Her hair had long since grown back into the wild mess it had been before, no even longer. But Xiu Shihong and Hei Mei had instilled the habit of brushing and cleaning into her. And that is what she did! After the hunt with the Rabbit was over Kou was dirty all over, her hair had sticks and leaves in it!

The Rabbit was gone already, Kou just wanted to catch it and not kill it, there was no reason to. They were good partners for training, and she had more than enough food in her cold room. Well...they were also kinda cute and she really disliked killing cute things.

Now she was on the way to her bathing spot! She had found it not long after being teleported here, a nice secluded spring near the mountain. The Water was clear, fresh and cold! It very much reminded her of the River in DongZhou. Quckily she discarded her clothes, there was nobody here aside from her after all and jumped into cold spring water.

"Whaaa..." She immediately relaxed sounding like an old man in a hot-spring. Just that this was cold. Sinking down to her nose into the Water she closed her eyes. This felt amazing. But there was even more to this spring. The mountain-range was very high! And the source of the spring was quite probably far up said mountain, therefore there was an abundance of cold Qi in the Water, perfect for Yun Kou to cultivate her innate bloodline power even further!

She could feel the cold energy penetrating her skin sinking into her blood and Qi stream. It was the best feeling and she could feel that her Ice-flame grew in strength each time she took a bath here. It was indeed quite marvelous! Every normal person would probably freeze in here after a longer amount of time but not Yun Kou!

Very understandable it was therefore that Kou's bathing time was quite long. But the time well spent!

Getting ready to spend another hour or two inside she made herself comfortable but suddenly her large fluffy ears twitched. Steps? Why were there steps? It did not at all sound like an animal, more like a person wearing shoes. The spring was very secluded and the ice energy surrounding it had even seeped into the trees and bushes, so most animals would stay away from here.

Kou froze, she could hear a person breathing, heavy and large footsteps! She had no time to jump out and get dressed her Golden eyes met with green. It was a Man. A man, unlike any other Yun Kou, had ever seen. His build was herculean he even put the Elder Gui to shame! Surely around 7 feet tall with wide shoulders. He wore thick brown and white fur clothes and had a primitive-looking spear in his hand, A cloak made from a Bear belt fell down over his shoulders.

He had a tanned and slightly wrinkly face with a thick white beard. The man stared at her just as she stared at him... seconds went by without any of them doing anything until...the Man turned around! He looked like a large bear from behind and Kou quickly scrambled out of the water to get dressed, getting dry would have to come later.

The man did not attack her but he also did not leave, he just turned around ... silently. After a little while, he coughed. "Ya done, missy?" His voice was rough and very much like a bear almost growling - it made Kou somewhat nervous. There was no way she would fight him, she could not see through his cultivation at all, which usually meant he was a lot more powerful than she was.

Still, she had her hands on the daggers glaring at him with her ears tilted downwards her tail swishing back and forth behind her. "Mh.." She just gave a sound of acknowledgment while glaring at the man while already backing up, she had no chance fighting him, but running away from him could maybe work, he did not look very agile...

The bear-like's mans green eyes scanned her up and down this time - he seemed less stiff now, his voice was akin to a beasts growl. "What kind of beast are ya, Missy?" He sounded curious... or angry? Kou was not quite clear but her ears tilted even further down until they lay flat against her head. "No beast... I'm Kou..." She growled back at him! Albeit a lot less loud...

She was scared but not scared enough to not growl back when someone growled at her! Albeit she looked more like a frightened fox than an angry one... The man blinked and suddenly laughed "Hahhhraahrarrh! No beast? What is that supposed to mean! There are only beasts on this island! You very much look like a beast to me, just look at your ears, Humans don't have those." he grinned and squatted down. "I'm Xióng, ya don't need to fear me as long as you don't hunt in my territory." Kou stared at him Xióng as .. like Bear? He looked like a bear, and his name was Bear too? Was he a bear? A bear?... definitely a bear.

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Xióng seemed docile but Kou did not relax at all still being very much on edge. The man, however, looked down at her even while squatting he went well over her head. his small green eyes seemed kind and the small wrinkles around him showed that he laughed and smiled a lot. Looking at each other, one smiling one frowning. This went on for about a minute until Kou backed off a little taking her hands off her daggers and taking a deep breath. "I'm Yun...Kou, Kou is fine... why are you here when there are only beasts here than?"

That question had burned in her mind, was there not supposed to be no one aside from her and beasts on here? Her aside. He looked very much Human, albeit quite tall. "Ha! I'm Xióng! Of course, I'm a beast too! Listen little one I'm the king of the Snowy Mountain! I'm the mighty bear Xióng!" He growled and laughed loudly, a noise that made Kou hold her ears and shrink away, why did he have to laugh so loudly! It was not just Kou, even the ground trembled at the laughter and all the birds panicly flew into the air. This man was not someone Kou wanted on to be on bad terms with. Preferably he should not know about her at all.

"I've seen ya leading that dumb pig around by its nose, was quite a spectacle. Here take this." He rummaged in his fur coat and handed her an icy flower. "These grow further up the mountain, good for Ice - so good for ya, eh?" The man had looked through her completely, Kou felt naked in front of his eyes as if none of her secrets actually mattered, but that moment quickly went past and soon he seemed to be very friendly again "Gonna come visit ya again in a bit, been a bit lonely and the ol'snake does not like to talk with me at all. I'm to loud she says... anyway, just stay around here so I can find ya."

Xióng left just as he came... without any notice. What an odd person, he was so powerful but unlike others in power he did not seem to look down on her, quite the opposite actually, she felt like he treated her quite kindly. This, of course, sparked her suspicion even more than neutral or hostile interactions... People generally were not nice without anything to gain! That was her world view at-least and Xióng did not really fit into that... Well, be that as it may.. her eyes quickly became glued to the icy flower he had given her, the Ice-qi Inside was slowly disappearing and that would be quite the shame and so she quickly sat down crosslegged and started to absorb the flower, feeding the power into her ice-flame.

Xióng was long since back on the snowy mountain, a big cave!

He had been through many hardships with his life long mate... They had given birth to many children, many bears lived on this mountain, but none of his blood had ever been a girl. And he very very much wanted a girl! He had seen the Island King with his children and those cute little buns that were so fragile! There had never been one for him. His sons were hardboiled and came out of the womb as grumpy bears... not cute at all.

Xióng had a weakness for cute things and so seeing Yun Kou was a delight for him! He still remembered seeing her for the first time. Long and unorderly but properly taken care of hair, a slender figure with pale skin. The girl had a tiny nose and a pretty face with large golden eyes! And those fluffy white ears and that long white tail were quite something - She would act quite adorable when she thought nobody was looking - brushing the tail or her hair, or curling up in the sun to take a nap!! She was tiny and very cute and looked so very fragile! It made this lonely fathers heart pump a little faster! He had kept an eye on her for quite a while and it was fun watching her, the way she rubbed her ears sometimes or brushed her tail. All very cute! Urg! He once more cursed his life of being completely Daugther less! And finally approached her! Very unsure on how to interact with someone too fragile, he even stumbled on in on her bath in his nervousness... but he thought he had done a good job! She at least did not run away like a frightened hare!

Xióng threw open the door of his cave-dwelling and sat down picking up an impossible large chunk of meat and starting to chew on it while thinking. "I've done a good job.. Mhrm, Now I just have to get her to be a bit less scared and maybe she will let me touch her tail once. My, it looked so fluffy and lovely - unlike those grumpy suns of mine full of grime and grease. Always fighting and totally not playful. Not cute at all!

He had heard from the snake that young girls liked pretty flowers so he had picked a random flower that grew up here... but he was way too nervous to stay for too long and quickly left afterward without actually seeing if the girl liked his gift. Hrhmm! How was one not supposed to be nervous around something so small and fragile! Wondering about things like that he continued to chew on his meat.

Meanwhile...

Kou stared around her suspiciously, she did not want to get surprised like this again... that old man was kinda unsettling... and she did not know why.