Heaven, Earth, Me

Chapter 1588. Marrow Ascension and True Spirit Embodiment.

The green crystal gleamed powerfully, its ancient and terrifying aura leaking and seeping into the surroundings. Yasenia, holding Draheart, danced around with slow, elegant, but powerful forms. 

Draheart, feeling Yasenia swing her after quite a long time, felt her soul relax and sing in joy. After that battle flag arrived, Yasenia had been using it as the main weapon. Draheart was not angry at Yasenia, even though her jealousy and competitiveness flared up intensely. After all, the only one to blame was herself for not being strong enough.

She couldn’t ask Yasenia to swing a Supreme Ranked sword instead of an Ancient Rank battleflag because of her feelings, could she? 

However, when it came to training, Draheart was chosen, which made her feel intense happiness and delight. ‘If that annoying flag wasn’t mostly consumed by killing intent and had little intelligence, I would love to mock it~.’ 

While Draheart was usually quite calm, when it came to being Yasenia’s main weapon, she would not allow anything to surpass her! To do that, Draheart had not been slacking off. Her treasure rank was steadily increasing as she recovered her former glory step by step. 

‘Moreover, with Yasenia’s delightful energy, I am sure I can even step into a higher realm than back then.’ 

As her ranks increased, memories from a distant past slowly flowed within Draheart. She, of course, had not been a random treasure. Tatyana found Draheart among the many relics she looted from the Sun and Moon God’s tomb—the place where she managed to obtain the formation that allowed her to become pregnant with Yasenia. 

Inside there, Tatyana’s strength went through a terrifying transformation. If before entering, she was the strongest in the Sky Continent, after going through the trials there, Tatyana became the strongest in the entire Heavenly Layer. 

Back then, Tatyana didn’t really feel like getting stronger, having slowly but surely given up on the path of cultivation. Her numb heart made her rusty, which is why when the Demon Empress and Emperor arrived, Tatyana was pushed back to the point that she almost needed to use one of her strongest trump cards. 

The Demon Empress's retreat allowed her to hold back, though. 

Now, after more than a century of harsh training, Tatyana had regained her sharp edge, which she showed gloriously in the Blue Pearl World battle against the Martial Empress and the 499 other top-tier powerhouses. 

By now, the Demon Empress and Demon Emperor in the Sky Continent were honestly small fries. After all, neither of the two were stronger than the Martial Empress she so easily slaughtered! 

I digress. 

Yasenia’s moves, as she weaved with Draheart elegantly, never stopped. Energy rushing from the outside and the ancient energy surrounding her soul within the Primordial Palace were crushed by her muscles and transformed into Body Energy. 

Her flesh, which had already completely transformed from skin to bones to viscera, was now working together and grinding into the bones to transform the marrow. The marrow of a cultivator was both important and not a primary concern. 

For non-pure beasts, even including human beasts, the marrow was a source of strength. After reaching Transcendence, humans and beast humans would go through an evolution in their bloodline. This bloodline was important, and the source was the marrow. 

Even then, as mentioned, it was not a priority. 

For a beast, it was the complete opposite. Beasts, who couldn’t really cultivate in the traditional sense, focused on strengthening their bodies and absorbing the cores of other beasts or heavenly treasures. For this, a beast would need to rely on the thing they could draw energy and strength from the most. Their bloodline. 

A beast’s bloodline was both a blessing and a curse. If a beast was born with a high-level bloodline, they could reach the seventh realm even if they slept all day long. The opposite was also true, though.

If a beast had a bad bloodline, unless they absorbed stronger cores and heavenly treasures, their limits were set when they were born. 

Yasenia, though, was a special case. As a pure beast who could tread the human paths, a dragon at that, she had ways to improve her marrow in many different ways while actively cultivating. 

Right now was one of those times. 

Yasenia, with her low-level Immortal Level Beast bloodline, was currently grinding it down and drawing terrifying strength from it for her Marrow Ascension. The energy pulsing from her marrow rippled through her flesh, exponentially boosting her already monstrous physical might. 

Each step made Yasenia stronger, and each swing of the sword whistled slightly faster. The changes were almost imperceptible, but as she moved, even Draheart could feel the grip on her handle tightening further and further.

This tight grip, though, was not making Yasenia’s movements stiffer. It was a natural reaction to a constant increase in physical strength. After all, gripping one’s sword lightly, even if one is strong, would only cause the recoil to blast the weapon off one’s hands. 

So, Draheart felt the delightful increase in grip, making her treasure spirit squint in relaxation. For Draheart, this kind of intimacy was a hundred times more pleasurable than any other constant. The feeling of her master’s strength growing, the feeling of security as her gentle hands tightly gripped her handle, everything made Draheart’s treasure soul shiver in satisfaction. 

Time slipped by quickly, and after a long time, the transformation was complete. 

Outside, the world trembled. The Heavens held their breath. The earth tightened as if a catastrophe was about to hit. 

A second later, a world-shaking dragon roar.

ROAARRR!!!

From deep within Yasenia’s bloodline, the phantom image of a dragon that covered the skies manifested and roared to the universe, its wings spread wide, announcing its presence. 

All the powers within Cecile’s world felt their hearts tighten.

All beasts around the world felt a terrifying bloodline pressure and fell to their knees powerlessly. Even those Beast Kings and Queens who stood on their high places felt as if the sky itself pressed on their shoulders, before falling to their knees with a bang. 

Even nearby worlds felt the ripples of this roar, making most people’s faces turn solemn, while others gained a touch of interest. 

Cecile and Kali, who had been training, felt a rush, and their bodies heated up on their own. The yang essence permeating their blood and body was reacting, giving them a riveting sensation when Yasenia roared. 

Deep within the Primordial Palace, Yasenia’s dazed eyes from meditation regained their light, and a breath escaped her.

“Haaa…”

She stopped moving, her body drenched in sweat but feeling incredibly light. She looked at her hand and clenched it hard. Feeling the power, her eyes shone with profound satisfaction. “Good. Very good.” 

Looking at Draheart, she caressed her sword blade and smiled. “Thank you, Draheart.” 

Draheart answered with a soft and gentle voice. “No, thank you for wielding me.” 

Yasenia laughed and couldn’t help but plant a small kiss on the blade before placing Draheart back into her Dantian. 

“Now, a refinement bath and straight to the other two paths.” 

A few days later, Yasenia left the water and dried herself slowly with a towel. While she could evaporate the water with just a thought, this routine made her feel cleaner. 

Then Yasenia sat back down on her cultivation mat and put on some comfortable robes. Sinking her consciousness into the Primordial Palace, the dragon woman went to the Spiritual Path crystal. 

Once there, Yasenia sat cross-legged and closed her eyes, almost instantly sinking into a meditative state. A sigh of comfort escaped her before her mind sank. ‘Truly, this place is a cultivation paradise. A shame I can’t share it with my lovers.’ 

The energy leaking from the green crystal surrounded Yasenia’s body, and soon, her mental image changed and sent her outside her body. 

This step of the spiritual path was called True Spirit Embodiment. As the name implied, one had to make sure that the connected soul, body, and mind from the Unification Realm mixed to a point of transcendence. She needed to truly embody the spiritual body that the cultivator managed to create back then. 

For that, Yasenia had to strengthen the merging of her Soul and Body with the new, refined essence of the previous three steps. Mortal Shackles, Spiritual Awakening, and Essence Refinement. 

These three steps were all for the sake of the current transformation. 

Without any doubt, Yasenia communicated with the Celestial Black Hole Energy Star and called it forth. ‘Don’t hold back. Flood my world with your presence.’ 

The star answered its master. 

Deep inside her Dantian, the star’s presence manifested. All treasures flinched and didn’t dare to make a single sound as the grand blue star with a black, starlit accretion disk awakened. 

From it, several threads of raw Celestial Energy Yasenia could still not easily control flooded out and drilled into Yasenia’s meridians. A grunt of pain escaped Yasenia as the terrifying Celestial Energy rushed through her meridians. 

While the Marrow Awakening was painful, as almost all steps of Body Cultivation, the sensations were bearable to an extent. If Yasenia had to describe it, it felt as if someone was poking the inside of her bones with needles. 

Painful? Yes. Unbearable? For Yasenia, not in the slightest. 

This time, though, the raw Celestial Energy caused pain as if hot lava was flowing through her meridians. The meridians were damaged from its presence, and her entire body felt as if on fire. All her pain nerves lit up to a certain extent, while her jaw tightened and sweat flowed freely. 

Her calm breathing became rapid, and her body trembled faintly. 

Even then, Yasenia didn’t stop it. The energy she used normally was already a diluted mix of her own energy and Celestial Energy. While the percentage was slowly increasing, it was very far from reaching 100% Celestial Energy. 

Of course, compared to when using a few strands of Celestial Energy caused her entire body to feel as if her muscles were melting, it was much better.

Moreover, the training in Dragon Paradise’s volcanic area didn’t go to waste. Back then, Yasenia had, quite literally, breathed scorching magma and flowed it around her entire body, meridians included. 

While comparing magma with Celestial Energy was like comparing warm water to starfire, the Celestial Star was not trying to kill Yasenia, so it had released Celestial Energy slightly above Yasenia’s limit. 

It knew that Yasenia grew best under pressure, so it always kept that distance that made Yasenia feel as if she was about to adapt, but never really adapted. That feeling of “A little bit more, just one more step,” constantly tortured Yasenia’s mind. 

The effects, though, were visible. The Body-Mind-Soul connection forged back in the Unification Realm was growing stronger at an astonishing pace. 

Yasenia, looking at herself from a third-person perspective, guided the destructive Celestial Energy and forged her link between body, soul, and mind to a whole new level. 

The process was slow, and the pain she went through was enough to drive an average cultivator mad. Still, Yasenia’s golden slit eyes never lost focus for a second during the few years of torture. 

Soon, Yasenia’s aura went through another transformation. Her spiritual energy sang, and as Yasenia finalized the connection, it flooded from her meridians, nourishing her body and soul. This, in turn, increased Yasenia’s strength once more, together with improving her ability to control her Celestial Element. 

“Good, with this, I am closer to the mid-level of the fourth level. Now, only the soul is left, and I will enter the middle-level without any problems.” 

Before that, though, another refinement bath was needed. So, Yasenia stripped her clothes and did so before pushing open the ethereal green crystal of the Soul Path.