After leaving, Tatyana carried Yasenia to the Flame Sky Emperor's continent. It was one of the locations with the richest environment for cultivation in the world, and since she got acquainted with him, there was no problem staying there for a while.
Yasenia looked at Tatyana and asked. "Won't we go get Lidia?"
Tatyana shook her head. "What can you do even if you go? Do you think Lidia will want to follow you?"
The dragoness tilted her head. "She won't? I am pretty sure that she should have some desire to go back to the Sky Continent, right?"
Tatyana smiled. "Are you going back soon?"
"...No," Yasenia answered and nodded, understanding what Tatyana was getting at. "I see. She really has no reason to leave here as long as she is doing well. Still, we need to at least go visit her, right?"
"Yes, but there is no rush. We can go after the tournament."
With that, Yasenia stopped worrying for a moment. She looked at the side, where Alyssa and Sarah sat cross-legged. They were digesting their recent gains, their auras becoming deeper each passing second.
Tatyana smiled a bit. "Are you feeling strange seeing your past enemies standing there cultivating so peacefully?"
"Actually, I don't mind at all. I was just wondering about how to use them in the future."
"Meat shields."
Yasenia almost choked and looked at Tatyana strangely. The woman blinked her ruby-like red eyes, tilting her head. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing… You have a point, though."
Tatyana nodded. "That's right. Even if I lose them, it doesn't really matter. Their devouring talent is great, even by my standards. However, they cultivate at a snail's pace. So, they are high-maintenance, mediocre undead. I have plenty more that are a hundred times better than these two."
While talking with each other, Tian Long and Lauren's dragon mount arrived at the place Tatyana had checked in the past.
It was a large basin in an elevated place. It looked as if a gargantuan divine mountain was sliced at the top, and then someone scooped a hole in the inside. Within this basin, there was a massive ecosystem, full of wonderful creatures and imagery. Yasenia could even feel the auras of some Star Core Realm Beasts.
However, among everything that impressed her, it was the environment and energy of this place. Perhaps it was because it was high up in the sky, perhaps because of the feng shui of the place, but extremely pure Star, Sun, and Moon energies gathered here.
"How did you even find this place?"
Tian Long and Lauren's dragon landed, intimidating all the creatures present. Tatyana smiled, holding Yasenia by the waist and jumping down. "When I was checking the area to see if I found you, my Spiritual Sense swept this place. I was curious back then, so I checked in detail, discovering the pure and abundant Star, Sun, and Moon energies that gathered here."
While they descended, Tatyana pointed toward the east and commented. "That area is rich in Sun and Star energies, while the west is rich in Moon and Star energies. The location we landed is a place where all three converge."
Yasenia asked, curious. "Has a natural Yin-Yang formation formed in this mountain?"
"Yes. It's one of the purest I've ever seen. Sadly, you can't move this wondrous place, or I would've loved to slice it and take it with me in my ring. Any disturbance to the flow of energy will easily collapse or even reverse the natural formations and feng shui of the area."
Treasures or forbidden locations were called that way because they were impossible to own due to their specialness. Otherwise, whenever a treasure land appeared, powerful sects could go and just build their base there. Instead, sects sent their cultivators to hunt for treasures and other wonders.
Yasenia took a deep breath of the fresh air and looked at the sky. It was quite late in the day, so the sky was starting to take on a beautiful orange hue. The pinkish horizon in the distance was stunning.
"Cultivating here feels like a reward. There must be powerful treasures around as well, right? I can smell them."
Noticing her twitching nose, Tatyana smiled. "There are a few, but do not worry about them. You are here to cultivate, practice, and prepare to beat some ass in the tournament. While I've set the age limit to those ten times your age, there is no lack of genius around the world. You can't get overconfident. You must, during these two years, upgrade your Celestial Intent Domain and completely solidify your cultivation realm."
Yasenia nodded and spoke with Sui Xing. "Sui Xing, do you think you can materialize my copy here for me to fight? I really don't want to be cooped up in your inner world while I am here."
Sui Xing appeared, as he was the only treasure that was not digesting the gains from the Lan Family. After listening to her words, he nodded easily. "Of course. Now that I am linked to you, I can even create a realistic battle. You will get injured and feel pain, but not really. It's like an illusion battlefield where you are perfectly immersed until death or victory."
Yasenia nodded with a smile. "That sounds great."
"Before you start sparring with those copies, you must do as I said." Tatyana reminded her with a smile.
"Hm…" Yasenia nodded but was a bit conflicted. "Do you really think I can level up my Celestial Intent Domain?"
Tatyana shrugged. "That's up to you. I've already set up some milestones for you. Whether you fail to achieve it, overcome it, or surpass it greatly is entirely up to your capabilities, Love. Remember that I haven't been with you for a long time, so I can't accurately guess your progress speed."
Yasenia nodded solemnly. "I understand."
So, while Yasenia wanted to relish in the landscape, she found a large flat rock and moved there. Her dress became loose and comfortable, her pregnant belly showing up again. Then, she balanced with her tail and sat cross-legged, her hands gently gathered between the hollow between her legs.
With a deep breath, Yasenia closed her eyes and appeared in front of the Primordial Palace's doors. The grand, ancient doors rumbled as she walked inside, her body enveloped in the palace's energy.
She skipped the first three doors, arriving at the fourth one and stepping in. "I have two years. While I would love to spend time outside, I will set up an alarm to cultivate for four months on each of the second-level doors."
Instead of being purely red, this one was orange. If the colors went as Yasenia expected, the next one would probably be yellow, then green, blue, indigo, and violet. But this only covered up to the Seventh Level. So she was curious about the last three.
Of course, this color hypothesis was nothing but Yasenia's speculation. As she focused on the crystal, Yasenia got to understand the Transcendence Realm's second level. After Mortal Shackles, it came Spiritual Awakening.
At this second level, the cultivator's perception sharpens, but not in the usual way. What the cultivator starts to feel is the Heavenly Dao. They begin to feel its traces, understanding some truths that hid in plain sight.
For that, the Spiritual Sense needs to transform and resonate with the world.
Yasenia's Spiritual Sense was extremely sharp for someone at her level. Even much older cultivators at the Second Level of the Transcendence Realm failed to match up with hers.
The main reason for this was her overly large and powerful soul. Yasenia had not increased her soul's strength until later during her cultivation path; it was strong to begin with. This allowed her to build upon a foundation some geniuses dreamed of having.
Of course, later with Soul Cultivation, the devouring of the two gods' remnant souls, and the abundant treasures that she had consumed during her life, Yasenia's already large and powerful soul was now an aberration of nature.
Using her soul's boundless power, Yasenia's mind and spiritual sense quickly transformed according to the principles of the Primordial Orange Crystal. The spiritual sense that previously swept the area as a scanner dug into the world's essence. Instead of spreading through space, it began touching the upper layers of the world's energy.
To make it easier to understand, let's imagine the world is a vast ocean.
What Yasenia had been doing until now was looking at everything from above, sweeping the place with her eyes. Now, as she sank deeply into the concepts of nature, Yasenia began to submerge in the ocean below her, her toes dipping slightly and drawing closer to look at what lay beneath the surface.
As her cultivation evolved in the Transcendence Realm, Yasenia was going to keep sinking into this ocean, eventually submerging entirely.
Four months went by in a flash, and Yasenia awoke with a start. Looking at her hands and body, Yasenia noticed a significant change. As she moved energy, she could very faintly perceive it interacting with and transforming the world around her. For now, it was illusory, but she was certain that it was there.
"That was great. I need to come here again later. I still want to sink into that sensation."
Yasenia smiled and moved toward the second crystal. Similar to the other, it was orange in color, floating magnificently in the middle of the dark room. This crystal was ethereal, unlike the previous one. 'The Spiritual Path's crystals feel… like they belong to the world, as if countless elemental forces swirl inside them. The Soul Path crystals feel illusory, as if your hand would just pass through them if you were to touch them. The Body Path crystals feel heavy, as if once they stopped floating, the world below them would split in half due to their weight and hardness.'
For the Soul Path, the second level was rather straightforward. Called [Soul Expansion], what Yasenia needed to do during this realm was just that: expand the vessel of her soul as much as she could.
In short, she needed to stretch her soul to the limits without breaking anything. The larger, the better.
So, Yasenia sat in front of the crystal and began another four-month meditation. During this time, the crystal made her feel congested, as if she was being squeezed by some force. Naturally, to escape this feeling, Yasenia pushed against whatever was trying to squeeze her. She pushed out, and out, and out. Yet, no matter how much terrain she gained, the sensation of always being too constrained never left her.
As she was struggling, the alarm for the fourth month period snapped her out of her meditative state.
"That was… annoying."
She stretched her body, making a cute 'hngg' sound. She really wanted to get rid of that feeling.
Once she stretched, a pleasurable feeling of space, muscles stretching, and air entering her lungs swept over her. As she breathed in deeply, Yasenia felt satisfied and liberated.
"Whoa… I feel as if I can breathe clouds."
Glancing at her soul, Yasenia almost couldn't believe what she was seeing. '...It's at least ten times larger than before.'
Still, she was not satisfied. So, she knew that she would need to come back at a later date.
Finally, she stepped into the room with the Body Path's Crystal. The heavy weight it emitted made Yasenia's step somewhat firmer, transmitting the same feeling as when gravity around her increased.
For this realm, named [Bone Carving], Yasenia needed to use energy to, well, carve her bones and marrow, transforming them into new bones. The crystal helped by, quite literally, pressing her body and breaking her bones.
The pain was no joke, making her pale and sweat rivers. Still, she tightened her jaw and closed her eyes, entering a meditative state of four months of bone-breaking torture.
Just like that, an entire year had passed.