A group of six people cautiously traversed the forest and stopped around one kilometer away from a distant group of creatures. These beings were besieging a Level Two Fusion Core Realm beast, slowly infecting it with a strange purplish-red energy. What was special was that among all the people who were participating, there was one who looked perfectly humanoid with strange eyes.
The leader of the hiding group spoke, his voice pleasant and calm. "The mission this time is true. One of their top geniuses has appeared here."
A woman in the group squinted her eyes. "To be able to maintain such perfect bodily integrity at the peak of the Third Realm, this person's affinity with Abyss Energies must be top-notch. Once we kill him, we should receive quite a lot of Sect Points."
Another man laughed, his tone carefree. "Not to mention, losing that guy must be a hard hit to the sect. Talents like him are quite rare among them and extremely hard to nurture."
The six people were at the Fifth Level of the Unification Realm, and they had all managed to understand the first level of an Intent. While it was challenging to do so at this level, the high-quality environment and energy of the Sublime Mid Heaven made it much easier to understand them.
After waiting for a while, the six people rushed across the vegetation and entered into a confrontation with the 15 Abyssal Worshiper juniors. They all had around peak-level Third Realm strength, so even if they were outnumbered, the Star Sect's disciples' strength was much higher.
The humanoid abyssal disciple's face changed, and he shouted. "Ambush! Prepare to counterattack!"
The man summoned a strange pulsing item and threw it as he shouted. When the Star Disciples saw the item, they all showed terrified expressions and backtracked. The leader shouted. "Use teleportation talismans!"
Boom!
The pulsing item burst to the sky and exploded, the sound extremely loud. The six disciples paled as, a second later, a terrifying presence descended from the sky.
The creature that came was a female humanoid with half her face deformed and tentacle legs. "You little bugs really like to bother our geniuses, eh? Die."
The woman waved her hand, and a pressure that could crush a continent with ease descended on the disciples. At that moment when the six disciples despaired, a mellow and charming voice reached them from a distance. "Bullying children at your age… You should be ashamed. [Celestial Sunder]."
SLASH
The entire sky seemed to be bisected by this one sword energy wave, destroying all the pressure that was about to kill them. The six disciples revealed relieved and adoring looks as they glanced upward and saw the woman there. With her dragon wings spread out and a gorgeous, waving tail, the seductive figure of their ethereal elder was unmistakable. "Elder Yasenia!"
Yasenia looked down with a smile. "You did well. Use the return crystals first."
The Sixth Realm Half-Horror Human snarled. "Do you think they can come and leave as they please? [Abyss Twist]."
Yasenia glanced at the vortex of pure Abyssal Energies and gently snorted. "[Celestial Aegis]."
As she raised her hand, a gorgeous bluish shield filled with starlight covered the sky above the disciples. This gave them enough time to activate the Return Crystals. Once they did, they turned into rays of light and sped into the distance. Yasenia smiled faintly when she saw the woman's face twisted beyond the already deformed facial features. "My children can escape, but yours don't have the same luck, sadly. [Empyrean Galaxy Domain]."
"Ha! You wish, Yasenia Dravory! [Abyss Corrupt Domain]!"
The two domains clashed, and Yasenia didn't dodge it. Instead, she pushed all her energy and allowed her domain to rush and collide with the woman's Domain. Seeing Yasenia's cruel smirk, the woman realized her mistake. Sadly, it was too late to do anything about it.
BOOM!!
An explosion occurred when the two attacks collided, pushing Yasenia and the woman back for a few thousand meters. Now, if a shockwave could push two Transcendent Realm cultivators back, it spoke volumes of the strength behind it. When that explosion arrived, the group of Abyss Disciples on the ground was instantly erased from existence.
"Yasenia Dravory! I want to feast on your flesh and gnaw your bones!"
Her distorted scream made the air around her wobble with sonic booms. Unbothered, the dragoness showed a troubled expression. "Sadly, too many people want to do that. How about you place yourself in line first? When it is your turn, we can talk about it."
It felt as if Yasenia's words were pushing her limited rationality to the edge. So, with a distorted voice, the woman screamed. "I am going to kill you!"
Yasenia's eyes shone with excitement for a moment, her hand flashing with a spherical crystal.
"Enough. Return."
Sadly, when Yasenia was preparing to unleash the treasure, a man's voice descended with terrifying pressure and stopped the woman in her tracks. The woman's face went through a myriad of expressions, but she eventually turned around and transformed into a ray of dark light, leaving the location.
Yasenia's face became somewhat sad, and she sighed. "Can you stop intervening? I could've killed another one of your elders if you didn't intervene."
"Yasenia Dravory." The man's voice reached her from a distance. The tone was contradictory, as it felt smooth yet uncanny. As if it had life taken out of it. Just listening to it would give someone a strange, heart-clenching feeling. "You will die soon, so it doesn't make sense for you to continue playing these games. It has been three years since your plans started. And I admit that you made a fool out of us at first. However, we now know your methods, and they won't work twice."
Yasenia didn't answer and instead looked down and puffed out her dragon breath. The flames that looked like a river of blue starlight swept everything in the area, leaving a scorched land. "With this, you can't revive that talented little one. Really, do you know the fright I got when I saw one of your geniuses appearing again on the battlefield? I thought I was seeing a ghost!"
The man speaking to her didn't answer, but Yasenia could imagine his expression. She had met him in the past and exchanged a few blows with him. However, at that time, neither side felt like having an advantage, so they decided not to fight to the death.
"You can't provoke me. Even if you kill one genius, another will appear in the future. You are delaying the inevitable."
Yasenia smirked. "Am I?" She turned around and then left the place, leaving one sentence behind. "We'll see who has the last laugh."
Her body crossed a long distance and appeared at another location where an enemy senior appeared. Her sword flashed with [Celestial Sunder], taking the enemy's attention from the juniors and blocking their attacks. Right after, she scanned her disciples and noticed one of them was tainted. 'Poor little one.'
While she battled the senior on the other side and left the disciples from both sides to battle it out, Yasenia spoke with curiosity. "Say, what made you and that octopus woman decide to appear today? You usually hide inside and don't dare come out, right? Especially so after I sliced away a few of your limbs."
The man fighting her this time was similarly deformed, with three legs, four arms, and two heads. It was a strange combination that made Yasenia ponder which groin had his genitals. 'Perhaps he has one set between each of the legs?'
"Yasenia Dravory! Don't think that you can always stop us! If all of us come out, we will be able to kill your disciples easily."
Yasenia noticed that her disciples were about to kill those from the Abyss and grinned, wasting more time as she exchanged blows with them. "Perhaps. However, I wonder if it is worth it? If all of you come out, it will be nothing but a dream come true!"
The man's voice came again from the distance. "Don't let her words bother you."
Yasenia's grin collapsed as she put on an annoyed expression. "Hey, do you like stalking me? Why are you always interrupting me?"
Her sword quickly blocked a quick barrage from the enemy before she snuck close range and struck the man's stomach with the pommel of her sword.
"Gah!"
Yasenia deployed her Monarch Domain and Empyrean Galaxy Domain, immobilizing the powerful foe for a fraction of a second. Then, using her Grand Cosmos Martial Art and Celestial Sunder, she cleaved the man's body almost right up the middle.
This set of movements was done seamlessly in less time than it took to blink once. Seeing their elder bisected, the disciples below were stunned. The Star Sect Disciples didn't let the chance go by and finished them off.
Meanwhile, when Yasenia was about to end that senior's life, a terrifying pressure descended and struck Yasenia, sending her flying a few thousand meters back. Then, a giant black, smoky hand descended from the sky and took the bisected Sixth Realm abomination away.
The dragoness snorted, dissatisfied, and then muttered. "If you weren't their nanny, I would've already cleaned this place up."
She landed between the disciples, and they all bowed to her. "We greet Elder Yasenia!"
Yasenia nodded and turned toward a girl at the side. The girl had a pale face and was holding her side with a painful expression. Yasenia sighed to herself and approached her. "Come, child. I'll take you to the infirmary."
"Um… Elder Yasenia!"
When the dragoness picked the woman up in her arms, one man approached with a nervous expression. "Can… Can she be healed?"
Yasenia didn't turn to look and spoke softly. "It will be up to Heaven's will."
Then, she left the place with the girl in her arms. As they flew, the girl spoke softly. "I can't be saved."
Yasenia looked down and nodded, looking at the girl's eyes. She didn't hide it and spoke softly. "You can't. The Abyss Energy has taken root in your Dantian."
"Elder Yasenia…" The woman spoke tiredly as she looked up. "Can I die in between your arms?"
"You can." Yasenia smiled and moved her energy into her body. Her soul energy enveloped the woman's soul, as if she were hugging her. "Close your eyes, child."
The dragoness didn't ask why and respected the disciple's wishes. Even when the disciple hugged her tightly and buried her face in her neck, Yasenia kept calm and moved her soul energy.
Then, she eased up her pain, making the girl relax and feel as if spring water was washing her body and soul. 'So comfortable…'
Then, the second the woman reached the most comfortable state, Yasenia's soul pressure squeezed as hard as it could and popped her soul like a bubble.
There was no pain; there was nothing but darkness descending forever into the woman's world.
After that was done, Yasenia returned to the base and landed at the back of the mountain. There, a cemetery holding around 800 graves had been erected. With somewhat practiced motions, Yasenia dug a new grave and placed the girl inside. Then, she took in a soft breath and puffed gently.
Her flames flooded the grave with a gentle heat before she closed the grave. This would ensure that no abomination was born from the corpse.
Yasenia whispered. "Three years… We managed to kill two of their Sixth Realm people and several thousand of their disciples. Our objectives are being completed, but at what cost?"
Looking at the cemetery around her, Yasenia sighed softly. "Sadly, I can't really think of a better solution. Not with our limited resources."
With another step, Yasenia turned into a streak of light and returned to the battlefield.