Xu Kai stared at the image. What stared back wasn't a person. Wasn't a common pet. Wasn't even a jade beauty, like he'd somehow expected.

  It was a chicken.

  But not just any chicken. This was a chicken that made you question reality.

  The bird was quite tall, and thin. So thin. Skinny, true to its name. Its bones pressed against red skin like it hadn't eaten in months. And most disturbing of all? It was completely featherless.

  'Eating this wouldn't feel like a sin,' Xu Kai thought, horrified. 'It would BE a sin.'

  Even the most heartless person on earth would take one look at this creature and order a salad.

  Chen Xi tilted her head, confused by his reaction.

  "Yes? I thought I mentioned that."

  "Such a hideous monster!" Xu Kai laughed, though the laughter was unsteady. He couldn't stop staring.

  'What had this chicken done to deserve this existence?'

  "Master, it's not a monster. It's a chicken. Like you said."

  Xu Kai pointed a shaking finger at the photograph.

  "This is a chicken? I take it back. Chickens are edible. But this?" His voice rose. "Heavens! Such a poor, unfortunate soul! What did you feed it? Weeds?!"

  "Oh, that." Chen Xi's face cleared with understanding. He wasn't questioning whether it was a chicken. He was questioning the lack of... everything. "I actually feed it properly. The feathers, though... that was something else."

  Xu Kai latched onto the words.

  "Something else?" His eyes narrowed. "You mean this was caused by something you did? This is chicken abuse!"

  'I never thought I'd witness chicken abuse in my lifetime,' he thought, taking a small shift back. He eyed Chen Xi like she might be contagious. 'Even a demon wouldn't do this.'

  Chen Xi shifted uncomfortably. She had the distinct feeling her master was mentally categorizing her as some kind of crazy demon.

  He was. But that wasn't all.

  Xu Kai was also genuinely worried for his own safety. If she could do that to a chicken, reduce it to a featherless, skeletal nightmare, what might she do to him?

  He imagined himself bald. Skin stretched over bone. A walking skeleton with no hair.

  He shuddered.

  "Wait, Master! I can explain!" Chen Xi threw her hands up defensively.

  It didn't help. If anything, it made him more suspicious. How could anyone explain this?

  "I actually feed it more than I'm supposed to!" she insisted.

  "More?" Xu Kai's voice dripped with skepticism. "And it still looks like that? Are you feeding a black hole?"

  "Master, I'm serious! You even told me to give it less so it wouldn't die of obesity!" Her voice pitched higher, desperate. "As for why Skinny isn't fat and has no feathers..." She hesitated, her eyes darting away. "I... did it accidentally. It's not exactly my fault. It just... happened."

  Xu Kai stared at her.

  "Just happened? Like that?"

  "Not exactly like that." She paused, chewing her lip. "It was caused by what I... gave it."

  "Weed?" Xu Kai offered flatly.

  "No! No, not that." She shook her head vigorously. "It was... something else."

  Xu Kai's patience snapped.

  "Spit it out! What was it?"

  Chen Xi took a breath. Then another. The story tumbled out in a rush.

  "It started as a normal chicken. Like any other. Had all its feathers. Not too fat, but it would've made a decent meal." She glanced at him, then away. "Initially, it was bought to deal with the loneliness in my stomach. But since you banned me from cooking, I had to wait for you. You weren't home."

  Xu Kai nodded slowly, waiting.

  "I got bored. Really bored. So I wandered around, looking for something to do. And I found this pill you'd thrown away. Looked like a failed project. Or something you forgot. I don't know." She shrugged helplessly. "I was curious. Thought about eating it, but my instincts screamed no. So I needed something else to test it on."

  Her voice grew smaller.

  "I considered finding something in the forest. But that would take time. Finding it. Subduing it. And... why bother when I had a perfectly good test subject right there?"

  Xu Kai's jaw tightened.

  "I gave it the pill. Waited. Nothing happened. After a while, I gave up and went inside for a snack." She swallowed hard. "When I came back out, there was a featherless, skinny chicken where mine used to be. At first I thought it was a stray. It looked so pitiful I shared my snack with it. Then I realized, it was in the exact same spot. And I'd given it that pill right before I left."

  She finally met his eyes.

  "There were no other chickens around. It couldn't have survived a minute in the forest. So... yeah. That's how it happened."

  Xu Kai didn't react as Chen Xi spoke. Didn't move. Didn't blink. Just listened until the very end.

  She finished. Waited. Let the silence stretch while he processed her very long, very unbelievable explanation.

  "So that's what happened," Xu Kai finally said.

  "Yep!" Chen Xi nodded, bright and unbothered.

  "So Skinny's condition was caused by a pill I made and threw away."

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  She nodded again.

  Xu Kai sat with that for a moment. His suspicion shifted, redistributing itself. At first, he'd placed all the blame on Chen Xi. But now? Now he saw it differently.

  Half the fault was hers. The other half belonged to the original Xu Kai.

  He should have disposed of that pill properly. Especially knowing he had an adventurous disciple who poked her nose into everything. That pill could have hurt her. Could have killed her. Instead, it turned a chicken into a featherless skeleton.

  But Chen Xi's part in this? Taking an unknown pill, a discarded one at that, and feeding it to a living creature? That was dangerously stupid.

  What if the effect had been worse? What if she'd touched it and it dissolved into her skin? What if she'd swallowed it by accident?

  The thought made his stomach turn.

  "Chen." His voice was firm. "Next time, don't touch anything you don't understand. Got it?"

  Chen Xi's bright expression dimmed slightly at the sudden lecture, but she nodded.

  "If you'd taken that pill yourself, or if it had a weak outer layer and burst on contact, you could have ended up just like Skinny." He let that sink in. "Or worse."

  She nodded again. Didn't argue. Didn't deflect.

  The truth was, the original Xu Kai had already scolded her for this. Right after the Skinny incident, apparently. So his words weren't new. The message was the same, even if the delivery differed.

  Instead of looking down, Chen Xi smiled.

  'Even with no memories,' she thought, 'he still cares. He's still worried about me.'

  That warmth spread through her chest, pushing aside the lecture.

  "Don't worry, Master!" She beamed, sitting up straight. "I, Chen Xi, will obey your words!"

  Xu Kai blinked.

  For some reason, some inexplicable, instinctive reason, a chill ran down his spine.

  He didn't know why.

  Xu Kai opened his mouth to continue the lecture, but Chen Xi held up a hand.

  "But, uh, Master. I just remembered something." She scratched her cheek. "The pill wasn't exactly trashed. It was planned to be trashed. Since you deemed it useless. But you wanted to see it complete first, so you left it out for some time."

  Xu Kai frowned.

  "Huh? What do you mean?"

  "You told me after. It was a pill that needed sunlight to finish. Had to stay outside." She shrugged.

  Xu Kai sighed. That made sense. But still, the original Xu Kai bore some responsibility. He could have shielded it. Could have warned his disciple.

  "Still," Xu Kai said, "it was exposed without protection or instruction. That doesn't change anything."

  Chen Xi tilted her head, confused.

  "Uh, Master. You did protect it. You just didn't tell me."

  Xu Kai blinked.

  "Huh?!"

  "Well..." Chen Xi shifted, suddenly interested in a loose thread on her sleeve. "You set up a protection spell around it. But..."

  "But what?" Xu Kai pressed, a bad feeling creeping up his spine.

  "The defensive spell was weird." She peeked at him through her lashes. "So I kind of... misunderstood it."

  Xu Kai stared.

  "Huh?!"

  "It shot needles at anyone who tried to touch it. Except you, obviously." She rubbed the back of her neck, voice dropping to a mumble. "And I... sort of thought that was a challenge. Like, to prove I was worthy of the pill."

  Xu Kai's mouth opened.

  Nothing came out.

  He opened it again.

  Still nothing.

  All this time, he'd blamed the original Xu Kai. Assumed he'd been careless. Reckless. But the man had done everything right. Protection spell. Clear intent to finish the experiment safely.

  And his disciple had looked at a needle-shooting defense mechanism and thought, 'Ooh, a challenge.'

  Xu Kai closed his eyes.

  'I'm sorry,' he apologized silently to the man whose body he now occupied. 'I misjudged you.'

  When he opened his eyes, Chen Xi was watching him nervously, like a cat waiting to see if it would be scolded or fed.

  He had no words left.

  None at all.

  Xu Kai pressed his palm to his forehead. The headache was building, spreading from behind his eyes to wrap around his skull like a vice.

  He stood slowly. If he stayed here any longer, he might actually die. For real this time.

  "I'm leaving. Going to get some rest." His voice was flat, drained.

  "Master!" Chen Xi's eyes went wide. "But what about getting revenge on the vile wolf that ate Skinny?"

  'Vile wolf?' Xu Kai repeated inwardly. 'Well. The wolf was vile. Eating a chicken like that? Did it have no standards?'

  "That can be discussed another time..." He let the sentence trail off.

  '...Because if I keep talking to you, you might lose your master again.'

  Chen Xi's expression shifted. Her eyes narrowed with determination.

  "No!"

  Before Xu Kai could react, she lunged. Her arms wrapped around his leg just as he prepared to descend from the rock.

  "Chen Xi!" He wobbled, arms flailing for balance. "Let go! I can barely stand, I might fall!"

  "No, Master! We have to discuss this now!"

  "I refuse!" He shook his leg, trying to dislodge her. She clung tighter, a human barnacle.

  "I refuse your refusal!"

  Xu Kai stopped moving. He stared down at her, at the ridiculous sight of his disciple wrapped around his calf like a desperate toddler.

  He sighed.

  'This is going nowhere.'

  "Fine." The word barely left his mouth before Chen Xi's face lit up. "But on certain conditions."

  Her brightness dimmed.

  "What conditions, Master?"

  He held up one finger.

  "First: we don't fight it now. Not too late, but not too soon. We need time to prepare. Especially me." A second finger rose. "Second: you need to get stronger first. The wolf is on your level, not higher. Am I right?"

  Chen Xi nodded slowly.

  "It's higher." She paused, then added, "I'm a rank seven Qi Condensation cultivator. The wolf is a rank ten True Beast. The last rank."

  Xu Kai stared at her.

  'Are you insane?'

  The words nearly escaped. He bit them back.

  Rank seven against rank ten. Three whole ranks above her. That wasn't a fight, that was suicide.

  'No wonder she needs help.'

  "Master." Chen Xi's voice pulled him from his thoughts. "When you say 'we'... you don't actually mean we're both fighting it together, right?"

  Xu Kai frowned.

  "That's exactly what I mean. Isn't that what you meant by needing my 'support'?"

  Chen Xi chuckled. It was a light sound, almost embarrassed.

  "Master, I think you misunderstood. Sorry if I wasn't clear." She loosened her grip on his leg but didn't let go entirely. "I didn't mean for you to fight with me. That would be overkill. Bullying, actually." She grinned. "I meant your support as in... watching. Evaluating my performance. Making sure your lovely disciple doesn't meet the afterlife too early. You know, help if things get out of hand."

  'She wants to fight it herself. She just wants me there as backup,' Xu Kai processed. 'This girl is beyond insane!'

  "So you want revenge. Yourself. And you need me to watch so you don't die young."

  Chen Xi nodded, beaming.

  Xu Kai looked at her, at the earnest hope in her eyes, the stubborn set of her jaw, the way she still clung to his leg like he might float away.

  He exhaled.

  "Fine."

  Xu Kai didn't bother trying to talk her out of it. He knew Chen Xi was dead set on fighting the wolf herself.

  But that didn't stop him from using another approach.

  A slight grin tugged at his lips, barely noticeable.

  "That just strengthens my second condition." He held up two fingers. "You are to reach rank nine or ten in three months. If you can't? No revenge. I won't allow it. Understood?"

  It was the best method he could think of. Also the stupidest. But it might work.

  'At the very least, she'll hesitate. Or quit. Or complain. And then I hit her with the final move.'

  He'd done the math. Chen Xi was probably under twenty. In all those years, she'd only reached rank seven. Cultivation here wasn't easy. It was slow. Grinding.

  Telling her to jump three ranks in three months? Impossible.

  If she disagreed, he'd already made it clear: no fight.

  Either way, she was trapped. No suicidal wolf battle. He had to save her. By any means necessary.

  He knew it sounded heartless. The chicken was her friend. This would hurt.

  But his plan wasn't to let the wolf go free. If he succeeded in making her give up, he'd spend whatever time needed mastering this body. Its powers. Its limits. Then he'd kill the wolf himself. Without her knowing. Or maybe let her watch, if that helped.

  Not that he understood revenge. It wouldn't bring the dead back. But Chen Xi wanted it. So he'd help.

  Besides. The wolf was a monster. Leaving it alive meant future threat. To them. To others.

  "I understand," Chen Xi said. No hesitation.

  Xu Kai blinked.

  "Exactly now you—what?!"

  'She agreed?'

  'That wasn't part of the plan. Impossible things were supposed to be... impossible.'

  "I said I agree to your conditions, Master." Her voice was steady.

  "Are you sure?" He leaned forward, searching her face for the catch.

  "Yes." Determination burned in her eyes. No wavering. No trick.

  Xu Kai nodded slowly.

  He didn't know if she agreed because she could actually do it. Or because she just thought she could.

  Either way, it wasn't his problem now.

  Simple math. If she made it? She fights. If she doesn't? She doesn't. The choice was hers.

  He glanced down at her arms and legs still wrapped around his calf.

  "So since you agree..." He raised an eyebrow. "Can I go now?"

  "Ah!" Chen Xi looked down at herself. Her face flushed deep red. She released him immediately, scrambling back. "Yes, Master! Sorry!"

  Xu Kai stepped free, rolling his shoulder.

  "Thanks."

  He didn't look back as he descended from the rock.

  Behind him, Chen Xi sat in embarrassed silence, already calculating how to do the impossible.