While Tatyana contoured Yasenia's facial features, she explained one of her most secret techniques. "The [Divine Lich Empress' Body Forging] technique is an ancient technique that uses the Heavens to its benefit. Not only is it powerful, complex, and demanding."
"However, if completed, your strength will be much higher than any common Transcendent Realm cultivator. Moreover, the advantages the cultivator gets don't end in just strength; comprehension about the fundamental laws will be easier to decipher, talent will be increased, the bloodline will be purified, the soul strengthened, and the soul will also evolve to mix with the Death energy. This will make the one who completes it extremely close to the Death Concept."
They couldn't help but gasp. Andrea commented. "That's heaven-defying. How can a technique be so powerful?"
Tatyana chuckled. "Well, it is literally heaven-defying because those aren't the only benefits. After completing it, the cultivator will gain a second body."
Yasenia opened her eyes and lifted her head from her lap to look at Tatyana. "A second body?"
Tatyana pushed Yasenia back onto her lap and scratched her where Yasenia liked the most. "Don't worry, little treasure. I'm still me. Let me explain in more detail."
Yasenia let her worries go and relaxed again on her lap, her throat letting out delighted growls. 'If it wasn't mom, how could she know where I like to be scratched so well? Oh... That place feels so nice~.'
The others could practically read Yasenia's mind as her tail wagged and her deep purring spread around. They wanted to participate in the pampering! However, they resisted the impulse with their steeled wills and allowed Tatyana to continue her explanation.
Yasenia's face amused Tatyana. "You are so cute, little treasure."
*Grrr~.*
Tatyana smiled softly and continued explaining. "As you may have guessed, the technique's name is not an exaggeration, as I used it to forge another body."
The others paid attention. "You see, when entering the Transcendent Realm, a cultivator sheds their old body to create a new one completely made of Heaven and Earth's essence. The soul is the vessel, the World's energy is the materials, and the Tribulation Lightning is your hammer."
"However, with the [Divine Lich Empress Body Forging] technique, you don't discard the old body; you use it as a catalyst to cut yourself from Fate and gain independence. Something similar to what you recently did, little treasure. It also goes a step further to mix it in the process and allows you to create two bodies instead of one."
Angel asked, confused. "So, are you mommy Tatyana or not?"
Mirrory answered. "She is. The only difference is her body. I can guess that this body would have been much stronger if the heart was in your possession, right?"
Tatyana nodded. "As expected from a Senior! You truly know your things. As Mirrory said, if I was the one to trigger the heart with my main body, I would create a level-one Demigoddess self. It is slightly weaker than my main body, but it can be comparable to Jiang Ying Yue."
Tatyana looked at Yasenia and said. "To be honest, I'm impressed you managed to summon me as a Unification Realm expert, little treasure. You've improved much more than I ever anticipated. As always, it seems like you like to surpass expectations, hahaha."
Yasenia asked curiously, "Does your main body know about this one?"
Tatyana nodded, "Yes, I share the same soul through space with this body. Even if I'm far apart from it, it is not different from being here myself. The only downside is that the strength is very limited because, although I have more than one body, there is certainly a "main body." The body that has always stayed by your side is the one, little treasure. That body is also the one who gave birth to you."
Yasenia smiled, satisfied. Even if it was the same soul, therefore, the same person, she prefers to be part of the "Main" Tatyana.
Kali asked curiously. "Why is the strength limited? Since you have the same soul, and the dantian resides in the soul after the Dantian Spiritualization Realm, your strength should be the same, right?"
Tatyana nodded. "Well, yes, but actually, no."
They blinked, confused. Tatyana laughed. "Let's explain a little more about bodies and souls."
The others nodded and focused. "Each individual can be separated into three main parts, the soul, the body, and the dantian. Although some take the mind as another part, I consider it as a smaller part of the soul."
"The soul is the essence of every creature. Everything that has life has a soul. And something without life, when gaining a soul, it gains consciousness and life. There are two types of souls: the first, a reincarnated soul that has lost its previous life accumulations, or the second, a new soul created by the World's energy. There are exceptions, but these are the two most common ways to classify a soul."
Tatyana explained. "The cycle of reincarnation, in truth, is a way for the World to recycle souls. The reason the World does that is that creating new ones is difficult."
"However, the reincarnation of a soul also has its problems. When reincarnating, the souls can't be completely stripped of their essence, so that's why some things from the past life carry over. To those things, people in the past gave them the name "Karma.""
Our girls were enlightened. Yasenia guessed. "So, killing other people is something that builds bloodlust, something that's not good, and so it stains the soul generating bad Karma. However, if you do good deeds, more than generating good Karma, you keep unaffected by it, so you generate good Karma."
Valeria praised. "Good guess, but you are a little bit off. Doing good deeds makes a person gain empathy, which reduces the natural bloodlust, effectively gaining good Karma. Killing others is just one way to gain bad Karma, and all people have done in the past something wrong, so having bad Karma is very common. In short, everyone has bad Karma in them. Of course, the extent of its influence is something you can ignore in one out of a hundred million people."
The others nodded.
Kali asked. "And what are Heart Demons? Are they related to all of this?"
Mirrory answered. "Heart Demons are not too related. They are our negative thoughts that get so deep that they create corrupted spots inside our souls. They are neither alive nor dead, and their origin is one of the mysteries of our World. Not even gods know how they were created or when they started appearing. But they are certainly a part of our World."
Kali asked, "You say they are not too related, so they have some relation, right?"
Mirrory nodded. "If someone dies with very strong Heart Demons, those demons can become instinctive fears in your future lives. Fear for relationships, fear of crowds, fear of women, fear of men, fear of companionship, fear of love, fear of constricted spaces..."
Valeria patted Kali's head and said. "For example, if Kali would've died before meeting with Yasenia, or during your tragedy, in your next life, you would probably have a fear of men and trust issues."
Kali and the others understood.
Tatyana said. "We've gone on a small tangent, but knowing that the soul is just a part is what I wanted to focus on to explain my current weakness. This body is certainly being fueled by my dantian and controlled by my soul, so it has practically infinite energy. However, since Yasenia's energy created the body, the general strength is limited to the Unification Realm level. Now, this body is independent, and I can grow it as I want, so I won't remain this way for long. But my cultivation speed won't be much faster than all of you."
Yasenia frowned. "Wait, you've lost the cultivation of this body?"
Tatyana smiled softly. "Yes, to recreate it with the strength it previously had, my main body should use about one to two hundred years of refining."
The others couldn't believe it.
This woman had given up one Demigoddess-level body to stay by Yasenia's side when War was filling the Sky Continent. Demigod-level cultivators like Demon Sovereigns were now at the top of the Sky Continent, so even losing one cultivator at that level could mean defeat.
Moreover, they didn't think that this body was just another body; it must have a lot of techniques Tatyana could perform with it. So giving this body up was basically cutting her own arm off with no opportunity to regrow it.
Even Yasenia was stunned.
She looked at Tatyana, and she didn't know what to say. For the first time in a lot of time, she was truly speechless and didn't know how to express the emotions she felt at that moment.
Tatyana saw the tempestuous emotions in Yasenia's golden trembling eyes and smiled gently, her elegant red eyes curving beautifully. "You are my most important person, I can lose the Sky Continent, but I can't afford to lose you. I really don't."
Yasenia didn't say anything and just embraced Tatyana with her neck, wings, arms, and tail. After surrounding and hiding Tatyana in her embrace, Yasenia uttered emotionally. "I love you, Tatyana. I really do."
Tatyana chuckled and patted the beautiful creature coiling around her. "I know."
The others didn't speak, allowing them another moment for themselves. Moreover, you can bet that if somebody had tried at that moment to interrupt them, they would have massacred those people!
After a while, Yasenia separated and laid her head back onto Tatyana's lap. Tatyana resumed her caresses, pampering her little treasure a little more.
The others felt they wouldn't interrupt anything now, so Andrea asked curiously, "How is it to control another body? I can't imagine controlling two bodies in different positions and not losing fighting power."
Tatyana sighed, "Hard. It took almost three hundred years to use both of them individually without affecting the other. Moreover, although I only have one soul, I almost developed a split personality in the process. At that time, I had just lost Jiang Ying Yue, so I used my two bodies to speak back and forth with myself. It was a really hard time."
Cecile commented with curiosity lacing her voice. "You were really fond of her, right?"
Tatyana nodded and chuckled. "If it wasn't because she died, Yasenia may have had another mother right now."
Yasenia scrunched her nose. "But I wouldn't have mom all for me."
Tatyana smiled with a seductive undertone and kissed Yasenia's mouth. "Oh~, is jealousy what I hear?"
Yasenia used her long and pleasant tongue to dig deep into Tatyana's mouth and taste the delicious saliva there while filling Tatyana's mouth with her own taste.
Then, after retracting her tongue from Tatyana's mouth, she snorted and laid back down on her lap. "It is jealousy. What are you going to do? Mom is mine and only mine. See how I kill all those that had relationships in the past with you in the future."
Tatyana blinked, not expecting to get this answer. The others knew what Tatyana was thinking, so Andrea said with a chuckle. "She is much more possessive of us now, Tatyana. She almost pushed us down in the middle of the street in the Secret Realm to assert her territory."
Yasenia snorted but didn't deny it. Although she discarded it right away, it was true that she had the thought once. Tatyana smiled. "Well, that's nice. You were a little too passive in the past, my love. I like this domineering attitude toward us."
Cecile asked. "By the way, learning to control another body in a hundred years is long or slow?"
Valeria commented. "It is really Impressive. Although I was born with the ability to control multiple bodies, I understand how hard it is to increase that number. This time, although it is only one, it is from one to two, so she had to control double the bodies. It could've taken a toll on her mind if she overexerted."
Kali was surprised. "You can control multiple bodies?"
Valeria chuckled. "Yes, I can."
Kali asked again. "How many can you control now?"