Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

The old geezer dispersed them, so there would be no fighting. They were worried about outside interference, since something was brewing in the background.

Naturally, they tried to investigate, but the assailants killed themselves the moment they were found out.

That was unlike the previous group of amateurs from the Blood Sect... or cultists... it was hard to say which side they belonged to.

It was very likely the cunning bastards wanted those investigating them to suspect the Blood Sect, whilst they were a rivalling Sect themselves.

The Human Cultivators scrutinised it, but couldn't find out much from them.

Even when they used [Memory Search] on them, the only thing they got from it was that they were pawns...

...

Aiko pouted all the way back to the side Palace. That geezer ruined all the fun and she couldn't even ask the scary horned girl about the Spirit Seeking.

Aiko was upset, but not much could be done about that. They were supposed to get along nicely with Humans, but Aiko just couldn't care about that thing.

She was happy when she played and sad when she was bored.

That geezer stopped her fun, so she was naturally upset.

Fortunately, her team didn't tease her along the way, which brought some peace of mind to Aiko.

The shopping trip was a mild success, she got some items like the Six-Coloured Lotus and the black stone... but that was about it.

Sure, she got other trinkets, but nothing significant enough that she would like to boast about.

Aiko could only pout at this discrimination against her. Why couldn't those hagglers in the General Cultivation Market bring more Treasures to sell?!

Aiko was unaware that most Treasures would not be sold in the General Cultivation Market. The sole reason was that they were too precious and the Cultivators would rather keep them than sell them, even if they were completely useless.

This meant that the General Cultivation Market was mostly for Herbs or unidentifiable Trinkets.

Those unidentifiable Trinkets might turn into Treasure, but most of the time they were just junk from the Olden Ages.

Most Treasures, if forged correctly, could survive a long time, but that was not always the case. A simple reason for that might be the lack of ambient Qi, which would make the Treasure deteriorate.

That was natural for High-Grade Treasures. They sucked up Qi like hungry, starving wolves, but the moment they didn't have that Qi, they would collapse.

Aiko sat down at her table, tapping it with her nail. She did it gently so she wouldn't make a hole in the table. Not because she was concerned about the damage, but because it would be bothersome cleaning the troubles that would arise from it...

Aiko couldn't be bothered with that. She was bored, but not bored enough to humour other Humans.

She prayed for something to happen so that there would be something exciting!

*Knock Knock*

And her prayers were heard.

"Who is it?" Aiko spoke with her head on the table.

"The Prince is inviting you to his private Garden." The royal maid politely said. She didn't understand why the Prince was so obsessed with these Foxes and she would definitely report it to the Emperor.

The Prince knew something like that might happen, so he already came up with counter-measures. He would not allow his father to mess up things.

They would survive through this and be happy ever after. Which was unlikely, but he had his dreams, alright?!

Aiko's ears immediately perked up back to life.

'There was something to do!' Aiko's eyes shined. She hoped that the whole thing would turn into a mess with lots and lots of assassins going after them.

She would be able to play to her heart's content, which was the perfect situation.

Of course, it would be bad if it escalated into something big, so Aiko also prayed for safety. Of course that was only for her team and those that she liked, which weren't many...

Aiko stood up happily and hummed. "Let's go!"

She was in an incredibly good mood since she had something to do. Well, not exactly her. The Blood Fox would do all the work, while Aiko would wait for the assassins to come and deal with them.

The Umbra Fox would then clean the corpses from Aiko's "just" cause.

Aiko abruptly stopped and smacked her forehead.

'I should've asked Mei how to rip out their Souls...' Aiko lamented at the number of Souls she missed and will miss because of this.

There was nothing she could do about it...

Aiko had a crestfallen expression suddenly, which startled her team.

Was she happy or unhappy about this situation? They couldn't tell...

Then, a gentle voice drifted into Aiko's mind.

'What is troubling you, Mistress?' Mei 0.8 asked.

'I missed a lot of Souls...' Aiko sniffled inside her mind.

'That should not be a problem, I can extract Souls from other Cultivators.' The Ghost said gently. 'But, their cultivation can't be too high, otherwise they would just escape.'

Some of the Hope Aiko had was shattered, but having some Souls was better than nothing.

'I wish I knew how to extract Souls...' Aiko sniffled again.

The Ghost's lips tightened, there were plenty of ways to extract Souls, but only some of them were accepted by the Heavenly Dao.

The Ghost wouldn't tell her Mistress about them, because while she liked being strangled... that had a time and place.

She was in the Empty Space, inside the [100 Ghost Parade Lamp]. Her Soul pretty much occupied the whole space, so only Soul Essence could be kept inside.

She hoped her Mistress would give her some Soul Essence so that she could shrink her Soul and make room for furniture, but she couldn't openly ask...

...

Aiko and her team were guided to the Prince's Private Garden.

As always, Aiko recoiled from the smell of multiple flowers clashing against each other. She truly didn't like this place, but she wanted that Treasure and some fun.

Aiko would have to bear with it till they were finished and she would naturally take this upset state on the assailants. She would pound them well with sticks.

The Prince was sitting in the open, leaning against the table.

He slowly sipped tea here and there until he heard footsteps.

"Welcome." The Prince smiled towards the group of the Foxes.

"You are dismissed." He gestured towards the maid, but she kept standing still.

"Since when are you above the Royal Family?" The Prince glared at her.

She shrunk back, but still kept standing still, not intending to leave.

"With all due respect, Prince. The Emperor is worried about you." The royal maid said gently, she was interested in the prince. That meant she hated the Foxes that were invited into his Private Garden.

"And what does that have to do with you?" The Prince narrowed his eyes. "You are not a powerful warrior that could stop them, hell, you are not even a Cultivator." The Prince scoffed at her.

"You are dismissed." The Prince waved one last time. If she didn't leave at this point then he would send her out in pieces.

He was very restless about this whole situation, so many things agitated him greatly. He wished his love would be safe during and after this procedure, but his father was likewise restless.

The Emperor questioned him about the weird poles he brought, the different fur carpets and other things.

The Prince replied like he was supposed to. He had already made plans to shake the Emperor off his back, but for some reason, his father was very stubborn.

The Prince caved in partially and allowed his Secret Guards and right hand to accompany him during the procedure.

Naturally, he wouldn't allow them to enter the room with the Princess and the Foxes inside. That might ruin everything.

The Prince didn't dislike his father, since he was upright. Sure, he did have questionable hobbies, but who didn't have those?

The Prince arranged it to be in his Private Garden. The Garden was full of both his and his father's Secret Guards. If this whole thing crashed down, he could just order the Secret Guards to battle his father's Secret Guards.

This would buy them some time to clean up, but after that, they would be running against the tide.

"The Flags? Sticks?" Aiko immediately asked after the royal maid left.

"There are over there." The Prince pointed at a pyramid made out of those Poles.

"Nice~." Aiko hummed gently, happy that at least something was prepared nicely.

As for the Private Garden... let's not talk about that one.

"How much time do we have?" The Blood Fox asked.

"We should have about 2 weeks, since for some reason the Emperor is currently distressed, and rather distracted." The Prince said gently, not minding the Secret Guards.

The Blood Fox nodded towards the Princess.

The Prince noticed this and gestured. "Please."

He gestured towards the Blood Fox to head inside, since everything was prepared in advance.

There was no need for the Prince to enter, which meant his guard didn't need to do so either.

This saved some time, since the guard didn't know about what would be happening inside.

They probably thought that the Princess was interested in the Foxes... art. So the Prince invited them for that.

They were confused about the sticks, since most of them hadn't seen Aiko in action.

Fortunately, some spread the word and they understood. They were quite apprehensive about this little Fox, but that couldn't be helped. Anyone would be apprehensive if their 'ally' was always aiming for the backdoors.

The Secret Guards vowed that if something happened, they would take down the small Fox first, so that they didn't need to guard their rears.

Aiko naturally noticed the hostile and apprehensive gazes from the shadows and she was happy.

Fights were coming, she just needed to wait!

...
...
...

Yet they didn't come. Aiko was so ready to fight, yet they didn't come!

She pouted and sat down at the table with the Prince's tea.

"Do you have that poisoned tea?" Aiko asked the Prince.

The Prince choked. "Poisoned tea?!" He was speechless and so were the Secret Guards.

No one ever made such a strange request!