Yasenia felt incredibly emotional at the moment. Looking at the three hundred smiling women in front of her, and also sensing their changes in strength compared to before, her heart went through many waves.
Looking around at everyone, she couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. These three hundred women had gone through literal hell, a selection of the best of the best, and had probably seen many people they knew die during the training to reach their current positions.
Their trails were not much better than her own, and yet, the grand majority of these 300 women had not seen her once since she left at 18 years of age.
She slowly stepped forward, and then her facial features softened as she showed them her most genuine smile. "Thank you for waiting for me. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for working so hard and… I am eager to fight by your side from now on."
The maids were no less emotional than Yasenia. They, who had seen the little baby grow into a graceful, young woman, were now looking at Yasenia and almost couldn't recognize her.
The half-black, half-golden dragon tail had transformed into an empyrean, starlit, cosmic-blue tail with golden rings.
Her height, though it had not changed much, was now complemented by a fuller, more mature figure, making her look very different from before.
The revealing blue dress, which shone with ethereal lights as it hugged her figure, shone with incredible, powerful strength.
Finally, her facial features.
The previous youthful, full of vitality, and slightly proud facial features were now calm, profound, and full of intentional seductiveness. Her gaze, her gestures, and her entire demeanor were those of an experienced monarch. Someone who had walked between life and death plenty of times, constantly stomping death and always being victorious at the very end.
While it didn't really mark her, there was a trace of world-weariness in her warm golden eyes, showing just how much Yasenia had experienced during her adventures.
How much each and every single one of them wished they would've been there.
How much each and every single one of them wanted to hug Yasenia and let her rest in their chests to recover.
However, they also understood that it was this kind of Yasenia who would spread her wings and soar to the sky.
Regardless of everything, Yasenia was their adorable, talented, and incredibly beautiful Young Miss. Nothing would change that, as they swore far too many years ago that this dragon woman would be their everything.
Behind Yasenia, Cai Xue, and the other three couldn't help but feel incredible pressure. Even when they were supposed to be the ones knowing Yasenia the most, the three hundred maids standing before them carried such trust and adoration in their gaze that, for the first time in a long time, each and every one of them felt somewhat unqualified.
Yasenia stepped forward, and she opened her arms, hugging the two petite, blonde women at the very front. "It has been a while, Anna, Eve."
These twins, feeling the familiar scent, now much more profound and enticing, quickly closed their eyes as they hugged Yasenia back. "Once more, welcome back, Young Miss."
Yasenia remained silent, hugging them for a few minutes, full of emotion. Then, she moved toward the next maid. She didn't mind taking a long time, and took her time hugging each and every single one of them, exchanging a few words with each of them.
Moreover, as she hugged them, Yasenia's possessiveness was not doing nothing during this time. She, naturally, was smearing her scent on all of them, marking them as hers and hers only.
The maids noticed, but not only did they not mind, they actively lowered their body defenses so that Yasenia's scent could permeate their beings.
300 individuals, each hugged for a few minutes, took quite a long time to complete; she didn't finish until ten hours had passed!
During this time, Tatyna had checked with Anna and Eve whether they had already reserved travel to a lower Heavenly Layer, and they both nodded. They even predicted that Yasenia would take a while during their reunion, so they reserved it for 2 days later.
Tatyana chuckled. "Comfortable~."
Anna asked, confused. "What is comfortable?"
Tatyana smirked. "Having you around. Everything just… flows. Sigh, truly worthy of being the top two of all of my trainees for Yasenia's personal maid training."
Anna and Eve faintly smiled, showing not much reaction. Such calmness once more impressed Cai Xue and the others.
Eve looked over with her stern gaze, taking in their attire. As she scanned them, all of them stiffened, as if they were being stared at by some ancient monster. "Hm… You four should be the maids Yasenia took in during our absence, am I right?"
Cai Xue took the lead as she answered with a formal tone. "Yes, Head Maid."
That response made Eve's stern gaze soften a touch, but not by much. "It's good that you are not arrogant because you've been with Young Miss longer. Remember, we are all equal. One individual serving Yasenia with their body and soul. There is no space for arrogance among us."
"Understood, Head Maid."
Anna, being more cheerful than Eve, smiled at them. "Do not be too tense. I can sense that your talents are relatively mediocre. But don't worry, once you complete the training back in the Sky Continent, you will be reborn through ashes, blood, tears, and pain."
The four of them wanted to cry a little bit. Still, they answered without much change in their expressions. "Understood, Head Maid!"
"Anna, Eve, stop scaring them so much."
The pressuring aura around both maids instantly vanished, both of them smiling as they looked back at their Young Miss. Anna chuckled. "Understood, Young Miss. I thought they needed a bit of a heads-up before they started. That way, their physique would be somewhat stronger."
Yasenia smiled helplessly, but she didn't deny it. After all, while she was unaware of the details, Yasenia knew very well that even she herself would suffer during the training these 300 women went through.
"So, what is the plan?"
Eve answered straight away, bowing very slightly. "Young Miss, we will go straight toward the Heavenly Layer Portal location. We've already planned for the journey toward Madam Andrea's world. It should take no longer than three weeks if there are no accidents in the middle."
"Three weeks?" Yasenia blinked and looked at Tatyana. "Didn't you say it would take a few months?"
Tatyana shrugged. "Beats me. Your maids are good at doing magic. Since you are in a hurry, they probably did something behind my back. After all, they are yours, not mine."
None of the maids looked uncomfortable under those words. After all, these 300 women would fight Tatyana to the death were Yasenia to order it.
Of course, what they would do in extreme situations didn't reflect their attitude. Each and every single one of them dearly respected Tatyana. It was just that their allegiance was with Yasenia and absolutely no one else.
Yasenia chuckled and nodded, patting Anna with her tail and Eve with her hand. "En. They are the best~."
Both maids squinted happily.
Behind Yasenia, a maid almost as tall as her and with similar curves chuckled. "Young Miss, shall we depart? Do not worry about anything, we will deal with it for you."
Yasenia smiled. "Alright, I understand, Xyrona."
Xyrona blinked playfully and smiled. "We will need to spar soon, Young Miss. I want to see how high your proficiency with giant swords has reached."
Xyrona was the maid Yasenia learned the most about weapons from. She was also the reason Yasenia liked and decided to specialize in giant swords.
Xyrona was also one of, if not the strongest, frontal melee fighters among all maids. Moreover, her realm was not that high, being a Fifth Level Transcendence Realm cultivator. Still, like absolutely all maids, their Intent Domains were exactly at the same level as their level.
Yasenia smiled mischievously. "You might not be my match, Xyrona."
Xyrona squinted for a second, and then, her aura exploded outward violently.
BOOM!
Yasenia's pupils instantly constricted, feeling a hint of threat from the woman. Behind Yasenia, Cai Xue and the other three began sweating instantly. The feeling they felt from Xyrona was not much different than the one they felt from Yasenia herself.
There was, of course, a gap. Yasenia's strength was nothing to scoff at, after all. However, just from the aura, Yasenia knew that she would not be able to defeat Xyrona easily.
Looking around, Yasenia focused one by one, and she noticed that all of the maids were at the very least Third Level Sixth Realm cultivators who had cultivated all three mortal paths of spirit, soul, and body to absolute perfection. Their foundation was as solid as a rock!
Star Forge gulped and asked, confused. "H-How is each of them stronger than the last? Are they trying to outdo each other on who can become more absurd?"
Moreover, among the many maids, Star Forge's eyes gravitated toward a "white" maid. Her hair, eyes, skin, and even the maid dress and the sword hanging on her waist, it was all as white as pure snow.
However, it didn't give a sickly feeling. Her figure seemed like a sheathed sword in snow, ready to fight at any moment.
Eira felt someone's gaze, and her white eyes moved over. The moment Star Forge and she crossed gazes, Star Forge felt a piercing pain, as if someone stabbed her eyes with a sword. 'Heavens! Who is she?'
Yasenia noticed the small interactions, but she didn't stop them. Competitiveness within her maid group was the bread and butter of each of them. She recalled how each month back in the Sky Continent, their rankings would fluctuate wildly. Someone who was at rank 240 would suddenly jump to rank 56, and vice versa.
Basically, they devoured each other and became increasingly stronger, creating a positive cycle.
Yasenia clapped her hands, gathering everyone's attention. "Alright, my darling seems to be in some kind of trouble, so we need to set off quickly. Let's go to the portal and see if there are more of those talent thingies I can smash to pass through them even quicker."
Anna bowed slightly and moved her hand to the side. "This way, Young Miss. There are indeed some talent steles around here. We took them for you, but if Young Miss takes them, we might get even more preferential treatment."
So, Yasenia traveled over, punched the thing, cracked it, and was quickly given a way down.
She went from the Sublime Heaven mid-layer to the low-layer. Then, from the low-layer to the Exalted Heaven highest layer, where the Sky Continent was.
Here, Cai Xue and the other three separated together with Tatyana's main body, and Tatyana's secondary body joined her.
Then, they went from the highest layer and went down one more layer, arriving at the layer where Sixth Level Transcendence Realm cultivators resided.
Exalted Heaven was separated into low, mid, and high, each separating each large step within the Sixth Realm.