As Pef's right hand also shattered into ice crystals, following the rest of his limbs Pef dropped on the arena's floor. "Time out!" he muttered, a bit unhappy.

The Fay Goddess glanced around to make sure time was indeed out, then smiled to herself and moved Pef back onto the bench. In a dozen seconds, Pef regrew his limbs and then took out his best wine to indulge in...

"Don't drink my wine, loser!" a female voice demanded with a faint sense of vindictiveness in her voice.

Pef froze for a second, then nodded and politely offered the Godwine bottle to the Blade Fairy. "You are right. You do need this in order to meditate on something, Blade Fairy. Don't worry, I made this wine myself."

A soft snort emerged from the Fay Goddess, before she spoke. "Be careful, my daughter. You may not like what he takes from you, when you lose."

The younger fairy snorted, and just snatched the wine bottle. "He's a billion years too young for me to lose. I should be going now, your Excellence. And you, this wine better be good!" she added towards Pef before she vanished.

Pef glanced at the Fay Goddess with an innocent shrug, then took out another wine bottle. "I might not be too smart, but isn't your daughter a bit...off?" he asked after a long drag.

The statue-like goddess sighed as if in pain. "You also have children, Pef Xi. Are they all...normal?" she asked instead.

Pef sighed in return. "My son, Paragon. He used to be rather strange, for a few millennia. Only books and reading, no wives or fighting. I almost expected him to fade away at Sovereign rank, you know? The Legion method is rather particular about some needs."

"Oh? And he somehow got over this?" the woman asked, sounding curious.

"Mhm. When I brought Misty home, they instantly connected somehow. And Misty began to cultivate as well..." Pef mused to himself, with a far away look.

The statue blinked slowly, as if trying to understand a great mystery. "Your General might be onto something. Too bad your Veritas cultivation method ends at Elder Realm. I'd be curious what would happen to Sunny, in the same circumstance. "

Pef also nodded. "Yeah. I can almost feel it now, in my head. The last lotus petal is taking form, but there isn't anything else...And I doubt killing goliths will provide me the energy to ascend further. I'll try anyway, because those things need to be destroyed."

"I've seen many Legion Soldiers, even Captains. The cultivation method won't stop working completely, not at first. You will still gain more strength the more you fight. But crossing over into Dian Realm....there is a hard barrier there, which is why there are millions of Elder Gods and less than a thousand Dian Gods. Perhaps your new friend, Grandmaster Rejin can help. A pill, if there exists such a thing. My own insights or even your General cannot help. The transformation is unique for everyone, as are the consequences." the woman said with a sad voice.

Pef glanced at her statue-like face, certain he had been told more than he could understand right now. "You mean, the statue thing? I thought you were simply good at hiding your emotions."

"That's not it. I had to sever off my emotions, during the last trial. I didn't want to die, but I had to lose something. It seemed a good trade, at the time. Now, I'm not that sure." she continued in the same level tone.

"Hmmm. You're not made of stone yet. I can still sense a little bit from you, maybe you can also heal and recover. My mindforce skills are not that good, but surely there must be people with experience. I know a Tier 4 Elf with immense mind powers..." Pef argued, feeling rather sorry for the poor woman.

Controlling your emotions was a nice feat, but severing them completely? That sounded horrible.

A faint smile crossed over the Fay Goddess face, as if she remembered something dear and long gone.

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"You are a well of wonders, young man. And if I was wiling to try, where would I find that Galaxy Realm Elf?" she asked, obviously curious despite the impassionate voice.

"Well...he is inside that Mirror Universe, along with many others I want to bring out. If they will ever be allowed out?" Pef wondered in a sad tone.

Even lacking the glove right now, he still remembered all of their conjectures about the purpose of that universe. It didn't seem likely so much effort was made to lock people inside, just to let them out.

"That Mirror Universe is much like this one. There are secure channels for entry and for leaving, but no open door. I think it's not even possible to unlock it now. Well, unless you enter the Mirror of Samsara and convince it yourself." She answered after a long minute of thinking.

"Is that likely?" Pef asked with a snort.

"For most people, no. Not even for me. But, you do have a special connection with the Mirror. I think your General also has one, and a few other Xian Gods, but you should avoid them at all costs. One of them damaged your glove, and it wasn't by accident." The Fay Goddess warned him in a slighter louder voice.

"A Tier 8 attacked my glove? Well, before it was mine?" Pef asked in surprise.

"... At least a Tier 8. I'm not strong enough to cause that amount of damage, not in a single strike. And that strike also killed the glove's user, which was likely one of your Legion Captains. And those people are rather hard to kill. At least as hard as Sunny." the Fay Goddess said in a softer voice, not that Pef cared about the volume right now.

"Well, it would make a short suspect list then. There's not so many Tier 8's still alive." Pef muttered with gritted teeth.

The woman's eyes gleam once more, seeing the Legion Soldier get so easily riled up by mere speculation. "Well, I might be wrong on this, but there's four people stronger than me, and still alive. The two Supreme Archdevils, the Dragon Emperor and the Silent Monk. And the Silent Monk is probably out, as he hasn't met anyone since the Mausoleum fiasco. Nor does he speak or has any worldly desires."

"What, he lives on a mountain peak under a peach tree or something?" Pef wondered with a faint suspicion. Some of his old memories surfaced at strange times, not that they fit perfectly with his new life.

"It's a Nine Shades Immortal Bamboo Tree, but yes. And, Tribulation lightning keeps falling on him. Since before I was born. I think you know how painful tribulations are, only more so for Xian Realm Gods." she explained with another faint smile.

Pef nodded cautiously, trying to imagine countless tribulations falling on him for billions of years. He almost broke down from much less... "I'd say that guy is not a likely suspect. He might kill you if you annoy him, not erase your memories and lock you up in a prison. Whatever the purpose was, this was a plot against my General, strangely coincidental with the siege at the Haze Gap. And both the Devils and the Dragons are strangely immune to golith invasions."

"They're not exactly immune, but yes. Any assaults are so swiftly repelled, we only learn of them long after it's all over. But since you mentioned Devils do appear in the Mirror Universe, they must take losses too. They just hide them, and replenish their forces fast." the goddess said, while holding her chin in deep thought.

"All right. I got the message. Now, do you have something more practical to teach me? I did pay for lessons, not idle chat." Pef intervened with a gentle tone.

The fan came out again, hiding the Fay as her eyes gleamed once more. "Indeed. Today we work on Lightning Dao. And remember, you asked for it..." she spoke with a soft voice as the garden vanished and the universe filled with thunder and lightning.

Pef gulped as a delicate palm slammed into his chest and pushed him inside the lightning storm of pain. Screams followed soon after.