Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko munched on a piece of meat that she had stored in her Storage Ring. She was thinking about this situation and how to make it work...

She suddenly turned towards Grandma. "You have lived for a long time, right?" Aiko narrowed her eyes.

The Old Grandma shivered. "I did indeed live for a long time." She had a bad feeling about the way the little Fox was looking at her.

"Do you have any Inscription Ink, so I can fix that Lamp?" Aiko asked the less important question so that Grandma could relax.

"I indeed did own some Inscription Ink, but that's a long time ago, it's unusable now." The Old Grandma shook her head. She had many treasures, ut most of them had been eroded by time...

Aiko frowned, her special plan of extorting the old ghost failed, but she didn't notice that the garbage bin was listening to them.

'If she can really Inscribe those Runes...' He narrowed his eyes, this was the perfect opportunity to completely seal that old ghost.

He was somewhat tied to her as a mortal enemy, it all happened when the Heavenly Dao issued him to 'keep her sealed in this World'. However, that didn't mean that 'he' needed to be the one who does it. As long as someone does it for him, the Heavenly Dao would count it and it would be the perfect scenario.

"I have some Inscription Ink." He slowly said like he was trying to imitate those Immortals, but the attempt made him feel more like a very arrogant geezer...

Aiko's face was distorted. 'Fuck! Why am I so fucking unlucky?! That Inscription Ink will smell like shit, if it even can be called Inscription Ink!' Aiko cursed in her mind.

The Old Fossil was taken aback, seeing her expression. "What's wrong?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"It will smell." Aiko said it openly and flatly. "I can't work with bad smells around..." She shook her head.

*Pfft*

The Old Grandma was holding in her laughter, she was very happy that he was ridiculed, as she hated him. It was a really invigorating feeling, that filled her being with happiness.

"It doesn't smell! I have it stored in my Spacial Ring!" He defended himself.

"And where do you have the Spacial Ring?" Aiko asked.

He paused, glancing at his left hand.

"Exactly!" Aiko suddenly raised her voice. "It's on you and you smell so bad that I won't even be surprised if the smell transcends pocket dimensions and managed to infect the Inscription Ink in that ring! Are you sure that you aren't just a big pile of shit?! Or maybe that you are already decomposing and you don't know it yourself, smelly geezer!" Aiko scoffed at that big pile of shit.

'Oh, Heavenly Dao...' He prayed. 'Why do you keep torturing me...' He sobbed inside his mind.

"Use it or not!" He snorted and placed a full bottle of perfect-quality Inscription Ink on the ground.

Aiko glanced towards it and grimaced, it was covered in a questionable film of questionable colours... she really didn't want to touch it.

"Do you really not have any Inscription Ink...?" Aiko turned towards the ghost Grandma.

The Ghost Grandma was holding in her laughter at that moment, but since she was a Ghost Cultivator, maintaining a neutral or amiable expression was incredibly easy for her.

She smiled gently towards the little Fox, but shook her head with sadness. "The Inscription Ink is really unusable..." But inside her mind, she was giggling in glee that the old bastard was whipped around by Aiko.

One has to know that the Old Fossil couldn't attack Aiko as it would create more problems for him, it was easier to just ignore her and try to negotiate.

He had a very steady mind, but that didn't mean he was not hurt by Aiko's words. He was questioning his Dao Path and if he should change it, but changing it at this point would make him forfeit his current Cultivation and thus kill him from old age...

The Old Fossil sighed, he was somewhat used to the ridicule of others, but when he was ridiculed by someone so adorable and small, he was very hurt.

"It's perfect quality Inscription Ink! So just use it!" He cried out. Nobody would ever scoff at perfect-quality Inscription Ink! Even if it was covered in shit, people would revere it like it was the most sacred thing!

Aiko saw his pitiful expression and paused. She was not really happy about torturing elders, but at the same time, no way in hell would she touch that thing!

Aiko turned towards Grandma. "Is there a river nearby?" Aiko asked slowly.

"There is." The Grandma nodded, still laughing inside her mind.

"Where?" Aiko's eyes shined, this could solve her issue!

She went through her Storage Rings and found tongs used for turning and picking up grilled meat.

Aiko would sacrifice these tongs for a greater cause!

She pinched her nose and braced herself, carefully and rudely picking up the small bottle, like it had some kind of infectious disease... which was not wrong.

"Where is the river?" Aiko asked, not breathing much.

"This way." The Old Grandma guided the little Fox towards the river.

Aiko dropped it into the river and waited...

"What are you doing?" The Old Fossil followed them with Divine Sense, since he didn't really want to move.

"Cleaning your shit. Who knows what kind of diseases you have accumulated..." Aiko shook her head and waited a bit more for the water to soften those... things...

2 hours passed and Aiko finally got close to it. It looked even worse than before, it was bloated and looked like it was alive and squirming. Aiko shivered and returned to her place.

"Nope, Nope, no, nah ah!" Aiko refused to get close to that thing and clean it, who knows what would happen...

[Congratulations!]

Aiko stiffened when she heard that monotone voice from the system.

[You have purged a Human City!]

'Pardon?' Aiko tilted her head.

[Your brutal and cruel way of killing Humans impressed the Heavenly Dao and awarded you the Title: [Cruel Slaughterer]!]

'???' Aiko had question marks above her head, she didn't understand what was happening.

How did she slaughter Humans when there was nobody around...?

Aiko suddenly stiffened and she looked towards the river... surely that thing didn't poison a whole city... right?

She was blankly staring at it, when another notification appeared.

[Congratulations!]
[You have caused a vicious Plague!]

'Fuck! It's really that bottle!' Aiko choked and stared towards the bottle. No way in hell will she touch that cursed thing.

She turned towards Grandma with an odd face.

"Can you please clean it...?" Aiko asked gently...

[You have masterfully killed another Human City!]
[Your merciless spreading of the Plague impressed the Heavenly Dao and awarded you the Title: [Plague Master]!]

'Ugh...' Aiko's face was distorted, she needs to solve this thing quickly or more titles might pop up...

"No..." The Old Grandma smiled lightly, if she touched that... she would definitely get tied to that bastard for eternity. She can't risk that!

"Ugh..." Aiko's face contorted into an ugly, yet cute frown.

She picked up her tong and cautiously approached the river...

Aiko tried to pick up the bottle with her tong, but those tongs melted like they were made out of butter!

"What the fuck?!" Aiko shivered and jumped back as far as she could. She couldn't believe what she saw. Those tongs are made of metal, METAL okay?! How did it get melted in something that doesn't even generate any heat!

The Old Grandma paused. It was a good thing she didn't touch it, for a different reason now. This thing was too scary for both...

"What are you fussing about?" The Old Fossil took a quick nap and returned to this disaster.

He moved the bottle from the water and placed it into the nearby grass.

Aiko took even more distance from it, since she was worried that she would melt if she got too close to it...

"Seriously-" The Old Fossil wanted to scoff at them, but then noticed that his Divine Sense was starting to get corroded.

He looked for the reason and saw his bottle with Inscription Ink.

The bottle was withering everything around it into unrecognisable black mush.

A shiver went down his spine. 'Curse you, Heavenly Dao! This is too cruel!' He cried out as this was one of the effects of his path. He would always experience problems and he had to solve them!

Aiko stared blankly at the bottle, while slowly walking backwards. She didn't know the range this small bottle could cover and she didn't care, since it was nowhere close to the Fox Village and Mei.

She would also warn Lady Liu not to drink the river water, or any water in a 1,000-mile radius...

"What do we do now?" Aiko turned towards the ghost Grandma.

"Don't ask me, I can't touch it." The Old Grandma shook her head, no way in hell would she get close to it! She was already weak and this would devour her without the ability to resist!

"Hey! Old garbage bin, do something! This is your fault!" Aiko immediately deflected this worry on others.

"I know! I'm thinking about it!" The Old Fossil was panicking.

Aiko paused. 'I did want to dump it on others, but I didn't expect it to work...'

Aiko was unaware that this was caused by his way of Dao which he had neglected for many, many centuries...

She nodded gently. "You should solve it soon, or people might die!" Aiko said with concern, but the real reason was that people already died en masse.

This was concerning and Aiko hoped she wouldn't be punished for it...

"Alright!" The Old Fossil suddenly said. "I have sealed it, but that seal will only last for about 100 years, we should come up with a permanent solution." He wiped the sweat on his forehead. He could feel his good Karma lessened by quite a lot, which meant that this thing really killed Mortals...

"Why 'we'?! This is your fault!" Aiko would have nothing to do with this. Moreover, he stank a lot, no way would she be in his presence!

"But you are part of the problem and the one who placed it into the river!" He scoffed at the little Fox.

"Bullshit! You just tried to kill me if I touched it and now you are trying to make me an accomplice?! Fuck off you, not so bald, bastard!" Aiko yelled at him.

He choked up. Never in his life would he expect to see someone so small, yet so vicious.

"But-" The Old Fossil tried to defend his point.

"No buts! Do I look like I have knowledge about seals and these questionable liquids?!" Aiko scoffed at him.

"Y-yes?" He really wanted to drag her with him, so he was not alone while solving this crisis...

"No! I'm only a few years old!" Aiko would use any kind of excuse to get out of here... with the Lamp, of course.

"And I have no knowledge in the way of shit eaters!" Aiko screamed and cried. She really didn't want to spend time with him!