Kou very calmy collected her Pill and left the Auction-house, the rumor about her was already spread in town and it would just become even bigger now after what had just happened. Of course, Lu Ling was a genius of the previous generation. Someone that would probably be in Core-formation at some point with a large clan behind him! Angering someone like that could only bring disaster!

Not that Kou would care she would leave this place, she never intended to stay longer than a few days to restock and readjust and then make her way towards the Sect, she still had almost a year time before it would be too late... but she rather not make Shi Shi wait any longer than necessary.

"Still... I will have to get into Core formation to actually be able to make a dent into the sect.."

She mumbled quietly to herself. They had long since left the auction house and returned to the Wu estate Kou did not fail to notice the satisfied expression that was engrained on Wu Xiao's face ever since she had beaten that loud man. He probably had some kind of feud with him? Well, it was fine by her - Wu Xiao had helped her quite a bit so she would not fail to pay him back.

She put the clothes she had gotten into her storage and put on something new, another acquisition of their shopping trip. Tigh-high sturdy boots. a black skirt going to her knees and a black tunic. The boots had the effect of snuffing out one's footsteps, while the rest of the gear was enchanted to reduce the usage of Qi for Darkness Techniques.

It also had a belt on said belt she placed the dagger she had gotten from the Farstriders. She preferred her twin daggers a lot still, but they were just outclassed in front of the core-treasure. For a moment she closed her eyes, it was the dead of night - she had not told Wu Xiao that she would be going today. Kou might be dense but even she had realized after he treated her so well over this day that the male had some kind of attachment for her.

While she did not mind his presence, there was no time for this now, she would never be able to develop any tender feelings for someone in this situation. Still, instead of leaving worthlessly as she had planned, she left him a letter as well as a small bag with pills. Between them was even half of the searing core pill. She was quite confident that Wu Xiao would be able to reach core-formation in a few months if he took the pills and focused on cultivation.

Opening her hand a pill bottle appeared. These were Qi restoring pills.. and Kou let out a large sigh as what she would do now would be rather painful... She popped one of the pills in her mouth and jumped forward, activating Farstriders step mid-air she pushed herself forward, for anyone looking from the outside it almost looked like she was jumping on air.

Each leap got her a distance a normal man would need half an hour to run, and very quickly she was gone from the Wu estate and Wu city.

The reason why she chooses to travel like this even after she had bought a flying treasure was simple! She needed to train Farstriders step - and she had to strengthen the flow of her Qi. That was one of the pre-measurement for core-formation after all! Every few jumps she would pop another pill into her mouth. The Qi rushing in and out of her was painful. She was very much not a genius with anything but her natural elements and while she had some proficiency with projection, It was still a far cry from perfection.

This method of travel while painful and dangerous for any other cultivator would benefit Kou quite a bit if she kept it up for a while! For anyone whos body was not sturdy and full of spirit heritage this kind of training would damage their Qi passageways and meridians, but for Kou, the large amount of Qi she had to use for Farstriders step was perfect right now!

Hwhgm... Still, the overflowing ..drying and overflowing of Qi over and over again... was rather painful.

She had to stop about an hour in. Not because she ran out of Pills but because she just could not stand the pain anymore... she had traveled quite a distance this way and quietly landed in a small forest. Her body felt like she had just taken a bath in nettles and she shook her head multiple times before sitting down to cultivate until she felt like continuing to travel. Everything she did every breath she took was to become stronger, was to be the on top, to save her family and destroy those that threatened her and those she loved.

"Whatever happens, I won't ever lose anything again.." Suddenly she felt the mark on her shoulder burn the burning went away quite quickly but still it made her angry, with a sour expression on her face she continued her cultivation. She had no idea what the mark was about, she had not seen another dream since then, but sometimes it would just burn her, it hurt but she did not feel anything else happen.

She had a map, obviously, so she should've seen this coming but... she had chosen to overlook the fact which City she had to pass through... DongZhou. She was currently standing in mid-air on a foothold created by Farstriders-steps the extreme training method she had employed over the last few weeks was insane but it had its benefits her proficiency was quite high now. And underneath her was DongZhou, the City of the North.

It was weird. She still remembered how vast and unending the city seemed whenever she had climbed a tower or found herself on a roof, but from the sky, the city looked almost tiny. She was hit with nostalgia for a moment, and ... she wanted to take a break anyway, Luckily it was night time so she could easily hide from anyone.

Now that she was a cultivator she noticed some differences, she could see the guards she had always stayed clear of as nothing less then pebbles, most of them barely had any cultivation at all. She made her way over to the north gate, build-out thick white stones covered in runes. She could clearly see the barbarian encampments behind the walls.

She blinked for a moment. "How is that possible.." Every Barbarian she could see was far stronger then any guard, the weakest of them was clearly in the second realm while most of them were sporting cultivation of the third and fourth realms. They were gigantic, and barely looked humans more like giants, with the average size around 8 feet, they were covered in tattoos.

How did DongZhou even hold these beasts at bay? However...Kou quickly got her answer to that, the small skirmish that had just started was over quite quickly, a few young barbarians had charged the wall, the mighty clubs they swung crashing into the walls... or not, they actually crashed into a shield that was erected. And she could see countless cultivators of low cultivation pouring their Qi into a device behind the Wall. What came out was a large puppet, with 6 arms each holding a sword. This thing was comparable to gold-core and hacked down the barbarians in a few swipes.

However the price for evoking this creature seemed to be steep, she could see how many of the cultivators had dropped to their knees, their faces pale... they were quickly shoved away and another person took their space. For how proud these soldiers acted inside the city they very much seemed like disposable cannon fodder now. So much so that it made Kou even feel bad for them.

She moved over a little closer near invisible in the night sky, her fluffy ears twitched slightly as she listened in on the conversation between soldiers.

"The array is slowly losing power... We will need to apply for a new one soon..." His voice carried a heavy sigh with it but the woman that answered him had an angry tone to her. "And the emperor will send it anyway. These arrays are the only thing that keeps these barbaric monsters that eat their children out of the empire. The sects won't move a finger because they are too worried about losing power, and the policies against that have failed, even the situation between the Ning and the Xiu house is tense now. And then these Barbarians started attacking like mad a few years ago... eating away at the wall."

Kou's expression stiffened a little... the Xiu house had problems with the Ning? Wasn't that bad? Biting her lower lip she shook her head, while she wished she could go find Xiu Shihong, for now, she had to press forward, take the leap towards core-formation and free Shi Shi. That's why she was here. In this land full of cultivators she would hone her skills while she traveled towards the goal... her old sect.

His expression was very dark at the moment he found the letter, Wu Xiao sat down in the courtyard he had prepared for lady Xue and let out a sigh just to read the letter again, he had too... the handwriting was awful.

"Wu Xiao, I will leave this night. I left pills for you as thanks. You should be able to reach Core-formation quickly if you take them. I have to save someone that is dear to me. I don't know if I ever come back here, but I will say that I enjoyed the small break I had here. Thank you."

Another heavy sigh left his chest. He would've helped her if she asked! But... in her eyes what was he at this moment? And what was her enemy? What had driven her to have this power at this age? It apparently was not just her talent and blood-line but also the desire to save someone. One of his Elders had once said that you can become strong for yourself just fine. But becoming strong for others was very different. He knew that. He knew how those fighters that fought to protect would drive themself to exhaustion instead of stopping.

His eyes moved down towards the pill bottles when he had first seen them his eyes had almost popped out, he knew of none in the empire that could create pills like this, and he was fairly sure that the assessment that he would reach core-formation with this just fine was very clear. Still, he could not help but feel rejected.

He clenched his left fist. He felt like he had slacked in his cultivation. He was far better than anyone his age. At-least if you did not factor in the larger clans and big sects, and even there he would've been called a genius. But had he ever focused solely on cultivation? No, he had not. But that would change. He stomped his left foot on the ground "Someone bring the Elder to me, I will go into closed-door cultivation for a time."

...

Kou had remained near the wall for a few minutes to listen in, these arrays made her curious, but suddenly her whole body stiffened as she felt the gaze of someone on her. It did not come from DongZhou, it came from beyond the barrier. She could see the source of that ominous feeling that was spreading in her chest, and the source saw her, their eyes crossed for a moment.

It was a woman, taller than any she had seen until now. But that was not it... this woman felt... familiar to her, and still why did she suddenly feel so very cold? She had not felt cold in years, her very blood welcomed ice and snow after all. While she struggled to contain the bubbling coldness inside of her her eyes turned icy blue as she stared back unabated not because she wanted to but because she simply could not move.

Suddenly she felt something grabbing her dragging her forward, she would crush against the shield that was protecting the empire this way! She struggled but this was not something she could fight against, she even used her stored energy but it did not help. She closed her eyes to brace herself for the impact... but there was none, she simply plopped outside without much of a reaction with the shield. The speed in which she traveled was insane and in just moments she was next to the woman that had been hundreds of meters away before.

This woman was tall and slender, her hair and eyes had the color of a blue glacier, very similar to how Kou's eyes were at this moment, their eyes meet again, staring at each other...the coldness was flooding her body and her ears flicked backward, she could not avert her eyes or close them, ... but then she blacked out.

...

About 20 years in the past.

Bingqing gently caressed her belly. It was weird for her to see it swelling so much. Because she was not Human at all. She was the Guardian Spirit of the Frozen Wastes, an area so vast that the Empire seemed very small in comparison, she was, in fact, one with the land, and could never leave it. The people that lived here were all rugged and wild, full of vigor and she enjoyed watching them even helping them from time to time, it was these actions that had brought her the title of Guardian Spirit.

What made her curious even more was how the Humans lived. They found loved ones founded families and lived with pride and love. It made her feel weird. From the time she had gained a sense of self to now, the only emotions she could feel were curiosity and playfulness. She was woefully underdeveloped as an emotional being. It actually made her angry that she did not understand what she was feeling, and so whenever her anger rose snow would fall and the land was covered in icy storms.

She distanced herself from Humans. She never again appeared before them but they still continued to pray to her and offer her things. The most devoted one was a small clan that lived far far away at the edge of her territory. She moved there and lived with the lesser ice-spirits.

Many hundreds of years had passed. Until one interesting Human appeared. He was so very handsome, he had clear golden eyes and long white hair falling down to his back, his build was muscular but not overly so. He was so very different from the large and rugged people that lived in her lands. Her curiosity was sparked, this man came from the land of power she herself would not try to fight. A power so vast that it could protect its small plot of land from everything around it with a glittering shield.

She knew that on the other side of the waste's there was another land were people comparable to the most powerful of the humans that lived here were at home. Some of which powerful enough to even scare her. But none of them had ever come to bother her. And she wondered if the powerful being that protected his small patch of land would mind if she spoke with this little Human.

Finally, curiosity took over and she approached. Her form was that of a beautiful and slender maiden. wrapped in white silk. It was no surprise the man was stunned for a moment. Just now she noticed the ears on his head as they twitched. It was endearing...

Many years had passed since then. and Bingqing had learned a lot of that man, and what she learned of most was love. She now understood what it was, and she loved him deeply, and she could tell from his tender eyes when he held her as he did just now that he loved her too. Their connection was something that rarely happened. But they still loved each other.

She was a pure spirit of Ice, a force that could be counted among the strongest in the world. And he? He was Human carrying the blood of a fox spirit in him. He was in.. what the Humans called "Core-formation" For Bingqing he was a fragile and precious thing. And so was the weak life that was growing inside of her.

For a pure spirit that was more like a force of nature than an actual living being, giving birth to something was a weird concept, but she wished for it and it had happened, just like how eons ago the primordial spirits had mixed their blood with humans.

Her birth was a joyous thing. But... sadly there was a large problem with it. A problem that had prevailed throughout all of the pregnancy, making it last much much longer than for usual humans. The girl she had given birth to.. could not handle her Ice energy. Her father had to gather large amounts of herbs to use to make it even possible to give birth, but now that she was outside of her mother the girl needed to be given away... away from her mother because of the freezing grasp that she had would surely kill her in time.

Bingqing understood, however, she was so very unwilling. But after much discussion she let her Husband go...go back into the land behind the shield were the Qi was pure and it was easy to grow up in peace, the girl would grow up protected. And if she was able to awaken the powers that surely slumbered inside of her she would be brought back here...However that was not what happened.

Bingqing had settled down on a small mountain just outside the shield. She could barely affect anything beyond it but it was enough to feel her Husband and daughter. For a year everything was fine... but then it happened. Some woman appeared, she was very pretty but also very ugly. It was the only way Bingqing could describe it she started to court her husband, of course, she would! Her husband was the most handsome and most kind person in the world and she felt pride in that he would never forsake her. And he did not, as gently as he could he let the woman down, he was a father after all... And as someone in Gold-Core formation, he was one of the strongest people there.

However, Bingqing saw... saw everything. That woman tried to kill their daughter multiple times, while she was still so very weak and couldn't be moved much! That woman was so full of ugly things it was sickening to Bingqing! But she was unable to help her Husband.

And then it happened, he had enough and tried to return behind the barrier, he would find another safe place even if they had to cross the frozen wastes to do so. But ... he never managed too. The power behind that girl appeared, of course to Bingqing it was weak but her Husband was not able to handle it.

Bingqing felt like rage would consume her, She slammed into the barrier with all she had over and over and over again. her Body almost crumbling, before her husband died in front of her, his last words... only for her. "Live, for her." He had managed to hide the child with an old woman in the mad chase, Luckily the people that had murdered him, had little interest in his off-spring and left, but not before that woman spit on her husbands' corpse.

She ... observed while mending her broken body... observed how the girl grew weak... the old woman soon died and the children she was protecting went out to the streets...every step the little girl took every action...Bingqing followed... able to see but not to help not to grasp her...it started to darken her heart. She knew that she was not able to pass the barrier. But there were many that could. She gathered them all here and had them charge the walls in the hope they could retrieve the child for her over and over she send them to fight for her.

And then a few years ago, her child vanished. Chased by a puny little man bearly worth mentioning for Bingqing but powerful enough to crush her child. She used all of her power to extent her vision, she could see that man hovering above her sleeping daughter, for a moment it looked like he would kill her... but then he just dragged her off, far outside of Bingqing's vision.

She was not dead... and she knew the robes that man wore belonged to some small organization that trained cultivators... so maybe there was hope... and for many years she waited.. and waited...waited ever so long, the anxiety in her heart grew so much more.

And then she felt it. This familiar ..feeling, it felt like her..and like her husband, it was inside that city...just hovering inside the shield.. looking down on the people on top of the wall...

Bingqing could not control herself, her spiritual energy stretched out and slammed into the barrier, she was just able to force a tiny amount of it inside, but that was enough. She grabbed the shadowy figure and dragged her out... to her... Icy blue eyes meet each other... and she embraced the girl deeply.

"My... lovely...lovely..Ai Xue.." She whispered as she carried the girl off

Kou woke up and she still felt cold... but she also felt very odd right now. Her body was firmly pressed against something very cold and... very soft? She blinked slightly she was firmly held by some woman snuggled up against her chest, while that woman cried icicles.

She was very pretty her skin as fair as snow.. just like Kou's even her facial structure remembered Kou of the picture she saw whenever she looked into a mirror which... to be honest, was not all that often. She heard the womans voice

"Finally... I can hold you...finally."

These words seemed to strike Kou. Usually, she would struggle and try to escape the grasp that was cold even to her.. but .. something inside of her did not let her.. instead she closed her eyes for a moment her ears twitching slightly. This woman had such a nice scent to her... if not for the cold Kou felt like she would be able to stay like this forever but... now was not the time for that.

She turned her head slightly and once more their eyes meet, the .. warm smile the woman had and the tears swimming in her eyes were...very "warm" and disarming...

"You are awake... that is good, very good, we shall leave this place and never return." The woman stood up, holding Kou in her arms as she started to suddenly fly upwards.

Kou's heart sunk, who was this woman? Why did she want to take her away? She could not go far away right now! She had to save Shi Shi! So she began to struggle, it was pointless against the woman obviously... or so Kou thought but the moment she started to struggle the woman stopped her eyes... seemingly concerned.

"What is it little one?" ...Hä? Kou was momentarily stunned. Even if she felt that this woman was familiar... this was clearly kidnapping! She had been abducted and was currently in the grasp of power that she could do nothing against... again...

So that the woman would actually stop and ask, was somewhat unreal to Kou, and she struggled for a moment to produce words that she hoped were as respectful as possible.

"Grand-Person, please... let me be, I can't go somewhere else... there is someone I need to save, someone dear to me..like a mother that needs my help I can't go, can't go at all. Please allow this little one to stay". She rarely spoke, and if, rarely with any mind to manners or respect towards others, but this time she tried. However, the reaction was different then she hoped.

The woman seemed very sad all of a sudden... "Oh.." She mumbled while hovering mid-air. "A Mother?" She mumbled quietly her face seemed so sad right now...Kou somehow felt bad but did not understand the reason for it.

"She.. is my Grandmother, she took care of me. I rather die than leave the debt I owe unpaid. I have to go and save her, please Grand-one .. please let me stay." Kou pleaded her ears tilting down slightly, she never thought something like that would happen, why would something like this ... this thing... suddenly want her? Because she was very clearly not a person nor a spirit-beast... or demon, Kou could feel as much.

Bingqing blinked if it was her daughter's Grandmother, that meant it was her mother in law, right? Then that was no reason to be sad over but a joyous one. She wished to meet the mother of her husband! Carefully she inspected the girl in her arms. She had grown stronger... for a Human at-least. Her Husband would still be stronger by a lot, but she was closing in.

That made Bingqing feel uneasy. She was not strong enough to beat those that had attacked her Husband before... so she rather not send her back inside an area where she could not help... but it was Mother-in-law...Bingqing actually remained with a deep-thinking expression while hovering the air for about 10 minutes, and Kou was slowly getting more and more anxious.

Sadly Bingqing was a Spirit. While her husband had been thoughtful and understanding, explaining everything in detail and teaching her well...Bingqing failed to... convey the information that she was, in fact, Kou's mother. She felt the connection between them, the blood inside the girl..surely she would too and it was not important to say anything, right?

However Kou was fairly dense and too brash to connect the hints together right now, and while she felt weird with this woman, she also felt fear and anxiety...for herself and Shi Shi. She very much wanted to be somewhere else right now.

"Fine...How urgent is it?" Bingqing's eyes narrowed - she would use what time she had with her daughter to make her as strong as possible so she could come back home safely.