Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

The Moon dauntingly haunted the ’residents’ of the Mortal World. It never went anywhere, even during the day.

The sight of the Moon during the day became a common occurrence as the leaders of various nations tried to calm its common folk.

The Fox Village was particularly cold, except for one group of Foxes.

”The Array is holding, but the Cherry Trees will have it rough if this continues.” One Demonic Foxes reported the situation to another.

”If we had seniors here, it would be easy, but we are going off of their knowledge without enough experience.” Another Demonic Fox lamented, but she knew that seniors had even trouble breathing, so it was impossible to try and drag them into this situation.

”Don’t look at us.” The captive Demonic Foxes shook their heads. ”While we have some knowledge, most of us became Demonic Foxes before or right after gaining intelligence.”

The Demonic Foxes frowned at each other, but it was not like they would be able to do anything about this situation.

”How about putting the trees to sleep?” One Demonic Fox suggested.

”Not a bad idea, but what if we can’t manage to wake them up, or Aiko and Mei won’t be interested in this?” Another Demonic Fox shook her head.

”We won’t know until we try.” The Demonic Fox shrugged, moving things around.

...

Another day with Moons outside, at this point everyone got used to seeing those things during daytime. Everyone believed this was because of the Vicious Jade Fox, but nobody was willing to verify it as the mere thought was quite troubling.

If the Vicious Jade Fox was able to cause that phenomenon, then what else would she be able to accomplish...?

The Foxes felt intimidated, but they still fulfilled their duties.

”Don’t forget to pack those things neatly.” Mei already sorted the flying ships and only one of them was fully functional. The rest had some issues, but the issues would take Mei too much time, so she first focused on stabilising the Fox Village before everyone left.

This was a good idea, since she was able to sell quite a few things from the ’dead’ Delegation without rousing suspicion.

”How is the work?” Mei commented through Talisman.

”The Elders were throughout with their Sealing Array. It will take some time to unlock.” Chen Shi commented back.

”Do we know what is inside?” Mei pursed her lips. She felt like this was a waste of time, but Chen Shi was overly enthusiastic.

”There are some living beings inside and considering their energies, they are stable, but we don’t know if they are allies or not. Not to mention we don’t know if they have enough food or Qi to last them long.” Chen Shi chuckled.

”You seem oddly enthusiastic.” Mei furrowed her eyebrows.

”Yeah, this thing is only used when you want to either seal something precious or something dangerous.” Chen Shi was looking forward to what he would find inside.

”Keep at it, but I will need your help later on.” Mei sighed.

”I will look over the continental flying ships later, just prepare the ink.” Chen Shi suggested that before cutting the connection.

”Ink, right...” Mei sighed. There was so much to do and so little time to relax.

-----

The Evolution was not as long as before, one could say that it was even quick.

Moon Aiko woke up a few weeks later, with a clear mind and slow body.

She noticed that everything was very slow around her, so much so that she questioned her sight.

Moon Aiko looked around, but there was just ice and some resources around her.

Walking outside everything was very slow, the wings of humming birds or even insects were almost still.

This puzzled Moon Aiko, but she didn’t need to wait for answers too long.

[This would happen if your Evolutions were truly successful.]

’What do you mean by that?’ Moon Aiko’s thoughts were fine, but everything else wasn’t.

[The instability in your body consumed a lot of ’resources’ that could be used in your abilities. Thus, now that those ’resources’ are freed, most of your abilities that should be passively active are active.]

’I see, so this won’t disappear, huh?’ Moon Aiko slowly frowned.

[If you release the first Seal, you will be able to ’speed’ up the world around you temporarily, but that’s not the suggested solution.]

’Because I should get used to this as soon as possible.’ Moon Aiko nodded. There was still the issue of the physique, so maybe even more things happened if she was not looking.

[Indeed, Princess.]

’But I can’t get used to this if my body is not used to it, so I will activate the first Seal in order to deal with this slowness first.’ Moon Aiko would deal with the slightly slowed down version first as it would allow her to get to the ’second stage’ slowness quicker.

[Plausible solution. We wish you luck, Princess.]

Moon Aiko slowly sighed, but she still released that Seal, her body immediately and uncomfortably heated up, making her wince as the world in front of her sped up.

”Aiko?” Mei kept calling towards Aiko. She seemed so out of it that Mei was worried there was something wrong with her Ritual Array.

”Ah, sorry.” Moon Aiko smiled like she was drunk. ”I’m having trouble with the surrounding speed.”

”So it worked.” Mei nodded her head. The slowness would mean only one thing. Moon Aiko was balanced, allowing her to show her true abilities.

”But you are heating up quite a bit.” Mei noticed that Aiko was uncomfortable and that her cheeks were flushed.

”Yeah, I had to deal with the slowness first before getting used to it later.” Moon Aiko nodded. ”But I’m perfectly fine-ish, it will just take time getting used to it.”

Mei held Aiko by her hand and then pulled her closer before grabbing her waist.

”Tell me what you would like to do.” Mei smiled softly, happy that Aiko was feeling better.

”Definitely not eat those Pills.” Moon Aiko complained, and Mei felt relieved.

As long as Aiko could joke around, things would not turn for the worse, hopefully.

”I’m not forcing you...” Mei pursed her lips.

”You forgot to add my favourite word: yet.” Moon Aiko teased Mei slightly, but she still had trouble moving her body, even when the speed was not as slow as before.

”...” Mei wanted to pinch Aiko’s cheek, but she held back, since Aiko needed to adjust to her new body.

”Don’t fight or do anything too taxing, we will go through your abilities later.” Mei commented and warned Aiko.

”Yes, that’s a good plan.” Moon Aiko nodded her head as she let Mei guide her around.

”Don’t forget to pick those houses up, too.” Moon Aiko gestured towards the small houses that were used for sleeping.

”...” Mei’s lips twitched. ”Those houses are of little to no value.” She couldn’t believe that Aiko’s grubby hands would activate at this point.

”No, not for me.” Moon Aiko shook her head. ”I will stash them for the frail Demonic Foxes inside my tails.”

”That’s... a surprising idea. Should we make them smaller?” Mei was willing to share more resources since those Demonic Foxes were a big help.

That was also why she didn’t try to restrict those Demonic Foxes that were running around with chairs and other questionable things.

”Hmmmm...” Moon Aiko slowly nodded head, since she wouldn’t be able to assume Sun Form for a while and her own tails were not big enough to stash a full room inside.

”We could also make it into a ’kit’ where the Demonic Foxes would build it inside your tails.” Mei suggested another thing, since Moon Aiko was thinking about it.

”That’s a great idea.” Moon Aiko nodded her head. ”What else is on the agenda?”

”The continental flying ships are non-operational, do you want to have a look?” Mei knew that Aiko liked Runes and the more ideas that floated around, the better for everyone.

”Of course, but don’t expect anything, I just want to lie around as my current situation is making me dizzy.” Moon Aiko complained, since her body still lagged behind her ’orders’.

”You will get used to it soon, just keep at it.” Mei smiled. She knew that kind of thing, since she already ascended.

Her ascension was particularly successful, making her gain more power than her body was used to.

She was also ’drunk’ in the Immortal World like Aiko was right now, and it cleared within days, but it still took a few months before her full strength was fully controlled.

’Aiko will just have to wait.” Mei nodded her head as she guided Aiko towards the continental flying ships.

...

”They are huge.” Moon Aiko was impressed with the Human Cultivators side.

”Yes, they don’t use as many Arrays as ours, so they need to have bigger ships.” Mei nodded her head slowly at her, while holding her tightly so that Aiko wouldn’t stumble.

”But that also means that if it runs out of Qi, it wouldn’t just spit out the stuff.” Moon Aiko thought that was a fine idea, but it would be bothersome if something needed repairing.

”The main power source is damaged, so it will need some patching.” Mei guided Aiko onto a larger East Sect oriented continental flying ship.

This one was light-blue coloured, which put one’s mind at ease. The deck was huge, allowing for many Human Cultivators to fight at once without the worry of falling off.

The lower deck was likewise huge, as if the Human Cultivators compensated for something.

”This is certainly a huge ship. It will make carrying that much easier.” Moon Aiko nodded her head slowly, but she was not impressed by the Arrays. They seemed... a bit too primitive.

”The Eastern Sect is not focused on Runes, so they have naturally inferior ships, but their ’Per Storage’ is highly advanced, making even some Beast to consider joining their side.” Mei noticed Aiko’s expression, so she explained the lore behind it.

”So every ship will have something unique to offer?” Moon Aiko was startled, but then she felt it was natural that every Sect would have their speciality.

”It’s a bit more complicated than that.” Mei pursed her lips. ”Most continental flying ships are crafted in the same Sect, only some huge Sects are willing to build their own.”

”Not to mention Sects on the mainland are very different to what you might be used to.” Mei sighed softly, since she knew that Aiko quite liked the Southern Sect.

”Are they truly that different?” Moon Aiko was startled, wondering how much different they would be...