Heaven, Earth, Me

The last year has been relatively active but also relaxing. The girls went out several times to war for strategic spots around the area and secure the surroundings. Yasenia had been out with them as a commander, telling them which points and locations were important to defend. 

Because there were so many conflict places, the number of deaths was escalating to really absurd degrees. This prompted sects to start lowering the standard for acceptance to "refill" their sect members as quickly as possible.

For new cultivators, choosing a sect or a power to join nowadays had never been so complicated. Depending on where you lived, there would be a main power that kept an eye on who was joining where, and using low-level thugs, threatening people into joining their camp was a more common occurrence. 

Stronger cultivators preying on weaker cultivators has always been something happening everywhere. If someone's family had a Third Realm cultivator, families who didn't would dare not offend them unless they knew similarly strong people who could protect them.

Then, because cultivators usually focused on cultivating and becoming stronger, the number of parents disregarding their children and using maids or other types of servants to bring them up was common practice. 

This meant that the morals of many cultivators were slightly twisted because, since they were very little, they knew that people around them must obey them. This habit was difficult to convert into an honest trait as the person grew, eventually creating the typical and all too common young master.

Moreover, since the parents were not long with their children, pampering them out of guilt was expected, making it even worse. 

During war situations, the parents who were affiliated with certain powers would tell their children to join that power and often villainize others, making those children hate anyone who didn't follow their own beliefs. 

This didn't look like much of a problem, but when it happened worldwide, the addition of all minor conflicts could become a significant issue. When our girls were not fighting on the front lines, they were doing one of the following things.

Today, Yasenia received a complaint from a Supreme Elder, meaning a person inside the high-level Epoch Core bracket, one of the strongest in the sect outside of Yasenia's personal forces.

"Sect Master, if you don't lower your entrance standards soon, other powers will get the disciples, and we might lose because we exhaust our resources instead because of a lack of strength!"

Yasenia looked at the elderly woman from a canine race and asked. "Elder Dai, in a war, are top-level fighters more important or low-level fighters?" 

The elderly woman sighed. "I know top-level fighters are more critical, but a sect can't survive with just top-level experts! We need low levels so that those with talent can express it and feel special."

Yasenia asked. "Why should they feel special?" She raised her eyebrow and continued. "Do you think that competing against similarly talented people will stunt their progress? Won't they work harder to overcome those people, feeding into their own talent and becoming stronger?"

Elder Dai argued. "But many of those good seeds will be stomped by the hardworking talents. You will lose geniuses that other sects would fight to get!"

Yasenia retorted. "If a genius doesn't work hard and makes use of their gift, then that's their problem. I won't give talented people a few punching bags to release their pent-up feelings on and feel better about themselves." 

Elder Dai frowned, and Yasenia sighed. "Are you worried about your great-grandchild, Elder Dai?"

The woman didn't react much, but Yasenia's sharp senses could discern a trace of surprise and unease. Yasenia commented. "Look, Elder Dai. You've been loyal and fought on many battlefields with us, the Silent Fang battlefield included. Your great-grandchild indeed has potential, and he even overcame our sect's entry test with a score of 68. He is a good seedling. However…"

Elder Dai frowned deeper and asked. "What?"

Yasenia continued. "You are pampering him too much, and this has created resentment among his classmates."

Elder Dai asked, angered. "Are you saying it is my fault?! Sect Master, I respect you, but watch your mouth!"

The dragoness was not intimidated and spoke back. "Elder Dai, I am trying to make sure your great-grandchild reaches his full potential. He is a really good seed that can bloom. But if you don't allow him to fail, he will never know how to achieve things truly by himself." 

Elder Dai stood up with a huff and left. 

Yasenia looked at her retreating back and pondered for a few seconds before reducing Elder Dai's access to the main formation covering the Astral Sky City; this would make it much more difficult for her to do something stupid before Yasenia herself was alerted. 

'Some elders are starting to show their true colors after their family members arrived at the sect. I don't mind it if they pass the test legitimately, and while I expected some elders to want benefits for those children, this is too much. Yesterday, we even killed one low-level Epoch Core elder because he was angry that a human managed to beat his family member in a practice fight and tried to kill them…'

This was not a time when Yasenia wanted the internal conflicts to escalate. However, she also expected it. That's why there were a number of rules allowing family members to give a small amount of help to their descendants in terms of resources and such.

What Yasenia didn't want to allow is for people to use their connections to stomp on others unilaterally. 

Pressuring peers with connections was part of the cultivation world, so she didn't mind. 

Nonetheless, if a person legitimately won something, she wanted to avoid the reward being taken away from the winner because of connections as much as possible.

'Well, these things are all in the law system, so if someone violates them, the formation will act upon them or inform me if the offense is not that serious. Now, onto important things.' She stood up and went to the side of the window, sitting on a chair she had there. Then, she took a jade scroll from the side table and opened it. 'The Ocean Chasm Empire is proving to be quite bothersome. They are really alert, so infiltrating the top ranks is really difficult. Their security has increased a few levels. Well, I shouldn't expect results in just one year. The Ocean Chasm Empire will probably put up walls and focus on defense the second the battle on land finishes.'

Yasenia took a message bead at the side and listened to it; it was a report from the Astral Sky Abyss Sect. 'There have been attacks, but the formations are holding up as expected. Even a surprise attack from a peak level failed to strain anything of the upgraded formation.'

"My Love."

Yasenia turned her head with a smile and saw her gorgeous Phoenix wife walking her way. Cecile's innately slender figure highlighted her stomach's increase in size. When the previously flat and trained stomach was now rounder, Yasenia felt it was quite adorable because it gave the cold woman a certain homely feeling.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?"

Cecile sat on Yasenia's lap, stuck their bodies together as if she was recharging batteries with her presence, and said. "Attacks have started."

Yasenia blinked while hugging the precious woman in her arms. "So soon? Just a year after?"

Cecile nodded and commented. "The first attacks are actually on Astral Dragon City." 

The dragoness was puzzled. "While it is the city with the most population we own and attacking it has a lot of strategic value, I thought they would start by recovering the smaller cities we've captured during this time." The dragoness asked. "How large is the attack?"

Cecile commented, "There are 60 million total: 50 million Ethereal Soul realm and 10 million Epoch Core. Of the Epoch Cores, 9.5 million are Low-Level, 490 thousand are middle-level, and 10 thousand are high-level." 

Yasenia frowned. "How many peak levels?"

Cecile answered. "There have been no sightings of peak levels."

Yasenia's frown increased. "None? Not even one demon?"

Cecile replied. "There was one Demon sighted, but it was one of the weaker ones."

Yasenia closed her eyes and imagined the situation. 'Those sixty million will have a really hard time breaching the formation we set up in the city if there are no heavy hitters like the peak levels. The defenses there will also slowly slice their numbers away. While I can be sure that they are underestimating the defensive formation's strength, something is off.'

Yasenia asked. "When did you discover about this, or who discovered it?"

Cecile tilted her head. "It was someone from the assassin division. The name… Zuliua Dreqwu."

Yasenia touched her ear, which was adorned by an earring-shaped communication device, and got in touch with Doriel. "Doriel, check Zuliua Dreqwu in our database."

Doriel got to work instantly and commented. "She has been with us for two and a half years. Her position is relatively high for her middle-level Ethereal Soul level. Talented person in espionage and information collection."

Yasenia asked. "It was her who discovered the attack that's coming our way?"

Doriel blinked. "Hm? What attack?"

Yasenia's lips arched. "Aha~. She gave Cecile a message of Astral Dragon City being about to be sieged by 60 million people." 

Doriel blinked twice and went through the messages for several minutes. "There is no information about that in my reports." 

The dragoness hummed. "Call that woman and ask questions."

Doriel got to work, and after 20 minutes, she contacted Yasenia again. Her voice was cold. "She is not in the sect. Do I hunt her down?"

Yasenia shook her head. "No need. I want you to check another thing. Follow all her connections and past deals with all people. If she had been sent on a spying mission, where did she go? I want to know who is behind her. The person itself is just a pawn, and whether she is alive is a mystery, therefore, I want the harpy assassin group to go search for her while you focus on the important tail."

Doriel nodded. "Understood."

Yasenia slid her fingers through Cecile's silky platinum blonde locks and smiled. "They contacted you."

Cecile hummed with an almost purr-like sound. Yasenia's caresses were too comfortable. The dragoness laughed. "I wonder what would happen when I go to the Astral Dragon City? Wanna bet?"

Cecile muttered languidly. "I don't. Just tell me."

Yasenia laughed. "Probably spatial interference from the demons, leaving me stranded in the Astral Dragon City." 

Cecile hummed. "Why?" 

Yasenia smiled. "Their main objective must be another place, so having me stranded and perhaps surrounded by a real army would force all of you to act. After all, if I was suddenly cut off from the world, wouldn't you girls worry? With the pregnancy, the risk of you losing your rationality would not be small." 

Cecile took a deep breath, filling her lungs with Yasenia's scent, and slowly breathed out. "I see. How to counterattack?" 

Yasenia giggled. "Going to Astral Dragon City."

Cecile blinked a few times, not understanding. Yasenia kissed her nose and said. "Since the most probable thing is spatial interference, then we just need to nullify that. Instead of going alone, I'll have Tatyana come with me, and Angel stays here with Selena."

Cecile nodded. "Do I go with you?"

Yasenia stood up and smiled, using her tail and arms to carry Cecile comfortably. "Of course~. I need to go and fall into the trap you "set up" for me~."

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