บท 15: Preparations for Breakthrough

Krune took a look at the female Lizard Dragon's injuries. After infusing some more spiritual energy, the lizard could now be said to be out of danger. After a few more days, it was already able to walk again.

'As expected of a dragon bloodline, their regeneration abilities are not something ordinary beasts can match.'

After the last incident, Krune didn't go out that often. That was his first time using his merged skills in battle, and he had a lot to think about. He also spent his time imparting his Myriad Energies Technique to Lakin. Though, for some reason, Lakin didn't seem to be as proficient at it as Krune was.

In fact, Lakin was having a hard time even forming the first pseudo-energy meridians, which were a prerequisite to understanding how to create the Spiritual Energy Meridians. Krune pondered over it, but he couldn't find an answer to this issue. In the end, Krune could only tell Lakin to work hard. Even if he took several times longer to create an Energy Meridian, it would still be hundreds of times better than cultivating without it.

A few weeks later, Krune had finished his preparations for breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm. This time, instead of demon cores, Krune had taken all the spirit stones in the spiritual vein lake. He didn't know about the spirit stones before, but now that he did, he wouldn't let such a good thing pass up.

His cultivation had also stabilized at the 9th Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. All he needed now was time to accumulate spiritual energy until he reached the peak of the 9th Stage. After that, only breaking through would remain.

During the time that Krune was patiently cultivating, he would give Lakin pointers while helping the Lizard Dragons every now and then. After just one month, the oldest Lizard Dragon had already reached the late 7th Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, while the youngest one had just broken through the 6th Stage. This was all thanks to the numerous demon cores that Krune got while practicing outside. He already had no need to worry about the Lizard Dragons anymore.

Lakin had also achieved the 2nd Stage of Qi Condensation during this time. With the Lizard Dragons here, he would have no need to be afraid of danger anytime soon. Lakin also got to create his 4th pseudo-energy meridian. Although he was far from Krune's speed, it was still very good progress.

---

After everything was ready, Krune noticed an issue, a very important one at that. How does one breakthrough into the Foundation Establishment Realm exactly? This realm was where one set the base where one's core would reside when one achieved the Core Formation Realm. But how does that base work in the first place? What is it made out of? How does one create it?

Krune had no idea, nor did he ask the last cultivator who came in here. He had no knowledge regarding the issue. In the end, his mind went blank. Without knowing how to do that, everything would be useless.

After hearing about Krune's issue, Lakin was a lot calmer than him. In response to Krune's woes, he simply said.

"Master, this problem is easy to solve. You're already as strong, if not stronger, than an ordinary early-stage Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator or demon beast. Isn't it easy for you to just go deeper into the forest and find a Foundation Establishment Realm beast to ask?"

Krune's mind lit up at that suggestion! That's right, a Foundation Establishment Realm beast is bound to have an intelligence high enough to be at least able to answer my questions. It should be easy to get an answer from any of those.

"That's indeed a great idea. I'm leaving now, and I should be back soon. The Lizard Dragons should have no problem in protecting you and the spiritual vein while I'm out."

Lakin laughed out loud as he said in response.

"Exactly. And if they refuse to answer, Master just needs to give them a good beating, haha!"

Krune also laughed at that. When have you ever seen a wisp beating other beasts just to get them to answer some questions?

"Haha, that will definitely be a very good experience. See you all later!"

At the same time, around two thousand kilometers deep into the Katiu Forest, there was a spiritual vein that was being overseen by a Two-Headed Demon Snake. Unlike most beasts, this snake didn't have any subordinates helping it guard the spiritual vein. That's because this demon snake was a 1st stage Foundation Establishment beast. Even other early-stage Foundation Establishment Realm beasts wouldn't dare find trouble with this Two-Headed Demon Snake due to its poison.

It was sleeping peacefully when all of a sudden, its body trembled. It woke up with slight fear in its expression and looked around but couldn't find anything. Its Divine Sense couldn't find anything either.

'Am I imagining things? I could swear I felt some terrifying presence look directly at me.'

After looking around a bit more and probing with its Divine Sense for some time, it then gave up and went back to sleep.

The poor snake didn't know the calamity that was about to occur. Otherwise, it would have left the spiritual vein straight away.

---

Now that Krune was at the 9th Stage of Qi Condensation, his speed had improved by leaps and bounds. That, coupled with much finer control over the Wind element, made him faster than even some of the 3rd Stage Foundation Establishment beasts. It only took him one day to reach a swamp where the concentration of spiritual energy was very high. It obviously had a spiritual vein somewhere.

It's not like Krune hadn't found other spiritual veins on his way here. It's just that the beasts guarding it were at most at the 9th Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. Every time he checked those spiritual veins, the beasts guarding them would attack him. It had nothing to do with defending their spiritual vein. It was all because Krune was a wisp. How could they let such a succulent wisp slip away just like that?

One could only say that all of them were courting death. If there was one thing that Krune hated, it was when someone looked at him with greed as if he was food on the table ready to be eaten. After beating the beasts black and blue to the point that they couldn't even stand up anymore, he took all the spirit stones available in their lairs and put them into his spatial ring, which he obtained from Casfer.

They were all Rank One Spirit Stones, but there were quite a few high-quality ones among them. Each spiritual vein didn't have too many spirit stones. Though, after sweeping three spiritual veins, Krune had already gathered almost 500 of them.

Krune also left those demon beasts alive for two reasons. First, it was because he wanted them to remember that wisps weren't easily bullied. He beat them so much that in the future, they would probably run away from a wisp at first sight. With some luck, the number of wisps being killed might go down this way. And second, it was because he had taken away their spirit stones. He considered those spirit stones as the payment for the trouble that those beasts caused.

After reaching the swamp, Krune carefully pressed forward. He did the same with all previous spiritual veins, and only when he was certain that there was no danger did he reveal himself to those beasts.

Moving a few kilometers further, the concentration of spiritual energy gradually became higher. The spiritual vein was bound to be close, he thought to himself. It didn't take long for Krune to find a clean lake in the middle of all that mud. It was obviously the point where the spiritual vein was located. Close to it, he could also see a nest where the Two-Headed Demon Snake was sleeping inside.

'Seems like I'm quite lucky. If I compare this Demon Snake with Gony back then, their spiritual energy is pretty much similar. It should be a 1st or 2nd Stage Foundation Establishment demon beast at most.'

Krune felt that he was fortunate. In general, snakes would rely on their poison to fight, and ordinary demon beasts of the same level would try and avoid battling a Two-Headed Demon Snake. Then again, wisps were different. They didn't have a body for the poison to circulate to start with. With that, poison-type demon beasts had long since become the easiest target for Krune.

Krune made a few preparations and spread his Divine Sense to wake up the demon snake.

The demon snake immediately opened its eyes and checked its surroundings. The Divine Sense earlier was a very strong one, even stronger than its own, but after looking around, the only thing it could see was Krune. It couldn't help but think to itself.

'Is that a wisp?'

That Divine Sense earlier put it on guard, but all it could see was the wisp right in front of it. Could it be that it was dreaming?

Krune didn't know what the demon snake was thinking, nor did he care. He just came to ask a few questions. As long as that snake knew its place, there would be no need for violence.

"Hello there. My name is Krune. I came here looking for a Foundation Establishment Realm beast who could answer a few questions. You see, I'm at the peak of the 9th Stage of Qi Condensation and would like to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm. Unfortunately, I don't know what I should do to achieve that breakthrough. Would you mind giving me some pointers?"

The snake looked at Krune with a weird expression. It could have expected for anything else. But it definitely did not expect a wisp to barge into its territory just to ask questions. Is this wisp even thinking correctly? It ignored its internal struggle and immediately pounced at Krune.

9th Stage Qi Condensation wisp! Such a wisp was bound to give the demon snake a massive boost in its cultivation, probably even helping it breakthrough into the 2nd Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm. With that in mind, the demon snake was ecstatic!

Just as the demon snake was about to devour the wisp, Krune suddenly disappeared. Or to be more exact, he moved so fast that the demon snake almost couldn't see its movement.

"Sigh, and here I was thinking that Foundation Establishment beasts were smarter than Qi Condensation beasts. Seems like I was expecting too much after all."

The demon snake was shocked to hear that as a foreboding sentiment washed over it. Though, it quickly calmed down.

'So what if the wisp is fast? It can't do anything to me to start with. I just need to find that one opportunity, and I can take it down,' it thought to itself.

It decided to spread out its poison fog. It would first poison the wisp so that it would lose its speed, and then it would be done for...or so it thought. Unfortunately, just as it was about to attack Krune again, its Divine Sense noticed something coming from above.

Fast! All it could think is that it was too fast!

When Krune dodged earlier, he had also prepared one Blazing Wind Blade to be shot towards the demon snake. He could have killed the demon snake straight away, but he held himself back on purpose to show the difference in strength.

The demon snake was a Foundation Establishment Realm snake, after all. After using all the power in its body, it dodged the Blazing Wind Blade at the very last instant. It looked back to where the scorching blade hit, and it could see that it went through the ground. Its Divine Sense even lost track of the blade a moment later. Powerful! That was what the demon snake thought at that instant. It then looked back at Krune. Its disdain and greediness were gone this time. At this point, it considered that its enemy was definitely not weak at all.

'Although that attack was really strong, it should take a lot of time to prepare, and as long as I pay attention, I should be able to dodge. Not to mention that it should consume an astonishing amount of spiritual energy. Let's see just how many times you can still shoot that flaming blade.'

That was what it thought...for a second. Not long after that, when it looked above Krune, its heart went cold as sweat started to appear all over its body. Krune saw that and was very pleased with the look on its face.

"As expected of a Foundation Establishment Realm beast. Even though I held myself back just now, you still avoided my Blazing Wind Blade. Well, let's see if you can avoid thirty Blazing Wind Blades at the same time. Try not to disappoint me."

The demon snake wanted to cry as it thought that death was close. There was no way it could dodge all thirty blades at once. Though, to its surprise, Krune didn't really shoot all thirty Blazing Wind Blades at once. He released them one by one. He was totally playing with the Two-Headed Demon Snake. Krune wanted to show this snake that each time he shot a Blazing Wind Blade, a new one would be formed in the place of the one that was released.

At first, the demon snake still had some hope. It was waiting for its poison fog to take effect, but as time went by, the gloomier it felt. That wisp didn't seem to be weakening at all! Just when it was about to run out of spiritual energy, it screamed back through its Divine Sense.

"Stop! I surrender! I'll answer all your questions."

This Two-Headed Demon Snake was quite a rare demon beast. With that, it could only take on a human form at the late stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm or maybe only after breaking through to the Core Formation Realm. Due to that, it couldn't use its mouth to speak.

Kune was very happy with that answer, but the demon snake couldn't help but ask first.

"Why doesn't my poison work on you?"

Krune heard that question and thought that this demon snake wasn't very smart after all.

"Isn't that obvious? I'm a wisp. I don't have a body made out of flesh and blood. Unless your poison works on the soul, it's no different than air for me."

What Krune didn't expect was the snake's answer to that.

"But...my poison works on the soul as well."

Krune was taken aback this time. Its poison works on the soul too? Krune immediately examined himself but didn't find anything strange. Could it be that the snake is lying? He couldn't sense anything at all!

"Are you sure it works on the soul?"

The snake nodded in response. The Two-Headed Demon Snake was quite a rare demon beast, after all. Its poison was much more complex than normal poison.

Krune pondered for a bit and could only think of one conclusion.

'My Spiritual Energy Meridians! That can only be it. They have the power to almost instantly convert the spiritual energy of all types into the same type of spiritual energy as mine. Hence, it means that they can also filter away poison!'

Thinking about that, Krune had an idea.

'Wait! What will happen if I try to absorb other types of elements infused with spiritual energy?'

Krune immediately absorbed a little bit of the poisonous fog. That fog could affect the soul, so it was bound to have some spiritual energy infused in it. Sure enough, his Spiritual Energy Meridians purified the poison and added the spiritual energy to his core. But Krune wasn't that satisfied with the result.

'It does indeed help with my cultivation, but the conversion speed is several times slower than the energy from Demon Cores, Spirit Stones, or the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth. It seems like I can only use it in case I have no other source of spiritual energy available.'

But even then, it was great news for Krune. Either way, he can conduct further tests another time. He had to finish his business with the demon snake first.

"Alright, let's forget about that for now. Tell me what you know about breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm."