Her free day so far shaped up to be rather good, using the rare chance to sleep in she woke up a few hours after sunrise - stretching and going through her usual morning clean up and training routine.
Her light jog brought her to Shi Shi's home, the old woman was currently sitting outside her cave home and enjoyed the incoming sun rays while sipping on tea, it was a serene scene that left Kou somewhat stiff - was it ok to interrupt? Her internal conflict was short lived however as Shi Shi turned her eyes toward Kou.
"Why are you standing around there like this, come over." She did not even look in Kou's direction, more made any unusual movements at all - it was as if the old woman just knew.
"Good mornin Gran.." For Kou calling her like this still left a bitter taste in her mouth, it was so unnatural for her, but just a tiny little speck inside on her actually looked forward to this every time she came here, the smile Shi Shi gave her - those warm eyes the familiar feeling, all of it was - something she secretly looked forward to every time, she was just unable to put these feelings into words or actions right now.
Trotting over she stopped a few steps in front of Shi Shi and the old woman reached out to pat her head, she would always do this - and this too had a weirdly calming effect on Kou, and so she simply stood there somewhat stiffly.
Today they won't do anything too taxing - Shi Shi would simply oversee Kou's cultivation for a little while - and so while Kou sat down crosslegged in the warm morning sun - taking in light Qi, Shi Shi sometimes gave small tips and tricks as to how to optimize cultivating.
It was to be said that the cultivation technique Kou was currently using was a cut above anything that would be accessible in the sect, while it primarily took in Light and Dark QI, she also could take in neutral Qi when no strong source of Light or Dark QI was available, the quantity was better and the wastage of energy almost none existent! A day just breathing in and out had almost the same effect as absorbing a spirit stone would have!
The technique was called The Húlí way - or simply, The Foxes way. The technique put her truly on one level with those high ranking aristocratic families that had their own techniques.
According to Shi Shi this cultivation method was more than just a breathing technique and was related to her bloodline and the powers that bloodline would give her in the long run, for now however she was too weak to anymore then follow the first steps in taking in Qi.
Everything else was too hard to understand with her current cultivation, just trying to access the knowledge that was ingrained into her soul hurt her physically and mentally, so she pushed any notion of digging deeper away.
The training with Shi Shi was way more beneficial then when she was alone, the old woman could point out every stir any problem in her cultivation and carefully taught her how to fix things.
Kou could feel herself slowly scratching at the door that would allow her to step into the next realm, she would still need time, but she was confident that soon she would advance.
After a few hours, the appointed date for the meeting with the boys grew near so Kou quickly said bye to Shi Shi - running back to the outer sect, while she traveled off the beaten path - and hidden from most eyes she did lose little in time due to her speed, Shadow's Bounty was close to the 4th step, and while she could not reap all benefits as she was right now, even the incompetent version gave her another boost to her speed.
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Her progress with "Spiritual Weapon" was sadly not as good, she was still not able to materialize a full and solid weapon, much less to actually fight with it, but Shi Shi had given her some tips today - to visualize the weapon in all dimensions - their height, their weight, their wideness - everything, up until now she has just drawn a mental picture in her head, but apparently that just got her wet noodles.
As she made her way to the training space that was the meetup point she passed Hei Tian, she had not spoken much with the boy in recent days, not that they did not like each other anymore - it was more like both of them were engrossed in cultivating.
And so Kou simply waved at him, to which the boy waved back - a somewhat concerned expression his face, this did rub Kou slightly in the wrong way, but she did not want to be late for the meeting.
Quickly she left the boy behind herself, arriving at the meeting place, the 4 boys all were already there - none of them wore their sect uniform, just like Kou they had changed their attire to more fitting things.
Jie Ciao noticed her first a timid smile on his face. "Ah Yun Kou, on time I see - very good! We just arrived ourselves, I hope your day has been pleasant so far." He seemed to be friendly enough, always polite - and was still dressed like a monk with a shiny bald head.
"Good day... everything well, let's go then." Kou just like always was brash and straightforward but - one reason to do this, after all, was to get new "Friends" so she quickly added a "Hope you are doing good too.." to it.
It was awkward at best, but for Kou it was already a step forward, the boys exchanged some glances - Wang Xiaochun seemed to be somewhat uncomfortable but quickly composed himself again.
"Well then let us go, the trial is further up the mountain, we will need a good bit of time to get there, I'll lead the way!" Mu Feng stepped forward and started to run, the boys and Kou following behind him. All of them were used to Elder Gui's torturous training so a relaxed run up a mountain was nothing for any of them.
But as all of them wanted to preserve qi and energy they simply used their feet. It took about half an hour for them to arrive, it was quite the rocky part of the mountain, and everything was overgrown as if it was a jungle.
And there it was - a large copper colored door that was sitting between rocks, seemingly unmovable, there were symbols on the door, a man fighting some 3 headed monsters, a Shogi board, as well as a moon symbol.
Next to that large door was a tiny hole in the mountain, is was clearly man-made, and a copper plate was placed next to it - the words on it told everyone. "Those that seek to enter this trial shall have to find a way to get into the deeps first, once the requirement has been met the door will open."
"As you can see, none of us really fit into this hole, but for you, it might be possible." Ji Ciao pointed into the deep and dark hole, indeed Kou was a lot smaller than any one of the boys and while it still seemed like a tight fit, but she might just be able to squeeze through.
"We will stay here and guide the door while you go inside, and open the door for us from the other side, alright?" This time it was Wang Xiaochun that spoke, the boy seemed a bit... off, rubbing the back of his head - nervous behavior... but Kou did not know him, he might always be like this?
Whatever it may be - Kou did not trust those boys at all, but trials sometimes needed more people, and so she quickly walked up to the hole and vanished inside, on all fours, she was barely able to fit in, it was cold damp and dark. A thing that had come to her when she partially awakened her bloodline was night vision, she could see a lot better in darkness.
The tunnel seemed to be quite long and it did get a little narrower so she had to crawl forward now, it was quite the eventless journey thought, nothing happened - and almost half an hour later she could see the end of the tunnel.