The second Mo Yun clarified the matter indirectly, and Yasenia interrupted the conversation with a tone of confusion. "Wait, wait, wait. Stop. Who was the person who misinformed you about me having any designs about becoming the future Sect Master?"
Chen Jizhen glared at Mo Yun once more, while the girl covered her mouth with a guilty expression. Still, while she showed such a reaction, there was no regret in her heart. 'Yasenia looks so nice to get along with. I don't want your pettiness to come in the way of that.'
Chen Jizhen stared at Yasenia and stated with a snort. "Isn't it clear why you were chosen for this mission? While I admit that dealing with the [Abyssal Worshiper Sect] is not easy, it's, by far, the easiest target among all of the Demonic Sects we are targeting this time around."
The dragoness answered with derision, not convinced. "You clearly do not understand the dangers of the [Abyss] for you to say those words. I would rather fight a Level 5 or 6 Transcendence Realm cultivator than a group of Level 1 and 2 Abyss-related Transcendence Realm cultivators like we have."
"Who would believe that?" Chen Jizhen didn't think that Yasenia was being honest.
However, Yasenia clearly understood the hidden dangers that fighting these monsters would cause over time. Even a light contact with them would leave traces of Abyss Energy that you would need to purify later. The effects that this kind of energy had on cultivators were so varied that it was impossible to even categorize them other than with "harmful effects."
Yasenia explained her reasoning with that and then added. "...So, even if I am fighting a strong human cultivator, at least I won't suddenly have a strange reaction that will consume my soul and mind, resulting in strange tentacles or extra eyes growing on my face."
The other five looked at Yasenia, mild surprise flashing in their expression. Mo Yun approached and asked carefully. "Um… What you just said, is it the truth?"
The [Abyssal Worshiper Sect] was rather recent, having appeared not longer than a few centuries ago. During this time, they've been low-key, slowly absorbing the surrounding population into their ranks. Of course, their acts were brutal and worthy of all condemnation. Therefore, juniors had been sent to deal with the mortal-level Abyss people.
They all recalled what happened to those who went on those missions and noticed that an unusually large section either stopped cultivating, had a sharp change in attitude, or left the sect. Jilang Qin spoke at this moment. "So… Those children didn't leave because they had been scared?"
Yasenia looked at them with some contempt. "Facing a new enemy and not investigating what their strengths and weaknesses are is proof of why your sect is in decline. Not only that, your disciples were unaware of a myriad of the most basic energy manipulation and meditation efficiency knowledge."
Having reached this point, Yasenia finally shed pretenses and started pointing out the flaws she found during the last months. "The only reason your sect is standing is due to the remnants of your past glory. The installations are powerful enough that, even when your disciples are guided horribly, geniuses can sometimes overcome all those obstacles and become powerhouses at your level."
Seeing their somewhat pale faces, Yasenia struck harder, venting for all the slighting she received. "Naturally, now that you—geniuses that had never been properly taught—have become the teachers, the cycle repeats. You were never taught, so you don't know how to teach. The next generation will be even worse, unless someone appears who changes the overall atmosphere and teaching methods of the entire sect."
At this point, Chen Jizhen's eyebrows furrowed, and he looked at Yasenia coldly. "And you think that someone is you? Is that why the elders think that you are qualified to eventually get the Sect Master banner?"
"As if!" The dragoness scolded while her tail slammed the ground, creating a loud, explosive sound. "You are lucky that the only person that I care about in your sect has some attachment to all of you people and that your installations are good. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered coming here to risk fighting against something as dangerous as the Abyss while pr—, praying that you don't stab me in the back!"
Yasenia bit her tongue right at the end, almost revealing her secret out of anger. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Yasenia sighed. Chen Jizhen spoke at this time, his tone cold.
"I understand."
Even when cold, a glance at his expression revealed that it was much calmer than it had been before. He had noticed that the dragon woman in front of him was not someone easy to deal with. Honestly, if Yasenia wanted to leave, no one could stop her right at this moment. Of course, she would become a wanted person. But if she changed continents, she could easily shrug off whatever charges they threw at her.
Yasenia glanced at him, her golden eyes shining with many thoughts. Eventually, she shook her head and looked at the mortal cultivators who were staring at them. "Return to your posts. Are your elders people that you can stare at so brazenly? Where is the respect that we taught you, eh?"
Her tone was stern, but it wasn't accusatory. So, everyone saluted and asked for forgiveness once before returning to their posts.
Looking at these people, Yasenia knew that many of them had been touched by the [Abyss] during the previous fight's aftermath. Thankfully, only very few had died. 'Although, at this pace, they will all die before we finish dealing with that sect. I am sure that they are already trying to open a passageway toward the [Abyss], so we need to be swift. Thankfully, I have my ways.'
Mo Yun approached cautiously and looked up at Yasenia's pensive face. "Um~... Are we okay now? Can I talk to you?"
Yasenia's tail bonked the woman on the head. "What is there not to talk about? Also, keep your hands to yourself."
Mo Yun's hand froze a few centimeters away from the tail. Her fingers wiggled, really curious about the feel of Yasenia's scales. "Well, then… Tell me about you!"
Yasenia hummed and smiled. "Hm~… No."
Mo Yun's lively expression almost crumbled. "How can you cut the conversation so clearly when you said that we could talk?"
A beautiful eye roll answered Mo Yun's words. "We have yet to know each other properly. Why are you asking about personal matters? Better to speak of the dao or something like that."
Mo Yun deadpanned, but thinking about Yasenia's words about teaching, she might really profit. So, they discussed the Dao and were eventually joined by the other Transcendence Realm cultivators.
Chen Jizhen spoke aloud in the meantime. "Everything is sorted. Depart! We'll arrive in the vicinity in a few days, and what we encountered was just a vanguard. The fight will be brutal in the future, so take as much rest as possible and be sure to have your treasures and weapons ready."
Meanwhile, in the [Abyssal Worshiper Sect], a bunch of humanoid deformed monsters with terrifyingly strong auras gathered together. A woman, or what remained of one, opened her mouth to shriek with distorted speech. "They've been killed! Killed! Why are you not sending all of us to devour and assimilate those people!?" Looking at a light screen floating in the middle of the room, the woman gargled with laughter. "That Dragon Woman looks delicious."
Some others in the room salivated as well, clearly very eager to deal with her. However, the elder and the person who retained most of his humanoid characteristics spoke with a stern tone.
"Silence." His voice was the least distorted, clearly showing signs of transforming into something other than an [Abyssal Horror]-type creature. "That group of six cultivators is enough to start our Dimensional Decay Formation. Once we start opening the breach between worlds, they won't be able to stop it even if they gather a hundred times their numbers."
"Then, what should we do, Lord?" A ball of fleshy tentacles by his side spoke, the voice screechy as if knives were slicing their edges against each other. "It is clear that their strength is not bad, since they killed four [Abyss Carriers] so easily."
The leader looked at Yasenia with curiosity. 'Where did this person come from?' While the rest of his compatriots had a large part of their intelligence twisted by the Abyssal Energies, his had remained untouched. Hence, he could think normally even while his body had the most [Abyss] energy of all those present.
'I have not heard of a dragon woman joining the Star Immortal Sect.' He pondered slowly. 'In that sect, the only threat was Star Forge and the Sect Master. Now, this Dragon and her energy seem an even greater threat than those two unreasonably strong people.'
Thankfully for him, the threat their sect represented was still being downplayed by the various sects. Moreover, the leader had allowed many of his subordinates to die during the years to appear even more inoffensive as they gathered enough strength.
Looking back, he saw a large upward structure of dark-gray tentacles and purple, bloated surfaces with hexagonal markings. The entire thing was pulsing and spreading strange roots throughout the surrounding space layer. It was clear that the second the fleshy plant-like structure grew, it would rip open space and allow myriad nightmares to flood into the world.
As they discussed, they suddenly saw Yasenia turn her head to look directly at them through the screen. "Ah!" Some exclaimed, startled, making the leader turn his head and look over.
Then, some of them jumped in fear when Yasenia disappeared and reappeared in front of the light screen. Yasenia's gorgeous facial expressions were cold and indifferent; her bearing showed disgust and pure disdain.
Yasenia looked at the floating eye, wrapped in a ball of wriggling flesh, and stretched out her hand to squeeze it. "You think that these things can be hidden from my perception?" Yasenia's hand got covered in scales as her nails grew into long claws. "You are underestimating Dragons too much."
The eye exploded, not a single drop of blood touching Yasenia's clothes. Even her hand remained pristine as the layer of energy protected her from everything.
Arriving by her side, Mo Yun asked curiously. "What was that?"
"Who knows?" The dragoness spoke. "Probably some sort of monster to relay back images to them."
"Ah!" Mo Yun's eyes opened. "We were being watched?"
"So it seems…" The dragoness looked into the distance and had an idea of how to deal with these people. "To take care of pests, you need to smoke them out."