Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”Auauauau.” Moon Aiko whined as her cheeks were stretched by Mei.

”What do you think you are doing?” Mei sternly asked. She didn’t like that Aiko got chummy with someone else, much less exposing the secret that she was an adult.

”But I can’t maintain that form, the best you could do is let me enjoy it!” Aiko already had plans to divert their attention and also get Treasures.

”I also got the fruits you wanted, so give me a break.” Aiko added and fortunately, Mei paused her hands.

”That doesn’t excuse what you did.” Mei stared sternly at Aiko.

Aiko pouted. ”But I got all of them and also the information that I needed.”

Mei raised her eyebrow. ”So you weren’t just messing around? That’s hard to believe.” She shook her head.

”I’m telling the truth!” Aiko glared at Mei. Unlike the Nightmare Aiko, Moon Aiko knew how to do things to get the best results.

”Give me the fruits.” Mei said sternly.

”If you eat one of them.” Aiko narrowed her eyes, but that mischievous smile could not be concealed.

”What are you planning?” Mei glanced at Aiko.

”Nothing~” Aiko turned around. ”If you are not going to have one, then I’m not giving you any.” She turned and wanted to join her team and made them eat the fruits. She needed to know how severe were the symptoms before disabling her [Greater Poison Resistance].

”You are not going anywhere.” Mei pulled Aiko back down. ”Give me one, I will eat it.” She rolled her eyes and Aiko happily smiled.

Aiko pulled the smelliest fruit out of her tail and presented it to Mei.

”Eugh.” Mei almost vomited, since she didn’t expect such a rancid smell coming from it.

”Are you trying to poison me?!” Mei believed that this rancid smell would make her stomach churn and twist.

”Yeah.” Aiko immediately answered. ”If you are in love with me, you won’t treat me that badly.” She spat out.

”Since when did I treat you- Stop with that gaze!” Mei glared at Aiko, for both the fruit and her ruthless, stabbing gaze.

”Eat, eat~!” Aiko smiled again. She would make Mei eat this!

”I’m not eating it.” Mei immediately denied it.

”Tsk.” Aiko clicked her tongue, but still kept holding the fruit.

Mei rolled her eyes and pulled out a small bowl. ”Place it in there.”

Aiko tilted her head, but since Mei didn’t reject the fruit, there was no need to hesitate about this.

She placed the fruit inside the bowl.

Mei immediately pulled out water and a Pill, throwing it quickly inside.

Soon, the rancid smell vanished and all that was left was a bowl with submerged peach.

”What did you do?” Aiko blinked slowly. She could no longer smell the fruit.

”Nothing~” Mei chuckled mischievously as she pulled out the fruit and munched on it.

Aiko blinked at Mei, who was happily munching the fruit.

Mei saw that dumbfounded look and felt amused by it.

”What?” Mei chuckled again.

”You don’t feel anything?” Aiko blinked again, feeling something amiss with the current situation.

”I have neutralised the poison.” Mei munched on the peach again. She now understood why Aiko was so gluttonous towards it. It was delicious once she got rid of the poison and as a bonus, she could see Aiko blankly staring at her and it was incredibly cute.

”Che.” Aiko spat as she couldn’t believe that Mei had bypassed it like this.

”Do you have more of them?” Mei finished the peach, only leaving behind the seed.

Aiko moved her tail and dumped the peaches on Mei, since she was quite upset at this finish.

”Ugh! Smells!” Mei flinched as the extremely smelly fruit fell on her, but with a quick movement of her hand, she was quickly storing it into her Storage Ring.

The Foxes and Beasts nearby blinked at the duo as they fought. This was a lot more entertaining than the fights, since Humans had to use elaborate Arrays in order to fight Beasts. As such, it was not about one’s skill, but how well you can bully the weakened Beasts.

Why? Because unless you are hunted, the only suppression you will ever experience is either from more powerful Bloodlines or from the pressure of one’s being.

The Array suppression was very artificial and it was difficult to get used to it because it squeezed your very being in order to restrict you.

”Hehehe~” Aiko laughed like a gremlin as she kept dumping the peaches on her and Mei was desperately trying to store them before they hit her.

The comical sight attracted a lot of attention, since Aiko was slowly changing colours.

”Rascal!” Mei glared at Aiko as she stored the rest of the peaches.

”Bleh!” Aiko stuck out her tongue before scurrying away from Mei.

Mei clicked her tongue and observed where Aiko was going.

Aiko sneaked around once again, but the only ones who could really see her were Elders and now Saintesses.

Saintesses already got used to her energy, so it was not that difficult to track her, as long as the little Fox didn’t do something abrupt.

’Oh-!’ Aiko spotted the dice girl and slowly sneaked up on her.

”Hello again.” Bai Jing turned around startling Aiko. ”Please don’t grope me.” She said with a completely neutral face.

”How did you know I was coming?” Aiko blinked a few times. She was sure well hidden when it came to the average Cultivator.

”I have Divined it.” Bai Jing chuckled. ”Now, go go, I want to learn how to fight others.”

”That’s cheating.” Aiko frowned. ”You are not supposed to do that.”

”So that you can grope me?” Bai Jing raised her eyebrow.

”I’m assessing the different sizes for upcoming projects.” Nightmare Aiko came up with something that the Moon Aiko might say. Her eye also formed a star and she gave the dice girl a thumbs up.

”...” Bai Jing didn’t know if this little Fox was playing around or was serious. ”Can you please go somewhere else?”

”No. You are my victim.” Aiko pouted and sat on Bai Jing’s lap.

Bai Jing sighed, since she already knew that Aiko would not want to leave, but she had to at least try and sway her.

”You will get bored.” Bai Jing tried to negotiate with the little Fox.

”That is fine, I will go somewhere else when that happens.” Aiko nodded slowly. She had already spotted another prey on her list.

”Then why me?” Just because Bai Jing could divine things, didn’t mean she could understand them. This was one of such cases.

She understood that Aiko would be coming, but she didn’t know why. She would have to make advanced conjectures and guess what would happen, which she hated.

With each misstep, she would have to divine things again, but divining takes a lot of time and energy. She had simple dice, but they were not accurate enough when it came to the little Fox.

She would have to divine every short incense stick of time in order to keep up with her. That was simply not energy efficient and sometimes she just had to surrender to her whims.

’Like when she tied us to a tree...’ Bai Jing sighed. Her divination told her that they would be safe over there, but because of that noisy individual, the divination diverted and changed.

Aiko watched around for a bit, but as Bai Jing expected, she soon got bored and left.

Aiko stood up and left Bai Jing alone, since she didn’t do all that much other than watch, but her eyes were already trained on her next prey.

Some Elders kept glaring at her, but Aiko ignored them as they were not dangerous enough to cause her any trouble.

She once again sneaked around towards her next prey and pounced on her.

”Kya!”

This time her prey was a lot more lively, so Aiko enjoyed messing with her.

*Rub Rub*

She rubbed her face on those smaller peaks.

”Sup.” Aiko greeted the girl. The same one who spent time with her inside the cave.

”It’s you!” Fang Jia blinked a few times. No longer scared.

”Punishment for leaving like that.” Aiko’s mouth made a pouting expression, but her pressure was enough to keep Fang Jia’s retainers at bay.

Fang Jia chuckled. ”I had to leave since I finished everything.”

”But I didn’t.” Aiko pouted even more.

”Yes, yes.” Fang Jia soothed the small Aiko. ’Why is she not big...?’ There was some sense of loss when she saw Aiko like that.

”What are you doing?” Aiko blinked, still attached to Fang Jia like a tick.

”Conversing with my retainers. Thanks to the previous blunder, this time it’s much better treatment.” Fang Jia smiled from ear to ear. The previous treatment wasn’t the best, but it also wasn’t the worst.

The main reason she didn’t like the previous treatment was because it was too tight and she had to give up on quite a few Treasures because of it.

Now that things changed, she was more free than before and got to enjoy a lot of new things.

”Hmmm... Anything fun?” Aiko blinked, looking for something nice to do.

”Not really, but I wanted to talk with you later. Mother wants to meet you.” Fang Jia’s lips twitched, while mother was not around, she knew that she was watching from the Palace.

”Oh, sure.” Aiko didn’t really mind. ”How about ’that’ thing?” Aiko slowly changed into Moon Form, since it was important to separate matters.

She sat down near Fang Jia, no longer being a tick, as her demeanour changed.

Fang Jia had complicated feelings, since the overly intelligent Aiko was too scary...

”That’s one of the reasons Mother wants to meet you.” Fang Jia gestured.

On the way back the Foxes were really prying about what happened in the cave, so Fang Jia believed it would be better to show ’that’ Cauldron to Mother first.

Unfortunately or fortunately the Patriarch was around and suggested hiding this Cauldron well, or at least for now until she found a way to conceal it from prying eyes.

”Uhu.” Aiko nodded.

[You have found a Minor Character: Fang Jia]

Aiko blinked slowly. It seems like she will get more notifications from the system.

[By bringing her to your side, you can earn rewards!]

[Current Reward: Bonus to Forging]

Aiko blinked again. These things were really nice, but she didn’t understand why the System was suddenly like this.

’Did something change after the Secret Realm...?’

[The User is approaching the beginning of the story, as such it’s necessary for the System to intervene about all the different Characters.]

[Unfortunately, this update took longer because of ####.]

[The update finished just now, so please do enjoy it. - Darkness]