"Acho...!" Her nose was itching and finally, she woke up, for a moment she was out of it completely lost before her memories came kicking back! She had passed out in the cave, suddenly the pain in her left arm flared up, she quickly grabbed it and gritted her teeth.
A still red and painfully throbbing mark was there, a weird character that she did not know that was surrounded by even more characters in a circle, the surrounding characters were foreign to her too, most of them at least, one clearly said "Sealing" She had seen that one in Li Zhi's notes at some point.
Wondering what this "Gift" was supposed to be Kou finally found it appropriate to direct her attention to her surroundings, she was in some sort of cave, underneath her was a whole bunch of straw and hay that made for a comfortable bed, it was also the culprit of her sneezing earlier. Rubbing her nose she continued to look around just to...
Be meet with a "Beary" big face. Literally, there was a giant Bear in front of her that was currently staring at her, big brown and with large eyes, it actually looked more like big fluffy teddybear than an ..actual bear, it's facial structure was rather soft and the snout was a little small.
The bear was blinking at her. "Finally awake?" A young feminine voice was ringing out from the bear that did not even move her mouth at all, while it was young she had quite the nonchalant tone to her, as "she" continued to stare at her. It was a little unnerving, to be honest, and Kou slowly backed off a bit, sadly, there was not all that much space inside the cave the bear actually filled most of it as "She" was about the size of a house.
"He." The bear let out a chuckle and let out a strong huff, the air had so much force behind it that it actually tumbled Kou over. "Stay there until and don't make a fuss, Xiong dumped you here for me to look after, I'm Mei, his Mate." She nodded and backed off a little, finally Kou could see a whole pack of little bears next to the mother that were staring at her curiously.
While Kou was not particularly girly the sight of those tiny bears was quite stimulating, they looked like Mei just tiny and with bigger eyes and very fluffy tails, their cheeks were big and puffy and Kou immediately got the strong desire to pinch them! She was still somewhat out of it so the sudden influx over cuteness caught her completely off guard and she continued to stare at the tiny bears.
"He, enraptured by my cute babies are we? Of course, you are they are my offspring after all their adorableness is quite impossible to oversee!" Mei's voice was quite prideful while also happy to brag about her children. The tiny bear's interest in Kou was slowly vanishing they snuggled up against their mother falling over and slowly falling asleep.
Kou slowly nodded while still grabbing her left arm, the pain was slowly dimming, becoming just an annoying throbbing rather than the sharp pain. "I'm Yun Kou, thanks.. for the hospitality." Kou was not really a polite person but in face of this Matreon, she thought it would be wise to be, while she did not feel the absolute dreed she got from that dragon, Kou could not see herself being more than an ant compared to her.
She was not as powerful as Xiong but, probably still a realm above any of the elders she had ever seen in her time in the sect, going from guessing at least. "They are... very cute, yes." She was honest and her tail gently wagged back and forth as her gaze wandered back to the baby bears slowly falling asleep.
"Heehee! Well I see that mate of mine at least has a good eye in finding people with taste, to be honest, his recent hobby of stalking you had me quite worried, I'm not one to share my mate with other females, but.. you are not quite as I expected, more Human and less Beast.. Mh, albeit I have to give him some credit, your tail is really rather soft looking." She nodded, quite magnanimously as she eyed Kou once more.
"Well be it as it may, I think your attention should lay on the spoils you have gathered. While I do not know what that on your arm might be, I could perchance help you understand the others" The bears nose points slowly towards the side, 2 items were laying there, and Kou suddenly remembered that she actually had gotten more than that painful mark on her arm, while she had no idea how she got here from the old library like place she was glad that her spoils came with her!
A light blue cauldron was standing there, while it was quite big and crude the materials it was made out of seemed to be quite high class, faintly one could smell the leftover Medical scent from it by just standing near it, the cauldron was clearly an alchemy furnace, a little weird looking one as you would expect to find in a witches hut. While most of its surface was clear blue there were some images engraved into it, sadly it had been used so much that it was quite hard to make out what exactly it was supposed to be anymore.
The most peculiar thing Kou found in her quick scan was that there was a faint Ice Qi coming from the furnace. Be that as it may, the Item was clearly a treasure! It had been used so much so its material was thoroughly engrained with medical energies, which would help to make pills immensely!
It was quite a find! "Mh, there aren't many beasts that have any interest in Alchemy, but I would say this one is quite good, I feel some ice from it, and it does not seem to require earth crystals to function.." Mei leaned forward slightly as she sniffed the furnace. "Hrm smells like an ice-spirit, I'd guess there an Ice core was used to craft it..."
Kou nodded slowly and put the furnace away into her storage, she would have to try it out once she got home! "Thanks.." She was a bit awkward in dealing with the beary woman that seemed to nonchalantly converse with Kou that did actually not ask at all. It reminded her a bit of Xiu Shihong, so sure of themselves both of them, overlapping her friends' picture with the bear made it possible for Kou to relax a little more. "Why do beasts not do alchemy? Do pills not work for them?" Kou tilted her head slightly to the side. as she looked up to Mei.
"Oh they do, just as good as for you but until we are powerful enough to take on a human form there is little merit in doing it, our energies are wilder and it is hard to focus, most beasts would rather hunt others for cores if they wanted to get strong quickly - albeit most of us are usually content with growing naturally to our zenith and staying there. Most beasts will grow to a certain level without doing much and are content with staying there, of course, there is an odd one like that husband of mine every now and again that will seek out more power."
Well, that made sense... low ranking beasts had quite limited intelligence most of the time and were more animalistic, an animal would not think about training, would it? Animals grew up and that was it, they would stay as they were, why try to become stronger if you would grow as strong as you needed to be naturally.
Kou directed her attention to the other item now. It was a Ring, a simple silver ring that held a small white crystal in it, it seemed very ordinary and Kou could actually not feel anything from it, the only "Adornments" she had ever worn were the still present suppressing cuffs on her wrists and the ribbon she had gotten back in the sect, she had little interest for such things as rings or bracelets like other girls would.
"Mh, I actually do not know what that is, I do not feel anything from it, it seems rather ordinary, put it on, maybe something happens." Mei was curious this time, more so than with the cauldron, clearly, she counted among the girls that liked cute adornments. With a slow nod, Kou moved the ring over her right ring finger, it was way too big for her and it looked a bit silly, to be honest.
Curling her nose got one of her daggers out and poked her left pinky finger, a small drop of blood formed on it and she rubbed it on the ring, if it was a magical item she could bind it that way and hopefully find out what it is, for a moment nothing happened, the blood-stained ring really seemed completely ordinary, but then it started to glow faintly and shrink down to snuggly fit Kou's finger.
"Ohho, what a curious trinket you got there, I still can't tell what it's supposed to do..." Mei's "beary" big face came closer to sniff the ring but she just made a shrugging motion. "Can't tell at all, try to get some Qi into it maybe." That was Kou's next plan of action anyway so she nodded slowly and started to direct her Qi towards the ring.
Nothing happened. Really nothing, Kou felt her Qi being feed into the ring but there was nothing else she could actually feel, she slowly looked up to Mei, but ...Kou was not really that good in reading peoples faces, much less so this "beary" face. So without asking Kou could not quite tell what expression the bear was currently making, but the woman took the initiative anyway,
"How very curious! Your Aura has completely disappeared, I would not even be able to tell that you are here if not for seeing you with my very eyes, I can't even feel any power from you, it's like you are suddenly many realms above myself so that I can't feel anything from you or a Mortal that has no energy in the first place, How very curious! That one as weak as you could actually hide in that way from me, the ring is very special! Not ordinary at all!"
Kou glanced at the silvery ornament and stopped feeding it Qi for now. "Oh, and now I can feel you again." Mei's commentary was quite helpful in seeing how it worked, as long as Kou feed it Qi she could mask her aura hiding her from the senses of even creatures far more powerful than herself, it truly was an item that seemed to be almost made for her. In fact, she was far more excited about the ring than she was about the cauldron! "Mh! That is pretty good.." She mumbled her ears perking upwards as she grinned.
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"He, your expression suddenly is a bit creepy.." Mei commented on that, Kou apparently had not just grinned but grinned widely, the grin a thief would show when they were suddenly given quite the tool that would make any and all further, reordering of other peoples property a lot easier. After all most of the detection spells and runes would react to someones Qi and aura, and if those were gone they would not ring an alarm, Cultivators did not see it necessary to guard their things against mortals after all.
Aside from the burn mark on her left arm this was actually quite the haul, something to be happy about even if she got that weird mark now, she did not feel anything from it and Mei herself also felt nothing so it probably was nothing... maybe some weird fetish that old Master had had..
Kou's tail gently wrapped around her waist as she leaned back into the hay her gaze wandering to Mei's babies for a moment before it went back to the bear. "Thanks for the help." Her ears tilted downwards slightly and Mei tilted her head slightly to the side. "Do not mind it, as I've said my mate is quite interested in you, and I see why, I myself only ever get male children so having another female in the house is quite welcome for a change of rowdy boys."
With her words, she affectionately nuzzled her sleeping babies before lying down herself her gaze still directed at Kou "You can rest here for today, without Xiong you won't be able to get back to the lower-parts anyway, and I don't think Xiong is going to be back before morning anyway."
With that she curled herself up closing her large eyes lovingly nuzzling her children, it was quite the serene scene and Kou found herself looking for a little longer, her ears dropping downwards slightly before she herself curled up and hugged her tail.
She missed Shi Shi. And seeing a family such as this was making her feel a little lonely, she never had a mother hug her like that, the closest thing was Shi Shi and while Kou felt a familiar connection to her, it... was different than someone that had to spend effort in raising and protecting her.
She had banished thoughts such as this out of her mind, but right now they bubbled upwards a little. Why did she not have any parents, why did her mother not care for her like this, where was her father that should've taken care of her? Why did they leave her behind? Why was she forced to live in such misery for so many years in Dong Zhou? She never got any answers to that, she had never asked, never put any importance to it, but now seeing such closeness brought it back on her mind.
She let out a sigh and closed her eyes burrying her face in her tail.
Mei slowly opened one of her eyes and gazed towards the young girl, for a long moment she looked at her before closing them once more to fall asleep.
-------------------------------------------
"HaHaHa!" Xiong's voice rang out loudly in the snow, he had returned early in the morning. "That was quite something as you suddenly got kicked out of the room with those things, sweating and holding your arm, got really worried and brought ya to my home."
Xiong had brought her outside his own home, a large snowy field was in front of her full of Ice Qi, the man had offered to let her cultivate a little in his area which was of course very beneficial for her, she had a very good affinity for the Ice Qi, so much so that cultivating at a place such as this for a day was almost like cultivating a week somewhere else. It was even better than the spring! In fact, Kou was pretty clear the source of the spring was somewhere nearby.
Xiong was sitting nearby on a tree stump, he had a crude knife in his hand and was working on some carvings. "Now that you got something from the trial it should help you in your alchemy right?" His eyes glued to the wood he was carving, but his voice seemed to carry multiple-meaning with it, it was a bit different to the usual carefreeness he had and so Kou opened her eyes slowly and glanced over to him.
"Mh, Thanks for that, I hope I can work with that furnace, it is very old so it might make things easier for me." She nodded slightly while her ears tilted back slightly, Xiong seemed ...suspicious at the moment. "Ah Good Good, I got something for you yesterday." He pulled a bamboo slip out of his garments and threw it over towards Kou. "That's a pill recipe I got from one of the old farts that live in the snakes' territory."
Kou caught the slip and glanced at it, the recipe on it as for a pill called Sky nourishing pill, it did not say what it did but the materials she needed for it seemed to be simple enough, aside from one thing... the core of a Light attributed creature... Kou would have to go back to the lake to actually make this pill. "Thanks, but what does it do?"
Xiong looked up for the first time. "Ah, it's like a boost for a short period of time, if you take it you will have better gains from cultivating until you reach the 4th realm, after that, it loses some efficiency but not too much, thought it might be exactly what you needed." He rubbed the back of his head slightly. "You have been here for quite some time now, probably
Kou blinked, so like in Birthday present? She was momentarily baffled as she sat there and stared at the man that was almost trice as big as her. Her tail wagged back and forth once and she put the slip away. "Thanks." She actually felt a bit shy this time and her ears tilted downwards a faint red shine on her cheeks, but it was just for a moment then she shook her head strongly and went back to cultivating, she felt a bit awkward and lost on how to properly respond to a gift like that so... she did not.
Xiong glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes, shaking his head with a grin as the girl went back to cultivating, it was quite adorable how she had reacted, of course, his motives were not just to give her a present. The pill would help her balance out her Qi, hopefully - there was just one creature on this island that actually had knowledge of Alchemy and he was a stingy old bastard so Xiong had to give him a few benefits to get the recipe, but this reaction alone was already worth it.
................
She liked it here in the snow, sadly every creature nearby was far into the 4th realm, something she could not compete against, getting here and being safe was only possible with Xiong's protection, so she stayed around for a few days.
It was not like she had asked to stay here, it was more like nobody offered to take her back and Kou did not make an effort to making them for now, deep down she felt it quite pleasant to be here, not just for the Qi and Snow - she actually liked being around Xiong and Mei. While Mei was a bit haughty and proudful she treated Kou well enough and after a few days, she even let her children a bit closer.
The litter was 3 bears strong, their names were Lao, Bao, and Hao. Names lacking creativity so she simply imagined that it was Xiong that had named them.
The boys were shy and scared at first but after a while they got used to Kou so much that they would relax with her around, play and fight together with her just sitting next to them, none of them was actually able to talk but each had intelligent eyes, and shockingly were already in the second realm. Well more or less, they were quite vulnerable and even someone in the late first realm would be able to effortlessly beat them.
Mei was still keeping an eye on Kou however ever, but once the girl started to play with the children with wagging her tail slightly against them making them jump after it like little kittens, appeared a somewhat friendly glow in her eyes. And like that the days would quickly become weeks. Kou had enough food for herself inside of her cloak, not that she needed to eat all that much anymore, she was able to sustain herself for weeks on just Qi, but... food was tasty and beneficial to her so she even ate when she had no hunger.
Staying here was very good, she could already feel herself inching closer to the middle of the third realm, but there was something else that was happening, the more of the Ice Qi rich energy she took in the fairer her skin got - she felt a comfortable cold in her body everywhere, she could move on the snow without leaving any marks on it, as if she was a feather and at some point Mei made her way over towards Kou and sat down next to her cultivation spot, a small rock that stretched out of the snow.
"I and Xiong are Ice-Spirits, you know? The energy here is what makes us so strong, not too far from this place is a piece of Ice Crystal, it has not Qi in it but an energy that is far more potent - the further you get away from it the more like Qi it becomes, the spring you visited has its source nearby that Crystal."
Kou did not quite know why Mei was explaining that to her so she tilted her head to the side her golden eyes focusing on the Bear, there was something important coming she could tell. "While you are close to our kind, and Ice-Spirit blood is in your veins, you are still human, and as weak as you are now the time you have to spend here is limited, therefore you have to go soon, well as long as you don't want to be overwhelmed and have your emotions frozen."
Mei scoffed. "I know from Xiong that there is a place far north in the Human lands, a Place of pure Ice and Snow where you human gather females with talent and connection to Ice. They see the purity in Ice and cultivating there with their technique freezes their body and emotions, they become beautiful, like Ice sculptures, their beauty frozen in time - but with that, they also lose any warmth and compassion. These women are driven just by their cold pride."
Mei glanced into the sky. "While I must say that you being here is... acceptable, for your own sake you should let Xiong bring you down the mountain, the old oaf does not see the problem as I do, for him it does not sound too bad to have you here frozen in time, don't hold it against him, he just thinks it would be good for you."
Kou stayed silent and listened.. she had always been lacking a bit of empathy, maybe that was something she was simply born with as a mixed spirit? Unlikely, Mei and Xiong seemed warm enough in more than one way, she probably had simply no one to learn form properly, the prospect of turning into an emotionless ice statue was not really something she was thrilled about... still.
"Mh, I'll ask Xiong to bring me back down as soon as he comes back, do you know when I can come here without having such problems?" Just a moment after she spoke she understood the meaning behind it, it had just blurted. Kou glanced to the side and her tail moved to intercept Mei's vision on her face, so the bear was not able to see the faint red shine on her face.
"Mh, once you stepped one level higher you probably be able to sustain yourself up here properly, without succumbing to the Ice. Remember while you have quite a bit of spirit blood in you, you are still Human. All we know about your kind is just from hear-say and the stuff Xiong bothered to remember from his trip, and you seem to be living more like a spirit and less like a Human, you should reevaluate yourself a little."
.................
"A shame, the boys just got used to you." Xiong had brought her down back into the rain forest, the shift in temperature was quite hard on Kou and she buried herself inside of her cloak, she already missed the coldness further up.
"Anyway, I'll come visit you in a few days - now that you are back where you can go back to your Alchemy too, He, it was a good idea not doing it at home, Mei would've gone ballistic on you if you exploded one of those furnaces up there, Haha."
That was right for sure, while Mei did warm up to Kou, making a giant explosion while trying to do alchemy would've probably been the very reason the get the bear "Beary" angry at her. With Xiong gone Kou had time to laugh at her own silliness again.