Nu Long awoke with a yawn as he languidly stretched, pausing to stroke the adorable little ball of floof that lay curled up in his lap. She looked up at him with a spiteful glare as he woke her when he tried to get out of bed. After throwing on a new robe, a dark crimson thing trimmed in gold made from a coarsely woven cloth, he left to get breakfast at the main hall.

After his Demon Core had formed, Nu Long began noticing a great number of changes to his person. Some were obvious like his vertical pupils and the bolts of what looked like black lightning streaking through his emerald eyes. Less noticable was the fact that if he looked really close his skin had been replaced with ultra fine scales, though the feel wasn't too much different from normal skin. The largest change was how much sharper his senses had become, he could smell the subtle fragrance of the liquor that was being prepared for breakfast from his room. He could hear the pitter patter of a small mouse somewhere in the building, most of all though he could feel the streams of spiritual energy that drifted along on invisible currents.  They were unbelievably thin like threads of gossamer, almost non existent as they swirled about forming little eddies. 

With each deep breath he took, he could tell that there was simply not enough spiritual energy around. The world around him suddenly seemed like a desert, barren and devoid. Though he couldn't explain why he knew there was something inherently wrong with this place, this realm. 

There was another energy he could feel, it suffused every thing around him from the snow upon the ground to  next years seeds that lay trapped beneath. It possessed an earthy richness and strong will, an opposite to the ephemeral nature of spiritual energy. His instincts were telling him that for some unknown reason the two halves of a whole were out of balance.

Nu-Long shook his head as he picked up his pace, he didn't have time to waste on philosophical musings he couldn't begin to grasp. With another yawn he slipped into the main hall taking an open seat and began to chow down on bowl after bowl of porridge. What had originally been a rather filling meal the day before, in the spiritual sense, had become little more than a drop in the empty bucket of his soul. A grimace spread across his face as he ate, a second break through clearly wouldn't be so easy as the first.

After breakfast Daiyu dragged him off to a different hall than the one they had used yesterday. He was rather surprised to see a small handful of scroll laden shelves in place of a training mat. As he peered around him he couldn't help but frown, what ever this place was supposed to be it had clearly fallen on hard times. Many of scrolls were old and tattered looking, and many dust covered shelves were simply empty.

"So what are we here for" Nu Long questioned his muscle bound compatriot.

Daiyu gave him a heavy slap on the back " to get you up to snuff boy, then we can finally start making some money" she declared in her warm brassy voice.

"Money" he questioned with a furrowed brow, he had heard of it but his Clan had only ever bartered for goods.

Daiyu fixed him with a wicked grin "money" she stated like it was everything in the world, a greedy glow in her eyes.

"Little brother everything in this world costs money. The Demon Beasts we eat, money. The grain imported to make our liquor, money. The clothes on our back, money" she continued with fervent zeal, he felt that if this woman had a god it would be money.

Daiyu proceeded to lead him down the isles pointing at one scroll after another declaring things like "trash, garbage, filth, too damn complex".

Finally they stopped at one of the shelves and she grabbed an aged looking scroll made of bound together wooden slats. After a few more shelves she grabbed a stack of inscribed tablets made of a strange green stone. 

Nu Long looked at Daiyu nervously as she shoved the manuals into his arms "uh, I can't read" he faintly stated.

"Neither can I" she replied before bursting into laughter, she acted like it was something to be proud of.

Guan Yu was busily looking over the Sect's finances when a knock caused him to look up. Standing before him with a sheepish look on Daiyu's face, he let out an involuntary groan wondering what trouble she had caused this time. Then he saw their newest disciple carrying a pair of martial arts manuals in his arms "I see we have two resident idiots now" he stated flatly crossing his arms with a glare.

" Alright brat come here" Guan Yu beckoned before taking the manuals off the kid's hands.

"Steps of the Mountain and Saber of the Falling Moon, not bad" he muttered as he quickly absorbed the knowledge from the manuals.

"Alright stand still" Guan Yu ordered as he picked up his massive blood stained saber, " this might hurt a bit".

"A bit" Nu Long thought as the saber came down suddenly, before he could react the ephemeral image of a saber pierced into his soul and every thing went dark.

Nu Long suddenly found him self in the shadow of a gargantuan mountain that threatened to pierce the heavens. Standing before him was the figure of an old man with a long wispy beard, the figure clasped his fist in a bow. Like a puppet Nu-Long found him self mirroring the man's movements.

The bearded man stood with a low stance before taking a step forward, it was a short precise step but the weight behind it was enormous. Nu Long watched in awe that the ground around the man's foot flattened and sank. With a pivot off of the lead foot the man spun like he was throwing a spinning back kick but his foot came down in a stomp that shattered the ground. The force of the impact kicked of a ring of stone around the man, though what purpose it served was lost on him.

Nu Long watched with rapt attention as his body followed the the movements, focusing on the strange way the man's spiritual energy moved. There was a certain weight to his movent, some governing principle to the man's movements. It felt as if it was just there at the edge of his understanding, but he couldn't quite capture the feeling. As for the man's usage of spiritual energy he did his best to replicate it.

He concentrated on moving the spiritual energy out from his core through the snaking pathways that lay hidden deep with in his flesh, gathering the energy at the correct point and concentrating it. Until finally he unleashed it just upon the point of impact, the ground shook and thundered exploding outward. The size was no where comparable to the old man who could flatten entire fields with his stomps but it was a start.

The most important part however, which Nu Long had almost missed, lay in between the actual steps. At all times the man was channeling his spiritual energy deep into the ground, rooting him in place. At those moments the man became implacable, an unmoving mountain.

The quiet moonlit meadow faded away reveal a war torn battlefield lit by the light of a green moon. In place of the grandfatherly figure stood a young man with an impetuous air, a massive saber staff slung over his shoulder. Nu-Long had been worried about this particular art due to it's name, but now he was ripe with anticipation.

The man looked at him with a cocksure grin wielding his saber staff in one hand, spinning it in a figure eight motion while fending off a group of attackers. The endless chain of attacks giving his opponents no chance to get close, he leapt back letting the staff slide through his grip to the butt of the weapon. Swinging the weapon in a wide circle his opponents rushed to close the gap thinking him defenseless. The man brought the staff down, grabbing it in two hands, as blade met flesh his victim was cloven in twain. 

In place of trying to recover or stop his cut the man cartwheeled over the other two opponents before pivoting and slicing the two men in half. The next attacker he face charged him with a spear, the man parried with the but of his saber staff. In the same motion he simply stepped forward closing the distance and cleaved the man from shoulder to hip.

The movements were difficult and hard to grasp, and yet Nu Long couldn't help but be enamoured. The brazen warrior used his spiritual energy to seemingly change the battle field with short bursts of power. Just a little in his legs to aid with a evasion, or a huge burst to increase the speed of his attacks. The key to everything lay in constantly keeping the weapon in motion as he moved, this made it easy for the man to make sudden parries and cuts. As long as he kept the weapon moving he didn't have to struggle against suddenly starting or stoping the heavy weapon. 

There was one thing that bothered Nu Long though, again there was a certain presence to the man cuts. Especially when ever the man came slashing down after leaping into the heavens, as if his saber staff would suddenly become heavier than it should be. Though he could not sense and spiritual energy tied to it's changes in weight, though the man did use spiritual energy increase the sharpness of his blade.

With a groan Nu Long came to, his skull pounding like a drum, he was still standing in Guan Yu's office.

"Hehehe, let's go see what you learned" Daiyu stated excitedly throwing an arm around his head and pulling him tight against the side of her bossom.

This time they didn't use the training room, instead she dragged him out into a dirt courtyard. No moves came to mind as he worked through the first Kata of Steps of the Mountain as Daiyu watched from the side. His movements felt awkward and stiff at first, unlike with in that weird realm he had been shown. Experimentally he tried rooting himself to the earth, but what should have been like the roots of a mountain were more like garden stakes.

Seeing Daiyu's calm expression he realized that nobody expected him to get it perfect the first time, much less get it right.

He had much better luck with Saber of the Falling Moon, unlike a series of katas it was broken up into techniques for different situations. 

Nu Long started a moving his Guandao in a slow figure eight with both hands, not trusting his ability to control it with just one. A little bit at a time he increased the speed of the blade, faster and faster until his blade seemed to hum in the wind. Much to Daiyu's surprise what she had thought of as a little parlour trick used to entertain people on the street turned into a real threat.

Nu Long leapt backwards, keeping up the momentum of the blade he passed it behind his back as he brought it around in a wide horizontal cut. The weight of the cut the wanted to pull him sideways, but with a slight burst of spiritual energy and a twist of his arms, the blade sailed upwards in a diagonal slash known as the Rising Moon Slash. At the apex of the cut he flipped the blade into a downward slash, sending spiritual energy into his feet he leapt upward. Using the momentum of the weapon he flipped end over end, just before he hit the ground a curious thought hit him. What if he used that stomp technique.

Daiyu frowned as a deafening explosion split the air, bits of rocks and clumps of earth were scattered outward from a small crater.

"He's using external energy" she thought, that wasn't something body cultivators could do until they reached core formation.

Thinking quickly she snatched Nu Long and stood in the center of the crater.

"What's all this racket" Guan Yu shouted before laying eyes on his second in command. He had to fight the urge to groan, the woman was a walking disaster, if it were not for her abilities he would have chased her off ages ago.

Daiyu quickly scanned the courtyard in case there were any possible witness before snatching the kid and dashing off. Nu-Long could only grumble as he was snatched up and carried off like a sack of potatoes until he was suddenly dumped in a secluded clearing out of town. With out saying anything Daiyu sat down cross legged and pointed from him to do the same.

"Alright kid, what the hell was that" she questioned in a stern tone.

"Um Steps of the Mountain" he replied nervously, if she wanted to he had the feeling that Daiyu could snap him in half like a twig.

"Body Cultivators can't use external energy until they reach core formation, were you aware of that" she stared at him with a stern gaze.

"No" he replied in confusion, his brow furrowed wondering what exactly is going on.

"Currently there are six people in town that are at or above Core Formation, my self being one of them. I know you're not a spiritual cultivator so what are you" she questioned in hard hard tone, her brow furrowed now that she took a closer look at his eyes 

There were plenty of body cultivation techniques that would change peoples bodies, but that wouldn't let them break the external energy threshold.

Before he could answser a sudden chill washed over the clearing, followed by a deep ominous growl. Daiyu's body froze stiff under the weight of spiritual pressure, her eyes widened as the figure of a two story Spirit Fox fixed her with an icy glare. Daiyu swallowed nervously as she realized she was trapped in the Domain of a Demon Beast Lord. Then a frown split her face as she realized the boy before her was completely untouched.

"That's enough Yuki" Nu Long sent.

"Really, I can totally be scarier ya know" she replied teasingly before leaping into Nu-Long's lap having shrunken back down to her floof ball size.

"I'm a Demon Beast Cultivator, oh and this is Yuki" he replied sith a warm smile as he stroked the head of a being strong enough to easily wipe out half their town.

Having grown up in the deserts of the great south and having travelled far she had heard of such a thing before. It was rare, but much like the rest of Crimson Horizon Sect's methods it fell under the unorthodox branch of cultivation. The largest concern for Demon Beast Cultivators, aside from being driven insane from their bestial instincts, was being hunted down for their cores. Their cores were just like those formed by high ranking Demon beasts, it was usually much easier to kill a fledgling cultivator than a Lord level Demon Beast after all.

"I'm not gonna lie to you kid, the world of Cultivation is a harsh brutal place, there are plenty of people out there that if they knew what you were would dice you up like a ham to get at your core. Even your blood, bones, and organs are sought after items by alchemists" she spoke with a wistful tone, like she was remembering her own far off tragedies.

"So how did you wind as a Demon Beast Cultivator" she questioned, her face splitting with a mischievous smile.

Nu Long's face darkened and a sigh escaped his lips, for a few moments he simply stroked Yuki's fur in contemplative silence. The he told her everything, from his days as a child growing up in the Frost Spires. He spoke of the night everyone he had ever know was murdered, he spoke of the horrors he had witnessed, of the rapes and the tortures. He recounted his treacherous journey to town, about getting rejected by the White Lotus Pavilion. He talked about how lost and broken he had been, about the Demonic Cultivator who tricked him into walking down his current path. He told her about his time with Monarch Nine Tails, about meeting, then slaying an ancient legendary dragon. That part still seemed ridiculous to him, Daiyu had to agree.

 She was surprised by everything this kid had been through, hell she was surprised the he was still sane. With out the fact that he was sitting there petting a being that could crush her like an ant she'd even dare to call a lot of it bullshit. Instead what she did was lay his head down on her thighs and gently stoke his hair. Nu Long was so fierce, so imperious that he reminded her of a little girl screaming her defiance at the world before running away from home to become a loose cultivator. 

"Your secret is safe with me kid, just make sure you don't use external energy unless you absolutely have to" she spoke softly in her warm tone.

After returning to the Crimson Horizon Sect Daiyu dumped Nu-Long off for his daily dose of the Body Forging of the Nine Hells, and headed off to see Guan yu.

"So how is the brat" he questioned barely bothering to look up from his work.

"Off to a good start I'd say, he's showing a lot of promise in the Saber of the Falling Moon, though the Steps of the Mountain is a bit esoteric he's grasped the basic movements" she replied with a neutral tone.

"So what are ya bothering me for" he grumbled, while sliding over some pieces on an abacus.

"I want to make him my personal disciple, also I want permission to take a leave of absence" she replied crossing her finger behind her back.

Guan Yu mentally grumbled as he rolled her request around his skull for a bit, it'd mean he have to take over the big escort and subjugation contracts. It also meant he could foist the finance off to some one else, hehehe he could finally make the Demon Chef do some real work for once.

"Alright, a year tops" he stated flatly, hiding his excitement behind a cold hard mask of indifference.

"Yes" Daiyu exclaimed with a fist pump, she was the type to wear he emotions on her sleeve.

Guan Yu shook his head as he continued his work " she must have really wanted that time off" he thought, oblivious to the real reason behind her excitement.

Nu-Long grumbled as he continued his road march, thanks to his breakthrough he had made it to sixty five laps so far. It felt as if he was trying to carry boulders the size of houses on each of his limbs. Frowning he thought back to what Daiyu had told him, but she never said he couldn't use internal energy. 

Nu Long grinned as he flooded his legs with as much spiritual energy as he could, leaving just enough to support his arms. For a long moment he simply stood there, feeling the stability and weight of his body. His eyes closed as he took his first step, his foot crashing against the ground with a familiar impact, he pivoted using a burst of spiritual energy and brought his heel slamming down. It wasn't perfect, but at least it allowed him to practice the strange heavy movements in a way that felt right.

In the end he made it to seventy laps before he was physically unable to deal with the weight. As he lay there panting a familiar face came into view, he tried to weakly smile but she just tossed a pill down his throat.

"Pack your suff kid, we're going on an adventure" she stated with a fierce gleam in her eyes.

Nu-Long sat up with a frown, supporting his self with his Guandao " but this is everything I own" he stated flatly.

"Even better" she chuckled hoisting him over her shoulder as she dashed off to lord knows where.

With out much else to do Yuki hopped on board the Daiyu express, laying down atop the woman's head with a yawn. Nu-Long's only option was to hold on for dear life as he was carried off for the second time that day. 

Day after day the environment flashed by, after a while he was barely able to recognize the landscape. The mountains he had once know erie little more than an after thought long left behind as they crossed vast forests and wide open plains. The ever present winter snow was replaced by sleet and wind as the headed further south, they passed by towns  he had no knowledge of.  Even the cold eventually disappeared, first becoming a gentle warmth then a searing heat, until finally the mad woman came to a stop.

Nu Long dropped to the ground, how many weeks had it been seen he had last touched it. But it was unlike any ground he had ever felt beneath his feet. Barren craggy earth that had been scorched by the sun, save for a single wide shallow river that lazily snaked along. It's banks flush with strange trees who's tops that reminded him of a fern, hanging among which were innumerable small chocolate brown fruits.

"Where the hell are we" he questioned his captor who stood on the bank of the river with a far away look in her eyes.

"My home" she spoke wistfully, while staring out over untold miles of barren desert.