A couple of months passed while the blue-haired Lara swung a stick over and over, trying to hit flies or mosquitoes in mid-flight. Despite her cultivation realm, it was still hard, as the airflow pushed the insects away before the stick could actually hit.

'You could unlock her new realm already. We'd get some security that way.' the Heart Ruler said on the network, as it observed the user struggling to reach the first stage of Sword Dao.

The glove considered this for a moment. 'Not yet. The Emperor Realm poses a different set of problems, mostly involving mental skills. The child needs to grow a bit' the Legion Artifact decided after considering a million factors.

'How long can you suppress her cultivation anyways? The Ascension pill has already turned her into a Tier 7 goddess.' the giant ruler wondered as it flew a circle around the village, mostly for fun. Nearby enemies had long been dispatched, as so their user's mental peace not be disturbed.

'At least a decade. Her soul is strong and already eroding my compulsion, but the lack of enemies keeps it sedate, for now.' the glove revealed in a level voice.

A flash of sword qi disintegrated both the stick and the fly it hit, while the young girl fell onto the grass breathing deeply.

'Uh. I saw that!' the Heart Ruler exclaimed as it flew beside the drained user.

"Hey, big sword. I did it! I killed a fly!" Lara mumbled as her eyes began to close from exhaustion.

'Sleep now, young Soldier. I'll take you home' the sword answered as it turned and lifted the child gently onto its blade. In a minute, the girl was deposited in her bed, snoring peacefully.

"Mighty Sword, ...we will need more meat. The child eats a lot." her mother spoke in a more determined voice, then turned away to carefully tuck the girl under a blanket. She didn't know the girl was far beyond any need of shelter, as a cultivator of her rank could sleep peacefully even inside a glacier or a volcano.

The Heart Ruler turned in a circle, locating a nearby beast suitable for human consumption. Then it flew out the door, careful not to demolish the fragile house by accident.

'I'm being used as a food delivery service...' the sword grumbled as it carved out the next meal.

The glove ignored the silly complaint, instead exploring another variant of the Taichi method that it could use on the new user. Inertia control, perhaps? A full Dao of Gravity Skill was still beyond its powers, but momentum deflection was much easier.

'I'll have to arrange an enemy for the little Soldier. Something powerful enough to allow a Skill release.' the glove answered instead, while it began crafting the said Skill and deftly implanting it into the user's soul.

'Nice! We get to fight!' the Ruler exclaimed happily, as it rushed back into the village with a carved up beast on its blade.

'There isn't anything in this universe you need to actually fight, idiot! A couple of Tier 4 godlings are way below your level.' the glove answered dismissively.

'... Not even a bigger beast?' the ruler complained a bit disheartened.

'We'll see. There are also those five Forbidden Zones I can't scry into yet. But don't expect much, they could be only decayed graveyards or exploded stars...' the glove while its voice turned a bit curious. Mysteries were always nice to explore, if only to make sure there weren't possible enemies hidden inside.

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

"That paw is not too heavy, mother?" a young blonde boy asked while perched on the shoulder of a Sky Realm Master.

"I can manage..." Rena answered as she dragged a huge Emperor Ranked limb after her, making her sweat quite a bit. Just a single foreleg was heavier than ten boulders of the same size, but her Grand Elder was carrying the entire body of the Divine Pangolin without complains.

Only the Supreme Master had an easier task, also dragging a beast limb in his free hand. He was stronger yet injured, so they split the task as reasonably as they could.

"The Icefire Sect lies beyond that mountain range, the Eternal Crown mountain range." the Icefire Adept pointed towards the distant ice-capped peaks in the distance.

"Pretty far, eh? We traveled about ten thousand li, I guess." Pef mused mostly to himself. Distances seemed both too large and too small, another weird conflict among his memories. If the distance among two nearby sects was over 5000 kilometers, what about the more distant ones? How large could this planet be?

He didn't get to finish the idle thoughts, as a flying sedan chair carried by four men passed by, then turned towards them.

"Incoming" he announced as he jumped from his perch. The group immediately dropped their heavy load to prepare themselves.

The cultivation world was a place where the strong ruled, and the weak got eaten. And they just got noticed.

"Such a heavy burden...I will help you carry the beast, it seems you lot are kinda tired." a voice emerged from behind the curtains of the flying chair.

"Such a polite fellow." Pef observed while flashing a smile.

"I won't ask again. That magnificent Beast will make a fine trophy when I return to my Xia Clan." the voice retorted, now much less polite.

"Xia Clan, they are the overlords of this region, Holy Son. Four Sky Realm porters, all stronger than me." the Icefire Adept whispered while scanning the nearby skies for other threats.

Pef just bent to pick a blade of grass and shrugged. What overlords? He didn't care about anything like that.

"Xia Clan or not, if you try to steal from the Icefire Sect, you will pay dearly." Pef answered with a level voice, somehow managing to sound threatening despite his small size and low cultivation.

Inside the veils of the curtain, a sort of argument occurred and an older man dressed in black robes descended, his eyes measuring the group in front with obvious contempt.

"A bunch of trash like you dare to threaten our Young Master? Even if your Sect Master was here he would still need to show us some face. Who do you think you are?" the man boomed, voice charged with Wind mana.

Pef faltered for a second, as the sound damaged his insides, and he spat a blob of blood.

"I see. I will show you the same face..." he muttered as the grass blade in his hand swiped once.

The old man blinked in disbelief, then raised a hand to his neck feeling blood seeping out, then fell to the ground while his head rolled over.

Another swipe hit the porters, bisecting them at the middle. "Cover" he ordered as clouds began to gather over the site.

This time, the bodyguard just grabbed the pangolin paw and turned it over, covering the boy as two tribulation lightnings fell from the sky.

Leaving the paw in place, the bodyguard sped forwards and grabbed the Young Master from the fallen sedan chair, then returned with the Xia scion by the neck.

"Unhand me, idiot! My father is the Lord of Xia Clan, if anything happens to me..." the Xia Young Master shouted, though much less threatening now that he was held like a chicken.

Pef emerged from under the pangolin claw and measured this pompous fool for a minute. "I own you now, Young Master Xia. Do you have anything of value that can buy your life?"

he asked with a faint smile.

Cultivation was a long and hard road, but an abundance of richness and resources would make it more pleasant.

He had to start somewhere and robbing the rich was only fair.