Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko was stretched on the bed, it was nice to do nothing, but she quickly got bored...

She wouldn’t be bored if she didn’t experience building the Massage Chair. She wanted to finish it again and use it, but at the same time, it would take a long time...

What was even worse, was the fact that she could no longer upgrade the [Greater Poison Resistance], she needed to combine it with something else or find a way to upgrade it since she didn’t like the [Greater Poison Immunity*]. It still had that asterisk, which means it was still not complete...

Aiko stared towards the horizon, she couldn’t wait like this.

”Mei.” Aiko turned towards Mei.

”Bored?” Mei smiled.

”I want to build another Massage Chair, this time just for us and I will rebuild the old one after we clean it with fire.” Aiko said slowly.

”Won’t it affect the Inscriptions?” Mei narrowed her eyes.

”As long as the flames we uses aren’t too strong it should be alright, but at the worst, I could patch up the Inscription.” Aiko shrugged.

”Alright, I will burn the old chair first and then I will get the parts for a new one.” Mei smiled.

”Thank you~” Aiko smiled from ear to ear.

”In the meantime, you can learn from this.” Mei placed a White Jade Slip in front of Aiko.

”It’s a different colour?” Aiko tilted her head.

”I could not find anything that could store all the information I wanted, so I had to come up with something.” Mei shrugged.

”Was it expensive?” Aiko felt bad that Mei would give her something so precious.

”It’s fine.” Mei left to burn the Massage Chair and Aiko looked through the White Jade Slip.

”What the fuck?!” Aiko cried out and Mei smiled on the way to ’clean’ the Chair.

”Why are there so many of them!?” Aiko felt miserable when she spotted the countless amount of-

’Wait. It’s not just Herbs?’ Aiko tilted her head. She browsed it again and found that it was not just Herbs, but also flora that would be dangerous to her. Other than those that could be used to poison the surroundings, there were also those that could thicken the ambient Qi and so on.

’This is pretty handy...’ Aiko nodded happily, but she would still pretend to be disgruntled in front of Mei. ’I can’t make it seem like I like it, since Mei could bring even more Jade Slips...’ Aiko didn’t want that, this Jade Slip was enough for her!

Little did she know that Mei would be ecstatic if she knew that Aiko liked this, as this was the culmination of her lifelong knowledge.

...

Mei returned with the Massage Chair which was still red-hot of course she carried it with her Divine Sense.

”Whoa, you didn’t hold back.” Aiko nodded.

”I tried to burn it properly, so there is no awful residual smell.” Mei said with a disgusted look.

”I had to burn it so many times to get completely rid of it.” She sighed and whined to Aiko.

”Thank you~!” Aiko hugged Mei happily.

She will look over the Inscription if it has faded or straight-up vaporized.

...

”The Inscription is still mostly intact?” Aiko looked at the old Massage Chair oddly.

”Are they?” Mei asked, hugging Aiko from behind.

”It’s odd since only those stained parts faded...” Aiko couldn’t understand what was happening and that made her confused.

Mei narrowed her eyes but didn’t say anything. She could already form several guesses about what happened.

”Well, I will just fix those parts and be done with it.” Aiko shrugged.

She picked up the Inscription Pen and slowly applied the Inscription Ink, but something odd happened.

’It doesn’t stick together?’ Aiko tilted her head.

She picked up the Inscription Carving Pen and removed part of the Inscription Ink, then she reapplied the Ink in its place and then it finally stuck together.

’Oh... It seems like I will have to remove all the affected Inscription Ink and replace it with a new one.’ Aiko nodded slowly. This would take quite some time.

Just then, the haggard duo returned. They looked much better than previously, but still pretty awful.

Aiko observed them for a while, there was a sense of danger from them, but not enough for Aiko to make her go on guard.

Aiko tilted her head puzzled, she couldn’t understand that new feeling.

...

10 weeks passed and the Massage Chair was up and running.

”I’m still not willing to use it.” Aiko shook her head. It would have been better if she just made another one that only she and her group used...

’But it’s already been 10 weeks again and I really don’t want to spend dozens of weeks building it...’ Aiko sighed. She would start developing and nurturing her Divine Sense first.

”Mei.” Aiko trotted towards Mei.

”What is it?” Mei smiled.

”The Massage Chair is fixed, but I don’t really want to build another one right now, how about we start with the Divine Sense?” Aiko looked at Mei with puppy eyes.

”Sure.” While Mei was not immune to those eyes, since she also wanted to proceed with Alchemy, she did not mind Aiko’s enthusiasm.

”Let’s go somewhere else for the first few tests.” Mei said softly.

Aiko followed Mei outside.

...

”This place is deserted enough.” Mei nodded and smiled at Aiko.

”What do I do then?” Aiko asked with gentle eyes.

”Lift that rock.” Mei pointed at a small rock near them.

”How do I do that?” Aiko asked for guidance.

”First you need to relax your body, then empty your mind and you should see a light hue around your body. You will try to slowly control that hue with your thoughts, moving it around.” Mei explained all the parts for control, but she would explain it in more details if Aiko struggled.

Aiko sat down and relaxed her body. It was a good thing she got that shitty title [Filthy RICH Den Master] since it stopped her from falling asleep.

Aiko meditated and meditated... and meditated.

”That should be enough for today.” Mei’s gentle words drifted into Aiko’s ears.

Aiko didn’t think she meditated enough, but still opened her eyes.

To her shock, it was already evening and they started slightly before lunch!

Aiko looked at Mei with confusion and Mei giggled. ”It’s difficult to empty your mind, since the more you relax it, the faster the time passes. It is similar to when you Meditate to Cultivate. The perception of the flow of time gets distorted.” Mei said gently.

Aiko nodded slowly. This was an unexpected variable, as she didn’t think she was even halfway through...

...

The next day, she tried it again.

Then again.

And again.

With little to no progress.

...

”It’s fine.” Mei consoled her. ”Since your mind is stronger than your peers, it will take you longer to empty your mind.” She smiled kindly not minding Aiko’s inability to grasp her Divine Sense.

Aiko nodded, but she was still unhappy. She wanted to use Divine Sense soon as she felt that she wasted her time like this.

Then it clicked for her. ’I will use the [Sleeping] Skill during nights!’ Aiko nodded to herself.

She walked back with Mei to sleep, but instead of sleeping, she activated her Skill and patiently practised.

...

20 weeks passed and Aiko was finally able to grasp her Divine Sense.

She was also close to her Birthday yet again, but that was not important.

”Mei I think I grasped my Divine Sense.” Aiko smiled happily.

”Great.” Mei smiled gently, she didn’t want to discourage Aiko as she did not know if it should take that long. Aiko’s Divine Sense was out of the norm, so it could’ve been difficult to grasp it.

”Let’s go to that deserted place again and test your control.” Mei guided Aiko back to that place. There was no hurry in her eyes, as days in the Immortal World were countless.

”Since you can grasp your Divine Sense now try moving it.” Mei gestured that rock again.

Aiko sat down and meditated again. She soon saw what looked like a smooth Black Hue leaving her body.

She nudged it, but it was as hard as pushing a river.

Aiko opened her eyes, exhausted. Mei gently picked up Aiko and returned to their abode.

Mei was slightly concerned as this was not a normal situation, she couldn’t use her knowledge to help Aiko, but she could make sure that Aiko wouldn’t get hurt. The sense of exhaustion was from over-usage of Divine Sense. That was not bad since that same thing expanded your Divine Sense and would allow one to increase their resilience towards Divine Sense.

Still, if it’s used too much it could damage the mind as the mind wouldn’t be able to cope with the strain, so she must regulate Aiko’s training.

Aiko fell asleep the moment Mei put her on her tails. There were 4 fluffy tails. Mei wanted to create the fifth, but it would exhaust her Soul stockpile, so she was postponing it.

But even if she postponed it, it was still unbelievable growth. Most Elders were keeping their eyes on her and some even tried to placate her to become their Disciples.

Mei refused all of them since they were too weak for their age. They wouldn’t be able to achieve the pinnacle of Cultivation and Mei didn’t want to bother with dead carcasses...

...

”You are improving splendidly.” The Grandmaster praised them.

The Umbra Fox improved her hiding and throwing capabilities, while sharpening her senses. This allowed her to sneak around without being spotted by normal means, but she was still far away from evading Divine Sense...

Meanwhile, the Passion Fox was a true brute. She would pound anything she couldn’t solve with her wits. She could coat her hands with Blood and shape them into different instruments. Fists, knives, blades, you name it. This allowed her to be very versatile in close combat, but she lacked ranged Abilities.

Sure, she did have the [Crimson Spear], but that would weaken her in the long run. She needed something that didn’t tap into her Blood reserves, the same reserves that she used for [Crimson Armour] and her enhancements.

But even with this weakness, she was power to be reckoned with.

”I was thinking that the three of you should join the Rankings.” The Grandmaster smirked.

”Rankings?” The Passion Fox was the first one to ask.

”It’s all about how powerful you are in battle. There are other Rankings, like the Alchemy Ranking or the Inscription Ranking, but this is the only one that doesn’t have a more specific name, as it’s the most important one.” The Grandmaster explained and then murmured. ”At least for those old fools anyway.”

”And we are to enter that Ranking?” The Passion Fox asked.

”In a bit.” The Grandmaster nodded. ”You are to achieve the top 10 in your category before we resume your training.” The Grandmaster gave them a goal.

”T-top 10?!” The ever-silent Umbra Fox stuttered.

”Yes, dear.” The Grandmaster stroked the kneeling Umbra Fox’s hair. ”That should be enough to give you enough experience to kick this training up a notch.”

While the duo had trained vigorously and without much rest, this was not ideal in normal combat. There were many enemies with different weapons and styles. The Grandmaster required them to learn those differences and adapt to them.

””We will listen, Grandmaster.”” They both cupped their fists.

”Tell the little one she will be joining too, but since she is injured, she can go just for the top 20.” The Grandmaster was still slightly upset she was called Grandma, but not enough to be completely ruthless.

”We will deliver the message!” They bowed and swayed back to the abode.