Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Moon Aiko stood in front of Mei.

”I know you don’t like this, but we have to push our plans forward.” Mei pursed her lips gently.

”I’m not sure what you mean.” Moon Aiko was confused why Mei was so proactive suddenly.

”I know that you failed to get your Human Body. Your Beast Core is now much bigger than mine. This will cause issues in the future.” Mei didn’t like this idea, but it was better to let Aiko prepare for it.

”You need to speak more...” Moon Aiko sighed. She still didn’t understand why that was an issue.

”Most Beasts will try to obtain Human Body sooner, do you know why?” Mei smiled. It was learning time~!

”I’m not sure, but if you have a Human Body then you can visit auctions and other inaccessible things, no?” Moon Aiko believed that was the main attraction of the Human Body.

She also knew that some Beasts did everything they could in order to skip that part, but most of them ended up miserable, but the last part was just rumours.

”You are... not wrong.” Mei nodded her head seriously. Certainly most Beasts would like that part, since there are not enough Pills for them, but when they have Human Body, Pills are pretty much everywhere!

”It’s not just about that, but the difficulty of obtaining the Human Body. The stronger you are, the more severe consequences you will face.” Mei looked quite grim, since Aiko had a lot more energy than anyone at this stage, but she still didn’t have a Human Body.

Sure, most other Beasts had at least 10 times more energy, but their bodies were built for it. They would be able to deal with it, but that was not the case for Foxes.

”I see, so the ’challenge’ of obtaining the Human Body will suddenly increase in difficulty.” Moon Aiko frowned. That meant she would have a really hard time considering her strength.

”The most severe one would be: Not feeling Qi.” Mei pursed her lips. Some of her acquaintances suffered because of that, so she wanted to prepare Aiko for that.

”So I would be pretty much like any normal Mortal Human.” Moon Aiko didn’t see the issue in that.

”It’s not just that. Humans learn quite quickly, but unless we all have tails, we are much slower and weaker than anyone else.” Mei shook her head. If things were that simple, nobody would fear the Human Body Stage.

”So we will be impeded.” Moon Aiko didn’t know how much.

”Our Souls are bigger and we store most of our power in our tails, which have amplification properties. Even more so for us, who gain beauty by just brushing them.” Mei noticed that strange phenomenon, but she wouldn’t ask about it, since it would help her later when she tried to obtain Kitsune Form.

”Hmmmm...” Moon Aiko thought about it for a bit. ”The ’container’ gets smaller.”

”En.” Mei nodded her head. ”But at the Human Body Stage, the vessel is sealed and a temporary vessel is put in place.”

Mei conjured a few illusions to portray that change.

”While this temporary vessel doesn’t last long, until the Nascent Soul Stage, most Foxes would die before reaching that.” Mei shook her head once again. ”You need to be careful, since pretty much all your abilities will get sealed.”

”But you were able to ignore the Human Body.” Moon Aiko narrowed her eyes.

”It was better that way, but I will suffer for it later. I hope you won’t have to use it.” Mei sighed softly. She was preparing for that part, but it would be unpleasant.

”I don’t even know why.” Moon Aiko retorted, shaking her head.

”Knowing you, you will figure out a way.” Mei shrugged. She knew that Aiko would be able to come up with something crazy again, but it didn’t mean it wouldn’t have consequences.

”And with that being the case, we need to polish your actual skill and technique. Things that even if you lose your Qi will still stay with you.” Mei smiled from ear to ear, but Aiko shuddered.

”I feel danger.” Moon Aiko took a step back.

”Good, at least we don’t have to refine your senses, but we won’t stop there.” Mei smiled.

”First, you will learn how to root your body.” Mei nodded her head seriously.

”So I won’t get sent flying again?” Moon Aiko narrowed her eyes. She would definitely make Dai Lu pay!

”Not quite.” Mei licked her lips. ”First gather energy into your soles. Once you have done that, this can be used in two ways.”

”One would allow you to propel yourself, but it’s very inefficient, so don’t do it. The other way would be to root yourself into the ground, making it harder for you to just fly away.”

”Wait, but that’s what I said.” Moon Aiko pouted.

”You are not trying to root yourself completely, that will just be detrimental.” Mei shook her head. ”First, do all the steps and I will show you why.”

”Okay...” Moon Aiko was confused, but would listen to Mei since she was much older and more experienced in this.

Moon Aiko first gathered the erratic energy in her body and focused on her soles.

”Good.” Mei didn’t wait and immediately attacked Aiko. Of course with a blunt stick, but it was still an attack.

”H-huh?” Moon Aiko didn’t expect Mei to do that and defended herself with haphazardly made [Moon’s Crust].

However, as her soles were ’perfectly’ rooted and the impact hit her barrier and thus her body, she suddenly saw the sky as her head slammed against the ground.

Yet, her feet still stood straight, like they didn’t want to part with the ground.

Moon Aiko dispersed that energy and rolled around while grabbing her head.

”Why?!” Moon Aiko cried out and glared at Mei.

”It doesn’t hurt, so stop overreacting.” Mei rolled her eyes. She studied that Cauldron quite a lot, so she knew that the impact was completely absorbed by it.

The Cauldron that Aiko had acted differently when you had the whole complete thing, compared to when you just had a part.

The complete thing would only block fatal strikes, but the incomplete one would also block very light strikes.

Mei had no idea why it worked like that, but that was pretty neat for her current training~!

”I will still whine!” Moon Aiko growled. She would bite Mei later once they got into bed!

”Sure, you can.” Mei chuckled. ”But now you understand why you can’t completely root yourself to the ground.”

”If your body is not strong enough, you will suffer, but at worst your back might break from the impact.” Mei was cautious not to overdo it, so that it wouldn’t happen.

”As such it’s better to only apply ’friction’ to your soles, so you reduce the distance of how far you will be sent flying.” Mei demonstrated it by discharging energy out of her palms and it let her slide backwards.

But compared to Aiko, those grooves were deep, meaning that she pretty much dragged the dirt with her.

”That’s really cool.” Moon Aiko slightly widened her eyes. She really liked that palm technique!

”I know you are not focusing on the most important part, but do you at least understand it?” Mei sighed, shaking her head gently.

”I do, but can’t you apply it to swords and other things too?” Moon Aiko was curious if that was the only application.

”In theory you can, but I wouldn’t advise it.” Mei had trouble tuning this just for her body, but materials, tools and weapons were different kinds of bullshit control.

The main issue with them was that each material has different ’resistance’ against Qi, so pouring Qi into it might make it explode.

You need to adjust to this ’resistance’ on the fly, which is really hard with difficult fights.

However, one’s soles were different. Those things were already part of your body and as long as you can circulate energy inside your body, you would be able to control it more or less effortlessly.

Generally speaking, your body is already used to the ’resistance’ of your body, so you don’t have to fine-tune it!

”But how about those fancy sword beams?” Moon Aiko tilted her head.

”Sword Intent. Sword Qi. It has many different names and each one signifies something else. It can’t be compared to what you do with your energy, since the concept is very different.” Mei shook her head. ”Well, while we are at it, I will explain it.”

”The Sword Intent, as the name implies is your intent, convincing, pride. In a sense it’s ’feeling’ that can form into tangible form and hurt your enemies.” Mei didn’t have any illusions for that, since she couldn’t understand it.

”The Sword Qi on the other hand is a lot simpler, since it’s just refined Qi in a special way, but now you need a good weapon so that it can absorb that Qi and allow you to slash it.” Mei chuckled. ”As you might expect, the Cold Iron is good for this, since its efficiency is good and it’s quite easy to obtain material.”

”It’s a lot more complex than I thought.” Moon Aiko nodded her head seriously, but then she attacked Mei with a downward slash.

Mei blocked it and the surrounding ground cracked.

But for some reason Mei’s feet never burrowed into the ground.

”I knew it.” Moon Aiko narrowed her eyes. ”There is more than one application of this technique.”

Mei chuckled. ”I didn’t think you would be able to figure it out so quickly.”

”You are right, this technique can also allow you to ’disperse’ the force you are hit by, allowing you to withstand attacks without being buried into the ground.” Mei knew that this technique was more advanced, but it was one of the most useful techniques.

”Just so you know, when Dai Lu jumps from tree to tree, she also uses this.” Mei laughed happily, since that was the perfect example.

”Huh?” Moon Aiko was startled. ”Doesn’t she just use the [Lightness Technique] and [Gale Steps]?”

At least that’s what she saw Dai Lu use at the time.

”Yes, but [Lightness Technique] has its limits for Beasts, unlike for Humans, so we need additional tools in order to allow us to do similar feats to Humans and match their game.” Mei sighed.

”The [Lightness Technique] can only remove around 90-95% of your weight, but not 99+% like for Humans. By using this technique on the tree, we can strengthen it, so that even if we quickly hop between them, they won’t even make a sound.” Mei would teach this later for Aiko, for now the basics of more advanced combat was necessary.

”It’s complicated.” Moon Aiko would be happier with a more ’hands-on’ approach...