The power… wow. I can see why people mistook Ascendants for gods. We were still bound to the world, but the only way we could become any stronger would be to release that binding and connect with an even greater power than our world could offer.

I checked my paws, my glowing pink fur, the blood-red gem between my eyes. My eyes were still gold, but now pupil-less and glowing. I even had a tail, instead of the nearly-vestigal stub most rabbits are left with. Other than that, I didn’t look too different from usual, aside from being in “rabbit” shape again.

Oh, and being able to see the world around myself with perfect clarity. My qi senses had always been good, but those were more like a really advanced sense of touch. Now I got the whole picture, uninter- “Hey!”

Stupid kitten. Couldn’t wait to play until I’d had a proper chance to admire myself. Well, fine.

“Time I got myself a tiger skin rug.”

Shift back to human shape, snap forward without even thinking about it. My movements had been quick before, but now I wasn’t even really moving, per se. I was teleporting, my every move and action literally happening at the speed of light.

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But unlike light, I had mass.

A flurry of kicks, and the Tiger God was driven back, losing one of his fangs. His ascension had purged him of his ability to shift, along with much of his former canny and reason. He was just a savage all-devouring monster now, an almighty idiot.

I smiled, and declawed him bare-handed. The pain drove him even madder, and he tried desperately to shake me, but it was impossible now. I was part of his cultivation base, and he’d have to release control of it to have any chance at targeting me properly. Which in his present state, he couldn’t do even if he’d been so inclined.

So now I had a limping, grumpy kitty with bloody paws and a broken-off tooth. Normally these would heal almost as soon as I’d inflicted the injury, but again. I was part of his cultivation base. I could and did block his regeneration.

But honestly… this was such a boring fight. I’d get a lot more out of Kaoru and Li when they ascended, and it wouldn’t take them long now that I’d unlocked the final nexus and restored the normal qi flow of the land.

I shook my head, sad to finish this so soon, and decapitated the Tiger God. His body… wait, it just dissolved into qi! No fair, I wasn’t kidding about the rug!

“You really shouldn’t keep trophies anyway. You’d just end up like the tortoise.”

Wait. I’m the only thing alive here right now. I know this. I can even feel it.

So how did I just hear a little boy talk to me?