Almost a year had passed since Zen met the Sword Ancestor, and real practice had helped her reach One with the Heavens stage a bit sooner and far more in depth. Skills and reflexes couldn't be trained perfectly in simulations, and even muscle memory and combat tactics would lack something without a sparring partner.

"Here, drink some wine." Teacher Jin offered as a reward.

Zen took the wine glass and observed it for a long minute. "Paramita Wine. If this thing would have a price, it would be more than million high crystals for a sip." she commented in a curious voice, then gulped it all at once.

Her cultivation realm jumped from late Nascent realm to peak Spirit Realm without effort, while dozens of Daos grew inside her, including Gravity and Void. Perhaps similar to a young tree flowering suddenly with dozens of small and fragile flowers.

"You know, newborns in the Middle Heavens usually have an Earth Realm, unless they are mortals. And you little Zen, are weaker than that, and yet you have attained One with the Heavens Unity. Are you a reincarnation?" the Sword Ancestor asked in a serious voice.

The young woman flashed him a mysterious smile. "Nope! I am a bit special, but not like that. Anyways, I want to try something else now."

Zen said as she drew out her wooden sword and took a high stance, as if trying to perform a downward cut.

Teacher Jin parried the strike effortlessly, then felt a shock, as a tiny Sword Domain pushed his own wooden sword away, almost striking his shoulder.

A flash of his Sword Qi emerged by reflex and blocked the wooden sword, preventing him from losing all his face today. Being hit by a mortal would have been really disgraceful. Or even by anyone under Bronze Realm, for that matter.

"You cheated, old man!" Zen yelled, sounding really outraged.

Jin could only nod in shame. "It's your win, little Zen. You took me by surprise, with this Domain."

"It's not such a big deal. I think you can cover the entire Cloud Province with yours." Zen answered with a dismissive tone, then sat down to recover her qi. A second of Domain use had drained her entire qi, no wonder only Tyrants could use Domains normally.

The old man sighed and sat down, while examining his student again. Most inner disciples struggled to create their Sword Domain, and were regarded as geniuses when they did. What would they think of this girl? She had barely reached 17 years of age.

He took out his old sword, a relic from the times of the Tree Wars, before he climbed a mountain of corpses to reach his realm. "I was planning to give this to the first in the Sect to Ascend to Bronze Realm. Sadly, no one did, so this old thing is yours now." Jin said with a small nod, holding the sword horizontally.

Zen approached carefully and touched the weapon with a reverent hand, almost fearful. "It won't break apart in my hand, right?" she asked cautiously.

"No. However, Bronze weapons will dull its edge, if they clash often enough. I used it to Ascend myself." he explained patiently.

"I see. I'll ask someone to repair that flaw for me then. Can't have my sword fail me, when I also Ascend." Zen declared in a confident tone, as she took possession of the sword and slashed her palm over the edge.

Unexpectedly, the sword refused to harm her, only drawing a single drop of blood then scraping the skin without severely damaging the girl's hand.

'Farewell, old friend. Keep her safe.' Jin murmured inward, as he observed the girl sprang to her feet energetically.

"Let's spar again, Teacher Jin! First blood wins!" she demanded in a brave voice.

The old man sighed. Nine more years of hell. And he still had to pay the daily fee to use the Celestial Battle Arena.

--------

Pef checked the kitchen again, comparing the results of his Avatars work today. A million Golden Burgers, with three thousand one lines, one thousand three lines and three cloud burgers.

A million Ants would benefit greatly, obtaining random boosts in cultivation, from a Star to a new realm, while four thousand in True and Elder God realms would Ascend to Tier 7 and become Immortal Ants, the new basis of the Legion in this new universe.

In a decade over 3 billion Ants would receive the cultivation supplements, while 14 million would achieve Immortality. Still not enough, but it would have to do. The Ants were also cultivating and harvesting the entire resources of a Starfield, sometimes obtaining special encounters, excavating ruins or mining precious gems, even fighting the local fauna. They had the opportunity to grow, but it was rather slow.

Same with everyone else dispersing into Middle Heavens, from the ghouls and demons to the devils and elves, some would get lucky and find things, others would stumble into old traps and dungeons, marking dangerous places with their deaths. Perhaps not surprisingly, the ghouls and the liches had a fair chance to explore most ruins, since their deaths were less permanent than other races.

As for the humans, Lara usually send her White Tiger to trip any traps, then called Pef to rescue her Godbeast pet once he found himself in too much trouble. It had become an almost weekly adventure, but Pef didn't mind. Ancient ruins also had a large amount of old Formations and arrays of many kinds, especially old sect bases destroyed in past or forgotten wars.

However, vanquishing the territorial Beasts also meant occasional conflict with other groups trying to investigate, steal or even settle the newly recovered Starfields. Again, Pef didn't mind, the Taotie was always hungry.

As for the restaurant, it was still quite full, if somehow biased for sword cultivators. Even Immortal Ming had returned, with thousands of fresh disciples.

Pef didn't mind. With his new prices, even expensive herbs from the auction would still generate a hefty profit.

Not that he needed funds anymore. Four Bronze Nobles had generously donated their portable wealth, over two trillion high-grade crystals in total.

Lin was spending lavishly on anything she fancied in the Cloud Auction, which made even more sellers attracted by the Cloud Province and its generous buyers.

The Cloud Governor was quite happy as well. His favorite Herald had lucked out with a one-line Copper Burger and achieved Copper Realm, thus granting him another useful minion. And if that meant he had to close his eyes at the Devils onslaught towards the criminal underground, nothing was lost. Not that he would argue too much with the modest cook that somehow vanished four Nobles.

Pef returned to his Blue Realm laboratory, only to find his wife Zara playing with an Ancient Sword.

"Sword guy?" he asked to make sure. It wasn't like overpowered swords lay abandoned in this place, although sometimes they did, in dangerous old ruins. The Legion would put those weapons to good use, after he repaired them a bit.

"Yeah, he gave Zen his old sword. Needs fixing though." she said in a pleading tone.

Pef grabbed the sword and began to examine it carefully, going over each construction detail, as well as old nicks and gaps in the blade, sign of tremendous use. He then took out a piece of Gorgon bone, already melted in its Violet metal base.

"It's okay. It will never be new, but I can give it a new lease." Pef explained in a soft tone, as the Artifact Array began to reshape the sword, and he added a couple drops of blood. One of his own, and one from Taotie.

A pair of Tribulations fell in a combined bolt, granting both Devour and Preservation Dao to the reworked weapon.

"Try it now!" he urged Zara while flashing a smile.

His wife Zara floated through sword forms, easily achieving One with the heavens stage. "It feels lighter. And tries to speak in my mind?" she wondered a bit confused.

"Ask for its name." Pef said wryly.

"Soul? Its name is Soul River!" Zara exclaimed in surprise as she communed with the sword.

Pef sighed inward. Was it too much to ask for a normal Artifact?