Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

The third Demonic Fox would be an Illusion Demonic Fox.

She was a small beauty, as small as Aiko. Her proportions were also modest at best, so she gave the feeling of a cute animal.

Her hair was short and pinkish, but her fluffy tails more than made up for it. She had the fluffiest tails out of the group.

The fourth Demonic Fox would be a Lightning Demonic Fox.

She was sulking quite often or in a grumpy mood, which was unlike what Aiko expected.

Her hair was quite long but slightly jagged, like she was struck by lightning here and there. As for colour, it was purple for some reason. Aiko wasn’t sure why.

She was as tall as the first two Foxes but with the most modest proportions. It felt like she didn’t care about her body at all, but Aiko didn’t know why.

Aiko could also feel other Demonic Foxes tailing them, but since they didn’t show themselves yet, she wouldn’t pry.

”What does the first place give in return?” Aiko narrowed her eyes.

”It’s an Inheritance Site about purification, but we are not sure what kind...” The Demonic Foxes chatted between themselves as Aiko listened to them.

”Purification as in, purifying evil or...?” Aiko wanted to know a bit more about where they were going

”We don’t know.” The Demonic Foxes shook their heads. They found that place only recently, so they could only judge it from the outside and the energies inside.

They already had many techniques, manuals and Treasures, so they didn’t really need anything more.

It was the perfect target for Aiko to learn more about this place and how to act during exploration.

”I see...” Aiko nodded her head slowly as they started moving once again.

The journey would not be all that long since it was quite literally ’behind the corner’ in the grand scheme of things.

...

The journey was safe and undisturbed. Aiko changed her hair a few times along the way to inspect a few things or to play with the Demonic Foxes.

She liked the bickering sisters the most. They were very comical but also kind, which Aiko very much preferred.

Arriving at the end of the forest, there was a hill in the middle of the plains.

That was supposed to be the Inheritance Site, but there was a small issue with it.

’So many Humans...’ Aiko squinted her eyes a few times as her ears perked up. She was trying to listen to them from this hidden spot and assess the situation.

”That Long Chen is really daring.”

”Right? He came, took everything, and disappeared.”

”I heard he went into some kind of smelly place because of the ’Elf’.”

”Tsk. Just because she is a bit more beautiful and Immortal, everyone is up in arms.”

The most disgruntled were the female Cultivators. It seemed like they were after Long Chen, but he was ignoring them in favour of that ’Elf’.

”Is this place really looted?” Aiko didn’t believe that was the case. Everyone in here would not stay and try to go inside if this place was empty.

’Scraps, perhaps?’ Aiko narrowed her eyes.

”The Demonic Saintess found this place a day ago, so it shouldn’t be possible.” The Demonic Foxes shook their heads. They were briefed on the appearance of new Inheritance Sites and the loss of others.

This place was very well hidden and was only found recently by both Foxes and Humans.

”Are you sure?” Aiko narrowed her eyes.

”Yes. The Qi reading was the same now and before.” The Demonic Foxes nodded their heads in unison.

’They are quite cute.’ Aiko squinted her eyes with a smile on her lips.

”So it’s unlikely that it is looted, but could this be a bait?” Aiko narrowed her eyes.

”It’s possible. Every Inheritance Site might be a bait for Cultivators. Some Cultivators create their own Inheritance just so they can lure in Cultivators and possess their bodies.” The Demonic Foxes experienced that kind of thing when they were introduced to this place.

But after so many, many years. They were able to figure out a somewhat reliable way to guess if the place would be a good Inheritance Site or not.

It involved reading the energies inside, the density and how easily you can find this place.

If it was an obvious place, you were more likely to be possessed, while hidden places were less likely.

Going with the energies, this place didn’t have any negative energies relating to the mind, so possession was unlikely. Moreover, this place exuded the energies of slaughter, which means this place had many traps.

The Demonic Foxes explained what they knew to Aiko and let her decide if she wanted to attempt it.

”It doesn’t sound like a bad idea. I’m also curious about the traps~.” Aiko hummed to herself.

”But we are unable to accompany you from here on out. If others see us with you, your allegiance would be questioned, and you might be targeted by powerful Cultivators.” The Demonic Foxes would be able to stay inside the forest, but they would be unable to follow her.

Based on those rules, they also couldn’t kill everyone here. Well, as long as nobody found them, it would be alright, but the Foxes didn’t know where the Human side might have their eyes.

”That is fine, I will just sneak in.” Aiko immediately turned into a tiny Fox and reduced her tails count to just one.

Naturally, the Demonic Foxes squealed, as they had never seen such a tiny fox before.

They nudged each other since the Fennec race was incredibly rare outside of the desert and almost impossible to find even in the deserts.

They were small and cute but also very elusive and mischievous.

If you ever visited a desert and your supplies suddenly vanished, 9 out of 10 times, it would be the work of a Fennec Fox.

Aiko shrouded her body with shadows and sneaked forward. The places she was aiming for were the places with taller grass.

She didn’t need grass too tall, but just enough to hide her.

’Should I take a few things along the way...?’ Nightmare Aiko narrowed her eyes. ’Nonono, I need to restrain myself. If others noticed that their things were missing, it might cause them to go inside or cause a ruckus, raising the alertness of other Human Cultivators.’ She shook her head as she avoided the temptation to steal everything in her path.

’Let’s hope the insides are worth it, or I will be upset.’ Aiko pouted with her small mouth before heading inside.

...

It was quite the moist cave, which upset Aiko, but even with this kind of humidity, there was no moss or vines. It was completely bare and rough like a dry cave would be.

’I wonder where this humidity comes from...’ Aiko looked around in her small form, but it was quite cumbersome as her line of sight was very limited.

It felt like this cave was made out of some kind of volcanic rock. The cave was layered, but the overall colour and texture stayed the same.

The bottom and middle parts looked like obsidian, while the ceiling part looked like large grey and brown chunks of rocks.

Moving deeper inside, Aiko noticed even more strange things. With this kind of humidity, one would expect stalactite or anything like that, but that was also not the case.

Even when the ceiling, wall, and floor were covered in a faint layer of water droplets, it still didn’t form anything from it.

There was only one path forward, so Aiko followed it.

Along the way, she met a few injured Humans, but she didn’t understand why. So far, she didn’t encounter any traps or anything like that.

It was strange, but Aiko believed that it was because she was in her small form.

She was incredibly light and small, so not triggering any traps wouldn’t be out of the question.

Slowly nodding her head. Aiko believed that this place would be smooth sailing.

...

Aiko finally arrived at a big opening. It was quite impressive how many Human Cultivators were grouped together.

”This place changes every short incense stick and completely renews itself every incense stick.” One Human Cultivator was briefing every newcomer.

”This place is one huge trap. You can’t touch the wall or ceiling, or you would get struck by lightning. Yes, that includes you, Lightning Beasts.” The Human Cultivator kept explaining.

’It feels like every glasses person is interested in explaining things...’ Aiko shook her head slightly. It was obvious that he was not doing it out of the goodness of his heart but to gather material to guess the trap layout.

’I wonder if I can fly over this place.’ Aiko jumped a few times in one place, and as expected, her movement abilities were sealed.

Aiko moved towards the ’trap’.

It looked like one large board with different symbols on each square.

Unfortunately, those symbols were not from any common language. It was most likely some kind of hidden information that the one that created this Inheritance Site liked.

Aiko had no idea what these symbols could mean, so she just touched them.

And nothing happened.

’Is this one the right one?’ Aiko curiously and cautiously stepped on it, but still nothing happened.

She tapped the surrounding squares, but neither of them fell or anything happened.

’What...?’ Aiko blinked a few times.

”Anyone who knows Lightness Technique can attempt this part, as it only reacts to your weight. Otherwise, you will have to guess where to go.”

’Weight...’ Aiko laughed happily as she strode across the room.

”Hey! There is an animal in here!”

”Ignore it stupid. We can’t follow it without risking our lives.”

”Tsk.”

”I want to cuddle it...”

Aiko ignored their voices and moved forward. The place she was looking at was at the opposite end.

There were 3 ’roads’ ahead, each with different flavours and possibly different traps.

One path was covered with a thin crust of ice, another was covered with fire, and the third one looked like wind?

Aiko picked the fire one, as she had her Grandpa Flame and other tools at her disposal. She also fared much better in heat, thanks to her race.

Walking into the cave path, the surroundings got immediately toasty, so much so that Aiko groaned.

’Damn...’ Aiko groaned unhappily as even her [Thermal Regulation] was unable to catch up to it.

Fortunately, Grandpa Flame covered her body with his energy, shielding Aiko from most of it.

”Hmmmm... This place is tasty. Can we stay here for a bit?” Grandpa Flame asked the little devil.

”I don’t see why we can’t stay here later, but first, I want to see if we can find any kind of Treasure inside.” Aiko narrowed her eyes.

”Sure, but let’s stop here on the way back. I think I can progress my strength here.” Grandpa Flame narrowed his eyes.

”You think?” Aiko was slightly surprised since she believed that she would have to constantly feed him. Instead, was it enough to keep him in a place where it was scorchingly hot?

’This seems like a win for me.’ If Aiko was able to create a place where she could raise the temperature, it would be to a great benefit for her Spiritual Flame.

’But maybe you need more than that?’ Aiko narrowed her eyes. It was possible that you also needed Fire Qi in the air and not just temperature.

It would also make sense, but Aiko threw that to the back of her mind for the time being. She had to do too many things already, and more would just burden her...