The hotel owner was taken aback.
"Dinner time? What do you mean?"
It couldn't be that he plans to eat us now that we found about his incredible ability, right?
Krune was puzzled.
"The attendant at the entrance said that she would send someone to tell me when dinner is ready, aren't you here to inform me about that?"
The hotel owner's mouth twitched a little.
'Come to inform you about dinner? Where have you ever seen a hotel sending an entire group of Foundation Establishment cultivators to inform someone about dinner?'
But he quickly composed himself. This guy in front of him is obviously a demon beast in human form, and this is probably his first time moving around humans.
"Cough, cough. You are mistaken, brother. The reason we came here is that while you were cultivating, you absorbed all the spiritual energy in a 100 meters radius around you. Because of that, no one else around here can cultivate anymore. So those customers here asked me to come to ask you to leave some spiritual energy for everyone else too."
Krune finally understood.
'Seems like my Spiritual Energies Meridians are quite strong, it even affects the surrounding cultivators.'
Krune then looked back at them.
"I apologize. I didn't notice that I was disturbing the flow of spiritual energy for everyone, I will take care in the future."
Krune didn't think much about that. His absorption power is just a little too strong. As long as he pays attention, he should be able to control his Spiritual Energy Meridians to use only the spirit stones. After apologizing, he wanted to send everyone out to continue his cultivation, but no one wanted to leave.
"Is there something else?"
The hotel owner looked at everyone around him, there is no way that he doesn't know what they were thinking. Not to mention that he was extremely curious too.
"Well, you see, your absorption capability is several times more powerful than anyone at the 1ts stage of Foundation Establishment. Even I, with my 8th stage cultivation, can't compare with you. Would this brother mind tell us how to do that?"
Krune looked at everyone, and he recognized that look. It was greed! But he didn't care, at least it is not because he is a wisp. He then just came up with an excuse.
"Too powerful?"
Krune made a puzzled look.
"Isn't that obvious? My foundation is extremely complicated, it's not something foundations like the 'Island in the Lake' can ever compare to."
Everyone was taken aback. An extremely complicated foundation? Can just the foundation alone allow one to cultivate at such breakneck speed? The hotel owner wasn't totally convinced, so he asked.
"Actually, my foundation isn't as simple as the standard 'Island in the Lake.' In my case, I used a mountain range as a base, and I consider it quite good already. But it's not the least bit close to what you can do. If this brother doesn't mind, could you tell us and, if possible, show us what type of foundation you have?"
Krune smiled inside. That's because he doesn't plan in concealing his 'universe' foundation to start with. Later on, if he wants to join a sect or a great clan, he will definitely need to show what he got. There is another simple reason too, this is not something that can be copied. It is also impossible to be totally explained with words. Krune was only able to succeed because of Lakin, and he had tried to explain everything that could be explained through words to his disciple before. But in the end, it only consisted of less than 50% of the total. The rest could only be achieved through Lakin's own comprehension ability. Also, he definitely wasn't the first one to think about building a universe as a foundation, it's just that the number of people who succeed is probably pitifully low.
"No problem."
There was no danger either, someone's foundation is theirs and theirs alone. Even if you show it to the others, there is absolutely nothing they can do about that. But that's all that Krune knows. What he doesn't know is that there were people and demon beasts in the past who tried to develop ways to steal others' foundations. But how could something that had been acknowledged by the heavens be stolen that easy? All tries of stealing someone's foundation turned out in failure. The mild consequences were those people being crippled, the worst was dying because of the backlash. With time, people gave up the idea.
For one to be able to see someone else foundation, they can't simply use their eyes. First of all, there is no way someone will remove their cores or dantians out of their bodies just to show it around since that would be suicide! To take a look, the foundation owner simply has to will it, and the others can use their Divine Senses to see inside. Of course, Krune concealed what should be hidden. Otherwise, people might be able to guess that he is a wisp when they saw his souls inside the interior of the foundation. There is almost no other race that keeps their souls inside their cores, after all.
In the end, what everyone could see was just the outline, enough to understand what it is but not enough to find any secret. That's what people do when they want to exchange experience for the sake of their offsprings too. Although a foundation can't be copied, it can still provide inspiration to the other part.
"This is my 'universe foundation,' ever since I built it, my ability to absorb spiritual energy improved tremendously. In the end, one's own foundation dictates their future achievements."
It wasn't a lie. Without the universe foundation, his core wouldn't be able to sustain the extremely high rate of spiritual energy absorption provided by his Spiritual Energy Meridians. It's just that he hadn't mentioned his meridians at all, nor would he ever do it.
Everyone probed Krunes foundation and were amazed, there is really someone capable of building a universe as a foundation. How difficult is that? No one in this room has the confidence to do the same. First of all, they are all Foundation Establishment cultivators, and they have their own foundations already. If they want to try, they will need to break their cores and start cultivating from zero, they definitely wouldn't do such idiot thing.
The hotel owner was really surprised.
"To think I would be able to see such a beautiful foundation in my life. No wonder this brother's ability to cultivate is so incredible, this Voule admits defeat."
After that, everyone's faces showed several types of emotions. Gloominess, disappointment, envy, jealousy, but in the end, there is nothing they can do. No one here will destroy their cultivation to try to build something like that. The chances of success are close to zero, after all.
On the other hand, Krune was ecstatic! He couldn't help but think.
'This is great! I didn't think about this before, but now I have an excellent excuse to hide my Spiritual Energy Meridians' abilities. As long as I use this reason, everyone can only accept it. I refuse to believe I can find someone else with a universe foundation so easily.'
Krune kept smiling
"Well, I hope I have helped everyone with some inspirations. The universe foundation I built is very good. If you all break your foundations and build a universe foundation in the future, you can definitely achieve the same cultivation speed as me. Who knows? You might even build an even better universe foundation than mine."
Voule, the hotel owner, smiled bitterly.
"This brother must be joking, everyone foundations was built through much effort. Some of us are even over 100 years old, and there is no hope for us to accomplish something like that. I thank you on behalf of everyone else. Since you were generous enough to show your foundation to us, I will not charge anything for the time you stay in our hotel. Just be sure to leave some spiritual energy for your fellow customers."
Krune nodded. Although he found the perfect excuse, it's better not to keep showing his Spiritual Energy Meridians' capabilities so easily in the future.
After everyone left, Krune went back to his cultivation. When the sky turned dark, he heard someone knocking his door again. This time was really someone telling him that the dinner is served downstairs.
Krune thanked the employee and went down, this is the first time he will try the human world food, so he wanted to know how good it is.
After arriving downstairs, a waiter came to bring him to his table. Usually, such treatment wasn't given in the hotel. Still, Voule made sure to give Krune some face. He was sure that this demon beast in human form is bound to achieve greatness in the future, as long as he doesn't die in the middle of the way, of course.
Krune noticed that all the Foundation Establishment cultivators were looking at him, and he felt awkward. The looks of greed had disappeared. It doesn't matter how much they wished to have his universe foundation, there is simply no way to steal it. So now everyone only looked at him with jealousy. Why weren't they the ones who had built the universe foundation? If just they had the inspiration to accomplish such a thing... Quite a few just sighed after thinking about that.
On the other hand, the Qi Condensation cultivators looked at him like he was a god! They still haven't built their foundation yet. Although they can't copy it, as long as Krune explained his process, they might get the inspiration to do the same. Even if not, they would still have a better chance of thinking of something good to use as a foundation.
Krune ignored everyone, though. His mind, or better, his nose, was totally attracted to the food on the table. He didn't even notice that he was drooling. The moment Krune put the first piece of seasoned beef in his mouth, he felt like his life hasn't been in vain after all! Tears running down from his eyes, everyone looked at him strangely when they saw that, they couldn't help but think.
'How did someone like him build a universe as a foundation?'
Krune didn't know what they were thinking, and even if he did, he wouldn't care anyway. He ate everything on the table, not even a grain of rice was left behind. In the end, he screamed in his heart.
'This is heaven!'
He called the waiter and asked him if they could teach him how to cook those delicious things. The waiter wasn't expecting such a request, he then asked the manager and soon received the agreement. The hotel owner had already said to treat Krune to the best of their abilities.
After arriving in the kitchen, Krune saw several chefs busily at work, the waiter talked to the head chef and came back.
"This brother, the head chef said that you can come later after dinner time is over if it's not a problem."
Krune nodded, he isn't an unreasonable wisp, and he could see that everyone is busy.
"Then I come later, tell the hotel owner that I owe him one."
The waiter was surprised, they are just showing him how to cook, is there a need to be so serious about that?
Later at night, after the restaurant was closed for customers, the head chef started teaching Krune how to cook. At first, he felt that Krune was just some eccentric guy trying something new, especially because Krune isn't using his hood at the moment. So his rainbow hair was at full view. But as the time passed, he noticed that Krune was really enjoying the feeling of being able to cook delicacies.
"Boy, you really have a talent for cooking. If you weren't a cultivator, I would totally take you in. There aren't many people out there who understand the joy of cooking."
Krune smiled, he had never eaten such delicious things before, so he wants to be able to do such things by himself from now on.
"Thanks, since you aren't a cultivator, you can't see that I'm, in fact, a demon beast in human form. Ever since I can remember myself, I've never tried something so good, so I intend to learn to the best of my ability so that I can eat well from now on."
The head chef wasn't expecting that Krune was a demon beast. It's already hard to find humans who like to cook, let alone other races. Still, he doesn't care. As long as Krune keeps showing interest in cooking, he will teach him to the best of his abilities.
Just like that, they spent all night in the kitchen, after teaching Krune all the basics, he gave him a recipe book.
"Alright, with what you learned, you shouldn't have a problem cooking anymore. This is a recipe book I made, you can take it with you, just make sure to keep your love for cooking."
Krune was surprised.
"Is it okay? Those are things that you created yourself."
The head chef just laughed.
"Compared with cultivators arts, what can it be accounted for? Just take it, it's just a copy, I have my own with me anyway."
Krune accepted the book, it might not be worth much in the eyes of the cultivators. Still, in his eyes, it's worth thousands of times more than all his possessions together! Krune is quite a sentimental wisp, the head chef had obviously put a lot of effort and passion on this recipe book, for him, that's what matters most!
"Thank you. If there is something I can help with, you can tell me now."
The head chef nodded satisfied, there was indeed something he wanted to ask Krune.
"In that case, I won't be polite. I'm not a cultivator, but my son is. He is already at the 9th stage of Qi Condensation. Still, he is having trouble thinking about his foundation, and I heard others commenting that you built an amazing one. I'm not asking to make him build something as good as yours, I just want you to help him have some inspiration."
Krune accepted the request. Basically, he just needs to tell the head chef's son about his experiences. A foundation is a personal thing, even if you decide to build the 'Island in the Lake' foundation, it is bound to be different from everyone else.
After receiving the head chef's directions, he arrived at a house at the borders of the village. He knocked on the door, and soon a young man came to open it. He looked at Krune puzzled, he had never seen him before, and that bit of rainbow hair appearing at the front was definitely a first too. He didn't dare act impolite, though. With the spiritual energy coming from Krune, he could totally tell that Krune is a demon beast in human form. That means that he is at the Foundation Establishment, at the very least.
"Can I help you?"
Krune checked if he looked like the outline described by the head chef and sure enough, this oath to be the person.
"Hello! I'm a friend of your father, you are Darten, right?"
The man nodded absently mind. Krune then explained the situation to him. He decided to spend this day to give him some pointers before going back to the hotel to rest.
Darten was a little taken aback by the situation. A Foundation Establishment beast learned how to cook from his father and decided to pay the favor by giving pointers to his child about the Foundation Establishment breakthrough? It's way too hard to believe, but since Krune is much stronger than him, he still invited him in.
In the living room.
"Senior, I know you have good intentions, but I don't plan on building a standard foundation. I want something of better quality, if you have built one, then I will be grateful for your feelings only."
He thought that even if his father found someone to give him pointers, it would be someone with a standard foundation. That's not what he wants. His father is just a head chef, after all. He couldn't possibly find someone great. Darten was happy, though. It showed how much his father cared for him to be able to invite a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Krune was expecting it already and then just laughed.
"Use your Divine Sense to check my foundation then. After that, you can decide whether you want me to share my experiences or not."
After Krune opened his foundation for view, Darten checked it with his Divine Sense. In the end, he couldn't help but exclaim.
"Holy Fu*king shit!"
