Xie found Pef sitting on a desert dune again, staring at nothing. The Orange Realm was mostly empty of life now, after hordes of ants and other Legion Soldiers had scoured the deserts for any loot or experience from local beasts.

Most of the Legion had already departed for richer training grounds in the nearby Starfields, while some Immortal Captains returned into the Dark Forest towards the Low Heavens, to train among Dark Beasts or search for new golith infestations.

But Xie could not leave. Even if the Angel was already immortal, she was not. Plus, Pef might offer her a nice burger, if he wanted.

"Hubby, still observing the future among the grains of sand?" Xie asked as she sat down beside Pef.

The man snorted and elbowed her gently in her ribs. "You wonder why?"

"I know why. You are trying to figure out a way to keep everyone safe." she answered in a more serious voice, and rubbed her bruised ribs. Pef was quite strong.

"I cannot keep everyone safe. Which is why we spend millions of Ants and Devils every year, such that some criminals in the city have begun ignoring them. How can you fight someone willing to drown you in their own blood, for a single street or a distant star? It's not worth it." Pef explained patiently, while picking a handful of sand and letting it float into an endless sea of sand below.

"And if they target other races? Elves or humans?" Xie asked in a cautious tone.

"Much of the same, at the beginning. My new Divine Wine can produce billions of Saints without much effort. The Ten Elements can raise them to Soldier rank in a decade or less. And much sooner if we employ Temporal Dilation." Pef said with a small shrug.

"And a single Tier 9 can also kill them without much effort. You need higher ranks." Xie discovered after thinking for a minute.

"Exactly. Both are needed, foot soldiers to hold the ground, and leaders and experts to match the enemy experts. I try to set the pieces such that it conforms to a pattern, like a game. This sea of sand is my desired playground." Pef said while gazing over unending sand dunes, filling the horizon.

"And myself? How do I fit your plans?" Xie asked while deploying a pair of golden wings.

Pef hesitated for a minute. "There is no perfect solution for you, dear Xie. If I Ascend you, your Angel will take over. You will become a tiny whisper in her mind, trying to give her advice. But Angels are not good listeners. They prefer to sing instead."

"I could...what could I do?" she asked in a soft whisper.

"I have dozens of scenarios, but the glove has run them to the end. In all simulations, you die. Perhaps that's the solution. I also died, and came out just fine." he answered in a sad voice.

"The baby died, and then Xia died. All that is left now is me." Xie said in a despondent voice.

"Gena?" Pef asked in a harsher voice.

The Mirror Goddess appeared in front of them, with the Mirror floating at her back. "The Angel will not die, Pef. You wish to separate them?" she asked with a cold voice.

"No. There should be some wonder in your Mirror Realm. You didn't create this Angel without a plan." Pef spoke towards the Mirror.

The face of the mirror changed, as if fogged by steam. Then Xie vanished, dead before she could feel anything. Most likely, already reincarnated inside the Mirror Realm.

Gena glanced behind her in surprise. "He wouldn't break you...right?" she asked in a wary tone.

"I would prefer you both alive and well. The Mirror has much to add to our Compact, if it wants to help. So what did it do?" Pef asked in a mild voice.

Gena closed her eyes, and communed with her Artifact for a minute. "I saw a musical instrument. Like a harp, but with a wooden case. That city has a statue of a winged woman playing the instrument."

Pef nodded slowly as he discussed with his glove. 'The winged woman was me. When I was helping Lara return.' the glove explained with a wry tone.

'But you didn't have an Artifact.' he concluded with a frown.

'No. However, the legend must have spread. It's been decades since we left. Probably a religion by now. I suspect Sound Dao, maybe Word lyrics?' the glove continued as it began to extrapolate possible scenarios.

'Haha, the Church of the Orange Glove. Now you see what messing around does!' Pef said, a bit vindicated. The glove had given him plenty of grief for his own Church, that sprang out without his knowledge.

'I suppose, I am a Tier 10 Divinity as well. Nothing wrong with a religion spreading my words.' the glove countered with an amused tone.

"It will probably work. Knowing how religions start, having the deployment of a Missionaria Protectiva scripture and the golden wings will give Xie a giant advantage. Especially if the Artifact actually exists." Pef spoke in a measured voice.

The Mirror of Samsara became crystal-clear for a second, showing a glass case with the Divine Harp resting inside a golden glowing cathedral.

"Good enough, Mirror Goddess. When she returns, you may train with my Taotie. Until then, back to war planning." Pef said in a pleasant tone, and turned to stare at the desert sea again. While his first life had been quite a disappointment in itself, the breath of knowledge and ideas would serve him well. Even a single book like Dune was a giant leap forward. But there were many more paths to explore.

Claymore had a version of a winged Goddess as well. It won't be hard to adapt it for Xie's particular case.

The Angel would transform from a giant liability into a perfect war engine. He would need to ask the Governor to obtain some Sound Dao manuals first.

His own Formations would benefit from incorporating Sound arrays as would the next generation of Legion Word Guns.

-------

"Is this it? The Void Sword?" Zen asked her Teacher as the space folded into a Void Sword at her side.

"Just the weakest form, but yes. For five years of training, it is excellent anyways. I had disciples train more than a hundred Chaos Cycles to reach this stage." the Sword Ancestor admitted with a tiny smile. He rarely smiled, but this was quite unexpected.

She took out the Soul River and held it forward. "Take out your weapon, Teacher!" she demanded as she launched forward in a daring strike.

Jin sighed inward and blocked the weapon with a single finger. The girl was practically a newborn with her proud Earth Realm. Even with the aid of Sword Qi, her Sword Domain and a Artifact Sword, she couldn't hope to injure a Bronze Realm. And indeed, the sword stopped powerless in contact with his finger.

"Uh?" Zen muttered in confusion.

"Your stance is good, the balance adequate. Your weapon is quite excellent. So?" he asked in a pleasant mood.

"I need more strength?" Zen wondered as the finger began to push her weapon back.

"Not really. Physical strength will not help against any Immortal, even a Golden one. Speed would help, somewhat. But what you need is a higher Dao understanding. Here, take another drink." Jin offered and poured another glass of precious wine for his student.

Zen gulped the wine and glowed for a second, not only stepping directly into Sky Realm, but also evolving her Void Dao to a new stage. A dozen Void Swords formed as sun rays around her, feeling stronger as well.

"I think I get it, Teacher." she mused softly and began to fold all the Void Swords into a single yet powerful weapon. It took a whole hour for the new Skill to converge, and then she simply struck the waiting man with her Sword Skill.

Another flash of Sword Qi appeared and blocked the Void Cutter by reflex. "Like this, little Zen. Just like this, only a trillion times stronger. You're shaping out just fine." the old sword master said with a sage voice.

Zen growled something and fell on her back, too exhausted to sit anymore.

"Little Ming, how goes the program?" the Sword Ancestor asked his other disciple present in this Province.

"Ancestor, we have obtained 97 new Silver Immortals. Various other improvements to the Inner Disciples, especially in Void and Air Dao."

"Any of them worth investing with the Copper Burgers?" Jin asked curious.

"...Perhaps Li'er, Ancestor. It would work much better if we had Paramita Wine." Immortal Ming answered in a pleading tone.

"Keep tipping well. The Divine Cook cares more about his waiters than any client." he advised his old student while measuring his new one.

The girl, Zen, was progressing way too fast in Sword Dao, even if she ignored cultivation completely. But then again, why would she waste time cultivating, if the Cook could Ascend her at anytime, even directly into Copper Realm?

By the end of the decade, she would complete the Void Sword, and reach the Heart of the Sword, something that only the Sect core disciples did, after countless years of bitter training. He could sense a dozen others in the restaurant staff, also possessing the Heart of the Sword.

Meanwhile, in the Cloud City the giant crime war was coming to an end, after several Devils had also obtained their Void Swords and began to clean up street after street with minimal loses.

At least a billion Devils had died pointlessly for this task, as if removing the current criminal underground was such a worthy cause.

Jin didn't know what the Cook was trying to prove, except a deliberate lack of care for his underlings. But then again, war was a wonderful training ground. The weak would die, and some would excel and grow, even reaching a similar level with his student. The Cook did say he was training an army.