Although the phoenixes had already warned Madeleine and Clara, they couldn't help but become anxious and focused on Cecile's dead body. 'If something goes wrong, not only Cecile but all of us are going to go on a direct visit to the underworld!'
The six mountain-sized phoenixes waited for the energy in the dome to completely gather, and they chanted, channeling their energy into the altar.
"Witness her Rebirth!"
However, at the same moment that the phoenixes were chanting, Feng Yuan, that was also flying with the other phoenixes, stealthily threw a small jar with his blood and other substances toward it!
Clara, who had been paying attention to him, shot forward rapidly, trying to reach the vial. However, because of the shock of seeing Cecile die, she was just a beat slower and couldn't reach it in time before it broke and mixed with the energy!
Clara's face morphed with rage as her silver eyes locked onto Feng Yuan, 'I'm going to torture you until I'm bored of hearing your screams!'
Clara knew that she couldn't make a scene and cause something to go wrong with the ritual, or she would really lose her mistress. Therefore, she just flew beside Feng Yuan, not looking at the ceremony and focusing 100% on him so he wouldn't do anything else. On the other side, feeling Clara's overbearing spiritual sense in every feather of his body left Feng Yuan trembling with fear, 'How did she see me!? I even threw it with a flap of my wings to make it stealthier!'
What Feng Yuan didn't know was that Clara was an excellent hunter, and she had turned him into her prey the moment she found something wrong. Sadly, she wasn't able to prevent it.
Meanwhile, the six phoenixes instantly detected the anomaly! However, they couldn't stop the ceremony, or Cecile would be truly dead!
Nonetheless, all of them being enraged was putting it lightly; they were wrathful. 'WHO DARES TAMPER THE SACRED RITUAL!?'
However, they didn't lose focus. First, they had to bring Cecile back to life, then worry about side effects.
They continued the ritual, and the energy on the dome gathered into an ethereally beautiful silver phoenix with white flames surrounding it. Its icy blue phoenix eyes looked down at Cecile's dead body and dove down, leaving a white trail.
*Qyaa~.*
Its melodic cry echoed in the surroundings, as beautiful as nature itself, mesmerizing to all listening creatures. It transformed into a beam and landed on Cecile.
Inside Cecile's dry spiritual area, a white flame came into being and grew, forming the shape of the ethereally beautiful Phoenix. The Phoenix extended its wings, and its white flames froze everything. Cecile's spiritual space became a tundra. Then, the Phoenix gathered its wings and slowly transformed, creating the silhouette of a winged female with a beauty that could entrance even gods.
On the outside, Cecile's body was absorbing the beam, and suddenly, her aura unfurled.
*BOOM!*
It washed the altar with her overbearing and majestic presence, letting the world know that the Phoenix was reborn!
Cecile still didn't move from her lying position; her eyes were still closed. When the beam was completely absorbed, the Phoenixes activated the altar again, creating different formations in the sky, and shouted.
"Witness her transformation!"
Cecile's body began changing!
First, her hair changed colors, from blue to a beautiful wavy Platinum silver, with the roots of her hair raven black.
Then, her body, facial features, and skin perfected, becoming a beauty that could entrance gods and mortals alike, but seemingly so unreachable that it made people feel inferior, making them feel unworthy to sully her beauty.
Cecile opened her eyes, revealing her striking blue phoenix eyes, so piercing that they seemed to see through lies and the truths of the world.
She stood up slowly, and two bumps appeared on her back as she did. Then, a pair of beautiful silver feathered wings manifested, filling her surroundings with silver feathers. They were more than two-meter-long and had white flames dancing around.
Above her perfectly round and perky butt, three long silver phoenix tails appeared, completing her transformation into a phoenix woman.
The Phoenixes chanted, pouring the rest of the energy into Cecile.
"Witness her Ascension!"
Cecile looked upward with an indifferent face that commanded respect and stole hearts alike. Then, she crouched slightly and flapped.
*Woosh!*
A gale blew all the silver feathers around her, and she soared to the sky.
Each time she flapped, her aura multiplied, and her foundation became sturdier, reaching monstrous levels!
With the first flap, she reached the fourth level; with the second, fifth level; with the third, sixth level. Each time she advanced, her aura made a shockwave that shook her surroundings!
However, Cecile wasn't done yet! She flapped again, passing the altar and soaring into the sky; her level advanced to the seventh level! Then, with one last effort, Cecile flapped one final time, reaching the eighth level.
*BOOM!*
Her aura skyrocketed, and Cecile felt an immense strength coursing her body, elevating all her body functions to a degree she couldn't even dream of before.
Cecile had jumped from the third to the eighth level of the Mental Nourishing realm. Her basic form was as strong as Isla's transformed state, and she hadn't even reached the half-step!
Cecile extended her wings and floated, looking at the world below her. Even after this transformation, the first thing that passed through her mind was this, 'At last, I have the strength to protect you, my love.'
At the same time that Cecile thought about this, the ritual ended, and Cecile felt her body paralyze midair. Then, an excruciating pain burned her heart, making her grunt in pain! 'What is happening!?'
Cecile felt her body forcefully trying to change something, but another part of her resisted. It was something trying to destroy her connection with Yasenia! Then, the roar of her dragoness reached her, no matter the distance, carrying an amount of wrath that Cecile had felt only once before, 'WHO DARES TRY TO CUT MY CONNECTION WITH CECILE!? I'M GOING TO DESTROY YOUR WHOLE RACE!'
Madeleine had already realized something was wrong when Clara moved beside Feng Yuan and stayed there, looking at him as if he was a dead man walking. Therefore, the moment the ritual ended, she flashed beside Cecile at top speed and caught her paralyzed disciple.
At the same time, one elder shouted, making his voice echo through the whole mountain. "ALL OF YOU STAY WHERE YOU ARE! IF SOMEONE DARES LEAVE THE MOUNTAIN, DEATH WILL BE YOUR ONLY ENDING!"
Then, three phoenix elders unfurled their spiritual sense to the maximum distance, covering thousands of kilometers, and dispersed, trying to find an anomaly.
Feng Yuan's father and another two female phoenixes transformed and arrived beside Cecile and Madeleine. A moment later, Clara appeared, grabbing Feng Yuan by the neck in his phoenix form, making the elder sigh painfully.
Even if Clara didn't speak about Feng Yuan, the elders didn't say anything because it was clear why she had carried him here.
They immediately began analyzing Cecile. One of the females diagnosed her and said, "This is bad. A foreign substance is trying to override Cecile's link to her current soulmate."
Madeleine and Clara opened their eyes, and then their aura exploded outward without injuring Cecile. Though the same couldn't be said for Feng Yuan.
Madeleine snarled, "I better get a satisfactory answer, or I will dedicate the rest of my life to hunting [Ice Phoenixes]!"
The other phoenix woman said calmly, "Junior, even if we are in the wrong, don't be so arrogant with those statements, or you won't even know how you died. We are going to try to slow down the process, but fiddling with soul links while they are in this unstable state is not something we can do. Sadly, there isn't a fate-attributed cultivator strong enough to mess with this near us. We need a fate attributed cultivator and, ideally, her current mate to appear."
Madeleine sneered and asked, "Then what do you do when something like this happens to your juniors? Just let them die!?"
Feng Yuan's father sighed, saying, "This ritual is sacred for us. And this is the first time someone has done anything during the ritual for more than 100 000 years. We haven't needed anything like this. To think it would be my son who made such transgression...." He chuckled dispiritedly.
Meanwhile, Cecile was gritting her teeth as her body burned, 'It seems that all that Yasenia warned me to be careful about happened.'
Inside her soul, a black-red substance was attacking the silvery, golden, white cocoon that protected Cecile's core being. Cecile's spiritual core was a complete mess as the tundra was filled with the presence of the thing that was trying to take her over.
The cocoon was resisting while the substance attacked it again and again.
Meanwhile, Cecile didn't know how to use her soul, so the only thing she could do was watch passively, feeling powerless, as that substance consumed more and more of her soul. Even in this situation, Cecile smiled tenderly as she looked at the cocoon protecting her, 'Is this a reminder that no matter how strong we are, you will always be protecting us? If it weren't for you, my love. This thing would have already taken me over...'
Meanwhile, very far away from the Ice Nirvana Mountain, inside another mountain, a succubus with five pairs of fleshy wings was looking at a crystal with a very deep frown.
The crystal was silver-colored and had some black and red spots on it. However, those spots stopped growing when Yasenia and Cecile's connection counterattacked. The succubus was startled and thought, 'How is this possible? The connection should have been instantly erased, allowing me to take control of this woman! What kind of beast-human has marked her!? A dragon god!?'
The succubus bit one of her black nails anxiously, 'I targeted this woman because those children told me it would cause problems between the alliances, making our nearby invasion smoother. What do I do now? We planned to attack the Ice Nirvana Mountain first and expand from here. If this fails....'
While the succubus tried to take control over Cecile, thirty minutes passed, and a loud sound of space shattering occurred near Cecile. Then, a foreign but tyrannical spiritual sense swept the whole Ice Nirvana Mountain, carrying the presence of death with it. The elders were alarmed and were about to go out when a ship appeared above them.
Two women with long black hair descended from it, seemingly ready to slay mortals and gods alike. They were followed by another group.
One of the two leading women had a cold expression and an oppressive death aura around her; her red eyes were locked onto the Phoenix elders, making them feel pressured.
Meanwhile, the other had a wrathful expression as her red-slit eyes swept everything, searching for someone. When she found Cecile, she charged toward her without caring about anything else and not noticing Cecile's physical changes. Knowing who these two were, they didn't stop them.
Eve appeared before Clara, expressionless, and Tatyana appeared before the elders with glowing red eyes. Both spoke simultaneously, "Explain."
Clara slammed her forehead onto the ground, letting her white hair cover her head, and she repeated everything from her perspective without letting a single word, action, or emotion out of her tale.
Meanwhile, the elders explained to Tatyana what had happened.
While these two were listening. Yasenia ran beside Cecile and put a hand on top of her dantian, pouring her energy while her slit eyes took a silvery tone. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I'm going to make whoever caused this wish they were dead!"
Then, when the silver consumed her whole iris, Yasenia closed her eyes and focused on their connection; her aura exploded—having activated [Day and Night] and making her surroundings her domain.
Her presence grew exponentially, making all the present seniors look at her with wonder. Then, using her connection as a medium, Yasenia dove straight into Cecile's soul.
This time every single senior around, including Tatyana, looked at Yasenia as if they were looking at an alien thing they had never seen in their long lives.
[author] Cough... Another cliff... It is not intentional, I swear. Thanks to the new , Elias Said and Wafflz. [/author]