Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko walked into the Grandmaster’s abode and waited. In the meantime, she read the Jade Slip again.

The amount of information was insane, but Aiko would not give up. She wanted to know what she could get from Mei for finishing this Jade Slip.

It took some time, but eventually, her team returned from training. Aiko had already signed Wanshu’s contract, so she was officially part of the team too.

”Do you have spare time?” Aiko asked her obviously tired team.

”What is it?” The Blood Fox was always enthusiastic about helping Aiko, since she would get Aiko for herself.

”Do any of you know how to do the exteriors of buildings?” Aiko asked with gentle eyes.

Their faces didn’t look all that good, it didn’t seem any of them had any knowledge about that.

The Blood Fox paused. Something exceptional happened.

Those voices that always bothered her were now nudging her to help Aiko.

She had no idea why, but it shouldn’t hurt her.

”I can try?” The Blood Fox tilted her head. She got not only Aiko’s attention, but also the twins’.

The Blood Fox wondered what those voices were up to. Why did they suddenly want to help her? Why did they want to lick Aiko’s shoes? She didn’t know, but she hoped to uncover this over time.

”Okay.” Aiko smiled. ”After you rest or?”

The Blood Fox wanted to say after some rest, but those voices were nudging her to help right now...

She could only sigh and go with Aiko.

...

Aiko hummed happily. This went far smoother than expected.

They were walking towards their business, but the Blood Fox suddenly flinched.

Noticing this Aiko couldn’t help but worry about her. ”What’s wrong?”

”Nothing... the air is just stale.” The Blood Fox was much more sensitive to this than Aiko.

”Oh.” Aiko nodded. She understood what the Blood Fox meant, but it did not bother as much since she had acclimated to the air from spending time outside Grandmaster’s abode setting up the business.

”Here it is.” Aiko pointed at the shabby building.

The Blood Fox’s lips twitched, but she smiled mischievously when she saw Mei glaring at her.

”What’s wrong?” The Blood Fox smiled from ear to ear, but Mei just snorted.

”Can you do it?” Aiko ignored this exchange and asked.

”I will see what I can do...” The Blood Fox really hoped that those voices could help her. It would not hurt to mess with the almighty Mei.

Aiko blinked a few times. The attitude between them was not that good, but Aiko had no idea how to solve it. She could only watch from the sidelines as the events unfolded.

The Blood Fox smirked. The voices were quite enthusiastic about helping, so she got to work drawing a simple sketch on how to improve the business and its surroundings.

Aiko observed it closely. She quite liked how the Blood Fox drew. She wished that Mei would also draw like this so Aiko could admire it.

Meanwhile, Mei had a very sour look on her face. Aiko paid more attention to the Blood Fox than her, only because she was bad at exteriors... She would have to rectify that later and so Aiko would come to her instead of the Blood Fox.

Aiko kept watching over the Blood Fox until she finished her work of art, the whole sketch also included a small pond with a small bamboo forest, and pathways, among other things.

It felt like the Blood Fox was designing a courtyard instead of a business building, but Aiko did not dislike it.

Mei snorted unhappily. She had to agree; that it was a good sketch, but it would take a while to put this design in place.

”You are amazing~!” Aiko praised the Blood Fox. She felt like the exterior would go well with the interior.

”Now harmony will be achieved and Mei’s interior will be enhanced~!” Aiko giggled happily, but Mei pinched her cheek. She was unhappy that she was not praised properly.

”You are amazing, Mei~” As though Aiko could read Mei’s mind, she praised her too.

Mei still felt a bit bitter in her mind, but it was nothing a few smiles from Aiko could not fix.

”Now go away! There is too much work to do!” Mei shooed both of them away. She wanted some peace of mind and got ready to prepare the large garden-like entrance.

...

Aiko returned with the Blood Fox to the Grandmaster’s abode, where Yuxi and Wanshu were happily chatting away.

Yuxi was sitting on Wanshu’s lap, while Wanshu was hugging her from behind.

”Finished?” Yuxi asked.

”En.” The Blood Fox nodded. It was finished, but far from over. There were more things to do, but fortunately, it was not up to her to do those things.

”Good.” Yuxi nodded and opened her arms. She was trying to lure the small Aiko into a hug.

Wanshu pinched Yuxi’s thigh unhappily.

Yuxi pouted, but still dragged Aiko into one large hug.

Wanshu snorted, biting Yuxi’s shoulder gently, making her yelp and jump in return.

Aiko didn’t enjoy that rocking, so she likewise bit Yuxi’s hand, so that she would stop.

This ’assault’ continued for a while before Yuxi gave up on Aiko and pouted at Wanshu.

Wanshu snorted unhappily, but hugged Yuxi tighter, so that she wouldn’t get any silly ideas.

Aiko returned to the Blood Fox that was resting. She sat next to her so as not to disturb her and read the Jade Slip.

It was a peaceful evening...

...

The next day, Aiko returned to the shabby building. It looked much better now. The wood was more polished and shinier. The felt much less like a forest trail, and more like a proper genuine path. The empty hole for a pond was also nearby.

Aiko nodded at the progress. It was much faster than she expected.

”You are awesome!” Aiko knew that she would not be able to do so much in a week since she had no sense for the exterior and interior.

Mei felt happier that Aiko praised her openly without nudging her. She was patching up the few last planks on the main building to make it look more clean and better looking.

Mei had to agree that this would definitely attract more attention than her last building. The main proof of this was that the ’spies’ from before had more than doubled and the more changes she had made, the more ’spies’ they seemed to attract.

Aiko was slightly concerned about Mei since she could feel quite a lot of presence nearby, but since she didn’t mind them...

’Maybe I should stick a few flags up their asses so they’ll leave us alone...’ Aiko narrowed her eyes. That was a sure-fire way to get them to leave.

Unfortunately, Mei told Aiko to service the Massage chairs, so she would have to postpone her ’gardening’ for later.

As unhappy as she was, she didn’t want to make Mei angry. Angry Mei was too scary and Aiko didn’t want to experience it again.

Aiko wanted those rewards for finishing the Jade Slip, but she was far from finished...

...

Aiko was sitting on the fur carpet inside their business building. She quite liked Mei’s style, but they would have to get higher quality stuff, so that the fur carpet would be warm and welcoming.

It was definitely not because Aiko wanted a warm place to laze around when her team and Mei were too busy! Undoubtedly not!

Aiko finished yet another page of the Jade Slip and placed it down. She was tired of learning things.

Maybe she should return back to the Grandmaster’s abode and start building more Massage Chairs? That could solve her problem temporarily, but there were just not enough things to do...

Aiko shook her head. She would go bother Mei instead.

She walked outside, Mei was now working on filling the small pond and Aiko had an idea.

”Mei, teach me the cleaning spell.” Aiko trotted towards Mei smiling.

”You need to have Water Affinity for it to work properly.” Mei narrowed her eyes, but for some reason, Aiko kept nodding.

”I have Water Affinity, now teach me.” Aiko’s eyes shined. She didn’t want to work on the Massage Chairs or the Jade Slip, but she would learn the cleaning spell to perfection!

Mei was startled. ’Did she eat another elemental shard?’ She suddenly had a headache. ’You should’ve eaten the Fire one, Water is more precious...’ She whined inside her mind.

Aiko was unaware of Mei’s turmoil and smiled again.

”Fine.” Mei kept filling the water while narrating her cleaning spells poem.

Aiko scrunched her face. She understood none of it. ”Are all spells like this?” She didn’t like it...

”Yes.” Mei smiled. It was an awful way to store information, but on the other hand, you would need a key in order to unlock that knowledge.

”The first thing you need to learn is to ’submerge’ things.” Mei pointed at a nearby very dirty shovel. Aiko tilted her head. Surely Mei didn’t use that shovel to dig the pond, right?

”Imagine ’submerging’ it in Water. Once you have a feeling that it’s submerged, allow your Beast Core Energy to flow outside freely.” Mei nudged Aiko.

Aiko nodded gently. She walked towards the shovel and sat in front of it.

...

Like this, she spent the rest of the day trying to ’submerge’ the shovel.

Aiko suddenly turned around. ”You aren’t making fun of me, right?” She narrowed her eyes, since she felt like Mei was making fun of her.

Mei replied innocently. ”It’s how you learn this spell.”

Aiko... felt something wrong about this situation, but she could not figure out what? Was Mei pouting? Was that why she felt like this?

Aiko turned her attention back to the shovel, practising more...

...

The next day started inside since she was in her Dew Form, but once she left that form; she went outside.

Mei finished the pond and was now arranging the bamboo shoots. Aiko observed her for a while, but didn’t know why Mei just didn’t replant a few from inside.

Mei made a few hand movements and a bamboo shoot suddenly shot towards the sky.

Aiko almost stumbled backwards. ’That’s not how plants are supposed to work!’ She yelled inside her mind, but Mei completely ignored her and grew a small bamboo forest right in front of Aiko’s eyes...

Aiko stared blankly at Mei, while she hummed happily. Mei liked the fact that Aiko paid attention and she especially liked how shocked she was.

’See? I’m better than the Blood Fox, so stop hugging her!’ Mei snorted unhappily in her mind. She would not be outdone by a Demonic Fox!

”How did you do that?” Aiko walked near Mei, still staring at the small bamboo forest. She then had an idea. ’Maybe it’s a projection...’ Aiko narrowed her eyes and slapped the bamboo.

*Slap Slap*

She was once again startled. The bamboo had a collision! Aiko could not understand how Mei achieved this, but Mei just hummed as she kept growing plants willy-nilly!