Chapter 8: Planning for the Spiritual Vein

Krune started cultivating, and soon, he could feel the difference. His cultivation speed has improved a lot, just as expected. With another Spiritual Energy Meridian to share the burden of spiritual energy conversion, his cultivation was now progressing at least 50% faster. Krune then decided to take this chance to break through into the 7th Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.

The 7th Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm was known for its bottleneck, but it's not without reason. It's only at the 7th Stage that a cultivator can finally form their Divine Sense. Up to now, Krune has been using his affinity with spiritual energy to feel his surroundings and prevent dangerous situations from happening. But this kind of scanning ability was very limited since he couldn't really see what was happening ahead, nor could it reach too far. It could only help him feel if there was something alive ahead or not.

But Divine Sense was different. One could truly 'see' everything around them. It's a peculiar feeling once a cultivator opened their Divine Sense. They were used to only seeing what is ahead of them when all of a sudden, they could now see everything around them.

But other races didn't think that it was strange, and wisps were one of them. They didn't have eyes to start with. Ever since wisps were born, they had total control over their vision. So, for them, Divine Sense would basically improve this ability a lot. Other than the distance and the way that they 'saw' using Divine Sense, there wasn't much of a difference.

There was another thing worth remembering. When one achieved the 7th Stage, the boost in power was much bigger than when one broke through the previous or next stages of this realm. Unsurprisingly, Divine Sense is the reason behind it. It's not only limited to what one could see, but it also improves the cultivator's own ability to control the spiritual elements. It also allowed the use of skills from a much greater distance.

---

A week later, in a hidden burrow sealed by a wall of earth, the spirit energy started to condense at great speeds. Inside, one could see Krune absorbing all of it like a bottomless hole. A few minutes later, he felt a small explosion occur on his core, while the spiritual energy around him finally started to stabilize.

'7th Stage of Qi Condensation. It's only been three months since I met Feifei and old man Feng, and in three months, I went from the 3rd stage to where I am now. This progress is faster than anything I ever thought I'd be able to do. Let's try out Divine Sense.'

Krune concentrated his senses, and slowly, his Divine Sense started to spread out.

10 meters...

50 meters...

100 meters...

300 meters...

500 meters!

Krune was dumbfounded!

'500 meters, I can see everything within a 500-meter radius! Incredible! I can't believe Divine Sense is so useful like this. With it, I won't need to fear anything as long as my opponent's cultivation isn't much higher than mine!'

Krune was ecstatic!

One must know that when other cultivators achieved the 7th Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, it could already be considered a miracle if they could reach as far as 300 meters. And that's usually the case for races specialized in matters of the soul. Other races would often have a range of 150 to 200 meters. Fortunately for Krune, wisps could be considered one of the soul races as well. It's just that they were far from the top-rated ones. Of course, Krune didn't know such things. The reason he was so happy was because he would now be able to avoid danger and prepare for attacks much easier than before.

Krune didn't know that the reason his Divine Sense could reach so far as 500 meters was also because of his Energy Meridians. Other than the soul, Divine Senses were boosted by the owner's own spiritual energy and purity.

Wisps were already known to have very clean spiritual energy. Their spiritual energy was so clean that they were hunted for use in cultivation. On top of that, the conversion ability of Krune's Spiritual Energy Meridians far outmatched the regular ones. Not only did they beat regular meridians in speed but in purity as well. All of that combined turned into this unbelievable range coverage.

But Krune's happiness didn't last long...

'Shit! This thing spends spiritual energy like there's no tomorrow!'

Then again, that was to be expected. Such a good thing like Divine Sense couldn't come that easy, and there's no free lunch in this world. After calculating the consumption rate of spiritual energy, Krune found out that he could maintain his Divine Sense spread out at full range for at most 10 minutes. But if he reduced its range, the consumption rate would also be significantly reduced.

There was one more thing that one must pay attention to. Once someone used Divine Sense to scan an area, someone around the same level of cultivation or higher would probably feel it. They would then be put on high alert. In the end, Divine Sense wasn't omnipotent.

---

One day later, after stabilizing his cultivation, Krune left his seclusion site and set out to secure a spiritual vein. Krune already knew where it was since he found it during his travel and core hunting. The problem was that the owner of this vein was an 8th Stage Qi Condensation Lizard Dragon.

Lizard Dragons weren't real dragons, but they did have a very faint dragon bloodline, which made them stronger than ordinary beasts at the same cultivation level.

Krune didn't have the confidence of beating this Lizard Dragon before. It was not because he thought he couldn't win in a one-on-one exchange, but because it wasn't the only beast guarding the location. Every spiritual vein owner would usually have a few more members of the same race, and this Lizard Dragon was no different. Alongside the Lizard Dragon owner, there were ten more Lizard Dragons of a lower cultivation level.

But now that he had made his breakthrough, adding on the Divine Sense that can see everything 500 meters around him, Krune was confident that he could deal with this group, and at the same time, gather quite a few Demon Cores.

A few hours later, Krune arrived at a mountain range. It wasn't a big one but was still twenty kilometers in radius. He approached the lizards' nest carefully, making sure not to alert anyone. After getting close enough, he started to spread his Divine Sense.

'If I'm not wrong, that 8th Stage Lizard Dragon should be at the bottom of the nest. As long as I don't spread my Divine Sense too far in, it shouldn't notice me. As for the 7th Stage ones, if there's any, they probably wouldn't be able to feel my Divine Sense since it's much stronger than any other 7th Stage demon beast.'

After spreading his Divine Sense for 400 meters, Krune could already see almost all of the lizards.

'Two 7th Stage and nine 6th Stage dragons. I need to get rid of them first. The stronger ones are deep inside, while the weaker ones are close to the entrance. I think I know what to do.'

Lizard Dragons were predators, and this mountain range was their territory. Other beasts would not get close that easily.

Krune then left to find some bait. With his Divine Sense, it wouldn't be too hard. Although spreading it to his current maximum of 500 meters of distance spent a lot of spiritual energy, that didn't mean he had to keep it active 100% of the time. Krune circled around the border of the Lizard Dragons' territory and spread his Divine Sense every now and then for a few seconds. It didn't take long for him to find a 6th Stage Demon Bear.

It was quite easy to deal with. Krune's cultivation was higher, and together with his wisp energy body, as soon as the bear saw what it was, it disregarded any possibility of danger. Wisps were hard to catch but were excellent cultivation resources for all the other races. Not to mention that this Demon Bear wasn't afraid at all that Krune could present any danger to it. The bear rushed straight at him. Just as it got closer, earth spikes shot from the ground under the bear. The earth spikes pierced the bear, which growled from the pain in response. It tried to get rid of the spike when out of nowhere, ten wind blades came from above and cut off its head.

'As expected of a defense-type beast, the earth spike didn't have enough power to pierce all the way to its heart. With the amount of spiritual energy I used to cast it, any ordinary 7th Stage demon beast would have died if they didn't dodge in time. Not to mention the wind blades, the bear's head only dropped after the 8th one hit it. Now, with this big guy, it should be easy to attract those lizards one by one.'

Krune then grabbed the bear corpse, took out the Demon Core, and brought it somewhere close to the Lizard Dragons' den. But it was still far enough so that he wouldn't catch the attention of the entire lair when killing the first ones to come.

He also prepared some pit traps with a few earth spikes. He made sure to use a lot of spiritual energy in those spikes so that they could be much sturdier and had the ability to pierce the scales of the lizards. Although Lizard Dragons weren't as massive as the demon bear, they were still on the larger side of the beasts in the area. And this kind of trap just so happened to be very effective on them.

It didn't take long for a few Lizard Dragons to smell the scent of blood from the bear corpse and come closer. There were four of them. Because they were used to the safety of their territory, the lizards didn't think much before rushing over. Just when they were about the reach the bear corpse, several earth spikes came from below and directly impaled three of them. The last one only survived because there was no earth spike ready where it passed. After noticing the danger, it immediately tried to flee. Unfortunately for that last lizard, just as it turned back, several wind blades struck from the side.

Lizard Dragons had high defense due to their scales. So one or two wind blades wouldn't be able to directly kill it. Of course, the number of blades wasn't so little. Just like with the Demon Bear, Krune used ten wind blades against this last Lizard Dragon, making sure to have everything aim for its neck. After that, Krune swiftly took out their Demon Cores and cleaned the battlefield.

'Good, there's five more 6th Stage lizards. They should be coming soon.'

Sure enough, noticing that those four lizards didn't come back after some time, the rest of the 6th Stage lizards came out to take a look. There was even one of the two 7th Stage Lizard Dragons leading the group. This one was smarter than the lower-level ones. After taking a look around, it found the current situation somewhat fishy. Krune hastily noticed that. So, he decided that the best way to make them fall into his trap was to make an appearance himself. No demon beast would ever let a wisp go away like that. They were very precious for all races.

Sure enough, when a wisp suddenly appeared beside the bear corpse, all the lizards' eyes lit up. Of course, the 7th Stage one was no exception. He gave a big roar, and all the lizards rushed over. Even they knew that wisps were hard to find nowadays. They couldn't let this one escape either.

Krune snorted at this sight. He didn't move and patiently waited for them to enter the range of his earth spikes. They had been prepared long ago, and Krune just needed one thought for them to activate.

As soon as they got in the range of his traps, Krune controlled his spiritual energy to activate them. One lizard after another was immediately impaled, and the only survivor this time was the 7th Stage one. The Lizard Dragon was shocked. It never expected that a wisp could be this strong. Although its body was able to fend off the earth spikes, it still suffered severe injuries.

After that, it immediately turned around to run. But how could Krune let it go that easily? As soon as is it started to move, four earth walls appeared around it. Krune had been prepared for something like this a long time ago. After the walls were erected, ten wind blades started to rain from above. The Lizard Dragon noticed the crisis, using all its strength to blow away the earth wall in front of it. Although the earth wall was sturdy, it couldn't hold a 7th Stage Lizard Dragon with a faint dragon bloodline for long. On the second hit, it finally crumbled. But it was already too late for it to escape as wind blade after wind blade hit its body and finished the job.

'Phew... that was dangerous. It almost escaped as well. Those guys are really something else. As expected of a dragon bloodline, you can't underestimate it even if it's very faint.'

After obtaining the Demon Cores, Krune decided to retreat. He used over 80% of his spiritual energy in those two traps. So he definitely wouldn't be able to deal with the leader and the last 7th Stage lizard the way he was at the moment.

'I don't need to go too far. I just need around two hours to recover my spiritual energy, then I can start the last phase of my plan.'

Sometime after Krune left, the Lizard Dragon leader and the other 7th Stage lizard found out that almost everyone in their nest was wiped out. The leader was enraged, but it couldn't do anything since Krune had left already. All it could do was go on a rampage around its territory. It then finally got tired and decided to go back to their nest to prevent more casualties.

-----

Around two hours had passed, and Krune was finally back to his peak. He then immediately set off since he wanted to finish it all today.

'As long as I secure that low-level spiritual vein, I should have no more issues with spiritual energy for the creation of the next Spiritual Energy Meridian.'

Krune soon arrived and looked at the entrance of their nest. It was a cave entrance on the base of the mountain. This time, Krune wouldn't be able to rely on his earth spikes or wind blades. The defense of the 8th Stage Qi Condensation Lizard Dragon leader was bound to be highest between the Lizard Dragons. It would be very difficult to cause any severe injury on an 8th Stage beast with a faint dragon bloodline. But Krune wasn't intending to do that anyway.

Krune spread his Divine Sense a little, just enough to see the things around 50 meters ahead of him. After that, he moved carefully inside the Lizard Dragons' nest. Being a wisp here was quite convenient. As long as he wasn't in their line of sight, they wouldn't be able to detect him. First, wisps didn't walk. They float. Second, they didn't have a body, so they didn't have a scent to start with. Well, at least not until they gain their human form.

It didn't take long for Krune to find what he was looking for.

'As expected!'

Around 10 minutes later, the Lizard Dragon leader sensed a Divine Sense scanning his nest. It was already enraged to start with, and now that someone dared to barge into his nest, it was now incredibly incensed. It let out a deep roar and immediately rushed out. It was definitely going to eat the intruder alive!