"Urg"

Everything Hurt...Again! She was wet to the bone and strangely cold... usually, she welcomed the cold but this cold was ...strange...scary. Her whole body was heavy. Even her eyelids were heavy, the sleep called to her sweetly as she was enveloped in darkness. Maybe she could wake up ...later when it was less cold...

Her body felt strangely numb and so it was easy to just drift back into sleep again...Sweet sleep, she felt so tired, so very tired and sleeping was just the right thing? Right? It would be but...She could not.. she still had things to do after all. Ning Yue's, Fu Tengfangs and, Ji Ciao's faces flashed by her and ignited something.

She forced her arms to push herself up, it hurt... it hurt very much but she still forced herself bringing every ounce of willpower she had forward. Her heavy eyelids fluttered and snapped open. The was at some kind of shore sand was underneath her and just next to her was a raging river howling loudly. Just moving her head robbed her of all her strength so she simply fell over this time on her back.

Her whole belly was a red wound of molten skin and flesh, Even her arms and legs were hurt quite badly by the raging currents of the river and the many things she had probably crashed into. Slowly the memories came back to her. Her escape. The puppet - and lastly her fall into the river. She would have to thank Li Zhi later... the lingering effects of her pill were probably the only reason she was barely alive at the moment.

With great difficulty Kou touched up and down her pockets - while part of her pats had been ripped away... luckily the little bottle that held the pills the twin had given her were in the other one, and still there...the little bottle was quite durable and Yun Kou was very thankful for that! Popping the cork out she just took the remaining pills at the same time...

Opening her mouth the only noise that left it was a dry cough. Slowlöy her eyelids became heavy again, it was getting harder and harder to resist... suddenly she felt warm and very comfortable..and so she closed her eyes, drifting away into ...sleep?

It had been a few days since Prince Ning Yue's mansion was burned down, the why and hows were quite the topic. The common consensus was that the Prince had taken someone hostage and Xiu Shihong went mad and blew his house up. The Oger of the desert! Some said. Who the Hostage was or where she was, was not of importance for most of them. It was way more important how the open hostility between Xiu Shihong and Prince Ning Yue would play out, after all, it was no secret that the emperor wanted to stay on good terms with the Xiu clan and wanted these two to be wed in the future.

There was also the peace period that was now almost over, just a few more days. Many people had already left the outer sect villages and dug themselves immortal caves or other kinds of hideouts to stay out of the way of the coming storm. There were, of course, those that very much looked forward to the peace end, those people that saw an opportunity in the danger to rise above their peers and use them as stepping stones!

Ji Ciao was one of those people. He had long since finished his underground hideout in a distant part of the Outer Sect mountain. Surrounded by swampland his lair was quite hard to find and not even the elders knew what he was up to! Ji Ciao had already stepped halfway into the 3rd realm at the age of 12 leaving even Xiu Shihong and Ning Yue behind him. Of course, he hid it well so nobody suspected him or his "friends"

He had long since gone further in his technique, the friends whom cultivation he had stolen were nothing more than obedient puppets now. Their souls long since reduced to almost nothing. They moved to his will and fought to his will. The Monkish boy had a relaxed smile on his face as he leaned back and sipped on his cup of tea. "Now just to find her and... everything will be perfect~"

Days earlier.

"What do you mean you can't find her! You talentless oaf! A ..puppet?!" Ji Ciao listened to one of his servant's news. He had sent all of them out to sniff around about Yun Kou, the girl would surely hide somewhere but he was very clear about her capabilities, she would get out of that mansion unharmed! But there was apparently one thing he did not know about Ning Yue! This bastard! He had a high ranking defensive puppet guarding his mansion!

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This was bad! "So what if she fell into the river! Find her!" His face was red! This was the first time his plans did not play out as they were supposed to! Slowly he lowered his gaze to his left hand. He always covered it with a glove but now he pulled it away to stare at his hand. There on his hand back was a big black mark. He was chosen! A genius under heaven. Nobody in this wide world would compare to him! And this was the first time HIS plan was not working out as intended! No! It would not be... he was chosen by the heavens... everything would fall into his lap in due time.

The boy relaxed again and his monkish smile returned.

"That bastard Ning Yue!" Xiu Shihong smashed another training target... next to here a visibly shaking Li Zhi and a gloomy-looking Hei Tian. "I...I'm soow sowwy!" Li Zhi had been reduced to a sobbing mess in the last couple of days. Herself, Hei Tian and Xiu Shihong had looked everywhere but there was no sign of their little white-haired friend anywhere...

Hei Tian reached out and placed his left hand on Li Zhi's shoulder "How is any of this your fault. You just wanted to do a trial with a friend just like any other sect member. The fault lies only with those people that abused yours and Yun Kou's weakened state... none shall blame you! You did what you could..." Hei Tian had grown once more, it was almost impossible to call him a boy anymore. His voice was deep and it calmed Li Zhi down somewhat hearing her friend talk like that.

Xiu Shihong let out a sigh and nodded "He is right, well... nothing to be done about it, if we can't find her all that is left for us to do is to hope for her safe return. I have sent letters to my family asking for support in pressuring the elders to act on Ning Yue's doing. I don't think however that any of them will take to much effort in searching..."

She turned around her fiery red eyes focusing on Hei Tian and Li Zhi before she showed a dazzling smile. "And all that is left for us to do now... is to make that bastards life here... HELL..." The smile formed into a growl and the fiery armor appeared around her once more "I had not intended to participate in this political play fighting but, I suppose now I have quite the reason to do so!" Hei Tian felt his back grow cold... Xiu Shihong left quite the expression in someone when she was angry. But... that did now minder the feelings he had for her in the slightest, it only served to ignite them even more.

"You are right...And I and Zhi will stay by your side in doing so... Let's see how that Prince will have a quiet night in the time he is supposed to be here..." Xiu Shihong seemed stunned for a moment but a grin more befitting her age formed on her face, the cuteness was not at all hindered by the burning rage in her eyes...

Shi Shi stood not far away from Yun Kou on a large Rock. This was the very edge of the sect territory and ... she could not move any further than this. She was very conflicted with the choice she had to make here. She had looked for many ways to remove her young charge from this sect but none of her ideas were as perfect as the current situation...

"Old bastard...Let's see how this girl will come back and bite your ass in a few hundred years... I may not be here anymore than but I sure as heck will await you in the yellow springs to laugh at you..."She played with something in her left hand... it was Yun Kou's Jade, everyone got one from the sect after all. If the student died the jade would send a signal and a light deep inside the inner sect sanctum would vanish.. indicating the death of the students...

Once more her eyes fell onto Yun Kou and in the time it takes to blink she stood next to the young girl, for a moment she seemed a lot younger than before, her wrinkly skin was gone her hair was lush and black and her eyes blazing. "Dear little sapling...It pains me for the first time in my life to part with one of mine... So I will give you something with you..." She touched the coat Yun Kou still carried. Using these techniques in her current state was quite straining but she put some things into the storage - afterward she crushed the jade.

"Lastly..." her gaze fell to the cuffs... and.. she grinned. "Well, I'll just call this my last trial." She brushed her fingers past the cuffs, changing something in them before she picked the girl up, a soft kiss was planted on her forehead. " I hope you will not resent me for this... Ah who am I kidding, you will but... I just call this grandmothers lovely training..."

With the last flicker of her energy, she teleported Yun Kou away.

Now once an elder she stood there and looked outwards sadly. "There goes years of painful gathering down the drain...That old foggy is going to be livid, khekhekh" crossing her arms behind her back she moved on a smug grin on her face, the fox ears on her head were slightly tilted down.

"Maybe she will be back in time..." Shi Shi felt her hearth ache but quickly shook her head a few times. "Ah! I'm Shi Shi! Even if I never saw this runt again I would be just fine! Now... back to see how I can make that little Prince and that Monk brat be miserable..." Ji Ciao might be able to avoid the attention of the elders but...Shi Shi even while weakened was on another level compared to them."I wonder how that old bastard would react to that brat... seems like they are very similar, maybe he is his secret lovechild? Hehehe...Well... Whatever his plans maybe... I will play with those puny little humans to my hearths content until my time is up♪"