“A nine tailed fox!?” Qian Yu exclaimed out loud. Now, it was time for Qian Yu to be surprised. Tails were indicative of a fox’s strength. The more tails a fox had, the stronger they naturally were. As for a nine tailed fox, it was the pinnacle of fox spiritual beasts. 

“Yeah, or at least, that has been what has been passed down for generations. I can only hope it is true,” she said. 

‘A Spiritual Nine Tailed Fox, is it? Do you know anything about them?’ Qian Yu asked his spiritual beast in order to learn some more about them.

‘Of course! I knew about her bloodline when I saw her. That’s why I said to pick her,’ she said.

‘Wait, you knew about her bloodline? Why didn’t you tell me?’ Qian Yu asked.

‘Well, I was going to tell you when I came out to eat next but you said I couldn’t come out yesterday. Hmph, that’s your fault,’ she said.

‘…’ Qian Yu was flabbergasted. ‘Ok, what do you know about them then?’ He continued.

‘Well, it’s nothing crazy. They are just creatures loved by nature themselves. Beautiful creatures that were originally tasked with protecting the spiritual world and nature themselves. Regarding their fighting prowess, they have strong physical dueling potential with their claws, strong channeling attacks, and illusory supportive powers.’ she answered.

‘Huh, what do you mean by the spiritual world? Is that different from the “regular” world,’ Qian Yu was curious about this new term. 

‘I’m not quite too sure myself. You can see it as nature’s way of balancing things to continue to exist. It’s similar to what you humans call stuff like fate or heaven’s will,’ she explained.

‘Hmm, an interesting creature, or at least the background of it is. Alright, thanks, I will make sure to feed you expensive food later,’ Qian Yu said.

'Good master!' Tian Xinyi exclaimed with delight.

Returning his focus to Zhen Yue, Qian Yu was more excited about what her new martial technique was as he asked, “Let’s not worry about that, should we test out the martial technique?”

“Uhm, we should probably go somewhere outside,” she suggested. 

“Ok, let’s go to the area from yesterday,” Qian Yu agreed.

Soon, the two were in the same area from the fight they first had. Yet, Zhen Yue was happy and brimming with confidence this time.

“So what is the technique like?” Qian Yu asked.

“Hmm, it’s a close combat move like master’s martial technique. It doesn’t have a name so I guess we can name it?” Zhen Yue said excitedly.

“A close combat move that uses your hands or something huh? That makes sense since foxes don’t use weapons like swords originally,” Qian Yu said. 

“Yea, let me test it out now,” Zhen Yue agreed and started performing the martial technique. 

Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and focused. A few seconds later qi materialized around the tips of her finger and hand but it quickly dissipated. 

“Damn it,” Zhen Yue cursed.

"No rush, just do your best," Qian Yu encouraged from the side. 

"I know master," Zhen Yue said. Trying again, she calmed herself down once again before trying to perform the martial technique. 

From the side, Qian Yu observed as he remembered his own experience in learning to perform Lightning Spasm which had taken an hour or two. 

Finally, after about a quarter of an hour, Zhen Yue managed to finally perform the move. Stepping forward, she managed to activate the technique and qi was imbued on her hand before she slashed forward at an unfortunate tree.

“Swish!” Her hand moved like a dagger slicing its target, creating a cut several inches deep in the trunk of the large tree.

“Wow, it’s like my hand is a sword. Fortunately, it wasn’t that hard to learn as it still uses earth qi and similar to my previous cultivation technique,” Zhen Yue said.  

“Mhm, it didn’t take you that long to learn to use it,” Qian Yu praised her.

Walking forward to the tree he observed the cut as he thought, ‘It’s pretty sharp and while the cut isn’t super deep, it’ll only get stronger as she continues using it and increases her mastery.’ 

Since this was a new cultivation technique, Zhen Yue would slowly have to increase her mastery of it. At the same time, this was also the gate for her to enter the next realm. Normally, this wasn’t the case for most people because they would already have enough mastery in the cultivation technique when they reached the 9th stage of qi gathering. That was of course, if they didn’t change their cultivation techniques like Zhen Yue.

“Judging from the skill, it does seem indicative of something related to a fox. It’s like your hands turned into claws,” Qian Yu said.

“Hmm, that was what I thought as well. Seems like my family isn’t completely wrong,” Zhen Yue smiled.

“Does it use a lot of qi?” Qian Yu asked as he thought it was similar to his own martial technique where he could sort of “spam” it in a fight.

“Not really, it's like I can turn it on or off whenever I want to,” Zhen Yue commented.

As she did, she performed the technique once again as the silver claws appeared. Seconds later it disappeared.

“I see. How is the fighting style though, it’s a little different from your martial arts right?” Qian Yu then pointed out a conflicting factor that this technique brought up. 

This martial arts, of course, was just referring to how she fought with her palms and fists. Comparing it to how she fought previously, it didn’t really have the slash and scratching motion that seemed to be the best way to use this martial technique while being similar to what Qian Yu imagined a fox would fight like. 

“Hmm, you’re right, it’s a bit different. It’ll take a while to get used to. Should we spar right now to practice?” 

“Ok, let’s fight a bit,” Qian Yu said as he took out his spear from his storage ring and backed a couple meters away. 

“Here, I come then!” Zhen Yue yelled as she lunged forward. 

“Clang… slash… clang” The two started exchanging blows as Zhen Yue slowly started to integrate new moves and change her fighting patterns.

However, that wasn’t all. As the two continued fighting normally, Qian Yu felt something amiss compared to yesterday. 

“Ding!” Blocking her attack, Qian Yu finally found a moment of breath to talk, “Zhen Yue, let’s stop for a bit”. 

“Mm,” Zhen Yue nodded and stopped fighting to listen to Qian Yu. 

“I don’t know if you can feel it yourself but your attacks today seem to be stronger and faster compared to yesterday. Maybe it’s because you are getting used to fighting again but it seems kind of sudden,” Qian Yu voiced his observation. Previously he had been at the 4th stage of qi gathering but now, he was even a level higher. 

“Hmm, now that you said it, my body feels a lot lighter after I started practicing the cultivation technique,” Zhen Yue admitted. 

“Well that’s pretty unexpected. Maybe it has something to do with your bloodline since the cultivation technique is stimulating it?” Qian Yu hypothesized. The awakening of his heavenly constitution had pretty much done the same as well. 

“That’s probably the case. It’s common for cultivation techniques to have some effects on a cultivator’s body and mind. As for mine, becoming more nimble and faster is something reasonable,,” Zhen Yue said.

“Alright then, let’s head back. As for the name of the move, you can decide on it,” Qian Yu said.

“How about Silver Claw? Short and simple,” Zhen Yue suggested.

“Yeah, that works,” Qian Yu said.