The Ancient Cloud Sect, the outer sect mountain.

It has been a long time already since Yun Kou had left the "Peaceful" Sect. If she were to return now she would not recognize the outer sect at all. Many of the stone houses that had made up the living quarters of students were destroyed. Rocks shattered or even melted. Her own house was little more than a black spot on the ground where something had burned away everything!

There was constant fighting going on! The extremity of which was unheard of!The reason?

There were two factions. Xiu Shihong, and Prince Ning Yu. These two powerful people were like fire and water, dog and cat.

It was to a degree that even the outer sect elders did not know what to do! Both of them had already entered the 3rd realm! That made them stronger than some of the lower-ranked elders already! Stronger than most protectors! Only in the inner sect would they be able to pacify them! Many people in the outer sect were already very much looking forward to the inner sect tournament where the strongest would be granted entry into the inner sect! That would mean those two Monsters would finally leave!

Xiu Shihong had shot up in the last year, growing almost a full head, she had put away her facade she did not care about others trying to chum up to her anymore, she had become wilder

Wearing a fiery red silken gown that left her shoulders free she made her way through the outer sect, her now open long black hair was fluttering behind her. She was like a blooming rose, beautiful, but also dangerous. Resembling a woman more than a child by now. Her fine brows were frowning ás she stared at the scene before her.

In front of her was the recently found Qi vein, none of the fractions had taken it over and she was here before everyone! "Everyone spread out, put up formations. I want a defensive barrier up as soon as possible!" She ordered her silky voice sounding very much like an army commander. Behind her was a large group of outer sect members, each of them had a fiery red scarf!

Her underlings moved as if they were a swarm of insects, drawing symbols on the ground and filling them with Qi. Quickly a gently shining barrier surrounded the vein "Good.." Xiu Shihong sat down, somebody had already set up a simple tent with a table and chairs. The outer sect was very much a big "game" of war between the nobles and talented children by now.

"The others will be here in just a little bit I want this place fortified until then, we will not hand this over to Ning Yu!"

A Qi Vein was a very simple thing, there was a small one under each of these stone houses, exactly under the cultivation room. It would fill the air in those rooms with Qi. Therefore a big Qi vein would give up more Qi. Building a base here and cultivating would give everyone more benefits, which would, in turn, give her an edge over the others.

This whole thing here was, in the end, a big game of war, and Xiu Shihong knew that she would not be able to inflict any lasting harm to the prince. But, she could certainly diminish his reputation, being suppressed inside of the sect will make many of the other nobles think twice of lending him their support in the pursuit for the throne even with his talents, he still had many royal brothers people that were talented and already older!

A smile on her lips she leaned back in her chair crossing her legs over each other while she played with a strand of her hair. "Little Princeling will have a hard-time in the future, and the support of my family won't ever come~"

Long since had she send out words to her father that she would rather gouge out her eyes than elope with the Prince, she went as far as write it in her own blood just to definitely get the message across, there was no way he would still give her to that princeling...

But that was still not enough! He had robbed her of her first friend! The first person that did not give a damn about who she was! Hei Tian and Li Zhi were dear to her, but they were still clearly aware of her standing. Kou...was different. She did not give a damn about it at all, even after knowing it she would just shrug and go on, as usual, she might've not been the most social person but at least she was real.

Red fiery armor appeared around her as she clenched her fists, horns like an Ogre made out of scarlet flames flickering on her forehead as she stood up, her powerful step leaving scorch marks and cracks in the ground. She could already feel them approach...

It, of course, was not just her and prince Ning Yu that had their own groups, they were simply the biggest ones! There was Ji Ciao a man that showed up out of nowhere already in the 3rd realm! he didn't have many underlings but those that he had were powerful and wild, people nobody else could control.

But these people stood back, they usually just observed from the side-lines. Grinning like hyenas while Xiu Shihong and Ning Yu went at each other's throats... This time it would be different!

As she emerged the tent she had just been caught fire! Her Qi enveloped the whole area! Xiu Shihong had already entered the 3rd late realm! Her power suppressing everything! The flaming tent was catapulted towards Jie Ciao's group, just with her directing it with her will, the flames seemingly ever burning! Many screams could be heard but Xiu Shihong did not care! Her eyes quickly found him..

Prince Ning Yue's expression seemed not playful anymore, his brows were tightly knit and his long phoenix wings were already out to be seen by everyone, the boy had grown, resembling a young man around 16 already - surrounded with golden flames and wearing a golden robe he looked very handsome, and the small gaggle of girls that stood not too far behind him shot him many glances!

Xiu Shihong, however, had no time for his looks, in her left hand, a blood-red spear appeared! The spear was very similar to the burning scarlet armor that was slowly forming around her body giving her the appearance of a violent war goddess! Just even more menacing! A fact that made Ning Yu's expression slightly frustrated!

"The spear was supposed to be mine.." He mumbled while gnashing his teeth. Once the engagement went through he would've been presented with this Shihong heirloom by his "Bride" all of this had already been planned out! But the Duke Shihong had not responded to him at all! And now that weapon that would put him above many of his brothers was in this...his TROPHY wife's hand pointed towards him!

He felt the blood in his throat and had to fight to swallow it back down, he was so angry he felt like he could puke out his internal organs! This woman was making him a laughing stock! Destroying everything he had built for himself here. With the very thing, he was supposed to rule over those lesser than him! Not just her, however... there was also a shadow, that time and time again playfully destroyed his plans as if he was little more then a toddler in the palm of that shadow's hand, he felt very depressed!

Xiu Shihong grinned, a wild savage grin befitting of the desert folk as she hurled the spear at Ning Yu. No hesitation, no words to be spoken! This was a clear and immediate declaration of war! BOOM! It took less than a second for it to be right in front of Ning Yue, the man just barely managed to use his wings as a shield! SCREEECH. A sickening noise filled the place, blood shot out of Ning Yu's nose. He went down on a knee, it took his all to defend against this weapon but it finally came to a halt, just for a moment he could see the dark red and flaming metal with his own eyes, greed almost overflowing.

But then the horror that was part of this weapon came into play, aside from its plentiful power and abilities, the most dangerous one was that the weapon would teleport to it's Master! It had taken him everything to defend against this throw but just before his eyes, the weapon vanished just to reappear in Xiu Shihongs hand. She could already throw it again!

"Back off Ning! This is my land!" Her domineering voice called through the valley the Qi vein was in, just her voice was enough to damage some of the first realm cultivators that filled the ranks of various armies. Every leader, even those in the 3rd realm, even those that hid their strength and waited patiently backed off. Nobody wanted to confront this lioness!

Ning Yu spat out a mouthful of blood and got back on his feet, his eyes did not carry any affection for the girl in front of him anymore, only hate! "You dare to treat your Prince like this Shihong? Don't overs...."

BOOOM!! She had hurled the spear at him once more, with less power this time but the threat was clear! She did not give a damn about his status anymore! Ning Yu once more blocked the weapon and growled "Retreat!" He howled putting all his rage and shame in this as she turned around! blood still in the corner of his lips. "You will regret this... bitterly... Shihong.."

Now that the Prince was dealt with Xiu's flaming eyes went over the other powers that had come, her eyes crossing those of many leaders, and not one of them had the guts to not lower his head in front of her! Jie Ciao had already backed off after the burning tent had hit part of his troops!

In the evening.

Building the base was already almost finished, Large stone walls infused with Qi were already standing and the roof was currently in construction. Xiu let out a sigh, with this her power in the outer sect would stand even if she left for the inner sect! Having influence here for the time was quite important as many of capable cultivators would remain in the outer sect for a while!

Wearing a striking shoulder free red robe she sat down on a chair, Li Zhi was here to, the girl had grown as well almost a full head taller! Her expression was frosty. The girl had just entered the mid 2 realms placing her in the upper echelon of cultivators that currently lived in the outer sect. Hei Tian was also here, early third realm. He had seemingly overtaken his sister without problems. He was currently the rising star in the ancient cloud sect and his support was one of the big reasons Xiu Shihong could do what she did. The boy was currently massaging her shoulders.

It was not an act of servitude at all! He had a concerned smile on his handsome face as he looked down to her. "Shihong you should not use that spear to much...You know it's power is still to draining for your current level.." His voice already had quite the adult tone to it, no mortal would call him anything else than a young man around 16 or 17. Even though his true age was just about 12 to 13. But that was part of being a cultivator. Qi was so nourishing that bodies and partially even the mind grew mature quicker.

"I can handle it, I want absolute dominance, I want this Prince going out of this sect as a shadow of his former self, I want him to have NOTHING! Take everything away from him!" She growled before shaking her head. "Thanks, Tian..."

"Now that we have the base here we can prepare for the Inner Sect... Many of the people there are already in the third realm and even in the late one at that, with the top being in the fourth, we will not be able to suppress him there as quickly as we could here as his royal status will still entice those that are strong but have no backing in the world..."

Li Zhi spoke and both Xiu Shihong and Hei Tian nodded. "That is true, It just means I have to become more powerful quickly..." With those words, Xiu Shihong stood up and moved, both of her friends following her. After a moment they arrived on the already partially built roof.

Xiu Shihong, Hei Tian and Li Zhi all 3 of them glanced into the now dark and stary sky, each of them had their own thoughts, but they had one thing in common, they did not give up on Kou, they knew she was somewhere, no corpse had been found, they would see her again at some point...surely.

Deep inside the inner sect, a pair of azure blue eyes were also looking into the starry sky, long brown hair surrounded a perfect jade-like face. "I wonder where that girl is now..." Her voice was soft and sweet like honey. One had to look twice to see who she actually was. Hei Mei, stood on the tallest peak of the inner sect her body wearing a breathtaking white lotus robe, a strange azure glow surrounding her... "I wish I were free to look for her, but .. the family would not let me leave... I hate this power. I wanted to be normal...I always just wanted to study.."

Her words carried deep sadness, but not just that, they even had a strange power, even the few birds and animals around seemed to weep at the woman's sorrows.

The outer sect, deep underground.

Jie Ciao smashed another mirror with his fist, the boy was still just in the 3rd realm! Even now! If his plan had gone as he wished he would already be in the 4th by now! But everything he did everything he planned! Somehow failed! It was as if he was playing cat and mouse with someone but was almost just short on getting them! Somebody powerful and smart... KNEW what he was doing and did everything to prevent him from reaching his goals.

Jie Ciao had never ever experienced so much failure! He was chosen! Everyone else was just pawns in his hands! But now somebody dared to play with him and he had no lead whatsoever as to who it was!

"DAMN YOU!"