Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Aiko perked her ears as a very gentle scent entered her nose. Sniffing a few times she looked around to find the origin.

She could see a few other Foxes looking that way and Aiko narrowed her eyes.

She felt like she remembered that girl, but it's been quite a long time since the last time they met.

'But it seems like the Humans are trying to lure Beasts.' Aiko noticed that a lot of Human Cultivators were eating fragrant meat, which upset most of the Beasts.

A mischievous smile was plastered on her lips as her form reduced in size.

Soon enough, there was a small Aiko dressed in black clothing.

Mei noticed this and grabbed Aiko. "What are you trying to do?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Robbing food?" Nightmare Aiko tilted her head.

"Didn't you already have your fill?" Mei sighed at her little glutton.

"That was before, I'm hungry now." Aiko shook her head.

"Don't get caught and bring some back." Mei didn't stop Aiko, since she was likewise bothered about them eating so shamelessly.

"En~" Aiko immediately snuck into the shadows and moved around.

Most Humans would leave their meat in the open to taunt the Beasts, which allowed Aiko to steal it easily.

Walking around, some Elders had already noticed that little thieving vixen, but other Elders had stopped them from taking any action.

Soon the stupid Humans noticed that their meat was missing, but they were unable to locate the culprit. That was obvious since Aiko was a lot stealthier than most would expect.

She also didn't make any sense and it was not like the Beasts would allow them to create Arrays in the podium to locate her.

Aiko had free reign over this place as long as the Elders didn't stop her.

Aiko stole all the meat, but one plate. That plate was heavily guarded and it was not worth her time to steal it.

A lot of that meat was fragrant, but of a low quality, which Aiko didn't like. She would distribute the low-quality meat to other Beasts and save up the higher quality for her team.

Aiko tasted the higher quality and it was fragrant and delicious, but the first fragrant smell that entered her nostrils was the most alluring.

Aiko went back to her team and gave them the meat places. They somewhat enjoyed it, but after tasting Old Ming's cooking, it was not all that impressive.

"I will go distribute the rest." Aiko said, which shocked her team.

"You will share your food?!" Mei raised her eyebrow.

"It's too low quality for me." Aiko had already obtained a spoiled tongue from eating Mei's and Ming's cooking, so it was natural that she wouldn't eat anything of low quality.

Aiko appeared between Beasts which startled everyone and they were on high guard.

That guard unfortunately didn't last long as Aiko showed them the plates with meat.

She was able to naturally blend with the other Beasts even when she was a Fox and everyone welcomed her.

"Delicious." One Beast said and chuckled. "Those foolish humans didn't know what hit them."

They petted and thanked the little Fox, some even giving a few Spirit Stones for taking revenge for them.

Aiko naturally didn't reject their goodwill, since this was pretty much useless food for her, if she distributed it and gained something in return, that was only to her benefit. It also seemed like the Beasts liked her quite a bit now.

"I will steal the last plate, so I will have to leave." Nightmare Aiko adjusted her behaviour, so that the likeness she built with the Beasts wouldn't disappear.

"But that one is heavily guarded." The Beasts frowned. While this little one was a Fox, she also shared the goodies with them, so they didn't want her to be harmed.

"Not that one, THAT one." Aiko nudged them towards the direction where Elders sat.

"You are crazy." One Beast spat out his meat, before slurping it back in with his long tongue.

"Eh." Aiko shrugged before melting into the shadows.

"Say..." One Earth Turtle Beast asked his Shadow Beast friend. "Would you be able to suppress her?"

"You are kidding me, right?" The Shadow Cat Beast rolled his eyes. "Can't you see that my hair is standing to no end? That thing can easily suppress me in her sleep!" He clicked his tongue.

"Will she succeed?" The Earth Beast was concerned about the little Fox, since she gave them a lot of meat.

"I have no idea, but did you notice?" The Shadow Beast nudged his friend, but quite a few Beasts listened to their conversation.

"Notice what?" The Earth Beast was not the smartest one, so he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

"The Elders didn't act when the little Fox started stealing things." The Shadow Beast nudged his friend to look at the Human Elders.

The Human Elders were observing something, but they didn't act, because other Human Elders were glaring at them.

"Huh... you are right." The Earth Beast noticed that abnormality and tilted his head.

"Something good will happen, let's watch the show, guys." The Shadow Beast chuckled.

Everyone paid a little attention to what was going to happen with the small Fox...

...

Aiko sneaked back to Mei and told her about her plan.

"I already noticed that smell, so get everyone at least 2 and don't eat everything." Mei nodded gently. She would be able to create some good Pills from the fruit that the youth was offering to the Saintess.

There were 5 Saintesses present in this Tournament. They would not be fighting unless they were challenged and they sat with Saints that were supposed to be their partners.

Unfortunately to the dismay of the Saints, the Saintesses never paid any attention to them. They didn't like them at all, they were never in love. This whole thing was orchestrated by Elders to create powerful dual Cultivators, but they didn't consider that the pairs might be unwilling.

Well... the females were unwilling, while the males were more than willing.

That was because there were very few females that could become Cultivators, much less beautiful prodigies.

As such, the Saintesses were very sought after, or at least that's what everyone thought.

Aiko sneaked into the Human side again and some Elders frowned. Aiko chuckled and stuck out her tongue before completely disappearing from everyone's sight.

[Primitive Nightmare Domain]

It was one of the Divine Abilities that was inside [Nightmare Fox Incarnate]. The right use of this Divine Ability was to isolate her enemy, induce nightmares and whittle down her opponent's mental prowess.

But that also didn't mean that was the only use this Divine Ability had.

Aiko figured out she could just wrap herself in that domain and cause nightmares for herself, but that also allowed her to pretty much erase any trace of her existence.

Most Sect Leaders that were present still knew where she was, but they were too haughty and prideful to do anything about her, so Aiko had pretty much free reign once again~!

The Human Elders were flustered and the Beast Elders, especially the Fox ones, were very happy about what was happening.

There were some who were against what the Vicious Cub was doing, but they were silenced by the majority and the support from the Beast Elders.

Aiko sneaked close to the first pair. Aiko sniffed it, but the smell was not right, so she didn't eat it or store it away.

She sneaked to the next duo. It seemed like the girl was looking at her, but that shouldn't be possible, or so Aiko thought.

She sniffed the food again. It was more putrid than the previous one which made Aiko's face distort.

'I hate thissss!' Aiko almost puked from the smell.

Aiko didn't notice, but the girl narrowed her eyes and sent a special message to the other girls.

Now that everyone paid attention to the little intruder, they were quite confused about the little Fox's expressions.

Aiko moved from one pair to another until she arrived at the last one.

'Why does it smell so bad up close, but so nice from afar?' Aiko was confused about this fact.

The Saints were still oblivious to her presence. They never trained their Auxiliary Techniques, unlike the Saintesses, since they had a much harder life in this world.

Without Auxiliary Techniques, females were more prone to be captured and used...

'Mei wanted these, but the only ones smelling somewhat alright are the last plate...' Aiko shook her head. She was steeling her mind in order to try and munch into it...

She sat down so that they couldn't see her and snatched one for herself.

*Munch*

[Level up!]

'??????' Aiko was confused, with just one bite she was able to Level up?! What kind of cheat food was this?!

'It's not even meat.' Nightmare Aiko was confused, so it was better for Moon Aiko to explain this.

Aiko changed her form, but that also dispelled her [Primitive Nightmare Domain].

The Elders immediately spotted her and glared at the daring little Fox. They still didn't move, since they believed that their Saints would be able to notice her.

One Saint already noticed her, but didn't say anything. He was amused how something so small could get past his detection Technique.

He was confused, so he wished to figure out what changed so that he was now able to detect her. 'His' Saintess already noticed the fact that he noticed, but didn't say anything.

Her demeanour worsened, since she believed that he just chose to ignore the little Fox, but she didn't expect him to be completely oblivious!

She clicked her tongue before moving her attention to the small, cute little Fox.

'One, two, three, four...?' The Saintess was quite shocked that the little Fox already had four tails. 'And she is so cute... I wonder if she would come with me... she is much better than this mediocre guy.' She narrowed her eyes.

'Li Xiu is so lucky that the little Fox settled near her.' She frowned.

Li Xiu already noticed the little Fox and there was a strange sense of familiarity, like they already met before.

It's been a long time and she had quite a hard time inside her Sect, so she forgot many things, but a certain small colourful Fox inside a bleak and dark forest was on her mind.

'Surely not, right?' Li Xiu paused.

'Tsk. To think you can forget so many things. I told you to Contract that little Fox when you had the chance, now it will be much harder.' The always haughty Phoenix clicked its tongue.

'I told you I will not Contract her.' Li Xiu rolled her eyes, but now she knew that the little Fox that she just met was the same one she met before!