'Cultivation is so boring! And this scripture is trash!' Pef exclaimed inward as he sat in front of the Icefire Sect's sacred tablet.

The ancient scripture was written in archaic words and contained tons of flavors and metaphor, making it nearly impossible to decipher.

Anyone else in the Sect would have been honored to be left alone to meditate on the Icefire scripture, but not our little Pef.

Even the tiny Icefire sprite jumped out to measure the stone tablet, then went back to sleep with a dismissive snort.

Taking out his notebook, Pef began to copy and then modify the text for his personal use, often using insights from his both sets of memories. Facts about water molecules and its component atoms, then the water's various physical states at different temperatures, even about combustion of the two gases that formed water.

Then other applications of Water Dao, anything from shields to waves, water bullets and pressure jets and hundreds other tricks, although most of them were mere vague outlines instead of practical techniques.

Unknown to Pef, through its split Avatar, the Icefire also saw and learned from what Pef wrote, making it pay special attention to this tiny human. His soul barely flickered with a tiny golden light, yet the insights into Dao were often similar with its own. And in one case Pef's comprehension even surpassed the ancient flame.

"Yin and Yang alternate and change, and through this change the elements come into existence. Just as sending messages by pulsating a beam of light, the presence or absence of light, the speed of the light pulses or their length, it all contains information. Even simpler, when we speak, we send out sound waves, and by their length and depth as well as the silence in between, we form words and the words are information. Thus we communicate with the universe, and the universe talks back, not with words but with pulses of Yin and Yang. But, when we learn to speak True Words in the language of the universe, the universe will have to listen and obey." Pef wrote in the conclusion of his own scripture.

Falling on his back, Pef fell asleep onto the Scripture Room's floor and a tiny Icefire jumped out to read the last page again.

'Another gift from the tiny one' the Icefire mused inward, as it enormous senses extended beyond this universe, only to be harshly rebound by a merciless barrier glinting like a mirror.

Inside Pef's dantian, the transformation continued as the young cultivator discovered or remembered hidden secrets from a higher realm. Another Star fell from the Heavens and entered the blonde boy's circuits then settled in the dantian beside the tiny eternal flame. As hours passed, more Stars continued to fall, pushing Pef to the peak of Nascent Realm, a century faster than normal cultivators would.

"Hey! It seems...I got stronger! Thank you little Icefire!" Pef exclaimed out loud, as he ran from the Scripture Room on his tiny legs.

'...Thank you, little one' the Icefire whispered inward, as those insights certainly helped it cross another threshold. 'One day, maybe we can escape this cold cage' the Icefire continued in a hopeful tone.

"Up, fly guy! To the Resource Hall!" Pef demanded as he poked the Sky Herald meditating outside the door.

"Of course, Holy Son! And this time we fly." the Herald answered in a grateful voice. No longer burdened by old injuries and deformed circuits, the Sky Realm Master flew down the Scripture Mountain's slopes towards the Resource Hall, passing gracefully over meditating or training Core Disciples scattered around the mountain's slopes in lavish courtyards.

Waiting disciples made a path as the Holy Son advanced towards the doors, bowing deeply towards the special snowflake that descended on their Sect. Some were truly grateful for his teachings, others were envious on his exalted station, but either way they were fearful of the Holy Son's power. Not influence with the Elders or the Sect Master, just simply, direct and deadly power able to reap anyone's life with a wave of a hand.

Pef made quite the impression as he arrived in the Icefire Sect, and a dozen Sect members had been thrown out since, for various crimes like stealing, bullying and abuse.

"Hall Elder, I hope you are rich!" Pef proposed as he stared down at the Overlord realm Elder from his shoulder perch.

"Well, I do have more of that tea you like, from Mount Dian." the elder replied with a small smile.

Pef jumped down and entered the elder's quarters while his porter remained outside the door. "Come in, fly guy! This involves you too." Pef called as he climbed onto a tall chair and took out his notebook.

A bit hesitant, Sky Herald Songtie entered the room and closed the door carefully. Instantly, a sound suppressing formation sprang into being with a red glow of tiny runes, covering every wall.

"A room has six sides, Hall Elder. One day you should extend the array all around." Pef explained as he waited for the tea to boil.

The Elder glanced up and down, and made a sour face while noting the ceiling and floor were not protected.

"What do you have to trade, Holy Son?" he asked instead.

"Well...I just wrote a cultivation method last night, in the Scripture Room. It should cover every step until Sovereign Realm. Interested?" Pef asked while fluttering a few papers with lots of tiny words on them.

"You alone wrote it?" the Elder asked with a concerned tone. As special as the boy was, nobody would risk their immortal life with a dubious cultivation method. Bad things happened all the time to rogue cultivators or others that deviated from Scripture. The old methods worked, which is why they were so revered.

"Well, this little guy was with me. I suppose he helped as well. If you notice my sudden growth." Pef admitted while summoning his Icefire sprite.

"..." The Resource Hall Elder stared for a long minute at the Icefire, until he recovered a little. "You can wield Icefire. That's quite a feat, little one." he spoke in a grave and respectful voice.

The Icefire jumped from Pef's hand to land onto the Sky Heralds head, then jumped again onto the stone wall in the back. Then with a flare of cold fire, Pef's method was instantly imprinted on the wall, words still glowing with cold intent.

After that, the Icefire jumped into Pef's teacup and began floating about like a duck in a pond, possibly enjoying the small spirit energy from the tea.

'That was quite outstanding, little Icefire. I think it impressed the Elder a little.' Pef praised the small pet, as he sipped the spirit tea and ingested the flame along.

"Your Method just appeared in my mind, Holy Son." the Sky Herald announced with a surprised voice.

"Yes, start cultivating then. I need a good contribution score and the Hall Elder needs to see if it works." Pef commanded with a knowing glance at the Elder.

The man just focused on the distant wall, slowly reading the cold words inscribed by Icefire. "Just the Holy Icefire's endorsement would be enough for your contribution points, Holy Son. Some of the early teachings are also quite similar to your Outer Sect's lessons."

"So, you think it's any good? I wanted to obtain some herbs for pills..." Pef wondered in a childish voice.

"Up to Sovereign Realm you say?" the Elder asked in a lower tone.

"Yup! Feel free to try it, Elder. You're close anyway, but there are things in there that will be helpful even in higher realms. Anyways, until then...I need you to make me a sword. Like this!" Pef sad while taking out a page with a strange sword drawn on it, hilt and guard made of wire that ended with a flatten and very thin blade, exactly 1 meter long.

"Steel wire?" the old man asked after a glance at the drawing.

"Yup. See, I'm too small for a real sword. And it just needs to be very light, not very durable. My Sword Skill can handle the rest." Pef explained while waving a blade of grass around.

"Hmmm. It will take an hour or two. Come back..." the Elder began to say.

"I need it now. " Pef countered with a harsher tone as his grass disintegrated in hand from a flash of sword qi.

The Elder frowned, then nodded in acceptance. Sword Skill or not, the boy had Icefire on him, and that thing could incinerate anything.

From today onwards, the boy wasn't just a Holy Son in name only.

The Founder himself had Ascended while wielding Icefire, and the boy was clearly following his footsteps at a rapid pace.