Curled up in the cloak Kou quickly drifted asleep. She felt like a cat in a nice comfy and warm place, just that in her case it was a cold one! Screw cultivation for a bit. Shi Shi was out anyway, so she would enjoy this while she could. This was how Kou worked. She did not marvel at the cloak or tried to find out its other secrets or if it really was just to cool someone down. No, she used what she found and was happy with it. When you live on the streets you have to be pragmatic and Kou would never forget the lessons life had taught her.

Once she woke up it was already evening and did not wake up on her own. A large fluffy tail had invaded her nice, cool space and tickled her nose! Shi Shi was back! "Little one what exactly are you doing in there? Oh my... isn't that rather cold.. brr.." She pulled her tail back and glanced downward at the small bundle.

Kou sleepily pushed her head out of the cloak. It was so big that she could wrap herself into it more than just one time. Now it looked like a small black bun with a white head - a sight that made Shi Shi chuckle. "I did not know you had something like this. Where did you find it?" Shi Shi might have looked like an old lady, but she was often quite playful. So she went down on her knees and poked the Kou-bun here and there until the cloak unraveled around her.

"My, you are just in your underrobes. Aren't you freezing? I know it's warm outside, but that seems a bit excessive. You are not at a level where you can just ignore temperature quite yet." Kou quickly shook her head at the older woman.

"Mh, I like the cold. It feels very comfortable." With these words, Shi Shi understood, one of Kou's parents definitely had an ice bloodline. Clearly, now that her bloodline was awakened, the girl was weak to heat and loved the cold. She should have realized that earlier. Her eyes went to the Cloak once more and she narrowed them slightly.

"Will you let me have a look at this please?" She pointed at the Cloak. Somewhat unwillingly Kou handed the fabric over to Shi Shi, who quickly looked over it. She may not be in her prime anymore, but Shi Shi had once been a powerful creature. Far above anything this empire could bring forth, she had seen many treasures in her lifetime and had quite the keen eye for things.

This cloak was not all that extraordinary for her, but for a girl like Yun Kou to have it was rather weird. It was a core formation treasure! Kou's set of clothes, for example, was simply a first realm treasure! The difference between the two was like day and night! Clothing on that level would keep their wearer comfortable at all times. Feeling for their needs and using surrounding Qi to change temperature, they were soft and could be used as superb beds.

Of course, that was not the primary function of the cloak. From what Shi Shi could make out the cloak was actually a storage treasure! Kou would not be able to access the storage until she reached a higher realm. Shi Shi on the other hand could. The cloak was master-less and so she gathered some of her dried-up energy and had a look at its contents.

The space inside was actually quite sizable. The first thing Shi Shi noticed was a small pile of violet spirit stones. Right next to it was a smaller pile of golden spirit stones - that was it. All in all, for a cultivator like Kou, maybe even some elders this might be quite the catch. For a core formation master though, this was ... a bit poor. Shi Shi wondered where exactly Kou had met such a cheap bastard. Someone that gave her money, but was so stingy with it while owning a core formation treasure!

Well... beggars were not choosers, so Shi Shi would not complain. "Say, girl where exactly did you get that? I'm quite curious about it.” While asking she handed Kou the cloak back, not without sneakily taking a few spirit stones out of it - might as well reward the girl at some point with her own money. Shi Shi was not a good person at all!

Kou quickly explained what had happened, ending the whole ordeal with a "And then the old dried up man gave it to me. On my way out I passed out and a friend had to carry me home." Shi Shi was actually a bit mad after Kou finished her story. The trial she described Shi Shi had no power over. It was set up by that old foggy, that had chained her to this mountain. Shi Shi felt her rage bubble up for a moment, cursing that insignificant old timer and his mediocre cultivation... quickly she shook her head and looked down at Kou once more.

She would find that Jie kid and if he attempted any of her trials… Well, let’s say he would find out that messing with her family had consequences. Of course, she did not tell Kou about that. "Give me your left hand for a moment. The cloak is a high-class treasure and you need to bind it to you. Otherwise, everyone can just use it while touching. To bind an item to you need to feed it some of your Qi. The easiest way to do that is to concentrate some of your Qi into one of your fingers, cut it open and rub some of your blood on the item. After a few seconds, it is bound to you and others can no longer access or use it."

Kou curled her nose slightly but did as she was asked. She concentrated some of her Qi and directed it into her left index finger. Shi Shi made a small cut on her finger by drawing one of her nails over it. It barely hurt, but dark blood instantly sept forward. Kou quickly pressed it against the cloak's fabric. She was rather bummed about the whole thing - blood would just leave a big stain!

Much to Kou's surprise, the blood was absorbed by the cloak and it seemed to glow slightly. It rapidly shrunk in size and - without doing anything herself - placed itself around her shoulders. The comfy coldness returned to her once more, but now she felt like she could turn it on and off at will. Shi Shi grinned. "This cloak is quite fine. While it is not a defensive treasure it will repair itself, if you feed it Qi and will function as a fine armor for a while. Its defensive powers should be comparable to a third realm treasure."

Kou turned around in circles a few times. The cloak had very much adapted to her size, ending just above her ankles and concealing her whole body. The hood was large enough to completly hide her face if needed. In her opinion, it was as perfect as it could get! Shi Shi grinned at her. "Well now that you are nice and cozy how about you throw on your clothes again? The cloak should regulate the heat for you just fine for now. Once you enter the 3rd realm you will have enough Qi to gain access to its storage function."

"I would still advice you to get a normal storage ring or pouch. Also, don't tell anyone that the cloak is a core treasure. None of those backwater elders here will be able to tell, but if they knew they would snatch it away from you in a heartbeat. I wonder why that old fossil gave you this cloak. Anyway, shall we go? We will do some training - I have just the right trial in mind to give your frost-flame a little try!" Shi Shi did not wait for Kou to answer. As soon as she scooped her up both of them vanished on the spot.

Far up the outer sect mountain a Kou slightly shaken and a - at Kou's expense - snickering Shi Shi reappeared. "There we are. Come on follow me." The outer sect mountain was rather tall. A large icy peak pierced through the clouds. They appeared roughly halfway up the mountain. On her own, the journey would have taken Kou a lot of effort and time. The air up here was also rather thin, making every movement a bit more straining than usual.

Shi Shi quickly lead her into a nearby cave. A large white tori gate loomed over the entrance. Everything about it looked very ominous. "This outer sect mountain was a volcano at some point. While it's frosty out here - the insides are still very much full of fire qi. We will train there to give you a good picture of what your ice can and cannot do. This should also help you improve your control over it – Always remember, the best way to train something is to put it up against the thing it is weakest against!"

Well, that was certainly a kind of logic, right? Kou found the difficulty of the training to be raising quite quickly. Wouldn't a normal fire do to get started? Why does it have to be a volcano right off the bat?!