She left the island behind as it was, for a moment she contemplated trying to dig out the formation that created the barrier but it probably was too complicated and big to fit even in her storage. Given that a small power such as this school could establish their hideout here she did not worry all that much about being attacked by sea creatures anymore, therefore she brushed over the techniques she had gotten. The two minor ones were not suitable for her at all, one was about fire and she quickly put it away, the other was a wind technique very similar to the one Hei Tian had used before, albeit weaker in combination with each other those two were a good fit for a more upfront and combat-oriented person, for Kou even without her natural weakness and difficulty with fire there was no way to use these.

She curled her nose slightly, Hei Tian was able to use many techniques he preferred Wind as he had the most talent in that but she had seen him use fire, water, and even earth techniques, of course, they were not as perfected and strong as his wind but he was still very versatile.

For her that was impossible, she managed to absorb and adapt Shadow Hunting and Spiritual weapon because they were very fitting for her blood-line, the same was the case for the technique she had gotten from Shi Shi. But that was it. She was absolutely hopeless towards other techniques that were not part of her bloodline.

It was a blessing as well as a curse, honestly. For Kou who had thick spirit blood and good heritage, she could gain power quickly and efficiently, but to enjoy that efficiency she had to limit herself to the techniques her blood-line covered. Shadow, Light, and Ice.

Farstriders steps was unattributed, therefore she would have to carefully train it if she wanted to use it. Carefully she rotated her QI and started to follow the instructions, the technique had none of the in the empire commonly used different stages, it was a technique that materialized a foothold of Qi where ever the cultivator wanted. If one got very proficient with it it would be possible to jump through the air quickly.

Kou did not want to jump around currently so the "foothold" she created showed up in front of her, the air became very wobbly, and she carefully snipped against the foot-hold.. it was solid but soon she stopped, taking in a deep breath. She understood why this technique was not very useful in combat. It devoured quite an amount of Qi - Negligable if one was just moving for a short distance - but inside of a fighting situation it was too much almost eating away 15% of her current Qi for just one small hold.

Kou rubbed her head - the technique was easy enough, she was proficient in projection already after having fought with Spiritual weapon so long. The concept of creating something outside of her was similar. Still... it was too small to land on barely wider the 2 fingers together. "Still if I can Master it maybe I can make it my own... I should train until I set on land." She sat down crosslegged and closed her eyes.

.............

Ning Empire. Fishing Villiage Wukan.

Wu Xiao scoffed. He was the current young master of the influential Wu-Clan. They had been given the right to rule and manage the surrounding lands by the Ning-clan and took great pride in that. Of course, their lands were pretty much the "Boonies" there was nothing of worth here aside from the Azur-Sea. Much of the Wu-Clan's land was connected to the Sea. They were the people that provided fish and other sea products. It was a well off position and while they were certainly not spoken in the same breath as the Ning or Xiu clans they were an old-established family that could rival small and medium-sized sects if they went all out. Nobody wanted them to be their enemy!

Wu Xiao had a few worries, however. While he himself was a genius already having stepped into the fourth realm at the age of 21 most of his peers were sorry excuses for cultivation, even his father he had long since overtaken now only remaining under the Grand Clan Elder and Grand Patriarch in power, which pretty much made him the sole leader of the clan. It was not that these two Gold Core formation powerhouses did not love their clan, it was that the emperor had called them and many other powerful people under his rule in a few moons ago. As to why? He did not know, so most of their work was left to him.

It was a very unreal thing for him that his father was able to birth someone as Xu Xiao while he himself was at best a drunkard barely in the mid-third realm.

As for the reason for his scoff, apparently someone had passed their barrier from the sea. That barrier was supposed to keep beasts out so that mortal fisher-men could go fishing, but someone or something had gone through it without any problems. Probably nothing important but one of the elders kept bothering him to go check it out just to be sure.

"Young Master we should really go, it is something that had not happened in the last 200 years! It has to be a person passing the barrier from the outside! That person could hold valuable knowledge!" Wu Xiao scoffed again.. Lazy fuck just did not want to go himself. "Young Master you are the only one with the needed cultivation that can repair the barrier properly, you must go." The elder continued and Wu Xiao growled before he slammed his table. "Fine!"

The Elder let out a sigh, this Young Master was too focused on cultivating. Usually, that would be quite good but he was the only one that actually could do many of the things that were supposed to be taken care of, he was like a spoiled brat with the two people that kept spoiling him were currently out. The young Master had little patience for the work of a clan chief and viewed everyone with lacking cultivation as garbage...One of the reasons he had not yet found a cultivation partner!

...

Kou was thrilled right now! After weeks of training of a boat she had finally found land, and this time it was not just an island! The first thing she did was of course... find the first source of clean water and jump right in! Throwing off her clothes. She was starved for Hygiene. Salt Water was fine an all, but It was slowly eating away at her and nothing was better than finally washing everything off. The first thing she would do when she found a city was buying a manual for a cleaning technique...

This small lake was very clear and the water was very clean, it did not have any cold Qi inside of it as the one on the Island had but it was still very refreshing,...

Once she was done with cleaning up she came back to shore and put on the first layer of her clothes. Her ears twitched. She heard someone nearby.

....

Wu Xiao had found very weird looking markings at the shore-line as if someone had pulled a raft into the sand but said raft was nowhere to be found, instead, there were light markings of footsteps leading inland. "That blasted elder was right someone did come from the outside..." He had been following the subtle traces this person had left behind, broken grass and twigs - apparently this person was in haste and did not care to hide his path.

"Oh? It leads to the Crystal lake... truly someone new here, or he would know that that lake is under our family rule... and outsiders are prohibited from going near it.." He was not particularly antagonistic towards this person, it was more curiosity and a little greed that made him follow behind that person - after all that guy clearly had a storage treasure large enough to store a raft away. That was quite something!

What he saw when he closed in on the lake took his breath away for a moment. It was as if a goddess had suddenly descended from the sky. Standing there getting dressed into dark clothes she was... a slender frame, skin pale and smooth like jade. She seemed like a fairy from a fairytale, white hair like snow still slightly wet fell down her back and framed her lovely face.

He met her eyes. Two large golden orbs they seemed like liquid gems. He saw how her round and beautiful pupils turned into cat-like slits as she curled her small and cute nose in apparent anger while staring at him.

It might've been the absurdity of the situation coupled with the stimulation of a beautiful woman just partly dressed but Wu Xiao. Seemingly for the first time in his life was at a loss for words. The more he looked at her the lovelier she seemed. Two fluffy white ears perked up from her head - tilted backward at the moment and from her back grew two long and voluminous white tails whos fur even slightly wet as it still was clearly looked very soft!

Wu Xiao had always little interest in the female gender, they were weak and conversation with them was always tedious. But this girl...One might just say she was exactly his type. While she was very pretty, not every man would have this kind of reaction to her. It was more the case that Wu Xiao had found his...preference in appearance today.

He was so out of it - but the beautiful picture suddenly turned dark.

Shadows surrounded the girl as if robbing her appearance from his eyes and the whole small clearing that contained the lake suddenly seemed to become dimly lit, it was as if dusk had taken over in the middle of the day. Pressure weighed down on him! "What..." He was still somewhat out of it so he was too late to pull up his defenses, spitting out blood he went to his knees before he was able to protect himself from the spiritual pressure of the girl.

He was speechless once more. The picture he had seen before had invoked the desire to protect her, to make her his. She seemed so weak and fragile someone that he should stand in front of to protect from all the evil in this world. But the Qi that she let rub rampant was not weaker then his, in fact, she was almost equal to him who had been in the 4th realm for some time while she herself looked like she was at best 14 to 16 years old.

Wu Xiao gulped. He might've angered some prestigious family genius here... slowly he pushed the thoughts of courting that girl out of his mind as he got back to his knees...

...

That man had been peeking on her getting dressed! Kou was not very familiar with shame and such, but as she felt his eyes on her skin she felt a cold shiver in her spine and anger rose up inside of her. She let loose almost 70% of the spiritual pressure she was capable of while also activating Hunting Shadows.

Seeing him cough up blood made her hesitate for a moment and she lowered the power output just as the man had brought up his defenses and stood up. Of course, she had not been just standing there. She had dressed quickly and bound her hair into a pony-tail. "Please young-lady I'm not here to fight, my name is Wu Xiao I'm the owner of these lands, and .. I found that someone had intruded on them so I went to look, I was in no way ..here for the reason of peeking.."

Kou's eyebrows fell. So he was peeking! She had felt his eyes all over her body. It was embarrassing! She had not had contact with any human for years so the first time she interacted with someone being like this just amplified her anger at the situation, she stopped exerting pressure for now and the clearing turned back to its mid-day brightness.

...

She was clothed and had stopped her attack... Bwuh... Wu Xiao's eyes once more witnessed her. She seemed fully dry now and fully clothed she looked still quite lovely however now he could see her face better, her expression ... or lack there off was rather concerning, he felt like she would look a lot better with a smile, not that he would bring that up at this moment. He lowered his head just slightly towards her.

After all, he still was the lord here facing an intruder. "Would you tell me if it is from the sea you come? We have found a hole in our barrier earlier and suspicious raft looking markings in the sand nearby..."

....

Kou stared at him. He probably was around 18 or 19 years old - but that was just her guess. Well, build with long brown hair and brown eyes. He was a typical young pretty man. Those types of characters... there were many of them in the sects - young Masters of some old noble houses or cultivation clans that demanded respect of others just because of their heritage.

A concept that was lost to Kou. This one, however, seemed not haughty at all. After his peeking, he had been every polite just doing his work as ...apparently the landlord. So what should she tell him? Should she tell him where she came from? Was that a good idea? Should she make something up or just say nothing and go away? She knew nothing of the land she was in currently so the help of someone that knew would probably be helpful in the long run.

...

She just stares at me...why is she not answering? Maybe she does not understand the empire's tongue? Impossible she does not look like some barbarian to me... but why does she keep staring at me like that without saying anything? Wu Xiao was rather nervous as pretty as the girl was being stared at in such a stern manner by an unknown power that rivaled his own he felt somewhat nervous.

Oh...Just know her ears twitched.. they are pointing upwards now and her expression seemed to have softened a little. Is she weighing his worth currently? If he is worthy to be told? I am Wu Xiao! One of the most promising talents of the current empire destined to step into Core Formation before turning 50!

But she just keeps staring at him. He...blushed.

...

It took about 5 minutes for Kou to sort her thoughts, of course, this was rather awkward but that noble did not say anything else just somehow trying to avoid her eyes...wasn't it polite to talk while looking into the eyes of each other? Maybe she did something wrong. Then again she was currently not talking.

"My name is ...Xue, I left ... from a different way and came back this way, my apologies if there were any problems." She choose to hide her real name. After all, Ning Yu was a Prince he might just have spread her name for blowing up his Mansion setting a bounty on her head.

"Where is the next cultivator City.. here, Wu Xiao?" Just getting to the point seemed to be the best idea, she needed some things and those she would find in a cultivator city. these places were usually under the rule of one of the bigger families and had some smaller sects and schools inside of them. All kinds of people would come to these cities.

Wu Xiao nodded slightly "Of course Wu city is not all that far from here, if you follow me I will gladly lead you to it and have people see to it that you are properly accommodated, for how long does, Miss Xue want to stay?" It was weird. Him being so friendly was weird. She was used to being looked down upon by his type so she felt awkward having him be like this, still she nodded, pulling up the hood of her cloak to cover her face in shadows.

"I'll be right behind you, Young Master Wu." She decided to be a little more respectful now. After all aside from his... apparently not meant that way peeking he had been nice enough to her, and while Kou was still openly suspicious she still needed someone's help to get what she wanted.

Wu Xiao lead her out of the forest and after a while he flicked his sleeve a large leaf appeared in front of him, obviously a flying tressure, he calmly got up on it and looked over to Kou. "Miss Xue, do you wish to ride with me or are you fine on your own?" Kou curled her nose slightly and shook her head before stepping onto the leaf. "I'll stick with Young Master Wu if that's alright.." She mumbled somewhat dejected.

Her training with Farstriders step was very good, she was able to use it without problems, but to use it continuously she would have to get into the late fourth realm, as of now her Qi volume and density was simply not enough for long-distance travel, she would run dry at some point and she wanted to avoid that.

The leaf had enough space for two people but Kou remained on the outer edge sitting down crosslegged while being somewhat tense. It's been a while and she was still not very different from before. She did not trust people easily, her careful and suspicious nature continued to ring in her head telling her to leave immediately...

But nothing happened.

Wu Xiao while starring at her from time to time weirdly and quickly looking away once she meets his eyes had led her to Wu City, a big cultivation city that housed the Wu-Clan as well as many subservient clans. It was a full and blistering city full of stores and cultivators. Its power level was clearly above those smaller and medium sects. But still quite far off from the splendor of the big sects.

She will probably be able to find whatever she needed here so that was perfectly fine. What however did shock her was that Wu Xiao simply flew right into the city, passing the barrier without problems, the guards just looking up for a moment before continuing their duty. Usually, flight was forbidden in these kinds of cities, this just spoke for the rank the young man had here.

Where they ended up at was a nice courtyard in the upper half of the city were nobles or powerful life. She did feel quite out of place here.

...

"Miss Xue - Do you need anything else for your stay here?"

This girl as clearly of prestige! The way she stayed quiet all the time did not mind him at all, it was clear she had an upbringing where she was used to be around people of his power! He had brought her to one of the vacant courtyards in the upper area's of the city a place where only influential people could get residence.

Her ears twitched on his question and she curled her nose slightly. Her voice was soft and pleasant to the eyes as she spoke, he was once again caught off in his thoughts and did not even realize what it was she said. "Ah I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" the female seemed slightly confused as she repeated her words. "I'm looking for a place.. that sells furnaces and alchemy supplies.. also basic manuals and other things.."

Wu Xiao's eyes went wide, this young girl that was already so powerful was also an Alchemist? She must be part of some very powerful clan! It was weird he had never heard of her! "Oh there are many different shops in the city, you'll find the shopping district just to the north from here, there is also the Pristine Pavilion - it's the overlord over most of the trade here and in the empire - it's auctions are always full and one needs to be recognized to do personal business with them."

...

Kou glanced after Wu Xiao leaving before she sat down carefully with a flick of her sleeve her furnace appeared. She glanced at it somewhat lost for a while, she could not openly use this one. Even she was aware that her furnace was a special thing and powerful people might want to take it... she would need to have a proxy at-least.

With a sigh she sat down and started to cultivate, she did not want to leave when it was bright outside,