Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko played with them while the whole Peak was covered in snow.

Their power grew immensely. As did Aiko’s understanding of her own flames.

Of course, this didn’t pass without flustering the other Elders.

Most gardens on the main Peak were ruined by the insane differences in temperature. While the Beasts were cowering due to the insane pressure the couple exuded.

Sun Aiko was satisfied with this, but she created one more headache for the Southern Sect.

...

Sun Aiko turned into Moon Aiko as she transformed into her adult form. She then rested with the couple. The cool sensation paired with her cool temperament made for quite a wonderful picture.

But of course, there was no one to appreciate it as the Sect Leader banned anyone from entering that room.

Moon Aiko was able to happily snooze without any disturbance.

...

A few days later, Moon Aiko finally left the couple. The puppies grew quite attached to her since Sun Aiko had unlimited stamina, unlike the Winter Beasts.

Moon Aiko wanted to leave the main Peak when a girl approached her.

”The Sect Leader wishes to see you.” The girl bowed gently.

Aiko had already learned some things, so she was suspicious about this situation.

[Illusionary Steps]

[Illusionary Steps: 2->3/9]

Moon Aiko rolled her eyes, but she was happy that it levelled up as it would allow her to handle this situation more easily.

The illusion of Aiko was walking in front of her, while the actual Aiko maintained her distance.

This way, if something happened to the illusion, she would have enough time to react.

And with her very suppressed presence, the girl had to constantly make sure that damned Fox was following her.

This only solidified for Aiko that there was something wrong with this situation.

And she was right. The girl suddenly turned around with some kind of pendant and trapped the illusion Aiko inside a box that was suddenly sucked into the pendant.

”Oh, nice Treasure.” Moon Aiko nodded her head happily.

[Gale Steps] + [Illusionary Steps]

Moon Aiko easily snatched the pendant from her hand, shocking the girl. She then used [#### Needle Technique] to paralyse her.

Moon Aiko observed the pendant before throwing it into her tails. She would check it later and use it as evidence.

Moon Aiko lifted the girl with her Divine Sense before going to the main hall.

-----

The main hall had a very stiff atmosphere, and that was because the Northern Sect sent their small delegation over to assess them and demonstrate their ’wealth’.

They brought over the Disciples who would follow them onto the mainland in order to boast.

Wu Tao was concerned that they would try something, since their Divination Cultivators were a lot better than those of other Sects. This would cause an issue if their guest got in trouble!

”So, what do you want, you old fossil?” Wu Tao snorted at him.

”What’s the rush? Let’s compete.” The Northern Sect Leader smiled.

”Compete my ass.” Wu Tao rolled his eyes.

”Don’t worry, we will go easy-” The Northern Sect Leader smiled, but he was interrupted...

-----

”I’m passing by since I wanted to ask for a few things.” Moon Aiko arrived at her main hall, where the Sect Leader was.

The atmosphere was quite stiff.

”What would you like?” Wu Tao immediately softened, and that was also because the most talented Disciple of the Northern Sect was in her hands.

”Some Ink.” Moon Aiko said gently. Her cool beauty already captivated the others, but the Northern Sect Leader was stiff.

That was his Disciple!

”Of course, we can arrange that.” Wu Tao smiled. ”What do you plan to do with that?” He glanced at the floating girl.

”I’m not sure yet...” Moon Aiko tilted her head, but she wanted to try something.

”Of course, she will release my Disciple. Of course, she would also return the Treasure, too.” The Northern Sect Leader glared at the daring Fox.

’System, can you activate the Treasure and capture her inside?’ Moon Aiko was not to be trifled with.

[More than possible.]

’Then do it, let’s give them a nice gift.’ Moon Aiko wanted to experiment in imbuing her Essence into other things.

Of course, she chose the Solar Essence for this test~.

Aiko took out the Treasure, which pleased the Northern Sect Leader, but he immediately stiffened.

His Disciple was captured into her own Treasure!

”You dare?!” The Northern Sect Leader immediately rushed at the Fox.

Moon Aiko used the few Solar Essences that she had and imbued them into the pendant.

”Of course.” Moon Aiko smiled and casually threw the pendant at him.

The Northern Sect Leader hurriedly retracted his energy to not damage the pendant, but it was already too late.

Aiko made it so that if even a bit of unstable Qi touched it, it would immediately destabilise and-

*BOOM*

[Moon’s Crust]

Aiko wrapped her body in a Moon’s crust in order to protect herself as she watched the magnificent explosion.

There were a few changes to her Moon crust.

For one, it was no longer see-through like before. It looked literally like the Moon!

Another change was that the durability was incomparable to before, which meant that just shrapnel and far-away explosions, even if they contained the Sun’s energy, would do her no harm.

”Aghhhhhhhh!” The Northern Sect Leader roared as his fingers were burned to a crisp and his body was pierced by the shrapnel.

”Oh my~, it seems like your unstable energy destroyed that Treasure. What a shame.” Moon Aiko’s cold voice drifted into everyone’s ears.

”I will fucking kill-” Of course, this situation was already beyond saving, but that was beneficial to the Southern Sect.

Their guest was almost injured, so it’s not a stretch if they claimed that they were seeking their heads for that.

Wu Tao immediately appeared next to the Northern Sect Leader and kicked him outside.

He then appeared above him and, with a single, but very precise, palm strike, shattered his Cultivation Foundation.

”What...?” The Northern Leader couldn’t believe what just happened. ”Do you think that the main Sect will let this go?! You will all die!” He aged very rapidly until he turned into dust.

Wu Tao dusted his clothes. His nemesis died all thanks to the guest, so he was now seriously indebted to her.

But everything went so smoothly that it was quite scary.

’The Foxes were truly able to destroy kingdoms with the lightest touch...’ Wu Tao gazed blankly at the horizon for a bit.

”My, you didn’t hesitate.” The Grandmaster appeared beside him.

”Grandmaster.” Wu Tao greeted him respectfully.

”Your brother will be very pleased with you. You have done a good job.” The Grandmaster chuckled happily. Both brothers had to distinguish themselves, and now both of them have achieved it even before the allocated time.

”Yes, we won’t have to kill each other now.” Wu Tao nodded happily. Now he could return to his brother and they could happily raid Realms together again!

”That Foxy is truly a blessing. The small damage she causes might be inconvenient, but what she brings back is much, much better for us.”

”Finding the tree that produces Qi by being abused. Getting rid of the Poisonous Herbs. She did a lot for us.” The Grandmaster spoke happily.

”Indeed. I’m glad I was able to find both a destroyed and functioning flying boat, and a Spirit Boat.” Wu Tao nodded.

”Spirit Boat, eh? That precious little thing, and you will give it away?” The Grandmaster was truly amused.

”Are you saying she doesn’t deserve it?” Wu Tao raised his eyebrow.

”If I didn’t know your preferences, I would say you were bewitched. Didn’t you like that Treasure?” The Grandmaster was slightly flabbergasted that this little kid finally acted like the Sect Leader.

”Oh shut up.” Wu Tao ruffled his hair. Aiko might be beautiful, but that wildness turned him off.

”Hehe.” The Grandmaster chuckled before disappearing.

”We will report this to our Sect!” The Other Elders yelled at him.

”Hm?” Wu Tao smiled darkly. ”Who said you will be able to leave?” His own Elders stepped outside, ready for battle.

”I didn’t expect this.” Moon Aiko was still inside the hall, watching the whole thing. ”I should be more careful about what I do in the future.” She nodded her head gently as she disappeared onto the Hidden Peak.

...

”So you did it now, huh?” Ah Cy pinched Aiko.

”How was I supposed to know that they would annihilate them?” Moon Aiko rubbed her cheeks.

”Because getting rid of good seedlings is beneficial to every Sect. With less competition, we will be able to get more resources for ourselves.” Ah Cy shrugged. Who could’ve guessed that Aiko would be able to annihilate a whole generation just because of one simple motion?

”Oh...” Moon Aiko nodded. This was more complex than she expected! ”As expected, I shouldn’t make my own Faction.” She would be swamped with work, unable to progress her cultivation!

”That’s what Elders are for.” Ah Cy vaguely knew what Aiko was thinking.

”So that you can allocate the work to others, but can you really trust them?” This was pretty much a backstabbing world, so it was impossible to trust them unilaterally.

”That’s why you should give your partners those positions.” Ah Cy chuckled.

”So that they grow weaker and can’t catch up to me?” Moon Aiko couldn’t understand that line of thinking.

”...” Ah Cy paused. Well, Aiko’s growth was anything but normal, so she might be a special case. ”There are other ways to make sure they are loyal.”

”How difficult.” Moon Aiko shook her head. ”There is no one truly loyal unless they are your partner.” She didn’t believe that her partners would do anything bad to her knowingly.

”And even those can betray you, but I get it, you just don’t want to work more.” Ah Cy pinched her nose-bridge.

”Am I interrupting something?” The Grandmaster suddenly appeared nearby.

”Knocking would help.” Ah Cy trained her eyes on him.

”I have no interest in younguns like you.” The Grandmaster shook his head.

”But you still love to peek at us.” Ah Cy glared at him.

The Grandmaster coughed. ”I have brought the Treasures for our honoured guest.” He immediately changed the topic.

”Oh?” Moon Aiko immediately trained her eyes on that small floating ship above his palm.

”You have good eyes, that is-” The Grandmaster wanted to introduce it, but someone was shocked a bit more than he expected.

”Why is the Spirit Boat here?!” Ah Cy was the one to introduce it, much to his dismay.

”...” The Grandmaster pursed his lips. ”Yes, this is a Spirit Boat. Something that you can store inside your body and summon at will. It will take a while to refine, but you can power it with both your Qi or Spirit Stones.” He explained the basics so that Foxy could understand how precious this was. ”Moreover, since you can make it smaller, it can also bypass some restrictions.” He narrowed his eyes.

”Oh.” Moon Aiko vaguely understood what he meant, but this was quite the Treasure that he brought over!