It had been a few days since her tussle with the Yeti-beast. Kou was currently sitting in her newly carved out cultivation room her legs crossed her arms relaxed, big pearls of sweat were shimmering on her forehead as she directed everything into her Dantian, someone had said that each step forward in cultivation was harder than the last, even jumping from 2rd to 3rd was easier then going from early 3rd to mid 3rd.

That was why many of those people that had only weak mortal bloodlines and lacking talent would stop in their cultivation at some point. They simply could not continue without hurting themselves needing very expensive cleansing pills to clean their bonemarrow and enhance their dantian.

Luckily, Kou was in no way shape or form like that, she had very good blood and very good talent, after cultivation had driven out all the impurities from years on the street she had the body one might envy her for, while still, human her spirit blood was almost at 50%! In this empire, these things were exceedingly rare as it almost only had beasts that were not able to take human form and Core Formation was the ceiling for cultivation.

Kou was different then Ning Yu or Xiu Shihong who also had quite powerful ancestors, while the Ning-clan had high purity it only amassed to about 8 or 10% at best, for the Xiu clan it was even less, a deficit they overcame with subpar cultivation techniques and great talent putting them of the same scale as the Ning-clan.

If Kou had joined the Blood Seeker Sect one of the other 4 great sects and the evilest out of them, she would have been found out the moment she came and either treated as a genius disciple or... if unlucky become a test subject for their blood-magics!

Kou was very lucky that the Ancient Cloud sect at least towards the outside world had a very clean and righteous image condemning such acts and promoting peacefulness and Daoism. So no elder or greedy rouge had ever benefitted from her blood.

Unlike others that slowed down around this point without the help of a great clan or sect she speeds up, it took her far less time then it had taken Xiu Shihong or Ning Yu to reach this point.

Of course, this advantage of hers would lessen in the future, as reaching the stage after gold core purified once body and soul lessening any advantage one hand from birth, but that power was still far into the future.

...

Success! Kou stood up her whole body covered in sweat and shock herself as she opened her eyes a beam of light shot out! Mid 3rd realm! She was now stronger than most of the outer sect elders! It was a great feeling! Luckily she was not in the sect anymore, there was no need for modesty or profound looking movement! She jumped outside and played for a while throwing and lifting rocks around climbing a little and exceeding her body in general.

Cultivation had become one thing for her already, bodily and mental cultivation went hand in hand as it should be, she never wanted to be higher in one and lower in the other, it felt wrong when your soul was stronger than your body or the other way around...

After playing for about an hour Kou fell on her back looking up to the clear sky and grinned under her heavy breathing, getting stronger felt so good! This feeling was the best! Her whole body felt amazing! The time in dongzhou was still on her mind but she was not that girl anymore, never again would she be so weak that she needed to steal food. She would become so powerful that she could steal for fun!... Nobody would ever dare to offend or hurt her if she was powerful, nobody would mistreat her or her friends if she was.

In this world, only power mattered. And Kou felt almost addicted to the moment her power increased. However the high was slowly going down and Kou felt the stickiness of her clothes. "Urg...Bathtime.." She mumbled, regretting once more she had never spent any points on things like a cleaning technique or something like that. Quickly she made her way to the east, there she had found a river going downhill, it was not quite as rich on energy as the spring she had visited before was, but it was still very good! Throwing off her clothes, as they were self-cleaning Kou jumped headfirst into the freezing water.

Pure bliss, while others would shiver and freeze in the water this could for Kou it felt like a comfortable embrace, and she prolonged her bathing time for longer then it was necessary relaxing inside the icy water while taking in some of the weaker ice Qi inside filling herself up a little more.

.....

Sitting crosslegged Kou starred at one particular object, it was the scroll that Shi Shi had given her, she had not touched it yet and she was rather curious as to what it would reveal to her now that she had grown stronger.

She also felt a little dread to be honest, depending on what it was she would have to spend some time learning it, and Kou liked learning but after she had memorized the whole Alchemie book her brain felt like it was full, any other kind of information would not fit in...Well, that was at least how she imagined it.

Well, there was no use staring at it like this, she would have to find out. Stretching her hand out she gently poked the scroll.

Shi Shi's scroll suddenly started to glow and slowly the seal that was holding another piece of information hostage was removed, the scroll started to hover before it tackled Kou a few times then falling into her lap.

Bewildered about this Kou just blinked and held still for a little while before she picked the scroll up to read what it said.

....

"My dear child, A scroll tackling you is not fun he? Just take it as me congratulating you. This piece is the last information I will offer you, after that this scroll will be fully opened...It is actually a magical treasure that I will present you with, just take it as your birthday presents for the last few years."

After that the Manuel for the technique was depicted on the scroll it was called.

"Nine steps to reach heave, Nine steps to break the Chains."

....

Kou's eyes went wide as she took the technique in, it was very advanced, while she could read everything there was about it, probably due to Shi Shi tempering with it, she was pretty sure that this technique was something that came from the outside world, far away from the empire.

After Kou had finished reading the Manuel that was depicted on the scroll started to glow, the information turned into a ball of light that shot towards her forehead, for a moment Kou felt pain. This Technique actually had some kind of sentience! It was engraining itself into her very soul!

"Urrhhg." Kou groaned, that hurt quite a bit! And her spiritual energy was in turmoil now, so she had to spend another half an hour to calm it down again sitting cross-legged and breathing according to the breathing technique.

Once she was calm again she curled her nose "Well...Won't ever forget that technique I guess.." Kou mumbled before she continued to read the scroll.

....

"Well, I hope that went well if the technique sees you as worthy it will engrain its self into your Soul." Clearly Shi Shi was being sly again here, she could've warned Kou! Kou would remember that!. "This technique I found in a trial that had happened many years ago, it was of great benefit for me all the way to the highest point of my power, it is also very compatible with our kind. It's not fully complete and I never managed to Master the part I got either.

My wish for you is to learn it completely and Master it in your life-time. It is.. my legacy to you to carry into the future, together with this treasure."

The moment Kou had read the last par on the scroll all the letters started to glow, they left the scroll flying up into the air, the golden ball slowly formed Shi Shi, it was some kind of spiritual clone.

"Dear one." The glowing clone's soft hands touched Kou's cheek the touch was just as soft as the real one would've been and Kou felt suddenly very small, looking up to the woman with big eyes her breath almost stopping.

"I'm very proud to see you like this, you have even grown a little. Physically... " Shi Shi grinned as she teased Kou about her shortness. "But while that growth might be a little.. underwhelming the speed in which you cultivated was not, it has already overtaken most of my expectations that I had, you reached this point far quicker then I had anticipated, and for that, I'm very proud. "

She stopped for a moment and stepped closer 2 of her tails gently wrapping around Kou as the old woman embraced her. " In about two years the empire will enter a time of turmoil, many powers that had laid dormant will reawaken to take their place in the world, many things will change and there will be war." Shi Shi sounded very sure about that.

"That will also be the time in which I will no longer be able to hold on. My power has been taken and I'm old and weak now, what little I have will keep diminishing soon too, so this is goodbye. Little one, you may be the thing I'm most proud off in my life, I wish for you to grow above all others, I wish for you to trample over those that put me down. I wish for you to reach the heavens and become a power nobody can ignore."

Shi Shi's words became weaker and weaker. "This treasure... I had it for most of my life, keep it with you always. Stay away from the Empire until you reach the Nascent Soul realm, the Cultivation technique I have given you will bring you all the way there, I know it will be a lonely time ... but this is the safest way for you to grow."

Her form slowly dissipates as she stepped back. Kou's eyes were teary now. What did she mean she would not be able to hold on any longer? Kou's goal was to become strong to come back and take Shi Shi away! She was not allowed to die!

Shi Shi's kind eyes laid on Kou as she gently brushed away a tear on the girl's face. "Sleep well, eat well and cultivate well, do not play with males, I did that and it never brought me any good things, well... aside from you. Do not be too proud you will get to many enemies that way, as long as you believe in your self it does not matter what others do. Keep a low profile if possible...Until you are ready to step above everyone else. If you see some good fortune or an opportunity in front of you do not rush forward blindly. Weight the benefits with the risk and only if it's truly worth it, do it. Not everything is worth risking your life for."

Her body was no longer visible there was only golden energy in the air now.

"Take care of yourself, and if you ever find your parents tell them I will haunt them!"

"Your grandmother loves you."

...

Shi Shi was gone, the scroll was empty sitting there in her lap as Kou's head hang low her ears tilted down as her golden eyes were filled with tears slowly dripping down, both of her hands were clenched so tightly that her knuckles were white.

She had just been on a high, she felt powerful and great... but that all came down again, she knew that she was quite powerful now even in the empire, but she was not powerful enough to change the fate of it in no way was that possible. A frustrated groan left her mouth as she stood up grabbing the scroll.

"One Year I will only train and learn... One Year and after that time I will go over to the empire, Yun Kou knows what filial piety is and she won't leave Shi Shi alone!" The time of idle hunting playing around and being carefree was over! It had always been her goal to come back but she had nothing all that pressing forcing her to move back... now that was different.

She left her cave and kicked the ground, she was a blur that shoots forwards, her goal? The old Stoneface. She would beg him if she had to tutor her in Alchemie, if she wanted to actually become stronger pills were needed, even more so if she wanted to become stronger as quickly as possible!

....

Current Time, the Ning Empire.

Xiu Shihong was very busy all of a sudden, for whatever reason most of the noble houses and cultivation clans had called their children back from the sects without much of a reason, leaving only those that already had a personal Master behind. While the nobles made out the top of most sects the actual mass of disciples came from small families and clans and those left their children there.

Not Xiu Shihong of course, was called back to the walking desert city, there was actually no talk about marriage anymore she did not have to fight with her father or the clan elders anymore about these matters. And while that in itself was rather nice the gurgling training she was put under was not.

She had never been a girl that disliked effort, she was not someone that tried to be a pretty white lotus, she did not give a damn about what others think of her, only ever being silent so people would not include her in bothersome things, she relished in the feeling of control and power cultivation gave.

But there was a point where things got unreasonable, Right? RIGHT?! Right now she was sitting in the middle of a formation, a force was pressing down on her from each side becoming stronger by the minute, her task was to keep it in place with her spiritual pressure alone!

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Spiritual pressure was something one developed usually as they entered the 4th realm, but Xiu Shihong being in the late 3rd realm had already started too. How she wished she had kept this hidden, as thick beads of sweat run down her body.

Somewhere else in the mansion at that time.

"That girl is quite something she has been holding out for as long as someone in the late stages of the early 4th realm would. This seedling might just put us above the Ning if we cultivate her properly, now that relations between the houses and sects deteriorate..."

The man that spoke was very very old, he was the Grand Elder of the Xiu clan, someone just second to the patriarch, the Patriarchs son was next to him drinking tea he was his grand-nephew and they always had been getting along quite well.

"Of course Grand Elder, my Daughter is quite something, it is a good thing we did not pawn her out to the Ning, her Talent had been quite good before, but at some point she just started to grow so much quicker than before, making one wonder what exactly caused this."

"We will learn about that soon, for now, we must poor our efforts into strengthening the younger generations if the Xiu clan wants to continue to thrive." The Grand Elder's thick white brows sank, he was an expert in the early stage of Core Formation, he had already lived for 200 years. He knew that war was coming, he could see how all the powerful fractions were moving carefully. Playing nice while sharpening their daggers...

"These outsider people are to blame for destroying the peace the late emperor had brought to us, now that the Ning is without its head it's just a ravaging beast, and that old fart is licking the shoes of an outsider.." The Grand Elder spat to the side in anger. "Our own ancestor will awaken soon, Nephew, make sure to train the girl as much as you can so that he may impart some of his secrets onto her."

Back in Shihongs courtyard.

"Get me out of this thing now!" Xiu Shihong could feel how the fine veins in her eyes started to pop, the pressure was just too intense for her to handle, any longer and she might just collapse in this damnable formation! The Clan member that was handling the formation was very high ranked, in power he surpassed Shihong as he was in the mid 4th realm, but the middle-aged man seemed flustered at the order and quickly scurried forward to disable the formation.

Finally,

The pressure was gone! Shihongs own spiritual pressure forced it's way out swiping over the courtyard and the middle-aged clan's man. Everything was still it was as if the grass and trees that adored her courtyard were too scared to make even a single noise. Even that middle-aged clan's man was silent, considering the Girl was barely 15 he felt ashamed that he could feel a cold shiver going down his spine as the Aura washed over him...

Shihong stretched and took a deep breath her crimson eyes closed as she simply enjoyed not feeling like she might be crushed to death at any moment before she turned around and left for her rooms. "I will take a bath and change." She simply decided and there she was gone.

Ancient Cloud Sect.

Hei Tian was depressed. He was still stuck at the early 3rd realm, he had been for quite a while now already, he was not even alone at fault for that, somehow the resources he got from his family had been cut in half, without any reason to it, his Uncle and Father just shook their heads when he questioned them about that.

He felt left out, to be honest, he did not resent them as much for cutting his resources but more so for not including him into the reasons.

"Do not get discouraged..." He tried to cheer himself up. He missed the little squad of girls that he had labeled his best friends quite a lot, even Li Zhi had left for her family house, the last he heard from her was that turned down a few proposals of rich young youths for marriage, Xiu Shihong had already left quite some time ago, and now it was just him in the sect.

He slapped both of his cheeks. "Maybe it's time for me to leave too, the Sect is no place for me to stay anymore... Everyone else seems to be gone, Zhi, Shihong, and Kou are all gone.." He clenched his fist as he remembered the last fight they had with Ning Yu......

.....

The Outersect tournament had been changed for this year after all the whole outer sect was mostly split into two fractions, every leader of his own faction safe for Jie Ciao had been absorbed by one of the two fractions of Xiu and Ning. Therefore the elders had prepared a different kind of test this time.

Two forces clashing against each other and those people on both sides that stood out the most would be allowed into the inner sect. Of course, most of the young cultivators were unaware that many powers were watching this small. "War" from the shadows, the emperor had been long since influenced by "Outsiders" First to force the large powers to send their children and later to make them fight.

Many that knew about this fact were sure that these outsiders were looking for someone or something, and if looking for someone special and those people most often shone best in times of conflict, everything had been staged, not just in Ancient Cloud sect all the big sects in the empire had similar things happening, all due to the grand design of those outsiders...

.....

Hei Tian was out of breath, green wings of pure wind were on his back and he was currently flying locked into gruesome combat with a young man in the mid 3rd realm, he was a few years older then him and his Qi was a lot thicker and denser then Hei Tian's, therefore, he had an even more troublesome time against someone a step further along the ladder then he should.

His advantage was that he could fly without any help and that he was a lot faster than his enemy. This had also not been the first to attack him, in fact, he had been going on and on and on fighting those that were on the same level as him or barely stronger than himself. While he would not lose against any of them, fighting them slowly drained him until he was in this situation.

Gritting his teeth he unleashed a wind blade, it was a technique that was invisible fast and deadly, cutting straight into his opponent. The other boy fell and Hei Tian's wing slowly dissipated as he fell to the ground his breathing heavy.

"Well Well Well, how the mighty have fallen.." Ning Yue gracefully landed next to Hei Tian, Little Shihong's right-hand man sitting in the dirt~" His tone was condescending and he had a vicious grin on his face as his left foot sank down on Hei Tian's back pushing him into the dirt.

Hei Tian groaned and spat out a mouthful of blood towards Ning Yue soiling the princes still pristine and clean robes. "Dirty dog." With one swift kick, Hei Tian flew through the air crashing into a nearby tree the impact breaking the tree making him spit out even more blood.

But he was just laughing now. "How far the Prince has fallen, can't even fight our leader, having to work out his frustration." Hei Tian laughed and Ning Yue's face went red as he stepped forward quickly but his stride was stopped by a loud hissing noise, the Prince backed up quickly a spear seemingly made out of molten rock hit the ground he had just stand on moments ago, there she was Xiu Shihong.

The petite girl looked like a demon coming from the yellow springs, fiery horns burning on her forehead with half of her fiery armor blown to pieces and blood covering her body, unlike the prince she had been the first to start and the last to stop fighting. But her injuries did not at all lower the threat Ning Yue felt, the picture of this damnable woman had already burned itself into his mind.

The spear reappeared in Xiu Shihongs hand. She stood in mid-air burning like a fiery sun with her long black hair swinging in the wind as she decedent, Ning Yue was not able to flee any further, the girl had him locked down with her presence. She had already unlocked something others would only gain when stepping into the 4th realm making her the goddess of this war.

Hei Tian watched with satisfaction how Xiu Shihong leisurely stepped towards the Prince that had hidden from the fight until now letting his little friends and bought hands fight for him. He even had gotten some of the strongest people in the outer sect on his side people that would usually keep to themselves and not interfere with what was going on in the sect.

But nobody was able to stop Shihong! Nobody! She mowed through everyone and finally appeared here... bloody but victorious. With glee Hei Tian watched the terror in the prince's eyes, all his plans all his schemes all his tricks and smarts were nothing in front of absolute power!

Xiu Shihong stood before the prince while almost a head smaller than him for everyone she seemed to look down on him, before ramming her spear forward. Golden Wings are on the princes back and a shield appeared around him, of course, he had a fail-safe plan a talisman that could even block 1 attack of a gold core cultivator, but Shihong did not relent even while he was inside the little bubble she played ball with him bashing him against trees through houses into the ground slowly grinding away at the shield while simply brushing off all the attacks the Prince threw at her with her Spiritual Pressure! There had already been a gap in their abilities before! But now Xiu Shihong was overwhelmingly more powerful than the young prince!

"Shihong! Stay your hand, I surrender!" The Prince shrieked as he felt his shield was soon about to give up "I order you as your Prince!" Xiu Shihong stopped for a moment brushing some of her hair behind her ear suddenly there was a bright and beautiful to behold before she lashed out at the prince her raw fist bashing against the shield breaking it after all the hitting she had before her knuckles connecting straight with the prince's nose.

The Prince had almost sighed a smile of relief as the girl had stopped his attack straightening his posture before he saw the fist come his way. A sickening crunch could be heard as the Prince's nose was broken into pieces. But that was not it Xiu's left foot borrowed it's self deep in the man's gut making him fly until his back crashed into the mountainside leaving a sizable crater behind him.

The Prince spat blood out and opened his mouth. But he could not even speak as Xiu Shihong was already in front of him locking him down her eyes filled with anger and hate. "You will not getaway... " She spoke She knew he had a treasure for teleportation he would just have to say the word and he would be gone back to the palace, and so she locked him down with her Aura alone.

"For what you have taken from me I will make you pay the price!" She growled another hit into his side another crunch. "I don't give a damn of who you are, I will cripple you on this day." The rage that had swelled in her finally could be released it felt amazing pummeling this smug bastard to within an inch of his life. "You dirty dog took my first friend away from me see how I take your life right here and now!" Her voice was shrill... Of course, she would not kill the boy. She was not that gutsy, but she would give him the beating of his life for now... and once she had gotten strong enough that nobody could defy her anymore and THEN she would go and free this wretched creature of his life, for now scaring him shitless was good enough for her.

The Prince had long since lost his consciousness as Xiu Shihong stopped, leaving him beat and broken behind. "The enemy "Commander" is beaten, we won or is there anyone else that want's to fight?..."

....

Hei Tian let out a sigh as he gently pats his bag holding his belongings, he had told his family that he would go on a journey, trying to overcome his current blockage with life an death battles in the wilderness, nobody objected, they even gave him some pills and other treasures to be on his way...as if they were happy that he was leaving...

And so he glanced up to the clear sky thousands of kilometers away from the sect sitting on the corpse of an early 3rd realm beast he had just slain. "We'll see what the world has in charge for me.."

Royal Capital

Li Zhi was a very pitiful person, after being called back by her parents she had to attend gala's and meetings and such dressing up every time, there were many suitors out there looking for her and she was slowly getting sick and tired of them.

To begin with, she would win in a fight against every single one of them! She was already in the 3rd realm, while just barely she still was! And that was the very reason so many came to court her - she was powerful and was likely to give birth to more talented heirs. But she was having none of it! Much to the dismay of her father Zhi had turned everyone down, even those partners that would be very beneficial for their family!

"Little-Zhi, you will have to marry at some point your father is worried sick about you, you should settle down soon before you get too old.." It was common to marry at the age of 14 to 16 the older a woman got the less "Desireable" she was in the eyes of the common people. Li Zhi however was not like her father that barely counted as a second realm cultivator or her mother that had no cultivation at all.

She had enough of this and only filial piety made her stay at home to play these games. "Father I won't marry any second class person, in fact, I won't marry at all!" Her line was finally cut loose and she stood up.

"I will leave this house if you continue to pester me with these things! I didn't get as I am now to be pushed by someone weaker than me! I plan to go on a journey soon, I do not want this to be the end of my cultivation, I want to continue and not just happily sit on my ass because I got the 3rd realm just because you people think that is special! Because it isn't! Every single friend of mine is becoming stronger and stronger and I will not be left behind!"

She slammed the table ... literally and broke it in two "Either support me or don't!" leaving her father pale and lost for words..."She never talked back before..." He mumbled as he looked after his daughter that had left the room after her outburst.

.....

Weeks later.

Li Zhi left the capital city. At long last her father had agreed to let her go, he had swallowed down his ambitions for her, something that made Li Zhi quite happy, therefore the goodbye was heartfelt and she promised to return.

She would leave this place, and finally be free of all that political garbage, she felt like the protagonist of one of these novels she loved to read, getting stronger to choose her own fate, finding love in a handsome man and putting the world under her boot.

"Hehe... Well, let us see if that is going to happen, for now, I'm really looking forward to smashing the next guy's face in that tries to court me.."

.....

And so everyone was going there own ways, Xiu Shihong would train at home and become stronger and Hei Tian and Li Zhi would journey out into the wilds to find their own fortune and become stronger.

Time passed and soon another year had passed..

Long white hair was dancing in the strong sea wind. A giant man and a Bear were standing on the beach surrounded by "smaller" bears that were still bigger then any normal bear would ever be...

"Take care of yourself, Girly." The big bear said in a motherly but slightly annoying tone "Aye, and come visit soon, there are still parts of the Island you never got to." Xiong nodded, he took it the worst after all the girl had become quite dear to him over her time here. There was one more person here... standing a little bit off to the side. The old Stoneface, just nodding towards Kou as she set foot on the raft, Xiong stretched out one hand and waved towards the Seel, the raft shot forwards with Kou standing on it very quickly it shot towards the distance before it simply vanished...

Kou clenched her left fist her golden eyes narrowed as she stared forward. Once the initial boost Xiong had given her run out Kou stretched out one hand, the suppressing cuffs still remained on her wrists, she curled her nose slightly and with one gaze they simply fell off.

This meant two things, Kou could now after a long time use the full amount of her Qi, and ... she was currently stronger than the one that had put the cuffs on her. Ning Yue. A slight smile appeared on her lips. With one swing of her arm the seel bellowed out again and she shot towards the mainland.

"See how you will catch me this time Ning Yue... I'll show you..."

Of course, Kou was unaware that her friend had already... beaten the poor prince half to death.