Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

She left that place with disgust to explore other areas. There were no eyes on her, so she was curious about the sheer size of this place.

It was a somewhat well-lit place, but instead of torches, they used some kind of Inscribed Paper Lamps.

Aiko was curious about the Inscription, so she got close to it. Funnily enough, that Inscription was completely butchered and would drain the main source of energy rather quickly. It was inefficient and very wasteful, not to mention there were so many of them that Aiko couldn’t help, but shake her head.

She moved to a nearby room. It was a storage room with a lot of old swords. For some reason, some of those swords gave of a sense of intimacy, but Aiko didn’t enter as there might’ve been traps and she didn’t have enough time to find/disarm all of them.

Aiko sneaked around. Most places were still lively and full of laughter, so Aiko ignored those spots for the time being as she believe that her assassination target wouldn’t be spending time laughing with others.

Aiko found another room that was filled to the brim with many kinds of colourful fabric rolls. She touched a few out of curiosity, but soon lost her interest as they were not as good as her outfit, nor even as good as the Sect Token outfit.

Aiko passed the nearby rooms, unconsciously arriving in the kitchen.

*Sniff Sniff*

’It smells really nice, even better than the Inn food...’ Aiko drooled.

Making her way inside, she took it upon herself to savou-*Cough* test their foods in case they were spoiled.

*Munch Munch*

Aiko didn’t notice that she almost finished all the best parts before hearing footsteps closing in.

Dashing out of the room, she moved to a different place. This time she found a guy tied to a chair thrashing about, with a female in alluring clothes looking at him.

”What a strange kink...” Aiko said the quiet part out loud.

”It’s not a kink.” A voice behind her chimed in, disagreeing.

Aiko jumped away, picking up rocks and hurling them at top speed towards that voice.

That person was amused and blocked the rocks effortlessly... at least that’s what he thought.

*Ding Ding Ding*

”Agh! Ugh!” He cried out, not expecting those ordinary rocks to be packing such a punch.

”Stop! Stop!” He pleaded with the little Fox, startling her.

That person didn’t have any murderous intent towards her when he previously said that, but Aiko was too startled to care about that and just wanted to beat him up for it!

One has to know that her hiding Skills were amazing!

”Eh? Grandpa?” Aiko was stunned to see that the person was the grandpa from the clothing shop.

”Auch...” He rubbed his red hands. ”Seriously, how did you manage that?” He asked, seeing his red hands still twitching.

”It’s just a few rocks.” Aiko said guardedly.

He chuckled. ”Sure, sure, anyway, the target is inside, so finish him off as soon as possible.”

Aiko was stunned and paused. She long realised he was her target, but thought that he was just into that sort of thing.

”He isn’t.” The grandpa said chuckling. He couldn’t believe this little Fox. ”Now go, you probably don’t have much time, considering a foodie like you rushed in here so fast.” He shook his head, staring at Aiko. ”I will be waiting at the Main room, so please do visit.”

He left, leaving the confused Aiko alone.

Aiko went inside the room silently. That pretty miss still didn’t hear her and continued to stare at him.

Aiko sneaked behind her, but she wasn’t found out. ’That guy must be a weirdo... stalker... or something.’ Aiko couldn’t understand how she was found out. She even used the bracelet again, yet it felt like he was staring at her tail...

Aiko placed her hand on that person.

”Kya!” She jumped up from fright.

She then noticed the little girl and sighed in relief. ”I will leave you to it, I want to change clothes.” She bowed towards Aiko and left.

Aiko was even more confused than before, but since she had only an hour to finish... she appreciated this easy delivery.

Aiko paused. ’Should I use the Talisman to contact her? This feels a bit too fishy.’

Aiko pondered on it, she still had plenty of time for a quick call.

She picked up the talisman and poured some energy into it.

The talisman hummed and the voice drifted from it.

”Vicious Cub?” The soft voice asked.

”Sect Leader?” Aiko asked in return.

”Did something happen?” The Sect Leader asked with concern.

”Yeah, this situation is suspicious...” Aiko explained in detail about the situation, leaving the fact she was eating out under the wraps.

”I see... I didn’t expect that old fool to be so sensible.” The Sect Leader sighed. ”I was friends with him in the past, but we drifted apart. I didn’t expect him to still help me after such a long time.”

She then paused. ”He had good feelings for me, but be on guard, as those feelings were for me and not for you. He probably didn’t expect that other Foxes would be sent.”

Aiko nodded. ”Very well.” She wouldn’t let her guard down even if the Sect Leader told her. She wasn’t gullible enough to believe others on first sight.

”The Talisman can be used a few more times since our conversation was short and you are quite close to the Fox Village but don’t call again if it’s not urgent.” The Sect Leader then hung up on Aiko.

Aiko stared at the pissed human male and ’stabbed’ him with [Lacerate], ending his life in one strike.

Aiko then left the room, wondering if she should approach the main building. Eventually, her curiosity got the best of her and she went there.

It was not like she was in any kind of danger since she still had [Jaws of ####], which would allow her to escape.

She approached the main building silently.

”Come, come inside.” The grandpa said gently startling the other party inside.

”Who are you talking to, Immortal?” The Mayor asked. He was also a Cultivator, but he couldn’t see through him, so he chose to play the mortal role.

He was unsure, confused and unsettled. This person told him that, one of his guests would be killed and that it would be wise to lure him away, so that he wouldn’t get implicated.

So he did just that. He ordered his daughter to lure him away, while she was unwilling, she still was a filial child and listened to him.

’I hope nothing wrong happened to her.’ He sighed.

...

Aiko peeked inside. There was an old gentleman on the main seat with gently coloured clothing. Next to him on the side was the grandpa.

There was nobody else inside, just the two of them. Aiko could feel the breath of living around, those were probably the Shadow Guards.

Aiko entered silently, startling the gentleman in the main seat.

”I wondered if you would run away.” The grandpa teased.

”I have considered it.” Aiko didn’t conceal it, as she felt that this grandpa was very perceptive.

He chuckled happily. ”Come, sit down, don’t stand on ceremony.”

Aiko glanced at the gentleman on the main seat, but he didn’t say anything, so she sat down.

”Finished with your work?” The grandpa asked.

”Almost, but why did you want to see me?” She asked him.

”I had good feelings with the little sweetie. How is she doing?” The grandpa asked, but he didn’t say her name.

”She is doing fine, I think. I’m not around her all that much, but from what I have seen she was doing fine.” Aiko said. She would naturally not say her title of a Sect Leader.

”Good.” He nodded happily.

”Is that all?” Aiko asked, but then someone entered.

”Father.” A pretty Miss bowed towards the guy in the main seat.

”Jing... you have suffered.” The gentleman smiled bitterly.

”It’s nothing, father. I’m well and unhurt.” She kept bowing.

The gentleman knew that his daughter didn’t like him for this order, but it had to be done. He just hoped that their relationship wouldn’t drift too far apart after this incident.

Aiko stared at her, she liked her previous clothes much more as they were very interesting, and alluring, yet not showing much.

”Hello again.” Aiko smiled and interrupted them.

The young Miss was startled and looked up, seeing the Assassin who startled her so much her heart stopped for a moment.

”Welcome to our humble home.” She bowed again, not wanting to show off arrogance or offend the little one in anyway. She couldn’t feel the presence of this little assassin when she entered the room. Not to mention, she was right behind her moments ago and she had absolutely no idea until contact was made. This meant that this little one was incredibly powerful and dangerous.

”You say humble, but you burn so many resources to maintain those Paper Lamps.” Aiko shook her head.

The gentleman suddenly paused and looked at the little girl, but before he could ask anything, Grandpa chimed in.

”Oh? You know Inscriptions?” He asked gently.

”Yeah, but those things are so wasteful, whoever made them wanted this family to go broke.” Aiko answered quickly but she was not really interested in the inner workings, so she hoped she could avoid this.

”I see...” The gentleman suddenly spoke.

They hired a 2nd Grade Inscription Cultivator to create those lamps for them to display their wealth, but he didn’t expect they would burn so many Spirit Stones. It seems that his sense of wrongness came from those Paper Lamps.

”Oho? Do you have a Token?” The Grandpa mused. He was looking for an Inscription Pupil.

”Here.” Aiko dismissed his gaze and gave him the [Black Inscription Master Token].

*Pfft*

He spat his tea seeing that black token and it was not even Grade 1, but a Grade 3 Black Token! That meant she was an Inscription Master!

He stared her up and down, but he couldn’t guess her age as Beasts had different ageing physiques compared to Humans, but seeing her so small and undeveloped, he guessed that she was still very young.

He coughed. ”This is a bit unexpected.”

The gentleman frowned. He was willing to hire her to fix those paper lamps, but he couldn’t afford to hire a 3rd-grade Inscription Cultivator, not to mention a Black Ranked one.

”How about it? Do you want to have a look at the Paper Lamps?” The grandpa nudged her. He liked Chen Hai as he was one of the few who didn’t hunt Beasts indiscriminately, so he didn’t mind to ask for help in his stead.

”Hmmm...” Aiko thought about it. ”There are too many of them. I can’t resolve it in a short period of time, not to mention you don’t have anything that would move me enough that I would want to stay here.

Aiko shrugged, she was more interested in the Miss as she felt familiar...

”Ah!” Aiko suddenly exclaimed and she looked like she just swallowed a shit.

The grandpa was startled but took interest, meanwhile, Chen Jing shivered for some reason. She felt like this little Assassin was even more dangerous than she expected.

Meanwhile, Aiko had an unsightly expression as this Miss was her target for stealing underwear. Why did it have to be her?! Why it couldn’t be anyone else?!

She didn’t want to deal with her at all and only was interested in her previous clothes!