Soon after the show ended and Pef got to hold a small feast to reassure his wives that he was alright, he took Xie and left on a short trip, reaching the White continent again, in the same day.
It was like an arctic honeymoon, but with less polar bears and more love. They stopped at the hot geyser the next day, and Pef began tempering his wife in the hot vapors an hour every day, and then pampering the goddess with kisses and fancy meals.
It took only 20 days for the purple haired woman to cross over into Sovereign rank, and then to descend into the deep well where the White Lotus grew.
And there, Pef waited beside her while his wife cultivated and unblocked her lower circuit, increasing her fertility and the control over the water domain. He didn't just waste time, cultivating and exploring the profound energies at the boundary between the ice and hot, nourishing his soul, and gaining tiny insights into the nature of heat. Hot and cold were opposite facets of the same coin, and as the Hot Ice Lotus proved, it was possible to meld both aspects and create something powerful and profound.
Three more lotus flowers had opened since the last visit, so Pef collected them for more precious pills. He had his daughter to think about now, and hopefully more children soon.
Plus another one for his uncle Lithos, who didn't take the White pill and instead use it to cultivate his new smith wife.
When the Sovereign couple emerged from the geyser, an icy Saint was waiting for them with a Monarch ranked Orca beside her, from which she was forging a black and white armor.
"Hey Cellia, I thought you didn't wear armor?" Pef asked a bit curious, and began dressing himself with a set of clothes and his Monarch ranked armor.
Xie instead only pulled a robe over herself and looked at her husband with pity in her eyes. "I think the Lady Saint is forging a set for me, silly husband." she whispered in a low tone.
"Was there a purpose, for enduring that hot water?" the Saint asked without looking up from her work.
Pef ran and sat beside the Saint, peering intently at her work. "En! The lower circuit opens and you become ten times more fertile. I want lots of children, and that Green pill is kinda deadly to anyone who's not a druid."
"So that's why...you're a fountain of precious knowledge, my young friend. I kinda expected you to be a Monarch already." she replied in a bit of a less freezing tone.
Pef stood up and patted the Saint on her amazing hair. "You're a good friend, Cellia. But some things I have to learn for myself. I have an entire Empire to teach, and without piecing together the subtleties of entanglement, I would be a bad teacher." he said in a gentle tone, then walked away a few meters to set up his cooking stove.
"I want turtle soup, and boiled lobster. And a bit of bear steak, to celebrate." Xie demanded while playing with her water domain and making it snow around her.
The Saint's stomach growled in agreement, making Pef smile and shake his head. As hard as his life had been since he was reborn here, at least he could cook like a chef now, and make delicious feasts from nearly any kind of beast.
It was almost worth it. Except the times he'd been knocked out, immunized, orphaned, impaled, suffocated, poisoned, spiked, irradiated, crushed, boiled alive, electrocuted, dismembered, melted or killed. Those times sucked. But everything else was worth it.
Once the meal was ready, Pef set a table under a large transparent igloo, and poured wine and juice for the women.
Cellia and Xie wolfed down everything, as apparently they were quite hungry. Then Cellia gave Xie an earring with a Monarch ranked set, and looked up, preparing to vanish again.
"Wait!" Pef called and took out a ring with two Orange pills and a White one, and some more books and metal samples, and a dozen sets of new clothes and furs, plus a mirror and other toiletries.
The Ice Saint looked confused at the ring, her eyebrow risen in disbelief. "I will rip out your arms, if you propose to me, young Xi." she offered in a calm but cold voice.
The Sovereign snorted and stepped forward, hugging the cold woman for a second. "Don't be silly, Lady Winter. I already have a wife I can't share our love with. Some gifts, for you and the nice guy who dismantles souls for a living. And I'll see you in a couple of years. Try not to die til then, please. Sword Saints are too rare to waste." he replied in a cheerful tone, and slipped the gold band around her little finger.
Cellia glanced for a second at the ring, possibly scanning the contents, then turned and walked away without a sound. After a few meters a cold wind blew and left only a few snowflakes instead of her shape.
"You don't need this woman, husband. I can teach you everything." a profound voice emerged from behind the stunned Sovereign, who was still mulling about what just happened.
Pef nodded in agreement. "I don't need her, my precious goddess. But she needs me. She 's hurt and alone, and has an eternity of loneliness to look forward to. Existing for all eternity alone would be hell, and would crush even the most frozen heart." he mused in a sad voice, then turned to hug the other wife, with silver eyes and a grey heart, not that her disembodied soul had a heart.
He wasn't worried about Xie too much, as her indoctrination had succeeded and mostly wiped the mental trauma of her captivity. But Xia had her own demons, and she was resisting the damaged glove, her goals at revenge and mayhem on whoever had killed her still powerful and potent in her soul.
"Okay then, take her as a concubine or whatever. I don't see what's so great about your precious Cellia. She's kinda plain and treats you poorly. She should be honored if you would propose to her, a primitive witch woman, with a poor village at the end of the world." Xia commented in an offended tone.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
No matter who it was, if she accepted this man as a husband, he was more than good enough. Like that Monarch Yuan had realized. Damn savages, without soap or mirrors or even metal.
Not that Xia could construct a solid state 5 dimensional translation gate, without her tools and artificial minds of her era. She had been a void pilot not a historian of ancient civilizations. Give her a power armor, and she could fly it, with some time to learn the controls. But sadly, she didn't remember much of how things worked, before electricity or mass-qi conversion. She wasn't even sure which one came first.
"Enough, Xia! Yes, the Lady Saint has flaws, like any human. But she was kind enough to give us the precious Grey pellets, which must have been hard to make. A gift returned is a sign of friendship, and she even made you this amazing Monarch armor. Instead of bad mouthing her, figure out how you're going to return the gift." Pef exclaimed in an admonishing tone, and slapped the plump posterior of his wife.
"Grrrr. You dare! Let's see how you manage to survive this kind and generous goddess!" Xia yelled and drew on her new Sovereign powers to teach the moron husband a lesson.
Spells and weapons flew around, bouncing and deflected, absorbed by their armor and powerful soul and water shields, until they were both exhausted an hour later, and the terrain looked like two Ursa Major Polaris had mated for a year, while rolling around and crushing glaciers or small mountains.
Pef had to use his cheating digital weapons, shooting water jets to block a few dangerous attacks, until finally he conquered the furious wife and held her powerless under him, stealing a kiss as a sign of victory. "I win, my pretty and divine swan." he concluded heroically as Xia had stopped struggling and gave into the kiss.
"Of course you win. This divine phoenix has no need for weak husband. Take your spoils now, and enjoy me. But remember, if you ever lose, I'll rip off your arms!" The silver eyed goddess proclaimed, in a not quite defeated manner.
They did enjoy the dual cultivation that followed, but it was much sweeter and pleasant than she had hoped for. It was more of a reward for her new Sovereign rank, and not the evil Emperor abusing a poor courtesan.
'I'll need to train him better. Sweet and adorable is not enough. He needs to become a real man. Those weak wives have spoiled him too much.' Xia grumbled inside, not too happy about being adored and worshiped by her husband. Although being conquered in battle and then being loved arduously was acceptable, for now.
As they departed for their home, the Ice Saint appeared next to the geyser and poked the hot water with her little finger. Didn't feel a thing, but it was better to test the waters first.
"Another fertility boost. You really are a good friend, Pef Xi. To think someone would remember I'm human too..." she mused in a thoughtful voice, as she plunged into the hot vapors and sunk at speed towards the hot lava at the bottom.
Soon, she reached the boundary layer with the white lotus plants, and smiled to herself. No wonder she had never found this place, who in his right mind would dive into boiling water, to look for an Ice lotus?
Or poke a naked Saint in her chest, just to show her the flesh was not bending a millimeter.
Lady Winter kissed the not-a-wedding ring and ingested the Orange Meridian Pill and began circulating her qi, opening another meridian and enhancing her qi defenses by 20 percent.
'Half a million years, and a real friend. When have I ever gained this much? When I met that stupid Volcanic Elder, and he made me a Yellow and a Red pill. And him again, figuring out the Grey pellets and the Black pill. Then young Deng with his Blue pill...nah. That was much less. I wonder if my newest friend can find the rest of the pills?' she mused inward, while holding a finger out to touch the cold layer.
'It seems the odds have changed, Lady Winter. Not the weak fungus medicine, but something else. There is a cure for the Brain Devouring Plague, after all. Either that glove or the boy himself...too bad he didn't ascend already.' her god whispered in her mind, using the cold layer as a conduit to his strongest follower.
Cellia let out a breath of relief, hoping this time she won't have to exterminate all life on the Saint continent again. Monarchs would have some immunity, especially with a Black pill, but a cure was much better. Damn that worm, and the insane god behind him. Even Arachne was trying to create some kind of counter against the next flare of the plague.
'So, we cultivate the boy, as well?' she asked with a calm voice. Volcanis and Gaia had already begun helping, after all.
'I don't have pretty girls to spare, Lady Winter. Not unless, you want to train another Frozen Monastery?' the god replied a bit amused.
'We did that three times already. The girls all suffer and then break, in the end. ' The Saint said in bit of sad tone.
'Yes, the cold always wins, and we never found a successor. But maybe we looked in the wrong place. Or maybe she wasn't born yet.' the god sent as a last message.
Cellia wasn't a Saint for picking flowers. She replayed the god's last words again and again, until she was certain she got the meaning right.
'Damn you Artus. Just speak straight for once. If you want my daughter, fine. Just say it!' she muttered inward, but her god pretended he was busy.
She then compiled a short list of possible fathers for a daughter. One hand was too long to count them all.
The Ice Saint cursed an unknowable word and sighed. Why did she have to threaten the poor boy? Now he might be too scared of her.