Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Moon Aiko kept dancing, whirling on her feet before running away.

The kind delegation of mostly youthful looking individuals were very startled by her demeanour and beauty.

”We will get going too.” The leader cupped his fists before walking away.

Mei was quite happy that everything turned out mostly well, but now she had to return and work on the papers and then do even more damned work.

She immediately glared at Yuan, who whistled innocently.

”Let’s follow Aiko for the time being.” Mei didn’t want to work immediately, so she would just see what Aiko was up to.

...

From hills to plains, they quickly arrived at the Treasure Pavilion.

Looking around. The place was stripped bare, even some trees were uprooted and stored away, making Mei’s lips twitch.

’They are like locusts...’ Shaking her head slowly, they arrived at the entrance to the underground.

From the well decorated entrance to a destroyed cave-like entrance, the difference was really too startling.

There were no torches along the way, since you could conjure a bit of light with Qi technique. There were also a lot of Shadow Foxes, seemingly guarding this place.

This meant that if a human intruder found his way inside, the moment they would turn on the light, they would be immediately killed.

And even if they didn’t turn the light on, the Shadow Foxes would play with them until they slowly and painfully died.

”Village Chief.” The Shadow Foxes bowed towards the Jade Fox.

”Don’t call me that.” Mei had no intention to be called like that or keep managing this place. She was only helping out with the management for the time being to speed up the process.

”Are those new uniforms?” Mei noticed the familiar clothes on the Shadow Foxes.

”Yes, these were apparently used by the Vicious Jade Fox.” The Shadow Foxes nodded their heads in appreciation.

They didn’t have any uncomfortable parts, while the access inside was still very easy so they were able to play around if they so wished.

Unfortunately for other Foxes or humans, they were not very keen to play around as they were the ones not affected by the previous Elders.

Mei narrowed her eyes. If White Aiko wore this kind of clothes, she would be hard-pressed to suppress her emotions. She would probably jump her the moment Aiko whirled around.

But, Mei was also impressed, since she could barely feel these Foxes. Was it the new uniforms? The previous ones were quite ’noisy’ when they moved, but these skintight ones were very silent.

’Is this the benefit of skintight clothing?’ Mei wondered if that was what Aiko had in mind. ’But then why would you include baggy ’pants’?’

She then noticed that they were hiding the Storage Pouches inside those baggy ’pants’ and Mei immediately rolled her eyes.

’It’s Aiko, what could I expect?’ Mei chuckled before they moved further in.

The cave twisted and turned, but the general direction was still the same.

This place was built so that it would collapse, but that didn’t seem to be the complete truth...

Finally arriving at the well lit Treasure, there were coins, Treasures, Beast Cores and many other wondrous things lying around.

Most of them were already sorted and there was one last ground of mixed Treasures.

”How are you doing?” Mei asked Aiko, who was startled by their presence.

”I was just about to smelt these.” Moon Aiko pointed at the middle, mixed pile.

”What’s wrong with them?” Mei tilted her head. They seemed fine from where she was standing.

”They are cursed, so I wanted to melt them into usable parts to see if I can get rid of the curse. If not we can just shatter them and bury them here.” Moon Aiko shrugged, but still rubbed her hands.

”I wouldn’t smelt it...” If it was truly cursed, then Aiko might also get cursed.

”I only sorted those that should be smelt-able.” Moon Aiko assured Mei with a smile.

”Should be?” Mei tilted her head. She didn’t think that the system would be so vague.

”The damn system wouldn’t tell me anything and had me learn appraisal from scratch! I even earned another mastery because of it!” Moon Aiko twisted backwards, clearly upset about this injustice.

Mei laughed. ”But still be careful. Most cursed Treasures are made out of blood and lives of the mortal folk, so you might be haunted by their vengeful spirits.”

”I will be careful.” Moon Aiko nodded her head. ”There is another pile that is no-go.” She pointed at the furthest corner of this well-crafted room.

”That’s...” Mei looked over, and it was obvious they were cursed.

She could vaguely feel the cries of the humans and the light was particularly ’dark’ around them.

”Yeah, don’t touch those.” Mei was glad that the system at least did some due diligence in this part.

”Yeah, that’s why it’s in that corner.” Moon Aiko nodded her head.

”Good.” Mei rubbed Aiko’s head gently. ”What about the rest of the piles?”

”Allow me to guide you~” Moon Aiko happily clapped her hands.

Dai Lu and others were surprised how well sorted this all was.

”In this somewhat large pile are all the different currencies of this continent. We either use them before leaving or just throw them away as they are not made out of precious materials.” Moon Aiko pointed at the first pile of well-lined coins.

They sparkled beautifully, but most of them didn’t care about that part.

Those coins were pretty much useless as most human cities were now destroyed and still recovering.

”Throw them away.” Mei didn’t need those. ”Or store them for safekeeping, I will leave that up to you.”

”Okay.” Moon Aiko smiled.

The next pile had to be restricted by slabs of stone. It was the Beast Core pile.

”This pile is sorted into different grades and elements. The most basic elements and grades are in one place since it’s kind of a pain to sort it, but the more unique elements or higher grades are sorted carefully.”

”There are even some Beast Cores from Divine Beasts, which makes it exceptionally valuable, but most Beast Cores are between Magical Beast and Spirit Beast.” Moon Aiko explained.

”Not very useful for us, but most Demonic Foxes and abused Foxes will appreciate it.” Mei nodded her head.

”Exactly, we can use them before we leave for the mainland, boosting their strength significantly, making them have an easier time over there.” Moon Aiko nodded her head slowly, appreciating the size of that pile.

”Even if they gain strength, they would still be weak, so we will have to support them.” Mei sighed, shaking her head.

”Not all of them are that bad, most of the abused Foxes are actually really strong, but because of the impurities in their bodies they are much weaker than they are supposed to be.” Moon Aiko narrowed her eyes at Mei.

”Why are you looking at me like that...?” Mei felt a bad premonition.

”So please make them some nice Medicine Bath.” Moon Aiko pleaded with Mei.

”I refuse.” Mei immediately refused.

”Oh...” Moon Aiko was so taken aback that Mei felt a bit guilty. ”You don’t have to spend time with me...?”

”Ugh...” The destructive power that Moon Aiko learned was quite great for Mei.

”I wanted to adjust the Medicine Bath with you.” Moon Aiko chuckled sinisterly.

”You are not going to use poisons on them, right...?” Mei took a step back fearing this Aiko.

”Of course not.” Moon Aiko giggled. ”That’s the work of Witch Aiko. I will just make sure she doesn’t go overboard.” She smiled happily, making everyone shudder.

”But how do you plan to incorporate those poisons?” Mei tilted her head. She didn’t believe it would be that easy.

”Ah, I would just make sure that their bodies ’break down’, while the medicine part would heal them right up.” Moon Aiko thought about it and this was one of the most efficient solutions as all the spores inside one’s body would open, even if they were in the pseudo-Human form.

”You are describing Body Cultivators ’Medicine Bath’...” Mei sighed, shaking her head.

”Really? Do they like to get rid of impurities by opening their pores?” Moon Aiko was startled that there was already such a system in place.

”Huh?” Mei blinked. ”That’s not the case.” She didn’t think that White Aiko was aiming for something so precise as that.

”Then how does it work?” Moon Aiko tilted her head.

”You usually break down your muscles with the concoction and keep ripping it apart until it reaches its perfect form.” Mei explained, shuddering. She tried this one time and hated this to her bones.

”That sounds... painful and inefficient.” Moon Aiko was startled.

”I know right...” Mei nodded her head as if agreeing. ”All those precious Herbs could be used in a much better way, yet they waste it on those masochists...” She didn’t like it at all.

”Right?” Moon Aiko nodded her head. ”It’s better to use poison.”

”Oi.” Mei looked at Aiko, flabbergasted. ”That’s not much better.”

”It is.” Moon Aiko looked at Mei.

”It isn’t.” Mei was adamant.

”Then shall we make a bet?” Moon Aiko licked her lips.

”What are you up to?” Mei took a step back as she felt danger coming out of Aiko’s body.

”Nothin’~” Moon Aiko giggled. ”Just a little game~”

Mei groaned, but she didn’t believe that she would be outdone in the Herb department.

”Very well.” Mei was convinced that there was no way that Aiko would defeat her.

”Nice~” Moon Aiko hummed.

”Seriously...” Mei shook her head, but still patted Aiko. ”What’s next?”

”The Treasure Pile.” Moon Aiko guided them towards it.

”It was kind of hard to sort, so there are only a few categories to make things easier.” Moon Aiko explained as quite the sizeable Treasure pile spread in front of them.

”The first one would be defensive. Things like shields, armour or anything that had a defensive purpose.” Moon Aiko gestured and explained her sorting.

”The second one would be offensive. That also includes Talismans over there, since there were no defensive Talismans. But generally, weapons.”

”The third one is about cultivation. Things like gathering Qi, specific Qi, refining and so on.”

”The fourth would be movement. Things that allow you to gain advantage in moving.”

”The fifth would be utility. This one was quite difficult since it ranges from pathfinders to scouting to general tail brushes and so on.”

”There is also one last ground that is mixed. Things that don’t fit in the previous categories are here.” Moon Aiko gestured when one Fox suddenly asked.

”What are the wooden tags that are on every Treasure?”

Mei was also curious about that part, so she waited for Aiko to answer.

”Huh? Isn’t that obvious?” Moon Aiko tilted her head. ”It describes all the effects of the Treasures and their estimated durability.”

”...” Everyone froze when they heard that.

Sure appraising Treasures was not too bad, but where it became very difficult was when one wanted to know the effects.

One had to either figure it out and be told by the creator of the Treasure.

There is no way that one would be able to guess all the effects the Treasure might have since that was heaven-defying insight!

Moon Aiko tilted her head. ”You are not gonna make me sort through it again, right?” She immediately went on guard and bared her teeth.

”No...” Mei sighed. She wanted just general sorting and didn’t expect that Aiko would just go all in on this.

”You did well, you should rest.” Even Mei had trouble in appraising things to this depth, so next time she will give Aiko work, she will have to state what she wants exactly to prevent this situation!

”Awwww~” Moon Aiko hugged Mei. She was very tired of doing this, so any break was like heaven descending on her.

”There, there.” Mei didn’t mind indulging Aiko, since this kind of work was pretty much impossible.

”Oh right, we also have around 120 million Spirit Stones.” Moon Aiko suddenly dropped a bombshell, making everyone faint on the spot, questioning their hearing...