Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko rolled her sleeves. She was intending to suck all the water into her tails but stopped herself.

’It’s not a good idea to do this with others around...’ Aiko knew that some of them might connect to the Elders outside, letting them see what they were experiencing.

This would expose Aiko to the outside world, and it would become dangerous for her.

’Grandpa, can we do something to lure it out?’ Aiko narrowed her eyes.

’You can just find it, it’s not like it’s hiding from you...’ Grandpa Flame felt that it would be dangerous to give Aiko any ideas, so he just nudged her to play seek.

’Oh...’ Aiko was disappointed, but still fished around trying to find it.

...

”Hm?” Aiko tilted her head. There was a strange sensation on her fingertips.

”Found something?” Grandpa Flame noticed it first.

”Did you find it?” Yueying was slightly bored. She... didn’t like water all that much, so she was unwilling to join Aiko.

”I think?” Aiko grasped that odd sensation and pulled it out of the water.

”A blob...?” No matter how Aiko looked at it, it was just a cute, jiggly blob with a happy expression.

”...” Aiko stared at it like she was staring at something odd.

”Congratulations, you have found a Natural Treasure.” Grandpa Flame was the first one to cheer for Aiko.

”...” Aiko was not too happy about it, since she expected something a bit more.

”But it’s cute...” Feifei came to where Aiko was and gently rubbed it.

”It’s so nice~!” Feifei’s blissful face made Aiko a bit happy.

”Since you like it, you can keep it for the time being.” Aiko gave the Natural Treasure to Feifei without a second thought. Of course, if it was useful, she would later take it back, but since Aiko felt a bit sorry that Feifei had to stay in her tails, it would be better to give her something she likes.

”I can?! Thank you~!” Feifei hugged Aiko before taking the small, translucent light-blue blob.

”Yay~!” Feifei immediately played with it in the water, and the small blob reciprocated.

”They go well together.” Grandpa Flame nodded.

”How so?” Aiko didn’t understand what he meant.

”Because of her unique bloodline, she is liked by it; the same probably goes for that Flower Demon.” Grandpa Flame yawned. ”I’m getting tired. You should use the Spiritual Water to enhance it through this pond. It should give it a bit more power and stability.” He said before his flames lessened.

Aiko didn’t dilly-dally and summoned her Spiritual Water.

The pair of Dragons no longer questioned what they saw. It now came as naturally that Aiko might pull a flying ship out of her butt.

They were no longer affected by it and rather watched the Human Cultivators so they wouldn’t get close to this place.

[Ancient Spiritual Water] was constantly changing colours, but once it noticed the pond, it changed into white-jade colour and dived right in.

”...” Aiko didn’t even think about anything and just let it do whatever it wanted. She was quite tired from this journey and wanted to rest somewhere where eyes didn’t reach.

She was not completely aware that because Grandpa Flame used so much fire, it also affected her.

At first, it was not noticeable, but now it dawned on her.

As long as her mind was steady, Grandpa Flame would be able to use 100% of his power, but once she grew weaker, she wouldn’t be able to maintain the connection between them.

This would cause her to endanger her life if Grandpa Flame ever lost control over his flames, so it was important for her to rest often.

Aiko nodded her head and went to the shore.

The pair of Dragons were sitting on the ground, lazily watching the Human Cultivators.

Aiko remembered what Grandpa Flame said, and devilish ideas sprouted inside her mind.

She came next to Yueying with a smirk.

Yueying tilted her head, but she had an odd feeling from that gaze.

Aiko immediately plopped her head onto her thighs and went to sleep on them.

”A-Aiko?!” Yueying was shocked and panicked, but Aiko was already asleep.

Yueying panicked for a while, but seeing other Human Cultivators join the already large group, she calmed down quite quickly.

She gently caressed the slightly squirming Aiko as she slept on her lap.

”This isn’t too bad...” Yueying murmured.

”Couples...” Grandpa Flame scoffed before he went to sleep, too.

Yanyan felt like she was losing her mind when she saw that situation, but it was not like she could kick Aiko away; her Princess would definitely not allow it!

As such, she could only watch as her neck was slowly cut by her Grandpa in the near future.

’Life of a servant is rough...’ Yanyan sniffled as she felt hopeless about her future.

Inside the pond, Feifei danced with the blob. The Spiritual Water was consuming the essence of the pond slowly and carefully.

The Spiritual Water wanted to extract only the essence, but not the water. Leaving behind the impurities was the perfect way to grow strong without needing any purification from outside forces.

Grandpa Flame didn’t need any kind of purification, since he would just burn everything away.

Sure, there were some resources that would be able to pollute it, but he was in a situation where he could pick and choose what he wanted to consume.

Aiko was the perfect Master for anyone. Sure, she might be whiny at times, but she was very generous to anyone close to her.

Everyone knew it, but everyone was also careful about not angering her.

It would be difficult to pacify Aiko, who was angered...

...

Aiko slept peacefully while Yueying ’maintained’ her blush for hours.

It was quite the sight to behold, especially for Yanyan, who was questioning her life choices.

Stretching her tired body, Aiko rubbed her eyes as her ears lazily lay flat.

There was not much energy in her movement, as if she were still tired and hadn’t got enough sleep.

On the other side, Feifei still played with the blob, while the lake was not as ’lush’ as before.

Its essence was consumed by Aiko Spiritual Water.

[Ancient Spiritual Water (Stage 5)]

V

[Ancient Spiritual Water (Stage 3)]

It greatly powered up, but not enough to get into the ranking system like the Grandpa Flame did.

Aiko would have to feed it more for that to happen.

Shaking her drowsy thoughts out, Yanyan had already packed everything so that they could make a move.

Yueying was still daydreaming, but since this place was dangerous, she quickly recovered her wits.

Aiko stashed Feifei with the blob before others could spot her. They were still some way away, but it would be troublesome if the Elders said anything.

Feifei didn’t resist and just kept hugging the blob. It seemed like she liked it a lot, so this would be a good distraction for her.

’I don’t think you need to feed it, so it’s unlikely something can go wrong with it.’ Aiko nodded her head.

Yueying gazed around. ”They are starting to become restless.” She was talking about the Cultivators who followed them here.

Aiko spent quite a lot of time sleeping, so it was obvious that they would be on the edge.

”Leave them be, we are leaving anyway.” Aiko waved her hand.

”What about the lake?” Yueying asked with narrowed eyes.

”It’s already useless, unless you want to bathe in it?” Aiko raised her eyebrow.

”...” Yueying was processing the information. ”Why would it become valuable if I bathed in it?” She couldn’t understand it.

”Perverts.” Aiko shook her head and didn’t explain further.

Yueying had the feeling that she should ask further, and Yanyan stared at them with a blank expression.

The group left the premises with a newfound path as the fog was no longer blocking anything.

You could see for about 10 metres upfront, and most Beasts had already left the premises as the forest no longer shielded them from the sight of others.

This meant that this place was mostly safe. Yes, you did have a few stranglers here and there, but they were no longer in groups, so they posed little to no danger to our current power-up Yueying.

Aiko was reconsidering everything that she knew about Beasts, since Yueying grew strong so quickly that even she questioned her cultivation path.

...

They made it out of the forest, and Yanyan immediately sniffed another Treasure.

”It feels like that way is another Treasure, but it also feels strange, like it’s buried deep inside the ground.” Yanyan tilted her head.

Yueying also felt somewhat the same, but she couldn’t have guessed that it was underground.

”Is it really under the ground?” Yueying didn’t believe it, since most Treasures would have their own ’Inheritance Site’, unless it was a Natural Treasure.

”It feels that way, unless we encounter a ravine.” Yanyan shrugged.

Aiko didn’t mind either way. This would be a quick journey for her, but it also felt like Yueying and Yanyan were pressed for time.

Aiko didn’t ask about that for now, since she didn’t really mind them leaving. She already got her Natural Treasure, which she didn’t know what to use yet, but that was beside the point.

The main point is that Grandpa was waiting for Yueying, so it would be better if they reunited.

Grandpas were always nice, so Aiko liked them a lot and would understand if Yueying suddenly wanted to leave.

”Shall we go?” Yueying hummed. She was wondering what could be hidden under the ground.

Aiko didn’t say much and just followed them.

...

Forests, plains, rivers. They had to walk for quite a while before they encountered anything.

”...” The whole group was slightly speechless at the sight.

Aiko’s expression was exceptionally blank, like she had just seen her mortal enemy.

”It seems like some kind of digging Beast made these holes.” Yanyan commented. It might’ve eaten the Treasure and then dug a hole for it.

They chatted happily as Aiko’s face distorted more and more, like a storm was brewing inside her mind. A storm that could not be stopped until every damned hole digger died in 18 hells!