Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Moon Aiko woke up the next day, looking over her new Treasure.

[#### Dragon Pearl]

[Modes: [#### Ghost Harmony Kitsune Vessel (Paper Lantern)] - [#### Yueying’s Embrace (Necklace)] ]

She was curious what changes it would have, now that it was painstakingly refined.

[#### Ghost Harmony Kitsune Vessel (Paper Lantern)]

[Modes: Red - Yellow - Green - White - Blue]

[Effects;

Ghost Storage (0/1k): -

Ghost Qi Storage: 0%/Early Stage Soul Transformation

Ghost Suppression: Soul Transformation -> Golden Elixir

Ghost Nurturing: Enhanced

Ghost Nurturing Size: 10

Ghost Healing: Normal

Ghost Healing Size: 100

(Locked with Qi)

]

The Storage was incomparable to before, and it also allowed the suppression of the Ghosts, making it easier to subjugate them.

Moon Aiko also learned that Ghosts had a slightly different path in Cultivation, but that was not for her to mind for now.

The Ghost Qi Storage went from Peak Stage Nascent Soul to Early Stage Soul Transformation.

Now, that might seem like not all that much, but that’s still almost a 3x jump!

Everything was improved, but the best thing was that it was soooo fancy~!

”I really like this...” Moon Aiko nodded her head.

The [#### Ghost Harmony Kitsune Vessel (Paper Lantern)] was a paper lantern. The stick that you held it with was of dark brown colour, but with many ’veins’ running through it, making it quite picturesque.

The string was made out of the cloth from the Ghost Flag, but it was a lot shinier and newer looking. The colour was white and red.

The paper lantern itself had two parts. There was a lotus inside with a shiny marble that held its own little world. The lotus wrapped around it gently, protecting it from Yang Qi.

The outer part was the paper lantern itself. Depending on its colour, it also had different effects, but the shape was still round.

[Modes: Red (Base) - Yellow - Green - White - Blue]

Red: All-rounder

Yellow: Isolation and cuts foreign Qi within a certain distance

Green: Improves health and growth for both Ghost and the owner

White: Amplifies Ghost Suppression and projects it outwards

Blue: Stronger Ghost Healing and slightly boosts own healing

These effects were truly incredible, but Moon Aiko would stick with either red or white.

Moon Aiko was overjoyed with these effects and looked over to the other one.

[#### Yueying’s Embrace (Necklace)]

[Effects;

#### Physique: Foundation Establishment

(Healing, Poison Resistance, Beast Core Purity, Toughness, Strength, etc.)

Soul Connection: 100 miles

(Locked with Qi/Distance)

]

These effects were much simpler, but also very powerful.

Even if the Physique was only comparable to Foundation Establishment, Moon Aiko could still feel the healing effect that it was giving her.

A passive healing was more than appreciated, since she lost the previous one.

She also didn’t need to hum, which meant that stealth healing was once again possible.

However, the restriction was also more severe with this one. While yes, it gave her strength, but most of that power was locked until she was near Yueying.

It was still good enough to keep in this state for pretty much forever.

The necklace was on a soft white string. The centrepiece gem was gently radiating with powerful flame-like colours.

The gem itself was further decorated by a swimming Dragon inside. The Dragon seemed confused and shedding scales here and there, making Moon Aiko quite mesmerised.

”I could look at it for a long time.” Moon Aiko nodded her head gently as she placed it on her chest.

”How oddly warm...” Moon Aiko breathed out softly as she went back to sleep.

-----

”Have you learned that special technique?” A female Dragon Elder asked Yueying.

”En.” Yueying nodded her head. The technique itself was not that hard, but maintaining the connection would be the hard part.

”Then start it. We need to know what happened to your scale.” The female Dragon Elder was seemingly concerned.

That was because her own reverse scale was shattered in the past, making her very vulnerable and sickly.

Thus, she always guided newly proposed Dragons about dangers and how to remedy things.

Yueying focused, and her mind was dragged far away from her body. She passed many mountains and rivers until she-

”...” Yueying blushed as an exceptionally soft feeling enveloped her cheeks.

”What’s wrong?” The female Dragon Elder noticed that oddity and carefully stirred Yueying.

”N-nothing.” Yueying shook her head. It was definitely not what she was imagining! Definitely not!

”So what can you see?” She asked gently.

”Well... It’s hard to describe...” Yueying blushed even more, since she definitely saw a cherry passing by!

”No, I mean, how does your scale look?” She elaborated on that question.

”Oh, it seems like it’s some kind of necklace?” Yueying nodded her head and tried to focus on the necklace instead of that soft, sweet feeling.

”Necklace... How do you feel about it?” She tilted her head. There were many Treasures made out of Dragon scales, but the vast majority were some kind of armour.

Reverse scales were very durable as long as they had Qi. Dragons couldn’t supply as much Qi into the reverse scale as into normal scales, making them the weak point of the Dragons.

However, if you gave that scale to someone who nurtured it, it would become the hardest part of the body!

”It feels very nice.” Yueying giggled. Ignoring that soft feeling, the necklace itself was very gentle with her energy, making her feel stronger than before.

”Words, words.’ She sighed. The young generation didn’t know how to talk properly.

”I feel stronger, and the natural energy pathways are also unchanged, but strengthened.” Yueying explained a bit more.

”That’s... surprising.” She sighed, she had the same luck, but alas.

”Yeah, I like it a lot~” Yueying hummed, almost dozing off.

”What’s it like around there?” She narrowed her eyes. There were instances where the reverse scale Treasures would collect dust, growing weaker over time until they broke.

”Well...” Yueying pursed her lips and licked them gently.

”Alright, alright.” The female Dragon Elder waved her hand. ”I will help you see.”

”W-wait!” But before Yueying could voice her protest, her kind Elder had already helped her.

”...” The female Dragon Elder blinked blankly.

”...” Yueying blushed even more since she didn’t expect the Elder to see it too.

”Ahem…” The female Dragon Elder coughed awkwardly, and Yueying blushed even more.

”You should’ve told me you are having a moment.” She scolded Yueying, since she didn’t need to see ’those’ kinds of things. ”But I didn’t expect you to choose a female...” She was slightly startled.

”Is that a problem?” Yueying tilted her head.

”No, it’s just unexpected...” The female Dragon Elder loved the feeling of being ’filled up’, and so did most of the female Dragons.

That’s why Dragons would either choose other Dragons or races with... well-endowed ’physiques’.

”If it’s not an issue, then that’s good.” Yueying nodded her head. She was worried that Aiko would be ostracised, but thinking about... maybe Aiko would be doing the bullying.

”It’s not, it’s not.” She shook her head. ”But it’s rare, so you might get some strange glances from your fellow peers.”

”Huh? Do they need to know?” Yueying blinked at her.

”It’s not like that.” She shook her head. ”The moment they see you, they will be able to notice that your reverse scale is missing.”

”Because of that technique, right?” Yueying pointed at her eyes.

”It’s indeed that, but some have it as an innate ability, which makes it even stronger.” The female Dragon Elder sighed.

”My innate ability is eyes, too, but I can’t block them, right?” Yueying frowned.

”You would need innate ability related to physique or body in general.” She explained. ”Only that way would you be able to ’drown’ their eyes with useless information.”

”There wouldn’t happen to be techniques that can do the same?” Yueying sighed unhappily. She was already bothered by the amount of gifts she was being given, but now they would seek her out even more...

It was not unheard of that when someone was betrothed, the other Dragons would try to go after them even more in order to woo them and steal them.

”Those are banned, since you can also hide Demonic Physiques.” She shook her head. ”While your physique abruptly changed, it’s not demonic in nature, so you don’t need to worry about it.” She gently patted Yueying.

”Okay...” Yueying nodded her head. Aiko did something with her body again, and now she has problems with strength... again!

”You will get used to your new physique soon, don’t worry.” The female Dragon Elder soothed Yueying.

”I always wanted to ask, but it seemed a bit blunt...” Yueying fidgeted with her fingers.

”What is it?” The female Dragon Elder was very doting, so she didn’t mind questions that others might’ve found offensive.

”Why do you not have a name?” Yueying pursed her lips. She was worried that this kind Elder would be angered.

But contrary to what she expected, the female Dragon Elder only smiled wryly.

”I have lost my reverse scale. It can never be recovered, as such, my name was lost with it.” She shook her head.

”Oh...” Yueying gulped nervously.

”So make sure that doesn’t happen to you, alright?” She smiled with sadness and hope.

”She is not like that, so you don’t have to worry.” Yueying smiled with a beautiful and warm smile, making the Elder involuntarily laugh.

”In that case, I’m looking forward to seeing the little Foxy.” She teased Yueying.

”H-huh?” Yueying jumped, having a sense of danger.

”Don’t worry, others don’t know, but seriously.” She crossed her arms. ”A Fox? Out of all things?” She laughed again.

”I couldn’t help it, alright!” Yueying yelped. The feeling of danger and prejudice vanished with her laughing and joking around.

”Sure, sure.” The female Dragon Elder smiled teasingly. ”So tell me, what’s so special about this one~? And don’t worry, it’s only between us.”

She already vowed not to divulge information while helping Yueying, so it was natural that this conversation would stay secret.

”I’m not sure where to even start.” Yueying shook her head. It probably all started when that haughty Fox berated the shopkeeper...