Heaven, Earth, Me

Chapter 1609: Chapter 1609. Testing the Death Dunes.

Three months slipped by so fast that Yasenia decided to extend her stay for another month. She was reluctant to part with Asterion!

Once the day arrived, Yasenia bear-hugged Asterion and rained kisses on him. "Ughh... I don’t want to go away..."

Asterion laughed and smiled widely. "I will be waiting, Mommy! Come back quickly!"

Yasenia sobbed. "I will, baby!"

Honestly, she was tempted to just give up her exploration of the Death Dunes. However, when those thoughts surfaced, Tatyana grabbed her by the tail and dragged her away. "Let’s go, you stupid dragon."

Yasenia’s fingers clawed at the ground. "Nooo! Don’t drag me awayyyy! Asteriooon!"

Asterion laughed and waved his hand. "Have fun, Mommy!"

Everything was a bit of an exaggerated act to make Asterion laugh... although, well, some of Yasenia’s true emotions were mixed in those acts.

Once outside of his vision, Yasenia jumped up and patted her dress. "Sigh... I already miss him."

Andrea shook her head with a gentle smile. "Let’s go. Dune and the others must be waiting for us."

A few hours later, their group met at the entrance of the Forbidden Zone once more. Dune and the other three cupped their fist in respect. "Welcome back, Lady Yasenia."

During these last few months, they had seen the absolute destruction caused by Yasenia’s maids when deleting those sects. Witnessing what they could do, their previous respect was now layered with a touch of fear.

Yasenia noticed their attitude, and she frowned for a moment. Still, after glancing at them, she just shook her head and returned to her usual neutral expression. "Alright, let’s go inside. Dune, you said that the Death Dunes had an outer, inner, and core zone. Right?"

"Like most zones, this one can also be divided as such. Still, these boundaries are not... accurate."

Yasenia, who had already summoned the energy surfboard to move through the dune waves, paused and glanced back. "Explain."

"The Death Dune area’s danger doesn’t jump in levels; it increases gradually instead. Therefore, the division is better separated into nine rather than three zones. The low-outer zone, mid-outer zone, high-outer zone, and so on."

Yasenia understood and asked. "So, what’s the deepest layer your group has explored. I heard that you went the deepest, so that’s why I’ve been using you as guides."

Dune smiled awkwardly. "I am the one who went the deepest, and that’s the mid-inner zone."

"...mid-inner zone? That shallow?"

Dune’s pride took a small hit, but she explained. "You saw that even in the outer zone, the ruins can be dangerous enough for me to die. The core area is a death zone, hence the name. If it could be explored, it wouldn’t be a Forbidden Zone, but a Dangerous Zone."

Yasenia blinked and nodded. "You are right. I was a bit superficial. Let’s go. Today, we will explore the inner zone. This time, there is no time limit. Let’s set our time limit to a ruin per entry."

"Understood."

So, their group slid inside at a fast speed. They had become accustomed to surfing in the Death Dunes before. This made it so their current speed incomparable to before.

"Any idea how large this Forbidden Zone is?"

Dune answered honestly. "No one has bothered measuring, Lady Yasenia. Wherever the dunes move, that’s the Forbidden Zone. The inability to use Spiritual Sense freely is too harsh to accurately measure something that can’t be explored."

Yasenia nodded once more. It took around three days to cross the outer layer area, and as they did, Yasenia understood why it was separated into such odd layers.

"The dunes... they are becoming larger."

If the moving dunes at the edge of the outer zone ranged from 50 to 100 meters, those at the edge of the high-outer zone ranged from 200 to 300 meters.

Now, as they entered the low inner zone, Yasenia noticed the dunes rising to an average height of almost 400 meters.

"Large but..." Yasenia pondered. "What if I changed to my Cosmic Dragon form?"

Dune asked, curious. "How large is Lady Yasenia in her dragon form?"

Yasenia commented. "Around 30 kilometers in height, 110 kilometers in length, and with 180 kilometers in wingspan, give or take."

Dune, Snake, Scorpion, and Fennec turned to look at Yasenia with startled looks. "H-How much, Lady Yasenia?"

Yasenia glanced at her and chuckled faintly. "I know you are startled, but all the beasts in my group are rather large in size."

For instance, Cecile, Kali, Sierra, Ebira, Vairon, and some maids who could transform into beast forms were all terrifyingly large for their cultivation level. They were still small compared to Yasenia, but Cecile and Kali were both around half of Yasenia’s size.

Dune was honestly confused. "There has not really been a previous instance of such a large beast stepping inside, Lady Yasenia. Therefore, I am unsure of how to answer."

Evelyn smirked. "How about you try? Worst-case scenario, you can use a life-saving talisman and be sent back."

Yasenia pondered and glanced at Tatyana. "What do you think, Mom?"

Tatyana nodded. "Go ahead. If we can move on your back, that will be much more comfortable and quicker."

So, Yasenia, even though she couldn’t jump, pushed against the ground and shot to the sky with an explosion of sand. Her body soared high up into the air with that single jump, and a second later, the sky turned blue.

Dune and the others looked at the sky, and because of the ban on height, Yasenia’s gargantuan dragon body descended from the sky like a massive meteor.

BOOM!!!

Yasenia landed on her limbs, her wings tucked, while everyone else made sure to stay far away.

Snake exclaimed softly. "Heavens... she is the largest beast I’ve ever seen."

"Truly... gargantuan."

Dune muttered at the dragon covering the sky above them.

Meanwhile, after Yasenia’s claws landed onto the ground, she felt her body sinking. This was not strange, as her weight would even sink her into solid ground. "...I am being sucked in."

Her ethereal voice, booming around with boundless majesty, sounded a touch confused. Yasenia tried to raise her claw and noticed that the sand’s suction was strong enough to make her movements difficult.

Feeling a touch challenged, Yasenia covered her massive body with [Celestial Dragon Body], and pulled once more. To her utter stupefaction, the suction power became even stronger!

"Oh... I am sinking more and more the more I fight it."

The girls noticed that the dunes had absorbed Yasenia’s legs up to her ankles and began to worry. Kali spoke, her voice reaching Yasenia. "Love, how is the sand? Do you feel pain?"

She recalled that even Heaven Ranked treasures were ground to nothing in a matter of minutes. So, she was worried.

Yasenia, though, looked down and smiled. "Don’t worry. The sand is just a little bit ticklish. Compared to what I went through in the Dragon Paradise, this is nothing."

The girls wanted to smile, but couldn’t. ’How much did she suffer in that place?’

A small, worried grumble escaped her. Tatyana spoke. "Little Treasure, try using all your strength to pull once. Then, do the opposite. Release all your boosts and try to move slowly."

"Understood~."

Yasenia closed her eyes, and in the next second, the world lost its color. Yasenia’s strength, as all her buffing skills activated, inflated the very space around her body.

Opening her golden eyes, her aura violently burst outward.

BOOM!

CRACK!

Black lines spread out from Yasenia’s body as her presence alone shattered space itself. Dune and everyone else, looking at such a spectacle, could only freeze like small animals seeing a large predator open their eyes and stare at them.

Then, Yasenia pulled upward with all her strength.

A low-sounding thud created an earthquake as the sand dunes, clinging to Yasenia’s leg, rose as if stuck to her leg. Yasenia, now covered in mystical lights, became surprised. "I... can’t pull out? No. I can walk around normally, but the sand is basically glued to me."

Tatyana hummed, her eyes flashing. "The Heavenly Laws here are quite strong. What is submerged won’t resurface alone easily. No wonder so many people have died here. I guess they were swallowed by the dunes once, and as they forcefully tried to escape, their bodies were dragged further down."

Angel spoke worriedly. "So... are Yasenia’s legs stuck?"

"No." Tatyana chuckled. "Look. They can’t cling anymore."

As she spoke, the sand that was trying its best to stick to Yasenia’s legs exploded, liberating her raised claw.

"Oh!"

Tatyana smiled. "While the Heavenly Laws here are powerful, when the world itself has difficulty bearing Yasenia’s very presence, those laws lose a lot of their absolute factor."

Evelyn’s lips twtiched. "So, unless you can crack the world’s space with your aura alone, escaping the sand is impossible?"

Tatyana once more shook her head and used her hand to bonk her head. "Be more flexible when thinking, Evelyn. There are rarely things that can be described as truly impossible. You are an intelligent woman, so don’t limit your own thinking. Yasenia’s method is all brute strength and no sublime action."

Yasenia nodded. "You are right. Now... Let’s try a gentler method."

Her hind leg rose, but instead of pulling, Yasenia moved it up slowly. Unlike before, where the sand clung to her, Yasenia was able to slip out with not much problem.

"This confirms it. The sand here acts like normal quicksand. To pull, you need not strength, but technique. Still... It’s too bothersome."

Yasenia’s dragon body flashed blue, and soon, she fell from the sky in her human form. Yasenia created a large energy platform and landed securely on it above the sand.

Angel and the rest moved over. Cecile asked. "So, it’s better to move with this?"

"Yes," Yasenia confirmed. "Moreover, my weight might momentarily create waves tall enough to sink nearby ruins. So, spotting them could become harder..."

Looking to the side, Yasenia noticed that Dune and her subordinates were still standing a bit far away, with stunned eyes. "Dune? What’s wrong?"

Dune snapped out of her daze and opened her mouth, only to close it again. ’What’s wrong... she asks? That’s my question! How can someone tear space with just their presence alone!?’

Dune’s mind was currently going through a crisis. She had seen powerful people, and after living for several tens of thousands of years, Dune had seen outsiders as well. Some outsiders had despairing strengths, but all of them fell into the "very strong, but I can tell how strong" classifications.

However, what about the absurd show of strength Yasenia just showed? That was, quite literally, an incomprehensible level of power. Dune didn’t even know someone could emit such strong energy!

Worse, because Yasenia had let go, her "level" became clear and easy to deduce. What Dune noticed was that Yasenia was... a Level Four Sixth Realm Cultivator! She wasn’t even at her peak of strength that she could accumulate in this Heavenly Layer!

Dune truly felt as if her worldview had completely shattered.