Even with the mind stone providing continuous insight into the Eight Elements, and the glove adding its powerful analytic skills, it took Pef more than a whole year to complete the whole trigram. Cultivation was hard, and no amount of willpower or genius could replace hard work. But they helped.

Sitting down and eating another Desolate Beast eye, Pef also completed the Dao of Void, and began raising the Devour Dao and the Sword Dao in parallel. For some reason, those two Daos seemed to work well in pair, completing each other and supported similar concepts like erasing and severing.

Even more, his body had matured a lot in this time, partly from constantly wielding the heavy Heart Ruler, and partly just from growing up.

"In 5 months, I will be 18 years old." Pef spoke with a faint smile.

The Fay Goddess glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, and nodded. "You are already stronger than you were, before you died. Still, you got lucky as well. Try not to die again, young Soldier."

"You got stronger as well, Lady Kalima. Another Star...at Tier 8 they must be quite rare." Pef added with a wry voice, and turned towards the woman with a coy smile.

The Fay Goddess just nodded seriously. "I am probably stronger than that male Supreme Devil now. And it's all because of you."

Pef sighed and held his hands together, manifesting a green spirit shaped like a leaf. "What do you know about the World Tree?" he asked with a curious tone.

"Only what everyone knows. Long ago, before our Great Realm even existed, there was a World Tree binding all Creation together. From the low realms to the Highest Heavens, its branches twined and connected everything, allowing for easy transversal. Or at least, far easier than now. Even Dian Realms could meld with the Tree and shift themselves into another Realm or even a higher one." the Fay Godmother explained with a far away look.

Pef nodded as the spirit of the bamboo sapling sank into his inner realm once more.

"A fairy tale, that is. The World Tree was all that, and nothing like that at all. But I guess no one remembers, except the Nine Shades itself." our hero whispered gently, and took out the Heart Ruler then just stabbed it into his own heart.

'You cannot abuse this so much, my dear user. Remove it in 5 seconds...4...3....2...' the glove urged him in a concerned tone.

Pef folded the Heart Ruler into the glove pocket and swiftly healed the stab wound, feeling a bit sad at his own weakness. He should be able to sleep like a baby, despite the weapon stuck in his heart.

"See? You can last 6 seconds now, and still remain conscious. Probably just as long as I could, if I were to try it." Kalima observed with a flat but proud voice. Her student was growing so fast, it was unbelievable. He could probably even fight a low level Xian cultivator now, someone like Rejin perhaps. Excluding the Nine Universe Cauldron of course.

"Do you like numbers, Lady Kalima?" Pef asked out of nowhere.

The Goddess frowned. "Not really. I use them because they are useful, but for important things I just use my own judgement. Numbers lie." she revealed with a displeased voice.

"My own advancement has stopped. I am stuck at 99 percent of Elder Realm, without any reason." Pef said with a disappointed voice.

The Fay Goddess just snorted, maybe a bit amused at his predicament. "That is the natural barrier for all cultivators. Of course, they usually take billions to years to reach it, and it's why there are millions of Elder Gods, and so few Dian Deities."

"Oh! So it's similar to the Monarch Realm threshold. I wish I had more time to explore this...I'm certain I could create a method to Ascend through it easily, just like I did with the Eight Elements." Pef mused while scratching at his cheek in deep thought.

The Fay Goddess felt her eyes twinkle at the words, and knew it was also true. If there was anyone able to do that, it was probably Pef. "Good. Then, you only need to find someone to give you that extra time."

"Your Domain exists outside of time though...can't you?" Pef asked with a pleading voice.

Kalima just shook her head. "It doesn't work like that. Not for me. But, you already have someone to help. Rejin should have a pill nearly ready." she proposed in a colder tone, and took out a soft skin shirt that she offered to Pef.

As Pef examined the item, the glove and his own senses provided the relevant clues. 'Made from the skin of the Desolate Beast...and refined by the Fay Goddess herself. Probably at the behest of our General. I never got my Legion Armor...' Pef concluded as he dripped a drop of blood to confirm the acceptance.

The leather armor shifted and melded around his body, covering Pef with a nigh-unbreakable suit that could also heal itself, while providing resistances to most weapons or elements. Then, the Desolate Armor vanished inside his skin, becoming invisible as well.

"You have worked hard, my lady. Such an armor...it is beyond anything I ever heard of." Pef spoke while bowing toward the Goddess.

"I cannot finish it, only someone with a Mastery of Preservation Dao can do that. Someone like that Nine Shades Bamboo perhaps, or maybe the Ruler of the Devils. Each one has their own problems though." The Godmother added with a tiny shrug.

"Preservation...that would be the opposite of Devouring. It would hamper the Taotie as well." Pef realized with a gigantic grin.

"Hmmm. I wonder what happens if someone completes both of them. Two Supreme Daos, would it work like the Elder Realm?" Lady Kalima mused with a sudden insight.

"So wise, my Fay Goddess. I will test this soon." Pef whispered, mostly to himself. The glove was already crafting a thousand plans to achieve this, as it was normal to its nature.

"So you're leaving?" the woman asked with her face covered once more by the paper fan.

"Send me somewhere infested with goliths. I should test my skills in real battle now." Pef answered in agreement.

The Goddess just nodded, and Pef vanished from her inner sanctum. "Be safe, young Soldier. You promised to come back for me." she whispered as a tear formed in the corner of her eye. A bit surprised, Kalima collected the tear and examined it for a long minute. 'I haven't shed a tear since Misty died. Oh well, having a Resurrection Tear at hand might be useful one day.' she mused with a sad smile.

'If you want to be useful, you will need a few more Stars. The boy will reach your Realm soon, and then leave you behind. You can't hide forever in Illusion.' the white paper fan admonished her in a familiar voice.

'So you think he can beat the Taotie? Are you certain?' Kalima wondered with a hopeful voice.

'Nothing below the Heavens can truly defeat the beast, my dear. But, there are other ways to win. Hearts and Minds, remember?' the Destiny Fan added with an ironic tone.

'His heart is certainly big enough. Not so sure about his mind, despite his recent growth.' the Goddess murmured inward.

The Destiny made manifest just laughed. Although Kalima didn't notice the glove, it still did, just because it's nature was special enough to sidestep the mnemonic sphere of the Orange Glove, at least for now. Luckily, the glove had a bigger target in its sights, and a long revenge to conduct. Be helpful and don't stand in its way, and they might survive the reckoning. 'He is fine on the Mind aspect as well. Stop worrying about Pef, his Destiny leads straight to Heavens. You focus on being useful enough to be taken along.'