‘Who am I trying to fool,’ Xiao Ji thought to himself wryly.

As much as the techniques were all great, and certainly tempting to him, his choice was decided the moment he finished looking through them. He was just taking some time to mourn what could have been.

He had done some introspection, particularly during his stay in The Settlement, and there were certain things he had discovered. One of the most important among them was his refusal to be prey.

It might have seemed like a simple realisation, yet it had come with other things, like his acceptance of the fact that his species was more likely to be prey than not. He was always going to be fighting an uphill battle. His Beyond grade technique helped, but the fight with the panther showed him how limited his form could be.

Which was why it was not much of a choice.

[Lowly Carp Overcoming the Dragon] captured the struggle he faced more than anything. He was not an overly arrogant phoenix who stood at the apex. Nor was he the immovable bastion. Even the uncaring water that flowed with the situation did not call to him.

He was none of that because he was Xiao Ji, Beyond grade awakened who was raised by Xie Sun.

The prey who would become a predator.

Something clicked the moment he thought that. The realisation was not new, yet the combination of what he saw in the trait and his true acceptance allowed the world to recognise it.

[Congratulations, you have received the gained the Title - Dao Walker(I)]

[Dao Walker(I) - The Dao is all-encompassing, comprehending it is a journey of a thousand years. You have taken the first step on this journey while in the Qi Condensation Realm. The quality of your spiritual roots has been upgraded.]

Xiao Ji read the notification and was pleasantly surprised. The Dao was something he still knew very little about. The text contained in the scroll had been too confusing for him to really understand much. His master had given a very basic explanation, but that had not helped too much. Apparently, if he was given too much information on it so early on, it could affect his progress.

He turned to the Divine next to him and pointed to the last jade slip.

“I have made my choice.”

“Interesting. That is not a choice a lot of people will make willingly. But it can be an effective technique.”

As he spoke, Ji wondered how much the old man actually knew about his musings. Somehow though, he doubted the selection of that technique was a coincidence. He mentioned the Title he just gained, hoping for some guidance at last..

His master raised his brows.

“That was a bit faster than I expected. Impressive. This technique is even better for you than I expected. Well then, I think you might be ready for a little more information. I am still limited in what I can tell you, but there is some leeway. Let us walk.”

His master picked up the jade slips and started walking out of the library, leaving Ji to catch up hurriedly with growing excitement. Finally, he would get some information. Something useful, at least.

“So,” the old man said when they left the building and went outside. “You have taken your first step on the Dao. Congratulations, Daoist.

His master clasped his hands and gave a very light bow. One that was returned by Ji with even more excitement. The old man was taking the whole thing very seriously, something he hoped was a good sign.

“Thank you, master.”

“Daoist Ji, do you know what it means to begin the journey of the Dao?”

Xiao Ji shook his head, and the man nodded.

“The Dao is vast and unknowable. Trying to comprehend its entirety is not possible for even the most talented Divine. Thankfully for us, the Dao is not a single, static thing. It is all encompassing, and it manifests as different things to different people. The Dao is in all things, both living and nonliving, in reality, the journey of the Dao of merely finding yourself.”

The explanation, which was thankfully more detailed than, “Dao is the truth of existence”, actually gave him some insight into what it was than any he had previously seen. It was still confusing, no doubt, but it at least explained why he gained the Title.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Do you now have an idea what it means, at least?”

Ji nodded.

“Good. I assume you had a major realisation and the technique gave you some necessary insights. Your Dao is your own, but I would like to know the ultimate theme.”

Ji had to admit he was a little surprised about the polite tone his master used. Not that he was complaining.

“Ultimate theme?”

“I assume your moment of inspiration led to a line that summed up your musings to some extent. That is your ultimate theme.”

“Oh. It was, ‘The Prey Who Would Become a Predator.’”

His master smiled. It was a warm smile, and Ji almost thought he was seeing things.

“Ah. I believe that technique is perfect for you then, even more so than I realised. I believe that will be all for today, then. You have earned the day off. Tomorrow you will start training the technique.”

Then he turned around and left, leaving Ji with the rest of the day to himself.

The first thing he did when he was finally alone was to check his status.

[Status]

[Name: Xiao Ji]

[Race: Chicken]

[Cultivation Realm: Qi Condensation - 5th Stage]

[Trait: Force of Mind]

[Techniques: The Rooster Breathes(Beyond), Voice of the Wind(Sky), Rooster Body Strengthening - 1st Step(Beyond)]

[Cultivation Path: None]

[Titles: Against All Odds(I), Dao Walker(I)]

[Spiritual Root: Locked(Upgraded)]

He thought it looked rather good, all things considered. Hopefully, he was going to learn the new technique relatively quickly. There was not much for him to actually do, so he practised until he was tired. The sun was still high up in the sky when he was done though, so he went inside and spent a few minutes wandering around aimlessly.

At that point, Ruo Long’s advice months ago came back to him. Outside of training, cultivating and talking with the other disciples, there was little he actually had to do. It seemed like he needed to get a hobby. He had limited free time, but it couldn’t hurt much to actually have something he enjoyed. At least one that was not related to increasing his cultivation in some way.

After a few minutes of brainstorming, he realised he had no idea where to actually start. So he went to the one person who might have been both available and willing to help him.

A few minutes later, the door to Mei’s floor opened, and he entered to see the normally serene cultivator looking disorganised.

She wore loose white robes that were a lot plainer than her usual fare. There was also dirt staining multiple parts of her outfit and even her face. Her hair was all over the place, and he was reminded of the times when his feathers were very ruffled from a fight.

“Hey Ji. No training? What brings you to little old Mei’s floor today.”

“Master gave me the day off,” he explained, which caused her to raise her brows. “I did some practice then I realised I have nothing to do outside training. Rou Long suggested training once.”

She frowned slightly, looking thoughtful.

“That is something I actually haven’t thought about. Ruo Long has his art and Qian Shi goes on hunts every so often, but you have nothing. Well that has to change. Do you have any ideas on what you want to do?”

He thought about it for a moment before shaking his head.

“There is not much. I suppose I like to read, but the amount of scrolls I can actually read here are very few and I have finished almost all of them. There’s nothing else I can think of outside of that. That’s part of what I hoped you might help me figure out, honestly. ”

“Well, I’m not sure what hobbies might suit you. Maybe you can come and watch me do alchemy. It’s something that often helps me relax. With your trait, you will likely be able to do it yourself eventually.”

That did not sound like a bad idea at all. He said as much, and she took him to her lab. It was the same one he saw the first time he came here, but it was currently messier.

There were containers with different liquids and solids scattered around. The cauldron lay strewn on the floor, drops of green liquid dripping from it and staining the floor.

Mei looked around and sighed.

“Sorry for the mess. I had some… issues. But that can be shelved for later. For now, let me clean up so I can show you proper alchemy.”

She waved her hands, and the cauldron flew up and went to the stove. Then she moved faster than Ji could follow, becoming a blur of transparent containers being placed in their proper places.

In just a few moments, the once messy lab was clean and tidy. It occurred to Ji that he had no idea what Mei’s cultivation level was. She was certainly great at hiding it, because he could find no trace of qi that would indicate her actual cultivation realm.

“Well that looks better. Well, time to show you what alchemy is.”

Alchemy, as it turned out, was more interesting than Ji would have expected. Mei started with what she called a simple elixir that most cultivators used in the Qi Condensation realm at some point.

The entire concept fascinated him, especially because he had no experience with pills or elixirs. According to Mei, that was expected, and Beyond grade techniques were generally much better than using external pills or elixirs.

At the Qi Condensation level, most pills simply supplied energy, something he was certainly not lacking. Still, it could be helpful knowing the process, so he watched as she called out the names of different ingredients and then ran her qi through them in order to expel their impurities before putting them in the cauldron.

The ingredients, things he also found interesting, slowly merged as she used the stove to heat it up, using her qi to stir the mixture till it started getting compressed. Eventually, it reached a certain level where she felt it was satisfactory, and she put off the stove, revealing the cauldron’s contents.

The different ingredients that were once in the cauldron had been replaced by a single, large, round object that he thought looked somewhat similar to some pills he saw in the market. Of course, none of them had nearly as much qi as the one he was staring at.

Mei took out the pill and put it in a bottle before turning to him.

“How did you find that?”

“Fascinating,” he replied honestly. “Can you do it again?”

She smiled at him and shook her head slightly before turning back to the remaining ingredients.

“Sure.”