Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

But Moon Aiko underestimated the sheer scale of the variables.

While her Mortal Illusions were now perfect, the Cultivation Illusions were far from perfect.

Most basic Inscriptions would work fine, but once she set up more Runes into the Inscriptions, everything started to fall apart.

It was both puzzling and frustrating, but Moon Aiko didn’t want to spend so much time on it, so she just threw it out.

”Not doing well?” Danji lazily rolled around in bed.

”It can’t be helped, I don’t have enough knowledge about these things to try to mimic them.” Moon Aiko shook her head.

”I have a book from home, so you can look through it later.” Danji wanted to help Aiko, since it was rare to see her so frustrated.

”Are you sure?” Moon Aiko didn’t want to go through other people’s diaries.

”It’s fine, maybe you will be able to find something you are looking for.” Danji didn’t really mind, since she would stick to Aiko like glue, and add to that, she would never let go.

”Thank you.” Moon Aiko nodded her head. ”Get ready, we will be going to a special place~” She hummed happily.

”?” Danji was confused, but she was too lazy to do anything about it. ’This bed is too nice.’ She slowly fell asleep once again...

...

”You really spend all that time sleeping, huh?” Moon Aiko blinked at her in disbelief.

”Rude.” Danji pouted. ”You should’ve tried the bed more.”

”Uh-huh.” Moon Aiko crossed her arms. ”You are telling me that I should bring more pillows so you can steal them, huh?”

”Not my fault.” Danji defended herself. Those pillows were soft and reminded her of home, so she couldn’t help it.

”Forget it, you were even stealing my tails as a blanket.” Moon Aiko shook her head.

”...” Danji didn’t know what kind of excuse she should use, since Aiko’s tails were simply too soft.

”No excuse, huh?” Moon Aiko chuckled.

Danji pouted, but didn’t try to argue back.

They walked towards where Chen Shi’s study was located.

...

”So you are really going to ditch everything and go into that temple?” Chen Shi felt a little flabbergasted at how Aiko’s brain worked.

”Got any issues?” Moon Aiko narrowed her eyes.

”None.” Chen Shi didn’t mind Aiko going away from this place and leaving Yue with him.

”Good, just teleport me to the beginning so I can skip everything with speeeeed.” Moon Aiko hummed as she walked outside, but before completely disappearing, she muttered one last jab. ”I hope you know what a key and a lock are used for.”

”Out!” Chen Shi threw a nearby wooden slip at her, but since Aiko was already away, it didn’t hit her.

”Fuck.” Chen Shi was frustrated, but it seemed like he would have some time for ’leisure performance’!

...

”Is that alright?” Danji was worried that Aiko would get chewed out one day.

”He is harmless as long as we don’t anger Yue.” Moon Aiko nodded her head seriously. She already thought of that, so there was no need to worry.

Yue was also milder than before, so that played into her hands.

”Are you sure we shouldn’t take her with us?” Danji mischievously smiled.

”He might actually chew me raw if I did that.” Moon Aiko shook her head. ”Not to mention, we will be taking Yue later, so there was no need to take her now.”

Danji nodded her head, understanding what Aiko was going for. ”Where are we going?”

”To a fun place for revenge and looting.” Moon Aiko hummed happily.

”I can’t wait~” Danji was curious why Aiko was so excited.

...

The tests were bypassed, the story was ignored, and now they were in front of what looked like a golden temple.

”Was it always like this?” Moon Aiko felt quite weird about it, but now that she could translate most Runes, she figured out this was more or less an illusion.

Well, not quite an illusion. The temple was still made out of gold, or rather, the outer crust was. It was about the thickness of a nail, but it still counted.

”Heeeey~” Moon Aiko yelled out.

”Who is-” A booming voice announced its presence, only to pause midway. ”It’s you... heh.”

”Yep. Now open up while I’m being nice.” Moon Aiko licked her lips.

”Tsk, tsk, tsk. You still don’t know how to behave. You should refle-” The Ghost was quite haughty at them.

”... What are you doing...?” The Ghost paused when he saw what the Fox pulled out.

”IS THAT A FUCKING CANON?!” The Ghost felt unsettled.

”Oh, you know this cutie? I nabbed it from Chen Shi.” Moon Aiko chuckled as she slowly transformed.

”Fuck! That bastard is still alive?!” The Ghost sweated even more.

”Alive and kicking.” Witch Aiko chuckled as she started to smash two rocks against each other.

”Stop it!” The Ghost yelled at her. ”Stop trying to ignite it! It won’t work!”

”I know.” Witch Aiko nodded her head. ”But it’s more menacing if I do this.” She slapped the canon as it roared.

”NO-” The Ghost didn’t even finish his sentence when the canon roared.

*BOOM*

The whole underground shook, making ripples a few kilometres in every direction.

”Phew.” The Ghost breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed his temple was still intact.

”I believe it’s too far.” Danji supported her favourite Aiko.

”It’s too loud.” Witch Aiko groaned unhappily. She didn’t understand why Chen Shi would have something like this.

Danji waited until Aiko recovered before asking again.

”Ugh. It will become even louder that way, and it might off’ that canon.” Witch Aiko wanted to play with it a bit more.

The Ghost laughed. ”Even if you press it directly against the door, it won’t work!” He was very interested in the Fox that had just changed its fur coat.

”Then let’s try it.” Danji smiled. She figured that Aiko would be able to come up with something in the meantime.

”You are both trying to bully me!” Witch Aiko rolled up her sleeve as she moved the cannon closer to the main doors.

*BOOM*

Another shot from the canon shook the underground, but yet again it didn’t cause any damage to the doors.

”You can keep trying.” The Ghost shrugged like he was not concerned at all.

”This is starting to get on my nerves.” Witch Aiko believed that the temple would be easily taken down, but it didn’t seem like it.

Danji nodded her head. ”It’s very sturdy, maybe he should dig it up?” She narrowed her eyes.

”That’s not a bad idea.” Witch Aiko smirked. With her abilities, she would be able to topple that temple easily!

However, she suddenly sighed.

”Treat her well, alright?” Witch Aiko said before she slowly transformed again.

”Hm?” Danji was confused. There was yet another Aiko.

”I’m back!” Sun Aiko’s eyes twinkled when she saw that golden temple.

”Let’s bust it down!” Sun Aiko took Danji’s hand and dragged her around.

”You are very peculiar.” The Ghost was more and more amused.

Sun Aiko ignored him since she wanted to play.

She took a wooden stick and doodled on the rocky floor with ease.

”See, this is me and this is the canon and-” Sun Aiko doodled herself into the canon, being shot at and the temple repeatedly until it crumbled.

”Wouldn’t that hurt?” Danji was concerned, since this Aiko seemed quite restless.

”It’s fine~” Sun Aiko hummed excitedly. ”At worst, Eldest Sis will scold me.” She shrugged, since most of the damage would be absorbed by the Cauldron.

”...” Danji didn’t know what to think about this Aiko since it felt like she was having flashbacks to her reckless brother.

’I wonder how he is doing now?’ Danji paused for a brief moment. ’I should visit him later.’ She nodded her head gently.

”Come on, come on!” Sun Aiko was already jumping inside the canon, waiting for Danji to fire it.

Danji’s eyes quivered as she sighed. It seemed like this kind of Aiko was the most abnormal one...

She came next to the canon and slapped it with her Qi.

*Psst*

It didn’t fire completely, which made Sun Aiko fall on her head.

”Why?!” Sun Aiko sniffled at Danji.

Danji was startled. ”A mistake, mistake.” This Aiko was quite cute when she was not reckless.

Danji wiped Aiko’s tears and stuffed her back into the cannon.

”Do it properly this time.” Sun Aiko pouted at her.

”I will, I will.” Danji giggled. This reminded her of their reckless youth.

She slapped it with as much Qi as she could muster

*ROOOOAR*

The canon creaked from the sheer output.

”Let’s g-ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-” Sun Aiko turned into a colourful smudge as she impacted the doors.

*Crack**Creak*

The doors actually cracked, startling the haughty Ghost.

”What the f-” The Ghost couldn’t believe it was actually working, but he immediately reinforced the doors to prevent any mishaps.

”Haha! What are you going to do-” The Ghost noticed something wrong.

*Bounce**Bounce**Bounce*

”...” Both Danji and the Ghost were completely speechless as Aiko’s body was bouncing off the walls.

”Freedooooooooooooooooooom!” Sun Aiko laughed as she bounced around.

”Is she normal?” The Ghost nudged the other Fox.

”Don’t ask any questions.” Danji shook her head as a ball of fur passed by her.

”Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu- can’t control!” Sun Aiko panicked as she almost wrecked Danji along the way.

”Well... good luck.” Danji immediately booked it into safety.

”Hey! That’s unfair! Take me with you!” The Ghost panicked when that damned Fox impacted his temple, and the whole thing shook like it was on its last legs.

”No.” Danji hid between a rock formation nearby so that Aiko wouldn’t accidentally take her with her.

”Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” Sun Aiko giggled as she bounced around, cracking the temple all around.

”Speed equals powwwwaaaaah!” Sun Aiko impacted one last time before gently bouncing backwards until she stopped.

Danji peeked from her safe zone. Seeing that Aiko was unmoving, she finally came next to her.

The Ghost was nowhere to be seen any more. It seemed like he ran away, too.

”Are you alright?” Danji was worried that Aiko would grow stupid with so much... ’bouncing’.

”It was fun, wanna try it?” Sun Aiko giggled happily as she was breathing like she had run a marathon.

”No, I’m good.” Danji shuddered when she saw Aiko’s excited eyes, so she immediately rejected that offer.

”Booooo...” Sun Aiko pouted at her...