Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Mei blankly stared forward for a long time, she did not expect Aiko to take her on the offer.

’How did that even happen??’ Mei was confused and unsure of what Aiko was planning since she knew that Aiko had no lust for those types of activities, but she was not willing to see if she was correct!

She sighed, looking outside for a while, it was the direction where Aiko disappeared.

’Good thing I took the ’Defensive Artefact’.’ Mei snorted, it would be dangerous if Aiko had it, especially with how pleasant she looked.

...

Aiko strolled around thinking of a way to advertise her Massage Chair, but honestly... she didn’t want to deal with that.

’Since Mei’s body is now mine, I will just tell her to advertise with it...’ Aiko nodded slowly, she learned the Herbs and built the Massage Chair, so it was time to research more about the treasures she got previously.

Aiko returned, only for Mei to grab her and drag her away.

”What’s wrong?” Aiko asked.

”We are opening the Massage Chair business, today.” Mei smiled with a mean grin.

”But I don’t have to be there for the opening and you need to advertise it yourself!” Aiko protested.

”Shush. You will be with me for the repairs if anything happens.” Mei already knew how to operate the control panel and she had to say that it was nice and unique, you could adjust the intensity by just turning a button.

Normally, the Inscription Cultivators would create elaborate Inscriptions that you had to activate with your Qi, but this ’control panel’ could be operated even by untrained mortals. This was a novel idea for Mei, but one she didn’t want to spread.

’Humans are hateful creatures that would exploit anything, if they realise you can create artefacts which can be controlled simply by turning a knob, it would be disastrous...’ Mei sighed.

Aiko felt wronged, she was willing to do anything else except for going with Mei.

While yes, the bracelet was on her wrist, it still did not make her feel completely safe. She didn’t like crowded places, much less running a business.

...

”That’s a tiny house...” Aiko said strangely.

”We don’t need much room for the time being and as far as I remember you don’t want to create another Massage Chair right?” Mei smiled devilishly.

Aiko shook her head like a rabbit in danger.

”So stay next to me and you can do whatever you want, okay?” Mei stroked Aiko’s hair, currently, this was her favourite pastime.

Aiko could only sigh.

...

The Defensive Artefact against Poison was a very simple one.

It started with a Barrier-like Inscription and then formed sentences about each poison. Aiko never heard about these Poisons, so she had to verify them with Mei.

”Those are all very Low-Grade Poisons.” Mei shook her head. ”Don’t even think about fighting poison with poison!” And was scolded by Mei for asking...

Aiko returned to the Defensive Artefact, trying to figure out why it was shaped like a snake.

The Inscription looked nice on it, with all the twists and turns, but that was about it. There was no enhancing effect that Aiko could spot. She would have to test it out herself.

There was a Qi Gathering Inscription, though it was a bit different than usual. It was an Inscription that had some kind of special Inscription attached to it which Aiko was unable to decipher. She put it down for the time being and turned to check out another artefact, though she would be stopped when she saw the first customer entering.

’We didn’t do any advertising! So how in the hell did someone already came to check it out?!’ Aiko cried out in her mind, being sent in deep horror when she realized that it was not just a single Fox who was waiting in line.

”What the hell?!” Aiko’s inner thoughts leaked out which lead to her gathering everyone’s attention, but they decided to ignore her after a bit.

Even if she had high Beauty stat, Mei had... better proportions for most Foxes...

”What’s wrong?” Mei smirked.

”Nothing.” Aiko looked away, she would not ask about this devilish advertising. She would not be able to rest if she did it the same way Mei did it!

The first customer came up. ”Jade Fox, I-”

”You are a weak Fox, so you will only pay 1 Spirit Stone for 30 minutes.” Mei smiled.

The first customer choked. ”T-that’s expensive.”

Aiko butted in. ”But it’s discounted as you are our first customer. Normally it’s higher, so you should take this opportunity firmly into your hands.” She didn’t know what kind of advertising was done, but she could make some kind of outline, observing the blushing Foxes.

”I will take it!” Another Fox behind him shouted in enthusiasm.

”Shut up, you bastard! I have not said I won’t take it!” Yelled the first customer.

He pulled out a Spirit Stone and gave it to Mei.

”Thank you for your patronage.” Mei smiled, making the Fox blush and bleed from his nose.

”Am I going to heaven?”

”I’m already there, I can see Jade Fox, Passion Fox, Sect Leader... Ah.”

Some Foxes fainted, some had raging boners that they didn’t try to hide and some had nosebleeds, but they all had one thing in common... disgust from Aiko.

Aiko hid around the building, but she was so shocked by what she saw that she tried to run away.

”Where are you going?” A melodious voice from the depths of hell greeted her, it was the Grandmaster.

”Grandma.” Aiko smiled awkwardly.

”Come here.” The Grandmaster chuckled, reading her mind. Hell was not such a bad place.

Aiko felt like crying, the Grandma’s regime was complete hell and she didn’t want to experience it when she wanted to rest and tinker with things.

The Grandmaster placed Aiko on her lap and smiled. ”You can continue what you were doing.” It was that time of the month, the relapse.

She brushed Aiko’s tail and sighed slowly. She did not see her for a bit and she became even more shining.

’It will be difficult to keep immortals away from her.’ The Grandmaster sighed. She would have to deal with those when they came, but she was in no shape to fight them.

’I can only try to scare them away if they come...’ She shook her head.

Meanwhile, Aiko was relieved seeing the Array below them, it meant that the Grandmaster would not do anything to her.

Aiko pulled out that nice Dagger and looked over it.

The Grandmaster was also somewhat interested in seeing such an old artefact in Aiko’s hands.

Aiko slowly examined it but found out she could not figure out more than 70% of the Inscriptions on it. This made her excited and conflicted, since most of the time she was able to decipher most Inscriptions, but this one was the complete opposite!

She put it away for the time being, since she had enough of memorizing those Herbs, but even then she could remember the whole Inscription in her mind.

She pulled out an Armour with a dense, yet strange Inscription.

She did not have enough knowledge previously, but she noticed now that it was complete gibberish!

Once Aiko tried cursive Rune writing during the Massage Chair development it opened a whole new world for her, but now seeing the previously ’exciting’ Armour turn into complete gibberish, she was crestfallen.

”This is an excellent Armour.” The Grandmaster praised. She had similar Armour in her collection, but it was still in pristine condition.

’What do you mean ’an excellent Armour’?! This is complete gibberish, the cursive is plain wrong, the connections doesn’t make any sense, there is no Qi Gathering Inscription-’ Aiko paused her gentle cursing, as she couldn’t truly curse the Grandmaster lest she wants to experience that hellish training once again.

’Where is the Qi Gathering Formation??’ Aiko looked up and down, but could not find it.

”This Armour saps your Qi to power itself, as such the Inscription is dormant for most of the time.” The Grandmaster explained as she already tested her own Armour and she could feel her Qi leaving her body.

Aiko’s eyes shined, she did not have enough research material for dormant Inscriptions, as most Inscription Cultivators would just create Qi Gathering Inscriptions.

She looked over the Armour one more time. The cursive was bad, but there were a few novel ideas. There was an Inscription that attached itself to the User’s Golden Core and sucked on its Qi. She couldn’t use that part, for obvious reasons, but she could understand the inner workings and how it did those things.

Aiko sighed, satisfied with her knowledge, she put away the Armour since it was still heavy. Aiko revised the Armour a few more times in her mind before pulling the last treasure that she had.

The Broken Relic.

This was pretty ancient... it even attracted the Grandmaster’s interest.

”If you ever happen to not need this, I will exchange it with my treasures.” The Grandmaster said slowly but with a firm voice. This was a priceless relic for anyone who wished to ascend from this world, as you needed to be way beyond the Nascent Soul in Cultivation, but the Heavenly Lightning was still the same and merciless. This protection could buy countries if it appeared on auction...

Aiko stared at Grandmaster in wonder. She did not expect the Grandmaster to say that.

Aiko turned back to the Broken Relic and looked at it slowly, if it was so treasured by the Grandmaster, then this thing must not be simple...

Yet Aiko could not decipher it! This language was older than the Inscription she was used to, she knew only a few words from what looked like millions.

Aiko was not discouraged, her interest was piqued. Especially when she read the word ’Storage’. Could it be that Qi Storage she was looking forward to? Or some kind of Storage for different Qi? Aiko could not wait to find out, but unfortunately...

”We are done for today.” Mei sighed tiredly, those Foxes were too enthusiastic about this whole thing, but tomorrow should be calmer...

”How much did we get?” Aiko asked with narrowed eyes.

”Just 180 Spirit Stones, but that was because I lowered the prices for today.” Mei shrugged.

The Grandmaster staggered. When she was young, she was happy with 1 Spirit Stone per month, yet these little monsters had already made over a dozen years’ worth of Spirit Stone, but they still dared to call it low!

The Grandmaster stared at the Jade Fox.

”What is it~?” Mei teased the Grandmaster, since she knew that kind of expression.

”I will have to train it out of you.” The Grandmaster threatened.

”Oh? Grandma needs to take a walk?” Mei stuck out her tongue playfully.

”You little vixen!” The Grandmaster laughed, she was never insulted in such a way, yet she didn’t mind it as much. She was in a good mood since she was not in pain.

’Yes! Fight! Fight!’ Aiko’s eyes shined, if they were taken away by each other, she would be able to rest and laze around with the Inscriptions.

”Naturally, we would take her with us.” The Grandmaster petted Aiko.

”Indeed.” Mei nodded, she also didn’t like Aiko’s enthusiasm when they were bickering about training.

Aiko immediately turned crestfallen. She didn’t believe those two would be so free that they would be able to drag her with them.

”It’s better if she joins us.” Mei chuckled like the devil.

”Indeed, it seems like she has too much energy.” The Grandmaster likewise smiled like the devil.

Aiko cried in her mind. She could not believe that those two would gang up on her, how free were they?!

Unbeknownst to her, this would not be the last time someone would gang up on her...