Hou Niao stopped cultivating and turned toward the little peacock. "Can you really do this? I don't bully children!"
The little peacock glared at him. "I'm your ancestor! Show some respect when you speak. Whether I can do it or not, we'll settle that with our skills!"
She was still too young. The slightest provocation sent her straight into the dog's trap. How could Hou Niao possibly underestimate the High Antiquity Peacock Clan, whose innate Divine Ability was the Display Technique? He had said that merely to provoke the little one into giving her all and holding nothing back, so he could steal a few lessons.
The Great Bird of the Ancestral Image's Display Technique was far too advanced for him to learn, but a little peacock might be a different matter.
The two sat cross-legged facing each other, their eyes like fighting cocks'. Fans spread behind their backs, sweeping out Profound Light. As the light ground forward, the two displays immediately tangled together, neither yielding.
The contest lay in the conceptual realms, understanding, depth, and comprehensiveness of their respective Profound Light... to see whose display could ultimately seize the rhythm and control the other's fanned light.
At their first clash, Hou Niao rejoiced inwardly. Just as he had expected, the little peacock could not have been born long ago. Her five elements display relied entirely on instinct. Compared with her great bird ancestor, it was the difference between clouds and mud, but for him, it was just right-exactly what he needed to learn something of its essence.
Of course, "not born long ago" did not mean a human infant arriving with a wail. That span might be a hundred years, or even several hundred. For a race with limitless lifespans like the peacocks, it was no more than an