Plundering the Mountain

"COME AT ME BEAST!!"

"ROAR!" The dragon mountain ape started to glow as snowflake crystals started flurrying down.

"AHH" Zhou Xinqiu jumped as she hurriedly tried to find a tree to cover her head. Each snowflake was infused with a tiny amount of poison acid which was able to burn the skin.

"Little girl, stop being a fool, that palm technique that you learned doesn't only have the use of being a tool for attacking, you can also use it like a shield. use your mind to spread out the palm imprint to a thin layer above your head to block the acid snowflakes." Qing Gong's voice appeared quickly in her mind and explained to her. Zhou Xinqiu's body flashed as she ran back into the landscape as she threw a palm imprint into the air.

"SOUL IMPRINT!" the character for 'soul' stretched into the sky above her head and shielded her person from being touched by the acid infused snowflakes. "Hmph, what tricks do you have now!" She leaped up onto a tree and threw out some hand seals before some illusions of herself stepped out. "NINE SWORD DANCE ART, 7TH STANCE!" the illusions dashed towards the mountain dragon ape before 7 sword arcs slashed into it. "SWORD LOTUS!" after the 7 sword arcs flew into the mountain dragon ape, the arcs came back into Zhou Xinqiu's hand before turning into a jade lotus which emanated sword Qi.

She released the lotus and slammed it towards the ape before retreating. "SOUL IMPRINT!" Right after the lotus hit the mountain dragon ape, she threw another soul imprint right at its wound. The ape groaned in misery as it got thrown back into a boulder and flopped to the ground.

"Overwhelming the enemy with attacks to the point where they cant even counter them, an interesting choice of strategy." Qin Gong praised and continued "Now see if the beast has a soul core, if it does, then take it and immediately leave this place or else more beasts will flood here soon after the commotion that you caused." She quickly ran over to the mountain dragon ape and slit its head open. A white and green mixed glowing orb rested in its skull.

"Lucky girl, only about 1 out of 3 beasts have a beast soul core. Plus, this beast seemed to have dual affinities."

"Affinity?" She furrowed her brows before taking the orb and leaving the area.

"Yes, just like humans, beasts also have affinities such as fire, rock, ice, and wind. The only difference is, beasts have a predetermined affinity and are not able to change this. While humans have a somewhat range of affinities on a spectrum that they are able to choose from, but they can only find their affinities after reaching Qi circulation. For example, one person might have Ice - Water - Wind as their affinity spectrum, and although they can only choose one affinity, they would still be able to be proficient in techniques of the other affinities in their spectrum. Most affinities in a person's spectrum are directly related to each other. However, there are a rare number of people who have completely unrelated affinities in their spectrum such as for example, Ice - Life - Fire, these people are especially strong because they can practice techniques that don't have anything to do with each other. Fire could increase their attack while Life and Ice could increase their defense. In fact, when a cultivator reaches a certain level of understanding of their affinities, they would then be able to master and control other affinities in their spectrum." Qin Gong explained while Zhou Xinqiu ran across the forest quickly trying to look for more treasures

"Imagine, a fire - water dual affinity cultivator, completely opposite affinities, that person would be extremely powerful. Crazily enough, there could be an infinite amount of affinities, Of course there are the base affinities, Fire, Ice, Rock, wind, and lightning, but after millions of years of evolving and mutating, came so many weird and interesting affinities such as poison and sand." Qin Gong continued explaining the knowledge behind affinities for some time.

"So.. What would be my affinity.. or my affinity spectrum?" Zhou Xinqiu suddenly stopped running and asked.

"Well even I cant guess that, but you should be able to find out soon since you are close to breaking through to Qi circulation"

"Ok!" She excitedly exclaimed before she sensed saw a small building not too far from where she was. Inside the building was a small chest which when she opened it, contained a dark red talisman attached to a necklace as a pendant. "Hmm? What's this?" She picked it up as she felt an extraordinary aura around it.

"It looks familiar.. but, I seem to have forgotten what it is, nevertheless, I feel like it would be a useful item. Take it with you and keep it super safe." Qin Gong tried remembering what the talisman pendant was but couldn't figure out what it was no matter how hard he tried. "losing my memory must be another side affect of not having my full soul anymore" He quietly whispered. Zhou Xinqiu picked up the pendant and put it around her neck before a dark red glow suddenly radiated from the necklace and it disappeared into her skin and created a tattoo which looked like the same talisman pendant. "Ah? This thing is really weird. It just went into my skin without asking for my permission!? What if I don't want to wear something red, HOW WILL IT MATCH!?!?" She exited the building while rambling about the pendant.

Afterwards, she continued going around the mountain finding medicinal herbs and rare fruits to more stable her foundation and bring out her potential when she needed it. She fought many beasts and found a few more cores unfortunately they weren't as powerful and at a high ranked level as the mountain dragon ape. After 4 more hours of this continuous plundering, she finally decided to head up towards the summit of the beastial mountain.

When she reached the summit, the jade pin on her chest started to glow more and more resplendently before a 'Li' sound rang out from it and a deep voice from the stage rang out from the mysterious stone at its center.

"Zhou Family, Zhou Xinqiu."

Her elegant dress fluttered in the breeze as she walked up towards the stage passing the cultivators which had arrived before her before she gave out an extremely alluring smile once again, lifting her head up to look straight in the eyes of Hei Fengjue and Liu Yan, she tied her hair up using a dark red jade hairpin and exposed her swan like fair skinned neck to the crowd.