Some time later, the Imperial Junction began to glow, and a party of four emerged inside the Capital of the Middle Heavens.

Floating mountains and captured comets lined the sky all around, with Noble residences and the Imperial Palace sparkling brightly in Pef's vision due to the high number of Formations covering them.

A nearly invisible spectre formed beside Pef, a type of Void clone if the glove was correct. "Lord Pef, the Mercy Seat has ordered we give you all support you need." the spectre whispered in a Legion-encoded signal.

Before any of the numerous cultivators present at the Junction could start asking why he could traverse the locked transport arrays, Pef covered himself in a Veil Formation and flew up, with the spectre keeping up with ease.

'The General is already assuming control via these puppets?' Pef asked inward as he began flying towards the Imperial Palace.

'Soft power for now. I'd say very few people know the war is ongoing.' the glove confirmed as it began to scan and sift through billions of conversations and transmissions going all over.

Pef just turned and pressed his gloved hand on the clone's forehead, then began to download local data and some new cultivation methods and tricks, incuding this Void clone method itself. Draining a Tier 10 of all his knowledge would be highly beneficial, especially one with such a background as one of the Throne Authorities. In a minute, the clone was drained and vanished into thin air, fillling the glove with exobytes of precious data.

'We can enter the palace now, I have the Formations passwords.' the glove spoke after a few moments.

Pef nodded and flew inside the Imperial Palace, leaving behind hundreds of Void clones to scour the Capital of traces of the Mercy Emperor or his bodyguards.

Once past the defense boundary, Pef stopped and deployed his own Formations, doubling the defenses and preventing anyone from entering or leaving the place.

"Treasury vault, Master?" the Taotie asked with a grin, already knowing his Master quite well.

"In time, old badger. We have another problem right now..." Pef muttered as thousands of Imperial Guards began to vector towards them. Even though they had the correct passwords to enter the palace, it was likely there were other methods in place to detect intruders, going from bloodline scans to Imperial service records and anything in-between.

"Kill?" the Old Bee Queen asked in a disinterested voice.

Pef turned towards the White Tiger, who was still at the peak of Tier 9. "Minimum colateral damage, your Highness. You may take prisoners if you think it worth it." he added with a pat of his hand on the tiger's head.

"Understood, Lord Pef." the White Tiger spoke in a serious tone, then flew at speed towards the incoming palace guards.

"Prisoners?" the bee queen muttered, managing to sound confused.

"I gave the White Tiger a list of Noble Houses we are allied or neutral with. If we can save some of their sons who serve here, it might be worth it." Pef answered as he continued on a different vector, avoing the melee and area effect spells flying towards the tiger.

"Like you saved some of my daughters..." the Bee Queen realized with a thoughtful voice.

"See? Goodwill goes a long way. Now it doesn't work all the time, as some people are simply monsters, but sometimes it is worth it." Pef added as he came to a stop in front a long hallway lined with deadly Formations.

"As long as you realize this, Master Pef. The monster is not always wearing a beast skin." the Old Queen spoke in a warning tone.

Pef just gestured towards the hallway. "Ladies first."

With an affront snort, the Bee Queen put up a busrt of speed and flew through the hallway, triggering hundreds of deadly arrays, some avoided by sheer speed, others bouncing off her nigh-impenetrable exoskeleton.

Pef just observed, and used the glove to memorize and decipher the Formations as they became active. Another percent in Formation Dao grew simply from learning the arrays in this death trap corridor.

"I'll go next." the Taotie said without prompt, and he began to stomp his way through the corridor, triggering another batch of deadly arrays which he simply absorbed with his prodigious defense. Some of the arrays were especially powerful, even magaging to cut the Taotie's skin, which was a feat barely achieved by Pef's strongest attacks.

Going next, Pef only had to deal with a few recursive Formations which he could counter with his own knowledge of Formations. After a long kilometer of deadly peril, he arrived beside the pristine Bee Queen and a slightly frayed and scorched badger.

"Everyone is still alive. Excellent!" he exclaimed joyously, making the Taotie snort.

"The spatial tears are quite painful, Master." the Taotie muttered while glaring at his careless Master.

"Just move faster, idiot rodent!" the Old Bee buzzed with annoyance.

Pef just stepped next to the vault door and poked it with his gloved hand. 'I sense a layer of Eternium, beside the protective Formations and the locks. Force will be useless.' the glove advised him.

'Well, that would depend on how much force we have. I never actually tried to destroy my mind-shield necklace...but here I can let loose.' Pef answered while summoning his Heart Dividing Ruler.

Eyeing the weapon with suspicion, the Taotie drew back a decent distance, making the Bee Queen take a few steps back as well.She hadn't lived for this long by taking stupid risks, and if the Taotie was wary...

Void Cutter. Barely any damage, except making the Formations dim minutely.

Dimensional Strike. The space folded and cut into the vault door, tearing through a dozen Formations then stopping abruptly once the cut hit the Eternium layer. As expected, the Formations began to tear out and fall away, but the Eternium remained untouched.

"Now I want an armor made of this..." Pef grunted as he began to charge his Universe Slicer.

Chanelling his Sword Qi with care, he released his newest attack towards the door, and then fell through, finding himself once more floating in the Sword River.

"Why am I here?" Pef wondered out loud, since he didn't form the regular intent to step into the Sword River.

'Conditions have been met, young man. By cutting the uncuttable, the Parasol Seed has taken the aspect of a Sword Soul. I'm still not sure if you're a genius or a lucky idiot though.' the World Tree seed from his dantian answered his question.

Moving his hand slightly, Pef called the Ruler into his hand, and compared it with the millions of swords forming the unending Dao River.

"You're still not ready, Heart Ruler. Can it be the Violet Metal material is too weak?" Pef wondered out loud.

"Little brother, I'm sure it hasn't been a million years yet." another voice answered, making Pef jump up in surprise.

"...Senior. You see, I was trying...and my Sword Soul just formed. By accident." he answered while bowing towards the strange fisherman roaming the Sword River.

"Pffft. Come, let's have a chat if you're here. Well, you can return anytime I guess, with your new Sword Soul." the fisherman asked while forming an island in the middle of the river.

Pef got the hint and jumped on board, then produced a table and seats, then a pot of Royal Honey Tea and some flavor cake, not the rare clouded one though. This powerhouse didn't need to Ascend. "These new recipes are very popular in the Middle Heavens right now, please try them Senior."

Changing his age once more, the fisherman became a teenager and simply enjoyed the treat with gleaming eyes.

Pef ate and drank his wares as well, since they were quite tasty. Plus the tea always gave him some inspiration.

"Would you like to open a tea-house in my city, Little Brother?" the fisherman asked with a teasing voice.

Pef nodded and sipped more tea. "That was my plan anyway, Senior. Only any information about reaching the High Heavens vanishes as soon as I come close. The Bee Queen says I need an Emisarry to come and collect me."

The fisherman frowned as he measured Pef once more, looking for something. "We don't do things that way anymore. The Old Bee remembers the old times, when High Houses still recruited from lower realms."

"I guess there isn't any beacon of light I can fly towards, or some sea filled with monsters I have to cross..." Pef mused in a low voice, even though he suspected the truth anyway.

"When I say different realm, it's not something like those Low Heavens you climbed from, Little Brother. Those are still part of the Middle Heavens, even if they are farther away and have lower essence. The Three Realms are separated by Dao Barriers. You have the Seven Color Pagoda so you should know what a Dao Barrier is." the fisherman explained while his shape turned into a middle aged man.

Pef sighed audibly and leaned into his seat. "Yeah, I figured it was something like that. But also guarded by jealous people who don't want to share their Realm Essence with little guys like me."

"Now, now. Your case is special, actually. You do qualify for traversal, by all criteria. Dao, connections and benefits. Your Dao enlightement is good, thus qualified. Connections...well, you know me which is overqualified. As for benefits, those relate to our gain from your Dao Fruits. Like these creations you shared with me." the fisherman continued while shifting age into an old man again.

"That's great. I'm certain I can Ascend anyway, but it will take lots and lots of time, because I lack the resources here. Even my Cooking has reached the limit, despite having Royal Honey and Bronze Realm beasts..." Pef complained in a slightly more happy tone.

"That's sadly true, even here. We may have higher level resources, but the competition is even higher. You're close to controlling the entire Middle Heavens now, and still complain about resources?" the fisherman asked in a stern voice.

"Hey, those guys came after me! It's not my fault they weren't as strong as they thought to be." Pef prostested in a childish voice.

"Hah! Well said, Little Brother. Now, since you did bring me something nice, I should give something back. Hand me that Ruler." the fisherman spoke with a tiny smile. A wave of immense pressure covered the fisherman as he held the Heart Ruler, almost making Pef faint.

Luckily his body had reached the 7th layer of body reinforcement by now, giving him a huge bonus to endurance, similar to a Godbeast.

"There! With the Abysal Iron layer, your Ruler should be able to withstand Iron Realm techniques. The pommel gem also contains something extra now." the fisherman said after a minute, slightly surprised that his little brother was still conscious.

"Many thanks, Senior. I'll come back here when I'm ready to traverse." Pef said with a respectul bow as he retrieved his sword and shifted back into the Middle Heavens.

"Lord Pef? I brought 300 Noble scion prisoners. Do we loot this vault now?" he heard the White Tiger ask.

Pef circulated his qi to recovered for a minute, then glanced at the vault door, sliced in half by his Universe Splitter. Resources would be important, especially in a new world.