Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Chen Shi observed how she skilfully broke down the armour Treasure, making his eyes widen greatly.

Cautiously walking close to the pile of metals, he was able to surmise that Aiko had recovered 70% of the metal.

That information stilled his brain, and He could feel something rising in his throat.

*gurgle*

Chen Shi turned into a beautiful, but bloody, fountain as he slowly sank into his own blood.

”Don’t take it.” Moon Aiko stopped Danji from taking that blood.

”But...” Danji protested, since this blood was quite high quality.

Yue sighed, shaking her head.

She turned her brain off at the right time, so she didn’t suffer any consequences for seeing this. Well, she was still impressed by it, but it couldn’t be said she suffered.

Moving Chen Shi away and cleaning the blood, she waited for Aiko.

”This is not bad. I think I can do about 10 Treasures with around 20 metals.” Moon Aiko nodded her head gently, her efficiency greatly improved with her tools.

[Cold Iron Sickle]

[Description: What kind of lunatic uses a garden sickle for scrapping?!]

[Rarity: Simple Treasure]

[Restriction: -]

[Effects:

Durability: +10%

Sharpness: 1000%

Qi Conductivity: 20%

]

[Cold Iron Short Knife]

[Description: Right... a knife used for scrapping... that makes sense...]

[Rarity: Simple Treasure]

[Effects:

Durability: +50%

Sharpness: 1000%

Qi Conductivity: 21%

]

[Cold Iron Chisel]

[Description: Chisel used on metal... Now I have seen everything.]

[Rarity: Simple Treasure]

[Effects:

Durability: +100%

Sharpness: 1000%

Qi Conductivity: 19%

]

[Earth Wood Mallet]

[Description: It’s really concerning that this is the only NORMAL thing that you have created...]

[Rarity: Simple Treasure]

[Effects: - ]

Moon Aiko was really satisfied with her creations. Although the descriptions were questionable at best, she still liked them.

Yue came over to Aiko. ”I will take him to recuperate. Here is the ring with the rest of the Treasures, so you can scrap them however you like.” She smiled gently as she handed over the Spatial Ring.

Moon Aiko glanced inside and almost rolled over when she saw how many Treasures there were inside.

”Are you sure these are for scrapping?” Moon Aiko felt like Yue was trying to bankrupt him.

”Yes, I made sure that he used a Spatial Ring and stored all the Treasures he didn’t need or want into it. That way, he can get the precious materials back.” Yue giggled before floating away.

Moon Aiko was slightly speechless. ”Being filthy wealthy is nice.” She nodded her head repeatedly.

She wanted to start working immediately, but Danji stopped her.

”It’s time to rest.” Danji smiled with a strange smile.

”But I feel fine?” Moon Aiko was puzzled.

”It’s time to rest.” Danji repeated her words, startling Aiko.

”...” Moon Aiko was trying to figure out what to say.

”It’s time to rest.” Danji repeated it again, but this time that smile didn’t even reach her lips!

”Alright, alright.” Sensing that danger, Moon Aiko caved in quickly. While she was a workaholic, that didn’t mean she would try to sabotage herself that badly.

Moon Aiko listened to Danji and followed her.

They went into a hall which had quite the delicacies carefully arranged on tables.

”We ate them a few days back.” Moon Aiko wiped her saliva.

”Two weeks back.” Danji’s face twitched. It seemed that ’this’ Aiko had to be supervised so that she wouldn’t ruin her health.

”No way.” Moon Aiko didn’t believe it was that long! At best, it was just a few days, right?

Moon Aiko shook her head before indulging herself.

”Whoa.” She tasted the shrimp first. ”This one is much tastier.”

It was a good thing that there were no chefs around. They would definitely throw a tantrum and refuse to cook for them in the future.

Moon Aiko tasted one after another, but all of them tasted exquisite!

”How did you manage that?” Moon Aiko tilted her head in disbelief as her lips were smeared by the food’s grease and spices.

Danji wiped her lips. ”Trial and error, but I also know what you like and what you don’t like, so I simply replaced some ingredients or adjusted them so that you wouldn’t mind them.” She explained gently as Aiko ate more and more food. She was like a small Taotie.

”I’m thinking that whenever I eat your food, I will change my body to be smaller.” Moon Aiko sighed. ”I feel kind of bad for you. Having to cook so much food only to be devoured in moments.” Yet as she said that, her hands were not stopping, and she kept devouring the food as if there was no tomorrow.

”It’s fine.” Danji giggled. ”I don’t mind cooking like this. Especially since it’s only once every so often with your current... disposition.”

”I feel like you are trying to subtly insult me.” Moon Aiko turned around, only for Danji to wipe her lips again.

”You are imagining things.” Danji shrugged gently.

”You are definitely enjoying this situation.” Moon Aiko shook her head.

”So do you.” Danji rolled her eyes.

”Hey! It’s delicious food! Who wouldn’t enjoy it!” Moon Aiko puffed up her cheeks before filling them up with food.

’Glutton.’ Danji giggled inside her mind. It was a joy to see someone eat her food without vomiting it out.

’Although I did improve a lot.’ The old ’Danji’ cooked rocks and anything that seemed edible, but the current Danji learned to only cook ingredients that were in the market.

That also included Herbs, but she didn’t use as many of them, since she didn’t understand how to properly prepare them.

She would have to ask Ming Qian for some knowledge about this matter.

Danji wouldn’t take him as a teacher necessarily, since she believed that Aiko would hire him for something that would take him a lot of time.

’I wonder what she will come up with...’ Danji narrowed her eyes, preparing tea for Aiko, so that she could sip it between bites.

”You aren’t going to eat?” Moon Aiko felt a bit awkward that Danji didn’t eat with her.

”I already ate when I prepared everything, since you also have to taste everything. My stomach is quite full.” Danji knew that Aiko was slightly sad, but what she said was the truth. If she ate more than she already did, it might upset her stomach.

She ate a lot of food, but especially a lot of spices, so she was in an awkward position.

”Okay.” Moon Aiko was a bit saddened, as expected, but didn’t force Danji to do anything.

She was unlike any other Masters, who would make their companions eat with them just because they felt lonely.

Danji wrapped her hands around Aiko. ”Once you finish, you are going to sleep to recover.”

”Okay.” Moon Aiko didn’t protest, since this food did indeed tire her out more than the actual work.

”You can then test anything you want with those resources.” Danji chuckled sinisterly.

”So you already knew I would be pocketing some of the materials for tests?” Moon Aiko was startled.

”I have observed how you carefully paid attention to how the metals interacted, so it was natural that you would want to get a lot of metal and try to combine them together.” Danji giggled.

”Well... there is just something inherently wrong with these Treasures, so I want to figure out how to redo the lamp.” Moon Aiko sighed.

”The lamp does feel different.” Danji nodded her head.

”Because there are only a few ’seams’ that I can attack to scrap it. A lot of the metal is mixed together and pretty much impossible to separate without some kind of advanced technique.” Moon Aiko explained.

”Then, is it wise to try to scrap the lamp?” Danji was slightly worried that those Ghosts would burden Aiko.

”I’m not sure now.” Moon Aiko paused. ”While I was confident before. The more I worked on scrapping the Treasures, the more I realised how odd that lamp is. I did patch it a few times, but it’s not like the lamp is perfect. There are many things not explained, and as I said, not everything is perfectly blended.”

”Then what is our current plan?” Danji tilted her head.

”Scrap, scrap and combine.” Moon Aiko proclaimed as she chewed on a tender, but crunchy chicken.

”How will you go about combining?” Danji knew that Aiko was talking about the Treasures inside the Spatial Ring and not the lamp and others.

”I will just create small balls and then try to warm them up together to see the reaction.” Moon Aiko paused her chewing. ”Well, it’s more complex than that, since techniques can also mix the metals together, so there will be a lot of trial and error just to figure out the system behind it.” She sighed gently.

”I will prepare more food and tea for you, so you can work without worry.” Danji smiled gently as she caressed Aiko’s head.

”Thank you.” Moon Aiko smiled sweetly.

’So she can be cute and pretty in this form too.’ Danji was temporarily blinded before adjusting her emotions. ”You are welcome.”

...

After finishing the food and sleeping peacefully without interruptions, Moon Aiko returned to her temporary workshop.

”Let’s start this.” Moon Aiko hummed as she sat down. She was completely refreshed and with a new mind.

Scrapping turned out to be a lot faster when one was rested, allowing Aiko to observe the metals more closely, too and figure out a few things.

Most Treasures had different techniques applied to them, but all the techniques had something similar in common.

While it complemented one or more metals, the rest were neglected, introducing vulnerability that was later exploited by ambient Qi, gnawing on the Treasure until it stopped working properly or reduced its capacity.

Moon Aiko realised that each metal had a different affinity, so when the Forging Cultivator chose the technique, he chose a technique that complemented as many metals as possible, while trying to balance the rest with additional metals.

This introduced two camps inside the Treasure.

The first camp was the almost perfectly mixed metals that resonated and strengthened their bonds through exposure to natural Qi.

The second camp was much worse off, as they maintained their effects only when they were in harmony. For example, if you entered a place with a high concentration of Fire Qi, it would cause the Treasure to destabilise over time, no longer making it harmonious.

The Treasure was also likely to blow up, but the Forging Cultivators prevented that with some kind of powder, usually located between the seams.

But this powder had yet another slew of issues, mainly the degradation of seams and corrosion of the individual metals.

This was a lot to take in since the lamp had none of these issues!