Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Moon Aiko dashed from tree to tree, but they all creaked, unlike what Dai Lu achieved.

”I’m doing something wrong...” Moon Aiko found it hard to combine two of them, much less three.

That was because each technique had a different way of being ’discharged’.

Moon Aiko figured out she could just use individual Beast Cores for this, but it didn’t end there. You also had to maintain a different way of control for each and that’s where her main issue laid.

Moon Aiko was unable to maintain all three of them at the same time, even with a ’slowed’ world.

That was because she severely lacked the experience.

”One thing at a time...” Moon Aiko sighed. She had so much work to do and that only increased over time.

”I definitely bit more than I can chew, but at this point I have to just fake it until I make it.” Moon Aiko nodded her head several times.

The first part would be to make [Lightness Technique] and [Gale Steps] to work in tandem without issues.

That was not too bad since the [Lightness Technique] was used in almost all movement techniques, just to different degrees.

Her mastery over that directly affected the mastery of other things.

First was the state of weightlessness, provided by the [Lightness Technique]. The next step was the [Gale Steps], using the wind to guide her way.

The wind would wrap around her legs and from there all over her body.

You could also see it as mini tornadoes around her body, but invisible to the naked eye.

This allowed her to decrease the friction that she experienced when going fast, allowing her to surpass her speed much more.

The next step would be to incorporate [Illusionary Steps] and that’s where most issues popped up.

Unlike the [Gale Steps], [Illusionary Steps] used much less of the [Lightness Technique] and more illusions through the sway of the body.

Now, she could fake it by alternating between them as she did before, but that was not her main goal.

If she wanted to reach perfection and be able to fool other Cultivators, she had to work hard.

The hardest one was the [Illusionary Steps], so she would drop the other two for the time being.

Moon Aiko solely focused on [Illusionary Steps], making her research progress quicker.

’It feels like I’m walking on water...’ Moon Aiko experienced this before, when she walked over the ’lake’ to the Comprehension Tree.

Over there, you were unable to dive under the water, making it feel like you were walking on it.

The feeling was similar if not the same, making Aiko think that whoever created this thing, created it based on that sensation.

And that’s where the main issue of her synergy lay.

The [Gale Steps] were wind-based, while [Illusionary Steps] were a mixture of water and heat.

The [Illusionary Steps] carefully placed heat and water was quickly dispersed or fanned by the [Gale Steps], making everything crumble immediately.

The main solution would be to find a technique that would be able to incorporate these elements, but that was obviously not allowed.

Moon Aiko believed that her ’homework’ would worsen if she did that, judging the Grandmaster’s personality...

Well, with how things progressed she might be in trouble-

’Could it be, because the [Gale Steps] have higher mastery, so they don’t work well together?’ Moon Aiko pondered and paused her steps. She carefully thought about it, believing that it would not be a bad idea to increase her mastery and try it again.

...

Moon Aiko used the broken Comprehension Tree as her training ground. She wanted to increase her mastery over [Illusionary Steps] as soon as possible.

And that was only possible in this place, where the ’sensation’ was the same as if she was using those steps.

Moon Aiko stepped on the lake without anything on her feet and let the ’water’ do all the work for her.

The sensation was slowly ingrained into her memory and her steps became lighter, so much so that she no longer made any ripples on the surface of the water.

[Illusionary Steps: 2/9->3/9]

’Fumu.’ Moon Aiko paused and tested her theory.

She combined those tree techniques with different Beast Cores, but it still failed.

However, she was able to take 3 steps before she failed! That was a major improvement compared to no steps.

With this she knew that it was possible to combine them, but now she was facing another issue.

’How the hell am I supposed to match the mastery of all 3...’ Moon Aiko glanced at the different techniques.

[Gale Steps: 3/9]

[Illusionary Steps: 3/9]

[Lightness Technique: Mastered (Beast)]

’Well fuck.’ Moon Aiko groaned unhappily. Unless she mastered the other two, she wouldn’t be able to get nowhere.

”It’s time for rest.” Dai Lu almost swallowed her brain when she saw Aiko momentarily use 3 techniques at the same time.

”I’m almost finished.” Moon Aiko narrowed her eyes.

Dai Lu awkwardly laughed. ”There are still things I have to teach you, but we will be leaving soon.”

”Oh?” Moon Aiko turned around. ”Did Mei speed things up?”

”Thanks to the rehabilitation centre doing better, we are able to speed things up, yes.” Dai Lu smiled. She was able to distract Aiko from what she did! Good job her!

”So what is the next part?” Moon Aiko didn’t want to learn more, since it would mean more work for her, but she also didn’t see how she could refuse this.

”It’s deflection.” Dai Lu picked something easy and hard at the same time.

Depending on the thing one was deflecting, it might turn very easy or straight up impossible.

Deflecting the sword was not too bad, but deflecting techniques, now that took a real mastery!

”I will only make overhead slashes and your only job is to make them glide next to you.” Dai Lu kept her smile. ”Do not block, do not try to reflect, just make sure that my sword’s trajectory has changed and you are not harmed.”

”You will hold back right?” Moon Aiko felt suspicious when it came to her, since her harsh training would be bad for Aiko’s mind.

”I will.” Dai Lu nodded her head. She could not exhaust Aiko, since Mei wanted to meet her again later for more plans.

Exhausted Aiko might come up with something ridiculous, just to skip the planning phase, so it was in her good interest to keep Aiko in good condition!

Moon Aiko readied her stick against Dai Lu’s sword.

”I feel like I’m treated unfairly...” Moon Aiko didn’t like the fact that she was using wood against metal.

”You won’t always have the time to ready a sword, so you will have to learn to deflect with anything around you. The most widespread tool would be a stick.” Dai Lu still kept smiling, but Aiko felt the sinister energy from it.

”Wood also has good conductivity, so you can reinforce it with your energy.” Dai Lu allowed Aiko to do that much, since then she wouldn’t completely sulk on her.

”You are definitely bullying me.” Moon Aiko, however, still sulked.

”Nothing you can do about that, since even Mei agreed.” Dai Lu pulled out the Mei card to calm down Aiko.

”Now you are just making things up.” Moon Aiko groaned unhappily, but still readied her body.

The presence Dai Lu exuded was far from what it was before, so Moon Aiko understood the power she now held.

IF someone so powerful was willing to teach her, then she would swallow a few complaints to be able to learn from her.

Of course, just being powerful didn’t mean that Moon Aiko would want to learn from them. There were other requirements for that, but she would not tell anyone!

Moon Aiko also liked the subtle beauty that Dai Lu was hiding with her ’shroud’ making Aiko even more curious about how she actually looked.

The Grandmaster swung her sword, it was slow, but Aiko could feel the power behind it.

She did her best to ready the stick to parry it, since the movement was slow, but she soon found out that the power behind it was incomparable.

The stick couldn’t endure even a second and was cut through. Moon Aiko dodged to the side as she watched the sword continue its downward path.

When the sword met with the earth, it felt like the whole world parted-

”No wait! That’s actually what happened!” Moon Aiko cried out when she saw the newly formed ravine.

”Are you trying to kill me?!” Moon Aiko protested against this powercreep!

”Ooops.” Dai Lu didn’t have time to test her strength, so she didn’t think she would be able to cause that much damage with a casual strike.

”That’s it! No more teaching! Let’s go back!” It was obvious that Moon Aiko didn’t want to risk her life against such power, especially since the teacher seemed to not be in control of it.

”My apologies...” Dai Lu scratched her head. She really didn’t expect that kind of outcome, so she was quite lucky that she chose the slow approach.

If she picked the fast one and Aiko ended up in half...

*Gulp*

Dai Lu gulped nervously as she wiped her forehead. If Mei figured out that something like that happened, she wouldn’t be able to live it down!

Moon Aiko stomped her feet away.

”I will have to give her a gift for combining 3 techniques...” Dai Lu pursed her lips. It would be better if Aiko forgot, but then her pride would be wounded.

She was always able to control her strength, so this would be the first time she actually couldn’t control it.

She was embarrassed and ashamed, making it difficult to face both Mei and Aiko.

However, she was a bodyguard to Mei, so she still had to go.

...

”Mei~” Moon Aiko greeted Mei with a hug.

”How are you doing?” Mei smiled gently. Everything was progressing smoothly, so she was in a good mood.

”I was almost split in half.” Moon Aiko was obviously petty, so she immediately complained about what happened.

”Yes, that was my fault.” Dai Lu coughed awkwardly.

”Because you got your tails back?” Mei tilted her head.

”En.” Dai Lu nodded her head.

”Didn’t you go to the Southern Sect? I thought you would fight someone.” Mei tilted her head to the other side. This was unlike Dai Lu that she knew, the one that would train every time she got just slightly stronger.

”I was so intoxicated by my healthy body that I completely forgot to re-train it...” Dai Lu apologised with flat ears, making both of them nod their heads slowly.

It would happen to everyone, but at least nobody was injured this time...