Wearing this was actually kind of comfortable, it was not to tight or to lose, the fabric felt good on her skin and it was all around perfect for her size, amazing!

The sect robes had always been to fluttering with giant sleeves and wide hems, it was not super inconvenient but she preferred clothes like this to be sure! Easy to move in - no fluttering and dark.

The gown had a few minor enchantments in it - for one it’s durability was comparable to common iron armor, while that would do little in the long run - it might prevent some injuries.

She could poor Qi into it which would activate a repair and cleaning function, the amount of Qi would be higher the more damaged the clothes got, but it was relieving to know she would not need a new set even if something damaged it. It would also grow with her - she had to feed it a lot of Qi for that but that was fine.

The last function was that it was easier to take in darkness Qi. Xiu Shihong had made the most demands for Kou since she was horribly unprepared for ordering clothes.

20 Spirit stones went down the drain for this… 20 spirit stones, that was about a month worth of spirit stones, the income for a whole MONTH! If one would change their worth into the common gold coins, it was enough to sustain a middle-class household for half a lifetime!

That being said compared to the things nobles wore - or even just stronger cultivators this was almost child’s play, Xiu Shihong had told Kou that one of the dresses she had back home could save an Art and fire it on command!

Kou jumped on the spot a few times, totally forgetting that Xiu Shihong was even here, it felt great - moving was easy. The jumping was interrupted by a chuckle from Xiu Shihong which immediately pulled Kou back out of her own mental world.

She had a goofy grin on her face while jumping - showing Xiu Shihong a rather unsightly picture, but the other girl seemed to only be amused by this. “Well I did tell you that you will thank me, is it good? You look rather good if I say so myself, not quite girlish but not unfeminine, once you grow curves the armor will hint at them subtly!”

Xiu Shihong made a few circles around Kou - nodding. “Really good, that inner sect disciple did really good work, well I’m awaiting my thank you!” The girl grinned wide, in front of Kou she had long since abandoned her perfect little doll persona and acted willfully and proud - something Kou was actually fine with, it made it easier to understand the other girl.

Kou curled her nose a little and nodded “Thank you, the clothes are great, Xiu Shihong is wise and mighty.” the first part was sincere while the second part was part mocking part truth. But while saying that Kou gave the girl a rare smile.

“Mhhhmpph!” Xiu Shihong struck her nose into the air and nodded “Well - glad to help you out.” The taller girl smiled and went back to her own room. Leaving Kou on her own for now.

Soon it was the first day of her training with Shi Shi, Kou took care to make sure nobody followed her and arrived near the ‘barrier’ “Shi Shi…Kou is here.” She called out - it was still early in the morning so Kou was wondering if the old spirit was still asleep.

That worry was quickly dissolved as Kou was once more scooped up against her will by invisible hands - the feeling of hands wrapping around you and picking you up without seeing anything was kind of terrifying and so Kou froze for a moment before she calmed herself down, of course, it was Shi Shi.

The old woman placed her back on her feet inside the barrier “You can’t come in or out without being in contact with me.” She had a pretty sly grin on her face for such an old lady. “Oh, you got new gear? Is it not a bit boyish? I think you would look better in pink.”

She continued to tease Kou about her outfit a bit as she leed the girl around the forest, they did not go to her cave at all - they went deep into the dark forest - Kou had not been this deep before, in here you would find late and mid realm beasts un the regular so she had mostly stayed away.

Shi Shi apparently saw the wary gaze. “This is actually a quite good hunting ground, the meat of the beasts here can help you in your cultivation, unlike that spider nest you will probably never run into something higher than your current cultivation.”

Kou nodded slowly not saying anything she would think about this - eating beast meat was still a bit weird and she …was actually a little bit fearful of confronting stronger beasts again - she usually just targeted early-stage beasts after the spider fight.

They continued on for about half an hour until finally, they arrived at a deep crevice, it was about 8 feet in with but really really deep, it looked like some god-like being had split the ground here - some trees and other plants were growing in the crevice wall. It had an eerily and at the same time serene feeling to it.

There were tiny stairs on the side of the crevice leading down into the darkness. “The trial is to follow these stairs down - it will get harder the further you go, there are some benefits at the bottom for you if you manage it, I want to hear how you felt and how difficult it was after you come back up, so remember, alright?"

Shi Shi was someone that prepared these trials and while she indeed wanted Kou to reap some benefits she - was also quite happy to have a test dummy for her trials

“Why will it become harder?” Kou tilted her head to the side and looked downwards, her curious gaze following the stairs into the darkness.

“Oh you will see, now - move lil’ thief.” She shooed Kou towards the stairs flicking her sleeve afterward. Sitting down nearby and pulling out a long elegant pipe.

Kou did not find going down the stairs really all that difficult they were tiny and she could just barely go down without hugging the wall - but aside from that, there was not much difficulty. Fife minutes in she was getting agitated, was that woman messing with her?

The suddenly she felt a pull on her body, something pulled her away from the wall and down - it was as if the gravitational force had suddenly changed - she yelped and quickly hugged the wall fighting against the pull.

It was not that strong when she was prepared for it but the sudden pull almost had scared her to death, she did not want to think about what would happen if she fell this deep. Slowly she continued on her mind somewhat at ease - at least this actually felt like a trial now.

10 minutes later and she was a bit over halfway down, there were no more trees just slightly glowing moss - in the otherwise pitch-black crevice, the force pulling her had continued to get stronger the further she went down. Luckily she had gotten new training daggers from the training field, the poor weapons were abused by Kou as she rammed them into the rocky soil in front of her for hold which each step.

It was an exhausting thing going down these stairs, her calves burned and her arms slowly went numb, sticky sweat had soaked her clothes, her breath was ragged. This was actually awful - It might be worse than the first run with Elder Gui.

Just when she felt like she was about to drop to her knees and vomit from exhaustion the pull stopped, she had reached the end, with her face pale and her eyes red she dropped to the ground immediately, taking deep and controlled breaths while rotating her Qi to calm her heart and body.

It took her a good 10 minutes to stand up again, her body felt quite heavy. It was actually pretty lit up here - the growing moss just increased the further you went down, you could not even see the sun down here at all! There was nothing down here from what Kou could tell, just a few bugs that whereof no concern for her.

She moved along the ground for a bit before noticing a weird white glow, something in her mind reeled, she must go there! It told her, her whole body got goosebumps and the unexplainable desire to go towards that light awakened in Kou.

She disliked this! Her body and mind were both working against her now! Both of them disregarded any suspicion! It was as if she had lost control over her body and was just a passenger! Her legs moved quickly even with how heavy they felt and quickly she arrived at the shore of a pool.

The pool was some kind of black and white liquid that had an intense white glow to it. It took all of her willpower to stop herself from just jumping into it, instead, she squatted down - stretching out her left hand and submerging her index finger in the liquid.

It was as if lighting had suddenly struck her - her hair stood on end and her eyes widened as she stared at her finger, it was now faintly glowing, she had felt some kind of energy in this pool, the energy she could absorb easily - this energy felt… so familiar to her, it was as if it was something she was missing.

Still, her nature was unchanged she backed up a bit, trying to get control over her mind and body. “What is this… pool, why does it feel this way… Is this the benefit Shi Shi spoke of?” She could not help but ask out loud.

But the presence of the pool did not slim down, the desire to jump into it seemed to come from her very core and soul, fighting against this feeling was fruitless as she stared at her finger… Nothing had happened to it and after a little while the glow vanished, it seemed to be safe.

It did not take to long and her patience broke she tore off her clothes leaving them messily on the ground and jumped into the pool! Surely if she could trust anything it was her own body, right?

As her body and head sunk down she felt like being embraced, she did not have to breathe at all and slowly sunk to the ground of the pool, her whole body felt amazing, she felt so at home and warm here, and was engulfed in silky soft feeling liquid.

Her body began to faintly glow and she could feel the energy in the pool flowing into her body, this was not Qi - it had no impact on her cultivation base at all, it was something that bypassed all of that, something way more primal, the energy felt like an extension of her body

She did not know how much time had passed since had been here, it sometimes felt like hours, and sometimes like days or weeks even months. Her mind was at peace at this moment, it was a feeling she was unfamiliar with - her whole body was content, there was a pleasant prickling feeling in her head - as well as above her butt.

She could not describe it - but it felt right, felt whole if she thought back to before this, she felt like something had been missing as if her body was just incomplete.

But now she felt complete. That feeling stayed for a while after she came back to her senses, the seemingly boundless energy around her had all but disappeared so she surfaced once more climbing out of the pool.

If someone could see her expression right now it was like a baby that just had been feed and had a nice nap.

Turning around to the pool, it had turned into simple water - clear enough so that she could see her image in it, her eyes widened as she looked down.