"Here, see if these pills are good enough." Rejin said while offering Pef a jade box, filled with jingly pills.

Pef opened the box cautiously, then could only stare at the wealth of Universe Ascension Pills...81 pills in total. Among them, three pills stood out with their three-lines decoration, a sign of their more potent nature.

"The Universe pills are great, Lord Rejin." Pef concluded after he closed the box and stored it into his glove pocket. "How about lower level pills for my recruits?"

"I have some of those as well...although not that many. The Blade Fairy had provided the ingredients and I only kept 10 percent of the pills as my alchemist fee." Rejin answered with a knowing glance towards their companion. In his hand, a storage pouch appeared and he handed it over to Pef.

"We lost half of our combat-able cultivators during the past two years. We also need pills to recover our loses and grow new high rankers for the Blade Guard." the Blade Fairy interjected before Pef could even open his mouth.

However, instead of debating her claim, Pef just nodded and took out a Universe Pill, holding it gently between his fingers. "Just this pill could provide your Blade Guard with a Tier 5 god, able to defend an entire galaxy with ease. But, in exchange I would like...a million Saints for my Legion. Human ones, would be preferable."

The Blade Fairy hesitated for a minute, while eying the Universe Pill with wide eyes. "We don't recruit that many humans. I doubt we even have a million humans at Saint Realm."

"I understand. Well, you can make up the numbers with Monarchs. But, ten of them for each missing Saint. I think that's fair, considering they would be much weaker." Pef answered with a faint smile.

The fairy nodded and smiled back happily. "We do have enough Monarch Realm humans in the Auxiliary units. Just wait a day, til we can gather them up for a trade." she said while closing her eyes to send out conscription orders.

Rejin stared at Pef for a moment, almost asking why he would do such a poor trade, before remembering he was also supporting the Veritas Legion now, providing pills and adamantite weapons. And what the new Legion under Pef's command lacked right now was exactly a large number of recruits above Sovereign Realm.

Crossing the Monarch barrier was quite hard for the majority of cultivators, but Pef cleverly side-stepped the problem by asking for those who had already crossed. And because he only asked for humans, the Fay leadership would be much more inclined to agree. It wasn't like the Fay would support the expensive cultivation aids needed for millions of humans, when they had their own race consuming the available pills or herbs.

By the next day, a large army of new recruits had been gathered in front of Pef and Rejin. Six million Monarchs and 400 thousand Saints, made up the majority of decent human cultivators in the Fay realms, and they only costed a single pill.

Pef and his glove were quite ecstatic with this trade, while the Galaxy God beside the Blade Fairy was also trembling with excitement. He had been selected to ingest the famous pill after defeating a hundred contestants, and now awaited for his next ascension with a wide grin.

"Please move our recruits inside one of your worlds, Lord Rejin. We can start imparting my Taichi method first, while we select competent leaders from their ranks." Pef demanded while offering the Universe Pill to the eager Fay warrior.

The Tier 4 god bowed to the Blade Fairy and just waited, not daring to touch the pill without approval.

With a smirk, the fairy skipped forward and took the pill, then gently rotated it to observe the quality. "Not your best work, Grandmaster Rejin. The Tribulation lightning must have been quite weak." she noticed with a frown.

Rejin glared at Pef for some reason, then sighed in pain. "Our friend here was the target of the tribulation, Blade Fairy. Back when he was only a Universe Realm."

"Fine! The trade still goes on, but only if my Brigade Captain reaches the next realm." she demanded in a colder tone and decisively sent to pill towards the waiting warrior.

The man held the pill with trembling hands, while his colored wings fluttered by themselves.

Then he lifted both hands to his mouth and ingested the pill, and sat down to meditate and digest the apocalyptic levels of energy and Heavenly Laws bursting into his core.

Pef scratched his cheek absently, while wondering what was all about. You just ate the pill and ascended. What was all this fuss about? It took a few seconds..

Hours passed slowly, and tension level grew among the observers, some of them doubting the Alchemist or blaming a defective pill.

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Then suddenly a Violet cloud formed above the meditating warrior, followed by a huge violet lightning bolt.

Under Pef's disbelieving eyes, the weak tribulation burned the Fay god to a roasted pork shape, exploding his eyes and cauterizing the shattered limbs and wings.

Screams of pain or joy emerged from the roasted carcass, while the Blade Fairy frowned so deeply her eyebrows touched.

"...He succeeded. And lived too. But I can't disturb my Godmother just to heal his weak flesh. Grandmaster Rejin, can you help him?" she asked with a disgusted voice.

Rejin glanced askingly at Pef, until he received a message. "Well, a burnt-out Universe God would be of little use to your Blade Guard, my fair fairy. I do have a Spirit Healing Pill, but it will cost you a million more Monarchs, for the Legion."

The Blade Fairy grit her teeth audibly, while staring at Pef with laser eyes.

Pef just shrugged unconcerned. "I also have a Blue Jade Crystal, to prevent such happenings in the future. It should decrease the next twenty tribulations by more than half." he claimed while taking out a blue crystal from his inventory.

With his new Voidshield at 16 percent strength, it was likely he wouldn't need to care about Heavenly Tribulations that much. He could sell off some crystals and increase his Legion's numbers with millions of recruits.

The Blade Fairy seemed ready to eat Pef alive. "How much?"

"Three million Monarchs, to bring back a full 10 million." he answered lazily.

"Two million, nothing more!" the fairy countered in a cold tone.

Pef nodded gently, then took out three more crystals. "Eight million for all four. Just imagine, you may potentially save eighty Tier 5 gods from this fate."

"Nine million for five crystals. And you can take all the Sovereigns as well." the Blade Fairy proposed while dismissing the human cultivators being collected by Rejin.

Sovereigns were indeed such low powered cultivators in the wide multiverse that their value didn't account to much, even if you had a billion of them.

Pef blinked in surprise, and held still for a minute, as if considering the trade. "Their families as well. It would be cruel to leave them here and defenseless."

'Hehe. You're learning the flesh trade rather nicely' the glove commented on the side.

Pef approved inwardly. 'With their families held safe, the new recruits will be more motivated to fight.'

"Deal! It will take a week to gather everyone for the last trade, but I will need one crystal to test the effects until then." the Blade Fairy claimed as her face smoothed back into a proper country-destroying beauty.

Pef held a crystal out and allowed the fairy to take it. The new trade was even more profitable then he expected, although he didn't have a clue yet how many people this involved.

Billions of people most likely, considering he did ask for the families of those being sold.

Over the next days, numerous Fay officers arrived carrying people in their inner worlds, and disgorged them for Rejin to take charge of.

The numbers climbed higher and higher, and included numerous lower realm cultivators from a myriad of human clans and families.

With a single word added to the trade balance, Pef had obtained almost a trillion people, most of them eager and grateful to emigrate far from the golith invasion.

"Why aren't you taking any recruits, Pef Xi? I'd have thought you'd be eager to train them into the Legion method." Rejin asked as the last refugees were being transferred.

Pef just shrugged. "I am going to battle the goliths now, fellow Daoist. And despite my new strength, I might still die. No point in wasting their lives along with mine."

Rejin nodded slowly while mulling over Pef's words. "In that case, I'll act in your stead, Legion Soldier. These people will receive training and insights from my Avatars, until you return for them."

Pef nodded in thanks, and turned towards the Blade Fairy. "We can depart now, partner."

"Who is your partner, damn idiot! I'll just take you to the next battlefield, and just watch." she muttered with a scoff.

In a single moment, they both vanished from the mountain valley, leaving Rejin to look after the new recruits and their large families. It seemed the rumors spread as the Fay conscripted the best human cultivators, and millions of weddings took place in the past days, old feuds or disputes among clans forgotten for a chance to escape the incoming hell.

Sadly, the refugees were right. The goliths and their corrupted beasts would show no mercy to those left behind, and if the Fay decided to cut their loses, the best fate they could expect was a fiery death as galaxies exploded like fireworks, to deny the goliths new breeding grounds.