Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”So...” Witch Aiko stared at the bird lady. ”What curse were you afflicted with?” She wanted to know what kind of heinous things the Crow Clan did.

”Hmmmm...” The bird lady pondered what could be considered as heinous as this. ”The Clan Elders like to kidnap people and have fun with them...” She suddenly paused, like she finished talking.

”That’s it?” Witch Aiko thought there might be more to it, but if this was it...

”We are also racist.” The bird lady giggled, making everyone look at her strangely.

”...” The Nightmare Owl decided that it was better not to engage in this kind of conversation. Who knows how it would end up for him...

”I never saw anything like that.” Witch Aiko raised her eyebrow, she could never imagine-

”Of course, you are our precious guest, we can’t treat you the same as the other pea-sized black thieving fuckers.” The bird lady didn’t mince her words.

”Nice...” Witch Aiko gave her thumbs up, she could get behind harsh words like that if they were deserved.

The bird lady was stunned, not being able to respond to it in any kind of way, while the others just sighed.

While Aiko was... eloquent, it couldn’t compare to this bird...

”Oh~” Witch Aiko suddenly smirked and the bird lady shuddered.

”W-what?” The bird lady felt like she was on a cutting board and she didn’t like it.

”Does it mean that if I contract you we can dual-curse our opponents?” Witch Aiko cackled sinisterly until Mei pulled her cheeks.

”You can only do that until you reach the Human Body Stage. Afterwards you will have to be more careful about everything.” Mei warned Aiko, since those words wouldn’t slide as easily when she was in the Human Body Stage.

The main reason being that almost all Human Cultivators had very fragile egos, so a beautiful girl like Aiko cursing at them was... quite lethal.

”Wimps.” Witch Aiko clicked her tongue, but she decided not to dwell on it too much. Once she reached the Human Body Stage, she would find a way-

”Wait, that just means she will be the only one cursing them, I’m fine with that~” Witch Aiko hummed as she stared at the bird lady.

”Hold on, that’s not what I meant.” Mei pinched her nose bridge.

”Speaking of black. Whom were you cursing?” Witch Aiko was curious who was able to bring such vivid emotions from the bird lady.

”Ah, there was this black rat that bothered us, trying to steal our fish. For some reason it was quite resistant to heat, so it was able to traverse our domain.” The bird lady sighed. If she met that fucker again she would be as ruthless as her owner. ’Making a skewer out of it and roasting it doesn’t sound too bad~’ She hummed happily, making everyone wonder if this was a good idea.

They all walked while chatting, well most of it was scolding Aiko for listening to the bird lady cursing, but that was beside the point.

The garden was huge and there were many beautiful flowers, even some Herbs that Aiko had never seen before!

”We will harvest them later, they won’t escape for now.” Mei giggled as she grabbed Aiko by her clothes and stopped her from pillaging this place for the time being.

They would have to spend some time over here so destroying the scenery was a bit... yeah, much.

”Okay.” Witch Aiko decided not to anger Mei, since she didn’t want to be nagged again.

”Oh...” Witch Aiko suddenly paused. ”But why are Human Cultivators so fragile?”

”Well, Foxes are great at sex, so you of-” The bird lady was a bit too enthusiastic to explain, but she completely missed the point.

”That’s not what she is talking about.” Mei stopped her before she embarrassed herself further.

”Oh...” The bird lady pursed her lips, almost biting them for messing up.

”It’s mostly because they don’t like to practise and cultivate their minds.” Mei explained what Aiko was asking about.

”But didn’t you say before that it was important to practise a bit of everything?” Witch Aiko tilted her head. There had to be something about this to make those humans not want to practise it, otherwise it wouldn’t make any sense!

”That is because unlike gathering Qi inside your body, nourishing your mind was very difficult. To be honest, most Human Cultivators nourished it through Crystal Beast Cores, but Humans like to call them Beast Essence.” Mei never explained this for the sole reason that Foxes didn’t have such a thing. They did have their own Pearl, but that was very different to the Beast Essence that other Beasts had.

”Huh? That’s a thing?” Witch Aiko was completely unaware that there was something different from normal Beast Core!

”Well, Foxes don’t have such dangerous luxury, so you wouldn’t know, and the Beast has to be at least 100 years old, or rather 1,000 years old to form an adequate Beast Essence that doesn’t disperse immediately after killing it.” Mei explained the shape too since it looked similar to Fox’s Pearl.

”Hmmm...” Witch Aiko nodded her head. She met quite the ruthless Beasts, but none of them had anything like-

”Also, you won’t find them in most Secret/Scared Realms, so you don’t have to look for them.” Mei added that part and then everything made sense, except one thing.

”Why don’t we have it?” Witch Aiko tilted her head.

”The Beast Essence is amalgamation of the age of the Beast and its gathered energy. The ’Realms’ are too different to Mortal World to be able to maintain such a thing.” Mei shook her head.

”I also have a Beast Essence, but I wonder what will happen if you contract me.” The bird lady licked her lips, she really wanted to know.

’It’s simple, the Beast Essence is absorbed into the body and strengthens the Beast Core, allowing it to take more energy in.’ The little Xinyue spoke to Aiko, since she was able to already observe what was inside her body.

While her Beast Core was mostly inactive, she knew her Beast Core better than anyone and it was not supposed to be this big and thick, it was completely different to what she knew!

”Oh~” Witch Aiko smiled.

”That’s an interesting discovery...” Dai Lu narrowed her eyes.

”Kya!” Witch Aiko jumped, since Dai Lu was supposed to take care of the Foxes and would disappear and appear from time to time.

”You are easily startled these days.” Dai Lu looked at Aiko, trembling briefly.

”I’m not sure, but it seems like I’m more sensitive these days...” Witch Aiko sobbed. She didn’t expect this kind of thing to happen to her...

”Hm?” The bird lady and the Nightmare Owl tilted their heads.

”What is it?” Witch Aiko noticed their gazes.

”Have to perhaps complete a Physique?” The bird lady was curious if that was the reason for her reactions these days.

”En?” Witch Aiko was startled that they knew.

”Once you obtain a powerful Physique that is unfinished. The body is slowly undergoing transformation to get more accustomed to it. However, if you suddenly speed things up, your body is unable to follow you so it sharpens your sense of survival as Beasts with unique Physiques are quite desirable on many levels.” The bird lady said seriously and gestured to Aiko to be more careful about everything.

”Whoa...” Witch Aiko knew that there was a wider world outside, but to think she would be able to gather so much information so easily-!

”Thank you~” Witch Aiko hummed happily as she thanked her for this ’gift’.

”Don’t mind me, if you like information then please contract me.” The bird lady smiled from ear to ear.

”You are quite shameless, huh?” Mei stared at her with apprehension.

”Don’t worry, I won’t steal her from you. I’m more interested in getting even stronger than I was before~” The bird lady hummed happily.

She might be gorgeous and a bit - let’s not mention her body - so she was not really interested in romance.

Was the little Foxy cute? Yes, but not cute enough that she would want to follow Aiko as a partner.

She wanted to explore the vast world outside, and become even more powerful. That was the main reason she wanted to be contracted.

”As if, you have no idea.” Mei dismissed her sincerity, since the bird lady had no idea just what kind of being Aiko was.

She was so chaotic and adorable that anyone would try to woo her over!

’Wait!’ Mei suddenly widened her eyes. ’What will happen if she obtains the Human Body Stage...’ She was already dreading the amount of hopeless fuckers trying to woo her over.

”Whoa...” Even the bird lady could feel the negative energy seeping out of Mei, making her quite scared about what will happen next.

”I didn’t expect you to be so jealous.” Dai Lu enjoyed not reading the room, since it brought up the funniest reactions.

And she was right. A beautiful vein manifested itself on Mei’s forehead, squirming like it was trying to strangle Dai Lu alive.

”Don’t be mad, don’t be mad.” Dai Lu laughed awkwardly before running away. She didn’t want to deal with angry Mei!

Why didn’t she want to deal with her in this kind of mood? Because she was a true slave driver! She would give her so many missions that Dai Lu would faint on the spot!

But what was the worst about this was that all those missions, and I mean ALL of them, were genuine and made sense in the grand scheme of things!

”And she is gone...” Witch Aiko cursed Dai Lu for rattling Mei and then running away.

”Phew...” Mei breathed out and already made up her mind. She would definitely give even more work to Dai Lu, so that she wouldn’t think about useless things!

”I just want to know how far I can come without being robbed of Providence and injured Soul.” The bird lady sighed. Her potential was limited the moment she was contracted.

This pained her greatly as it was pretty much impossible to reverse such a Contract and if you could, it would have dire consequences.

Her injured Soul was actually a cheap price to pay as she could even lose her Cultivation Base and thus possibly life.

”That’s... I understand that feeling...” Mei blushed slightly. Now that she had a second chance, not only was she growing quicker and stronger, but there were fewer issues with her body!

She loved that last part since her body didn’t hurt while moving around and she wasn’t craving anything strange~!

The group was able to pass the humongous gathering and in front of them was a more modest gate, but this time the gate was actually there...!