"Not fair!" Kou cried as she suddenly felt a wave of heat.

Shi Shi had snatched her cloak away from her and was now standing with a grin. At the sight of Kou’s scrunched up face, she reached out to pat the poor girl’s head.

The temperature had been nice at first. The area around the cave entrance was dark, cold and comforting for Kou. She felt an abundance of Ice Qi and Darkness Qi. The whole situation made her feel the place seemed very beneficial for her cultivation. She could probably even get slightly benefits for her Light attribute if she stayed close to the entrance! Making a mental note about the cave’s location in the mountains, Kou followed Shi Shi into the depths of the cavern.

But the temperature quickly changed. The further Kou went the less Ice Qi surrounded her and the warmer she felt. While the cave entrance seemingly looked normal to Kou, she had noticed the lower half of the cavern walls appeared distinctly different than the upper half, smoother even.

The heat made it hard to breathe for Kou. However when looking over towards, Shi Shi she saw that the old woman was perfectly fine!

About half an hour of travel-time inside the cave, Kou saw a few strange openings that formed from the floors. To Kou’s surprise, Shi Shi grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the way just in time. A small hiss of steam spurted up a stingingly warm fragrance that entered Kou’s noise. Before Kou could voice her concern, Shi Shi ushered her into a large chamber where a pool of lava sat in the center.

Kou’s eyes went wide. She heard about lava, but seeing it with her own eyes was something else. As she peered at her surroundings she was hit by a wave of intense heat. Feeling like she would melt, she started to back off.

Then she noticed a large copper plate that weirdly enough seemed unaffected by the heat. Curious, she read the sign. "A warning for all, death is ever possible. This trial is for those that are able to control fire. If Fire Qi is not in your veins turn around now." Kou nodded to herself and tried to turn around but Shi Shi quickly pulled her closer to the Lava pool.

"This should suffice, listen to me, little one," Shi Shi finally spoke. "Fire is a destructive element and the direct opposite of your Ice Qi. This makes our location the perfect training ground to hone your control.”

Kou tilted her head slightly - she really wanted to leave, but she still heeded Shi Shi’s words. If Kou trusted anyone it would be Shi Shi.

“There are many factions skilled in the element of fire: the Shihong family and the Imperial family, for instance. Even in the larger world, Fire Qi is present in the most powerful clans. You need talent and wisdom to handle the destructive power of fire," Shi Shi informed and reached down to ruffle the girl’s hair. "Ice Qi, on the other hand, is rarely utilized properly. Too many cultivate Ice Qi for so-called eternal youth on a misplaced belief of freezing their body in time. But Ice Qi is so much more than that. Ice can be used as a silent killer. The space between the mortal planes is filled with a devouring cold. Once its chill sets in a person’s bones they will die."

Kou looked serious as she took in the information.

Shi Shi's eyes were focused on Kou. "Your Ice and Darkness elements will harmonize well with each other. That which is covered in darkness is often cold. Both elements are Yin based while your Light Qi is Yang based. You will have to balance these elements with each other or you will be left vulnerable in the future."

Kou curled her nose slightly. Currently, she had control over three elements. To this day, she was only able to use her Darkness Art with proficiency. While she could move Light Qi, she struggled with technique. Her limited knowledge and experience held her back. Now with her bloodline, she had three elements she could roughly control.

This was bad, was it not? The elders had told them to focus on one element and expand later to two to balance each other out. But she had ended up with three! Wouldn’t this mean she would have to work much harder if she wanted to use her full potential?

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“Could I give up controlling Light Qi to focus on Darkness and Ice?” Kou suddenly asked.

Shi Shi smiled slightly. "If your cultivation is built on too much Yin energies you might become an evil ice monster!” Shi Shi warned with an auspicious glint in her eyes. “You will need to balance everything properly, Mh? Now let's start!"

And so began a vigorous training regimen. Shi Shi had Kou summon her ice flames and control them in the smoldering heat. Shi Shi kept her eye on Kou at all times and constantly had new tasks for her. "Keep your surrounding temperature down." Shi Shi told her. "Freeze that rock." She commanded... "Make a ball of ice and maintain it."

This went on for a few hours until Kou's eyes were bloodshot. Breathing heavily, Kou felt she hadn’t exerted herself to this extent since she reached the second realm. She was surprised at how much more stamina she had, how better her head worked even under stress and heat. She was also very surprised at how demanding Shi Shi was all of a sudden.

These hours of training did wonders for her control. Even in the heat, she was able to create and manipulate ice with her Ice-flame. She was able to cool down rocks for a little bit even in this permanent heat and was able to at least keep herself from dying from the heat. Her Ice-flame was developing quite quickly. Shi Shi explained this to her as well. "This power is a part of you, it's like using an arm. You will need some training but will soon be able to use your Ice-flame freely."

And so the training continued and Kou honed her skills even further while constantly being assaulted by the smoldering heat. It was as if she was forging ice in fire and using the heat to force her ice to be even colder! It felt exhilarating! Amazingly, she could actually feel her improvements - her dormant instincts had awoken! Like a bird that instinctively knew how to fly once he was pushed out of his nest!

Controlling the ice-flame had grown easier. She could envelop an area of around 5 feet around her in frost for a few seconds. In the outside world, she would probably be able to expand that area bit and lower the temperature even further and longer. She would still need training to properly use her newly gained skill in battle. But for now, Kou felt satisfied.

When Shi Shi let her stop, Kou felt exhausted and was barely able to put one foot in front of the other. She thought the school elders were merciless in their training, apparently family was even worse. Thankfully, Shi Shi gave Kou her cloak back. Kou nearly jumped for joy, even in her tired state, as she slid inside the comfy self-cooling niceness of her cloak.

"Mh, good job little one. We need to continue training until you have the ropes down. Controlling your Ice Qi needs to be like breathing for you." Shi Shi's words immediately crushed all of Kou's enthusiasm.

Kou dreaded the volcano by now, and with what she had found out about her Gran's training methods the better Kou got more difficult her training would become. It was safe to say that Kou was not really a big fan of that idea.

Shi Shi brought Kou back down to Shi Shi’s cave. Where, on arrival, Kou immediately threw off her clothes, much to Shi Shi's dismay. And before the woman could stop the girl, Kou had jumped into the pond once more.

"Aaah! Girl! You need to understand that this pond is for the aesthetic and not for bathing! I’ll have to clean it again! Can't you see the appeal of a crystal clear pond!" Shi Shi complained with a little annoyance. Kou, her granddaughter, had done a good job today and so Shi Shi did not stop Kou in paddling around in the pool.

But Kou's response made her eyebrows twitch. "Mh, I can see why you like it. This pond is very good to swim around in. I can even catch fish! I think they would be tasty if they were cooked."

Quickly the old woman had moved next to Kou and pressed the knuckles of her left fist against Kou's head.

"If I see you eating my priced fish then you better hope I don't eat you instead, you rascal!"

These days continued until Kou was finally ready to leave again. She had made some progress in the Spiritual weapon art, fully awakened and stepped into the second realm, uncovered her bloodline powers, and trained under Shi Shi's tutelage. Kou felt she had made a small step forward to catching up with everyone else.

With her things packed, Kou left Shi Shi's cave and made her way back to her home once more. Everyone that passed her on the way couldn’t help but wonder who that strange tiny person in the cloak was! On her whole journey home, she never took it off. Shi Shi had already stopped trying to get her to not wear the cloak.

Kou liked her cloak! So, to heck with everyone else.