Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

[You have gained a new Title: [Little Baby]!]

This was the first thing Aiko saw when she woke up from her sleep.

[Little Baby]

[You will have an easier time sleeping if you cuddle with someone.]

’...’ Aiko really wanted to flip the table and scold the system, but she could not... she was too tired to do that, so she just glared at the system.

Mei was observing the Six-Coloured Lotus, it seemed like she either liked it or was obsessed with it.

Aiko moved behind Mei and cuddled her since she was very warm. This time Mei didn’t protest for some reason.

”Where did you find this girl?” Mei spoke gently.

”It’s the Princess that was supposed to die.” Aiko murmured half-sleepy.

Mei shook her head, gently patting Aiko. Aiko murmured at that feeling, almost drifting to sleep again.

In front of Mei was the very timid Princess. What Mei could not believe was the fact that she had a special Mutated Heavenly Spiritual Root. Perfect for Alchemy, but especially perfect for growing the rarest Herbs.

Mei narrowed her eyes and the Princess lowered her head. She was exceptionally timid considering her Spiritual Roots.

”What do you think about us?” Mei asked softly.

”I... don’t know.” The Princess didn’t know much about them.

She spent most of her time behind her Mother or being abused by the Emperor and his people, so she didn’t know the wider world, only what she could see from her home or cell...

”What about her?” Mei asked, gently tugging on the hugging Aiko.

”S-she is pretty.” The Princess blushed a deep red. She was weak against those kinds of people.

”Do you mind that we are Foxes?” Mei narrowed her eyes.

”Well...” The Princess didn’t know what to say. She really wanted to ruffle those ears and rest her head on the tails, but she also believed that she would get scolded if she did that...

Mei tilted her head. She would not jump to conclusions if she didn’t get a clear answer, but seeing her glance towards their tails so much... it was obvious that it was more of a like than hate.

”What do you intend to do now?” Mei asked another question.

The Princess paused, but didn’t know what to say. If possible, she wanted to be with the Fox called Aiko, but it was obvious that she already had a partner.

”I...” The Princess couldn’t say it out loud.

”If you want to stay with us, you would have to listen to my orders.” Mei supported her cheek with her hand on a nearby table.

”I’m fine with that.” The Princess said in a mosquito-like sound.

Mei was surprised that she finally got a straightforward answer. She nodded gently. ”You will spend a lot of time cultivating. Not being able to keep up would mean that we would have to abandon you.” Mei said straightforwardly.

”I will do my best.” The Princess was never around so many beautiful people... erm... Foxes.

”You will have to stay here no matter what happens. It’s not different from a jail.” Mei gazed towards the Princess.

”Will you abuse me?” The Princess asked. She was more confident talking to this Fox now.

”Unless you do something bad.” Mei didn’t deny it. If the Princess hurt Aiko or plotted something, it would be natural for her to live in hell...

The Princess nodded gently. She gazed at the dignified Fox, but that dignity was soon shattered.

*Squish*

The ’dignified’ Fox stiffened as her head was buried in soft pillows.

”Aiko! I’m trying to talk here!” Mei was furious, but her neck was slowly changing colour to red.

The Princess looked towards the ’odd’ duo. Is that how Foxes treat each other? Or were they special? She didn’t know. She didn’t have enough knowledge about Foxes to begin with, much less about Cultivation.

The Princess would just do her best.

”I will start training you with Aiko in Alchemy. You will have a much harder time than Aiko, but don’t be discouraged. Your specialisation is not entirely in Alchemy, but you can earn a lot through it.” Mei said. ”You will need that for your main specialisation.”

The Princess nodded. She didn’t understand what Alchemy was or her specialisation, but this place was much nicer than anything she had experienced. The only thing left to do was to go with the flow...

...

Aiko finally woke up, her cheeks were being stretched by Mei.

”Mei...” Aiko whined softly and Mei finally let her go.

”Do you know what wrong you did?” Mei asked sternly.

”I didn’t hug Mei properly...” Aiko sniffled.

”No... ugh...” Explaining was painful for Mei since Aiko would bypass her words or cuddle her. Mei understood that Aiko was seeking warmth since her body was very cold, but she didn’t like to suffer from Aiko’s assaults!

”Have you learned about Herbs? There will be more.” Mei placed a special Jade slip in front of Aiko. ”Earn everything inside.”

Mei then turned towards the Princess. ”And you will have to learn how to Cultivate.”

Aiko stared at her bed, walked away with the Princess and looked around.

There was no Blood Fox or Yuxi around. Every bed left...

”But I’m cold...” Aiko whined quietly.

She walked outside and into the Forest. It was a nice and lush Forest, but it was still a Forest. Aiko was able to collect branches for a fire and returned to her home.

She set up a campfire and used the sparkly stones to ignite it. It took quite a lot of time, but thanks to always watching her team; she understood the principle.

She would collect fluff from the Forest, it was easily ignited by the sparks and then she just had to place branches on top of it. Voilà, there was a fire.

Aiko sat next to the fire hugging her tails. She took the Jade Slip, but almost fainted right after.

’This is too much, Mei!’ Aiko whined in her mind. She could not ’see’ the end of the Jade Slip. It was so much information that she might spend years on it!

Meanwhile, Mei taught the Princess meditation. Once that was done, she returned to Aiko who was resentfully staring at her.

”I hate you.” Aiko looked away with a pitiful expression.

Mei’s heart softened since this was the Aiko that she knew.

Mei hugged Aiko from behind. ”Are you cold?” She noticed that Aiko was able to create a fire without the help of others. This was good progress for Aiko’s independence.

”Hmpf.” Aiko hmpfed away, but could not get away from Mei as she wrapped her hands around Aiko’s waist.

’She is still slim...’ Mei found out. She thought that Aiko would become chubbier, but that was not the case... ’Outside of her...’ She averted her eyes from the obnoxiously large peaks.

”How are you feeling?” Mei tried to soothe Aiko, but the only things she got in return were hmpfs and snorts.

”So... you don’t want delicious juicy meat any more?” Mei nudged Aiko.

Aiko’s body stiffened and her ears twitched. She wanted to sulk for a bit more to make Mei guilty, but delicious food... She would lie if she didn’t say that she missed it...

”I still won’t talk to you.” Aiko steeled her mind about this which surprised Mei.

Mei did not expect Aiko to build up resistance to meat or maybe that’s how much she hated that Jade Slip...? ’She is still reading it...’ Mei noticed that the Jade Slip was gently glowing, which meant that someone was reading it. That someone was naturally Aiko.

Mei wanted to tease Aiko, so she could understand what she should or should not do, but no matter what Mei did; Aiko did not budge at all.

It felt like Aiko was a bit too innocent in certain aspects... It definitely could not be that Aiko got used to her.

”I have gifts for you.” Mei gently whispered into Aiko’s ear.

This was the first time that Aiko reacted. She could see Aiko visibly recoil and her ears were dyed in pink colour, slowly turning a tinge of red.

”What’s wrong?” Mei spoke softly into Aiko’s ear again and she tried to distance herself from Mei again.

”Hey...” Mei whispered one last time, but Aiko jerked from her with a squeak.

”Kya!” Aiko could not bear that strange sensation any more and tried to get away from Mei.

Mei still kept hugging Aiko so they rolled around until Mei was on top of Aiko.

”What’s wrong~?” Mei found entertainment in the shy and fleeting Aiko.

”I... don’t know.” Aiko didn’t know how to feel about this situation...

Aiko’s clothes were messed up from the rolling, so part of her bosom was exposed. Her belt came undone, so everything loosened. Aiko’s expression was likewise ’strange’. Her face was flushed red and she kept one hand over her lips with half-closed eyes.

Aiko squirmed under Mei.

Mei gulped loudly. ’This is too much...!’ Mei didn’t know that Aiko’s beauty approached the 100 million mark, which could put even some Immortals to shame.

Moreover, that pitiful expression stoked Mei’s sadistic desire to tease Aiko more, ’Nononono, I never had that desire.’ but seeing that expression on Aiko’s face, she could only look away...

Aiko never experienced this feeling, but it was not bad... She was just confused by it...

...

It took an incense stick of time for Aiko to return to normal. Meanwhile, Mei was blushing, covering her lips with the top of her hand, sitting like a gangster.

Aiko silently moved closer, but her clothes were very much undone at this point.

”Fix your clothing, dammit!” Mei couldn’t finally bear it and slammed her fist on the table to calm herself down.

Aiko was shocked by this and retreated, slowly fixing her clothing.

Mei gritted her teeth, seeing the sad Aiko, but this was for the better. Mei was not immune to Aiko’s charm, but thanks to her sutra, she was able to leave scot-free.

But Aiko kept her distance. It felt like she was too scared to approach.

”Come here.” Mei was willing to soothe her, now that her clothes were fixed, but Aiko was not willing.

Aiko kept staring from afar, not approaching.

”Aren’t you cold?” Mei could see that Aiko was shivering, so she wanted to warm her up. It was important to keep the now fragile Aiko warm and happy.

Aiko hesitated. She was scared that Mei would do those things again and that she would get scolded.

”I will scold you if you don’t come closer.” Mei threatened in a non-threatening voice. She just wished that Aiko would get better soon...

Aiko’s face scrunched up. She didn’t like this, but had to move, since she didn’t want to get scolded...