Cultivation Struggles of a Lowly Fox

Chapter 22 – Beast Cores

"Before we leave I will show you how to extract energy from Beast Cores." The Queen said gently. "It won't be easy as it will pollute your Beast Core, but if you can find any nice flames in the wild. You can use them to further refine the Beast Cores and consume almost pure Cores. But that is talk after you have an affinity with fire!"

The Queen sat near her and gestured for her to follow her lead. She would sit like a Sphinx and place the Beast Core between her front legs. She would then use her energy to nudge the Core until it cracked. What was left is suck all the leaking energy out of the Core and watch it crumble into dust.

Aiko was amazed by the changes in the tiny marble. When it cracked it shined in that place and would ooze out energy like a gas pipe that was leaking. Then it would shine less and less, slowly turning into stone, until it finally crumbled into dust!

Queen puffed up her chest as Aiko stared at her in admiration. She felt a little bit shy, which never happened, but she also never experienced such burning eyes without any lust.

"I will guide you through it slowly so you don't waste too much of the Beast Cores energy." The Fox smiled gently.

Aiko sat down like the Fox did and tried to use her energy. It was incredibly sluggish like trying to push water down a blocked drain. At times it was uncomfortable at times it was painful.

'What in the world...' The Queen paused looking at this strange reaction. 'There is no way right...' She had a bad premonition.

"Stop for a moment and relax." She commanded Aiko.

Aiko did as she was told as she didn't understand much about many things.

The Queen probed her Core or at least tried, when Aiko suddenly jumped away from her growling at her.

'That hurts!' She growled.

The Queen sighed and chased Aiko. Aiko was naturally no match for her top speed and was pinned down in the blink of an eye.

She growled at this stinky Fox but soon felt unbearable pain. She cried, whining, trying to claw away, but she couldn't get away.

An incredibly sad whine drifted away from the cave, making the closest beast shiver from it.

...

'Fuck!' The Queen cursed. She stopped probing her Beast Core and used [Clean] on her. She then licked Aiko until she stopped whining, but Aiko still lay motionlessly on the ground. "It will be alright." Her voice quivered at the end as she slowly regretted her decisions.

'Dammit! If I weren't spoiling her so much she wouldn't have such a mess of a Core!' She regretted it deeply as most Pills would be able to clear only tiny bits of impurities, but she had so many impurities that she was lucky she was alive. 'I really shouldn't have spoiled her.' She gently licked Aiko as the misunderstanding slowly deepened.

"Everything will be alright little one." She reassured the quivering Aiko. "Let's take it slow and I will help you improve your Core slowly, alright?" She had an incredibly gentle voice, a voice that she only used with her friend.

She continued licking Aiko until she fell asleep on her front paws. Only she knew how painful it was for her to get probed, while her Core was in such a mess.

To put it in perspective imagine not being able to shit for a whole month and your intestines are completely packed. Then a doctor suddenly comes along to you and shoves his fist down your ass. Everything is pushed and strained beyond the limit, you feel like your intestines are tearing apart and even if the doctor suddenly stopped the pain would still persist.

She felt awful about this situation as it was caused by her indulging her too much. She would have to help her fix her Core over time as she was responsible for it in the first place.

That didn't stop her from cursing herself over and over again. The last time a blunder like this happened it caused the War in the Upper Realm.

She used [Clean] periodically on her so that she could sleep peacefully without being drenched in sweat.

...

3 days later Aiko woke up, her body heavy and tired. That shitty Fox was above her licking her fur, but Aiko was too tired to drive her away. Plus it didn't feel all that bad, it felt rather nice.

"We will try to increase your Beast Core up to a Peak of your current Rank. You are not allowed to consume food that I have not cooked and I will also help you with energy extraction so that you don't consume any more filth." She continued licking Aiko's fur, periodically using [Clean] on her. "After you hit your Peak, I will let you consume Pills that will allow you to cleanse it further and we can only hope that your next Evolution is not as volatile as this one."

Aiko grunted weakly, not going against her.

"Good, rest for now and I will cook something for you." She guiltily walked away to gather meat. That bear meat couldn't be used as it would pollute her like it did now. She would have to use meat from rare monsters with high purity and then increase the purity further. That will be a pain in the ass as she doesn't have enough firepower to cleanse it completely if it's a higher Rank. So she had to find a beast with a lower Rank that would have high purity, which was also a pain in the ass. Most beasts would eat any shit they would come across, thus they would gather impurities over time. She could squeeze them out if it's below 10% impurities, any more and it would be difficult and very time-consuming.

Meanwhile, Aiko went to sleep again.

The Queen was out for several days, Aiko was feeling hungry and slightly thirsty, but her pain lessened which was fortunate.

Today she finally returned and she caught some kind of strange bird with colourful feathers.

"It's not much, but it will do." The Fox nodded to herself as she placed the bird down.

She used her Divine Sense to strip the bird of its feathers and squeeze the rest of the blood out. She then used her [Clean] on it several times and butchered it with her claws.

She bathed the meat in her Qi, forcing the impurities out of the meat. This would degrade the meat, but it is a better option than further polluting her Core.

'Until I find some pure flame with purifying capabilities I will slowly inch her to higher purity with clean meat and clean Cores.' She thought to herself while preparing the meat for Aiko who was watching her with some interest.

The meat blackened as she pushed the impurities out and used [Clean] several times on it to clean that black residue. She washed it in her Water Qi and let it dry for a bit, before setting it up near flame to slowly roast it. The meat was very tender and easy to chew so there was no problem with being too hard or chewy for Aiko. She also added just a hint of spices instead of the full course she usually used so as not to upset her stomach.

She came over to Aiko and used [Clean] on her and licked her a few times. Aiko grunted but didn't move, waiting for the deliciously looking meat to be done over the flames.

'I really look forward to that portable stove.' She suddenly thought as the meat was still levitating in the air. 'There wouldn't be need to keep them afloat like that and I could also use it to create broth and other things...' She thought yawning a bit. 'I'm more exhausted than I was before.' This puzzled her, but she didn't question it much as questioning was hard by itself.

'It smells nice, much nicer than what she usually makes.' Aiko thought. She was unaware that the purer the meat the tastier it was. That's why some of the Fire Element beasts were so sought after. Their flames would purify their bodies keeping the purity of their Cores high, but also keeping their organs and muscles clean as by-product of the heat.

"It's almost done, I won't let you eat much of it since they are hard to find, but I will be carrying you around for the time being until your Core calms down." She told her gently while grooming her fur. She wouldn't say it out loud, but her fur was soft. She was even tempted to go for her Human form to properly pet her.

She placed the well-done meat in front of Aiko and Aiko slowly chewed it. She was not as enthusiastic as before as moving was difficult and it sometimes even hurt.

The Queen was heartbroken, she hoped that she would be a bit more springy since this meat was cooked with her full skills, but she also understood that having painful Core is generally not good. Sure some Cultivation paths rely on pain and those guys would harm themselves just to advance, but more sane Cultivators wouldn't take those paths.

'I will have to increase my Divine Sense so that I can probe her without actually touching her Core, but that would require getting to another stage. I'm still far from another stage and that's why I wanted to visit the small Fox Village and get admitted to the bigger one.' She sighed, the closest Village is quite far and it would be a straining journey for Aiko, but she couldn't let her be since she caused this whole issue. She still had her integrity to maintain!

Aiko chewed at her meat, ignoring most things that were happening around her. It was only a few pieces, but she felt much more full and sated.

"We will be leaving tomorrow from here." The Fox told her gently, nestling near her.

Aiko finished chewing and laid down again, closing her eyes and drifting to dreamland where she wasn't in pain.

...

The Queen was already up roasting today's food, watching over the sleeping Aiko. Aiko was pretty much completely useless until her Core settled down. She would have to watch over her and care about her needs. She felt that this was similar to her previous boy toy, but different at the same time. She sighed, at least this little one was much cuter.

Aiko woke up a few moments later, watching the Fox cook. She was a bit upset that she couldn't eat more meat, but she also didn't want to upset this Fox. She realized they were leagues away the moment she pinned her down. The moment of helplessness and not being able to move was deeply engraved in her soul. She would never forget that feeling and she swore that she would push this Fox down! It would be a blissful feeling for her the moment that this Fox would be hopelessly under her squirming. 'Hehe~' She giggled relishing in that thought.

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