The General and the Throne of Justice sat in council with her Captains and Colonels, now including the Elf mind-giant called Vela. Even with her minor Tier 7 cultivation, Vela's mental powers matched the General and in a few specific cases, outmatched it. Like divining things occuring in the Higher Heavens, from feelings and emotions gleamed from her soul connection with the boy.
Although it was probably unfair to call him a boy anymore, but habits formed quickly and died hard.
"I feel his pain again. Another Ascension...already." Vela spoke in a calm voice, although the General could feel her inner tremble.
The General shook her head like a normal human. The Legion's first Tier 11, excluding the crazy glove. An invisible wing fluttered at her side, a sign of the Glove Godess paying attention to their council.
"I guess I should promote young Pef again, in that case. Our youngest Captain, by a few million years at least." The General spoke with a teasing voice.
And with this precedent, the next promotions into Legion Command should come easier as well, as Pef's wives in the Legion were all deserving of more promotions, and only Yuan was barely a quarter of million years old. The others were far younger, some even only a few thousand years, just like Pef's Disciple. The Mirror Compact was already proving its value, despite the other complications.
Lady Yue and the inheritor of the Jade Emperor looked at her with clear eyes. "I will be called upon soon." she said with a glance towards the ceiling.
A short sentence yet loaded with meanings. The Jade House from the Upper Heavens was missing a member, and Yue will have to replace them inside the Celestial Academy. And with her, the Taotie will depart as well, freeing the Realm of a potential cataclysm of unimaginable scale. Without another Jade Emperor, a Taotie beast going on rampage could not be stopped not even by the combined might of the Veritas Legion, its allies and the entire military force of the Imperial Nobility. The Silent Monk might intervene, but probably not. That man was far too warped by his peculiar cultivation.
As expected, the monster also kept watch on the council, and its spirit shade appeared over Yue with a toothy grin. "I guess I made my point by now, little Yue. Your pretty husband has left all of us behind, and is growing at faster rate than even I expected. Probably less than a decade for the Steel Realm."
The General sighed inward. The crazy glove already had the secret rank of Brigadier-General, and her powers dwarfed any opposition in any capacity, since even her Victory Skill avoided locking onto the glove to maintain a perfect score. But neither Pef nor his orange glove were potential adversariers, on the contrary.
The Legion method would only get stronger as the bloodline of its progenitor advanced, unlocking Tier 11 for any Legion Soldier with the requiered Daos. And when Pef advanced to Tier 12...even stronger. Everyone except the General herself, since her blood was fake just like her human aspect. Plants didn't have blood.
Colonel Jin looked around with a tired face, and sighed. As expected, her good Colonel didn't veto the promotion, despite its far too early induction. What could Jin argue? "See, as a veteran Legion Colonel at a respectable Tier 8, I reject this new Tier 11 Soldier obtaining a Captain Rank."
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Colonel Lara Xi and her White Tiger companion just smirked in tandem, as if daring anyone to oppose Pef's promotion. Nobody did.
Instead, the General pointed a finger at the Taotie. "I expect you to protect Lady Yue in the Celestial Academy and beyond. The Noble Jade House will not take this insult lightly."
The old monster just grinned wider. "You expect the Jade House to survive until I arrive there, General?. But they attacked your new Captain, and sealed their Fate already. My dear Yue will have to bear the burden and rebuild this Noble House from the ashes. If there are any ashes left."
Well, that solved a question at least. A Jade House member wouldn't vanish for no reason, after all. But fighting the strange boy and his new companion beast was certainly a good enough reason. Another wing flutter and the presence of the glove dminished.
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As the 216th Tribulation Trident fell upon Pef's protective Formation, it finally cracked, burning out his eyes and breaking his teeth but also pushed the Formation Dao in his screen to 95%. A good trade, in his opinion, despite the pain.
"Pain is only information. The Heavens simply want to communicate with me." he uttered with new, shinnier Iron teeth. The Heavens probably felt like changing his teeth at every Ascension, by shattering them.
"Really?" The Old Queen asked in a surprise tone.
"Idiot Pef! Just die already!" the glove goddess translated the Heavens words, with an amused voice.
"Ah, that makes a bit of sense." The Bee Queen answered with great wisdom.
"I feel much stronger in this new realm. Maybe I can help more from today onwards." Icefire added with a happy voice.
Pef just sighed. Half of the tribulations were meant for the Icefire, 108 of them. But then again, Icefire helped quite a lot with his Cooking.
And inside his inner world, a couple of Selves were gathering Tribulation filaments and pouring them into the vat of Jade eagle blood, for the next batch of Ascension Wine. Expensive ingredients like the trillion-years ginseng, or imperial lychees added more flavour, as did petals from the Immortal Peach Tree.
A burst of steam and explosive vapor emerged from the wine vat, clouded in a Tribulation Cloud. Quickly catching and inserting the boiling steam into a cold jade bottle produced Pef's second Cloud wine, while the wine vat iself barely remained at Gold Realm. Enough to raise millions of people to Tier 7 so not bad at all.
"Explosive separation?" Lady Gia asked curious as she peeked at the work of Pef's selves.
"It wasn't me! I suspect an entire vat of 50 tons would be a bit too much of a good thing. So, the Heavens filtered it for me..." Pef's Avatar answered as he collected the bottle and examined it.
"I've seen it with my own eyes, and still can't believe it! Your Winemaking Dao must be even better than Cooking." Lady Meili whispered in awe.
The Avatar shrugged as the bottle vanished into main body's hand. "They are both at 100%, so it's not a matter of being better. Resource quality, inspiration and Heavenly providence, I'd say."
Pef poured three small cups and shared them with the Old Queen and the Orange Glove, and tasted perfection at last.
His entire Dao screen flickered, 81000 Daos turning and spinning all at once. His Order Dao climbed to 1% as well, matching the Chaos Dao in perfect symetry.
More importantly, his Devour and Preservation Daos also rose, reaching 99% just like his Formation Dao. A single cup of Ascension Wine gained him 4 new stars in the Iron Realm, making him a dozen times stronger.
"Wow. Two more cups of this and I'll reach the peak of the Iron Realm." the Bee Queen noted in a worshiping voice.
The Orange Godess just smiled and stole Pef's bottle before he could waste it. "Enough stupid tricks, Soldier. Can't have you laze in a pool with your wine and food all day. Go kill some monsters."
Before Pef could answer, a giant herd of Chaos Whales, Krakens, Leviathans and Stingrays appeared all over the Chaos Sea. And while most of them were only Elder Gods, there were plenty higher realms and several Bronze and Iron Realms among them.
Pef gulped, helping the last drops of wine enter his stomach. Then as his Heart Ruler appeared in his hand, he uttered the classic spell. "Bankai"