Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko threw that Treasure aside. It was now completely useless.

She didn’t notice at all that someone was watching her. Aiko was solely focused on the task at hand.

”More compression?” Aiko tilted her head. It was likely that the Treasure blew up due to flames burning a larger part than it was supposed to.

Aiko adjusted her seating slightly as she cut another Treasure. Grandpa Flame could manage only so much when it came to the compression of his ’body’, so Aiko would have to deal with it in her own way.

’If I can’t cut deeply, I will just have to make grooves and go from there.’ Spotting those broken seams was easy, but executing what she needed was hard.

Aiko had to focus a lot in order not to cut too deeply. Only the tip of the knife was thin enough to not cause any explosions, but Moon Aiko noticed another thing.

’The Treasure gets inflated the more Qi is located around it.’ This made Aiko frown, but it was not like she couldn’t deal with that.

By drawing the Qi to her body, it would create a zone where the Qi was quite sparse. This allowed Aiko to make deeper cuts without sudden explosions.

Everyone watched with still bodies. They observed what the gorgeous Fox was doing, but they couldn’t figure out her goal.

They would have never guessed or believed that she was trying to disassemble a Treasure.

...

Aiko worked her way around the Treasure, cutting all the seams. The Treasure was still holding together due to the inner parts still connected to each other.

”Can you create a string?” Aiko narrowed her eyes. It was not wise to use a string-type cutting tool in the beginning, but since everything seam was ’highlighted’, she would be able to use string to cut the rest off.

”You want too much from me. I’m not some kind of high-ranked Spiritual Fire.” Grandpa Flame shook his head. At this moment, it was impossible...

”Too bad.” Aiko narrowed her eyes. ”I will just have to saw it off.”

”...” Grandpa Flame facepalmed. ”Seriously, you really do the craziest stuff...”

”Or you can just compress your body into a needle, and it would just scrape it away...” Aiko caressed her chin.

”Aaand, she is not even listening to me...” Grandpa Flame sighed but still listened to her demands.

Making himself into a needle. It was a lot thinner than the knife, but at the same time, weaker.

It was difficult to keep going like this, but Aiko did her best for several days, slowly piercing places so that the Treasure was easier to split.

*Creak*

*Crack*

The Treasure fell apart once Aiko made enough holes, and one could see the different materials that it was made out of.

One Treasure turned into hundreds of small shards, each corresponding to a different material.

Aiko tucked away her Grandpa and inspected all the shards.

Most of them were quite sharp, so she was careful. She noticed that the success was alright. She lost a bit of material, but she still obtained around 80-90% of what it was made out of.

The lost ones were those that were mixed together or turned into dust.

Aiko didn’t want to collect the dust, so she just set it aside.

Her Enlightenment was over, and she finally blinked to reality.

’I’m so tired...’ Aiko yawned, looking around for a nice place to rest.

’...’ She met her eyes with numerous Foxes, but she was fortunately too tired to curse out loudly.

”Finished?” Mei smiled at Aiko.

”Probably? These will have to be melted in order to see if they are perfect, and I will also have to revise how to do this again. But yeah, I think so.” Aiko nodded, not even asking about who those guys were since she didn’t feel any hostility.

Mei snapped her fingers, and everyone, including the Sect Leader, were kicked out of this place.

-----

”I can’t believe they kicked us like that.” One delegation clicked his tongue. He really wished to recruit that Fox and even offer her benefits if she joined his harem.

”What is her name?” A curious delegation asked. It was the same Fox that wished to court her and the same Fox who started the new Cult.

”The Vicious Jade Fox.” The Sect Leader sighed. She didn’t think that she would also be kicked outside.

”Can we meet with her?” The delegation shared this thought.

”Of course. She is part of the Fox Village.” The Sect Leader said, but she knew that the Jade Fox would intercept this until she was sure that her partner was alright.

’It didn’t seem like anything went wrong with the Enlightenment, but...’ The Sect Leader glanced at the delegation. They all had excited expressions as this would be the first time anyone was able to disassemble a Treasure.

-----

”How are you feeling?” Mei would leave the greeting for later since Aiko was tired and already attracted a lot of attention.

”Tired...” Aiko groaned unhappily. Her mental strength was depleted due to the overuse of the Divine Sense and her eye Abilities.

”Who were they?” Aiko asked briefly since she felt like they were too strong to be from this Village.

”Delegation from the mainland.” Mei pursed her lips. ”They are neither good nor bad, so try to get used to them.”

”Right...” Aiko didn’t really think she would be able to get used to them, but that was irrelevant right now.

”What do you think?” Aiko took a small shard from the ground and showed it to Mei.

”I can’t believe you had the idea to gut a Treasure.” Mei was flabbergasted, but it was still within the ’Aiko did a thing’, so it didn’t surprise her nearly as much.

”Not very surprising, huh?” Aiko yawned again.

”Let’s talk later, you should rest.” Mei sighed as she nudged Aiko into her room.

”My home...” Dai Lu sniffled softly, and Mei could only sight.

”Let’s go clean this place...” Mei wouldn’t really clean it but merely move it into another room so that Aiko could still continue her research.

If she was able to disassemble other Treasures, then they would be able to reclaim a lot of precious materials that could be later used for their own personal Treasures.

’Maybe she would be able to reclaim even Relics...’ Mei licked her lips as she helped Dai Lu clean the room.

”It’s a mess...” Dai Lu sighed softly.

...

Aiko woke up the next day. She was still somewhat tired, so she was not very enthusiastic about moving around.

”Lazy day?” Mei returned from Pill Refining, and a sweet scent wafted from her body.

”How about joining me?” Aiko said lazily and slightly absent-mindedly.

”Tempting, but I have to clean someone else’s mess.” Mei teased Aiko about her absurd ways.

”Ugh.” Aiko was not too happy about that part, but how was she supposed to know that others were watching her?!

”Regretting it?” Mei narrowed her eyes.

”I believe I told Blood Fox not to let anyone in, so it would be your problem.” Aiko was not stupid. She would shove this mistake onto Mei.

Mei’s face twitched. She did indeed allow them to enter, but how was she supposed to know that Aiko would do something so outrageous?!

’No, scratch that, she always does something like that...’ Mei groaned.

”Well, I’m dealing with it, aren’t I?” Mei retorted.

”You wouldn’t need to deal with it if you listened to Blood Fox.” Aiko shrugged before plopping back onto her pillow.

’Right, I should get some tails to rest properly.’ Aiko, every so often, forgets that she needs something soft to lay on in order to rest like a normal living being.

Some of her Titles were a serious inconvenience, but Aiko was unable to get rid of them.

Even if she wished, the system didn’t have that kind of function, so she could only slowly alter them over time.

But the key word was slowly. So far, she was only able to alter a couple, and most of them were due to her advancement in age...

...

Aiko lazed around for a few days. There was quite a storm outside and not the water one.

The Fox Village was up in arms about rumours that a Fox was able to disassemble a Treasure.

It was a completely outrageous rumour, but since everyone had too much free time, it blew out of proportion.

As for Aiko...

”Moar graaaaass!”

”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

She was playing with Grandpa Flame. The game was called Feed the Flame, and Aiko was stuffing him full of the beneficial grass.

”I won’t stop until you make it into the top 100!” Nightmare Aiko proclaimed.

”Do you want to kill me?!” Grandpa Flame retorted like he was being tortured.

”No, you won’t die.” Aiko smiled evilly as she kept feeding her Spiritual Flame.

...

*Huff**Huff*

”I have you...” Grandpa Flame cursed Aiko with an inflated ’stomach’.

”You can’t eat more?” Aiko poked Grandpa Flame with more special grass, but none of it burned any more.

”You really want to kill me. I can’t even process everything you have fed me.” That was the truth. Aiko fed him so much that he had problems digesting it.

”That seems to be the truth...” Aiko pouted. She wished him to grow fast and strong so that Moon Aiko wouldn’t be so exhausted from her work.

Of course, Nightmare Aiko had only a soft spot for tired Moon Aiko. Otherwise, the nerdy Aiko would give her a headache with: You have to do this and that.

It was a kind of love/hate relationship.

”What will I do now?” Aiko hummed. She was unable to take out the Demonic Foxes or Feifei.

The Twins were being trained alongside the Blood Fox by the Grandmaster.

Mei was pacifying the situation and refining Pills.

’How about I create more Massage Chairs?’ Aiko smirked.

...

”So...” Aiko wanted to ask Mei for more materials for Massage Chairs, but Mei stopped her.

”Sacred Realm will be opening soon, and while you don’t need to prepare as much, you still should learn a Beast Technique or two.” Mei narrowed her eyes.

”You won’t be going inside?” Aiko blinked.

”Someone interfered, so I’m unable, but everyone else can. If you meet up with them, you should be safe.” Mei sighed.

”Awwww. I will miss you.” Nightmare Aiko pouted.

”You will miss messing with me.” Mei rolled her eyes and nudged Aiko’s nose.

”Not true.” Aiko coughed awkwardly.

”Yeah, yeah.” Mei rolled her eyes. ”It’s time for you to learn!”

”Not the nerdy stuff!” Nightmare Aiko wanted to run away but was easily captured by Mei...