Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko was finally able to pick up that Lamp and was ready to leave.

"You are leaving already?" The Garbage Bin asked. He was slightly upset that he would be alone again.

"Of course, you smell too bad!" Aiko scoffed at him and he was hurt.

She turned around and left. She didn't want to stay for another moment, since she really wanted a warm bath and a good night's sleep.

Aiko walked through the bamboo forest again, but the fog was nowhere to be seen.

Aiko had to be careful about being found out, so it wouldn't cause any trouble for her.

Well... normal Mortals wouldn't spot her, but this place was somewhat close to those Cultivation Leaders... she didn't want to interact with them.

She walked through the shadows, avoiding everyone like they had the plague.

She was successful with this as she was able to easily blend with the shadows, making her undetectable.

The Ghost Lady also returned to the Lamp so she wouldn't draw too much attention...

She already attracted a lot of attention from Aiko, since she reminded her of Mei, but even then, Mei's figure was already considered heavenly and voluptuous in the eyes of many. It would not be good if the Ghost Lady were to be seen; normal Mortals would definitely howl like beasts if they saw her!

'What a troublesome Ghost...' Aiko sighed, she would need to create some Ghost-specialised Recognition Inhibition bracelets for the Ghost Lady.

'I also didn't ask for her name.' Aiko shook her head, she didn't ask for names, since most Beasts and Humans around here were just not very interesting.

She was also pretty bad with names. Well... was. Now that she had the [Perfect Memory], she could easily remember them, but that didn't mean their worth increased...

Aiko was just not impressed. Mei was impressive since she knew a lot of things. She was mostly... sometimes kind, which made Aiko feel more at home.

The Blood Fox was irreplaceable. She was like a maid that catered to Aiko's every need. At first, Aiko was concerned, but later she started to like it, maybe even love it. Her name was also very simple and Aiko could associate it with her colour.

The Umbra Fox was a cute and cheery Fox, yet very hard-working. Aiko admired that hard-working part, as it resonated with her. She didn't want to replace her since her colour was close to her name and she wasn't noisy enough to bother Aiko, but at the same time useful enough.

The Grandmaster provided housing and knowledge, which Aiko appreciated greatly.

That's... about it. Sure, there was still Buddy and others, but she didn't interact with them on a daily basis, so she didn't really have that deep impression.

She did miss the Princess a bit and she also wondered what that Fairy was doing, but other than that, there was not really much to look forward to.

...

Aiko returned to the side palace and was immediately swarmed by her team and Lady Liu.

She didn't expect this kind of welcome, but she didn't dislike it.

"You smell." All of them said that in sync and dragged Aiko into the baths.

Chen Shi was upset that Aiko would see Liu's body before him, but he couldn't just barge in, which infuriated him even more.

He wanted to gaze at Lady Liu for his whole life, yet this little rascal easily replaced him!

Aiko stared back at the piercing gaze, it was Chen Shi's gaze. She smiled faintly, which caused Chen Shi to almost pop a vein on his forehead.

Aiko believed that if Lady Liu wasn't around, he would strangle her like she did it with the Ghost Lady.

...

"You have a new Treasure?" The Umbra Fox asked when she placed the Lamp on a nearby table.

"Yeah, it sort of happened. We also need to go shopping, but later. I'm too tired." Aiko yawned. Now that she was somewhat safe, her tiredness caught up to her. She just wanted to lie down and sleep.

They bathed Aiko carefully, but midway through she transformed into a Fox and dozed off.

Lady Liu almost screamed from the cuteness, but the Umbra Fox stopped her; since her Mistress was sleeping, it would be rude to wake her up...

Lady Liu nodded gently as if she understood. She enjoyed Aiko's soft fur while also ruffling it to wash off that grime and bad smell.

Aiko sneezed since a bubble got into her nose, but that didn't wake her up. She slept like a log through water and a drying towel.

She slept as they moved her and slept even more when the Blood Fox placed her into her soft tails...

...

Aiko woke up lazily the next day. She was slightly dazed and didn't want to wake up, but there was also a nice smell drifting into her nostrils, which somewhat woke her up more.

She turned towards the bandit that roused her from sleep.

It was a whole crispy chicken.

Aiko opened her mouth and bit into it, but since she didn't use much strength, she was just stuck to it, licking the juices.

Lady Liu really wanted to move closer and pet the adorable half-asleep Aiko, but stopped herself since Chen Shi was already upset enough.

"What's wrong?" Lady Liu asked him.

"Nothing..." Chen Shi shook his head. He didn't believe that Aiko would just sleepwalk like that... He couldn't understand what Lady Liu saw in that tiny Fox, but at the same time, he knew that she was impressive.

Aiko was able to create elaborate and powerful Runes; not elaborate enough that it would threaten Chen Shi, but enough for him to admire her.

Maybe that was the issue; he was worried that Aiko would replace him in terms of Inscribing and he would only have his wealth left, which was not enough to keep Lady Liu happy...

He slowly munched on his carefully prepared meal, he was feeling slightly upset.

Lady Liu soothed him since she knew that Aiko would be going shopping soon.

...

The meal was delectable and Aiko finished it slowly for once; mostly because she was asleep for most of the time, but her eating was much slower when presented with something she couldn't just gulp down.

Aiko rubbed her eyes, still feeling half asleep.

She transformed into her Human form and activated the Sect Token since she was too lazy to move.

She yawned again and stared around, Lady Liu was leaving with Chen Shi and her team was chatting.

Aiko was happy, since she got the gift for Mei and tools that could be useful to her. Moreover, she got that treasure and Mei 0.8 as a Ghost.

She didn't necessarily need to go shopping, but she still wanted to experience different kinds of markets.

But, maybe tomorrow. Today, she will sleep.

Aiko laid down, not even moving on the Blood Fox's tails and closed her eyes.

She couldn't sleep because of her Title, but that didn't mean she was not resting, just closing her eyes allowed her to recover a lot.

...

"How strange..." The Blood Fox murmured. She found it odd that Aiko wouldn't seek her tails.

"Maybe Mistress is too tired to move?" The Umbra Fox asked, they had no idea what happened to Aiko these days.

The Umbra Fox was dying of curiosity, since she was interested in that Lamp. Meanwhile, the Blood Fox was concerned that something had happened to Aiko.

"Do you think that she would seek us out if she was tired?" The Blood Fox shook her head, since sometimes the Umbra Fox was too naive.

"Hmmmm..." The Umbra Fox nodded slightly. It was true that Aiko would seek them-, the Blood Fox out whenever she wanted to sleep, so it was truly odd she didn't do this this time.

The Blood Fox moved closer to Aiko and gently caressed her hair.

Aiko's ears twitched a few times before calming down. It felt like she murmured something, but it was not audible to their ears.

"Mistress is really cute when she is like this." The Umbra Fox stared at Aiko with adoration.

"You mean when she is not causing trouble?" The Blood Fox chuckled at the Umbra Fox. While they were very young compared to their peers, they felt old next to Aiko who was so tiny.

"Eh, even if Mistress didn't cause trouble, others wouldn't leave her alone." The Umbra Fox shrugged. While she was exhausted from dealing with the aftermath, she would still not replace her Mistress.

The Blood Fox nodded, this was an obvious thing, considering Aiko's cuteness...

...

Back in the Fox Village Mei sighed.

She got yet another request for more Pills from the Sect Leader.

"Seriously." Mei massaged her temples to wash her tiredness away.

"Don't they have other Pill Refiners?" She shook her head.

"Still at work?" Suddenly, the Grandmaster's head popped around the corner. She was doing much better with Mei's medication.

"I will pay you 100 years if you cut down the vermin in this Fox Village." Mei immediately spilt her grievances.

"You are really doing pretty bad without your cuddle pillow." The Grandmaster was surprised that Mei's inner thoughts were exactly the same as her spoken words.

"Ugh, don't mention it." Mei was upset that her servant disappeared for another reason. If she could, she would have dragged Aiko back and hugged her for a few more weeks.

"And what the fuck is wrong with the other Pill Refiners?!" Mei picked up some of the crude words from Aiko's constant cursing...

"They fuck and fuck around all the time." The Grandmaster shrugged and lit her pipe.

"No smoking." Mei snorted at her.

"Yeah, yeah." The Grandmaster rolled her eyes. She did understand that it would affect the quality of the Herbs, but she couldn't help it...

'There is not much to do other than visiting other Sects...' She shook her head. Without those two cuties from Aiko's team, the time she spent was very boring.

'Not to mention the massage chair broke again...' The Grandmaster was frustrated. She even hired a few other Inscription Cultivators, but they all refused to fix it since they were not Forge Cultivators…

"Just become mine already and I will give you better Herbs for smoking." Mei stared at the Grandmaster.

"I already told you I'm too old for this kind of thing." The Grandmaster shook her head.

"Fine, I will just help you patch your tails so you have no other option than to accept." Mei flicked her sleeve arrogantly. She would have Grandmaster as her personal guard.

She knew that Grandmaster had lived for a long time and had gained a lot of combat experience.

'She is the best bodyguard in the Lower World. Not to mention, she is the first Fox I met in the Lower World that achieved 9 Tails.' Mei sighed gently, staring at the Grandmaster.

"I'm not that special." The Grandmaster read Mei's thoughts and shook her head.

"Sure, sure." Mei shooed the Grandmaster away, since she had to refine more Herbs.

"I hope Aiko returns soon..." She stared at the Full Moon, reminding her of Aiko...