Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko met with Lei An. It was the girl who had her poison removed by Aiko.

She looked quite healthy now, but she didn’t move from her bed.

”Us Qilins are quite sensitive, so we can’t easily heal our wounds.” Old Lei sighed. That was also one of the reasons why Qilins aren’t supposed to be Forging Cultivators.

”Then why did you become one?” Aiko tilted her head.

”My wifey liked to hear me hammer.” Old Lei scratched his head in embarrassment.

”My mother’s and my ears are quite sensitive, so we like music.” Lei An smiled.

”I see.” Aiko could relate to that, since she also liked music.

”As such, we are on this path due to our family.” Old Lei eventually shrugged.

”Thank you once again for helping my daughter.” He bowed towards the young fox without an ounce of arrogance.

”It’s fine. She just happened to be in the right place at the right time.” Aiko felt like she shouldn’t accept that bow for the time being. His daughter was still not completely okay, and it could return.

Aiko didn’t really want to deal with that again, since she wanted to leave this place and get back to her research.

It was still important to finish her research in order to extract as many rewards as possible, especially.

[New Mission!]

[Forging Path: Learn basics of Forging and finish moulding metals together.]

[Reward: Advanced Knowledge about Forging Cultivation]

This was a simple mission without any kind of demerit, which Aiko loved to see.

The reward was also perfect for her current disposition, where she hunted for knowledge.

”Anyway, you can talk to my daughter while I make tea, and we can start the lessons.” Old Lei happily hummed as he walked away.

”You are stepping on the path of Forging Cultivation?” Lei An tilted her head.

”Yeah.” Aiko didn’t conceal it, since there was no reason for it.

”Why? Isn’t it a hot and stuffy experience?” Lei An was interested in why such a successful Fox would be willing to learn something as hot and dirty as this kind of path.

”Definitely, but I would like to create my own things.” Aiko chuckled at her.

”Because you are blocked from auctions?” Lei An pursued this question further, since she wanted to know a bit more about her saviour.

”Yeah.” Aiko nodded slowly. ”But that is not the only thing. I have quite a few ideas that I would like to build.”

”Like a flying ship?” Lei An giggled when she saw the young Fox stiffen slightly.

”Well, they are quite expensive and unlikeable.” Aiko shrugged like she didn’t like any of them.

Well, she didn’t like them, but she also didn’t dislike them. All of her designs would have positives and negatives, like any normal flying ship.

”You can definitely learn that, but the main material is hard to get.” Lei An shook her head.

”Floating Stone?” Aiko tilted her head.

”You already know about it? Good.” Lei An nodded. ”If you also know how it looks, you might encounter one on your journey, although it’s difficult to store.” She sighed.

”You can’t store it in Storage Rings?” Of course, Aiko would not mention her [Tails Storage] as that would be secret for the time being.

Others can question if Aiko could store living beings inside her tails and that was fine, but once she pulled more things, others would get suspicious about it, and she would like to avoid that for the time being.

”No.” Lei An shook her head. ”Storage Rings would float away if you did.”

”Eh?” Aiko blinked innocently, trying to imagine a bunch of Storage Rings flying around.

”That’s right.” Lei An giggled. ”It would fly away, and since the world border is not even, it would all converge into a single place and get collected by big Sects.” She then added with a sigh. ”You never wondered why so many large Sects have so many flying ships?”

”Because they found flying Storage Rings.” Aiko clicked her tongue. ”So they are just bandits.”

”But they don’t feel like that since they only ’found’ the Storage Rings.” Lei An was quite angry. ”But nobody mentions how you have to erase the Soul Imprint on the Storage Rings in order to open them.” It felt like she lost her own Storage Ring to this.

”I see...” Aiko would definitely do the same thing, but she would not call herself a righteous Cultivator.

She was a Fox, hated by many just because she was one. They all had prejudices about her lust and inclinations, and Aiko would not be able to change that.

’It’s better to be vicious.’ Aiko nodded slowly. At times, that nickname was quite nice.

They kept talking for some time. While Lei An didn’t move around much, she was a great listener, maybe a bit too much...

...

”Where should I start...” Old Lei sighed slowly.

They were sitting around a table, sipping tea, and his daughter was closely observing Aiko.

’Can’t believe that my daughter would be so interested in a Fox and with those rumours to boot.’ Old Lei groaned, but he misunderstood this whole situation.

Lei An only had that twinkle in her eyes because Aiko wanted to learn Forging Cultivation. She was always interested in what others could come up with.

Would it be something useful? Something selfish? She didn’t know, and that’s why she was always interested in these things.

’Who cares about that pampered Alchemist when I can watch over hard things getting harder and more beautiful?’ Lei An hummed happily.

”Forging Cultivation Path started a long, long time ago. It was during the Age where Cultivation as a whole just started...” Old Lei started with history.

The story started with a couple that had a fight. The wife wanted to punish her husband by impaling his behind for what he did against her.

Meanwhile, the husband wanted to live his life as he always did, but he dreaded his wife.

This prompted him to turn towards Mortals to give him some ideas.

”Why won’t you just create something defensive out of metal? You are an Immortal, so you should be able to use materials from not just monsters, no?”

One Mortal suggested this, and he had an epiphany. He understood what he had to do and how to accomplish it.

He started to hammer away, as there was no path for Forging Cultivators. Over time, he upgraded his craft with Divine Sense and other wonderful things. He even ’stole’ the idea about using a Cauldron to make those Treasures.

As such, the first ever Forging Cultivator... died being impaled by his wife.

He was so engrossed by his art that he didn’t notice his wife creeping up to him.

”Seriously?” Aiko suddenly interrupted the story.

”Seriously.” Old Lei nodded, and Lei An was holding in her laughter.

However, that was not the end of the Forging Cultivation, as the research from that guy and his prototypes was left behind.

We call those Treasures, simply because the first thing didn’t have any names and thus were exceptionally rare.

He only created a few Treasures, but all of them were heaven-defying.

One Treasure allowed you to gather Qi from a large area and concentrate it in one place.

Another Treasure made you immune to many kinds of poisons.

Yet another Treasure protected your Soul, so that if you were killed, your Soul would be protected, and you would be able to run away in order to possess a new body.

There were many kinds of Treasures, each was unique and precious.

The 2nd generation of the Forging Cultivators were unable to manifest that kind of skill, as they never went the same route the first Forging Cultivator did.

There was also no pressure about being impaled, so Forging Cultivation stagnated for a long time.

Eventually, the Forging Cultivator found a new body and resumed his production.

Large Sects all sought him out in order to get an edge over the others.

The Age of Beasts was over with the Age of Treasures.

Most Beasts were unable to cope with the new defensive capabilities that Humans demonstrated, and the Primordial Dao had to intervene...

It imposed restrictions on forging, so that only a few could learn it instead of all.

Divine Sense, Spiritual Flame, Cauldron, and so on. It imposed many restrictions in order to make sure that the Beasts wouldn’t go extinct.

There was a need for all races, and Primordial Dao understood that. It was impossible to get rid of those Treasures, since Humans would find another way to create them.

Humans were the most troublesome race of them all. They didn’t cherish the resources that were there from the body. They only cared about surpassing the Heavenly Dao...

The Forging Cultivation stagnated once again, since you needed a Forging Cultivator in order to create a Forging Cauldron.

As such, only the first and a few from the second generation were able to make those.

But it didn’t stop there. Most of them would blow up their Forging Cauldrons, making the already scarce resources even scarcer.

That’s where the Void Cauldron and Shapeless Cauldron appeared.

Aiko’s eyes shone briefly, but she listened attentively.

Void Cauldron allowed one to create things out of Void or Qi. Void was harder to control, and only the Princess and a few others were able to use it.

Meanwhile, the Shapeless Cauldron just required Spiritual Flame and metals to create.

As such, they began mass hunting for spirits... once again.

At this time, the Primordial Dao had to intervene again.

It made Spirits more powerful, but also restricted. Humans were unable to hunt them and enslave them once again.

They needed to coax them and feed them in order to gain approval and be able to connect with the Spiritual Flames.

As one might expect, this once again stagnated the development as only big Sects had the resources to coax those Spiritual Flames...

”The Forging Cultivation Path is very rough due to this. There is not enough information, and when there is. It’s dubious at best...” Old Lei shook his head.

”That’s also why, unlike Alchemy, you need supervision over the whole thing, or you might hurt yourself during the process.” Old Lei warned Aiko.

”I see. The Primordial Dao made something incredible.” Moon Aiko was happy about this, since this was the perfect field for her to thrive in.

”You are probably the only one who would say that.” Old Lei shook his head. Aiko was the only one who was smart enough and resourceful enough to bypass all those restrictions.

Old Lei lamented at his poor life and was quite envious of this little Fox...