They started moving again shortly after the brief fight, none of them looking any worse for wear. A sense of pride filled Xiao Ji as he walked along the forest with his fellow disciples. He had become a cultivator partly to stop being prey. The past few months had certainly come with their challenges, but he could not say he was dissatisfied with the results.

The others on the other hand, had some strong feelings.

“I really hate wolves,” Qian Shi complained.

He found that a little strange, considering how similar they seemed to dogs. At first glance at least. He said as much, to which Shi just gave him a blank look.

“And you’re just a smaller turkey?” she asked.

Oh.

He understood the hostility a lot more now. He had some experience with turkeys in the village and the less that was said about them, the better. He mentally chastised himself for that. After more than two months of knowing the disciples, he could no longer say his social experience was so limited. There was little excuse for him to be so tactless.

“I do not understand spirit beasts sometimes,” Ruo Long admitted. He sounded mildly frustrated. “The wolves were not completely stupid. They had to know they were completely outmatched. Yet they still attacked. I do not enjoy staining my hands with the blood of weaklings”

If he had to admit, Ji had not expected them to outmatch the wolves so much. The dragon had better qi senses than Ji himself, even more so with his upcoming breakthrough to the Foundation Building Realm. It was likely that the wolves were not nearly as capable of judging strength as he thought. Ji pointed this out, to which the dragon simply snorted.

“They certainly knew our strength. The big wolf was at the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm. Not far from me. He had enough intelligence to know that Qian Shi alone was too much for them. It's more likely that their cultivation affected them.”

That was not something Ji had heard before.

“How so?”

“Spirit beasts that are not sentient mostly cultivate by eating other spirit beasts and instinctively taking in qi. The way they do this is different from how intelligent species take in qi. Something about it affects their minds. Sometimes it makes them more territorial or aggressive. Other times it can make a spirit beast lazier or more sadistic. Those wolves were likely more aggressive because of the qi.”

That was certainly something. It was another reason for him to be glad he was an awakened beast instead. They continued the rest of the walk mostly in silence. The forest they were currently in was vast, according to Qian Shi, but thankfully, the path they were taking was a much shorter route and should lead them to The Settlement in about a day or two. Ji had to admit he was curious about what kind of place it was. His attempts at asking were unfortunately ignored by everyone. They all told him to be patient, which was annoying.

They continued walking until the sun went down, after which they decided to find a place to sleep. Thankfully nothing else had attacked them so far, but Ji was getting tired from all the walking. His cultivation had improved his endurance, but not enough to shrug off a full day’s hike.

The forest was usually more dangerous at night, according to the other two, so someone would need to keep watch. Apparently there were ambush predators like panthers and even tigers that could catch them by surprise if they didn’t watch out.

After a little deliberation, they agreed to split the watch between Qian Shi and Ruo Long. Ji got a free pass because of both his lower base stamina and cultivation. He would be lying if he said he did not appreciate that. He knew improving his awareness at night and his endurance was likely something that would be necessary if he wanted to make the inevitable lone journeys off the mountain, but his body was currently not in the mood to think about any of that

They found a large enough space between a copse and settled there. Ji ate a little food before promptly falling asleep.

The dim light of the rising sun poking through the forest canopy greeted Xiao Ji as he rose from his slumber. A short distance away from him, Qian Shi slept peacefully, her slow, rhythmic breaths the only movement she was making.

Up ahead, snaked around one of the thick branches of the nearest tree, was Ruo Long. He was clearly awake, and he gave Ji a small wave before going back to watching the forest.

The feeling of waking up outside to the elements for the first time in months. filled him with nostalgia. He had slept outside on the mountain before, but that was on cold, hard pavement. There was no sound of crickets nor the feel of nature waking up with him. He has not actually lived in the forest, but this felt a lot closer to waking in the village than it did to the mountains

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For the first time in a while, he felt the urge to crow.

That was obviously a bad idea in the middle of a forest, and he immediately crushed it before it could blossom. He did not even like crowing.

He sat there instead, simply taking in the world around him and preening his feathers till the sun rose properly. Qian Shi finally awoke, bringing their day to a proper start.

They had a quick meal after confirming everyone was fine, then went on to make plans for the day. According to the others, they should be arriving at The Settlement before sunset. The last stretch of the journey was mostly safe, but there was a long road from the end of the forest to their destination where they might face bandits.

His uncle might have mentioned something about them at some point, but it did not really stick, so he asked for an explanation. According to them, there were some humans and even spirit beasts that harassed travellers on the road, taking their belongings by force or even potentially kidnapping anyone who was deemed precious.

Of course, the three of them fell into that category, being awakened beasts, but thankfully, bandits were usually weak. Not to mention that both Qian Shi and Ruo Long were well known as disciples of Master Fan Guo around the area. Common wisdom dictated that offending a Divine was a well known cause of death.

They faced almost no trouble until they left the forest, save for a run in with a large animal the others called a bear that had watched them go without making a move. Ruo Long had nodded in approval at that, saying something about juniors knowing their place. Ji thought it sounded a little like what Master would say.

As the forest finally thinned out, the tall gathering of trees gave way to grassland not dissimilar from the one they had passed before entering the forest. There was one major difference, however, and that was the paved pathway that cut through the middle of the otherwise natural fields.

The road, supposedly built by the Empire, was wide enough for all three of them to comfortably walk side by side with space to spare. Stepping on it brought a certain sense of familiarity that was reminiscent of the mountain top. It was the first part of their journey so far where the floor was so clearly artificial.

They continued walking, passing through what the others called an intersection. Apparently, the road they were coming from was not particularly busy, as people rarely went to the forest. The other road that was adjacent to them, however, was a lot busier as it led to a city. He was immediately reminded of the large, bustling city he had passed on his way to the mountain. He thought it was unlikely to be that, given how far away it seemed.

Traffic from the adjacent road was actually a major reason why there were bandits on the road. They passed some of said traffic, a group of humans travelling together with what looked like much bigger versions of the hand carts he had seen occasionally in the village. These were pulled by oxen.

Though he had seen hand carts, these wagons, as Shi called them, were larger and more complicated. He supposed he might have been a little impressed by it when he was in the village. However, he had flown at blistering speeds on a sword. It was hard to feel impressed by something so mundane.

The humans travelling had chicks, who seemed very interested in the awakened beasts walking past them. From the way they pointed and the reactions of the older humans, Ji supposed they might have never seen awakened beasts before. Or perhaps it was just Ruo Long that shocked them. Either way, he was once more reminded of the rarity of awakened and the potential dangers it brought.

They finally escaped from the excited shouts of ‘dragon’, ‘big dog’ and even the occasional ‘chicken’ from the chicks. Though not before Ruo Long puffed his chest and spat out a thin strip of fire, something that seemed to please the chicks, given the excited screaming that followed. Or perhaps they were screaming in fear? Either way, it had put all the attention of the dragon, something he seemed to enjoy very much. Ji did not even know Ruo Long could spit fire. Perhaps it was a trait?

He asked about it later, and the dragon confirmed that it was a trait. The dragons with the most pure bloodlines had it naturally, but for one as impure as he was, the [Breath of Fire] trait was one of the only ways. Of course normal dragons were born as spirit beasts and could not get the System, which made Ruo Long somewhat special.

Before long the wild grasslands that had surrounded them gave way to what he instantly recognised as cultivated fields. There were many kinds of plants that were grown on the fields, far more than what they had in the village, though some were still familiar.

The farms were also much larger and stretched on for much longer than the village farms did. From that alone, he realised that The Settlement was likely far larger than his village.

The sun was still shining bright when their destination came into view. Instead of a scattering of small houses like in the village, the first thing he saw was a massive wall that was taller than his draconic companion.

Cities with walls was not something he was totally unaware of. The village was small and isolated, but from what little he had read and the stories his uncle told him, he knew that cities usually had large walls that acted as protection from mortal armies and weaker spirit beasts.

Knowing something, however, did not prepare him for the reality of the absolutely massive walls in front of him. He could not even see any part of The Settlement’s interior because of the walls.

They finally got to the entrance, a ridiculously large wooden gate that was wide open. Standing in front of the gate were two guards, one human, and the other a spirit beast that reminded him of the bear they passed in the forest, though there were minor differences. The sight stopped him short.

It was one thing to know that sentient spirit beasts were citizens of the Empire and there were cities where they lived with humans. It was another thing to see it in action. Just as he was pondering the strangeness of the situation, something caught his attention.

At the top of the gate, in big bold letters, was a sign that told what he assumed was the name of the city.

‘WELCOME TO THE DIVINE GUO SETTLEMENT.’