The training continued in the Unreal River, and over the next year Pef managed to craft several Formations that lasted 2 seconds, before vanishing.

The glove seemed happy with this progress, for some reason that Pef couldn't quite comprehend. It was still pathetic, even with an extra second.

The Formation Dao kept climbing steadily on his inner screen, although he couldn't quite figure out what grew.

The Elf King visited a few times, although he left quite rapidly each time, claiming the Unreal was too strong.

Yet, Xie didn't seem to care of the Unreal proximity and even touched the river a few times, just for fun.

Then one day, Vela asked Xie and Pef to come close.

"Xie, would you like to sleep in Pef's lap for a few hours?" the Elf Goddess asked with a kind voice.

"Sure! But do wake me up if you plan to play with my body..." the purple-haired woman exclaimed in a carefree tone, and promptly sat with her head in Pef's lap, while Vela mind-spelled her to sleep.

"What's this all about?" Pef wondered while patting the head of his damaged wife.

Sadly, Xie had suffered so much, that she never properly recovered and Pef had lost hope she would ever attain immortality, not without a Dian pill or such.

"There is something inside her. You will have to see it for yourself." Vela said in a warning tone, just as Lia and Kalima joined them as well.

Waving a hand, Vela began projecting onto a magic screen the contents of Xie's mind.

As Pef expected, tortured bodies, broken and dead children and many evil eyes abounded, among cries and wailings.

"Poor Xie. It's a wonder she can even function." Lia whispered, mostly to herself.

"Just wait for it. It won't be long now." Vela continued as she began probing deeper.

All the sudden, a winged shape appeared, slashing at shadows with a golden glowing sword, and Vela focused the screen on the figure's face.

Pef recognized himself at once, even if that face was from a previous life.

The entity in Xie's mind looked around, then struck at Vela, making the screen go black. Vela shook her head and rubbed her temples in pain.

"That is in her mind. You. Stronger than me even. I suspect is how she sees you, all-powerful and able to save her in need." the goddess said, then collected her platinum hair into a braid, and began twirling it, deep in thought.

'That's me?' Pef asked inward.

'Well, no. You are you and that's not you. It's an early self, but limited and obviously broken. It is also Ascending independently, and will soon reach Tier 8. Which is bad.' the glove answered after a few moments of computing.

'The indoctrination will fail...'Pef mused warily.

This was possibly the work of that devil Xia, and possibly the Mind Worm, beside the trauma of losing her child and all the torture in the Tang dungeons. Xie struggled to live, and thus created a safe heaven in her mind...only not an imaginary one. The Unreal River possibly exacerbated that illusion, until it lead to this.

"You certainly left your mark on our sister. An Angel of Vengeance, eh?." Lia spoke in curious voice.

Pef sighed. "A mind is a terrible thing to lose. And that Angel is not me. Is Xie's own self, illusion made real, so to say." he disclosed with a sad voice, and knowing glance towards Kalima.

The Fay Godmother would have something similar, after untold eons spent beside the Unreal River.

Without a word, Lady Kalima covered herself with rainbow wings then vanished.

Shattering the illusions was painful, no doubt.

"I can't heal that, Pef. I doubt anyone can, at this stage. It is so strong!" Vela exclaimed in a desperate voice, as her Legion Knife appeared in her hand. Pef sighed. Death was too final for a cure, wasn't it?

"Wait! I can try something. My Seal has seen a Dao tulpa before" Lia said calmly, and took out her Tao Seal, then made it unfold until it covered all of them.

"You both want to kill her..." Pef realized at once. Weren't his wives a bit too rash, especially with a sick sister-wife?

"Integrate both selves, until she Ascends. It will hurt, but the seal won't let her die so easy." Lia explained as both Vela and Pef were expelled from within the ancient diagram.

"That Angel self is already in Tier 7." Pef warned the Oracle, but she only nodded.

With a flash of Dao, too mingled and complicated to discern its aspects, the diagram collapsed.

Lia grit her teeth in obvious pain. The diagram opened wide once more, this time holding an awake Xie, glowing with twin yet opposing elements. She had already become an Elder Goddess, but the Tao Seal wasn't over.

The diagram collapsed again, just as Xie opened her mouth to speak.

The third time, Xie exploded with a golden glow, and angelic wings burst from her back. "Who is doing this? Leave Xie alone!" the angel shouted before the diagram collapsed into itself again.

By the ninth cycle, Xie's mind returned into the angelic body and she simply looked around in silence. "I see now. I am dead." she spoke in a sad voice.

"Retrieve your wings, dear. Death is only a middle-step in our journey. And don't plaster my face on your inner ghosts. I'm a cook, not an angel!" Pef grumbled at his newly reborn wife.

Lia hesitated for a second, then withdrew the seal into her dantian. "She's not fully integrated yet." she complained and sat down to stare at the Unreal.

"Perfection is an enemy as well. Leave her something to struggle, right?" Pef asked rhetorically as he hugged Xie, feeling the woman tremble in his arms.

"I am a bit hungry..." Xie muttered as her stomach growled loudly.

"Then I will cook something. You know, I am the best cook in the world." Pef boasted shamelessly, although it was probably true as well. The Heavens certainly thought so.

Vela snorted and joined the hug, with a loud demand for crispy food, the same knife that chopped Xie's soul before now stored safely away.

Still a bit hesitant, Lia joined the group hug with small steps, then smiled a little.

Perhaps all the suffering would be worth it, one day.