Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

The sky suddenly darkened, and the two men enjoying tea shivered from the sudden coldness.

They walked outside only to be shocked.

”That is impossible! Heavenly Disaster is not supposed to be THAT big!” The no longer arrogant Young Master shouted.

The Strategist stared at it blankly. They were no longer outside of the dead zone of the Heavenly Disaster. They would get struck down, but even if they moved quickly right now... It’s unlikely that they would manage to survive.

Small Ai Long inside the Beast Plane Storage narrowed his eyes.

”There is an abundance of Nature Energies, Master.” Ai Long spoke as if smirking.

”Is there some kind of Treasure?” The Young Master narrowed his eyes.

”It is a very precious Treasure.” Ai Long suddenly laughed. ”But not something you can obtain!”

The Young Master frowned. ”Why not?” There was no word in his vocabulary that would signify unobtainable!

’Can’t believe that the one who is Evolving has the gall to use such previous Treasure as a shield.’ Ai Long shook his head, but did not say anything to his Master. He was not contracted to do so and he was also curious about the one who would sacrifice it to survive.

”The Mountain!” One Cultivator shouted and everyone looked towards the mountain.

The mountain was being slowly covered by vines thicker than the largest bulls. It wrapped around the mountain, climbing higher and higher.

Everyone was shocked. Plant-based Beasts were incredibly rare and even more so those that could attract this kind of Heavenly Disaster cloud.

Everyone burned with desire, yet none dared to act on it. If the Plant-based Beast was able to attract this kind of disaster, that meant that they had no chance of contracting it.

Plant-based Beasts were different to normal Beasts. They could not be tamed unwillingly. Their abundance of Vitality and unyielding spirit in front of adversaries made them impossible to be contracted.

One would have to match their Vitality and Mental Strength, which was impossible for Human beings.

Even if we exclude the Vitality part, most Humans do not have the same kind of guts that plants have. Unlike Humans, plants would rise again and again. It didn’t matter if you stomped on them, or ripped them apart, as long as their roots stayed intact, they would survive everything that Humans could throw at them.

The desire was obvious, but none acted, yet all stayed. They wished to see what kind of Divine Plant could attract this kind of Heavenly Disaster.

Ai Long snorted disdainfully. These simpletons had no idea what they were dealing with. He could make an outline of who was Evolving and even his spine chilled! He was a Dragon, yet that little Fox made him feel fear!

Ai Long ignored his Master’s questions. He was looking forward to their dumb faces once they realised that it was not a Plant, but a ’normal’ Beast.

Ai Long laughed before coiling around himself, keeping one eye towards the mountain to stop his Master from approaching it.

...

The Heavenly Disaster stopped growing on the 6th day. The Human Cultivators no longer felt any desire to possess that Plant-based Beast.

They felt fear and reverence for the Plant-based Beast that could attract this unbelievable disaster.

The Young Master was stopped a few times by his own pet. He really desired that Plant-based Beast. He knew that it was impossible to contract it, but a few sweet words should attract the Beast’s attention.

This was unlike him. Usually, he would use force to get what he wanted. Yet this time, force was impossible to be used.

He couldn’t understand why Ai Long was stopping him.

”Reporting!” Two Advanced Reconnaissance Units rushed inside.

”Speak.” The Strategist felt haggard, he could not believe the size of that thing. Why didn’t he stay inside his bed and ignore his friend?!

The two Advanced Reconnaissance Units looked at each other. The one from ’outside’ went first.

”There are flying ships approaching!” He reported.

”Oh... the East is not as late as we expected...” The Strategist said haggardly.

”It’s not the East!” The Advanced Reconnaissance Unit shouted.

”Who is it?” The Strategist looked towards him and it attracted more attention from outside.

”It’s Fiendish Cultivators!” The Advanced Reconnaissance Unit said gravely.

”What?!” Everyone around was shocked, but quickly calmed down.

The Strategist was the calmest. ”They will crash like everyone else.” He shook his head.

”That’s...” The Advanced Reconnaissance Unit didn’t know what to say.

”What?” The Strategist had very fragile nerves, even more so now that the Heavenly Disaster had increased to this scale.

”T-they are not falling...” The Advanced Reconnaissance Unit stuttered.

”...” Silence spread, it felt like everyone had a hearing problem.

”What...?” The Young Master said.

”The restriction zone increased in size.” He explained. ”But they already passed into the restriction zone and are still flying!”

”...!” Everyone took a sharp breath in. How was it possible that they could keep flying, but the Righteous Sects couldn’t?

”We have a theory.” Another Advanced Reconnaissance Unit from the same team said.

”Speak.” The Strategist felt exhausted.

”They are shrouded in sinister, twisted Qi. It seems that this is not actually a restriction zone, but a zone that targets normal Qi and draws it towards the Evolving Beast!” The Advanced Reconnaissance Unit said.

”Oh?” Ai Long smirked. ”Not bad for a Human to notice that.”

Ai Long already knew that this was not a restriction zone, but just a zone without Qi. The Beast had such a high consumption that it was astonishing even to him.

But there were things that puzzled him, usually, Nature would take the second brunt of this force, but Nature was brimming with Vitality...

He could not understand it at all.

The Strategist weakly plopped down. ”What is the other report?” He didn’t have the strength to make any plans against this threat.

”We have possibly identified a rare Herb!” The other Advanced Reconnaissance Unit said and everyone snorted.

They could not believe that they wasted resources like that.

”We have asked our and North’s Alchemist to confirm and they unanimously said the same thing.” Nobody was listening to this guy talking about Herb when they were in grave danger.

”It’s the Heavenly Lightning Lily!” The Advanced Reconnaissance Unit finished his report and another silence spread.

They should definitely have their ears checked. It felt like they had a terrible hearing. Heavenly Lightning Lily and in this place without Qi? You are joking.

Ai Long laughed and everyone turned towards the Young Master.

”You are much more promising than the West guys.” He gaggled happily. ”I thought you would only find out once it bloomed.”

All the Cultivators stopped and looked towards the Beast Plane Storage.

The Heavenly Lightning Lily was a Treasure beyond imagination. It could actually alter someone’s Spiritual Root upon consumption, or by using it as a Pill it could empower someone’s body so much that they could fight 2 small stages above their own!

Another wave of greed spread, but this time they would not back down. That Treasure... they could possess it. They WILL possess it!

”Don’t get any funny ideas, Humans.” Ai Long snorted disdainfully.

”You can’t stop all of us!” One Cultivator said.

Ai Long laughed. ”Why would I want to stop you? Go, steal it. I will watch from afar and escape once my Master dies.” He laughed happily.

”Are you betraying me?!” The Young Master was shocked.

”Betraying you?” Ai Long snorted. ”I don’t have to do anything and you all will die.” He shrugged without any concern.

”Explain or I will immediately report this to my Father!” The Young Master glared at the Dragon.

Ai Long clicked his tongue. ”Seriously, all you can do is cry for your Father.” He shook his head. ”Does anyone know why it’s called Heavenly Disaster?” Ai Long threw this question out.

Cultivators exchanged looks, but only a few knew.

”It causes Heavenly Lightning to strike the Beast that’s Evolving. The more powerful Evolution, the more strikes.”

Humans had something similar at higher stages, so everyone now understood the danger, yet they still planned to rob it. Heavenly Lightning isn’t all that bad. At worst, you will be bedridden for a few years.

Ai Long laughed. ”Not bad, but you are not right either.”

”What you described is Heavenly Blessing, not Heavenly Disaster.” Ai Long patiently explained since he didn’t want to get beaten up by that old bastard. ”Unlike Heavenly Blessing, Heavenly Disaster is here to kill the Beast since it’s too powerful.”

The Cultivators nodded like chickens.

”In other words, it will reach a few metres or at most a dozen.” The same Cultivator said rubbing his hands. Most Human Cultivators had at most 1 metre wide Heavenly Lightning to strike them.

Ai Long stared at them blankly and blurted out. ”Are you stupid?”

They glared back at him. None of them were familiar with Beast Evolution except the Young Master.

”Oh... fuck.” The Young Master blurted out his body shaking.

”We need to get inside the flying ship now!” The Young Master started to run.

Ai Long laughed happily again. ”Isn’t it a bit too late now, Master~?” He gaggled with glee. ”After all, the size of that lightning is at least the width of the mountain~!” He hummed happily. This would surely kill the Young Master and he would be free!

”Shut up!” The Young Master glared at his stupid pet.

The other Cultivators watched them panic and it took them quite a long time to process that information.

Panic immediately spread and it took the Elders quite a lot of time to calm them down.

”We will drive our ships here and crash them near each other. We will use their internal Defensive Formation to form one large Defensive Formation!” Tao Xin shouted. ”Everyone who is low on Qi, meditate now! We will need all the Qi we can get! I don’t care that there is no Qi in the air, drain the Forests, Rivers, and Mountains!”

Tao Xin immediately ripped the Communication Talisman. It was barely working, but he was able to get the orders through.

...

Four ships were stacked together and a large Defensive Formation Formed above the ships.

The Northern Sect assisted in this as their ships were not as powerful as the Southern Sect’s.

”You will owe me for this one.” Tao Xin said towards them.

”Tsk. Whatever, you cheating bastard!” Fiend Wang glared at him, but still commanded her Sect to assist with their Qi.

”Young Master?” Tao Xin turned towards the Young Master and spoke through Telepathy.

”What is it?! I’m busy!” The Young Master was running around his flying ship. He almost never brought any servants with him, so now he had to operate everything by himself. He no longer felt proud for having such a large personal flying ship.

”Do we know how many Heavenly Lightnings would descend?” Tao Xin asked.

”3.” Ai Long said calmly. ”The Heavenly Dao can’t issue more in this Lower World.” This was the limit of the Heavenly Lightning and while that limit could be bypassed, it would only empower the Evolution...

”We have to survive 3 strikes...” Tao Xin felt weak in his knees. The Heavenly Lightning Lily was widely researched as it was considered a Divine Herb, but there was no study that told them how many Heavenly Lightnings it could take on before perishing...

”We might need to use our exclusive Treasures from the founder to survive...” Now Tao Xin understood why the Leaders talked about this so gravely...