Heaven, Earth, Me

After talking with Ayanduin and returning his spatial ring, Yasenia waved her hand and stopped the formation. Everyone was tense for a second, and while Yasenia was walking away, all her senses were on Ayanduin. She purposely gave him her back to see how he would react. 

The sixth realm cultivator looked around him and laughed softly. "You are really courageous."

The dragoness opened the door toward her room and turned to look at him. "I am trusting you for only one reason." 

"Which is?" Ayanduin asked, curious.

"You care for Money, that girl. You were prepared to deviate from your plans just because of her. Now, you can go and check on her, so stop messing around. Oh, and remember, you need one of the pills Kali makes weekly; don't miss it."

Then, Kali and Yasenia entered their room and closed it, leaving him outside, surrounded by the maids who had not even blinked during this time. Ayanduin sighed. "Juniors of this day and age are really terrifying, eh? Tsk, tsk." He took a step, and his body disappeared from the spot. The maids could barely tell the direction he left. 

Ayanduin crossed the city and arrived at Money's shop in less than a second. His spiritual sense covered the shop, and he saw Money in her room, changing and preparing to take a bath. He didn't feel anything about it. For him, Money was something similar to a family member. He would never feel romantically attracted to her. 

Inspecting the shop, his lips arched in a sneer. Stepping forward again, he appeared in front of a person hiding in the building's walls, looking straight at him. The man reacted swiftly, punching forward with a peak.-level Epoch Core cultivation strength. However, Ayanduin just stepped forward, avoiding the punch, and poked his stomach. 

BOOOM!

The peak-level Epoch Core's internal organs exploded, becoming liquified instantly. Then, he said. "Tell me, what are that greedy kid's plans? I am not in a good mood, to be honest."

The man opened his mouth, but a mix of liquified organs poured out mixed with blood. Then, he fell dead. The sixth realm cultivator clicked his tongue. "I am not as calm as I thought. I failed to control my strength."

Looking around, he spotted another person spying, and this time, he tapped the woman on all four limbs.

The woman's limbs disappeared as if they were balloons being popped. Yet, before she fell down, a hand grabbed her neck as Ayanduin's face registered in front of her. "I shouldn't have damaged your vocal cords, so you should be able to speak, right?"

"Huh?" The woman was so confused that her brain was still trying to register the terrifying pain of having her limbs disintegrated. 

Ayanduin asked again. "Tell me your master's intentions. I might feel like not taking your life if you are honest."

The woman's brain finally caught up, and a surge of hellish torment burnt her brain. Sadly for her, she was in front of an Undying Monarch Body Realm, an angry one at that. A terrible spiritual pressure squeezed her lungs and throat enough that the scream of pain got strangled. 

"Don't scream. What if you scare Little M? You would be dead, you know?" 

The woman's eyes started pouring out with tears, but the ancient cultivator didn't even bat an eye. "So, once I stop squeezing your organs, you will answer my questions without screaming, okay? A scream of pain and you are dead. There are three more spies in this place, after all. I can ask one of them instead of you."

The woman quickly nodded, trying to hold back her pain as best as she could while she cried in pain and fear. Once Ayanduin stopped squeezing, she took in a deep breath and bit down so hard to avoid screaming her lungs out in pain that her teeth cracked. Ayanduin patiently waited until the woman's trembling and sobbing voice came out. "L-Lord He… sniff… wants us… to… kidnap… this shop's woman! W-We don't know why! I swear!"

Ayanduin clicked his tongue again, annoyed. "Really, using other people instead of his own to do the dirty work? Is he that afraid that I discover it was him? Sadly for you, I happen to know Yasenia a bit more than you, so your biggest mistake was confiding in her, expecting her to take your side."

He looked at the woman he was holding and sighed. "Living without limbs will be quite a torture, right?" The woman's eyes widened, and Ayanduin smiled gently, even though his eyes remained as emotionless as before. "I'll put you out of your misery."

"W-Wait!"

But the woman could not speak another word as Ayanduin threw her skyward. The woman's body shot upward like a shooting star, eventually hitting the dome several hundreds of kilometers above that was protecting this place and splashing into a gory firework.

Then, he took three steps, appearing in three different parts of the shop, and instantly killed the final three peak-level Epoch Cores. 

In the span of a few seconds, five strong peak-level Epoch Cores were utterly obliterated, leaving nothing behind. 

Ayanduin moved to the shop's ceiling and sat down with crossed legs. "Sigh… Fate is truly fickle." He muttered. "I mean, I still have the option to kidnap Yasenia and force Kali to give me the antidote. However, I somehow feel that if I do that, my end will be quite painful."

"You think well."

Ayanduin's eyebrows raised, and he looked to his right, where a three-meter-tall green-skinned woman appeared. "Huh? Aren't you something like Kali's summon? How did you sneak on me?"

Valeria laughed. "I am Kali's innate summon. She was born to command me and be my master. Now and until the day she or I perish, she will be my only master." Then, she patted the little creature by her side. "I sneaked close to you with this baby. It is called [Ethereal Blossom], a really powerful little darling."

Ayanduin blinked and looked at the adorable little monster. "Cute as well."

The [Ethereal Blossom] smiled, his body opening in the middle and showing a horrifying mouth full of teeth. Ayanduin coughed. "Okay, I take that back. You are a scary little thing."

Valeria laughed and walked forward, sitting by Ayanduin's side. The man asked. "You are not scared of me?"

"Scared?" Valeria shook her head. "You are greedy. However, you have a good heart. If you had accepted Yasenia's first offer, she would've tried to recruit you adequately. After all, as you said, you were the merchant, not the one who did the attack."

Ayanduin smiled faintly. "Your master seems to think differently."

"You forced her to think that way." Valeria smiled and stated. 

The sixth realm cultivator paused and sighed. "Well, I did. I underestimated Yasenia and Kali too much. I got bit by the cute little rabbit, not knowing that the cute little rabbit's teeth are poisonous..."

Valeria chuckled. "A good way to put it."

Both of them stayed silent for a few seconds, and Ayanduin eventually asked. "Well, what are you here for? To make sure that I don't escape?"

"Escape?" Valeria laughed. "You can't escape. Yasenia's last words have anchored you to them, haven't they? The young little dragon is cunning and knows how to manipulate people, even when those people know they are being manipulated. Her way of doing things leaves you with no other option but to obey, right?"

Ayanduin rolled his eyes. "An annoying dragon! Who taught her to do things that way? Someone in the future will feel too cornered and will bite out of frustration!"

Valeria nodded. "Perhaps. Well, you are not that one person who will bite out."

Ayanduin snorted. "Why not? My teeth are sharp!"

"Your heart is not."

Valeria stated, her lips arching in a smile. Ayanduin looked at Valeria and sighed. "Why do I feel like I am talking to a senior when you are a fifth-realm summon? Tsk, tsk. I feel like I've returned to that time with my master! Ugh. You won't hit me with a stick, right?"

"Hahaha. Perhaps I will if you act naughty~." Valeria then said. "Ayanduin, listen for a bit, okay?"

The merchant nodded and looked skyward again. 

"Yasenia and her family are beings that will reach great heights. Much greater than whatever you can even imagine right now. They are beings that have a complicated path before them, but if they manage to cross those paths, they will reach the top. Yasenia says that she is around seventy years old. However, did you know that, in truth, that's her soul's age? Her body is barely over half a century old."

Ayanduin's eyes opened widely. "What? Yasenia is a fifty-year-old child? Seventy was already incredibly low for what she has accomplished, but now you are telling me that she is twenty years younger?" 

Valeria nodded. "This information should tell you that, as long as you follow them honestly, you can also reach those greater heights. I am telling you this because you have a lot of talent that has been stifled by this place. You are clever, you are cunning, you have a good heart for a cultivator, but you have the ability to distinguish between a deal and personal feelings. You are a great merchant, and your disciple is as good of a seedling as you are."

Ayanduin looked at Valeria and smiled. "A seedling, me?"

Valeria looked at him and nodded. "The sixth realm is the beginning of true cultivation. Everything before that is just a little taste of what will come." 

Ayanduin hummed. "Even if I trust every word you say, how do I know that Yasenia's family members won't torture me?"

Valeria giggled. "Well, I can't tell you that it won't happen, sadly. As Yasenia said, her mom is quite a scary woman. If Yasenia's killing intent feels vast for you, you might faint when you feel her mother's! Hahaha. To put into perspective, Yasenia's killing intent and evilness is a drop of water compared with an ocean."

Looking at the green-skinned woman with a deadpan, Ayanduin said. "Now I want to flee, you know? I am taking everything you are telling me to face value, so please don't exaggerate things."

Valeria raised her eyebrow and answered something that left Ayanduin's eyebrows twitching incessantly. "I am not exaggerating." 

She then stood up slowly and said. "I came here to tell you, Ayanduin. Be sincere toward Yasenia, and she will be sincere to you. Slight her and she will retaliate a thousandfold."

Ayanduin hummed. "So she is the type that thinks that a drop of water should be repaid with a gushing spring; a slight grudge must be repaid with vengeance ten thousand times over."

Valeria laughed. "Right. That's the saying she usually follows. Not always, of course. Tengliu is an exception. You can become another exception." 

Ayanduin blinked. "Tengliu?"

The Nature Queen picked up Ethereal Blossom as if it were a child and smiled. "You might get along with her~. Either way, I've said my piece; the rest is up to you, Ayanduin."

Then, Valeria completely disappeared in front of his eyes, letting him know how Kali hid from him in that room. He looked toward Lord Gu's mansion and sighed. "Really… Getting rid of this useless pride as a senior is complicated. I feel so, ugh, when I think of working for a fifty-year-old child…" He fell on his back, looking at the starry sky. "Ah… Whatever. I lose nothing for spending a few centuries seeing if Valeria's words are correct… I might even recover my treasures."

The greedy expression of that dragon woman flashed in his mind, and he smiled wryly. "I am going to lose more treasures, right?"