Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

The first streak of Heavenly Lightning hit the Treasure that was just created, but a scale-like barrier wrapped it into an egg.

The Heavenly Clouds, while autonomous, were still visibly frustrated about that protective barrier.

The second, third, fourth, and so on lightning descended in quick succession, making quick work of that barrier, but yet another smaller barrier was wrapped around the Treasure.

This time, it looked like a small, unfinished Moon, but still powerful enough to stop it.

That Moon then separated into a half-scale barrier naturally.

”This is a wonderful creation.” Chen Shi was not greedy for it, since excessive greed would definitely ruin him at this point and... well, there was another thing.

’M-Monsters. She is a monster!’ The Inner Demon cried out.

Chen Shi pursed his lips. At least he was not the only one getting heart attacks.

’I want to go home...’ The Inner Demon sniffled. ’Mom, it’s not fun outside.’

It got to a point that Chen Shi even pitied the Inner Demon.

”9 Lightning strikes means that it’s the perfect Mortal World Treasure.” Chen Shi nodded his head.

*Ting*

”...?” Chen Shi blinked a few times.

*Ting**Ting**Ting*

”?!?!?!?” Chen Shi dumbfoundedly looked forward as he saw more and more Heavenly Lightnings descend.

*Ting**Ting*

”You are supposed to stop at 9! It’s not supposed to be a Spirit Treasure!” Chen Shi huffed as he counted 15 hits.

*Ting**Ting**Ting**Ting**Ting**Ting**Ting**Ting**Ting**Ting**Ting**Ting*

”*incomprehensible cursing*” Chen Shi almost flipped out when he saw the Heavenly Lightning descend like that.

Yet the Treasure was completely fine.

”...” Chen Shi stared at it a bit more before fainting.

And that was actually a good thing, since-

*Ting**Ting**Ting**Ting**Ting**Ting**Ting**Ting*

The Heavenly Cloud was not yet finished.

It was testing the limits of the Treasure, since it was made out of materials that one was not supposed to have at this point and in this Mortal World.

Yet, no amount of Heavenly Lightnings, no matter how powerful, were able to crack the second combined barrier.

...

81 lightning strikes later, the Treasure was still unharmed. The energies inside were stable, unaffected.

The Heavenly Cloud was upset, since at least one of those strikes was supposed to hit to bless it.

The Heavenly Cloud sent one more, just in case it would finally be able to bless it.

*Ping*

It actually hit the Treasure?

The Heavenly Cloud was visibly taken aback, but it didn’t wait and sent even more of them, since it was finally able to test the Treasure.

Yue was looking on with a palpitating heart. She never saw such an absurd event.

At 111 Heavenly Lightning strikes, the Treasure was protected by a barrier once again.

The Heavenly Cloud was somewhat satisfied, so it finally turned into Auspicious Clouds, blessing the Treasure further before disappearing...

Yue blinked her eyes a few times. The Treasure kept levitating, while Danji and others were shielding this place from disaster.

Danji decided to move Aiko away, and the Treasure followed slowly behind them.

Yue rubbed her eyes before returning to the bracelet. In her long years of being alive, she never saw such a thing in the Immortal World, much less in the Mortal World.

It made her rethink what she thought about craftsmen and how they should behave...

-----

Yueying’s heart palpitated for a moment.

”Hm?” She tilted her head and looked around.

”It seems like you were betrayed.” Her grandpa said gently.

One, two, three- many scales fell off of Yueying’s body.

Grandpa shook his head. ”To think she would des-” *Pffft*

He choked on his saliva when he noticed that Yueying had more lustrous scales growing under the old ones.

”What the f-” The grandpa coughed violently. This was not supposed to happen for another 50 years, since Yueying was not in her mature state. Sure, she was an adult, but being an adult and being mature were completely different states.

Mature state could be said to be the peak of the given physique, making you the best possible that you can be.

Dragons had this special trait that they could regrow their scale, increasing their strength, but it consumed so much energy and would make them too vulnerable. Meaning that only some Mature Dragons would attempt that.

Yet Yueying was just doing that?!

”We need to ask the other old fogeys.” Her grandpa said seriously. He had no experience with two hearts, so this might’ve been the side effect.

”Won’t that cause trouble?” Yueying was worried about her two hearts, since it would only cause her troubles. Not to mention, she was feeling better than ever, like she was never tortured through her lost heart.

”I will make them swear, don’t worry.” Her grandpa rolled his sleeves before disappearing.

A few moments later, tremors spread throughout the Divine Peaks...

-----

Moon Aiko blinked her eyes gently. She woke up after a few days, but she didn’t feel too bad.

”Ugh.” Well, that was a lie, as Moon Aiko groaned due to her body hurting quite a bit.

But above her was floating something very shiny...

Moon Aiko touched it gently.

[########]

V

[#$$%#$$%#%#]

V

[#### Dragon Pearl]

[Description: And this is why you shouldn’t fucking slap everything together!]

[Rarity: ??? (What? Did you expect I would rate it? You do realise you have combined a scale from a Dragon with two hearts and priceless Treasures and Relics together, right?)]

[(Fine, fine, don’t sulk...)]

[Rarity: Definitely Growth Something Something (???)]

[Restriction: Aiko (Soul)/Yueying (Soul)]

[Modes: [#### Ghost Harmony Kitsune Vessel (Paper Lamp)] - [#### Yueying’s Embrace (Necklace)] ]

[Owner: Aiko/Yueying (Soul Connection)(Sealed)]

Moon Aiko’s head hurt whenever she saw the ####. It was the first time that those letters actually caused her harm!

Moon Aiko lay back down and slept for a bit more to recover from that shock...

-----

Yueying was dragged around by her grandpa until they ended up in front of the Elders inside a large cave. She could see none of them, but she didn’t mind.

Her grandpa huffed as each of those Elders had at least one purple mark on their faces, while her own grandpa had several.

It seemed like it was a hard-fought battle...

Yueying felt saddened that her grandpa was injured.

”This is nothing.” He pushed her to the middle of the room.

”Gentlemen.” Her Grandpa spoke softly. ”I have come to seek-”

”A beating.” The main Elder snorted unhappily. He was the one who was beaten the worst out of all of them.

”That later. Right now, I need your scattered brains!” Yueying’s grandpa huffed at them.

”Who are you calling scattered brains?!” The Elders immediately insulted each other for some time before stopping and coughing awkwardly when they saw Yueying still here.

”So, what do you need?” The main Elder asked.

”I want to solve the issue of why her scale turned and regenerated so quickly.” Yueying’s grandpa said.

The Elders felt silent as they used telepathic messages to share information.

”She can have more energy than she is supposed to have, but if it was quick...” The main Elder shook his head. ”We need more information.”

They were under the vow that their Souls would disperse if they leaked any information that was shared in this room, so they didn’t need to be careful about what they asked.

”She also gave her reverse scale.” Yueying’s grandpa coughed awkwardly.

*bang*

Half of the Elders sitting down banged their heads on their armrests, since they didn’t expect that.

”Who did she give that scale to...?” The main Elder was visibly angry, since his nephew was supposed to get Yueying as a partner.

”To someone.” Yueying’s grandpa was not stupid. While he did protect Yueying from them, the same treatment was not given to her partner, so he had to be more careful.

”Bah.” The main Elder shook his head. ”Well, if she gave the scale to someone, they probably ate it, causing her to finalise her scales.” He shrugged, but was visibly upset that it was not his nephew who did that.

”I see...” Yueying’s grandpa nodded his head. This meant he would have to nurture her body more since-

*Clink*

A scale fell off of Yueying’s body once again.

*Clink**Clink**Clink*

More and more scales dropped as new scales quickly regrew under the old ones.

”........” The Elders were visibly disturbed.

”...” Yueying’s grandpa was also visibly disturbed, since it would take a Dragon at least 100 years to shed old scales and another 100 to regrow new ones.

”Her scales must’ve been weakened.” The main Elder convinced himself. ”Or her partner made it into a Treasure, causing double shedding.”

”That would make sense.” Yueying’s grandpa was also convinced, meaning he wouldn’t need to nurture her body as much and could focus on her scales, too.

*Clink**Clink*

Yueying pursed her lips as she blushed again. She shed her scales again. ’What is Aiko doing?!’ She softly cursed that chaotic fluffball, since she once again arrived at the territory of: Unable to control her strength...

The Elders heard the clinking again, but neither of them dared to open their eyes...

Yueying’s grandpa coughed awkwardly. ”So...” He was asking about what was happening, since this situation was way too bizarre.

The head Elder wanted to say something, but then...

*Clink**Clink**Clink*

His eyes turned red as he vomited blood. It took him 500 years to regrow new scales, but this little brat did it in a few seconds, and several times at that! What was this madness!

Fortunately, he was not alone. The other Elders were both shocked and envious, making them vomit blood too, until they fainted.

If Yueying had Aiko’s system, she would definitely earn the [Dragon Slayer] Title.

Yueying pursed her lips. ”Grandpa... I need more training...” She was quite ashamed, since she felt like she had grown a lot stronger.

While she could not compare to the direct Bloodline just yet, she was powerful enough that most of her peers wouldn’t be able to match her at all.

”...” Yueying’s grandpa massaged his stomach as he gently circulated his inner energies so that he wouldn’t faint from this shock either.

”Collect your scales first, I will make you your first weapon...” He said gently as he staggered.

Yueying supported him while stashing away the scales. ”Can we keep the prettiest scales for later?”

”Don’t tell me you want to give that to your partner?” He staggered even more, almost fainting.

Yueying blushed. ”Mmm.” And her grandpa fainted completely...

-----

”Phew...” Moon Aiko breathed out gently. She finally refined that Treasure, but she didn’t expect it would be that hard!

She even finally managed to get 90% Beast Core purity thanks to it!

”All good comes with something bad.” Moon Aiko nodded her head. She was tired from refining, but now she would finally be able to see how the Treasure looked and what effects it had!