Mortrexo
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Chapter 1331. Starting Over.
🕑 Added 2025-09-19 19:02:46 +0000 UTCYasenia sat up abruptly, pushing her body up with the help of her tail. Then, she called out Draheart, and her spiritual sense exploded outward as her eyes shook with wariness.
Draheart noticed the nervousness and faint trembling in Yasenia’s hands, so she spoke slowly and calmly. “Relax, Yasenia. You are safe. You only lost consciousness for two minutes.”
Those words didn’t relax her, but made her eyes quiver even more. “Two minutes…? I passed out for two whole minutes? Me?”
The dragoness could feel a terrifying pain in her chest and internal organs. She knew that she was heavily injured from the palm of the copy enveloped with iridescent lights. Looking down, she noticed the purplish palm in the middle of her chest, while most of the blood vessels on her breasts had burst, creating inflammation.
After taking a slow breath to avoid aggravating the broken ribs, Yasenia exhaled and activated the [Celestial Dragon Body]. This skill increased her regeneration several times over, helping her heal quickly.
“Are you okay, Yasenia?”
Draheart asked, her tone slightly worried. After all, it has been a long time since Yasenia was defeated by someone at her level.
The dragoness felt her ribs and bones slowly realigning as her blood vessels and organs repaired before answering. “I am surprised… Somewhat shocked. But don’t worry, my heart is not wavering. Only, I am just noticing how complacent I’ve been, even when I never stopped working hard.”
Draheart didn’t answer. She, as Yasenia’s weapon, naturally understands that Yasenia puts in a lot of daily effort to become stronger. Around 16 of 24 daily hours were spent in cultivation or related activities. The rest, Yasenia used for her baths, comprehension of intents, and interactions with sect members.
Lately, inside the Secret Realm, most of the time was spent exploring, but that didn’t mean that Yasenia never cultivated or practiced. Draheart spoke, her tone caring. “Yasenia… You are young. Yet, you’ve built a family, conquered an entire world, and even managed to reach immortality. Lifespan-wise, you are basically immortal. After all, even with passive strengthening, it is impossible for you to waste your entire lifespan before you reach the Seventh Realm. You’ve achieved what many people try hard for tens or even hundreds of thousands of years in just a century.”
Yasenia shook her head and sighed. “It doesn’t matter. Will someone with ten thousand years behind them not kill me if I shout that I am young? There might be some exceptions, but most cultivators are selfish. So, it would be just the opposite: because I am young, I will be targeted even more harshly.”
Draheart didn’t answer. Yasenia’s words were the truth, after all. If Yasenia wanted to have the protection those super-geniuses have, she needed to tie herself to a power. That was too difficult for Yasenia because she still needed to leave the Heavenly Layer for the Sky Continent and help her mother deal with the problems over there. “...To begin with, I started cultivating because I wanted to catch up to Mom and help her. I’ve never forgotten my initial resolution. I want to become as strong as Mom, or even stronger than her.”
Yasenia sighed, her eyes full of complex emotions. “That multicolored copy… She only used Heavenly Constellation Steps, the basic stance… but I couldn’t even follow her figure.”
Yasenia’s brain seemed to have burned the figure of that copy, basically walking towards her at a speed that made the rest feel as if it were moving in slow motion.
Dramel asked, confused. “Wasn’t that copy much stronger than you? It is normal for you to be unable to fight it, right?”
“Wrong.” Yasenia plopped her butt down, creating a bouncing motion. Then, she placed Draheart down on the ground and rested her forehead against the palm of her hand. “She was equally strong to me in cultivation realm and level. The only difference was the way she used energy and the skill.”
Dramel was confused. “Who? How? That should be impossible, right? She was so much stronger than you.”
Yasenia laughed wryly. “I know… But what if I’ve been looking at this trial wrongly? What parameters do the copies change from level to level? Is it only proficiency in skills? Or is it something more?”
Soluna crawled onto her lap, snuggling in her arms before closing her eyes comfortably. The dragoness didn’t move after she asked herself that question.
She sat on her spot for hours, her mind going through the previous battles one by one to the smallest detail. ‘I didn’t analyze them too deeply, so I can’t come to a solid conclusion. Tsk. Can I even fight them from the beginning again?’
It was currently the second day of the 10 days that she had, so she wouldn’t mind starting over as long as she could go further.
“Trial, I want to start over.”
When she said that, the copy surrounded by an iridescent glow appeared again and looked down at the sitting Yasenia. The dragoness’s eyes twitched incessantly as she looked up at the curvy woman with dark, smooth skin, sapphire-blue slit eyes, and flowing white hair.
Yasenia spoke cautiously. “Please… Be gentle.”
The copy’s lips arched further, as if amused by Yasenia’s words. Then, her hand moved as she manipulated her energy. The energy around the copy fell entirely under her control, and her meridians and dantian transformed and evolved constantly in how they carried power through her motions.
For a second, it felt as if the copy was not attacking, but moving the world with her gestures.
The dragoness’s pupils thinned, trying to remember and take in as much as she could of what the copy was doing. Nevertheless, what she saw was too complex for her to understand.
“What are you even doing…?”
“[Grand Cosmos Martial Art, First Form: Stellar Burst].”
Together with the answer, Yasenia’s eyes were filled with a bluish light that glowed with white, golden, and silver particles. Then, a strike so heavy that Yasenia felt as if her body was going to explode landed on her upper chest.
BOOM!
With momentum that was impossible to cushion, her body was blasted down through the seven floors and landed on the lowest floor, creating a giant crater.
Before Yasenia’s consciousness faded, she couldn’t help but lament. ‘Is this the strength of that move? Are you sure you aren’t buffing yourself with the Celestial Pearl before attacking!? What a ridiculous monster.’
Then, due to injuries and soul-shock, Yasenia lost consciousness for ten minutes, her body working overtime to heal the injuries.
After waking up, Yasenia didn’t move and looked at the black ceiling with dazed eyes. ‘That was… Something. I thought I would die from that strike… Well, if I had mortal resilience, I would’ve died. I mean, even my heart has ruptured.’
In her mind, she ignored the pain and constantly repeated the way the copy manipulated her energy and moved her muscles. ‘It was… so beautiful. So natural. As if her actions were not an attack, but just a simple, natural consequence.’
After almost an hour of repeating what she saw in her mind again and again, Yasenia sighed. “... I don’t understand. There was some strangeness in her palm strike, but the movement was so profound that the energy usage felt like gibberish to me. Am I really that brutish with the way I handle my energy?”
Yasenia sighed again. “If that iridescent copy fought the enemies I encountered until now… Wouldn’t she be able to slap them to death as if they were mortals?”
After saying that, Yasenia tried to stand up, but her body immediately screamed in pain, so she lay back down with a frown. “This level of injury… I will need almost five hours to heal completely. Let’s meditate and internalize what I saw so that I don’t forget.”
Using her powerful mind, Yasenia began to recall, without a single exaggeration or change, the copy’s movements.
Soluna and the other two didn’t bother the dragoness and waited.
Only after a while did they hear Yasenia exhale and speak. “I wonder what Stair Level that copy is from. Is it the copy standing in the 1000th step?”
Dramel commented. “I don’t think so… According to the pattern we’ve seen, there might be more than one copy in the 1000th step.”
The dragoness’s lips twitched. “Let’s hope you are incorrect.”
After standing up and stretching, Yasenia grabbed Draheart’s hilt tightly and stepped forward. The copy appeared on the other side, with no aura of any sort around her.
Yasenia’s lips arched as her eyes showed incredible battle intent. “Alright, [Perfection Stairs], I am ready this time.”
Both Yasenias moved forward, but the Dragoness didn’t try to defeat the copy. Instead, she checked the differences between herself and the other. Why was the copy so weak compared to her? Why could it not overcome her own strength when all their skills were used equally?
As Yasenia exchanged blows with the copy, she didn’t use her buff skills beyond the ones she needed to be at the same strength level as the copy.
Two giant swords collided against each other, creating a cacophony of metallic sounds. In the sky, Soluna and her copy also exchanged blows.
“Slowly learn the difference, overcome it, understand it.”
The dragoness and the copy moved all around the terrain, their skills flying one after another. “I am fighting with all buffs except [Ursa’s Grasp], [Firmament Soul Sword], and [Heavenly Firmament Sanctuary]. Yet, I can match my copy.”
Her copy never became flustered, always trying to get the advantage and using all kinds of tricks. Naturally, Yasenia fell for some of them; after all, the copy was as cunning as Yasenia. Using herself to train had its risks, and she was paying for it.
The copy managed to sneak into Yasenia’s close range and made Draheart flow around her body to cover her fist. Then, she punched using Stellar Burst right into Yasenia’s stomach.
BOOM!
Yasenia flew back, her stomach bruised as she gritted her teeth not to grunt in pain. However, her eyes were flashing with intense emotions as her lips arched like a delighted maniac. “I can see through you.”
The copy rushed forward, Pegasus Gallop deploying black-feathered wings behind the copy and boosting her acceleration from nothing to her peak speed in a fraction of a second.
Yasenia didn’t lose sight of the copy. On the contrary, she moved a step forward confidently and raised her sword diagonally to her right.
CLANG!
The copy’s sword struck Draheart squarely. Yasenia’s tail moved to her lower left, just in time to block the copy’s tail.
BANG!
Then, when the copy took a step back to strike again, Yasenia planted her right foot forward and pushed with her left toes, her leg moving up like a whip.
BOOM!
The copy was struck on the side, and Yasenia could feel her leg sinking deep into the body of the copy. As the copy flew, Yasenia accelerated after it. “You, as the first copy, are much weaker than I in almost everything except skill usage. You understand my skills better than I do and use them incredibly efficiently. Regardless, your weak body, soul, meridian energy conductivity, dantian efficiency, and weaker beast core limit you.”
Yasenia released [Celestial Dragon Body], making herself even weaker. But it didn’t matter; as she fought with the copy, the advantage didn’t disappear. Instead, it became even wider. “From you, I can learn how to use my skills better. How to respond to threats. Haha!”
A small laugh escaped her as joy filled her, and her eyes shone with a euphoric glow. “How long has it been?”
Yasenia barraged her copy with attacks, suppressing it even when the copy was stronger than herself. “How long has it been since I’ve felt this rate of improvement!? HAHAHA!”
Her sword began to attack more violently, but never without intent. There was finesse in her violence, and there was rationale in her seemingly beast-like barrage of attacks.
“DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE AND FEED ME! HAHAHA!”
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOOM!!!!
After almost five hours, the copy’s body crumbled under the absurd pressure to which she was subjected, dying by having her leg, waist, and then head sliced off.
Yasenia stopped, breathing roughly, not from tiredness, but from the excitement her heart felt. “Ah~. It feels so good!”
Comments
Briar Rosier
Last chapter said in the first line it took 8 days to get to the 8th floor.
Andrew Miles
Indeed there is more to this trial then it appeared. I wonder if there's different scores for clearing the stairs in a more complete way? Either that or the benifits from what Yasenia is doing will make it far smoother to reach higher stairs. I do feel a little sympathy for the ones who are likely to fight her in the upcoming mini tournament. I'm not sure the others will have the same level of growth as Yasenia, but we'll have to see. There's at least one other cultivator who is likely to give Yasenia a run for her money, the one who came close second in the last trial.
BeholdTheMOON!
Wonder if she’ll teach herself like an enchanted six sense or a limited version of battle foresight. Kinda like a new battle form to push every nerve and neuron of working together in one flowed motion. Nah probably digging to deep lol
