Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”Our next step would be to deal with the Delegations. Usually, there is a treaty where you can only send 2 of your most powerful Cultivators per cardinal direction, but for some reason, there are more than 100 of them.” Mei nodded her head.

”How do you intend to deal with them?” Chen Shi was concerned that Human Cultivators might cut all of their relations with the Beasts if they were all killed.

”Aiko will trap them. That way, we don’t have to worry about killing them.” Mei smirked.

”You want to use the ’Life Lantern’ against them, huh?” Chen Shi frowned. What a scary Fox...

”Life Lantern?” Moon Aiko tilted her head.

”It’s similar to the Fox Village’s ’stone’, which shows you if the person is alive or dead. Although ours could also show betrayal and desertion.” Mei smirked.

”But we will kill them...” Moon Aiko couldn’t understand how the lantern worked.

”It’s true that the lantern will flicker, but as long as they don’t watch over it all day, every day, it should not be noticeable.” Chen Shi thought about it slowly.

”Well, as long as you don’t extinguish or let the Soul go, they will not be wiser about what happened over here.” Mei shrugged.

”So they will know something happened, but they won’t know what exactly happened?” Moon Aiko tilted her head in anguish. ”Wouldn’t just stuffing them into my tails be better?”

”We don’t know if the lantern will perceive it as ’death’.” Mei frowned.

”When you go into a Sacred Realm, your lantern will constantly flicker.” Chen Shi explained to Aiko since he realised she didn’t know much about this.

”So complicated.” Moon Aiko shook her head.

”Let’s just deal with their Souls first.” Mei stood up.

Shadows Peak Elder also stood up. ”We will organise the innocent and broken Foxes, so please look over them once it’s finished.”

”You want to help them, huh?” Mei didn’t feel too good about it, since it would cut into their bargaining resources quite a bit.

”We are not like them.” Shadows Peak Elder shook her head.

”You might say that, but if the negotiations don’t go well, we all won’t have a good future.” Mei shrugged.

”It’s better to be on the run than be enslaved.” Shadows Peak Elder narrowed her eyes.

”You know something about the mainland...” Mei narrowed her eyes.

”Possibly, but let’s talk once I confirm my suspicion.” Shadows Peak Elder gracefully walked away.

”I would rather hear the suspicion.” Mei sighed and grabbed Aiko like a stuffed toy.

Danji observed them, feeling like Aiko was treated like a toy. ’She will naturally come to me.’ She believed that there was no way that Aiko would like Mei THAT much.

...

”I don’t like it here.” Moon Aiko shook her head.

They were currently in a very eerie hallway. Wails and shrieks bounced all around them.

The hallways were built out of a very cold stone that constantly sapped their Qi out of their bodies while also chilling them at the same time.

”This is the Enforcement Cells. They stuff the prisoners here. It lowers your control over Qi and depletes it over time, making this the perfect place if you want to hold someone as a prisoner.” Danji knew more about the Fox Village, so she was the one to explain it.

”We have used it for the Qi draining properties.” Mei nodded in appreciation.

”You think we can take this?” Moon Aiko tapped the wall, making both of them stumble.

Mei and Danji slowly turned around, seeing Aiko admire the walls. They now had the uneasy feeling that everything, even things that were bolted down, would be taken by Aiko...

”This is Aiko...” Danji shook her head as she gently sighed.

”...” Mei just smiled wryly.

”So we can’t take it?” Moon Aiko continued to walk, since the duo didn’t seem like they were doing well.

’Is the cold getting to them?’ Moon Aiko thought about it, but it was not THAT cold.

The duo sighed again.

”What about the prisoners?” Mei narrowed her eyes.

”If they are prisoners for a reason, just kill them. We can get more Souls that way.” Moon Aiko was ruthless when it came to her research.

”Is that even allowed?” Danji uneasily turned towards Mei.

”Why are you asking me? Nobody ever suggested such a thing.” Mei shook her head. She had no idea how to deal with this situation either.

”How will we know if they are truly evil?” Danji looked at Aiko.

”System.” Moon Aiko believed that the system would help her out.

[Only this time. You will have to figure out such things by yourself in the future.]

”...” The two were lost for words, while Aiko clicked her tongue.

The system was stingy as ever, but at least it would help this time.

...

”We are going deeper?” Moon Aiko felt very uneasy about this place, since the hallway opened to a large hole with stairs leading down.

”We kept them in the innermost part, so we know for sure they can’t escape.” Danji explained to Aiko.

”If you are cold, take this.” Mei gave Aiko and, unfortunately, Danji a Warming Stone with a Rune on it.

”You are depleting the Warming Stone faster in order to empower its effects?” Moon Aiko immediately knew what Mei was trying to accomplish.

”Sharp observation.” Mei nodded happily.

”Your invention?” Danji snorted unhappily.

”My sister’s. She was quite crazy about saving resources by using lower-grade resources in place of higher-grade ones.” Mei explained.

”Mai is amazing.” Moon Aiko had newfound admiration for Mai, which Mei didn’t really like.

”You should be less jealous.” Danji chuckled at Mei.

”Shut it, Vixen.” Mei glared at her before going down the staircase.

”This place is dark and cold.” Moon Aiko whined, since it was cold even for her.

”It’s a prison. You are not supposed to keep warm and have warm and tasty meals.” Mei rolled her eyes. This kind of prison was actually quite mild compared to what they had in the Immortal World.

”There are also prisons where it is so hot your skin darkens, and you turn up like dried meat.” Danji nudged Aiko.

”I would prefer the second one.” Moon Aiko stroked her non-existent beard.

”You are probably the only one who would prefer heat over cold.” Mei shook her head.

”Why?” Moon Aiko tilted her head.

”You can always dress up warmer, but you can only do so much to keep cool.” Mei shook her head slowly.

”So it’s because of my physique, huh...” Moon Aiko was slightly speechless, but now she knew what she should build in the future.

...

”This took a lot of time, huh...” Moon Aiko jumped off the last step. The coldness was incomparable to before, but at least there was light around here.

”This is sacrificial ground. Where Foxes burn the most heinous criminals.” Mei explained.

”Their Souls, actually, since it’s too hot to set up actual fire.” Danji added that since Mei had the tendency to not explain things in detail.

”I was just about to say that.” Mei glared at Danji.

”Yeah, yeah.” Danji shrugged her off.

”So we will use this strange Array to do the whole extraction thing?” Moon Aiko tilted her head.

”No, that’s done by hand.” Mei stopped Aiko.

”Usually they would fuck the Souls out of prisoners, but we don’t have to go through that.” Danji shook her head. This Fox Village was a lost cause.

”Indeed. While Aiko should’ve gone through the rite of adulthood, there is no point since she already ate Souls.” Mei nodded her head.

”I still do not understand why the rite is fucking human until you extract their Souls.” Danji shook her head.

”It gets the Foxes hooked on the feeling of draining their partner and encourages them to properly train their acting and other skills.” Mei sighed.

”Vile.” Danji was grossed out.

”Indeed.” Mei didn’t like that she agreed with this Vixen, but that couldn’t be helped.

”Drag one Elder Delegation here.” Mei commanded the guards that silently followed them.

”So how do we extract their Souls?” Moon Aiko turned towards the duo.

”We will literally rip it out of their body, but that’s also where you come in.” Mei licked her lips.

”You intend her to learn this so that she doesn’t need to fuck anyone in the future?” Danji didn’t mind if Aiko extracted Souls that way, as long as she was happy.

”Obviously.” Mei snorted disdainfully at her. It was enough that Aiko already had sex with this Vixen. Any more, and it would not be tolerated!

”How do I do that?” Moon Aiko tilted her head.

”Do you still remember how you ’peeled’ the Souls?” Mei smiled faintly. Those were the good times when Aiko’s chaos could be easily managed.

”Yeah, I think so.” Moon Aiko nodded her head.

”First, you have to locate their Soul and the rest will come naturally.” Mei smiled.

”You are half-assing it again.” Danji rolled her eyes.

”Oh? Then, if you are so smart, how about you explain it to Aiko?” Mei chuckled darkly at her.

”Good luck, Aiko.” Danji didn’t know how to explain the process either, since her Demonic Nature easily allowed her to do that. Although it was still better to ’suck’ it out of them, or so her mother said...

”I will just visit someone.” Moon Aiko touched the [#### Dragon Pearl] with her fingers.

Her consciousness was detached from her body, and she appeared inside the boundless grassy plains.

”Aiko~” Fang Yue greeted her happily.

”You look... incredible?” Moon Aiko was confused, and she looked over Fang Yue’s gorgeous body.

”It’s all thanks to you~” Fang Yue happily hugged Aiko.

”Hold on a moment. What did I do this time?” Moon Aiko felt like this was overdoing it!

”Hm?” Fang Yue tilted her head. ”You have gathered all those Souls inside the ’furnace’, making their Souls release a lot of Soul Essence~” She danced around since she felt truly alive.

”???” Moon Aiko was more and more confused.

”I will show you.” Fang Yue grabbed Aiko’s hand and dragged her towards the ’furnace’.

...

”Isn’t this just the large Cauldron?” Moon Aiko tilted her head, not understanding what she was looking at.

”That is indeed correct.” Fang Yue immediately fell on her knees.

”I’m sorry for misjudging your generosity. I thought this Cauldron was complete rubbish, but it’s actually used to refine the Souls, giving you Soul Essence that allows you to nurture your Soul!” Fang Yue kept her body prostrated until Moon Aiko was troubled.

Moon Aiko lifted Fang Yue while asking the system with worry. ’This should cause any issues, right?’

[Do not worry. This place can’t extinguish Souls unless they do something against your Will.]

[This place is used to slowly roast the Outer Layer of the Human Soul, allowing you to collect pure Soul Essence.]

Moon Aiko felt like there was more to this, but she would ask later. It was time to have fun with these fuckers!