Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko scavenged this place a bit more. Looking for more Herbs, or anything that was not nailed down.

She had a limited time to do everything, so slow and steady would win the race.

However, no matter how much she looked around. She couldn’t find anything.

’This is bothersome.’ Moon Aiko clicked her tongue. Maybe it was time to use her [Jaws of ####] and get out of here?

’No wait, don’t they love caves?’ Moon Aiko looked towards the mountains. It was possible that she could find something over there, but...

’It is crumbling there.’ She was not too keen about it, so she would just give it a quick glance before giving up.

’Yeah, what’s the worst that could happen.’ Moon Aiko shrugged like she didn’t care about it.

...

”Of course this fucking happens.” Moon Aiko groaned. She found a grand structure that was resisting the collapse, but she didn’t really want to go inside.

This one pretty much screamed: Come in~!

’...’ Moon Aiko looked around. There were some preservation Runes, and space-related Runes. Maybe to keep this place up and running even if everything crumbles?

’Whom can I summon that can help me...’ Moon Aiko narrowed her eyes. She had a few pics, but for now this one would be the safest.

”Where are we?” Xinyue looked around. This place was a mess, except the suspiciously intact shrine in front of her.

”Inside some kind of Realm that I got stuck in.” Moon Aiko nodded her head seriously. ’Maybe I should Contract everyone so I can teleport them to me?’ It was a good idea, but for now, she wouldn’t do anything like that.

”No, what I’m asking is why am I here.” Xinyue rolled her eyes. She was a cute doe, that Aiko liked, but this was really unexpected.

”Then maybe say it that way from the beginning.” Moon Aiko rolled her eyes. ”I want to know more about this place.” She pointed towards the suspiciously intact shrine.

”And I’m supposed to know anything about this?” Xinyue was speechless.

”You are old.” Moon Aiko kept staring at her until she caved in.

”Fine, the energy is close to the one that enslaved that bastard. This place also has a lot of Runes, but I’m not familiar with too many of them. If I were so bold to guess, this should be a hidden stash.” Xinyue gestured towards the suspiciously intact shrine.

”Hidden stash?” Moon Aiko tilted her head. ”Why did you call it like that?”

”Hidden stash is usually referred to as an ’Inheritance Site, but with the owner still alive’.” Xinyue looked around. ”The person who knows this place is obviously still alive and doing somewhat well. So this place is not true Inheritance Grounds. We can get intercepted or even harassed by the previous owner with his real body, so I suggest against exploring this place.”

”Alright, let’s go in.” Moon Aiko rubbed her hands. That guy should be preoccupied, so this would be fine.

”Have you even listened to my explanation?! Why did I even bother!” The Heavenly Doe cutely stomped her front hooves, making Moon Aiko smile at her.

”Come inside, we can take anything we want~” Moon Aiko hummed, but this place was quite bare, outside Runes being everywhere.

”...” Xinyue gave up. It was pointless trying to convince someone who was just a wild gal.

Moon Aiko stepped in. The scenery subtly changed, while the air around them thickened.

It was Qi, and pure one at that, but too pure, unsettlingly so.

Looking around, Moon Aiko couldn’t find the origin of that unsettling feeling, but she felt like this place was not what it seemed.

’Let’s teleport if anything goes down.’ Moon Aiko nodded her head seriously.

The place was huge. It was an enormous hall, with pillars on both sides. It was unnecessarily long, making Moon Aiko squint her eyes.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

She could barely see the end of it, but there was another thing that was important.

’I can see the flow of Qi.’ Moon Aiko briefly used her new eyes, but this time [Pandemonium Lantern Eyes].

Those were combat related, but were also able to spot assassins hiding in plain sight.

Well, her eyes were a bit fickle. At one time, the ’Serene’ part would suddenly strip her enemies apart, while ’Pandemonium’ wouldn’t do much. She would have to explore her eyes more later, but for now.

’This place is dull. It has too many pillars considering they are not too spread out. The Runes on them repeat, but each time slightly differently. It kind of feels like this was either a testing ground or training ground.’ Moon Aiko assumed it was the latter, since there were many typos on the wall that she just couldn’t unsee.

’This place doesn’t try to expand its space too much. Maybe the mountain itself was enlarged to provide a space for this place? It was highly likely as that was easier to do.

Moon Aiko arrived at the middle point, and to both of her sides, were small hallways leading somewhere.

”Hmmm...” Moon Aiko narrowed her eyes before going left. She would first clear this place up before going anywhere else.

She hoped she would be able to find something inside these corridor-like halls as there was nothing much to take from this place.

The Inscriptions? Lame and with errors. The pillars? They probably supported this place, so Moon Aiko didn’t want to risk a cave in.

Once one pillar falls, the others will follow, or maybe they don’t. Considering how many pillars and how close they were together, it was possible that even if one pillar would collapse, it would still maintain the roof in this place.

But that was just an assumption. It was also possible that they needed so many pillars because the mountain was just THAT big.

Moon Aiko walked down the hallway. It kind of felt like something was looking at her, but she couldn’t figure out from where.

Moreover, she also felt like something was following her, but she couldn’t find or see anything behind her.

’Should I just burn this place down?’ Moon Aiko pondered. Violence could almost always solve everything, but now she was working with possibly fragile treasures, so she had to be more careful.

Moon Aiko kept walking while heightening her senses. She would make sure she was not ambushed or manipulated.

At the end of this corridor, there was a small pedestal.

[???]

[Description: Herb that repairs the Origin.]

Moon Aiko tilted her head. Did she need this? Probably not. She felt good and didn’t feel like something was missing or damaged.

Then who could she use this on?

’Maybe Mei?’ Moon Aiko felt like Mei was the most ’broken’ out of her companions, so that might not be a bad idea.

’Wait, since I have these eyes, I can just figure out who I should give it to.’ Moon Aiko nodded her head seriously. This would be a good idea, and it would ensure she wouldn’t waste it on someone who would be fine!

’Good, with that decided.’ Moon Aiko stored it into her tails and those ’eyes’ vanished.

’Was it the Herb?’ Moon Aiko tilted her head, but it was hard to say.

She never dealt with this Herb before, so she didn’t have enough knowledge to come to a conclusion.

...

Back at the main hall, Aiko went to the right side this time.

This time, the hallway was decorated by numerous strange symbols.

Those were not the Runes she was used to and briefly looking at them, it seemed like those were Qi inhibitors.

They would prevent Qi from gathering in this place.

’Does that mean there is a Formation that gathers all the Qi?’ It was a sound assumption.

Going deeper in, the coldness slowly settled in.

”Gosh, it’s so cold.” Moon Aiko shuddered. She liked warmth, but this cold was unnatural. It bypassed everything and filled her body from within.

Yet Aiko kept going. She felt like this energy was not trying to hurt her, so she would just see what it was before leaving.

...

The end was in front of her, but Moon Aiko still couldn’t believe it.

”A beating heart?” Moon Aiko tilted her head.

That’s right. In front of her was living, beating heart. It was cold and with each beat, it would spread the coldness around.

The Runes in the hallway would slow down the progress and eventually stop it, so this place was isolated from Qi.

’I didn’t expect this.’ Moon Aiko came close to appraising it.

[Immortal’s Heart]

”!” Moon Aiko was startled by what she saw, but there was not enough description to make any assumptions.

’Should I take it or leave it...’ Moon Aiko felt like it would be a shame if she passed on this, so she should probably take this.

’Yeah, let’s just take it. I can always return it later.’ Although she wouldn’t since it didn’t seem like the owner of this place was a nice person.

Moon Aiko swiped that beating heart into her tails before slowly leaving.

’Hm?’ Moon Aiko noticed the place was crumbling. Was the heart maintaining the ceiling? It was possible.

Moon Aiko hurried back into the main hall before breathing a sigh of relief.

This place collapsed, so without digging Treasures, good luck in trying to get inside.

Moon Aiko was proud of this moment, and it was time to head to the last corridor.

...

Moon Aiko was at the end of this unnecessarily long hallway.

The decoration stopped at about 70% of the way. As if it was trying to tell her that whoever made this place, eventually gave up on finishing it.

’I would too. This place is just too long.’ Moon Aiko shook her head. She didn’t judge others for this, but she would not end up like them!

’Let’s make hidden doors for transportation and...’ Moon Aiko stopped. She already had a lot of work, yet she almost added even more!

”I won’t make Inheritance Grounds!” Moon Aiko promised, since it seemed like a lot of bother trying to maintain.

But that was not all. Moon Aiko also considered the impossible number of Cultivators, suddenly seeking her Treasures and robbing her.

It was more efficient to keep it inside her tails and keep it a secret from others.

’No, my faction should know.’ Moon Aiko would cultivate the perfect faction that would allow this, but it would also require a lot of materials.

’I will have to make sure they are allowed to escape from whichever situation they encounter...’ Moon Aiko stopped again before facepalming herself. She was just creating more and more work for her, so it was time to leave!