The flying boat kept ascending, but the woman driving the vessel kept silent, instead observing Pef with a mix of curiosity and pity.
However, Pef didn't mind the silence, as this gave him time to observe the new universe, and more importantly it gave the glove time to do the same, but better.
The planet they were leaving behind was also a giant, covered in perpetual clouds and large storms, thousands of kilometers in radius.
'It is a gas giant! And someone has build a solid shell around it, creating a livable surface in the outer cloud layer.' the glove announced after a minute.
Pef nodded inward, a bit cautious. Stellar-scale engineering was nothing to scoff at. Not to mention, his coresense simply slid off the woman before him, a sure sign she was way above him in cultivation rank.
Although his qi sense could reach for millions of light-years around, he could find no sign of life, or civilization. Only old stars and barren planets. An empty universe, possibly chosen for this exact reason to hide their experiment?
"Wearing your wealth on the outside...are you trying to get yourself robbed and killed?" the woman spoke all the sudden.
Pef glanced at his scale armor, crafted from slices of precious Blue Jade. Then he raised his eyes to see the woman smile thinly. "Huh? This realm must be exceedingly poor, if Blue Jade has value here."
The high-ranked cultivator arched an eyebrow at Pef and shook her head in amusement. "Perhaps you'll live. My Master likes bold people."
The journey continued in silence again, as Pef digested the new information provided by his glove. A few hours later, the flying boat reached another giant pyramid and came to a stop.
The woman stored her boat and approached the transference portal while holding a metallic emblem in her hand. After a few seconds, she turned towards Pef. "Go on, my Master has been notified of your emergence."
Taking a last look around, Pef smiled at his escort. "My name is Pef Xi. I bid you farewell, til we meet again."
Then he poked the now-familiar cloudy gate and vanished.
Behind him, the Elder Goddess sighed and flashed away, returning to her guard post at the Quarantine Boundary, sinking beneath the clouds without leaving any disturbance. 'Another one, in the same century. Perhaps there's a chance?' she mused as she sat on her command throne once more, and a million identical universes sprang to life in her awareness.
Meanwhile, Pef awaited in the white fog, only this time without any tests or voices. A couple of days later, the fog once more condensed into a human shape.
"A Legion Soldier, this time?" the figure observed, sounding surprised.
Pef shrugged. Perhaps they were waiting for someone else?
"Can you still fight, with that nasty injury?" the fog voice asked, and an invisible finger poked Pef in his abdomen.
He glanced down, noting the place was the same that Reason has indicated once. 'A tier 7?' he wondered inward, as the previous gate guardian didn't notice his non-causal soul scar.
"I'd say, I can still fight because of it. I know I did win against a golith sting." Pef replied in a level voice.
The figure remained silent for a long minute. "... Your General has indeed proposed such a thing when we began the... Anyways, here are the rules. You will not leave the universe we're about to enter, not until I say you can. You will not mind-meld with anyone. You will not reshape, refold or nirhodhe any living soul, without my express permission. No killing...except in self-defense." the figure added after measuring Pef's armor with a dubious glance.
A round portal opened in the fog, and then the fog figure vanished, leaving Pef to walk outside on his own.
'What is...?' he asked his glove once he stepped outside.
'Nirhodhe means to absorb the suffering. It is a sure way to stop someone from entering the cycle of reincarnation.' the glove explained in a warning tone.
And with this warning, Pef was now free.
Free to explore the new world, with a couple likely deadly consequences if he messed with someone's soul.
Under his senses, the current galaxy exploded with signs of life and commerce, millions of spaceships crossing the void directly while smaller ships used the pyramid gate to traverse and vanish somewhere, most likely other universes.
The nearest system was a military base, evidenced by thousands of warships of various sizes and trillions of troops from thousands of species being trained in thousands of various environments, all located on a ring-shaped construct revolving around a giant yellow sun.
Pef wisely decided to avoid the training ring, at least until he figured out his place in this new world.
'Can you find any Legion base or artifact?' he asked his orange glove.
'There is one right there, a small recruiting camp on the Halo, the ones in desert camouflage.' the glove pointed out, almost sounding amused.
Pef focused his senses and indeed located the small camp, with less than a thousand low ranked recruits being drilled by a Saint instructor. Perhaps he could visit?
In a second, he Blinked and arrived beside this Saint, observing the man while remaining cloaked. The man wore a burnished plate armor and faded fatigues, while wearing a Legion neo-knife at his hip and a Legion glove on his hand.
"Again! Mold your Earth qi and soften the sand. Once you are bellow ground, dive and evade at speed and look for any sign of a target. Then, strike like you mean it!" the Saint instructor shouted.
As soon as the recruits had sunk under the hot sand, the Saint held his palm out, and released a hundred various creatures, from snakes to rabbits and lizards. The beasts spread out, running away only to be skewered by upwards strikes from spears or swords, although at least half of them escaped and ran off towards the horizon.
The Saint sighed in disappointment then turned sharply right towards where Pef sat invisible. "Senior is having fun at our expense? This is a Veritas Legion training ground!"
Pef smiled and released his Indigo cloak, as there would be no point trying to hide from the glove worn by the Legion Saint.
"Just observing your training methods, Soldier. No need to be upset." he explained with a grin.
The man measured Pef with wary eyes, while no doubt conversing mentally with his own glove. "You're also from the Legion, Sir?" the Saint asked sounding rather surprised.
Pef wiggled his gloved fingers in response. "I come from a distant universe though. Can't say I'm familiar with this place." he confessed with a careless shrug.
"...Right. Then, you're probably not my replacement." the instructor answered with a disappointed sigh.
"Having trouble getting supplies from high up?" Pef asked curious, while taking out some voidwine and godwine to share with his new comrades in arms.
"...I guess. The big war must be going poorly, as I haven't heard from the Elise Realm for a few decades." The Saint complained as he sniffed the unfamiliar wine.
Pef also drank a little godwine, enjoying the new dao particles adding minutely to his enlightenment. Sadly, he was by now too high-ranked for such cultivation aids to matter. Even pure Godbeast blood barely added anything to his cultivation, although it still helped a little with various daos, all 81 thousands of them.
But what was nearly worthless for him, it was a major boon for the Saint, who seemed to have received a major insight and sat in a lotus position to meditate.
'Let's give him a surprise!' Pef proposed with an inner grin, at which the glove only snickered as an answer.
In a minute, the low ranked recruits were collected inside Pef's inner world and rapidly if painfully re-trained by his Avatars to a modicum of Taichi cultivation and a minimal Sky rank, while being fed with qi pellets and other spiritual treasures found or bought during his travels. He still had a billion pills bought from the Archdevil's auction house, plus plenty of voidwine.
By the next week, when the Saint instructor opened his eyes with greatly increased cultivation and three minor daos near mastery, he found himself on a beach, and a thousand Sky ranked recruits waiting patiently in mid-air. A few of them had even achieved Emperor rank!
"Where is that Senior?" the instructor asked in a tight voice.
"...He left six days ago, Lord Nuwei. Said he wanted to explore a few galaxies nearby and he'll be back in a few weeks." one of them recruits answered in a proud tone.
The Saint clenched his fist, his glove completely unable to help him, for some reason.
"Well then. I guess we can skip a few stages and begin learning aerial maneuvers!" he decided out loud.
His recruits saluted and flew up, holding themselves in mid-air without any problems. The instructor sobbed inward, and flew up as well.
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PefVersed in the lewd.
It took less than three weeks for Pef to visit the nearby galaxies and gain a basic understanding of the new universe, and some stories of other universes.
Major sects and the Imperial Army controlled the important resources like spirit stone mines or other restricted cultivation zones. This in turn guaranteed their continued elevation as the strongest powers in the universe, due to being able to train their disciples or officers with the highest quality cultivation aids.
However, there was one single exception to this rule, the Shamballah-Tzi Mausoleum, which was in principle open to anyone. From Sky rank onwards, cultivators were able to enter this mausoleum and try to advance through its nigh-infinite halls, levels and realms.
"I have heard Duan Che Zung has reached the Blue Realm!" a disciple wearing azure robes proclaimed to her companions.
"I don't believe that! Nobody bellow the rank of Universal God can enter the Blue Realm" another girl argued with a dismissive voice.
Pef drew closer, still under cloak. Information about the mausoleum was easy to find, yet not really helpful.
'I suspect each individual receives a tailored experience in their trials, based on their abilities' the glove commented, seeming interested as well.
Pef nodded inward, as he kept spying on the young cultivators that attempted to prove themselves with increasingly more outrageous rumors, and sometimes pure lies.
"... Sister Yue, do you plan to enter the Mausoleum as well?" a thin girl asked her companion, a long-legged beauty with near indigo hair and eyes. There were other special traits though, which made Pef take another look.
The other girl was also mildly interesting for Pef, as the Azure Sky disciple was able to bend light and darkness with equal ease, despite a cultivation realm barely entering Monarch rank. Perhaps it was her dual aura as well, white and indigo, which not even the glove knew what it signified.
Sister's Yue indigo eyes flashed as she turned towards the speaker. Her robes billowed for a second as well, as if a wind has passed. "I am going alone, Senior Sister Wuming. There is something I need to try for myself." she replied in a calm voice, hiding a glint of steel inside.
The first sister nodded and changed the subject, as if she didn't care.
However, her qi pulsed with a coded message heading towards the planet's orbit. Pef's core senses followed the transmission to the ship in orbit, curiously belonging to a rival sect, the Autumn Hafaz.
On board, three young men nodded at each other as soon as the communique arrived, then walked over to their Elder. "She will be alone, Master. Probably as soon as the Orange Realm..." one of them announced and smiled wickedly. The old man smiled back, while tugging his long white beard.
Pef sighed inward and scratched at his cheek in deep thought. 'Well then. I guess I should also enter the mausoleum, and keep an eye on Sister Yue.'
The glove didn't reply, as there was no need. While these sects did have Elder Gods as protectors, such eminent cultivators were quite removed from the daily operations of their sects, or even important stuff, barely lifting an eyelid should a war or invasion bother their secluded cultivation. All the Elders were only focused on reaching Tier 7 and the real immortality, and thus the growing pains of their sects were simply ignored.
The daily operations of the sects were organized by Tier 3 and 4 cultivators and only the Sect Masters reached Tier 5, or Universe God levels. And even they were barely passable, in the glove's evaluation. The old cultivation methods were simply bad, took much too long and focused on the wrong priorities. It was a wonder any old-style cultivator even reached Elder God status, after billions of wasted years.
Our hero followed the Monarch ranked woman on her journey to the mausoleum, which was rather boring and slow, due to the sects' ships being powered by inefficient qi engines powered by a handful of Tier 2 Elders.
Eventually, they arrived in the Shamballah system and made orbit around planet Tzi.
The mausoleum itself was a tall spire reaching into orbit, where a giant spacestation provided berth for thousands of ships carrying hopeful cultivators.
The station was manned and operated by the Imperial Army, and provided amenities such as restaurants and hotels, trade bazaars, smiths and armorers and dozens of auction halls.
There were always lucky fellows exiting the mausoleum with various treasures, from gems and bones to rare metals, intact beast carcasses and various artifacts, from pills to weapons or cultivation skills inscribed on jade.
Pef approached a security officer and decloaked. "Hello, I also want to visit the mausoleum..."
The armored guard lowered his visor and stared at Pef for a few seconds. "Wait a moment here. You are under restriction." he commanded as he passed the newly arrived guest to his superior.
In a minute, the station commander himself arrived to process the guest. And he was a Tier 5 God, proof the ruler of this universe took security of the mausoleum area quite seriously.
"I am sure Lord Mu Feng has specified this already. You are not allowed to leave our current universe, correct?" the commander asked rhetorically.
Pef raised an eyebrow. "I just want to explore this building, Commander. Surely it is located in this universe...as anyone can see."
The man sighed, as there wasn't anyone else to pass this problem to. "...Normally yes, Lord Xi. However, on occasion the trails have been known to open portals to other places, or perhaps create new universes. Nobody is sure how the thing works, after all."
Pef smiled and shrugged. "People return here for exit, right?"
The Commander grimaced with a scowl. "Not everybody returns."
Pef blinked at the warning, then smiled again. "I will return. My family is here."
The Commander measured him with suspicion, then produced a palm-sized metal badge, inscribed with a thousands small formations of unknown function. "You will carry this fold anchor at all times, Lord Pef. And try not to die on me. Lord Mu Feng needs you alive."
Grabbing the metal anchor, Pef immediately discovered the device was resistant at being stored, refusing to fold in a storage ring or his inner universe.
'Can you store this?' he asked inward, passing the anchor into his gloved hand.
'Not right now. Your rank is too low.' the glove replied after a second.
Pef sighed and tied the badge to his belt, then nodded politely to the station commander and walked on, soon vanishing among millions of cultivators populating the station.
Soon, he located his target and sat in front of her at a restaurant table.
Yue glanced at him, then continued to pick at her meal with her wooden sticks.
'Still no spoons...' Pef commented inward as he browsed the menu for something exotic. What was to point of travelling to another universe if not to try new cuisine?
However, while he could endure all the spicy and strange dishes, his efforts at dipping in hot sauce and chewing raw octopus that was flailing frantically to escape, only provoked a small snort from the woman sitting at the table in front.
"It's not easy, you know? Not that any food likes being eaten..." he muttered with an accusing glance at the amused woman.
A thin limb crawled out and wiggled out of his nose, just as Pef complained. Sister Yue burst into a melodic laughter, then hid behind a fan, showing only a pair of beautiful indigo eyes.
"You're a silly man, mister." she muttered in a small voice.
Pef nodded in a hurry. " So, I've been told, many times. Anyways, what realm comes after Blue?" he asked with a qi transmission.
The azure-wearing disciple froze for a second, then shook her head. "It should be Indigo Realm. Our Sect Master said she lasted 78 seconds." the woman replied with her own transmission.
Pef scratched his cheek, adding the new knowledge to what little he had. 'Sounds rather dangerous.' he consulted the glove.
'I am extrapolating. You should last over 90 seconds.' the sentient artifact answered in a minute.
With a thankful nod, Pef left the table and headed out. "Beware of orange, Miss Yue." he sent while leaving the restaurant.
As he made his way towards the mausoleum entrance, Pef begun preparing the ground. Clones were spawned and dispersed to gather more information, then other clones to wander the station and visit auction houses or shops. His Legion regiments back home still needed lots of cultivation aids, and new recruits as well.
And this place was a wonderful treasure ground.
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PefVersed in the lewd.
"There is nothing interesting here!" Pef complained after touring the Red Realm for the second time.
'What did you expect? This Realm is meant for Sky and Emperor ranks, to train and gather some resources. And you're not 15 years old anymore.' the glove answered with its characteristic caustic wisdom.
Pef sighed and took a last glance around. The realm was beautiful as a painting, a land of lakes and mountains, forests and grassland, with the occasional beast or low-energy minerals or plants.
It was also rather tame, especially if he compared it with the forests beyond the Wall of the Blue continent of his youth.
"Oh well. Perhaps Orange Realm will be more exciting..." he muttered and flashed towards the realm gate, then stepped through with curiosity.
The orange sands beyond the portal did remind him of home once more. However, a short scan with his core senses revealed a much less dangerous land than the Orange continent of Lacrima. Not even a single giant locust swarm...and not even a single Soul Poison snake.
He did instead find a trio of Saint ranked cultivators, hidden under a clever masking array, beside a blue water oasis. Pef nodded to himself, as a source of water did make a fine ambush place, for beasts and humans alike.
"Hmmm. Pretty sure these guys are those Autumn disciples. Now, where is..." Pef murmured to himself, just as a young woman stepped through the portal and flew away, indigo hair fluttering in the warm wind.
Pef shrugged and took out a wine gourd, then sipped a little godwine, still cloaked by his special ability called the Indigo Cloak. Sadly, most Saints and all God Tiers were able to detect him through this cloak, so it was becoming less useful. Perhaps he might find a better stealth skill somewhere, as this new universe did have a large number of sects or auction halls.
He lazily flew after Sister Yue, and enjoyed the godwine. Sadly, even the diluted wine was almost all gone, after a hundred years of sharing the godwine with his wives and lead Legion commanders. Cultivation resources were always a hard bottleneck for any large organization, especially once they reached higher ranks.
Of course, the Legion did have its special ace, the ability to refine the qi of their dead enemies, but he suspected that the poor treatment that the Veritas Legion received in this new universe was precisely related to this. Demonic cultivators, devils and beasts all devoured the flesh and souls of their prey for cultivation, but it was not an accepted method among the orthodox cultivators.
Even with the threat of the golith invasion at their doorstep...
"What do we have here? A lone disciple from the Azure Sky?" a sarcastic voice interrupted Pef's musings.
The three Saints had surrounded a young Monarch and were leering at her with obvious purpose.
Yue took out a white-blue figurine and channeled her qi, making the small statue glow. "You better stay away or my Grandfather will punish you, scum!" she threatened with a confident tone.
The Saints just laughed and exchanged amused smiles. "No, little girl. The Mausoleum is a separate space and not even your powerful grandpa can sense anything in here. Nobody will know where you have disappeared...it happens." one of them explained with a grin.
"...Really?" Pef wondered out loud, and flew closer to the show.
"...Who?" a trio of panicking voices asked, looking around and preparing weapons.
"You thought your plan was perfect and chose a good ambush place...however..." Pef said with a smirk, then turned towards the ambush victim. "What a coincidence, Miss Yue. To think we would meet in the Orange Realm, and be able to fight together against the vanguard of your enemies!"
"...It's you?" the woman muttered with visible surprise, then turned her attention towards the attackers. The statue in her hand flashed trice, and three heads rolled down onto the sand, followed by a red trio of artesian and arterial showers.
'Her grandpa must be an Elder God, to store his sword intent as a disposable weapon. That statue only has a single charge remaining, now.' the glove warned Pef just as he was about to speak.
Pef sighed and rethinked his plans on the spot. Some damsels were indeed harder to save than others.
"My name is Pef, Miss Yue. Come, let me cook something for dinner, while you think about who knew you would be here, alone." he said in a soft voice, then landed a hundred meters away beside the water.
In a minute, his cooking tools were all prepared and he was already slicing vegetables, while on the side a silk umbrella shaded a pair of foldable bone chairs and a granite table.
Still holding the statue out, the Monarch disciple floated at a safe distance observing his cooking skills with some bewilderment.
"Were you hired by my Grandfather?" Yue asked as the divine smells assaulted her senses, especially as thin slices of voidbeast meat were being grilled and painted with spices.
Pef turned for a second, and flashed his fold anchor badge. "Unless his name is Mu Feng, then no."
At once, the young woman landed beside him and bowed. "My apologies, Lord Pef. I didn't know you were of the Imperial Army..."
He sighed and began setting the table, then poured a glass of voidwine for his guest. "Sit and eat, Miss Yue. And, I am not directly a subordinate of Lord Mu Feng. I believe we can be called allies, of a sort."
Then he waited until the dinner was over and his target sipped from the voidwine, before explaining further.
"Did you figure out who sold you out?" Pef asked to make sure.
"...My Senior Sister. When I return..." she began grumbling in her wine glass.
Pef leaned gently and flicked her forehead. "Think deeper, Miss Yue. You really believe a single Monarch rank disciple can orchestrate your kidnapping, right under the watch of your Sect Elders and even your esteemed Grandfather?"
The young woman rubbed her forehead with a deep blush. "It doesn't seem possible, is it?"
"High tier divinities had to be involved, to obscure your karma and their agents too. Expensive bribes to Army officials, to avoid their ships searched. Formations for cloaking, information about the Mausoleum and of course, backup in case of failure. They will have more agents coming, especially since you killed these three and their soul-slips got broken." Pef explained as he sipped his own wine, and maintained a careful watch for more attackers.
Sister Yue glanced sheepishly at her jade statue and stored it back into her ring. "It seems I am in need of saving after all, Mister Pef. Sorry." she murmured with a shy voice.
'There is only a Tier 3 Elder involved. Nice save though.' the glove commented with glee.
'That we know of. There might be others, depending on why they want her.' Pef answered inward, his core senses scanning the woman beside him once more.
Whatever the indigo aura's purpose , it wasn't easily discerned.
"So, why would these Autumn guys be after you, Miss Yue? Perhaps the indigo?" he asked curious.
The woman drained her wine glass for courage, then stared right back at him. "Grandfather said it won't matter until I become a High God. Or unless I enter the Indigo Realm...here."
Pef blinked and then glanced towards the next portal, a couple of hot deserts away. "Yellow and Green realms won't be a problem. But, it would be hard to keep you alive in the Blue realm. As for Indigo...I won't last long either."
However, the woman's eyes gleamed with excitement. "Really, we can actually reach the Indigo realm?"
"...For a few seconds, maybe..." Pef grumbled a bit worried.
"Yes! Please take me, Mister Pef!" Sister Yue pleaded with stars in her eyes.
Pef sighed and gulped his wine. "... I don't work for free."
"Please, I'll do anything!" she pleaded while grabbing his hand.
"...Sure." he said after a minute. He was heading that way anyway.
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PefVersed in the lewd.
Perhaps he should have taken the warnings about the Blue Realm more serious, Pef thought while Blinking away from another Godbeast, this time a Flame Roc-Eagle.
His left hand was scorched to the bone, and his right hand only escaped that same fate due to the durable glove, so he only lost a few fingers. Pef ignored the pain and he scanned for the next jump, back home...
Another Blink returned them to the underwater cavern, and Yue jumped off his back and crashed on his bed, her qi nearly exhausted.
"Hah, I don't think I can take another run, Pef. Why are there so many beasts here?" the woman complained and blew over her slightly reddened hands.
"This isn't working, Yue. We need to think of another approach." he mused out loud.
'You know what needs to be done.' the glove advised him on the side.
'She has to ask for it.' Pef replied with a shrug, and focused on regrowing the lost digits and burned flesh. Always painful, this part.
An hour later, he began cooking once more and his companion woke up due to the amazing smell. "Smells so good! I wish I could eat such meals every day." Yue muttered half-asleep.
Pef flipped the Water-Thunder Bull meat on the other side, and gently toned down the heat, letting the fragrance of the spices to sink into the meat for another minute. Spices would run out eventually.
The Blue Realm had plenty of high level beasts though, and one could hunt here for ages without making a real dent. The problem was, the beasts hunted them as well. Some powerful Godbeasts had their nests filled with cultivator skulls, and their artifacts as well.
"Can I have more of the good wine? I'm close to my Saint rank..." Yue asked with a meek voice, and glanced at Pef under her long eyelashes.
Pef shook the wine gourd, and nothing swirled inside. "There's no more godwine, pretty lady." . He then took out the voidwine gourd and poured a glass for each of them. "The voidwine will last another week though."
Yue sipped the wine then pointed at the cavern wall. A flash of qi and a faint ripple into space followed, but that was it. "I'm not strong enough to Blink, not yet."
Pef just nodded and sipped his own wine. He could only wait now.
"What if I tried your Legion's method?" Yue wondered, half-afraid of her own words, but her gaze was decisive and clear.
He turned to measure the woman with a piercing look of his own. "The Legion method is not like your Azure Sect's cultivation, my dear. We have ingrained checks in place, such that our Soldiers don't pillage and burn the universe with their greater strength."
Yue maintained her gaze. "I do understand, Lord Pef. The Legion would not tolerate degenerates like those Autumn scum."
"... You will also need a husband, to love and maintain your humanity." Pef added with a shrug.
"What!" she exclaimed in confusion.
"Practice, combat and love. It is the tripod of the Legion cultivation. Most orthodox sects focus on a single path, like meditation or duo cultivation. The demonic sects focus only on violence and war, but they soon turn on each other or even the mortals. Either way, they all lose contact with their humanity and become unfeeling monsters, all scheming for more personal power, no matter the cost." Pef said in a sad voice.
Yue blinked, then closed her pretty indigo eyes to reflect. "...Even my Grandfather?" she whispered.
"Your grandpa is a billion years old, my dear. And I believe he spent most of those years in closed cultivation, slowly increasing his own power while the Sect provided him rare plants, or spirit stones, perhaps a beautiful woman once in a while?" Pef answered with a sad grin.
"...T-that's..." she stuttered, trying to find something to absolve her ancestor of the guilt.
"I don't mind. It's his business how he spends the eternity. It is also much safer than battling invaders in a distant universe. However, this time it won't work. The goliths will not stop, and will trample all the universes, one by one until only they remain." Pef mused as he wiggled his healed fingers.
'Combat status, 99 percent.' the glove provided helpfully.
'Soon. I do need to kill that eagle Godbeast anyway.' he replied inward. A new supply of Law-infused blood would be helpful, for him and the Legion as well.
Also, fighting powerful beasts did have a nice secondary effect, raising his cultivation rapidly with each kill. Well, if he didn't die.
"Can I think about this?" Yue asked with a soft tone, then sat on the bed to meditate.
"Of course. I'll go out for a bit." Pef said, splitting off a water clone to watch of Yue, then Blinked away.
His Blue Jade armor covered him as he powered up and locked on his target. "Now, you overgrown chicken. This time I get to strike first." Pef muttered as he flashed into combat.
A thousand qi swords struck the Flame Roc-Eagle, dozens of them right into the eyes. A burst of flames covered the Godbeast, just as it healed its injured eyes and powered up for the hunt.
It was too late however. Pef unleashed a trio of Void Splitters, aimed at the wing joints and the underside of the neck of the giant bird.
Unexpectedly, the wings withstood the powerful skill with little effect, barely losing some feathers and a finger of flesh but the neck strike managed to slice open into the beast's flesh. Pef Blinked once more at the front of the eagle, and stabbed all his qi swords into the open wound, then slashed outwards just as the Heavenly Lightening fell.
Dozens of the Blue jade stone scales of his armor lost their luster and cracked, yet Pef didn't let the electric punishment stop him. Another Void Splitter struck the bleeding neck wound on the Godbeast, separating its head from the body.
Pef let out a groan of pain, and prepared to withstand the last tribulation, when a clawed foot struck him in the chest. His armor scales exploded from the immense impact, and Pef tumbled from the sky just as the Heaven's bolt fell on his chest.
The remains of the armor shattered away, and the bolt bored through his gored body and exited on the other side, leaving a scorched body in its wake.
---------------
The glove observed the disaster in slow motion. To be fair, everything was in slow motion for its fabulous processing power. Gestures and words could be anticipated well in advance, not to mention actions.
Sadly, the idiot ward would have reacted too slow anyway, even if given warning of the beast's dying reflex.
For now, the glove could only mitigate the disaster. It collected the prize, the valuable Godbeast and its Law-infused flesh and bones, then the scattered bits of Blue Jade from the destroyed armor.
A qi pulse called the water clone to collect the injured Soldier and return him to base for repairs.
All in all, it was still a strategic victory, even at the cost of a tactical defeat. Pef would heal, eventually.
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PefVersed in the lewd.
'Lightning Dao is now at 51 percent mastery. Combat status 91 percent.' the glove proclaimed just as Pef regained consciousness.
'Yeah, a silver lining to all those Heavenly Tribulations crashing down on me.' Pef grumbled inward, while checking his body for any lingering damage.
His heart was still missing for now, but that didn't really impact his combat abilities anymore. As long as his Dantian was intact, he could still fight, at a reduced capacity.
The miracle of qi wasn't limited by the body, or only tangentially. Still, perhaps next time, he shouldn't linger in front of a deadly enemy...
"Pef, are you awake?" he heard Yue ask with a worried voice.
"Yeah. Damn eagle kicked me rather hard, but I've healed, mostly." he said with a pained chuckle, and spitting some blood stuck in his throat.
"...Yeah. There was a foot-sized hole in your chest. And you were burned to a crisp too." Yue commented with an awkward smile.
"This time though, it only took half a day to recover, instead of months." Pef replied a bit more cheerful, and took out some wine to wash the taste of blood away. He immediately regretted the act, as the fermented alcohol burned its way down tender flesh, barely regrown.
"You live dangerously." Yue muttered as she filled a washbasin with water and set it in front of him for a bath. She even had a few towels...
Pef sighed and flushed himself with a wave of conjured water, making it vanish before he flooded the cavern. Water Dao had its perks too.
"That Godbeast was a Peak Tier 5 rank, my dear. Or Universal God as you know it." Pef answered with a proud smile, then took out a large red plume for extra emphasis.
The feather was taller than him, yet very light and impossibly durable. Much more durable than adamantine, since even ship-sized armor plates would not withstand a Voidsplitter skill.
He then simply handed over the feather to the indigo-haired woman." This is for you."
"I...I accept. I will be your wife." Yue said with a warm smile, then began playing with the feather like a child with a new fan.
"Okay. I need to sleep now, but we'll talk tomorrow." Pef answered with a soft voice, then drifted back to sleep.
A lingering song followed his dreams, the singer a woman's voice so familiar yet so distant.
Pef woke up with his face covered by two warm pillows, thus he instantly reacted, to grope and pinch the new wife. "Ah, right...there!" Yue voice sounded heavenly, so he didn't stop and continued with kisses and licks...
Much later, the new couple emerged for air and food, Yue still blushing and stealing glances at her new husband.
"You scoundrel! No man has ever done those things to me!" she chided him with fake outrage.
"I sure hope not, my lovely wife! I invented most of those techniques." Pef declared proudly while stirring the soup. Yue wrapped herself around his back, and smelled deeply over his shoulder.
"Feels nice though." she admitted in a shy tone.
"Tastes nice as well!" Pef commented wryly, and got pinched for it. He endured it well though, even smiling at the pain.
Starting from the next day, Yue began her Legion indoctrination then crossed swiftly into Saint rank, while Pef went out daily to hunt more beasts and search for valuable plants and minerals, or looting certain beast nests of precious stones and artifacts.
Two months later, he also finished repairing his jade armor and located the portal towards the Indigo Realm. Well, the glove did, as the portal was hidden under a fog of concealment mist and illusionary arrays, meant to restrict access to cultivators of Tier 5 and above.
Yue too was almost ready for Ascension and joining the ranks of the gods, which could be done through combat or just a sip of Godbeast blood, plus a few tons of precious metal to redirect the Ascension on the path of physical gods.
"I thought only beasts keep their bodies once they become divine." Yue argued with a frown.
Pef nodded and sat beside Yue, then caressed her head. "I invented this type of Ascension after observing a Saint beast on my homeworld bypass Divinity and aiming for Perfect Sainthood. I suspect such a path is possible for humans as well, but it does lock the possibility of cultivation."
"Then, how would this beast keep growing, if it locks itself from the Heavens?" Yue wondered curious.
"It would devour other cultivators, or puppet them to cultivate instead. Maybe create a religion as a focus?" Pef answered with a shrug.
In an infinite multiverse, there were a myriad of ways to obtain more power.
"Or torture them for pain. Deny them reincarnation..." Yue continued with her own knowledge.
"See? There are many ways to power, and each person or race might have their own ideas. So, are you ready to become a Goddess?" Pef inquired with a grin.
"You mean a fledgling divinity on the lowest rung?" Yue asked back, eyes filled with mirth.
"There are always stronger people. This will never change. But it does make running away much easier." Pef argued wisely.
"Ha! We did run away a lot, when we first arrived in this Blue Realm..." the new recruit mused, a bit more somber.
Pef shrugged and tapped his chest. "I can take a beating, you can't. Thus we run. It's never too late to come back later and kick ass."
Yue smiled with a grimace and leaned on the pillows. "Make more of that bark tea. My bones hurt worse..."
Instead, Pef cupped his hands and closed his eyes. "I think not. It's time to end the indoctrination and begin your practice."
And with that, Yue opened her eyes in wonder as the pain vanished and she felt ten times stronger. "Hubby, since I am still in bed, we can practice those things..."
It didn't take long for Yue to achieve Divinity, not with the amount of high-level cultivation treasures at Pef's disposal. Soon, the pair of Legion Soldiers made their way towards the Indigo portal, Blinking over difficult terrains or avoiding stronger beasts.
They even found a few rare lotus, one in a volcano and another one in an acid pool, which helped Yue open more meridians and acupoints. Yet with all that, Pef was still worried.
Yue was indeed much too weak for these trials, and they had no idea how bad it might become in the next Mausoleum Realm.
Anyway, they still advanced and reached the blue-indigo fog that covered the entrance.
Cautiously, Pef sent forward a pair of clones, not willing to risk his new wife in the unknown.
However, while the clones managed to reach the portal and cross, they instantly vanished from his perception.
Pef poked the fog with his gloved hand. 'Any ideas, my friend?'
'Try not to die. Raising another one will be boring.' the glove answered a bit ironically.
Pef sighed and stepped into the fog. 'I'm always trying not to die...' he muttered inward.
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Last edited: Feb 22, 2021
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PefVersed in the lewd.
New
A careful hand covered in a skin-tone glove touched the Indigo Realm portal, its owner no doubt feeling some trepidation and apprehension.
'Temporal differential detected. Accelerated time-stream. You can go in anyway.' the glove advised Pef in a level tone.
Pef glanced at his new wife. "There will be time anomalies inside. I suspect anyone below God tier would reach their lifespan's end rapidly."
Yue shivered at the news. "Lucky I have just reached the first tier then?" she wondered in a wry voice.
"Yes. Very lucky." Pef muttered as he stepped inside the portal, hand-in-hand with the indigo-haired beauty.
The perspective shifted abruptly, and they found themselves standing on a plane of silver-blue ice, extending in all directions as far their eyes could see.
Pef pulsed a string of coresense scans, only to find them dissolve not even a hundred meters away. Immediately he changed to voidsense, his newest ability gained from ingesting the eye of a powerful Tier 4 Godbeast, back in his home universe.
However, while the voidsense did not dissolve ineffectively, it also provided little valuable information. Planes of gravity and barriers of empty voids dotted the ice plain, hinting at some hidden puzzle underneath this Realm, or proximity traps, invisible to most cultivators who would depend on qi or coresenses to detect potential dangers at range.
"Pef, do you think we should follow the black-brick road?" Yue asked out of nowhere.
Certain that he saw nothing but this strange ice and pools of churning gravity pools spread around at random, Pef shook his head. "I have no idea, sweet Yue. I can't see this road."
Yue hummed to herself while mulling over the news. "No monsters around either. I wonder why other cultivators had to run away after a minute."
This, Pef could answer instead. "There are many traps, all around. Invisible to qi or coresenses. Possibly only those that perceive this brick road can move in safety." he reasoned out loud.
"I suspect flying is also dangerous, if there is a road to walk." she deduced while frowning deep in thought.
"Makes sense. We walk then. Ladies first!" Pef pronounced with a grin, and invited Yue to take the lead with a flourish.
Yue puffed in a short laugh, then ran off, while coyly glancing back at her rather infantile husband. Pef followed her at a relaxed pace, given he was a million times faster anyway.
As expected, the invisible road meandered around the hidden traps, providing the couple an easy way deeper into this Indigo Realm.
They ran and ran for days, and Pef began getting worried at reaching the time-limit that most Mausoleum explorers mentioned.
After 3 months, almost everyone was expelled forcefully through the nearest portal and back at the entrance. As for those that didn't, well. Only a handful survived, all Tier 5 Gods, then found in a distant universe somewhere, minds scrubbed and aged immensely. Not a pleasant fate to experience, not that Pef had even reached Tier 5 anyway.
He was close to his new rank now, after battling so many powerful beasts and even a Tier 5 eagle Godbeast.
"Stop Yue." he asked as the last safe day arrived.
"We must be close, I feel...something in my soul. A yearning, maybe." she said while gazing at the infinite horizon ahead.
"It is probably only meters away, my love. Do not forget the time differential. If the sentience that controls this space wanted us, we would have reached our target in minutes. No, this lure you feel is not in anyway related with distance." Pef concluded with a sigh.
This was a test of some kind, he was certain. Possibly an inheritance for Yue or other indigo-aura cultivators, if there were any others. The glove didn't know, which was a rather convincing reason for Pef. The orange glove had a really extensive database of knowledge, and that database had tripled during their visit into this new universe. If the glove didn't know something, it was either something very rare, or hidden on purpose.
Yue slumped in defeat, turning her back on the distant destination. "Time. My Grandfather had to wait 300 million years to enter the Mausoleum again. When he came out the second time, he ascended to Elder God rank, and never returned here. He says it is death for those above Universe God rank."
Pef raised an eyebrow and scratched at his cheek with his gloved hand. 'Aren't you also a Tier 6?'
'Not yet. My original build was a Tier 5 autonomous logistical support mainframe. I will need a more powerful user to ascend me via soul-forging.' the glove muttered in a small voice, as if ashamed.
'Don't worry, my orange friend. One day, we will.' Pef mused inward.
Cultivation was never easy, although he had condensed his own experience into an add-on method for new recruits, even now they could barely reach Sovereign rank using the Taichi method. From Monarch rank onwards, cultivating the body and qi was not enough, as the soul began to become entangled with the cultivator, making ascension even more difficult and harder to organize. Dao insights were always personal and different from person to person, and perhaps from race to race.
This was also the reason his own grandfather failed to ascend and died a Sovereign, as did the majority of his own Legion or the cultivators in the wide universe who also failed to become Monarchs.
There was a conceptual barrier that was immensely hard to overcome, although strong sects or lucky cultivators sometimes received or found Dao pills or other forms of external aid to break through.
Aid like the godwine he had provided to his own family and some recruits, or the Grey Pills he himself received from Cellia and Firalli.
But such expensive aids were always in low supply, here or back home. The number of willing cultivators exceeded the availability of cultivation resources, which in turn generated resentment and conflict.
"So what do we do?" Yue asked, glancing at Pef with sad eyes.
Pef stepped forward and kissed her lips tenderly. "I am going to wait for you outside. I suspect the ruler of this Realm doesn't have any gift for me."
As he spoke, the Indigo portal appeared a meter away, confirming his suspicion.
--------------
Yue watched her husband step away and vanish, and a second later the portal winked out as well.
"There! Are you happy now? Here I am alone and weak, a toy for Gods like you to play with!" she shouted at the frozen landscape.
As if responding to her cry, indigo clouds began gathering around, forming a menacing hurricane of winds and thunder with the eye of the storm centered around Yue.
The brick road vanished as well, and the storm front closed even more, like a deadly prison of indigo smoke and violet lightning.
"I thought so. Too coward to show your face, eh? You don't scare me, Indigo! For I am now a Soldier of the Veritas Legion! We fight the goliths that come to eat us all, and this Realm will get eaten as well. We shall see where you will hide then!" Yue declared with a brave voice.
The storm froze a finger away, as if pondering her words.
A stairway formed out of the churning clouds, each step a different color of the rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and lastly violet. The last step ended with a violet shimmer, different from other portals before.
Yue smiled and stepped onto the stairs. She was curious what awaited at the end of the rainbow.
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Last edited: Mar 19, 2021
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PefVersed in the lewd.
New
"You're still alive..." the Imperial Army Commander remarked as Pef stepped out of the Indigo portal, into a rather deserted portal area, and a different one from the departure portal.
Pef blinked in confusion, then looked back to see the portal wink out. He pointed at the place. "You mean, because the portal was colored in Indigo?"
The Tier 5 Base Commander chuckled sadly. "No, but perhaps that's the reason. It has been 6 months since you entered the Mausoleum. And it's true those that did survive past 3 months were inside the Indigo Realm. They were all also Universal Gods...which you are not."
'I remember we left before those 3 months ended, did we not?' Pef asked inward.
The glove hesitated for a long minute, which didn't bode well. 'Time is a complicated domain, and few Tier 7s barely manage a few percentages of Time Dao Mastery. As for Tier 8s, I do not know, but they might be able to manipulate time just as easy as space.'
"Have you seen Lady Yue exit as well? She has indigo eyes and hair, quite easy to recognize. We met inside the Mausoleum and reached Indigo realm together." Pef asked instead, while untying the fold anchor from his belt.
"... Keep it. We lost tracking with it after the first 3 months anyway." the Commander refused with a dismissive voice.
Curious, Pef strained a little and shifted the fold anchor into the glove compartment, something that had been impossible to him only a few months before. Then he raised his eyes at the Army officer. "Lady Yue?"
"Somebody came to pick her up." the man answered while shifting his eyes to the side.
"... Lady Yue married me during our adventures, and I might get vindictive if I find out someone is playing games..." Pef answered in a deceptively soft voice.
"...The ship she left on had Shin Admiralty markings. But, in 3 months they may be anywhere, even another universe." the Commander muttered with an embarrassed tone.
"Perhaps it's for the best. You have a pretty universe here, it would be a shame if something were to happen to it, right?" our hero said in a jovial tone, while glancing around the fragile space station.
"Now, don't go making threats here! The Imperial Army..." the Commander shouted, somewhat aggravated by Pef's words.
But Pef just smiled. "The Imperial Army will devote all their resources to locate the kidnappers and my wife. Lady Yue is also a Veritas Legion Soldier now, with all the privileges that entails."
That tidbit held the Commander for a moment, as he went over the implications. While the Legion wasn't now the power it used to be, they were still a force to recon with. Especially their Legion Captains, who carried the monstrous Word Guns. Conflict with Legion never ended well for the other side, and it was a well-known axiom of the multiverse that the Legion always won. Lose some people, even armies, but they did always win in the end.
"I assure you, we will start a mass search, but if this was a plot...it may be too late." the Commander argued as he began sending orders down the line, and request up the command chain, even a class 3 warning towards the High Command.
"I would start with those Autumn sect, three of their Saints tried to abduct Yue in the Orange Realm." Pef added as he walked away, heading towards the nearest auction house.
He would need to sell some high tier beasts and their cores, as a war was always expensive.
And a war was coming, he could sense it already. Whoever these Shin Admiralty guys were, they were not a Tier 3 Elder in some backwards sect.
His warnings towards Yue about her indigo aura were proven prophetic after all. High tier divinities were involved in this scheme, at least a Tier 6 to counter her grandfather and hide their traces.
'You know, there have been more than 3 days. The odds of finding this Soldier alive are...' the glove whispered as Pef sat down to sell his wares in the auction house.
'The odds are 100 percent, my orange glove. I am no longer a young boy, to lose my wife to some random beast. We will find her, and then kill everyone involved. Correct?' he declared in a harsh tone.
'...You have the right spirit, Soldier. But you are 100 times too weak to fight a Tier 6 God.' the glove warned him in a level tone.
'Yes. I do need to ascend to the next tier. Options?' Pef asked a bit more reserved.
The glove scanned the station for any useful cultivation aid. 'Level 53 bazaar, there is someone selling a Universe Pill. They are very strong though.' the glove replied while marking the location onto Pef's inner map.
"Here, my lord. 34 billion spirit stones, as agreed." the auctioneer said and offered him a storage ring.
Pef picked up the ring and made it vanish into the glove box. "A pleasure trading with you. I might be interested in buying any info you have on the Autumn sect and the Shin Admiralty."
The trader's eyes glinted with greed. "The Imperial Army just bought this same info for a huge sum. Interesting times ahead, wouldn't you say, my lord?"
Pef just grinned and waved good-bye. "The Army, huh? Thanks for the info." he whispered as he walked out of the auction house.
He wouldn't need to buy the info anymore, as the Army should share it for free now. That is, if they wanted someone to stop the goliths before they ate this pretty universe.
In a few minutes he located the pill seller in the bazaar, a shady middle-aged man dressed in grey robes with a purple cauldron on his lapel. Probably the symbol for an Alchemist.
"Oh, a customer? And a Galaxy God as well. Not too old either...see anything here that interests you, fellow Daoist?" the alchemist asked with a wide grin, while glancing directly at his glove. And there were indeed few cultivators that could even detect the glove as a powerful artifact, or remember they saw it.
Pef nodded politely while examining the wares, his coresenses scanning jars and bottles filled with mysterious pills and liquids, as well as shrunken beasts preserved like fruits, rare fruits preserved in void canisters, and an assortment of jade slips and dried plants.
"Well met, High One. Do you need spirit stones, or other things?" Pef asked in a low voice, as he noticed the noise of the bazaar vanished.
"Polite as well, huh? But then your Legion glove would be able to warn you. And to think not even the Tzi-Base Commander noticed me, for centuries..." the alchemist muttered, seeming somewhat surprised as his eyes focused on Pef's belly.
"You see my scar then? Getting killed by a golith is not pleasant." Pef offered with a gentle smile, yet implying so much more.
The alchemist raised his eyes and stared at Pef for a minute. "Even if you could pay enough for that Universe Pill, it is not for sale. You're close to ascension anyway, less than a thousand years I'd say."
'Any advice?' Pef asked the glove, having reached the limit of his persuasion abilities.
The glove stayed silent, as it sometimes did when Pef fucked up really bad.
"I need a billion of those Universe Pills, fellow Daoist. Now tell me, how would you fare against a few goliths, face to face?" Pef asked instead.
The man's face shifted a little, losing his venerable demeanor for a second. "If your General didn't get surrounded with her Legion at the Haze Silin Gap, my Purple Cauldron guild would still be around, not scattered across the multiverse like refugees, those that lived anyway. Our entire universe was devoured by the damned goliths!"
'What?' Pef exclaimed inward, as this was news to him.
'Yeah, I would have told you sooner, but I knew you would react like this. And there isn't anything you can do for now. The General will be fine, the siege still holds even after 500 million years.' the glove said in a sheepish tone.
"You know, maybe you should do something about this, instead of complaining. I'm just 3000 years old, and did my best to ascend and help win the war. With your help, we could..."
Pef grumbled in an annoyed voice.
"A child! A child dares to admonish me?" the alchemist shouted and flustered.
"I have an army though. Trillions of soldiers at Sovereign rank and a few higher. What do you have?" Pef shouted back, pointing at the cultivation treasures on the table.
The Alchemist God tilted his head and observed Pef with a frown.
"Universe Pills require more than mere Spirit lotus seeds and Fire-dragon grass. You will need Pure Purple Jade and rare treasures that contain Heaven's Laws. And then you have to condense Heaven's Tribulation to refine it. There aren't any..." the alchemist complained with a sad headshake.
Pef grinned and held his palm out. "Oh, I thought it would be something hard."
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PefVersed in