Heaven, Earth, Me

While traveling through space, the girls couldn't help but stand there, thoughtful. Everyone had things in mind, and even though they had used all these years to solve everything and disconnect from everyone, leaving their children behind was still something that many of them thought could've been discussed. 

Yasenia looked at them and didn't interrupt their thoughts. 

"Yasenia."

Looking sideways, she saw Zephyrith walking toward her. As Sierra's partner, she had naturally decided to leave Distancia behind and come with them. 

Yasenia asked. "What's wrong?"

Zephyrith hummed and asked. "Um… Until when will I be able to follow you?"

Yasenia tilted her head. "Huh? Why'd you ask?"

Zephyrith smiled. "Well, I am Sierra's mate, but Sierra is Evelyn's contracted beast above that. So, in a way, if Evelyn follows you, I will need to follow Evelyn, and therefore…"

Yasenia smiled back. "Are you afraid I'll say that you are not welcome to follow me?"

Zephyrith shrugged. "More than afraid, I guess I am preparing myself. I know that day will eventually arrive, after all."

The dragoness looked at the wolf woman and looked away. "I will never throw someone out if they want to follow me. However, following me is not easy. Whether you manage to keep up will all depend on your ability to follow."

Zephyrith blinked and smiled. "I guess that's fair."

"Big Sister Yasenia~!"

Both of them looked over, and the dragoness smiled. "Laurina, didn't I tell you to continue calling me Little Sister? I am still younger than you."

Laurina snorted. "Right, you are so much stronger than me. If I call you Little Sister, my mother will smack me on the head when she hears!"

Yasenia laughed faintly. "Sure, sure. Then Big Sister it is. Is there anything wrong?"

The Dragon Princess shook her head. "No, but…" Laurina crossed her arms, pondering how to explain. "What do I do?"

"Hm?"

"I mean, I am so weak compared to everyone here. Our group is probably the weakest, no? Aren't we taking advantage of you?"

The dragoness raised her eyebrow. "So what?"

Laurina blinked, and Zephyrith laughed. Yasenia smiled. "So what if you take advantage? You have the right to always be around me. Oh, and you are very wrong if you think I don't know everything you've managed to do for the Astral Sky Sect during the last decades." Ŗ

Laurina blushed a bit as she played with her long green hair. "I-I see."

Yasenia looked at her gently and commented. "You five are like close family to me, so tell Razar, Gorena, Sirae, and Frisk that they better not hold back when asking for resources." 

Laurina nodded firmly. "I will!"

"Laurina! …Oh, there you are." The tall and muscular woman with blue hair and green eyes smiled and approached. "Hello, Big Sister Yasenia."

Yasenia nodded with a smile. "Gorena, how are you doing?" 

Gorena smiled gently and nodded. "Wonderful. Thank you for taking care of us during these last decades, Yasenia. Also, sorry for Razar getting into trouble now and then." 

Yasenia laughed. "Let him be. He didn't kill anyone of value, so it doesn't matter."

Zephyrith asked, curious. "Kill? Who did he kill?"

The dragoness smirked. "Well, he is outwardly cold and rash, but he can't really sit still when he sees someone bullying another person. So, while going outside, there have been cases in which he has killed Young Masters and Mistresses who were terrorizing their towns. Of course, he got into trouble with their families, so I had to step up a bit to save his ass more than once."

Zephyrith laughed. "Quite a rash boy." 

Yasenia nodded. "True, but he has a good heart; I don't mind supporting him as long as he doesn't do stupid things."

"Right." Gorena looked at the Nature Dragon Princess and commented. "Sirae is looking for you."

Laurina nodded and waved at Yasenia. "See you later, Big Sister Yasenia!"

Gorena nodded at Yasenia and left with Laurina. Zephyrith saw Yasenia's smile and chuckled. "You really like them."

Yasenia smiled. "They have become more like little siblings as I became stronger." 

Zephyrith nodded and asked. "Where are we going, by the way?"

The dragoness commented. "We are following some energy signals from Andrea's item while also being attentive to Kali. If Kali's Natural Treasure detects another shard of itself, we will move that way to collect it."

"Will you steal it?"

Yasenia shook her head. "While I don't mind, we are not really in any rush. I am willing to trade as long as the other side is reasonable. We have a few dozen Natural Treasures in our hands, so doing an exchange is also possible."

"And if they are not reasonable and they want to keep it?" 

Zephyrith raised her eyebrow while smiling, and Yasenia answered softly. "Well… Too bad for them. They'll exchange it whether they like it or not. That thing is essential for Kali's ability to evolve without my direct help."

Zephyrith hummed. "I see." 

Gu Chen walked toward Yasenia from the side. When Zephyrith saw him, she bowed to Yasenia and smiled. "I'll be checking on Evelyn for now. She is feeling somewhat sulky."

"Thank you, Zephyrith."

Yasenia looked at Gu Chen and nodded. "Gu Chen, how is the interstellar travel?"

Gu Chen sighed. "Yasenia, this ship you have is truly a marvel. I can't believe that something like this exists." 

The dragoness smiled. "Well, it is not one of our strongest ones back in the Sky Continent, but I will admit that it is close to the top."

Gu Chen pondered and asked. "From what I've learned until now, Body Cultivation is considered a lost art, right?"

"Yes. Even Tatyana was ecstatic when we found it. Imagine how valuable it is to make someone like her that happy."

"Agreed," Gu Chen continued. "So, what do you plan to do with it? Present it to the outer world? Allow others to practice it? Perhaps create a sect and use its importance to reign supreme over a place?"

The dragoness shook her head. "Nothing like that. Body Cultivation is an advantage, that's for sure. However, even the strongest treasure is useless if you can't use it freely. It might be a good deterrence, but it won't help you if you want more."

"But you don't want more. You want to create a place where you live with your family without outside interruptions, right?"

Yasenia smiled. "Before that, there is someone I need to help, regardless of how long it takes and how many adversities I must face. I will push forward using all my resources. Body Cultivation is a tool that can help me achieve that objective. If the result is it being spread across Heaven and Earth once more, I don't mind it."

Gu Chen pondered and nodded. "So, you don't mind if I create a sect or a power using Body Cultivation as a resource, right?"

Yasenia shook her head. "Not at all. To be honest, I am still unsure why it is not much more widespread. After all, Distancia was the one who revived it, right?"

Gu Chen commented. "It's a bit more complicated than that, at least from what I know."

The dragoness raised her eyebrow. "Oh? Tell me about it."

Gu Chen explained. "I told you before how we don't really know about Distancia's homeworld. However, our ancestors did not practice body cultivation when Distancia arrived at our place. I recently discovered this while studying our world's history with Lady Valeria's knowledge." 

Yasenia hummed. 

"Back then, our people were stronger than the ones from Distancia's home world. When conflict arose, Distancia used everything in his power to basically destroy the World. He ultimately failed to finish the job but left behind a dying world. I was confused as to why our world was so focused on Body Cultivation, and we seem to have no records of Spiritual Cultivation or other types of cultivation."

Yasenia asked. "Did you discover why?"

"Our ancestors destroyed those methods."

Yasenia blinked. "Huh?"

Gu Chen explained. "Spiritual Cultivation needs much more energy than Body Cultivation to be practiced. So, to help the dying world, they forced the entire world to change the practiced cultivation method."

Yasenia exclaimed. "I see! Spiritual Cultivation needs more energy than Body Cultivation, so that explanation makes sense."

Gu Chen commented. "I would love to follow you for a while. However, we'll probably have different paths. Therefore, I wanted to confirm that you wouldn't be against me using Body Cultivation as a resource to establish power with me as the Sect Master. My objective is to help my lovers reach the sixth realm, and for that, I need a lot of resources. Establishing a power makes finding those resources easier."

Yasenia nodded. "I understand. Don't worry. Also, how is Kali's pill working? Does it help?"

Gu Chen shrugged. "It doesn't feel hopeless, but the chances are still too small."

Yasenia chuckled. "I see, a lot more trying is needed~."

Gu Chen rolled his eyes. Then, he commented. "Speaking of children… How about you? Any success with Andrea?"

The dragoness shook her head. "No. I guess my Darling needs to get stronger if she wants to make me pregnant."

Gu Chen laughed. "I can imagine that if she ever manages to do so, the child will be quite strong. A cultivator nourished since birth by you? A little monster, I tell you. Ouch!"

Yasenia kicked him and snorted. "Don't call my future baby a little monster."

Alaia appeared in front of Yasenia and commented. "Young Miss, we are approaching a Nebula. Do we continue through it, or do we avoid it?"

Yasenia pondered and commented. "Avoid it. While our strength is not small, I don't want surprises."

Alaia nodded. "Understood."

Kali suddenly approached and commented. "Yasenia, I felt a small pulse. I think I've detected another shard."

The dragoness blinked. "Oh? In what direction?"

Kali coughed and said. "Um… Toward the Nebula."

Yasenia's eyebrow trembled. "Really?"

"For real." Kali nodded with an awkward smile.

Yasenia rubbed her forehead and looked at Alaia. "Slow down and enter into stealth mode. We are going in and out as fast as possible! I REALLY don't want to have any surprises."

Alaia ordered. "Change the coordinates and directions, create a spatial map, and follow Madam Kali's lead toward the place where her Natural Treasure is. Everyone be high alert and stop cultivating!"

Yasenia took a deep breath and moved toward the ship's bow. "Well, let's see what this place hides, shall we?"

Evelyn asked. "Yasenia, do you think we should move around and gather resources? A Nebula is basically a star graveyard. There must be interesting items."

Yasenia shook her head. "As I said, only Kali's treasure. Believe me, dear, I am salivating and thinking of what we could find. However, I really don't want to explore a place that is full of Star Beasts that can probably swallow me in my dragon form in one bite."

Evelyn blinked. "You must be exaggerating. What kind of beast could have a 30-kilometer mouth?"

Alaia shouted. "Star Beast! Enter stealth!"

Yasenia looked over and sighed. "One like that one, for example."

Evelyn looked over, and her mouth fell open. A Star Beast was literally eating an entire planet around there.