The morning sun rose over the Twilight Stable, illuminating a scene that would have caused any traditional Beast Tamer to suffer an immediate Qi Deviation seizure.
In the center of the yard, the Tier-7 Crimson Maw Basilisk—a creature of nightmare legend known for devouring entire squads of soldiers—was happily crunching on a rusted bicycle frame Su Ye had scavenged from the dump. The sound of metal snapping echoed like gunshots, but the beast looked content, its milky eyes calm. Beside it, the Void-Swallowing Pig, Zhu Zhu, was napping on top of the Obsidian Tortoise, using the massive beast's shell as a sun-warmed mattress. The Thunderfire Lion was lying on its back, legs splayed in the air, while a Wind Wolf groomed its mane with the gentleness of a house cat.
It was peaceful. It was horrifying. It was home.
Su Ye sat on a rickety wooden stool, sipping a cup of tea made from discounted Spirit Herbs that were technically past their expiration date. His three disciples—Princess Luo Bing, Lin Fan, and Gao Ming—sat cross-legged on the dirt in front of him. They looked exhausted, smelling of chili water, metal polish, and determination.
"Today," Su Ye announced, setting down his tea with a clack that cut through the morning air, "we stop cleaning and start Taming."
The disciples straightened up instantly, eyes lighting up.
"Finally!" Gao Ming whispered dramatically, clutching his chest as if overcome with emotion. "My soul yearns for the connection! I am ready to bind a dragon! To stare into the abyss and have it blink first!"
"We aren't binding dragons today, Gao Ming," Su Ye said dryly. "We are binding... lunch."
Su Ye reached into a crate beside him and pulled out a bird. It wasn't a Phoenix. It wasn't a Roc. It was a Red-Comb Spirit Chicken. It was fat, round, and looked incredibly stupid. It clucked indignantly as Su Ye set it down in the center of the circle, where it immediately began pecking at a pebble.
"This is Clucky," Su Ye introduced the bird. "Clucky is a low-tier Spirit Beast. He has zero combat power. His only ability is running away very fast and pecking people who annoy him."
Luo Bing frowned, her brow furrowing in confusion. "Master Su Ye, with respect... we are the top talents of the Academy. I have an Ice Phoenix. Lin Fan has a Shadow Bat. Why are we staring at a chicken?"
"Because," Su Ye leaned forward, his eyes serious, "none of you know how to tame. You know how to dominate. You know how to force a contract with Qi. But if your Qi runs out, or if the beast is stronger than you, you are useless."
Su Ye pointed at the chicken, which was currently scratching the dirt looking for bugs. "The test is simple. Each of you has ten minutes. You must pick up Clucky. The rules are absolute: No Qi. No Weapons. No Contract Spells. No Violence. You must convince him to let you hold him."
The three disciples exchanged glances. A chicken? How hard could it be?
Gao Ming stood up first, flipping the sleeves of his grey robes with a flourish that he simply couldn't suppress. "I shall demonstrate the power of Charisma!" he whispered-shouted, stepping into the ring.
He approached the chicken slowly, extending a hand in a gesture of benevolence. He locked eyes with the bird, projecting intense emotion. "Oh, noble creature of the dawn!" Gao Ming crooned, his voice dripping with theatrical emotion. "I see the fire in your soul! Come to me! Let us unite our destinies and soar—well, hop—toward glory!"
Clucky stopped scratching. He turned his head sideways, fixing a beady black eye on Gao Ming. Bawk?
Gao Ming took a step closer, tears shimmering in his eyes on command. "I am your brother in spirit! Trust me!"
He lunged forward to embrace the chicken. Clucky didn't swoon. Clucky reacted with the primal instinct of a prey animal facing a predator who was making weird noises.
FLAP-FLAP-FLAP!
The chicken launched itself into the air, wings beating frantically. It flew straight at Gao Ming's face.
"Gah! My eyes!" Gao Ming shrieked, falling backward as the chicken landed on his head, pecked his forehead hard enough to leave a red mark, and then scrambled away to the safety of the Tortoise shell.
"Fail," Su Ye said impassively, not even looking up from his tea. "You scared it. You projected too much emotion. Animals don't like melodrama, Gao Ming; they like predictability."
Lin Fan stood up next, cracking his knuckles. He looked at the chicken with the calculating gaze of an engineer assessing a faulty gear. "Animals operate on logic," Lin Fan muttered to himself. "It seeks safety. I will become a wall."
He walked toward the Tortoise shell. He didn't speak. He moved with mechanical precision, extending his bronze-wire-wrapped arms to create a corral. He tried to herd the chicken into a corner, cutting off its escape vectors.
"Go there," Lin Fan commanded softly, pointing to the dead end. "Safe zone."
Clucky looked at the approaching metal-boy. He didn't see a safe zone; he saw a cage.
SQUAWK!
The chicken channeled a burst of adrenaline. It didn't run away; it ran through Lin Fan's legs. As it passed, it pecked Lin Fan's ankle with surprising precision.
"Ouch!" Lin Fan stumbled, his concentration breaking. The chicken did a victory lap around the yard, clucking mockingly.
"Fail," Su Ye noted. "You treated it like a machine. It felt trapped. Never corner a beast unless you want a fight."
Princess Luo Bing sighed, standing up with graceful elegance. She smoothed her robes, shaking her head at the incompetence of her peers. "You two are clumsy," she chastised. "Beasts respond to authority and grace. One must project an aura of calm superiority."
She walked toward the chicken. She didn't lunge, and she didn't herd. She simply stood near it, radiating the natural, chilly nobility of an Imperial Princess. She extended a slender, perfect hand.
"Come," she commanded softly. It wasn't a request; it was a royal decree.
Clucky stopped running. He looked at the hand. He looked at Luo Bing. For a second, it seemed to work. The chicken hesitated, seemingly awed by her presence. Then, Clucky turned around, lifted his tail feathers, and unleashed a wet, white dropping right on the tip of Luo Bing's boot.
Luo Bing froze. Her eye twitched. The aura of calm superiority vanished, replaced by the urge to roast a bird with blue fire.
"Fail," Su Ye called out before she could summon an ice dagger. "Arrogance. You expected it to obey because you are 'better' than it. Animals don't care about your rank, Princess. They care about your intent."
Su Ye stood up. The disciples, defeated by poultry, sat back down, nursing their bruised egos and dirty boots. The courtyard was silent save for the contented chewing of the Basilisk.
"Watch," Su Ye said.
He didn't walk toward the chicken. He walked toward a patch of loose soil near the fence. He crouched down and used a stick to dig. After a few seconds, he found a fat, wriggling earthworm. He walked back to the center of the circle and sat down cross-legged. He placed the worm on his knee.
He didn't look at the chicken. He didn't call the chicken. He simply closed his eyes and hummed a low, off-key tune.
Zzzzt.
Su Ye's mind connected not with the chicken, but with the Ancestral Spirit hovering over it. The spirit was the Divine Dawn Crow, a massive, golden rooster wreathed in solar fire, standing proudly in the void.
"FINALLY!" the Rooster Ancestor crowed in Su Ye's mind. "Those three were insufferable! The loud one smells like perfume, the metal one smells like fear, and the girl... she looks at my descendant like he is a soup ingredient! You... you smell like dirt. And worms."
"I have a premium earthworm here, Senior," Su Ye projected. "Is your descendant hungry?"
"Starving! The grain here is dry! He wants protein!"
Su Ye opened his eyes. Clucky was already standing in front of him. The chicken's head was cocked, staring intently at the worm on Su Ye's knee.
Su Ye didn't move. He waited. Clucky took a step. Then another. He hopped onto Su Ye's shin. Then onto his knee.
Snatch.
Clucky gobbled the worm in one bite. Su Ye slowly, gently raised his hand and began to scratch the chicken right behind the wattle—the exact spot the Ancestor had indicated was itchy. Clucky closed his eyes and settled down, turning into a ball of fluffy feathers in Su Ye's lap.
The disciples stared, open-mouthed.
"You... you bribed it?" Luo Bing asked, scandalized.
"I listened to it," Su Ye corrected. "You three tried to impose your will on the chicken. You wanted it to be a companion, a prisoner, or a subject. I simply asked what it wanted."
"It wanted a worm," Su Ye said, stroking the bird. "Taming isn't about magic contracts. It's about figuring out the 'Worm' for every beast. For the Lion, it was dental hygiene. For the Turtle, it was a comfy rock. For this chicken, it was lunch. Stop trying to be Masters. Start being Servants. When you serve the beast's needs, the beast will serve your command. That is the Dao of the Twilight Stable."
The three disciples fell silent. It was a humiliating lesson, but profound. They had been trying to conquer nature; Su Ye was just negotiating with it.
Ding!
[Mission Complete: The First Lesson]
[Reward: Trust Level of Disciples Increased.]
[Reward: 1x Egg of the Dawn Crow (Unhatched)]
Su Ye smiled. Another egg? I'll make an omelet later.
Just as the lesson concluded, the sound of a horn echoed from the main academy grounds. A messenger bird—a mechanical wooden hawk—swooped down and dropped a scroll into Su Ye's lap, startling Clucky into flight.
Su Ye unfurled the scroll. It was stamped with the official seal of the Academy Tournament Board. His expression hardened as he read the calligraphy.
"What is it, Master?" Lin Fan asked, sensing the shift in mood.
"The Rookie Tamer Tournament," Su Ye read. "It's the annual competition where the different branches of the Academy pit their new students against each other to determine funding and ranking."
"We have to participate?" Gao Ming asked nervously.
"We don't just have to participate," Su Ye pointed to the bottom of the scroll. "We have been specially seeded."
He turned the scroll so they could see.
Match 1: The Twilight Stable (Class F)
VS
The Elite Hall (Class A - Instructed by Master Mo)
"Master Mo rigged the bracket," Luo Bing's eyes narrowed, her ice aura flaring. "He's putting us against the strongest seniors in the first round. He wants to crush us publicly."
"He wants to prove that my 'trash' methods can't stand up to real combat," Su Ye rolled up the scroll. "The tournament is in seven days."
He looked at his disciples. They were no longer the failures they were a week ago, but they were far from combat-ready. Luo Bing's Phoenix was still regrowing feathers. Lin Fan's Bat was still learning to fly with the metal armor. Gao Ming's Deer was... well, it was a deer.
"Seven days," Su Ye muttered. "Impossible by normal standards."
He stood up, dumping Clucky gently onto the ground. "Uncle Chen!" he shouted. "Fire up the Basilisk! We're going to need sparring partners."
He turned to his disciples, his face grim but his eyes alight with a dangerous excitement.
"Master Mo thinks he's sending you to the slaughter," Su Ye said. "But he forgot one thing."
"What's that, Master?" Lin Fan asked.
"He trained his students to fight beasts," Su Ye grinned. "I'm going to train you to fight dirty."
"Luo Bing," Su Ye barked. "Forget about grace. I want you to teach your Phoenix how to aim for the eyes."
"Gao Ming," Su Ye pointed. "Your deer can generate mist. I want you to learn how to create a smokescreen so thick no one can see you kicking them in the shins."
"And Lin Fan," Su Ye looked at the metal genius. "Your bat uses sound waves. I want you to teach it to scream at a frequency that makes people soil their pants."
The disciples looked at each other. This wasn't Taming. This was guerrilla warfare. And for the first time in their lives, they smiled.
"Yes, Master!"
Meanwhile, in the gilded office of the Elite Hall, Master Mo stood overlooking the training grounds. Below, his students—including the arrogant Zhao Feng—were practicing lethal formations with their Tier-4 Spirit Tigers and Armored Bears.
"They are ready, Master," Zhao Feng bowed, wiping sweat from his brow. "We will destroy the Twilight Stable in the first round. It will be a massacre."
Master Mo sipped his wine, a cruel smile playing on his lips. "Make it slow, Zhao Feng," Mo whispered. "I want Su Ye to watch his precious 'miracles' break, one by one. I want him to see that empathy has no place in the arena of power."
He crushed a grape between his fingers. "Let the games begin."