Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Lady Liu didn’t sleep for all that long, so Aiko and her team had to board the flying ship.

It was not all that large of a flying ship compared to the Fox Village’s, but it was certainly more luxurious. Pretty much everything sparkled or smelled like it was brand new.

Aiko sighed at this prodigal Inscription Saint. Why prodigal? Even the hammock looked ridiculously expensive and soft!

Aiko stared around her in wonder. She wanted to observe and touch everything, her eyes sparkling to no end.

She ran around here and there, touching everything. While Lady Liu didn’t mind that, that was not the case for the Chen boy. He glared at the little Fox which was completely ignoring him in favour of new and shiny things.

Aiko’s tail swayed from left to right gently. She was happy with her newfound toys.

*Cough*

There was a dry cough from the Chen boy to attract Aiko’s attention.

Aiko turned her head towards him.

His lips twitched as Aiko’s ears twitched and she was restlessly glancing around. Her eyes were signalling, ’Why are you disturbing me, you asshole?!’.

”The Inscription Carving Pen is finished.” The Chen boy said slowly and only after he finished that sentence did Aiko calm down.

Well... calm down was an overstatement, it looked like Aiko was on the edge of thinking if she should divert her attention to the Inscription Carving Pen or the endless shinies around her.

Lady Liu giggled at the indecisiveness of the little Aiko, but she didn’t interfere. While she did like her, she also liked the Chen boy, so she would not stand behind if it meant angering the other.

Even if they tried to drag her into this dispute, she would gently excuse herself. This way, she can enjoy how both of them handle this situation.

”Can I stay on the deck?” Aiko narrowed her eyes.

”As long as you don’t touch anything.” The Chen boy likewise narrowed his eyes.

”No, can’t do.” Aiko immediately rejected him. ”It’s this or that.”

Aiko kept glancing towards the stairs, seemingly ready to run and explore the flying ship.

The Chen boy’s brows twitched a few times, he could not believe this shameless little Fox.

”What if I say that I will keep the Inscription Carving Pen?” He narrowed his eyes.

”Then I will just explore eve-ry-where~” Aiko hummed mischievously.

The Chen boy snorted coldly. ”Fine, but the moment you break something, you will pay the full price.” He had to agree to the previous arrangements.

”Sure.” Aiko readily agreed, since she was very gentle with things and they would not break on her. This was a foolproof plan that would allow her to have two things, one of which she wasn’t supposed to have.

Aiko’s ears happily twitched as her tail swayed gently. It was nice not needing to completely hide her origin.

”I will bring you the Pen later today.” The Inscription Saint stared towards Lady Liu, who was slowly dozing off.

”Sure.” Aiko nodded. She completely forgot the fact that Lady Liu is rather old, even when she looks so young and gorgeous...

Lady Liu was leaning on a nearby wall with her head, slightly nodding torward them. The Inscription Saint came close to her slowly and audibly so as not to startle her.

”Lady Liu.” His heart was pained from seeing her like this.

”What is it?” She tilted her head and before she could gather more of her thoughts and ask him, she was suddenly flying.

”Kya!” She yelped in surprise as the Chen boy was carrying her in his arms.

”W-what-” Lady Liu was completely red in the face. She was left speechless and unable to think from this abrupt situation.

The Chen boy blushed from his ears all the way to his neck.

Aiko stared at them amused. ”Must be nice to have a lover...” She murmured, but it was audible enough that the duo picked up on it.

”We are not lovers!” She half-yelled from her embarrassment.

”You are not convincing anyone.” Aiko shook her head and her team likewise mimicked.

Lady Liu turned even more red and beat the Chen boy’s shoulder. Of course, she was just a mortal, so the Chen boy relaxed his body to make sure that she wouldn’t get hurt.

He was secretly smiling and praising the little Fox for the first time after a long time. This kind of help was not bad.

He hoped that Lady Liu would accept him, but the more she aged, the more she distanced herself from others, of course, she didn’t distance herself consciously, at least not for others. She, however, did distance herself from him consciously.

She was pained by the fact she wouldn’t live all that long and that her time would come to an end. Chen Boy didn’t care about this fact and just wanted to cherish her whole being and shower her with affection...

Lady Liu knew this and was burdened by this fact. She already made peace with herself that this was just a natural cycle of life for her and she didn’t want to make Chen boy heartbroken when she died.

The Chen boy didn’t care about such a fact. The only thing he cared about was Lady Liu. That was also one of the reasons he created the Inscription Association, as it was an endless funnel of money that would allow him to buy anything for her...

Neither of them were willing to talk about this, since a few years back Lady Liu was incredibly angry and she cried so much that she passed out.

This left the Chen boy distressed and in fear for several days until Lady Liu recovered. From that point in time, they never talked about it, but that didn’t mean the Chen boy wasn’t working towards his goal.

He wanted to create a panacea that would save Lady Liu, but he hit a roadblock in Alchemy, which was one of the reasons why he was researching poisons.

Maybe if he combined the strongest Positive Pill with the strongest Negative Pill he would be able to achieve his goal, but unfortunately, so far it was a fruitless endeavour...

Aiko stared at their complex gazes for a bit before moving her team away from them.

While she was curious about their story and struggles, she was not curious enough that she would invade their privacy... but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to snoop around and find something.

”Here.” The Chen boy pulled out the Inscription Carving Pen from his Spacial Ring.

Aiko abandoned all thoughts of snooping around until she played with this little bad boy enough.

The Inscription Saint sighed, seeing the giddy Aiko.

Lady Liu was gripping his clothes, so he moved away from the group. He didn’t want her to be angry at him for carrying her like this.

Aiko stared at the retreating duo, but she didn’t follow.

”Let’s invade and occupy the deck!” Aiko proclaimed and dragged the curious duo with her.

”But Mistress-” The Umbra Fox was dying of curiosity.

”Shush, you are coming with me!” Aiko glanced at her and dragged them away faster.

The duo was pouting at Aiko, they couldn’t enjoy the blooming romance between those two.

Aiko naturally could see their desire, but she pretty much tied them up to herself.

”You can watch the outside world!” Aiko exclaimed and came close to the railing.

”I-it’s dangerous, Mistress...” The Umbra Fox looked incredibly worried.

”It isn’t.” Aiko didn’t understand what was wrong with her. ”There are Arrays that would stop you from accidentally falling down.

She took her hand and tried to stretch it outside the flying ship, but it was stopped by an invisible barrier.

”P-please don’t do that.” The Umbra Fox had teary eyes and she stood in the middle of the deck.

Aiko was confused and stared at the Umbra Fox for a long time, but her expression only got more miserable.

”Perhaps...” Aiko mumbled. ”Are you afraid of heights?” She stared straight at the Umbra Fox.

The Umbra Fox flinched. ”N-no, who is scared of heights. I’m not, Mistress, you must believe me.” She stared with pleading eyes that begged Aiko to ignore her blatant lies.

”I don’t see any reason why that would be bad.” Aiko sighed. ”Especially when you can slowly work to overcome it, you know?” She tilted her head. She couldn’t understand her extreme reaction.

The Umbra Fox sobbed quietly and Aiko was distressed, she moved away from the railing near the Umbra Fox.

”Are you alright? Should we go inside?” Aiko gently hugged the Umbra Fox.

”I’m alright, Mistress.” She tried to shrug it off, but her whole body was quivering.

”Alright, let’s go inside.” Aiko sighed at her silly teammate.

The Umbra Fox didn’t want to go inside since Aiko had such a hard time demanding access to this place, but she was left with no choice since Aiko dragged her away by force.

”I’m really alright, Mistress.” The Umbra Fox didn’t want Aiko’s hard labour to go to waste.

”Shush.” Aiko didn’t want to hear anything from the pitiful and quivering Fox.

They came close to the pair, who were having a lover’s quarrel about some expensive trinkets.

”Excuse me, where is our room?” Aiko interrupted them quite rudely, but neither of them minded it, as this broke the awkward bickering.

”It’s left to this room. Just continue down the corridor and the next doors are yours.” The Inscription Saint said gently.

”Thank you.” Aiko didn’t say much, but both Lady Liu and the Chen boy saw the abnormality in Umbra Fox’s eyes and body language.

Lady Liu was worried about them, but she was too exhausted to go over and ask them. She would make a mental note about this and visit them once she woke up.

Aiko sighed. She was worried about the Umbra Fox, who was trying to downplay it as if everything was alright...

’This will be a tough nut to crack.’ Aiko thought, looking at the still-shivering Fox.

She wondered if she could help the Umbra Fox in any way, but she just could not think of anything.

Aiko soon gave up and just sat on the Umbra Fox’s lap.

The Umbra Fox was startled at first, she didn’t know what to do, but after a few brushes from Aiko’s swaying tails, she opened her mouth.

”When did you get two tails, Mistress?” The Umbra Fox asked absent-mindedly.

”I didn’t.” Aiko said lightly, but the duo stiffened.

””You didn’t?”” They asked in sync, startling Aiko.

”No.” Aiko repeated her answer. ”I have two tails because of reasons.” Aiko avoided the answer for the time being. Mei was Karma-bound and the Grandmaster made a vow, so it was alright, but she would have to be careful with everyone else.

She would tell them about the fact that she didn’t obtain another tail, but she wouldn’t tell them how she obtained it or what it does. Safety was first, but the trust they gathered made Aiko tell them that she didn’t obtain the second tail with her own powers.

This was... a sensitive topic, not because she didn’t believe them, but because Mei told her that it was easy to search someone’s Soul for information. Aiko... wanted to avoid that at all cost, so that her team wasn’t implicated.

She liked the duo quite a lot, especially the Blood Fox since she was incredibly nice to her and fulfilled Aiko’s wishes.

Yeah, she was biassed, but what can you do when a beautiful elder sister is taking care of you...