Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko yawned a few times, she was so bored and there were no enemies to fight.

She expected there would be some waves of enemies that would threaten them, but nothing happened.

The Inscription Saint and Lady Liu are also still outside, so Aiko can’t bother them.

’I need something to dooooooo.’ Aiko yawned for the last time.

She didn’t really have any projects that she wanted to do with Inscription. She also wasn’t well-versed enough in Alchemy that she could do anything with that.

Another problem was that a game of Go would end up in utter defeat, which would upset her...

Aiko’s ears twitched, there were no strange sounds around. She rolled her eyes and stood up.

”I’m going outside.” Aiko said somewhat neutrally, but her boredom was obvious from her previous actions.

Her team stood up with her. They were ready to go out just in case something happened, they were slightly startled that that something was Aiko and not an enemy attack.

Well... that was still better than Aiko causing trouble here inside. There were plenty of Inscriptions from Chen Shi, so it was a matter of time before Aiko would mess with them.

Fortunately, Aiko was not interested in them enough that she would want to cause trouble.

...

They left the side palace and walked out of the Royal Grounds. Naturally, since they were trained assassins, nobody could spot them.

There were a few Beasts that noticed them, like the Lion with a snake tail. He was curious where that little Fox was going, so he followed.

Aiko wandered aimlessly throughout the city.

It was a very wealthy city as everything was either made of precious stone, like the pathways and sidewalks, or the colour palette was gentle and not jarring to the eyes. Everything flew well into the eyes, like a sweet and gentle painting.

Closer to the Royal Ground were double and sometimes even triple-story buildings.

What was interesting was the fact that they were made entirely out of wood.

It was slightly strange for Aiko, she could not put her finger on why, but she just felt like they weren’t supposed to hold so much weight with just wood alone.

Yet it did. When Aiko got close, on most buildings, there were no Inscriptions. The wood supported the whole building and the floors were either made out of precious stones or wood too.

Aiko tilted her head, there was so much wood everywhere, except the outside walls that walled in gardens, which were made out of bricks, that she started to think that people were obsessed with wood!

*Sniff Sniff*

Suddenly, Aiko took a whiff of a familiar smell.

She stopped her team and went into a small alley.

There was a group of men dressed in black discussing something with their hands.

Aiko could not understand a thing, but those guys were either nodding or shaking their heads.

Aiko was puzzled, but then she noticed those familiar bottles.

She frowned and activated her stealth skills.

Sneaking closer, they still didn’t notice her and Aiko held her breath so she wouldn’t get poisoned as badly.

*Whack*

Aiko picked up a nearby wooden plank and whacked one person... or rather, she split his skull!?

Aiko was confused, why was the wood, so god-damn hard?!

She didn’t dwell on it too much and before the others could do anything, she whacked them too.

Aiko took the bottles and threw them inside the ring.

Walking back to her team, there was a familiar mane, which she really wanted to sleep in.

”What are you doing here?” Aiko asked, her voice sounding a bit odd.

The Lion with the snake tail looked over and frowned. ”There are more of them?” He noticed that Aiko had abnormal eyes and her fur turned black like it did back in the council room.

Aiko nodded, but kept staring at him.

”I was wondering what kind of mischief you will cause.” The Lion confessed. He was bored and worried about what his Master might put him through once he returned to the Heavenly Beast Sect. He could not sleep well, so once he saw Aiko leaving the Royal Grounds, he followed, hoping that something fun would happen.

Aiko glared at him, but she didn’t shoo him away. ”So what now?”

”How many bottles do they have?” The Lion asked.

”A bottle per person.” Aiko replied softly.

”Damn! That’s too much!” The Lion with the snake tail whipped out another Talisman.

The Talisman gently burned.

”-I’m telling you, nothing well will come out of those Bastards. They will try to backstab you the moment you have something precious.-”

His Master was still talking, he probably didn’t notice the first Talisman burned out.

”Master, we have a problem.” He interrupted him rudely, but he needed to report this whole situation.

”What is it?” His Master sounded incredibly annoyed, like he was just rudely interrupted from his lecture.

”There are more Humans with Berserker Powders.” The Lion said gravely.

”WHAT?!” The Master was shocked and he suddenly started to listen to them.

”How many?” His Master asked.

Lion turned towards Aiko.

”I have gathered 7 bottles from a group of 7 Humans.” Aiko said gently.

There was silence, a long silence.

”Hehe, you bastard finally found a sweetheart, huh~?” The Lion’s Master teased, he had no restraints when it came to Humans and lovers.

”It’s not like that, Master.” The Lion denied. ”She is a Fox.” He didn’t want to say it, since he had a good opinion of this little brat, but he had to, otherwise his Master wouldn’t listen to him.

”Foxes, huh.” *Ptooey* ”Why are you listening to those-” Master wanted to curse Aiko’s team, but Lion didn’t want that to happen.

”Master, we have currently collected 15 bottles of Berserker Powder.” The Lion said distracting his Master.

”What?!” His Master was shocked. That was too many in such a short time.

”I will send team 3 and 4 which are immune to that powder for protection and subjugation.” The Master said gravely. ”Try to hold out, it’s better to hide somewhere with the other Beasts, but if you think you can endure a bit of Berserker Powder, then find as much as possible. It will be easier to pin it on Humans the more we have.” The Master said and the Talisman burned out.

The Lion nodded gently. ”It’s better if we go back. It’s safer that way.”

”No.” Aiko pouted, if she went back she would be bored out of this world. She just couldn’t do anything fun.

Aiko immediately walked away, leaving the confused Lion alone.

”Hey! Don’t leave me alone!” The Lion with the snake tail immediately shouted and ran after them. He was safer with them then alone, since the little brat had high resistance against the Berserker Powder.

Aiko ignored him, since she was more curious about the city than him. She was a bit more conspicuous now, since her eyes turned into two small rubies.

Most of the large double doors to courtyards and mansions, were decorated with precious gems and lofty signs with even loftier names, which were hung above said doors.

This wanton display of wealth slightly displeased Aiko. She really wanted to pry one of those signs down and scrape the gold out of them.

Leaving gold so openly, she was surprised nobody would rob them...

Cultivators did not care about gold, gold was pretty much useless to them. It didn’t hold enough Qi, it was not tough, nor did it look all that precious.

As for Mortals... they wouldn’t dare anger those large families that actually used those golden signs.

Aiko paused for a moment. To pry or not to pry? She chose not to, not because it would cause trouble, but because she smelled yet another familiar smell.

Aiko ran silently into a nearby alleyway.

”AGH””ARGH””AAAH”

A scream and shrieks drifted from the alleyway that Aiko had just gone into.

”I’m back.” Aiko returned.

”I will wait and tie them up again.” The Umbra Fox whispered to the Blood Fox.

”Okay, be careful that you don’t breathe in too much.” The Blood Fox nodded gently and warned.

They were already used to the fact that they had to clean up after Aiko. They naturally didn’t mind, since Aiko would leave their Treasures behind sometimes, so they would strip them bare and keep those Treasures.

Most of the time Aiko did not care enough about those Treasures since they weren’t worth much in her eyes, but that’s not to say they were completely worthless.

They could sell for a few dozen Spirit Stones, maybe even a hundred, so this was a good way to pay her team without actually paying them, not that she didn’t want to pay them. This opportunity was good.

Aiko could pay them and they would also learn about the worth of those Treasures, it’s just... Aiko didn’t have enough patience to haggle for said Treasures.

Those bastard Humans would haggle and haggle until the price was so low that it was pretty much daylight robbery!

Fortunately, the Umbra Fox and the Blood Fox were ruthless when it came to buying and selling. One could say that they were even worse than Humans.

They would ruthlessly cut down the prices to the bare minimum so that their opponent still had to sell it, since they would make a profit, but it was such a miniscule profit that their hearts would bleed!

Aiko watched this once when they were back in the first capital.

The Blood Fox liked one bracelet made out of small beads. She ruthlessly slashed the prices the more he tried to haggle, but never went under the merchant’s limits, so it always ended up in sale.

It was a funny sight when she saw those merchants’ distorted expressions, yet still willing to sell it to the Blood Fox.

Aiko should learn this skill as well, and over time she would be capable of doing so as well, but.. she didn’t believe she had enough patience to not bash their heads in...

...

Meanwhile, Chen Shi was enjoying the same haggling Aiko just explained.

He would ruthlessly cut the prices until the merchants bled, but not enough that they would call him out on that.

Like this, he was able to buy many things with very little wealth.

It’s not that he didn’t want to buy those things for Lady Liu, but if you waste your wealth, you will find out one day that you don’t have any wealth left!

He would make sure he always had a couple of million Spirit Stones so that Lady Liu could get anything she wanted!