Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

"Why are you here so soon?" Aiko tilted her head as she kept hugging Mei.

"Because I finished gathering those resources. You can now finish your Evolution." Mei smiled lightly.

"Gotcha." Aiko was happy that Mei came before she skewered all of them. It would be troublesome if they refused to transport them thanks to it.

Mei narrowed her eyes. "Did you have fun with them?"

"Not really. They kept running." Aiko sighed. Neither of them was in the mood for anything, so they just exchanged a few more words before going to the Grandmaster's Abode.

...

"Will I be Evolving here? Isn't that a bit of shame?" Mei took good care of this garden, and Aiko felt guilty for what was about to happen to it.

"It's fine. We will be leaving anyway, so it's better if we use it now rather than leave it for someone else." Mei proclaimed.

"Gotcha, but don't blame me if this place becomes a mess." Aiko warned her.

"I already told you it's fine. This place has dense enough Qi that it would not attract too much attention." Mei snorted unhappily at her.

"You know what kind of Evolution I have." Aiko put her hands on her hips.

Mei rolled her eyes. "Go before I spank you."

"Or I might do it." Aiko hmpfed away with the Storage Ring that Mei provided.

Mei only sighed and set up an Illusion Array so that others wouldn't bother Aiko while she was preparing.

'No way will I allow them to let Aiko Evolve in their designated spots. They think I must be completely stupid.' She clicked her tongue before disappearing. There was more work with the Sect Leader, and Mei wanted to properly scam them before she left.

...

Aiko sat down in her designated spot, marked by Mei.

It was in the middle of the gorgeous plain garden that was nurtured by Mei.

Looking through the Storage Ring, there were Pills, Talismans and other things that could help Aiko.

There was even something called Elemental Essences that Aiko only had inside her body. However, she believed that this thing was different from what her body could attract.

With it came a note with instructions on how she should approach this Evolution and how to not make it into a full-fledged Evolution.

Aiko nodded as she read through it. This was simple enough that even Nightmare Aiko didn't mind it.

Popping a few Pills inside her mouth, she followed Mei's instructions until she felt like she was drawing Qi into her body.

'It's starting~' Aiko hummed.

-----

Outside, a large phenomenon was happening. Attracting many eyes, especially of those old fogeys.

"You said she wouldn't be able to Evolve!?" One grumbling Elder roared.

"How is that my fault?! Based on my fate calculation, she was not supposed to Evolve here but inside the Sacred Realm!" Another Elder roared back.

"What do we do now?" The third Elder rolled his eyes.

"We will attach a Relic to the exploration team, and once the Vicious Cub is Evolving, they will corner her." The first Elder snorted unhappily. They already spend too many resources on this whole thing.

"What about the Mystic Jade Fox?" The second Elder coughed awkwardly. He really wanted to get his slimy hands on her.

"She is assisting us, don't bother her." The fourth Elder said disdainfully. He liked the Vicious Cub the best when she came, but now she had already grown up, and he lost all his interest.

Yes, it was the same Elder way back in the beginning who 'praised' Aiko...

They all clicked their tongues for different reasons.

-----

The Sect Leader looked outside. "Why is she Evolving there?"

"?" Mei acted innocent like she couldn't understand the question.

"Seriously..." The Sect Leader sighed. She was quite unhappy with her behaviour, but her Pills were too good to question her like this.

"What else can you offer us?" The Sect Leader looked over the Pills. Just a few of them would take the whole Alchemy Peak a month to create, but the Jade Fox was bringing those weekly.

"I can offer..." Mei kept explaining as she smiled to herself. With this, Aiko would be able to Evolve without any intervention.

-----

"Aiko is Evolving." Yuxi glanced at the huge dark cloud above the whole Grandmaster's Abode.

"Aiko is Evolving." Wanshu nodded alongside Yuxi.

"Aiko is Evolving..." The Blood Fox sighed. This would be yet another messy day.

...

"Mistress is Evolving?" The Demonic Foxes curiously cheered on.

"Pay attention, or I won't allow you to participate in the Sacred Realm exploration!" Dai Lu said sternly.

"Boooo!" The Demonic Foxes booed her since they wanted to see what kind of changes their Mistress would go through.

Dai Lu could only sigh to herself.

-----

The Pills and Elemental Essences floated around Aiko as she munched on them as the instructions said.

More and more energy coursed through her body, but there was no unstable vortex or anything. The intake was smooth and stable like it was always meant to be.

This puzzled Aiko, but she was happy nonetheless.

"Maybe I won't destroy this garden~" She hummed happily to herself.

In fact, she would destroy this garden...

...

Aiko slowly drifted to sleep as the Evolution took place.

More and more energy approached her body, even some things inside her Tails were consumed, especially a few certain coffee beans.

As Aiko floated around and absorbed Qi, a pattern formed between her eyebrows once again.

In the beginning, it looked like an empty moon, but once those coffee beans joined Aiko, it formed a small sprout inside her Moon.

That small sprout squirmed as it slowly spread its roots inside the Vibrant Moon.

But soon that Moon disappeared with everything else, shrouded by darkness...

...

......

Time passed as Aiko woke up to a completely black garden.

"I destroyed it..." Aiko groaned unhappily, but her body was oddly light, so much so that she started to question if her previous body was hers to begin with.

'How did this happen?' Aiko tilted her head as there was no longer any noticeable feeling of discomfort.

Her body also didn't change by much, but Aiko didn't mind.

'I shouldn't attract Heavenly Lightning or anything like that, right?' Aiko wished that would be the case.

She stood up as ashes and dust created all around her. The flowers could no longer maintain their shape and disappeared into nothingness.

The formerly black place turned brown once again as it unearthed new soil.

'I feel awful for Mei...' Aiko believed that Mei loved flowers, considering how much time she spent with them and what was around their business.

'I hope she is not too mad.' Aiko would comfort Mei later once she was not doing anything.

...

Aiko left the Illusion Array, and Mei was already waiting for her.

"Finished?" Mei pursed her lips.

"I think so?" Aiko tilted her head.

"So it only took a month? Not bad." Mei praised herself.

"Huh? That long again?" Aiko groaned unhappily. So much wasted time on nothing.

"And you used the garden well, right?" Mei soothed Aiko.

"Yeah..." Aiko didn't know what she was supposed to say since she destroyed that garden.

"Good, that way I don't have to transport anything." Mei nodded happily. Another thing was taken care of, and what was left was to transport the business, and that was it.

"I'm sorry..." Aiko said gently.

"I told you to use the garden, so you don't have to apologise." Mei sighed softly.

"Anything happened while I was out?" Aiko felt quite guilty, so she changed the topic.

"Those bastards pushed the Sacred Realm forward, and for some reason, all the major Sects agreed." Mei clicked her tongue.

"Huh, already?!" Aiko was quite shocked. She thought she had more time.

"Yeah, it's unfortunate, but there is some somewhat good news." Mei sighed to herself.

"What kind of news?" Aiko tilted her head.

"You won't be observed during the Sacred Realm, so your Demonic Team can go wild and plunder as much as possible." Mei clicked her tongue. "But because you won't be observed, someone can go after you, so you should be careful." She warned Aiko.

"I will do my best, but how much time do I have?" Aiko tilted her head.

"Not much. You should start preparing." Mei sighed.

"How is business?" Aiko narrowed her eyes.

"We have already blacklisted all the troublemakers. Moreover, the Muscle Foxes are also keeping watch over our business since it's beneficial to them." Mei pursed her lips. It felt like they had their own private bodyguards.

"Good, if something needs fixing. I will do it quickly. Let's remove as much wealth as possible from this place." Aiko's eyes shone with the light of Spirit Stones.

Mei chuckled. "Sure, sure."

...

Arriving at home, the Grandmaster looked at Aiko speechlessly. "You got uglier."

"Who is ugly?!" Aiko immediately snapped at her, and everyone giggled.

"Why are you laughing?!" Aiko couldn't understand why there was such a merry atmosphere.

"Congratulations on your Evolution, Mistress." The Demonic Foxes were a step ahead of everyone and already congratulated Aiko for this achievement.

"Huh... yeah, thanks." Aiko was shy for some reason, or maybe she was conscious of the 'ugly' remark.

"Aiko needs time to prepare, so don't hog her too much." Mei sternly said, but the Demonic Foxes were not afraid of her.

"That is fine. I will make this quick. The Demonic Foxes worked well while you were Evolving. We have distributed them some Souls, and now everyone has at least 3 Tails." Dai Lu explained.

"This major boost in strength allowed them to pass the baseline I have created. As such, they can join you on your exploration of the Sacred Realm. They are also allowed to fight as they learned a few Beast Techniques." Dai Lu discreetly shivered. Now she understood why Demonic Foxes were hailed as crazy prodigies.

All of the Demonic Foxes had no issues learning a couple of Beast Techniques. Some were even able to master them in that short amount of time.

The most exceptional was Yu, who pretty much was ahead of everyone else in both knowledge and strength.

"So I can take them with me?" Aiko nodded happily.

"En. They are ready." Dai Lu smiled.

"In that case, I will prepare for departure." Aiko smiled again before going to gather resources from their private room...