Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko drained those Beast Cores of their energy and gained more familiarity with her Bloodlines. Changes slowly happened to her Bloodlines, allowing Moon Aiko to observe them.

Thanks to the overabundance of energy, Aiko was able to get rid of the residual lightning, which helped her maintain her current appearance.

The first to change was the [Blooming Moon Deity Kitsune].

It went from dormant to awakened, allowing Aiko to strike some balance between her forms.

Her strength also grew exponentially thanks to it, as her Abilities strengthened with it.

The [Captivating Witch of Illusive Dreams] followed in suit, no longer being suppressed by the Sun as much, allowing her to gain some strength.

With that also came control over her scent. The overbearing scent was from the Sun burning the Dew in the Witch Bloodline.

She would no longer make her group sick from the scent and would be able to walk around somewhat without being the centre of attention.

Now, Aiko was trying her best not to awaken the Sun Bloodline, or this fragile balance would be shattered.

She kept working on strengthening her body and other things, but it was definitely time for ’that’ thing.

[Beast Core Formation]

[Please submit enough Qi to create a new Beast Core.]

[Required Energy: 100,000,000 Qi]

Moon Aiko had a very strange idea, which came from her [Primordial Devouring Fire-Fox Glass Vessel].

What if she could isolate the given Bloodlines into each Beast Core, only allowing them to exist in a given place?

This would, in theory, allow her to maintain her forms, but at the same time, it would make her slightly weaker as the other Beast Cores would have to be put to sleep in order not to wreak havoc inside her body.

Fortunately, Aiko had plenty of Beast Cores lying around her so she could recover quite swiftly.

The next step would be funnelling the Qi into the Ability to create the new vessel.

The energy whirled around Aiko as it got sucked into a single point. There, her glass-like Beast Core quietly formed its outer shell.

However, it was exceptionally weak, as the crust was only as thick as a hair.

The Beast Core would collapse with the slightest touch, so it was not eligible to sustain the violent energies and abuse from the Evolutions.

Moon Aiko focused on the task at hand, but...

”Aaaaa.” For some reason, Ah Cy was very enthusiastic about feeding her.

*nom*

”This is not bad.” Moon Aiko didn’t dislike that taste. It could not be said that it was delicious, but she could swallow it without issues.

”Those are the internal organs.” Ah Cy hummed. She always hated them, so she found a way to create a soup out of them without making the taste even worse than before.

It had the demerit that its efficacy dropped slightly, but what can you do about it? She was unwilling to eat them as is!

*nom*

Aiko munched on them more and immediately noticed a difference.

[Serene Azure Spiritual Flame (Ranking: 9th & 89th -> 8th & 86th)]

[Ancient Spiritual Water (Stage 3->2)]

This had a much greater effect than she expected!

Aiko marvelled at the fact that her Elemental Spirits progressed so well. She was especially happy about Grandpa Flame since he was grumbling a lot less.

Her Vitality was also quickly recovering, probably from the soup, so Aiko was more than willing to eat a bit more of it!

*nom**nom*

...

Like this, time passed slowly day by day as Aiko worked on her new Beast Core. She also healed her body again and again with [Melody of Healing], as she was suffering from the overabundant energy being sucked into the formation of the new Beast Core.

But with this speed, she should be able to finish it soon.

...

As expected of the bottomless pit, being the newly forming Beast Core.

It sucked more than half of the Beast Cores provided by Ah Cy and most of the internal organs.

She was still left with shards, but she would use those for last.

Ah Cy also disappeared a few times already and came back with even more Beast Cores, so Aiko had more than enough to waste on herself.

...

”Is it really alright?” Aiko started to question Ah Cy’s wealth.

”I never really had need for Contribution Points outside of having my personal sword crafted, so they just stockpiled.” Ah Cy shrugged.

”But...” Aiko was concerned about this, since she didn’t do that much to deserve so many Beast Cores.

”You might not understand what happened, but being able to breakthrough in the Lower Mortal Realm is a big deal!” Ah Cy gestured with her hands as a small illusion formed.

”Long ago, there was only ’one’ Mortal World. Cultivators there could easily breakthrough all the way to the Mahayana Cultivation Stage without any problems.”

”However, over time, that changed, and Cultivators had more and more issues in being able to breakthrough past a certain barrier until most of them got stuck at Nascent Soul Realm.”

”This was a big issue for everyone, so they had to take drastic measures.” Ah Cy split the world into two separate entities and stacked them on top of each other.

”The stagnation that builds up naturally flows down. So by creating this ’contraption’, they were able to keep the Upper Mortal World clean from most Stagnant Qi, allowing them to cultivate higher and higher until ascending.” She then slowly crumbled the Lower Mortal World.

”As you might expect, this is not without issues. The main being Void beings. They invade through Stagnant Qi, and they are very hard to kill. Only certain races can deal with them effectively, but most of them vanished for some reason.” Ah Cy sighed.

”So by being able to breakthrough in the Lower Mortal World. I have attracted a lot of attention not just from the Southern Sect, but from the other major Sects too.” Ah Cy giggled. ”Even as we speak, my wealth grows thanks to this, as everyone is bringing me gifts either out of curiosity or for currying favours.” She was quite happy about the former, since the lustful gazes dropped by almost half!

”As such, it’s only for the best for me to reward you like this~” Ah Cy hummed as she fed Aiko another spoonful of soup.

*nom*

”I-I see.” Moon Aiko was suddenly shy, since she didn’t think it was such a big deal.

Shaking her head slightly, she let Ah Cy feed her until she emptied another bowl.

”I will be doing something right now, so please do not disturb me.” Aiko narrowed her eyes. It was time to utilise her new Beast Core!

”Very well.” Ah Cy left the room so Aiko could do her thing.

...

Moon Aiko breathed in and out. She knew that Ah Cy was curious about the Sacred Realm, but every unnecessary thought had to be pushed back.

She would tell them more about it later; for now, she had to focus.

Her new Beast Core was completely pristine and clear without any impurities.

Aiko focused her gaze on it and chose the [Captivating Witch of Illusive Dreams] as the recipient, as it was the easiest to pollute.

Next up would be [Blooming Moon Deity Kitsune] as that one was hard to pollute, but also clean.

Lastly, it would be the [Primordial Devouring Wolf-Rayet Kitsune], because it would burn all impurities inside the Beast Core.

As Aiko worked on this, she realised a few things.

Once the Beast Core was imbued with energies, it became unusable for other energies. Especially the Sun Bloodline, which pretty much turned it into superheated Qi.

The Beast Cores were adjusted to her needs, and everything was going well.

Aiko gained even more control over her transformations, which allowed her to greatly increase her output.

The biggest change would be her Beast Core purity, which jumped from 80% to 89%!

Now she just had to fill up her Beast Cores and finish her work!

Unfortunately, the suppressions and seals are still in place, but with the rest of the Beast Cores provided to her, she should be able to do something with them!

...

The rest of her work was consuming the shards, which bumped her awakened status into peak status.

This, unfortunately, also caused the Sun Bloodline to awaken, but the balance was not shattered yet, for now.

But she did consume so much that she was quite guilty about it...

Looking over her system, it became even more monstrous than before, which meant she should be able to do more things now~!

[New Physique under development. Please consume more poison.]

’...’ Moon Aiko stared blankly at the screen. It seems like she would have to ask Ah Cy for more...

...

”Poisons?” Ah Cy tilted her head. ”Yeah, I do have plenty.” She smiled innocently. ’That bastard has no tact, so he won’t mind if I take a few of his ’weeds’.’

Moon Aiko was completely unaware that Ah Cy would be robbing the Sect Leader, but even if she knew, it was hard to say she would mind it...

-----

Ah Cy arrived at the familiar Peak, where Aiko played Go games with the Sect Leaders.

”Ah Cy~” Ah Cy was tackled by her friend, the Dragoness.

”Zonghan An, what are you doing here? And why are you talking funny?” Ah Cy raised her eyebrow.

”Come on! I told you to call me An!” Zonghan An pouted, but she coughed awkwardly. ”Well... things happened.”

”The guest happened, didn’t it?” Ah Cy was convinced that Aiko riled him up so much that poor Zonghan An was pressed for air.

Zonghan An coughed awkwardly. ”W-well... Where is the guest?” She changed the topic.

”What do you need from her?” Ah Cy tilted her head.

”I heard that the Treasure that I gave her as an apology and thank you broke, so after ’that’ happened, I was fishing for some Relics that might help her.” Zonghan An hummed happily as she walked funnily back to the gazebo.

”She is currently doing something...” Ah Cy smiled, but for some reason, the other Sect Leaders shivered.

”What is she doing~?” Zonghan An was completely unaware that Ah Cy was after them.

”This.” Ah Cy pointed her finger up, and the ’weeds’ were uprooted from their spots.

”H-Hidden Peak Elder?!” Wu Tao yelped when he saw his priceless garden harvested like it was a leek.

”What is it, Sect Leader?” Ah Cy smiled innocently. ”Don’t tell me you want to rob our guests again?” Her smile was quite scary.

”Is she looking for poisons? Does she have any sort of vendetta against my hubby?” Zonghan An was slightly concerned, but she would still let her poison her hubby since he deserved it.

She might’ve felt good at that time, but that didn’t mean that the person being harassed felt good.

”I’m not sure. Last time, she just ate them.” Ah Cy shook her head.

”Oh, then take this, it might be processed, but it still should work~” Zonghan An smiled and gave Ah Cy an ominous bottle with strange liquid.

”Corpse Hell Poison? Were you intending to wipe out the Mortal World?” Ah Cy was speechless that Zonghan An had something like that!

”Don’t mention it, don’t mention it.” Zonghan An smiled innocently. ”And remember to tell me when I can visit, so I can give her goodies~” She then dragged her husband for yet another round.

Wu Tao coughed awkwardly.

”Just take it from my Contribution Points.” Ah Cy couldn’t believe he was that shameless, so she left quickly before he took more from her.