Chapter 183 – Sneaking around in the Palace
Aiko was too bored, she wanted to go shopping already, but her team was too tired!
She couldn't visit Lady Liu since she was with Chen Shi. Chen Shi doesn't have the greatest patience, so she shouldn't do anything unnecessary.
Likewise, she was not really interested in the other Beasts. Sure, she knew some of them, but it didn't feel like they would entertain her without calling her 'Princess' or feeding her meat.
Aiko was hungry, but she was not in the mood to eat.
*Sigh*
Aiko sighed again, it was truly hard to keep herself entertained.
She stood up and jumped down from the roof. Thanks to her footwork, her fall was completely silent without even the slightest trace of gust.
She looked around, but there were no animals she could chase or cuddle.
Aiko shook her head and sneaked outside the side palace. She would explore this place a bit more before returning to sleep.
It was a nice evening, which meant it would soon be night and she would be almost undetectable.
Aiko had a gentle smile, yet her mean eyes indicated a different expression. She would sneak around until she found something interesting.
The side palace was small compared to the Royal Palace or Main Palace, whatever you want to call it.
Even so, it was still big enough to house all the Beasts for the time being, while Human Cultivators were in the Royal Palace.
This was preferable since Beasts had much more sensitive senses, so it was easy to disturb or agitate them.
And there was no stinky Royal Garden around as they planted few flowers here and kept them clean.
A guard passed next to Aiko, but did not notice her. He was a mortal and Aiko was in the shadows, so that was only a natural reaction, but Aiko paused for a moment.
'If they can't see me during the day, then at night I will be able to explore much more freely.' Aiko thought and her confidence was not unfounded. The Cultivators that were under the Royal Crown were weak, at most Foundation Establishment.
Meanwhile, the Sect Leaders were at least Nascent Soul Cultivators, this was a lot more powerful than what can be sustained by the Royal Family.
A Nascent Soul Cultivator needed a lot of precious materials to properly nurture their Nascent Soul, which is akin to an infant that acts like an assistive ghost. It can release pressure that can restrain living beings without actually consuming anything.
It was extremely powerful and sought after, but nurturing it properly required a lot of Soul materials.
We are not talking about Souls, since it would be hard for Human Cultivators to ingest, unlike Foxes. But things like the Primordial Soul Wood would be incredibly sought after, so much so that it would cause wars!
Fortunately, Slave 1 knew how to conceal the Energy of the Primordial Soul Wood, so there was no risk that Aiko would be in danger for the time being, or until she ascended. Ghosts in the Immortal World are either incredibly powerful or incredibly weak. There was nothing in between, simply because of the ascension requirements.
If one ascended in Soul form, the might of the Heavenly Dao would press directly on their Soul. Unlike normal Cultivators that could shield their Soul with body and Qi, it was useless for Ghost Cultivators as they didn't have a vessel that would allow them to wrap that Qi.
Sure, they did have Ghost Qi, but Heavenly Dao was mostly yang, which means it pulverised the yin Ghost Qi.
Aiko sneaked inside the Royal Palace. She was not looking for the Human Cultivators, but she was interested in other parts of the Royal Palace that might have interesting decoration or architecture.
She did not notice the fact that she attracted the sight of one old fossil that was hiding inside this Empire.
...
'Another sneaky Beast...' He murmured. 'Let's see what you are looking for.' He narrowed his eyes.
He was old and hiding himself here to live out his days. Furthermore, he didn't want to set up any shitty inheritance grounds, since he didn't believe anyone deserved it.
He was powerful in his prime, but a Law Cultivator robbed him of his lifespan, so he had only a few years to live.
This old fossil didn't want to compete over resources, he was cultivating the Dao of Steadiness. With each step he took, the Heavenly Dao would challenge him with some kind of issue that he had to solve.
He was intelligent... a bit too much, so the Heavenly Dao didn't really favour him.
This time it was the same. He just went to take a dump after consuming a bit too many chilli imbued foods, so he had to clear his system, yet those few steps gave him another issue.
'A small Fox sneaking around...' He shook his head. He saw many strange things, but he had never seen such a small Fox, with such large ears.
'It's rare to find the Fennec tribe so far from the desert...' The old fossil narrowed his eyes, he was slightly interested in her story, but not enough to take a step outside and deal with more problems.
He would not move an inch and scare the little Fox away later.
...
Aiko finally made it to the bamboo forest. This was different from the bamboo forest that was inside the Royal Garden. It was much denser as if it was trying to conceal something.
Aiko's eyes shined, maybe she found some kind of treasure? Or a secret that is supposed to be kept hidden?
She grinned and moved between the bamboo, since she was still slim...
'Fine... in some cases it's nice to be like this...' She could not imagine how she would move through this whole place with melons like the Blood Fox...
'Although she is... wide everywhere.' Aiko paused her thoughts. 'I'm surprised she is able to move so nimbly...' Aiko sighed, she now started to admire the Blood Fox and her difficulties.
'Not to mention the bird lady...' Aiko froze. 'If those were so heavy, then what about Blood Fox's?' Aiko's thoughts drifted into a strange direction.
Sure, the Blood Fox didn't have breasts as massive as the bird Lady, but they were still large, which means if they were anywhere as heavy as the bird lady's...
Aiko shivered, poor Blood Fox, her back must hurt from that insane weight. 'Maybe it's not a good idea to have them big...' Aiko narrowed her eyes...
She will think about it again once she measures their weight... Aiko shook her head to get those distracting thoughts out of her head.
It was strange that she thought about it so much, it puzzled her.
A muffled voice drifted into her ears and Aiko perked up.
She followed that voice...
...
Aiko arrived at a clearing, it was quite sizable considering it was hidden inside the bamboo forest.
What Aiko didn't know was that these were the forbidden grounds of the Royal Family, only a few selected members were allowed to enter.
Aiko stepped into the clearing and the whole world changed. It turned a lot darker and mist shrouded the bamboo forest.
'Ah fuck... not again...' Aiko almost facepalmed, but she held herself back as she needed to observe her surroundings.
Her surroundings were blurry like she had bad eyesight, but at the same time she didn't feel dizzy, something in the back of her mind kept telling her that she was supposed to feel dizzy.
Aiko took another step and the clearing slightly cleared, that muffled voice turned into numerous muffled sounds.
She took yet another step and the clearing was now sharp... which Aiko regretted.
'Fucking orgies! Why! Why is it always me who finds these things!' Aiko cursed inside her mind to not alert them... these...?
'Maids? No... no?' Aiko was confused, at one time she saw maids, at another she saw Beasts and lastly a blurry image of people going at it...
'This is strange...' Aiko frowned, she didn't like this place, but she was slightly interested in what caused this phenomenon.
'If I can blur my opponent's eyesight, it's an almost instant win for me.' Aiko thought, but she forgot to account for Divine Sense.
She walked around mostly in the shadows, since there was a lot of moonlight in this place.
'In the middle is a Treasure!''Go now, before you are noticed.'
The Darkness returned and Aiko smiled slightly, she was happy to 'see' them again and to see those paw imprints that guided her.
She walked calmly on the paw imprints, since she knew they were always accurate and would never hurt her.
She ignored those strange silhouettes that were having orgies.
Aiko slowly approached the middle of the place. There was a strange lamp nestled in a grassy clearing. The paw imprints guided her towards it.
Aiko squatted in front of the strange lamp. She didn't touch it and just observed it, she was unaware that something sinister materialised behind her.
It slowly became an ugly ghost, ready to attack Aiko.
'Kekeke, another delicious Soul sent by the Emperor.' The ugly ghost laughed with glee.
The ugly ghost dashed towards Aiko. 'Now I will take your Soul-'
...
The old fossil frowned. He didn't think that the little Fox would be able to find her way inside the forbidden bamboo forest.
'If she releases that hag, this tiny world will be turned upside down!' He cursed in his mind that he didn't go and stop her before this happened, but he really didn't want to take a step forward, he had enough of those problems and issues that arose each time he took a step!
He cursed his indecisiveness when it came to this and rushed towards the bamboo forest.
...
The ugly ghost stiffened a metre away from Aiko.
At this moment, Aiko got a notification that something sinister was approaching, but when she turned around she could only see an amiable old grandma with brushes on her hands.
'What's sinister about her...?' Aiko tilted her head and cursed the system for the inaccurate reading.
"Hello there cutie." The Old Grandma smiled at the little Fox. 'Dear Hells, I have almost died!' She was sweating inside her mind.
'Who in the 18 Hells sent this Monster into this tiny world!?' She was shocked and terrified of this little Fox. 'If my senses were slightly off, I would be sent to Yama again! Curse you husband! Why do you keep torturing me?!' She sobbed inside her mind.
"Hello?" Aiko tilted her head, she still could not understand what was so sinister about this ghost...
The Grandma was smiling gently and amicably, it was hard to say she was sinister.
"What are you doing here?" Aiko asked, feeling curious about this whole situation.
"I live here, sweetie." She moved closer to Aiko to comb her tails.
"Hmmm..." Aiko thought about it. "How strange... there are no houses here, you know." Aiko narrowed her eyes.
"There is, but it's hidden by me." The Grandma said slowly. "But that is not my home, we ghosts do not have homes."
Aiko slowly nodded, she was slightly interested in that hidden house, but not enough to ask about it yet.
The Grandma was nice and the combing was very nice and soothing.
'Phew, it seems like the growling monster has calmed down, that was close!' The Ghost Grandma sweated, but didn't stop her translucent hands, lest the monster would change her mind!
