Chapter 1718 - She's Serious?
"Indeed," Davis nodded to Ancestor Tirea Snow's question, "The spirit holding my Natalya's hand is called Iesha, from the Sealed Lands of the Spirits."
"What!?"
Many stood in shock, especially the Falling Snow Sect members, as they more or less knew about the Sealed Lands of the Spirits, unlike the Alstreim Family elders and youths.
Davis briefly introduced the Sealed Land of the Spirits and how it remained closed from time immemorial before he became silent.
"She is not a Nethersnow Spirit, right?" Tanya Frostblight asked.
"I'm certainly not a Nethersnow Spirit."
Iesha's melodious voice echoed towards Tanya Frostblight, causing the latter to go wide-eyed. Not because of her speech but her undulations that began to surge at this moment.
The people who were already astonished became more shocked.
A Ninth Stage Spirit!?
How could one be present here!?
"She's a Frigid World Spirit, a princess of the Frigid World Spirit Empire, a hegemon like the Astral Light Sect."
Davis couldn't help but proudly smile at Iesha.
Indeed, without him messing her cultivation session, Iesha would've stepped into the Spirit Ancestor Stage. In a mere three days, she had proven herself to be capable and talented, contrary to the hastiness her imperial father imposed upon her because apparently: rules were rules.
Nevertheless, he cast his gaze on Natalya and wondered how she fared these days.
To Natalya, being near Iesha seemed to have beneficial effects for her. The Frigid World Spirit was admittedly a spirit that focused on Ice and Yin Laws, making Davis admit that it was beneficial for them to stay together, and Natalya seemed to want to be with Iesha as well, both for him and her cultivation.
However, he also knew, no, he came to know another way to increase Natalya's cultivation after researching more about spirits.
Magical Beast had their cores, but in the same way, spirits had their cores called soul cores. However, not all spirits possessed soul cores. But, both Iesha and Pia Noel possessed one when he last checked. If it weren't for Iesha, Davis was almost tempted to take Pia Noel's soul core and use it on Natalya to improve her Soul Forging Cultivation.
This information also explained why there would be Soul Emperors in the Sealed Land of the Spirits instead of Law Rune Stage Powerhouses. When soul cores were present, it seemed like the rate of improvement in Soul Forging Cultivation was broadly increased.
Nonetheless, Davis couldn't understand something.
The true relationship between humans, magical beasts, and spirits, these three races.
Was it one of devouring each other for nourishment? Or... could it ever transcend that natural relationship and reach peace and harmony between the three races?
"Congratulations, Earth Dragon Queen Isabella and Fire Phoenix Princess Shirley. I have heard about you two from Natalya."
Shirley raised her brows while the others also went wide-eyed, especially Bylai Zlatan and Zestria Domitian.
They were already in a stupor to hear that this Shirley saved the Emperor of Death from death, but now they instantly understood and connected the dots as they already knew about the Forsaken Phoenix Realm.
Shirley was the inheritor of the Fire Phoenix Immortal Inheritance!? If the Burning Phoenix Ridge learned about it, wouldn't they forget about all repercussions and have tried to attack the Emperor of Death and Shirley for betrayal?
They already knew about Shirley as she was the top disciple of the Burning Phoenix Ridge who created a Perfect Domain, closest to perfection. So they became rather confused.
'Unless...'
Bylai Zlatan's eyes shook.
The Burning Phoenix Ridge was allied with the Emperor of Death!
Davis noticed the two beauties' reaction before he smiled at everyone.
"Don't be surprised. Iesha is an imperial princess, so she knows how to behave in social situations. She isn't wild like we would have initially thought but refined and noble. Besides, spirits are just like magical beasts and humans, able to build civilizations if they wanted to."
"....."
"Woah!~"
"Who's the spirit behind you?"
"Do spirits make love?"
"What are you doing here?"
"How did you exit the barrier? Are the spirits up to something!?"
A resounding silence pervaded the atmosphere before clamor erupted as many people started bombarding Iesha with questions, causing her lips to twitch.
She started answering them one by one, communicating with many humans for the first time in her life. Before, she only saw them from a distance and wished that she could help human slaves, but if she went and aided them, she knew that she would instead kindle the jealousy of fellow spirits and bring harm to the human slaves rather than good.
Therefore, she didn't dare go near them.
Davis saw everyone become busy while Natalya dropped Iesha on the southern side before she flew towards him.
"Natalya, you..."
Shirley pouted while Natalya laughed.
"What's the problem? It is better if everyone knew that you're the inheritor of the Fire Phoenix Immortal so that they won't try to mess with you, even if Davis was absent, just like how they fear Isabella and Evelynn."
Natalya flicked her black hair as she smirked at Shirley. She then bent down and planted a kiss on Davis's cheeks.
"I missed you~"
Davis caressed Natalya's fair cheek as he smiled.
"Thanks for taking care of Iesha."
"Heh, I obtained some benefits for my cultivation. I'll tell you later."
Natalya smiled as she looked around and saw that a person was missing.
"Where's Tina? Oh, your siblings are also missing?"
"They're cultivating..."
Davis answered, causing Natalya to nod while Fiora stood up.
"Elder sis, come sit here~"
Natalya smiled with a heartened expression and sat in Fiora's place while the latter ran to be seated with her mother-in-law, boldly sitting beside Claire, who then doted on her.
'Another picture I don't know about...'
Davis sighed as he looked at their interaction.
However, he lowered his head and pursed his lips as he became worried for Tina. Even her family, her younger sister, and adoptive father were here as he invited them, so why didn't Tina Roxley come out of seclusion?
'Is she in an inextricable situation like breaking through? If so, I can only see her later...'
Davis took an Aqua Flood Dragon Fry Finger and ate it, thinking that he could only introduce her later to his entire family in a formal manner.
"So, is it just you and your maid. You said that spirits do have parents and that your imperial father exiled you, right? So where is your mother, or perhaps, your siblings?"
Suddenly, this question echoed after silence pervaded the atmosphere.
Davis came out of his reverie and saw that it was Niera who asked this question. However, looking at Iesha, who lowered her head, Niera knew that she stepped on a killing formation as she spoke belatedly.
"Ah, you don't need to answer it."
"My mother... she..." Iesha raised her head and lightly smiled,
"She died after giving birth to me."
"..."
Davis raised his brows as he rather expected her to be imprisoned in the imperial palace or killed by humans, and he didn't expect her to die from childbirth.
How can a spirit die from giving birth to a child?
"You have my condolences." Niera looked sorry as she lowered her head, "But how?"
She was equally confused as Davis, and because she was in a sealed world of lightning all this time, she was intensely curious about Iesha and her spirit world history.
"Well, didn't I tell you that our population is low?"
Iesha gestured.
"Spirits are naturally endowed with greater talent than humans and magical beasts, but like bloodline limitations, there is a strict limit on our propagation. A small number of female spirits die after childbirth. The chances of dying are around twenty percent, but it can be lowered to as low as ten percent with unique resources. Usually, in the imperial household, there is rarely any death because death from childbirth could be prevented with such resources, but in my mother's case, she was unlucky to still die from a ten percent chance."
"Wait, you're saying that if you normally give birth to an offspring, the chances that you will die is one-fifth?"
Niera looked shocked as she stood up, almost flipping the succulent pieces of meat in front of her.
Iesha smilingly nodded.
"Yes, and with each pregnancy, that number increases twice as much based on some factors, so that's why I said that I haven't seen any female spirits have more than three children, and commoners could only have one or two. If some female spirits try to conceive after the third child, it is the same as killing themselves, although, by the time they think about giving birth to their third child, they're usually dead already."
Iesha took a deep breath before her smile turned wry.
"In this case, we envy you humans and magical beasts who are able to procreate as much as you can without having to endanger your lives."
Everyone couldn't help but nod their heads in understanding.
This... was just too sad, being unable to give birth to descendants as one wished and having to face the danger of death, even in the hue of first pregnancy.
Ancestor Tirea Snow and the other Falling Snow Sect members finally understood why the Nethersnow Spirits had no more than one or two children in their lives. So it was because of this reason.
"Well, we humans envy your ability to reach the Ninth Stage in fifteen years."
Natalya rolled her eyes as she smirked at Iesha.
When she heard that Iesha reached Spirit Ancestor Stage at seventeen years old, she was dumbfounded. Not only Natalya but everyone present agreed with her.
Davis also agreed with Natalya. Even Clara, who was showered with resources from a young age and perceived her to be more talented than him from birth, couldn't reach such a level.
Nevertheless, Davis finally understood why spirits took chastity seriously, more than humans ever could. It wasn't because of societal constructs or moralistic notions of wanting to mimic humans and show that they are capable of building a civilization but because chastity is directly translated into their woman's ability to birth a child for them and still live to see the next day.
No spirits he saw in the Frigid World Spirit Empire wanted their partners to die.
Heck, even that rigid Fourth Uncle Yom wanted Iesha to be willing and chaste in order to touch her even though his pride was deeply hurt from the rejection.
He was also wondering why each brother and sister of Iesha's was from a different mother and why she didn't have any other siblings, and it turns out it was like that because of this dangerous factor that would take their lives after childbirth.
Unfortunately, Iesha's mother ended up dead after giving birth to her.
Female spirits were happy with one or two children in their lives, but they were not content, as stated by Iesha, who envied the other two races' ability to procreate as much as they wanted without death as a repercussion.
Davis felt like he was certainly able to see how another society was built on these grounds of interest and value, giving him more insight into Iesha's thoughts about him.
If she was willing to love him as he had seen the signs, then she was undoubtedly serious!
"Master, some magical beasts have arrived outside..."
Suddenly, Nadia's voice resounded in his soul sea, causing Davis to turn and look at her.
"How many?"
"Only four, two in each group."
'So it's them...'
Davis assumed before his soul sense pervaded the Alstreim City.
As expected, the two beauties from the Magical Beast Sanctuary and Scarlet Tyrant Hawk Abode were here!