Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”It’s not that hard?” Moon Aiko tilted her head. Making Yue and others speechless.

”Can I get them?” Moon Aiko smiled innocently.

”No.” Chen Shi denied it. ”I will find Treasure that these three can settle in for the time being and give you some useless Treasures for you to demonstrate if you can really turn them into useful materials, and what is the loss ratio of that.” He nodded his head. The [100 Ghost Parade Lamp] was too precious to be used on this, but he did have a few Treasures that could possibly use similar materials, so if she could really scrap it...

”That is fine.” Moon Aiko shrugged. The more she got to practise, the better the results would be.

”Eh, you better make it comfortable.” Fang Yue shrugged while her Sis clung to her.

”I can finally hug you~” Liu Ru giggled happily.

Yue sighed gently, but caressed her sister’s head. She was always goofy, and that’s also why she never managed to ascend.

”I will do my best.” Chen Shi smiled happily.

”But first bring me the Treasures, it will take longer than for them to settle.” Moon Aiko kicked his chin, since it felt like she was being ignored again.

Chen Shi groaned from that hit, but it didn’t hurt him. He rolled his eyes, and above Aiko appeared numerous Treasures, waiting to crash down on her.

However, those Treasures suddenly paused midair as Aiko snorted at him.

”Good try, jerk.” Moon Aiko’s Divine Sense was the most accurate and well-controlled out of all of her sisters, so it was obvious she wouldn’t be harmed by such a simple prank.

”Nice.” Yue praised Aiko. She never knew that Aiko managed to get so far while she was not looking.

”Thank you.” Moon Aiko giggled as she hugged Yue. She was now somewhat corporeal, thanks to the shite that Aiko cleaned out of her.

Yue caressed Aiko’s head like she did with her sister. She was genuinely happy that she could stay with those that she loved...

...

Moon Aiko took the floating Treasures away before she was stopped by Chen Shi.

”You are not going anywhere.” Chen Shi didn’t want her to run off with the Treasures.

”I would rather go to hell than to stay here!” Moon Aiko snorted at him and didn’t let him retort. ”If you want to bathe in shite, then stay here! I have no intention of working in this environment!” She kicked his shin again before dashing outside.

”Agh.” This time, Chen Shi felt it, since he was caught off guard.

Yue and the others also went outside, since the smell was... yeah.

Chen Shi was flustered, but he still prepared another room for them to stay in.

Everyone also cleaned their bodies, since it was natural that the smell would stick to them.

...

Moon Aiko sat down and picked the easiest Treasure to get a feel for it.

Grandpa Flame, who was enjoying his vacation, was suddenly summoned.

”Dammit...” Grandpa Flame grumbled. ”What do you want this time?”

”We are doing some scrapping.” Moon Aiko proclaimed.

”Ugh.” Grandpa Flame groaned. ”Why do we have to do that difficult thing?” He whined unhappily.

”Because I want to figure out how to make a Treasure that grows.” Moon Aiko smiled innocently.

Grandpa Flame’s flame almost extinguished when he heard those words.

”YOU ARE ALREADY MONSTROUS ENOUGH. WHY DO YOU WANT MORE?!” He huffed at her angrily, like he was seeing Yama, the king of hell.

”But I want to recreate the Lamp...” Moon Aiko pouted.

Grandpa Flame almost keeled over. ”You, you want to recreate a Treasure to create an army of Ghosts?!” He knew that Aiko wouldn’t do it just because it was fun. There had to be some kind of deeper meaning.

”No?” Moon Aiko tilted her head. ”Yong Zhiqiang made a nice suggestion.” She shrugged.

”Which bastard is that?” Grandpa Flame fumed, and it took him quite some time before he calmed down...

...

”Better?” Moon Aiko smiled as she watched the Spiritual Flame grumble.

”Tsk.” Grandpa Flame clicked his tongue before making his flames even.

”Thank you~” Moon Aiko happily smiled.

As for the others, or at least those that never saw Spiritual Flame speak... they just... their minds were completely blank trying to figure out what was happening.

”Tsk. Get it over- ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?! WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MANY USELESS TREASURES?!” Grandpa Flame roared.

Moon Aiko smiled towards Chen Shi.

”I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU! YOU BASTARD! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE SUMMONED?!” Grandpa Flame huffed before passing out.

”Oh.” Moon Aiko’s eyes sparkled. ”I didn’t know he could pass out. Good job, Chen Shi.” She gave him the thumbs up, which offended him.

”I didn’t do anything. Don’t rope me in with you.” Chen Shi snorted at her.

Yue and the others giggled at this exchange.

”You should get more familiar with her, since you will be following her~” Yue teased little Shi.

”...?” Chen Shi drew a blank when he heard those words. ”W-what?”

”What, what?” Yue pouted. ”You are going to leave me again?”

”No, that’s-” Chen Shi tried to defend himself.

”Ah, well, fine, her breasts are a lot nicer, so have fun with her.” She grumbled.

”Well... no-” Chen Shi tried to find some kind of escape, but Chen Yanqi joined at this point.

”What ’no’?” Chen Yanqi pouted. ”You liked to suck on them like a baby, and now you don’t like them.” She sniffled like it really hurt her.

”No- I-” Chen Shi didn’t know what to do, since he was attacked by his most beloved.

”Can you take it outside?” Moon Aiko grumbled as Grandpa Flame woke up.

”Yeah. I won’t be able to bone ever again, so fuck off.” Grandpa Flame was really irritated by this whole situation, so he wouldn’t mince his words like before.

”Yeah, we have a lot to do. I also have to find a female Spiritual Flame.” Moon Aiko nodded her head.

”Why?” Grandpa Flame was disturbed by those words. ”Am I not enough now?”

”No?” Moon Aiko was slightly speechless. ”I just wanted to reward you, since you seemed frustrated.”

”Who is frustrated?!” Grandpa Flame glared at her.

”You are. Your flames are hotter today than before.” Moon Aiko ruthlessly stabbed him with words.

”Ugh.” Grandpa Flame grumbled. ”You are imagining things!”

”So, what kind of colour would you like?” Moon Aiko pulled out notes from somewhere.

”I like whit- Wait, what do you think you are making me say?!” Grandpa Flame glared at her even more.

”So white it is.” Moon Aiko noted it down.

”It needs to be white-blue! Dammit!” Grandpa Flame felt like he was being toyed with, and he didn’t like it.

”Okay, okay, calm down.” Moon Aiko smiled. ”I will make it happen, you can count on me~” She hummed happily.

”’Count on me’ my ass...” Grandpa Flame sniffled.

...

The even flames heated up the Treasure.

”So you first remove the working Inscriptions.” Chen Shi observed how it was done and already figured out a few things.

”Yeah. They get in the way, and it’s not like you can re-use the Ink.” Moon Aiko nodded her head.

The Inscription Ink was only usable once, since it would inevitably get tainted by the Treasure’s energies.

But then you might say, ’But couldn’t you just keep the Inscription Ink if it is the same Treasure with the same effects?’...

That’s unfortunately impossible. Each Treasure is unique and will inevitably have slightly different energy distribution and flows.

You don’t create the Treasure around Inscriptions, but Inscriptions around Treasures!

As the Treasure heated up, Moon Aiko picked up her needles and started to slowly make holes in it.

”That’s...” Chen Shi already knew what she was doing, but... ’It will take too much time, and it will be exhausting!’

”This is impressive.” Yue’s eyes widened. ”But you might want to use a special little knife to speed up this pace.” She added this since she saw one Restoration Cultivator do this before.

”Oh, that’s not a bad idea, but some things have to be done like this.” Moon Aiko gestured.

”I’m not saying you have to replace the needles with the knife.” Yue shook her head. ”It’s obvious your approach is a lot more precise than what they are doing, but it’s too slow. It will drain your mind quickly, especially since you are not using Forging Cauldron, but Divine Sense.” She gestured gently.

”That is true, but it’s not like I can keep the heat so high and stick my hands in.” Moon Aiko shook her head.

”Hmmmm...” Yue nodded her head. ”Right, most Restoration Cultivators had Extreme Yang Physiques, which made their affinity with flames exceptionally high.” She nodded her head, since she had forgotten this fact.

”It will be hard on you, especially during your Human Phase, since you will definitely earn the Extreme Yin Physique.” Yue clicked her tongue.

”Can’t I affect it by my Sun Bloodline?” Moon Aiko tilted her head.

”If you want to have a dick, sure.” Yue shrugged.

”Oh...” Moon Aiko coughed awkwardly.

”Don’t think too much about it. Your current path is already abnormal, so just keep walking it.” Yue gently smiled.

*clang*

The first separate piece of metal fell on the floor, making a crisp sound.

”Whoa.” Chen Shi was impressed by her skills, since he couldn’t understand them at all.

How did she know where to stick the needles? How was she able to keep them cool so that they didn’t melt when touching that hot metal? He had so many questions, but his ego reached the skies, which didn’t allow him to ask any of them.

Moon Aiko nodded her head. The first part was done, and there were only two more.

This Treasure was the easiest one with only 3 metals and an easy-to-erase Inscription, since that Inscription was only on one type of metal.

This allowed her to have more wiggle room during this extraction.

”Marvellous.” Yue smiled from ear to ear. If this were truly possible, then they would be swimming in materials!

Moon Aiko sighed gently. It was tiring to do even the easiest one, especially since she had to keep all her eye abilities running non-stop to make this happen.

Thanks to seeing those tiny particles and how they interact with each other, her return rate on resources was anywhere between 90-99%! Some of it was lost due to damage or impurities caused by either the Ink or battles.

Fortunately, most of those things can be easily erased with a higher temperature, making this the perfect restoration method for the time being~!