As soon as Pef stepped into the Taotie's prison, he felt disconnected from the outside world, all his senses restricted to a single plane, smaller than a single galaxy.

And as expected there were no other people or animals here, except the Taotie himself, who stood smugly right in the center.

"You've grown stronger, young one. Late stages of the Dian Realm, right?" the beast asked with a toothy grin. No doubt, the badger felt confident in his victory, as he rightly should.

'Keep him talking, I'm starting the scan.' the glove whispered into his mind, already busy decrypting the numerous inscriptions and arrays that confined the Taotie into the prison.

Instead, Pef stepped forward and approached the giant badger, and stared into his real eyes for the first time. He could feel the malevolent intent of the beast, barely restrained by a spiritual ring over his head.

"Three rules, old badger." the blonde Soldier demanded as he held a finger up.

"Oh? Right, this is supposed to be only a spar, unfortunately..." the beast complained as he tilted his head to listen. It might have been cute on a puppy, but the monster had nothing cute about him, only a murderous vibe and sharp claws.

"Rule one, no escaping. I know you're planning to use me for that, but as you said before I'm no Jade Emperor." Pef argued as he shook his finger in warning.

"Tchh! You're no fun at all." the Taotie complained as he extended a sword-like claw to dig between his teeth.

"Rule two, first blood. Whoever gains the first blood is considered the victor. We can also make this a five out of nine rounds." Pef asked while raising another finger.

The beast frowned deeply as he considered the young cultivator in front of him. Did he have some sort of trick? Surely he could slice him up easily, even five times.

"And the third?" the beast asked a bit curious.

"Obviously, no killing. You're too valuable for me to waste, and if you kill me you'll die soon after. But that would kill Yue as well, and the world will be much darker if that happened." Pef explained in a sadder voice, then rotated his wrist to extract the Heart Dividing Ruler.

'Big fight! I like this!' the weapon shouted enthusiastically, as the pommel crystal lit up with a bright indigo light, and a tiny smidge of violet at the base.

The Taotie measured the ruler with a small measure of concern in his eyes. He remembered getting struck by that same weapon, and it hasn't been pleasant.

Then, he just vanished at speed and slashed with a claw towards Pef, only to pass through an immaterial clone.

A giant shockwave slammed into his rear leg, as the real Legion Soldier struck with his most powerful Skill, the Voidcutter.

"Grrrr. That hurt!" the Taotie complained as he turned to check his leg, finding the Skill had failed to pierce his skin and barely pressed it inward a few centimeters.

Pef returned to his original spot, the giant ruler held casually over his shoulder. "I expected more from you, old badger. Even Hualitep had a stronger defense." he spoke with a tiny shrug, just as the Heavenly Tribulation struck him directly on his head.

But at this point, Tribulations were a mere nuisance, and mostly a source of energy and insight, as the Lightning seeped through his armor and skin and got spread out towards his inner selves to be refined.

"That thing also killed you, little one. You're going to have to do better if you want to defeat me!" the beast shouted as he slashed once more, this time keeping his senses ready to catch Pef while he substituted with a clone.

However, this time Pef stood his ground and simply parried the incoming claw with his left hand, although a green glow and a blue flame protected his skin from direct contact with the Taotie's claw.

The Violet Realm shook at the impact, and Pef's face paled. His formidable qi reserves had dropped by a third from this single strike.

As the Taotie withdrew his claw, Pef turned his hand and checked the damage, finding his Armor of Faith had been indeed breached at the impact point, and a tiny blood drip began to fall. Pef had had a small hope he could block the claw at least a few times, but it seemed the beast was still stronger.

"Still, only human!" the beast announced with a proud voice. Not that he ever expected Pef to withstand even a casual strike with such minimal damage. Indeed, Pef had become strong.

"Yes. Now, let's try something stronger." Pef said in a soft voice, and released the Dimensional Pierce of the Heart Ruler.

Feeling something amiss, the Taotie parried the sword strike and was flung away into the boundary of the Violet Realm, its own left arm shattered and leaking blood from a dozen cracks.

"Wow, that was the Jade Emperor's special ability. You already mastered the Heart Ruler?" the beast asked unconcerned with the damage, as his arm healed rapidly.

In a step, the Taotie returned in the middle of the prison, and measured Pef again, this time more carefully.

Perhaps one day, the boy will indeed equal the Jade Emperor. But not today.

Not without the Destiny Fan.

Another Heavenly Tribulation fell on Pef's head, and the blonde Soldier smiled. "My eighth Star now. You really make a good sparring partner." Pef disclosed while his smile turned into a wide grin. His qi reserves had just been restored to full.

"I see. Glad to be of service then." The Taotie grinned as well, showing a wide row of sword-like teeth.

A flurry of sword strikes and claw swipes began, under a constant torrent of Tribulation Lightning. Pef gave this fight his all, fighting not only for his life, but for the lives of everyone in the multiverse. He had to win this, no matter what pain and suffering he received.

And if his Preservation Dao continued to grow, he would eventually be able to withstand the beast casual claws without more damage.

A few hours later, both combatants stopped for a moment to draw their breath and allow themselves to heal. "Four to four. The next one to draw blood wins." the Taotie announced with a slightly excited voice. Also true, he didn't have many visitors in his prison, much less a worthy opponent to fight.

"Just a moment, old badger. I am close to my next Star." Pef demanded as he sat down to meditate, and more importantly to recover his depleted qi.

The Taotie blinked at his shamelessness. Who stopped in a middle of the fight to Ascend?

Then again, this was only a spar, and the boy was two entire Realms lower.

The Beast felt a wave of condensed Time cluster around the blonde boy for a few seconds, and then another Tribulation fell on his head, along with his well-deserved Ninth Star.

Pef sprang to his feet and held his left palm out. "If you can draw blood, you win!" He proclaimed in a confident voice.

Growling at his presumptuous attitude, the Taotie struck the boy with his full strength, only to feel his energy vanish as his claws made contact with the green glow around Pef.

The Soldier turned his hand to show intact skin, proof he was now invulnerable to the Taotie's normal attacks.

"My turn!" Pef shouted as he split off into multiple clones and Avatars, and launched a million Voidcutters and Voidswords from that many sides. Of course, among the nearly harmless Skills, a Dimensional Pierce was added by the real Pef, this time chopping off that Taotie's left arm.

As the Beast reeled from the pain, Pef calmly advanced and collected his prize, then stored the house-size Tier 9 arm, and all the leaking blood.

"I wonder if this batch of Divine Wine will grant me Heaven's recognition. There aren't many Tier 9 beasts to extract blood from." Pef mused out loud as he stepped through the Violet portal and returned to the Mausoleum.