Pef's foot glided over the red sand, then he pushed down and dodged to the side. Forcing yourself to move slowly was as hard as forcing yourself to move fast. At least there was less dust and sand clouds like this, unlike at full speed.

"Float like butterfly...huh?" Pef mused out loud.

His body moved slowly, passing through dozens of Taichi forms, then returning to his base stance, and started again.

Another permutation, imagine a spider this time. Dodge the legs, sweep to the side, uppercut with an open hand.

Palm open, impact strong enough to liquefy anything alive, under Saint rank. A demon next, then a dog or a bull. The nature of the target wasn't really important, but changing the routines helped create more qi paths and establish less preconceptions. That was more important for a new cultivator.

One after anther, Pef passed through the forms, for days and days unending, until he was satisfied. A new melee cultivation, to be added into the Legion's arsenal. Especially against non-humanoid targets.

'Did you record it all?' Pef asked to make sure, as he came to a full stop, and folded his arms at his back.

The orange glove remained silent for a few seconds. 'Compared to the standard Legion melee cultivation, this Taichi of yours is worse. Perhaps 30 percent slower and 20 percent weaker overall.' the spirit inside the glove concluded after running a few thousands comparisons.

'I see. And how many of the Legion's enemies are human sized and shaped?' Pef asked with a smirk.

'Less than 1 percent. Perhaps you are correct, Commander. We will know for certain in a million years...' the glove added in a serious tone.

Pef sighed. Immortality wasn't that fun, not when you had to plan a billion years in advance.

Still, the path he had chosen was the one with the greatest chance of success, and survival. Or so he thought.

The planet of Lacrima was being used as a launch point for a huge colonization program, a million qi-array spaceships being built for this task.

Soldiers of the Legion, mainly his own wives, patrolled the nearby galaxies, mapping habitable worlds, and potential danger sites.

A red and black bee darted towards his neck, almost reaching the pulsing vein with its venomous sting, before bouncing off Pef's qi armor. The Orange continent was just as dangerous now as it has always been, only himself had grew stronger.

There were five bases now, preparing new recruits for the harshness of the universe. The recruits that survived and adapted here, among deadly insects or plants, would possibly adapt elsewhere. That was Pef's hope.

Not that he allowed deaths anymore, he just failed those recruits unskilled enough to get bitten by the fauna.

A flare of qi, and another new recruit crossed into Sky rank, all while advancing towards the oasis with Orange flowers...the ones so rare and useful.

Pef rose an eyebrow and Blinked closer.

The new recruit was laying some sort of smell attractors, then jumping away, drawing the bees away from the Orange bushes.

'Pheromone trap.' the glove concluded while analyzing the scene for a second.

Pef smiled. If only more such cultivators emerged, instead of sword slashing heroes.

So few of the new recruits used their brains, instead of power and strength. As if power and strength had any meaning against the real enemies. Not even a Power Word pistol was enough.

'Shiru Minoru. Sky rank. Spear expert. Bow adept. Sword adept. Qi reserves at minimum. Failure imminent.' The glove commented while displaying the stats of the wanna-be flower stealer.

The recruit threw his spear, slicing the bush branch holding an orange flower. Then the spear changed course, and flew back, a few outward needles holding the branch as it flew away with its prize.

'Spider silk...really clever.' Pef mused to himself.

Of course, Earth ranked spider silk was stronger than steel, and made a decent fishing line. Using it as the wire for a grappling hook though? That took smarts.

The recruit collected the branch and sped away, while taking care to store the Orange flower in a jade box.

Another Blink and Pef arrived in front of the exhausted recruit.

"Well done, Shiru." he said politely, holding a hand out.

"My god!" the young recruit said in amazement, punching his breastplate in salute.

He was wearing the Legion Mark 1 armor, Emperor rank with thermal regulating runes, which was the standard equipment now for Legion recruits. Made dying by accident less of a bother.

"The flower." Pef said in a calm voice.

Shiru handed over the jade box with a fearful look, and yet seeming dissatisfied. "Here, Lord Pef. I was just surprised for a second." the guy said in a more polite tone.

"A Orange recipe flower, nearly too ripe to use. And a tiny blossom, too crude to use like this. How were you planning to refine it?" Pef said in a curious voice, after examining the loot inside the box.

"...Errr. Airship to Blue continent. Perhaps a visit with Saren Xi or Lithos Xi." the man said in an uncertain tone.

"Even so...the effects would be minimal, unless you have all 13 ingredients..." Pef mused to himself, and confiscated the Orange blossom. In an instant, he sent it into his inner world, in the care of his Avatar.

Most likely, the fragile blossom could be salvaged and grown to maturity.

"Even so...a Pseudo-Orange Pill might work. She needs...my daughter. Caitlin doesn't have a meridian...it's my only hope." The man said in a pleading tone.

With a sigh, Pef grabbed the young father and Blinked them right in front of their house, a stone building near New Cartagena.

A young woman with a baby in her arms came out. "Hubby? And Senior..." she said with a frown.

Pef just swiped his arm and drew all three into his inner world. Babies were fragile, just like new blossoms.

But at least here the young girl will not die, by illness or accident.

"Aria, check the baby..." Pef said at the sky, where the inner moon was half green now, getting terraformed by his wife as a life experiment.

'The girl...has blue hair.' Reason said into his mind, while stealing the kid from her mother's arms. The weapon's avatar poked at the tiny girl with curious fingers.

"Blue hair, and no meridian. She shouldn't even be alive...." Pef muttered while waving a hand and producing a table with tea and wine, and a few comfortable armchairs.

"My lord...is Caitlin alright?" the Legion recruit asked timidly.

"Your daughter...is perfectly fine." Pef said out loud.

Except she wasn't fine. She was normal, for him. Like any other human back home. But here, even the non-cultivators were born with a meridian, because otherwise the qi in the air or food would simply kill them, like radiation.

Aria arrived next, and began poking at the young girl.

"Well...even gods can see miracles, right?" the green-haired wife said with a joking voice, and handed the girl back to her mother.

"So?" Pef asked with a smile.

"The girl has some strange bacteria in her stomach. They stabilize the internal qi content. But, I can't control them. Like they are not alive..." Aria explained with a deep frown.

Pef blinked. "Okay...that makes sense. And poses more questions."

He glanced at Reason with a frown of his own. "Artificial cells. Probably nanomachines."

The avatar blinked back, and almost spoke in return. 'Machines that operate with qi. Like me.' she concluded with a mental message.

Pef shook his head. "Let's hope they're like you. Now let's test it."

With a telekinetic hand, he crushed the baby, then separated the nanites. Took a second to quarantine the nanomachines then reformed Caitlin back to life.

The young girl soon began having trouble breathing, then entered cardiac arrest and died.

"What's going on? Why is my daughter dead?" Shiru asked in an outraged voice.

"Relax man. Here is my inner world. Nothing will happen. Just testing what's with those tiny machines in her stomach." Pef explained with a calm voice, then resurrected the young girl again.

This time he kept a film of telekinesis around her, preventing ambient qi from touching her body or entering her lungs.

Then Pef clapped his hands, bringing the nanites back into place, and inside the baby's stomach.

The girl kept sleeping peacefully, not even caring of anyone around her.

'I can build a meridian for the girl. Or even make her a cultivator.' Reason proposed with a wide smile.

Pef sighed, of course the universe ending weapon could simply make cultivators, just like that.

"No, my dear Reason. We'll try what Mister Shiru wanted. A battery of tests, each involving a single pill ingredient. It's very possible those nanites will learn. Basically, using the host body as a cauldron." Pef said while doing just that, extracting various pill ingredients from his rings, then arranging them in front of the sleeping girl.

After a buffet of thirty such plants was laid in front of Caitlin, the young girl awoke, and lazily grabbed a Blue vine, then began munching on it, even without teeth.