Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”Ugh.” Aiko lazily rolled around.

”Slept well?” Mei noticed Aiko stirring around and spoke gently.

”I had the strangest dream...” Aiko blinked a few times.

Mei tilted her head. ”What kind of dream?”

”You abused the Grandmaster and then you wanted to abuse me. Ugh.” Aiko shivered for some reason.

”Good thing that it was just a dream, right?” Mei smiled, petting Aiko.

Aiko nodded. ”I don’t want such dreams again...”

Mei glanced at the overly obedient Dai Lu, who was glaring at her.

Mei made a throat-cutting motion, the message was obvious: Tell a Soul and the past will repeat itself.

Dai Lu nodded like a meek child. Her body still ached from that whipping, but fortunately, she did not attain the Human body, otherwise she might’ve died there!

Aiko groaned one last time before standing up and stretching. Mornings were the hardest on her since her body was the heaviest.

”Oh right!” Aiko clapped her hands. ”Mei! I learned the [Clea-”

”No!” Mei instinctively blurted out.

”But I trained on a dirty Cauldron...” Aiko whined. She spent so much time on it!

”You need to learn how to clean clothes first!” Mei said sternly. She needed to prevent Aiko from destroying another set of her clothing!

”Why clothing?” Aiko tilted her head.

”Cauldrons are always the filthiest, so if you tried it on something else it would ruin that thing.” Mei bullshitted her way out of this situation, since she still couldn’t understand how Aiko was able to destroy clothes.

”Okay...” Aiko nodded. She was not really happy about the fact that she had to train on clothing before using the [Clean].

”Here are some disposable clothes that are dirty and hard to clean.” Mei said gently.

Aiko nodded and used clean on one piece, since it felt that if she used clean on the whole thing; she would get scolded by Mei.

To Aiko’s shock, once she used [Clean], the clothing disappeared!?

”See? That’s why you need to practise on clothing.” Mei said gently, but her lips were twitching. She could see Dai Lu shaking her head from side to side like she was saying: ”This is not normal!”

Mei ignored her, and as long as Aiko didn’t notice, everything would be alright~!

...

Aiko took a few days to train on clothing. For some reason, there was a constant steady supply until she learned how to not destroy clothing.

Aiko still had some time before the Secret Realm, so she bothered Mei.

”I want to complete the [Lightness Technique].” Aiko said.

”You can’t complete it, since it’s ’Beast Adjusted’ form, but you can perfect it.” Mei explained.

”How does it differ from normal form?” Aiko tilted her head.

”In the normal form, you use Dantian to circulate your Qi through meridians adjusting your own weight, so that you are lighter.” Mei explained slowly.

”Meanwhile, this adjusted form just spreads your Beast Core Energy in your body and thus is less effective.” Mei said.

”But I’m pretty quick with it?” Aiko didn’t understand how much lighter the normal version could get.

”In this version... at most, branches won’t break under you.” Mei said. ”Meanwhile, the normal form would allow you to jump from leaf to leaf, even when they are falling!” She proclaimed enthusiastically.

”It is important to master the normal version as there are also competitions about it and you can earn quite the sweet rewards!” Mei giggled. She already imagined how she would scam those old geezers off of their Treasures.

”I can’t see myself defeating you...” Aiko blurted out.

”That is because I have more experience.” Mei soothed Aiko’s hair. ”Once you train and gain experience, you will be able to catch up to me.” She smiled gently.

”I hope so...” Aiko narrowed her eyes. She hoped that she would be able to catch up to Mei.

”I will train you in the Lightness Technique in your free time.” Mei said. ”We need to start stockpiling more things for the Secret Realm.” She pondered on it. ”Thanks to our new ’Technique’ Pills are no problem, so we should get some other gear like Talismans.” She nodded to herself.

Aiko left Mei to her own thoughts and returned to refine Pills. She wanted to reach [Alchemy Mastery: Mastered] before the Secret Realm if possible. Thanks to the numerous tests and everything around it, she was able to reach Level 8 already, but it feels like the last two Levels will be very difficult to accomplish while also training the [Lightness Technique]...

...

Aiko trained with Mei in her free time and made Pills in the mornings in order to master that craft.

She was getting better and better, but the time of the Secret Realm was mercilessly approaching.

Aiko shook her head. She would not be able to master it, but at least she was able to reach [Alchemy Mastery: Lv.9]. This should be good enough.

As for the training with Mei, it was not much different from when Aiko chased after Mei with her Divine Sense.

She became more proficient in switching the two polarities of the Divine Sense and improved her control over both of them.

The non-wolf form was easier to control since it didn’t have any thoughts and obeyed its master unconditionally, while the wolf form would sometimes pout or just not move at all.

The wolf felt quite lazy at times which upset Aiko, but there was nothing she could do about this...

...

The Blood Fox returned just as Aiko wanted to rush outside.

”We are almost ready to leave.” The Blood Fox smiled gently. It’s been a while since the last time she saw Aiko, but she learned how to somewhat control those voices, buying her the necessary time to locate Aiko in the Secret Realm.

”What?! Already?!” Aiko thought that she still had a month to go!

”We still need to travel to the Secret Realm with the Sect Flying Ship.

”Nobody told me that!” Aiko’s eyes widened, which brought a chuckle out of the Blood Fox’s lips.

”This is natural. Mei wanted you to focus on improving.” The Blood Fox petted the small Aiko.

”Tsk.” Aiko clicked her tongue. This ruined quite a few plans that she wanted to do. One of which was to visit her ’disciple’ and get new clothing, but now she couldn’t do that!

”When are we leaving?” Aiko asked.

”Tomorrow or the day after.” The Blood Fox said.

Aiko’s face scrunched. ”Well... shit.” She sighed. ”Fine, I will be ready.”

Aiko also wanted to wake up those Ghosts since they were asleep. Not just the one in the Lamp, but the one in the Primordial Soul Wood was also asleep!

’Curses.’ Aiko felt like she was chewing on something bitter.

”Mei should’ve told me, this ruined way too many plans!” Aiko protested.

”I will tell that to Mei.” The Blood Fox smiled. ”Now go prepare.”

...

{The Blood Fox visited the business where Mei was located.}

”Aiko is upset with you.” The Blood Fox had the biggest grin in her life.

”Even if you try to get me angry, I know you are lying.” Mei dismissed her.

”She is upset that you didn’t tell her that she will have to leave soon. She was scrambling around like a headless chicken, cursing.” The Blood Fox chuckled at Mei’s misfortune.

”...” Mei didn’t say a thing. She thought that it would be better to keep Aiko in the dark so she could focus on improving...

”Anything else?” Mei asked the Blood Fox with a disinterested tone.

”Nothing much. The Twins are wreaking havoc and they said that they wanted to join the ’Rankings’.” The Blood Fox said.

”They are powerful, but they can get easily hurt. This Secret Realm will be a good experience for them as well as for Aiko.” Mei said, shaking her head. ”They both gained strength too quickly and are too powerful inside this Fox Village, but outside it’s different.” Mei narrowed her eyes.

”That is true.” The Blood Fox agreed with Mei on this point.

”How rare.” Mei chuckled. It was rare for the Blood Fox to agree with her once her obsession over Aiko boiled over.

”Not really.” The Blood Fox shrugged. It was important for Aiko to learn the harsh lessons.

”And here I thought that you said you didn’t want a partner.” Mei said sarcastically.

The Blood Fox snorted. ”I could say the same about you, homewrecker.” She believed that Aiko would be just with her if Mei didn’t constantly interfere.

A spark flew between them and the muscular Foxes slowly stood up leaving this place.

Their movements were organized, like they were used to this thing.

A small tear of blood left the Blood Fox’s hand and it turned into a large needle speeding towards Mei.

Mei tiptoed to the side from her sitting position before creating a water ball that was as solid as a brick.

She hurled it at the Blood Fox without hesitation.

The Blood Fox created a barrier around her body from blood, but that shield was not stationary and constantly moved.

This caused the heavy ball of water to ’bounce’ off of the barrier.

There was a brief silence as the heavy ball of water passed a wall, completely obliterating it.

Likewise, that needle from the Blood Fox passed through the wall cleanly.

”Not bad.” Mei nodded. ”But Secret Realm is no joke.” She narrowed her eyes.

”I know, I’m the weakest from the team currently, but I should be able to Evolve soon after the Secret Realm starts.” The Blood Fox licked her lips.

”Good.” Mei nodded. ”I would be bothered if Aiko would cry because you died somewhere in a ditch.”

”I can say the same about you, Mei. Your almighty status means nothing in the Secret Realm.” The Blood Fox chuckled, covering half of her face with her hands that were hidden under a kimono.

Another spark flew between them, but this time neither of them attacked.

They stared at each other for a while before both of them at the same time looked away.

The Blood Fox had to pack, so she couldn’t waste time on Mei.

Likewise, Mei was collecting all the earnings to buy Talismans and Treasures that might help her, but most of them cost Sect Points, which she didn’t have much.

”Oh, right.” Mei suddenly paused. ”Did you learn any Techniques?”

”Our team doesn’t have enough Sect Points to visit the Manual Pavilion.” The Blood Fox said.

”I will try to arrange something once we return from the Secret Realm, so just bear with it.” Mei sighed. She was so occupied that she completely forgot about this!

”I will keep that in mind.” The Blood Fox nodded. She already had a manual from her family, but she wouldn’t use it.

Moreover, now was not the time to think about it as she still had to pack!