"Why did you...?" Yue asked as she returned to the Pearl Sea, in the Coral Palace she had designated as her headquarters for the Shin Regiment.

Without words, the Taotie simply ripped out her left arm as well, then slowly ate with a frown of concentration.

Yue endured and regrew her arm, then sat down to wait. She couldn't cry now, if her husband simply shrugged off the same injury without a care. The Taotie was a lot more different than other teachers she used to have in the Azure Sky Sect.

"I don't have poetic words or flowery sutras to give, young one. I'm a beast, and a special one at that. As for eating your limbs...it's how I was raised. It's how my parents knew how to evaluate my growth. Now, you want the good news?" the spirit beast asked in a pleasant voice.

Yue simply nodded, her demeanor once more demure and polite.

"Your Legion's method is too complex and complicated, but it also contains the essence of devouring at the core. Excessively diluted and obscured, but it is Devouring anyway. The Goliths use a simpler method, that looks like Devouring but it's not. It is based on the essence of Contagion. Or infection. They try to convert every lifeform into them." The Taotie explained in a thoughtful voice.

"So, we can eat them?" Yue asked with a gentle smile.

"I can eat anything. I did eat anything. But you're not a Taotie, and you're not even a beast. Instead you have the Jade Emperor's bloodline. Your diet...well. You have two choices. You can eat time or you can borrow time. The first method will make you extremely strong one day, perhaps even stronger than me. But it will take a lot of time." the beast explained while measuring his ward with calculating eyes.

"And the second method, borrowing time?" Yue wondered with a thin smile.

"The second option...you will become very strong and quite rapidly. Just below my strength, in a few years. But the cost...you will die, just like the Jade Emperor did. A Tier 9 tribulation will fall and erase you. No rebirth. No second chance." the Taotie offered with a grim smile.

Yue shuddered for a moment. "Why would anyone choose this second path? The Jade Emperor..."

"... Sometimes, you need a lot of strength very fast. Sometimes, you feel that sacrifice is the only option. Maybe a terrible monster arrives, and threatens to destroy everyone you love. There are many reasons people would choose the second path. But, your inheritance gives you the option to choose." the monster said in a level tone.

"..." Yue remained silent while digesting the offer. "I've seen you borrow time, when you took out the unfinished pills from the Cauldron. And you're not dead yet."

"Clever girl. But you're not a Taotie." the beast answered with a gentle smile.

"Grandpa. Teach me both ways. If I'm not mistaken, one can borrow time, then eat some time to cover the expenses. Or vice versa." Yue demanded with a scowl.

The Taotie chuckled amused. "We'll begin training in the first method then. You'll need a big bank before you can dare to borrow time. There is a single way to default on that debt."

Meanwhile, in the Haze Gap. Pef landed beside a wounded Soldier, and poured a sip of Godwine into his mouth, helping him restore his qi and heal himself. "Stand strong Soldier, this is but a flesh wound."

He took a sip of Godwine as well, then raised to observe the battlefield. The Legions defenses still held, but loses were mounting.

"I don't like this!' Pef grumbled inward. He really didn't like the way of the Legion's wasteful use of Soldiers.

Every second dozens of Soldiers died, as golith stings fell upon the massed ranked of defenders.

The loud flares of golden lights from the Captains' Legion guns somewhat turned the tide, causing immense numbers of causalities among the goliths, but their higher ranks were pretty much immune to Power Words, while their dreadful stings pierced any defenses and caused sure-kills among the Legion.

And unlike himself, the lower Legion ranks had no resistance to golith stings, nor the ability to clear them via Heavenly tribulations.

'So kill them faster, Sergeant!' the glove replied in a calm manner, as if unconcerned with the battle at all.

Thinking fast, Pef retrieved a handful of Yin-Yang Demolishers and triggered them, just as he Blinked among the thickest group of goliths, perhaps the royal guards or such.

The bombs exploded in his hands, while Pef somewhat deflected the shockwaves away from the Legion's lines and deep into the golith army. Trillions of low-ranks goliths vanished in a second, leaving only the stronger ranks alive.

A moment of weird pause occurred, as millions of eyes turned towards this nuisance. Then, a giant shower of golith stings converged on Pef, crossing space and dimensions at huge speed. Pef Blinked towards the largest golith he could find, and laid down a dozen Voidcutters, while his Voidswords arced around to strike nearly every golith in range.

A torrent of Heavenly Lightning followed, striking Pef as soon as the golith stings transformed him into a wounded porcupine.

'Recall to me, Sergeant.' a soft voice spoke into his soul, and Pef vanished from the Gap.

"Gah! Still hurts like a bitch!" Pef screamed while curling on his side in pain. Electric serpents curled around his body and coursed through his wounds, while a thoughtful black-haired woman examined the scene with curious eyes.

"Enough! Don't tell me this mild punishment is enough to cripple you..." the General's Avatar said in a dismissive tone.

Gritting his teeth, Pef rose to his feet to observe the General's inner universe, a plane of giant plants and myriads of insects.

A large beetle sprang from the ground and emerged under General's hand, obviously enjoying being scratched on its head.

Smiling at the General, Pef also summoned his Ant Queen to his side, his posture almost identical with the General.

'Lord Pef? Why do...' she asked with a qi transmission before falling silent, then moving robotically towards the General to be examined more closely.

"Hmmm. A species of cultivator ants? This is a pleasant surprise, Pef Xi. I presume you somehow extracted this Ant Queen from the Mirror Realm?" the Legion's leader observed with a tiny smile. She did have a special way to control insects.

Pef nodded politely. "The ants have joined the Legion as well. I have a quadrillion of Ant Warriors back at the base, and many more on the way. Shiara here is their Regiment commander."

"I see. Overwhelming numbers would help. But, as you have just proved, large scale weapons will also kill them in similar numbers." The General mused softly as she made the Ant Queen turn around as an exhibit.

Pef sighed and sat in mid-air, then took out a wine jug to replenish his energy. "I am working on that, but I haven't found a way to accelerate their cultivation past Sovereign rank. Except the Mausoleum...but that has other problems." He explained in a sad tone, then retrieved a mind-jade stone with his newest Taichi method imprinted on.

The woman raised an eyebrow as she teleported the jade into her hand. A minute of silence followed, while the General analyzed Pef own cultivation method.

"Bits of genius here and there, your glove's influence at every step and almost complete lack of understanding of the soul. It's a wonder you ever ascended to Tier 7." the General commented with a sour grimace.

Pef just shrugged calmly. "I didn't have billions of years to waste contemplating the soul and the Heavens. As for results, the Taichi method works nicely...until a point. Afterwards, we used the Legion's method to upgrade the troops to higher ranks, starting with Tier 1 physical godhood."

"Leave Shiara here and I'll see about a repaired method..."the General demanded as she too sat in mid-air and took a swig from her Godwine jug.

Pef sighed inward, but he expected this. "Got any hints how I can ascend again?" he asked instead.

The General snorted then laughed, her eyes twinkling with obvious mirth. "I suppose you don't want to cultivate thousands of Daos over billions of years..."

Pef scowled back. " I kinda expected this...I will do it if I have to, but a faster way would be nice. Pills seem to work just fine."

The woman smiled sadly. "There are faster ways, of course. The problem is not the energy, not at this level. Your soul needs to transform and transcend...through pain, suffering and death. Some races can transfer their experience to the new generations, via bloodline memories or other things, but I don't have anything like that. As for pills, this is the first time I've seen any ascension pill over tier 5."

Pef hummed inward, suddenly aware that his glove did not provide any advice in here. He felt exposed and naked in front of the General...oh well.

"Here, I still have like 30 Tier 5 ascension pills. They are pretty scarce, but my Alchemist can make more." He offered instead, taking out all but one of the Tier 5 three-line pills.

The General grinned like a school girl, her image clashing with her martial outlook and armor. "Ha! Pretty scarce you say? Did you find a forest filled with Godbeasts or something? Oh, you did!" she realized after a moment.

"The Shambala mausoleum. There are dozens of Godbeasts left, plus the Desolate Beast itself. Plenty of resources for a thousand more Captains, if exploited carefully." Pef said with a smile of his own.

The woman observed Pef intently for a minute, as if considering something. "I will give you a hint, how to ascend fast. But, you need to damage Hualitep for me."

"Deal!" Pef replied in a heartbeat.

"Fine then. Show me." the General said softly, then expelled Pef out of her inner world.

'Be careful, Sergeant. I can't see a way to hurt this Tier 8 golith...' the glove spoke in warning.

However, Pef wasn't interested. 'It can't be so hard. Ruler, let's fight that thing, right?' he asked his other partner.

'Fight! Fighting is good!' the Heart Dividing Ruler agreed wholeheartedly while vibrating with excitement in Pef's hand.

'You're both idiots!' the glove grumbled as Pef Blinked forward at high speed and slaughtered his way closer and closer to the leader of the goliths.

In a few seconds, Pef arrived in a middle of a hurricane, formed of sharp claw intent, baleful spirit attacks and entire forests of golith stings striking back at the General's war pet.

He added his own Voidcutters and Voidswords, then Blinked away in and out, always trying to find a decent attack angle and always having to retreat and recover from powerful sting weapons that ripped out entire limbs and organs. However, after a thousand failed attacks, they still hadn't managed to wound Hualitep at all.

'...Fine! Let's use the Dimensional Piercing Bridge.' the glove muttered in a disgusted voice.

'Strike!' the Ruler added in a militant tone.

Being much closer, the glove only needed a second to compute a release vector, then gripped the Ruler's handle tight. 'This will probably hurt...' Pef said as he was dragged after the piercing Ruler, straight through the Tier 8 golith.

A giant scream filled his senses, then nothing.