Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

The Grandmaster’s had a small party while Moon Aiko was dozing off outside.

”You should just kick them out and go to sleep.” Mei suggested, since it seemed strange that Aiko was holding back.

”It’s rare for her to be like that, so I wanted to give them some room.” Moon Aiko felt that Dai Lu never acted like that before, so she found it curious. Moreover, she hated when someone interrupted her good time, so it just wasn’t right to interrupt theirs.

”Come here.” Mei sighed softly as she pulled out a soft huge cushion from her Spatial Ring.

”Oh~” Moon Aiko hummed as she came closer. The cushion was soft, just enough for her to-

*Zzzzzzz*

”That was quick...” Mei scratched her cheek while the Fox Elders around chuckled.

They believed that this was the most carefree Fox that they ever encountered, but at the same time the most serious Fox.

”Sleep for now.” Mei took a quilt out of her Spatial Ring and covered Aiko...

-----

”Oh.” Moon Aiko woke up in an endlessly white dream. ”This place again.” She nodded her head slowly. It was rare for her to come here, so she should use this to the best of her abilities.

”Let’s start simple. The full manifestation of the [The Ever Shaping Cauldron].” Moon Aiko wanted to test a few theories since she was inside an illusion dream.

She was able to control anything and everything around her, so she could mimic how it would look and act in the real world.

It might not be completely perfect since she was not yet used to Cauldrons, but this should be enough for her to pick ingredients and sizes.

”The problem was the art.” Moon Aiko crumbled when she saw the well-ornamented outside.

It felt like every part of it was important, but she didn’t know why and how it would affect the inside.

The inside was also not what she expected. There were no individual compartments for different metals as she planned.

She did want to create it in this dream, but when she created the [The Ever Shaping Cauldron] from the manual, it just didn’t allow her to do that for some reason.

”Let’s run a simple simulation.” Moon Aiko waved her hand and the [The Ever Shaping Cauldron] started to quiver.

There was something smelting inside, each compartment was hosting something different, yet Moon Aiko could feel that they were closely attuned to each other.

”While I don’t know how Qi would act, there is a natural order to everything. As long as I follow it, I will understand the [The Ever Shaping Cauldron] most basic functions. Then it will just depend on me what kind of materials I will pick.” Moon Aiko slowly nodded her head.

This was important research that she couldn’t miss out on.

The Alchemy Upper Cauldron quivered as the essence of the Herbs seeped into the lower part, but that was wrong.

Until the ’whatever was below’, was almost finished. You should not let the essence seep down otherwise it would vaporise.

”This dance...” Moon Aiko found it both strange and difficult. She couldn’t understand why the [The Ever Shaping Cauldron] wouldn’t allow her to slap more Herbs into the top part when it was supposed to work like that.

Once you started to make something in the bottom part, for some reason you had the top part blocked.

Moon Aiko couldn’t make Pills and Treasures at the same time with this. This was quite the huge demerit which bothered her greatly.

However, while that was an unfortunate demerit it more than made up with the functions.

If you were able to keep the essence of the Herbs away from the ’whatever’ you were making, until it was time for it, then you could infuse ’it’ with the effects of the Herbs and possibly Pills.

While Moon Aiko knew that, there was a lot more to it.

If you successfully and peerlessly finished the object, then it could be blessed twice. The Alchemy Blessing would strengthen the effects of the whole Treasure, while the Forging Blessing would strengthen the durability and efficacy.

This was important, since in theory you could enhance the materials past their limits. Now, sure, Moon Aiko didn’t know if that could even work, but it was something she could keep in mind for the future.

’I have to test what happens when materials are enriched with Qi later.’ Moon Aiko thought that things were trying to bully her, since she had more and more things to worry about.

’I feel like I will start forgetting things even if I have perfect memory...’ Moon Aiko groaned. The amount of information was both staggering and concerning and she was trying to add even more...

”Yeeeah, that’s not gonna work.” Moon Aiko groaned.

The [The Ever Shaping Cauldron] took some hits from the Heavenly Lightning, blessing it slightly in the process, but Moon Aiko also noticed that it cracked.

’I will have to use better materials.’ Moon Aiko squinted her eyes. There were cracks everywhere and while they wouldn’t be concerning if this happened a few times, it would still leak the Qi from inside, making the Treasures of lower quality.

Moon Aiko didn’t want that.

’A lightning-based material outer shell?’ Moon Aiko bobbed her head. She was trying to figure out if she should

”I don’t knooow...” Moon Aiko groaned. There was so much that she had to test, but she didn’t have enough energy for it.

”Whatever, It will happen somehow.” Moon Aiko waved her hand and completely forgot about it.

”It’s better to use this time efficiently.” She slowly nodded her head and strained her mind. Her main goal right now would be to create something nice and drag the others into here.

Not too many though, it would be bad if they stopped guarding the flying boat!

Moon Aiko recreated the plains with a few ponds and trees. Some grass and flowers, a few non-annoying insects and birds.

Although birds were a bit of a stretch since that was just a black smudge gliding in the sky.

”Yeah, let’s not bother with birds and their whole flight thing.” Moon Aiko nodded her head seriously. She pretty much half-assed everything, but it would still be good enough to fool a lot of Cultivators.

Now she would have to somehow drag others in here-

”Hm?” Danji suddenly popped up out of nowhere.

”I was wondering what you were doing when you were so peacefully sleeping.” She said it like it was not a big deal, but Moon Aiko was still concerned how easy it was to drag someone-

”You didn’t drag me here. I was trying to see what you were doing.” Danji paused Aiko’s thoughts, since it seemed like her thoughts wandered.

”... That’s an invasion of privacy.” Moon Aiko retorted.

”Well, we should definitely teach you how to defend this place first.” The second one to appear was Mei.

”So you are here, huh.” Mei snorted at her.

”You are still a step too late.” Danji chuckled at her.

”Grrrr.” Mei glared at her. It seemed like they would throw hands soon.

”Whoa, plains~” Yuxi was another who just chose to come over.

”...” At this point Moon Aiko gave up and waited for everyone else to appear.

As she expected. Wanshu, Yu and others also came over to ’play’.

”What’s this serious atmosphere?” Wanshu gestured.

”They will fight, quickly conjure snacks!” Yuxi was a cheerleader on the side, while Wanshu was the naughty coach that wanted to ba-

*cough*

Wrong genre.

The Foxes hid near Aiko with snacks waiting for them to throw hands.

”Let’s teach Aiko first.” Danji suggested.

”I’m not finished with you yet.” Mei clicked her tongue. She hated that she agreed with what Danji said.

”Aiko-”

”Aiko-”

They both said in unison, but seeing the other Foxes munching happily.

”I suppose I will have to tell Grandmaster about this.” Mei narrowed her eyes.

”I have already collected the evidence.” Danji chimed in.

It was so strange how well they cooperated when it came to problems, it was almost too scary...

”Anyway.” Mei waved her hand and the scared Foxes moved away from Aiko. ”First, the same thing that you conjured up in this place. You have to conjure an impenetrable wall that will protect this dream. This will allow you to not be invaded and you will also have to send ’invitations’ if you want to be visited or admitted inside.”

”You also have to create a ’door’ if you want others to come, but if you don’t need that, the wall can be solid.” Danji added before smirking. ”Or you can make hidden doors in which you need to ’break’ part of it.”

”That feels...” Like something a troll would do. Not that Moon Aiko would ever do it...

”Focus.” Mei narrowed her eyes and Moon Aiko sharpened her senses.

”I believe you were the one that did this before right?” Danji suddenly asked Mei.

”Yeah, since it was quite dangerous I always set up the ’wall’.” Mei nodded her head. ”But the more she grows, the less I can do for her in this situation.”

”Certainly, it would exhaust you to just set up the wall, much less maintain it.” Danji nodded her head slowly, she understood the peril behind this.

”But I never imagined she would be so skilled in entering this place.” Danji found it amazing.

”She... isn’t...” Mei coughed awkwardly.

”The cushion?” Danji narrowed her eyes.

”I hate how sharp you are.” Mei shook her head.

”Indeed, this place was caused by the meditation cushion.” She openly admitted.

”That’s a Treasure.” Danji nodded her head seriously. ”Even my Clan only had one of these.”

”I found it in the Treasure Hall or whatever that building was called.” Mei waved her hand. If she didn’t find it, probably nobody would use it.

”I- No, I can believe they would hide something like this since this would protect their minds and wouldn’t let them get addicted to whatever that was-” Danji suddenly felt slightly dizzy.

”Whoa...” Mei noticed that most Foxes suddenly disappeared.

”She is overdoing it again.” Danji noticed that Aiko was still building and building that ’wall’.

”But we didn’t really put any limit on this, so it’s not like she knew how thick to make this.” Mei shrugged, but Aiko should be able to figure out the thickness after a few tries.

”This place is breaking.” Danji tapped Mei’s shoulder.

”You are right.” Mei nodded her head seriously. While she didn’t like the idea that Danji was trying to protect her, it was better than becoming stuck in this place.

”Let’s leave for now.” Mei suggested before her figure blurred.

”Aiko will probably be shocked.” Danji shook her head before disappearing too...