Heaven, Earth, Me

Chapter 1615: Chapter 1615. Encounter at the top of the Tower.

"[Sky Soul Slicer]?"

Yasenia read the title of the technique, and her eyebrow arched with interest. "A generic technique, so all of us can learn it. It’s quite a good thing."

Tatyana rubbed her chin. "It’s a soul technique as well."

Yasenia nodded, and then she blinked in realization. "A soul technique? Here?"

Puzzlement flashed in her eyes, but Tatyana shrugged nonchalantly. "As we’ve guessed before, this empire is probably from before the Heavenly Cataclysm. Body and Soul paths, while not popular, were available back then..." Tatyana glanced at Valeria and Mirrory. "Or so these two ancient women said."

Mirrory snorted. "You are approaching half a million years of age, so you better not talk."

Tatyana blinked and answered shamelessly. "I am sorry, but I am only 200 years old, exactly as old as my Little Treasure!"

Yasenia burst into laughter. "You are so silly."

Mirrory floated over and glanced at the technique. "This one is quite nice. While it has the word slicer, it doesn’t really need a bladed weapon to be unleashed. As a Soul Technique, the release method is mostly formless. So, a wave of your hand can also activate it. Naturally, since the concept within it is cutting, bladed weapons will make the skill better."

Yasenia read the technique, deep in thought. Mirrory glanced at her, and then her face became complicated. "You... you are not trying to learn it here, are you?"

Yasenia hummed. "It’s a bit complicated to use straight away..."

Hearing her tone, Evelyn added for her. "But?"

Our dragoness smirked. "But I feel that I can activate it. Poorly, but I think I can."

"..." Mirrory sighed. "Among your many talents, comprehension is probably one of your strongest."

Feeling that they were overestimating her, Yasenia shook her head. "It’s just that this technique is somewhat similar to one of my previous Soul Techniques. So, I can somewhat understand the principles. But, as I said, I might be able to activate it, but its strength would not even be a single percent of the skill’s potential. Look."

Yasenia waved her hand vertically. "[Sky Soul Slicer]."

A massive soul energy blade surged forward, impacting against the wall. Still, even when it appeared so powerful, there wasn’t even a spatial ripple from the aftershock. For Yasenia, who could bend space with her physical body, it looked incredibly pitiful.

Snake smiled wryly. "That attack would heavily injure me, though..."

Dune spoke. "The fact that it can only heavily injure you is enough to tell that Lady Yasenia’s words are truthful."

Fennec, though, had focused on another thing. "Soul Path...? Are there other paths besides the Spiritual Path?"

Hearing his question, Yasenia turned and nodded. "There are. Body, Soul, and Spirit are the three human paths. Soul Path cultivators are rare, but not unheard of. As for Body Cultivators... they are basically extinct."

The four Duneseeker people felt their horizons constantly expanding the more they stayed with them. Scorpion spoke with a faint sigh. "If we manage to return alive, our gains will be immense."

Dune nodded silently. "Let’s hope we can."

They had seen just how much more violent things were becoming. For example, those golems Yasenia just defeated were enough to give them a very hard time.

"The fifth floor!"

Evelyn jumped forward after they walked to the next floor. They had to be careful since they were walking on the slanted ceiling rather than the stairs.

"So, do we all try to participate this time around?"

Andrea asked again, and Yasenia nodded. "On the previous floor, only I killed, and there was a single treasure chest... what if we can get many more if all of us participate!?"

Her golden slit eyes sparkled, and the rest of the girls laughed. So, this time, they began destroying and beating up the floor’s golems.

They were different in appearance. These golems were much slicker, and behind them, purple metallic wings extended. Sadly, due to the prohibition, these creatures couldn’t fly appropriately.

All the girls, maids, and even Dune and the others joined the battle, fighting the people. Only Yasenia stayed behind after destroying 100 of them.

After around 14 minutes of slaughter, the golems stopped appearing. Yasenia had, of course, taken a few of those golems for herself. Both the rusted and new versions.

After the timer stopped, the girls looked at the ceiling in the distance, and five openings appeared. Yasenia’s eyes widened faintly, and then she turned around. "My treasuress!"

Seeing Yasenia almost fly back to the fourth floor, most likely to break open the ceiling over there for the rest of the treasures, the girls burst into laughter.

Tatyana looked at Angel. "Make sure to open these, I’ll go back with Yasenia to help her open the—"

BANG!

"—rest..."

Tatyana stopped speaking and rubbed her forehead, a helpless yet loving look flashing in her eyes. "Anyway, I’ll be right back."

She flashed back to the fourth floor, while the girls walked forward to take the five treasure chests that appeared in front of them.

Andrea spoke as she heard two more loud bangs from Yasenia’s punches. "The tower won’t collapse, right?"

Cecile spoke with her usual deadpan tone. "The tower didn’t melt when Yasenia bathed the entire floor with her Celestial Flames."

"Now that you say it..." Andrea was quite surprised. "This Pagoda is quite resilient."

Kali chuckled. "If they weren’t that resilient, surviving in this death zone would be impossible."

The girls waited and saw Yasenia appearing with four treasure chests bouncing behind her as she dragged them with her. "Hehe. There were four other treasure chests!"

Seeing her wagging tail as Yasenia glanced at the nine treasure chests, the girls smiled softly.

Yasenia hummed happily, and suddenly, she frowned. "Ugh..."

Tatyana sighed. "What now, love?"

"I don’t know if to open them now or wait for the next floor and open all of them at the same time." Yasenia pondered, her face full of conflict. "Is it better to open 14 chests one time, or to open nine and then five, making it two different experiences... Argh! I can’t choose!"

Everyone deadpanned at the struggling dragoness. ’Is it that different?’

"Alright, I’ve chosen! 14 treasures at once!"

So, using a rope to bind all nine chests, Yasenia walked toward the next floor. This time, there were no flying golems, but incredibly large and heavy ones. Their numbers, though, were fewer than before.

For our girls, though, they were not a challenge.

Seeing the fourteen neatly arranged chests, Yasenia’s eyes lit up happily. Dune blinked and asked. "What if the next three floors also have treasure—mmmph!?"

Evelyn placed her hand over Dune’s mouth, but it was too late. Yasenia’s happy expression crumpled, her eyes gaining a deeply struggling look. "S-Shall we check, then? B-But what if there aren’t? Not opening the treasure chests at the last checkpoint where you got them is... UGH!"

Eve spoke softly. "There are no more golem floors."

Yasenia blinked, looking at Eve. "Really?"

Eve laughed. "I checked, Young Miss. Do not worry, the next floor is different."

"Great!" Yasenia smiled happily and then began opening the chests.

"Hm... nothing in this one. Only spoiled pills. What about this one? The chests are so well isolated that I can’t smell the treasures inside! So fun!"

Even if the chest was a fail, Yasenia liked opening them.

Seeing Yasenia bend down, her plump backside swaying back and forth together with her serpentine tail wagging, many began struggling in a different way.

"Hehehehe. A dagger! Another one here! Hum, hum~, we now have six daggers!"

There were also a few other soul techniques, but their quality was a bit disappointing. Most of them were illusion-type soul techniques. Among them, only Angel and Yasenia were proficient in such things. Yasenia was proficient because of her gargantuan Soul Strength compared to her own level.

Of course, some of the maids benefited quite a lot.

"Alright, I’ll learn this... [Thousand Path Illusion] technique." Yasenia muttered. "The description says that it can drag a person into a labyrinth-like illusion world. If they don’t escape, their minds will collapse."

Yasenia rubbed her chin and looked around her. "... I want to test it."

Everyone flinched.

Tatyana slapped her large ass, creating mouthwatering ripples. "Learn it first! This one is not like the previous one."

"Ah. Right."

So, Yasenia stored it away, and they moved onward.

The seventh floor of the pagoda was... empty. Yasenia frowned and looked around. "Are there traps here?"

"None, Young Miss."

"Hmm...Formations?"

Tatyana shook her head. "None as well. At least I can’t see any."

Puzzled, everyone walked forward, and nothing happened. Tatyana speculated. "These floors might’ve been used for testers. Living people. So, after so long, nothing remains."

Yasenia nodded, and when the eighth floor was the same, she leaned toward Tatyana’s guess even more.

"Alright... final floor."

Stepping onto that floor, everyone froze and looked at the center. There, an emancipated individual sat in a lotus position. Their robe was gone, probably due to time erosion, and their body was just bones and skin.

Yasenia frowned, wary. "Is he alive?"

Tatyana squinted. "He is in a limbo state. He has sealed his own lifeforce and stalled his death. However, as soon as he wakes up, he will probably die of old age."

Valeria spoke softly. "Such a rare occurrence. Not many cultivators beyond Transcendence manage to reach the end of their lifespans."

Yasenia crossed her arms under her breasts and asked. "So... do we approach or kill him?"

Tatyana chuckled. "So timid?"

The dragoness pouted. "It is you who always tells me to be careful."

"Aw~, don’t pout, baby. I was joking around."

Giving Yasenia many kisses to comfort her, Tatyana glanced at the man in the middle and smiled. "Let’s go. I’ll take the lead this time."

When Tatyana took a step forward, her Fate and Death energies surged around her. Invisible threads appeared around her, and her fingers moved across the air in mesmerizing motions. "[Death Erasure]:"

The invisible dark threads materialized and entangled around the old man. Once they did, the old man opened his murky eyes. Tatyana spoke to him. "I’ve delayed your death for 2 minutes. I can’t give you more time. So, if you have something to say, speak quickly."

The old man glanced at them for a few moments. Then, he opened his mouth and began speaking in an unknown language. Tatyana frowned. "Mirrory?"

"Yes."

The red-haired woman spoke, translating his words. "We were foolish. We invited disaster in order to reach for more. We were greedy. Save our land. The evil you are facing is beyond the reality we exist in."

Then, the man, as if having said what he wanted, vanished in dust.

"Dust...?" Yasenia frowned.

Tatyana nodded. "Once you reach the end of your lifespan, it means there is no more energy left in you. The body, naturally, can’t continue existing and becomes dust."

"What about the usual bone remains you can see?"

"Those are from people who were killed, not those who died of old age."

Yasenia hummed.