Krune took a look at the female Lizard Dragon injuries. After infusing some more spiritual energy, the lizard could be said to be out of danger. In the next few 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 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. Still, for some reason, Lakin didn't seem to be as proficient at it as Krune is.
In fact, Lakin was having a hard time even to form the first pseudo meridians, which are a prerequisite to understanding how to create the Spiritual Energy Meridians. Krune pondered about that, but he couldn't find an answer to this issue. In the end, Krune could only tell Lakin to work hard. Even if he takes several times longer to create an Energy Meridian, it will still be hundreds of times better than cultivate without it.
A few weeks later, Krune had finished the preparation for the Foundation Establishment breakthrough. 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 does, he wouldn't let such a good thing slip by.
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 reaches the peak of the 9th stage. After that, only the Breakthrough remains.
During the time that Krune was patiently cultivating, he would give Lakin pointers and help the Lizard Dragons now and then. After a month, the oldest Lizard Dragon had already reached the late 7th stage of the Qi Condensation realm, and the youngest one had just broken through the 6th stage. This is 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 is far from Krune's speed, it is still very good progress.
After everything was ready, Krune noticed an issue and a very important one at that. How does one breakthrough into the Foundation Establishment realm exactly? This realm is where you set the base where your core will reside when you achieve the Core Formation realm. But how does that base work to start with? What is it formed? How do you create it?
Krune had no idea, nor did he ask the last cultivator who came in here. He had no knowledge about 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, he simply said.
"Master, this problem is easy to solve. You are already as strong, if not stronger, than an ordinary early stages Foundation Establishment cultivator or demon beast. Isn't it easy to simply go deeper into the forest and find a Foundation Establishment beast to ask?"
Krune's mind lit up! That's right, a Foundation Establishment 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
"Exactly, and if they refuse to answer, master just need to give them a good beating, haha!"
Krune was also laughing, when have you ever seen a wisp beating other beasts just to get them to answer some questions?
"Haha, that will be a very good experience, see you all later!"
At the same time, around two thousand kilometers deeper into the Katiu Forest. There is a spiritual vein that is being overseen by a Two-Headed Demon Snake. Different from the majority of beasts, this snake didn't have any subordinates helping it guard the spiritual vein. That's because this demon snake is a 1st stage Foundation Establishment beast. Even other early stages Foundation Establishment beasts wouldn't dare to find trouble with this Two-Headed Demon Snake due to its poison.
It was sleeping peacefully when suddenly, its body trembled. It woke up alarmed and looked around, but there was nothing. Its Divine Sense couldn't find anything either.
'Am I imagining things? I could swear I felt some terrifying presence looking directly at me.'
After looking around a bit more and probe with its Divine sense for some time, it gave up and went back to sleep.
The poor snake didn't know that calamity was about to occur. Otherwise, it would have left the spiritual vein straight away.
Now that Krune is at the 9th stage of Qi Condensation, his speed has improved by leaps and bounds. That, coupled with much finer control over the wind element, made him faster than even some 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 stage. Every time he checked those spiritual veins, the beasts guarding it would attack him. It had nothing to do with defending their spiritual vein, it was just 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 is one thing that Krune hates, it is when someone looks at him with greed as if he is already 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 got from Casfer.
They were all Rank One spirit stones, but there were quite a few high-quality ones. Each spiritual vein didn't have too many spirit stones. Still, 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 aren't easily bullied. He beat them so much that in the future, they will probably run at first sight of a wisp. With some luck, the number of wisps 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 pressed forward carefully. 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 was getting higher. The spiritual vein is bound to be close, 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 was feeling very fortunate. In general, snakes would rely on their poisons to fight, and ordinary demon beasts of the same level would try to avoid battling a Two-Headed Demon Snake. Still, wisps are different, they don't have a body for the poison to circulate to start with. So poison type demon beasts have 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 the surroundings. The Divine Sense earlier was a very strong one, even stronger than it's own, but after looking around, the only thing it could see was Krune. It couldn't help but think.
'Is that a wisp?'
That Divine Sense earlier put it on guard, but all it could see is 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 make a few questions. As long as that snake knows its place, there will be no need for violence.
"Hello there, my name is Krune. I came here looking for a Foundation Establishment 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 vie for the Foundation Establishment too. But I don't know what I should do to make the Breakthrough, would you mind to give me some pointers?"
The snake looked at Krune with a weird face, it could have expected for anything else. But definitely, not a wisp barging into its territory to make questions. Is this wisp even thinking straight? It ignored its internal struggle and immediately pounced at Krune.
9th stage Qi Condensation wisp! Such a wisp is bound to give the demon snake a massive boost in its cultivation. Probably helping it to even Breakthrough into the 2nd stage of the Foundation Establishment, so the demon snake was ecstatic!
Just as the demon sneak was about to eat the wisp, Krune suddenly disappeared. Or to be more specific, 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 the Qi Condensation ones, seems like I was hoping for too much after all."
The demon snake was alarmed, and a foreboding sentiment washed over it. But it quickly calmed down. 'So what if the wisp is fast? It can't do anything to me to start with. I just need a good chance, and I can take him down.'
It decided to let 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. 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 snake after all. After using all the power of its body, it dodged the blazing wind blade in the last instant. It looked back to where the fiery 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 looked back at Krune, and its disdain and greediness were gone this time, its enemy is 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 fire blade.'
That was what it thought... for a second. Right after that, when it looked above Krune, it's heart went cold, and 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 beast. Even though I hold myself back just now, you still avoided my Skill Merge 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, and it thought that death was close. There is no way it can dodge all thirty blades at once. Still, for 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 had 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 like to be weakening at all! Just when it was about to run out of spiritual energy, it screamed back through it's Divine Sense.
"Stop! I surrender, I will answer all your questions."
This Two-Headed Demon Snake is quite a rare demon beast. So it could only take the human form at the late stages of the Foundation Establishment or maybe only after the breaking through the Core Formation realm. So 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 is it that my poison doesn't work on you?"
Krune heard that question and thought that this demon snake isn't very smart after all.
"Isn't that obvious? I'm a wisp, I don't have a flesh and blood body. Unless your poison works on the soul, it's no different than air for me."
What Krune couldn't expect was the snake's answer for that.
"But... my poison works on the soul too."
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 too?"
The sneak nodded its head. The Two-Headed Demon Snake is quite a rare demon beast, after all. Its poison is much more complicated than normal ones.
Krune pondered a bit and could only think about one thing.
'My Spiritual Energy Meridians! It 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 even filter away poison too!'
Suddenly, 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 can affect the soul, so it's bound to have some spiritual energy infused in it. Sure enough, his Spiritual Energy Meridians purified the poison and added the spiritual energy in his core. But Krune wasn't that happy with it.
'It does indeed helps with my cultivation, but the speed of conversion is several times slower than the energy of 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 font of spiritual energy available.'
Even so, it was great news for Krune. But anyway, he can make further tests another time. He had to finish his business with the demon snake first.
"Alright, let's forget about it. Tell me what you know about the Foundation Establishment breakthrough."