"Master Jin! This is nice surprise. And you also brought a thousand of your sword students?" Pef exclaimed as more people arrived near the Yin Wood Sect grounds, stepping out from Yellow and Red portals directly out of the Seven Color Pagoda.

"I received an offer I could not refuse." The swordsman answered in a curt voice.

"Was it a suspicious armored woman?" Pef asked to make sure.

"A suspicious Steel Realm Eminence, yes. Did you brew that special wine she gave me?" The man asked in a surprisingly sharp voice. Master Jin was quite sharp, for a swordman.

Pef just nodded. "Anyways, I have been told the new power suits will take some time to be prepared, so meanwhile we can train and have some fun at this wedding. I am not sure how much we can keep our purpose secret with Steel Realm seers and diviners and whatnot, but do try to avoid confirming anything."

"Yes, I was over there a long time ago. There used to be a range of tall mountains there, during the Tree Wars. Well, at the beginning of the second War at least. And over this side there was a Branch of the World Tree so tall it reached the Heavens. The Tree lost, by the way." Master Jin said in a sad voice.

Pef smiled as the swordsman reminesced about the old days. He could barely imagine a few thousands years, not to mention a trillion years pe Chaos Cycle and millions of Cycles of the World Tree ruling over the realms. But then his Bee Queen was much older still, and remembered the days before the World Tree rose to power.

And the same for the Celestial Dean and his fish in a bucket, and that Fiend he found inside a prison-skull. Was it archeology to talk with people that old?

"Pef! Getting married again, huh?" Sunny yelled and rushed to greet him with a punch to the shoulder.

"Obviously. It is called a wedding for a reason, you know?" Pef answered in a mild voice, and nodded to Rajin, the quite-old Alchemist, although he didn't compare to the really ancient ones he met since.

"Mother also Ascended to Iron Realm, you know? She came to visit back there for a day. Said she drank some miracle wine. This place must be rich, right?" Sunny continued with her sunny voice and cheerful attitude.

"I made that wine." Pef countered with a simple sentence.

"...No way. You're...not joking? But Rejin only made his Copper Realm Pill a week ago. And he's very good. The best Alchemist I know!" Sunny yelled in disbelief.

Pef pointed at a certain Yin Wood Elder with a bronze pin on her robe. "The Bronze Alchemist there can make Tier 10 Ascension Pills. If she's lucky. I think she made like 4 in her entire life. She can also make Copper Realm pills."

Rejin took Sunny's hand to calm her down. "There are also Iron Alchemists in this Realm, my love. You can sense the ambient qi is much denser here. Which means some plants gather higher essence."

"Oh. We can go collect some rare plants then? And you can make better pills soon, right?" Sunny asked in an innocent voice.

Pef nodded. The Jade House lands were so large it would take him a month just to traverse them, at his best speed. There will be plenty of plants to find. If they won the war, of course.

"Not yet, but one day we will. Do try and be polite with everyone you meet here. Some of these people are stronger than me." Pef warned the couple and Blinked back to the groom's table.

The Sect's Matriarch was chatting gently with Lady Meili, and glared at him like he stole something precious.

"Divine Cook, nice of you to rejoin us. More of your friends?" the Matriarch asked in a harsh voice.

He just nodded politely. Steel Eminences were quite difficult to deal with. "Master Jin told me about the Tree Wars he fought in, just about here. There was really a mountain around there?" he asked while pointing at a quiet lake filled with lotus flowers.

The Matriarch's eyes flashed as she located the swordsman and possibly recognized him. "He still wears the Mindsealing Necklace, just like you are, Divine Cook. And he finally obtained his Sword Soul. Just like you do."

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Pef tugged at the Eternium necklace he wore to keep his mind safe. Probably quite a few problems were avoided due to his artifact. "It's how I met the Celestial Dean, in fact. I struck something so hard that I ended up in the Sword River. And he was right there, fishing. We became friends, just like that."

The Matriarch smiled a bit sad. "You're an Iron Realm Patriarch, Divine Cook. Naivity doesn't suit someone of your stature. It still works a little, because you're young and harmless. But once you ascend again, you will never have any friend."

Pef sighed. "I know about the world you live in, Matriarch. But my Legion is not like that. And my family, is just a family."

"Hmmm. You brought the Life Goddess here, into my Sect. Why?" the Matriarch asked with a glance at the goddess sourrounded by eager supplicants.

"She offered to take us, and demanded no payment. And she's really fast. I suspect she's interested in your Wood Dao or something of that nature, not in my wedding." Pef answered after considering his words carefully.

"Better. You couldn't actually be a complete moron and reach that 7th Star. The Dao wouldn't allow it, especially Preservation. Why didn't you complete this Dao Path?" the Matriarch continued in a milder voice.

Pef thought for a minute, but couldn't find a real answer. He was supposed to just will the Dao to complete? Did it even work that way?

A rapid-response team formed from his Selves and they entered a time-accelerated state to debate the question.

"I haven't even considered that as an option. I never forced the Dao to do anything. Not since I almost got crushed by Water pressure when I was a child." he answered in a serious voice.

"Ah. Childhood trauma. I forgot you were so young. Your parents are probably still alive?" the Matriarch asked with a piercing gaze.

"Father, yes. And a mother too. Different lives, but I died quite young." He answered with a shrug.

"Huh. You have living parents. I don't think I know any cultivator who still has living parents. And absolutely no trauma from undergoing Samsara. On the contrary, right?" the Matriarch asked with something like awe in her voice.

Pef could sense there was a trap in there somewhere. "I think I got a bit wiser in this life. Decided to focus on Cooking instead of fighting and swords. Not that I could escape completely, but I guess I did fine."

"I understand. Probably more than anyone here, except that singing koi. The poor fish had a cruel fate, but came out fine in the end. I hope you can do the same, Divine Cook." the Matriarch spoke in a low voice, then vanished.

Pef sighed and hugged Lady Meili at his side. "Your Matriarch seemed quite sad. I expected a bit more drama, maybe a duel for your hand."

Meili laughed. "Yeah. I told them it wouldn't work on you. You can hurt the Demonhunter, husband. I think you can defeat a dozen of our Elders at once."

Pef scratched at his cheek. "Not sure about defeating. That takes skill. I can kill maybe ten of them or so. And then ten more, if I don't get killed in the meantime. When people fight for their life, things are not only about cultivation realms."

"Exactly what I told the Matriarch. You fought 17 Iron Realm Chaosbeasts at once. And killed them all. It takes a dozen of our Elders to kill a single one. And we usually lose someone in such a fight, so we try to avoid that." Meili whispered in a loving voice.

"But you didn't say that in the Chaos Sea!" Pef realized with a start.

"Well, you were doing great, and didn't want to demoralize you. People can do impossible things, if they don't know it was impossible." Meili added with a cute smirk.

"Tricky woman! But really, it was a bit hard at the start. After that, I guess I just got used to it." Pef answered with a shrug.

Meili smiled kindly. She did pick a perfect husband.