Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Chen Shi returned to the Restaurant to pick up Lady Liu. She was sitting there, nibbling on her food and ignoring a good portion of her meal.

"You should also eat some meat..." Chen Shi said gently so as not to startle her.

"I already ate meat." Lady Liu pouted and munched on yet another veggie. "I like fruits more." She murmured, but Chen Shi was a Cultivator, which meant he heard her.

"You will get your fruits once you eat normal food, fruits can't replace everything else." He gently nudged her.

"Yes, Mum." Lady Liu pouted and munched on yet another piece of veggie, but this time added a bit of meat.

Chen Shi could only sigh, he didn't try to stop her this time since she was eating quite well...

...

Aiko woke up from her slumber, she didn't sleep all that much since they didn't spend all that much time outside.

Aiko stretched her paws and front legs, she rolled inside the fluffy tail before staring at the ceiling.

She no longer had hazy eyes, but that did not mean her system had completely flushed out the poison. It was still present, but way less potent.

Aiko yawned again and she smelled meat a little way away from her.

She munched on it, there was also something tender with the meat, but it was warm and didn't feel like she should munch on it.

Lady Liu was screaming inside her head when Aiko nibbled her fingers. This was the first time a Beast nibbled her without the intent to bite her.

'I should definitely get some nice, cute and cuddly pet...' Lady Liu thought this kind of playful nibbling was nice and cute.

'But it would be difficult taking care of them, maybe I should wait a few more reincarnations...' Lady Liu thought this was not the best time to befriend a few pets, maybe when she was younger would be the right time.

Aiko munched a few pieces of meat and woke up. She stared at Lady Liu, who was staring back at her.

Aiko still could not speak, so she just yawned and kept staring at Lady Liu.

"She can't talk yet." The Blood Fox said gently when she noticed their small staring contest.

"Eh?!" Lady Liu was shocked. "Why?" She tilted her head, she didn't remember such a negative prophecy!

"We collected a few bottles of that Powder." The Blood Fox smiled gently and glanced at the snorting Inscription Saint.

"If she wasn't so weak, she wouldn't be affected." He clicked his tongue and sipped his tea.

The Umbra Fox didn't like his tone, but the Blood Fox was slightly faster in making him choke.

"True, we have only collected an additional 50 bottles of the Berserker Powder." The Blood Fox clicked her tongue. "Who would've thought Aiko would be so weak that she couldn't even endure that..." She shook her head.

*Pfft*

The Inscription Saint spat out his tea and stared at the Blood Fox speechlessly. "What?" He thought that he heard it incorrectly.

"Fif-ty bott-les~" The Blood Fox smiled, but with clear disdain towards him.

Chen Shi's brain lagged and it was slowly processing that number. '50? 5-0? Do they mean 5?' He didn't believe that they collected that many.

*Knock Knock*

"Who is it?" Chen Shi went on guard.

"My apologies for disturbing you, guests. The Lady Ocean Wave would like to visit you." The royal maid said slowly, but audibly.

"Let her in..." Chen Shi didn't understand why a Beast would seek them out.

...

Soon the Ocean Wave Snake Lady slithered inside and behind her was her Dao companion.

"I don't remember the maid mentioning anything about other Beasts." Chen Shi slowly sipped tea, but his threatening voice was apparent.

"My apologies, he was worried about me." The Snake Lady said.
"My apologies, I was worried about my love." The turtle said slowly, but the Snake Lady still blushed.

"Can you not say that outside?!" She reprimanded him, but the turtle still smiled.

"What are you here for?" Chen Shi was sick of their romance. If he couldn't have romance, then nobody else could!

"I was called over by the Valiant Lion to check up on the little Fox." At first, the Snake Lady hated that little vixen, but the more she knew about her, the less hostile she became. Her last words were even a bit gentle.

Chen Shi glanced towards Aiko and remembered those words about 50 bottles...

'No way.' He denied it again, since if they brought so many bottles at this time, this wouldn't be a normal natural Stampede.

"Do you have enough free storage for the bottles?" The Umbra Fox asked, now that she was not in the council room she could observe this Snake Lady.

She had the lower part of a Snake and the upper part was the body of a pseudo-human.

She had the same shapes and features as humans, but she didn't have normal skin, but had dark green snake scales everywhere.

Her fingers were without nails. Her eyes were slitted like a snake's. She was pretty much a snake if you ignored her hair, but that was probably a wig so she didn't feel so out of place...

"I have." She nodded slowly, her very thin tongue slithered in and out of her mouth.

She moved towards the Blood Fox to ask where she could find Aiko, but the next sentence almost made her face-plant.

"We have around 50 bottles, so store them well." The Blood Fox said it like it was not a big deal.

The Snake Lady paused. Her tongue slithered in and out. It felt like she was completely frozen...

"What...?" The Snake Lady's brain caught up, similar to what Chen Shi experienced. She didn't believe that the Humans would be so blatant...

"50, but we don't have corks that can contain that smell for them, so we are keeping them inside a Storage Ring." The Blood Fox explained.

The Snake Lady threw reason out of the window and nodded. "You have done well. Unfortunately, I only have a few suitable corks, so it is for the best if you keep the powder for the time being." She sighed, but nodded.

"Alright, where can I find that little rascal?" She looked around, but couldn't find that little Fox.

"Here." The Blood Fox said, but the Snake Lady missed her gesture.

"Where?" The Snake Lady was slightly annoyed since she thought that this red vixen was making fun of her.

"Here." The Blood Fox didn't lose patience and pointed at her tails again.

The Snake Lady narrowed her eyes, but once the red vixen's tails moved and another tail, but this time black, popped out, she was startled.

"She..." The Snake Lady was speechless.

"Yes." The Blood Fox nodded without batting an eye.

"You are weird..." The Snake Lady couldn't quite understand what was happening, but she still found it strange.

The Blood Fox shrugged and returned to her tea.

The Snake Lady slithered towards that black tail.

Soon, Aiko's head popped out, startling the Snake Lady so much that she flinched.

"She... is really small..." The Snake Lady's inner thoughts leaked.

Sure, she saw this little Fox embarrass and slaughter those Human Sect Leaders, but it happened so quickly that she wasn't able to get a proper look.

Now that she was able to properly look at this little Fox... she was truly tiny.

"Do you feed her well?" The Snake Lady couldn't help but ask them.

The Umbra Fox laughed. "There are big snakes and small snakes, it's the same thing for Foxes. There are large Foxes." She pointed at the Blood Fox. "And then there are small Foxes." She pointed at herself. "And lastly, there are extra small Foxes." She pointed at Aiko.

The Snake Lady nodded absent-mindedly. She was confused about how something so small could just rip those Humans apart like paper.

"Can I check her?" The Snake Lady slithered a bit closer.

"Sure." The Blood Fox didn't refuse, since that Lion sent her here. If she came on her own accord, she wouldn't be allowed anywhere near them.

The Snake Lady touched the small Fox, but the fluff and her slick scales made it difficult for her to lift Aiko up.

Lady Liu giggled, upsetting the Snake Lady a little bit. She found her failure to pick up Aiko to be so cute.

Lady Liu picked up Aiko out of the Blood Fox's tails and placed her on her lap.

The Snake Lady puffed her cheeks, but still came closer. There was something wrong with this Lady as she had a strange air around her and it seemed like most Beasts adored her.

She couldn't understand why, but seeing her eyes without prejudice... she was starting to slowly understand why.

The Snake Lady checked the little Fox's body carefully.

"She has been overdosed on the Berserker Powder, so her body is using most of her energy for the purging. I also found another poison, but I'm not familiar with that one, so I can't help you." The Snake Lady sighed.

There was not much to do, since the little Fox's body was in good condition whilst purging the Poison. If she used her techniques, they would in the long run decrease the Little Fox's ability to resist that poison, which was counterproductive, especially when it came to the Berserker Powder.

Rendering her more susceptible to the Berserker Powder would make her life a lot more difficult...

"You really can't help?" Lady Liu asked, since she was not well versed in the art of poison.

"It would be detrimental for her if I helped. It is best to just wait for her body to deal with it on its own. The next banquet is in a few days, but by that time she should be alright..." The Snake Lady paused. "Unless she encounters more of the Berserker Powder."

Aiko's team skilfully avoided the Snake Lady's eyes, they would not say anything about how Aiko got inflicted by that poison.

The Snake Lady chuckled when she saw them feigning innocence. "I still want to thank you for confiscating so much Berserker Powder, since it would be extremely bad if it got spread during the banquet." The Snake Lady gently bowed and slithered away without waiting for them to say anything.

She was already embarrassed enough that she had to thank them for it, when she was the one that insulted them at the beginning.

Lady Liu chuckled. "She is not a bad person." She smiled from ear to ear and the Snake Lady slithered away even faster than before.

"Wait for me, Love." The turtle was trying to catch up to his Dao Companion, but he was simply too slow compared to the snake's speed...