Yasenia flew toward the Heaven Converging City while checking the changes in her body. During the last decade, Yasenia needed to shred and digest the energies of the two gods. That took time and finesse. After so long, she finally managed to reach the new realm.
As she flew through the void while shrinking in size, Yasenia was somewhat in a daze. "I have… overcome it." The threat of this single tribulation had been like a sharp sword hanging above her neck by a thread. She feared that a single misstep could make the thin thread holding it snap, leading to a catastrophic end. Now, as she saw her realms, she was somewhat overwhelmed with emotion.
Relief, happiness, peace… all the jumbled emotions made her eyes tear up slightly. Moreover, she managed to do something else that almost made those tears float out into space. 'I protected my child.' She was so glad that she was able to do it. 'If I lost the baby… I don't know what would've been left of me.'
The momentary Heart Demon was a hint that her future would've been far from ideal. Her powerful heart and will were actually shattered for a few moments during the initial moments of the tribulation.
"But I did it." Her spiritual sense gently probed her stomach, and she saw the small life slowly growing in her womb. 'Ah~, so precious.' Usually, changing forms from humanoid to beast was quite dangerous for a late pregnancy. Still, Yasenia had managed to create a safe haven in her own soul for her future children, eliminating these complications.
"Will the Tribulation Lightning have any effect on the child?" She was sure that she had protected it beyond measure. However, saying that it will have no effect on the outcome was too idealistic. Like Estrella, the baby might be born with some kind of defect. Yasenia shook her head. "Well, I need to take care of myself from now on."
When she was going to cross the edge of the Heaven Converging City, Tatyana and the other girls appeared in front of her with the maids. Yasenia smiled widely, but her smile gained a confused tone when she saw a happy but somewhat helpless look on her girls. Her heart was anxious as she stopped in front of them and asked, her dragon head tilting confusedly. "Loves? What's wrong?"
Tatyana opened her mouth and then sighed. She floated forward and hugged Yasenia's neck. Now that she was the size of a very large horse, she could interact with them in her dragon form much more easily. "I am sorry."
Hearing Tatyana apologize made Yasenia recoil in shock. Separating her from her body, she looked at the apologetic woman's red eyes. "Why are you apologizing, Tatyana? Why are all of you looking so down?" She pouted cutely, puffing her dragon face. "I just managed to overcome my most dangerous Heavenly Tribulation to date! We should be celebrating!"
The other girls laughed at her words and they slowly approached, surrounding her Dragon body and hugging her tightly.
Evelyn whispered, kissing the beautiful blue starry scales. "We should've noticed."
Cecile rubbed her cheek with Yasenia's. "You quickly knew about it when it was us, but we completely missed your signs. That made you go through a lot of anguish."
Yasenia finally understood. They were guilty about not noticing her pregnancy!
Andrea floated in front of her face, kissing the edge of her snout. Her eyes were like a gushing spring of love and care. However, there was a trace of reluctance. "Love. I promise to find you soon, okay?"
Another mysterious sentence left the intelligent dragon in a confused daze. "Find?"
Mirrory floated to her side and spoke with a sigh. "During the last decade, we've been investigating what the Moon Goddess and Sun God did in their last moments. The Sun God's curse is real, and currently, impossible to remove from your soul. You'd need to be near the peak of the Seventh Realm to do so, since this Soul Mark comes from a strong Eighth Realm cultivator."
The dragoness stayed silent for a moment while the girls hugged her tightly. After a few moments, she sighed with a smile. "It seems that I have no time to feel completely relieved. What does it do?"
Mirrory explained it straightforwardly. "It's something that dragons of your current bloodline level and above can do. As creatures with a high hierarchy in the Heavenly Food Chain, top predators are beings that leave marks on their killers. What the Sun God left on you is one such mark. If anyone related to the Sun God decides to analyze you in detail, they will instantly know that you've killed their ancestor. The reactions of those people… Well, you can expect how it will be for the grand majority."
Yasenia nodded thoughtfully. "Well, it doesn't concern me much, right? We are going to the middle heavens, so people inheriting that man's bloodline should be few and far between."
Nobody answered her, giving Yasenia the hunch that their worry was not that simple. She pondered and asked, her tone probing. "What do… the Moon Goddess' actions entail?"
Tatyana looked at Yasenia with an apologetic expression. "That's why I am apologizing mostly. We can also do nothing about it because it is too strong. The resentment of an Eighth Realm cultivator is too strong for us to deal with. Even my main body would be helpless against what she did because it doesn't go against the Heavenly will. On the contrary, it completely goes with it."
Yasenia listened as Tatyana continued. "The Moon Goddess has, to put it simply, pinged the Main Heaven."
The dragoness frowned. "Pinged? I don't follow."
Tatyana sighed. "She has informed them about your strength. It's like a message saying: Hey, this creature is quite dangerous in the lower heavens. You might want to give it a lift to a stronger realm so that her actions don't cause constant destruction around the universe."
As one went up between realms, the worlds, space, and everything overall became increasingly durable. If not, a serious punch from an Eighth Realm cultivator would bring a catastrophe to all life. On the highest realms and worlds, Yasenia would barely be able to put a dent in the ground below her feet with her current strength. There would be aftershocks and such, but the ground would react as if a mortal had punched it.
With that peculiarity, Heaven was able to protect life despite the strength becoming quite ridiculous as realms increased.
Digesting the words, Yasenia finally understood and asked, too surprised to answer. "Am I being forcefully dragged beyond the Middle Heavens?"
"We don't know," Mirrory stated. "Your strength, even for a recently advanced Sixth Realm cultivator, is nothing but ridiculous. I can feel that, even after unlocking a very small part of my body, Angel would have trouble facing you in a fight."
Yasenia liked those words to a certain extent. 'That means that she isn't helpless! My baby is, as expected, extremely strong!'
However, thinking of their current discussion, some gloominess appeared in her heart. "So… Why am I still here? Also, can't we go up to the Middle Heaven to avoid Heaven from taking me up?"
While asking that question, Yasenia understood the dying words of the Moon Goddess. That woman understood how clingy and loving she was of her girls, so her parting gift was to separate them forcefully.
Valeria spoke at this moment. She had been silent, and her face looked honestly somewhat haggard. She was blaming herself to death. "Going up to the Middle Heavens is a bad option. While traversing between the Heavenly Layers, Heaven has much more authority over our destination. Therefore, you would be separated from us while we traverse. Doing that will only accelerate your date."
Yasenia looked at the tall woman and flew over, nuzzling her face with hers. "Why the long face? I am also somewhat upset that we are going to be separated. However, you don't need to look so devastated. It's just temporary."
Valeria bit her lips and hugged Yasenia tightly. "I, the Spirit of Life, couldn't detect your pregnancy. Sorry, Yasenia. If we knew, we could've planned things much, much differently."
Yasenia's heart softened, and she used her wings and arms to hug the tall woman. Their sizes were similar, since her length counted her tail as well. Her body without a tail was between three and four meters long. "We were being influenced by creatures beyond our scope of strength. I know you three seniors are the ones who feel the most guilty, but I don't want you to carry this guilt for so long. It was a situation completely outside of our control."
Valeria nodded and separated after one last tight hug. Yasenia looked at her dears and maids and sighed with a smile. "So, how long until Heaven pinpoints me?"
Feeling her gaze, Mirrory shook her head. "We can't predict that. After you've entered the Sixth Realm, you've truly become an uncertain existence. Meaning, one outside of Heaven's Fate. Before, it was very difficult to predict or mess with you. However, from now on, you'll be completely immune to the grand majority of Fate-attribute skills."
"Majority?" Yasenia clicked her tongue while Mirrory tapped her shoulder with a smile. "Silly girl. I just don't like to say impossible since almost nothing is impossible. I mean, look at your own existence."
Yasenia chuckled, and Kali clapped her hands. Although, because they were in the middle of space, no sound was made, making her gesture somewhat awkward. Everyone laughed, letting the gloom dissipate with it. Kali chuckled and commented. "Well, Yasenia, we have quite a big surprise for you."
The dragoness approached and licked her cheek once, her eyes shining with curiosity. She was going to be sent to who knows where in a few days, months, or whatever, so she decided to forget about cultivating during this time. "What is it?" Yasenia asked, her eyes glittering. "Are you pregnant again?"
Yasenia had never used protection since their first child. After all, fertility was at an all-time low for cultivators after they gave birth. Even with Yasenia's ridiculous fertility, making them pregnant within such a small period of time was almost impossible.
Kali shook her head at Yasenia's question. She chuckled. "We weren't before you left, so if we were to be pregnant, you should go and cry in the corner."
Yasenia blinked slowly until it clicked, making her dragon face pale. "O-Oh, I didn't even think about that."
Kali booped the Dragon's snout and chuckled. "Silly girl. Our surprise is not worse than that, though. It has been almost 18 years since you left home, and your Heavenly Tribulation can't be described without the words 'World Shaking.' Hence, there have been some people who have heard about it and arrived during that time~. Come out!"
Yasenia was confused until she heard many girls shouting while rushing at her from a Flying Ship similar to the Skeletal Warship.
"Moommmyyy!!!"
Yasenia's eyes widened, and she swiftly turned toward the sound's origin. Once she recognized that they were indeed her babies, her body moved before her brain, rushing over and using her giant wings to envelop all seven of her daughters tightly. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she choked on her words. "B-Babies! I missed you so much!"
Kaleina, Estrella, Katarina, Aurelia, Dianna, Skye, and Dawn looked at their Mother's eyes, and feeling the warmth they've never forgotten made their eyes tear up, even when they were in the middle of the cold void. After their Mommy left, they all felt like an empty void had opened in their lives. So, they cultivated like madwomen and challenged anything and everything that could make them stronger to catch up with their talented dragon mother. Now, they were finally able to grasp the hem of her skirt before she soared to the skies.
They snuggled up in Yasenia's wide embrace, purring in delight while those with tails wagged them at high speeds. 'Mommy's embrace is as warm as the morning sunlight~.'
The girls looked at this, and they smiled softly. It would be an understatement to say that they were surprised when, around five years ago, the girls popped up before them without previous warning. According to them, they used the formation left by Yasenia to check on their position, and thanks to the burst of energy from Yasenia's Heavenly Tribulation, they were easily able to traverse here in a straight line.
All of their cultivation realms were at the beginning of the fifth realm, with Kaleina being near the middle levels. Their ages were in the mid-sixties, while Kaleina approached the seventies, being the oldest by a fair stretch.
While they reunited, Yasenia heard the voice of an old man. "You really survived… I can't believe my own eyes."
Yasenia's expression gained a faint frown, and she glared at the new arrival. "Hey, Old Long. Can't you see that I am a little bit busy right now? Come back a decade later or so."
The old dragon's eyebrow spasmed.