Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”Can’t we just mix things together?” Danji suggested carefully.

”You know how much time that would take? There are millions, if not billions, of combinations.” Moon Aiko shook her head. She didn’t have THAT much time to play around.

She would prefer to settle down and do some stuff, but that was not allowed in this place.

Everyone was trying to challenge everything, beat everyone, betray everyone. It was a tiring and hostile place.

”What are we up to then?” Danji looked over the Treasures. There were simply too many of them, and it would take quite some time to sort through.

”Learn, obviously. I will learn how it was created and tweak the technique before making it mine, then try to forge it myself and see if it works.” Moon Aiko said seriously. ”Since I can’t use my illusions for tricks just yet, I will have to do something else to remedy that.”

”What are you thinking about?” Danji tilted her head.

”A template.” Moon Aiko chuckled sinisterly.

”Temple?” Danji tilted her head again.

”Template. It’s sort of like an arrangement of things where you can quickly fill in those numbers or words, giving you a better and quicker understanding of what you are trying to oversee.” Moon Aiko explained it a bit more before Danji understood.

”So you can also use templates for something like hiring?” Danji narrowed her eyes, finding this fascinating.

”Yeah, you can sort their strengths, weaknesses, Cultivation Stages and so on.” Moon Aiko nodded her head.

She pulled her tools and went to scrap the tools.

The Grandpa Flame heated the metals, but...

Both he and Danji were shocked when they saw the speed at which Aiko was going.

”A-are you fine?” It was so strange to see this kind of Aiko full of energy that Danji started to question her sight.

”I’m fine.” Moon Aiko nodded her head. It was time to flex her muscles properly and finish this quickly.

”I have brought Little Shi~” Yue just arrived when she saw Aiko grinding those Treasures to pieces.

”You... really like to grind things, huh?” Yue blinked her eyes, and even Chen Shi was surprised by that speed.

Moon Aiko paused her hands. ”Grind... Right, grind...” She smiled so beautifully that everyone shivered as if their lives were endangered.

”Why didn’t I think of that!” Moon Aiko clapped her hands, a smile bloomed on her pretty face, yet that smile would terrify anyone.

”Thank you~” Moon Aiko hummed as she pulled out her Cauldron.

Chen Shi rolled his eyes, since he didn’t understand what Aiko was up to.

”I will recycle these and use them.” Moon Aiko had already gathered a few materials from the previous scrapping, so it was the perfect time to use some of them.

”I will use this and this, also add this.” The Cauldron was fired up by Grandpa Flame, and the heat was rising.

Moon Aiko didn’t really care about quality since she would have to make many iterations.

This was also not supposed to replace her scrapping technique, but just to speed up the lowest grade Treasures.

”It’s not important on this continent, but on the mainland, you also have Grades for Treasures, both numeric and wording.” Chen Shi suddenly explained.

”Why are you saying that?” Moon Aiko glanced at him.

”I believe you want to make some kind of Treasure that can grind down other Treasures, no?” Chen Shi folded his arms.

”Yeah.” Moon Aiko nodded her head.

”Then you should be aware of the different Grades of Treasures, since not everything is made equal.” Chen Shi smiled.

”There are two differences. The number is used to indicate how much Qi the given Treasure has, that is, like saying it’s attack or defence potential. While wording gives you the idea about how ’pure’ the Treasure is.” Chen Shi paused for a moment before continuing. ”The ’purity’ is not about quality... Well, it is a bit, but the main indication is how many negative effects the Treasures have.”

Moon Aiko blinked. ”I-”

”I know, I know. You have not yet encountered any Treasure that would have that, or the effect was so negligible that you have not even noticed.” Chen Shi waved his hand. ”But you have already noticed something, no?”

”What did I notice?” Moon Aiko raised her eyebrow.

”This is my assumption, but the negative effect of the Treasure is... quick deterioration.” Chen Shi folded his hands again.

”!” Moon Aiko’s eyes widened. ”Does that mean that this powder can influence the negative effects of the Treasures?”

”That’s my assumption.” Chen Shi nodded his head. ”Either it’s maliciousness or they are trying to... go around the rules.”

”Is that even possible?” Moon Aiko furrowed her eyebrows.

”It is possible. Don’t you find it odd that Relics could last thousands of years, while Treasures are barely lasting 100 years?” Chen Shi snorted.

”You have found something to back that assumption...?” Moon Aiko stared at Chen Shi.

”I think so.” Chen Shi nodded his head. ”But I won’t share it until it’s confirmed.”

”I see...” Moon Aiko nodded her head as she pulled out a small roller with a rough, pointy surface.

”What the fuck are you creating?!” Chen Shi shuddered when he saw that.

”Shredder?” Moon Aiko tilted her head.

”Do you need those pointy things?” Chen Shi didn’t like them at all.

”If you don’t have it pointy, then the Treasures would just slide along the surface. It’s used to dig into the Treasure and drag it into the middle of the shredder, but it has its limitations.” Moon Aiko clicked her tongue.

”Limitations?” Chen Shi tilted his body. ”No, in the first place, why are the materials you are using soft?”

”Because it hardens with heat, but that’s not the important part. I’m limited by precision, so I have to arrange these teeth in such a way that they don’t grind against each other or the Treasure into dust.” Moon Aiko frowned.

”I think I understand what you are after.” Chen Shi nodded his head. ”You are trying to create a larger chunk that is easier to handle.”

”It’s only a prototype, it will probably fail, but yeah.” Moon Aiko nodded her head.

”Why didn’t you do it before?” Chen Shi tilted his body to the other side.

”Because too small chunks are tedious to take care of.” Moon Aiko shrugged.

”Is that so?” Chen Shi nodded his head. It was tough to be a craftsman.

”Yeah, I’m trying to prevent that, but there is only so much I can do.” Moon Aiko sighed gently as she pulled out the [Inscription Carving Pen].

She then inscribed the Inscription onto the roller.

”I see...” Chen Shi immediately understood. ”The way the pointy surface will work is closer to hammers with that kind of Inscription, rather than piercing, which will limit the amount of tiny and dust pieces.” He nodded his head in appreciation.

”It will take a lot of work.” Moon Aiko pulled out the Jade Slips and reviewed them quickly for the first time.

She was trying to find anything that could make this more efficient, but...

’It’s impossible right now.’ Moon Aiko frowned. She would have to research this slowly, but it seemed like the dissolving solution would be a lot easier than the rollers.

But the rollers could be used for Herbs and other stuff, so it was not completely useless.

’I will save it for later, even if it fails.’ Moon Aiko nodded her head.

”So, what are you here for?” Moon Aiko turned her attention to him, since the metals were still cooking.

Chen Shi coughed awkwardly when Yue nudged him. He didn’t really want to do this.

”I swear-” Chen Shi recited something from the paper. It was a very elaborate vow that assumed the highest privacy for Aiko, especially from contacting outsiders and sharing information.

”Are you fine with that?” Moon Aiko didn’t believe that Chen Shi wouldn’t brag about this.

”Not much I can do.” Chen Shi swore on the Great Dao since Yue wanted that, and this pretty much sealed their cooperation. Or at least he couldn’t go against Aiko since he was not allowed to divulge her information.

”Since you are here with the vow, I have a mission for you.” Moon Aiko nodded her head.

”Now, where did I put this...” Moon Aiko ruffled her tails, puzzling everyone.

A piece of furniture was dragged out of her tails, some utensils, chairs, rocks... Too many to be located just in her tails.

”Dedicated storage? Does your Bloodline revolve around space?” Yue was startled.

”Not really, it was a gift.” Moon Aiko shrugged.

Yue almost turned into a Malevolent Ghost when she heard that.

”Can you treat this a little bit more seriously?” Yue’s forehead was full of veins, signalling her displeasure.

”I can’t help it.” Moon Aiko said innocently. ”It was a gift.”

Chen Shi rolled his eyes. It was not too weird that Aiko would have something-

*Ding*

Something hard hit his head, so he caught it.

Looking at it closer, he could see some kind of-

*Puffff*

Chen Shi turned into a fountain of blood when he saw what he was holding.

”BRAT! WHO DID YOU ROB?!” Chen Shi immediately accused the not-so-poor and not-so-innocent Aiko.

”Ah, gimme that.” Moon Aiko snatched that scale. ”That one is for me, find your own!”

Chen Shi fainted from the loss of blood, while Yue stared at Aiko.

”Aiko~” Yue spoke softly, but Moon Aiko was chilled immediately.

”Y-yes?” Moon Aiko shrank back behind Danji.

”You better not be robbing Dragons, alright?” Yue pulled out a whip from somewhere.

”It was a gift! A gift!” Moon Aiko protested.

”Gift?!” Yue pointed at Aiko. ”No sane Dragon would be willing to give that to a Fox! They are too proud!”

”She is a cutie! Don’t assume she is some old bastard!” Moon Aiko pointed back at Yue.

”Seriously.” Yue had a headache. ”I’m not talking about the individual Dragon, but about their Clan! If they found you having that scale, everyone will be after you!” She said seriously while warning Aiko sternly.

”Hmmmmm...” Moon Aiko ruffled her tails, storing that scale inside. ”Problem solved.”

Yue was the next one to faint from anger.

”... Who am I supposed to ask the questions now...?” Moon Aiko felt wronged, since now she couldn’t think of a solution for the Demonic Foxes.

’They should wake up soon, right...?’ Moon Aiko thought about it, but she shouldn’t disturb them too much, lest they would retaliate against her.

’Chen Shi would be fine, but Yue is no-no.’ Moon Aiko nodded her head seriously before returning to make the second roller...