Xiao Ji woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed. The combination of the bonding from the previous night and his cultivation was enough to put him in a surprisingly good mood. It also helped that there was a plate of those sumptuous worms next to his bed. There was a note from Mei next to it explaining why she put it there.

Perhaps he should have been a bit more worried at how easily his room had been trespassed without his knowledge, but he found it hard to care all that much. He was a chicken after all. Plus, he would not say no to breakfast in bed, privacy be damned.

The summons from his Master came just after he was finished eating, which he refused to believe was coincidental. Thankfully, Qian Shi had offered to show him the way from the dining room to his room last night, and for some reason, he found it surprisingly easy to remember. Not that he was complaining.

Both his fellow disciples were already waiting when he got there, though Mei was notably missing. He supposed she was not part of the disciples’ summons. A few minutes of enthusiastic greetings, mostly from Shi, and they were on their way out of the house. According to the others, the Master often liked to train them outside.

The courtyard was large and open, certainly enough that they did not feel cramped. It was easy to see why it would be considered an ideal training ground. Ji, unfortunately, could not bring himself to be a fan of it for a simple fact.

It was very cold.

Staying inside for the entirety of his stay had made it easy to forget that he was on top of a mountain. He currently found it a lot harder to forget now that he could feel the chill seeping through the flimsy protection his feathers offered. Nevertheless, his attention was occupied by something more important than the cold.

In the centre of the courtyard, a man sat cross legged, floating in the air. Even Ji, with his almost non-existent spiritual sense could feel the sheer waves of power radiating from his position. He opened his eyes, and the disciples bowed as one. Such was the weight of his presence.

“Around the top of this mountain is a formation I built myself,” Old man Fan Guo’s voice boomed. “Without it, the Third Disciple and Sixth Disciple would surely die. Fourth Disciple might survive, but it would not be a pleasant process. He is, after all, an impure dragon. The air up here is far too thin for any of you to breathe otherwise.”

Ji shivered in a way he knew was not from the cold as his master’s eyes ran over the group. Though he was not sure where the old man was going with this tangent, he did remember learning about air pressure from his uncle, and the rooster had been quite clear about not climbing the top of a mountain.

“If I can so easily increase the air pressure with a formation, Sixth Disciple might wonder why I have not done the same for the cold. It will be easy enough with a fairly simple formation. It is because I am of the belief that what doesn't kill you will often leave you stronger. Thin air will kill you, but feeling cold for a few hours will not. In fact, it is my hope that you will soon develop novel ways to gain resistance to the cold.”

Xiao Ji certainly could not say he liked that. At the same time, it was the exact kind of thing he would have expected from the stereotypical master in his uncle’s stories. Truly, the rooster was just complaining about his master, even after he escaped his clutches.

An hour later, he was sprawled out on the floor, wishing for the chicken he had been not long ago. Indeed, to think he had considered the cold a major opponent. Master Fan Guo had decided to introduce to them the wonders of what he called tailored exercise. It was clearly not his first time with the other disciples, though that did not stop them from looking miserable at the end.

For Ji though, it was an eye opening introduction to the brutality of humanity. His body had been forced to move in many ways they were not supposed to move. He had tried to explain that chicken bodies were not built for such punishing work, but alas, the man simply pointed out that he had experience training chickens. It still did not tell him how keeping his right wing and left leg together for ten minutes would free his meridians.

Thankfully, he was freed after the first hour, while the others continued to run around and practise strange moves he could not recognise. Apparently what he needed more urgently was a proper introduction to dealing with qi and his traits.

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“Why are you not using your breathing technique?” the old man asked.

“I shut it off yesterday so I did not end up breaking into the third realm by accident. I was worried about what would happen given your reaction to the second.”

In truth, he had barely thought about it. After figuring out how to essentially turn it off at the end of his cultivation session the previous day, he had not had much opportunity to restart it. Still, he was being truthful about not wanting to break through to the third realm without further understanding, tempting though it was.

“Do you truly believe you could have entered the third stage of the Qi Condensation Realm yesterday?”

He could hear the doubt in the man’s voice clearly. He thought he understood the scepticism, but this was something he was absolutely certain of. He had taken note of the rate at which he gathered qi and the size of his dantian and compared it to the previous breakthroughs. He could certainly have done it. And by a fairly comfortable margin too.

“That damn old fowl,” the old man grumbled. “Do you understand the implications of this? Of course you don’t. There was once a time beasts in general were hardly accepted by the empire.”

Ji found it rather curious that the frustration his uncle felt towards his Master went both ways. He sensed an interesting story coming, so he focused his attention and prepared himself.

“It is the way of intelligent creatures to shun anything that looks different. It does not sound particularly intelligent, but it is true nonetheless. The Empire and the world of cultivation it holds was built first by humans for human civilization, so they were rather unhappy when they found out that not only were beasts capable of it, they could also become intelligent. For a long time, intelligent beasts were hunted down even more than wild ones and the general wisdom was that leaving them alive could challenge human dominance.

“Of course they could not catch them all and some beasts started to build their own societies with towns and cities. They were still few and weak, and the empire’s soldiers raided them often. They only survived because of a kind provincial lord. But everything changed when people learnt of the awakened. No one knew what they were, but they cultivated faster and always fought above their realms. They were hunted with prejudice at first but eventually, a few grew too powerful to hunt. Today, two of the five great clans and sects are led by an awakened beast. Do you understand the implications?”

Ji shook his head. He had no idea what the point was. The story was intriguing, no doubt, but he saw little relation to his ability to break through to the third stage of Qi Condensation in a day.

“I’m giving you the same warning I gave to your uncle, Xie Sun. I also gave it to the First Disciple, Huo Lan. You are all awakened and capable of shifting the balance with your talent. The awakened sects have been taking power from the humans and regular spirit beast sects for a long time now. Things have started to get desperate. If you choose to walk this path, and chase cultivation at this speed, you will be targeted. I am a powerful man, but I am just that. I cannot protect you from everything.”

Ji finally understood what his Master was trying to explain, at least to a certain point. It was already clear from his master’s earlier reaction that his cultivation speed was extraordinarily fast. To deny that would be wilful ignorance. From the way Qian Shi had talked about his uncle and the First Disciple, they were beyond the norm even for awakened beasts. To be considered among that ranks was not something Ji was sure how to feel about. However, his Master seemed to believe it was a choice for him. He thought it would be prudent to correct that notion.

“Master Fan Guo,” he said. “Do you believe I will be of any use finding my uncle in the QI Condensation Realm?”

The silence was more than enough to answer the question, even before the old man shook his head.

“The search for your uncle is progressing according to expectations. Besides, he ran away on his own. It is not far-fetched to say he does not want to be found.”

‘And yet you still search.’

Ji did not voice the thought out loud. There was no need to. The hypocrisy of the statement was clear for both of them to see.

“Master, I am a chicken. A small one, at that. Everything, from the dog you view as a pet, to the fox you view as a nuisance is a predator to me.”

He raised his head and looked the man he now called his Master in the eye and spoke what they both knew was the truth.

“I do not believe I have the luxury of choosing anything other than overwhelming strength.”

“Very well,” his Master nodded, looking every bit like the powerful ancient cultivator he was. “You have chosen the path of the Titans and the Awakened sect heads. The path that my disciples Xie Sun and Huo Lan have chosen before you. This old man has seen many break under this path, both human and beast. I cannot deny you your choice, but I can make sure you. Do. Not. Break.“

As he listened to his Master speak, he knew his next days would not be particularly enjoyable. Something told him the exercise he had done was something he would soon come to know rather intimately. Still, he had goals.

To find his uncle.

To stop being prey.

And maybe, just maybe, to eventually fulfil the perhaps childish dream of becoming the biggest cock in the world. For that…

“I will not break, Master. You can be sure of that.”

“See that you do not. For a disciple of Fan Guo that breaks is no disciple at all.”