Comparison is a thief of joy. My mother said that once when comparing me to my cousin. I don’t believe she came up with the phrase by herself; I’m sure she was quoting someone who was quoting someone else. I thought I escaped from comparisons when I was cast out of the nest, but who knew I’d be comparing myself to a squirrel not long after? Why is Lucia better at being a vermillion bird than I am? It took me three hundred years and the consumption of a Fire Heart to finally achieve initial mastery of my vermillion flames. It took Lucia a couple days after capturing me and observing me to achieve the same result. Not only that, but the ruler’s feeding Lucia a rare treasure. I’m not sure what it is, but my stomach is trying to claw its way out of my body thanks to the smell. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’d benefit greatly by eating something like that. What in the world did Lucia do to earn the White-furred Tyrant as her master? I’m a bird; she’s a squirrel. I’m a man; she’s a woman. I have a beak; she has a mouth. I have wings; she has arms. Other than a few minor differences, aren’t we basically the same? If I could have the White-furred Tyrant as my master…. I’m getting depressed just thinking about it. I’ve known this for a long time now, but life really isn’t fair, but why can’t it ever be unfair in my favor?

“Mmph! This is so good,” Lucia said, her eyes glittering. It was barbaric to watch, but I was still jealous seeing her lick the fruit juices off of her fingers. When she had bitten into the natural treasure, it nearly burst apart, overflowing with liquids filled with spiritual energy. When she was done cleaning her hands, she licked her lips and stared at the White-furred Tyrant with bright eyes. “Do you have any extra fruits I can feed Sophia?”

The White-furred Tyrant chuckled and patted Lucia’s head. “I have lots of fruits: heavenly treasures, earthly treasures, delicious but otherwise useless treasures. Unfortunately, they don’t last very long without the presence of spiritual energy. If you want Sophia to eat them while they’re still nice and fresh, you’ll have to bring her here.”

Lucia nodded her head. “And that’s why we’re going to wherever we’re going, right? We’ll catch a void dragon there….” Lucia blinked, and her head tilted towards the side. “Why don’t we go directly to the dragon clan and capture a void dragon there? This seems like quite a roundabout way to get things done.”

The White-furred Tyrant beamed. “Great question,” she said. “Void dragons are pretty reclusive, and if they don’t want to be found, they can hide in the void. In fact, I have no idea where the main void dragon roost is even located. There’s a branch of void dragons within the dragon clan, but they’re basically losers with no talent who were kicked out of the main roost. No offense.” For some reason, the White-furred Tyrant stared right at me when saying those last two words. Her head turned back towards Lucia. “As my disciple, if you’re going to get a void dragon as a ride, you can’t settle for a mongrel dragon. Only a purebred void dragon will do; they’re more stable when traveling between dimensions.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense,” Lucia said.

“Of course,” the White-furred Tyrant said. “If it didn’t make any sense, we wouldn’t be here.”

“That makes sense too,” Lucia said, her face revealing the surprise she was feeling. Despite the impurities being removed from her brain, she’s still a little slow mentally, isn’t she?

“Also, this’ll be a good experience for you to experience the world,” the White-furred Tyrant said. “You’ll be able to see and meet the strongest cultivators, demons, and beasts of this generation. In the future, the majority of them will be your underlings or business partners. And, in the extremely low chance that someone inside makes you feel threatened, you can take some notes about them and tell me later. Although I won’t directly get rid of them for you, let’s just say they won’t be able to compete with you in the future.”

…That’s not honorable at all. Then again, if the White-furred Tyrant followed convention, she wouldn’t be nicknamed the Crazy Lunatic. Lucia’s face scrunched up. Was she displeased by the idea of the more powerful older generation using their strength to bully the younger generation before they could grow up?

“With all these strong people hanging around, doesn’t it seem a little dangerous?” Lucia asked. “I have an idea. Why don’t you disguise yourself and enter the ancient ruin with me? That way, if I run into any dangerous situations, you can bail me out.”

Clearly, Lucia was not displeased by the thought of abusing her master’s prestige and, in fact, wanted to exploit it even more. Even if Lucia’s the disciple of an incredible master, that doesn’t change the fact some rules can’t be bent. The older generations avoid interfering with the matters of the younger generation as much as possible to prevent minor conflicts from escalating into full-blown wars. If any sect or race doesn’t abide by the rules, they’ll incur the displeasure of everyone else. I’ve heard of human sects being completely annihilated before because they didn’t conform, choosing to learn and activate techniques that involved stealing souls and others’ cultivation bases. Squirrels might be strong, but they can’t resist against the whole world. Even the White-furred Tyrant isn’t crazy enough to disregard the established rules. Like I thought, she’s agreeing with me by taking out a hat. …Why did she take out a hat?

“How do I look?” the White-furred Tyrant asked after putting the hat on her head to cover her prominent, furry ears. Her tail curled downwards, and before I knew it, the furry appendage disappeared from view, and a large bulge appeared in the White-furred Tyrant’s robes near her stomach, making her look heavily pregnant. “This is the disguise I use when I travel around to kidnap new encyclopedias. Like this, no one will suspect a thing if I enter the ruins with you.”

“You look great!” Lucia said, her head bobbing up and down. “If I didn’t see you transform, I wouldn’t have recognized you at all.”

…Well, I suppose most people don’t know what the White-furred Tyrant looks like. This low-budget disguise might actually work. Actually, it probably isn’t a low-budget disguise at all. Knowing the White-furred Tyrant, that hat must be a divine artifact worth several cultivators’ life savings. Is she really going to interfere with the matters of the younger generation…?