Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

The Umbra Fox was brushing the sleeping Aiko’s tail. She was much calmer now that she rested inside instead of being outside where she could see that she was high up in the sky.

”Mistress is amazing...” The Umbra Fox murmured.

”Just keep calling her Aiko and she might like you more.” The Blood Fox suddenly said.

”But... that wasn’t in the contract...” The Umbra Fox said with some sadness.

”Yet it always slips on your tongue.” The Blood Fox chuckled when she imagined the countless times that Umbra Fox called Aiko by her name and not as ’Mistress’.

”Wouldn’t we get punished if others knew?” She asked worriedly.

”Probably.” The Blood Fox shrugged. ”But they can’t punish us if they don’t acquire permission from Aiko.”

”Do you truly believe they won’t go around it...?” The Umbra Fox said pessimistically.

The Blood Fox couldn’t answer that, since the more time they spend outside, the fishier things become about the Fox Village.

”It would be hard to leave, since we would be hunted...” The Blood Fox murmured.

”Don’t forget that Mei would eat us alive if we inconvenience her.” The Umbra Fox suddenly said.

”... True.” The Blood Fox said with a neutral voice. She was quite happy with their current relationship and she didn’t want to ruin it. She knew that Mei would be willing to completely restrict her from meeting Aiko if she messed up.

That would mess up her current situation, so she had to treat it carefully.

”My bad...” The Blood Fox apologised, the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to leave that shitty Fox Village.

”No worries.” The Umbra Fox smiled. She was already used to the fact that the Blood Fox was pretty much an obsessive fanatic when it came to their Mistress. The only reason she didn’t step in and stop the Blood Fox was because the Blood Fox had a good reason for this.

’Although I still can’t understand how Mistress is able to calm her down...’ She couldn’t find the logic behind that, as such, there was nothing she could do about it. After all, she was not well versed in Demonic Beings and the little bits of information that she knew was from rumours and gossip.

The Umbra Fox quite liked gossip since they were a good source of entertainment in her bland life. ’But that has to change...’ The Umbra Fox shouldn’t gather gossip as truthful information, as that is not very practical and similar incidents, like the one in ’that’ Capital, might arise and mess up her steady mind.

She understood that the more powerful she was, the steadier her mind was, the less likely she would crash like a flying ship without Spirit Stones.

The Blood Fox stared at the Umbra Fox for a long time, but after that, she sighed in relief knowing that the Umbra fox didn’t have any feelings for Aiko.

’The only issue is Mei...’ She thought. Mei was obsessed with making Aiko her servant, even when the situation was the complete opposite.

The Blood Fox was crestfallen from the fact Mei was so powerful. Mei could lock her in place with just her gaze. The Blood Fox needed to unlock her Divine Sense to combat this rift.

The Blood Fox believed that once she unlocked her Divine Sense, she would be able to restrain Mei’s Divine Sense and defeat her...

...

Aiko woke up as the duo was chatting happily. She was glad that she didn’t need to help the Umbra Fox, since she didn’t know how, but it turned out that her tail was more than enough to be used as a comforter.

She yawned, but was rudely interrupted by the smiling Blood Fox.

Aiko suddenly had a very bad feeling about this, like something that she didn’t like would happen... and happen it did.

The Blood Fox suddenly pulled Aiko’s Assassination Uniform with a smile on her lips.

Aiko had to wear it...

The tactical escape plan didn’t work, since the nimble Umbra Fox was behind her, smiling at her nicely. Aiko had no way to run away if she didn’t want to hurt them.

She sniffled and prepared herself for the embarrassment.

...

...

...

’It... it was surprisingly quick?’ Aiko tilted her head.

Before she knew it she was already wearing the Assassination Uniform, this was very different compared to Mei, who would tease her and take her time.

The Blood Fox smiled at the Umbra Fox and they high-fived. They had the edge over Mei since they didn’t feel right to tease Aiko about this, so the time spent on the actual ’clothing’ part was much shorter.

Aiko munched silently on a nearby snack of meat. She was still trying to wrap her head around it, but she just couldn’t.

Why was this so much easier than when she was clothed by Mei?? She couldn’t understand and since she couldn’t understand, she stopped thinking about it.

However, she still made a mental note about this for the future and she would have to ask Mei if she did it on purpose...

Aiko turned towards the small table that her team prepared. She really wanted to try and create something nice, like that Snake Artefact that protected her from low-grade poison.

Aiko munched a bit quicker so she could revise her materials and create a few pieces that her team could use.

It would not be universal protection from all low-grade poisons, but it would be good enough for her team for the moment.

Aiko moved to her table and sat down. She placed the Ink nearby and picked up the Inscription Carving Pen.

’He told me to pour a bit of my Divine Sense into it...’ Aiko hesitated, she didn’t want to break this thing...

’Let’s... just nudge it...?” Aiko was really afraid of breaking it, but the Inscription Saint told her she had to do it. During the time Lady Liu was asleep, he explained a few things about this Inscription Carving Pen.

It had the ability to develop a sense of self or Spiritual Consciousness. This would allow it to improve over time by just absorbing the ambient Qi, moreover, it would eventually even acquire independent thoughts.

This meant that in theory, Aiko could have her own Inscription Carving Pen that could carve without her input.

Aiko’s eyes shined slightly at the thought of this discovery. This would mean that the process of creating the Massage Chairs would be greatly sped up, since the Inscription Carving Pen would make the Inscriptions on its own.

’The problem is that it needs resources to develop its thoughts and it takes quite a long time for it to mature.’ Aiko frowned at this part, she didn’t want to wait all that long, but she also knew that she was not wealthy enough to nurture it.

’Which means when I return, I will have to scale up the Massage Business.’ Aiko tapped the table as her hand seamlessly engraved Runes on a few pieces of metal that would act as the pseudo-artefact, completely forgetting about the Divine Sense thing.

She used cursive, which gave it even more power.

’But it can’t be used during normal Cultivation since it robs a lot of ambient Qi...’ Aiko frowned. This was something that couldn’t be avoided and she did not have enough information about Runes, nor did she run enough tests to create a more efficient version.

That was another thing she would have to do once she came back... the work was just piling up without her doing anything. She needed to improve this and that, and suddenly her work quadrupled!

She was concerned that it would eat into her meditation time, which meant it was time to make the ceiling see-through!

Aiko smiled from ear to ear, but somewhere far away, one gorgeous Fox shivered. She cursed the draft in the abode, not expecting that she would be soon exposed to the Moon...

...

Aiko drew a few pseudo-anti-poison artefacts.

”Here.” And placed them in front of the duo.

She filed down the edges so now it looked like prettily decorated smooth stones.

The Blood Fox and the Umbra Fox touched it. They could feel that it decreased the ambient Qi quite sharply, but they could not gauge its effects.

”What does this do, Mistress?” The Umbra Fox was the first to ask, as she was curious about this pretty rock.

”It is the same as this, but stronger.” Aiko said, pulling out the Snake Artefact.

The duo stared at it.

”Is this supposed to poison us?” The Blood Fox tilted her head cutely and teased Aiko.

”No!” Aiko slapped the table, annoyed at the Blood Fox. ”I have no idea why some idiot Forging Cultivator created this like this. It doesn’t poison you, but protect you from poison...!” Aiko shook her head, she could not understand what the maker of this piece was thinking.

”Anyway, it only protects you from certain types of low-grade poisons.” Aiko gestured. ”So if you are not sure if you are poisoned or not it’s better to still take Pills, but when you are in a fight and you can’t take them, there is a possibility that this thing can protect you.” Aiko explained.

”Of course, it would be better if you didn’t get poisoned in the first place, but this thing is still only a loose safety net, it might catch you, but you can still slip through it.” Aiko rambled on and on, she was not used to those adoring gazes. She used her rambling to hide her embarrassment, but her ears were already a tinge of pink and slowly turning red.

Aiko coughed awkwardly. ”You can place it into your pockets or somewhere where it stays close to your body, I don’t have the proper materials that would allow me to make this into an accessory, so you will have to make do with these metal pieces.” Aiko explained a bit more, but choked when she saw the Blood Fox slide that pretty metallic stone into her bosom.

Aiko stared there for a good while. ”Won’t that slide out of her valley?” She subconsciously stated her worry.

The Blood Fox giggled and stood up, those peaks shook like jelly, yet the smothered metallic stone stayed in place.

’Did it acquire Spiritual Sense already...?’ Aiko couldn’t understand, how could the Blood Fox store so many things into her bosom without losing them.

She stared down, but when she compared her bumps to those massive personalities...

Aiko suddenly felt angry and she also felt the need to slap them… again.

She coughed, looking away from the Blood Fox, lest she would get even angrier and actually slap them... again.

Aiko sipped some water looking over the Umbra Fox, which was more pleasing to the eye and not overwhelming like the Blood Fox.

The Umbra Fox caressed and played with the stone, curious and mesmerised by the Inscription.

”Mistress...” The Umbra Fox hesitated.

”Tell me, tell me.” Aiko was curious about what could make her so hesitant.

”How much Beast Core energy do we have to spend to power this?” The Umbra Fox blushed slightly. She didn’t want to ask this, but it was important to know so she could get prepared during fights.

”I don’t understand...?” Aiko tilted her head. ”It’s already working, you know?”

The Umbra Fox was startled. ”You don’t need to power it to make it work?” She was greatly confused.

”Yeah, as long as you keep it close to your body, the Inscription Energies will invade your body and protect you from the low-grade poisons.” Aiko said flatly with a raised eyebrow.

”Mistress...” The Umbra Fox had tears in her eyes. ”Thank you so much for giving us such an incredible treasure!” She kowtowed towards Aiko, making her flustered.

”What are you doing?!” Aiko was completely flustered. ”This is just a simple makeshift trinket made within a few hours, it’s not a treasure!”

Aiko’s statement silenced the whole room and they could hear someone outside the door choke up...