Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

’Didn’t gain anything from them and the [Little Nightmares] don’t know what moderation is, so they almost killed them.’ Aiko clicked her tongue. Fortunately, the Princess was still asleep, so she could fix this mess.

’I’m also gaining Moonlight Essence, so I will be able to turn into different forms.’ Aiko nodded gently.

She was not in the mood to do anything but tease in this form, so it was difficult to get anything done.

And while she did like the teasing, she was unable to focus on her system. So that would have to be solved later.

...

Fang Jia murmured something in sleep as her eyes slowly squinted awake.

Near her was a curious Fox looking at her.

”Are you awake?” Aiko nudged her with her tails.

”A bit more.” Fang Jia rolled around, sleeping again.

’I can understand why they didn’t bring any beds.’ Aiko’s lips twitched since this was the fourth time this happened.

”Come on, you should wake up.” Aiko nudged her again with her normal tails, but they were just snatched by the Princess and she just hugged them to sleep.

Aiko rolled her eyes. This was getting a bit too ridiculous and she could not understand what was wrong with her.

’I might be a bit lazy, but isn’t this too ridiculous...?’ Aiko glanced at the retainers, but they avoided her gaze again.

Aiko rolled her eyes, nobody was of any help when it came to the Princess.

She even started to question their affiliation since they were not willing to take care of her!

...

Aiko was able to somehow wake up the Princess. How, you might ask?

”If you won’t wake up I will grope you well~” Aiko whispered into her ear and she immediately shot up with a red face.

”I’m awake, I’m awake!” Fang Jia yelped. ’You could’ve let me enjoy those tails a bit more.’ She pouted.

”If you were awake, you should have got up. We got work to do.” Aiko blinked at her speechlessly.

”Work?” Fang Jia blinked at the Fox.

”Unlike a certain someone, I have the precious metal, so we need to process it and split it. Moreover, you have to tell me more about the Forging Cauldrons.” Aiko made a few points that she wanted to experience.

”You really have it?” Fang Jia gazed at the Fox.

”Yeah, I do.” Aiko nodded and one of her tails spat out the precious metal.

”It’s really Heavenly Metal... no It’s Divine Steel?” Fang Jia narrowed her eyes and inspected it.

”That is one step further than I expected.” She nodded her head calmly, but her eyes were already shining.

Aiko knew that twinkle in her eyes since she also liked Treasures. She felt like they would be able to get along quite well, but there were still a few issues...

’I will have to share my Treasures.’ Aiko scrunched her face. She already had quite the hungry team back at the temporary base and now she added Feifei and this Princess...

”I’m Fang Jia, you can call me Jia.” Fang Jia was incredibly happy about this, since she would be able to create a Forging Cauldron that would last her till ascension!

”Then let’s go somewhere and discuss this.” Aiko smiled, but they were still stopped by Auntie Fang.

”I can’t let you be alone with the Princess.” Auntie Fang glared at Aiko.

”Just because you are a twisted pervert doesn’t mean I’m too.” Aiko snorted disdainfully.

She gently grabbed Fang Jia by the waist and they vanished from that place.

Auntie Fang was shocked and spread her Divine Sense. They were inside the nearby cave, but a strong intent blocked any eyes or ears from watching them.

”Prepare to battle, our Princess is in danger!” Auntie Fang said, but nobody moved. No one was willing to antagonise that terrifying Fox.

Especially since their Souls are injured and some even lost a bit of Cultivation from their Beast Cores!

...

”So, what do we do first?” Aiko blinked innocently. Before they blinked away she already collected the Spirit Crystals with the furs, so she just had to place it down again and make a bed out of it.

”We would need to first put it into an ingot. This would allow us to remove all impurities and we would know precisely how much we have on hands.” Fang Jia answered, since that was taught by the Patriarch Fox.

”Okay. Are Spiritual Flames fine?” Aiko asked.

”Yes, I will use my Spiritual Flame.” Fang Jia nodded.

”Why can’t I?” Aiko asked, tilting her head.

”Because if you burn it, we will lose some of that material, so we need a very steady and precise flame.” Fang Jia answered gently. ”By the way, my Spiritual Flame is the Heavenly Scorching Flame, ranked at 1st when it comes to Mortal World Ranking.”

”Oh?” Aiko was interested in how other flames compared to her Grandpa. ”Can we compare flames?” Her eyes shined. She didn’t believe that her Grandpa would be outdone!

”Sure?” Fang Jia was confused, since she didn’t believe that the little Fox had any Spiritual Flames. At least she didn’t ’feel’ that flame.

’Are you stupid?! She will steal your Spiritual Flame.’ The voice from the Ring finally couldn’t bear it and scolded Fang Jia.

’Shut up. She won’t do anything like that! Just because YOUR Fiancé betrayed you, doesn’t mean that everyone is like that!’ Fang Jia snorted disdainfully.

”Oh, and call me Aiko when we are alone.” Aiko wrapped her hands around Fang Jia’s waist.

”O-okay... Aiko.” Fang Jia blushed, but still tried her best and as a reward Aiko gave her a peck on the cheek, making her even more red.

She produced her Spiritual Flame, which startled Aiko.

”So... scorching?” Aiko blinked innocently.

”Yeah, it’s a bit hostile to Beasts, so I didn’t really want to show it so closely.” Fang Jia was blushing since Aiko still had her hands wrapped around her waist.

”Hmmmm. I think it can’t beat my Grandpa?” Aiko saw her Grandpa as the ultimate flame, so it was natural that she would act like that.

”Grandpa?” Fang Jia was interested in what Aiko might show her.

”Yeah.” Aiko opened her palm and a small Spiritual Flame with a face popped out.

”Do you need something from me, little Foxy?” An old voice asked Aiko.

”Just showing you to my friend.” Aiko giggled.

’That’s impossible!’ The Ring yelled out.

”Whoa! It’s a talking flame!” Fang Jia completely ignored her ’guide’ and trained her eyes on the Spiritual Flame. ”I have never seen a Flame with a face, much less talking Spiritual Flame!” She was very interested, but that Spiritual Flame... didn’t feel hot?

”What is its name?” Fang Jia asked gently, but curiosity got the best of her.

”If you kiss me, I might consider telling you~” Aiko teased Fang Jia.

”Currently, I’m [Mellow Azure Spiritual Flame].” Grandpa would naturally not play along with every shenanigan Aiko came up with.

Aiko pouted at him, but she would not punish him.

Fang Jia was still blushing, since she was ready to kiss Aiko, but she didn’t expect that Spiritual Flame to tell her himself!

”It’s amazing that he has awareness.” Fang Jia was convinced that it had a Soul.

”That is only natural, since I was alive previously.” Grandpa Dragon Flame snorted.

”Huh?” Fang Jia blinked.

’I knew it. That Fox devoured someone’s Soul and placed it inside her Spiritual Flame to strengthen it!’ The one inside the Ring clicked its tongue.

’Be quiet.’ Fang Jia was not interested in her gibberish, since she was less helpful and a shit on the road.

At least you can use that shit as fertilizer, but you couldn’t use this Ring at will!

”Yeah, by accident I turned like this.” The Grandpa Dragon sighed.

”So, how do you compare to that?” Aiko’s eyes shined.

”You want to compare me to [Heavenly Scorching Flames]? You want to kill me?” The Spiritual Flame snorted unhappily.

Aiko took a while to process that information. ”Wait, you are weaker?!” She was crestfallen.

Aiko believed that her Spiritual Flame would not be beaten so easily, but her first ’opponent’ already overpowered her.

”Wuwuwu.” Aiko made a strange sound since she didn’t like this fact. Her ears dropped, which made Fang Jia flinch.

Fang Jia was trying her best to hold back and not to pet those ears.

Suddenly, Aiko’s ears sprung up. ”Do you have a stomach?” She narrowed her eyes.

”I don’t think so... but I still can consume things to get strong- Wait! Why are you looking at me with those scary eyes!?” The Spiritual Flame shrunk back.

Aiko remembered that the grass they harvested could be used to nurture Spiritual Flames.

Mei told her that she could use it to feed her flame once it was slightly stronger.

”Open wide~!” Aiko pulled out a stack of that grass.

”Wait isn’t that-! Wait! AURGHHRHUHRHUHUHUUUUUU-” The Spiritual Flame tried to defend himself, but Aiko showed the stack of grass into him.

*Huff Huff*

The Spiritual Flame was breathing heavily, but it felt more powerful!

[Mellow Azure Spiritual Flame (Stage 5)->(Stage 4)]

Aiko smiled from ear to ear. ”It’s time to eeeat~!”

”Nooooooooooooooo!” The Spiritual Flame cried out as it was choked by more grass.

...

......

”HAHAHAHAHA!” Aiko was laughing hysterically.

”Hahaha, very funny.” The overly chubby Spiritual Flame rolled his eyes.

”Pfft.” Fang Jia was trying her best to hold in her laughter, but the sight of the chubby Spiritual Flame was too funny for her.

”Not you too...” The Spiritual Flame sighed. What did he do in his previous life to deserve this treatment?!

It could only sigh and wait for Aiko to finish laughing.

...

”So, have you calmed down?” The Chubby Grandpa Dragon shook his ’head’.

”Yes...” Aiko felt a little guilty, but not enough since-

[Mellow Azure Spiritual Flame (Stage 1)->(Ranking: 100+ & ?)]

She made it into the ranking! There was still grass left, but she didn’t want to use it all, just in case Mei wanted that grass for something.

”You still can’t compare to that Spiritual Flame, huh...?” Aiko scrunched her eyes. That was the only thing she regretted.

”That is obvious.” The Spiritual Flame rolled his eyes. It was already a miracle that she didn’t snuff him out with so much grass!

”Should I feed you more?” Aiko pondered on this, but...

”No! Enough!” The Grandpa Dragon threw a tantrum, so Aiko could only stop in her tracks and not continue, unfortunately...