"What do we do now? We have three days, right?"
After hearing Yasenia's question, Tatyana grabbed her hand and walked out of the arena together with the dragons. "We can do various things. We can rest, we can try to consolidate your foundations even more, or we can explore the city."
"Explore the city?" Yasenia was honestly hesitant. "Won't we be bothered if we do that?"
Tatyana's eyebrow twitched. "So you do know that you showed off greatly."
Being with her mother, Yasenia acted cute and stuck out her tongue. "You are here with me. What bad can happen? Moreover, I reached the Sixth Level of the Transcendence Realm zone, right? It's not so high that it will cause a commotion."
Yasenia spoke confidently, but as she said her words aloud, a strange silence descended around her. Our dragoness blinked once, looking at the people around her. She saw the juniors looked at her as if she were the number one enemy, while the seniors looked at her as if she were a monster.
Ao Xianlan glanced at the dragoness and asked, her tone subtle and her gaze strange. "Little Yasenia… How do you think that the layers are separated?"
Quick-witted, Yasenia noticed that something was off. She looked at Ao Xianlan, her golden eyes showing innocent confusion. "The fire lake was divided into nine zones, right? So, it should've been three for each threshold. I have reached around the third flame level of the fifth layer, so that should equate to the Sixth Level of Transcendence. Am I wrong? Was I in a lower-level zone?"
The Dragon Ancestor was speechless. She wanted to refute her words and pin the word careless on her head, but Yasenia's words made much more sense than what she had expected to hear!
Tatyana sighed and spoke sadly. "Love, you are quite off the mark."
"What?" Yasenia was startled at her tone. "Don't tell me that I have not overcome the trial? Was it separated into four, three, and two zones for each realm?"
Everyone almost spat a mouthful of blood. 'You are right, it's four, three, two… BUT YOU HAVE IT BACKWARDS!'
Yan Huang, unable to continue to see the juniors of the dragon clan being struck in their pride with each word that left Yasenia's mouth, decided to relieve them from the pain. "Yasenia, you reached the Ninth Level of Transcendence. It's indeed four, three, and two layers, but the two layers belong to the mortal realm."
Nothing else needed to be said, and Yasenia's mind quickly connected all the dots. Realizing her blunder, a very rare, light blush appeared on her tender cheeks. "O-Oh…"
Tatyana turned into a blur, her image-recording device capturing around 10,000 photos per second. Everyone was stunned, as even Ao Xianlan barely kept up with her movements. 'W-What kind of insane speed is this!?'
Yasenia, already accustomed to her mother and Evelyn floating around her, taking endless pictures in all kinds of positions, didn't even blink at her antics. Instead, she coolly ignored her and turned to look at Yan Huang, the blush receding from her gorgeous face. "Uncle Yan, do you think we can walk around the city without problems? I have already tempered myself greatly in the trial, so taking these three days to relax and stabilize the energies inside me should benefit me the most."
Tatyana, who was checking her photos of blushing Yasenia with satisfaction, almost dropped the device out of fright. "Y-You! What have you done with my overworking daughter who knows no rest!"
A tail flew out in a gorgeous arc. Everyone observing became mesmerized as they followed it; the profundities in that tail arc were so complex that they evoked a sense of awe and artistic beauty.
S~LAP!
Tatyana's beautiful face was flipped to the side, her body following the momentum as she spun in place like a ballerina with thousands of years of training. By the end of the spin, Tatyana even stretched her arm and leg, taking the swan pose.
"Clap! Clap! Clap!"
Everyone applauded, even if they didn't understand why they should applaud.
Ao Xianlan and Yan Huang looked at that tail slap with serious expressions. "Little Yasenia… Is that part of your ultimate move? That tail slap would be difficult to dodge for anyone below the Seventh Level of Transcendence!"
The dragoness felt embarrassed. 'What ultimate move? That's a reflex! A reflex! Utterly useless in combat!'
Tatyana recovered her cool and elegant posture and glanced at Yasenia. "That's your best tail-slap to date."
With the mother hammering the last nail in the coffin, Yasenia turned around and left the teasing seniors behind. She was in her childish mood instead of her natural and flirty seductive mood, so these comments truly embarrassed her!
'So much for trusting my seniors!'
The three seniors inwardly chuckled and walked up, coaxing the dragoness by guiding her into a place with expensive and glittering treasures.
Once there, all the moodiness disappeared like smoke. Yasenia's golden eyes glittered with stars as she looked around the luxurious shop.
The place was white and golden, each shelf crafted with endless intricacies. The glass cabinets shone with powerful formations, their gleam mysterious and ancient. Even the floor Yasenia stepped on was full of complex yet aesthetically pleasing patterns, mixing white and black to perfect contrast with the rest of the place.
"Wow~. What is this place?"
Yan Huang chuckled and explained. "This is the number one shop on the continent, owned by the [Sky Treasure Trove Merchant]. It sells all kinds of precious items that people would fight wars over. Naturally, their backing is terrifying enough for others not to dare do anything funny."
Yasenia blinked, curiosity appearing in her eyes. "Who is this backing?"
Yan Huang raised his handsome eyebrow and smiled. "Me."
"Oh."
It made sense. While Yan Huang acted approachable and gentle with Yasenia, he was the Flame Sky Emperor, ruler of the tenth strongest continent in the entire world, and someone who had held the line and never allowed anyone to step beyond him for tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of years.
Moreover, Yasenia had learned that Yan Huang's continent was ranked in tenth position because of choice and not lack of strength! He just didn't want the top ten continents to be constantly at war for positions, so he decided to become some sort of "Guardian" and bar any continent from trying to usurp the top ten positions with sheer might alone.
Still, were he to notice that those above him were too weak, meaning the ninth place, he would pull that ninth place down and let the other continents have a chance to become the new "Ninth" continent.
Among the continents, only the top three were not wary of Yan Huang. Those were rumored to have sealed ancestors that surpassed the cultivation limits of their Heavenly Layer, who would only awaken in case their forces were on the verge of destruction.
Yasenia didn't know if the rumors were true, but there wouldn't be smoke without a fire.
"Oh?" Yan Huang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "What kind of reaction is that?"
Yasenia blinked. "I just thought that it was logical after you said it. I even felt a bit silly for asking."
Those words clearly stroked Yan Huang's ego enough to make his lips arch. Yasenia chuckled a bit at that and returned her attention to her surroundings.
The three ancestors followed behind Yasenia while the rest of the dragons scattered to buy things they wanted.
Yasenia muttered the names on display as she passed one treasure after another. "[Thousand Song Flute]... [Cleaving Mountain Heavy Saber]... [Spotless Killing Dagger]..."
Each of the treasures she named was at least a One Star Supreme Ranked Treasure!
'So rich… I am nothing but a country bumpkin in front of these big shots.'
Even the entire treasury of the Lan Family felt lacking in comparison. After all, this was just the first level! In the first level, only the most ordinary items were displayed, beyond a few exceptions.
After looking around the first level, Yasenia came to a painful realization.
"I am a poor devil."
The three seniors almost couldn't hold their laughter from bursting out. It was good to let her broaden her horizons and let her know that she was far from invincible in the world.
Yan Huang suggested. "Should we visit the second floor?"
Yasenia wanted to cry a little. "I can barely afford the treasures here. What will I go to the second floor for? To wallow in my newly understood poverty?"
Yan Huang smiled faintly. "If the treasure is not combat-related, I can let you have one for free."
Before he even finished, Yasenia almost teleported as she appeared in front of the stairs toward the second floor. "Why are you all still there? Come on! Treasures await me—Us, I meant us!"
Showing helpless yet endlessly amused looks, Tatyana, Ao Xianlan, and Yan Huang followed behind the eager dragon woman. If her eyes didn't show it enough, the happily wagging tail behind her made it impossible to hide her current mood.
The second floor was not any grander than the first. On the contrary, Yasenia would describe it as low-profile. Clearly, flaunting wealth beyond the first level would only come across as pretentious, hence the choice of design.
Still, design aside, the weakest treasure at first glance that Yasenia could spot was a Four Star Supreme Treasure!
Ao Xianlan asked with a smile. "Do you see anything you like?"
Yasenia blinked and looked up at the tall and voluptuous dragon ancestor. "You are going to buy me something too?"
Tatyana smiled. "We will give you one treasure each. Still, do not aim for Ancient Realm treasures. Try to keep it in the Supreme Rank. There is too much karma beyond the Supreme Treasure to gift without strings attached."
Yasenia nodded, her wagging speed increased. "So I can buy three Nine Star Supreme Ranked treasures? Got it."
No kidding, the three big shots were willing to splurge on her, so she should naturally aim to squeeze as much as she could out of them!
However, as she was about to go to the third floor, Yasenia paused and frowned. The myriad of auras and scents of treasure had masked it previously, but after standing here for a bit, she noticed a very light smell of wet earth.
Her nose twitched a bit, and she started following the scent.
The three seniors watched as Yasenia moved around like a drunk woman and followed curiously behind. They had perfectly noticed all the changes in her expression, so they didn't interrupt whatever was happening.
Yasenia sniffed the air, her eyes half-closed not to rely on sight too much, and traced the origin of this one treasure while isolating all the other scents. After a while, she stopped in front of an earth-colored ball with greenery and blue lines that looked like rivers. "What is this?"