Over the next three months, Lady Lucia got to lose her inhibitions and shyness, by escorting her husband everywhere, for every single minute.

At first, she was quite astonished and a bit weirded out by the Lord Pef's behavior, especially if he cultivated his other wives beside her. But the loving manner in which everything happened, and Pef saving a last circuit for her, slowly parted the chains over her heart, and she finally gave in, her soul at peace and content in the arms of her husband.

The next morning Lucia woke up a Sovereign, her senses and powers magnified ten times, and she turned around to see Lady Si sleeping peacefully on Pef's chest. Although the young woman was only an Earth rank, their husband cared for her perhaps even more, being exceedingly gentle and sweet on her.

"Love is a great thing isn't it?" Pef asked softly, patting her hair in a practiced motion, and leaning in to steal a short kiss.

"Mmm. Not at all what I have imagined, husband. My heart feels so free..." Lucia mused while drawing a deep breath, and trying to get used to the multitude on new sensations and abilities that manifested at once.

Pef kicked her out of the bed playfully, although she remained floating by instinct. "Go and pester Yuan for training, Lucia. Your senses are swirling and sweeping the continent too wildly. And you woke up my fragile, delicious and sexy wife." the young hero said in a more commanding voice, then he dragged Si on top of him, to play with her body like a plush toy.

Lady Lucia sighed inward and went to find the Lady Ignited. Even if Pef was kind of moron, he was right about her senses being out of tune.

While Pef measured and poked his dear Earth ranked wife, in his mind he was constructing a training regimen to help Si achieve at least Sky rank.

Practice and love were nice, but with the low qi density of the Saint continent, it wasn't enough to ascend further, and the Orange pill didn't replace combat.

'These memories of Tai Chi, they are all over and not quite a slow martial style. Can you fill in the blanks?' he asked inward.

After a minute of riffling and categorizing the users memories the glove replied with a flat tone.'You have 8 stances and movements and three attacks in your memories. Not enough for a complete 360 degrees battlefield control. Extrapolating and completing, and including two sword qi focuses, a defense wrist arc and a horizontal finger swipe. Adding fire qi and water qi to this lukewarm style. A million repetitions should allow instinctive reactions in extremis situations.'

The new and upgraded style was then uploaded into Pef's mind for his perusal. On any other planet or continent, this hastily assembled style would have been a master class martial method. It could even support ascension to Emperor rank, once the elemental mastery was achieved, without even a Legion indoctrination.

Pef kissed his wife on her forehead, while poking her jiggling melons with his gloved hand. "I have made you a special training method. It's like a slow dance, to help master your body and qi. If you practice it every day, you will reach the skies." he whispered as the method uploaded and patched into the already existing Legion method.

"Oh Pef. These moves are so graceful and flow so easy. How will I ever move like that?" Si answered in a confused tone, while she went over the Chi style in her mind.

"Silly wife. You're what, 40 years old? You've seen what Lia can do with 500 years of practice. Imagine yourself in a thousand years or ten thousand. You'll make even gods weep in envy." the loving husband whispered in her hair, while exploring her body more vigorously.

An hour later, the young couple parted with a loving kiss, Si returning to her usual routine, now with an extra practice added, while Pef visited his Imperial office, approved a dozen claims and denied a hundred more, got tong lashed by his secretary for being late, and leaving early, then returned to his sauna, to continue his practice.

Thousands of years of combat wouldn't help anymore, only practice and love, more meridians open or some divine intervention.

Sadly, for the other pill ingredients he would need to dive deep underwater, or beat up more Monarchs, and Pef had enough near-deaths to postpone that for a while. Erin, Mia, Pela and Xie could use another roaming next year, to ascend to Sovereign rank as well, but their practice was low for a Tyrant rank anyway.

They had to learn to use their domain, and building the infrastructure of the Pef Empire would help them train, as well as put them to good use.

Because Pef wasn't going to keep the wives hidden in a harem and just enjoy their bodies like the Xi Emperors did. He could keep only Si around and be content with her love. His wives were destined for greatness in his mind, and thus they had to be strong and independent, like Lia or Lin were.

Some hours later, a naked woman with platinum hair and azure highlights sat beside him in the sauna, cooling the hot steam with her presence alone.

"I'll gouge your eyes out, if you open them, Pef Xi" she spoke in a warning tone.

He lifted his hand slowly and poked at her diamond hard chest, then patted her shoulder in a familiar gesture. "Your breasts can shatter mountains, my icy friend. I fear I won't warm your bed any time soon." the Sovereign replied in a teasing tone, then sent his fire sprite to fuel the stove for more heat.

They both remained silent after that, enjoying the warm steam and the companionship.

When Pef came out of his trance, the sauna was empty of visitors, and he felt an earring has been inserted in his left ear, as a memento of a Saint's visit.

'Just say something, when she does this kind of stuff to me!' he muttered inward, a bit upset at having his ear deflowered.

'There nothing you can do to stop a Saint, Aspirant. You're lucky to have befriended one. The worm might puppet you for a bit of fun, before sucking your brains out, and the other Saint... He shreds and refines divine messengers for a living.' the glove said in a flat voice, like it was out of his hands. Or gloves.

'And how the hell does she appear from thin air?' he asked a bit outraged.

'Perception filter. Just like the Rock Worm does, to conceal its size and strength. Your qi scans would have detected such a large threat long ago, if not for the stealth field it cloaks itself with.' the system explained patiently.

Humans were so forgetful, they barely realized they shared the continent with a mountain sized worm who could gulp most of them in hours. Or much worse, if the worm became a hegemonizing entity, and infected them with its offspring.

Well, unless the other Saints, especially the female, came to help.

The new Fire Saint would need thousands more refined soul strands to catch up with the Ice Saint.

Meanwhile, Pef explored the storage earring, and took out two small Grey pills, about a third the size of the meridian pills.

'Saint ranked soul enhancers. 30 percent attack and 10 percent defense bonus. Plus 5 years worth of water qi reserves. Your icy friend likes you, Aspirant' the glove added in a bit of glee. It seemed the gifts were returned now, and not less effective.

'So I can take both pills and ascend, just like that?' Pef wondered a bit amazed, as he was prepared mentally for a long wait till his next rank.

The glove hesitated, calculating times and growth schedules and projecting a million contingencies. The energy would suffice, but the user would still be unpracticed and unable to use his abilities correctly.

'You would possibly die, Aspirant. Also, you have a goddess with water qi married to you. The grey pellet would push her to the peak of Tyrant rank. In a month you could have another Sovereign, and a water qi prodigy.' it said after deciding on a certain future.

Pef closed his hand and scanned around for Xie, finding her at the bottom of the pool like always. She trained her water domain every day, and most of the times in the pool. 'Aren't you afraid the evil Emperor will find you and eat you up, my water fairy?' he sent via a qi pulse.

In five seconds, a naked water Tyrant entered the sauna and straddled her husband, her skin still wet and clingy.

"Had enough of fire qi, my dear? Perhaps, you want to indulge in some more...liquid love?" Xie asked in a teasing voice, as she kinda been cultivated less, while Lucia got her daily Qi injections.

The Sovereign played a bit with her wet forms, pressing the right buttons until the other wife appeared, with eyes turned silver.

"More roaming? No. Too early and... Si is practicing a new style, but that's not it. Lucia is already a Sovereign. My turn then?" Xia asked after discarding a few less probably options.

"This early promotion will require your attentive and loving cooperation, my exalted goddess. Soul enhancers are rare in this universe." Pef whispered while placing a pellet in his mouth and pushing it with his tongue in a special kiss kind of trade.

The silver eyes twinkled a bit amused and a bit impressed. Her husband had obtained a great boon, and again only demanded a kiss for it. She waited until Pef ingested his own pill, and then they both gulped at once.

Their dual souls exploded in grey light, piercing through the sauna roof and creating a pillar of light seen from a thousand kilometers, especially in the following nights.

Bathed in the powerful energy of the Gray pellet, their white and silver souls circulated like a Yin-Yang formation, expanding and strengthening their meridians and dantians, and magnifying their souls, even more than the White pill did.

When the transformation was ready, Pef would be able to block a soul strike from a Monarch, even when being a whole realm lower.

Xie as well, once she crossed into Sovereign rank.

Mysterious and profound energies coursed through the pair for three days and nights, again enhancing the legend of the Emperor Pef among the locals.

It was a tangible and visible miracle after all, and the holiness of that

Even the Practitioners and Cores around the Xi Palace benefited from being this close to the epicenter of this pillar of divine light, gaining profound insights, while in the nearby cities of Carthage, Smithtown and Lacrimosa, a hundred children awakened their qi inheritance simply by staring with wide eyes at the bright light beam piercing the sky.

Lia and Yuan arrived one after another, and peeked inside the sauna for a second, before backing out.

'Good and bad, embraced in deep love and bathed in gray light. And their dual souls are the same, and react the same way...' the oracle mused while holding Yuan's hand for ease of communication.

'He died for you, Lia. Just to unshackle your soul and let you love again. Perhaps you should trust our husband, a bit more.' the Fire Monarch replied in a bit of heart flutter and awe.

'Yeah. He is the best idiot in the galaxy, isn't he?' Lia concluded with a sad smile.

'Perhaps. He hasn't left anywhere, but he got two Saint-ranked medicines from somewhere. Emitting gray light...' Yuan answered with a questioning look at her oracle friend.

Lia Xi nodded and agreed. Water qi in amazing amounts, Saint quality and gray light, like the Grey Taiga continent where they met the Ice Saint.

"We'll have another Water Sovereign soon. Blossom will be happy." the oracle proclaimed in a low voice, but enough for the nearby wives to hear her.

Blossom hugged her young daughter at her chest and smiled. She was happy already, with a Sovereign husband, a loving family and an immortal daughter. And the little girl was blinking with naive eyes at the light beam, giving signs of awakening already.

'See, my little baby. That's your daddy, stepping closer to divinity. I know I waited a long time to pick a husband, but I was right. There was no one else better.' Green Blossom whispered in her daughter's mind, keeping the thought form soft and gentle.

A thousand newer cultivators got to see and sense the qi energy from the gray beam, and a dozen got enlightened enough to cross into the next ranks, while the rest got various insights, especially those with water qi.

In the third day, Pela took some courage from somewhere and entered the sauna for some unspeakable qi theft, and emerged an hour later smiling content and a bit stronger.

Lady Si went to whisper with Pela for a minute, then ran inside the sauna as well. Free qi boost with no combat was not an occasion she would miss, and her husband better not disown her for this, since he was the one who taught her this secret of duo cultivation.

Some three hours later, the pellet grey light ended, a second sooner for Pef. He glanced at Si and shook his head in embarrassment.

"Time to go, my love. Xie needs this now. But you get points, for cheating cleverly, too" he said in a soft voice, as Lady Si pouted form losing her source of free qi.

Xia's eyes twinkled amused, as she patted her husband's toy wife on her head. The funny husband taught his wives only silly things for his pleasure.