'How is it working?' Pef asked inward, without bothering to check to log results of the inter-glove conflict going on.

The gloves were so advanced in their programming and especially so fast, that he could never hope to keep up. He just knew that his orange glove was hacking the other glove, both for access to its database and for operational control in the Legion status ranking.

'I already have root access. Just keep the user distracted for 10 more minutes.' the glove answered instantly.

Pef gulped more Godwine, and poked Yao Li in the forehead, rather impolitely. "Make up your mind, Soldier! It's not everyday you get to increase both your personal power and the size of your regiment by six orders of magnitude"

"...But, if you take all the high realms...it's not fair!" Yao Li complained, while swaying slightly from the wine-induced enlightenment.

"I won that war though. Next time, you can also fight an entire sect and convert them into your troops. Can you?" Pef asked a bit more aggressively.

Yao Li lowered his head, pretending to enjoy his aromatic bird meal. It wasn't his fault, of course. War is always a matter of logistics in the end, and the situation was quite bad.

With the bulk of the Veritas Legion surrounded by the golith armies in the Haze Gap, it was now only low-level Soldiers that scattered through the multi-verse in the hope of recruiting and rebuilding more regiments. But as Yao Li proved, it wasn't easy even if the local allies allowed them to recruit and train in their territory.

The Legion wasn't well-liked, mostly because of dubious cultivation practices like suffering during initiation and then absorbing the souls of their kills to cultivate faster, a demonic type of cultivation that was reviled by the civilized universes. This meant far fewer recruits were volunteering for indoctrination, and local rulers like Lord Mu Feng were mostly opposed to forceful conscription.

Pef aimed to change that, first here and then in other universes, by using the very tactic he employed with the Autumn Sect. First, convert all the higher ranked cultivators into new recruits. They would become decent Soldiers without much investment, so nothing to deliberate about.

Step two, implement his own Taichi method among sect disciples to rapidly raise their cultivation to Sovereign rank, thus raising the power and renown of the sect among the people, producing a wave of eager recruits.

Step three, select and indoctrinate promising disciples into the Legion proper, and use various external aids to get them into Monarch realm. The last step was still the most difficult as such external aids were expensive and rare, and would never suffice to raise trillions of Soldiers.

"All right, Lord Xi. We have a deal, I suppose. Your Taichi method is working great with my current regiment so far, and most of them have reached Emperor Realm already. But I expect at least a billion new recruits in the next decades." Yao Li decided, and sipped a bit more Godwine as a reward.

"Great! We can drink to that!" Pef exclaimed with a joyous voice and gulped a large quantity of Godwine in a long drag. Feeble tingles coursed through his veins and meridians as the Godwine spread through his body, even granting him a small boost to Forging Dao.

He turned towards the Alchemist, who was just lazily drinking and watching the scantily clad flowers swirl on the dance stage. "Armaments, Lord Rejin. High level beasts might be rare, but we can use adamantite for basic weapons and armor, right?"

Rejin nodded patiently. "It is a good metal for low ranked troops, of course. Expensive too, unless...you do have Elder Gods now, to fusion adamantite in their inner worlds. But who will forge so many weapons?" he asked curious.

Pef just raised an eyebrow at the obvious answer.

"No! No way. I don't have time for such low level work." he complained in a petulant tone, while patting his grey robes.

Pef just smiled and drank a bit more wine, making sure to swirl the bottle first to dissipate some smell in the air. An awkward silence fell upon the table, with Yao Li pretending to enjoy the dance show, or eating more expensive spirit meat.

Ten minutes passed slowly, tension almost thick enough to be cut with a knife.

Rejin slammed his palm on the table, making the glasses jump a little. "You can't manipulate me like this, young boy! I can make pills, but that's it! Find a soul smith somewhere."

Pef leaned into the comfortable couch and pretended to watch the show, even measuring the length of the legs on some dancers. Some of them were quite...

"Tchhh! I will need double rations of Godwine. Triple rations, if my other selves also work on this. And no spiritual weapons!" the Alchemist exclaimed in a aggravated tone.

Pef just nodded calmly. "Of course, esteemed Alchemist. Well, maybe a few of those weapons, for a wife of mine?" Pef added a bit later. He did have quite a few wives too.

"Grrrr. Fine! But just a few. I hate complicated programming..." Rejin grumbled and gulped some wine to drown his future sorrow.

Pef smiled kindly. "From what I can tell, it takes quite some complicated programming to make a cultivation pill behave correctly. What pathways and meridians to use, what species and age and gender and cultivation rank to affect, and how..."

Rejin sighed in defeat. "I know. Sometimes low level pills are harder to make, just because of this. Once you are using Heaven's Laws, the pills obtain some spirituality and can disperse themselves into the body without much instructions. General purpose pills are always the hardest to make, which is why most alchemists only cater to a single specie."

"My Godwine also disperses by itself, quite equally everywhere." Pef observed in a curious voice.

The Alchemist nodded and took another sip. "We're getting drunk on the wisdom of the Heavens."

"And my hard work." Pef added coyly.

Rejin waved a hand in dismissal. "Do you know how the souls get sent into your mirror universe to reincarnate?" he asked changing the subject.

Pef considered the question for a moment. "I don't know enough about what transformation happens at Tier 7. Words like Paramita and Samsara, but they have no reality for me."

Rejin sighed, as if in pain. " In truth, there are no words to explain. It's a feeling, very similar to the Monarch Realm ascension, when the soul binds to the body and stops the aging process. Only now, it stops death...and wipes your memories. Alchemists call this Aunt's Meng tea, as if a magic drink must be taken before you can be reborn."

Pef blinked a bit surprised, as if a memory of another life had awoken. "But, if the Tier 8 deities that constructed the mirror universe, if they somehow bounce the souls directly there...there is no more memory wipe. Is that what I remember, a life before this life?"

Rejin smiled sadly. "You misunderstand, young one. The Path of Reincarnation is blocked by a mirror, which bounces the souls into that...pit. That mirror is an ancient artifact called the Mirror of Samsara. But it was never meant to be used this way...because that tea is supposed to wipe away the grief and pain of the old life. Give you a chance of a happy life again. So, make sure you don't die again...because those that come back are warped and distorted."

'Takeover complete. I can now access the Legion network under this Yao Li user name.' the glove announced with a victorious voice.

A flash of worry passed through Pef's mind, while he considered the Alchemist's warning. It was not about himself, but about the glove. It too had climbed out of the pit, but emerged warped and distorted.