Is that a Wisp?

Krune waited for the Two-Headed Demon Snake to calm down and start to talk. But before that, he took out one of the blood contracts which he got from Gony. He stated that if the snake lied, it would die. Without any other choice, the snake used its blood to leave its mark on it. The contract immediately burnt and attached the restriction on the snake's soul.

"Okay. So, I'm simply going to tell you the general concept which I believe works for everyone. Big clans and sects probably have better methods, but the end result would be the same.

Krune agreed with that point of view. Feifei, as part of the Wang Clan, most likely had the best methods available for her.

"To break through into the Foundation Establishment Realm is to lay a foundation which will sustain your Core once you breakthrough into the Core Formation Realm. That's general knowledge. As to how one would lay such a foundation, we have to break down the interior of our Demon Core, or Dantian in the humans' case, and leave its shell intact. The more broken up it is, the easier it is to reform it in the form of a foundation. Think of the foundation as a bird's nest in the middle of an island surrounded by the lake's water."

"The lake's water is your spiritual energy. The higher your stage in the Foundation Establishment Realm is, the more water that lake has. The island in the center is the foundation. You need to provide it with rich amounts of spiritual energy so that the flora, fauna, and earth become richer. Only when the island becomes sturdy enough can you break through from the previous stage to the next. Eventually, at the center of that island, you will build the nest that will nurture your future Core for the Core Formation Realm. That nest is the Core of the Foundation."

"In short, you can interpret it as, break the interior of the core, reform it into a foundation, and that's all."

The snake stopped talking there. In fact, there were more things about the foundation to be said, but it was still upset with its loss. It didn't lie though, it just didn't tell Krune everything.

Unfortunately for this Two-Headed Demon Snake, wisps were extremely intelligent, so Krune started to ask the demon snake more questions.

"I understand the principle. I want to clear this up first. Is there no standard form for the foundation? Can anything within those two criteria be considered a foundation? For example, if I build my foundation like an egg instead, white and yolk, does it also work?"

The snake gave him an odd look. White and yolk? Such a weird example, but it answered Krune's question nonetheless.

"In theory, it should work. Everyone has their own way of thinking about how to build their foundations. As long as it is acknowledged by the heavens, the formation of the foundation would become a success."

"But there's one thing you must pay attention, the foundation that you're laying down MUST be something that you completely understand. If you try to create something that you simply think is powerful but have no idea how it works, then it'll definitely fail!"

Krune didn't understand one thing, though.

"I understand the part of being able to understand what you built. But what about this acknowledged by the heavens part? What do you mean by that?"

The demon snake answered dutifully.

"It means exactly what it is. Once your foundation is built, it has to receive the acknowledgment of the heavens. I will give you my own example of how it worked for me. When I finished building my foundation, I felt like the world came in contact with it. It was as if they were one with each other. It was a very magical feeling. After the acknowledgment ended, that feeling of being one with the world disappeared as well. From what I heard from the other demon beasts at the Foundation Establishment Realm, the same thing happened to them as well."

Krune agreed with that. Being one with the world wasn't something someone at their level should be able to do. It was only because the heavens themselves were present to check their foundations that the magical state could be achieved for a few moments. Krune then looked back at the snake and asked again.

"So, what happens if you aren't acknowledged?"

The snake smiled at Krune and replied.

"Your core will be destroyed, you will lose all your cultivation, and you will have to start again from zero."

Krune was instantly given a fright after hearing that! That's because his own life was attached to his Core! If his Core was destroyed, there would be no such thing as starting from zero. He would simply die there and then!

'Now things have become tricky! I will have to think carefully about how I want to build my own foundation exactly. I will have to understand it completely to raise the chances of success as well.'

Krune couldn't help but sigh as he thought to himself.

'Wisps are truly a pitiful race.'

After some time, Krune thought about another thing, deciding to ask the demon snake.

"Tell me, is there a chance of failure if you build something that you understand? Also, is there a way to increase the chances of success?"

The snake replied back.

"Yes, you could still fail even if you understand how it works. No one knows why that happens. Maybe it's because you think you understand your foundation, but in fact, you don't. Or maybe it's because the foundation you built isn't compatible with yourself. Who knows?"

"As for if there's a way to increase the chances of success, there are indeed a few tricks for it. The first one is to build a standard foundation, something simple to understand. The example I gave you before regarding the island on the lake is one of those standard foundations. Anyone knows how to build such a thing."

"The second would be through the use of alchemist pills like the Foundation Establishment Pills. From what I know, those pills will help you in modeling your foundation. They make the broken interior of the Core easier to be modeled."

Only then did Krune understand. No wonder alchemists were so respected. The pills that they could concoct had real heaven-defying effects.

"Is there anything else I should take note of when trying to break through into the Foundation Establishment Realm?"

The snake nodded as it responded.

"Yes, but the rest are just complementary. Make sure to have a lot of spiritual energy resources available. Spirit stones and a spiritual vein are good examples. There are also alchemist pills that provide certain amounts of spiritual energy."

"Also, since I'm bound by the contract, I have to tell you this. One of the best sources of spiritual energy for breaking through is your own race. Whether you mind it or not, wisps' spiritual energy can really give a huge burst in the process since their energy is extremely easy to be absorbed."

Krune sighed after hearing that but declined to comment. He already expected this when he heard that you need to have a lot of spiritual energy resources at the ready. The demon snake then continued.

"There's also the time needed. It changes from being to being. Not only does it differ between each one's talent, but there's also the fact of what kind of foundation you intend to build. If it's something simple, then it's fast. If it's something hard, then it takes longer."

Krune then asked the demon snake one more thing after that.

"Considering that I decide to lay down a simple foundation like the island in the lake, how long would it take?"

The snake pondered a bit before answering.

"I can't be sure since I don't have too many examples, but I can tell you that I took a whole week to finish my own, and I used this exact island and lake foundation."

"With that, make sure to seclude yourself somewhere well hidden if possible. If the process halts midway, you will fail, and your Core will be destroyed as well."

Krune understood the process, but he wasn't very concerned. His spiritual vein can be considered quite safe already. With the lizards taking care of the place and Lakin to take care of the lizards, he should find no problems in the long term. A situation like that cultivator group that came to take dragon blood was a rare occurrence to start with. He would need to be truly unlucky to get bothered twice in a row. Though, he also had one more idea of how to guarantee his safety.

"Anything else?"

The snake shook its head in response. It couldn't think about anything else to say. The wisp had asked all the important questions. Even though it didn't want to answer, it had to.

"Very well, time to get my payment for the trouble you've caused me then."

Sweat started to fall down from its back again. It was then that the snake saw Krune take out another blood contract. It thought about one thing, and its expression became nasty.

"Even if I have to die, I won't become your slave. If you think you can force me to sign a slave blood contract, you might as well kill me first."

Krune looked back at the snake and was slightly surprised. Its pride ran through its blood, but that was okay. Krune didn't want a slave to start with. He couldn't force the issue either. For the blood contract to work, the one signing it must really agree with it in body and soul. Threats were useless in this case.

"You're overthinking it. I don't want you to sign a slave contract. I just want you to be my protector until I finish my breakthrough. You will have your own free will, and our contract will be finished once I succeed or fail. You will come with me to the borders of the inner part of the Forest and guard me until the process is done."

"Don't think I'm forcing the issue. Also, I might as well tell you this. Wisps don't have a body, so their soul is attached to their Core from the moment they are born. So if I fail, I will die since my Core will be destroyed. You could think of it as a way of getting revenge against me."

The Two-Headed Demon Snake was very conflicted, then it thought about something.

"Then, what if you decide to never break through? Doesn't that mean that I will have to protect you forever?"

Krune only laughed out loud in response, which puzzled the snake.

"Did you forget from which race I am? I'm a wisp! Or could it be that you don't know that wisps can live at most ten years if they don't break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm?"

The demon snake was stunned! That's right, wisps had an extremely short life span! It's just that this wisp was so strong that the snake forgot about this issue.

"Very well, I accept those conditions."

Krune was delighted to hear that. Beasts were truly a straightforward bunch. Once they decide on one thing, they were very direct about that.

Krune started to write on the contract under the inspection of the demon snake. It was stated that the demon snake shall protect Krune and its underlings until he succeeded or failed in his breakthrough. No matter the result, once he was done with that, the demon snake would be free to go.

It also stated that if he failed, the demon snake could not harm his underlings. It's to prevent the demon snake from taking revenge on his disciple or the Lizard Dragons. The demon snake also agreed with that.

After signing with its blood, the blood contract burnt up, and a new restriction was put on the demon snake's soul.

"Good! We should go back now. There are rarely any Foundation Establishment beasts or cultivators around there. Even if some appear, they won't try to find a problem with a poison-type Foundation Establishment beast like yourself. So you'll basically spend your time in leisure until the end of our contract."

But before they left, Krune headed to the spiritual vein and took all the spiritual stones in it. The demon snake didn't think much about it. Once they were gone, some other demon beast was bound to take this spiritual vein for itself. In short, those spirit stones would change hands anyway. In that case, the wisp might as well bring it with him.

Krune was a little surprised to find that this spiritual vein wasn't too bad. The spirit stones close to the center of the spiritual vein were low-quality Rank Two stones. Those were the best spirit stones he had found so far.

On their way back, the demon snake used its Divine Sense to ask how Krune became so strong even though he was a wisp.

"Hard work and luck. That's pretty much it."

Even though the snake didn't like the answer, Krune wasn't lying. It was luck that brought him together with Feifei and Old Feng from which he got the Myriad Energies Technique. And it was through hard work and even more luck that he found out how the Myriad Energies Technique truly worked.

Of course, Krune wouldn't tell the snake about his improved version of the Myriad Energies Technique. That was his secret, something that might bring calamity upon oneself. The lower the number of people who know about it, the safer he would be. He was only imparting his cultivation technique to Lakin because he trusted him and because he was also his disciple.

---

Krune was gone for two days. When he came back, Lakin and the Lizard Dragons were given a fright. Lakin even thought that Krune might have been turned into a hostage and forced to show the way back to their lair.

"Alright, everyone, there's no need to be afraid. I made a deal with our friend here, and he won't attack anyone. Let me introduce him."

"His name is, his name is... Err..."

Krune looked back at the Two-Headed Demon Snake. If he had his human form already, his face would definitely be as red as a tomato.

"Cough, cough. Now that I think about it, I haven't asked your name yet."

The demon snake felt gloomy. It looked like this wisp had never put much thought into it. The demon snake then used its Divine Sense to convene its thoughts to everyone.

"I'm called Ruik. For the time being, I'll be in charge of protecting you all until my contract with Krune is over. Do not call me over unless it's something important."

After that, it simply found a corner to lay down and went to sleep. Other than Krune, it didn't care about any of the others.

Krune didn't mind it either. He knew how prideful Ruik was.

"Alright, everyone, you can go back to whatever you were doing. Lakin, you come with me. There are a few things I need to tell you."