Chapter 8: Planning for the Spiritual Vein

Krune started cultivating, and soon, he could feel the difference. His cultivation speed has improved a lot as expected. With another Spiritual Energy Meridian to share the burden of spiritual energy conversion, his cultivation is now progressing at least 50% faster. Krune then decided to take this chance to breakthrough into the 7th stage of the Qi Condensation.

The 7th stage of the Qi Condensation is known for its bottleneck. But it's not without reason. It's only at the 7th stage that a cultivator can finally form their Divine Sense. Until now, Krune has been using his affinity with spiritual energy to feel his surroundings and prevent dangerous situations. But this kind of scanning ability is very limited since he can't really see what is happening ahead, nor can it reach too far. It can only help him to feel if there is something alive ahead or not.

But Divine Sense is different. You can truly 'see' everything around you. It's a peculiar feeling once a cultivator opens their Divine Sense. They are used only to see what is ahead of them when suddenly, they now can see everything around.

But other races don't think anything strange about it, and wisps are one of them. They don't have eyes to start with, ever since wisps are born, they have a complete vision of 360 degrees. So, for them, the Divine Sense will basically improve this ability a lot. Other than the distance and the way that they 'see' using Divine Sense, there isn't much of a difference.

There is another thing worth remembering. When you achieve the 7th stage, the boost of power is much bigger than when you breakthrough the previous or next stages of this Realm. And the Divine Sense is the reason behind it. It's not only limited to what you can see, but it also improves the cultivator's own ability to control the spiritual elements. It also allows the use of skills from a much greater distance.

A week later, in a hidden burrow sealed by an earth wall, the spirit energy started to convene at great speed. Inside, one could see Krune absorbing all of it like a bottomless hole. A few minutes later, he felt like a boom came out of his core, and the spiritual energies around him finally started to stabilize.

'7th stage of Qi Condensation. It's only been three months since I met Feifei and old man Feng, and in three months, I went from the 3rd stage to where I'm now. This progress is faster than anything I ever thought to be able to do. Let's try out the Divine Sense.'

Krune concentrated, and slowly his divine sense started to spread out.

10 meters...

50 meters...

100 meters...

300 meters...

500 meters!

Krune was dumbfounded!

'500 meters, I can see everything in 500 meters! Incredible, I can't believe Divine Sense is so useful like this. With it, I won't need to fear anything as long as my opponent's cultivation isn't much higher than mine!'

Krune was ecstatic!

One must know that when other cultivators achieve the 7th stage of Qi Condensation, it can already be considered a miracle if they reach as far as 300 meters. And that's usually the case for races specialized in matters of the soul. Other races would often have a range of 150 to 200 meters. Fortunately for Krune, wisps can be considered one of the soul races too. It's just that they are far from the top-rated ones. Of course, Krune didn't know such things. The reason he was so happy was simply that now he will be able to avoid danger and prepare attacks much easier than before.

Krune didn't know that the reason his Divine Sense could reach so far as 500 meters is also because of his Energy Meridians. Other than the soul, Divine Senses are boosted by the owner's own spiritual energy and its purity too.

Wisps are already known to have very clean spiritual energy. So much that they are hunted for use in cultivation. On top of that, Krune's Spiritual Energy Meridians' conversion ability far outmatches regular ones. It's not only in speed but in purity as well. All of that put together turned into this unbelievable range coverage.

But Krune happiness didn't last long...

'F*ck! This thing spends spiritual energy like there is no tomorrow!'

That was to be expected. Such a good thing like Divine Sense couldn't come that easy, and there is no free lunch in this world. After calculating the rate of consumption of spiritual energy, Krune found out that he could maintain his Divine Sense spread out at full range for at most 10 minutes. But if he reduces the coverage range, the consumption also is significantly reduced.

There is another thing that one must pay attention too. Once someone uses Divine Sense to scan an area, someone around the same level of cultivation or higher will probably feel it. They will then be put on alert. In the end, Divine Sense is not omnipotent.

One day later, after stabilizing his cultivation, Krune left his seclusion sight and set out to get a spiritual vein. Krune already know where it is, he found it during his travel and hunting. The problem was that this one's owner is an 8th stage Qi Condensention Lizard Dragon.

Lizard Dragons aren't real dragons, but they have a very faint dragon bloodline, which makes them stronger than ordinary beast at the same cultivation level.

Krune didn't have the confidence of beating this Lizard Dragon before. Not because he thought he couldn't win in a one vs. one, but because it isn't the only beast guarding the location. Every spiritual vein owner would usually have a few more members of the same race, and this Lizard Dragon wasn't different. Together with him, there was another ten some Lizard Dragons of lower cultivation level.

But now that he made his breakthrough, and got the Divine Sense that can see everything 500 meters around him. Krune was confident that he could deal with this group, and at the same time, gather quite a few Demon Cores.

A few hours later, Krune arrived at a mountain range. It wasn't a big one but still had around twenty kilometers radius. He approached the lizards' nest carefully, not to alert anyone. After getting close enough, he started to spread his Divine Sense.

'If I'm not wrong, that 8th stage Lizard Dragon should be at the bottom of the nest. As long as I don't spread my Divine Sense too far in, it shouldn't notice me. As for the 7th ranked ones, if there is any, they probably won't be able to feel my divine sense since it is much stronger than any other 7th stage demon beast.'

After spreading his divine sense for 400 meters, Krune could already see almost all the lizards.

'Two 7th stage and nine 6th ones. I will need to get rid of them little by little first. The stronger ones are deep inside, while the weaker ones are close to the entrance or outside. I know what to do.'

Lizard Dragons are predators, and this mountain range is their territory, other beasts would not get close easily.

Krune then left to find a bait. With his Divine Sense, it wouldn't be too hard. Although spreading it 500 meters of distance spends a lot of spiritual energy, it doesn't mean that he has to keep it active 100% of the time. Krune circled around the border of the Lizards territory and spread his Divine sense every now and then for a few seconds. It didn't take long for him to find a 6th stage Demon Bear.

It was quite easy to deal with. Krune's cultivation is higher, and together with his wisp energy body, as soon as the bear saw what it was, it disregarded any possibility of danger. Wisps are hard to catch but are excellent cultivation resources for all the other races. Not to mention that this Demon Bear wasn't afraid at all that Krune could present any danger to it. The bear rushed straight at him. Just as it got closer, earth spikes shot from the ground under the bear. The earth spike pierced the bear, which growled in pain. It tried to get rid of the spike when suddenly, ten wind blades came from above and cut off its head.

'As expected of a defense type beast, the earth spike didn't have enough power to pierce all the way to its heart. With the amount of spiritual energy I used to cast it, any ordinary type 7th would have died if they didn't dodge in time. Not to mention the wind blades, the bear's head only dropped after the 8th one hit it. Now, with this big guy, it should be easy to attract those lizards slowly.'

Krune Grabbed the bear corpse, took out the Demon Core, and brought it somewhere close to the Lizard Dragons den. But it was still far enough so that he wouldn't catch the attention of the entire lair when killing the first ones to come.

He also prepared some pit traps with some earth spikes. He made sure to use a lot of spiritual energy in those spikes so that they could be much sturdier and would likely be able to pierce the scales of the lizards. Although Lizard Dragons aren't as massive as the demon bear, they are still on the bigger side of the beasts around. And this kind of trap just so happens to be very effective on them.

It didn't take long for a few Lizard dragons to get the scent of blood from the bear corpse and come close. There were four of them. Because they are used to the safety of their territory, the lizards didn't think much before rushing over. Just when they were about the reach the bear corpse, several earth spikes came from bellow and direct impaled three of them. The last one was only survived because there was no earth spike ready where it passed. After noticing the danger, it immediately tried to flee. Unfortunately for it, just as it turned back, several wind blades struck from the side.

The Lizard Dragons have a high defense due to their scales. So one or two wind blades wouldn't be able to straightly kill it. Of course, the number of blades wasn't so little. Just like with the Demon Bear, Krune used ten wind blades against this last Lizard Dragon and precisely hitting its neck. After that, Krune swiftly took out their Demon Cores and cleaned the battlefield.

'Good, there is another five 6th stage lizards, and they should be coming soon.'

Sure enough, noticing that those four Lizards didn't come back after some time, the rest of the 6th stage Lizards came out to take a look. There was even one of the two 7th stage Lizard Dragons leading the group. This one was smarter than the lower levels one, after taking a look around, it found the situation somewhat fishy. Krune noticed that. So he decided that the best way to bring them under his trap was to make an appearance himself. No demon beast would ever let a wisp go away like that, they are very precious for all races.

Sure enough, when a wisp suddenly appeared beside the Bear corpse, all the lizards' eyes lit up. Of course, the 7th stage one was no exception. He gave a big roar, and all the lizards rushed over. Even they know that wisps are hard to find nowadays, and they couldn't let this one escape.

Krune snorted at this sight. He didn't move and patiently waited for them to enter the range of his earth spikes. They have been prepared long ago, and Krune just needs one thought for them to activate.

As soon as they got in the range of his traps, Krune controlled his spiritual energy to activate them. One lizard after another was immediately impaled, and the only survival this time was the 7th stage one. The Lizard Dragon was alarmed, it never expected that a wisp could be this strong. Although its body was able to fend off the attacks of the earth spikes, it still suffered severe injuries.

After that, it immediately turned tail to run. But how could Krune let him go? As soon as is it started to move, four earth walls appeared around it. Krune had been prepared for something like this a long time ago. After the walls were erected, ten wind blades started to fall from above. The Lizard Dragon noticed the crisis, and it used all its strength to blow away the earth wall in front of it. Although the earth wall was sturdy, it couldn't hold a 7th stage Lizard Dragon with a faint dragon bloodline for long. On the second hit, it finally crumbled. But it was already too late to escape, wind blade after wind blade hit its body and finished the job.

'Phew... that was dangerous. It almost escaped too. Those guys are really something else. As expected of a dragon bloodline, you can't underestimate it even if it is very faint.'

After getting the Demon Cores, Krune decided to retreat. He used over 80% of all his spiritual energy in those two traps. So he definitely wouldn't be able to deal with the leader and the last 7th stage the way he is at the moment.

'I don't need to go far. I just need more or less two hours to recover my spiritual energy, and I can start the last phase of my plan.'

Sometime after Krune left, the Lizard Dragon Leader and the other 7th stage one found out that almost all their nest was wiped out. The leader was enraged, but it couldn't do anything since Krune had left already. All it could do was to go rampaging around its territory. It then finally got tired and decided to go back to their nest to prevent more casualties.

Around two hours passed, and Krune was back to his peak. He then immediately set off since he wanted to finish it all today.

'As long as I get that low-level spiritual vein, I should have no more issues with spiritual energy for the creation of the next Spiritual Energy Meridians'

Krune arrived and looked at the entrance of their nest. It was a cave entrance on the base of the mountain. This time, Krune wouldn't be able to rely on his earth spikes or wind blades. That 8th stage Qi Condensation Lizard Dragon leader defense is bound to be highest between the Lizard Dragons. It will be very difficult to cause any severe injury on an 8th stage beast with a faint dragon bloodline. But Krune wasn't intending to do that anyway.

Krune spread his Divine Sense a little, just enough to see the things around 50 meters ahead of him. Then he moved carefully inside the Lizard Dragons nest. Being a wisp here is quite convenient. As long as he wasn't in their sightline, they would not be able to detect him. First, wisps don't walk, they float. And second, they don't have a body, so they don't have a scent to start with. Well, at least not until they gain their human form.

It didn't take long for Krune to find what he was looking for.

'As expected!'

Around 10 minutes later, the Lizard Dragon leader sensed a Divine Sense scanning his nest. It was already enraged to start with, and now someone dared to barge into his nest. It gave a deep roar and immediately rushed out, it was definitely going to eat the intruder alive!