Is He This Durable?

On the way back, Ji Ruo also picked up a feather that Wind God Falcon Aunt had shed.

The feather was mostly blue-green and slightly translucent.

It looked soft, but was actually incredibly hard and sharp. In his hand, it felt like he was holding a piece of the breeze.

It was about 1.6 meters long and four palms wide.

It was surprisingly heavy. Ji Ruo hefted it in his hand, and figured that even a single feather must weigh dozens of pounds.

"Pretty heavy."

Ji Ruo carried the feather as if it were a giant door-sized sword. It was so hard that when he struck it against the ground, it rang out with a metallic clang. The tip didn't bend in the slightest.

When he swung it, it cut through the air with a series of sharp whistles. Ji Ruo tested it against the Standard Issue Sword he carried with him. Even without reinforcing it with Blood Qi Power, the feather clashed against the blade with a metallic ring, chipping the sword's edge—while the feather remained completely unscathed!

"Whoa!" Ji Ruo was overjoyed. Wasn't a feather sword way cooler than a stick sword?

"This adventure was totally worth it! What a haul!"

He happily swung his feather sword as he headed back, even trying to enhance it with Blood Qi Power along the way.

He hadn't expected that experiment to bring an even bigger surprise.

When he controlled it with Blood Qi Power, he could make the feather bend and soften to a certain extent. Under the influence of his Blood Qi Power, he could even change its shape at will—turning it into a sword or a blade!

"Now that's nice," Ji Ruo said with satisfaction.

When he returned to where they had been, Ji Ruo was surprised to find that Wind God Falcon Aunt still hadn't come back.

Liang Shixian was steaming all over, his skin a bluish gray. His realm hadn't advanced much, but with all the high-grade ingredients he'd been given, his Iron Cloth Shirt had finally reached the Entering the Hall level.

How well someone mastered a martial technique determined its power and how many more ways they could use it.

Of course, with low-level martial techniques like Iron Sand Palm and Iron Cloth Shirt, mastering them wouldn't unlock many new uses. The Iron Cloth Shirt, for example, simply made the body harder and harder.

Still, this martial technique served as a prerequisite for some advanced defensive techniques. Once he mastered it to a certain level, he'd find it easier to learn more advanced defensive techniques later.

Techniques like Iron Sand Palm and Iron Cloth Shirt, which enhanced the body to some extent, required special medicinal liquids to aid in training. Of course, only Martial Apprentices had to follow this rule.

Opening the Qi Vessels was the foundation of a martial artist's extraordinary abilities.

Liang Shixian wasn't Ji Ruo. He didn't have the Achievement System to help him. Under normal circumstances, without the proper medicinal liquids in the Secret Realm, practicing by force would cause irreversible damage to his body.

But the ingredients in Wind God Falcon's Nest were far too high-grade. Even if they weren't the right ones, they were enough to let Liang Shixian overcome that damage.

"Hey, class monitor, you're smoking!"

Ji Ruo pretended to sound surprised.

Hearing him, Liang Shixian turned back excitedly, ready to share his joy at breaking through with Ji Ruo. "You're back, Ji Ruo? My Iron Cloth Shirt—where'd you get that huge feather?!"

Ji Ruo waved the door-sized feather around boastfully. "Jealous? I just found this treasure on my adventure! You wouldn't come with me. Heh."

Liang Shixian: "It's just a feather Wind God Falcon Aunt shed. We're in her nest. It's not strange to find feathers here."

They said you shouldn't bite the hand that fed you. Liang Shixian was getting more and more comfortable calling her "Aunt."

Ji Ruo grinned. "But I've got one and you don't! So, jealous now? Hmph!"

Rosie lay atop Ji Ruo's head and imitated him, waving her two short paws. "Meow meow meow~ (Jealous now? Jealous now?)"

Liang Shixian: "..."

His excitement about sharing his breakthrough vanished in an instant. Liang Shixian took a deep breath and went back to training.

"By the way, class monitor, hasn't Aunt come back?" Ji Ruo asked.

"No." Liang Shixian continued his punches, his eyes half closed. The irritation from Ji Ruo's childish antics had somehow given him a faint sense that he was grasping how to open his Qi Vessels.

"Ji Ruo, you should get back to training. We may be safe for now, but martial cultivation doesn't allow for even the slightest slack," Liang Shixian said, slipping into lecture mode.

Ji Ruo tilted his head. "But I've already opened my Qi Vessels."

"I swear to—"

Liang Shixian couldn't help glaring at Ji Ruo.

Only then did he realize what he'd just grasped wasn't a sense of his Qi Vessels at all. Ji Ruo had just made him so angry that he was seeing stars!

Dabao and Erbao woke up again.

Wind God Falcon Aunt still hadn't returned, but the two little ones didn't seem to care. They had endless energy, and began playing around in the nest again.

This time, Rosie didn't try to "eat what she couldn't finish and take the rest home." She joined in with everyone—or, more accurately, they played with her.

Dabao: "Cheep~ (Don't run!)"

Erbao: "Cheep-cheep~ (Stop! Stop!)"

They used Thunder Breathing, their tender wings wreathed in wind and lightning as they darted about like thunderbolts.

Rosie wasn't as fast as they were. They kept bashing into her from every direction, treating her like a ball.

Ji Ruo had been a little worried that they'd rough Rosie up too much.

But Rosie seemed incredibly tough. Even after being knocked around like that, she wasn't hurt at all. Instead, she only grew more excited.

"Meow! (Picking on a little kitty doesn't make you strong! Try not to run so fast! I'll scratch your faces up!)"

Ji Ruo scratched his head. "Is this cat really that tough?"

He slowed down and checked the detailed information of his two apprentices.

[Name: Dabao (pet name)]

[Race: Wind God Falcon]

[Category: Demon]

[Stage: Infant Stage]

[Talent: Wind Control (Thunder ↑)]

[Note: A high-level Demon Race with an exceptionally pure bloodline and remarkable growth potential~]

That was Dabao's information panel. Erbao's was the same.

The talent "Wind Control" was easy to understand. Wind God Falcons were named for their powerful ability to control wind elements. Once they reached the Adult Stage, they would be like gods of the wind.

As for the "Thunder ↑" in parentheses, it was probably because Ji Ruo had taught the little ones "Total Concentration Breathing: Thunder."

Demons could evolve too, just not as often as monsters.

Ji Ruo was very pleased with his two new apprentices. Once they grew up, they'd surely become a great help. Just imagining himself flying through the sky on a Wind God Falcon was cool!

After checking his two apprentices' information, Ji Ruo took a look at Rosie's, too.

He knew there wouldn't be any changes, but since he'd already opened it, he might as well have a look.

But when he did, Ji Ruo froze.

Everything else about Rosie was unchanged. She was still in the Infant Stage.

But the little one's talents had become—

[Talent: Illusion ↓ Toughness ↑]

Her original talent for Illusion was growing dimmer and more translucent by the second, while the new "Toughness" talent was gradually growing more vivid.

What the hell?

Had she put all her points into defense because she was afraid of pain?

How could she respec her own stats and pick up new skills?

Ji Ruo was about to grab Rosie and demand an explanation when—

"Whoosh—!"

A gale howled as Wind God Falcon Aunt returned.

"Aunt, you're ba—huh? What happened to you?"

Wind God Falcon Aunt shook the frost off her right wing. Her feathers were ruffled, and she looked rather battered. She said angrily, "Cheep~ (Those bastards! They dared to threaten me!)"

But her anger didn't last long. She saw the two little ones racing toward her, wrapped in wind and lightning, crying "Mama!" over and over. She froze in place.

She looked at Ji Ruo and asked blankly, "Cheep~ (What's going on?)"

I left you in charge of the kids. How did you even manage to change their attributes?

"I taught them some martial arts I came up with," Ji Ruo explained simply.

"Cheep~ (You taught my children martial arts?)" Wind God Falcon Aunt stared at Ji Ruo, dumbfounded. "Cheep~ (But you're human, and we're demons.)"

She knew a little about humans. She knew that what Ji Ruo had done would be tantamount to betraying his own race—and they weren't even the same species!

How had he taught them?

"Oh, what difference does it make whether we're human or demon?" Ji Ruo said casually. "There are good people and bad people, and there are good demons and bad demons. Besides, I came up with this myself!"

"Cheep~ (But...)"

Wind God Falcon Aunt seemed a little hesitant, but Ji Ruo had no intention of lingering on the topic.

Those two little ones were already his pets, bound by a Contract. They definitely wouldn't take the initiative to fight humans. They might even become a help to humanity. There was nothing wrong with teaching them some martial arts he'd invented!

"By the way, Aunt, what happened to you? Did those guys on the mountaintop attack you?"

At the mention of it, Wind God Falcon Aunt grew furious. "Cheep~ (Those bastards caught a high-level martial artist and planned to share him as food. But they were worried that this would break the rules we agreed on back then and bring retaliation from even stronger martial artists. So they tried to get me to join their side. I refused, and they beat me up!)"

Ji Ruo stared. "The demons on the mountaintop caught a high-level martial artist... Wait, didn't you say before that those guys were no match for you?"

Wind God Falcon Aunt said indignantly, "Cheep~ (They ganged up on me! I just refused, and they all attacked me together! Sixteen of them!

"I could easily thrash one or two on their own, but there were sixteen of them!)"