Yasenia swung her sword violently, creating a storm of energy around her as she barraged the Blood Moon Hall's leader. Each sword strike created ripples, while the energy it carried made blood fly each time they collided.
"Y-You! Do you know who we are!?"
Yasenia stepped forward, appearing right before the woman as Draheart changed to gauntlets. "I don't care. [Seven Cosmos Martial Smite]."
Her punch shot forward like a shooting star, striking against the woman's sword like a meteor.
BANG!
The woman's arms trembled, her muscles and bones shrieking in pain due to how heavy the first punch was. However, this attack was a combo attack, so Yasenia was far from done.
After the first attack, the Blood Moon woman noticed that Yasenia's leg was already raised and descending toward her. A twisted expression appeared in her eyes. "You dare attack me with your bare body!? Arrogant! [Blood Moon Slash]!"
Yasenia's expression didn't change as her powerful leg descended diagonally with enough strength to make Transcendence Realm cultivators feel suffocated.
The woman's red sword aura shattered when it collided with the blue aura coated around Yasenia's leg. Her stance crumbled, her eyes widening. "How weren't you cut!?"
BANG!
Yasenia's long leg collided with her shoulder, shattering the bone and creating a bloody mess. The strength shot her down like a meteor, and Yasenia followed it up.
The third strike arrived in the form of a straightforward punch. However, the Blood Moon Elder couldn't feel reassured. The sheer density of energy the punch carried constricted her chest. "[Absolute Blood Moon Defense]!"
A reddish moon surrounded her, only to be easily shattered by Yasenia's punch. The clenched hand struck the center of her chest, breaking her ribcage and caving her chest in. The Blood Moon Elder's eyes widened in pain. 'H-How is her body so strong?'
Sadly, she didn't have much time to think. Yasenia's fourth strike was arriving in the form of a tail strike. Badly injured, the Blood Moon Elder barely deployed a defensive skill.
When Yasenia's tail, coated by even stronger energies, collided with it, the effect was immediate. Under the stunned eyes of Lataria and the five entrapped people, Yasenia's tail shattered everything and struck the side of the woman.
The power behind it broke her defending arm and shattered her side, further damaging her internal organs. "GAH!"
Blood flowed out of her mouth. If she were a mortal, she would already be dead from her current injuries.
As her body flew, blood splattering in her wake, her consciousness barely remained with her. 'What kind of monster did our young masters provoke?'
Her eyes noticed that Yasenia had already caught up with her, and she was throwing a low punch at her. 'If I don't block that, I will die!'
Her twisted meridians exploded with energy, and her body started breaking down, but her face was full of maliciousness as her Intent Domain raged around her. "A simple junior wants to force me down!? You are ten thousand years early!"
Yasenia's face didn't change as her lips slowly parted. "[Tyrant Warlord Intent Domain Level 2]."
The bursting aura around the Blood Moon elder was instantly suppressed, and Yasenia's punch landed on her stomach.
BOOM!
A shockwave rippled out, while the back of the Blood Moon Elder exploded as her entrails burst outward. The elder's eyes were shaking, her face full of disbelief. "Y-You had two Intent Domains…?"
"Sixth strike. There is another one after this one."
A kick shot up like an ascending meteor, striking her left side and folding her sideways like a boneless human. The woman ragdolled, spinning into the air while her lower and upper halves almost divided, held by some flesh and her spine.
As she flew, the woman's eyes became vacant. She couldn't believe that she would die here.
Yasenia arrived. Ruthless in her ways, she had not a single moment of hesitation as her gauntleted hand flew from below, accurately striking the woman's chin. "Explode."
BOOM!!!
The woman's head exploded, a shockwave rippling into the sky.
Lataria looked from a distance and felt her entire body explode with goosebumps. 'I knew she was strong but… That's one of the most famous Blood Moon elders, with the strength of a Level 9 Transcendence outside the Secret Realm. Yet, she was defeated without any resistance. Yasenia doesn't even look tired.'
While she was distracted, the five people she was holding back with her barrier suddenly struck simultaneously. Lataria's face changed. "Y-Yasenia! I messed up!"
She really wanted to slap herself. How could she be distracted to this degree with all her experience?
Yasenia's voice reached everyone, calm and indifferent. "There is no need to worry. I am warmed up."
The five people who escaped looked up and saw Yasenia raising her sword sideways and slashing at them. "[Soul Dividing Tyrannical Cleave]."
A line stretched into the distance, covering thousands of kilometers. The line accurately hit all five Blood Moon elders.
"AHH!"
Screams echoed inside the [Celestial Intent Domain] as Yasenia's sword divided their souls. Without their usual protective charms, Yasenia's soul attacks were ridiculously effective. Moreover, she was not done.
"[Celestial Dragon Roar]."
After taking a deep breath, a powerful and rumbling dragon roar ripped through the cosmos, bringing the soul injuries out to the physical body.
All five of them exploded with blood, their bodies dividing where the Tyranical Cleave struck them. Then, not losing a single moment, Yasenia pointed at them with Draheart. "[Empyrean Galaxy Domain: Falling Sky]."
The Celestial Intent Domain and her Empyrean Galaxy Domain moved, ordering and enhancing all the Celestial Bodies in the surroundings to collapse towards the five elders.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Lataria's heart trembled with each explosion, which carried the same strength as Yasenia's strikes. The explosions lasted for almost a minute straight, eventually coming to a stop and revealing an empty space. The only hint of their existence was the remnant energy they used to defend themselves.
[Celestial Intent Domain] disappeared, and the dragoness slowly descended from the sky, landing by Lataria's side.
With a single hand movement, the six spatial rings of the cultivators floated and landed on her hand. Looking at them, Yasenia smiled a bit. "Great loot. It's a shame we can't use our rings during this trial."
'I must never make this dragon my enemy!' Lataria swore in her heart. Clearing her throat, she asked. "What now? Do we search for the other two groups? They will notice their traces are a lie, right?"
"Right. I used my Intent Domain to spatially move to the beginning of where the paths divided and traveled for a little while in each direction. I guess that was the correct move, since it truly confused whatever they were using to follow us."
Lataria nodded and sighed. "To think that you've understood the [Celestial] concept… I am honestly speechless. Who knew I'd find someone handling false Celestial Energy here?"
Yasenia chuckled. "I understand you are surprised. After all, this path has its limits. Only by acquiring the true Celestial Energy will I be able to soar higher." She smirked at Lataria. "It's not hopeless, though. I just need to find whoever has the real Celestial Energy and steal it."
Lataria rolled her eyes. "Oh, right. Let's steal the Primordial Energy from the person who can use it. I am sure they won't be ridiculously strong and ancient, right? They will, for sure, not be someone at the legendary Eighth Realm, right!?"
Yasenia shrugged and chuckled. While speaking with Lataria, Yasenia noticed that the woman knew quite a lot. Therefore, she took advantage of her impure Celestial Energy in her dantian to deceive her. Even if she used the real deal, Lataria wouldn't know because she just didn't know what the real deal felt like.
As the only person throughout existence who manipulates true Celestial Energy as her affinity, Yasenia was sure that she could deceive others with the lies she fabricated.
Some people tried to manipulate "fake" or "diluted" forms of primordial energies. Hence, it was not rare for someone of her own talent level to be so ambitious. 'This way, those knowledgeable will look down on me. After all, practicing a fake form of energy has its limitations.'
"Anyway. Let's go find the others. We need to be quick. Like before, make sure to trap all but the strongest one. If there is more than one person with high strength, tell me so that we can go with the second plan."
Lataria nodded. "Got it. Let's go."
"Let's go. [Celestial Intent Domain]."
Meanwhile, in a far place, the Young Master and the other two were leisurely hunting Endless Mud Beasts with the help of one Transcendence Cultivator who stayed behind. The man slashed the core of the Endless Beast and asked, confused. "Why are they taking so long? It has been almost four days already."
The woman nodded, her usually indifferent face coated with some worry. "It's rare for Elder Yue to take so long. I wonder if they are having trouble catching up to her?"
The other man of the three mortals looked at the person guarding them. "Do you know anything?"
"No, Young Master." The man spoke flatly. "Because of the restriction on ring use, we have no good communication devices. We can, at most, wait until they return safely." His gaze moved up, and he commented. "Should we continue hunting? Currently, the three masters are only in the top 40. I think we should make sure that none of you… Hm?"
The three mortals noticed the frown appear on the man's face and asked, confused. "What's wrong?"
"No." The man spoke, unsure. "The lords are now in the top thirty. However, we have not really gained many points…"
"Isn't that lucky?" The Young Master chuckled. "We are advancing without extra effort. Probably some useless people at the top died."
The woman crossed her eyes while looking up. Then, she asked, confused. "Which one was Elder Yue's flame? I can't feel it…"
The person guarding them became increasingly solemn as he looked at the flames in the sky. Then, as he was looking, three flames in front of them suddenly vanished almost at the same time. "Three people died so easily? Something's wrong…"
The three mortals didn't speak much. While they had their egos, this person was their protector. They weren't in the sect, where they could walk sideways and no one would dare say a peep.
"Come with me. We'll move and hide for a while."
"What?" The Young Master couldn't help but protest. "We've been working so hard, and there are only a little over 20 days for the trials to end."
"Young Master. Look at the top five." The man spoke and explained. "The first two positions were neck and neck. However, since our people started pursuing that dragon woman, the second position and the fifth position got stuck. Now, they are seventh and ninth."
The woman spoke, her tone serious. "Are you saying that either of those is our objective?"
"From the reports, the dragon woman was with a Divine. So, I guess that both flames are our objectives. Now, though. Look."
They observed and suddenly saw one of those two flames gain a point. "They are… killing again?"
The man spoke somewhat urgently, feeling a bad premonition. "We need to hide. Let's give up on this test. Either way, it was impossible for the young masters to achieve victory with the monsters that were participating."
While the three didn't want to do as told, they had no other option. They valued their lives more. So, thanks to their guard, they went into hiding.