Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Moon Aiko adjusted the place under the tree a bit more before walking out to get Mei.

’I hope Mei will be alright now.’ Moon Aiko felt like Mei was working too hard when she realised she could copy things onto the Jade Slips through the system.

’Well, it can’t be helped.’ Moon Aiko shrugged gently. She knew damn well how working felt and what joy it brought her (as long as it didn’t piss her off).

Walking throughout the Grandmaster’s Peak, she finally found Mei talking with her sister.

”It’s so odd that you can do this.” Mai was fascinated by the idea that they didn’t need to copy things by hand, but could use this mysterious ’system’.

”I still can’t believe it.” Mei laughed like a maniac.

”Seems like it, those panda eyes don’t really suit you, though.” Mai shook her head. ”Next time you work this hard, you will get a spanking from me!” She proclaimed righteously, like this was a big deal.

”But I can’t help it. It copies without mistakes, which means my knowledge can be put to use without endangering others.” Mei sighed softly, but she still let herself be scolded by her sister.

Mai just shook her head. ”It’s not like this will run away from you, so rest properly.” She narrowed her eyes and pinched her sister’s cheek. ”Plenty of rest clears the mind and allows you to be more productive.”

”Aren’t you saying that only because you don’t want to admit you are doing this for beauty treatment?” Mei snorted at her like she already saw through her sister.

”... I will refrain from saying anything more.” Mai would never admit that she wanted to make her sister the most beautiful person under heaven!

Of course, that was only because Aiko was overly beautiful and Mai didn’t want Mei to be overshadowed.

Which meant that the importance of beauty increased exponentially.

”Can I steal her?” Moon Aiko’s head popped into the room. She didn’t get the right timing, so she just steeled herself for the impending doom.

”Sure.” However, that impending doom didn’t happen, and Mai greeted her happily. ”It’s good to see you, take her away and get her away from any work.” Mai said seriously as she pushed her sister out of the room.

Well, it was more of a storage closet than an actual room, but since nobody was going inside, Mai liked it there.

”Are you sure?” Moon Aiko thought that they had a serious conversation, so she was slightly startled that it went so smoothly.

”Just make sure that she doesn’t touch any work for a while.” Mai smiled wryly. She was worried that her sister would overdo it, and it showed in her body language.

”I can manage.” Moon Aiko seriously nodded, but both of them were quite the workaholics, so...

”I will spank both of you if I see you working on something!” Mai threatened before she kicked them out.

”...” Both Mei and Aiko stilled, neither of them knew what was going on inside Mai’s head, but since she was happy for them, they would just embrace it for the time being.

...

Moon Aiko guided Mei around.

”Where are we going?” Mei looked around.

”I have prepared something~” Moon Aiko hummed happily.

”Should I be worried?” Mei looked at her doubtfully.

”I feel hurt.” Moon Aiko pouted. ”That’s it! I’m blindfolding you!” She immediately pulled out a shawl from her Storage Ring, giggling sinisterly.

”I’m not into this kind of thing...” Mei took a step back, but since she was tired, her body didn’t really listen to her commands properly.

”Too bad! Now you will learn to like it!” Moon Aiko clumsily wrapped the shawl around Mei’s head.

It was far from perfect... well, it looked like someone had completely botched her head, and the shawl was disarranged bandages that someone used to care for another.

”...” Mei didn’t voice her opinion and only pursed her lips, holding in her laughter.

”Not a word.” Moon Aiko was embarrassed since wrapping someone up was much harder than expected.

Well, wrapping someone up without actually hurting them. She had no problems in wrapping her enemies in poison or other kinds of things.

”I’m not saying anything.” Mei blew her nose, holding in her laughter.

”I can hear it!” Moon Aiko pouted even more as her large ears snipped unhappily.

She wanted to whip Mei with her tails, but since she was blind right now, that might cause some problems, so Aiko refrained from doing so.

”Let’s just go.” Moon Aiko pouted like a pufferfish, but still grabbed Mei’s hand and dragged her along.

She had no way to stop Mei from using her Divine Sense, but even if she did use it, she still had some leftover surprise prepared for her.

”I hope we are not going to a brothel.” Mei joked around, since she was nervous from being unable to see anything.

”We can do that in the future, since you are so interested.” Moon Aiko shot back since it was much harder to guide Mei around than she expected.

”No, thank you.” Mei had no intention of visiting that kind of ’house’. She would rather hang outside like a wet rag than enter that kind of hellhole.

”I didn’t think you disliked it that much.” Moon Aiko thought that Mei might have some dislikes, but brothel out of all things.

”...” Mei pursed her lips. ”My sister pranked me when I was younger and when I already had a mate, so... I had to explain that I didn’t enter there for that kind of thing and that I was made to do that by my sister.” She confessed her embarrassment to Aiko.

”Whoa, I didn’t think you were that gullible.” Moon Aiko effortlessly stabbed Mei, even without meaning to do so.

”I was naive, alright!” Mei’s tail smacked Aiko’s back.

”Alright...” Moon Aiko blinked a few times. ”Did she forgive you?”

”That’s the most infuriating thing about it!” Mei was clearly unhappy, since her speech was quite quick and loud. ”She forgave me even before I started to explain things!” It was clear that she was hurt, not because of her partner, but the faith that she had in herself.

”Isn’t that good that she believed you?” Moon Aiko was confused.

”En...” Mei sighed. ”But I felt even guiltier for allowing my sister to do me in like that...” She shook her head, almost shaking off the shawl.

”Aaaa! Stop moving!” Moon Aiko panicked and rewrapped the shawl around Mei again.

”...” They walked in silence for a while.

”I don’t like that you have other partners.” Mei suddenly confessed. It seemed like being blind made her slightly bolder.

”Sorry...” Moon Aiko didn’t want to really leave Danji alone, since they already went like that, but she would do her best to make Mei happy.

”I know what you are thinking.” Mei shook her head. ”While I don’t like it. I understand the circumstances-”

”However!” Mei smacked her lips. ”Any more future partners will be discussed in advance!”

”What about the Dragon girl?” Moon Aiko couldn’t help but ask, since she did use her Reverse Scale in her Treasure.

”I will see how she looks and acts...” Mei didn’t really want more rivals. Danji was enough, but this other one was a bigger deal, since Dragons are an all-powerful race!

”...” Moon Aiko wanted to praise the Dragoness, but since this was supposed to be just Mei’s time... It felt like she shouldn’t say anything more about her.

”And just so you know, I intend to battle it out with Danji.” Mei had no interested in being the second wife, so she would battle it out against Danji to claim the first place.

”Just don’t hurt each other too much...” Moon Aiko sighed. She knew that it was impossible to stop these stubborn Foxes, so the only thing she could do was watch over them and scold them if they overdid it.

”You think it’s that easy?” Mei unhappily slapped Aiko with her tail again.

”But it doesn’t need to end up with gore.” Moon Aiko shrugged.

”That’s the way of the Foxes.” Mei wouldn’t yield.

”Then I will have to tie both of you up.” Moon Aiko nodded her head.

”How will you accomplish that if we both stop you?” Mei raised her hidden eyebrow.

”Wouldn’t that mean that you can cooperate with each other and thus are on good terms?” Moon Aiko tilted her head as her ears happily snipped.

”...” Mei’s lips twitched. ”There is no way we will get along.”

”You say it now, but a few gifts down the line, you just might melt.” Moon Aiko shrugged before looking around. Only a few more traps remained before they arrived at the lake.

”Impossible.” Mei snorted unhappily.

”Does that mean I shouldn’t give you any gifts?” Moon Aiko wanted to occupy Mei for the time being.

”Hey! Those are two different things!” Mei smacked Aiko with her tail again.

”So you want to be melted by me?” Moon Aiko teased her.

”Ugh-” Mei blushed. She couldn’t believe how bold Aiko became.

Mei grabbed Aiko’s shoulders and turned her towards her.

Mei immediately wanted to scold Aiko. ”You are getting bolder, you little ras-” But her shawl came undone, and she saw a mesmerising sight in front of her.

The lake around danced with petals and leaves, while the crickets and fireflies provided a beautiful ambience.

There were even some paper lamps hanging here and there, like someone meticulously prepared this whole place just for the two of them.

”How beautiful...” Mei was mesmerised, since nobody really prepared anything like this for her.

However, those thoughts stilled when she saw that ’tree’.

”...” Mei’s lips twitched.

”You don’t like it? It took a while to decorate it...” Moon Aiko said it like she was heartbroken.

”It’s not like that, it’s just-” Mei panicked, since she didn’t know how to explain this to Aiko without shattering that romantic feeling.

Moon Aiko sniffled, making Mei even more flustered.

”We have been looking for this tree all the time!” Mei had to say it so that Aiko wouldn’t misunderstand again.

”?” Moon Aiko tilted her head. She saw Mei feeling all relieved, but Aiko was confused.

”It was behind the Grandmaster’s Abode this whole time...” Moon Aiko said softly.

Mei’s body visibly stiffened. ”W-what...?”

Moon Aiko just nodded. ”It was just behind you this whole time.”

Mei fainted, standing upright.

”Well...” Moon Aiko sighed softly. This didn’t go as she planned. ”At least the special room prepared with a bed will be helpful now.” She could only shrug and carry Mei onto the soft bed, so that she could rest properly.

’I swear I will remove that title later!’ Moon Aiko glared at the system, feeling like it was its fault!