The Volcanic Fire disciples arrived next day, with their lower ranks embarked on their own airships, including Anaconda Two, and being pushed by two of their Fire Sovereigns, Lord Guyong who was second in command now, and Lord Fonshui, one of the newly risen due to a White pill. The Fire Lord hasn't joined this delegation, but there were 30 Tyrants and 30 Emperors among them, so they made up with numbers, outnumbering the druids three times.

Pef suspected the old Fire Sovereign was kind of tied into the defense arrays at Vesuvius, making it hard and unnecessary for him to leave the volcano.

Not that he needed to, with Saren and Teria Xi at Sovereign rank as well, to send out on pacification missions.

Of course, Pef also had 5 ex-disciple wives, from Qin and Jian, then Yuan and lastly Lucia and Mengue, and among the six of them, they held four Ignited titles, as proof of the service done to Volcanis. He would have liked two more Ignited, as their fire sprites served as extra qi reserves or firepower, but it was out of his hands.

The Pef Empire would be represented by his wives, Qin was possibly the youngest Tyrant in the world, still just under 100 years old, followed closely by Mia at 120 years old. Pela was next at 300, followed by Jian at 400 and Erin around 900. Compared to others, they were all the youngest Tyrants anyway. A few skilled Sky ranks along with Emperors Zhong and Wu would also fight in the lower ranked brackets.

Not that any of these competitors had a chance to win a competition which will include his uncles Lithos or Ventu, or any of the new dozen Tyrants in the Patriarchy. Beside their elemental domain, the Xi Tyrants would have thousands of years of training in sword qi, which broke the odds completely.

Hundreds of training spars took place in the arena already, the druids showing proficiency with blunt weapons, from fists to maces and staffs, while the fire disciples preferred long spears or short swords, covered in fire qi. Sadly, both groups were not true warriors, their combat skills and weapon techniques barely passable.

Thus, Pef played gracious host, and sometimes cook, and tried to forge a relation with these groups, and win them over.

It didn't quite work, except in rare cases.

A druid there, a disciple here, being awed with nice meals or stories of bravery and heroism.

But overall, it seemed both delegations were on guard at losing more of their members to the Lord's Pef known habit of wooing females into his harem.

Gifts presented to pretty ladies, in storage rings, were declined politely, and only men were allowed to drink wine with Pef, by their leaders' orders. Or perhaps the gods themselves.

'Damn it, those two druid Empresses seemed nice...' the Sovereign muttered inside, taking back his rings with a sheepish face. He would have cultivated these two women for months, perhaps at once...

'You have enough wives, Aspirant. You should really consider taking that other grey pellet now.' the glove replied in a warning tone.

'But I could help Erin become a Sovereign...' Pef murmured inward, considering the overall practice and combat of his weaker Tyrant wives.

The glove projected a few predictions and discarded that foolish idea. 'They will become Sovereigns soon enough. There's four more meridian pills, and without a Monarch rank their ingredients are risky to collect. The Rainbow Pill would suffice to upgrade their ranks in a single day, and even your Lady Si to her next one.'

It was a dirty blow, targeting the weakest link. But the user would cave in, as always. He was just too soft and kind. Although the glove tried to be a harsh teacher, punishing every flaw in his training, with ever-increasing punishments, from grievous harm, to tougher enemies and soul poison death, the idiot still wouldn't learn.

Pef blinked in surprise, before rushing away toward his palace, and sauna.

A minute later, another pillar of light emerged, much weaker than the last one, as there wasn't a combined effect this time.

All over the world, oracles felt their future change, as another Monarch was ascending, and bound to shift the landscape of the planet sooner, and in a more violent way.

Pef circulated the concentrated water qi in a practiced manner, almost subconscious now. He focused instead on his soul, the inner palace slowly rising from the depths and becoming an island, surrounded by a large blue lake, with its shores growing ever more distant.

As hours passed, the lake became a great lake, then a sea and days later an enormous ocean, so large it had its own gravity and bent in a sphere, like a liquid planet. His senses grew even stronger and encompassed a larger domain, covering the entire Saint continent.

Now he felt the strange voids left inside his perception by two Saints, one at the edge of his domain, and seeming annoyed at being detected, while the other appearing amused and very close. Like only a meter away.

The one close by was familiar and scented with ice and cold, while the other smelled of putrid death and disease.

He couldn't make out a shape or volume, only distance and direction. In his inner landscape, a map of the continent appeared, in fine detail, with every feature represented, his wives marked with red hearts, his kids with tiny pink shoes, and his Guardians with blue swords. Green plants and yellow fires marked the druids and the fire disciples, while Cellia appeared as a white snowflake and the worm as a black teardrop.

'Are you doing this, my orange glove?' the new Monarch wondered while zooming in and out of his new mental map.

'All Monarchs would have a similar perception sense. The symbols are assigned by your subconscious. Deng will enter your range in one hour.' the glove

explained in a snappy tone.

At least the old bastard still hadn't crossed into Monarch rank, yet. That would make the power games a bit easier, not that they really mattered, with two Saints and two Monarchs present on this tiny continent.

As Pef opened his eyes, he noticed Cellia step away while Yuan entered the sauna with a shy face and hesitant manner.

He rose and went to embrace his still virgin wife, at last finding her body malleable and easy to fondle.

The Water Monarch tasted the sweet lips of his Fire Monarch wife, while his hands poked and squeezed in a bit of hurried movements.

Yuan hugged him with all her might, at once excited and anxious at being naked and alone with her too horny husband.

"Are you a bit scared, or curious?" Pef asked with a wry smile, while showering them both with few water jets. Wet skin tasted even better, in his opinion.

"My heart trembles, and my stomach flutters. I think...I need to eat you up!" the virgin said in a languid voice, slowly pushing her husband down and licking his ear in a teasing manner.

A few hours later, the Monarchs emerged from the hot and steamy sauna properly married, and grinning like newlyweds.

"We should go have dinner with the Patriarch and all our relatives. I wonder if they'll be impressed with my lovely wife..." Pef whispered while his stomach growled in angry famine.

Yuan leaned on Pef, in a half hug, glad she could fly and didn't have to move her melting legs and hips. "Doesn't matter, husband. I'm very impressed and thinking to keep you just for my private use. For a hundred years or so. I'm not too greedy."

"We endure a too long dinner, then cultivate again?" Pef asked to make sure.

Yuan nodded with a coy smile. For once, she was glad that her husband's cultivation was always hard.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the third Guardian fort near Lacrimosa, where the Blue Xi delegation was hosted.

"Welcome to the Pef Monarchy, esteemed uncles and aunts. Let's eat first, I'm starving!" Pef proclaimed after rushing to sit at his reserved table.

Only Ladies Lara, Pela and Erin were seated at the host table, while Remi and Wu sat with Wixtal while Deng and Lithos sat with their new wives right next to the hosts.

"Hmph! Monarchy...that's a good name for your empire, my young nephew. Why is there a seat not taken at your table?" Deng asked a bit curious, his chin pointing at the seat to the right of the Monarch.

A cold voice responded, as the seat suddenly appeared occupied, with a platinum haired Saint, already gently cutting into the rattlesnake meat which was being served. "If you really have to know, young Deng...it's because I was around and Pef offered to feed me. Plus this Orange Sovereign rattlesnake is delicious. Might be worth to stay awhile, and train another Xi, just for the food..."

The Patriarch gulped a bit surprised and cowed, since the Sword Saint had not been a kind and warm sword master. At all. Then he rose and saluted, flashing his white sword qi for a second. "Nice to meet you again, Lady Winter. Everyone, this is the Ice Saint who taught me the sword, a hundred thousand years ago. My stupid nephew will soon cry rivers of tears, and curse the day he met this master." he declared in a warning tone, letting his delegation know to be wary and polite.

The Xi Emperors and Tyrants saluted with a fist on their chest, and flashed their sword qi to show their own proficiency and practice.

Tyrant Lithos stood out the most, and then Wixtal and Xuyan, while Ang Xi was the weakest of the new Tyrants.

Pef observed each of them with his new perception, and sighed inward. Even Ang Xi had more practice and a smoother and refined sword qi than him.

He would win in a fight with any of his Tyrant uncles or father, as he was a hundred times stronger and more durable, but it would be through brute force, not skill.

And as Deng could hurt a Saint, even if minutely, he would be slaughtered like a woolly pig. Or like that Monarch locust Deng butchered some years ago, during the locust invasion.

"You heard that, Cellia? I can curse the day I met you already. And I did cry rivers of tears as well..." the brave hero mused in a low voice, tasting the meat of the beast who killed him once. It tasted quite nice, once the soul poison had been removed by his glove.

"Shut up and eat the stupid snake, you idiot! Not that it's not delicious. It's quite the best meat I've eaten in the last million years." the Saint muttered while gulping chunk after chunk of rattlesnake.

"You could have learned to cook, in all this time, stupid woman. Your sword lessons better be as good as you claim, or I'll feed you only corn and pig, like every other teacher eats in my empire." The Monarch murmured in between hungry gulps.

"Munch. I'm doubling the hardness of your training again, moron. We'll see how you snivel and cry." Cellia grumbled while waiting for another portion to be brought to the table. The cold sword master didn't like having to endure this kind of verbal punishment, but the reward for it, the divinely tasting feast was worth it. She'd beat him black and blue later, and make him drink his own tears with a bucket. She could wait. Waiting was easy.

Pef smirked as if he'd won something. "I hope you triple it, you cold witch! I don't have patience to waste a million years like you, just to swing a stick. You have ten years to train me, or you're out in the cold, eating snow and grass again, with the reindeer."

The Xi family might have vomited blood and swallowed it back inside their mouths, listening to the young prodigy argue with a sword saint like that. All except his wives, who were already used to his antics. Yuan exchanged a few giggles with her sisters, while also waiting for more food.

"Frigia is not so bad...and snow tastes great..." the Ice Saint muttered in a more subdued tone, while taking charge of the next pile of snake meat and reserving half for herself.