Yin & Yang Pleasures of Cultivation

Chapter 122: Crystal Tree

"Fuuu.Fruna didn't exaggerate in the slightest about that flute. It's actually too frighteningly overwhelming. If we weren't protected, we too, would've foolishly slept in the snow. But ignoring them for a second. How are you holding up, Darcel?"

Yasami promptly expressed her concerns. She immediately took her gaze off the six sleeping silver armor men and stared at Darcel. Yasami was quite meticulous in her stare, wanting to if there were any signs of concern in him.

Aniela had also snapped her head towards Darcel, nodding while saying, 

"Mnh! No extra soul drainage? Or the feeling of lightheadedness?" 

Both girls had dutifully recalled the potential risks of the flute Fruna told them about. And while they know Darcel had a monstrous soul, they still couldn't help but feel a bit worried if anything did affect Darcel's overall health. 

Hearing the girl's concern did cause a soothing feeling to bud in Darcel's own chest.

It was a bit strange for Darcel, but knowing that someone will be immediately concerned for your well-being is quite lovely. He gave the girls a reassuring smile to help relieve a bit of their worries but not all.

While doing so, Darcel had also gone over his whole body condition. And he got an immediate result after a quick second scan. 

Truthfully, Darcel didn't feel much different after using the flute.

Though he did feel a slight drain on his soul energy, it wasn't anything notable for his standards of using his soul. 

"You girls are cute but relax. I'm pretty much A-ok. But I am a bit surprised. For such a potentially life-risking power, all I feel is a slight drain on my soul."

"Fuu.cute? Ah! I-I mean, I'm surprised you felt anything at all!" 

Yasami had to cover up her slight embarrassment when she heard Darcel so casually call her cute while staring right at her.

"Hehe~, the little cutie is right. Maybe after more repeated practice with that flute, you wouldn't be able to feel anything at all, Darcy! In fact, me and Yasami should get some 'private lessons' about learning the flute."

When Aniela's tone turned slightly suggestive and teasing at the end, Yasami was able to pick up on it this time. 

She quickly snapped her head away from the shameless duo to stare back at the still sleeping silver armor men. "Anyways! Soo.are we killing these bags of silver eyesores?" 

Yasami pointed out to the duo, getting them to momentarily think. 

Aniela, though, she reached an immediate conclusion, nodding her head and saying,

"Leaving them be and letting them go would be far too dangerous for us. Plus, letting them get back to the group would raise far more suspicions on us than just killing them here. Plus, let's not forget their juicy rewards inside their spatial rings!"

Darcel already went a step ahead, fishing out his scimitar and walking over to Gedu's sleeping body. Even as he got so close to Gedu, crushing snow right into his ear, the man still didn't wake up.

Darcel had then lined up his scimitar at Gedu's neck and quickly swiped his blade, easily tearing through his armor and body. 

Darcel lobbed off Gedu's head in one swift motion, causing a fountain of blood to gush from his neck, painting the pure white snow in crimson red paint.

Since Gedu was at his most absolute defenseless state. With just a small bit of his power, Darcel was able to cut through his armor and his eighth rank Innate Core body.

Seeing the gruesome scene, neither Aniela and Yasami were put off by it. 

In a dog eat dog world, it didn't matter at all what means you use to kill your opponent as long as you did manage to kill your enemies.

After Darcel's swift display, Aniela fished out her scimitar while Yasami ignited one of her hands in fiery blue flames. 

As they walked towards one of the silver armor men, Darcel told them, 

"Let's finish this and the mission up quickly. Though we don't have to really fear the Innate Cores in the Silver Bloody Hammer group, we do need to increase our prowess if any Heavenly Kings deems us as trouble. And I'm sure we'll be seeing more of these silver eyesores in the near future."

Though what Darcel explained to the girls was a potentially serious problem. Both Aniela and Yasami couldn't stop an excited battle-hungry smile from forming on their face about future encounters.

Darcel as well couldn't stop the excitement from springing up inside him. 

He knows he and the girls weren't something like battle junkies. Yet, the prospect of having their skills tested is something none of them can keep their anticipation down for.

.

Back on route for their mission, Darcel guided the girls at a completely relaxed pace this time, now that they weren't getting tailored. 

While they walked, Darcel was internally grinning, thinking over his 'Yin Pleasure' skills and the rate of his relationship progress with Yasami.

And so far, everything was progressing smoothly. Extremely fast and smooth, in fact. 

Darcel concluded in his mind that a mix of using various tricks with his Darkness, such as coating his vocal cords with it. And Aniela's radiant energy was getting Yasami quickly attached to them.

Darcel had also realized with his Yin pleasure, he could potentially take things up to the next level. 

But, Darcel didn't want to continually overwhelm the fiery girl and was satisfied at their current pace for now.

During their walk here, he and Aniela engaged in more random talk with Yasami and learned something critical about her. 

She was almost the same as them when it comes to never hesitate to speak out her opinions.

Though there was a critical difference between his and Aniela's speech compared to Yasami. While because they can efficiently deal with the fiery words of Yasami and turn it back on her to make her blush.

Other more prideful cultivators won't be so kind. 

Darcel would say Yasami needs a bit of fine-tuning on speaking out her mind. Even for all the confidence Darcel has, he clearly understands there's some monstrous powerhouse none of them can afford to offend.

Still, that would be a discussion for a later event. 

Taking his eyes off the map, Darcel glanced backward to see Yasami giggling and smiling while talking to Aniela.

Darcel is positioned in the middle of the girls, and neither of them had a problem with saddling up close to him or talking across to each other. 

Darcel felt it was quite lovely to be sandwiched in between two cute girls.

Shifting his mind from his more perverse thoughts, Darcel listened in on what Aniela and Yasami are discussing. And an immediate wry smile formed his face hearing their.interesting talk.

"Heh-heh~, for such a straight-laced guy that's always trying to act cool, I'm surprised he's letting you get away with calling him such a cute pet name after all this time." 

Yasami was uttering out small sweet little giggles while talking.

Right then, Darcel zipped his eyes over to meet Aniela's gaze, and they both smiled at the same time. 

Instead of Aniela answering, Darcel turned his gaze over to Yasami before she had noticed it, telling her, 

"It's just a sign of her cute little affections for me. In fact, the first time she ever uttered the nickname, it was a slip of her tongue that basically stuck with her because of her budding feelings. And you know.I most certainly wouldn't bet against it if the same thing happens to you, Yasami."

Caught off guard since Yasami was expecting Aniela to answer, she promptly felt her cheeks quickly heat up. 

In a vain attempt not to stutter, Yasami tried to confidently say, "H-Hmph! L-like that'll happen anytime soon!....Ah? Is that." 

Yasami had suddenly stopped as her eyes gazed upon a magnificent sight that almost seemed a bit too magical.

"It's.it's.it's so beautiful! Didn't think out in the same repeating land of snows would we ever get a chance to see something so.exotic!" 

Aniela squealed out her amazement, stopping in place to stare at the beautiful sight ahead. 

Darcel had also stopped and taken in the beautiful sight dozens of meters ahead of them. 

What had gotten the trio so worked up was an enormously tall, brilliantly glossy crystal ice tree.

The tree crystal blue shine exuded an otherworldly vibe to stare at, making one get lost in its natural majesticness. Combined with the pure white blanket of snow that seemed to sparkle in the crystal tree area made the sight even further breathtaking.

Darcel, Aniela, and Yasami couldn't even see the top of the crystal tree. Its height pierced all the way into the beautiful blue sky. 

The most striking aspect that caught Darcel's attention the most was the crystal tree branches.

More specifically, it was the large blue ice seeds that elegantly swayed from the tree branches. Darcel knew these ice seeds were actually called Innate Seeds.

And these seeds were essential vital items for any aspiring Mage alchemist. 

The Innate seeds are the main ingredients Mage alchemists use to create various powerful pills, only those in the Innate Core realm can absorb.

Taking his eyes off the beautiful crystal tree, Darcel glanced his eyes down the surrounding area of the crystal tree. Because of their enhanced vision, Darcel, Aniela, and Yasami didn't need to get close at all to obverse the crystal tree.

Meaning there was several meters wide of empty snow surrounding the crystal tree. 

Seemingly, for any other cultivators that had no knowledge of the crystal tree, they would be allured into walking in its vicinity.

But, Darcel, Aniela, and Yasami stay rooted in their spots. 

Suddenly then, while she was in awe of the crystal tree, sparks of blue flames flashed from under Yasami's hood. Neither Darcel nor Aniela had noticed her flames, however.

"Hey.hey! I can sense it! Those so-called Ice demons, there all underground surrounding the tree. And they weren't kidding about their numbers. There's probably about hundreds of these beasts. Still, like I thought when coming here, these beasts are pretty weak. Just merely at the fifth rank."

Yasami informed Darcel and Aniela, who was actually having a bit of trouble trying to sense the demons underground. 

Their eyes briefly flashed to Yasami in mild surprise since she was faster than them in this regard.

Looking over back to the crystal tree, Aniela contemplated a thought for a second. And immediately after, her eyes brightly lit up as her plan was ingenious!

"Hundreds of fifth ranks, and we don't have to face a single one of them! Though they're pretty weak, I have the perfect shortcut for this mission." 

Puzzlement swirled around Yasami's mind since she couldn't think of any useful shortcut she or any one of them could do.

Darcel, however, his eyes flashed in realization of what Aniela is going to do. "Telekinesis, eh? Bringing that out after all this time of not using it? Hopefully, your skills didn't get rusty with it."

"Rusty? It's second nature to me, Darcy, no matter how long I don't use it! Yasami, just watch this." When Aniela finished boasting, she began to glow her hands up in a bright, radiant white shine.

Yasami's eyes widened a bit, seeing another beautiful sight. 

Aniela's telekinesis power compared to her other abilities just exuded a certain captivating charm that made it hard to look away from.

Under Yasami's awe eyes, Aniela smirked and directed her Spirit Senses directly on the crystal ice tree, ice seeds. 

For a few seconds, none of the trios made any movement or utter a single noise.

Aniela poured her full concertation into the seeds, having a beautiful, focused face while doing so. And finally, after a few anticipating silent seconds, Aniela made a simple grasping motion with her hands.

'Hua!'

Immediately then, numerous ice seeds sparked in a bright white shine and split off from the crystal ice tree, sailing right over to Darcel's group. 

It only took a mere couple of seconds before dozens of ice seeds were hovering over the trio's heads.

"And now to finish it!" 

Aniela's spatial ring intensely sparked in its usual purple shine, covering the whole area around them. Once the purple flash died down, all of the dozens of ice seeds were safely inside Aniela's spatial ring.