"I'll stay here while I refine the pills. Strangely enough, this feels like the safest place in the multiverse." Rejin spoke all the sudden, as the Cauldron grew to its standard size and green flames sprang out to heat it.

Pef scratched his cheek as if in deep thought, while his eyes flashed between the Cauldron and the Taotie beast. Those two knew each other, and possibly shared the same origins in the higher heavens. Seeing the spirit beast smile kindly as if he was a real grandfather only made it weirder though.

"Let me see if you'll waste your time or not." the Taotie spoke after a minute, and then it swiped a paw through the Cauldron's lid to scoop out a glowing pill.

A whiff of divine fragrance filled the air, as the blue ice-looking pill swirled with energy and colors.

"..." both the Alchemist and the Taotie starred at the pill with pity in their eyes.

"What is this trash?" the beast asked after a surprised moment.

"...The Heavenly Lightning was too weak. It barely fused into an Elder Realm Pill...still my best work ever." Rejin muttered with an embarrassed voice.

The Taotie turned towards Pef and measured him from head to toe with a disgusted look. "It's your fault, stupid kid. You can't even provoke a real tribulation. Trash!"

Striking an inner moon with a Voidcutter, Pef held a hand out to receive the obliterating heavenly bolt and prove it was rather strong. However, the beast simply swiped the tribulation in mid-air, compressed it into a ball and ate it, slowly chewing it as if discerning the skill of the cook.

"Well?" He asked a bit curious.

"As I said. This trash tribulation wouldn't even kill anyone here. How can you expect it to fully refine the Desolate Beast? We need something a thousand times stronger." the Taotie growled as he flicked the failed pill into Pef's hands.

Pef turned and glanced at the dejected faces around, including a desponded Alchemist. The tribulation was already twenty times stronger than a normal one, and it still wasn't enough.

'We need to steal a stronger lightning.' the glove offered in advice.

"We need to steal a stronger lightning..." Pef whispered in confusion.

"Haha! Correct. You do have the right brains after all, kid. Now, let me see..." the Taotie exclaimed in a happier voice, while it scanned the universes around for a proper target.

"No! He will kill us all!" Gena shouted as her face paled all the sudden.

'She does have a good skill as well. Oracle of some kind. See?' the glove concluded in an amused tone, as Pef hummed inward.

"Perhaps stealing isn't the right word. I will offer him a minute of relief from constant torment. Kindness is a powerful weapon too." Pef mused out loud, as he deduced the target of the next heist. There weren't many people around strong enough and carrying with them a stream of Heavenly Lightning. Only one.

"Whatever then. It would have been much more entertaining the first way." the Taotie answered in a dejected tone, as if deprived of a precious toy.

A violet portal opened between Pef and Rejin, and both of them nodded at each other before stepping through.

"Do you think the Silent Monk would agree? I can't actually see his fate." Gena asked the remaining people, her eyes slowly worried.

The worried faces of the hunting team didn't reassure her at all. Only Wixtal Xi stood calm, with his Power Word Gun in hand. "It is no use to worry about Pef. He has the glove, and that thing is more potent than a thousand goliths. I'd worry about the monk instead." he declared with a convicted tone, as a former wearer of the same Orange glove.

The Taotie nodded slowly, as it too felt a small threat from the glove. "That thing is sick. If I had skin right now, I'd get goosebumps." the spirit beast muttered in a low growl.

Gena scowled, as she could barely remember Pef wearing any glove. She scanned the Veritas Soldiers around, finding each of them had a glove made of some type of beast leather, but they seemed ordinary Galaxy Class artifacts, barely able to support a modicum of sentience. Perhaps it was something different?

In another universe, Pef nursed his burnt left hand as it grew back. What? He had to try if the constant tribulation was real or some type of illusion. It seemed real enough.

And while the universe they were in had a single sun and a single planet, it did hint at some type of illusion hiding the real thing. Or perhaps the monk really liked living alone.

"It kinda hurts..." Pef observed with some dismay, while desperately holding back his tears. It hurt absolutely horrifically, as one may imagine. Tier 8 tribulations were no joke, both in energy and punishment.

The Silent Monk opened an eye slowly, observing the speaking nuisance for a moment.

'He wants us to explain.' the glove deduced from the lazy glance.

Pef shrugged and took out the failed Ascension Pill. It was the only Tier 6 ascension pill in the multiverse anyway, but compared to the real thing it was indeed trash.

The monk measured the pill for a moment, before glancing towards the more distant Alchemist and his Divine Cauldron. A flash of recognition passed through his eyes.

A silent sigh filled the mountain top, and an unseen wind made the bamboo tree wiggle for a moment. All the while, more violet-black tribulations fell constantly onto the Silent Monk,

who seemed to endure them with a peaceful face.

"So I thought, you may want a minute to relax, while we divert the lightning into the Cauldron. Nobody ever made Tier 7 pills before, and Rejin can't progress his Dao of Alchemy without making stronger pills." Pef argued with a level voice.

The monk opened his eyes again, first starring at Pef's chest, then glove and finally at the violet portal that allowed them to invade his personal realm.

'He knows about the Taotie.' the glove explained from this single glance.

Pef smiled and took out the Heart Dividing Ruler, holding it gently between two fingers. "My glove says you're very wise, Silent Monk. Surely you can infer the rest from this." Pef replied softly as he stabbed the ruler into his heart again. His smile faded abruptly as his qi drained in a second and he fell face down in a heap, with the ruler sticking out from his back.

A flash of sympathy or pity passed over the old monk's face, as he rose from his sitting Buddha stance and took a single step to arrive beside the Alchemist.

A deep and inquiring look made the Alchemist raise the Cauldron up, and lift the lid. Torrents of Tier 8 tribulations filled the Cauldron, while the Silent Monk gently raised a finger and poked the Divine Artifact with longing eyes.

A few seconds or maybe years passed, while the monk and the cauldron spoke unknowable secrets.

But while this play unfolded on the main stage, in the background a single bamboo leaf fell gently from the Immortal Tree and landed onto Pef's head, then vanished in silence and unseen.

For in this realm there were two Tier 8 entities, and they each had their own means and ends.