Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

[You have earned a new Title: [Inevitable Storm]!]

[Inevitable Storm]

[I’m the storm that is approaching!]

[Effects: -Unknown-]

”...” Aiko was even more speechless after obtaining this title.

Just because she flooded a nasty hole, she obtained something with questionable origin and effects.

She was not too thrilled about this, but she wouldn’t reject it, as long as it didn’t have demerits.

Shaking her head, Aiko looked around for a way to go inside. Using Divine Sense was one possibility, but she didn’t know how deep it was or how long she would have to maintain it.

If it was for a long time, it would wear her down a lot, making her weaker.

Without knowing what was in these tunnels, it was better if she conserved her strength.

The pair of Dragons jumped down from the tree branches near Aiko and almost immediately sank.

”...” They didn’t believe that Aiko would be THAT light, but it seemed like she was maintaining her footing by infusing Qi into her soles.

”Do you have any way to go inside...?” Aiko asked innocently, and her impulsive nature took its course.

”...” The duo was even more speechless.

”How about Divine Sense? We can push away the water and dive in.” Yanyan suggested.

”We don’t know how deep or how long this place is, it would drain us too much.” Aiko rejected that thought, since it was the same thought she had.

”Swimming?” Yueying whistled innocently when the two others stared at her blankly.

”Princes... You are the only one who can last hours underwater without a pearl...” Yanyan shook her head.

Aiko was completely flabbergasted, so much so that her ears stood straight.

’Hours? How is that possible?!’ Aiko couldn’t believe it, but this would also not be the strangest thing that Yueying was capable of.

”Rejected.” Aiko crossed her arms, crossing her idea too.

It was quite the dilemma.

”Shovelling the water away?” Yanyan coughed awkwardly.

”And where do you intend to put that water?” Aiko didn’t want to hear that answer, but it was obvious that Yanyan was targeting her tails.

As expected, Yanyan glanced at Aiko’s tails and almost died from that deadly glare.

”How about I bathe you in that water first, hm?” Aiko tapped the tip of her foot against the ground, signalling her dissatisfied feelings.

Yanyan coughed again and no longer suggested anything.

Aiko would naturally shovel it into her tails, but that was the last-ditch option. She was not willing to do it since it would dirty her tails a lot...

Then, all of a sudden, a small blob jumped out of her tails.

Aiko remembered that it was the same blob that Feifei took away as a pet.

The strange feeling that Aiko experienced didn’t stop with her. The others also noticed a strange feeling on their skin.

The small blob was pushing away all the water in their surroundings, making pretty much a safe ’bubble’ that no water could enter.

”Or that.” Aiko happily smiled. ”Do we have everything? Can we go down?” She smiled more and more.

The duo was once again speechless. They thought that they had got used to surprises, but with Aiko, it was a never ending surprise. Even when you thought that it would end, Aiko would pull another Aiko from her tails...!

...

The group was ready to jump down. They didn’t really want to slow down and wanted to get to the bottom as fast as possible.

Since none of them would be exhausted by this, it was fine to take a more reckless approach.

Jumping down, contrary to their expectations, they slowed down a lot.

You would expect that this would turn into a free fall, but thanks to the blob that was pushing away the water, it turned into a slow descent.

The Dragons didn’t really mind, since it would be bothersome to try to stop before meeting the soft ground.

Aiko, however, did mind this. She was hoping that this journey would be over, as she worried that the moles would come back to life.

Anything was possible in a Sacred Realm, or maybe that was just her paranoia speaking.

...

The descent was uneventful, as most things when Aiko was not completely bored.

There was no soil where they were; everywhere was bedrock, completely flooded by murky water.

”I can still feel the Treasure.” Yanyan said with a smile. Unlike that strange fog, this didn’t block her senses at all, so it was very easy to locate that Treasure.

”Good, I don’t like the feeling this place is giving me.” Aiko nodded her head slowly and let Yanyan lead them.

Yueying glanced around. Her senses were sharper, but for some reason she was unable to pinpoint the location of the Treasure.

It was like there was some kind of strange noise around her, and she was unable to isolate it.

It was probably because she was not used to her sensitive senses and there would be a lot of training waiting for her, once she met with Grandpa.

Furthermore, it was important to reach a good stage before the celebration.

Fortunately, nobody would court her, now that she had lost her heart, so she didn’t need to worry about that part.

But she did have to worry about exploding her enemies into blood puddles. She would have to deal with that part with the help from her Grandpa.

...

Yanyan led them towards the Treasure, but it was not what they expected.

It was a large, well-ornamented room, but without any Runes and only watered-down paintings. It was obvious that the water Aiko pushed in did a number on it.

There were many immortals dancing on those pictures and in the middle were music notes spreading from its origin.

Unfortunately, that origin was blurred, and it was difficult to say if it was Mortal or Immortal.

”Zither?” Yanyan tilted her head.

A lone zither floated in the middle of the room, with nobody in sight. It was alone and lonely, yet radiated a powerful presence.

”It seems that way.” Aiko nodded, but this was definitely not a Treasure. It had the same feeling as a Relic.

”Do you want it?” Yueying nudged Aiko. She quite liked instruments, and this one would fit nicely into her collection.

”...” Aiko thought about it for a bit, but she already had too much stuff. Moon Aiko would definitely scold her for bringing more without sorting the previous stuff.

”I’m good... I think.” Nightmare Aiko was really tempted to take it, but that twinkle in Yueying’s eyes could not be concealed. ”Since you like it, just take it.” Aiko conceded the Relic.

”Thank you~” Yueying hugged Aiko happily, squishing her a lot.

”But make good use of it.” Aiko didn’t mind that smothering and even enjoyed it a bit.

Of course, the blob was even happier than she was, but Aiko couldn’t be mad at it.

Yueying happily went to take the Zither. It was in its sealed form, so she didn’t need to worry about possession or anything like that.

However, even if it was in its sealed form, that majestic presence couldn’t be concealed. This was a worthwhile investment.

’I wonder if Auntie will like this~’ Yueying might place it into her collection, but her kind Auntie was also a collector of instruments.

If she could use this to curry favour, nobody would dare to touch her as long as Auntie lived.

Yueying nodded her head. This was not a bad plan and quite easy to accomplish.

...

Aiko shook her head. Since they got everything from this place, it was time to leave.

The happy blob easily lifted them through the water and onto the safe ’shores’ where the swamp didn’t reach.

”Thank you~” Aiko patted the blob before storing it in her tails. Feifei needed it more than she did, and since she wouldn’t need to dive, it was all right to do this.

”...” Yueying looked slightly distressed.

”What?” Aiko immediately noticed that and had to ask about it.

Yueying was so happy just moments ago that it just didn’t fit her.

”How about a walk?” Yueying pursed her lips. She looked quite nervous.

”Sure?” Aiko was puzzled, but didn’t reject Yueying.

Yanyan took a few steps back. She was likewise troubled about her Princess.

Her Princess would be leaving this place, so that they could take a special flying ship onto the mainland where her heart resided.

It was not a good idea to push it too far away, but Yanyan allowed it, since her Princess still needed to experience the world.

A small delay wouldn’t hurt them, but they were already stretching it too much.

Yueying didn’t say much; they walked and walked, arriving near a majestic mountain wall.

It was pretty much a straight wall, impossible to walk up, even jumping around would be impossible. The only option was to climb by hand.

Aiko was impressed that something like this could form without immediately crumbling, but... it was a Sacred Realm. It was more likely that she would encounter a sight like this than not.

...

Aiko waited for Yueying to open up. The rocky terrain and humongous wall didn’t bother her. It was actually quite nice here.

Then, all of a sudden, a piercing roar startled them all.

”Yueying!” A Dragon’s angry roar spread while something landed near them.

”Kya!” Yueying immediately snapped out of her turbulent thoughts, uppercutting that individual.

”GUH-!” It was quite the familiar Dragoness, but her face distorted so much that Aiko almost laughed out.

But, it didn’t end there. Yueying was able to straighten her spine and soon sent her flying.

The majestic stone wall took the brunt of the Dragon’s body, crumbling in the process as the Dragoness ’slid’ upwards from the amount of energy she received from her kind sister.

She kept ’climbing’, higher and higher, until she hit a small ceiling.

Her majestic head got stuck in that ceiling as most of that leftover energy dispersed.

However, she was also knocked out cold, unmoving. Her body slowly swaying from the wind, left and right.

Aiko laughed out and gave Yueying a thumbs-up. It was the same Dragoness who tried to steal from her, so this was well deserved.

Of course, Aiko was completely unaware that even her team screwed her over, but that was not important.

Yueying panicked for a while before breathing out. Aiko’s laugh was quite contagious, which helped her to make up her mind.

”Take this.” Yueying placed a shiny metal object into Aiko’s hands.

”What is this?” Aiko observed the shiny metal.

Once Yanyan noticed that, she immediately fainted and her Soul was slowly ascending to Heaven.

”A small something from me, please don’t reject it.” Yueying smiled, but it was obvious that she wouldn’t say more about it.

[Yueying’s Reserve Scale]

”Do I eat this?” Aiko didn’t really know about this concept, so she was not sure what she was supposed to do with this.

”Eh, it might not taste that good, but do what you feel is right.” Yueying giggled. Her body was oddly light as her heart beat clearly.

It was fine that Aiko didn’t understand this ’token’; otherwise, Yueying would be too embarrassed to face her.

”I will have to go now.” Yueying pursed her lips...