts, Miss An."
An coughed. "I-I wasn't flirting! It was a factual statement!"
Kali smirked. "Well, I agree."
Then, An focused on the map and pointed at a large energy signal. "Here."
After they saw where she was pointing at, Alaia spoke. "Three of the seven Transcendent Cultivators are hiding there, Young Miss."
Yasenia hummed. "Let's go. We can't really flee or hide. We are on a timer."
Their ship turned in that direction, and then it flew toward that area. Their speed was not high, similar to other spatial treasures. The last thing they wanted was to stand out in the "eyes" of those three powerhouses.
They took around one week to arrive. An spoke to them. "You now need to go low and follow those Flying treasures over there. The entrance will be similar to what you went through in the outer gate. However, the inspection is much laxer."
"Sure. You heard her, Alaia."
With Yasenia's confirmation, Alaia followed An's instructions. The queue was long, so they took another day before they arrived. Kali looked at Yasenia and asked. "Love, perhaps you need to bring your wings out."
Yasenia pondered and said. "I'll keep them constantly out. It will be less bothersome. Deploy the concealing formation for a second while I take out my wings."
After a maid deployed the formation, Yasenia focused her energy and focused on her back. A faint burning sensation filled her entire back, and after a while, a pair of gorgeous dragon wings emerged from her back.
Her dress had two openings perfectly fitting them, courtesy of Evelyn's expertise.
During the last few years, Evelyn's Spiritual Tailoring mastery has reached the peak of the mortal realms. Therefore, while the blue dress she currently had was not as strong as her [Innate Dress: Celestial Cosmos Dress], it was still a peak-level Heaven-Ranked dress.
When the wings came out, the maid dissipated the concealing formation. Yasenia looked toward the enormous gate to enter and saw people storing the flying treasures. "It seems that we will need to do the rest of the journey by foot… Hm?"
The dragoness looked around and saw most people in the ship blankly staring at her. With her elegant and long robes, the floaty ribbons, her gorgeous tail and wings, and her innate charm, Yasenia's beauty was now otherworldly and illusory, as if she were a goddess that decided to bestow mortals with the gift of her appearance.
Yasenia chuckled. "Honey, remember that you are the one talking. Focus~."
Kali coughed and looked forward. "Honestly, love. I don't know how effective hiding will be. You are like a giant bonfire in the middle of the night. Impossible to miss."
Yasenia shrugged. "We've done the best we can. Remember to be overbearing, love. Use your bloodline pressure and auras without holding back. Also, Valeria, come out wearing a dress similar to mine. Let's try to look like Kali's elite guards while my maids look like soldiers we are commanding."
Looking at An, Yasenia smiled and said. "Miss An, please keep in mind that arrangement and follow our act."
An blinked and nodded twice, still looking at Yasenia stupidly. When Valeria appeared wearing something identical to Yasenia, it was a light purple instead of blue.