"You seemed bored, little Yue. Write down Air and Gravity" the Taotie spoke while flinging another mind stone at the young woman.

Obeying without hesitation, Yue began to decant her knowledge and insights onto the mind stone, while the spirit beast kept watch or forced some Elder Realm Shin Admiral to provide their insights into various Dao.

In a few days, the preparations were ready, and the Taotie began combining the Eight Elements with the Legion Method, only this time using his own perfect Devouring Dao and eight complete elements to create much more than the sum of their parts.

The spirit beast vanished inside a violet sphere for a minute, then re-appeared holding a violet-glowing mind stone, and a rictus of pain on his beastly face. "Someone will pay for all this pain" the beast declared with an angry voice, then flicked the mind stone at Pef's forehead, where it embedded half-way into his skull.

Pef just bowed deeply towards the spirit beast. "If you please, I will visit you in the Mausoleum and give you a great fight. But, give me 3 years or so, until then. I want to return to Tier 7 first."

"Pef! Are you crazy? The Taotie would kill you and eat your soul!" Aria shouted in loud panic, while trying to shield Pef away from the beast.

Indeed, the Taotie began to laugh and slap his chest in mirth. " A great fight, you say? With only a Dian Realm? Haha!"

"Even so, I expect both of you to spar only. Especially you, grandpa. If you eat my Pef, I will borrow enough time and kill you." Yue spoke with a deceptively soft voice, as if offering them treats.

The Taotie flashed a pair of ghostly eyes at its disciple, for once seeming unsure. "You would die and be erased, if you borrow that much..." he spoke hesitantly.

"So don't give me a reason to kill you, grandpa. I love you, but I love Pef more." Yue said with a sad headshake and a trembling voice, then stepped away and vanished before she had to shed tears in public.

"You made my wife cry, old badger. That's a good reason to give you a nice beating. In about 3 years." Pef murmured with a worried glance after Yue.

"Fine, fine! Go train with the Fay. I look forward to our fight, Hero of the Haze Gap!" the Taotie grumbled as he flicked Pef once more, but this time right next to the Godmother's feet, far in the Fay domains and inside the sacred pool of the Goddess. Right into her private rooms, in fact.

"Well...that's one way to make an entrance. What's that on your forehead?" Lady Kalima asked while helping Pef stand up.

"It's a gift from the Taotie. It should stay there until I reach Tier 7 again." Pef answered while rubbing the stone sticking out a little from his forehead.

If the Fay Goddess could show emotions, she would have at this moment. "You have just returned, and went to see the Taotie right away. And he gave you a cultivation method?" she asked with a deep frown.

"Sort of. I promised to spar with him in 3 years, so we better get started." our hero explained while looking around the Goddess' quarters, finding them quite fragrant and colorful, especially the many flowers and aromatic herbs, plus the pink pillows everywhere.

The goddess blinked at the young cultivator for a second, as if trying to understand. "You are not the Jade Emperor, young Soldier. He had lived a hundred lives over thousands of Chaos Cycles, finished three thousand Great Daos and was the best Formation Master in the whole Creation. And he still died!" the woman shouted in almost despair, while her paper fan covered her face.

Pef gently tugged on the fan, making the Goddess raise her blurry eyes at him. "I remember our promise, Lady Kalima. I will not die, nor kill the Taotie. However, you should ask the Destiny Fan, how else could I receive the inheritance, if I don't best the Taotie as well?"

The woman returned to her statue-like face and nodded gently. "You will not go in there unprepared. Fire!" she uttered with a cold voice, and the realm exploded into a giant inferno, far beyond anything the artificial Domain of the Icefire Sect could provide.

However, compared to the last time Pef was here, it took less than a month for him to finish the Dao of Fire, and Ascend into Elder Realm.

Pef simply sat in mid-air, as the Goddess appeared beside him and offered him a raw beast eye. "Eat this, Master Sergeant."

The blonde teenager picked the eye with his gloved hand, and raised an eyebrow. "A Desolate Beast eye? You shouldn't have..." he spoke gently before ingesting the raw eye.

"Rejin wanted some ingredients for your Ascension Pill. The Desolate Beast promised he is still a good boy." Kalima explained with a light snort, as if amused of something.

"I hope there is still one aspect left alive, or I will lack more ingredients in the future. " the teenage cultivator whispered to himself, as the glove confirmed the owner was this eye was dead now.

"I picked the last pair and had them moved here. Your General suspected the Dragons might exterminate the beast to deprive your Legion of easy advancements." the Fay goddess said with a tiny scowl.

"How is Misty?" Pef wondered, while looking far away in the distance.

"Still with young Paragon, and still a Saint. Not everyone Ascends like riding on an air balloon. Rejin had a lot of stories of your early adventures on Lacrima." Kalima offered with a sad smile.

"Hey! I was young and foolish, back then. My newest life was much more peaceful." Pef exclaimed in fake outrage.

"Still, you draw Faith from that Church of Pef even now. Billions of galaxies, filled with your worshipers. You might not even need an Ascension Pill this time." Kalima said in a level voice, while examining the strange blonde man in front of her. Blonde suited him better, and death seemed to have strengthen him immensely. Especially his mind and soul.

The General may seem cruel to her Soldiers, and she blamed her for Pef's death when she learned what happened. But perhaps, perhaps it was for the better.

"I will need you to keep a secret, Lady Kalima." Pef asked while touching the mind stone fixed into his forehead.

"Of course." she answered in a breath.

He extended a finger gently and poked her own forehead, transferring the image of the Eight Element Trigram, and the basics of the new cultivation.

The woman opened her eyes wide and just stared at Pef, while her mind and thousands of selves digested the new insights. "This...is huge!"

"And a secret. Remember! That fan is only on loan." he claimed in a steel voice, and ignored the urges of the glove to strike now, with the same dimensional ability that broke Hualitep. The Goddess was wise, he was quite certain. And despite her claims of severed emotions...she still cared about her children, and about him. Conflict was not necessary.

"Please, at least Sunny..." the Fay Goddess pleaded in a soft voice. The glove calmed down, as the danger passed.

"Possibly. She killed Rejin though, just from pride. I don't think she is wise enough." Pef answered with a sad sigh.

The Fay Godmother nodded while her eyes glinted with a cold light. "I can wait. I waited long enough anyways."

"She could come with me, in the Mausoleum. The Taotie will be happy to shatter her pride." Pef proposed with a careless shrug, and scratched at his cheek.

"Or he could eat her, and digest her immortal soul as well." Kalima whispered in a warry voice.

"Or that. Anyways, let's finish the other elements now. Air first, if you please." Pef said in a calm voice, and closed his eyes.

Inside Pef's dantian, the Icefire learned as well, and became even more convinced of its choice. Pef was not yet 17, and has already matched its cultivation. The sky was not the limit.