Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”Obviously.” The Nightmare Owl nodded his head repeatedly.

”Good~” Witch Aiko hummed happily before pausing. ”Also what’s wrong with everyone, why does everyone want to kill each other?”

”Mostly resources. We have already pretty much consumed this place, so there are limited resources left and thus everyone wants the last piece.” The bird lady explained before anyone else could say anything.

”As she says, our Clans are the most reclusive, mostly because we have a really rough environment that makes invasion difficult if not straight up impossible.” The Nightmare Owl said proudly.

”I was wondering why there weren’t all that many Nightmare Owls outside.” Witch Aiko nodded her head before letting him guide towards the former domain of the Earthen Elephants.

”As you can see this place is pretty inhospitable if you don’t have Earthen Bloodline, but once you have, this place is pretty cosy.” The Nightmare Owl was wearing a mask against the sandstorm.

”And we are supposed to spend time here and heal?” Witch Aiko questioned this idiot if he was really alright.

”I heard that the Earthen Elephants had an oasis?” The bird lady was trying to help the Foxes, since she really, really, really wanted to get contracted like that gu- girl.

”Indeed. It will take us some time before we manage to get all the way there, but once we do you will be happy.” The Nightmare Owl was convinced of this, since he liked to spend time there.

”And what if we don’t like it?” Witch Aiko narrowed her eyes.

”Unfortunately this guide doesn’t provide refunds to individuals that don’t appreciate that beauty.” The Nightmare Owl said seriously before making a protective barrier around the colony of Foxes.

”Couldn’t you do that sooner?” Witch Aiko clicked her tongue.

”The border has natural property that dispels barriers, so it would be impossible for me to maintain this.” The Nightmare Owl shook his head, since this place was quite strange.

”Oho?” Mei immediately narrowed her eyes. She liked Natural Treasures, as long as she could take them with her.

There were some Natural Treasures that you couldn’t take with them as they were closer to Natural Formations, but who knows which one this was.

”It’s Natural Formation.” The Nightmare Owl wanted to introduce it, since he liked how it worked, but...

”Tsk.” Mei clicked her tongue.

”How unfortunate.” Witch Aiko felt like her hands were too empty.

”You would really try to steal anything and everything.” Dai Lu shook her head.

”It’s not really harming anyone, so why not?” Danji giggled.

Seeing their collective reaction he just gave up about explaining anything and just guided them around. It was important to guide them quickly since the barrier was quite draining.

There were, after all, many Foxes following him.

They passed over a few dunes. This was supposed to be a ravine, but for some reason it was something completely else.

”Please be careful where you step, we are still inside a ravine.” The Nightmare Owl warned them, but the bird lady was already guiding and restricting the Foxes, so that they wouldn’t fall to their deaths.

”Huh? Is this Natural Formation so powerful?” Witch Aiko was unable to see through this illusion and she had to use all her eye abilities just to be able to make out the outline of the ravine!

”It is, the Earthen Elephant Clan spent a lot of resources on enhancing it past its limits, so the effect became even more incredible over time.” The Nightmare Owl marvelled at this, but it was obvious others wouldn’t appreciate it as much.

”I didn’t think it would have such history.” Witch Aiko nodded her head slowly. She didn’t expect this place to be so difficult, no wonder that the Earthen Elephant Clan had such an easy time as this place was similar to the Crow Clan, just with different elements.

”Every Clan, but the Holy Deer Clan has something special.” The Nightmare Owl chuckled.

”But how about the forest?” Nightmare Aiko tilted her head.

”How about you just burn it down?” The Nightmare Owl laughed. While that ’forest’ was impressive, it was not impressive enough to stop an arsonist and even if the Holy Deer Clan would be able to extinguish the flames, they would still incur some losses while trying to take care of the flames.

”Then why didn’t the Earthen Elephant Clan do that?” Witch Aiko couldn’t understand. Since it was so easy to deal with, why did nobody do it?

”Mostly because of the Contract, we were supposed to maintain our domains without invading each other, but once someone weakens the others would attack them.” The Nightmare Owl stepped on something soft and grimaced. He ignored it with a straight face like nothing happened.

”You stepped on shit.” Witch Aiko chuckled at him.

”You know that you could’ve just ignored that, right?” The Nightmare Owl’s lips twitched, he was quite unhappy about what happened.

”Yeah, but that wouldn’t be me.” Witch Aiko shrugged.

”What does that supposed to mean?” The Nightmare Owl asked, but when he saw her grin, he regretted it.

”Just... don’t say anything, alright?” The Nightmare Owl groaned like he was tortured.

”~” Witch Aiko hummed happily, following behind him, but not directly since she didn’t want to step into the shit that was stuck to his sole.

...

The journey was very uneventful, probably since the whole Earthen Elephant Clan went for that Spirit Stone Mine and died there.

There were no monsters or Beasts around either, like they either died or didn’t even approach this place.

”Most of the Beasts died by falling down the ravine once the Natural Formation was strengthened.” The Nightmare Owl narrated it, since his Clan was pretty much everywhere.

And that also included the Crow Clan, but it was sort of a punishment to go there...

”Can we get some meat for them?” Witch Aiko rubbed her hands, the soup would be fine, but her snack left this place, so she was quite unhappy about that.

”Unlikely as everything would already be rotting.” The Nightmare Owl shook his head.

”How useless.” Witch Aiko sighed. What was wrong with everyone and rotting things?!

The Nightmare Owl just shook his head. He understood this pain well, but that didn’t mean he would voice it. Considering her personality it might backfire on him which would make him unhappy.

...

They arrived in front of a huge abnormal dune.

”This is the entrance to the oasis.” The Nightmare Owl pointed at it proudly.

”Why make it so abnormal?” Witch Aiko tilted her head.

”If someone strengthens the Natural Formation, then it makes it harder to control at the centre.” Mei explained to Aiko, since she knew quite a few things about these and even how to make them stop working.

”So they expanded the size of the Clan at the expense of exposing the centre?” Witch Aiko felt like that was a huge flaw, but she might be mistaken?

”You are not wrong, but you would have to first get to it, not everyone has such a nice pair of eyes like you or that Owl, so it’s only natural that they wouldn’t be able to get this far. And even if they did, they would still have to battle the Earthen Elephant Clan over it.” Trying to take over the Natural Formations was painful, Mei knew it well, especially when it came to defensive formations like this one.

”So we are lucky we got a guide?” Witch Aiko slowly nodded head, appreciating their guide.

”We would be able to reach this place one day, but it wouldn’t be as nice of a journey as we have right now.” Mei shrugged. This journey turned out well thanks to the Nightmare Owl guiding and shielding, while the bird lady maintained the rows so that nobody would fall to their deaths.

”Right...” Witch Aiko would be fine alone, but they still had Foxes that needed to heal!

The Nightmare Owl was the first to step straight into the wall made out of sand and the others reluctantly followed.

It was a surreal feeling stepping into nothingness, while your eyes were trying to convince you there is a wall in front of you, but once you passed a sudden feeling of confusion washed over you.

”You will get used to it.” Mei patted Aiko’s back, this would definitely be the first time she came across such a powerful Natural Treasure that could invalidate her eyes.

”It’s nauseating.” Witch Aiko’s brain was confused about what just happened, so she didn’t feel too well.

”It will pass soon, just look around you.” Mei marvelled at this place, since this was not a simple oasis!

Witch Aiko looked around only to be left speechless.

This place was pretty much one whole building, a palace of sorts, with pyramids and other strange things.

There were channels with water that evaporated, making this place a lot more liveable than it would be otherwise.

There were also plenty of trees around the channel and roads, making shade quite frequent allowing everyone to rest without overheating.

Almost everything was in the same colour to the sand outside them, but there were some dark, reddish rocks that set some buildings apart.

”The reddish stone is used on shops or stockpiles, so it’s easier to navigate through this whole place. The main palace- Well, pretty much everything, was not made by the Earthen Elephant Clan, but was found by them.” The Nightmare Owl briefly introduced this place.

”Could the Natural Formation be this whole place?” Mei was impressed by the scale of things, but the craftsmanship was a bit lacking.

Maybe she was a bit spoiled by the Demonic Foxes and normal Foxes making some absurdly beautiful furniture.

”It’s hard to shape things that are made out of ’sand’ so don’t expect anything too artistic than the place itself.” The Nightmare Owl sighed, that was probably the only shortcoming of this place, of course, excluding the scorching sun.

”I figured as much, but it’s still sad to see.” Mei shook her head. If they put a bit of work into this, she might be willing to stay here, but alas, this place was far from pretty...