Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Packing their things, they went down the mountain and towards the foggy forest.

Aiko was looking forward to it since her previous Treasure disappeared, and she only gained a crying Yueying in return.

That bothered her greatly, so she would definitely nab herself a nice Treasure this time!

”How do you want to explore the spooky forest?” They weren’t even there, but Aiko was already asking them.

”It seems like it was created from Natural Treasure, so the best way to explore it would just be to go inside.” Yueying explained her reasoning, but Aiko didn’t like it at all.

”That would take too long...” Aiko was quite glad that Yueying recovered from her embarrassment; otherwise, it would be too difficult to communicate with her.

They kept bickering while getting closer to the spooky forest.

There were already Cultivators lined up in front of it, so Aiko and others approached from a slightly different side.

Aiko now stood in front of the foggy forest.

The trees looked quite dead to her. There was no greenery, nor even moss. It was a pretty dead place, with thick fog that wouldn’t allow you to see more than a metre in front.

You would have to hold hands if you didn’t want to lose your companions.

Yueying observed the forest closely. ”It seems quite quiet.”

”It might be that this entrance is not as guarded as others.” Yanyan gave her input, but when she looked around, Aiko was nowhere to be seen.

Fortunately, she kept her eye on the forest, so she knew for a fact that Aiko didn’t enter it.

”That is possible, or this place might be a maze formation.” Yueying clicked her tongue.

”It’s possible, but unlikely. Listening to their conversations, this place was mostly about avoiding monsters, so it’s unlikely that it would have another function.” Yanyan shook her head. She then suddenly noticed Aiko with branches in her hands from the corner of her eye. ”???” She wondered what those were for, but her Princess interrupted her.

”But what if this place is one large maze with monsters inside?” Yueying gave another point of view.

”Oh...” Yanyan nodded. It was very possible that that was the case, but she couldn’t really think well with Aiko doing something in the background.

...

Aiko gathered a few sticks and returned to the group. The best way to battle moisture was fire! And a big one at that!

These sticks would be used as torches so they can spread the fire nicely and evenly.

This would allow Aiko to skip the whole searching and get immediately to looting!

Aiko lit up a few torches.

”Aiko?!” Yueying’s startled expression surprised Aiko.

”What is it?” Aiko tilted her head.

”You are not thinking about setting this place on fire...?” Yueying had quite a stern expression.

”No...?” Aiko immediately hid the torch behind her.

”Then what were you doing?” Yueying narrowed her eyes. It was important to guide Aiko properly. She couldn’t be with a clumsy partn- ’What am I thinking?!’ She shook her head.

”...” Aiko whistled innocently.

”Aiko...” Yueying sighed.

”What?” Aiko sounded quite angry, which startled both of them.

”You can’t use that fire on the foggy forest!” Yueying protested against her idea.

”No!” Yueying ’hissed’ at Aiko so she would stop getting close to the forest whenever Yueying wasn’t talking.

”...” Aiko sighed. ”You want me to go into that scary forest, where enemies are everywhere and where we could be trapped forever?” She rolled her eyes at Yueying.

”But that doesn’t mean you can burn- No, Aiko! Bad!” Yueying didn’t know how to deal with this kind of Aiko.

”Forest, enemies, traps, burn!” Aiko stomped her feet.

”We can’t burn this place!” Yueying rejected that idea again.

”Why not?! All Treasures are resistant against normal conditions, a bit of fire wouldn’t hurt it!” Aiko wildly waved the torch around.

”It could damage that Treasure!” Yueying denied Aiko again.

”Then, how are you planning to safeguard us if we get separated?!” Aiko snorted unhappily.

”That’s...” Yueying thought that they would hold hands the whole way.

”If we hold hands, we can’t use them to fight.” As if Aiko read her mind, she answered her ’questions’.

”...” Yueying was at a loss for words for a moment. ”No! Stop it!” However, she quickly recovered once Aiko tried to get close to that forest again with that burning torch.

”What is it now? Have you thought about how to deal with it?” Aiko rolled her eyes.

”Not yet...” Yueying frowned.

”Then we just burn it!” Aiko raised her torch up high.

”No!” Yueying declined it again.

”Yanyan, back me up.” Aiko immediately stared at the other Dragon.

”We could tear this place down if we could control those flames...” Yanyan didn’t really want to take either of their side, so she proposed a different approach. ”With that, we can slowly burn our way towards the Natural Treasure, and we won’t be burdened by monsters.” She also added this just in case her Princess wanted to scold her later.

”...” Both Aiko and Yueying thought about it.

Aiko wanted to sneak away to burn the forest down while Yueying was thinking. Unfortunately, Yueying had her tail wrapped around Aiko’s waist, making her unable to move away.

”...” Aiko clicked her tongue as she was hugged by Yueying.

”I don’t have any flames that I can control with such accuracy.” Yueying shook her head.

”That is only natural, Princess. You left your home too early to learn anything like that.” Yanyan sighed gently.

Aiko immediately thought of Grandpa Flame, so she pulled out the [Fire-Fox Glass Vessel] that was being repaired by him.

”Grandpa, help me out. I need to burn down a forest.” Aiko said happily, but both of those Dragons froze.

They could see that it was a Spiritual Flame, yet why did it feel like it was also a Dragon?! That’s impossible!

”You-!” Grandpa Flame was flabbergasted. ”Why are you turning into an arsonist now! You are not even a Dra-” He suddenly noticed the surrounding Dragons.

”Hey, hey, hey. You wouldn’t kidnap them, right?” Grandpa Flame was suddenly slightly flustered.

”I didn’t do anything like that, and I’m not turning into an arsonist!” Aiko protested against this injustice, but before Grandpa Flame could ask about the Dragons, Aiko had already narrated what happened.

...

”Ohhhh.” Grandpa Flame nodded his head. This kind of approach would be safe, and they could even earn Natural Treasure!

”I will help out.” All thoughts about other Dragons completely left his mind, and the only thing he could see was a Natural Treasure.

Dragons were hoarders, most completely adored Spirit Crystals, but a certain lineage loved to collect Natural Treasures.

You could say that they were complete maniacs about it, and Grandpa Flame was one of those.

”Does 5 metres around you sound good, or should I increase it?” Grandpa Flame was already making plans on how to find out that Natural Treasure.

”Wouldn’t the burning slow down?” Aiko didn’t like widening it too much, since it would greatly slow down their progress.

”As long as it burns, it’s completely safe, so it’s not like we couldn’t rest inside?” Grandpa Flame tilted his head.

”Then what if someone follows us?” Aiko narrowed her eyes.

”We burn them, obviously.” Grandpa Flame snorted. He would never share Natural Treasures with anyone!

... Well, Aiko might be an exception...

”Not a bad idea, we can learn some pocket Treasures along the way.” Aiko loved that idea, so she was not against it.

She then turned to the other two frozen Dragons.

”Now we can finally burn it, right?” Aiko narrowed her eyes.

The duo sighed. They had so many questions that they didn’t know where to start.

”Less thinking and more working!” Grandpa Flame cut their thought short, since the only thing he now saw was the Natural Treasure that he was hunting.

Aiko nodded happily as she saw Grandpa Flame burning that spooky forest.

”This is an adventure~!” Aiko laughed happily as she followed a burned-down trail.

The pair of Dragons glanced at each other before quietly following Aiko in her footsteps.

They were too shocked about what was just happening, and it took them a while to recover, but they would definitely ask later about what was happening with that Spiritual Flame and why did it have Dragon’s Might.

-----

Somewhere far away, a few Cultivators noticed that a certain foggy forest was burning.

”Do you see that?” One Cultivator nudged another.

”Yeah, it seems like a salamander got fed up with nature?” That Cultivator snorted happily.

He almost lost his life when he ventured into that foggy forest, so seeing it being burnt down was an exhilarating feeling.

”Didn’t you want a Treasure from there?” Another Cultivator shook his head. ”We can just follow that trail.”

””You are a genius!”” Both of those Cultivators suddenly shouted and dragged everyone towards the burning parts...

-----

Mei listened to what the Grandmaster was saying.

They were able to get portraits of the majority of the old Elders that needed cleaning, but she never imagined she would see so many familiar faces.

”Is this information accurate?” Mei frowned, her pretty face distorted into a not-so-pretty mess.

”I’m still verifying it, but most of the first Jade Slip is already confirmed.” Dai Lu shook her head.

”...” Mei had conflicted feelings, but this needed to be done.

Dai Lu opened and closed her mouth.

”What is it?” Mei noticed that odd expression.

”Weren’t you wondering what Aiko was doing...?” Dai Lu had an odd expression on her face.

”I did.” Mei nodded without thinking, but a strange foreboding feeling suddenly overcame her.

”...” Mei and Dai Lu exchanged glances.

Mei then stared at the large projection, only to see a part of the natural forest being burned down.

”...” Dai Lu concealed her smile with her stern expression.

”...” Mei... was unable to enjoy that sight as she got another headache. ’So much precious wood being burnt down...’ It truly pained her heart...