I didn't move farther into the desert the next morning.
Since I already killed everything notable nearby, I was temporarily spared from being attacked.
"This can't continue," I thought aloud. "If I keep moving toward the places where all these aggressive beasts roam, they will tire me out, eventually."
"I will help, Master. I will carry you when you get tired!"
The Union energetically flapped its wings. I chuckled.
"Better cultivate, you lazy rat! You still haven't reached the Golden Core stage!"
"But Maaaaster!"
"Cultivate, or I will stop feeding you! I swear!"
Since the Union already ate the Fire Bird's corpse, and was still hungry—not as ravenously hungry as after healing, but hungry enough—it was a valid threat. Always a valid threat.
The disgruntled rat settled on the sand and actually began gathering ambient Qi. It wasn't quick in this, and it always needed a kick or two to begin.
