Chapter 71 – Warm lap and Tasty snack
The Queen took Aiko's hand and guided her onto the ship.
The other curious Cultivators were finally able to restart their ship and when they saw the Patriarch's ship guiding them, they were crestfallen.
They really wanted to get a few Foxes, but unfortunately for them, the Patriarch was protecting them, they could only disperse.
Aiko was on the ship and could feel multiple gazes on her, she was confused and shy as she didn't like attention.
She looked around, but no one met her eyes. She was even more confused and when she trotted towards nearby Foxes they ran away.
'This is awkward...' Aiko thought.
The Queen narrowed her eyes and smiled. 'She has gotten much stronger.'
She hoped that her Mate, her sweetie would not lag behind, but with such phenomenons... she might be the one to lag behind.
'Fortunately, I'm still ahead, but I will have to pick up the pace.' The Queen thought and stared at her sweetie chasing Foxes around.
Aiko pouted as nobody wanted to be within 5 meters of her. This upset her greatly.
She used her [Basic Presence Concealment: Lv.3] and [Assassin Mastery: Lv.1], sneaking around.
She had her target, a fluffy red tail.
"Eep!" The Blood Fox yelped when her tail was grabbed. She turned around in anger ready to slap the lowlife who dared to do that.
She was completely stunned when she saw the assailant as she didn't produce any noticeable presence for her. This little assailant went only after her tail.
She looked around and spotted the Jade Fox. She made pleading eyes and nudged her head towards her tail.
The Queen giggled at that cute display, but before she arrived Aiko had her fill and left.
Both the Queen and Blood Fox sighed.
"My apologies, Passion Fox." The Queen felt apologetic.
The Blood Fox sighed. "It can't be helped, Jade Fox." She shook her head, knowing that little one was hard to control.
"You had endured a lot." The Queen sighed. "I will try to explain what her actions do later on."
"It is alright... she is still a cub." The Blood Fox sighed. If that little one at least didn't conceal her presence each time she hugged her tail she wouldn't mind it as much.
The Queen narrowed her eyes when she looked at the Passion Fox, but didn't say anything.
...
Aiko found herself a new target. For some reason whenever she had [500 - 500] alignment she felt a bit cold.
"How is that?" The very familiar Fire Fox was blasting his aura into the surroundings.
"Hmpf, as if that candle fire can move me." Similarly, the Ice Fox was also blasting her aura repelling his.
Aiko felt slightly warm even when she was so far away. She smirked and didn't lessen her Skills, now that she had ridiculous Stamina she would be able to keep them with no problem.
She moved towards them, they had closed eyes focusing on their energy discharge.
Aiko patted his lap.
"AGH!" The Fire Fox was so startled that he almost choked on his own Qi.
His eyes shot up wanting to murder the idiot who would disturb him, but he was too taken aback to move.
In front of him was someone he knew very well as he was part of the Jade Fox's faction. The Jade Fox always warned them to not hurt her and he hesitated.
The Vicious Cub was patting his lap, but for some reason, she was not burnt.
Aiko met his eyes. She could see confusion and distress.
"What's wrong, can't endur-" The Ice Fox stopped noticing the little girl patting his lap.
*Pfft*
She laughed loudly. "I can't believe that even small girls admire you."
The Fire Fox wanted to strangle her but endured it. He knew that she hated to learn and would only contest with him all day every day. He didn't mind that as his flames were refined.
"This is Jade Fox's Mate." The Fire Fox said expressionlessly.
The Ice Fox stiffened. "Huh?" She stared at the little girl, but couldn't remember her.
The Fire Fox rolled his eyes and wanted to correct her only for him to completely freeze.
Aiko turned into her Fox form and found her place on his lap. She slowly rolled herself into a furball that was slightly and slowly breathing.
The Fire Fox looked at the little one in disbelief and Ice Fox was likewise stunned.
She just recovered from the shock that this little cutie was that Monster's Mate, she shivered just thinking about it, but now that little one was on his lap sleeping!
"This..." The Fire Fox somewhat recovered and didn't know what to do.
They would take walks each hour to recover some energy and then continue so their legs wouldn't go numb, but now he couldn't.
"What do I do?" He earnestly asked Ice Fox stunning her.
She never heard him ask in such a voice as he always tried to look and sound cool or mighty.
She frowned. "How am I supposed to know?!" She was irritated that his previous actions were just acting and not his real personality.
"Um..." The Fire Fox frown deepened. "Could you reduce your cold?" He asked with a pleading voice.
The Ice Fox recoiled. "Who are you and what did you do to him?"
"I'm not joking, please retract your aura now, my legs are freezing over." He said seriously.
She unwillingly retracted her aura and stared at him. She could see a layer of frost on his pants and was taken aback.
"What happened to you? Did you run out of Beast Core Energy?" She asked in a worried voice.
"No." He said seriously. "I have been suppressed."
"WHAT?!" She yelled attracting attention.
They noticed a fluffy ball on his lap but soon lost interest as they thought it was just a silly gift from the Ice Fox for the Fire Fox.
His face hardened and tried to use his flame. It worked, but he just couldn't stroke it completely.
He tilted his head and then paused. 'Could it be... did she suppress the flame when she was touching my legs and that's why she was not burned?'
The Ice Fox looked at his complexion worried. "Are you alright?" She didn't want to lose her personal heater.
He nodded."I think so, she is not that cold, but I can't use my flames to challenge you, so let's postpone our training."
She pouted but didn't reject it.
...
The Queen couldn't find her fluffball when she disappeared, so she thought about using the useless Blazing Fox and Glacial Fox help to find her.
The Queen arrived in front of them and there was strange air around them.
"Get up, my Mate is somewhere and I don't know where." The Queen commanded.
The Blazing Fox wanted to cry, but he couldn't stand up, he already couldn't feel his legs.
The Queen glared and noticed something fluffy on his lap. "What is that?" She tilted her head and looked towards the Glacial Fox.
The Glacial Fox turned away, that was not hers and she did not give him that.
The Queen had a bad premonition. She picked up a nice-smelling Pill out of her Storage Ring. She used these pills to placate her sweetie to continue learning written words.
The fluffball twitched when she got close enough.
*Chomp*
Aiko drowsily followed the smell and munched it. This meat was very tender so she didn't want to bite it, so she just playfully bites it to release some juices.
The Queen's body stiffened and a faint blush crept on her neck.
Aiko finally munched the Pill and rolled back satisfied while the Queen was red and glaring at her.
The Glacial Fox had to put a lot of strength into her stomach to not laugh. If she laughed now she would definitely get slapped to death.
The Queen stared at the Glacial Fox that had a red face and misunderstood. "Nothing happened! Alright?" She glared at the Glacial Fox and the Glacial Fox shivered, nodding like a broken doll.
The Queen hmpfed away but turned around. "Once she wakes up just lead her to our abode." She then turned around and left.
The Foxes nearby murmured, they found an interesting love triangle and wondered how it would turn out.
The Blazing Fox wanted to cry as he didn't intend to get any Mates, but now he was in the limelight of rumours and love triangle...
...
The Queen returned to her abode frowning. Nobody ever dared to chew on her fingers, but not only that servant dared to do that, she even dared to do that in public!
The Queen was embarrassed on a multitude of levels and didn't know what to do with her little servant.
"Pills... let's make Pills." She thought and turned around walking into the Pill Refining room.
Little did she realize that she was making the same Pills that Aiko just munched on.
...
The whole ship was in turmoil about the love triangle and the Patriarch's face twitched.
He needed some useful information so he could rope in that little one, but all he got was about this great love triangle nonsense and he couldn't find any point of attack.
This upset him greatly, but he knew he couldn't force the issue and could only wait till those rumours died down.
"Don't report me this nonsense next time!" He bellowed at his subordinate.
His subordinate was very excited until his boss poured cold water over his excitement.
He was spying on those Foxes but didn't have any Recording Stones. He already had a hard time keeping his focus and really wanted one Recording Stones for... personal purposes.
That was also why he took upon this mission since his boss offered Recording Stone to those who brought the most information!
Unfortunately, his boss was ruthless and didn't give him anything, not only that, but he also told him he was useless...
'Being the servant of powerhouses is difficult...' He lamented at his misfortune and blazing loins.
...
Aiko slept for a long time when she finally woke up and yawned. The Blazing Fox was about to give up his entire life when he felt that movement and felt reinvigorated.
"The Jade Fox is looking for you." He spoke gently, his voice dripping with honey.
The Glacial Fox that was next to him wanted to vomit but endured it. She stared at this shameless guy hatefully.
When they first met it was like this, but as soon as he found other new Foxes he would always act like this.
She pinched his thigh which was already numb and he jumped.
Aiko rolled around still half asleep. She was infuriated that her lap moved and bit in a random direction.
"AH!" The Glacial Fox yelped as Aiko bit her right breast.
Aiko fell on her lap and shivered.
'So cold.' She jumped away from the coldness still drowsily looking around.
She noticed those two Foxes, one looking like he was wronged, while the other glaring at her, while being red in the face.
"Jade Fox is looking for you." The Blazing Fox said gently, massaging his legs so that he could use them again.
Aiko tilted her head but nodded. She had a nice dream sucking on something delicious and thought about the Pills her mean Fox made her.
She turned around walking towards their abode and the 2 Foxes exchanged glances.
The Glacial Fox glared at him hatefully, while the Blazing Fox felt like he was constantly being wronged.
