Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

The hole was dug, and the wall was uprooted, or at least that’s what she hoped would happen.

Unfortunately, only a hole was dug and tunnel was created, but she couldn’t take the wall with her-

’What am I even thinking?!’ Dai Lu was stunned that she even thought about that part. It seemed like listening to Aiko’s thoughts too often changed how she behaved and drastically at that!

’Let’s listen to her thoughts less, yes?’ Dai Lu nodded her head, confusing the bird guards.

”Let’s go in.” Dai Lu stopped thinking about it, since she was close to what could be said was a great Treasure!

Crawl-walking through the tunnel, the other side was dark, too dark. Lighting her sword ablaze, she used it as a torch to see around her.

Did she need to do that? No, but it was cool and she didn’t do it for a long time, so she wanted to re-live her younger days, when she was unable to navigate the dark.

The bird guards also crawled through, although they had to literally crawl since they were significantly bigger compared to this Fox.

”This place is sinister.” Dai Lu could feel the coldness permeating through the floor and the walls were no different.

”What a nasty prison.” The bird guards clicked their tongues. They already didn’t like this place and the only thing that this place resembled was a human prison.

Walking down the strange corridor, everything had Runes everywhere, like this thing was supposed to be properly secured.

”Are they really that stupid that only the entrance is uncovered?” Dai Lu shook her head. If she didn’t read the thoughts of the Nasty Deer, she would absolutely believe that this place was littered with traps.

Unfortunately, that adventure wouldn’t happen, since she knew that these Runes were used to ’syphon’ and ’restrain’ something.

’Should’ve asked what is in here.’ Dai Lu felt worried that she might let something dangerous free, but in that case she would just leave it be in here and take others over to see it too.

It would be a good learning experience for everyone to see how nasty someone can be and what kind of ’prisons’ one can create if they are spiteful or bad enough.

Dai Lu paused again. ’No wait, that might be a bad idea. We are talking about Aiko after all.’ She carefully reconsidered just sealing this place, since Aiko might create something even more ridiculous if she were to see this.

The bird guards were staring at her, wondering what she was doing.

”Nothing...” Dai Lu spoke suddenly after reading their thoughts.

”...” Both the bird guards and Dai Lu were silent.

They were creeped out that she actually answered what they were thinking, while Dai Lu was cursing inside her mind for making such a novice slip.

Neither of them talked and they just went deeper in.

The strange, cold hallway led to an opening. The opening was large, but this time there was light.

”Damn...” Dai Lu shuddered when she saw what was inside.

”What kind of sick fuck would do this...” The bird guards were of the same opinion, since they didn’t see something as nasty as this, ever.

In the middle of this ’room’ was what appeared to be a sacrificial ritual. The floor was pretty much flooded with blood and corpses of Holy Deers were littered all around.

This thing was beyond creepy. Not only did you not smell anything, it even felt inviting to approach it.

”We should be careful.” Dai Lu was not really affected by that temptation, since she was a Sword Cultivator with a steady Sword Heart.

Meanwhile, the bird guards were also not affected since their minds were steeled by constantly fishing in the lava river.

”This place is nasty, shouldn’t we leave?” The bird guards suggested, since they didn’t want to return alone and if something happened to this Fox, they wouldn’t be able to live it down!

”No, we will take that.” Dai Lu pointed to the middle. There was ’something’ there, it was alive, but it was hard to say what it was since it was covered in wounds.

”Say, do you smell this too?” The bird guards asked another bird guard.

”It smells like that nasty fucker.” The other bird guard nodded his head. This was definitely the smell of that Ancestral ’Holy’ Deer, but they didn’t understand why.

”Don’t tell me he bathed in here.” The bird guards shuddered and stopped approaching. If that nasty stuff got on their bodies, it might even sully their feathers! And then what if they couldn’t find any partners?!

Dai Lu almost fell flat on her face listening to their thoughts. They were even more ridiculous than Aiko- well, almost as ridiculous as Aiko.

’No wonder she liked them...’ Dai Lu shook her head. Fishing in lava? Beating fish up so they would cough up resources? That was some wild fever dream...

Dai Lu approached the lake. She already noticed something was moving inside it and she could even hear its thoughts.

’Vengeful Spirit? Probably?” Dai Lu couldn’t really understand what it was saying, but that could also mean those were Vengeful Spirits waiting for her to step in.

’Should I take it or not...’ Dai Lu was considering stepping into it in order to solidify her foundation, but at the same time she was of the same opinion as the bird guards.

’Feathers are easier to clean than tails...’ Dai Lu groaned. Thinking about how the group kept grooming their tails, she had a sudden urge to do it too.

”Alright.” Dai Lu lifted her sword.

”What is she doing?” One bird guard asked another.

”Stretching?” Another bird guard replied, but since neither of them were Sword Cultivators, it just seemed kind of funny.

Dai Lu breathed out and waved her sword.

”Is that some kind of ritua-” The bird guard asked, but before he could finish his sentence, a sharp wind blasted past him.

*rumble*

That unassuming Fox just made a huge hole with her sword, not only cleaving the ground, but the walls too!

The bird stood dumbstruck in place.

”Now that’s drained, you can help me, right?” Dai Lu smiled at them.

”Yes, ma’am!” The bird guards immediately turned respectful while sweating inside.

’Hey, would you be able to take that?’ One bird guard asked another telepathically.

’You want to turn me into chicken wings?! Of course not!’ Another bird guard scoffed at him. Only few would be able to take this kind of slash unprepared and even prepared would make them suffer injuries!

Dai Lu and others walked down into the drained part.

There were some kind of strange small fish. Their teeth were the most bizarre stuff, since they were able to cut almost anything.

”Don’t tell me that those corpses...!” The bird guards shuddered. One of the ’fish’ tried to bite them, but since it missed, it bit out a whole chunk of the floor effortlessly.

The floor was made out of similar material to the wall they had to dig under, just of worse quality, so it was impressive that this Fox was able to cleave through it.

”No, I can’t cleave that wall, it would break my sword.” Dai Lu retorted, not even hiding she could read their thoughts, since they were obedient.

”But ma’am, does that mean you would be able to cleave it with a better sword?” One bird guard asked sheepishly.

”You are stating the obvious.” Dai Lu rolled her eyes.

The bird guards were now even more respectful than before, even swiping the floor so that she wouldn’t step on that nasty blood.

Dai Lu’s lips twitched. She was a hardened Sword Cultivator, so this kind of treatment was both embarrassing and awkward.

However, she had no intention of stopping them, since it didn’t feel too bad either.

They arrived in the middle of the room. Previously there was supposed to be a barrier made out of Runes, but since she destroyed the foundation of this place, it was no longer working.

As such she was able to effortlessly step into the room and get closer to whatever that was.

However, as she did, she observed something ridiculous.

’It’s healing? But at what speed!’ Dai Lu never saw just fast healing without Pills and other beneficial Formations.

So seeing it in person and without those things, she had a very bad feeling about this.

*Oink...?*

”A piggy?” Both Dai Lu and the bird guards were confused about what they found.

Why was a piggy locked up here and in this formation? Why was it wounded? How could it heal so quickly?

So many questions, but it didn’t seem like they would be able to get the answer since this Beast was low in Beast Rank.

Dai Lu picked it up and shook it slightly, just to make sure there was nothing strange with it.

*Oink??*

The piggy was confused and just stared at her.

”Are you sure this is a good idea?” The bird guards were shaking in their boots, since they were scared what kind of creature this was.

”It should be. Its energy is stable and it doesn’t feel like there are any other energies. There might be some issues with its Bloodline, but a bit of observation should tell us all we need.” Dai Lu nodded her head. This could not be considered a good gift.

’Emergency rations...?’ Dai Lu suddenly thought about something ridiculous before shaking her head. She was really starting to sound like Aiko!

The group heads outside, leaving this place behind.

However, once they crawled outside, something horrifying unfolded in front of them.

All the Holy Deer were dead outside, already rotting, like they were never alive before.

Sure, there were a few very old Holy Deer, but they didn’t look ’Holy’ to begin with.

”What happened here?” Dai Lu voiced what everyone wanted to say.

”It’s better to leave now. This place will cease to exist soon.” The Deer told them. Half of his face was already starting to age rapidly.

”!!!” Everyone was shaken, so they immediately ran away from this place.

It was bizarre how everyone around them was dying, not to mention already rotting, but what was even more bizarre was that they didn’t feel anything wrong with it.

They might already be manipulated, so Dai Lu wanted to seek Mei out as soon as possible, since she might be able to tell what was happening to them...!