Heaven, Earth, Me

Chapter 1610: Chapter 1610. Peculiar Encounter.

Exploring the Death Dunes was, how to say it... strangely calming?

Yasenia couldn’t really explain it. With their controlled energy and surfing, their bodies easily moved up and down with the large wave-like dunes. While sandstorms dominated the space, in turn, there was nothing much other than that.

Sandstorms, subterranean beasts, and ruins. Three interesting concepts blended into a fantastical and unique Forbidden Zone. Tatyana, moving by Yasenia’s side, glanced at her peaceful expression with a smile. "Do you like it here?"

Yasenia blinked. "Hm... It is like going on a sea trip. Something like that. For now, I have not felt any of those dangers you warned me about. So, I feel relaxed."

Tatyana gently slapped Yasenia’s large and jiggly bottom. "Don’t relax your guard. How many times do I need to say that?"

Yasenia pointed left. "But I am not lowering my guard, just feeling relaxed."

Tatyana, of course, knew where Yasenia was pointing. A few seconds later, a beast burst from the dunes, ready to take someone with it. However, as it sprang out, the beast stiffened slightly.

The group it thought had ambushed was looking at it, without a single exception, while a single dragon woman was pointing at it. "Gr?"

A maid nearby made a sit gesture, and tremendous pressure blasted the beast against the sand, strong enough to break all of its bones.

Dune’s lips twitched, feeling a bit of pity for it. No beast had been able to ambush them, and all of them had become materials inside Yasenia’s ring. ’A Dragon’s senses are truly terrifying.’

Speaking of dragons, Dune and her group had learned that Tatyana was Yasenia’s mother. So, they had assumed that she was also a dragon, transformed without a tail or slit pupils.

It was a misunderstanding Tatyana noticed, but didn’t correct because she found it amusing.

Angel, moving by Yasenia’s side, pointed over. "Another ruin over there."

Everyone moved, visiting the third ruin of this journey. The previous two had nothing much inside. However, they were ruins Yasenia’s group found before reaching their current high-inner zone. Therefore, the chances of being explored were high.

Dune spoke. "This zone should be unexplored. Lady Yasenia, there should be luck this time around."

Yasenia muttered. "I hope so... Also, it is a bit of a bummer that my nose is a bit blocked in this environment. Otherwise, forget spiritual sense, I could’ve sniffed out all the treasures."

Evelyn chuckled. "Forbidden Zones are quite something, eh? They even make your cheats unusable."

Yasenia moved over and stretched her cheeks. "What cheats?! They are things I was born with and trained!"

Evelyn laughed despite her cheeks being stretched like dough.

Landing on the solid structure, everyone put away their energy boards and jumped inside the ruin. Like the previous one, it was a titled expanse. This time, the place looked like a sunken palace or very large house.

"Oho. Not a bad place... Hm?"

Yasenia’s ears twitched, while Tatyana’s eyebrows shot upward. "What a... curious encounter."

As Yasenia was speaking, a group of 8 people appeared in front of them, having come out from the inside of the structure. Andrea blinked. "Um... locals?"

Dune glanced at the group of eight, and her eyes widened. "Huh? Aren’t they part of the Sand Trace Hunter group that disappeared about 300 years ago?"

The leader of the group, a man with a stout build and hair wild as a lion’s mane, spoke with a gruff voice. "That’s us. How did you come here?"

Yasenia asked, confused. "Disappeared 300 years ago... What do you mean, Dune?"

One of the Sand Trace’s men glanced at Yasenia up and down and smirked. "How about I explain it, beauty?"

Dune, who was about to explain, broke into a cold sweat. ’Has he gone insane!?’

The meaning in those words was impossible to miss, so Yasenia turned to look at him and smiled faintly. "You are incredibly lucky that I am interested in your little group and the reason of why you are here. However, there won’t be a second time."

Curious if he would listen, Yasenia didn’t bother using her aura or anything. She just spoke.

Evelyn and the other girls had long looked at that man with cold eyes, so if the answer was not to their liking... Well, they would just take it as spreading a red smudge and cleaning it.

The man looked around the few hundred women and snorted. "Whatever."

The leader glanced back with a sigh and then turned to look at Yasenia. "Sorry for his manners. We’ve been trapped here involuntarily for a while, so he is a bit excited."

Yasenia smiled. "If ’sorry’ was such a powerful world, there wouldn’t be conflicts in the world. Well, as I said, you are lucky that your appearance in this ruin has piqued my interest, so I’ll let it slide once."

A woman among the Dune Tracer group frowned. "Aren’t you too arrogant? The only thing you have is numbers."

Yasenia looked at the leader, and seeing the man act as if his subordinate said nothing wrong, she smiled. That smile, though, made Dune’s group’s legs tremble.

"Kneel."

The woman was about to sneer when her eyes widened. A pressure akin to a mountain struck her shoulders and those of every single one of the eight people.

BANG!

Their legs and foreheads slammed against the tilted ground, and Yasenia spoke with the same smile. "Annoying, overbearing, arrogant, and on top of everything, ignorant and reckless. I did give you a chance, didn’t I? Who in their right mind even starts a conflict when they are outnumbered almost 30 to 1? Does this ruin have an intelligence suctioning device or something to make all of you so absolutely moronic?"

With a wave of her hand, a supremely powerful telekinetic force grabbed the eight people and slammed them against the wall. Yasenia walked over, the pressure pouring out of her body pressing them against the wall until their bones cracked. "Now, I will ask questions, and I will receive short and concise answers. Those who fail will have their Dantians broken. Is it clear?"

The eight people, who had been acting arrogantly, were now looking at Yasenia as if she were an incomprehensible monster. Yasenia stopped pressuring the man who sized her up and asked. "How long have you been in this place?"

"F-Four hundred years."

BANG!

The man was pressed against the wall again, and Yasenia turned to look at another of the eight people. "What was your objective?"

"E-Exploring the Death Dunes and getting powerful treasures."

Yasenia nodded and slammed him back against the wall, making him grunt. Her golden slit eyes landed on the woman. "How many treasures have you gotten in your exploration?"

The woman, falling down, took a big breath of fresh air and looked at Yasenia with trembling eyes. "N-Not many."

"Wrong." Yasenia made a sound and flashed in front of her. Her punch moved faster than most could see, and then, it hit.

The woman’s eyes bulged as Yasenia’s punch tore her stomach and also part of her soul, destroying not only the traces of physical Dantian, but also her Spiritualized Dantian. "Lies are something I don’t like."

Leaving the woman bleeding on the ground, Yasenia realized the leader this time around. "You’ve seen how I work, right? So, spit out everything."

The gorgeous and seductive smile on Yasenia’s face looked like the smile of a demon in the leader’s eyes. So, after hesitating, he decided to speak. "I, I will speak. H-However, do you know who is behind us?"

Yasenia laughed. "You did well in paraphrasing that question, or your Dantian would’ve gone puff already." Then, her laughter ceased, and she asked, her golden eyes cold despite the seductive smile adorning her face. "Do you know a single being who can match my strength? If you do, stay silent. If you don’t, spit out everything already and stop asking useless things."

The man hesitated, and looking behind Yasenia, he noticed Scorpion, someone he knew, hastily shaking his head at him. It was a clear hint for him to blurt out everything obediently.

"Scorpion, only once. I don’t appreciate you helping these people."

Scorpion paled for a second. "I understand, Lady Yasenia."

"Good."

So, the man spewed out everything. From what he said, they got a map about a hidden treasure and were finding traces of its location. While exploring the depths, though, they encountered a powerful beast and had to flee for safety. That safety was in these ruins.

"Honestly... how did you come inside, Lady Yasenia? There should’ve been a guardian beast nearby."

Yasenia frowned. "There was no..."

Anna appeared by her side and whispered in her ear. Yasenia’s mouth clamped shut, and the image of that giant beast slammed to the ground by her maid flashed in her mind.

Looking back, Yasenia summoned that creature’s carcass. "Is it this thing?"

The leader of the Dune Traces became silent and then nodded.

"...Alright. Well, all of you are Level Three and Four transcendence Realm cultivators, so I guess it is okay to be scared by that thing. Last question, why did you act so brainlessly?"

The Leader’s lips twitched. "We are confident, not brainless. Our name is quite a big deal outside, so even when your group was large, I thought nothing would happen. In truth, I believed that you were a new group hired by Lady Dune to explore this area."

Yasenia marveled at the number of mental flips this group went through to reach such a conclusion. "I see... Somewhat of an acceptable explanation. Either way, give up all your treasures and the map as well."

"...Excuse me?"

Yasenia blinked her golden slit eyes, and despite the man being a touch taller than her, she didn’t look smaller in the slightest. "You are an immortal. I won’t repeat what I’ve said."

After hesitating, the leader asked. "What... if I don’t?"

Yasenia’s golden slit eyes looked down, and following her gaze, everyone’s eyes landed on the woman who had fainted from shock with a hole in her stomach.

"...Are you sure you are not going to regret it?"

"If I were weaker than you, I don’t know what you would have done, but it might not have been as pretty as just stealing some treasures. So, spit everything out before my mood worsens."

After a while, the group of seven left the place. Before they left, Doriel’s wrist flicked, and an incredibly thin needle shot into the body of the man who sized up Yasenia.

Only a few people noticed that movement.

"What was that, Doriel?"

Doriel answered flatly. "A curse of madness."

Yasenia blinked and laughed, patting her head. "Good job. Now, let’s see what this map is about."