Swish! She was currently pushing even deeper into the forest, after her encounter with the apes she had a somewhat good grasp on her current power level. Therefore her goal was to scout deeper into the forest, not to fight but just to survey.

"Mh." Yun Kou came to a quick halt, feeling something strange in front of her, she came to a stop. She didn't know what... she was feeling but then wave upon wave of dread was flowing over her making her breath stop. She was frozen like a frightened animal. It took all her willpower to jump into a nearby bush and make herself as small as possible.

The earth shook. Everything was rumbling and her ears tilted down, she could hear nearby trees falling and the screams full of panic the various beasts let out. Then she caught a glimpse of it. A massive flood dragon was slithering around many many miles in front of her. But the distance did not make this any better, this thing was ENORMOUS! Long enough that it could coil around one of the sect mountains without problems. Wide enough that even the oldest tree seemed like a stick.

This, and Kou was very clear of this was the King of this place! A beast so powerful even the Ancient Cloud Sect would be in huge problems if it appeared near it! This beast was currently moving around like a snake, it's giant wings closed on his back.

Luckily it seemed to have no interest in Yun Kou, probably not even realizing that she was there! Still the simple Aura this creature had made Kou's blood come to a halt. She could feel how her heartbeat slowed down...

And then it was gone. Kou rolled out of the bush and gasped for air, her face white as paper, she felt like vomiting but held herself back. "W...What was that! Why is... why is it so powerful! I can't beat something like this!" She quickly backed off. She would never visit this part of the jungle again!

Finally, she was back home, the fine hair on her back was still standing and her eyes were widened. "What a Monster..." Mumbling she sat down leaning her back against her Tree. "Never go south...Nuuh never again.." She was in half of a mind to leave this Island! Building some kind of raft and going out on good luck but that would probably just end in her death.

A week or so later.

Having left the "Danger zone" behind Yun Kou started to scout out other parts of the island. While she had some run-ins with different powerful entities none of them had instilled the same fear into her as that dragon, even if she saw rank 4 beasts in the distance, she did not feel like they were overwhelmingly powerful, she could see herself beating them with luck or preparation once she got a bit stronger.

While outside in the other parts of the forest she also found many herbs and Magical Grass as it was depicted in the Book, gathering everything she got her tiny fingers on was a given! Storing everything inside of her small hut

"Hehe... Once I can start doing Alchemie I will have plenty of herbs to train with!" Her lonesome happiness suddenly was interrupted by Xiong!

The giant man suddenly appeared but Yun Kou luckily hat gotten used to this by now her golden eyes focusing on the man while she stood with the back to her home. "Mornin´lil' one." Cheerful and happy as always his kind eyes looked down to her. Kou felt a chill run down her spine...

"Good Morning, can I .. help?" Kou had just started to roast a wild boar, one of the small ones, not as big as Oink was! The scent was already in the air and Kou was ready to defend her meal!

"Ah.." Xiong rubbed the back of his head slightly and suddenly a loud rumble was to be heard. Xiong just had a fight with his mate and was kicked out of his cave just when he was about to get lunch, so he was a bit hungry, he did not even intend to visit his cute neighbor today but, the smell ... kinda pulled him here.

Kou of course quickly understood that the rumbling was the man's stomach. Curling her nose she made a step to the side looking at her primitive roasting pit.. than back to the large man... She let out a sigh. Xiong had given her things before so it was just right that she would give back when he needed something!

Maybe that was his goal all along, taking away her roast! What a frightening entity! "I'll share... but you have to wait until it's cooked." She nodded and sat down on the ground guarding her food.

Xiong was very happy! This adorable little creature would share its food with him! How very happy he was! He burst out laughing while holding his tummy, a burst of laughter that frightened away any beast that had a design on Kou's food! Well...It also scared Kou away who quickly found herself halfway up a tree, growling downwards towards Xiong.

The man blinked and rubbed the back of his head "Ah..Haha... sorry sorry, Not gonna happen again..." Well...hopefully, Xiong's left eye twitched, the way this tiny thing was sitting up there on a tree hissing down at him reminded him very much of a cat, and he had to fight not to laugh again.

Adorable.

Kou was not happy! The laughter was still ringing in her ears and just reluctantly she came down the tree to oversee her meal roasting again, poking it with a stick from time to time to see how soft the meat was, whole heartily ignoring the giant man!

Xiong, however, was fine with that, he sat down on the ground observing Kou, his eyes this time not admiring her cuteness but more so observing her cultivation progress his forehead wrinkling as he rubbed over his beard,

While her progress was rather good, she made progress faster than even his own children would, however, there was something that did worry him. The girl had quite the big amount Yin energies, Darkness and Ice were the most prevalent elements in her Qi flow, and if she wanted to get to the gold core stage she as a mostly human person would have to balance out her Qi, otherwise, she might injure herself...

Of course, it was not to bad, it seemed she had a natural talent for the light elements as well, she simply did not train or use it enough... Xiong continued to rub his beard while thinking, Humans had many ways to fix imbalances -Pills, and such were one of them. Once they entered Core formation it did not matter anymore anyway.. but until then a balance had to be kept.

Xiong, of course, did not know were Kou came from, in the Empire, only 1 out of millions of people would ever reach core formation, the knowledge he had, was far above anything this backwater human empire could know about. His eyes once more went to Kou. But before he could find the words the girl actually spoke to him.

"Say... I've met a dragon in the woods, does.. he ever go to different parts?" Xiong's brows rose, the girl had met that nagging snake? Well, that explained the somewhat strained expression she had, and how on edge the little thing was. "Mhrm." He shook his head. "No, she usually stays around there, you actually should not be around there, the beast there are all rather powerful, other parts of the Island will help you train better."

Xiongs eyes focused on the girl and he rubbed his beard again. "That Dragon is the King of this Land, she is even more powerful than I. But as long as you do not offend her or end up in front of her maw you should be safe." The little fox girls eyes narrowed again as she nodded "How powerful is she?"

Ah... that question kinda rubbed him the wrong way, Xiong had fought that sticking snake once and he was pummeled down and sent back home... "She is already in the Nascent Soul stage, that is the one after Gold Core, she just stepped into it a few years ago, well... she is still relatively young so she will grow far more powerful in the future, many kinds of beasts like Í and her grow naturally over time. It is like how humans grow into adults with time, those Dragons usually grow to late Nascent Soul on their own as they mature, with proper training they can reach even higher."

Kou blinked up at him with big eyes. Nascent Soul? What was that supposed to be? The stage after Gold Core? Nobody had ever told her that there were actually stages above the gold core! Well.. she knew that but to actually have seen someone that ...actually was there in full power! It made Kou realize clearly how insignificant she still was in the grand scope of the world. In the empire, she was already quite powerful but in the outside world, someone like her was little more than an Ant!

Realizing this ignited her fervor even more! She would not stop with the empire! She would become so strong that nobody in this world could suppress her easily! She would be able to defend herself and never be helpless again! Meeting this dragon was just what she had needed! A new perspective! And a new goal! Nascent Soul! She would reach that mythical stage one day! Clenching her fist she started to cultivate on the spot! The roast would take a little longer so she still had time!

Xiong blinked, this little thing usually lacked expressions aside from suspicion but right now he could clearly see what was going on in his head and he grunted in amusement, the more determined she was to become stronger the better! He would, however, have to keep an eye on her balance!