Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

The main Peak was large, but there weren’t too many Pagodas. It was not that hard to find the library.

’I wonder if there will be something useful...’ Witch Aiko hummed softly. She was looking forward to what she would find in this place.

The main entrance, well, the whole building was made out of some kind of dark wood.

A single touch drained Witch Aiko’s energy greatly, startling her.

The insides were decorated with stone pillars, riddled with Runes.

Those Runes didn’t really make sense. They were just words on a wall without any cohesion. The stone pillars also didn’t emanate any kind of energy, nor consume.

The floor was made out of common rocks, but most of them were of a light colour. The intention was probably to light this place up, since this place didn’t have all that many windows.

While Fox Elders were powerful, most of them grew lazy; thus, they would always find a way to shirk work.

Their main intention was to cover all the windows and have only one entrance.

This allowed them to just focus on one place and have a lot more time on their hands.

Unfortunately, Aiko’s stealth and the Fox Elder’s laziness allowed her to bypass this restriction, since this place was normally off-limits.

The white rocky floor lit this place up well, showing Aiko the rows upon rows of bookshelves, which were filled with books, wooden slips, stone slips and many other variants that shared information.

The bookshelves were made out of some light wood, which was very pleasing to the eye as it created a nice contrast against the floor. It also had quite the visual appeal as the wood veins popped out nicely.

Witch Aiko was impressed by the size and how many there were. It would take a while to go through them all.

[You have arrived at a small library. You will be able to learn more about Cultivation, Qi and other things, allowing you to upgrade your current Skills and Manuals.]

Witch Aiko blinked again. The system was active once again, but didn’t issue any mission for her for now.

She was happy without a mission, but having goodies for free was also nice.

[You will be able to complete the mission: [Purify Beast Core]]

’Was I missing something?’ Witch Aiko thought that having the Beast Core Purity was alone enough, but that was not the case.

[Your understanding is too shallow, which would cause problems later.]

[Thus, you need to learn more about elements, their interactions and everything else.]

’Are you calling me dumb?’ Witch Aiko glared at her system.

[Of course not, Princess.]

The system replied dutifully, but there was a sense of mockery from it.

’You really call me like that, huh?’ Witch Aiko glared even more. ’I will show you that I can still learn even if I’m not Moon Aiko!’

[...]

The system was both surprised and startled, since this was not like their Princess.

However, Witch Aiko was completely unaware of this and just picked the first book.

Witch Aiko read through it. ’The basic elemental structure is like this:’

Wood fuels fire.

Fire forms earth.

Earth contains metal.

Metal carries water.

Water feeds wood.

Fire melts metal.

Metal penetrates wood.

Wood separates earth.

Earth absorbs water.

Water quenches fire.

She was impressed by the amount of information, but it was basically like this:

The first one was about generation, while the second one was about suppression and overcoming.

There were also special elements, like poison, light, darkness, gravity, time, space and so on, but those were not covered by this.

[You have gained a simple understanding of elements.]

[Please do keep in mind that even if you choose an element that is stronger against your opponent, in the face of absolute strength, it’s pointless, so it’s better to pick the element that you are the most familiar with!]

Witch Aiko nodded her head. She understood that much, but it was still nice to get confirmation from the system.

’I should find a more advanced book.’ Witch Aiko nodded her head, completely oblivious that a certain girl was looking at her.

However, she was not hostile, just curious, so Aiko was unable to pick up on her.

...

The first floor had the most basic and shittiest Manuals, making her quite upset.

[You have discovered the lowest grade Manual, please do not even consider reading it, as it’s complete shite.]

Witch Aiko rolled her eyes. This message popped up every time she picked up a Manual.

No matter which one she would pick, it would still display that message!

This greatly upset her, but it was not like she was intending to read all of them, so there might be some kind of merit in-

[A Secret Manual discovered!]

[Please read it!]

Witch Aiko was startled, since this would be the first time the system would give her such a high evaluation of a Cultivation Manual.

Witch Aiko opened it, expecting some kind of diagrams, but...

’Day 1...’ Witch Aiko’s lips twitched. ’Is this some kind of diary...?’ She couldn’t believe she was scammed by the system like this!

[Please read it!]

Witch Aiko rolled her eyes. ’Fine, fine, you win.’ She could only sigh and slowly read through it.

’Day 1 was an ordinary day. The fools kept telling me that there is no way I can create a Cultivation Manual, but I will show them!’ Witch Aiko read through the first page. It was mostly miscellaneous things, with occasional bits of lore.

Witch Aiko turned the page. ’Day 746-’ Her hands stiffened, and she rubbed her eyes.

She turned the page back.

’Day 1’

She turned the page forward.

’Day 746’

’What the fuck?’ Witch Aiko cursed inwardly. She didn’t expect this kind of jump in time!

’Are all Cultivators that fucked?’ Witch Aiko could only helplessly blink her eyes.

’Day 746. I have finally gathered the most necessary materials to start my research.’

’It took a while, but everyone agreed to share a technique or two with me, and I was able to create a comprehensive diagram about the human body.’

’Beasts are more complex, so I have not touched them yet, but I will get to them too!’

’Ambitious...’ Witch Aiko nodded her head. She didn’t expect that he or she would take so much time to gather just the materials for this! This was on par with Moon Aiko!

’Day 1542...’ Witch Aiko groaned unhappily. ’I will have to get used to this, won’t I?’ She sighed hopelessly, but there was a diagram on the same page.

’Day 1542. The previous diagram was flawed. I didn’t consider impurities to be such a huge issue, causing my whole research to turn for the worse. I almost poisoned myself while carrying this out!’

’The main issue was the heaviness of the impurities. They do not move out of the body easily once they settle.’

’It’s even more troubling if they settled around Spiritual Roots or Meridians and Dantian. This would cause them to clog up, causing the condition known as ”Blocked Meridians” and ”Shrunk Dantian”.’

’While I know what causes these conditions, there is no way for me to remedy them yet. There are too many unknowns about the human body that I will have to figure out!’

Witch Aiko looked over the diagram. It was a multicoloured diagram, signifying points on the human body.

Black colours were lethal points. If pressure were applied, your body or organs would stop, causing the human to die.

The red ones, while not lethal, would be able to block the flow of Qi or cripple the individual.

Red couldn’t be compared to black. They still could be counted as the worst variant, as the act of Cultivation was the life for the Cultivator.

Killing that light was the same as killing the spirit.

Then there were blue, green and yellow ones, each had different conditions and effects.

It was quite similar to Aiko’s needle technique, but easier to explain.

[You have gained the necessary knowledge to progress the [#### Needle Technique R-1]!]

’Nice!’ Witch Aiko smirked happily. She didn’t expect this kind of reward from this place!

’Day 4576...’ Witch Aiko pressed her forehead as the numbers got out of hand even more quickly.

’Today I had the first major breakthrough. I was able to record all possible pathways in the human body, and I mean all of them. From Fiendish to Righteous to even Beast.’

’However, Beasts still have issues that need to be solved. For now, I will complete the human side.’

’The major breakthrough allowed me to understand and temper the Qi pathways, allowing me to reach a higher Cultivation Stage safely.’

’Others are starting to call me a lunatic, someone who joined the Fiendish Path, only because I was able to advance quicker than others. That is simply not true...’

’I will have to hide now, which has become ever so simple with my knowledge.’

’This guy is impressive.’ Witch Aiko was impressed by his resilience!

’Day 7843.’ Witch Aiko completely ignored the number of days.

’This is the greatest day of my life!’

That was all, but what was under that text was a very elaborate drawing of the human body and all possible pathways, with elements and everything described in detail.

[A Secret of the Cultivation World was revealed!]

[Whenever you find a Cultivation Manual, there is a high chance to increase its potency and reduce its demerits!]

Witch Aiko was impressed by how many goodies she was able to obtain!

’Day 74653.’ Witch Aiko was startled at that jump.

’I was finally able to understand Beasts, but it was difficult with all those pursuers...’

’Thanks to all my knowledge, I was able to purify my body through harsh Qi, making me younger and more handsome, but it came at the cost of being chased by others, both females and males, and not just humans...’

’This delayed my research greatly, but I was able to find a ”willing” Beast that lent me their hands.’

’I was able to understand the Beast Core better. While it can’t compare to Dantian with Meridians. It can accept all kinds of energies, unlike humans who have Spiritual Roots.’

’However, the act of taking in must be considered carefully, since Beasts do not have filters for impurities.’

’Only Beasts with impressive heat and water abilities can bypass this restriction...’

The more Witch Aiko read, the more exceptional this book became. It got to a point where Aiko reduced her stealth abilities to create a restricted area around her, so that nobody would be able to disturb her...