Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko woke up inside a cage. It was quite a spacious cage, but a cage nonetheless. She was stunned, she could only remember being sleepy and that was it-

"Fuck!" A curse drifted from behind the doors.

"Tell me about it, that thing is impossible to tame." A sigh of a woman, a very young one.

"We have already lost 8 Cultivators and nobody wants to try it now, but Boss said we need to tame her without harming her." He cursed his boss for this injustice. His boss was always driving him to suicide through those missions, but this was the first time he actually felt it was impossible.

"Well duh, have you seen that fur!? It's so amazing and soft, if I had money she wouldn't appear in the auction!" The girl scoffed at her co-worker for being useless, but she was also distressed since she really liked this one. "Do you think if I take that little thing Boss will find out?"

There was a silence. "If you want to die don't drag me with you!" He cursed his co-worker, this animal-loving maniac!

She snorted. "So what? I will have you know I can join any Sect I would like, that's what you call prodigy!" She proclaimed.

"Prodigy my ass." He said in disbelief.

"Oh, you are awake, little one." Said a deep voice nearby. "What a curious little creature, I almost lost my life because of you." He sighed, and a scent of burned flesh drifted towards her, Aiko scrunched her face since she didn't like that kind of scent.

"You will be sold soon, alas we can't keep you. While Boss wanted to keep you there is no way to tame you." He shook his head. "We will make more money by selling you than training you, you look too young and tender."

She looked around, burned bodies were littered on the ground. She then looked at the system and was pleasantly surprised.

[Level: 27]

It seems like she didn't need to kill them directly and could just let them fall over when she was asleep. She laid down, she had already tried to activate her [Shadow Walk], but it didn't work, nor did any other of her abilities. It seems this cage has some kind of sealing properties.

She watched as Cultivators scurried around, bringing cages outside the room, while ignoring the corpses. She was surprised that they didn't clear them, but since she couldn't ask she only stared around.

She was unharmed, it seemed they treasured her fur greatly and thus she wasn't treated all that badly, especially when she looked around at those other battered beasts. Whip marks, burn marks, cut marks, anything you can imagine. Those beasts were either whining or already half-dead.

Aiko was in the stone room, but it wasn't cold, there were floating crystals that gave off strange heat.

"Oi, we are at the peak, should we bring that furball?" Rough voice asked.

"Yeah, bring it, I believe I will be able to sell it for at least 2x the estimated price." Said the female in a seductive voice.

"Hooo?" The rough voice admired her. "That's nice commission payout, how about you treat me to dinner and I will destroy that cunt?" He chuckled at her.

She snorted. "Maybe if you were 50 years younger I would consider letting you bring me out."

"Ouch." He pretended like he was hurt, but was already unlocking the doors.

"How are you doing old man?" He asked, but with respect.

"How do you think I feel after almost being burnt alive?" The old man who spoke to Aiko responded to him in sarcasm, he was at the Peak of Nascent Soul and had to use his technique to suppress the flame, this caused him to drop all the way down to the starting point of Nascent Soul.

"My bad." He apologized, he had great respect for this old guy since he took most jobs that others were not willing to do, if he didn't get burned here he would be able to reach Soul Formation. Fate was cruel sometimes...

He picked Aiko's cage, it looked quite heavy and he grunted, but Aiko didn't move much, while her Beast Core didn't ache as much, she didn't want to spend energy here. Since they can't tame her there will always be a chance to escape.

He brought her to the Auction Stage, the room quietened as Aiko was blinded by the intense light.

Murmurs spread from everywhere.

"Today we have special merchandise, a Fox cub!" The seductress announced.

The murmurs intensified greatly, she could even feel the upper floors peaking curiously.

She waited to build up the hype and continued. "She is a rare breed of Shadow Fox!"

"Bullshit!" One of the customers spat.

The seductress came closer to the cage and ruffled Aiko's fur. Aiko growled at her in displeasure and the seductress took distance. The room was speechless and mesmerized by that fur. They have never seen a beast that could have 2 different colours of fur. Sure there were beasts like Zebras, but nothing like what Aiko had.

"As you can see, she is a rare breed of Shadow Fox. Her fur is the highest quality we have ever encountered!" The hype was building and even the highest floor was now paying attention.

"I don't believe that." The person in the front row said the room quietened. He was known for his loose lips and stingy behaviour.

The seductress smiled from ear to ear and gestured towards him. He stood up and came on the Stage. This auction was known for this and that's why it was so popular.

He touched Aiko swiftly, she tried to bite him, but could not as he was faster than she was.

The stingy customer froze and looked at his hand. He couldn't believe it. His emotions changed greatly, from shock to happiness to grief.

"What do you think?" She puffed her chest attracting attention to her bosom. It was very jiggly and the second reason why so many attended this Auction. While other Auction Houses had their own jiggles... this house completely beat them in that.

"How much is it?" He didn't beat around the bush, which shocked many. They knew this person was extremely stingy and would never spend his money frivolously.

"Please sit down." She gestured him down.

He begrudgingly listened and sat down. The room was already restless imagining the beauty that they would train to their preferences. Some even drooled not minding their manners any more.

"Starting price is 1,000 Spirit Stones." She said gently, but firmly.

That was an astronomical price and was more than 5x the price at what she was supposed to start at, but she already had the attention of the higher floors so there was no need to stick with the lower floors.

"You can raise the price by a minimum of 10 Spirit Stones, let's begin!" She raised her voice and the room was immediately in uproar.

"1,010"
"1,020"
"1,030""1,040""1,050""1,060""1,070"
"2,000 Spirit Stones" Drifted from the upper floors.
"3,000 Spirit Stones" A female voice also drifted from the upper floors.
"Do you wish to acquire this beast, Princess? I'm more than willing to let you have it, for the cheap price of one night."
There was a sinister giggle. "I understand, trying to save your face when you are so poor must be really hard." She directly insulted him. A Prince from a neighbouring Kingdom.
"5,000 Spirit Stones" He said with a grudge.
"10,000 Spirit Stones" The Princess said gently.

The prince frowned, he would soon be hitting his limit.

"15,000 Spirit Stones" He said with a deep voice, trying to boost his ego.

The other people on the lower floors already had popcorn and listened to this banter. It was not often that someone would try to flex their wealth and while those numbers were unimaginable for them, it was not for the Royalty. Some Royalty had roots with nearby Sects at thus were much richer than others.

Loose Cultivators couldn't compare to that as they would make at best couple dozen Spirit stones a year. They couldn't sell their treasures as most of them would need them to advance or replace the old ones. They were a miserable bunch that were the main cause of recruitment for Demon Sects. Of course, righteous Sects didn't do anything about this, they didn't want to feed beggars when they could have a couple of young brats that they could brainwash to their image and let them loose in the world. It also made loyalty much easier as vows were placed upon them if they wanted to enter the bigger Sects.

The seductress almost fainted when the price reached 5,000 Spirit Stones. They expected the payout from this to be around 6,000 Spirit Stones, but she hit the number in less than half of incense of time. Her legs were quivering as the price skyrocketed to 15,000 and she could hear a thud behind her. The rough guy was on the floor eyes like a lighthouse looking speechlessly at how much something so small could cost something so much.

"30,000 Spirit Stones" The Princess smiled and the Prince almost coughed up blood.

"31,000 Spirit Stones!" He yelled, but before the seductress could confirm that number.
"62,000 Spirit Stones" She smiled gently from ear to ear as she leaned on the railing of the terrace.

The Prince vomited blood, he felt like he was losing his mind. The Princess smiled at him and he vomited even more blood passing out.
"P-Prince!" The Guards were in distress, if something happened to the Prince it would be their fault and their heads that would roll. They quickly picked him up and moved to private rooms to heal him.

The seductress was too shocked and only recovered after half a minute.

"6-62,000 Spirit Stones, once... twice... sold." People could see her soul leaving her body and ascending as she had never imagined such an astronomic price to be put for such a small and weak beast.

She couldn't mutter anything any more and the Auction House had to replace her for the rest of the Auction as they also couldn't believe the price.

...

"T-thank you for purchasing our merchandise." The old manager smiled at them awkwardly as he stared at the HUGE pile of Spirit Stones.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you." She fanned herself gently, but the old guard behind her knew how much she wanted to pet that beast.

'Don't get too close to that beast, you can't tame it, it's protected.' A voice sounded in the Princess's mind, but she ignored it.

They placed the cage in front of her and she almost screamed as the beast was looking around cautiously, but its huge ears betrayed Aiko as they were twitching around.

'S-so big, so fluffy.' The Princess screamed in her mind. 'It's a good thing that, that good of nothing doesn't have much wealth~' She hummed pleasingly.

"Princess it is not wise to free that beast." The Guard warned her as he knew his Princess antics.

'You can locate it if it runs away.' She sends a telepathic message to him. 'But do not hurt it, unless you want to lose your head.'

The guard sighed and cupped his fist.

Aiko sharpened her senses. She understood their language.

The princess opened the cage and the restriction on her skills vanished.

'Go left, doors will open~.'
'Go fast, slaughter him.'

Aiko listened and jumped outside, the princess thought it was jumping at her and screamed in her mind at how cute she looked, but Aiko used her [Prehensile Tail] and coiled it around one of the bars making her sharply turn towards the left doors. Her back muscles strained as she used her Beast Core to boost her Skills and Abilities.

[Shadow Walk], [Quick Jump] with [Sprint]. She used the fact she was still in the shadows of the cage and her fur turned black. Her speed reached that of a Pseudo-Nascent Soul Cultivator and she disappeared from their sight the moment the doors moved.

*BANG*
-100HP

She crashed into the doors, opening them completely, it hurt her, but she didn't care right now as this was an opportunity to escape. She used her Skills in tandem and swished like a bullet hitting the walls and speeding up through the corridors.

The Guard was stunned for a moment, but he fortunately attached a bit of energy to the beast and would be able to locate her, but still.

The manager was stunned. They approximated her strength to be around the 2nd Layer of Foundation Establishment, but this speed.

'We have lost money... I might lose my head.' He looked like he ate shit at this moment, but Princess ignored him as she squealed in her mind.

'S-so amazing! So cute! I hope she is not injured, we should go after her as soon as possible!' She stood up and the Guard followed.