Once they saw Yasenia's smile, most of their tension relaxed. Mo Yun even shot forward, hugging Yasenia and burying her face between the two soft, white mountains. "You scared me to death! I thought you had transformed into some kind of cold and ruthless Young Miss!"
Yasenia rolled her eyes and laughed. "Is that how little you trust me? Alright, I get it. I am just an arrogant dragon who doesn't even recognize past relationships."
Tai Qingzhe harrumphed and crossed her arms. "Very much so. Look at what you did? Our sect? Gone. Our disciples? Some are missing. Our territory? Probably snatched. If that's not someone who forgets relationships, what is?"
Yasenia looked speechlessly as the blonde woman. "Girl, I know that you are upset I didn't contact you earlier. However, can you be a little more like Mo Yun?" She smirked and teased. "I can give you a hug as well if you want."
Tai Qingzhe stepped forward aggressively. "Who do you think you are talking to? Am I someone like that!?"
And then, before Mo Yun could make sense of what happened, she felt someone snatching her away from the comforting hug and throwing her to a sofa to the side.
'Eh?'
After bouncing twice, she looked back and saw Qingzhe hugging Yasenia tightly. "You stupid dragon. Can't you send a letter or something back? I am going to end our relationship the next time you provoke some demigods after snatching their treasure!"
Star Forge mercilessly exposed Qingzhe while she hugged Yasenia. "She didn't eat, sleep, and even while teaching disciples, her mind would wander, probably thinking of you. I was worried that Qingzhe would be the first Transcendent Realm expert to develop dark circles from worry."
Qingzhe blushed fiercely and turned around, pushing Yasenia away from her as she pointed at Star Forge's nose. "W-W-What kind of lies are you spouting!? Weren't you the one who went out of the sect every other day to see if you found information on Yasenia!?"
Star Forge shrugged. "I did. But me doing that doesn't take away what I just said. I was worried, what about it? Did you expect me to blush like a 100-year-old junior?"
"ARGH! You are so annoying!"
Yasenia looked at them and laughed. She almost forgot the dynamic between these two. One utterly confident and sure of herself. The other is a woman who will not speak a single truth with her mouth, but her actions would show that she is, in fact, the one who worries the most.
Tai Qingzhe, completely defeated by Star Forge's bold approach, ignored her and turned to glare at Yasenia. "You there! What are you laughing at, eh? Was it fun to be chased around like a dog!?"
"It was," Yasenia smirked. "Thanks to them, I was able to meet with my mother. So, I have to give a big wave to all those dead people who followed me and thank them. Of course, whether they can see it from the underworld, that's another question altogether."
The three women blinked, her words picking their interest. Star Forge walked toward a chair and sat down, crossing her legs. "So, what happened? After you sent me a message in a hurry to go back and ask the Sect Master to dismantle the sect, we've known nothing about you. We've been trapped in the Lan Family State for a few years, unable to receive news from the outside."
Yasenia walked over as well, summoning a few refreshments with a wave of her hand as she sat down with them. "You heard nothing at all? I wonder why Lady Lan did that?"
Mo Yun, being Yasenia's little fan and also a petite woman whom Yasenia quite liked, moved over shamelessly and sat on her lap. Our dragoness, of course, was completely fine with having a cute girl on her lap to feed and pamper.
Picking up a cookie she personally baked, she fed Mo Yun and explained. "Well, let's start from the start and I'll tell you slowly."
And so, Yasenia began explaining her big adventure since she entered the Secret Realm, collected the treasures using her own strength, was then pursued, only to use the life-saving talisman to counterkill most of them.
After that, it was a back-and-forth until she finally stomped all geniuses with her own strength and claimed ownership. She even explained a bit about how she got to know Lan Shuyao in the middle, asking her a favor to take care of them.
Tai Qingzhe was so nervous for Yasenia during the tale that she almost bit her nail a few times while eating the cookies. Star Forge looked at Tai Qingzhe speechlessly. "Woman, she is standing safe and sound in front of us. Why are you so worried?"
Qingzhe blushed a bit before regaining her arrogant look. "What? Can't I become immersed in the story? Yasenia might be annoying to death, but she is quite a good storyteller!"
Mo Yun nodded, her cheeks puffed by the cookies Yasenia fed her as if she were a squirrel.
Yasenia chuckled and smiled. "And, well, that's the overall summary. Now, I have picked Feixue, will go under Master's guidance for a while, and will stay in the main dragon city for a bit and try to get some free inheritances or something. You know, anything that makes me stronger goes."
"Stronger…" Star Forge looked at Yasenia with a sigh. "Truly, comparison is the number one thief of joy. With someone like you by my side, the talent I was so proud of feels like mist after morning, gone like an illusion!"
The dragoness smirked at her. "Deal with it. You are the one who chose to be my friend, so now you'll have to sit at the side and see as I soar to the Heaven while you remain a pitiful Transcendence Realm cultivator for a few more thousands of years."
Qingzhe's face blackened. She glared at Yasenia. "If, when you soar to the Heavens, dare to not acknowledge me, I'll put a green hat on your head!"
Yasenia looked at her and raised her eyebrow. "Hey, your true heart is showing; quickly hide it again. Otherwise, I will discover that you love me romantically and will have to reject you."
"Ruthless woman! Can't you leave a little bit of hope untouched!?" Qingzhe grabbed a fistful of cookies and threw them into her mouth to munch as if it were Yasenia's flesh.
The dragoness laughed and looked down at the adorable, puffy-faced Mo Yun. "So, Little Yun, how did you spend these past years?"
Mo Yun spoke with her mouth full. "I fuwas uing greth!"
Yasenia passed her a cup of milk tea. "Swallow before you speak, girl. I can't understand."
After Mo Yun swallowed, she smiled and repeated. "I was doing great! While we couldn't leave, Lady Lan allowed us a few good spots for cultivation. I actually managed to break through into the third level of the Transcendence Realm!"
"Oh? Congratulations, Little Yun." Yasenia pinched her soft cheek with a sincere smile. Then, she looked at the others.
"What about you two?"
Star Forge sighed. "No breakthroughs here. Sadly, my talent is just the normal genius type. So, unless I have godly resources, I need a few hundred more years to reach Level Seven."
Qingzhe spoke, surprised. "Only a few centuries? You are quite fast already."
Star Forge rolled her eyes. "I've been in the Sixth Level of the Transcendence Realm for over 3,000 years. How is that fast compared to this monster?"
Qingzhe gave Yasenia a side-eye before speaking with Star Forge again. "I am around 20 years away from breaking through into the third level as well. A bit slower than Mo Yun."
Mo Yun exclaimed. "Aren't you 1,000 years younger than me? That's really fast!"
Tai Qingzhe looked quite proud. "After all, my clan's bloodline is exceptional."
Yasenia blinked. "Speaking of which, do you know the origins of your clan? The bloodline you have has quite an impressive origin, after all."
Tai Qingzhe blinked and recalled. "Right, you once told me that you were cursed or something by one of my ancestors, and that's why I hated you at first sight, right?"
"Yeah," Yasenia admitted generously. "I don't really want to tell you who your ancestor is. Otherwise, it might go to your head."
Qingzhe frowned. "Isn't it better to say it? If I know, I'll be able to develop and purify my bloodline."
Yasenia showed a conflicted look. "I am a bit… afraid."
"Hm?"
Star Forge threw a crumb at Qingzhe's forehead. "Blockhead, you already hated her so much with the thin bloodline inheritance. If you recover the entirety of your bloodline ancestry, won't you jump to tear Yasenia's throat with your bare teeth?"
Tai Qingzhe froze for a second before frowning deeply. "That… Now that I've overcome that feeling, won't I be immune to your curse?"
Yasenia shook her head. "Probably not. This thing is the curse cast by the dying soul of a past peerless cultivator. I probably won't be able to get rid of it for a loooong while."
Mo Yun looked up from Yasenia's lap and asked, curious. "How peerless are we talking about? Level Six of the Demigod Realm?"
Yasenia smiled wryly. "I won't tell you, but it's higher than that."
Star Forge was stupefied. "How did you even provoke someone at that level?"
Tai Qingzhe shot back. "Provoke? How is she even alive?"
The dragoness shrugged. "Well, they managed to kill me once, and almost kill me many more times. So, in truth, I cheated."
Mo Yun and the other two blinked repeatedly. "You… died and resurrected?"
The dragoness nodded calmly. "Yes. I was a peak Mental Nourishing Realm cultivator and got struck by Heavenly Lightning that obliterated my body. Any normal Mental Nourishing Realm at that time would've died. Were it not because of two peerless treasures in my body, my life would've ended right there and then."
The three women looked at the dragoness with weird gazes.
"How did you even…" Star Forge started, but she just sighed and shook her head. "Whatever, whatever. Not my problem."
Qingzhe shot back. "What do you mean? I want to listen!"
"And chew your nails off while listening again?"
"I didn't chew them off!"
Mo Yun chuckled. "Anyway, you didn't just gather us to reminisce and talk together, right?"
The dragoness hugged the petite girl and smiled. "That's right. I was going to ask if you three want to come with me. I won't force you. But with your strengths, you can all perfectly form part of my temporary squad for quite a while."
Star Forge tilted her head. "I can understand how I can help you. However, these two are already far from your league, right? You were already stronger than them before you left. Now, after leaping so many levels, you can probably stomp them without moving."
Yasenia smiled mysteriously. "Actually, I have a group of maids around your strengths. Their training methods are ruthless, but if you can bear with the soul-crushing training, I can assure you that your cultivation speed will skyrocket."
While Yasenia was not entirely sure how Tatyana trained her maids, she knew they all had some kind of top-notch cultivation technique in common. Otherwise, with her cultivation speed, she would've already left the maids in the dust back in Distancia. And yet, most of them actually managed to keep up and soar to the Transcendence Realm before her.
If that was not because of a Heaven Defying cultivation technique, Yasenia wouldn't accept it. After all, Tatyana couldn't have gathered 300 heavenly geniuses that could compare to her ridiculous four-way cultivation speed.
The three friends, meanwhile, looked at Yasenia strangely. Mo Yun blinked. "What advantage is there to becoming your maid?"
Yasenia answered confidently. "Becoming my maid."
The three women: "..."