Pef's new head popped out from the intact remains of his torso inside the Dragon Scale Vest, then his limbs also popped back again, feeling a bit tender.

'See? I told you, protecting your heart and dantian is the only thing that matters. I don't even have a head.' the glove said in a superior and smug voice.

'It still hurt like hell...' Pef complained a bit childishly.

'Now you can eat that Preservation Pill.' the glove advised him, as Pef looked around the Violet Realm, finding the Taotie still prostrated face down on the floor.

Pef turn his hand and retrieved the Nine Universe Array, which held a a green glowing pill filled with Preservation Dao insights. It seemed that refining that Supreme Devil didn't completely fail after all.

'This seems slightly too favorable, if I can refine people so easily...' he mused inward as he ingested the pill.

"You turned that Supreme Devil into a cultivation pill, Master?" the Taotie asked cautiously, only raising his head a little the peer under his furry brows.

Pef nodded slowly as he began comprehending more and more Dao insights, and reached the second Star of Tier 9 in mere minutes.

"So, how do I Ascend, old badger?" he asked instead, looking around for some Heavenly Stairs or some other wonderful wonder.

"Errr. You have Ascended, Master. Second Star already..." the Taotie muttered in dismay.

Pef reached out with his senses to locate the other Supreme Devil, even a thousand universes away, and brought him inside the Violet Realm with ease.

A second later, a new pill began to form inside the Nine Universe Array, while Pef sound proofed the array to conceal the annoying screams.

As Pef digested the new pill, insights into Blood Dao rose rapidly, and with them a host of techniques into blood manipulation and bloodline transference. But still, the next Star didn't form.

"Damn it, this Devil was too low level..." he complained sadly, then eyed the Taotie a bit too curious.

"Master? If you need some blood just ask, no need to refine me completely!" the beast pleaded in a pitiful voice, sounding a bit horrified of his new Master.

"That might work too. Give me a ton of blood, for now." Pef allowed magnanimously while sending the array to float in front of the Taotie.

The Taotie sighed in relief and began squirting a jet of blood from his arm vein, until a barrel-sized amount was collected in the array.

Refining the Taotie blood produced a Devour Dao pill, with many insights into offensive uses of that Dao, and finally crossed Pef into his 3rd Star.

Pef smiled a bit too wide. Cultivation didn't have to be hard, after all.

"Two more tons of blood, old badger. One for my wine, and one for Yue." he explained in a patient voice, while providing a large vat of adamantium to collect blood for his next batch of Divine Wine.

The Taotie blinked in surprise, then nodded a bit more mellow. "Can I still train her, Master?"

"If you behave. I bet there should be some soul contract or such for you to obey me properly." Pef said in a warning tone, then eyed the Taotie suspiciously.

"Well, some sects practice that...but it freezes the cultivation of the soul slave. I barely reached my 5th Star after so many Chaos Cycles..." the Taotie disclosed in a pitiful tone.

Pef ignored the irrelevant complains, and focused on his next Devour Dao Pill, while his free selves began crafting more Divine Wine.

The Taotie was dangerous, but obviously afraid for now. It was time to make him truly afraid.

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"You may strike me 10 times, increasing strength. I need to know how I compare to others in my Tier." Pef demanded instead as he took out the Devour Dao pill and stored it in his glove.

The Taotie's eyes glinted with some unknown emotion, then he struck Pef hard with a dimensional sharp claw.

Pef just waited, as his Preservation Dao Skill blocked the strike effortlessly.

"Twice as strong now." he demanded calmly, as the Taotie paled.

The beast struck again, only a bit harder. "That's my maximum power, Master." the Taotie admitted in a frightened tone, as his claw failed to break Pef's green aura and only minor shockwaves passed through.

"Only this strong? Pitiful..." Pef said in a low voice, then stepped out of the Violet Realm, to ingest back the blood from his throat and heal his internal wounds.

The Taotie still hit very hard, but luckily he had his Dragon Scale vest to mitigate what crossed his Preservation Skill boundary.

Inside his dantian, the Nine Shades Bamboo released its own pulse of restoring qi, also infused with Preservation but of much higher quality.

'Cultivate more!' the World Tree remnant urged him via some unknown method, then curled once more into a seed and fell asleep.

Pef looked around the Shambalah system with curious new eyes, then clenched his hand and stored the Seven Colored Pagoda in his dantian.

Another step brought him in front of Rejin, and the Ancient Cauldron who still crafted pills in his room on the Mausoleum Station.

"Lord Pef. Congratulations on your ascension!" the old Alchemist offered with a small nod, then continued crafting his pills as if this wasn't too important.

Pef nodded and smiled, then gently pressed his hand on the cauldron.

"Third Star? You move fast, young one." the Cauldron observed with some surprise.

"I'm still me, you know? So, how do I actually go up there?" Pef asked with a mild voice.

"Oh! There will be a messenger coming soon, I think. Or you can simply fly by yourself. Towards the bright lights..." the Cauldron offered with an amused tone.

"I see. A messenger...forceful recruitment of sorts?" Pef asked a bit curious, while guiding to glove to begin new plans for this eventuality.

"Exactly. You can probably beat him by now, but it would be a bad idea. They will send thousands more and likely exterminate this multiverse just for fun." the Cauldron warned him in a more cautious tone.

The glove scrapped the first 20 plans and began making new ones on the data it just received. Thousands of Tier 9s would be a bit hard, for now.

In the same moment, a mirror glint appeared on the wall next to Pef.

"You have nine hours, Lord Pef. Choose wisely." the Mirror Goddess spoke from her wall, then faded away.

Pef removed his hand from the Ancient Cauldron, then turned towards Rejin. "Wanna come, Lord Rejin? I bet we can find plenty ingredients for Tier 8 or 9 pills, up there."

The Alchemist just nodded absently. "I have to bring Sunny."

Pef frowned for a second, then shrugged. "She can be a waiter, I guess"

Less than a hour later, Pef flew at speed through the Great Realm Barrier then zipped through the Dark Forest, then kept going, barely collecting any Dark Beasts on the way. Although everyone that knew Pef was already hidden away inside the Seven Colored Pagoda, the Heavens might have ways to find him though karma tracing or some other mysterious tool.

There would be no conflict resolution if the messenger simply couldn't find him.

For Pef had enough of fighting and killing. Opening a restaurant sounded much better. Especially in Heaven.