Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Moon Aiko finished melting those cursed Treasures. It was not as difficult as they expected since the ’curse’ was barely there. It was very easy on them, so they just kept going without rest.

”I thought those would be stronger, but this is quite a nice training.” Grandpa Flame felt some apprehension about melting down cursed Treasure, but once he felt his control over his ’body’ improve, he was very eager to just keep going like this.

”Are you sure you are alright?” Moon Aiko tilted her head, it would be bad if something happened to Grandpa Flame.

”I feel fine. I also checked my mind for any intrusions, but these things became more of a nutrient than a nuisance.” Grandpa Flame snorted happily. He was feeling a lot more cheerful.

”I wonder if you can become more than just a Spiritual Flame...” Moon Aiko wondered if even these flames could Evolve like she did.

”It’s unlikely. Spiritual Flames are treated as kindling, so there is probably no technique that mentions what can happen to us.” Grandpa Flame shrugged.

”Then lets one day look around for it.” Moon Aiko was curious if nothing really existed or if Grandpa Flame would be able to make his own path.

”Sure.” Grandpa Flame shrugged as he sorted those melted metals into order and made them into beautiful ingots.

”Quite many...” Moon Aiko had many ingots, but only a few categories of metal.

”You can’t use every metal to create cursed Treasures, so the best you can do is to pick a metal that resonates well with negative energy.” Grandpa Flame explained.

”Since you need to collect that ’grudge’?” Moon Aiko pondered on what would happen if you used materials that were either pure or able to host Ghosts.

”It’s just one way to say ’negative energy’, but yes.” Grandpa Flame burped, since those vaguely cursed Treasures made him quite full.

”Are you sure you are alright?” Moon Aiko didn’t see anything in the system, but the system also didn’t show any personality traits. If Grandpa Flame had a twisted personality, she wouldn’t know at all...

”I’m fine. Don’t forget that I was a Dragon before. We Dragons have very powerful Souls since we have to deal with our Bloodlines. It’s unlikely that we can get possessed, but we ARE weak against shiny things.” Grandpa Flame shrugged.

”Why?” Moon Aiko didn’t understand this weakness. Why would such ’perfect’ creature like-

”Ah, because you believe you are perfect, so you seek anything shiny that can reflect your state?” Moon Aiko gestured, making Grandpa Flame stunned.

”That is certainly one way to look at it.” Grandpa Flame nodded his head. Most Dragons were probably like this, but some just hoarded Treasures since they could exchange it later for Spirit Crystals.

”Well.” Moon Aiko shrugged. She didn’t really care about that part since there were no Dragons that were permanent additions in her party.

She would only care once Dragons followed her around as she already had a lot of work to deal with.

”Let’s look around to see what is happening outside.” Moon Aiko needed some breath of fresh air, since she was quite stifled inside here.

She stored those ingots inside her tails for the time being, and then she would give them to Mei for safekeeping.

...

Outside, there were not that many Foxes, which puzzled Aiko.

Looking around she didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, just a new brown hill-

”... Hm?” Moon Aiko looked at the newly formed hill. There were Foxes running around making it bigger and bigger.

Moon Aiko approached the newly formed hill and the closer she got, the more noises entered her ears.

Those were actually not noises, but drums. Unfortunately, Moon Aiko was not very familiar with it, so it kind of ground her ears.

Approaching closer to see what was wrong with them, she caught up on their singing.

”I’m a Fox, and I’m digging a hole~”

”Diggy diggy hole~”

”Diggy diggy hole~”

”What the hell?” Moon Aiko thought she heard incorrectly, but the more she approached, the more bizarre things happened.

There were not just drums, but also string instruments, flutes and other things.

There were even dancers, hostesses and many, many others.

Puzzled, Moon Aiko approached in the direction where Mei was located.

The Demonic Foxes just giggled at her, moving out of the way, puzzling Aiko further.

Arriving next to Mei, who was clearly enjoying a lavish life, Aiko pinched her cheeks.

”You are enjoying yourself, but I’m working hard?!” Moon Aiko pouted at her.

”Ah, Aiko~” Mei immediately grabbed Aiko and moved her next to her on the couch.

”What?” Moon Aiko pouted even more.

”We are digging Treasures.” Mei knew how to placate Aiko.

”And you didn’t invite me!?” Moon Aiko was even more upset than before.

”Don’t be mad. Don’t be mad.” Mei giggled. ”Watch their performance instead~”

Mei didn’t know that it could be so entertaining to watch someone dig a hole in order to uncover that secret hideout of theirs, but now that she actually experienced it... it was quite fun.

It was like commanding an army of thousands to do something. The work was visibly moving, so there were no periods of boredom.

Moreover, as more and more Demonic Foxes joined, the place got livelier and livelier.

The Muscle Foxes loved to dig, since it used so many different muscles that it simply overjoyed them.

The Demonic Foxes liked to do artistic work, like singing, dancing, massages and so on.

The normal Foxes, who never indulged in the previous shitfest orchestrated by the Old Elders, loved to do menial but fulfilling work, like moving the dirt and making the ’pile’ bigger and bigger!

This place was in perfect harmony and nobody was willing to stop what they were doing.

”It feels like you are trying to dig a hole into the underworld...” Moon Aiko felt slightly flabbergasted.

”That is impossible, but this is still an impressive hole.” Mei chuckled.

”I wonder if you could create some kind of doll that follows your commands and play with it by making it dig this hole...” Moon Aiko felt like that would be a really good strategy game.

”There are not that many puppeteers, since you need quite the powerful mind and Divine Sense in order to be able to control them.” Mei shook her head. ”There are dolls that have a Treasure Spirit inside, but that would defeat the whole purpose of ’controlling’...”

”Yeah, it’s unfortunate, but maybe we can do something about that in the future.” Moon Aiko didn’t have any ideas on how to make it work, but it would definitely be a very helpful tool.

”You can work on it on the mainland, since they will have more resources.” Mei chuckled.

”Are you sure you will be able to make us join them?” Moon Aiko raised her eyebrow.

”Not just join them, I believe I can make the Foxes independent.” Mei said quite proudly.

”Oh, and how are you doing to do that?” Moon Aiko was curious what Mei was planning.

”We will give them the Human Cultivator Treasures, since we won’t be able to use them for some time, and by that point we will have much better Treasures.” Mei chuckled sinisterly.

”You intend to keep the old Treasures and give them only the ’newer’ ones?” Moon Aiko tilted her head.

”Indeed, but we will also include some less precious old ones, so that they are not suspicious of us giving them a thrash.” Mei smiled as she leaned back.

The Demonic Foxes around them were still trying to please the both of them, but they didn’t try to approach too close.

They knew that these two were quite the eccentric lovebirds after what a few of the Foxes did to them and told around.

It was better to stay slightly away and let them do their thing!

”That is true.” Moon Aiko nodded. It would be bad if they thought that they were giving them only the bad stuff.

”How about you give them Spirit Crystals too?” Moon Aiko suggested. She wouldn’t mind sacrificing a few just to make a bigger impact.

”That is impossible.” Mei immediately rejected it. ”Spirit Crystals shouldn’t be found in the Mortal World, so once they know that you have Spirit Crystals, we might become targets of their harassment.” She rejected it due to lack of information about the Beast Sect.

The Beast Sect was definitely better from the limited information that Mei had, but that didn’t mean she would wholly embrace them. That’s also why she wanted to create a semi-independent Peak, with only Foxes on it.

”Okay.” Moon Aiko didn’t press further. ”But how about precious soil and other things?” She could give that too since she had much higher quality soil from the Glacial Origin Moon.

”Hmmm... but we could use those things for us, since we do rely on Herbs, and we will need many of them if you want to give the Demonic Foxes and the normal Foxes a Medicine Bath.” Mei shook her head.

”Hmmmm...” Moon Aiko didn’t test the soil from the Glacial Origin Moon, so she didn’t know if it would be suitable for growing any Herbs on it.

”Let’s just make a list of things that we have and pick from that.” Mei chuckled. She knew how to negotiate somewhat well, but Dai Lu was also quite famous.

It was unfortunate that she lost her tails. Otherwise, she would already be on the mainland and showered with resources.

Or well, fortunately for Mei, since she now got the best bodyguard there was.

”A list, huh...” Moon Aiko nodded her head. ”Ah right.” She chuckled.

”What is it?” Mei felt like Aiko had some kind of plan.

”If there are any broken Treasures, I can recycle them, and we can use the metal or materials for Treasures or use them as another leverage!” Moon Aiko cackled, since they just could give them some metals which was good enough leverage by itself.

”That is not a bad idea.” Mei knew that there were many broken Treasures, but nobody wanted to get rid of them because they were either attached to it, or it would be a waste.

’What if someone was able to repair them...?’ Mei had a similar train of thought as most Beasts, as they lacked Treasures compared to Human Cultivators.

As long as the Treasure relied on Dantian to keep it powered, Beasts would not be able to use it until they reached the Human Body Stage.

And even then they would be limited by the Cultivation Stage, making them wait even longer before they would be able to use it.

Most Beasts would die before reaching that point, but most of them would still hoard those Treasures just in case.

”I’m not sure if everyone would be willing, but we should get a few hundred of them.” Mei nodded her head.

”Huh...” Moon Aiko didn’t expect there to be so many of them.

”There is actually another Treasure Room with all the broken Treasures.” Yuan chimed in, since she needed a breather.

She never worked with her hands so much in her life! Even gathering Herbs was not as taxing on her body as this whole situation!

”Oh god...” Moon Aiko realised that she just made herself even more work than she had before, making her want to cry.

”You can take it slow. We still have to visit the Nightmare Forest, no?” Mei smiled at Aiko.

”True...” Moon Aiko nodded, but that didn’t make her any happier.

’Happier...’ Moon Aiko suddenly stood up.

”What’s wrong?” Mei tilted her head, but then she saw Aiko pull out several shovels from her tails.

”I’m a Fox, and I’m digging a hole~!” Moon Aiko jumped down. This much stress relief should be fine, right?!

”I’m a Fox, and I’m digging a hole~”

”Diggy diggy hole~”

”Diggy diggy hole~”

Those songs resonated much louder, since their favourite Fox joined their little play~!

And most of them were completely unaware that they were digging for Treasures...