Is that a Wisp?

Around 400 meters from where the Lizard Dragon leader and his last subordinate were, Krune could be seen at a huge part of a cave. In fact, this cave was quite large. He had just finished his preparations, complimenting himself not long after because of his ingenuity.

'I might not have enough attack power to break your defense, but it doesn't mean that Mother Nature won't.'

It didn't take long for him to see his enemy come closer to him. Lizard Dragons might not be that fast, but with the two being at the 8th and 7th Stage respectively, they were still much faster than any ordinary demon beast. In the blink of an eye, they were already 100 meters away from Krune. Normally, one would be afraid of them. But if Krune could smile, he would be doing so now.

'They're coming. The 7th Stage lizard isn't that important, though a direct confrontation with it would be problematic. I'm quite confident I can still win against it, though. The only problem is the leader. If I don't break its scales, then I can only turn around and run as far as I can.'

When the Lizard Dragon leader saw Krune, it was slightly surprised. It might not have developed a high level of intelligence yet, but it was certain that that Divine Sense earlier was from the killer of its brethren. It was convinced that the one that had come was definitely the one who had killed all of them. Because of that, the Lizard Dragon had arrived, intending to get revenge.

But it turns out that all it could see was nothing more than a wisp? Where's the perpetrator? It stopped for a second before scanning its surroundings with its own Divine Sense. Usually, beasts weren't very specialized in the matters of the soul. In fact, the majority were at a lower level than ordinary human cultivators, let alone races like the Spirit Race. Because of that, their Divine Sense didn't spread far, with the leader's Divine Sense reaching at most 100 meters.

But even so, all it could see was the wisp in front of it. In the end, being the weakest race had its own positive traits. To be underestimated was definitely one of them. The Lizard Dragon clearly dropped its guard quite a lot after seeing Krune. The same could be said for its companion. Since this wisp had come to deliver itself in front of the lizards' doorsteps, they wouldn't beat around the bush.

The beasts' low intelligence played its part here. If the Lizard Dragon leader had thought about it a little more, it wouldn't have forgotten that what caught its attention at first was... Divine Sense! Only those who have achieved the 7th Stage of Qi Condensation would have Divine Sense. Since Krune was the only one here, it meant that he had to be the one who used Divine Sense earlier. Surprisingly, such a train of thought had not even appeared in the leader's mind. In fact, even if it had, the Lizard Dragon probably wouldn't care. At most, it would be a bit more vigilant.

The leader and its companion rushed forward, not paying attention to anything else. When they were around fifty meters away from him, Krune activated his trap. Immediately, the cave started to tremble. The lizards were slightly shocked by the sudden development, but they didn't know what was happening. Much less did they have the time to think. That's because, above them, enormous stalactites started falling down! Who knew how many years it took for those stalactites to form, not to mention that their attack power wasn't something that Krune's earth spikes could match at the moment.

In an instant, hundreds of stalactites fell, with the two lizard dragons immediately trying to dodge. Sadly for them, it was too late. If they escaped this calamity so easily, Krune's plan would have been worth nothing. He was already expecting the outcome. The moment they tried to dodge, earth walls erected around the two. Seeing this, the Lizard Dragon leader was truly incensed! At any other moment, this puny wall would only need one blow of its tail or claws to break apart, but it had no time for that now.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

It wasn't before a minute later that everything had calmed down. Even Krune was a little afraid of the sight in front of him. He didn't expect this plan to create such a disaster. He only prepared a few of the stalactites above to fall inside of his earth wall trap. But those stalactites created a chain reaction that allowed a lot more to fall down from the surroundings. A few stalactites fell just ten meters ahead of him. Krune couldn't help but think that he could have buried himself here.

'Scary! Mother Nature definitely couldn't be trifled with. Even if that Lizard Dragon leader survived this assault, it definitely suffered grievous injuries. It worked much better than I thought, though. Let's take a closer look first to make sure.'

Krune first got rid of the earth walls to get a better view. To his surprise, although the 7th Stage Lizard Dragon died, the 8th Stage Lizard Dragon was still on its last breaths. There was a stalactite impaled on its back, and it definitely couldn't move anymore. It looked at the wisp in front of it with hatred, but soon enough, the light in its eyes dimmed. The mountain range's tyrant was finally dead.

Seeing the hatred in the Lizard Dragon's eyes only made Krune sigh.

'It looked at me like that, but how many wisps did it eat until today? The inner parts of the forest have a higher concentration of spiritual energy. The number of wisps born here is definitely much higher than those outside. Unfortunately, they usually wouldn't even have time to form their conscience before being eaten and have their energy absorbed by demon beasts like you.'

Wisps truly were a pitiful lot. Be it humans, demon beasts, or even common animals, the majority would always have parents that would take care of them until they could fend for themselves. But what about wisps? They were born from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. What parent was there to talk about? Krune didn't feel the least bit of guilt. Although he didn't like killing, he wasn't an idiot to the point that he thought he would achieve greatness by becoming a pacifist. Even if he didn't make the first move, the other side would definitely do so.

Krune took quite some time to open the Lizard Dragon leader's head. If not for this cave's stalactites, he would probably have to wait until he at least got to the 8th Stage of Qi Condensation to come here. Otherwise, he would have to give up. Krune spent most of his life running from both wisp hunters and demon beasts alike. Caves were definitely inside the scope of his hiding places, and he had witnessed how dangerous those stalactites could be before.

'As expected of a race with a faint dragon bloodline, their demon cores have much more spiritual energy than ordinary beasts at the same level.'

After collecting everything, Krune went further into the cave. It was time to see the spiritual vein for himself. A few minutes later, Krune entered a cave room that was even bigger than the place where he had set up his trap. The cave walls took on an azure hue, and at the center, one could see a small lake around 40 meters in diameter. It was quite a breathtaking scene. On the side of the lake, one could see the crude nests that the lizards had made for them to rest. The largest one among them was obviously for the Lizard Dragon leader.

Krune was just about to approach when he suddenly heard some cries come from behind the nests. He then carefully approached the origin of the sound. His compressed wind ball was right in front of him as well. If something launched an attack at him, he would be able to escape quickly. Ever since Krune used this strategy against the Four-Winged Demon Crow, he never entered a battle without one.

At the same time, several wind blades above his head were ready to be shot.

But when he finally saw what was making all that sound, all his tension deflated like a balloon. It turns out that those cries were the offsprings of the Lizard Dragons. The biggest one didn't even reach a third of the size of a 6th Stage Lizard Dragon. But Krune was also quite impressed. Among the five little ones in front of him, the weakest one was already at the 3rd Stage of Qi Condensation! And it was apparent that this one was born not long ago.

'To be born directly at the 3rd Stage of Qi Condensation, what an envious thing! I wonder how many other races have the same capability.'

Krune then sighed as he thought to himself.

'Wisps are really a weak bunch.'

The big brother of the group was at the peak of the 4th stage, and it looked at Krune with hostility. The small Lizard Dragon then put itself in front of the smaller ones before letting out several tiny roars. It was clearly going to put its life on the line to protect its younger siblings. Krune looked at it and couldn't help but find it intriguing. Four months ago, Krune would only be able to flee at the sight of a peak 4th Stage Qi Condensation demon beast. But right now, he found its stance quite cute.

'I wonder how good it is to have a family. This lizard still hasn't developed its intelligence to be able to think logically. But it still knows how to put the safety of its family above its own safety.'

Thinking about it reminded him of Wang Feifei. He would never forget that day when she made him promise that he would marry her. Soon after, Krune started to laugh. Even though he would try to keep that promise, he knew very well that this was quite a fruitless promise. First of all, Feifei was only a Kid. By the time he became strong enough to go where she was, she would have probably married someone else already. Even if she hadn't, she would just think about that day as a kid's selfishness. Then again, it doesn't matter. To Krune, that was still a memory he cherished very much.

Krune pondered a bit over what to do with those Lizard Dragons. If he let them go, there might come a day when they would mature and eat other wisps. On the other hand, Krune wasn't a bloodthirsty fellow. He didn't even like killing, to begin with.

In the end, he couldn't bring himself to do anything. Now that the adults were all dead, their chances of survival were pretty small. Krune had never killed just for the sake of killing, every single battle he had until today was against opponents of a similar level. They were situations where if he had lost, it would have been his death. Those little ones posed absolutely no threat to him whatsoever.

----

After ignoring the little Lizard Dragons, Krune went to the small lake to take a look. Inside he could see a crystal-white spiritual vein rooted in the earth. The water had the same azure color as the cave, while the concentration of spiritual energy in the area was the highest he had ever felt. This was just a very low-level spiritual vein. Krune couldn't help but wonder how good the high-level ones were.

Krune was planning to stay here until he broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm. Only after that would he be able to attain his human form. But first, he had to recover his spiritual energy. The amount he used to set up those traps back then used more than half of his reservoir. It was always good to maintain one's condition at their peak in case things went south all of a sudden. Krune followed the saying that those who were prepared usually lived longer. After recovering, he would immediately start cultivating. He still needed to create the third meridian, and with that, his cultivation speed will increase by leaps and bounds once again.

----

One week later, Krune had reached halfway through the 7th Stage of Qi Condensation. He thought it was the perfect time to create the third Spiritual Energy Meridian. But just when he was about to start the process, he heard some cries come from the little Lizard Dragons. Because it was different from before, he wondered what it was about. He got closer to take a look and noticed that the small guys seemed a little weak.

'Why is this happening? I don't remember doing anything to them for them to turn out like this.'

It didn't take long for Krune to understand what was going on, though.

'Of course! How could I have forgotten? They aren't wisps like me, so they need to eat to survive.'

Krune felt like a headache was coming. The lizards looked at him as if they were waiting for him to do something. It left him dumbfounded, that's for sure. He wasn't their parent, so they should be grateful that he didn't kill them to end all the trouble. Krune decided to ignore the little Lizard Dragons and went back to the lake to prepare for the creation of his third Spiritual Energy Meridian. Unfortunately for him, the cries didn't stop. Krune kept ignoring it at first, but as time passed, it started to really bother him. In the end, he couldn't concentrate at all.

'Ahhhhhh! Fine, fine! I'll get some food for you! For fuck's sake, why the hell am I bothering myself with this?!'

Around an hour later, Krune came back with a demon deer corpse. Unfortunately, he couldn't use that demon bear corpse anymore. It had already rotted quite a bit, and he didn't know if it would affect the lizards. The demon deer was an ordinary beast of the 6th Stage. Usually, demon deers walked in groups. Although it was a little dangerous to provoke a big group, with Krune's intelligence, it didn't take long for him to get one of them to separate from the rest. After that, it wasn't anything hard for him to kill an ordinary 6th Stage demon beast.

The pack of demon deers noticed that they lost one from their group. Then again, since they were close to the Lizard Dragons' den, they didn't dare to enter their territory to look for it. The aura of the Lizard Dragons was still lingering around the mountain range, and it would take a long time for it to disappear.

When the little ones saw the deer corpse, their eyes lit up. Krune simply threw it close to them and let nature take its course. Their cries finally stopped, and even the big brother of the group looked at him with a slightly intimate gaze. Krune didn't care, though. He simply went back to the lake to proceed with creating his third Spiritual Energy Meridian. But as he was about to do so, there was one thing that puzzled him.

'Is it me, or did they all grow up quite a bit?'

Krune immediately placed this thought at the back of his mind. So what if they grew even more? It had nothing to do with him anyway.

After one hour, Krune was prepared to start again, and the demon cores were ready as well...

The demon cores were ready...

The demon cores...

Demon cores...

Cores...

"WHERE THE HELL ARE THE DEMON CORES?!"

Krune was sure that he left the demon cores near the lake. He then immediately spread his Divine Sense to its maximum range. Soon, everything in a 500-meter radius could be seen. But other than the Lizard Dragons, there wasn't anything else.

'Could it be that some beast came in earlier while I was out and took the cores away? Impossible! With the Lizard Dragons' aura still in place, only a 9th Stage Qi Condensation demon beast or above would dare enter. Usually, they have their own spiritual veins, plus they wouldn't look for a fight without reason. Furthermore, if they saw that this spiritual vein was empty, they definitely wouldn't have left it behind.'

Just as he was pondering over the reason behind the loss of the demon cores, Krune remembered that the little ones seemed to have grown quite a bit while he was out. Not only that, but their auras were stronger than before. After checking the Lizard Dragons' cultivation, Krune felt like crying but had no tears...then again, wisps had no tears, to begin with.

All five of them had a cultivation breakthrough while he was out. Not to mention that their big brother was even at the peak of the 5th Stage of Qi Condensation!

A minute later, all of them had already finished eating and sprinted in Krune's direction. He was already fuming, and they even dared to attack him? Truly courting death!

Just as Krune was about to shoot wind blades and get rid of them, he noticed something was off. Unlike all those who had attacked him until today, those little ones had no hostility on their faces. Let alone hostility, they looked very...happy?

Once they got closer, they started jumping around him and crying in his direction as if trying to curry his favor. Krune looked at them as his angriness quickly deflated like a balloon. In the end, he could only sigh.

"Feifei, my love, please forgive your fiancé. It seems like he has gotten some kids of his own..."