Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko walked around the fainted Princess. She was quite cute like that, but Aiko didn’t have any more thoughts about it. It seemed like she was really detached from such things.

Aiko started to make a mental image of the [The Ever Shaping Cauldron]. The important part was the ’ever shaping’. What that meant was that she would be able to swap out the materials and change its shape as she went along on her journey.

If she found some kind of precious material, she would be able to incorporate it into her Cauldron.

Aiko nodded gently. She really liked this purchase.

For now, there was no need for separate chambers. There will be a place for refining Pills and a place for creating Treasures. That’s all Aiko currently requires.

The Divine Steel would be used later, since Aiko didn’t understand it properly. The system didn’t have enough information about it, so Aiko could only experiment.

Meanwhile, she had plenty of the Meteorite or whatever that was, which would help her form the first testing Cauldron. She would be able to create a lot more once she understood that process.

Those two sides would also be completely sealed off. Aiko was not skilled enough to make use of Pill ingredients in Treasures. It might throw her off or make a bad habit out of this. The fewer inconsistencies or things that could affect her craft, the better her future would be.

Aiko even considered completely abandoning the Forging part of the Cauldron, but she chose against it.

She never knew when the time came she would be able to learn from someone about Forging, be it Fang Jia or someone else. It was better to be prepared when that time came.

Aiko would naturally also include normal Cauldrons, to throw them off. So she would practise in secret with her personal Cauldron and use the common ones for learning.

That would also make everything harder and Aiko would be able to gain a lot more experience thanks to it.

The common Cauldrons had many imperfections, which meant that Aiko would have to tackle them on her own. That in turn would give her plenty of experience that she was missing over time.

She didn’t really train properly outside of the Inscriptions, and even those could be said to be in the beginner stage.

Aiko only created things that she was interested in, which threw a wrench into everything. However, she didn’t care about those things in this form. She would be able to Inscribe and Inscribe until she learned everything she needed to know.

There were also a few Cultivators who could help her with that, but Aiko would have to wait for them.

Chen Shi was quite a bitter loser, and the Inscription Palace Ghost would be visited by Aiko eventually.

Everything has its own time and that time would be spent by creating a special flag that would work on Ghosts... just in case.

...

Aiko pondered on it for so long that Fang Jia woke up.

”Slept well?” Aiko smiled very faintly.

Fang Jia nodded. She was not used to this ’stoic’ Aiko.

”I have a few things for you.” Aiko would share the [The Ever Shaping Cauldron] with her and then split the Divine Steel.

”What is it?” Fang Jia tilted her head and her mind was flooded with information.

It was easy for Aiko to bestow information, since she could rely on her system’s directions.

The more time passed, the more Fang Jia scrunched her face. ’This is unheard of. Even the Heavenly Twisting Cauldron has nothing on this!’

Her face turned serious towards Aiko. She could not understand why Aiko would share something like this with her... does Aiko perhaps like her? Even in this form?

Fang Jia was unsure, but she would not ask, since it would hurt her pride. Aiko liked to mess with her, so it was possible that she took a liking to her. That was all fine until the Patriarch noticed, since Fang Jia didn’t want Aiko to get hurt...

”We also need to split the Divine Steel, but you are using your flames, correct?” Aiko asked.

”Ah...” Fang Jia snapped out of her thoughts. ”It’s better to use your Spiritual Flame.”

”Why?” Aiko tilted her head. Her Spiritual Flame was a lot weaker compared to Fang Jia’s.

”Because your Spiritual Flame has self-awareness. It can adjust the Flames as it goes, which is a lot quicker and more precise than what a normal Cultivator would be able to do.” Fang Jia explained her reasoning.

Aiko nodded gently. ”That makes sense, but if my flames are not enough, then I will be giving you the reins to finish it.”

”Of course, leave it to me.” Fang Jia smiled. She was grateful for that Technique and would share it with her Mother later. She might not be able to transfer her thoughts like Aiko, but it’s better for her Mother to know about this, so that they could come up with ideas.

Aiko nodded gently. She summed up her Grandpa Flame.

”What is-” Grandpa Flame stared at her blankly. ”Okay. Yeah. Nothing wrong with this.” It was obvious that he was struggling with the current situation and Aiko’s vastly different demeanour.

”We have prepared the Divine Steel and I would like your support in melting it.” Aiko said gently.

”I can definitely do that, but it will take longer since I’m a lot weaker.” He confessed.

”Don’t worry about it, we are aware.” Aiko nodded gently. She would regenerate a bit of her Beast Core while she was at it.

’I should also try my hands on the [Beast Core Formation], but I have so many things to do that there is not enough time...’ Aiko sighed.

”Is something wrong?” Fang Jia asked. ’I hope it’s not a burden on her...’

”I’m alright.” Aiko smiled lightly. ”There is a company outside, but until we finish, I won’t allow them to enter. Is that alright?” Aiko asked Fang Jia with some concern.

”That is fine.” Fang Jia replied stiffly. ”Auntie Fang doesn’t really like me, since I’m not a full-fledged Fox.”

”You do have a peculiar smell, some Foxes might dislike it.” Aiko nodded gently. Everyone had some kind of scent, most Humans had quite the stiff scent, while Foxes had an overpowering scent. If she was a half-Fox it might cause some issues to others, but not to Aiko. She didn’t care all that much about scent in her current Form.

”Oh?” Aiko blinked curiously. ”It’s melting.” She created a cup with her Divine Sense under the floating Divine Steel, so that it wouldn’t drop on the provisional table and burn through it.

It was curious how the little flame was burning certain parts, but melting others.

”He is incredible. I have never seen such a clean purification.” Fang Jia was shocked and wondered what this Flame really was. She understood that it had its own Soul, but would it make that much of a difference?!

”Grandpa was always amazing~” Aiko hummed happily. It was some time since she heard genuine praise. ’Well... it can’t be helped with my tendencies, but that also doesn’t mean I will stop.’

She would also look at her system later and sort it out.

”This should be enough.” Fang Jia said.

”It’s not enough.” Grandpa Flame said abruptly. ”It needs a bit more burning.”

”But you will now start burning the Divine Steel.” Fang Jia protested.

”That is fine. It won’t burn too much and believe me, it’s better to purify completely than leave a few impurities in it.” Grandpa Flame snorted.

”Oh? Do you know anything about Forging, Grandpa?” Aiko asked him.

”It’s not just about Forging.” Grandpa Flame shook his head. ”What do you do before you start refining Herbs?” He asked Aiko.

”Clean- Ah! So the whole process gets easier the higher the purity, and in turn it will also be sturdier!” Aiko realised that a small difference could make a huge change.

”Since there will be no impurities inside the Cauldron, it would naturally make it more sturdy against explosions, which in turn would make learning safer!” Aiko nodded, appreciating this Grandpa even more.

”You... what happened to you and who are you?” Grandpa Flame thought that he would need to say more, but this abnormal intelligence was very scary! Especially since it came from the ass-impaling Fox!

”Oh right. I wanted to ask Grandpa.” Aiko ignored his sentence. ”You wouldn’t know about ways to hurt ghosts with Inscriptions, I mean swords.” She looked at him gently.

”What are you thinking about?” Grandpa Flame suddenly shivered. He felt that if he confessed to that kind of thing, something bad would happen to him.

”Nothing, there is just a certain Ghost that scammed me that I want to punish.” Aiko said calmly.

”So that bastard Turtle did something to you?!” Grandpa Flame glared into the distance.

Aiko coughed gently. ”There are two Ghosts that I would like to punish.”

Grandpa Flame blinked his eyes. He suddenly felt danger approaching.

”It is not you, don’t worry.” Aiko shook her head.

”Phew.” Grandpa Flame breathed a sigh of relief. ”There might be a few ways later.” He nodded gently.

”Okay.” Aiko smiled. Whenever she reached a certain threshold in emotions, they would manifest. So a normal want or like would not manifest at all, but when she was ecstatic or elated, they would manifest as normal liking.

Aiko nodded gently. There was a lot of work to do, but she would succeed!

Aiko stared at Fang Jia. ”How do you want to split it?”

”Are you sure?” Fang Jia asked. She was more hesitant to take it from this kind of Aiko.

”Yeah, but I won’t be giving you half, since I want to give some to my team.” Aiko said gently.

”That is natural!” Fang Jia didn’t protest against it, since it was natural that Aiko would save those things for herself especially since she was the one that got this Treasure!

”I will get just enough to...” Fang Jia paused. ’Maybe I should take just a little so I can incorporate it into the Ever Shaping Cauldron?’ She thought about it carefully.

”What do you want in return?” Fang Jia suddenly asked.

Aiko was not startled, nor would she conceal her plans, since it would be easier to gather information if she didn’t do it the classic way.

”I want you to research the [The Ever Shaping Cauldron] for the time being. I’m not versed in Forging and I don’t want to make mistakes.” Aiko sighed gently. ’And I don’t want to risk my life if it explodes, so I will only work on the Pill Refining side.’ Aiko believed that with Mei’s brain, she would be able to achieve even ascension!