Kou explained everything to the Spirit. She did not know why she did, she just felt it was the right thing to do, she felt like Bingqing was someone she could trust, she did not understand why she felt that way, but it was as if everything in her wanted to trust that woman.
It did not help much that she also did not mind the woman advances, she would constantly try to pet her head, or hug her, scratch her ears and whatnot. Kou felt like she was under some weird spell usually, she would do everything she could to avoid such things, but ...she could not really think of Bingqing as someone that would do such a thing.
Honestly, Kou felt a little annoyed while also happy.
Bingqing displayed a worried expression and her clear eyes seemed unwilling for some reason, but she let out a sigh, this daughter of hers was headstrong just like Bingqing so even if she tried to keep her here she would just damage their relationship.
Therefore the best thing as a mother she could do now was to support Kou with everything she got! And everything she had! Bingqing was an ancient spirit, bringing someone as talented as her daughter to core formation was not that hard at all. She was almost there already anyway. What was however hard for her was giving her the proper teachings! She did not have any techniques or anything. If she willed it,l things just happened, after all, there was not much technique involved.
So there was only one thing she could help her little girl with! And that was refining the power she had gotten from her in the first place, she had sensed it the moment she had touched her. The icy power that was Bingqings birthright was slumbering in her daughter as well, she just barely had touched it. She also had the power of her father's family in her albeit that seemed to have already awoken.
"Well, be that as it may." Bingqing suddenly talked as if her inner monologue was something Kou could listen in to, which... she could not, prompting a confused look from the girl as Bingqing simply pulled her along. "I will clean your body out, and make it pure, just like the children that live past the frozen wastes, this is something very difficult! And only young masters and ladies from pristine clans can have it done to them!"
Bingqing .. started to fly pulling Kou with her! She could actually fly! Without the help of a treasure or anything! This was not something that anyone in the Ning empire could just do! Even in core formation, one needed help to fly like this! She was so very fast too! Kou barely was able to see the ground as fast as they went it just became a blur even for her sharp eyes! Quickly DongZhou was not anywhere near anymore and Kou found herself in a cave of frozen ice.
The ice here was more like crystal then actual Ice, it was a beautiful sight but Kou had not much time to look at it! With a flick of Bingqing's sleeve the ice formed into a bed, and Kou was ushered into it quickly. "Uh? What will you do?" She was a bit defensive, she felt powerless in front of that woman, but she still managed to ask, unwilling to just be swept away by Bingqings pace all the time! And she at-least wanted an explanation.
Bingqing tilted her head to the side a grin creeping on her face "Well! I have researched a lot ever since your birth! I found out many things, I traded with many cultivators and I have gathered some things that will help you in the future, aren't I great?"
Bingqing smiled widely and Kou was confused, what did she mean since her birth? How long as that woman been watching her! What exactly was she, and why did she want to help her anyway, the questions kept ramping up in her head, and her ears flicked backward in irritation as she turned to the woman, but all she could see was a Hand that was stretched towards her face and suddenly her mind became blank, she dropped to her knees, a grunt leaving her mouth.
"Don't worry, it is less painful if you are out of commission." Those were the last words she heard before blacking out, again, much to her frustration. Bingqing, however, knew nothing of this seemingly recurring trend of her daughters to pass out. She was very excited to finally be a parent!
When her daughter was born and even afterward when she was stuck behind the shield Bingqing would sometimes trade with some of the clans that lived on the other side of her land, while they treated her respectfully, she was not strong enough to just subdue them and take their stuff, Which was fairly frustrating. So she had traded a few pretty flowers and rocks for things cultivators needed! Many things that were unheard of in the Ning Empire. So it was not a lie at all if she said it was easy for her to boost her daughter to core formation!
For now, she would prepare her body properly! Ning Empire was fairly far behind in terms of cultivation after all! Bingqing knew that, so sie carelessly ripped the clothes of Kou's body those would just be in the way, and with her other hand she opened a small hole in space next to her, after reaching inside she pulled a small bottle out, it had a clear shimmering liquid inside of it.
"Mh~" Bingqing would've preferred if Kou was awake... Skinship was important after all! And she kind of wanted to tickle her.. but now that she was out like that there would not be any reactions! Pounting slightly she pulled back her sleeves and started to apply the liquid on Kou's skin.
It still had that small shimmer to it so it was easy to see how after remaining on the skin for a little while it would be absorbed into it, after a few moments, a sickening smell filled the cave. Humans, were born with many impurities in their bodies! They had to struggle and force them out to cultivate, each stage of cultivation would always see one expel some of them. The closed-off meridians and Qi passageways, with each step forward you did you, would need to open them up slowly and painfully! That was how cultivators were many many millennia ago! And that how it still was in the Ning Empire that had been isolated for such a long time!
In the outside world, however, those that could afford it would use this special medicine made out of herbs gathered in secret realms! After such things were done your meridians your blood vessels everything would be clear, you did not have to attune them, nor free them up. It was the key to unlocking the true potential someone had!
And that is what Bingqing did... after a while Kou was covered in think black grime and nastiness, all the impurities were forced out of her body, every little bit, her bones were polished her skin reborn. This was very different from what would happen to Kou when she rose in cultivation and her body forced it out on their own! And it stunk horribly!
Bingqing just waved and all the grime was blown away, she had a slightly irritated expression on her face... all of this... was an example of how hard her life had been... to have so much inside her still after reaching the fourth realm, without this medicine, she would've probably had some trouble later on! And using this medicine was useless once someone had entered Core-Formation when the body would be reforged in the heavenly tribulation!
This whole process took about 2 days, constantly her body would force out the impurities out of her bones and flesh. Until everything was pure! Bingqing would stand over her as a Dharma protector, not resting just keeping her girl company until it was finally done. Her appearance did not change much, she had already expelled most of the impurities of her skin, so she remained as the cold beauty she had been. But her Insides were 100% pure!
Bingqing nodded to herself, this was fine, Ai Xue was now ready to awaken her true powers! And so she leaned over her resting her forehead against her daughters! She would invade her inner world and awaken the power that lay dormant deep inside of her! She would not just able to produce Ice and form it, but she would have dominion over cold just as her mother had!
....
Bingqing blinked, pictures of the life that had been in the past flashed by her, to fast to actually understand, but it was enough to see the hardships in it, finally, she arrived in her daughter's inner world, it was a calm lake of Qi that was already slightly condensing, she could see how the Qi was already beginning to form into a core like structure. Once she would wake up it would not take long for her to raise up into core-formation. But that was not her goal, she was here to see to something else.
Before she could turn however she found an oddity, a glimmer of fire had invaded her daughter's inner world.. and the source of it was quite obvious for Bingqing. Anger flared up in her.. and she shot towards the source. She entered a small space, full of clouds, and saw someone chained up. Ruby red eyes meet clear blue ones.
Bingqing floated closer her might suppressing the bound creature in front of her fully, so much so that the silver-haired women with bright red eyes let out a pained grown! Bingqing did not know why this thing was here but she wanted to remove it. She lashed out, but ... it did not work? While she could hurt and bind the women, she could not kill her, nor could she undo her retrains. What power had done this to her girl?
Suddenly the women spoke. "I don't know why a Greater Spirit would try to mingle with this girl, but you better stop, you can't deal with me, nor can you take me out." The woman snarled under pain as she was suppressed by Bingqing's Aura.
Bingqing let out an irritated huff, "So who are you supposed to be?"
The women scoffed "If I were at my full power I would crush you under my feet Spirit! I'm Xifeng! Immortal Phonix Princess of the far beyond! Your little plane became my prison so long ago there was not even a trace of your being! I've been held by many powerful powers, but then I was carried to this backwater place! Ning Shanguang you bastard! May your ashes be defiled for 100 generations!"
Bingqing tilted her head to the side. Maybe this creature could be an opportunity... She could feel that this Xifeng person was trying to take over Ai Xue's body... she was far to weak to do it but she still tried, stubbornly. She was already connected to her and ... her power could be useful.
Bingqing floated closer to the woman cupping her chin... just like she had cupped Kou's before in her dreams, and smiled. "Mh~" The she pulled in all of her power, for a moment the frozen wasted laid silent, not snow fell, now storms raged, as a greater spirit focused all of her power.
"You may be as powerful as you wish, but right now you are beneath me, however. You are inside of MY daughter, trying to possess her!" Bingqing's power spread out further, the ice that was binding the woman seemingly starting to devour her!" +You have two options! I will use all of my power to seal you away for good, you will not even be able to think! Or I will leave a special seal on you allowing you to use part of your power to help my daughter! If you serve her well and she becomes powerful enough, she might even be able to destroy those chains for you~"
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Obviously Bingqing was just saying whatever this self-proclaimed phoenix wanted to hear, and both of them knew this. Bingqing did not really believe her but she could feel that this woman was indeed quite powerful. And in turn, this woman was not dumb enough to believe that this girl would ever be strong enough to free her, and even if she would be, Why would she free her? Obviously, she would only get a little bit of freedom out of this...
The Silver-haired woman took a moment .. to think... That girl was her type anyway, and with the seal, in place, she would not be able to do anything substantial no matter how hard she tried, with a greater spirits help she would at least be able to release some of her power...taste some freedom... some air, and life after so many years locked up in this seal.
She had spent so long locked up until she was given to this child by the Ning curator, stretching her neck a little she let out a sigh. "Fine!" Xifeng let out a frustrated growl, a minor manner of freedom was still better than being chained here forever just playing tricks on the girl, with this spirits help she could probably do more!
"I'll help, I'll help. But she has to see how she uses that on her own! I won't babysit!" Xifeng nodded and Bingqing shrugged her shoulders slightly. "That's fine. She is my daughter she'll tame you too." Bingqing grinned slightly as she focused all of her power on the chains binding the woman. She by no means was able to undo them, but only managed to ease their pressure a bit. And just that was already quite exhausting to her. And she still had one more thing she needed to do here.
The woman was able to free a small part of her which quickly took the form of a small silvery bird flying around in Kou's inner world. "Ah, Moving... I have not felt too great in ages!" She screamed out before looking at Bingqing, the Spirit seemed very exhausted... but... her own power barely was above what these mortals called gold-core... so it would probably not be a good idea to try and dishonor their pact.
Xifeng was an easy-going person in the first place... which was one of the reasons she got into this dilemma in the first place. But admiring that? Never, Xifeng was too proud to accept a failure in herself, it was obviously everyone else that was wrong!
Bingqing let out a sigh, the restrictions she had put in place meant that this woman would not be able to harm her daughter. But she was unable to force her to actually help her, but that was fine, this woman seemed so recreation starved that she probably would not be able to keep her nose out of things anyway. And with the power she was able to display now, she would be a big asset inside the Ning Empire.
She turned around and directed her spiritual self towards her daughter's building core. If you looked at it the way the Ning Empire did, a normal core was good enough, and a red one was already quite powerful. But there were many colors a core could take, it was not just restricted to 5. Obviously Golden Cores, that was if you were a mere human.
Obviously a Golden Core had the best prospects to rise to power for someone like Xiu Shihong, but for Kou? For her little Ai Xue! She would do everything. She was the only thing she had left of her husband, and the only thing she cared for in this world! Only the best would be good enough, and so Bingqing parted with a tiny part of her essence. Not enough to weaken her, but enough that she would have to go to sleep for a time to recover afterward.
....
Xifeng remained in her bird form, but what she saw made her gasp, this spirit was actually giving up part of herself, a shard of the purest ice was inserted into the small core that was just about to form. It was so small the girl probably had not even realized it was there, she was still in the fourth realm after all! But now infused with the essence of a greater spirit, the faintly gold shimmering core lost that golden shine and took on a color resembling a diamond. An Icy blue! It would become an Icy core! Only families in the far beyond like hers would be able to do such things normally and on this plane? Maybe there were one or two that had similar things!
An Icy Core! It meant absolute mastery over ice. With that, this girl's blood-gift would awaken and her control over her ice would be terrifying once she grew up! This and since Ice and Darkness were rather familiar with each other her power over it would rise as well. The only thing that a gold core was better at was that it was a balanced thing between all elements. But why would the daughter of a greater spirit need to worry about that!
The formally tiny and fragile core that was just about forming was now quite big and looked like a diamond, and Xifeng could feel Bingqing's power leaving. She closed her eyes slightly before she herself materialized in the material plane, still looking like a tiny silvery bird. Bingqing had already retreated into the ice around her, her body seemingly week, but her icy eyes focused on the bird "I will sleep, she will have no problems reaching core formation in a matter of days... You will stand guard over her, tell her... her Mother went .. to sleep." Bingqing vanished in the ice, no longer able to keep her body.
She would sleep for maybe a year, maybe twenty years until she had regained the part of her essence she had lost, it was a rather large deal for a greater spirit like herself. But it seemed like Bingqing had taken steps in case something like this happened, the lesser spirits that lived here kept up the illusion of her being active, and this Ice Cave was almost impenetrable for anyone aside from this sleeping girl.
Well, she would not wake her up, let princess sleep all she wants... while she is doing that...Xifeng... could actually... go and... touch some... She was about to land on Kou's chest but was grabbed in her landing and squished making a pitiful noise.
Kou was awake and she was confused.. why was there a bird here? And a weird looking one too, never seen a bird like that...Mhm...wonder if it's tasty at all? She was still a bit groggy and shook her head. Where was Bingqing even? The last thing...Oh! She knocked Kou out! Quickly she stood up and looked herself up and down... Wait?
She was dressed in an icy blue cheongsam long blue sleeves that flowed like fins in water hiding her hands, The leg slit was ... rather high, so high in fact that it was uncomfortable until Kou realized that she wore silken pants underneath that reached all the way down to her knees. She was barefooted, which was comfortable for her.
These clothes, she could not quite make out what they were made off but they seemed very durable, but it was... totally not her style, quickly she scanned the room... her cloak was still intact and she quickly threw it over her shoulders.
"Mind letting me go?" Suddenly a voice and Kou made 3 steps back but the voice came actually from her hand! It was that tiny bird she had caught before! Obviously, she did not let it go but move her hand up to look at the bird, small and silver, very pretty with red eyes. It was a pet many girls would swoon over but for Kou? Her left ear twitched slightly and she looked at it with an apathetic expression.
"If you let me go I'll tell you what happend~" The bird said, a bit helplessly after all being grabbed like this was not really all that comfortable, and it could do nothing to harm the girl. "My name is Xifeng, and your Mother has left you with me after helping you."
Kou's ears flicked backward slightly and she tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean my Mother? I don't have any parents." Her grip on the bird stayed strong as her irritation rose, what was this bird talking about and where was Bingqing?
Xifeng was in a little bit of a dilemma here, she could actually not hurt Kou at all, but being grabbed like this was hitting her pride hard...also why did this girl have to have such soft skin... Quickly she shook her birdy head and stared up to Kou "That Ice Spirit? The big blue one that helped you just now? She is your Mother, she called you daughter like multiple times.,." Well, Xifeng was aware that Kou was not conscious at all when that happened, but still!
Kou's tail was no quite puffy as she squeezed the bird, while she wanted to say the bird was just talking to safe its hide, she could not deny it. The feeling she had with Bingqing from the beginning, that weird connection she had with her, it all made sense now, and with her eyes turning into an icy blue she stared at the Bird. "Explain what happened, in detail."
Xifeng was in quite the predicament, the Ice that was currently forming on her feathers was rather painful! But she the glare the girl that stared at her was even more so, her eyes were so cold it reminded her of things she wanted to forget, and finally, she spread her wings, throwing Kou's hands-off, not hurting her in the process but freeing herself from the girls grasp.
"Be a bit more delicate, will you? I shall explain I shall explain."
And that she did, obviously she left her own part out of all of it, simply telling Kou that she was someone left to her by her mother to accompany her for the future, she told Kou everything else, and finally ruffled her feathers slightly while landing on a nearby Ice-spike. "She'll be asleep for a good time, more than enough time for you to deal with what you have to deal with for now... You should be happy! She probably felt so bad about your life that she gave you a lot to make up for it! What a good Parent!"
Kou was left stunned and without words for a while...Now she wished she had reacted differently, but why did Bingqing not tell her outright? What was the meaning behind all of this? Carefully she stepped to the wall of ice her Mother had vanished into placing her hand on it. "Mh.." She could feel her. The essence in her felt her.. she knew she was here, just deep asleep.... unable to convey any emotions Kou just continued to stand there until Xifeng let out a small cough.
"I think this is enough time wasted, what she did to you can be fairly devastating if you do not start cultivating right about now, you should feel how your core is already forming, and how all Yin energy around you is focused on you. Sit down.
Xifeng couldn't stand to see the gift wasted she would've expected some more foresight of the girl, but she was raised in that Ning bastards backward country so even if she explained what her mother did, was this girl able to comprehend it? Probably not. Xifeng suddenly... felt quite motivated! If she could establish herself as a teacher to the girl her life would probably become far better, and she might even let her touch a little bit!
Kou glanced at the bird... Indeed in her emotional turmoil, she had not noticed, her body... her body felt different wholly different, Qi was flooding through her freely without restraints, and even just breathing in the way Shi Shi's cultivation technique had taught her was filling her with Qi. It was a difference so strong it made her dizzy for a moment.
Quite quickly she followed the bird's advice, moved outside the cave and sat down to cultivate. "You will jump through the late-stage quite quickly maybe in half a day, after that we can form your core, this place is quite good for that, there is nothing around you to hinder you and you can fully forge your core in the heavenly tribulation. "
Xifeng did not even get the idea to try and lessen the challenge before Kou, unlike those old idiots in the Ning Empire, Xifeng knew that only through peril and near-death situations would one become truly strong, there was no space at the top for mediocrity after all! Either this girl did it or she didn't!
And she did she ... did.
It did not even take half a day for the clouds of tribulations to form, Xifeng could feel that far in the Ning Empire they had just started with someone else so it took no time for them to form above this frozen wasteland. She watched Kou the girl had spent the last hours in deep cultivation, clearly, she was rather talented with how quickly she adjusted to the changes In her body.
Much to her surprise, Xifeng saw a smile creep up on the girl's face as she cultivated. That was rather rare, Cultivation was usually the way to a goal, people surely enjoyed themself if they made breakthroughs but the way to that? Most would not find it enjoyable! But this girl was clearly happy about cultivating! Such freaks were rather rare and usually, they tended to be those that came out on top among their peers.
Watching this girl break through the mid-fourth to the late fourth to the edge of core formation in a few hours was quite a sight, sadly that speed would come to an end once she actually reached core-formation.
Lightning was already crackling in the sky...
Kou opened her eyes and light was glowing in them as she stood up looking up the Clouds above her, honestly, she had no idea what exactly was going on so she was just winging it until now.. cultivating as good as she could. She glanced at the bird.. "What am I supposed to even do?"
Xifeng was stunned. ",,,What?"