Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

'Mistress...' The Ghost Lady pouted. She was not fat by normal means, but she didn't have enough Soul Essence to compress and maintain her normal Soul.

Each Soul was protected by the outer shell, but that same shell deteriorated over time, making it weaker and weaker.

Once the outer shell disappears, the contents spill. In other words, the compact Soul becomes a puddle of Soul contents, making it much bigger than what it was supposed to be.

This makes it more susceptible to outside interference.

Fortunately, the lamp that Aiko obtained acts as the outer shell for any Soul that is inside.

Even if the Souls 'decay' for millions of years, as long as the lamp is intact and functioning, the Souls will never completely disappear.

It was the perfect Treasure for storing Souls, but it was not maintained properly.

The lamp lost most of its power and while it could still be used as the outer shell to store Souls, it would no longer compress the Souls so that they wouldn't take as much space.

That's why it could store only 1 Soul out of 100...

Aiko pouted cutely. 'But I want some Souls too...'

'I will naturally capture Souls for you, Mistress, but we can't keep his Soul as it's too big...' The Ghost Lady lied as she breathed. His Soul was not so big that it wouldn't fit inside the lamp, but she wouldn't admit that her Soul took too much space!

She worried that she would be teased till the end of her days...

Moreover, she really wanted to slowly and torturously consume that bastard!

'You better promise me!' Aiko proclaimed with a piercing gaze. She didn't really look at the Ghost, but even that was enough to intimidate her...

'I will, Mistress.' The Ghost Lady said politely and Aiko's ears twitched.

This didn't escape Chen Shi's and Lady Liu's sight.

While Lady Liu wondered what the little Foxy was up to, Chen Shi was frowning and holding his temples.

He somewhat knew that this thing was supposed to hold Souls inside, which was not really an issue and would be very beneficial for the little rascal.

The problem was that these Treasures were always haunted by sinister Ghosts or Spirits, making them not very compatible with normal Cultivators.

Even Foxes wouldn't be safe against haunted Treasures; while it was true that the Foxes were divine when it came to manipulation of Souls, that didn't mean they were divine in defence against said Souls.

At the end of the day, the battle between a Fox and a Ghost came down to the might of Souls. The one who is more powerful will naturally take over and subdue the one who is weaker.

Even so, the Foxes will generally have an advantage as they had a living body, which was much more resilient. Meanwhile, the Ghosts would have a bad time as they need to maintain their outer shells during the exchange so they wouldn't disperse.

'Promise!' Aiko pouted. No way in hell would she allow the Ghost Lady to eat that guy if she didn't promise her!

'I promise on Heaven and Earth that I will fulfil this promise.' The Ghost Lady made a vow with Heaven and Earth, making her obliged to fulfil that promise.

'Alright, you can go.' Aiko nodded gently.

She was ignoring the Ghostly 'Emperor' this whole time which made him even more ticked off.

This played well to what the Ghost Lady needed, since normally she wouldn't be his match. But because he was irrational and quite clearly pissed off... that meant his outer shell would be weakened.

The Ghost Lady didn't immediately materialise. At first, she thought that her Mistress was alright with the Inscription, but now she realised the lamp had a good hold on her Soul.

She would not be able to run away even if she wanted to; the lamp would not allow it…

That played into her strategy, since even if she was captured by that bastard, he wouldn't be able to do anything to her Soul.

He would have to enter the lamp if he wanted to injure her, but unfortunately for him, the lamp was so packed that he wouldn't be able to enter.

The Ghost Lady moved through the earth to stay hidden. The Ghostly 'Emperor' was solely focused on her Mistress.

She... had to give credit where credit was due. Her Mistress was divine when it came to enraging others, especially when she was tired and upset.

'And you can't do anything about it...' The Ghost Lady murmured and shivered at the mere thought of that Beast...

'What?' Aiko tilted her head. She didn't understand what the Ghost Lady was talking about...

'Nothing, Mistress.' The Ghost Lady moved far behind the Ghostly 'Emperor'.

Chen Shi naturally saw the leaking Ghost Qi and he narrowed his eyes. He slowly glanced at the smiling little rascal and wondered what she was plotting.

But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure it out.

There was simply no way that some old Soul that spent millennia inside the lamp would obey a dirty little Fox...

Oh, how wrong he was...

The Ghost Lady materialised some ways behind the Ghostly 'Emperor'. She was breathtakingly beautiful, even more so now that she recovered a bit more of Ghost Qi.

Unfortunately or rather fortunately for her, nobody paid any attention to her. They all were focused on the Ghostly 'Emperor' and his next moves.

The Ghost Lady stood behind him, the Ghostly 'Emperor' was still unaware of her, since he was still cussing at the little Fox.

Some Sect Leaders already noticed her, but before they could say anything; she punched him.

"ARGH!" The Ghostly 'Emperor' shrieked with a pained voice.

The Sect Leaders clenched their butt cheeks once again since...

"Not my ass!" The Ghostly 'Emperor' screamed in a pitiful voice.

The Ghost Lady smiled, this type of weak spot was truly heavenly... 'Do you remember me~?' She teased the Ghostly 'Emperor' by giving him a proper fisting.

"It's you! You b-ASGHGFAS." He foamed from the mouth, not being able to maintain his outer shell and his body slowly melted into a puddle of Soul Essence.

This was an incredibly precious Treasure for nurturing and healing the Souls.

The Sect Leaders all had greedy eyes. They really wanted to have that Soul Essence for themselves, but...

*Slurp*

The Ghost Lady just slurped it all in; in a matter of seconds.

"Thank you for the meal." The Ghost Lady became less translucent and even more beautiful, while it couldn't rival Mei just yet... she was not that far from it.

The Sect Leaders' faces were either distorted at the loss of the Treasure or they had very lustful grins on their faces, when they eyed her up and down.

Aiko didn't really care about what they thought and pouted. "You better fulfil your promise!"

"Do not worry, Mistress." The Ghost Lady bowed deeply, like a lowly servant to a Master.

She regained a lot of her strength, but the more she peered into the abyss created by this little Fox, the more sure she was about her insignificance...

She was like a speck of dust in front of her and would never be able to catch up to her. Not in this lifetime, not in the next lifetime, not ever...

The Ghost Lady could only serve as a dutiful maid and faithful servant to this Divine Being...

Aiko nodded slowly, but she had a wide smile on her lips.

The Sect Leaders were dumbfounded and jealous...

Meanwhile, Chen Shi was holding his temples. He had a really terrible headache and he couldn't understand how someone powerful would willingly serve this rascal!

He just couldn't wrap his head around it...

Then there was Lady Liu, with a strange light in her eyes that were quickly concealed.

This naturally didn't escape the Ghost Lady, as she was very powerful; not powerful enough to contend with powerful Cultivators, but powerful enough to observe everything surrounding her!

The Ghost Lady would naturally not approach Lady Liu, unless Lady Liu made her move. At the end of the day, the only point of admiration was Aiko, since she was the only one that could truly threaten her in this Ghost form.

Nobody else truly mattered. She didn't care about the lustful Sect Leaders.

Moreover, she was currently still munching on his Soul Essence and it would take a while before she absorbed it completely.

That meant she would have to take quite a long vacation before she would reappear again.

'Mistress, may I go and meditate?' The Ghost Lady asked Aiko through their connection.

'Sure.' Aiko nodded, slightly puzzled about that reaction.

She also noticed that the Ghost Lady glanced at them, especially Lady Liu. She stared at her for a whole breath! That was suspicious, but she could ask later, not now.

"How do we clean this?" Aiko asked briefly, attracting attention.

This allowed the Ghost Lady to 'dissolve' back into her lamp and rest there.

"You will clean this." Chen Shi naturally placed all the burden on the small rascal!

"You heard him, you will clean this." And Aiko shamelessly passed the baton to the Sect Leaders and Beasts.

"What about you?" The Smelly Wind growled.

"What about me?" Aiko tilted her head cutely, but her eyes had a deadly shade. "You can always get a flag, you know?" Aiko smiled like the Devil.

Smelly Wind scoffed, but didn't say anything and backed down. He couldn't pick a fight with her at this moment.

Aiko hummed, leaving the half-destroyed Royal Palace and back to the Prince's Garden.

She slowed down a bit since she was tired, but also because she just didn't want to breathe in the smell of that Garden.

It was good that the garden was half-destroyed, but half of it still remained intact.

Because of that, the smell was naturally bad, but Aiko couldn't really take a torch and burn it... The Prince might get upset and she didn't really want to talk any more.

She also couldn't transform into her Fox form, which puzzled her. It would be a lot easier if she could have a bath with her Fox form, but alas...

Aiko returned to the Garden. Fortunately, most of the smell was gone, but unfortunately, that smell was replaced by the metallic smell of blood...

While Aiko didn't mind it as much, she would have to spend a few days, maybe even weeks in here...

At that point, she would absolutely mind it!