Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Moon Aiko sneaked around the house with the whole group.

They were all curious how this would end, since Spirit Stones depended on it!

Well, it was mostly for shit and giggles.

However, as they went around the house, they noticed another group led by the Blazing Fox.

Both groups stopped moving. They looked at each other trying to assess what the opposite group was trying to do.

Once everyone realised they were here for the same thing, they quietly approached the door, and windows... and chimney...

There are some weird Foxes out there...

...

They weren’t able to make out what was happening inside, so they pressed their ears against the doors.

Was this place sealed so that it doesn’t leak any noise? That couldn’t be it, since the Qi around this home was very stable.

Moon Aiko was curious, but since everyone was huddled together, she was just trying to hold on and not get too squished.

The doors creaked under their weight until they broke.

The duo inside was clearly startled, but the first one to spring to action was Bin.

”What are you doing?!” He menacingly approached the group and Foxes under the windows started to scatter.

Everyone knew about the rumours surrounding the Guard Fox and his ruthless nature when it was necessary.

This was a very precarious situation to be in, so everyone would rather run away before anything happened to them.

Moon Aiko was the same as she switched to Witch Aiko and immediately disappeared into the shadows.

Yuxi and Wanshu did something similar, while Mei used a short distance Movement Talisman, ’teleporting’ her out of that place.

Everyone met in the same place and they kept observing the home, but they soon considered returning tomorrow as the safest bet.

-----

”Hmpf.” Bin snorted unhappily. He didn’t think there would be so many Foxes just outside her home.

However, after he turned around, the situation got awkward again. He couldn’t meet her eyes, so he could not see her faint smile that was on her lips.

”Would you like to stay over for some food?” The old Fox liked to cook, but after ’that’ happened she was never really in the mood to do it.

Well, the twitched and unstable fingers was another issue too, but not as severe as her mentality.

Bin tried to not smile too much, but considering how much he loved her cooking, there was still a smile plastered on his face.

”I shouldn’t...” Bin scratched his head awkwardly, but that smile was all that she needed to know.

She smiled softly, standing up from her small bed.

The bed was smaller than usual, since it protected her from anyone sneaking into her bed and... you know.

However, that in turn made her health worse, since she had to sleep in a strange way in order to fit on it.

”Careful.” Bin supported her, since her body swayed from side to side.

The old Fox blushed and he did so too soon after.

The awkward atmosphere only deepened as time moved on.

”Can you let me go?” The old Fox said under her breath, almost inaudibly.

”Y-yes.” Bin jumped slightly, since his nerves were strained.

The old Fox walked into the kitchen and Bin absent-mindedly followed her.

She prepared her tools and some fresh vegetables that were carried into this place by the Foxes outside.

Bin just looked at her like an abandoned puppy, who didn’t know what to do.

He waited for her, while from time to time helping her with something heavy.

Considering this was their first time together, outside the awkwardness, they were very well in sync.

The food was quickly prepared. This time it was some hearty stew with plenty of meat.

She didn’t quite like to eat too much meat, but since she had a cute guest, she put in more effort.

”I can take it.” Bin wouldn’t let her pick up anything too heavy, making her feel all kinds of strange emotions.

From happiness to wariness, she didn’t know if this situation was right and if she should allow him to continue like this.

They sat around the small table, which creaked once he sat down the large pot with the stew.

Bin was worried that the table would break, but when he saw her sitting down, he just sat down too.

”Here.” The old Fox gave him a bowl, it was first come, first served, so if he had an appetite he could finish this stew all by himself and she wouldn’t have minded it.

Bin hurriedly stood up and poured some stew into her bowl. He observed her expression and realised that she didn’t like meat, so he poured more veggies into her bowl.

In turn the old Fox had a misunderstanding that he didn’t like veggies, but that wouldn’t hinder their ’progress’.

Bin sat down once he poured himself some hearty stew. He was almost salivating at the inviting scent of the stew, making him more hungry than what he usually would be.

They both took a few spoonfuls until the table creaked again.

One leg broke from the weight of the pot and their hands.

The pot tilted towards the old Fox, startling her greatly, but she was not in condition to dodge out of the way.

Bin was quick on his legs, moving her out of the way, so that she wouldn’t injure herself. A hot stew would leave quite the nasty burns, even if they were cultivators, since it contained Qi.

It took a while for the old Fox to calm down and Bin was relieved that she was not injured.

”Phew.” Bin sighed in relief, making the old Fox look at him.

”You are injured...” The old Fox felt sad looking at it. She tried to gently touch it, but he stopped her hand.

”It’s still hot.” Bin was used to some harsh treatment, since Foxes did all kinds of things in order to get out of the Fox Village without permission.

A bit of hot soup wouldn’t even leave a scratch on him!

”I’m fine.” Bin chuckled, but soon after the awkwardness settled in.

He was holding her in his arms and she was very close to him.

Her simple breath near his neck sent shivers down his spine. At this point he would rather prefer more hot soup on his body since this was pure torture for him.

The old Fox’s face burned hot. She hated being embraced or hugged, but for some reason she didn’t mind it in his case... There was just something so different about it. Or maybe she was just too broken to make that distinction.

Bin slowly, but very awkwardly let her go. He coughed a few times, not because he had something inside his throat, but because he was trying to cough away his embarrassment.

The old Fox pursed her lips. ”Thank you...”

”You are welcome.” Bin laughed foolishly, making her not mind the fact that he was a man.

”But are you alright?” He looked at her from all sides, making her into an embarrassing blushing mess.

”I’m fine.” The old Fox pushed him away, since she was too embarrassed to face him.

She moved into the kitchen to calm down.

”This will leave a stain...” Bin looked over at the pot, which broke part of the flooring and spilled all the stew around the place, filling the air inside with its scent.

Fortunately it was not a bad scent, but it would make him permanently hungry until the smell disappeared.

This was slightly concerning since he was still hungry and he even considered just slurping it from the ground.

Even more fortunately, he was not shameless enough to do that as embarrassment would absolutely kill him!

...

The old Fox returned with some cleaning tools, but he wouldn’t allow her to get close to the pot.

She stood back, looking over him while he cleaned. This kind of peacefulness wouldn’t last long, but it was definitely sweet.

The old Fox glanced outside to see what time it was, but she was only met with many curious ears peeking from under the window.

This made her giggle, since she did remember those overly huge ears.

It was the tiny Fox, curiously listening to them.

The old Fox quite liked her, since she was small, but for her size she had a huge appetite.

It reminded her of that time when everyone loved to eat her cooking.

She would prepare more food tomorrow for those hungry Foxes outside.

*Creak**Crack*

Bin accidentally ripped out the flooring while he was trying to clean. He was becoming more and more flustered, making more and more blunders, but for some reason this lively atmosphere helped the old Fox greatly.

She giggled loudly, which didn’t happen in quite some time.

The old Fox would always stifle her laugh out of fear of being beaten, but now she didn’t need to worry about that.

The feeling and realisation slowly settled in, making her smile more and more. Overall she was more animated than before, making her into a blooming rose.

Bin was momentarily stunned before he shyly cleaned more places. It felt quite good when someone smiled at him like that, but that didn’t reduce his blunders.

He broke the rag broom, kicked a hole into the bucket, flooded the floor with the water and almost fell through the floor.

”Are you sure you are not an incarnate of misfortune?” The old Fox giggled seeing the even bigger disaster ’manifesting’ in front of her.

”I’m just not used to this.” Bin said seriously, but guessing by his completely red neck, he was very embarrassed about this situation.

The old Fox giggled again. ”At this rate you will be here throughout the night.” She said it jokingly, but once the realisation set in again, she was quite flustered.

”I wouldn’t dare to impose.” Bin had his limits and it was better if he cooled in a nearby river before his brother got any more ideas.

He wouldn’t jump her even if he had raging boner and was drunk, but that didn’t mean it was not painful.

They chatted like this, making the Foxes outside slightly flustered, but also very happy that everything was proceeding ’smoothly’.

Especially Aiko, who was smirking at Mei.

Mei just rolled her eyes, pinching Aiko’s cheeks.

Soon, Bin left the house to take a dip in the nearby river, while the old Fox walked out and turned to the left.

”What are you doing?” The old Fox blinked at the pile of Foxes.

”Nothing~” The Foxes giggled innocently. Thanks to the cooking everyone bonded a lot, making this whole place a lot more ’colourful’ than it was before.

The Blazing Fox dragged the old Fox and the pile was slightly rolling around.

At first everyone was a bit awkward, but once everyone got used to it, only laughter filled the place...