Kou stood above Ning Jiao's bed, she was currently in her human form while she glanced down at the girl. There was a rare smile on her face, her eyes very gentle as she carefully brushed some hair out of the girl's face.

She was sleeping deeply. Of course, she was. She had powered herself out fully and put up a great fight against someone far more powerful then she was. It was amazing to watch. And while Kou had to swoop in at the end. If Ning Jiao was just a little bit stronger she might've just won on her own. Strenght like that was amazing. But weirdly enough the slight feeling of jealousy she had before had vanished fully by now.

She just felt good for her growing, because she saw how hard Ning Jiao had worked in their time together. "Mh.. Maybe this is how Hei Mei felt... with me? I have to ask Hei Tian about her..." With the mention of his name her eyes sunk a bit.. her fluffy ears tilted down.

Her icy blue eyes slowly turned back to the normal amber she was born with before she vanished from Ning Jiao's quarters inside the arena. Nobody was allowed to exit the arena grounds, to prevent cheating and such. Everyone would have the same.

Kou's body was covered in shadow as she seemingly flew through the air. The living quarters under the arena were almost like a maze, but on their way down she had made a note to remember the way. And so she quickly found her way to the medicine ward. She slipped past many people chatting in the hallways, but nobody noticed her. Not even the Healers that were currently playing a game of cards, felt her brushing past them.

She slipped into the room that Hei Tian was in. She could feel his Qi, they had a connection after all.

The Shadowy energy that concealed her frame slowly dissipated, her trusty cloak still seemed to merge with the darkness making her barely visible as she leaned over Hei Tian.. her gaze was slightly troubled. She might've overdone it a bit, his whole face was a swollen mess, his left shoulder was broken, as were many of his bones. He was not crippled or anything... But with the medical knowledge of the empire, it would take months for recovery...

She liked Hei Tian a lot, he was her first friend... well second after Hei Mei. She had been close to him in their time in the sect, hurting him like that..felt kinda bad... Carefully she reached down her hand touching his swollen face, as she send some cooling Qi into him before she carefully opened his mouth to give him a few pills.

For a moment she remained, to be honest, she was missing her friends a lot. Hei Tian, Xiu Shihong, Li Zhi... they had become somewhat of a family to her back in the sect, at-least to the amount of understanding Kou had of the word family.

Her gaze remained on his face, some of her long white hair falling down from her hood, gently touching his face. He was waking up. Kou .. curled her nose slightly, she was sure she was gone before he could see her, shadows forming around her as she quickly vanished out of the room. She would like it if they could talk now. But it was probably better served to delay this until after she was done with her mission.

...

He was in slumber, but even in his slumber, his mind was going over the fight, again and again. The little Ning girl was quite strong, but he was far stronger and could've beaten her... but then there was that tiny fox creature that suddenly smashed him into the ground knocking him out cold. Why would they act like that? If Ning Jiao had such a strong spirit beast, she could've just used it at the beginning and spare herself of using all that energy...

He could not wrap his mind around it... But suddenly his consciousness was roused as a comfortable cold feeling was invading his swollen flesh. Quickly afterward he felt Medical Qi erupt in his mouth and flooding his body. Someone had given him pills, and not just any pills! He was a scion of the Hei family. He had taken many pills in his life, expensive pills...But this... THIS was incomparable, the power and purity of this energy did not compare at all.

He opened his eyes, and for just a split second he saw.. a beautiful pale face with white hair falling down, golden eyes looked at him with some concern, but then it vanished, so fast he wondered if he was delusional. However, he had no time to actually think about it. The magical energy in him was not just healing him. It actually... seemed to have changed something in his body... He had been stuck for a while now... but suddenly whatever had been holding him back was gone.

Core-Formation! He could make a breakthrough right now! However, this place was unsuitable, so he suppressed it... "It couldn't have been her... she died... and even if not how would she be here at this time.."

...

Kou let out a sigh, Her heart was beating really fast. She had no romantical interest in Hei Tian, but he was like her big brother to her... she wanted to see him and talk with him.. she wanted to know what happened to him when she went missing.. she wanted to tell them about what she went through ...all of them, but she could not right now.

Quickly she made her way back to Ning Jiao's room, and turned back into her fox form, slowly curling up into a white ball of fluff next to the girl's head.. she would nap a bit too, while sleeping was not necessary in core formation. She still liked it.. to rest her mind.

...

It that old bastard took one of his sons that would have been just fine! But why hat it to be Jiao! He had already promised her body to someone.. how would he go from here. He could either offend this old one or the young Master that was smitten with the girl.

Actually.. there were.. other things... The young master wouldn't care much about the girl's power in fact the Emperor was sure.. he would prefer her to be weak. But the old man just wanted her for the talents she had... "I just have to cripple the girl." He felt a slight pain in his chest when he came to that conclusion. but he quickly suppressed it. It was for the growth of the Empire! If they could establish a proper connection with the outside forces then the Empire could raise!

"I will have to use some favors.."

He mumbled to himself as he headed out of his room.

...

The next day was mostly boring. Ning Jiao's fight would not be until later, and there was only one fight she wanted to watch...Xiu Shihong vs the first prince. Most people assumed that this fight would be the final but apparently they would engage against each other in the second round already.

The whole arena was static. Nobody actually talked but the tension made the air heavy. Kou even felt the hairs on her back stand up as she watched from the side-lines. Ning Jiao was here too but she seemed less excited. She was actually napping. Still exhausted by her fight against Hei Tian, she just came to cheer her older brother on...

When both combatants entered the arena their Aura's clashed, and immediately the barrier shattered. A storm was set loose and every elaborate hairdo and loosely hold item was gone in a split second before the elders recreated and reinforced the barrier.

Prince Ning felt shocked. He has been in Core-Formation for a while, and the was stable. He heard that the young Xiu had just entered into it, but her power seemed very firm and stable... So that was the difference between a Gold-Core and a normal one?

He got ready and took his stance. There was no trace of the arrogance people like Ning Yu had, he was carefully watching the girl before him, not underestimating her in the slightest. In fact, he would be the one making the first move!

Pushing his left palm forward, golden flames erupted in the shape of his hand, shooting towards Xiu Shihong. This was one of his strongest attacks, that combined the power of his blood-line with a high-level technique! It was a feat rarely seen, and there were gasps to be heard from many core-formation watchers.

Kou curled her nose slightly... That strike was powerful, truly thought. The combination of technique and blood-line was something that very much interested her, she had produced similar things in the past, but never to that degree!

Xiu Shihong whirled around, red armor formed around her, spikes of red-hot-flames seemingly burning hot, a red-spear appeared in her hand, her trusty weapon. Her armor was far more defined now then it had been back in the sect, in fact, a large Oni-like helmet formed on her head, and she looked like a Demon from hell, send the yellow-springs.

She trusted outward with her spear, meeting the palm strike, and cracks formed everywhere, hastily multiple core-formation watchers jumped down to support the elders holding up the barrier. A clash of this magnitude would be enough to destroy the arena!

There was a stalemate for a bit as the palm strike was held in place by the spear, but with a wide grin Xiu Shihong slowly pushed through, splitting the palm in half, her eyes burning with fire. "He..Ning, Its been a while since I got to beat one of you up...My hate for your family is immeasurable." And then she just slashed the palm strike in two, and shoot towards the first prince.

The first prince was shocked for a moment, this power! And the expression in the girl's eyes! His own expression hardened... she would kill him if he just gave her an inch, that much was clear! This girl had Mastered the Ancient Demon Slaughterer Technique of the Xiu clan! No, she even improved on it! And her own blood-line power just made it even more tyrannical. Such a fearsome girl! What did that fool Ning Yu do to her to make her hate the Ning this much! This might just be the end of their family!

He pulled out a golden sword and parried the spear, their faces were just inches from each other as their weapons screeched against each other, her red glowing eyes pierced him, and in the back of his mind, he felt fear raise. He might not be able to get out of this!

Gritting his teeth he pushed the girl away before golden Wings formed on his back and he took air, taking one deep breath he stretched out his weapon and drew a shape into the air. Flames formed and the image of a flaming phoenix made the air burn! The Image turned its eyes towards Xiu Shihong, and a barrage of flaming feathers shoot after the girl.

Shihong was dancing back and forth, striking feathers to the side whenever it was impossible to avoid. But the feathers would not vanish they reanimated moments later and set after Xiu Shihong again. It quickly became impossible to avoid and after a few breaths of time Xiu Shihong's armor was littered in burning feathers sticking deep, blood dripped to the ground... and suddenly Xiu Shihong stopped avoiding it.

Was this it?

No. Xiu Shihong simply leaned back and let out a roar that shook the arena even through the barrier, cracks formed everywhere and the ring exploded, She had destroyed the feathers with this roar! It was enhanced with her domain! And then she shot forward, the spear growing in size .. double, triple...quadruple. and more!

A shriek could be heard as the spear slashed the Phoenix in half and the first prince fell to the ground spitting out blood. The Phonix was his domain! And it was shattered like that! The damage was immense. But Xiu Shihong did not stop, she mincemeat the Phoenix image until nothing was left before she landed on the ground. A cocky smile on her face, as she blew some loose hair away.

"That all? Ning?" She said... The wounds on her body seemed to already heal, there was no more blood to be seen. And she even made the effort to enhance her voice, so everyone could hear. That open mockery to the ruling family! There was no respect whatsoever! Many people gasped and paled.

The first prince spat out another mouth full of blood but this time the blood floated in front of him and with inhumane swiftness he formed letters with the blood, spelling. "Power." His body bulged, his veins popped up and his mass doubled. He now looked like a giant brute, his robes ripped apart.

For a split second, there was some worry in Xiu Shihong's face but she quickly calmed down again, before jumping back - holding her spear up while carefully eyeing the now bloated prince.

"Forbidden technique! Blood - Release! He will drop down a level in cultivation after this... back to the early gold-core...and advancing will be twice as hard in the future. Fool!" Many of the old Core-formation Masters spoke up, they could not believe the first prince would give up so much just for a win in a tournament!

But nobody saw what the first prince saw, nobody felt what he felt. He was in danger! This was a life or death battle! If he slipped up Xiu Shihong would immediately execute him. Her strikes were true. She also had insulted the Ning and he had to squash that. Otherwise, his father would squash him! He could feel the heated gaze on his back already.

...

"Your Son is also quite formidable .. Emperor, to assess the situation like this and make the right choice is quite good. If he makes it out of it I would show some interest in taking him with me when I leave." The old bearded man next to the emperor was watching with delight. This Shihong girl was amazing! A pure gem! She might even be better than the Ning girl!

He would pick the best fruits of this empire and bring them back!

...

The fight continued, they clashed many times, but now that the Prince had released his forbidden technique they were quite equal. Each clash resulted in wounds on both of their bodies, and after a bit of fighting, Xiu Shihong's Demon-armor seemed to give in, but her expression was still fine. "Little Ning can't help to play tricks.. can't fight with your own power so you have to employ some tricks.. just like your little brother!" The hate in her voice sends shivers down everyone's spine, even the emperor felt some lingering fear. When had the Xiu produced such a Monster!

The first prince was exhausted, his body hurt and was covered in wounds, his left eye was swollen and bloody. And he felt his energy slowly slipping away. He would put everything he had into the last strike. He did not know WHAT Ning Yu did to her but he would kill his little brother for this for sure!

This Palmstrike was about 3 times the size the first one had been, and the picture of a phoenix was imbedded into the palm as it shot forwards, the barrier exploded. A few people instantly lost consciousness, not being able to resist the powerful domains of those two fighters clashing.

Xiu Shihong looked at the palm shooting towards her and, she met it head-on, taking a deep breath she rotated her golden core, forcing the power out of it before she punched out, her own strike took form and shoot forward meeting the palm...for a moment everything was still, then every core Master that was here jumped up employing barriers around the watchers. The Arena cracked and without the help of everyone, the whole stadium would've been grinded to fine sand...

Kou watched this...Xiu Shihong had been fearful before and, she knew that the girl had not even used her trump cards. The fist and palm were in a stalemate for about 5 breaths then.. the fist broke the palm.. while reduced in size immensely it still struck the first prince sending him flying out of the stadium, he went so high that most people could not even see him anymore... before there was a loud BANG somewhere else in the city.

Kou's eyes widened when Xiu Shihong stood up leaning on her spear with a grin on her face, her gaze directed to the heavens... "That's for you, Kou.. I will wipe the Ning from the map." nobody but Kou was actually paying attention to the girl in the arena right now they all had followed the flying prince, and only Kou noticed the whispered words.

She jumped down from Ning Jiao's shoulder.. the girl was shocked, she had woken up midway and after that, she had just stared at the fight with wide eyes, once Kou jumped off the girl took off herself, rushing to the place her brother had landed.

The tiny fox creature slowly moved forward to the Arena, her icy-blue eyes focusing on Xi Shihong... their gazes meet, one up in the Arena the other down on the ground. Xiu Shihong's expression... just showed confusion, but the longer they stared at each other the more.. she felt a connection to this creature. For some reason, tears appeared in her eyes.. her breath seemed to stop for a moment, as she jumped down to stand in front of the tiny creature.

"You..."