Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

A part of the Nasty Deer was skinned, and the flesh was neatly cut.

Witch Aiko was especially impressed by the lady bird’s precision with the knife. She didn’t waste any movement, nor blood.

This allowed the meat to retain most of the juicy blood, making it even more delicious.

Witch Aiko didn’t like gamey meat at all, but this meat with the blood was something else~!

”Oho~” Dai Lu smirked. ”You don’t mind if I borrow a few of your guards right?” She smirked at the bird lady.

”I’m not sure what you are planning but knock yourself out.” The bird lady shrugged. Her butler was enough to protect her, so there was no need to keep more guards around her.

Sure, they might not be able to taste this delicious meat, but that was just part of the process. They wouldn’t be able to get delicious meat all the time, so they should get used to it~!

”I will be back soon~” Dai Lu giggled. She was listening to everyone’s thoughts all the time, but what interested her most was the Nasty Deer.

The reason being was that their healing ability was not natural at all!

Dai Lu took a few guards and went to the Holy Deer Clan. The remaining Holy Deers were wary of her at first, but as Dai Lu kept walking around without actually doing anything, they relaxed a bit.

’This is... not too impressive.’ Dai Lu frowned. She could hear their thoughts, but that was not what she was focusing on.

The Foxes enjoyed a certain degree of craftsmanship, so seeing such barbaric buildings made her feel strange. Especially since Foxes were widely considered inferior in everything but illusions.

”It should be around here.” Dai Lu pondered as the bird guards knocked the Holy Deer guards.

They were easily able to enter the main building and throne room, but that was not actually what Dai Lu was after.

There was supposedly a hidden room somewhere behind the throne, leading into a room that hosted the reason why the Holy Deer turned ’holy’ and their impressive healing abilities.

Dai Lu wanted to slash the walls at first, since she didn’t want to go through the puzzle process, but-

”Shhhhhhh*

Her blade just slid down the wall, not making even a mark on it.

This greatly startled Dai Lu, since so far she was able to cut anything and everything with her blades and even if she wasn’t able to cut something immediately, it would at least leave a mark behind that she tried. However, this damned wall didn’t even show signs of damage!

”Allow me.” One of the bird guards, from a certain fishery, stepped up front. He touched the wall gently before making a fist.

*Boom*

The wind roared and the muscles rippled. Under normal circumstances this would surely lead to the wall breaking immediately but...

”Ack.” The bird guard held his red hand, it seemed like this wall was not an ordinary wall.

”No wonder.” Dai Lu nodded her head. She was now convinced that the Nasty Deer was not making stuff up. He really had a Treasure behind this wall!

”Hmmmm...” Dai Lu pondered if she should really do the puzzle, since it was pretty much impossible to damage the wall and they would have to spend a lot of time just making a dent into it. ’If that is even possible.’ She sighed gently.

”Should we keep pounding it to see if anything changes?” One bird guard suggested and others nodded. They were not the brightest bunch, but they were very powerful.

”What would she (Aiko) do...” Dai Lu paused to think really hard about it.

”Whom?” The bird guards tilted their heads.

Dai Lu chuckled as she breathed out. She then gently slammed her fist into her palm. ”Let’s start digging.” She smiled at them sinisterly.

”... Huh?” The bird guards thought they heard wrong, but even after asking her again, the sentence didn’t change at all!

”Please wait a moment.” The bird guards stopped her. ”Why dig...?” They knew that there was something precious behind the wall, but they couldn’t understand why they were supposed to dig.

”You know, there is a certain Fox that is very impressive and chaotic.” Dai Lu smiled not-so-happily since she was often on the receiving end.

”Yeah?” The bird guards were even more confused now.

”And whenever she encountered a problem, she would always choose something unorthodox.” Dai Lu chuckled. She was convinced that the Nasty Deer didn’t secure that room perfectly, so just digging under this wall would be enough to bypass it!

”...?” The bird guards were more and more confused.

”So we just have to dig under the wall to bypass it~” Dai Lu chuckled even more, making them shudder.

”Uh, are you sure this is not a continuous wall...?” The bird guards didn’t mind digging, but it would take quite some time to get below this wall.

”Do you think that Nasty Deer would have so many resources to find a wall as huge as this one without issues?” Dai Lu shook her head. ”It’s possible the wall goes a bit deeper, but this is still better and faster than doing it the usual way.” This wall also had traps, so if she couldn’t solve the puzzle the first time, everyone might be in danger because of her...!

”Hmmm...” The bird guards nodded their heads. It seemed like they were convinced about what this Fox said, but they didn’t quite believe that the wall was not guarded, well guarded about the digging part.

”We can start whenever.” The bird guards rolled their sleeves. Unlike other Beasts they wore normal peasant clothing since it was easier to move around with.

”Alright, I will see if we can go any other way.” Dai Lu smiled gently.

...

The digging was underway. Dai Lu didn’t really miss the party because... well, Witch Aiko was quite vengeful this time. Sure, she also had skewed morals, but certain things were too much for her.

’Especially when I can read minds...’ Dai Lu shook her head as her body shivered. Some things were better left uncovered, but her ability... well, it was too great and awful at the same time.

’There doesn’t appear to be any other locations we can test.’ Dai Lu frowned. The huge tree covered every other place and trying to go through it would be a bigger pain than just digging.

It seems like this tree was nourished by the Nasty Deer, making this into his home with everything, but at the same time carving this tree took decades with his strength and the right tools. It was pretty much impossible for Dai Lu to accomplish the same without straining her body.

Sure, she was healed, mostly, but that didn’t mean she wanted to experience that hopelessness again, so she was more careful about her body.

”We should be finished in another hour.” One of the bird guards came over. They quite liked this Fox, since she was not naughty, but dignified. However, she was also missing the viciousness and judgemental gaze that the head Fox had.

As such she became quite well liked with this group.

”Already?” Dai Lu was startled, but since she could read his mind she knew that he spoke the truth.

”En. It wasn’t too hard after getting through the floor, but we had some issues with the actual wall.” The bird guard narrated the main issue of being zapped by it.

”That’s probably one of the defensive Arrays on it, just keep going carefully and we should be able to make it.” Dai Lu smiled. There was nothing better than her plan actually working, no matter how crazy that plan was.

She could even say that she learned from the best, considering how many crazy things Aiko already did!

”We thought so too, but we couldn’t spot any Qi flow.” The bird guard ruffled his hair in frustration.

Dai Lu saw the narration of the events from his head and it made her speechless. She went over to see if they were trying to make things up.

But... once she arrived they were right. There was subtle static Qi on the wall that would zap anyone who got too close. However, that energy was eerily familiar.

”Heavenly Lightning?” Dai Lu doubted her eyes, so she asked them if she was right.

”En...” The bird guards were a bit speechless too when they first found out about it.

”Wait, could it be the Disaster Lightning?” Dai Lu pursed her lips. If it was the latter, it would be better to retreat and heal the wounds. It would be bad if they worsened just because she wanted to keep going.

”No. We are sure it’s Heavenly Lightning.” The bird guards crossed their hands. It was obvious they mimicked a certain Fox, but Dai Lu wouldn’t call them out.

”Can we keep going or do you want to go back and heal?” Dai Lu didn’t necessarily need what was behind this wall, but since Aiko used tactics, yes, that Aiko. She wanted to reward her in some way and a cute Beast would be a good way.

”There is no problem for now. The damage is not too great.” The bird guards nodded their heads before resuming the digging.

They were happy that they could train a bit, similarly to the Muscle Foxes, but they were less enthusiastic about it.

They liked their current bodies, so overly hard training was not something they would like to do often.

Dai Lu waited for a while to see if they could really get under the wall...

...

”Ma’am, we have possibly hit the bottom of the wall.” One bird guard reported to her hastily.

”Really?” Dai Lu laughed. She couldn’t believe it really worked. ”There is no boundary that would prevent us from digging under it, right?” She was still concerned about that part, but this was still a happy occasion!

”We should be fine.” The bird guard came to report, so he didn’t know if the others progressed, but considering nobody else was rushing over, he shouldn’t need to worry too much.

”Let’s take a look~” Dai Lu hummed as she walked towards the hole.

The hole was very neat and pretty looking. It was smooth and without any additional rocks on the walls, like this whole place was dug out and only dirt was placed back.

”How strange.” Dai Lu found this puzzling, but she didn’t dwell on it too much. She would just keep going until she encountered something that she couldn’t solve~!