Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

”En.” The Nightmare Owl smiled. She was not one to fight, but when she did fight, she could easily bully them to submission.

However, as that was not her goal, she was content with what she had.

”To maintain a garden, a lot of time is needed.” The Nightmare Owl just kept smiling as if completely oblivious to the ridiculous nature that she just ’exposed’.

Witch Aiko’s lips twitched. She did like this garden, but to think it would take so much ti- No, wait, that’s not the point. Why didn’t this Nightmare Owl Clan have any aspirations?

’Could it be because of what happened?’ Witch Aiko pondered and that might be the reality, but she wouldn’t ask. She understood that this was a sensitive topic that might anger the Beast in front of her and she would rather not.

Joking and teasing was fine, but opening fresh wounds was not. Even old wounds should be kept as such, until the given individual takes care of them themselves.

At best, she could nudge them into a certain direction, but it was not her place to heal them.

”So, how is my sister?” The Nightmare Owl changed the topic.

”We have almost finished what ailed her, but there is still the ’connection’ to be taken care of.” Witch Aiko nodded her head slowly. For some reason her ’tails’ were hungry for the Ancestral Beast’s stomach. She didn’t know why, and she couldn’t really ask without looking like a deranged individual.

Well, she could ask in her mind, but since none of them were talkative, she couldn’t.

It was kind of a pain in the ass. They ignored her, yet they were hungry for something.

’Wait a minute, could it be the ornament on her stomach?’ Witch Aiko paused.

”Say, can I have the thing that is attached to her stomach?” Witch Aiko asked the Nightmare Owl, just in case she knew something about it.

”I’m not sure. I don’t remember my sister ever taking it off, but it also appeared after the raid, so it’s hard to say if it’s something important to her or just that bastard’s doing.” The Nightmare Owl clicked her tongue.

’It’s so strange to see a man that acts as a woman.’ The Nightmare Owl still had something that made her seem like she was a man. Witch Aiko was very curious about the Treasure or Technique that allowed her to do this, but everything had its time and place. She couldn’t ask just yet.

Witch Aiko nodded her head slowly. ”Then I will ask her instead, but we have to wait for her to wake up.”

”Can’t you just take it off for now and if she wants it, return it?” The Nightmare Owl was confused why it couldn’t be done like this.

”My tails are hungry for it, so once they bite, they are not letting go.” Witch Aiko shrugged.

The Nightmare Owl simply raised her eyebrows. She was doubtful about what Aiko meant by that, but she had enough common sense to not ask about something she shouldn’t know about.

Sure, her tails could ’consume’ things, but she didn’t think they couldn’t ’return’ them.

”Don’t look at me like that, I’m not some kind of deranged creep.” Witch Aiko felt hurt.

”You just asked my sister and me to have a threesome.” The Nightmare Owl teased her a bit.

”Okay, that’s different, alright?” Witch Aiko vehemently defended herself against such baseless accusation, since it wouldn’t end up with just a threesome.

The Nightmare Owl giggled before leaving the place.

”Where are you going?” Witch Aiko tilted her head.

”There is... a certain intruder that we have to keep an eye on.” The Nightmare Owl pursed her lips.

”Hm? Why not just chase her away?” Witch Aiko tilted her head.

”Well...” The Nightmare Owl didn’t want to admit it. ”We can’t... deal any damage to her...” She pursed her lips, feeling ridiculous.

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”No, hold on. How is that possible?” Witch Aiko was confused.

”Don’t ask me, I have no idea.” The Nightmare Owl shrugged.

”Even the Ancestral Beast?” Witch Aiko didn’t believe it.

”She tried it first.” The Nightmare Owl nodded her head.

”What the f-” Witch Aiko groaned. That was so ridiculous she was rendered speechless.

The Nightmare Owl left without letting Aiko say anything more.

”How unbelievable.” Witch Aiko shook her head.

”Mmr?” The Ancestral Beast stirred awake.

”I thought you would sleep a bit longer.” Witch Aiko turned towards her and as expected, she wanted to see how soft they were. ’Can’t believe that someone can match Dew Aiko’s beauty.’ She shook her head gently.

”It’s not the most pleasant thing.” The Ancestral Beast pursed her lips.

”I get you. Having that nasty fuck in your mind or Soul, must be quite awful.” Witch Aiko nodded her head, sympathising with her previous predicament.

”I also have to tend to my garden.” The Ancestral Beast stood up weakly.

”First and foremost, you should rest.” Witch Aiko forced her to sit down. ”How do you feel?”

”I’m not sure. It still doesn’t feel real, you know?” The Ancestral Beast felt empty, maybe even hollow. Like someone carved her up and left her to rot.

”But you are free now, so you should start considering what you want to do.” Witch Aiko nodded her head.

”Well, didn’t you want to make a Contract with me?” The Ancestral Beast tilted her head.

”Yes, but that can wait. First you need to recover a bit more.” Witch Aiko smiled at her. Having beauty by her side was always the best.

”But I’m also hungry. Will you cook for me in that case?” The Ancestral Beast teased Aiko.

”I would advise against that.” Witch Aiko’s lips twitched.

”You can’t cook?” The Ancestral Beast tilted her head to the other side.

”I can.” Witch Aiko said seriously.

”Then what’s the problem?” The Ancestral Beast now felt curious why Aiko was acting like this.

”Well, while I can cook, it might not turn edible.” Witch Aiko smacked her lips. There was nothing better than having multiple poisons served for food, but would others be able to digest it?

”No, to be able to cook means you can make something that tastes good.” The Ancestral Beast felt like she stumbled on something very amusing.

”It does taste good, but only for me.” Witch Aiko stuck out her tongue.

”No, then it doesn’t mean you can cook.” The Ancestral Beast raised her eyebrow.

”But I can cook. I can take raw ingredients and make something ’edible’ out of it. It’s edible for just me, but that’s something different.” Witch Aiko defended herself more and more. She didn’t want to admit that her cooking might kill someone, after all, she was cooking with poisons.

”...” The Ancestral Beast felt like it was pointless to talk about this, so she changed the topic. ”What do you think about my garden?”

”It’s beautiful, but I wonder if we can transplant it.” Witch Aiko didn’t want to ruin this garden, but she also didn’t want to abandon it. She might be the only one who can live in this garden, but that doesn’t mean it lowered the value of the garden itself.

”Unlikely. These toxic Herbs were carefully hand-picked by me so they work in current conditions. If we try to move them around. They will either clash or wither.” The Ancestral Beast shook her head. ”That’s the beauty of a garden.”

”What if...” Witch Aiko narrowed her eyes. ”What if you wanted to make a garden that can travel?”

”You mean a garden with soil and everything and without specially prepared space?” The Ancestral Beast was amused by this thought.

”I would prefer that it would be as cost efficient as possible.’ While Witch Aiko or rather her group had money, it was never a good idea to waste them too much.

”Hmmm...” The Ancestral Beast pondered. Seeing her complexion improving over time, Witch Aiko was ready to ask about her stomach ornament or accessory, whatever it was.

”I’m not sure if it’s possible.” The Ancestral Beast shook her head. ”If we are talking about a moving garden, then we have to consider the climate and other factors into it. If it’s also moving high up in the sky, there won’t be enough rain to water them, so you would have to solve that part too.” She kept pondering, but the more she thought about it, the less feasible it was.

”So, I will need some kind of boundary just for those Herbs?” Witch Aiko frowned beautifully.

”From my knowledge, unfortunately, that’s the case.” The Ancestral Beast shook her head.

”Say, can I eat whatever is on your stomach?” Witch Aiko was convinced now that her ’tails’ were not going after her stomach itself, but the thing that was attached to the stomach.

”Hm? I can’t remove it. It’s impossible.” The Ancestral Beast shook her head.

”I’m not asking you about possibilities, but about taking it away from you.” Witch Aiko scratched her cheek. She felt a bit weird talking about this when she already saw her ’tails’.

However, that was actually not the case, since the Ancestral Beast’s Soul was pretty much ’blind’ until Aiko visited her.

”I don’t mind, but...” The Ancestral Beast paused. ”I will probably die if you take it away.”

”How?” Witch Aiko wanted to gather some information about this, so that she could reduce the risk of failure.

Was she concerned about her tails messing this up? Yes, but that was only because they refused to talk with her.

”I will bleed out and since it’s connected to my Soul, it might even make a hole into my outer Soul part.” The Ancestral Beast sighed. She already tried to pull it once, and she almost died because of blood loss, so she was not too keen about experiencing it again.

”How about these Pills?” Witch Aiko handed over some Pills, so that she could estimate how many she needed if she wanted to heal the Ancestral Beast.

”These are very high quality, even surpassing what we can make.” The Ancestral Beast was startled, but also curious.

Who was powerful enough to make such wonderful Pills with so little Beast Core Energy?

”So?” Witch Aiko was preparing everything for the removal.

”About 100? But I would get Qi poisoning due to it, at around 20 to 30 Pills?” The Ancestral Beast was trying to estimate things, but since she didn’t have a concrete baseline, she struggled with it.

It was time for Aiko to show her cards~!