Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

The cheating Elder had his Cultivation abolished right then and there.

Meanwhile, Aiko really wanted to confiscate the Treasures, but she still brought them to Ah Cy to deepen their friendship.

"I thought you would nab them." Ah Cy understood the little Fox a bit too much.

Aiko flinched. "Of course not."

But seeing her pursed lips and unwilling expression, it was obvious what the little Fox was truly thinking.

"You can choose one Treasure to keep, but I will be taking the rest." Ah Cy knew that it would not swim well with the other Elders, so it was better if the Vicious Cub didn't take all of them.

However, at the same time, the Vicious Cub should be rewarded! Otherwise, the Elders would be completely oblivious to their Disciples' wounds!

Now that they knew that their Disciples had their Souls harmed, they would be able to prepare countermeasures and make them healthy again.

This was an important part, since if their Soul was not stable, they would not be able to break their Golden Core in order to achieve Nascent Soul.

The Nascent Soul would be so distorted that it might even become an Inner Demon and one that was irreparable!

The Elders were grateful, even if the Vicious Cub was a bit... forceful.

However, they couldn't fault her for that. If the Treasure was truly [Thread of Soul Suffering] it would not just cause suffering, but it might be able to even harm the Jade Fox!

If they lost such an Alchemy prodigy, they would be unable to enjoy the fruits of their labour and buy more precious Pills for them.

Especially from someone who was able to make both Human AND Beast Pills!

Aiko chose the biggest Soul-based Treasure. It looked like some sort of shield, but in reality, it was just an oversized paper fan, which was made out of precious materials.

Well... that didn't stop Aiko, though.

*Crunch**Munch**Munch*

Aiko munched it with her Tails in front of everyone before sitting down next to the referees. She was quiet like a house as she watched the Elder which had his Cultivation abolished age rapidly.

It was a funny sight, like someone sped time just for him, so much so that within a few breaths not even bones remained of him.

Aiko was curious about why that happened. She believed that Cultivation slowed the ageing of the body and did not forcibly prolong it, but that might've been her misconception.

'So this is the Vicious Cub.' The Elders now understood why she was called like that.

Under that cute and innocent behaviour was a ferocious Beasts that would be able to threaten anyone with a Soul.

The Elders had to be careful about how they addressed her from here on out.

Aiko glanced at Lin Fan, he was not doing all that well. His energy was unstable and he had bloodshot eyes. It seemed like he would be unable to finish this Pill and she was right.

The energy was so unstable that the whole Cauldron shook, instead of another Heavenly Lightning descending to bless it, a black eerie smoke rose from the Cauldron, making it obvious that he failed in Pill Refining.

Meanwhile, Mei finished her Pill. Well... Pills, once again 11 of them. It was obvious that she was far better than most prodigies the Elders saw...

But since she was a Fox they would be unable to poach her. Beasts would not believe Humans that Humans would protect them. It was more likely that Humans would try to Contract them when they were at their weakest.

As such, there was subtle tension between Beasts and Humans.

One really wished to monopolise the Jade Fox, while the other wished to boast about her.

The only thing that was stopping them from voicing their opinions loudly was a small Fox whose ears were twitching and trained for any kind of annoying noise.

As such, the Elders only boasted through Whispering Techniques.

Aiko noticed the quietness and her fur slowly turned to that strangely beautiful Moon colour.

Moon Aiko observed Lin Fan. It didn't seem like he lost any Providence, and the Elders didn't stop forward for using that cha-

Moon Aiko paused. The chain was still wrapped around her body.

[Heavenly Chains]

[A special Immortal Chains that bound your enemy's Origin and made them weaker.]

[Disclaimer: Works only on weak Origins.]

Aiko blinked a few times. She was unaware why it didn't work on her, but...

'What kind of material is this?' Aiko narrowed her eyes.

[Divine Steel]

Moon Aiko's eyes shined as she picked one end of the chains and started to unwrap her body.

'I will smelt it later and join it with the other [Divine Steel].' She nodded to herself happily.

Lin Fan coughed up blood from that sight.

[You have mentally injured Heaven's Favourite, causing him to suffer from the decrease of Providence.]

[Providence: 104,000 -> 104,500 (Suppressed due to Mortal Laws)]

Aiko blinked. She didn't get any Providence from injuring those idiots, but she got it from wrapping the chains around her arm so it's easier to store...? How does that make any sense?

'I don't understand how the Heaven's Idiots think...' Aiko shook her head and threw the chain inside her [Tails Storage].

'Well... I would like to rob him more, but there is this unsettling feeling that I should push my luck.' Aiko narrowed her eyes. It seems that if someone had a similar Providence, it was harder to engage against them.

That also might be why she was able to easily deal with that Saint, since his Providence was tiny compared to this one.

Aiko nodded gently. It was obvious that Lin Fan would be going after her, but Aiko didn't care all that much.

It was not like she could be harmed by him. He didn't have the support of Elders and by the time he would have their support, she would be powerful enough to make that obsolete.

'It might be different on the mainland, though.' Aiko narrowed her eyes again. There were certain things that she had to be careful about. She realised that there were not really powerful Elders in here, but when the Elders returned from overseas, they were incomparably more powerful.

A good example is Li Xiu's Master.' Aiko narrowed her eyes. She was convinced that her Master was hiding something, as her power would be able to threaten Aiko.

She was curious about how much power Li Xiu's Master could manifest, but...

'I just hate the cold.' Aiko groaned. It seemed like she would have to buy some Ice-related resistances in order to deal with the coldness of certain Cultivators.

"A Perfect Grade Pill." The referee groaned again. They couldn't believe how talented the Jade Fox was. It almost felt like she was spitting on their faces, since their best score was around 7 Pills from a batch, and about only half of them were Perfect.

Most Alchemy Cultivators, Pill Refiners, Pill Gatherers, and others, could only imagine getting at most 10 Pills from the batch.

That was the theoretical maximum one could reach. More than that would mean that you were a complete monster.

The Elders and referees praised the Jade Fox, making Lin Fan even more upset.

It was obvious he would do something the next round, and Aiko was looking forward to it.

She didn't believe Lin Fan would be able to deal with her Mei. Aiko wanted Mei to completely crush him, so getting support for him would make things even more difficult.

She was looking forward to the mess they would create.

"Next up would be a 6th Grade Pill! The Water Breathing Pill!" The Peak Elder announced, and the Jade Fox narrowed her eyes.

"Will you be buying those Pills?" Mei pursed her lips.

"That would be correct and we would be going by the quality of your Pills and their Efficacy, but at the lowest, we would go with market prices." The Peak Elder said.

"That doesn't seem too fair, since those Pills would sell like crazy at auctions." Mei shrugged and the Elders stiffened.

It was obvious that the Jade Fox was not your average Fox, but they didn't expect that kind of intelligence from her.

"I will do my best, Elders." Lin Fan immediately took this opportunity to throw shade. "It's only natural that we honour our Elders and their hard work."

The Elders coughed, seemingly pleased by his words.

"Yeah, yeah." Aiko immediately interrupted. "Humans will mingle with Humans, and the Beast will suffer for it. What's next? The grass is green and you are bald as fuck?" She clicked her tongue.

"Moreover, this was supposed to be a game to bet resources, not a game where the losing party is supposed to profit." Aiko didn't forget to add that part to fluster the Elders who got ahead of themselves.

They coughed awkwardly.

"But we have prepared the Herb-" One Elder wanted to refute her gently, but Aiko was in her biting mode.

"Herbs were prepared by both Beasts and Humans. Most of the Herbs came from Beasts." Aiko narrowed her eyes. She also heard something interesting from Mei.

"Not to mention that Pill Refiners would take half of the Herbs and Pills they refine from the batch. The rest would be sold or given to the requester, depending on their deal." Mei shook her head.

"I can refine 11 Pills, so 6 of them are pocketed. The Beast gave more Pills so they would get between 3-4 Pills depending on how much they were too willing to sacrifice for it. The rest of the Pills would be for the Human side, since they didn't provide as much." Mei licked her lips and gave the Elders a severe stab.

"Not to mention the Humans that were watching over the contestants failed to protect them against danger." Mei sighed like it was a regretful fact.

The Elders were flinching and gnashing their teeth.

"So, don't you believe it's a bit shameless that you praise someone who doesn't even adhere to the basic Alchemy Rules?" Mei snorted at Lin Fan, it was obvious that Mei had something to do with those Alchemy Rules, since it seemed like she was particularly upset about it.

"But the Elders provided this place for us-" Lin Fan tried to curry favour but failed miserably at that.

"I will stop you right there." It was one of the Elders who listened to the story that Aiko told. He was even able to jump one small Stage because of that knowledge, so he was particularly fond of that story and history of this place...