Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”What else you didn’t tell me?” Aiko sternly asked.

Mei choked. She was not used to this type of Aiko.

”The Secret Realm is not that big.” Mei awkwardly spoke.

”And?” Aiko kept staring at Mei.

”The Beasts inside are much stronger than outside.”

”And?”

”We will separate after entering the Secret Realm.”

”Hmhm.”

”There is a pseudo-day-night cycle, but it’s mostly night.”

”Uh...”

”Beasts are also stronger at night and can sniff blood from greater distances.”

”Huh...”

”There are also some unique Beasts that have Bloodlines, which are incomparably stronger than their counterparts.”

”Alright, stop.” Aiko stopped Mei. ”This feels like we are walking towards our death.” She snorted unhappily.

Mei coughed. ”You are not exactly wrong, since we will get suppressed if we fight Humans.”

Aiko sighed. She knew about that part, but with stronger monsters... What if during a hunt, she is attacked by Humans? She will definitely get killed or at the best gravely injured!

Aiko didn’t want to participate since it seemed troublesome, but then she thought about it.

”Can’t I use that special bracelet to hide my animalistic features?” Aiko suddenly asked.

”Those bracelets won’t work inside.” Mei shook her head.

”Huh?” Aiko looked completely stupid. ”Not even the necklace?” She hoped that at least the necklace would work.

”It should work... somewhat.” Mei smiled wryly. She was also concerned about this part. It was obvious that others would hunt Aiko if they found her to their liking.

”Ughhhh.” Aiko didn’t like that at all, considering that she would eat the system meat to quickly level up.

”It should be alright, probably.” Mei gently soothed Aiko.

”That last word was uncalled for!” Aiko yelled.

Mei laughed. ”You will be alright. Your [Lightness Technique] improved greatly and while it’s still not perfected, it should give you enough edge against normal Humans.

”Let’s hope that it really works...” Aiko sighed.

...

The journey was uneventful, probably because all the major Sects were participating.

The other Foxes on the Flying Ship did not approach the group with Aiko in the lead, since they were absolutely terrified of them.

The Elders wondered why the Foxes were too scared, but their own pride would not allow them to go around and ask them about it.

They were old and majestic. How could they ask those younglings!?

There were also no flying Beasts nearby, so it would not turn like before when Aiko had a peck-slapping contest.

At the end of this flight, when Aiko had just talked with her team, she spotted other Flying Ships, but most of them paled in comparison, except for the west one.

It was still patched up, but it looked more majestic than if you combined the others together.

...

The Flying Ships landed and everyone embarked. There was this strange tension between the North and South, while the West watched and the East was, like always, late.

Aiko felt a strange sense of deja vu, but it shouldn’t be possible, right?

The Humans didn’t feel united, even between their own ranks, they were glaring at each other. This would definitely be a messy Secret Realm.

Aiko decided to avoid all the Humans and just scavenge around. Her main goal was to use this Secret Realm to Evolve and finally get a bigger form. She was quite bothered by the constant switching between forms.

The Humans were quite far away and probably had some kind of Treasure, since Aiko could not hear them at all. Mei also had a dissatisfied expression on her face, but seeing that she had the Recognition Inhibition Bracelet... it seemed like it was not because they stared at her.

Looking at her team Aiko noticed that they likewise had Recognition Inhibition Bracelets. They won’t work inside, but this is a good idea outside as they won’t attract as much attention.

The surroundings were plains mixed with sparse trees. Aiko could not see any difference from normal plains. How will they enter the Secret Realm? What actually was a Secret Realm?

Aiko had a few questions that she previously didn’t have, since she believed that there would be some kind of teleportation Array or some kind of gate leading into the Secret Realm, but nothing like that appeared.

The grass was green and the trees were slouched, nothing out of the ordinary in this place.

”So, where is it?” Aiko couldn’t bear it and asked Mei.

”Secret Realms are hidden until they show themselves. We have a day left before it opens.” Mei said.

”But the Secret Realm was supposed to manifest much later?” Aiko tilted her head.

”Yes and no. It will manifest sooner, but you can enter it even later.” Mei explained. ”What our Fox Village set up is different from others. We came in ’first’ in order to get more Treasures.” Mei sighed. Those old geezers were fools, no matter how much Foxes tried, they would always be overshadowed by most other Beasts.

The other Beasts didn’t have smaller Beast Cores, so they could fight much longer without the worry of spending all of their Beast Core Energy.

This put Foxes at a disadvantage, but also caused them to be weaker. The capacity of Beast Core gave a boost to other stats too, especially in insight. Most other Beasts learned things much faster than normal Foxes.

”It will be hard, but a good learning experience.” Mei smiled gently. She was prepared to rob a few things before seeking out Aiko, so it should be fine to leave them to her shenanigans... right?

Mei was unsure if this was a good idea, but she trusted Aiko that she wouldn’t create THAT big of a mess.

The Blood Fox looked around. Her brother was nowhere to be seen. She wondered if he didn’t join this expedition.

It was possible, since he was busier than ever, but this Secret Realm was still a precious experience...

The Twins looked around curiously. This would be the first time for both of them. They also attracted a ton of attention since they looked almost the same, which stroked the perverted fantasies of the Humans...

Aiko didn’t like the attention her team was getting, even with the Recognition Inhibition Bracelets. Unfortunately, she couldn’t really do anything about it since there were too many of them. She might have a few millions in Stamina, but that didn’t mean it was bottomless. If they really tried, they would be able to wear her down.

’Millions...’ Aiko narrowed her eyes. She became quite the tank, but she still didn’t want to push her luck. ’It would be a pain to regenerate all of it.’ Aiko sighed.

”What’s wrong?” Mei asked. She was on high alert, now that they would be entering the Secret Realm.

”Nothing, just bothersome stares.” Aiko shook her head.

Mei nodded silently, even if she had prepared the Recognition Inhibition Bracelets; Human nature was filthy and revolting.

”So we will wait here till tomorrow or what?” Aiko asked.

”We will be setting up camps around. This is sort of preparation or training for when you enter the Secret Realm.” Mei gestured.

”Do we have to too?” Aiko tilted her head.

”No. We are a Beast, so our camps are simple in nature. This is mostly for Humans.” Mei answered.

”Then what are we doing here so early?” Aiko felt like she was chewing something distasteful. She couldn’t believe that they would fly here so early and just stand here and do nothing!

”You got ’that’ Jade Slip?” Mei asked.

”En.” Aiko nodded.

”I will take it from you for this Secret Realm. There are too many thieves around.” Mei sighed.

”Could they plunder it from the Storage Ring?” Aiko tilted her head.

”There is a Technique like that. It allows you to steal one thing from the Storage Ring and it’s completely random, but let’s not risk it.” Mei shook her head.

”How about my tails?” Aiko was concerned that someone would just steal Feifei.

”I have no idea how your tails do that, so...” Mei sighed, Aiko was simply beyond her understanding!

”Oh...” It seems like Aiko would have to experiment later with this, but right now she doesn’t have any collaborators with such a Technique... ’Wait a moment!’

”What if I got that Technique?” Aiko narrowed her eyes.

”You don’t have Dantian, so you can’t use it.” Mei chuckled at the silly little Fox.

”Ugh.” Aiko didn’t like the fact that the most entertaining things were on the Human side.

”You will reach that point one day and then you can learn anything you want.” Mei soothed Aiko.

”Aren’t you close to the Human Form?” Aiko narrowed her eyes.

”Yes. Just one more Evolution and I can obtain it, but it’s not that simple.” Mei shook her head.

”Depending on the number of Bloodlines and your personal strength, the worse the Transformation Heavenly Lightning becomes.” Mei sighed.

”Oh...... Oh, shit!” Aiko cursed openly, didn’t she just give her Twins those Bloodlines?! Did she sabotage them?!

Seeing Aiko’s sour expression, Mei tilted her head. ”What did you do?”

”I gave the Twins more Bloodlines.” Aiko groaned unhappily.

Mei almost fainted on the spot, but was supported by the Blood Fox.

”It would not be good to show weakness.” The Blood Fox whispered. She didn’t really like Mei. But at the same time, they were in the same team, so support was necessary.

Mei nodded and massaged her head. This was getting more and more ridiculous!

”They should be fine, since they also need personal strength.” Mei tried to calm herself down. She definitely didn’t want another Bloodline, since she knew that her personal strength was out of this world! It would be bad if the difficulty increased.

”Oh right.” Aiko suddenly remembered. ”I created these low-grade Treasures. They protect us from poisons.”

She made them quickly in her spare time, but they were much better than what she gave her team previously.

”Oh...” Mei nodded. She didn’t expect Aiko to give them something like that.

”It doesn’t work on all poisons, but it’s better than nothing.” Aiko nodded to herself, trying to stay calm.

”Let’s make a camp and I will distribute what I have on me.” Mei smiled gently. She wanted to distribute it right before the Secret Realm, but it would be a better idea to do that now. Aiko and the team can ask about them, which will make everything safer for everyone!