Soon after shopping was over, the group arrived at the Fragrant House, and climbed directly to the ninth floor, reserved for distinguished guests.

"May I take your order?" a foxy woman dressed in a green robe asked as she appeared silently at their table, either moving too fast or simply teleporting.

Pef frowned for a second, before deciding this must be the owner herself, as no mere waiter would attain a Monarch Realm so easily, not in this universe at least.

"Spirit tea for me, the best kind." the blonde boy ordered with an angelic voice.

"Purple Plum Wine for me." the Lady Saint asked while leaning back to observe the strange Holy Son with a long stare.

'The waiter is at Nine Stars of the Monarch Realm.' the little Icefire informed the user as the boy just waited patiently for his tea. Pef just blinked slowly, his mind mostly focused on inventorying the contents of his new storage ring, shelving useful products by type and importance.

"We'll have Ten Millennia Blue Gin, little girl." the Saber Saint demanded with a knowing glance at the Ice Saint.

The foxy woman just smiled pleasantly and vanished, leaving behind a subtle whiff of fragrant perfume.

"What is it, Holy Son?" the Lake Saint asked as the blonde boy frowned once more.

"...Nothing important. Just let me pay the fox girl this time." the Holy Son answered while smiling mysteriously, then taking out a human-shaped ginseng root and crunching on it like a cute blonde rabbit.

A dozen bites later, Pef felt his cultivation climb once more, gaining a third Star in the same day. Heaven and Earth treasures weren't rare just because they were hard to find. Their effects were actually quite impressive, at least for normal cultivators who struggled for centuries or more to cultivate a new Star.

"Congratulations, little one. That's your second Star today, isn't it?" the Ice Saint remarked in a level voice, possibly hiding a sour feeling under the flat tone.

Pef just nodded carelessly. "Climbing to Sovereign Realm will be quite easy for me, frosty guy. Only the Monarch rank will be a bit difficult." he explained softly just as the foxy waiter returned with a gleaming ivory tray, and swiftly began pouring drinks for the guests.

She still had time to listen to the conversation and glanced curious at the blonde boy escorted by three Saints.

"Come here, fox girl." Pef spoke gently as he raised a tiny hand towards her forehead.

As the Monarch Realm waiter leaned in curious, Pef just tapped her forehead with a finger, transmitting a certain image into her mind.

The woman sank to the floor, and closed her eyes to meditate on the sudden Dao insight, while Pef just sipped his tea then raised his eyes towards the Lake Saint. "Good tea, indeed. I probably overpaid though." he admitted with a small shrug.

"She is Ascending right now..." the Saber Saint observed with a wondering tone, sounding a bit relieved at the news. The man possibly still had doubts about the choice he made, picking such a young teacher in the spur of the moment.

"Do you think she'll follow me now? I would like a good tea brewer in my party." the blonde Emperor said softly, while admiring the fragrant tea in his cup. Both the tea's spiritual energy and his memories converged in a single instant of enlightenment, and Pef's cultivation climbed a new Star, just as the waiter on the floor lit up in a corona of energy, and crossed the threshold of the Saint Realm, mere minutes after receiving the Eight Element Trigram from a small customer.

"The tea here is good, but not that good." the Lake Saint observed with faint irony, as the new Saint rose and bowed to her benefactor.

"Thank you, Icefire Emperor. I shall treasure..." the woman began to speak when Pef raised a hand. "You can make tea for me, for a decade, if you really want to thank me." he interrupted with a childish voice, and tapped his empty tea cup.

The Lake Saint smirked slightly and tapped her empty golden cup as well. "A decade of Plum Wine sounds nice indeed" she requested modestly.

The other two Saints just nodded at each other with a mischievous grin. "Welcome to the party, little girl. We mostly like Blue Gin." the Saber Saint offered with a joyous tone.

"... I need a drink." the new Fox Saint mused out loud, and simply sat beside the Lake Saint to gulp some Plum Wine directly from the bottle, not looking very happy with her brand-new Sainthood.

Pef just scratched at his cheek, already dismissing the event from his mind, and focusing on the larger picture.

'This Nether Flame, is it also an Elder God?' he asked inward towards the little Icefire.

'Stronger than us too, but probably not for long. We are growing, almost as fast as you, little user.' Icefire declared in a confident voice.

'Conflict resolution...I don't think I can kill an Elder God yet. Probably only after I reach Divinity myself...' Pef uttered in a reluctant tone, not too confident in his chances.

Elder Gods were terrifying in his memories, and able to juggle entire stars with ease. Even if the Voidcutter Skill was as strong as he believed it was, the recoil and punishment of the Skill was even more daunting. The memories of Heaven's Tribulations pain had stuck with him even in the next life, proof they weren't to be taken lightly.

'... Can I say I'm slightly horrified already? Who thinks at killing an Elder God at 9 years of age?' the little Icefire wondered while his flames shifted uncomfortably inside Pef's core.

'Yeah. I'll try to find a different way.' Pef hummed inward, yet thinking at a completely different approach. Another user to contain and discipline this Nether Flame, perhaps?

But who else could Ascend as fast as he could?

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

In another universe, a 9-year-old girl with blue hair, dodged the incoming meteor shower and struck the Serpent Lord once more, barely causing a deep gash in the beast's durable hide, beneath the broken scales.

'Grrr. Monarchs are so hard to kill!' she complained inward, as she powered up her Deflection Skill again, and barreled over the target, making the Serpent beast hiss in pain.

"You're so dead, puny human. I will eat nine generations of your ancestors too!" the beast howled as it painfully regrew its shattered chest scales.

"Keep talking, idiot!" Lara shouted in return, while flaring the last qi remains into another sword qi strike.

'Try the eyes, little girl' the giant Ruler floating nearby advised the user, perhaps getting bored of the indecisive fight.

'Block his regeneration first, with your own Domain.' another winged woman advised her from the sides, while pretending to read from the book chained at her hip.

Despite being tired and depleted, Lara was still a Legion Soldier, trained by a pair of high tier entities.

She listened and struck with her Wind Domain and sword qi as well, causing the Monarch Realm beast to scream in pain and despair as its eyes were gouged out, while the air itself fought against the beast's flesh and stopped the wounds from closing.

Lara struck a final time with her Skill, and broke the Serpent Lord in half, making organs and blood explode in a gory shower.

"Look, another crystal...oh, it's a Green Scale Core!" the glove exclaimed through its Avatar, thus providing the user with the extra resources it needed to comprehend the Wind Dao.

Lara just fell on the ground, and breathed heavily, exhausted by the terrible fight. Luckily for her, killing a Monarch Realm did provide enough experience to cross directly into Sovereign Realm, and thus she wasn't surprised at the rapid ascension.

'You're still limiting her growth, orange glove.' the Heart Ruler observed.

'We are in a hurry, but cannot waste the opportunity either. A new life and a wealth of experience will certainly help our small user reach a Legion Captain rank, or maybe even Colonel. Even so, she probably won't be strong enough for my mission. I want my Pef back.' the glove answered in a sad tone.

'Pef was pretty great indeed, despite being an idiot.' the Heart Ruler admitted in a more jovial tone.