Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Moon Aiko cursed loudly. She didn’t expect to have such a messed up body.

There was no way to deal with this, so she was looking through the shop for anything that could help her.

[#### Needle Technique] - Divine Skill - 1B Skill Points

[#### Eyes] - Divine? Ability - 1B Skill Points

Aiko bought both of them with her Coupons. She no longer had any [Ability Coupons] and had only one [Skill Coupon] left. It was a waste to use them like this, but Aiko was injured and it was important to act fast before it got worse.

[#### Eyes]

[#### Eyes that can see through anything. (Range and depth depend on personal Cultivation)]

[#### Needle Technique]

[A special Technique passed in ####. Allows the user to both learn and practice Acupuncture Techniques.]

Her hand was too messed up for normal healing, so would need something that could correct the damage.

Moon Aiko was not a fan of injuries, unlike the Nightmare Aiko. So she chose a way that would allow her to heal without being subjected to too much pain.

The Needle Technique would allow her to block the senses in her arm, which would dull the pain. Then with the help of those Eyes, she would be able to apply more needles and correct her bones.

All that was left was to wait and recover, but Aiko would definitely Cultivate, it would not only accelerate her physical recovery, but also help her recover her Beast Core energy.

Aiko nodded gently. She was quite happy about this outcome, but there was still work to do.

She only had sewing needles from the Blood Fox, but those would have to do, for the time being.

Inserting the first few were the hardest for Aiko, since they were rather thick compared to acupuncture needles. Fortunately, after a few insertions, she was able to dull the pain, which allowed her to pierce her arm more easily.

She had to reset all her bones that went in the wrong direction, but fortunately only a few had pierced through her skin.

The process was a bit gory, which Aiko didn’t like, but it couldn’t be helped. If she left it as is, the bones would heal badly and mess up the structure of her bones, muscles and so on.

She didn’t want to become a walking abomination, so she worked hard on this.

Fortunately her bones were mostly broken into large pieces, and nothing was completely pulverised. Funnily enough, her [Little Nightmares] took the worst of the blunt force, leaving her with only after-effects. Now, they were still bad, but much better than if she took the full force directly with her body.

Unfortunately her [Little Nightmares] had reset to their starting point, so all that progress was pretty much wiped with that single punch.

Aiko used her [#### Eyes] with her [Moon Eyes]. She could see her muscle and bone structure carefully. Her arm was messed up, but even her ribcage was cracked all over the place. The only good thing was that only her arm was broken. Cracks would heal quickly, but not broken bones, especially those belonging to Beasts.

Those bones were packed with Qi, and once separated ”forgot” they were part of a larger bone, so it cost a lot of Qi to reattach and make them remember they were a single bone, and that is without the proper healing.

Aiko’s arm now looked as if she tried to hug a porcupine with it with all the inserted needles, but it now looked like a normal, just a bit messy, arm.

She would now be able to heal it over time, but there was more work to do.

Aiko no longer needed Mei’s help to consume Beast Cores, so she would use them to quickly recover Beast Core Energy and possibly awaken her Bloodlines if she could fully awaken them. Those Abilities would become even stronger than they are right now.

Aiko pulled a few Beast Cores out of her Tails. They were mostly Shadow and Dream Beast Cores, since she was looking to awaken her [Divine Witch of Nightmares] Bloodline.

That would also strengthen her [Little Nightmares] providing her nightmare form with additional protection.

Aiko ’munched’ on those Beast Cores, until she was completely full.

...

Even as she finished, she still didn’t awaken the Bloodline, so she kept going through the Beast Cores until it happened.

It took her a long time to accomplish that, but it cost her over 90% of her Shadow and Dream Beast Cores!

Fortunately, that boost was more significant than just filling her Beast Core, but Aiko also noticed that she could improve her Bloodline further.

Unfortunately, she had only a few Beast Cores left and those were for her team. Otherwise, they might wonder what she was doing when she was away and Aiko also wanted them to get stronger.

Moon Aiko gently touched her hand. It was still stiff from the needles, but everything else looked in order. The torn muscles were likewise held together by needles and already almost healed, thanks to her ridiculous consumption of Beast Cores.

Aiko nodded gently as she stood up. She would conceal her arm under her clothing and would hand out the Beast Cores before fortifying that cold pond.

That last part was important since Aiko had a premonition about another upcoming battle!

It would be bad if Aiko was caught off-guard like the last time, so she would set up plenty of hidden traps and anything that could help her in achieving that!

...

Aiko arrived at the cold pond. For some reason, she was able to stay in her Moon Form even after she depleted the Essence. Although she did feel a bit weaker than normal.

It seems like the Nightmare Aiko is too guilty about this and lets Moon Aiko do whatever she wants.

”Aiko?” The Blood Fox immediately knew something was wrong, since she could rather accurately read the flow of others blood.

”I was ambushed and they might be coming to this place, so it’s better to fortify it.” Aiko suddenly said.

”Okay.” The Blood Fox and others nodded, not questioning her words.

”I have obtained plenty of Treasures, so let’s use them as traps.” Aiko said gently.

The Blood Fox and others already knew what had happened. Aiko probably stole something and was beaten up by someone and now they were coming after her.

”I will let you deal with the outer perimeter while I deal with the roof and insides.” Aiko said as she checked her new treasures and split every Treasure that could be useful to the defense between them.

She took the best Treasures inside, so it was properly fortified.

Aiko also noticed that there were several cold protection treasure among all her new Treasures, so she handed them to her team, just in case they would have to retreat inside.

Satisfied with this distribution, Aiko rushed inside. It was important to act quickly and fortify to the best of her Abilities!

...

Aiko arrived inside. The insides were drenched in Qi as both the cold pond and her little Jade were enhancing the others powers.

It seemed like Mei got stronger and Feifei was not that far behind!

Aiko was impressed by this, but she couldn’t stay still.

There was a Defensive Treasure that created a membrane around this place, blocking anyone’s entry.

Aiko would use this as the last defence and also adjust it to the energy of her team, so they would be able to enter this place.

She then distributed various Restraining Treasures, Fire-spitting Treasures and others.

Aiko pretty much created a frozen fortress out of this place.

Now she would gather more Essence and wait till everything blew past her.

...

Aiko walked outside to check on her team. Everyone was well and finished with their work.

”Everything in order?” The Moon Aiko asked, startling everyone. They were not used to her image just yet, but the main demeanour was that of Aiko, so they didn’t question it.

”Yes, we already set up all the Treasures and even made it so that they would blow up if they were mistreated.” The Blood Fox replied. She was pretty much the spokesman of the whole team.

”Great. I will go inside and heal, so I can be ready for battle.” Aiko nodded gently.

”Should I look at it?” The Blood Fox narrowed her eyes.

Aiko stiffened from her words and bluntly replied. ”There is no need. I already treated it.”

”I insist.” The Blood Fox said with narrowed eyes and her team also nudged her.

Aiko groaned but conceded.

They walked some ways away so that they would not be seen by anyone.

...

The Blood Fox gently lifted Aiko’s arm which she didn’t use.

She felt some kind of prickly sensation, so she knew that something was wrong with it.

Aiko coughed awkwardly, since she didn’t know how to explain this situation.

The Blood Fox revealed the arm and gasped. It had so many needles inserted that she might have mistaken it for a porcupine!

”What did you do?!” The Blood Fox sternly stared at the different Aiko.

”I reset my bones and tied my muscles.” Aiko said honestly, so that the Blood Fox wouldn’t try to remove those needless.

”It feels like they are strangely located.” The Blood Fox tilted her head. She could feel the vigorous energy inside the blood that was trying to accelerate the healing.

”Yeah. I pricked acupoints that would allow me to speed up healing. Then more points for pain and fatigue and muscle stiffness.” Aiko replied honestly.

”I will try to apply my own blood manipulation to you and see if I can speed it up further.” The Blood Fox narrowed her eyes. Since they were at war, she would not scold Aiko for the time being. She also liked this obedient Aiko more than that wild one.

Although the wild one aroused her more...

The Blood Fox carefully rotated the blood inside Aiko’s body. This would allow the depleted blood to be replaced by vigorous blood, but this whole process startled the Blood Fox.

She noticed that when the blood passed around certain needles, it would speed up and strengthen its healing properties.

The main demerit of this was that it exhausted the blood and that in turn exhausted the user. Aiko would be weaker for a bit before she recovered all that lost energy.

”I will prepare you some tasty food, so you can rest for a bit.” The Blood Fox said gently. While she could not quite prepare Spiritual Foods, her food should still be good enough to help Aiko revitalise.

Aiko nodded gently. She was looking forward to the food, but she also didn’t expect the Blood Fox to be so caring. She quite liked the Blood Fox more.

The Blood Fox was less intimidating than Mei and more calm and restrained. Aiko really wanted to hug her, but seeing the Blood Fox’s attentive expression; she chose not to do it.

Aiko groaned gently since she did start to feel some pain in her arm even through the pain nullification needle.

”Your arm is healing faster, so it’s only natural that you won’t be able to suppress the pain.” The Blood Fox said gently. ”Keep at it like this and it should heal in a few days.” She added.

The Blood Fox then shouted at the Twins to include more traps, before guiding Aiko inside. She would cook something good for her and let her rest while she watched over her.

The Blood Fox was satisfied with this position for now...