Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”Meeeeeeeeei.” Aiko whined loudly. Whenever she would try to do Alchemy, for some reason, Mei would get extremely touchy with her.

Mei giggled. ’This is what you get for always smothering me to sleep!’ She snorted unhappily, since she felt more rested when she was smothered by Aiko. Mei didn’t like that fact at all and tried to deny the fact that it was because of it!

As such, Aiko had to deal with Mei whenever she was creating the Pills. The distraction caused her to ruin too many batches, so much so that Aiko snapped.

”That’s it!” Aiko slapped the table, completely ignoring the boiling Cauldron. ”You are going to teach me the cleaning spell!” She proclaimed sternly.

Mei laughed. ”Sure, here it is.” She handed Aiko a Jade Slip.

”Another Jade Slip.” Aiko’s face scrunched. She didn’t even finish the previous Jade Slip, yet she got another one!

”It’s quite short.” Mei chuckled.

”Bullshit!” Aiko immediately retorted, startling Mei. ”The last time you gave me a Jade Slip, it was this abomination of endless texts and pictures!” She slammed the overly familiar Jade Slip with Mei’s lifetime knowledge.

Mei was pleasantly surprised that Aiko still had that Jade Slip. At this point, she believed that Aiko would give up, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

”It’s really short, trust me.” Mei smiled gently.

”Uhuh.” Aiko snorted unhappily. ”Trust me, it will only take you a few dozen years to just read it, but learning it- *Chuckles* -it will take much longer!” She once again snorted at Mei.

Mei laughed, ”I will leave you to it.” and left the premise, so that she didn’t need to deal with the fuming Aiko.

Aiko cursed inside the empty room before picking up the Jade Slip.

”...” Aiko blinked a few times. ”It’s really short, huh...” She didn’t believe that this was the whole version, but no matter how she looked at it. That was it!”

Then suddenly a window popped up.

[Would you like to learn Martial Technique [Clean]?]

[Cost: 100 Skill Points]

’Can I learn it without spending points?’ Aiko asked, narrowing her eyes.

[It is possible, this cost is only for when you want to learn it immediately.]

’How much would it cost to buy it from the system shop?’ Aiko asked.

[200 Skill Points.]

’Can this number get smaller?’ Aiko tapped the table like Mei would always do.

[The shop prices will adjust over time. The instant learning part of the system gets cheaper the more you learn it by yourself.]

’Oh...’ Aiko nodded repeatedly. This was quite a good thing. Not only was it cheaper than from the system shop, but it could even get cheaper!

Aiko nodded happily before reading the Jade Slip from Mei several times.

She understood a bit about it each time she read it and the system also showed this progress.

[Would you like to learn Martial Technique [Clean]?]

[Cost: 95 Skill Points]

’This will take a while...’ Aiko was tempted to just push the button and learn it immediately, but she should not waste the precious Stat and Skill Points!

The urge was not strong enough to control Aiko, so she diligently learned.

...

A month later, Aiko was finished.

[You have learned the Martial Technique [Clean]!]

Aiko also became a year older at this moment. Her sense of time started to distort even for her and she became 34 years old.

”Mei, I have finished!” Aiko cheerfully came running to Mei.

”Oh, you did?” It took quite some time for Aiko to learn, but Mei didn’t care about that part. She was happy that Aiko was able to learn.

”Yeah!” Aiko smiled. ”Look at this! [Clean]!” She immediately used her new Technique on Mei.

Mei was wrapped in gentle energy and enjoyed the soothing feeling.

Meanwhile, Aiko was quite shocked. ’This wasn’t supposed to happen!’ She was panicking inside, but she didn’t let it show on her face.

”This is not bad.” Mei praised Aiko.

”Small cherries?” Aiko was still quite stunned, so she blurted out what she thought.

”What are you talki- Aiko! You rascal!” Mei was confused, but soon after became immediately livid.

”Run away!” Aiko shouted before darting out of the room. It was safer outside, since she knew that Mei could not pursue her.

’But I never imagined Mei looking so sexy...’ Aiko ran slightly absent-mindedly before she hit a nearby tree.

”Auch.” Aiko rubbed her face.

Meanwhile, Mei was still shouting after Aiko.

”Is this your sense of revenge?! Stripping me naked?!” Mei kept shouting as she dressed up to pursue Aiko.

”Just because I tease you a little bit, doesn’t mean that you should do this to me!” Mei decided to scold Aiko severely. ”How in the 18 Hells did she manage that?! This is supposed to be a gentle cleaning spell!” She could no longer understand how Aiko managed to do these things.

’Does everything she touches turn into a weapon or something?!’ Mei was flabbergasted. ’Those were my favourite clothes!’ She cried out in her mind.

...

{Aiko after meeting the Grandmaster}

”HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA” The Grandmaster was laughing at Aiko.

”Don’t laugh at me, stupid granny!” Aiko had the biggest pout on her face ever.

”I- HAHAHAHAHAHAHA” *Wheeze* ”HHAHAHAHA” It got so bad that Dai Lu was even wheezing like some kind of squeaky toy.

”Forget it!” Aiko had enough of the laughing granny and left the premises. She knew that she couldn’t beat up the Grandmaster, so she decided to leave her to her laughter.

’Mei will beat her up anyway.’ Aiko smirked, but she still hadn’t forgotten to hide somewhere from Mei!

...

A few days later, the furious Mei calmed down.

”Now explain yourself.” Mei sternly gazed at Aiko.

Well... somewhat calmed down.

However, it was still better than what the Grandmaster went through.

Her face was swollen and she was sitting on the ground.

”It’s a cleaning spell, I swear!” Aiko defended herself.

”Uhuh.” A vein manifested on Mei’s forehead. ”I don’t remember cleaning spells destroying clothes.” She still gazed sternly at Aiko.

”But I did everything by the Jade Slip! I even practised on the dirty Cauldron!” Aiko cried out.

Both Mei and Dai Lu almost face-planted.

””You did what??”” They asked in unison.

”Uh... learned the cleaning spell?” Aiko didn’t understand why they looked at her so strangely.

”The next one.” Mei’s eyebrow twitched.

”Practised on a dirty Cauldron?” Aiko was even more scared right now.

”This is PERSONAL Technique! You are not supposed to use it on inanimate objects!” Mei shook her head.

”How was I supposed to know?!” Aiko cried out again. ”It’s all Mei’s fault!”

”How is that my fault?!” Mei was flabbergasted.

”The first time I was learning the spell, you made me practice on a shovel!” Aiko immediately yelled.

”Uh...” Mei was startled. She did do that, but that was a joke.

”Then you handed me a Jade Slip that didn’t explain ways to practise it!” Aiko continued to yell.

”...” Mei cooled down completely from this. She did do that, but she didn’t expect that Aiko would combine those two...

”In other words. It’s all Mei’s fault!” Aiko pouted.

”That is indeed on your-” Dai Lu tried to take Aiko’s side, but Mei’s quick, sharp glare shut her up.

”I’m not finished with you!” Mei was livid at the fact that Dai Lu saw her naked.

”But-” Dai Lu tried to defend herself, but Mei was ruthless.

”No buts! You did it even if you didn’t have to!” Mei didn’t want to say out loud that she was angry at the fact that Dai Lu laughed so much that her stomach hurt.

”Anyway! This has nothing to do with me, so I will be going.” Aiko tried to stand up and sneak away, but Mei grabbed her haneriIt’s a layer of clothing under Kimono. behind her neck and dragged Aiko back. ”I’m also not finished with you!”

Aiko’s face scrunched, it seemed she would not be able to get away for the time being...

...

Mei was finished with Dai Lu and threw her outside. She turned around and stared at Aiko, who was shivering in the corner.

”Don’t come closer, demon!” Aiko shouted. She didn’t want to be treated like Dai Lu.

”Hehe~” Mei chuckled creepily.

”Hiiii-!” Aiko started crying, which startled Mei.

’Why is she crying? I didn’t do all that much to them...’ Mei could not understand.

Dai Lu got the lightest punishment there was!

What Mei didn’t understand was that the lightest punishment was by the Immortal World standards and not Mortal Worlds! As such, Dai Lu was pretty much aching all over her body!

Mei tilted her head. ’It was just light whipping. I would not use the same method on Aiko...’ She was bothered by Aiko’s reaction.

”Aiko-” Mei gently spoke, which scared Aiko even more.

”Hiii-!” Aiko cried even more than before, her tears were now actually forming two small puddles on her sides!

’What in the world...’ Mei didn’t understand what was wrong with Aiko, so she left her be, for the time being until she calmed down.

...

’Aiko passed out...’ Mei stared at her speechlessly. ’Such a troublemaker...’ She shook her head. She was not that upset that her clothes were destroyed, nor the fact that Aiko saw her naked, but she was angry because Aiko might actually hurt herself with that Technique.

So Mei wanted to correct this before Aiko used it on herself, but she didn’t think it would end up in such a mess.

Mei sighed, moving Aiko onto the bed.

She lay next to Aiko observing her sleeping face. For the most part, Mei was too exhausted to care about Aiko sleeping with her, but she became more conscious now that she had more energy and didn’t need to sleep as much.

Aiko was a cute beauty. Everyone would fall for her if given a chance, which bothered Mei. She was also bothered by the fact that she didn’t feel strange lying down next to her, in fact, it felt completely natural for her!

’What’s wrong with me...’ Mei rubbed her forehead. She didn’t understand why she was so gentle and defenceless against Aiko.

’It doesn’t make sense when you think about it.’ Mei narrowed her eyes. She was already betrayed and did her best to keep her distance from everyone and everything. Yet Aiko known as the wrecking boulder completely demolished her defences!

’She is the oddest thing that I have ever encountered and the fact that I’m used to it, bothers me greatly...’ Mei sighed. She gently caressed Aiko’s hair.

Aiko squirmed a bit before giggling in her sleep. She was completely exhausted, so she would not wake up for quite some time...