After Yasenia's group's strength demonstration, everyone intending to intervene at first was discouraged. After all, the dragoness, buffed by the [Celestial Pearl] and all her other buffs, was incredibly powerful. Not to mention, after her strange breakthrough a few days ago, her soul was much more stable and under control, allowing her to use her energy more efficiently and have a more powerful presence.
Yasenia stood in the middle of the sky, looking at everyone from above as her dragon wings flapped. "There are more groups that want to stop me, right? Come out; I am not done yet."
Nobody tried to stop her at first, so she snorted with disdain and turned around to leave. However, a man's voice arrived. "I am here to stop you now. What do you think, Yasenia Dravory? Will you listen to me?"
Looking up, Yasenia's group noticed a man in ordinary robes looking down on them. He was very calm even when he was alone. Yasenia squinted; she could easily feel it in her bones who this person was. "Are you one of the [Four City Kings]? What do you want from me?"
The man was of some advanced age but not too old. He had brown hair with a few white strands and somewhat rugged skin. He looked like a fifty- to sixty-year-old man who had kept himself healthy. He answered. "Well, I want your secrets. It is clear that you are not from our world, so I want to know who you are, where you come from, and also what kind of cultivation you practice. I was going to act a bit later, but who knew that you would suddenly leave? Thankfully, I left a spy around you."
Yasenia frowned and looked at her maids. The maids looked at that man confusedly; they were very sure that they had cleaned the place of all spies. The man smiled. "Oh, it is normal that you didn't catch him. He is a mortal, after all. A bit special since he had a way to communicate with me in a direct manner."
Doriel clicked her tongue, easily guessing after that information. "It is the receptionist."
The middle-aged man laughed. "Great job. That's right. Who would usually doubt someone like that, right?"
Yasenia looked at the man and sighed. "I really don't recommend you do whatever you are trying to do. It will not end nicely for you."
The man snorted. "A little mortal looking up to a God and babbling useless threats. Just give me what I want, and I will only kill your maids. After all, you killed so many of my people. If I don't eliminate a few from your side, I won't rest satisfied."
Valeria stepped forward and smiled at him. "Bullying juniors is not something I recommend doing, sir. If you mess with my little ones, I'll need to get involved deeply, and things will end quite badly."
The Undying Monarch looked at Valeria and snorted. "And who are you to speak like that to me?"
Valeria continued smiling; however, her smile didn't reach her eyes. "Who am I? Well, I am someone you can't afford to offend." Then, she waved her hand and unleashed her aura at full strength.
The world felt like it froze as Valeria's presence magnified several times in everyone's eyes. While her physical size remained the same, her presence literally inundated everything and everyone in the city. It felt like her hand was holding the sky as she looked down on them from beyond.
Valeria's lips, still arched, moved to utter a few words. "If you still dare to continue and stop us after feeling this, I have nothing else to say other than you are a very unintelligent animal."
With Yasenia's presence feeling like the firmament and Valeria's appearing like life itself, one would be able to instantly tell that they were not common people that could be bullied by anyone.
However, the one in the sky was an Undying Monarch. Someone above all mortal cultivators. So, while people looking at the altercation felt that messing with them was a bad idea, they were equally confident that being disrespectful toward one of the [Four City Kings] was just as bad.
The man squinted, looking at Valeria and Yasenia deeply. He had honestly never felt such a large presence from any mortal cultivator. It was to the point that even he felt somewhat pressured by their combined auras.
For mortals to make an Undying Monarch feel pressured was something completely new for him, who has been at the top all his life and unchallenged for so long. After thinking for a while, he decided to ask. "If I were to use force, what are your honest chances of winning, if you gave it a percentage?"
Valeria snorted. "One hundred percent. The question is not if we would win but how much we'd sacrifice in doing so. Would we need to sacrifice one city, half the [Forgotten Star Area], or perhaps the entire World? Regardless, we will remain victorious in the end, and you will be dead or, worse, incapacitated."
As the man was thinking, two other presences approached at incredible speeds. Their auras were not inferior even when compared to this man.
Once they appeared, it was revealed to be a handsome, tall, and muscular man accompanied by a slim and elegant younger-looking man. The first one spoke. "Hey, old man. Bullying juniors? I don't really like how that looks."
The Undying Monarch squinted. "Gu Chen, Ayanduin, why are you messing with my business? This has nothing to do with you."
Ayanduin smiled. "You see… That's incorrect. This has a lot to do with us! First of all, Yasenia is my customer."
Gu Chen smiled. "Second of all, Yasenia is friends with my wives. So, we recommend that you let her leave in peace before things get out of control. What do you say, Old Man Yan?"
Old Man Yan paused for a few seconds, looking between all of them. After a while, he looked at Yasenia and spoke. "This won't be the last time we meet, Yasenia."
The dragoness snorted. "I hope not. Instead of asking for things like a normal person and trading, you act like a tyrant and try to steal things from me. If you really think I'll overlook something like this, you are mistaken."
Gu Chen coughed. "Hey there, leave the Old Man some face. He is an Undying Monarch at the end of the day."
Yasenia looked at him and said. "I told you this in the past, but respect is something you must earn, not something that comes with age. If not, all people in this city would need to walk on their knees when talking to Valeria!"
Valeria's eyebrow twitched.
Kali coughed and patted her back twice. "Fighting the truth is not something we should do."
In the end, Old Man Yan disappeared from the sky, returning to his mansion. Yasenia waved her hand, speaking aloud. "Since you are here, I'll use the ship now so that no more complications happen. Am I allowed?"
Gu Chen sighed. "Sure, sure. Just leave. Don't forget to come back, yes?"
Yasenia nodded, and after the giant flying ship appeared, she boarded it with the rest of her maids. Gu Chen looked at the giant ship and blinked twice. "That thing looks valuable…"
Ayanduin muttered. "That warship is probably more valuable than everything you have on your person right now."
Gu Chen clicked his tongue. "Rich little dragon, and she is still greedy enough to rob you."
Ayanduin shrugged. "A dragon's greed is endless. The actual demise of many of them."
"I guess."
The warship's formation lit up, and in the next second, it zoomed into the distance with ridiculous speed. Gu Chen exclaimed. "Woah! I don't think I would be able to catch up to that."
Ayanduin patted his shoulder. "It is still not going at its full speed. Of course, you wouldn't."
Meanwhile, on the ship, Yasenia released all her auras and flopped backward, landing in a comfortable armchair that gently cushioned her fall. "Ugh… We managed to evade all big troubles and were about to leave unharmed, and the moment we were about to leave the place, that man appeared… That freaking greedy Yan or whatever his name was is going to pay!"
Kali chuckled. "Didn't you kill quite a lot of his top people? I think that's a big punishment."
Yasenia looked at Kali and blinked a few times. "I guess… But I feel… unsatisfied."
Kali sat on Yasenia's lap and hummed. "Well, well. It seems that my dear dragoness is craving battle. Was the combat not long enough? Were you too restricted? Tell me~."
Yasenia hugged Kali's waist, squeezing the fox into her soft and tender embrace. "I guess I want to fight, yeah. It has been a while since I let go in a fight or a war… Do you think I should start a pointless war against someone that pisses me off when we return to Distancia?"
Kali's lips twitched. 'A bored dragon is truly a problem, eh?' Kali coughed. "How about using that energy to continue raising our children?"
Yasenia looked at Kali and nodded. "That's something you shouldn't take for granted! I wonder how many more years they will need to become a bit more independent. Do you think that ten is enough?"
Kali rubbed her chin. "In ten years, they will be around… twenty-five years old? That's too high, no? I think they can start being independent at twenty or so. Look at Kaleina. She was already out there doing things with Flame before we left."
Yasenia nodded. "You are right."
Kali smiled and scratched Yasenia's chin where she liked it. The dragoness immediately started purring with her typical deep and predatory growl. "Is my precious dragoness upset that their time to become adults is arriving?"
Yasenia purred her answer. "Grrnooo~."
Kali laughed, her fox tails wagging in amusement at her lover's cuteness. "Are you sure, dear?"
"Yesss."
"Then~?" Kali smirked. "What is it~?"
Yasenia licked Kali's cheek and spoke. "Well… when they mature, we will probably start planning to leave… Who knows how long it will take to see them again?"
Kali blinked and stopped her caressing. She sighed and leaned on Yasenia again. "I guess you are right. We can't stop for them. Once they are strong enough, we will leave Distancia, right? How will you explain it to them?"
Yasenia blinked. "Explain? What's there to explain?"
Kali frowned. "Isn't it bad if we leave without an explanation?"
Yasenia laughed. "They don't need an explanation but motivation."
Kali looked at Yasenia and asked. "Do you have something planned?"
"Of course." Yasenia kissed Kali's lips and spoke. "We'll tell them to catch up to us if they can. That we'll leave hints of our presence wherever we go so that they can follow in our footsteps if they want. Or that they can walk on their own. Of course, Distancia is my nest, so that place will always be a place to return."
Kali asked. "What happens when we soar to higher heavens?"
Yasenia hummed. "Then, we'll create a nest there, and in the next, and in the next…" Yasenia smiled faintly. "Their cultivation journey is theirs, Kali. We'll help set them on an easier path with resources and other items. However, they should tread their own paths."
Kali stated as a matter of factly. "Some will die."
Yasenia nodded. "Yes. Even if we try our best to prevent anything from happening, that is bound to happen sooner or later. I don't even know if I will survive all the way…." Yasenia then stated, her voice chilly. "Still, if that ever happens, we'll take revenge. We'll slaughter everything related to those who touch our children."
Then, she sighed. "However, we are not strong enough to watch over them constantly, Kali. They are dragons, and they need to learn how to survive."
Kali sighed, leaning on Yasenia. "A cruel world."
"Cruel but beautiful," Yasenia added. "That's why I could meet all of you and have those little brats."
Kali chuckled, burying her face in Yasenia's neck. "I guess."