Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko arrived at the core of the place in order to nurse the little Spider to full health.

She whipped out some of that silk, but when she touched that shrivelled spider, something was wrong with it.

’Why is it so squishy?’ Aiko tilted her head. The Spider was far too squishy to be normal, and soon Aiko understood why.

The Spider was not real! So that strange Monkey punched a fake, thinking it was real!

Aiko looked around, but she could not see anyone around other than Mei and Feifei.

But suddenly a tiny creature popped out from under Aiko’s skirt.

”Where the hell did you come from?!” Aiko was startled, eyeing her up and down.

The Spider tilted her head. She was happy that Aiko was all right.

”How did you manage to fool him?” Aiko raised her eyebrow.

The Spider raised its leg and created a clone out of itself using her Silk. Depending on how you bend and stretched that Silk, it changed colours and even firmness.

There were still certain squishy parts, but if you don’t really focus on them, you would be no wiser.

And just like that, within a few moments, there was an ’identical’ spider that looked the same as Aiko’s Spider.

”Whoa...” Aiko was mesmerised by the transformation. That was truly a unique Skill! But for some reason, Aiko could not see the Spider’s system, which was unfortunate.

”Can you weave fabric out of your Silk?” Aiko asked the Spider with shining eyes.

The Spider made an O with its legs, and Aiko was overjoyed. It was a good thing that Spider was unharmed, but she could at least warn her!

Aiko suddenly glared at the Spider, and she shivered.

The Spider was flustered and waved its legs.

”You were not as fast as the Monkey?” Aiko tried to translate it, which was not as difficult as she expected.

The Spider nodded.

”Hmmm...” Aiko narrowed her eyes. ”That is fair, since I couldn’t block his strike.” She grimaced at the pain she felt from what struck her.

”You are alright, can you set up traps around the perimeter?” Aiko narrowed her eyes.

The Spider made another O with its legs and darted away.

Aiko tilted her head. ”Maybe I should get even more pets so that I don’t have to do anything?” She was back to her black form whose sloth was only exceeded by its lust.

”That doesn’t sound like a bad idea, we will set up businesses and only watch it from the sidelines. We won’t spend as much time on it and we would be able to roll in the bed with Mei, fufu~.” Aiko giggled happily at her idea, but who would she use to manage her business and other things?

She also wanted to fool around with her team, so what was left were her Ghosts or future sla- Cough ’helpers’.

The bothersome thing was the fact that the Ghosts were still recovering...

”I will tinker with the lamp once I recover enough Essence.” Aiko nodded her head. Her Moon Form was too good at what she was doing.

Aiko sat down in a meditative position in order to recover her arm and restore Moonlight Essence...

...

A few days later, Aiko was still waiting for that invasion, but no one was coming at them.

She was unaware that the treasure thieving Monkey who robbed this place and the Piss Monkey who tried to stop her, were both killed by the Black Monkey in a fit of rage. As such, the Black Monkey had no idea where that damned Fox went!

So all the preparations were for nothing, but Aiko was not yet aware of that and was cultivating her strength for the incoming invasion.

Aiko cultivated enough Essence for her to stay in the Moon Form for quite some time. So her next mission was to tinker with the lamp and improve their accommodation.

[100 Ghost Parade Lamp (Slightly Damaged)]

It was just slightly damaged, since some parts had managed to recovered thanks to her Evolution. The absurd amount of Energy was partially absorbed by this Treasure, which helped it repair some cracks.

A lot of the cracked Inscriptions could now be repaired, but Aiko would not just repair them, but also add some improvements of her own.

The more cursive her Inscriptions were the better the flow, the better this Treasure would function. Aiko was even aiming for Numinous Treasure but without the side effects. She would tinker with this Lamp, change its materials in order to create something completely new and then weave Inscriptions into it so that it would have fewer side effects.

Unfortunately, she needed Forging Skills for that, which she didn’t have and even if she had them, it would still take a lot of time to get enough experience where she can freely tinker with Treasures.

’I want to learn how to recycle things.’ The Moon Aiko thought. That way she would be able to get a lot of materials from treasures that were no longer usable since they had broke over time.

And no, Aiko would not be running around gathering broken Treasures. She would just put up a bounty exchanging them for Spirit Stones and Pills and let the dumb Cultivators flock to her.

And since she would be offering massages, even those old folks would visit her!

’But the waiting times would increase...’ Aiko frowned. She would try to find someone to make snacks and sell them to those who would be waiting for their turn!

’I also have that gift, should I look at it?’ Aiko raised her eyebrow. It might be a good idea to look at it now, but she really wanted to tinker with the lamp!

’I can look at it later, maybe the Ghosts will be able to recover quicker if I repair the lamp.’ Aiko wanted to put both Ghosts into the lamp, so that she could use the Primordial Soul Wood.

She didn’t know what to use it for yet, but she would definitely have to find a good use for it.

’I need to research more about Souls...’ Aiko frowned, but there was time and place for everything, so yet another thing was put on the back burner.

Aiko touched the lamp. A lot of the places were cracked, but a lot of them were repaired.

Unfortunately, it did not repair the Inscriptions too, so Aiko would have to have repair them herself.

’Most of it can be repaired at my current Skill level, but my current Inscription Ink can’t bear the burden.’ Aiko narrowed her eyes. If she did well enough, she would have to replace the Ink only once a year. The power of the lamp would also decrease, since she would have to decrease the output, but...

’It’s so damaged that I don’t even need to worry about that part.’ Aiko smiled slightly as she picked up her Inscription Carving Pen. She felt more attuned to it day by day. The more she wrote, the more intimate the connection was.

Aiko gently tilted her head. She wanted to redo all the Inscriptions into cursive, but some of them didn’t make sense.

’Wait, there is an eye on this thing?!’ Aiko was shocked, since that meant that this thing was not only full of Inscriptions but also Arrays!

’This makes my mind dizzy.’ Aiko was unable to wrap her head around Arrays, so she didn’t really want to touch them.

Aiko nodded gently. ’I will do my best to patch this thing up as I always did.’

She immediately started carving with all her skills and sparks flew everywhere. The cold Qi was also rushing inside, but once it touched the Lamp, it suddenly turned into a different kind of Qi.

Aiko raised her eyebrow, but kept inscribing the Inscriptions, changing them and fixing them.

The power of the Lamp rose and fell as she kept working on different parts.

Sometimes she was unable to put her own spin on it, so she just reconnected certain parts.

’It’s not like you have to use only one connection on one Runes!’ Aiko was enlightened by watching the old Runes closely.

It seemed that every ’connection’ between those Runes was used and it was not because the person who made this lamp was amateur.

If she connected multiple ’connections’ the power would skyrocket, but it had its limitations.

’Ink will turn to dust if I connect too much.’ Aiko clicked her tongue. From simple fixing, this became a game of finding the right amount of connections to boost the Lamp, while not making the Ink burn faster.

Aiko didn’t want to replace the Ink each month, even once a year was too much since her Inscription Ink was limited. She had to Treasure it until they could get more wealth, so Aiko could create her own Inscription Ink!

’And then I will create a new Core for myself and use it as the basis for the Inscription Ink alongside my blood.’ Aiko chuckled like a madman as she kept working on the lamp...

...

”Phew.” Aiko wiped the non-existent sweat. She was finished with those repairs and everything was in place.

She was satisfied with her work, but that also meant that she would have to replace that Inscription Ink every 9th month.

It was quite bad, but this should also allow her to get more sla- Cough ’helpers’.

Aiko looked at the lamp and the changes were surprising.

[100 Ghost Parade Lamp(Slightly Damaged)(Reworked)]

[Ghosts: 1/5]

[Ghosts:

Liu Zhi’s Sister]

Aiko almost choked when she read that description.

”5 Ghosts is fine, but what?” She stared at the name. ”She is Lady Liu’s Sister?!” Aiko didn’t believe it. They had completely different demeanours-

’No wait, their faces are similar and with similar air.’ Aiko pinched her nose bridge. ’Why didn’t I think of that?’ She was concerned about her observation Skills. ’What else did I miss?’ She really wanted to know.

Aiko touched the Lamp.

[Would you like to insert your Soul into it?]

’Huh?’ Aiko was startled. ”Sure?”

It shouldn’t be too bad, since the system gave her this notification.

...

Aiko appeared in an empty space. Ghost Qi was spreading through this place slowly as the lamp was sucking the outside Ice Qi into itself.

Aiko looked around and spotted a certain gem.

[Qi Transformer]

’Not a very colourful name, but fine.’ Aiko chuckled.

[It allows the conversion from one type of Qi to another. The conversion has higher efficiency if the two Qi’s align with their Yin and Yang.]

Aiko nodded gently. That meant that if she wanted Ghost Qi, which was Yin in nature, she couldn’t really use Fire Qi, which was Yang in nature.

Aiko nodded several times and explored a bit more. There was still more to see, and she wanted to see the end of this thing!