Yin & Yang Pleasures of Cultivation

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami didn't waste a moment when traveling towards their next town. They've swiftly sailed through the wind, becoming blurs to anyone that would gaze up in the skies.

Now that they could travel by flying, the trio found this remarkably easier, faster, and more efficient than taking some kind of beast mount. 

Darcel and Aniela had even claimed if they knew about the greatness of flying sooner, they would've pushed hard to break through to the Innate Core realm anyway they can.

In the skies, the trio very rarely encountered any bird-type Spirit Monster. And the ones they did weren't powerful at all. Most of them range from the mere Innate Core realm to the first level of the Heavenly Transformation realm.

These kinds of prowess were honestly nothing to the trio. 

Their own prowess may have received a massive down ground compared to their previous. However, it still could achieve amazing feats that would shock any average cultivator. 

Just Darcel and Aniela alone can defeat peak Innate Core in their bloodline state while also causally matching first-level Heavenly Transformation beasts. 

Then there was Masami, who could quickly kill any peak Innate Core beast and make fighting any first-level Heavenly King much easier.

Other than the occasional Spirit Monster, the trio had also sensed other fellow cultivators soaring through the air. But because of their low realms, nobody paid any genuine attention to them.

The ones who mainly flew through the skies were all Heavenly Transformation cultivators; they, of course, won't spare even a single interest to mere Innate Cores youths.

Moreover, with the speeds everyone went, it was essentially impossible to tell anyone's appearance, meaning Aniela and Masami were safe from unwanted attention. 

With surprisingly extreme ease, Darcel guided the girls to their next town. It took only a few hours until they have traversed over thousands of miles! 

Darcel, Aniela, and Masami may not have overwhelming speed. But they made up for it by only needing a minuscule amount of Qi energy to fly with, allowing them to maintain a consistent travel speed.

Under this speed, the trio had soon enough arrived at a relatively smaller scale town named Spire town. 

When making it here, the trio identified it as a smaller town, though in reality, it still was considerably expansive, reaching out for several hundreds of miles.

Immediately upon arriving, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami got down to work. They had swiftly shuffled through the town, purchasing everything they needed before heading over to a random inn.

Once purchasing a room for one night, the trio are currently hunched over a desk in their room, gazing at a large sheet of paper. 

After having the same clothes for so long, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami had finally made a wardrobe change.

They were currently dressed in a plain, leather outfit which is supposed to help them deal with the constant freezing temperatures. Resting on each of their waists were black and white masks that would help make traveling around smoother and less tense.

And the trio just didn't buy clothes from their shopping trip. 

The sheet of paper they had brought and are currently looking at was a map with a detailed overview of the whole Icy Cloud Province.

Darcel, Aniela, and even Masami were taking in every little detail, noting anything that looked suspicious or noteworthy. 

Just a little bit before this, Darcel and Aniela questioned Masami, asking her, shouldn't she already know about the Icy Cloud Province geography?

When they arrive at Spire Town, neither Darcel nor Aniela wonder about it at first. But when staring at the map, that thought had suddenly streaked into their minds. 

After all, they both recall Masami telling them that her Grandmother brought her out to explore and occasionally give her lessons.

Masami's answer, however, nearly made both Darcel and Aniela falter to the ground. With a shrug of her shoulder, she told them, 

"Ah, well, I do remember my Grandmother giving this lesson. But….you see….I sort of just never really paid attention to it?"

It was initially highly strange to Darcel and Aniela that Masami could have such low attention to this subject. Considering that, from what they see of her comprehension abilities, she's no slouch in paying attention.

However, the more Darcel and Aniela thought about it, they could kind of see why Masami barely paid attention to the geography. 

She was and still is the daughter of one of the strongest men in the entire Province. Moreover, her Ice Nine Tail Sect is one of the strongest and wealthiest Sects throughout the Icy Cloud Province. 

Before she ran away from home because of all the pressure, Masami never thought she would be traveling far from her Sect without anybody to protect her.

Afterward, even when running away from home, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision aided by her Grandmother. She wouldn't have any time to study geography at that moment. 

Thinking about Masami's situation only caused a greater flame to lit up Darcel and Aniela's motivation. 

Aniela more so wanted Masami to stay with them, so she could never experience such complicated troubles again.

While Darcel still had his mindset on that previous plan of his. Even though he hasn't brought it up to Aniela and Masami again, he would make sure that well-served revenge would be dished out to Masami's family no matter what.

This is why the three of them were all so attentive when peering down at the Icy Cloud map. 

After only a few minutes of silence as they studied the map, Aniela had suddenly pointed her finger at a specific part.

"So this is the place we must get to. Azog Ice Town. For a town, this place looks like it's the biggest! Over thousands of miles long! Although….considering our current place, this distance seems rather far."

Aniela explained while tracing her finger over the portrait of Azog Ice Town. 

Darcel trailed his eyes over to Aniela's finger and began to analyze what was surrounding this area.

"Hmmm….with our speed, this distance won't be that tedious to travel at all. We could take a few pit stops if you girls really want to. But I suggest it would be better for us to rush there as soon as possible."

Aniela contemplated Darcel's words for a moment, already thinking it was a good idea on a subconscious level. She was about to talk again, but right then, Masami, who's been silently staring at this portion of the map, suddenly felt her pupils dilate.

"Ah!! It's close to New Moon City?!"

Upon this terrifying realization, Masami's foxtails immediately puffed right up as if she had just encountered her natural enemy. 

"Eh??" 

Both Darcel and Aniela jumped up with a slight fright in their step. Besides when they were making love, they never heard Masami be this loud! 

Their expressions quickly turn concerning and serious as Darcel asked her, "What is it? Is there something dangerous about that City?" 

"Fuuu…." 

Masami didn't jump to reply at first, opting to take one giant breath. She quickly quelled her sudden surge of emotions, letting both her fox ears and foxtails limply go down.

Her gaze tore off from the map, looked Darcel and Aniela straight in the eyes, and she told them, "New Moon City….this is where my family resides. This is the central location of the damn Ice Nine Tail Sect."

"That's…." Darcel and Aniela nearly froze up after hearing that. 

Gone was that overwhelming confidence in thinking they could take on a behemoth of a sect like this. With what they have now, Darce and Aniela know any Mid-level genius could take them down, forget taking on the whole Sect.

As Darcel thought about it more, he also realized a peculiarity in these names. 

"New Moon City….New Branch City. Is Branch City also connected to your Sect in some way?" Darcel inquisitively asked.

"Yea….kind off. Well, as far as I know, my Sect is the one that funds that big Mercenary event. It's also why Kassidy's gang came down here. All just so they can gain real-life battle experience."

Masami explained to them, spouting an increasingly grave expression while talking. 

Aniela was the one to speak next and asked, "Then don't tell me….does your family influence even expands over the Ice town?"

Any bright optimism or energy within Aniela's tone was gone. After everything she's been through in that independent realm, she began to realistically and logically look at their situations.

And anything involving Masami's family is like a bucket of cold water that can ruin everything for them. 

Squinting her eyes, Masami started to quickly remember all that she knew about Azog Ice Town. Her expression relaxed just a bit as she told them, 

"Maybe my reaction was too knee-jerk….they actually don't have much influence over that town. At most, they will send the occasional Elder over there for some kind of business deal."

"I see…." 

Despite explaining it better, Darcel could sense this didn't help to alleviate Aniela and Masami's worries. 

Without any warning, Darcel had then gently grasped Aniela and Masami's shoulders, causing the girls to stare directly into his face.

"Let's all just take it easy. As long as we keep on covering ourselves and quickly make it over to that Mage group, we should be able to limit our problems. We're a team. We can get through this." Darcel told the girls in his most calming voice.

"Yea…." Aniela and Masami, however, didn't look too convinced. Their expressions were still fraught with worry. 

Knowing the very root of their worries and doubts, Darcel decided to go down a different route to help quell their nerves.

"Mnh~!" 

Both Aniela and Masami raised cute squeals as Darcel had suddenly pulled them into a threeway kiss! 

"Ah-Ahn~" 

The girls were only surprised for a moment before they immediately surrendered themselves to the kiss, leaking out small moans of pleasure.

Warm energy spread all throughout Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's bodies as their Darkness Soul Link started to slowly pulsate. This warm energy gave the trio an indescribable feeling of security.

Instead of this being a kiss of just lust or love, this had served to calm Aniela and Masami's mental state. And though Darcel was the most stable between the three, he couldn't deny that he was also feeling calmer from this threeway kiss.

After a few seconds, Darcel slowly pulled back from the kiss, wanting the girls to catch their breath and minds. 

But, immediately when he backed away,

"Ok!! Now I feel some confidence!" Aniela had burst with this sudden bright energy as if she had just gotten incredibly recharge. 

"Hmph. I guess I, too, feel much better about going to this place. Let's see what these prideful Mages have to offer us."

Masami's voice was now more assured sounding, and she spouted a familiar slight smirk as she crossed her arms. 

'I guess this could work….' Darcel thought to himself with a small smile.

Since it is like this, Darcel felt a touch more confident about handling Aniela and Masami's mental state. The yellow-eyed woman may have mostly ruined his Darkness Soul link, but it could still manage situations like this.

Now, Darcel had higher hopes they could pull through these troubling times.