Pef smiled faintly as Lara barreled through a Violet Menace golith, her own Skill forming a nigh-unbreakable shield around her.

At her side, the ghostly White Tiger spirit swiped its claws and collected the golith's eyes to feed his real body.

Then the real tiger began to glow in a golden aura, and the floating spirit vanished.

'And that's how beasts reform, after they die.' the glove explained in a calm tone.

Pef nodded slowly as his new senses analyzed the reborn tiger. His energy levels spiked again and again, rising through the Stars of the Tier 7 Realm at a rapid pace. In a mere minute, the White Tiger reached 9 Stars, then stopped abruptly.

"I guess this is it. My companion will need...a Chaos Cycle to reach his former strength?" Lara said in a confused voice.

"Yeah. Or I can help." Pef muttered with a deep sigh. His supplies of precious cloud wine were depleting rapidly, but it was well-worth it. There weren't many allies to be had among the Tier 8 community. The only solution was to create more allies for himself.

Holding out a metal bowl, Pef poured two cups of Taotie wine and gestured at the winged tiger. "Come here, your Majesty."

The ancient beast nodded gravely then jumped at his side, and began lapping the wine with rapid tongue lashes.

Steam and heat began emerging from his fur, as the potent wine transformed and transmuted the body of the tiger into a higher level vessel.

'Thank you, Lord Pef. I will not forget your kindness...' the beast sent towards Pef in a grateful tone, if one filled with pain and agony. Transformations were quite painful, it seemed.

Pef waved his hands a bit, and created a Dao Formation around the tiger to help ease his suffering. Or at least, make it go away faster. There were billions of possible Formations to use in the library they copied from the Mausoleum, and only the tiniest clues what they did.

Using advanced Formations was still mostly a guessing game, since Formations rarely did what you intended, or not only that. It was almost like they had a mind or conscience of their own, picking and choosing how to affect the world, despite the creator's wishes.

For example, the adamantium bowl used by the White Tiger also transformed inside the Formation, gaining rows of glowing runes and shifting the metal itself into a different form of matter, silver-white and filled with an unknown power.

'Hmm. You've made a low-level Divine Artifact...a Grail of sorts.' the glove mused mostly to itself.

Pef shrugged and cast the same Formation onto the glove as well, then poured a few drops of Taotie blood over it.

If it worked once...

But this time, the Formation Array acted differently, and began draining Pef's qi reserves, and so fast he had to sip some Divine Wine himself to stabilize the drain. It actually became a struggle for survival, as the qi was draining way to fast, outpacing his own qi regeneration by a thousand times.

'This feels good. I'm getting stronger.' the glove said while absorbing the Taotie's severed arm into its own being.

More and more wine had to be consumed, until all of it was gone. Pef grit his teeth, knowing he fucked up. In a few seconds, the Formation will drain him dry, and then he will die. Again.

'Oh well. I wonder if I'll get reborn as a Divine baby...' Pef managed to mumble as he fainted.

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Inside his dantian, the Icefire Flame poked the World Tree seed, urging it awake. 'Do something, our host is dying!'

Rousing itself from its slumber, the Nine Shades Bamboo glanced around and outside, then noticed the situation.

'That's why you always set a maximum limit on Formations. Even an Iron Immortal would be drained dry if this thing keeps going.' the shattered Tree seed grumbled as a wave of qi intent flared and changed the Formation Array, just a tiny bit.

Another pulse of qi intent healed and restored its host, while also imparting a few critical clues on how to not accidentally suicide by Formation Dao.

'Thanks, Nine Shades! I almost died again.' Pef whispered in shame.

'That type of array is used for prisons, such that the prisoner will drain himself if he attempts to escape. Especially something dangerous, like a Taotie. Now let me Sleep!' the old entity muttered as it folded itself into a seed once more.

'Huh. I did learn that array in a prison. One made exactly to hold the Taotie.' Pef realized with a start.

'On the other hand.' the glove added with a gleeful tone.

Pef glanced at his right arm, where a new Divine Artifact now appeared. 'You did it! The arm of the Taotie is integrated?'

'Obviously! I raised you well, Soldier. Now we only have to find a decent target.' the glove said with a confident tone.

'Hmmm. A strong Tier 8 then. One that nobody would mind if we...hunt.' Pef concluded after thinking a bit.

'Exactly. Step through, my gracious user!' the glove demanded while forming a Cherenkov blue portal in front of Pef.

Pef turned towards the White Tiger still Ascending inside the Formation array and wiggled his fingers a little, changing the array a tiny bit. It would not do to kill the precious ally before he even got to contribute to the Legion.

"Be safe, Lara! I've got some unfinished business to take care of." he told his blue-haired wife, before vanishing into the portal.

-------

Lara blinked, torn between to desire to follow her husband and the need to stay and protect her White Tiger as he Ascended.

"What unfinished business?" she muttered to herself.

At her side, a Godbeast of immense power slowly opened his eyes, then glanced at the collapsing portal.

"Pef was killed by Hualitep, in his previous life. Of course he needs to return the favor now. I don't expect it will take too long either." the White Tiger replied in a grave voice, just as Tribulation clouds began to form above him.

"Should I help with your Ascension? Not sure what to do..." Lara asked while eyeing the black clouds with doubt.

"Hah! It is not my first time Ascending to Silver Realm, little one. But you may take the first strike, if you want." the Godbeast offered as he collected the silver bowl in his paws. Truly, the girl's husband was a powerhouse already, even creating a Divine Grail to store his blood essence.

If he had something like this before, restoring his new body to Golden Realm would have been as easy as turning his paw.

Lara flew up and bodily blocked the Tribulation, her defensive Skill shattering on impact. She landed a kilometer away and sat down to heal herself, while the White Tiger stood up proudly.

Seven lightning strikes left. It would hurt, but he would pass through it. If that young boy could do it, and smile as the Tribulation shattered his teeth, the mighty White Tiger could do no less. But perhaps keep his teeth.