Chapter 4: Earth Breaking Spade

  The heavens didn’t split apart. The earth didn’t quake. No ethereal choir began singing praises of my grand new destiny. All that happened after I pecked the entire thing into my beak was... well, nothing.

  "Is that it?" I asked, after a few awkward seconds of standing there with a slightly earthy aftertaste lingering on my tongue.

  Master Song, who had been calmly watching me from atop a nearby rock, let out a sigh that seemed far too heavy for such a small body. "Brace for it," he said.

  "For what…"

  My question was cut off by a sudden, violent heave from deep inside my stomach. I stumbled and flapped my stubby wings wildly, trying to steady myself as nausea wracked my tiny body. If I thought dying under a vending machine was bad, this... this was a whole new level of discomfort.

  "You are purging," Master Song explained with the calmness of a bored teacher watching a first-year student fumble when called out to recite the pi. "Humans must purify their Qi and remove impurities to make room for true cultivation. They do it through medicines, elixirs, and refining their bodies through endless practice. Beasts, however, take another path."

  I retched again, feeling something dark and oily bubble up inside me. My feathers fluffed up involuntarily. "You could have warned me better!" I mentally shrieked as my whole body convulsed.

  Master Song chuckled, unbothered. "Warning you would have made you hesitate. Beasts cultivate through experience, survival, and... consumption. The strongest rise by defeating others, by enduring hardship, and by living long enough to grow naturally. That is the Animal Path."

  I finally collapsed, feeling like an overused mop, panting through my beak as something invisible inside me shifted. Master Song, looking every inch the wise, ancient cultivator in a squirrel's body, continued speaking, "But it is not always fair. Without a special bloodline or a natural talent, most beasts would never reach true wisdom or power. They live and die without ever seeing the Dao."

  He hopped closer and poked me with the tip of his sword. "That is why we—yes, we—will not follow only the Animal Path."

  I lifted my head weakly, trying to focus on his words. "What... do you mean by 'we'?"

  Master Song straightened proudly, his small paws resting on his hips. "Our Magical Beast Sect shall follow a different way. A combination of the Human Path and the Animal Path! We will cultivate deliberately, refine our minds, and use techniques, just as humans do. But we will also honor our instincts, our growth, and our strength as beasts."

  His chest puffed out even more as he declared grandly, "You, my disciple, are a founder of the Magical Beast Sect alongside me!"

  I blinked at him, my head still spinning. "Wait, wait… founder? Me?"

  Master Song nodded vigorously, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Of course you are! A Sect is not a Sect with just one being!" He stomped his tiny foot on the ground for emphasis, making the dirt puff up in a small cloud. "A Sect must have a lineage, a future, a dream carried by more than one!"

  I stared at him, feeling the enormity of his words crash over me like a tidal wave. Me? A founder of a Sect? In a xianxia world where people could split mountains with a sword and ride on flying swords like nothing? I was just a dumb dodo who got crushed by a vending machine and reincarnated here by sheer dumb luck.

  And yet... as crazy as it sounded, a spark of excitement flickered inside me.

  I began puking.

  Black sludge, foul and reeking of everything wrong in this world, spewed from my beak as if I were some cursed fountain. My body shook and shuddered uncontrollably. To make matters worse, my feathers started falling off in clumps, drifting to the ground like sad little leaves in autumn.

  I take it back. This was impossible. Cultivating? Becoming a mighty being under the heavens? Forget it. I was dying. I had to be dying. No way did normal people or normal birds have to go through this just to get a little stronger.

  While I was suffering, Master Song decided it was the perfect time to begin one of his lectures. He sat serenely on a rock nearby, one leg crossed over the other, as if the sight of me violently purging my guts was just background scenery.

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  "The Sect I came from," Master Song began, his voice solemn and heavy with memory, "was called the Verdant Tail Sect. It was a place of peace, a place where beasts of all shapes and sizes were cherished and nurtured to find their own paths. But that Sect has long since perished. Only I remain."

  I let out a strangled gurgle, barely able to lift my head to look at him as another wave of black sludge oozed from me.

  "I received their teachings, yes," Master Song continued, his gaze distant, seeing something I couldn’t, "but I never truly understood the full depth of the path they walked. I was young, foolish, and more concerned with survival than enlightenment. Thus, I can only resort to rebuilding from the ground up, using what scraps of knowledge I remember. I must find the essence of their teachings myself… and forge a path I can truly call my own."

  He stood then, silhouetted by the moonlight, his small figure somehow enormous against the night sky. His voice deepened, filled with a strength I hadn’t heard before. "I may succeed. I may fail. It doesn’t matter. Because you, my disciple, you will succeed."

  I would’ve been touched if I weren’t busy retching my insides out.

  "My lifespan," he went on, softer now, "is nearing its end. But you…" he pointed at me, at the featherless mess I had become, "you have decades. Centuries, if you walk the path well. You will grow strong. You will find a disciple of your own. You will rise through the realms and show the world that we, mere beasts, can be more."

  He paused, his bushy tail flicking behind him. "The road will be long and arduous. We will be called disgraces, to our kind and to the so-called greater races of the world. Just by daring to walk this path, we are a disgrace. But it is a disgrace worth bearing."

  At this point, I didn’t even have the strength to puke anymore. I just lay there, a naked, miserable dodo, trying to comprehend his words. I forced my dry, scratchy throat to croak out a question via the Qi thread, "Why? Why would we be hated? Why are we a disgrace? What’s our... virtue?"

  Master Song looked at me with a gaze so piercing it made my raw skin prickle. "Because, my disciple," he said slowly, "the cultivation world does not want its food to talk, to feel, and to think."

  I shivered… not from cold, but from the chill those words sent crawling up my spine.

  He continued, voice steady and sad, "We are neither demonic beasts, twisted by madness, nor sacred beasts, born of heaven’s favor. We are magical beasts… creatures of grace and possibility. Our virtue is simple: to exist."

  Master Song’s eyes gleamed. "To show kindness when the world teaches cruelty. To be fair when the world thrives on selfishness. To hold beauty in our hearts not because we must, but because we choose to. That, my disciple, makes us magical."

  I stared at him, the words sinking deeper than I could express. No feathers, no dignity, barely a heartbeat left... and yet, somehow, for the first time in this life, I felt something spark inside me.

  "Now, disciple," Master Song barked, his tiny paw pointing at the ground with absolute authority, "perform the Earth Breaking Spade I taught you."

  I blinked blearily at him. My body still ached, my skin felt raw without a single feather left to shield me from the wind, and my stomach had long since emptied everything it had. And yet, here he was, demanding more.

  I let out a weak croak, "Master... maybe I can do it tomorrow?"

  Master Song’s eyes narrowed, and I swore I felt a sharp jab of invisible pressure slam into my back. No words needed… this squirrel was serious.

  Dragging myself up on shaky legs, I tried to focus. The Earth Breaking Spade was a technique he had tried to drill into me for the past few weeks. And by ‘drill,’ I meant shouting, throwing pebbles at me, and whacking me with sticks whenever I got it wrong. According to Master Song, the move wasn’t just physical. It required intention and mental sharpness. Something about forming an "edge" with my spirit, focusing it into a point, and then driving it into the earth in a singular motion.

  So, I did as instructed.

  First, I imagined the pebble balanced on my beak… steady and unshaking. That required control. Then, I pictured the sharp edge of a spade, cutting through dirt with ease. The image was fuzzy at first, but I forced myself to concentrate, sharpening it until it became almost tangible in my mind’s eye. I squatted low, feeling the tension coil in my legs. Then, in a smooth, practiced movement, I swung downward, letting everything—my body, my mind, my spirit—flow into a single decisive action.

  There was a loud crack.

  A great chunk of earth split open beneath me, a jagged fissure running several feet wide. I stumbled back, staring at the broken ground in disbelief. Had... had I really done that?

  Master Song let out a loud, cackling laugh and thumped the butt of his greatsword against the ground. "Congratulations, disciple!" he said, his voice brimming with pride. "You have entered the Body Tempering stage!"

  I stood there, dumbfounded. Body Tempering? That sounded... important?

  Master Song immediately launched into explanation mode. "You cannot feel or influence Qi yet," he said, pacing around the cracked earth, tail flicking in excitement, "however, it now exists within you! Like an ember deep in your core, waiting to be nurtured."

  He hopped onto a rock, striking a proud pose. "With your spiritual roots awakened, your journey forward will be much smoother than most beasts. You can cultivate intentionally now… not just by instinct!"

  I looked down at my body. Honestly, aside from the featherless, half-baked appearance, I didn’t feel any different. But if Master Song said so, then maybe something inside had indeed changed.

  "But," Master Song added, his tone suddenly stern again, "you must not get arrogant! You are only at the beginning. You must achieve completion of the Body Tempering stage first before dreaming of greater things!"

  I nodded seriously, though inside, I couldn’t help but feel a flicker of pride. I had actually taken the first step on this ridiculous, impossible path. For once, I wasn’t just a helpless bird thrown into a strange world… I was a cultivator now!

  Or at least, a featherless dodo trying his best to fake it until he made it.