Chapter 14 – The Fox and The Fox, One stranger than the other…

[HP Depleted, next blow will reduce your Vitality!][Vitality Low! You won't regenerate any health, please increase your Vitality to at least 2 or more][Stamina Depleted as a means to regenerate Health.][Stamina was too low! Unable to regenerate even a single HP.]

Aiko flew through the air from the impact on her side. Still biting into his neck, she turned around a bit seeing her assailant and her pupils constricted.

It was the Archer, he was wrapped in Energy, especially his neck. His skin was ripped and he was bleeding, his bones were showing through the skin, but a light-grey aura was wrapped around his neck holding it in place.

Upon closer inspection, despite their appearance, the archer turned out to be a woman, if their barely visible curves were any indication.

The Archer scoffed, her mind clearing, yet her energy draining. She looked around in despair, but then realised her comrade had fallen and her eyes flashed in a strange colour.

Aiko fell to the ground, in mind-numbing pain.

[You have been poisoned!][Effect: Agonising Pain][As this poison was made to cause as much pain as possible, it was robbed of its HP/Vitality decreasing effect.]

Her mind writhed in pain, but she couldn't move or do anything.

The Archer stood above one of her comrades and pulled out a knife, slashing his chest. She then pulled his organs out one by one with her bloodied hands and ripped them apart, shoving them down her throat.

Each time she ate a piece of intestines, lung or any other organ she would roar. Her skin darkened, turning a shade of red. Yet her neck and body were healing and strengthening. She butchered his chest further, revealing the rest of his organs.

Her dull eyes turned up into shiny crescent eyes, revealing her joy. She slowly savoured those organs, but it was not enough. She skinned the guy from top to bottom and slurped his skin into her stomach.

Her skin slowly turned back to a healthy pale colour. She gained a bit of height, but she ignored that.

The Archer carved out his skull to reveal a juicy brain, it jiggled seductively at her and she laughed at the beauty who was swaying her tits in front of her. She cupped the heavenly peaks savouring them until gently biting them.

The Archer devoured that brain and looked at those well-defined muscles and bones. She ate all of it, feeling pain throughout her body, but she was in bliss. Unaware of the fact that her bones were replaced with sturdier ones, moreover she obtained another Spiritual Root! It was stored in her Dantian and it was aiding her in circulating her Energy and regenerating her body.

The Archer snapped from her stupor once she finished that body and looked around. There were more corpses of her comrades and she licked her lips.

"Do not worry fellow Senior Martial Brothers." The Archer cupped her hands gently. "I will take good care of you~." She licked her lips and walked towards another body.

...

Aiko was in mind-numbing pain, she didn't know how much time passed. She felt like she was in a glass room, suffocating, yet couldn't move at the same time. Aiko felt hopelessness and despair slowly seeping into her bones, yet she couldn't go mad or lose consciousness.

[Your mind is protected.]

Aiko didn't know why her mind couldn't just stop and let her pass out. Those steps and words had already faded long ago and what was left was just a lush forest with singing leaves...

*Step Step*

She heard something moving around. Soon a fox appeared above her. She felt... relieved.

'Ah... it will finally end...'

She felt her death at the tip of her fingers, yet she didn't fear it. She relished in it.

The prolonged pain already numbed her senses and gradually chewed at her mind. Her whole body no longer fought against the poison and completely relaxed.

...

The Queen ran through the forest with stolen rings. She was able to rob many Cultivators, allowing her to soon increase her Beast Cultivation greatly.

At first, she was upset when she found out she was betrayed and 'kicked' out of the Upper Realm. She felt indignant at them.

Kicked her?! The most Powerful Charming Beautiful Mesmerising Amazing Terrifying Badass Lovely... you get the point. She was a former Immortal that just didn't make it. She was completely oblivious to the fact that her Dao companion cheated on her and plotted with his new spouse. When she first found out, she was angry about it.

'How could he! He was just a pretty little toy with shitty Talent! This Queen helped him all the way through the Lower Realm to the Upper Realm, yet that bastard!'

That is how she felt at the moment he stabbed her... yet soon her mind paused...

'This... isn't all that bad. This Queen made many poor decisions in her life, reducing her future. This would hinder this Queen in Ascension into ####, no, she would be stuck even lower...'

…

The Queen suddenly felt relieved and smiled brightly at him. He was frozen stiff from her smile. It had been a long time since he saw that beautiful smile of the young blooming maiden. Tears trickled down his cheeks as her body slowly disintegrated.

…

Soon she went through the Underworld and appeared in this strange forest.

She was back at the beginning but with knowledge of Immortals.

The Queen saw many strange and unnatural things and encountered many similar beings, but in this single moment, she felt liberated.

Half of her time was spent nurturing her former sweetheart, but now she had all the time for herself. She could slowly and carefully shape her foundation. Making it stronger and more powerful than before.

She would no longer rush, just because her 'best friend' teased her about her slow progress.

She would take her time and slowly reach her Peak, which would be much higher than before and then attain her own Dao... oh how wrong she was...

'I have many treasures in these rings, while they are rubbish in the Upper Realm, there should be something usable in them for this Mighty Queen!'

She snickered, only to pause.

'I can hear a strange noise somewhere in here, but I can't make out where it is. Impossible! It's impossible for this Queen not to find the source!'

The Queen huffed in annoyance and explored the whole immediate place. Yet she couldn't find anything! Just a few blood puddles-

'Hmmm? There is something... No way!'

She stared at the vague silhouette of a Beast in the Shadow of a Tree. Her pupils widened like lightbulbs and she couldn't believe her eyes.

'A Beast that can almost perfectly blend in shadows?! Impossible! This Queen has never seen such a Beast in her life!'

Her mind was slightly shaken, but as she was a trained Immortal, she recovered almost instantly.

She came closer to the little Beast, realising it was a fox like her.

'Wha-!'

She was stunned, realising that this little Beast was literally just a Beast! It was not a Magical Beast like her! Yet she wouldn't be able to find it if she wasn't so well-trained!

'I should get rid of it...'

This Beast threatened her seat, this Queen wouldn't allow it after experiencing 'that'. She would get rid of any and every inconvenience that would threaten her Mighty Throne.

The Queen stared at the Beast, noticing its emotions and thoughts... wait, thoughts?!

'This Beast has Intelligence?!'

She was once again speechless and shaken. The number of times she has been shocked like this in her life could be counted on only one hand!

The Queen stared at its eyes and the Beast stared back. Suddenly, she felt the Fox's emotions more clearly. Pain and suffering, but at the same time she felt liberation and hope from those same eyes, yet there was no fear of Death...

'...'

The Queen’s mind blanked yet another time once the Beast completely relaxed and its Dark Fur slowly turned a creamy colour. While this Queen couldn't say that it was the most beautiful Beast. She could say that it was the most mesmerising Beast she had ever witnessed, alongside the Flaming Divine Peacock that this Queen had for dinner...

Her trained Immortal mind shook, she was no longer certain.

The Queen also noticed the Fox’s awful wound that was already infected. Even if she didn't do anything, the Beast would die and nourish the Earth...

The Beast looked at her in hope, not hope of life, but hope for death. Something in the Queen's mind clicked and she stared at the Beast for some time...

'To save or to leave...'

Her mind was in turmoil once this Queen wasn't willing to kill it, yet... she felt like she stared at herself. She has never experienced these odd and disturbing feelings before... This Queen didn't want those feelings and didn't want to remember her past, yet... yet she wondered if this was her in the past and if that person would help-

'No... nothing would change...'

The Queen’s eyes grew cold, ready to slay the injured Beast, but the Beast was ecstatic when it saw her.

'To kill......... would really nothing change?'

For the second time in her life, she doubted her experience and the life she lived through.

'No, this Queen is right... always...'

Yet she couldn't make up her mind and kill it.

'FUCK!'

The Queen howled in anger.

'FUCK EVERYTHING! DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO MOCK ME, HUH?! HEAVENLY DAO, I'M ASKING YOU!'

Yet nobody answered.

'I WILL SHOW YOU, I WILL SHOW YOU ALL!'

The Queen huffed as she used a lot of her Energy and Mental Power to convey those words.

She used her Divine Sense on the Fox to levitate her. Her mouth was already occupied by her Treasures and she had no room to spare, yet she used her precious mental power to gently levitate her. Unknowingly to her, she was much gentler to this Beast than to her boy-toy Dao Companion...

The Queen rushed through the forest.

'This Queen can feel a great place to settle in, but there are some annoying bugs that are trying to occupy it!'

With her speed, she soon appeared in front of a cave. That cave was the Den of an Earthen Grizzly, a ferocious Beast with impenetrable skin, with strength already compared to the Peak of Nascent Soul!

The Queen clicked her tongue. 'Just beginning of Golden Core trash...' She snorted disdainfully.

The Earthen Grizzly woke up from his slumber. He walked outside and with each step, the ground quivered and shook.

He came face to face with this rude intruder, who woke him up from his slumber. He readied himself, wanting to roar at the top of his lungs to crush his opponents with an immense sound wave.

"Tsk. Such a dumb Animal that can't even see this Queen's Greatness!" She clicked her tongue and before he could even roar, she whirled her tail and incredible force descended upon his head, popping it like a watermelon.

One of the hardest Beasts that you can encounter in the wide world was easily crushed by a fox 30 times smaller. If any Cultivator saw this, they would likely go crazy about her, wanting her as their 'contracted' Beast, unfortunately, there weren't any nearby...

Walking inside, the cave was surprisingly spacious and for a good reason.

"Earthen Shard?" The Queen was baffled that something like this would be here. She certainly felt some kind of energy from this cave, but to have something like an Earthen Shard...

Earthen Shards are one of the main elemental shards of this world, it allows Cultivators to build huge caves without compromising their structure or needing to use complicated formations to sustain said caves.

"This is good..." But she then frowned. "This little pipsqueak will cost this Queen quite a bit." The Queen sighed, placing her down inside the Grizzly's nest and rummaging through the rings.