As he walked down the road, fellow disciples by his side, Xiao Ji found it hard to keep himself from laughing at the two Liao sect cultivators whose eyes still followed them even now.

They had been a little doubtful at first, even with the confirmation that he was Awakened, but thankfully, there was an easy way to prove that. Ruo Long had simply pulled out a round object that somewhat resembled the coins he used to shop at the market and showed it to them. That had somehow convinced them thoroughly and led to an intense round of apologies that eventually made him uncomfortable.

According to the dragon, the coin shaped object was called a disciples token, and it was somehow able to link disciples to their Master. There were more details, but those just flew over his head completely.

Soon enough, they had walked far enough that the others were no longer visible on the horizon. There were a few more caravans and lone figures that they went past, and the road was busy till they got to the intersection.

After leaving the source of the traffic behind them, the rest of the long journey to the forest was calm for the most parts, and the others slowly cooled down till they were mostly back to normal.

Mostly though. He couldn’t miss the way Qian Shi looked more alert than usual and kept looking around from time to time. From her talk about biting the head of the last person who told her to be obedient, he suspected there was more to her anger than was immediately obvious.

He did not say anything about it though, instead choosing to walk quietly. There would be a time for a proper talk later, but for now, the comforting silence would have to be enough.

Unfortunately, that silence did not end up lasting as much as he hoped for.

When they were just a short distance away from entering the forest, the seemingly peaceful wall of green and brown in front of them exploded with motion, and a group of cultivators quickly surrounded them.

Ji’s brain went into overdrive, and he immediately tried to get more information on the people that had now boxed them in. There were a total of ten people, with eight humans and what looked like two spirit apes. They were all dressed in simple, worn clothes and he sensed cultivation levels ranging from the fifth level of the Qi Condensation Realm to two humans that were in Foundation Building.

One of the men, the one directly in front of them, spoke.

“Now, let's make this easy for all of us. We know you have a spatial ring. Just give it to us, and we can all be on our way. No need for anyone to get hurt.”

“Are you stupid?” Qian Shi asked in response.

“Watch your tongue, dog.”

The man’s tone changed, and Ji sensed that any possible window of negotiation or surrender would soon run out. Not that it mattered.

“You see the three of us entering into the forest, and the first thing you do is try to steal from us? Even though I’m in the Foundation Building Realm? I would honestly expect bandits to know how to choose targets wisely. Or perhaps you are new here.”

“How we choose our targets and when we arrived here are none of your business, dog. You have one more chance to peacefully surrender, or you will regret it.”

Ji heard Qian Shi start growling when the man started speaking again and wisely moved back. He was not too sure what she was dealing with, but he knew she was certainly angry. Ruo Long seemed to have the same thought because he also moved back a little.

“No, we will not give you anything.”

The man gave some kind of signal, and the bandits all attacked at the same time, likely intending to overwhelm them with numbers.

Unfortunately for them, Qian Shi was angry, and she seemed to have no intentions of playing their game. What happened next reminded him very clearly of the gap between the Qi Condensation and the Foundation Building Realms.

Qian Shi barked, a loud woof that nearly stopped his hearing. He felt a wave of qi pass through him harmless and go on to meet the nearest bandit, who was swept off his feet. From the way they all fell at the same time, Ji suspected whatever qi attack she used was released in a pulse that spread outwards from her.

Instead of immediately rushing the leader, like he expected, she instead went for the other bandits, breaking bones and removing heads with a simple bite or swipe of her paws. It was brutal in a way he had not quite seen before. Not only was the fight against the wolves much cleaner, there was also the fact that they were not sentient.

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He took a moment to inspect that thought. Those were his uncle’s morals, and he mostly agreed with their reasoning and tried to follow them. Yet now, as he looked at the bodies of the dead bandits that had tried to harm them, he could not deny that he felt just a little spark of satisfaction at the human bandits lying on the floor.

In less than a minute, all the bandits below the Foundation Building Realm were dead. The only people left standing were the bandit leader and one of the two apes.

The bandit leader’s face was suddenly an interesting mix of anger and fear as Shi walked slowly towards him. Then he seemed to steel himself and share a look with the remaining ape before they suddenly ran into the forest in different directions, something that Ji found mildly surprising. It seemed like the remaining two bandits were not as suicidal as they might have seemed.

Contrary to his expectations, Qian Shi did not seem intent on letting them go free. Instead, she ran in the direction of the bandit leader without hesitation, prompting a string of curses from Ruo Long.

“Damn it Qian Shi,” the dragon shook his head. “We can’t keep track of her.”

Ji nodded at that. At this point, there was little they could do. Following her was a lost cause. Her steps were too light to leave footprints for some reason and she was definitely too fast for them. They could try going in the same direction she went, but who knew what twists and turns she might have made on the way?

So with little else to do, they both stayed there and waited, hoping their fellow disciple would be capable of taking care of herself.

*

Qian Shi was on a hunt.

During her time with her father, she would often go with him to catch different animals for food. It was something she had not done in a while, since she met Master Guo.

Going on a hunt put her in a state of intense focus, where everything else, including her anger, became secondary. All her attention was dedicated to following the bandit who threatened her family.

He was dead the moment he tried to steal from them, he just did not know it. Maybe on another day, when she was not already reeling with anger from an aggravating encounter, it might have been different.

She noticed the trees starting to thin, a detail that caught her attention because it could be relevant to the hunt. Sure enough, she soon entered a clearing with many tents. She immediately recognised it as a bandit camp. It was not the first one she had seen, but it was by far the biggest. It was also busy, with people moving around frantically as her prey shouted orders.

The presence of so many people made her wary. Thankfully, a quick scan of their cultivation showed that none of them was above the Foundation Building Realm, which meant they were within her ability to handle.

She announced her entrance with a loud bark. A dumb move, some might say, but Qian Shi was never really much of a stealth hunter. Plus, the look of panic on her prey’s face made her happier than she wanted to admit. She had spent a lot of time learning to help curb some of her overly violent impulses, but it was hard to care much about that when she was so angry.

This time, he ignored the people around and went straight for the bandit leader. She was not quite angry enough to slaughter weak non combatants that posed little threat to her.

When she got to her target, the human had brought out a sword. From the qi radiating off it, she knew it was a powerful weapon, enough to make the fight somewhat difficult. She welcomed the challenge with another bark as they rushed at each other.

She moved to the side at the last moment, avoiding both the sword and the blade of qi that preceded it. The power she felt confirmed her fears. The sword was an enchanted weapon, which raised the threat level of the bandit leader.

She stopped with a sigh. It was time to start truly taking this seriously, it seemed.

Qian Shi was not a heavens defying monster like the First Disciple, Bai Lin, or even Xiao Ji. She had long accepted the fact that she would never be the best cultivator there was. But she was still an awakened. And a disciple of a Divine at that.

She would not be threatened by a mere bandit.

The bandit went on the offensive, trying without success to hit her with his sword. Even the random blades of qi he released could not touch her, though she had to use her movement technique to avoid some of them.

Eventually, he lost momentum, and she struck, coating her claws with qi as she did. Her swipe was blocked, like she expected. The qi on her claws, however, hit it hard enough to rip it out of its wielder's hands.

The bandit leader suddenly found himself without a weapon, helpless prey at the mercy of a ruthless predator. A simple paw swipe was enough to finish him off, bringing the short fight to a very anticlimactic end. She found her anger was largely replaced with dissatisfaction. She had not expected to be truly in danger, but he should have put up some fight at least.

Some prey were best caught quickly, like the ones she had to hunt for sustenance. Some hunts, however, were better when they were drawn out.

The bandit leader was in the second category without a doubt.

Still, she let it go, for at the end of the day, the prey was just that .It was not worth so much of her time. Certainly not when it threatened her family. Not to mention she knew Mei would be disappointed if she could hear her thoughts.

Truly, it was not Qian Shi’s fault that her father was a hunter who had properly educated her in the art of disproportionate revenge. Speaking of which…

A few minutes later, the people in the camp were all rounded up quickly. Thankfully, she had not gone far from where she left Jia an Long. A few very loud barks were enough to get their attention.

A few animals around seemed disturbed by the noise, but a single look from her sent them packing. She briefly thought about going after the Sky Ape that ran away but dismissed it. She had enough people to deal with here, even with her fellow disciples.

Now came the hard part. She had some questions to ask.