Xiao Ji was pleasantly surprised to find his head still connected to his body. The giant dog, large enough to swallow him in one bite, had for some reason chosen not to do that. Instead, it simply licked him with his tongue, leaving his precious feathers wet with dog spit. Still, that was a very small price to pay for keeping his life.

He stared at the dog, unsure what to do next. It stood in front of him, as if eagerly waiting for something. It was at that moment that a possibility he had mostly ignored made itself known. Perhaps the dog was one of the awakened. If so, it would mean he had massively overreacted, which was fairly embarrassing. A small part of him was thankful for the lack of hens to witness his foolishness. He should probably also stop referring to what was likely an intelligent cultivator like they were just a regular stupid dog.

“Hello,” he greeted gently, trying not to startle the massive beast looming over him. No point getting killed by an accidental paw swipe.

“Hello newest disciple.”

The voice that answered him was deep, almost like a growl. Not unlike what he would expect such a massive dog to sound like.

“I would really appreciate it,” he said tentatively, again trying to be calm. “If you could perhaps stop wetting my feathers.”

His assumed attacker closed the jaws that were hanging open at that, much to his relief. Then they put some distance between them.

“Sorry if I frightened you. And for getting you wet. Mei said it would be a bad idea, but that coward convinced me it would be fun. Hi, I’m Qian Shi, fourth disciple of Master Fan Guo. You can call me Senior Sister!”

Somehow, Ji noticed the dog’s voice went higher the more she talked. It was still deeper than even Master Fan Guo’s voice, but it no longer sounded like she was growling at him. He also noticed that she seemed a little excited. Even if his uncle had not given him a little training on cross species emotions, it would be obvious from the tone of her voice alone.

“Senior Sister, I apologise for my reaction, but a mastiff half your size killed my hatch brother just a few days ago. So my mind prepared the worst when you arrived.”

Polite but not overly so. He thought that was good enough. He wasn’t sure what the hierarchy was, but he doubted he needed to be as respectful to her as his Master, considering she was a fellow disciple and Mei did not demand any kind of respect. It caused him no harm to be polite though. His uncle had mentioned something about the outside world caring a lot about respect.

Qian Shi, his new ‘Senior Sister’ gave him what he assumed was the dog equivalent of a deep bow, with her ear dropped and her entire body bowed in submission.

“This Qian Shi apologises for her misconduct. To hurt the new disciple after facing such pain is shameful.”

Ji merely stared at her in confusion, not exactly sure what was happening. Yet Qian Shi did not get up, perhaps waiting for him to do something. He turned his attention to Mei who was standing in the background. Maybe she would know be able to solve the problem.

“No need to be so dramatic, Shi,” Mei said, finally coming closer. “We’re all disciples of the Great Master here. You made a mistake, fine, but you’re making Xiao Ji uncomfortable right now.”

“Oh,” Qian Shi quickly got up and stood next to Mei, who patted her gently. “What should I do to apologise then?”

“Why are you asking me? I’m not the one that you scared. Xiao Ji is right in front of you. I’m sure he will be glad to tell you.”

Ji found himself under the scrutiny of both the human and the dog, two people that could kill him with frightening ease. Yet he found himself fairly calm, now he knew they were unlikely to harm him. Thinking back, his reaction had been quite thoughtless. He should have asked Mei to intervene at the beginning. Or tried to hold his ground from the beginning. After all, he drove away a spirit beast when he was a mortal.

Though his current cultivation did not make him dramatically stronger, he could feel that there was some improvement, at least.

“You don’t have to do anything to apologise. You were too eager and I panicked. I think we can start afresh.”

From the smile Mei flashed at him, he had done a fairly good job there. At least he hoped so. He was just trying to emulate what his uncle might do in this situation. He had little experience dealing with people that could understand his words otherwise.

“See,” Mei said to Qian Shi with a smile. “That wasn’t so hard was it? Now you can act as fellow disciples. Also, Xiao Ji, there is no need to call her senior sister, just Qian Shi is enough.”

Qian Shi whined at that, turning her head to Mei and looking at her for a long moment. Ji wasn’t quite sure what she wished to achieve, but it clearly did not work as Mei just shook her head and muttered something about being immune to such tricks.

They finally entered the dining room again, where he found a kind of human bowl filled with worms and bugs.

Delightful.

He had to stop himself from rushing to the bowl and devouring everything in a few bites. He had no issues eating from the ground like his uncle, but he still learnt some proper feeding habits from the old fowl.

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Instead he looked at Mei, who thankfully understood and nodded at him. With permission received, he took apart the worms, and it was all he could do to maintain some semblance of decorum as he devoured one after the other.

“What were those, Mei,” he asked after there was nothing left in the bowl. “I have never tasted anything like that before.”

“Glad you liked it. They were weak spirit worms that just got their cultivation. There are a lot of them if you know where to look. Now. I know you probably missed it, but each worm contained a small amount of qi. Currently you should have some energy lingering in your system for everything you just ate. You need to cultivate it now.”

A simple dive into his body showed that there was indeed a chunk of energy inside him, waiting to be cultivated. If he focused enough, he could also see it slowly dissipating at the edges. He was not sure how he did not even notice but that felt like something he would have to correct. That would be for later though. For now, he took the energy and directed it to his dantian. Something about the process seemed so easy that he suspected his breathing technique was somehow helping him, which was why he wasted none of the qi.

It was not enough to take him to the Third Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, but it helped to bring him closer to it, which was appreciated.

“Finished cultivating?” Mei asked. “That was quite fast.”

“My breathing technique helped a bit,” he admitted. “It made it easier and helped me avoid waste.”

“Oh that's so cool!” Qian Shi butted in out of nowhere. He noticed that the large pieces of meat that dwarfed him were no longer on the plate. ”What's the name of your breathing technique? And is it perfect?”

He noticed Mei gave Qian Shi a certain look he had come to associate with mild reproach, but she otherwise did not comment. That was fine, he had no issues telling his fellow disciples his breathing technique. Perhaps they would be able to tell him more about Beyond. Especially since his Master had not even bothered to ask about it.

“My breathing technique is called [The Rooster Breathes] and the system tagged it as beyond.”

“Woah,” Qian Shi screamed so loudly that his ears started hurting. “A Beyond grade technique is nearly mythical. Only very few awakened have something like that and most of them don’t announce it. The first and second disciples have them. So do the four Titans, but I’m not sure anyone else is confirmed. Oh, except the Claw Empress, who currently holds the record for fastest time to the Divine Realm.”

“Did somebody say Beyond grade?” a booming voice that could put Quan Shi’s to shame came from just outside the dining room.

The owner of the voice flew into the room lazily, his sheer presence making it feel almost cramped. Though he had seen a mightier dragon on his journey here, that had been far away, and his Master was to protect him from any kind of pressure it released. Now though, his Master was not with him, and he could fully appreciate the magnificent creatures that were a subject of many stories his uncle told him.

There were clear differences between the dragon in front of him and the one that fled from his master. This one was notably smaller, not that it made too much of a difference. The dragon’s head was still larger than even Quan Shi’s and it was long enough to likely wrap itself around the mastiff at least three times. It was also grey, a clear difference from the dragon he saw on his journey with Master Fan Guo.

Even with those differences, he could not deny that the creature that was currently in front of him was magnificent. With shining scales and a powerful mane framing a head filled with jaws that were likely far more powerful than he knew, he would not be lying if he said its majesty was almost on par with his uncle's.

“Bask in my greatness, new disciple. It is a gift freely given.”

Even the dragon’s voice was powerful, and Ji found it increasingly easy to just lose himself in the majesty of the dragon. It was only the memory of his uncle’s resplendence that kept him grounded and pulled him out of the trance.

“What was that?” he asked. The dragon was magnificent, but certainly not enough to put him in so much awe. Or perhaps he was underestimating how fascinated he was by dragons.

“I am a dragon. It is only proper that lesser species find it hard to handle my majesty.”

The dragon’s voice was overly proud, like it owned the entire world around it.

“Fake dragon,” Qian Shi simply growled, she did not seem particularly happy and Ji noticed her growling the moment the dragon entered the room.

“Ruo Long is a real dragon, if only barely, Qian Shi,” Mei said with a sigh. “Even his impure bloodline is enough to put you in a trance until he wills it so. That is the difference between dragons and chickens. How did you break free, Xiao Ji?”

“I found the dragon majestic,” he answers truthfully. “But he was still less magnificent than my uncle, so I used that as an anchor to hold on to reality.”

Qian Shi burst into laughter at that. It was a loud, boisterous laugh at the dragon’s expense, though Ji was not particularly sure why she was laughing. Mei thankfully came to the rescue a moment later.

“Well that’s embarrassing for you, Ruo Long. You keep earning your name. This time I guess you lost to a chicken.”

“That chicken is the First Disciple!” the dragon shouted, desperately trying to defend himself. “You know even I can’t compete with such monsters as the first and second disciples.”

“Excuses, excuses,” Qian Shi said, finally coming out of her bouts of laughter. “What kind of dragon loses to a chicken? Then even dares to give excuses. Truly shameful, Ruo Long.”

Ji was not sure he liked the way they were looking down on his uncle because he was a chicken. Even after the dragon admitted that the old rooster was a monster they could not hope to compete with. So he spoke his mind.

“Why exactly does it matter that he lost to a chicken?,” he asked, looking at Qian Shi and Mei. “You yourself admitted that the First Disciple is special. So why should that not count because he is a chicken?”

Qian Shi whined and started muttering an apology, while Mei merely stared at him for a while then shook her head. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he was glad he at least got the words out. It was certainly not easy to be a chicken.

“You are right, Xiao Ji, I was inconsiderate,” Qian Shi apologised. “The First Disciple is truly magnificent.”

Ruo Long, the dragon was in the process of letting out a shout of victory when a heavy presence descended on the room. Ji instantly recognised it as his master.

“You are right, Disciple Shi, that Xie Sun is without comparison. You are wrong, however, to call him First Disciple. Though I am dedicating all my time to looking for him, I have no illusions about what will happen when I find him. He will not return to be my disciple, which is why he left Disciple Ji for me. As of today, Huo Lan will be the First Disciple. Qian Shi is now the Third Disciple and Ruo Long the fourth. Our latest addition, Xiao Ji, is now the Sixth Disciple.

“I will summon you eventually, Sixth Disciple. For now, I expect you will all bond as disciples do.”

And then the presence vanished as quickly as it came, leaving the disciples with much to ponder.