Perhaps he should have taken the warnings about the Blue Realm more serious, Pef thought while Blinking away from another Godbeast, this time a Flame Roc-Eagle.

His left hand was scorched to the bone, and his right hand only escaped that same fate due to the durable glove, so he only lost a few fingers. Pef ignored the pain and he scanned for the next jump, back home...

Another Blink returned them to the underwater cavern, and Yue jumped off his back and crashed on his bed, her qi nearly exhausted.

"Hah, I don't think I can take another run, Pef. Why are there so many beasts here?" the woman complained and blew over her slightly reddened hands.

"This isn't working, Yue. We need to think of another approach." he mused out loud.

'You know what needs to be done.' the glove advised him on the side.

'She has to ask for it.' Pef replied with a shrug, and focused on regrowing the lost digits and burned flesh. Always painful, this part.

An hour later, he began cooking once more and his companion woke up due to the amazing smell. "Smells so good! I wish I could eat such meals every day." Yue muttered half-asleep.

Pef flipped the Water-Thunder Bull meat on the other side, and gently toned down the heat, letting the fragrance of the spices to sink into the meat for another minute. Spices would run out eventually.

The Blue Realm had plenty of high level beasts though, and one could hunt here for ages without making a real dent. The problem was, the beasts hunted them as well. Some powerful Godbeasts had their nests filled with cultivator skulls, and their artifacts as well.

"Can I have more of the good wine? I'm close to my Saint rank..." Yue asked with a meek voice, and glanced at Pef under her long eyelashes.

Pef shook the wine gourd, and nothing swirled inside. "There's no more godwine, pretty lady." . He then took out the voidwine gourd and poured a glass for each of them. "The voidwine will last another week though."

Yue sipped the wine then pointed at the cavern wall. A flash of qi and a faint ripple into space followed, but that was it. "I'm not strong enough to Blink, not yet."

Pef just nodded and sipped his own wine. He could only wait now.

"What if I tried your Legion's method?" Yue wondered, half-afraid of her own words, but her gaze was decisive and clear.

He turned to measure the woman with a piercing look of his own. "The Legion method is not like your Azure Sect's cultivation, my dear. We have ingrained checks in place, such that our Soldiers don't pillage and burn the universe with their greater strength."

Yue maintained her gaze. "I do understand, Lord Pef. The Legion would not tolerate degenerates like those Autumn scum."

"... You will also need a husband, to love and maintain your humanity." Pef added with a shrug.

"What!" she exclaimed in confusion.

"Practice, combat and love. It is the tripod of the Legion cultivation. Most orthodox sects focus on a single path, like meditation or duo cultivation. The demonic sects focus only on violence and war, but they soon turn on each other or even the mortals. Either way, they all lose contact with their humanity and become unfeeling monsters, all scheming for more personal power, no matter the cost." Pef said in a sad voice.

Yue blinked, then closed her pretty indigo eyes to reflect. "...Even my Grandfather?" she whispered.

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"Your grandpa is a billion years old, my dear. And I believe he spent most of those years in closed cultivation, slowly increasing his own power while the Sect provided him rare plants, or spirit stones, perhaps a beautiful woman once in a while?" Pef answered with a sad grin.

"...T-that's..." she stuttered, trying to find something to absolve her ancestor of the guilt.

"I don't mind. It's his business how he spends the eternity. It is also much safer than battling invaders in a distant universe. However, this time it won't work. The goliths will not stop, and will trample all the universes, one by one until only they remain." Pef mused as he wiggled his healed fingers.

'Combat status, 99 percent.' the glove provided helpfully.

'Soon. I do need to kill that eagle Godbeast anyway.' he replied inward. A new supply of Law-infused blood would be helpful, for him and the Legion as well.

Also, fighting powerful beasts did have a nice secondary effect, raising his cultivation rapidly with each kill. Well, if he didn't die.

"Can I think about this?" Yue asked with a soft tone, then sat on the bed to meditate.

"Of course. I'll go out for a bit." Pef said, splitting off a water clone to watch of Yue, then Blinked away.

His Blue Jade armor covered him as he powered up and locked on his target. "Now, you overgrown chicken. This time I get to strike first." Pef muttered as he flashed into combat.

A thousand qi swords struck the Flame Roc-Eagle, dozens of them right into the eyes. A burst of flames covered the Godbeast, just as it healed its injured eyes and powered up for the hunt.

It was too late however. Pef unleashed a trio of Void Splitters, aimed at the wing joints and the underside of the neck of the giant bird.

Unexpectedly, the wings withstood the powerful skill with little effect, barely losing some feathers and a finger of flesh but the neck strike managed to slice open into the beast's flesh. Pef Blinked once more at the front of the eagle, and stabbed all his qi swords into the open wound, then slashed outwards just as the Heavenly Lightening fell.

Dozens of the Blue jade stone scales of his armor lost their luster and cracked, yet Pef didn't let the electric punishment stop him. Another Void Splitter struck the bleeding neck wound on the Godbeast, separating its head from the body.

Pef let out a groan of pain, and prepared to withstand the last tribulation, when a clawed foot struck him in the chest. His armor scales exploded from the immense impact, and Pef tumbled from the sky just as the Heaven's bolt fell on his chest.

The remains of the armor shattered away, and the bolt bored through his gored body and exited on the other side, leaving a scorched body in its wake.

---------------

The glove observed the disaster in slow motion. To be fair, everything was in slow motion for its fabulous processing power. Gestures and words could be anticipated well in advance, not to mention actions.

Sadly, the idiot ward would have reacted too slow anyway, even if given warning of the beast's dying reflex.

For now, the glove could only mitigate the disaster. It collected the prize, the valuable Godbeast and its Law-infused flesh and bones, then the scattered bits of Blue Jade from the destroyed armor.

A qi pulse called the water clone to collect the injured Soldier and return him to base for repairs. All in all, it was still a strategic victory, even at the cost of a tactical defeat. Pef would heal, eventually.