Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Hidden in the domain, the duo watched as the Foxes stopped nearby.

"...?" The curious Fox looked around. "What's wrong?"

"We lost them." The nerdy Fox rolled his eyes. This was so obvious, yet some of his companions were completely oblivious.

"But how is that possible?" The curious Fox tilted her head.

"Don't ask me why." The nerdy Fox stiffened.

"I thought you would be a bit better." Mei was already behind the nerdy Fox with a blade on his throat.

"You must be joking, Fairy Jade Fox." The nerdy Fox's lips twitched. He was good in Techniques but not a good fighter. He also tried to flatter her to prevent his head from detaching from his neck.

A scraping sound was heard around, and they saw a certain gorgeous Fox preparing sharpened sticks.

"I thought you would use flags?" Mei tilted her head.

The delegation sweated. They already gathered the most important rumours, especially about certain Fox that went after behinds.

"Flags are too precious for them." Nightmare Aiko held a grudge since if it was not for the Elders and them, she wouldn't need to join the Sacred Realm 'expedition'.

Mei rolled her eyes, but she understood that Aiko was upset. However, it seemed like she didn't have all the information.

"I already told you that they are neither good nor bad." Mei rolled her eyes.

The delegation cautiously observed the duo as they chatted without care in the world.

They heard that Jade Fox was highly skilled, so they didn't dare to move from their position lest their companion lose his head.

"Then why are you...?" Aiko tilted her head, pointing at the knife.

"A test." Mei groaned unhappily. She was still slightly nauseated from Aiko's concealment ability.

"Bullshit." Aiko immediately called her out.

"Are you still sulking just because I taught you those Techniques?" Mei clicked her tongue.

"So what?!" Aiko pouted, looking away before scraping more wood into pointy sticks.

Mei sighed and let go of the Fox with glasses. "So, you better have a good excuse for following us like horny beasts." She glared at them, and they flinched.

"Haha. You must be joking, Fairy Jade Fox." They would do their best to butter her up so that she wouldn't have any hard feelings about the current situation.

Aiko rolled her eyes as she observed them.

"Speed it up." Unfortunately for the delegation, Mei was completely ruthless when it came to her questions.

"We wanted to recruit both of you and explain the plan." The nerdy Fox readjusted his glasses before speaking slowly.

"It's not like you will join in the cleansing." Mei rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms.

"That is true. As a delegation, we can't really interfere with internal issues inside the Fox Villages. Our only mission is to recruit good seedlings and escort them to the mainland." The nerdy Fox sighed. It was obvious that there were issues, but they also came with Elders who observed their moves.

If the Elders do not wish to move, they also couldn't move. The only ones who could violate the orders without repercussions were said Elders.

"Then why are you talking about some kind of grand plan when you are losing good seedlings to them?" Mei snorted disdainfully, but then it clicked.

She clicked her tongue and glanced at Aiko. 'I should make a plan, just in case the mainland is the same/worse than what it is over here.'

The dots connected themselves. It was not like they couldn't act, but because someone pulled the string, they couldn't engage with the issues.

The delegation was always chosen from somewhat young Foxes. Those were the Foxes that had the most stable mind, but their mission was unique each time.

During Mei's age, the mission was also about solving internal and external problems that the Fox Villages might face.

'But that seems to drastically change...' Mei frowned. The small island didn't have enough resources to progress at the same scale as the mainland, but at the same time, this place was safer for Beasts.

There might've been large Sects, but the wealth that they could collect was ultimately limited.

In other words, calming or suppressing Pills/powders would be harder to get.

If Mei combined all of this information, the end goal was obvious.

'We are going to join the Beast Sect.' Mei was still dependent on her Beast Form since it had much greater prowess than Human Form.

However, this came with a demerit. The Pills she was creating had to fit Beasts. In other words, you needed different Herbs from what Humans would use.

As such, Mei couldn't join non-Beast Sects as long as she wanted to progress with her Beast Form.

'My Beast Core is already topped up, but this would cause poor Evolution that would not gain me anything. I have to gather resources with others in order to make Evolution worthwhile...' Mei sighed.

"Naturally, we can't affect the Fox Village, but that doesn't mean we can't give preferential treatment." The nerdy Fox was the only one to talk since the other Foxes were too scared of a certain Fox, which was still sharpening her sticks.

"Elaborate." The noble air was great around Mei, so much so that they gulped nervously.

'This pressure.'

'I wanna go home...'

'I wanna snuggle with the queen!'

They had different opinions, but their plan didn't change.

"Even if there is some kind of trouble in the Sacred Realm, as long as she makes it out alive, all will be good." The nerdy Fox said.

"In other words..." Mei narrowed her eyes. "You have already prepared seats for us."

"En." The nerdy Fox said. It was important to get the Fox, who made the Massage Chair business to the mainland. Moreover, her partner, Jade Fox, was also incredible with Pills, Arrays, Talisman... It was ridiculous not to make exceptions.

Unfortunately, the Elders intercepted both of their admissions, and the delegation had to choose.

A Fox that builds a Massage Chair that only she can maintain, or a Fox that can make many wondrous things that could benefit many of them.

The choice was obvious, but it was still a painful one.

'I heard that some partners are inseparable. I hope this is not the case.' The curious Fox knew a lot of things due to her curiosity, but it also distorted her common sense thanks to it...

'The problem is the Sacred Realm.' Mei frowned. She didn't really want to engage with the delegation, but it was important for Aiko to follow.

Even if the others couldn't follow, Aiko could just stash them inside her Tails and let them go once she arrived on the mainland.

'That way, she could keep her team and the Demonic Foxes.' Mei knew that Aiko was more familiar with the Demonic Foxes than common Foxes. She never asked why since Aiko could keep them inside her tails, and it was not like the Demonic Foxes would hurt her.

Unlike common Foxes, Demonic Foxes were exceptionally intelligent if they kept their sanity. As such, they had a much better understanding of the pros and cons when they did something.

Aiko tapped Mei's shoulder. "Do I have to really participate?" She wanted to do anything other than go to another strange Realm where she would be chased by a bird just because she took a few Herbs from it...

"You do have to... You are very important to me, so I will do my best to support you." Mei smiled gently.

They were in their own world, while the delegation...

'Ugh...'

'I feel sick...'

'I don't want to be single...'

'I want to join them.'

The delegation had different opinions about this, but the main one was...

'We need those two to join the mainland!' There were too many Foxes that plotted unsavoury things on the mainland, so having someone sexy and cute would be a blessing.

"We can nudge the numbers a bit since the other delegations are quite weak. We could allow others to join in the exploration of the Sacred Realm as bodyguards, but there are a few issues..." The nerdy Fox stepped forward, trying to increase their familiarity.

"The Sacred Realm teleports you to random places, and it's also limited by one's Beast Rank." Mei explained to Aiko.

"Is that why you can't join?" Aiko believed that Mei would be able to fudge the Beast Ranks.

"I can't." Mei sighed. It was not like she couldn't, but it would attract too much attention and make the old Elders more cautious. This would delay everything and make everything harder than it already was.

"Awww..." Aiko pouted.

"I will create many resources for you so that you are safe. Your only mission in that place would be to plunder as much as possible." Mei soothed Nightmare Aiko. It felt strange that she acted like Moon Aiko, but that was fine by her.

The delegation chose the cautious approach, so they didn't needlessly meddle with this. Sure, some of them had thoughts about wooing Jade Fox over, but that was only after they arrived on the mainland, where they had more power.

"So I can't use these?" Aiko lifted her sticks, and the delegation shivered and took a few steps back, hiding behind trees.

"Not now." Mei sighed at the silly Aiko.

"So I will get a chance later?" Aiko raised her eyebrow.

"We mean no harm!" The curious Fox yelped loudly. She didn't want to become the target of the Vicious Jade Fox... Well, she did want to become one, but not in that way!

"Maybe..." Mei didn't really have any positive or negative thoughts about them. They were so passive that she thought that they were holding in shit.

"So, what now?" Aiko didn't want more nerdy stuff.

"You will keep practising what you just learned. While I prepare everything for your 'Evolution'." Mei gave Aiko a meaningful smile, and she nodded back.

"Gotcha, so you want me to chase them with sticks in my hands." Aiko raised her sticks, and the delegation scattered.

"That could work." Mei nodded and let Aiko do her things. As long as she practised that Technique, everything would go well enough.

Aiko disappeared with [Gale Steps].

'This is just the first step. I also need to prepare that special Rune for Aiko, so that we can share resources like Stamina and Beast Core Energy. That way, she will be safer inside even if she is chased.' Mei narrowed her eyes. She couldn't use the same Rune as before since Aiko was much stronger than before.

That meant she would have to use more expensive materials for this, but that was fine.

'Everything is for the sake of Aiko.' Mei smiled as she leisurely walked back.