Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”What do you want?” The Souls were hunched on the opposite side of the Cauldron, as if they were terrified of this Fox.

”Cook you.” Moon Aiko smiled before pulling out salt.

”What are you doing?” The Souls moved further away from her.

”Cooking.” Moon Aiko smiled even more. The salt was being purified by the Treasure, making it into Ghost Salt.

”This is interesting.” Moon Aiko didn’t think that the Treasure would have such an effect, but she could only use her Tails Storage for this. If she tried to use Storage Rings, it would work since they were not part of her body.

After all, this was only a wisp of her Soul and not her whole body.

She poured the salt before taking another bag.

”It burns! Stop it! Nooooo!” The Souls wailed at her, but Aiko kept tearing one bag of salt after another, dumping it on them.

”You are terrifying...” Fang Yue was lost for words, since she didn’t expect this kind of torture method.

”Squirt of lemon~” Moon Aiko added lemon to it, making them scream even more.

Fang Yue shuddered. She was very, very happy that Aiko was on her side.

”This is too slow.” Moon Aiko was not really in the mood to torture them actively, so she wanted to make them feel pain passively.

”Maybe this would work?” Moon Aiko pulled out a barrel of lemon juice.

”Why do you have that?” Fang Yue questioned what Aiko had stored.

”Danji wanted to experiment with something, so I have no idea.” Moon Aiko shrugged.

”Anything but that!” The Souls screamed before Moon Aiko dumped the whole barrel on them.

”...” Fang Yue blankly walked away. It seemed like today’s image would be burned into her mind forever...

...

”I have properly made it into a sludge, but what now...” Moon Aiko pondered.

”It hurts...”

”It stings...”

”Mom, I want to go home...”

The Souls cried to no one in particular, but it was obvious they were pleading to be released from this misery.

”Should I scrub them...?” Moon Aiko pulled out a fully metal brush, making the Souls even more terrified.

”But I would have to do it...” Moon Aiko groaned. She then thought about something.

”Grandpa Flame~” Moon Aiko hummed as she summoned her Spiritual Flame.

”Ugh...” Grandpa Flame immediately groaned. ”My vacation is over...” He whined softly.

”Vacation? Didn’t you say you didn’t want to stay in the Hollow Moon?” Moon Aiko was puzzled by him.

”That was before I realised how peaceful it is inside there.” Grandpa Flame said seriously.

”...” Moon Aiko’s lips twitched. She wanted to slap him, but she shouldn’t because she needed his help.

”Can you roast them?” Moon Aiko pointed at the Cauldron with the strange yellow sludge and Souls swimming inside.

”...” Grandpa Flame immediately thought it was a piss and looked at Aiko. ”Why do you want me to do that?” He knew how badly it would smell, so he didn’t want to do it.

”To torture them.” Moon Aiko smiled from ear to ear.

”What happened? Was there some kind of war where you have so many Souls?” Grandpa Flame said jokingly.

”How did you know?” Moon Aiko blinked at him.

”...” Grandpa Flame was speechless. ”Forget that I asked...”

”Can you do it, please?” Moon Aiko pleaded with him.

”Fine, fine...” Grandpa Flame rolled his eyes. ”But once it smells, I’m out of here.” He proclaimed to her.

”That is fine.” Moon Aiko nodded her head.

”Good.” Grandpa Flame was satisfied and immediately increased the heat of his body to warm up the Cauldron.

”I will be going for now, but I will bring more of them.” Moon Aiko waved at him happily before disappearing.

Grandpa Flame sniffed the burning scent.

”Lemon?” Grandpa Flame was surprised. ”Poor bastards.” He laughed loudly, but that also meant he didn’t have an excuse to leave this place...

...

Moon Aiko opened her eyes. There were already Delegations on the Array.

”So you have modified it?” Danji asked Mei.

”Yeah, I don’t want to dirty my hands.” Mei nodded her head.

”What did I miss?” Moon Aiko came next to them, looking over the small pebbles they were stacking.

”Mei adjusted their Array to rip their Souls.” Danji answered before placing a pebble on top of the tower made out of pebbles.

”Hm? Wouldn’t that be bad?” Moon Aiko thought that it might cause issues.

”Just a bit. We are not destroying or enslaving their Souls, so the backlash should be similar to taking their Souls.” Mei shook her head. ”I just don’t want to touch them.”

”Just because of that?” Moon Aiko’s lips twitched.

”Not just that. They are very powerful, so it would be almost impossible for us to take their Souls without fucking them. Moreover, our own Souls are being tested during that, so we might turn out deranged too.” Mei sighed.

”I never heard of that.” Moon Aiko blinked her eyes.

”Because we always picked weaker Souls, meaning that they are easier to capture.” Mei touched Aiko’s nose tip.

Moon Aiko brushed her nose. ”But don’t we have a Grandmaster? Sect Leader? Shadows Peak Elder?”

”That is true, but the Fox Village Leader is currently deciphering the locked courtyards with Chen Shi. The Shadows Peak Elder is gathering information about the movement of the Sects while also verifying information, and Dai Lu is resting because of her light injuries, but we can’t let her extract the Souls since she is missing her tails.” Mei sighed.

”Hm? Why not?” Moon Aiko was curious how that would work.

”That is because the Souls would affect her missing tails and could cause mutation. At worst, she can even be unable to recover her tails, so we can’t do that.” Mei shook her head.

”That serious?” Moon Aiko’s eyes widened.

”I have mostly removed the curse that she had been afflicted with, but it’s even more surprising that I noticed it.” Mei sighed.

”What? Since when? Did I miss a whole arc??” Moon Aiko stared at her, completely speechless.

”You haven’t missed much. You were just away for a while.” Mei laughed. ”Anyway, you don’t have to worry about it, just make sure that their Souls don’t escape so that they won’t cause us any issues.”

”But will it work?” Moon Aiko was concerned.

”They will probably realise something is wrong, but they won’t be able to do much since if 100 Mahayana Cultivators were defeated, then the situation is beyond control.” Mei licked her lips.

”So they will go after us on the mainland?” Moon Aiko nodded her head.

Mei stiffened briefly. ”Let’s hope they will give up.” She coughed awkwardly before turning towards the Array.

”Mei, you are sloppy.” Moon Aiko chuckled.

”W-what?!” Mei was shocked at Aiko’s words.

”What’s wrong? I didn’t say anything bad.” Moon Aiko teased Mei.

”Yes, you did! I’m not sloppy!” Mei pinched Aiko’s cheeks.

”Then why don’t you make plans like you always do?” Moon Aiko tilted her head.

”Because the number of Foxes we are taking is too great. The Beast Sect might not accept us.” Mei sighed.

”It can’t be that bad.” Moon Aiko didn’t believe it. ”Wouldn’t it be beneficial for them, too?”

”After we have destroyed their Delegations?” Mei gently pinched Aiko.

”Ah...” Moon Aiko forgot about that part, since this battle was so natural and smooth.

”Not to mention we have to obtain a lot of Pills for the Demonic Foxes, we also need a lot of food so that they can stay inside your tails.” Mei gestured with her fingers.

”We also have to rig the continental flying ships, so they can’t locate us and board all the Foxes on them. The consumption will be so large that we might run out of Spirit Stones.” Mei sighed.

”That bad, huh...” Moon Aiko felt like this was quite serious. ”How about using Spirit Crystals?”

”The Dragon Race might notice that energy, but I might have to take some from you.” Mei didn’t really want to take those from Aiko, since they were priceless.

”Sure, I will give you a thousand later.” Moon Aiko nodded happily.

Mei’s lips twitched. ”It would be enough for 1 per continental flying ship.”

”Then take it as an allowance.” Moon Aiko stuck out her tongue.

”You-” Before Mei was able to mush her cheeks, Moon Aiko already ran away.

Mei sighed, while Danji smirked at her.

”Don’t say it, or I will fight you.” Mei glared at her.

”Sure~” Danji hummed, placing another pebble onto the pebble tower.

...

They gathered the ingredients in order to keep the Array activated.

”Are you ready?” Mei asked Aiko gently.

”I think so.” Moon Aiko transformed her Treasure

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

[Mode: White]

Danji gulped nervously, since that pressure was no joke.

”Alright, let’s start this.” Mei lit up the Array and let it do its thing.

This was supposed to be a Fiendish Array that sucked the Soul out of the victim and fed it into a vessel, but Mei repurposed it to suck the Soul and do nothing afterwards.

This allowed Aiko to quickly suck the Souls into her paper lantern with a smile.

That was until the middle part, where a powerful Soul didn’t want to get in.

”HAHAHAHA! I knew that Soul Cultivation was the way!” He laughed, trying to escape when a Ghost Rope wrapped around him.

”Eh?” His body stiffened as it was slowly being pulled into the paper lantern.

”NO! You won’t get me alive!” The Ghost screamed.

”But you are already dead?” Moon Aiko tilted her head.

”I’m clearly alive!” The Ghost glared at her.

”But that rope is not used on the living.” Moon Aiko said with a twinkle in her eyes.

”...” The Ghost fumed. ”I’m alive-”

”Hello, guest~” Fang Yue’s hand suddenly grabbed his head.

”Huh...?” The Ghost was startled.

”You don’t have to hesitate to come in. We have a nice lemon sludge prepared for you~” Fang Yue giggled as her hand dragged him inside.

”NONONONO! I DON’T WANT TO GO INSIDE!” The Ghost screamed, but he was unable to fight against that force. ”NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

”...” The Foxes were looking at Aiko like she was some kind of monster.

Especially that Soul hand, that was a completely terrifying existence.

It was all thanks to Aiko’s accident, yet again.

Thanks to the ’sludge’ Aiko created, the outer layer of the Souls cooking inside the Cauldron was dissolved, boosting the Ghost Qi inside the Treasure immensely and thus powering up and stabilising Fang Yue.

Not only was she able to heal a lot of her scars, but she also recovered a lot of her strength. She didn’t know how to cultivate her Ghost Body as she just consumed the Ghost Essence and Ghost Qi, but that was still enough to make her more powerful than normal Human Cultivators’ Souls.

Thus, she was able to suppress most Souls as long as they were not protected by a Treasure!