There were a lot of other students here, going from shelf to shelf, their eyes bloodshot and their expression stiff, Kou could imagine that she would be like them in a bit. After all, this first art might not be the biggest reason as to why someone might prevail or not - but it certainly played a role.

Choosing an art that was just cool or fancy but had no real use was a direct out, the same came with too hard or too simple arts, If you can’t use them they don’t help you - and if their strength is not adequate you will be left behind.

Taking a deep breath Kou made herself as small as she could - moving back and forth between the large shelves like a shadow, she did not want any attention nor did she want to talk with anyone.

She had her own plan already, she wanted a movement art - something that would make it easier to get from a to b and make it easier to run away, to be honest the running away part was the main priority she had seen a few arts here and there already - and seeing other children being able to summon forth fire or lightning and shot it at her was not something that sat well in her gut

The hours ticked by and soon it was already dark outside, one by one the other students left. Kou had gone through about a hundred different scrolls and jade pieces - looking at techniques. Things like “Windstep” That would make your body lighter, or the petal dance, that would make it easier to avoid things. While useful in their own right it was not the flat speed increase Kou was looking for.

She would go over one more shelf before heading home, staying up to long would just eat away at her stamina. The shelf she went over now was in the far back of the first level, thick dust had settled over the techniques here - but it was worth a look in Kou’s opinion.

Curling her nose she let loose a big sneeze - sending unearthly amounts of dust into turmoil. After a moment rubbing her face and sneezing a few more times she finally got to look at the techniques.

Most of them were apparently incomplete, while others were only useable by people with specific bloodlines.

Bloodlines were something that had not shown up in lessons, apparently, some cultivators did get married to spirits, that happened so often that by now even mortals could have bloodlines, they gave you some special power most of the time or just flat out boosted something.

Kou was quite sure that she did not have any bloodline, what would that be? Street Rat? Then again, she had no idea who her parents were.

Her mind was stopped from drifting to other places by one jade piece, it said “Shadow bounty” the name alone resonated with her:

It was a technique that was cut into 5 different parts!

Arts that were cut in parts were a lot more powerful than others, but also took more time and effort to complete, the people in the outer sect that had a need for arts generally wanted quick power increases - so things that were difficult and not related to blowing things up or punching really hard were setting on dust.

Kou, as she was right now, would have access to two parts of the art. Shadow Hunter, which gave a flat speed increase - for consuming spiritual energy. This increase was weaker in light and stronger in darkness.

The second part was Shadow Jump - where she could jump between shadows in a small field around her. It would only be useable while Shadow Hunter was active and would consume more energy which each jump that was done in consecutive.

With her current cultivation she could not quite make out what the third step did, but apparently, it was an improved version of Shadow Jump.

Feeling like the technique was pretty much just what she did anyway with spiritual energy added to it - Kou took it on the spot, leaving the archive and making her way back home - golden eyes shining in anticipation.

The following days all went by in somewhat of a blur, the other students had been here for almost 3 weeks now, and she herself was now close to 4 months in the sect.

Kou continued to attend all the lessons - the spiritual once continued on with talking about meridians and how to open them, the specifics for different body parts.

As well as the elements of Qi and what effects they had on the body - apparently a person that had many meridians attuned to Wind would hate closed off spaces - with a mild temper. Or how to much fire made one rather temperamental and disliking of cold

The elder went on and on about how it was important to not focus too much on one element and that a cultivator should be able to deal with many different things in the future

Physical lessons slowly started to become less of a burden, her body was adapting and she clearly felt that she was about the same level of cultivation in both area’s by now rapidly approaching the midsection of the first realm.

On the last day of the third week, Kou made her breakthrough in both area’s placing herself in mid-Yellow. She did not feel much different but Elder Yee still called out her name at the end of the lesson, together with 4 other children.

One of them was Li Zhi - the girl that would always look to sit next to Kou, while Kou would not call her a friend yet - the girl was nice enough to be around.

Then there were 2 red-haired twins, she had seen those before, but never talked to them - they were way too big for their age and had dumb grins on their faces.

The last was a boy that seemed oddly familiar to Kou, he had a stiff expression that .. for some reason turned rather sour as he looked in her direction.

All 3 of them got a bottle of pills. “These are second rank Earth Pills, they will help you until you reach the second realm” That were her words as she dismissed everyone

Half an hour after the Physical lessons had ended Kou entered her house, she was less dirty and less exhausted - But Elder Guu had hinted to them already that he would more strict with times next week, that was fine with Kou she was firmly in the middle of those that actually did the whole run and climbing, she could probably manage.

Xiu Shihong was at home. “Welcome home Yun Kou it is a marvel to see you getting less and less dirty each day you come back.” Kou nodded slowly, she was still rather nervous around the girl that apparently was some bigshot noble, and she could never understand why she would even live here with her, she never asked her about it too.

“Thank you, Xiu Shihong…” Kou lowered her head slightly “Do you mind if I use the room for longer today? I want to finish opening the Meridians in my legs.” To that question, Xiu Shihong nodded slowly.

“Well if that is the case I will cultivate outside for a bit, so you may take your time.” Xiu Shihong appeared a bit lax and aloof from the outside but Kou had seen her cultivate for hours on end, she was always rather strict with the time plan and would cut away sleep in favor of cultivation.

“Thank you..” Kou just mumbled, “I’ll give you a spirit stone for the trouble later.” Towards this Xiu Shihong just waved

“Don’t bother, just let me take more time when I need to do something important.” With those words, she left the house.

Standing somewhat awkwardly there Kou coughed before letting out a sigh “People are difficult..” She entered the cultivation room and sat down, up until now she had not taken her pills - she had worked on the first meridians in each of her legs on her own.

Opening these was quite the work, she had to concentrate on her Qi - let it slowly flow into her legs and then start to batter against the closed-off meridian - slowly weakening the entrances - this could go horribly wrong, and losing focus would end in losing progress and rather harsh pain.

But today this would be over - popping the pill into her mouth it dissolved immediately, she felt how her body slowly burned up, her Qi was wild and forceful - and it was a lot harder gathering it into her legs this time.

With sweat pouring from her body she gritted her teeth guiding the violent energy downwards - to finally batter against the meridians, she felt how the resistance in her left leg slowly gave in.

After 4 hours Kou dropped down on her back, her whole body drenched in sweat but a grin on her face, she had opened both of them!

This was the first requirement to actually use her art! She would jump up and immediately try to use it, but her legs hurt like hell - and she had been in here for hours already! She had opened her left leg after the first 30 minutes but the right one somehow was a lot more difficult.

Kou once again found herself crawling to her room, climbing her bed and passing out on the spot, the grin still on her face, she had all day tomorrow to try out the art.