Is That A Wisp?

by Srtyi

What if a wisp, with zero EQ about human culture and habits, gains the opportunity to cultivate and finally achieve human form? Now he can enter cities, experience technology, and fight his way to the top, right? In this universe where wisps are seen as nothing more than cultivation resources, a wisp stands up to challenge the wisps destiny! Not without causing a lot of misundersta

3. 41

Read Is that a Wisp? Chapter 41 Another Spiritual Energy Meridian online for free - AllNovelFull

After Ao took his time to explain to Krune what a brothel was. Krune could only apologize to Go Gao and Lu Ganan. He then remembered the man from the s*x shop.

'Humans from s*x shops can't be trusted, I will remember this!'

Go Gao and Lu Ganan could only cry after that, and they decided to not make problems for Krune again. Who knows what will come from this low EQ human form demon beast.

That same day, Krune went to the Alchemist Guild to practice pill making, and he spent his entire day there. Krune also failed quite a few times. After all, between making basic pills and more complicated ones, it's obviously harder to achieve success with the latter.

When night came, he returned to the mercenary guild to cultivate, but not before eating his fill in the restaurant on the way.

This cycle continued for the next three days, and Krune could now be successful in over 80% of his tries. Of course, the sync of the elements inside of the medicinal liquid made from the herbs is still something hard for him to accomplish. Not to mention now that he is making harder pills. In the end, he could only sync the same 20% to 30%. This isn't a lack of talent, but a gap in cultivation. The higher one's cultivation, the easier it is to control elements, and it is already a miracle that Krune can sync the elements at his level at all.

'I guess I can finally take orders. The rules of the alchemist guild state that one must be at least 50% successful in their pill making at the level of the pill that they are trying to make. I tried quite a few different ones at the Three Stars level, so I'm pretty confident about it.'

Krune then went to a monitor in his alchemist room and opened the list of orders available to be selected. He scrolled down, and after pondering a bit, he took out three prescriptions for Three Stars pills.

One of the pills was the spiritual explosion pill used for breakthroughs. That was the pill the Ao Sulian wanted to buy in the past to use during his breakthrough into the 4th stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Like any other pill, it also had several levels, and the one asked was for the pill to be at least Three Stars.

The second was the foundation reinforcement pill. This pill worked differently from the 'Five Elements Paste,' which reinforced your foundation straight away to a certain percentage. Of course, the more you took it, the lesser the effect. At a certain point, the body would start rejecting the pill, so it was only good for the first three or four uses. After that, it would become almost useless, so it was usually used after one got in the late stages of Foundation Establishment.

The third one wasn't a cultivation related pill, but a healing pill. Three Stars Healing Nectar Pill, and the recipe for this one is quite complicated. Even among the harder to make pills, this one wasn't very easy. But Krune wanted to try this pill so that he could make a few ones to bring with himself in the future.

'If I concoct those three pills without failing, I will receive a total of 1327 Rank Three low and middle-quality spirit stones, and I can finish it all today. No wonder almost everyone wants to be an alchemist. As long as they are good at making the pills, they can make a lot of money in such a short time.'

But that's what Krune wants after all. He decided that he will now gather twenty thousand Rank Three spirit stones and try to create his seventh Spiritual Energy Meridian.

Time passed by, and just like that, one month was gone. During this time, Yusa, Ao, and Krune took one more mission to get some minerals in another Danger Zone. This one was simpler to complete since it had the same cultivation level recommendation as to their own, so there was no bonus. Nonetheless, it still rewarded them with 550 ranking points. The main reason for taking this mission was for them to train in real combat, Yusa had already broken through the 4th stage, and Ao is steadily moving to the 5th. Krune also took this opportunity to test his strength at the 3rd stage. He challenged an ordinary 7th stage Demon Beast and was able to defeat it quite easily.

When they came back, Yusa and Ao left again to continue their cultivation. Krune's cultivation speed is too fast, so they can't relax, or they will be left behind by him in no time. Not to mention that Krune's battle prowess is already higher than theirs. They can't lose in the cultivation realm too.

After going back to the Alchemist guild, Krune spent his time accepting orders and cultivating at night until he gathered Spirit Stones he wanted. In fact, even Krune thinks that he is exaggerating. It shouldn't cost him this much spirit stones to open the seventh Spiritual Energy Meridian. Still, it's always good to be prepared.

Back at the Mercenary Guild, Krune sent a message to Ao and Yusa. He told them that he was going to create another meridian, and they could keep an eye out for him and check how it is made themselves. After they gathered at the entrance of the Mercenary Guild, Yusa made a question.

"Where you want to go to do that?"

Krune then answered.

"Katiu Forest is too far, it will take over a week to go there and come back. Is there a good place where I can focus on absorbing energy without people bothering me?"

This time it was Ao who answered.

"If all that you want is to be out of sight, you can rent a house in the city for yourself."

Ao then explained that by paying a certain amount per month, you would be able to get a place that is only yours for a specific amount of days.

Krune immediately agreed to the idea. With Yusa and Ao's help, he rented a small house in the borders of the city. It has a lot of space around and a small house in the center.

Ao then said.

"You just need to set up a concealing formation, and it will be done. I can call a formation master over if you want, a common formation shouldn't cost much anyway."

Krune also accepted this idea. After the formation master came and got paid, he set up the concealing formation. Krune then asked him to put a barrier to impede others from entering or leaving, and the process was done.

Krune then entered his house with Yusa and Ao. They would see for the first time how the Spiritual Energy Meridian is created. Both had heard the explanation from Krune, but hearing about and seeing with their eyes are two completely different things.

"So, as I said, everything comes down to creating all nine pseudo energy meridians together. Every single one of them is part of the whole, and their different properties will fuse together, creating the brand new Spiritual Energy Meridian. If you are successful, the Spiritual Energy Meridian will start absorbing the spiritual energy of the surroundings or anything else that has spiritual energy. In this case, it will be the spirit stones."

"If it fails, it will break apart, and you will have to start again. When you try it for the first time, be aware that it will be difficult! Even I failed several times before I was able to create the first one."

"Alright, I will start now, so pay attention."

Yusa and Ao focused their eyes and Divine Sense on Krune. Other than cultivating, they have also been forming the Pseudo Spiritual Energy Meridians so that they could build the real one later. When they started over a month ago, Yusa was in a better state since she had created four in the past, so she only had to create the other five. Ao was different, though. He didn't use the Myriad Energies Technique before, so he had to start from zero.

At the moment, Yusa had successfully created the sixth pseudo meridian. In contrast, Ao had made three, and it could already be considered very fast. Of course, that's because they had Krune as their teacher. Otherwise, it would have taken them much longer.

Krune then went back to his wisp form since he needs the best control possible to avoid any mistakes in the process. Yusa and Ao are still not used to Krune's wisp form, though. Still, they accepted him nonetheless. Little by little, nine pseudo meridians started to appear and fuse together. Krune purposely delayed the formation of the seventh Spiritual Energy Meridian so that Ao and Yusa could see more clearly.

An hour later, Yusa and Ao heard a 'click' sound, as if some puzzle pieces got together. After that, Krune immediately took out thousands of Rank Three spirit stones. Sure enough, the Spiritual Energy Meridian started to absorb the spiritual energy from the surroundings and the spirit stones at the same time. Krune looked like a black hole, there was so much spiritual energy flowing into him that it even became tangible. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth is just like the air, you know it is there, but you can't see it. Only when you compress it to a certain point that you can see it.

One thousand spirit stones;

Two thousand;

Three Thousand;

The spiritual energy meridian kept absorbing spiritual energy from the Rank Three spirit stones all the way to eleven thousand and some spirit stones. After that, the Spiritual Energy Meridian shined for a while like all others before settling down. Just like that, the process was finally over.

Yusa and Ao were amazed, they still had some doubts about Krunes explanation regarding Spiritual Energy Meridians, but after seeing this, all their doubts disappeared like smoke. What impressed them the most is how expensive this thing is! They saw how eleven thousand Rank Three spirit stones disappeared like nothing! This thing can totally bankrupt a small cultivation clan alone!

Yusa and Ao now understood why Krune valorized spirit stones so highly. Yusa was simply a money-grubber, and she just loves to have money. In the cultivators' case, spirit stones. But although Krune looked like her, it wasn't because he loved them, it was just that he needs as much as possible for those crazy meridians. Yusa even pondered if she should give up the Spiritual Energy Meridians since they are too fuc*ing expensive!

As for Ao, his eyes were shining. He doesn't care about money that much. Still, the marvelousness of the Spiritual Energy Meridians had totally caught his attention. Even if he has to spend all his savings, so be it! For him, it would be totally worth it!

Krune then tried to cultivate with his seven Spiritual Energy Meridians at the same time. Just as he expected, they can still work at max capacity even if he uses all of them.

Krune then went back to his human form and looked at Yusa and Ao. Of course, he didn't forget to put his clothes back after it.

"Well, that's pretty much it. To find about the spiritual energy meridians is hard. But after knowing that they exist, the path ahead becomes much easier. Of course, this is as long as you can afford them. That's why I spent so much time at the Alchemist Guild, I need money, simple as that!"

Ao and Yusa could think about entering a guild, too, at this point.

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Krune kept his cultivation and pill concoction daily routine, and sometimes, he would leave for a mission with Ao and Yusa. Thanks to that, their position in the mercenary team rank has finally got into the top 1000. Still, neither of them cared for it. As long as they had the points to exchange for the necessary items in the mercenary guild, that was enough.

After spending a few months, together with his new Spiritual Energy Meridian, Krune was finally able to breakthrough into the 4th stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm. At the same time, both Ao and Yusa reached the 5th stage. Krune helped them by concocting the pills they needed, too. Not to mention his teaching about their own element controls, which was the main reason behind their improvement.

They were in the mission hall of the mercenary guild scrolling through the list of missions when suddenly, Lu Ganan called them.

"You three, please come to my office, the mercenary guild has a special request for you."

They looked puzzled, but since it was a request direct from the supervisor, they went there to take a look anyway.

One week earlier, Yule Continent Mercenary Headquarters.

A meeting happening in the main hall, and only those with the status of elders or had important positions in the Headquarters management could participate. The Head of the guild in the Yule Continent, Bary Kasfiu, was also there waiting for everyone to arrive.

When they gathered together, the meeting finally started.

Bary Kasfiu came forward to give the news.

"The Furiu Realm is opening again! We just received the message from our scouts. We believe that it will be completely open in ten days if fast, and fourteen days if slow."

The people in the room were surprised! The Furiu realm was a place built by a supreme expert long before the technology was developed. Cultivators have a long story, but technology only appeared around three thousand years ago. With that, one can already imagine how old the place is. The only thing that the big powers of the Yule Continent know is that no one in their Makui Planet could possibly have built such a place since they are way too weak for that.

The Furiu realm opens randomly, and no one knows what is the reason. Also, the place was given this name because of its location. It is located at the Furiu Danger Zone.

The ninth elder couldn't help but comment.

"As expected of the random opening realm, its opening times really follows no pattern. Before this one, it had opened a hundred years prior, and even before that, it was two hundred and seventy years. To think that it would take over five hundred years to open again since the last time."

Bary nodded.

"Exactly! We need to grab this chance to temper our members. As all of you know, only those at the Foundation Establishment Realm and below can enter. If we are lucky, we might give birth to a few members capable enough to participate in the martial gathering. But don't forget, we aren't the only ones who know about that. We have indeed closed all entrances to prevent other continents members from entering. Still, that was because we joined hands with every clan and sect in our own, so they will also be sending their own members."

One of the supervisors then asked.

"How many slots are available for each of the powers?"

Bary answered straight away.

"Each power has access to 20 slots. We are expecting to have over 500 participants this time, which means that we can send at most four teams of five people each. The reason for this meeting is to decide who we are sending this time."

Everyone started discussing, and soon, the room fired up! There was quite a good amount of promising teams in the guild at the moment. Although neither was at the martial gathering level, they might have a breakthrough if they use this chance well.

Someone then said.

"The Carnage Team is a must then. They were at the top of the rank last time and are still at the top since the last reset.

No one showed discordance with him, so they kept discussing.

"I also think that the Thunder Lion team is a good choice. They are not in the top 10 teams, but they definitely have one of the greatest potentials between all teams available."

Some were against, others not so much. In the end, the Thunder Lion team was also selected. After some more discussion, another two teams were selected, the Enlightenment team and the Flood Dragon team.

By now, there were only four slots available. Although Bary said that they could send four teams of five members, it's not like every team had this number. There were some with more and others with less after all.

When they were about to discuss which would be the last team to send, the supervisor of the review applications, Kassius Ruli, raised his hand.

"I didn't say anything during the selection of the previous teams, but I want three of the last four slots to be given to the rainbow team."

The room immediately got silent. Rainbow Team? What is that? No one had ever heard about this team before! Kassius then looked at Bary, who nodded. Kassius had already informed Bary about Krune and the others before the meeting. Bary could barely believe that their Yule Continent had given birth to such a talent, and he wished that Kassius had told him about Krune sooner.

Still, he could understand Kassius' thoughts, so he let it pass. He and Kassius had been friends for a long time, after all. As the Head of the Headquarters, Bary had too many things to deal with every day. Kassius, as his friend, had never given him any extra work that he considered unnecessary. So Bary couldn't get angry at him no matter how much he wanted to.

Bary looked at everyone and then said.

"The rainbow team is not very well known. However, I'm sure you guys heard about that the mercenary guild had given an exception to promote a new mercenary directly to the four stars, right?"

Everyone nodded, the news had been spread everywhere, after all.

One of the elders then commented.

"But if I'm not wrong, it hasn't been even half a year since he became a member of the guild. Also, when he joined, he was just at the 1st stage of Foundation Establishment."

Bary nodded.

"Exactly! His name is Krune, and he is one of the five cultivators of the young generation of our Yule Continent to make a Universe Foundation. But that's not everything. He is also the leader of the Rainbow Team."

This time it was one of the supervisors that couldn't hold himself.

"But he was at the 1st stage just a few months ago, and the martial gathering is happening in a year and a half from now. I agree he is a great talent worth being nurtured by our guild. Still, there isn't enough time for him to catch up since the martial gathering barely has anyone at the 8th of Foundation Establishment. The majority are all at the 9th stage, and usually, at the peak of that stage. Simply put, there isn't enough time for his cultivation to get there."

Everyone nodded. Maybe in the gathering ten years after the next one, it will be Krune's moment to shine! But now it isn't the time. They should send a team that has a real chance to fight for the five slots of the mercenary guild worldwide alliance selection.

Bary then looked at everyone and said.

"If I tell you that in these few months, he went from the 1st stage all the way to the 4th? Not only that, both his team members had their stages improved by two! Ao Sulian and Yusa Shen joined him when they were only at the 3rd Stage of the Foundation Establishment, but they are at the 5th stage now."

"Also, we checked Ao and Yusa's past. Ao had barely passed the test on acquiring his One Star Mercenary Badge. In Yusa's case, she participated in the same exam as Krune and got a Two Stars Badge. Simply put, they were pretty common cultivators back then. Still, not only had their realms improved by two stages since then, but both of them also reapplied for the mercenary test and are now Three Stars mercenaries! I might as well tell you that they got those Three Stars Badge quite easily."

This time, everyone was shocked! Yusa and Ao improvement had been way too fast!

Still, it was also a reason for concern.

"But if they improved their realm this fast, their foundations should be totally unstable. It might look great now, but it will leave horrible side effects in the future."

Kassius heard that, and a smile appeared in his face.

"I ask everyone to take a look at the monitor behind Guild Head Bary. Also, please understand that what you will see have been recorded in the past week."

Kassius then pressed a button on his communicator, which made the monitor show three graphs. Those graphs had names beside them, Krune, Ao, and Yusa.

This time, quite a few got up from their chairs.

"Impossible!"

"There is no way you can keep such a stable foundation after jumping so many realms in such a short amount of time."

Bary then struck the iron while it was hot.

"But this is the truth. I had the Kaley City supervisor, Lu Ganan, check it three times. Their foundations are as shown in the graphs, and we believe that the reason for Yusa and Ao's improvement to be Krune himself. During the time that we were keeping a look at them, we noticed that both Yusa and Ao kept receiving pointers from Krune from time to time. Of course, the majority of the time Krune was teaching them, we had no way to see it. But it's pretty much confirmed that Krune is the reason behind his own and his team members' amazing improvement."

One of the elders then said.

"In that case, why don't we call Krune over and have him pass his teachings to the high-level members of our guild? It would be several times more effective than pass such knowledge to people like those Yusa and Ao."

Kassius shook his Head.

"Not gonna work, every cultivator in the world, we included, have their own secrets. To do that is to pry into Krune's secret, and from what we found, Krune puts a lot more importance into relationships. As for being the number one in the world? Screw that! If we force the issue, he might as well just leave the mercenary guild and join some other power. If that happened, we could only cry."

Bary then said.

"That's why I think we should send his team as well. Have you forgotten? He and his team members are all at the Three and Four Star Mercenary level now, and they got to the 4th and 5th stages of Foundation Establishment in less than half a year! If Krune and his group keep like that, they might just be able to take part in the Mercenary Guild qualifiers for the Martial Gathering."

The supervisor of resources intervened.

"But to send them inside the Furiu Realm with their actual strength is too risky! Do you remember the rules? As long as it is inside the Danger Zones, no one will care if someone is killed. If he dies there, then we will really lose a critical future member."

Kassius and Bary then smiled.

"There are two reasons why we should send them this time. First, with Krune's cultivation speed, he probably will be at the Core Formation Realm by the time the next Martial Gathering after this one starts. Because of that, he won't be able to participate anymore. Second, as for the danger problem, we have a solution. We are going to use the last slot to send Shinja Avril with them to protect Krune's life at all costs."

The fourth elder was surprised.

"Did she agree with that? Shinja Avril had never joined a team before, and she had always been alone as far as I know. As another special Four Stars Mercenary at the Foundation Establishment Real, we tried to make her join or create a team of her own before, but she always refused. She also has the Universe Foundation, so it's really a pity that she never joined the rank."

Bary just said.

"There is no need to worry about that. I have reached an agreement with Shinja, and we signed a blood contract already. Unless she is in a deadly situation, she will protect Krune's life."

After hearing that, no one said anything anymore.

Shinja Avril is a female human with a Pure Yin Body! She came from an ordinary family but got where she is with her own power. As for her universe foundation, it is as Krune had commented in the past. Even when you chose the same foundation as someone else, they are bound to be different since there is no identical foundation in this universe.

Because she has a Pure Yin Body, she is very beautiful, but at the same time, she has a cold personality. Due to her constitution, her hair is blue like the ocean, and as said before, she had never joined or created a rank team. She is also considered one of the strongest Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Yule Continent, and Guild Head Bary had to pay a wealthy price to convince her. Another reason for why she accepted this job is because she wanted to meet this demon beast in human form that also has a universe foundation like hers.

And with that, the twenty slots were shared and the meeting was over.

Back at Kaley City Mercenary Guild, Lu Ganan was explaining to them everything that was decided about the Furiu Realm. Unfortunately for him, he didn't get the answer he was expecting.

Yusa, Ao, and Krune looked at each other and smile. After that, they looked back a Lu Ganan and said.

"We refuse, goodbye!"

And then, just like that, they left.

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The three of them were walking on the street while Yusa commented.

"What are they even thinking about? Sending us to such a dangerous place, they might as well ask us to suicide."

Ao also complemented

"There is also this thing about sending someone to protect us, I would say it's more likely that this person was sent to spy on us. We have been improving way too fast after all, and it has probably raised some alarms."

Krune agreed with their point of view.

"They say that this is a great opportunity, and I believe they are not lying about it. From what we heard from this 'Furiu' realm, great fortunes are waiting for us. Still, did they think we need that at the moment? Our cultivation speed is already good enough. If we need anything, we can do some missions and buy them directly! Combat experience? We are going through our own fights every time we enter the Danger Zones to complete missions, so we have plenty already."

Krune might be in a hurry to improve his cultivation. Still, he isn't desperate to the point of throwing his life away just yet. Not to mention, if the one who is in danger isn't him but his friends, does it mean that that 'protector' won't lift a single finger to help? Fuc* it!

Yusa nodded.

"But I'm still curious, who exactly would they send to join our team in the end? Since they said this person would be able to protect Krune from most of dangerous situations, it's bound to be someone very strong. Usually, someone like that already has a team, so why would they leave it to come to us? Other than spying, I can't think about any other reason."

They kept talking until they got to the restaurant.

Back at the mercenary guild, Lu Ganan still had a blank face, and his brain stopped working altogether. It wasn't until five minutes later that he came back to himself.

'They must be kidding! Do they even know how much effort the Headquarters put to bring them together to the Furiu realm? No, wait! How am I going to report this in the first place?'

The mercenary guild never forces its members to take any mission since there are several other great powers in the Yule Continent, after all. This measure is to prevent their own members from running to different sides. Still, no mercenary team would ever think about refusing such an opportunity. This is unbelievable!

Lu Ganan then called the Headquarters and told them the news.

At the Guild Head's office, Bary and Kassius were looking at the roof. How could they ever expect Krune's team to refuse? That's illogical. Kassius looked at Bary and sighed.

"So, what now? We can't force them since it would just scare them away. Not to mention that the Alchemist Guild would love to hear that Krune left the guild and would definitely extend an olive branch for him."

Bary smiled bitterly.

"What exactly can we do? Did you see the reason they gave? They said that they are already improving fast enough and have no need for extra risks. As for combat experience, they are getting it from missions. But that isn't the main point, Shinja Avril is."

Kassius looked at Bary puzzled. Why would Shinja Avril be a problem? Since there is no more Furiu Realm for Krune's team, then she is basically free to do whatever she wants. He knew that Bary would explain, so he just waited. Bary then sighed as well and said

"Her blood contract is the main issue, it stated that she would have to stay by Krune's side and protect him until the Furiu Realm closed again. But nothing in that specifies what we would do if he refused, so I believe you can understand already."

Kassius jaw dropped.

"Doesn't that mean that she will have to protect him until the realm closes whether he enters it or not? I see... She will probably think that this was a trap we made to force her to join a team. Usually, we also don't know how long it takes for the Furiu Realm to close. All we know that it won't be more than six months, or at least, that was the longest time it stayed open according to the records."

Bary then said

"That's not all. Shinja wanted to enter that place as well, and she wanted to find an opportunity to breakthrough into the Core Formation Realm while at it. But if Krune doesn't enter, she won't be able to enter either, so I'm afraid that she will find problems for Krune's team, which would also lead to scaring Krune away."

Kassius then thought.

"Why don't you tell Krune's team about that then, they would at least understand it wasn't on purpose."

Bary shook his head.

"I can't since one of the conditions on the contract was that we couldn't tell Krune's team about that. Shinja wanted to prevent a situation where Krune would court death by himself just because she is bound by the contract."

Kassius heard that and smiled bitterly. In the end, they can just pray for everything to end well.

Krune's group was having their lunch back at the restaurant. After Krune learned how to cook, they got pretty used to have good food even when they are out on missions. When they are in the city, they also go to a restaurant now and then. As for the time that they are out, Krune is responsible for their meals. Of course, Yusa and Ao always helped with whatever they could.

It was then that someone appeared at the restaurant's entrance. She was a woman with blue hair and white skin, and her face showing no emotion what so ever. Who else could it be other than Shinja Avril? The people there, especially the men, couldn't look away from her, and It raised quite a few fights between the couples who were lunching. Shinja cared little for all of that, though. She was already used to such a scene anyway.

It had only been a little bit more than one hour since Krune's group refused the offer to enter the Furiu realm. Kassius and Bary had just had their conversation back at the Headquarters too, so Shinja still had no idea that Krune wasn't going to the Furiu realm. She just came here earlier to find her protection target.

Krune's group was lunching on the second floor, and when Shinja appeared in front of them, Krune's group got puzzled. Did they know her? She was very beautiful, but to her surprise, neither Krune nor Ao seemed to care much about her looks. It couldn't be helped since Krune is a wisp to start with. As for Ao, ever since he joined Krune's group, he lost interest in anything else other than training. Every day his cultivation and abilities soared, and that changed his way of thinking. A simple cute face isn't enough to move him anymore. Only Yusa showed some interest, not in that way, of course.

Krune just gave her a single glance and focused back on his meal. He is a wisp, so other than Feifei, he doesn't care about the appearance of any other man or woman. It's just that his affection for Feifei has a lot to do with the fact she saved his life that day.

Shinja went straight at Krune, and from the picture she got, this was definitely the right target. Well, it was easy to notice due to Krune's rainbow hair anyway.

"You are Krune, right? I received the request to act as your bodyguard during the Furiu realm exploration. If possible, I would like for us to move straight away to prevent any accidents from happening before we get there."

Yusa, Ao, and Krune looked at her puzzled. They refused taking part in the Furiu realm exploration, didn't they? What is she talking about? At first, Yusa thought that the mercenary guild used this beautiful woman to convince Krune to enter the Furiu realm. But soon, she discarded this idea. The mercenary guild knows very well the Krune isn't human, so a human beauty has little to no effect on him to start with. Finally, Krune's puzzled face was gone and he showed a look of understanding.

"Supervisor Lu Ganan had told us about the Furiu Realm opening and offered us the chance to enter, but we refused. I don't know why they haven't told you that yet, but simply put, you are free to go. There is no need to protect me anymore, so goodbye."

Krune then went back to his lunch.

Shinja was taken aback! This was probably the first time in years that Shinja had a blank expression on her face. Refused? Who would refuse to enter the Furiu realm? It was an event where everyone at the Foundation Establishment wanted to join but had no way to go. Did he just say that his team refused? She took some time to come back to herself, but when she did, her face went from cold to dark.

"Are you making fun of me? Who would refuse such an opportunity? Do you think I'm playing here? I couldn't care less if you entered or not, but if you don't go, I can't go either, so stop wasting my time and let's go already."

This time it was Yusa who answered.

"If you want to go, just go! What does that have to do with us anyway? We have decided that our cultivation progress is good enough already, and we don't need additional risks for the moment. First of all, what is that about if he doesn't go, you can't go either? We are not imprisoning you here as far as I know. I can see that your realm is much higher than ours, and you probably are close to the Core Formation Realm, right? Then take this opportunity and go by yourself. If you want, we can even give you our three slots, you can make a team of your own and look for fortunes together with them."

Ao also complemented.

"We are pretty confident in our cultivation speed, whether we enter the Furiu realm or not will have little difference on our path. So I thank you for your concern about us losing this opportunity, but you don't need to worry. We are good the way we are at the moment."

Krune just nodded his head while eating, they are doing pretty well for themselves already.

Shinja was almost losing her wits! But she couldn't say that she is bound by a blood contract to protect Krune until the Furiu realm closed. Not that she couldn't talk about it, the blood contract only specified that the mercenary guild couldn't tell Krune about that. If she wanted, she could say it herself. Still, it would be too humiliating for her, not to mention the risks behind revealing such information.

In her eyes, Krune might as well throw himself inside some perilous mission just because he has her to protect him. But then again, there is another issue. If she sticks around even after being chased away, it will be evident that something is fishy. They would figure out sooner or later. She calmed herself and left, the Furiu realm hasn't opened yet, so her protection mission hasn't started as well. Shinja first needs to contact the mercenary guild and ask them what is going on.

Back at the lunch table, Krune's group was discussing what just happened. Yusa looked in the way that Shinja left and breathed heavily.

"I know who she is. That's Shinja Avril, a peak 9th stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. She is quite famous, and I heard that she has a pure Yin Body. Because of that, her control over the water element is unbelievably high. Also, as a late-stage Foundation Establishment and a genius at that, she can use other elements at the same time. I heard that she specialized in using water and thunder elements together."

Ao was surprised.

"So that was her? I also heard about this genius woman. It seems like she only acts alone. She has never joined a ranking team before, nor did she ever tried to build one of her own. Because of that, people can't say for sure just how strong she is."

Ao then looked at Krune and said.

"This is just a rumour, but I heard that she also has a universe foundation just like yours, Krune."

Krune put his spoon down and said.

"It's not a rumor, I'm certain that she has a universe foundation too. I don't know why, but I could feel it, and I'm sure she could too."

Krune was, in fact, just as surprised as Ao and Yusa. He didn't expect to find another universe foundation so soon. He always used his universe foundation as an excuse for a lot of things, and Shinja appearance might cause him some problems because of that. Fortunately, she has left already.

"Forget it, since she understood that we won't be going to the Furiu realm, she will just leave. We should pay attention to our next mission in the Raskie Danger Zone instead. I'm planning for us to have some bigger challenges other than completing the mission. This time we have to beat down at least one 8th stage Foundation Establishment beast. It's going to be hard, and death is also an option. Still, at least it's not as crazy as this Furiu realm thing, so the two of you better get ready for that."

Ao and Yusa nodded. They know that although the Furiu realm would probably bring some dangerous situations as well. But in the end, the most dangerous thing would be the other groups or maybe even their own protector, Shinja Avril's greed. So, they prefer to have their own way of acquiring combat experience.

Back at the mercenary guild branch, Lu Ganan had a gloomy expression. In front of him was a beautiful blue-haired girl, but he couldn't feel the least bit happy about it.

"Cough, cough. How can I help you today, Miss Shinja?"

A cold aura started to spread from Shinja, and her face was getting darker and darker while looking at Lu Ganan.

"Help me, you say?"

Lu Ganan was almost crying. The Headquarters left Shinja for him to deal with, or to be more specific, he was the sacrifice for the day.

'Oh, gods! Why must you forget about me?'

Report chapter

Recently, Krune has been feeling downcast, and it was like he got a new shadow. It's just that this shadow has a face, a very cold one on top of that, not to mention the blue hair. This shadow followed him everywhere, and what made Krune even gloomier was the fact that when they were walking in the streets, this shadow-like person attracted the attention of everyone around him. Worst of all, he could see hatred in the eyes of human males, especially.

'My low key life… after a few months without causing any problems, everyone had finally started to pay attention somewhere else and left me alone. But then, out of nowhere, an attention magnet attaches itself to me! What have I done to deserve it? It's a curse! It must be! A curse directed to the wisp race!'

Krune wasn't the only one annoyed, Yusa was also fuming! She wants to try out her skills in the Raskie Danger Zone, but in the end, they had to give up the mission. Fortunately, they haven't applied for it at that moment.

Krune noticed that Yusa was angrier than she usually is, too. Although Krune was also annoyed, he could feel that she was a little different than him.

'I'm still lacking in human knowledge, I will do some research later.'

After that, he went back to his activities.

It was night time, and Krune was back at his small house. Through his communicator, he, Yusa, and Ao were discussing the actual situation. Yusa seemed to be upset still, but she talked anyway. She also went back to the mercenary guild to question Lu Ganan.

"So, supervisor Lu said that her mission is to protect you until the end of the Furiu Realm exploration. But since we didn't enter, she has to protect you while on the outside. Her end term is the end of the Furiu Realm exploration as well. Although Lu Ganan didn't say it, I believe that she is bound by a blood contract to keep protecting you until then."

Ao agreed with Yusa.

"That can be the only explanation possible. Since we didn't enter the Furiu realm, she had no reason to stay here. As far as I can see, we have two choices. One, we wait for the Furiu Realm to close, and then she will leave on her own accord. Or two, we offer her a blood contract and bring her with us."

Yusa then said.

"I don't think that she is the type to accept a blood contract that easily. It has more to do with her pride, like not coming down to our level or something like that."

Krune then said.

"Then let's wait. We are not going to die just because we stayed here for one or two months anyway. We can cultivate slowly and use the arena to practice our skills with the concealing formation activated. It won't be as good as real combat, but it can help us polish our techniques before we leave next time."

Yusa and Ao nodded. They know that Krune is a wisp, and he doesn't have so much time to wait as they do. Still, if even he decided to stay, then they would accompany him.

"Besides, I can spend more time concocting pills, and I will be able to make a lot of spirit stones this time. Who knows, I might be able to get enough to create my eighth Spiritual Energy Meridian!"

He then laughed out loud.

Yusa, who wasn't very happy to start with, cursed him to the point where he got numb. She was just like a cat whose tail was stepped on. Ao had finished the call at some point, so Krune was the only one to suffer in the end.

When everything was over, Krune couldn't help but sigh.

'Something is definitely wrong with her, and I better look into this now.'

Days passed, and Yusa was back to normal, much for Krune's relief. He had found out in the network that human women have certain days in the month where they often get more sentimental. It had to do with their body functions and reproductive system, and even female cultivators were no exception for that. He was planning to console her a bit, but in the end, she calmed again, so he had no need to point it out.

On the other hand, Shinja Avril was getting angrier by the day. Of course, it had nothing to do with what Yusa went through. It was just that now and then she received news from the people in the Furiu realm. Some of them were even able to breakthrough into the Core Formation Realm! Shinja might act cold all the time, but she also has feelings, and the moment, she was feeling like killing a certain wisp who imprisoned here in this city.

Krune didn't notice, though. For him, she looked as cold as the first time they saw each other, so he kept his daily activities as if nothing had happened. Today he was going to have some combat training in the arena. He was also going to have some combat practice with Yusa and Ao to see if there was anything wrong with their element control. Not to mention that he could test his own skills. Of course, they would select the concealing option of the arena. Fortunately, Shinja had no interest in their combat training, so she simply stayed outside waiting.

Krune went forward and said.

"Alright, you two. Come at me together! With your control over the elements and cooperation, you should be strong enough to be my match while I'm in my human form. It will also help me find where to improve you and myself. Also, I'm going to be serious here, so you better be prepared."

Yusa and Ao nodded.

Yusa then said with a bright smile.

"My cute brother Krune doesn't need to worry, I have mastered the Myriad Water Dragons, and you are the best target I could ever hope for."

For a second, Krune felt that it might not have been a good idea to have two against one.

Ao, too, was also fired up!

"Yusa might have her Myriad Water Dragons, but I have a new skill as well. It's just that I don't have good control over this at the moment, so you better be careful. You probably saw this one in the Mercenary Sales Room, and it was quite expensive to buy the manual. Its name is vacuum blade, by slashing the wind around with Sword Qi, I can create a vacuum which greatly improves my speed."

Krune then took a deep breath.

"Very well, let's do it!"

Ao and Yusa coordination in the last few months had really soared! Yusa was capable of using the Myriad Water Dragons to cover Ao's attacks even though Ao didn't have a full grasp of the vacuum blade yet. Not to mention that his vacuum blade also increased the speed of the water dragons. Krune had a hard time avoiding the attacks, and when it was him who attacked, neither Yusa or Ao had too much difficult to deal with it.

Yusa's water frame made his Blazing Wind Blades miss her. At the same time, Ao's Vacuum Blade eliminated the air around. So when the Blazing Wind Blades entered its range, they lost a lot of their attack power due to not having oxygen to be burnt. Of course, those Blazing Winds Blades are created from spiritual energy, so it only lost the power from normal flames, the spiritual fire still burned nonetheless.

Shinja Avril could hear the explosions coming from the arena. Although she couldn't see it, she could more or less determine the power.

"The 6th stage of the Foundation Establishment. To think that I need to stay here looking at this level of a cultivator. What was the guild head even thinking when they decided to send Krune's group into the Furiu Realm? At this point, I might already found an opportunity to breakthrough into the Core Formation Realm."

She then decided to stop thinking about that before she loses her rationality.

What she didn't know is that although Krune's group was taking the training seriously, they are far from using their real power. They don't want to cause serious injuries, so things like all-out combat can wait for when they leave to the Danger Zones. What they are doing is to practice their coordination and to check what is wrong in their element manipulation.

The day passed, and when it was mid-day, they stopped for lunch. Yusa and Ao had been led into the wrong path, so now they also can't do without a good meal at specific times, just like Krune.

This time, he brought them to his house, where he cooked himself. Krune had got quite proficient with his cooking skills, too. It might not have much use for cultivation, but it was one of the few things that made him happy. Not to mention that his food tasted really good!

Shinja, of course, would never accept a single grain of rice, so she just stayed outside. The simple fact that they would stop training just to eat made her even angrier instead.

'What they think training is meant for?'

Inside the house, Krune had activated the concealing formation so that their voices couldn't be heard.

"Yusa's Myriad Water Dragons is really good. As long as her control over the water element reaches mine, she will be able to bring the full power of the technique, and the same can be said for her other skills. From what I could see, you just need to change the spiritual energy flux. When your water dragons are moving, the spiritual energy inside them doesn't change according to their direction. If I'm not wrong, you had simply filled them with spiritual energy and controlled the direction, which forced the spiritual energy to follow. If you can make the spiritual energy change its course together with the skill, your technique will get faster and won't lose much power."

Yusa looked puzzled, though.

"But how do I do that?"

Krune then gave his ideas. But he didn't tell her how he does it. Everyone has their own ways of doing things, so it was better for Yusa to find it herself. Krune was just helping her see that right path.

"As for Ao, your vacuum blade is very good. Still, I believe that the reason you haven't mastered it yet is due to the way you control your Sword Qi."

Ao was even more puzzled than Yusa was before, but he waited for Krune to continue.

"The vacuum blade is a wind type skill, and it uses the control over the wind element to get rid of the air around you. But the air is also part of the wind, after all. By eliminating everything, you are also limiting your control over the wind element, or at least that's what I feel when I look at you. Today was the first time I saw the vacuum blade skill. However, I still believe that as a wind element user, your power resides in the wind element itself. By getting rid of all the air around you, you are cutting your own leg."

Ao seemed like to understand.

"Does it mean that this skill isn't suitable for me?"

Krune shook his head.

"Not necessarily. If I'm not wrong, the vacuum around you is formed due to the Wind Element Sword Qi, which can be shoot from anywhere around your body, correct?"

Ao nodded.

That was the prerequisite for the vacuum blade. The user has to be able to use Sword Qi with a focus on Wind Element. There are several types of Sword Qi, and Ao Sulian is obviously using the Wind Element one. Elemental Sword Qi takes into consideration the user's understanding of the specific element plus his knowledge of the sword. It's not something easy to create, though. Thankfully, Ao was a sword maniac, so his perception of the sword was already very high even before he came to know Krune. As for the wind element, with Krune by his side, it would be a joke if he didn't get to master it.

"This is just a guess, but when you use sword Qi around your body to create the vacuum area, you eliminate any contact with the real wind. But what if you only start eliminating the wind, let's say, 10 centimeters away from your body? The wind that stays inside will be trapped by the vacuum blade. You can then use it to boost the power of all your abilities while maintaining the vacuum blade skill active to accelerate them. Of course, the air that stayed inside will still somehow hinder your speed a little, but the gains should overcome the losses."

Ao's eyes were shining! He had never thought about using the vacuum blade like that. Of course, he also knows that it is bound to be very difficult.

Krune then gave him a few ideas of how to practice to achieve that effect. Still, Krune reminded Ao that in the end, it was all just a guess. Only by seeing the final product could both of them know if it was worth the try or not.

Days passed, and finally, a month went by. Unfortunately, the Furiu Realm was still open, much for Shinja's displeasure. Yes, she was jealous of the cultivators and demon beasts inside since the danger of the place didn't scare her.

Krune's group was still giving her the cold shoulder. Of course, that's mainly because of how Shinja acted every time she was with them. But that made her even more upset! Everywhere she goes, people would idolize her. But Krune's group seemed to think about her as air, and they simply ignored the fact that she exists. It even reached the point where it started to affect her emotional state.

One day, she finally couldn't take it anymore! Krune, Yusa, and Ao were outside the city gates making a… barbecue! The group's easy-going attitude was making her go crazy! She knows very well that Krune has a universe foundation, just like hers. Still, instead of training hard, they would spend their time with things like that.

But that wasn't the worst part. What really bothered Shinja was that Krune's barbecue smelled too good! Even she was drooling! For the first time, she had the thought of asking if she could get a piece. Shinja, of course, thought she was getting stupid already to think something like that.

Unfortunately for Shinja, after an apocalyptic battle between her pride and her desires, her pride lost in the end. Don't look down on Krune's culinary skills! He uses the same spiritual fire that he concocts his pills as an alchemist, not to mention that he loves to cook good food too! It was so good that even this 'ice block' was losing to its appeal.

Shinja then gathered all the courage she had to say the next words.

"Can I get a piece too?"

But to her surprise, Krune's group completely ignored her!

Was she really that unwelcome? She finally couldn't take it anymore and then… she fell on her knees and cried.

When Krune, Yusa, and Ao thought that they were hallucinating. Is that really the famous ice block called Shinja Avril? How come she started to cry out of nowhere?

What they didn't know was that the world had a misconception about Shinja. She is, in the end, a girl! Everyone had only seen her talents and beauty, so she had never got along with anyone, nor did she ever join a team. She, too, doesn't like to keep her distance from the others. But in the end, no one wanted to know the real her. This led her true self to create a barrier that kept everyone away, a barrier to protect herself against others.

But ever since Shinja started following Krune's group, they didn't give a damn to her! Krune is one thing, he isn't human after all. Yusa could also be understandable since she, too, is a woman. Still, even Ao, a human male through and through, had never spared even a glance at her.

Krune has little understanding about humans, so he sent a Divine Sense message to the Ao and Yusa to ask.

"Why is she crying?"

Ao then answered through Divine Sense too.

"For a moment, I thought I heard her asking for a piece of the barbecue. But then I remembered who she was, so I thought I had heard wrong."

Yusa was surprised.

"You two are as dumb as mules! Can't you see that she is still crying? Do you think it is time for discussion? We won't die if we give her a piece anyway, so give her some!"

Of course, as a woman, Yusa could see that there is much more behind those tears than a simple desire to eat barbecue. She couldn't imagine what could have happened to make Shinja break down like that, and she even felt some pity.

Krune, on the other hand, just nodded and cut a piece of their barbecue. But he was still puzzled, is it really necessary to cry over a piece of meat? Sure, he is very confident in his culinary skill, but he doesn't think that others would cry over it.

It was then that he felt like he was enlightened! It immediately got him excited!

Krune crouched in front of her and presented the plate with a piece of his barbecue, he then put one of his hands on her shoulder and said.

"Don't worry! I know what you are passing through."

Shinja looked at him and was puzzled. How could he know what she is feeling? Could it be because of their connection through the universe foundation?

Ao Sulian then turned away. He didn't know what Krune was going to say. Still, he is absolutely sure that it would be catastrophic!

"I read about it in the country's network. You are on your period, right?"

For some reason, he found himself flying away in the next instant. It seems like he had been kicked out of nowhere! He could only hear Yusa's shout in the distance.

"Go and die!"

Krune's face was hurting. When he came back, he found Yusa consoling Shinja. Still, he couldn't understand, so he went beside Ao to ask.

"I was sure I wasn't wrong this time, and I even researched that. So why did I get kicked again?"

Ao could only sigh.

"Brother, you must understand that when it is related to women, knowledge is far from enough."

Krune wasn't satisfied this time, so he waited until Yusa was back and asked her directly.

"What's wrong with you, I was doing my best there to show that I understand her feelings and you kick me out of nowhere. Are we really friends?"

Yusa was even colder.

"Understand your head! You can't even see what you did wrong."

Krune didn't fall back.

"Then tell me! If no one talks, how do you expect me to understand anything?"

"This is not something that women talk about with men, you can forget about it!"

"What? First, you say I did wrong, then you say you can't say what's wrong, it doesn't make sense!"

"You are the only thing here that doesn't have sense. Shoo, shoo, get away from us."

"What does shoo even mean?"

Ao just pretended that he didn't know those idiots. He had long understood that he shouldn't intervene in the siblings' bickering.

On the other hand, Shinja, the ice block, was doing her best to hold back her laugh. Still, when Krune asked what 'shoo' means, she lost it. She laughed so hard that she was holding her stomach. Shinja couldn't even remember last time she laughed so much.

Krune looked at that gloomily. In the end, Shinja was also laughing at him, and he didn't know why.

'The world is against the wisps, that must be it.'

Yusa's face got warmer after seeing that, though. She thought that she might have had the wrong idea about Shinja.

"Forget about it, just don't talk about a woman's period anymore. Look, your barbecue is about to burn."

Krune's attention immediately shifted away. In his eyes, his barbecue is much more important than women's issues.

Yusa grabbed Shinja's hand and brought her over to eat some barbecue, and she also sent her a Divine Sense message while at that.

"Remember, Krune's EQ is as good as a door's. If you don't give him a kick or two, he won't learn. Look, I just said that his barbecue was going to burn, and he completely forgot about everything that just happened."

Shinja smiled bitterly. Since when did she care about someone's EQ? First of all, what did even happen to her?

Ao also sat back down and started eating again. Krune's EQ might be inexistent, but his culinary skills are the real deal!

Krune is really different. By the time they finished eating, he had already stopped caring about who was right or who was wrong. He was happy as long as his friends were happy. They then started to move back into the city to resume their own activities. Ao was going back to the mercenary guild to use their training room while Yusa was going to check the market to buy a few things she needed. Also, Krune had his pills to be concocted at the Alchemist Guild. On their way back, they talked about trivial things as they always did after lunch.

Shinja, on the other hand, was feeling a bit out of place. Yusa wasn't letting go of her hand, so she was more or less forced to stay with them. Sometimes the conversation was directed at her, but she couldn't say more than a few simple words. Still, Krune's group didn't seem to care. It appeared that Krune's weirdness had already started to affect Yusa and Ao.

Yusa was the first to part ways with them.

"Shinja, don't forget what I said. If Krune repeats something idiot, just give him a beating, it's that simple."

Krune was taken aback! Why give him a beating? He tried to look in Ao's direction looking for a friend's hand, but by the time he turned his head, Ao was nowhere to be seen.

"Traitor!"

After that, he went back to the Alchemist Guild. Krune had to make money, after all. Shinja stayed quiet all the time, she just looked absent-minded while he worked. In fact, her mind was in Chaos, Shinja was feeling embarrassed, sad, joyous, afraid, etc.

'What was wrong with me? How could I fall crying just like that? It's all Krune, Yusa, and Ao's fault. If not for them, I would not have reached that state... Yes, that must be it!'

She then remembered the little time after that.

'But…'

She didn't want it to be over. That feeling of being part of the group without anyone expecting anything from her. The fact that if she said something, the other part would simply answer whatever way they wanted, not caring for her status or talents. How long had she dreamed of such a day to come?

In the end, it became a battle between her desires and her pride once again. While her internal struggle kept going, Krune had just finished another batch of pills.

"Great! I was able to concoct three healing pills of three stars quality at once. The order only asked for two to be done, and any extra would be part of the alchemist's payment."

Krune had been gathering healing pills, cultivation pills, and anti-poison pills. He wanted to be prepared in case there was a need for them, so he always gave his best during the concoction to create more than the amount ordered by the customers. That way, he could take the extra pills for himself without paying a single spirit stone. Not to mention that his proficiency in pill concoction got much higher! He is already able to sync more than 30% of the medicinal liquid elements inside the pills.

Because of his high rate of success, he started to receive even more orders. Of course, he only accepted the ones that were worth his time. But it was then that he saw a request for a pill that shouldn't be there.

"Appearance changing pill? Isn't this thing a Four Stars Pill? Why would someone send me a Four Stars pill order?"

In fact, as an especially accepted Four Stars Alchemist, Krune could accept Four Stars pill orders too. Still, he didn't want to catch much attention, so he had never taken an order of Four Stars. He thought it wouldn't be too late if he started concocting Four Stars Pills when he got to the late stages of the Foundation Establishment. But in the end, he decided to give it a try.

Krune then took a look at the recipe and got a fright!

"This thing needs Star Coral!"

Although the appearance changing pill isn't that difficult to make, the Star Coral used in the recipe was extremely rare. Krune went back to the check the order and noticed that it had a very high payment too, 2000 Rank Three high-quality spirit stones!

"Holy sh*t, high quality! I will definitely succeed in this concoction!"

The order specified that he should deliver only a single pill, and any extra material or pill that remains can be part of the alchemist's payment. Since that was the case, Krune would definitely give his best.

Krune first practiced the pill concoction mentally. He revised every step, the cauldron temperature, the elements of the herbs, the pill formation, etc.

An hour later, he started to work. Every step went as expected, and the Star Coral was as good as he expected it to be. No wonder it was considered a high-quality material, it was one of the easiest to include in the mix. Krune had been very cautious. There was only one Star Coral, after all. When the time came for him to form the pills, he calculated how many could be made with the medicinal liquid inside.

"Three pills! If I'm careful, I can make three pills!"

The pill formation, which should be one of the fast parts of the concoction, ended up taking him almost an hour to complete. But Krune wasn't dejected since he had done it! Three appearance changing pills of the Four Stars quality! This pill was only worth it when it reached the Four Stars. That is because any lower than this, the appearance changing would only be temporary. But the four stars was a lifetime change!

"I've done it!"

He immediately sent the order back with one of the pills for exchange. Surprisingly, it only took a few minutes for the one who ordered it to receive the product.

"That's to be expected, Star Coral is very valuable, and I'm impressed that he even tried to concoct it here. The fact that he stayed inside the guild waiting for an alchemist to accept and finish the order shows its value."

Krune took his 2000 Rank Three high-quality spirit stones and put it into his ring. As for the mysterious cultivator or demon beast who ordered the pill, who cares? Krune received the payment, so anything else has nothing to do with him.

He then submitted the extra two pills to be sold by the guild. Although the appearance changing pill is extremely rare due to the Star Coral, the pill itself has no use for him. If it could at least changed the hair color, then he would have taken one himself. However, it only changed the body's appearance. The hair, unfortunately for Krune, would still be the same, so he might as well sell it for spirit stones.

What he didn't expect was to receive a call from supervisor Go Gao straight away after this.

"Are you sure you want to sell the appearance changing pill? It's very hard to find Star Coral after all."

Krune just replied.

"Yes. I have no use for that anyway, so just sell both. How much you think it would go for?"

Supervisor Go then said.

"Probably something between three thousand and four thousand Rank Three high-quality spirit stones."

Even though Star Coral is very rare, its only use was basically for the appearance changing pill. It didn't help with cultivation or combat prowess anyway. It is also useless to hide the identity since cultivators can recognize each other through their auras. In the end, Krune could not think about any use for it.

"That's great, please go ahead with this price."

Later on, some news appeared in Kaley City.

'Appearance Changing pills were being sold, and there were even two of them!'

Men didn't pay much attention to that, but the women went crazy! Of course, those who could afford three to four thousand Rank Three high-quality spirit stones are very few.

Later on, Krune's group gathered together again, and Yusa and Ao could see that Krune was in an excellent mood.

"Seems like you made a lot of money today."

Krune nodded quite a few times.

"Yes! There was a customer who ordered an appearance changing pill to be concocted. In the end, I was able to concoct three of those pills at once! Other than the payment for the job, I also got two of the pills. After selling them, I ended up with almost ten thousand Rank Three high-quality spirit stones!"

He then laughed out loud.

On the other hand, Yusa, and even Shinja, immediately showed shocked faces! Yusa was the first to talk.

"Those pills from the news earlier were yours? Why didn't you give me one?!"

Shinja agreed, too, since she also wanted one. In fact, she even had the money to buy one of them! Still, because her mind had been occupied with the thoughts about Krune's group, she didn't notice that such a rare pill appeared for selling. She was even blaming herself for not noticing Krune making those pills.

There was one thing that Krune didn't know, but any woman who cared about their appearance would. The appearance changing pill changes one appearance for life. That is common knowledge. But in case you decide not to change your body, the effect of keeping the appearance permanently would still apply. Women could take that pill to keep their young face until the day of their deaths!

Krune, of course, paid no attention to this fact. He was trying to understand why both girls would want to change their appearance. In the end, he just considered it another weirdness from humans.

Report chapter

The next day, Yusa video called both Krune and Ao Sulian. She wanted to discuss Shinja's situation once more.

"I don't think she would give us any problem, so what about we go to Raskie Danger Zone as we planned before? I believe that if necessary, she would sign a blood contract to keep things secret. Not to mention that she probably has got bored of staying in the city all the time too, don't you think?"

Krune simply followed logic. He didn't know Shinja as well as Yusa, so he just said.

"Well, if she does sign the blood contract, I have no problems with that. Finding out that I'm a wisp in my main concern, after all. If you can convince her to do that, then be my guest."

Ao also gave his piece.

"It's also good since if things really go south, she could help us out too."

Yusa nodded and accepted the task, she was the one who would talk to Shinja.

On the same day, Krune and the others gathered together again. Yusa had convinced Shinja to sign the blood contract after saying that she and Ao had also done it. Although she had some misgivings, she read the terms and concluded that it would not put herself in risk. Yusa believes that Shinja wouldn't do anything wrong, but they had to be careful. After that, Krune looked at everyone and said.

"Alright, it's still morning, and I'm getting tired of staying put, so let's go to the mission hall and take a mission. Our objective this time is to beat down an 8th stage Foundation Establishment beast without me using my real form. I believe that we have more than enough power and coordination to do that. As for Shinja, she will stay away and only intervene if something wrong happens."

Shinja eyes almost popped out of their sockets! 8th stage Foundation Establishment? As far as she can see, Krune is at the 4th stage while Yusa and Ao are on the 5th. It should be impossible for them to threaten an 8th stage demon beast.

'Could it be that they really just wanted to use me?'

She couldn't be blamed. She had never joined and team before, so after hearing that they would confront such a much higher level demon beast, she thought that they were only doing that to force her hand. Unfortunately, it was already too late since she had already signed the blood contract and can't change it.

"Does anyone have any questions?"

Ao and Yusa didn't say anything.

"Okay, we leave tomorrow morning, so take the rest of the day to prepare whatever you need."

The next day, Krune's group was again at the Solie Clan to use their teleportation formation. Zu Solie had already got numb to this. Since he is bound by contract, then forget it, he will just wait for the day that they leave once for all. With their cultivation progress, it won't take that long anyway.

The City of Harta was the closest one to the Raskie Danger Zone. The Danger was just a week away with Krune's group speed. The Raskie Danger Zone was a foggy forest, and there was fog all year round. Such an environment gave birth to quite a few weird beasts that had stronger Divine Senses. Of course, it's only reasonable that the local life evolved like that due to the circumstances.

Krune's group was walking in the city until they arrived at the Formations Guild where their employer was. After talking to the receptionist, they were guided inside until they arrived in an enormous room. From the outside, the place didn't look like that at all. It was evident that space expanding formation was in place here. Inside, their employer was already waiting for them. He is a Three Stars formation master and quite a famous one in the city.

"Hello, I'm Jorei. I believe you are the mercenary group that accepted the mission request, right? Thanks for your help."

Yusa came forward to make the talk.

"Yes, it is us. According to the mission information, you need us to capture an 8th stage fog leopard, is that right? Could you give us more information about that?"

Jorei nodded.

"That's correct, although the description is short, the mission will probably be quite hard. Fog leopards have evolved into their forms after living in the Raskie Danger Zone for a very long time. Their bodies can fuse together with the fog making them very hard to detect. I will need one of those to help with my research on a new concealing formation."

Yusa understood.

"Do you have the location so that we know where to go?"

Jorei then transferred the information to everyone's communicators. They opened it, and sure enough, it was very deep into the Danger Zone.

"This is everything you need to know about them. As to how to deal with the situation, I will leave it up to you."

Ao then asked.

"Do they have human form at that level? We need to know to be ready in case they transform in order to escape."

Jorei shook his head.

"No need to worry, fog leopards are quite a strong race, so hey shouldn't be able to change into human form at the 8th stage. But be careful of the other leopards, their groups usually have a core formation overseeing it."

Ao nodded. He then looked at Krune, who agreed that everything should be okay, and then he said.

"Okay, Ao and I are going to buy some supplies while Yusa and Shinja go buy some better concealing runestones. The ones sold in this city should work better in that fog forest. This time, don't buy only cheap ones. Remember that even Core Formation Beasts might scan the area we are in."

Yusa said back.

"Of course I will buy good ones, I'm not crazy."

Krune, Ao, and even Shinja, who already understood Yusa a bit, looked at her with doubtful eyes. Yusa immediately got upset.

"Why are you even looking at me? At least I always got some concealing runestones! What about Ao? He doesn't even have one!"

In fact, the price didn't matter much. All the expenses, while they were in the mission, would always be shared between the three. But Yusa still believed that the less she spent, the better.

Ao just replied.

"I didn't need one before because, as a wind element user, I could just run away. But don't compare me today to my old self."

Yusa smiled and struck back.

"Oh yeah? Then where is it, mister 'I am always prepared now'? Where is your runestone concealing formation?"

Ao back started to sweat.

"This is your job, so I didn't bring any."

Yusa's smile got even bigger.

"In case I forget to buy the runestone, you wouldn't have any either while I at least would still have the cheap ones, right?"

Ao was starting to feel helpless. Why are they even talking about this? The problem was Yusa's love for money, wasn't it?

But unfortunately for him, he had Krune as a friend.

"Yusa is right in this point, being unprepared is not good. I myself have a few common concealing runestone formations with me just in case. It's just like when you said that when dealing with women, sometimes you need to be prepared to force your way in! The key is preparation."

Ao was dumbstruck! This was about a conversation that they had a few weeks ago when Krune asked Ao to help him understand women better. After several turns, the conversation went all the way to that phrase. The problem is, what he said was to force their way in…side their hearts! Brother, where is the rest of what I said?

Yusa and Shinja looked strangely at him, which made Ao sweat even more!

"Heart! I said, force our way inside their heart!"

Krune looked puzzled.

"But in that case, she won't get pregnant."

Ao vomited blood! Krune is cutting down the important parts of their conversation and bringing out the unnecessary ones. It's evident that Krune misunderstood the meaning of 'inside' for a certain reproductive situation. Now he was talking about when he had mentioned about having children of their own.

Yusa and Shinja strange face became dark now.

Yusa looked at him and then said.

"So this is how you think about women? That has opened my eyes."

In fact, Yusa knows very well that Ao definitely hasn't said those words in that way. It was probably Krune turning everything that Ao said upside down. But now Krune, Shinja and even Jorei, who was only listening on the side, finally forgot about her. Not to mention that she was feeling very happy to see Ao in that situation. Usually, he would disappear anytime Krune did some weird. But the best thing is that Shinja and Jorei don't know about that... How funny! She wanted to lie down and laugh, but she had to keep her play.

Krune then put one of his hands on Ao's shoulder, and he looked completely serious. In fact, he really was! There is no way that the zero EQ Krune would be able to joke like that.

"Brother, don't worry, I will be on your side. Just be sure to buy protection next time."

Ao finally got desperate. Little did he know that the protection Krune mentioned was about the runestone concealing formation. Still, by putting it that way, it felt like Ao had already forced his way on some women.

Shinja finally couldn't take it anymore! She also took 'protection' in the same way that Ao did. Shinja thought that she had to free the women from the world from this guy! Not to mention that she started to think that Krune weird ideas were, in fact, coming from him.

Jorei watched all of that with his jaw completely open.

'Just what kind of team is this? Is it really okay to send them?'

Ao, who had been wronged, finally got a chance to explain the whole story. Still, not before a few purple bruises appeared around his body. Yusa, just as expected, was laughing by the side while Krune still had his puzzled face.

Shinja was feeling embarrassed, though. She had beaten Ao because of the wrong reason. She was helpless since the group's leader, Krune, was simply a lost case for common sense. Worst of all was Yusa, who should have told her about what was really happening, but just kept laughing on the ground.

'How can they even accept someone like him as the leader?'

Ao was feeling helpless too. He then made a decision! Next time, he will make sure that Krune understood his intentions through and through. Otherwise, he wouldn't say anything to start with.

Finally, the group decided to leave for the Raskie Danger Zone. After signing the agreement at the gate, they rushed forward in the direction of the deeper zones.

During the last two days, Shinja started to become scared of this group of three! It doesn't matter which one of them, their control over the elements that they used were at the same level as her own. One must remember that Shinja has a Pure Yin Body, so her affinity with the water element is not something that can be achieved that easily. Let alone unnamed cultivators like Yusa and Ao!

Yusa's water element control even had some different aspects that she had never thought about before. Shinja couldn't understand how she got to that point. She doesn't know much about the wind element. Still, she is experienced enough to tell that Ao's wind element control isn't the least bit weaker than Yusa's water one. To find one genius was already hard, but for two to appear in the same group and no one notices them, that's almost impossible!

But that wasn't the worst of all. The real monster here was obviously Krune! She had heard that he could control more than one element while still a low-level Foundation Establishment. Still, the problem is that every single one of the elements he showed so far is at a higher level than her water one. She even felt depressed when she saw Krune using the water element to train against a beast he found on the way.

She lost! She didn't say it out loud, but she knows! Krune's water element control is definitely above hers.

At first, she just decided to protect them while they are in their mission. But now, she was again struggling against her pride! She wanted to ask Krune for a few pointers, but at the same time, she didn't.

The only comfort she had was the fact that she still had the highest combat prowess.

But it didn't last long, though. On the fourth day, they encountered a 7th stage Foundation Establishment Demon Beast. She thought that she would have to already come forward to control the situation, which made her feel good with herself. It was finally her time to show her good side to them! Unfortunately for Shinja, Krune just made a question.

"Alright, who between the three of us will fight?"

Yusa and Ao immediately raised their voices, the weird thing was that Krune, who had the lowest cultivation, also wanted to battle it! It was evident that none of the three thought much of that 7th stage beast at all! They just considered it a good target for training.

Yusa finally lost her patience with all their discussion and said.

"Then, we will resolve it with rock, paper, scissors!"

Both Shinja and the beast that was waiting were taken aback! Did they even notice the difference in cultivation? They want to battle alone? Have they gone mad?

The reason the demon beast hasn't acted yet was that he couldn't see through Shinja, so he was afraid of her being stronger than it. But it was almost losing its patience after seeing how Krune's group was acting.

In the end, it turned out that Yusa won with stone! Ao and Krune looked gloomily at their hands since luck wasn't on their side today.

Yusa went forward and said.

"You are very lucky, this lady will be your opponent."

Just like that, the battle started!

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Shinja was ready to move at any moment. Still, she found out that there was no need for it. Although Yusa couldn't defeat the demon beast straight away, she totally had the upper hand. Shinja couldn't help but remember when she was at the 5th stage of the Foundation Establishment. At that time, she definitely wasn't as strong as Yusa, and they the same element focused! She finally admitted that she was worse than any of them. So what if she had a Pure Yin Body? I looked like nothing in front of them.

While Yusa battled, Krune took notes and sent a Divine Sense message now and then. He told her his opinion and what might help to improve her water element control. Of course, Shinja didn't know that. She only saw that Yusa was getting better and better as the battle continued. What kind of improving ability is that? It couldn't be helped. They stayed in the city for more than a month doing nothing but practice. Krune's group had a lot to test out but no opponents, which they could go all out against.

In the end, Yusa defeated the demon beast. She didn't kill it, though. This is another thing that Shinja didn't understand, Krune's group never killed anything unless necessary. As for a reason, she heard from Yusa that Krune asked for that.

The demon beast fled, and the group was just about to leave when Shinja approached Yusa. Yusa looked at her puzzled. For some reason, Shinja looked somewhat embarrassed.

"Is there anything?"

In the end, Shinja gritted her teeth and asked.

"Errr… Well, you know, I noticed that your control during the battle was getting higher and higher. How did you do that?"

Yusa was surprised the Shinja asked that out of her own accord. She then laughed out loud since she didn't expect that Shinja could act this cute.

'It looks like she changed quite a bit.'

Yusa smiled and pointed at Krune.

"That you ask the blockhead over there. He kept sending me Divine Sense messages every time he saw something he thought was wrong. Of course, he wasn't always right. All he does is to give his opinions, but usually, they are right."

Shinja looked surprised after that comment! So it was really Krune! But she felt somewhat awkward to ask a cultivator a lot weaker than her for pointers, and a man on top of that. Well, a demon beast in human man form. Anyway, since she already stepped forward, she might as well go to the very end.

Krune didn't mind that, though. He just told her to show her skills when some strong demon beast appears. He will then check it and give his opinion. Still, he reminded her that those are just ideas, and there might be some that are not really suited to her. But before they could continue their journey, he made a question that Shinja didn't expect.

"Are you a virgin?"

One must remember that Krune isn't a real teacher, and he didn't go through an apprenticeship to get where he is. He basically says whatever he thinks and doesn't care about the repercussions. Although his zero EQ gives people headaches now and then, it also has its advantages. Krune will never stop to think about how sensitive a topic is, for example, like how the virginity of both men and women could affect their yin and yang.

Yusa probably still remembers when Krune started to give his opinions about the water element to her. He often touched over the virginity topic and even demanded to know beforehand if she was a virgin or not. Although she was angry back then, time proved that talking freely about this accelerated her progress.

Now that Shinja asked for it, she would come to know that Krune didn't give a damn to any of that.

Yusa tried to comfort her, though.

"You will get used to it."

Shinja wanted to cry, she didn't want to get used to it at all!

Time passed, and it has already been six days since they left the city. If Shinja had some doubts about Krune proficiency regarding elements before, they are now entirely gone. The deeper they went into the Raskie Danger Zone, the more often they found strong demon beasts. By holding herself back, she was able to show her skills in front of Krune. The most surprising thing was that not only Krune was helping her, but even Yusa also gave her opinions now and then. As a water element user, she also understood things more clearly when women were related. Shinja's prowess was getting better with each day she spent with Krune and the others.

There was only one thing she found strange, though. During their journey, Krune asked them to not kill any of the demon beasts. Still, there was one exception, beasts that were harming wisps! Be it Yusa, Ao, or Krune, they didn't show any mercy to those demon beasts at all. It puzzled her quite a bit, but since it wasn't putting them in any risk, she simply ignored it. Shinja even helped them with this kind of task when she was the one to notice a wisp in danger. Not to mention that it took minimal effort from her anyway. Seeing that made Krune's opinion about this ice block improved quite a bit.

Shinja didn't notice, but by now, she was already talking to them normally as if she was really part of their group. They never tried to take advantage of her even once, if taking advantage is to be mentioned, she was the one doing that to improve herself. That feeling of sitting with the others while Krune made food for everyone, talking naturally, laughing, getting angry, beating Krune now and then. She came to love this atmosphere, she has completely forgotten her status as the ice block.

When she finally noticed her carefreeness, she was surprised and conflicted at the same time. But it was then that she reminded something. This is all going to be over when the Furiu Realm closes! She will be free from both blood contracts and won't need to stay anymore. That had affected her greatly, but she didn't show it in front of the others. Still, deep down, she wished for the Furiu Realm to stay open for all eternity so she would have an excuse.

On the seventh day, they had finally reached the fog leopards territory. During the past week, every single member of the group had improved a lot. Shinja had also excluded the idea that they accepted such a mission because of her since they totally have the skills to deal with it.

Krune then came forward and said.

"Those leopards are one of the few demon beasts that changed because of fog forest. To make sure that we won't be ambushed, I will have to keep my Divine Sense going on all times. Also, you all probably already noticed, but this fog is bizarre. It restrains the use of Divine Sense. Usually, I would be able to extend my Divine Sense over seven kilometers. However, I can barely reach two kilometers here, so be careful."

Yusa and Ao nodded.

"Shinja will stay far away, and unless absolutely necessary, she won't intervene. So don't count on her help. Let's go!"

Krune spread his Divine Sense to the max, and they quickly moved into the fog leopard's territory. Everything was going with the plan. After Krune found one of the leopards with the right cultivation, they pretended to be lost in front of it. When the leopard saw Krune's group, they ran away! The leopard immediately ate the bait and set out in pursuit.

It wasn't that the leopard hasn't thought that it could be a trap. It was just that with Krune's group cultivation, it was very confident to be able to deal with them even if they had prepared one. Of course, Krune's team didn't prepare any trap, their objective is to be able to beat this 8th stage Fog Leopard head-on!

Ao took the vanguard as always. As a wind element user, he had superb dodging abilities, especially when using the vacuum blade. His attack power wasn't the least bit weak either. Yusa stayed behind, and her task was to support the team. Before being able to use powers like space, time, light, and others, the water element was the best one for the job. She could use skills like water frames, water prison, water wall, water dragons, so on and so forth. Yusa really played the support role as if it was part of her very being.

Krune stayed in the middle. As a wisp, he is not suited for close combat, so he focused on long-ranged attacks. Blazing Wind Blades weren't the only skills he used anymore. During their travel to this place, Shinja showed her skills for Krune's group to analyze and help her improve. She got a lot from that, but Krune was even more so.

"Let's try lightning and water."

He had thought about trying it before, but he understood that this combination was as strong as his Blazing Wind Blades. That meant that the previous demon beasts that he battled wouldn't be able to resist the attack. In the end, it wouldn't help him comprehend anything at all, so this was the first time he was going to try it.

Krune focused on both water and lightning elements. He then summoned the Myriad Water Dragon and the lightning skill Thunder Line. Just like that, the Myriad Water Thunder Dragons skill was born!

Shinja was alarmed! That was HER skill! She had used it before, and both Yusa and Krune had given quite a big help improving it. Krune was even able to say a few things about the Lightning Element involved in it. Still, it has only been a few days. How can he use her best skill that easily?

Krune was just about to send the dragons forward when suddenly, he felt a ripple coming from inside his foundation. That ripple grew stronger, and in the next instant, the water dragons crumbled!

Krune was taken aback! What just happened? All he could tell was that that ripple came from his future rainbow core. Still, this wasn't the time to check things out. Since he can't use the thunder dragons, he will use his blazing wind blades and if the chance appears, his lava lake and stone prison as well.

The battle continued, and the fog leopard finally couldn't hold anymore. Even with his fog merging skill, it couldn't keep itself hidden from Krune's Divine Sense. Krune's Divine Sense was too powerful! The Fog Leopard finally decided to flee, but how could Krune and the others let it go? They had long since prepared for it.

Ao switched his stance and went from evasion to attack. Yusa went from defense to restraint, and her water skills sealed all paths of retreat. Like that, Krune finally found a chance to trap the leopard into his stone prison. Shinja was really impressed! Their teamwork was excellent, and her respect for krune's group abilities became even stronger.

It was now time to bring it back to the city. As for how to do that, of course, it was by making it sign a blood contract!

Krune came forward and took the contract out of his spatial ring.

The Fog Leopard, as a Late-Stage Foundation Establishment demon beast, of course already had sentience. When it saw the blood contract, it knew what it was straight away. It then sent a Divine Message to this group.

"If you are thinking of enslaving me through the contract, then forget it. I won't accept being anyone's slave, so you might as well kill me now."

It was furious with the fact that it lost in a head-on battle against cultivators that were three or more stages below it. So let alone accept becoming a slave.

Krune just laughed. He had never forced anyone to sign a slave contract to start with. First of all, the other part must be willing in both mind and heart, or the contract won't work at all.

"Don't worry. Our mission is to capture an 8th stage fog leopard to help with concealing formation research. Simply put, you have two choices. One is to die, the other is to help with the formation master's research and then be freed after that. Which one do you want?"

The Fog Leopard was quite surprised by that.

"How long will it take?"

Yusa answered this time.

"I can't say the exact time, but at least a year, at most five years. I don't think it would take longer than that, but of course, I can't guarantee it either."

Yusa had the best knowledge about formations in the group, so she knew a little more about the time necessary for this.

The Fog Leopard pondered for a while but accepted in the end. The other option was death, after all.

Yusa wrote the contract terms, and the leopard signed it. After that, she told the leopard to go back to the city by itself. According to the agreement with Jorei, there would be someone waiting for the leopard's arrival to go through the process of entering the city.

The Fog Leopard accepted the orders and moved out straight away. Before the blood contract was over, it couldn't harm Krune's group in any way, so they weren't afraid that it would call stronger members of its group to deal with them.

Ao then asked.

"Should we go back or stay a little more? The mission will be considered complete even if we don't come back anymore. In the end, there is no need to worry about the time limit anymore."

Krune shook his head.

"Let's stay a little longer. This is a good opportunity for training, so we better use it well."

Yusa and Ao nodded, and Shinja will just follow as always since she doesn't have a choice to start with. Still, she couldn't help comment.

"I wonder how the Furiu Realm is going at the moment."

Krune looked at her and asked.

"What does this Furiu Realm looks like?"

Shinja was simply said.

"What you know is the same as me. That realm was the house of a supreme expert from a long time ago, and it has been closed for over 500 years since the last aperture. The entrance is closed through the use of the power of the five elements. When it opens, some kind of invisible gate takes place while surrounded by the five elements. I heard it's quite hard to find. If not for the fact that the powers of the continent know the exact place of the entrance, it would be difficult to even notice it. The gate connects to another independent space, just like Jorei's room. Of course, it's absurdly bigger."

Krune was a little surprised with those words.

"Does the five elements at the entrance spin around it?"

Shinja was surprised that Krune knew this simple detail. Although it wasn't any secret, unless you have gone there by yourself, you wouldn't know about it. Not to mention that very few paid attention to this fact. Even Shinja herself only knew about it because of a coincidence.

"How did you know that?"

Krune smiled bitterly and pointed down.

"Well, there is one right below us."

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Everyone looked at Krune as if they had seen a ghost!

A secret realm entrance? Below us? What? How? Who am I?

Yusa was the first one to recover and immediately asked.

"Are you sure? How is it possible that there is a secret realm here, and no one noticed?"

Krune looked at Yusa as if he was looking at an idiot.

"How do you expect me to know? It was by coincidence that I was using my Divine Sense during our fight. Because of that, I was able to see that there is really a thing like what Shinja described around two kilometers under the ground!"

Everyone took a deep breath. If there is really a secret realm just below them, they might have struck gold! It was then that Krune threw a bucket of ice-cold water over their heads.

"Before we even think about entering, let's think about the risks."

"First, is the master of this realm dead?"

"Second, even if he is dead, would he simply leave it open like that for us? As far as I know, he might be a remnant soul waiting for a vessel to eat the bait."

"Third, if this is really a gate to another closed space, why would it be open now? Coincidentally, there is a certain realm that is also open at the moment. Chances are that this is just another entrance that no one found yet. Didn't we just refuse to enter around that place a month and some days ago?"

"Forth, let's pretend that it isn't any of the previous options. As far as I know, secret realms usually are full of demon beasts, traps, formations, guardians, etc. So, what are the levels of those things? As far as I can see, it could very well be infested with Divine Soul or higher realm demon beasts, etc."

"Fifth, if this gate has been opened for a very long time, why haven't any of the living beings inside used it to leave? I can see with my divine sense that the arena around the gate is completely sealed, and no one stepped out in years. Chances are that it will trap us as soon as we enter."

Krune put an even more serious expression on his face and said.

"I could keep on talking for an entire day about it, do any of you want to enter this gate now?"

Shinja finally came to understand why Krune was the leader. Even with this finding, he hasn't lost his cool mind for even a second. They would eventually reach the same conclusion as Krune. Still, Krune was the only one to not be affected by the fortunes that might exist inside. If this isn't a leader's quality, then she doesn't know what it is.

Or at least, that was what she thought for a second before Krune continued.

"That's why we are going to sell this information to the guild first, we are going to be rich, RICH! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Krune's leader image in Shinja's head crumbled as fast as it was formed.

'I better not expect anything in the future.'

Yusa hugged Krune straight away.

"Money, Money!!!"

Both of them jumped around celebrating.

Seeing that, Shinja started to consider if she should leave as soon as possible before she gets affected by the same virus.

Ao ignored the two idiot's happiness and brought them back to reality.

"Are you sure you want to sell this information? Let me tell you something that you probably don't know yet then. If we sell this place location to the guild, the only ones with authority enough to deal with it are the elders or the guild head himself. Of course, they are all the way back at the Headquarters, but that's not the main issue. The problem is that blood contracts are useless."

Krune was taken aback.

"What do you mean with blood contracts being useless?"

Ao explained.

"Blood contracts put a restraint on the soul, but Divine Soul experts can ignore and wipe out such restraints. Unless you know someone between the higher-ups of the guild that you trust, I think it will be easier for us to be killed after giving them the information instead of getting any payment what so ever."

Yusa immediately intervened.

"Would they really kill Krune or Shinja? The two of us is one thing, but Krune and Shinja are super-geniuses of the guild, you know?"

Shinja was the one to talk this time.

"I agree with Ao. If the gains overcome the losses by a great margin, they probably would prefer to play it safe. It doesn't matter how much of a genius we are, in the end, we are just Foundation Establishment cultivators. Nothing hard to replace. Remember, a dead genius isn't a genius anymore."

Ao nodded.

"Correct! The thing is, this could very well become a personal secret realm for the guild to send only it's most trusted members. In front of such an opportunity, the life of two geniuses isn't worth much."

Yusa asked again.

"Then what if we auction it? That way, several powers would know about it, and that would give us safety."

Shinja shook her head.

"It won't work. To protect the Furiu realm from being invaded by the powers of other continents, all the top clans, guilds, and sects gathered together their experts to protect it. Even if we put it for auction, no one will buy it. That's because it wouldn't be a secret anymore. In the end, they know that the information will leak one way or another, and all powers will have to defend the place again. The buyer will then lose any rights over it."

Krune was feeling gloomy.

"I didn't expect that blood contracts are useless against Divine Soul cultivators, that's totally unexpected. In that case, I want to hear everyone's opinions about this. But remember that what I said earlier is still valid, entering without preparations is absolutely out of the question."

Shinja then gave an idea.

"We can use a puppet to test if it can at least come back from the gate. If it can, we can check the video to see what it saw on the other side. We can make our decision after that."

Krune and the others immediately accepted the idea. Fortunately, Yusa just so happened to have a puppet herself. It was a very weak one, though. Its power was only between the 2nd and 3rd stages of Qi Condensation. Krune couldn't help but ask why she had a puppet.

"Isn't that obvious? With this thing, I don't need to do any chores like wash clothes or prepare my meals. It's really convenient, and it can also record and share videos. It's a must-have item for every lady cultivator who travels a lot."

Shinja nodded. She, too, has one of those in her spatial ring.

Ao and Krune just looked at each other. They had never thought about buying one before, but they might the next time they go back. Just the 'no need to care about chores' was enough to pick their attention.

Yusa went forward and set up a concealing formation so that no one would find them in this place. This time it was a good one. Early stages core formation demon beasts and cultivators would have a hard time to see through without paying attention to that place specific.

"Well, let's dig."

Even though they are cultivators, to dig two kilometers underground wasn't simple. They had to share the job with each other, and even so, it took them almost four hours to reach the sealed cave. Fortunately, although cultivators would specialize in one element, it didn't mean that they couldn't use the others. So they all used Earth Element until they got all the way down.

They were all surprised when they saw the gate for the first time. The elements were really spinning around the gate, and it was quite beautiful. They looked around, and just as Krune said, it didn't seem like someone stepped inside this sealed cave in a very long time. Krune tried to probe inside the gate, but his Divine Sense couldn't pass through, so he could only look at Yusa.

"Alright, it's up to your maid puppet now."

Yusa nodded and some orders to the puppet, after injecting enough spiritual energy, the puppet came to life and started moving in the direction of the gate. After it entered, Yusa lost her link with the puppet. Still, it was okay, Yusa had ordered the puppet to record its surroundings while waiting for ten minutes before coming back. That was to test if the puppet would be trapped inside or not.

"What if it doesn't come back?"

Krune shook his head.

"I don't know, but let's hope it will. If not, we better not enter it before we reach core formation at the very least."

Time passed, and when it was finally ten minutes, a ripple appeared on the gate. The puppet then walked out of it as if nothing had happened. But for some reason, everyone looked at it as if it was made of gold!

"Quick! Transfer the recordings to our communicators."

Yusa nodded and sent the recording of everything it saw to everyone's devices.

It turns out that the place the domestic robot appeared was also a sealed cave. Although it looked different from the one they are in, it doesn't change the fact that it also had no exit. With that, one of their first questions had been answered. Why haven't the living beings of the secret realm used this exit to leave? Because they probably didn't even know it existed at all!

But it was also good, at least they would be safe after entering. Of course, that is considering the entrance would not close before they came back. The bad thing is that Krune's group can't say if the ambient outside of that cave is hostile or not.

The group pondered a bit until Krune decided to talk first.

"Alright, the good thing is that there is no danger after entering. As far as we could see, there were no formations or traps either. If I'm not wrong, the gates had been prepared like that on purpose for its owner to use it when the time comes. That time would probably be when it had to escape straight away, so the expert who built it might even be alive still. Of course, this is just a conjecture."

"The problem is, without entering, we won't be able to find anything else. Sending puppets inside to excavate their way up is out of question too. If that cave is as deep as this one, there is no way a puppet that we can afford can finish going up in a short amount of time. Not to mention that it will keep running out of spiritual energy too. In the end, if we want to know what is inside, we will need to enter. What do you think?"

Yusa raised her hand.

"I say we enter! We decided to not go into the Furiu Realm mainly because of the risks of getting in a fight with other cultivators. However, now there are no cultivators or demon beasts from other powers entering with us. If even in this condition, we can't take the risk, then we might as well stop cultivating. To cultivate is to go against the heavens in the first place, so we should take this opportunity."

Ao Sulian agreed with her statement, their group had already given up the Furiu Realm after all.

"Good, now we just need to decide who will enter. Because in case the entrance closes, the ones who stayed can simply spread the news to all powers at the same time. No guild will try to kill that person anymore since it will not be a secret that can be held in the end."

Ao was the one to talk this time.

"I say we should enter together."

Krune looked surprised at him, could it be he didn't hear what he just said? But he waited for Ao to explain anyway.

"I might not know if it's too dangerous or not, but I know that I wouldn't be able to sit still while waiting for you guys to come back. If the portal closes and the group that entered doesn't come back, those who stay will only feel guilty about that. At least, I would think that if I was there, I might have helped more than if I was here guarding a portal that closed. Fortunes and risks walk hand in hand. Since we believe each other, we should confront everything that comes at us together. Besides, even if the portal closes, it doesn't mean that there are no other exits. Not to mention that whatever we find will be ours. In my opinion, the gains overcome the risks."

Yusa also agreed with Ao. She is a money-grubber, but she still puts the blockhead and mister cool guy as the most important for her.

Krune sighed and didn't say anything more. If Yusa and Ao entered, he obviously would stay behind, waiting to see what will happen with them.

At that moment, Krune, Yusa, and Ao looked at Shinja.

"That being said, the decision lies on Shinja's shoulders. If she says we go, then we go, if she says we stay, then we stay. We trust your decision."

Shinja was taken aback, why would they leave the final decision for her? She was feeling a little sad at first. She heard those three talking but felt like she wasn't supposed to be there. That they might not even care her opinion in the first place. But it turns out that they decided to trust her as the decision-maker. It might not be appearing on her face, but she felt really moved at the moment, this goes to show how much they consider her own will.

She looked at the gate, and determination appeared on her face.

'If they can trust me like that, then I shall trust them as well!'

She looked back at her new friends and smiled, something that she wasn't used to normally doing.

"I say we confront risks together, share the fortunes together, and if fate dictates so, we die together. We shall enter!"

Yusa immediately jumped over and hugged her, she was really happy.

Krune and Ao just smiled after seeing that, Ao then sent a message through Divine Sense to Krune.

"It seems like our group got a new member."

Krune nodded.

Krune looked at them and said.

"Alright, so are going to enter, but not now. I need some time to check one thing first."

They looked at Krune and nodded.

It was Yusa then remembered one thing.

"Right! During that battle against the fog leopard, your Thunder Water Dragons suddenly dispersed, why was that?"

Krune nodded.

"Exactly! That's what I want to check. At that moment, I felt something in my foundation that reacted to the lightning power that I used in the Myriad Water Thunder Dragons. I want some time to check why that happened."

He then looked at Shinja and asked.

"You probably know more about the situation of the Danger Zones than us, do you think that those Divine Soul demon beasts would probe this location?"

Shinja shook her head.

"Extremely unlikely. We are too deep under the ground, to probe an enormous region with Divine Sense is already somewhat difficult. To include two kilometers deep in the ground on top of that is out of the question. Otherwise, this gate would have been found a long time ago. Not to mention that the Raskie Danger Zone fog affects the Divine Sense to start with."

Krune understood the situation and nodded. The next second, he transformed back to his wisp form and moved to a corner.

Shinja eyes almost popped out of her sockets! She even rubbed her eyes to see if she wasn't hallucinating, but Krune was still there in the same way.

"Is that a wisp?"

Yusa put a hand on her shoulder and nodded.

"Now you know why he shows no mercy when he sees someone harming other wisps. He is basically protecting his race."

Still, Shinja found it unbelievable.

"How is that possible? Shouldn't wisps be extremely weak? His combat prowess is out of the charts too, and he far surpasses the strength of those with the same cultivation level."

Yusa turned to Krune and asked.

"Is it okay if I talk with her about that?"

Krune agreed.

"Go ahead. I will have to concentrate for a while, so leave some space for me here. Make sure to explain to Shinja about everything, and the Myriad Energies Technique is okay too."

Yusa nodded and left with Shinja, she was going to explain about Krune's power. She then took a blood contract and started writing on it.

"Shinja, this is not because we don't trust you. In fact, I might tell you this straight away. Krune is a wisp that will never force anyone he trusts into a blood contract. This is something that Ao and I insisted on doing. That's because you will not be able to talk about it without Krune's agreement. Also, it won't allow those memories to be forcefully read like with Soul Searches that high-level cultivators can do."

Shinja then looked at Ao Sulian, who nodded. She then took a deep breath and signed it. Krune had already shown his wisp form before she signed anything to start with. If she wanted, she could simply refuse, and no one here would be able to do a thing. They are still not her match, but even so, Krune still trusted her and showed his true form! In Shinja's eyes, that's enough.

"Can you tell me now how a wisp was able to get to this point?"

Yusa and Ao nodded and started talking about everything.

On the other side of the cave, Krune was paying attention to his rainbow core. He started to summon a little lightning elemental energy outside. At first, nothing happened, which made him a little puzzled. Krune then decided to straightly use the Thunder Line skill. As expected, his rainbow core rippled, and his control over the skill went out of control once more. After some sparks flew around, the skill that had just formed disappeared.

'As I thought, it's the lightning elemental energy that causes it. The moment I use lightning power, the lightning element inside my rainbow core reacts to it. If I'm not wrong, it is because the rainbow core's lightning came from the Heavenly Tribulation. Could it be that it has some conscience of its own?'

But that was not important. The issue was that Krune couldn't use the lightning element because of that. He tried several times but had no use. As long as a large amount of lightning elemental energy was used, his rainbow core lightning would mess up with it. It was then that Krune had an idea.

'Could it be that my rainbow core wants to eat the lightning that I'm using?'

He thought it to be very likely. Otherwise, why would it intervene only when a lot of elemental power was used? That's probably because it only cares if there is a lot.

Krune then directly summoned lightning energy around the rainbow core, and sure enough, it started absorbing the lightning element. But that wasn't all, he could feel that the power of lightning that he fed to his rainbow core was being converted into the power of Tribulation Lightning as well. It was then that a crazy idea came into mind.

'If there is a lot of Tribulation Lightning power, can I use it by myself?'

He didn't know if it was feasible. First of all, he had never heard about someone having the Tribulation Lightning as part of their cores, let alone using it.

'But if it works, the power of my lightning skills will multiply several times. It will definitely become my best trump card!'

Krune then kept feeding lightning power to his Core. The process was quite slow, not to mention that it used a lot of spiritual energy. The problem was that only 5% more or less of the lightning element power that he sent in was converted into tribulation lighting. The rest was simply discarded by his rainbow core. Still, Krune understood the reason.

'The tribulation lightning of my rainbow core is basically filtering all the impurities in my own lightning power. In the end, only 5% is usable. But this is good too, it shows how powerful this Tribulation Lightning really is.'

Time passed, and Krune had to stop to recover his spiritual energy three times. Only after around 10 hours did his rainbow core finally stop absorbing the lightning element.

'First, instead of trying to use the tribulation lightning, let's try to use a normal Thunder Line. I want to see if my rainbow core's Tribulation Lightning will intervene now.'

Krune summoned the lightning element and used the skill. The Thunder Line pierced the cave wall and disappeared deep inside.

'As expected, if my rainbow core's Tribulation Lightning is satisfied, it won't mess around with my normal control over the lighting element. Even if I can't use the power of the Tribulation Lightning, I still found a way to stop it from affecting my own lightning element. The problem is, how should I try to use it?'

Krune pondered a bit and tried to guide the tribulation lightning just like he guides his spiritual energy. Still, it didn't even move. Krune decided to bait the lightning out using his own lightning power as a bridge, but no success either. In fact, there wasn't much Krune do anyway. It was then that he thought about something.

'When my Spiritual Energy Meridians were being formed, they were capable of absorbing and let the tribulation lightning pass through. Can I do the opposite?'

Krune had never thought about doing the reverse option. Still, he thought it was worth a try. Instead of connecting all his seven meridians with his universe foundation, he moved one out and connected directly with his rainbow core. Although nothing happened at first, it made Krune understand one thing.

'I see, that's because I used my meridians to absorb. For this to work, I have to reverse the flux. Instead of absorbing things from outside, I will absorb things from the inside.'

As expected, when the flux of the spiritual energy meridians was changed, it started to absorb the Tribulation Lightning from the rainbow core. For safety's sake, Krune absorbed just a little bit of Tribulation Lightning and then fused its power with his own lightning element. After that, he used the Thunder Line skill again.

Krune was impressed! The size of this Thunder Line increased by three times, and it was obviously much more powerful. He then threw it against the cave wall. As expected, it also pierced through the wall and went deep inside. Not to mention that the hole left behind was much bigger than the previous one too. Krune used his Divine Sense to probe the distance that it traveled before dissipating, and it wasn't before it got a hundred meters away that it lost of the power.

'Impressive! The normal Thunder Line was only able to pierce twenty-some meters inside. However, with just this little bit of Tribulation Lightning, the power increased several times!'

Don't look down on the distance that the lightning went through the wall. Lightning Energy is weak against the earth in the very first place, for it to go all the way to a hundred meters is already very scaring.

Krune got excited, and he wanted to try more! He then returned to his human form and went to talk with Yusa and the others. He explained what he found and that he wanted to test it outside.

'It is also a test to see how much tribulation lightning I can summon at once. My rainbow core definitely won't allow me to use everything, so I need to know my limit.'

Yusa and the others nodded. If they are venturing together inside the secret realm, they must know their group members' full capabilities. Only like that their teamwork can reach its peak.

Krune's group left the cave and covered its entrance. After that, they moved far away from there. If Krune's tribulation lightning is really that powerful, then he might attract a lot of attention after using it.

Krune asked Shinja's to help find a 9th stage Foundation Establishment demon beast. After looking for over an hour, Krune's Divine Sense finally spotted one. It was a Crimson Tiger, and it was at the peak of the 9th stage at that.

Krune told Shinja to be ready to help in case things go south and went forward to confront the beast. Tigers are lonely by nature, and this one was no different. Thanks to that, Krune didn't have to bait one out of a group in the first place. He didn't waste time and went directly to attack.

When Crimson Tiger saw Krune, it was surprised.

"To think that a 4th stage weakling would come this far inside the Danger Zone, I guess this is my lucky day."

Krune smiled after hearing that.

"Is that so?"

The tiger was taken aback with that answer. Its instincts told it that something was not right. It then used its Divine Sense, but only Krune appeared in it. Shinja stayed far behind precisely to prevent the tiger from noticing her presence. Krune told her that if it doesn't work, he has the confidence to hold long enough for her to arrive.

After the tiger found nothing, it didn't wait anymore. The feeling that something bad was going to happen was still bothering it, so it attacked straight away to not give a chance for anything to happen.

Krune saw it moving straight at him, and it would be in front of him in a second.

'An attack that can use the total power of the lightning tribulation available to me. There is only one thing that powerful in my book.'

Krune concentrated his entire mind in the attack. His spiritual energy meridian absorbed tribulation lightning like crazy until its connection with the rainbow core was cut off by the Core itself. Krune then concentrated the entire power of the Tribulation Lightning high above him.

"Heavens Fall!"

That was the only thing he could think of. The attack that had given the greatest impression ever since he was born, the lightning strikes of the Heavenly Tribulation! Only that would be able to display the full might of the Tribulation Lightning.

The Crimson Tiger was alarmed! That strike came too fast, and it had absolutely no time to even think about a countermeasure when it hit its back.

Boom!

An enormous explosion blasted everything away. Even Krune, who was the owner of the attack, was sent flying in the distance. Krune was only able to stop himself after two hundred meters! The fog around was cleared up to five kilometers away, and it even revealed Shinja and the others in the distance. They looked at that apocalyptic scene in front of them, and that sight gave them shivers!

"That's not the power a Foundation Establishment should have. Even an early stage Core Formation cultivator would probably die if hit head-on with such an attack!"

When Krune looked at where the Crimson Tiger was, there was only a crater left behind with lightning sparks appearing everywhere. The tiger was nowhere to be seen, and it seemed like it had been completely pulverized! Not even its demon core was left behind. Krune looked at that scene with apprehension. The power of the tribulation lightning was too absurd! Still, Krune quickly came back to himself. This explosion will definitely attract the attention of the nearby demon beasts, so they need to leave soon!

Back in the cave, Yusa and the others were looking at Krune as if he was a monster. All that attention made him feel quite uncomfortable, though.

Shinja then asked him.

"How did you keep the tribulation lightning with you? I also underwent the tribulation when I reached the foundation stage with my Universe Foundation. Still, I had to give my all just to fend it off, let alone keep it. Not to mention that I had the help of the guild back then. Otherwise, I would have definitely died."

Krune explained that he used his spiritual energy meridians to guide it inside. He then divided it into several parts before conducting it to hit his planet. He told what happened after the tribulation was over and how the remnant power of the tribulation lightning struck his rainbow core while it was being formed.

Shinja and the others were amazed. In the end, it was just a coincidence that something like that happened. Still, Shinja understood better. There is no way someone would purposely strike their future Core after being successful in building a Universe Foundation. It would be just seen as suicide!

Ao couldn't help but comment.

"Anyway, that strike was too powerful. That peak 9th stage Foundation Establishment Crimson Tiger was turned into dust, this is incredible!"

The other looked at him with jealously! If by drinking his blood, they could gain that power, they would definitely suck him dry!

Krune looked away and pretended he didn't notice it.

"I just used a little bit too much strength, that's all."

The other's mouth twitched.

Just a little bit? Is he making fun of us? If that is just a little bit, then what about us? Can you at least first think about our feelings?

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Krune was sitting on a corner of the cave recovering his Tribulation Lightning, and just like before, it was absorbing all the lightning energy that he sent in and after filtering. But this time, Krune noticed one thing.

'The amount of tribulation lightning that it has after I used the Heavens Fall is bigger than before I started feeding it for the first time. It's still early to say, but maybe the rainbow core is keeping extra lightning every time. If that is the case, what is it accumulating Tribulation Lightning for?'

Unfortunately, Krune had no answer to that question. Still, since that is his own future core, it's not going to harm him, right? But then again, that's the power of the Tribulation Lightning, the same power that tried to obliterate him! In the end, Krune just sighed and decided to put those thoughts behind to focus on another idea.

'I was able to temper my soul through the power of the tribulation lightning during the Heavenly Tribulation. Since I can take some of the Tribulation Lightning out, I should be able to use it to temper it again.'

After recovering the Tribulation Lightning power, Krune used his Spiritual Energy meridian to take some of the lightning power to strike his soul. As expected, the pain was enormous. Still, by the end of it, Krune was feeling ecstatic!

'It works! My soul can really be tempered with the power of the Tribulation Lightning! With that, my Divine Sense will get even stronger. Of course, I can't use too much of it every time. I have to give my soul enough time to recover, or I might permanently damage it. Steadiness the key.'

Krune then kept using the power of tribulation lightning to temper his soul until he felt that he was approaching his limits. If others were to know that Krune was attacking his own soul with tribulation lightning, they would all think that he is a lunatic!

It had been three days since everyone came back to the gate's cave. They didn't immediately enter after Krune recovered, though. First, Krune's group waited some time to see if someone would appear. Krune's Heavens Fall was too catchy after all, and they might have been followed without noticing. Fortunately, no one appeared, so they decided that it was time to enter.

Krune came forward and then said

"I will enter first. Wait ten minutes before entering too, if this gate has some trap that only detects cultivators inside, then it should activate after I pass through. In that case, I will try to send a signal back through the gate before any of you come as well."

Everyone nodded and got prepared.

Krune didn't say anything else and passed through. The world around him warped and got black for a second. When the light returned, he was already on the other side. Krune then immediately spread his Divine Sense and checked around, waiting to see if someone or something would attack him. However, after waiting for an entire minute, everything was still silent, and no movement could be felt. The gate behind him was still opened and didn't seem like it was going to close anytime soon. Krune let out a sigh of relief and then waited for the ten minutes to be up.

Ten minutes later, Yusa and the others appeared inside. Krune was still there looking around carefully to see if now that they were all inside, it would activate some countermeasure. But much to his relief, nothing happened even with the increase in numbers.

Shinja looked around and spoke.

"It seems like it really doesn't have anyone. So, should we go up?"

Krune and the others nodded.

"I expanded my Divine Sense to the limit, but this secret realm is just like the Fog Forest. Also, it hinders the power of my Divine Sense to a much greater extent. Outside I could penetrate all the way to the gate's cave, which was two kilometers underground. But here I can't spread my Divine Sense for even 400 meters. How is yours, Shinja?"

Shinja checked out and felt the same as Krune.

"You're right, I can spread my Divine Sense to a little bit more than 400 meters. It seems like we can only go out and see the outside world with our eyes."

Krune and the others agreed and immediately started to work. The soil in this place was several times harder than outside, and it took them three days to finally be able to see the end of it. When they finally stepped outside, they were amazed.

They looked around, and it seemed like they were in the middle of a city. However, it was utterly desert! Some of the buildings were even on the verge of falling down while others have already crumbled. It was evident that no one entered this place in hundreds, no, probably thousands of years!

They were expecting a nature-related realm, but definitely not a city. After checking around, they confirmed that not a single soul could be found around. Demon beasts? Forget it! They couldn't even find common animals like spiders, rats, or ants. It was a completely dead city.

"What do we do now? Let alone fortunes, I can't even find a piece of metal without being rusted by time."

Yusa was a little sad since this secret realm was totally different than what she expected. Krune looked around and then sighed.

"From what I know about secret realms, as long as we find in which direction there is more spiritual energy, we should find where the fortunes are. Also, secret realms are enormous, and this one is just like it. When I went up to a building and looked in the distance, I simply couldn't find the end of it."

Ao then commented.

"In that case, let's choose a direction and move out. If Spiritual Energy increases, we keep going. Otherwise, we go back. Just remember to mark this place in your communicator, that way we can find our way back here."

The group nodded, and after marking the location, they moved out. The buildings around seemed to never change, though. They found quite some shops, and one of them was definitely for selling weapons. Still, after entering, the weapons that were left behind didn't have even a strand of spiritual energy on them. Ao took out a rusted sword from a weapons rack and examined it. After that, he let out a sigh and said.

"The weapons inside this shop don't have spiritual energy. But it is not because a lot of time passed and it ran out, it is just that they were made to be ordinary weapons to start with. It seems that this city wasn't made for cultivators."

Shinja agreed with that statement.

"I believe you are right. All the other houses and buildings we checked had no trace of being a place that cultivators would spend their time. None of the still intact tools that we found was something that cultivators would use either. They are all common and very old too, so I don't believe that cultivators even passed through this place often."

Krune then said.

"It's impossible for cultivators to not have been involved. Secret realms are things that only all might cultivators can make after all. As to why this expert moved a lot of common people to live in this city, I don't know. Maybe it was some experiment or something similar."

"In that case, let's keep moving. Have any of you notice any difference in the spirit energy in the air so far?"

Everyone shook their heads. Even after walking an entire hour, they didn't feel any difference what so ever. There is spiritual energy, that's true, but it looked like that this secret realm was built exclusively for common people to live in.

Krune then asked the others something.

"For those experts, is it possible to move the secret realms with them when they want to leave?"

Everyone shook their heads. They had no idea, this information was far from what low-level cultivators like them could have access to.

"What is your idea?"

Krune looked around and then said.

"I just feel like this is some kind of display, a place that that expert or maybe several experts built to watch the common people live."

Yusa and the others were taken aback.

"Why would he spend his time in something nonsensical like that? It doesn't make sense."

Krune shook his head. This was just a feeling, nothing more.

"In that case, let's keep moving. If what you said is correct, then there is bound to have a place where those experts stayed while they looked at everyone. If there is any fortune, it's there."

Krune's group moved out and walked for an entire day. Still, they found nothing different. The spiritual energy hasn't changed even a bit, either. It was reaching a point where their group was already starting to feel depressed.

Yusa felt the surrounding spiritual energy and said.

"So, it seems like we are going nowhere. This feeling of wandering without destiny is already making me feel numb."

Krune's eyes suddenly widened after hearing that.

"We screwed up!"

The rest looked at him with puzzled expressions.

"Can't you see it? It doesn't matter if there were cultivators inside this city before back then or not. There is no way that Spiritual Energy could not have changed even a bit after walking for so long. Let alone a secret realm that works because of Spiritual Energy. There is only one way for that to happen, and that is if we haven't left the same place at all!"

Ao and the others expressions finally changed.

"We are walking in circles!"

Yusa then asked.

"But how is that possible? If we really were walking in the same place, we should have been able to recognize some of the places that we passed before."

Shinja shook her head.

"This is only the case if the place we are trapped is a small one. But what if this formation that is trapping us inside is enormous? It simply happens that we haven't walked into a place that we recognize yet."

Krune nodded.

"In that case, we will need to find the core of this illusion formation and destroy it. Otherwise, there is no way we can ever move forward."

Ao didn't have too big of an expectative.

"We are talking about a supreme expert here, someone with a Cultivation Realm that you won't be able to find in the Makui planet. What are the chances of being able to find it with our strength? Even if we find, can we destroy it?"

They looked at each other and felt helpless. But it was then that Krune's eyes suddenly lit up! He looked at Yusa and Shinja and then asked.

"What if we just cut off the spiritual energy that is feeding the illusion formation? Would we be able to find it easier due to the lack of spiritual energy?"

Yusa and Shinja looked at each other and then nodded.

"It should be possible. If the main source of spiritual energy is barred, the core will try to gather spiritual energy from the surroundings. A formation of this size will definitely cause some ripples on the spiritual energy inside it since the spiritual energy will charge to the core. We should be able to pinpoint the location of the core with that."

They continued.

"But if we knew where it is, it would be better to use the spiritual energy from it to find the core of the formation first. It's better than wait for the energy outside to move to it. In fact, it should be much easier."

Krune nodded.

"That's even better, so we just need to find the source first."

Everyone looked at Krune, and it seemed like he had an idea.

"But how are you going to find the main source of spiritual energy that feeds the formation?"

Krune suddenly laughed out loud and said.

"Find it? Why should I? We all know very well where it is!"

Only then did the three of them understand the crux of the situation.

"Right! The gate to the outside world! Now I understand why there was no trap and why it was hidden deep underground. It was the source of the core! Not only that, since the gate is the source, the core is bound to be close!"

But then Yusa asked.

"But how are we going to find our way back? As far as I know, even our communicator's markers won't work inside of this formation. Even if we follow the place shown on the screen, we won't ever arrive there. Formations have evolved to cover such technological flaws a long time ago."

Krune heard that and laughed out loud once more.

"That's where you are wrong! Does this city look like a place where technology was developed before?"

"Ah!"

Everyone's eyes suddenly lit up!

"Correct! This is a formation from far too long ago, and obviously, before technology took its place in our universe. There is no way that the expert who created it would have counted for the fact that our technological devices exist. Chances are that he died even before technology itself was invented."

That being said, they immediately moved out. Krune's moved in the direction showed on their map screens and were even more surprised with this illusion formation. They were sure that they hadn't passed through some of those buildings before. They even felt like they were, in fact, walking in circles. Still, their communicators did not disappoint them. Ten hours later, they were back to the entrance of the cave.

They descended into the gate's cave, and sure enough, the gate was still open. To be more precise, it would always be open. The core of the formation can't do without it, after all.

It didn't take long for them to find the core of the formation after following the flow of spiritual energy coming from the gate.

Yusa looked at it and sighed.

"There is a barrier around the core. If we want to destroy it, we will need to stop the flow of spiritual energy first."

Shinja nodded.

"There is no other way. It's not something we can breakthrough with only our strength. Let's go back to the gate first."

Back at the gate, Ao asked.

"How are we going to stop the spiritual energy from passing through?"

While everyone was thinking about a way, Krune looked at the gate, and his eyes lit up.

"Should we destroy it?"

The others' hearts almost stopped! They then looked at Krune like they were looking at someone beyond salvation.

Krune noticed their eyes and felt a little embarrassed.

"Cough, cough. It was just a joke."

Ao and the others felt a chill behind their backs. They are absolutely sure, Krune was being 100% serious just now!

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Read Is that a Wisp? Chapter 51 Languages online for free - AllNovelFull

They kept thinking but no idea came out, other than destroying it they didn't have other options at hand.

Yusa looked at it and said.

"The best way would be if we had a formation to stop the flow, it would not damage the gate while stopping any spiritual energy from entering."

Ao couldn't help but comment

"But we don't have any here at moment, the only way would be to go back to the city and see if we can acquire one, should we go back first?"

Krune and the other pondered a bit about it.

"It seems like our only option at moment, we shouldn't waste too much time just in case, we can also take this chance to buy a few things that might be necessary, we can even set up a cover, when we go back, we go to the guild and accept another mission for this Danger Zone, this way no one in the Headquarters or in Kaley City branch were we are registered will grow suspicious with our long time spent in here, Shinja is bound to a blood contract to protect me, so she following us is just obvious."

They nodded, that was indeed a good idea.

After concealing the entrance to the gate, they immediately moved back, this time they didn't stop for anything and moved at full speed, what had taken one week before, this time only took four days to arrive back at the city.

After arriving, they immediately parted ways, Shinja and Yusa went to buy a formation runestone to stop the flow of spiritual energy, Krune and Ao went to the guild to apply for a new mission inside the Raskie Danger Zone, they specially chose one that didn't look too easy but took a lot of time to complete.

They also bought two puppets each in case they have a need to send it to try some dangerous or suspicious place or situation.

The group also bought a few items that might be helpful and then gathered back at the city gate, this time they are really ready for what is coming.

"Shall we go?"

Everyone nodded and signed their departure at the entrance, after that they immediately moved straight away back to secret realm gate.

Another four days passed on the way back, as expected, no one found the gate entrance, which is obvious, it had been hidden down there for millenniums without anyone notice, let alone in just a little more than a week.

Once back inside, Yusa started to set up the formation runstone to stop the spiritual energy flow from the gate from passing through.

"It's ready, spiritual energy has stopped, I bought a Four Stars spiritual energy lock formation runestone this time, it was very expensive, this secret realm is better give me a good return."

Krune asked something

"How long will the runestone formation last?"

"Five days, this should be more than enough for us to deal with the illusion core I believe."

They nodded and moved back to the core of the illusion formation.

Yusa and Shinja took a look and said

"It is still working fine, but that is to be expected, we have just cut of the flow of spiritual energy, it will take some time for the spiritual energy inside to be used as well."

Krune then said.

"Let's attack the barrier, it won't break but will still accelerate the spiritual energy consumption, the fast we finish it the better."

Everyone accepted the idea and started attacking it while managing their spiritual energy, they would use at most 30% to 40% of their spiritual energy before sitting down and recover it to their peak, in case something happen they will still be in shape to battle.

Time passed and it had already been a day since they started to attack the barrier, by now it was already very dim, it wouldn't be long before it broke and they got access to the core formation, finally, after a lot of effort, the barrier disappeared.

Only then could they destroy the core of the formation, but before that Krune asked.

"Do we need to destroy it? Can't we simply take it away and put in our spatial rings?"

Shinja shook her head.

"The core of a formation is one with the formation itself, you would need to be able to keep the entire formation in you spatial ring to be able to take it away, unless you knew how to deactivate it of course."

Krune shook his head, he has absolutely no idea how to do that, he was hopping to take it back to sell in the city later, it probably is worth quite some spirit stones even if it is a relic from thousands of years ago.

'Maybe I should try to join the formations guild too, it could come in hand in a situation like this is the future.'

Since that was the case, they immediately attacked together, it showed some resistance but still broke apart in the end, it wasn't made for fending off attacks in the first place anyway.

As soon as the formation core was broken they felt like the part of the city where they were started to tremble, they immediately went up to check what was happening, when they got outside they noticed that the landscape changed, not only that, but an enormous amount of spiritual energy rushed at them, it was several times higher than what they had outside, it would be worth even if they simply stopped to cultivate here.

The city that looked the same before now seemed completely different, Krune jumped over a build and looked in the distance.

"I can see the end of the city now, on the opposite side should be the city center, where you wanna go first?"

Yusa immediately said

"To the center of course, we already spent so much time and we are still in the same place, if there is something good, it's definitely there."

The other also agreed with that, but then Krune asked.

"What if this is not the only illusion formation covering this city? We were lucky that we entered that formation through its spiritual energy source, so it was easy to find the core, but it won't happen next time."

This time it was Shinja that answered.

"No need to worry, we can use our communicators map function to escape the next ones, before, we couldn't do that because we could only put markers inside of the formation, so it was useless to use it to escape outside, but if the marker is outside, then it's easier, we just need to follow it to leave the formation, even though it will look like that we are walking in circles, in fact we will be moving straight forward outside the formation."

Krune and the other agreed with that, if they could use the markers to find the way back to the gate, then they can use it to escape the next ones.

"Alright, let's go then."

They put down the markers in the map function of their communicators and immediately moved in the direction of the city center, with no illusion formation to hinder their path they finally could see differences in the city the further they moved in.

After moving during two days, they could see a gigantic wall ahead, they could have got here much faster, but to be safe they moved slowly until they got to this place, even so they still fell inside another two formations, but thanks to the markers that they were leaving on the way, it was very easy to leave them, illusion formations are not barriers, they don't stop people from moving out as long as they are moving in the right direction.

That wall seemed to separate the commoner's city from the center, it was very well conserved, it didn't look like it had suffered with all the time that had passed at all, for normal people it would be impossible to simply climb to the top, but not for foundation establishment cultivators like them, it was way too easy, but when they finally got close to the wall, they finally found the first living being, or better, not exactly a living one, but a puppet, and there was several of them at that, they seemed to be patrolling the wall on its top.

"What should we do, try to barge in without they noticing?"

Krune shook his head.

"Those puppets don't seem to be weak, although we probably can deal with a few of them it would be troublesome if we are found and we were attacked by all of them together, I don't think that their order are to attack anyone they see, it seems like they are just there to stop people for entering without permission, since that's the case, there should be a gate somewhere in this wall, we better go there and check things first."

Yusa and the others nodded and started to follow the wall, on the way, Krune showed himself in front of those puppets to check his theory, the puppets looked at him from the top of the wall but didn't do anything, after Krune left they went back to their patrolling.

"As expected, it seems like that the orders that they received a long time ago is still valid, protect the wall, don't let anyone without a permission pass, that should be basically it."

Yusa looked at that and couldn't help but be surprised.

"There is so many of them, how come they are still working after so much time have passed."

Ao answered that.

"That's not hard to imagine, since they have so many puppets, they might have other puppets specialized in repairs of other puppets like themselves, as long as a source of spiritual energy is available for them to recharge, they are practically immortals."

Krune and the other agreed with that idea, unless the cultivators inside are still alive and repairing the puppets themselves, this could be the only explanation.

It only took then a little more than an hour to arrive at the gate, just like the wall, the gate was also enormous, but it didn't matter, what mattered is that it was also guarded by puppets, there was no signal of life anywhere.

They approached the gate and the puppets that were covered in dust due to the long time without moving came back to life, they formed a line in front of the gate and looked straight away at Krune's group.

It was obviously that they wouldn't let their group pass, but they weren't moving to the gate anyway, but to a building beside it, this building was different from the others in the city behind them, it was very well maintained and a few puppets could also be seen inside. They entered the building and were all extremely alert, if something happened they would flee straight away and think about another way after.

"If we are not wrong this should be the place where we can get a register to go inside, just like any other city outside, so we shouldn't be attacked, but keep your guard up just in case."

They moved slowly and reached a balcony where a puppet was sit, the puppet looked at them and spoke with a robotic like voice. But Yusa and the others face immediately changed.

"I don't understand a single word at all!"

Ao commented.

"That is to be expected, this is a place from several thousand years ago, it would be weird if they spoke the same language as ours."

"What should we do?"

But before they could even thinking about a way, Krune went forward and spoke with the puppet in the same language, Shinja and the others looked at him as if they had seen a ghost.

Krune looked at them and said.

"He is asking our names, local of origin and how long we intend to stay inside."

Ao and the others jaw dropped.

"How can you understand their language? Have you seen these things before?"

Krune shook his head.

"That's why you should study more, back in the guild I had to cultivate during the night, but doing that alone was a waste of time, so while I cultivated I also studied the contents available on the network, I intend to one day leave this planet, so I downloaded a lot of different languages available in the system for me to study, this puppet just so happen to be talking one of those hundreds of languages that I memorized."

Hundreds of languages… While cultivating on top of that!

They could only think.

'It would be great if his EQ was as good as his IQ.'

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Krune went back to talk with the puppet. This secret realm is very old, so things like digital ID and communicators don't exist. What the puppet gave them was a jade token, which carried their information the old fashion way, and Krune then took this opportunity to make a few more questions.

"So, the puppet said that it has been a total of 3789 years since the last cultivator registered to enter the city. I asked if it knew what had happened for the city to get empty. But it seems like it can't overthink, so it just kept silent, or maybe we simply don't have the authority to make it talk. I also asked why we are allowed to enter this easily. It said that as long as a cultivator appears, they should be given a token to enter the inner city. That's the rules! Then I asked why no cultivators were living outside, only common people lived there before. But it kept silent again. In the end, there was almost nothing it could tell us."

Shinja then said:

"Ask it if there is a place to acquire information inside the inner city. It might be easier if we go to such a place first. It doesn't seem to be that dangerous."

Krune nodded, he turned around and asked the puppet:

"It says that all the information can be got in the inner city Order Hall; we can find it close to the center of the inner city itself."

They nodded and then left. When the puppets arrived at the gate, Krune took out his token and showed to them in front, immediately. All the puppets gave way, the gate behind them opened, and they could finally enter the inner city.

When they traversed to the other side, they were surprised. It looked completely different from the outside city. Although there were no living beings still, there were a lot of puppets taking care of the houses, shops, stores, and so on. The inner city was definitely a city made for cultivators, magical equipment, formations, alchemist pills, and potions. Everything could be found inside.

Yusa looked around and thought about something.

"Why do I feel like those illusion formations outside weren't there to trap us, but to test whether we could reach this place or not?"

Krune and the others looked at her and had surprised expressions.

"Indeed, it doesn't matter how powerful the illusion formations outside were. They didn't harm us in any way, just stopped us from advancing. It would also make sense since the puppets outside let us enter without asking for much information, just some."

Ao then reminded them of something.

"But what about the people who lived there before? They were just common people. Those formations would keep them there forever."

It was at this moment that Krune's eyes lit up.

"We have always thought about the fact that only common people could have lived there. Tell me, if this is really a trial, could it be that there has never been anyone living in the outside city to start with? It goes against what I thought. I thought the outside city was made for the expert in the past to look at the people living. But now that I think that those formations were a test, it might be the city outside was indeed made so that the cultivators inside could observe it, but not the ordinary people. It was made to observe the trial takers!"

Everyone felt like that what Krune had said made a lot of sense.

Moving forward, they entered a few shops, but, in the end, they left disappointed. Any pills for sale had lost its effects a long time ago. Puppets couldn't concoct any more after all. The equipment was so bad, but compared to the ones they can buy nowadays, it was still lacking. The formation runestone was even worse, although they still worked regularly. The price asked for them was several times higher than a formation with the same effect outside. However, it was to be expected! It was much harder to make them in the past. The puppets selling them just kept the old price and never changed it.

"Could it be that we came here for nothing?"

Krune shook his head.

"That's not true. It could be said that this secret realm is only ours now. We can do pretty much anything we want here. When our cultivation is high enough, we can deal with the puppets and take out what they have. This is a treasure trove. We just aren't able to take what is inside yet."

The others' mood finally improved. Indeed, there were only puppets around. They are all strong, but nothing ridiculous. As long as they get strong enough, everything inside the inner city can be taken outside to be sold for spirit stones. They are not losing in this trade for sure.

"Besides, this is just what we can see now. I refuse to believe that the center of the inner city doesn't have better things."

They kept moving forward. Although the inner city is much smaller than the outside, it is still much bigger than Kaley City. For example, a few hours later, they finally reached the Order Hall. This is the place where they supposedly can get information. The group entered inside, and, to their surprise, there weren't any puppets taking care. There was only a big formation on the ground and several other rooms with exactly the same formation. In the end, they decided to have them step inside to check what it is.

Krune was the one to do that since he was the only one who could understand their language without using a translator. After stepping inside, the formation activated, and it showed an illusory form of a middle-aged man wearing a white robe. He had long hair, which was common between cultivators from the past. After a few seconds, he looked at Krune and smiled.

"It has been 3789 years since the last cultivator appeared in this city. I thought the city was doomed not to have a single soul stepping on it ever since the main gate to the outside world was destroyed back then. But it seems, in the end, like the heavens have eyes. Someone finally came!"

Krune and the others outside could hear the old man. Earlier, after Krune helped them register to enter the inner city, Krune had passed to their communicator the language that the puppets were talking about. And, through the use of the auto translator in their own device, they could understand what the man was saying. Of course, Krune had a much easier time since he didn't need to look at the translated words. He understood the language's rules, and it was still enough for his companions to at least understand what was being said.

Krune looked at the man and asked:

"Can you tell me what this place is?"

That was definitely the most important question now. Everything else could start after that. The illusory man in the formation wasn't really alive. He only had a sliver of a will attached in the formation so that he could have a conversation with those who came. He nodded and started explaining.

"Of course, this is the Mohie Sect Branch Dimension. It is a city built to test new cultivators wishing to join the Mohie Sect of the past. The city outside is only the first test. Although it has no real danger, one could totally be trapped inside those illusion formations for all eternity. In the past, if the contestants didn't pass the test in the time stipulated, they would be teleported outside after the test was over. But, because there was no one to control the formations, those entering after that, had no way of leaving, and died there."

Krune's group had felt a chill behind their back. If they didn't have their communicators to help them with the test, they could very well stay there forever.

"Why isn't there anyone living here anymore?"

The man continued:

"From the information passed to me before the last member of the Mohie sect left, the Sect was in a war against their main foe, the Rasie Clan. In the past, both forces had occupied several planets on the southwest side of the western protectorate. But, because the resources were limited, a conflict started to appear, leading to an all-out war between both powers. Due to the Sect's orders, all cultivators should leave the Mohie Sect Branch Dimension to fight in the war. From what I know, the Mohie Sect was on the losing side, but that was when the Dimension Main Gate was destroyed. As there was no one left behind to start with, the Dimension kept empty ever since then."

Krune and the others took a deep breath. They knew very well what the Rasie Clan is. It is one of the biggest clans of their western protectorate, a big whale no smaller than the Wang Clan, one of the so-called big four. Thinking they would find a remnant of the archenemy of the Rasie Clan, this situation has just become even more complicated.

"Why was the gate destroyed?"

The man shook his head.

"I don't know. I guess it was destroyed to conceal its entrance. As far as I know, this dimension branch was moved somewhere else before that, but as to what happened after, I don't know."

Krune continued asking:

"You said earlier that someone had finally come. Does it mean you have an objective to be completed? Something that needs the involvement of someone from the outside?"

The man nodded.

"Exactly. The orders we had received when the last cultivator left were to wait for the next inheritor of the Mohie Sect Legacy, which would probably come from the outside."

The interest of Krune and the others were picked after hearing that.

"What is this Legacy about?"

"The Mohie Sect is a Divine Sense focused sect. The sect legacy focuses on attacking others' souls through their own Divine Sense. You could say this is a sect for those with powerful souls like the Spiritas Race. But even if you don't have a strong soul, the Sect has its ways of helping you improve it. We have cultivation techniques specially focused on the soul as well."

Everyone was taken aback. It's not like they haven't heard about Divine Sense used for attack before. But those are things far from what they could find in the Makui Planet. From what they know, only the Spiritas Empire from the Spiritas Race has cultivation techniques focused on the soul in their protectorate. Not to mention that the Spiritas Empire is also one of the big four.

Krune was ecstatic. His soul is already very strong for someone of his level. Because of that, he got a powerful Divine Sense that only some late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators have. If he could use the Mohie Sect Divine Sense techniques, his combat power would increase tremendously!

But, first, he has to finish this conversation.

"If we can receive the inheritance successfully, does it mean that we can gain control over this Secret Realm?"

The man in the illusory projection looked at Krune puzzled.

"Secret Realm? Oh! You are talking about this Dimension. The people outside call this a Secret Realm, I see. Well, it's not completely wrong. It has been hidden for a long time, after all. It could be considered somewhat secret."

The man then put this thought behind his mind and continued.

"You are correct. The control over this 'Secret Realm' can be transferred to the inheritor of the legacy. But listen! Before anyone of you accept the next part of the tests, remember! Once you decide to continue, you will, from now on, be considered a part of the Mohie Sect. I don't know what happened in the war between Mohie and Rasie, but it's most likely that we had lost. Otherwise, the sect higher-ups would have come back by now to reopen it."

"In that case, you might become an enemy of the Rasie Clan. There shouldn't be a lot of people still remembering the Divine Sense the Mohie Clan's techniques. But the Rasie Clan old fogies, especially those who had lived for over four thousand years, will definitely recognize our techniques."

Krune looked back at everyone and only saw that nodding. It is an excellent opportunity to improve one's soul, even if they have never used Divine Sense techniques. Just the difference that it will make on their Divine Sense is already considered a great fortune!

"Another thing, we have never said that we aren't part of the Rasie Clan! Why would you trust us so easily like that? I don't think the Mohie Clan inheritance is this easy to get."

The man shook his head.

"Any member or subordinate of the Rasie Clan has the White Tiger mark on their bodies. That mark is made using a special technique of the Rasie Clan. The Rasie Clan would never allow someone untrustworthy to enter a 'Secret Realm' of the Mohie Sect. When you first arrived in the city outside, the primary Dimension Formation had already checked your bodies and hadn't found anything. Otherwise, you would be dead already."

Krune nodded, it did make sense. The Rasie Clan was their mortal foe. There is no way the Secret Realms created by them wouldn't have countermeasures against members of the Rasie Clan infiltrating.

"Very well! Then please tell us more about the tests."

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The man in the illusory formation nodded.

The illusory formation then showed a spacious room with several paintings turned against their views. Those paintings were positioned in different places. Some were close, others were really far away. It was evident that the room had a space manipulation formation controlling its size, just like a pocket dimension.

"Very well! As a Divine Sense focused sect, our focus is on the soul of the participant. First, we are going to test your perception through the Divine Sense, and its range according to your cultivation. As you all know, Divine Sense permits the user to see everything around them. The sect wants to know how perceptive to the details you are and from how far you can see those details. Also, as you all know, the closer you are to something, the easier it is to see the object. We are going to use a few paintings, specially prepared for this test. The objective is to find on the paintings the things we are asking you."

After finishing the explanation of the first test, the illusory formation changed again. It's showing a standard room now. The only thing inside was a shining sphere in the center, but something was odd about that sphere: it showed some ripples every few seconds, and they couldn't see through its effects.

"On the second test, that sphere will test the endurance of the soul. Your souls will receive a Divine Sense attack according to the level of your cultivation. The first attacks won't do much damage, so you don't need to be afraid of suddenly dying or having your soul injured. But, please, be careful! There are several levels for this test. After you resist ten attacks, the level of the test will increase. This test has a total of ten levels. So, if you notice that you can't resist anymore, take your hand out of the sphere immediately. Don't try to insist! Injuries to the soul are very difficult to heal. It's not worth losing your future potential for short term results."

The illusory formation came back to normal, and only the man was appearing again. He looked at Krune and the others outside and said:

"For now, you only need to know about those two tests! If you pass the tests, you will be recognized as part of the Mohie Sect and will gain the right to participate in the next tests to receive the legacy of our sect. Those tests are involved with the Divine Sense attack, the Defence, and some other special uses. For example, to be able to see through formations that try to keep the Divine Sense out, and some others. You don't need to care about those for now. So what's your decision?"

Krune pondered a bit and asked him first:

"In general, how long do those tests take? If we fail, can we try again?"

"The tests themselves shouldn't take long. There is also no limit for the number of times you want to try either. In fact, you are quite lucky! In the past, every cultivator could only take the test once a year, because we had too many contestants, and it used a lot of resources. But now there are only the four of you here, and I doubt you have told anyone else to come to this place either! Even if you had, they would have to pass the first test outside; otherwise, they won't even be able to come here to start with."

Krune's curiosity was picked here!

"That's right! Why is the illusion formations test outside made in a city of commoners? Also, have there been any commoners living there in the past at all?"

The man in the illusory formation heard that and gave a quick laugh.

"Smart! Indeed, that was a city made for normal people to live in, not cultivators. But just as you have guessed, there have never been common people living there. I will give you four a hint: what do you think about common people? Or, in the case of this guy inside the illusory formation, what do you think about common beasts?"

Krune and the others were taken aback. What do they think about ordinary people and beasts? They pondered a bit, and it was Ao who thought about an answer first.

"Both ordinary people and ordinary beasts! Without them, there are no cultivators, except for a very few exceptions. No one is born a cultivator! We were all ordinary people or beast in the past. So the common people city outside is just for us to remember from where we all came… I guess."

Krune translated Ao words to the man, and the answer made the man in the illusory formation very happy.

"Exactly, it's a pity we can't make a proper first test anymore. Otherwise, our friend here, in human form, would have been sent to a different place to understand he was once an ordinary beast. Probably a forest, I think."

Krune, on the other hand, didn't care. Most of his time in Katiu Forest was spent fleeing from both humans and demon beast cultivators, and he didn't feel like he wanted to remember that to start with.

"Very well, I will talk to my friends first and start preparing. When we are ready, we will come back here."

Krune was just about to leave the illusory formation when he remembered one thing.

"Oh right, why is it called Mohie Sect?"

The man just laughed a little and said.

"Nothing much! It's just that the founder of the sect was called Mohie. His full name was Mohie Zarks. He was the one who gave the sect its name at the start. According to what I know, he founded the sect alone, so he just made things simple and put his name there, that's all. Pretty boring, right? Even the higher-ups thought it to be like that back then."

The man just laughed after that.

"Are, or were you a descendant of these Mohie Zarks guys?"

The man shook his head.

"As far as I know, he didn't leave behind any descendant. Of course, my position in the sect was shallow, so I might not have been told about possible descendants. My name before I left a sliver of my will in this formation was Hase Hasik. A pretty common name from where I came from."

Krune nodded and then stepped out of the formation. As soon as he left, the formation deactivated, and the man disappeared. Krune looked at everyone and then said:

"I shouldn't have too much of a problem to pass the first two tests with the power of my Divine Sense and soul, but I don't think it will be that much more difficult for you guys either."

Shinja and the others nodded. They know very well how ridiculous Krune's Divine Sense is, and it's not something one should have at his level of cultivation.

"How did you train your soul to this extent? Perhaps we can do the same before taking the test."

Krune shook his head.

"Remember that I'm a wisp! A wisp's soul is connected to its core. When I was breaking through the foundation establishment, I wasn't simply breaking my inner core. My soul, which is attached to it, was also suffering greatly. All the time I spent to slowly grind my cores interior had, in the end, tempered my soul, but that was a process of excruciating pain. The problem is that you, humans, don't have a soul inside your dantians! So you didn't pass through the same process as me."

" At the end of the breakthrough, my soul was tempered by the tribulation lightning. Again, because my soul, at that moment, could only exist in my core. Perhaps, in the future, when my cultivation is high enough, I will be able to separate it from my core, but that is something for later. Now I'm using the tribulation lightning that is inside my core to keep this painful process of tempering. But you, guys, don't have anything like that to start with."

Ao looked at Krune and then asked:

"Can't we use your tribulation lightning?"

Krune pondered a bit, but before he could talk, Shinja intervened.

"I don't think it's a good idea! I also passed through the tribulation lightning when I completed my universe foundation. The lightning of the heavenly tribulation is something directed at the person. If Krune's tribulation lightning is still the same one, then it is probably something that only he can use to temper his soul. Chances are that if we try to temper our souls with that, the tribulation lightning will see us as someone who is trying to stop it from fulfilling its job. This will increase its power several times to eliminate the thing that is in its way. Although I can't be sure about that, I believe I'm not wrong."

Yusa and Ao looked at them and asked:

"So, except for Shinja, who already has a Soul Power and Divine Sense stronger than those at her level, we can only try it out with our ordinary ones, right? If it's not possible, we might as well enter straight away since it will make no difference for Ao and me. The things Krune went through were basically coincidences pilled together, and we can't do the same as him."

Krune smiled and then said:

"You don't need to worry too much. Let me ask you: why do you think your control over your own elements increased so much?"

Shinja heard that question, and her eyes lit up. She even smiled a bit. She knew what Krune was trying to say, so she left it for Ao and Yusa to answer.

"It's because of the pointers you gave us! Thanks to that, we could find the flaws in our own skills and improve their usages. That's how our control got much better."

Krune shook his head.

"This is only half right! Remember! To increase the control over the elements, the higher the soul power and Divine Sense, the better your control will be. Explain to me. How can your control over your specialized elements enable you to jump the cultivation levels to fight those at a higher level without your soul power and Divine Sense knowing it?"

"Ah!"

Ao and Yusa were surprised, indeed. Thanks to Krune, they have improved their control over their elements a lot. They can even fight those two stages above in the same realm. As Krunes pointers shouldn't be enough for Yusa and Ao to have such achievement, without a powerful enough soul power and Divine Sense, it shouldn't be possible.

"Are you telling us our soul power and Divine Sense got stronger because we learned how to better control our elements?"

Krune nodded.

"I believe so. The reason you didn't notice it before is that ever since the three of us joined in a team, you have always left long-range Divine Sense detection for me to take care of. First, because you were afraid your own Divine Sense would be detected by the enemy. Second, because you felt that with me here, there was no use in spreading your own Divine Senses to the max distance possible."

Krune looked at Yusa and Ao.

"That is especially so for the two of you. We have been together for much longer than Shinja had. So, the effects should be much more obvious with the two of you, because Shinja had got much better training. Her control over the elements was already good to start with, so her soul benefited from that. Try to expand your Divine Sense to the max and see how far it can go. The inner city doesn't have blockage for Divine Sense like outside, so you shouldn't be hindered here."

Yusa and Ao looked at each other and nodded. They are both at the 5th stage of the Foundation Establishment. Although they can't reach Krune or Shinja's level due to their universe foundation, it shouldn't be that bad. An ordinary Foundation Establishment at the 5th stage should be able to spread their Divine Sense for over 3 kilometers.

But to their surprise, they were able to reach a little more than four kilometers. Obviously, their Divine Sense was on par with ordinary cultivators at the peak of the 6th or even 7th stage cultivators.

Shinja looked at that and nodded.

"It does make sense! My own Divine Sense has always been stronger than normal cultivators at my level. Considering their control over the elements is on par with mine, it goes without saying that they should have stronger Divine Sense and soul power than the others."

Yusa and Ao were ecstatic. They haven't paid attention to it before. Although they obviously can't be compared with someone like Krune, they are definitely much stronger than ordinary cultivators.

"With this, we should be able to see the details in those paintings in the first test much easier!"

Krune then thought about something.

"I told you before that I had been using tribulation lightning to temper my soul. But in the end, I'm basically attacking it, I have an idea that you might be able to use too."

The other three looked at Krune with expectation.

"Isn't the second test an endurance test? The guy in the illusory formation said that your soul will be tested through Divine Sense attacks to test how resilient it is. You might repeat the process as well instead of passing the test. Keep doing it until you feel you have improved enough. Although it shouldn't be as good as a heavenly tribulation, it should be possible."

Everyone's eyes lit up, indeed. Since Krune could temper his soul through constant attacks, they should be able to do the same, and the method seems much safer than this one.

Ao couldn't help but comment happily:

"It doesn't matter what cultivators at our levels have on themselves. With this improvement in Divine Sense and Soul Power, they won't be able to hide anything for us anymore!"

Shinja and Yusa nodded. It would really be very beneficial.

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After 'painfully' thinking, he still has a lot to understand about human habits. Krune and the others were preparing to start the testing. As Krune, of course, didn't have much to get ready, he was the first to come back to the Order Hall.

"I will start the sect entrance test now! Can you tell me where I should go?"

The illusory man, Hase Hasik, appeared again and gave a satisfied nod.

"Just stay where you are, I will teleport you over there."

Before being teleported, Krune asked if his companions could watch the test. Hasik didn't have anything against it, so he simply showed the testing room for them through the illusionary formation in the Order Hall.

After appearing inside, Krune looked around, and sure enough, it was indeed the place that was showed to everyone before. This dimensional room extended so far away that Krune couldn't see its the end.

'It should be this big because the ones who did the test in the past weren't just the Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment cultivators. Core Formation and probably even Divine Soul cultivators also participated in this test before.'

Krune then saw those paint moving closer to him. Of course, the test was always adjusted according to the level of the cultivator. After the painting stopped at certain places, a somewhat robotic voice appeared in the room.

"The test will start now! Please, stand on the area marked by the turtle symbol."

After Krune moved over, the robotic voice continued.

"Each painting has a certain number of marks hidden behind the image painted. Those paintings have their back turned to you, and each one of them has a formation on their backs, preventing you from being able to see what is in the painting through the back."

"You can just tell which kind of painting it is without telling how many hidden marks are there. In this case, you can move to the next painting, obtaining a low accomplishment level. If you can tell how many hidden marks are inside the painting, you can move to the next painting with a high level of accomplishment."

"Once you have surpassed three paintings, regardless if you got only low accomplishment or high accomplishment, it will be considered as being successful. And you can try the next test."

" Those who pass three paintings with high accomplishment levels will also be considered successful. The participant will get one-thousand Rank Four low-quality spirit stones as a reward."

Krune was a little puzzled because there were a total of five paintings in the test, not three.

"What about those two furthest ones."

The voice answered:

"The reward is for the participants who have a high level of soul power and Divine Sense. You can give it a try if you guess the first three are correct. The last two have only one level of accomplishment. You must see which kind of painting it is and the hidden marks hidden inside."

"If you guess the fourth one is correct, you will gain five thousand Rank For middle-quality spirit stones, and ten thousand Rank Four high-quality spirit stones, if you guess the fifth one."

Krune took a deep breath!

'Ten thousand Rank Four high-quality spirit stones! I might be able to create my eighth Spiritual Energy Meridians with those.'

"Lastly, the marks you are searching inside are the same as the turtle symbol you are stepping at the moment. Your test starts now!"

Krune didn't waste time. When he spread his Divine Sense to cover the first painting, a robotic voice said that the back of the picture turned to him had a formation impeding his Divine Sense to see through it. He could only see what was hidden inside the front, which was turned away from him. Krune gave a quick check, and he soon saw the number of marks hidden inside the image.

"First painting, mountains with a river passing in between, seven hidden marks."

"Correct!"

Hase Hasik gave a satisfied nod back in the room where Krune's companions were watching the test.

'That was very fast! Maybe he can at least see what the image in the fourth painting is. That would be already very good!'

But then he heard a comment from Yusa who was watching the test.

"Don't you think all five paintings are way too close? I might not be able to see what is inside of the fifth one, but I would definitely be able to see the fourth without a problem."

Ao nodded.

"Maybe it is because Krune's test was adjusted to the 4th stage of the Foundation Establishment. When it comes our time, it should be a little further, since our cultivation is higher; but this is a good thing for Krune! After all, only Shinja, at the peak of the 9th stage, has a Divine Sense a little better than his."

Hasik was alarmed!

'Divine Sense almost comparable to a peak 9th stage Foundation Establishment cultivator? Is that even possible?!'

But he decided to keep paying attention to the test. If it was true, then he will be able to see that through this test.

Back at the testing room, Krune was checking the second image, 30 seconds later…

"Second Image, A house, 12 marks."

"Correct!."

Another thirty seconds.

"Third image, a sea of fishes, 5 marks."

"Correct!"

Thirty seconds again.

"Forth image, clouded sky, 9 marks.

"Correct!"

And then...

"Fifth image, a black tortoise, 10 marks."

"Correct! The test is over."

The teleportation formation, from where Krune appeared, started to shine. Krune also noticed that his spirit stones reward was beside the teleportation formation. He put the spirit stones inside his spatial ring and stepped on the formation. He soon appeared back in the room where Hasik and his companions were watching the test.

Yusa went forward and said.

"That seemed quite simple! The furthest painting was around 5500 meters away, and your Divine Sense can already touch the Eight Kilometers range, no?"

Krune nodded.

Hasik appeared. His face showed disbelief. Eight kilometers, 4th stage Foundation Establishment! That's a heaven-defying Divine Sense for someone at that level.

"How did you even train your soul? This level of Divine Sense is out of the charts! I have never seen such a powerful Divine Sense at your level before!"

Krune and the others just smiled.

"If I happen to obtain the Mohie Sect legacy and gain full control over this Secret Realm, then I will tell you. Until there, this is our little secret."

Hasik didn't get angry at that answer. To be able to achieve this level of Soul Power and Divine Sense, it was obviously something that can't be spread to outsiders that easily. If anything, he was pleased with Krune's answer.

Krune was also happy with those tests. He doesn't need to try to keep a low profile in this place. There is no one to see him after all! Krune was feeling like he was in paradise!

Yusa went forward and stepped on the formation.

"Let me try now! Those spirit stones are mine!"

Hase Hasik didn't mind. He teleported her over, and the test started. As expected, the paintings were placed further than when it was Krune's time. However, she was still able to see the marks inside the forth painting image. When Yusa was back into the room, she looked sad. Finally, she could see the fifth image but not the hidden marks inside. It was too far away from her.

"My beloved ten thousand spirit stones have gone just like that!"

She still grabbed the five thousand Rank Four middle-quality spirit stones as if it were her life, though.

"It's my time!"

Ao entered the formation and was teleported to the test room. His results were the same as Yusa. It just took a little longer for him to be able to see what the image of the fifth painting was. It was expected; Yusa had a better control over elements than him when they first met. So it's normal for her to have a little bit more advantage over him. He didn't mind, though. He will catch up sooner or later. After receiving his five thousand spirit stones, Ao left.

Shinja was the last one. Her control over the water element was already much better than Yusa and Ao due to her Pure Yin Body. So even with the little time she had spent with Krune and the others, she still benefited quite a few after the paintings were positioned according to her cultivation level. She was still able to see the fifth painting image. It was also possible to barely see the marks hidden inside it, but, in the end, she missed the right number by one. Thus she also received five thousand spirit stones as a reward.

Back at the Order Hall, Hasik was smiling from ear to ear. He would be happy if at least one of them could see the image from the forth painting! Not only were all of them able to see the images and hidden marks of the fourth image, but they were also able to see the images of the fifth paintings. Krune could even see the hidden marks with ease. How couldn't he be happy? He was almost tearing up already!

"The heavens have eyes! The heavens have eyes!"

Krune's mouth twitched a little, hearing that. The heavens almost turned him into a crispy wisp. No good impression of the Heavens at all!

Hasik expression turned serious again and said.

"Congratulations on successfully pass the first test of the Mohie Sect! To be honest, I don't think any of you will have any problem in passing the second test either. So, if you want, I can start straight away."

Krune then asked:

"In the second test, we are going to test endurance. In that case, can we purposely fail to further temper our souls?"

Hase Hasik was surprised that they thought about this point.

"You can! But once you pass the test, you will receive soul cultivation techniques anyway. Are you sure you want to spend time tempering your soul through the Divine Sense attacks?"

Yusa's eyes shined at that moment.

"But if we pass after resisting all the ten levels of Divine Sense attacks, our rewards will be much better, no?"

Hasik had a weird expression on his face after hearing that. In the past, no one cared for the spirit stones. It was their honor to simply be able to join the sect, but look at that now. Hasik couldn't help but sigh.

"There is, resist five levels of attacks to receive 1000 Rank Four spirit stones of low quality. Seven levels to receive 5000 of middle quality, and all ten levels to receive 10000 of high quality."

Krune's eyes lit up as well. He already has 10000 at the moment. And if he gets another 10000, he will definitely have enough to complete his eighth Spiritual Energy Meridian!

"I'm going first since I should be able to pass all the ten levels already! You guys can decide whether to train through the Divine Sense attacks to temper your soul first or pass straight away to get a soul cultivation technique. But I would recommend you to temper the soul first."

Ao and the other were puzzled and looked at Krune. It should be better to get the cultivation technique and start straight away, no?

Hase Hasik, on the other hand, got excited with Krune's words, but he didn't show it on his face.

"Is it because we might be able to get the 10000 high-quality spirit stones?"

Krune nodded but then shook his head.

"That's also true, but there is another reason for that."

Krune then turned around and asked Hase Hasik:

"Hase, this cultivation technique for the soul is not the same as tempering the soul, am I right?"

Hase had heard that and was dazed for a moment. Then he started to laugh out loudly.

"Great! You are right, this is not the same as tempering the soul. Well then, let me hear, can you guess why?"

Krune smiled and told the others.

"If I'm not wrong, to temper the soul is the same as to build a foundation for the soul cultivation technique. So the more tempered the soul is before start cultivating it, the better and faster the results will be."

Then he turned back to Hasik:

"How was it?"

Hase's eyes were shining. He couldn't help but think.

'The Mohie sect has finally found someone worthy! Well, maybe it won't be called Mohie for much longer. Master, I didn't let you down.'

He looked at everyone and then nodded.

"Krune is right, the better tempered your soul is before start cultivating, the better will be the results of the cultivation. The best result would be for all of you to be able to at least resist the ten levels of attacks of the second test. Of course, if you think you can't do it no matter what, you can simply give up after you have resisted at least five levels. You will still be considered a member of the Mohie Sect after that."

No one in that room wanted to stop at five levels. They have already decided, for the sake of their future, they have to temper their souls until they can resist all ten levels.

'And for the sake of the 10000 Rank Four high-quality spirit stones too!'

Thought Yusa and Krune.

"Are you all ready?"

Everyone nodded. A painful soul tempering session is about to start. While Yusa, Ao, and Shinja were excited to start, Krune was laughing inside. It was true that his objective was to help his companions to get stronger. But there was also another essential reason behind it.

'You guys will finally have a taste of my suffering! While you are crying during the tempering because of the pain, I will be outside enjoying your tears! Hahaha!'

Krune thought that perhaps Hase Hasik was right. The Heavens really have eyes!

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But to enjoy that view, Krune himself has to pass the test first, but, then again, if he, who had his soul tempered with tribulation lightning, doesn't pass, then the others better give up there and then.

He was teleported to the room with the sphere in the center; it shined goldenly and left some ripples now and then. Krune moved forward to take a close look at it. It was then that the robotic voice talked again.

"Second test, soul endurance. You will receive ten attacks; if you resist all of them, the level of the attacks will increase, and you will receive ten attacks again. As long as you resist five levels of ten attacks each, you will pass the test. The contestant has one minute to put his hands over the Divine Sense sphere in the center of the room. If the contestant wants to give up, just release your hands from the Divine Sense sphere, and the test will be over. The test starts now!"

Krune took a deep breath and put his hands over the sphere, outside. Shinja and the other were observing Krune's performance. If Krune doesn't pass, then they will have even less of a chance of doing so.

Krune put his hands over the Divine Sense sphere and made up his mind.

'I don't know how to resist the attacks to start with, so I will simply counter attack by sending my Divine sense against the one coming at me. It can't be considered a real Divine Sense attack, but it's better than nothing.'

Outside, Yusa asked Hasik if it would be too hard for Krune to pass the test. Yusa and the other two understand very well. If Krune doesn't move all the ten levels, they definitely won't do any better.

"I think he has a good chance of reaching the eighth level, but to resist all ten, it will be somewhat difficult. As long as he tempers his soul enough to do that, it will be very beneficial to his future. If he passes all the ten levels, then that's even better, of course."

It was then that they heard a weird sound.

"Crack!"

Hasik's eyes glued on the illusory image showing the Divine Sense sphere; he could swear the sound came from it, just as he was about to check what had happened.

"Puff"

The Divine Sense sphere became dust. It was gone, just like that…

Yusa and the other looked at Hasik. The look on their faces told more than a thousand words.

'Wasn't it supposed to be a somewhat difficult test? How come it broke the moment Krune started?'

Hasik wanted to cry. He doesn't know either what has happened just now.

Krune passed through the teleportation formation and was back to the Order Hall. His face looked awkward; he went all out to be sure to resist all the ten levels. But the sphere broke just like that. Hasik looked at Krune and simply asked.

"When did the test start? What did you do?"

Krune sighed and recounted what had happened. It was then that Hasik understood the situation. He couldn't help but looked at Krune as if he were some anomaly.

"Well, I think that way because the Divine Sense Sphere adjusts itself according to the contestant level. Its defense also did the same, when you counter-attacked with all your power. It couldn't resist a Divine Sense that appeared at the late stages of the Foundation Establishment and then turned into dust."

Krune heard that and felt a little helpless.

"The Mohie Sect products are quite low quality, aren't they?"

Hasik's mouth twitched a little.

'Low quality your head! You were supposed to resist the attacks, not to attack back. Do you know how valuable and difficult it is to make those Divine Sense spheres ?'

"Cough, cough, I will send you to another test room. This time, don't try to attack back! Just resist the attack. This is an endurance test, not an offensive one."

Krune nodded and was teleported to another room with another Divine Sense sphere.

The robotic voice explained all the rules again and initiated the test.

Back at where Krune's friends were, Hasik and they were watching the test when suddenly:

"Crack!"

Hasik was just a sliver of will left behind in the illusory formation. But the will almost dissipate that instant. He looked at the Divine Sense sphere and then…

"Puff."

It turned into dust again. Hasik wanted to cry but had no tears. Yusa and the other looked at that and then looked at Hasik. They couldn't help but said:

"Isn't this Divine Sense sphere a little too fragile?"

Hasik pretended he didn't hear anything.

Krune came back, his face contorting, it was evident he didn't expect that it would turn to dust the second it started either. Hasik looked at Krune and calmed himself.

"What exactly have you done now?"

Krune shook his head.

"I really didn't do anything, I only protected myself! I didn't know how to defend against a real Divine Sense attack, so I simply converged my Divine Sense entirely around my soul. But who could have guessed the attack was so weak that it received a backlash from my Divine Sense and made the sphere turn into dust again. That thing is too weak! It can't be used at all!"

Hasik started to consider if it were really a good thing to have this guy to receive the Mohie Sect Legacy.

'Whatever, it just means that his Divine Sense power and control are excellent! I should be happy instead.'

He looked at Krune and said:

"There is no point in you doing this test anymore. The Divine Sense sphere isn't a match to your Divine Sense at the same cultivation level. I will just consider it as you passed the test with the highest score! Just take the spirit stones reward with me when the test for your friends is over."

'Besides, this branch doesn't have many others. If you break everything, this test will be doomed.'

Krune nodded and stepped aside. Ao went forward first to try his luck against the Divine Sense sphere.

This time things went as they should have. Ao resisted the attacks step by step all the way to the sixth level when he couldn't hold back anymore. But, just as they had discussed earlier, he opted for failing the test. They will use the Divine Sense sphere to temper their souls from now on, and only pass after they can resist all the ten levels.

Yusa did pretty much the same as Ao when he decided to fail instead of passing. Shinja did a little better; she passed the sixth level but fell short on the seventh, also choosing to abandon instead of passing.

Outside, Krune looked at their terrible faces with a bright smile on his face. He didn't remember when he had been in such a good mood before. Yusa looked at him, and for some reason, his smile made her feel like giving him another beating.

"What is so funny?"

Krune came back to himself and turned his face away.

"Cough, cough. Nothing! Nothing at all! Haha!"

The others looked at Krune. They didn't believe a single word he had just said.

Krune then left. Hase Hasik had told him to go to another building, the Books Hall, that was the place where he could get a cultivation technique for the soul. When he entered the room, he was surprised by the number of books there. A few puppets walked around, cleaning, or making new copies of old books. It made Krune remember that this was a Secret Realm from back when technology hasn't exist yet. So they kept everything in books.

Hasik voice appeared in the Books Hall but not his illusory form. His form could only be seen in the Order Hall.

"There are five floors available in this Book Hall. The first three floors have techniques that can be accessed by ordinary disciples. That is your case at the moment. The last two can only be accessed by Legacy Disciples. Before, there were outer, inner, and core disciples as well. Their access variated too, but now there is no point in having such a thing. So now, there are ordinary and legacy only, nothing else!"

"You can choose any technique you think is compatible with yourself in the first three halls. Besides the Divine Sense attack and Defence technique, there are different ones too. Just take your time and read through them. The best technique is the one most suited to you. Not the strongest, remember that."

After that, Hasik's voice disappeared. Krune then looked at the shelves; there were too many books. Then again, as he also had a lot of time, he started to read the introductions of each cultivation technique.

It has been three days since Krune entered the Book Hall. Back in the Divine Sense sphere test rooms, Ao, Yusa, and Shinja were still in the middle of using the Divine Sense attacks to slowly temper their souls. Their progress was much slower than Krune, of course, but they still had got some benefits already.

Yusa had just finished another round of attacks. His face was pale due to the constant attacks, but she would be okay after recovering for a while.

'This thing hurts like hell! If it were tribulation lightning, I might have been dead already. In the end, how did that idiot survive to that?'

Then, she remembered that smile Krune was giving when they first tried the test. She finally understood why he was so happy at that moment.

'Just you wait!'

She could only sigh and concentrate on recovering. It will take some time before she can complete all ten levels.

At Ao and Shinja sides, the situation wasn't much different. However, the last three days had helped them improve their souls. The time they need to wait for the recovery still took the most of them. Although cultivation has always been a slow process, there was no point in caring about that now. At least they can still cultivate while they wait for their souls to go back to its peak state.

At Krune's side, he had already read the introduction of the techniques of the first and second floor, but he hasn't found one to his taste. He noticed a point that all Divine Sense cultivation techniques had in common. They were usually centered at a specific element. Simply put, through the use of the best item that the cultivator can control, the Divine Sense technique will have better results. The problem is that Krune doesn't specialize in any element. Although there are a few elements he uses more than others, like fire and wind, the fact is that if one thinks about control only, he is pretty much good at all of them.

One mustn't look down on the Myriad Energies Technique!

Krune couldn't see any cultivation for all elements so far, then he went back to the Order Hall to ask Hasik about it.

"A Divine Sense cultivation technique for someone specialized in all elements?"

Krune nodded.

"I don't have any preference over elements. I can pretty much use anything. So if I get a cultivation technique that uses only a single element to cultivate, I feel like it will be a waste over the others. The most I found in the three floors were a few techniques that could be used through the control of two or at most three elements at the same time, but not a single one for all five main elements together."

Hasik pondered a bit, but in the end, he shook his head.

"It's not like there isn't. But those techniques are scarce. Thus, they are only available on the fifth floor, and there are only three of them at the top of that. At first, you will need to become a legacy disciple before being able to see them. I might as well tell you that they are tough to cultivate."

Krune couldn't help, but he asked:

"Isn't it weird? If there is a disciple capable of cultivating a five-element Divine Sense technique, and he can't access them, wouldn't it be a waste of talent?"

Hasik nodded his head.

"You are right about that point! In those cases, there was an option for such disciples: to get enough contribution points from the Sect and exchange with the required cultivation technique. But now such a thing, as contribution points, doesn't exist anymore. The option is useless now."

Hasik looked at Krune and felt helpless.

"Alright, let's do it like this! Tell me how your Divine Sense got this strong while still at the 4th Stage of the Foundation Establishment, and I can trade the information for the cultivation technique on the fifth floor. Don't think I'm taking advantage of you! The Divine Sense cultivation techniques on the fifth floor might not be many, but they are still extremely precious. I refuse to believe they are any less valuable than your information."

Krune pondered a bit. The problem is because Hasik is only a sliver of a will, so he can't sign a blood contract to keep the secret. Not to mention that if the real Hasik was here, his cultivation would probably be more than sufficient to ignore the existence of the blood contract anyway.

Hase understood what Krune was thinking.

"A blood contract would be useless even if I were the real Hasik! But I guarantee that I won't spread it around without your permission. First of all, I would need someone to come here first before being able to say anything. You should know very well that reaching this place isn't anything easy at all."

Krune finally gave up and decided to go ahead with the trade.

'What is the point if I don't get the most suited technique? It's not like this is something that can be copied by someone anyway.'

Krune then explained Hasik the process of creating his foundation and the Heavenly Tribulation. And that, even with a bolt of tribulation lightning in his rainbow core, he can use it to further temper his soul. When Hase heard it, he first thought Krune was making fun of him. Who would believe you can use tribulation lightning? But then, Krune summoned a little of the tribulation lightning power and show it to Hasik. If even after looking at it, he didn't believe it, then there was nothing more Krune could do.

"I think someone was crazy enough to use tribulation lightning for soul tempering. I don't know if I should call you brave or idiot."

Krune then went back to the Books Hall, and as soon as he entered, the three cultivation techniques that used all elements were already in the table in front of the first shelves. It seems like he still can't come into the fourth and fifth floors anyway. Hasik just sent down the cultivation techniques he required.

'Let's take a look.'

There were three techniques in front of him.

The first one was the Elemental Sense technique, which was quite good. The only problem is that it was more focused on the human soul. Krune could still cultivate it, but it wouldn't be as effective as if a human did so.

The second one was the Soul Protection technique. It wasn't focused on any race in specific, but it was used mainly for the defense against all types of elements Divine Sense attacks. Other than that, it was quite weak in other areas.

The last one was called the All-Encompassing Soul Technique. It wasn't an attack or defense-focused technique, but a miscellaneous one. Its attack and defense weren't bad, but couldn't compare with a real attack or defense technique. Its main focus was on other uses of the Divine Sense, like Formation Penetration or Elements Changing. Simply put, it was an excellent technique for those who had side occupations. Krune didn't need to think much to choose this one. His soul is already extremely powerful due to his tribulation-lightning tempering. It should make up for the techniques deficiency in attack and defense, not to mention he had a side occupation, which is alchemy.

'I wonder if I can sync the elements in the pills! I'll make over 30% if I master this technique.'

Soul cultivation techniques don't have realms like spiritual energy cultivation. Their focus is on the possibility of a much better use of the Soul and Divine Sense than just to observe things. The limit of the technique lies in the user himself. How much he can learn and adapt to it is the key to the Soul and Divine Sense cultivation.

Krune didn't waste time. Although he already got a cultivation technique that he should only be able to get after becoming a Legacy Disciple, there are still other things to be gained by formally becoming one, like control over the Secret Realm and the resources available after it.

Time passed, and Krune's group had stayed inside the Mohie Sect Secret realm for over ten months already. Just as Krune expected, Yusa and the others haven't passed the ten levels of the soul endurance test yet, but Shinja was very close. She could already endure to the last five Divine Sense attacks at the tenth level. It wouldn't take more than one or at most two months for her to finish the test.

Yusa and Ao had just reached the tenth level. But they haven't tried to endure any attack yet. It was already their limit to simply resist the ninth level entirely. Krune recognized it should still take over four to five months before they get to finish the endurance test, but that is already fantastic progress.

It also shows how much higher graded the tempering power of the tribulation lightning is. Even though their souls have been tempered through the Divine Sense attacks from the endurance test every single day, they are still a far cry from Krune's speed.

Everyone's cultivation had also improved with all the spirit stones that they got from the previous test. It would be surprising if they hadn't, not to mention that most of the time Yusa and the others spent was meditating to recover their soul for another round of endurance test. Thus, they could use that time for cultivating instead.

Yusa and Ao had already broken the 6th level of the Foundation Establishment and stabilized their cultivations at its peak. They should be able to breakthrough into the 7th stage in no time. Shinja didn't break through the Core Formation Stage, but her soul became much stronger, which would be crucial for the Core Formation. She was confident she would be able to enter the Core Formation Stage even if she didn't have any special item to help with it. That was also her main reason for wanting to enter the Furiu Realm. Now, there was no reason anymore, not to mention that being able to achieve the Core Formation Realm without any items would be much better for the cultivator's future.

Krune had also achieved a breakthrough into the 5th stage of the Foundation Establishment. He could have forced his way into the 6th already if he wanted. But he opted for not doing so. He had been breaking through the stages way too fast. He could already feel some instability in his planet inside his foundation, so he opted for giving some time for his foundation to adapt to his current level naturally. Although he doesn't have a long life span, he still has over 14 years before his time is over. There is no need to rush it to the point of prejudicing his future.

He had also opened his eighth Spiritual Energy Meridian. When he was opening the eighth one, he called the others over to take a look, especially Shinja, who hadn't seen it before. She had also started to cultivate the Myriad Energies Technique. Still, just like Ao, she hadn't cultivated it in the past when her cultivation path started, so she also had to start from zero.

Krune was in a training room trying out the Formation Penetration Divine Sense skill when he suddenly received a call from Yusa. Not only him but Ao and Shinja as well.

When they gathered, Yusa gave the news.

"I've finally finished creating my last Pseudo Energy Meridian."

Krune and the others were surprised. It had taken a long time, but finally, someone other than a wisp had achieved it. Krune and the others have been wondering if other races could create Spiritual Energy Meridians. But, without anyone with all nine pseudo meridians created, it was impossible to test it out.

It was usual for Yusa to be the first to finish creating all nine pseudo energy meridians. After all, when she started cultivating, she used the Myriad Energy Techniques to gather spiritual energy to open her normal meridians, so she already had the experience to form four meridians straight away.

"That's great! Can you start straight away?"

Yusa nodded. She waited to recover to her peak before calling everyone.

"That's good! Remember what I'd said before! Even I took a long time and failed. Who knows how many times before finally being able to create the very first one! My disciple took even longer. So don't get dispirited just because you aren't able to get things done at first."

Yusa nodded again.

"Also, I still think that wisps have an easier time during the creation of the Spiritual Energy Meridian. You can see that when you think you took longer than I or even my disciple who started from zero, it might be because of the much higher life spans that you all have. Unfortunately, we haven't had enough information to prove this theory yet."

Krune looked at everyone and said.

"I will stay nearby just in case. It is an individual process, and at most, I can give you some pointers. It is bound to take a lot of time, so we will continue to do our things. I doubt you will finish creating your first one in a month anyway. Even for me, it took over two weeks to get over with it. So take your time and don't rush things. If anything happens, just give me a call."

Everyone exited the room and gave space for Yusa to work. It was something that depended on her comprehension ability, after all.

While everyone was doing their best to train in the Mohie Secret Realm, the mercenary and alchemist guild of Kaley City was in chaos. Krune had disappeared ever since he got the last mission for the Raskie Danger Zone. No one saw him or his companions. The mercenary guild has been in an even worse state since Shinja went with him. Both Krune and Shinja are extremely important for them.

Go Gao, the Kaley City Alchemist Guild supervisor, and Lu Ganan, the Kaley City Mercenary Guild supervisor, were talking in a private room about this issue. On one side, Go Gao seemed furious.

"I told you to give Krune to us, didn't I? Look at it now! He might as well be dead at the moment!"

Lu Ganan retorted.

"Who the hell would give him to you? Besides, I told you a million times he isn't dead. We still have a sliver of his spiritual energy in the mercenary guild. If he were dead, it would have disappeared already."

"It doesn't change the fact that if you hadn't let him take that stupid mission, he wouldn't have disappeared!"

Go Gao simply didn't care anymore.

Lu Ganan, of course, wouldn't give a damn for what the alchemist said.

"I have sent people to look for him, but no trace was found. Raskie Danger zone is a fog forest with the power to hinder the spiritual sense, so there is little we can do about that. But the mission Krune and the others had taken wasn't a dangerous one to start. It would at most take some time to finish, but we went to the area where they could hunt the fog beasts necessary for that mission. But no one saw them at all."

Go Gao gave a helpless sigh.

"Could it be that the guilds from the other continents came to take him away? They might have convinced him they have better resources to make him join them."

Lu Ganan went silent for a second.

"Although I consider it improbable, I can't guarantee that isn't the case. But Krune doesn't strike me as someone who would give his back to those who extended a helping hand without giving a reason."

This time it was Go Gao who went silent.

"All we know is that he is still alive, and so are Shinja and the others. If calamity had really struck them, at least one or two would have died, right? But they are all alive and kicking! I don't think anything bad happened to them. Who knows? They might be training inside Raskie Danger Zone and lost the sense of time."

Lu Ganan was partially right. He was right. Krune and the other were training, but he was wrong in thinking they lost the sense of time! They knew very well how long they were inside of the Mohie Sect Secret Realm. It's just that they didn't care about what both guilds thought about their disappearance.

Why would they care anyway? Krune's group never thought of themselves as some big shoot. Krune might have very big talents, but that was because geniuses appeared and disappeared all the time. It was normal, in their minds, the guild wouldn't care much if he came back or not. The problem is that they didn't know the Mercenary Guild put a lot of importance on Krune because of the Martial Gathering. They hadn't commented about that with Krune until now. So Krune's group can't be blamed.

As for Shinja, she had always been alone. Those at the Foundation Establishment knew that she didn't care about what the others said. In her eyes, even if she disappears, at most, they will think she secluded herself somewhere and would eventually appear. Some would also wish that she was dead. What she forgot is that, by this time, the Furiu Realm had already closed. So she doesn't have any reason to stay with Krune anymore. But since she disappeared with Krune and kept at that even after the Furiu Realm closed, people have started thinking that perhaps she had joined Krunes group, two super genius of the foundation establishment. How could the other teams in the sky rank not be worried after hearing about it?

Unaware of the ruckus outside, one month has passed since Yusa started to create her own Spiritual Energy Meridian. Just as Krune had explained to her before, it really took a lot of time. It seemed wisps really had a much easier time doing their creation, but then again, she couldn't complain. When she thought about how wisps lived and even their life spans, she understood that she had absolutely no right to say anything.

Everyone was gathered in the room where Yusa was resting after another few days of failures. They were having a chat to help her alleviate some of the stress. Krune knows better than anyone else how hard the process is.

After some time, Krune looked at everyone and then said:

"Alright, everyone, let's go! Yusa is very close to succeeding from what I saw last time. She just needs a final push now."

Shinja and Ao nodded and left after that.

Report chapter

Yusa, then, focused on the Spiritual Energy Meridian for the next days. In the end, it was as Krune expected. Other races can also create them, as it was her first meridian, it didn't use too much spiritual energy, but the real test would come after it. Is it possible to use the Spiritual Energy Meridians with the regular meridians of a blood and flesh body? The answer was no, it can't. Yusa tried to use both. But once the Spiritual Energy Meridian started to work, it would occupy all connections to the dantian. In the end, her regular meridians would become just decorations.

"I think it is because the Spiritual Energy Meridians are much stronger than any meridian of your body. You can see that since a single meridian alone already does the job of several normal ones. But for that to happen, it needs all connections. For now, try to form the next Spiritual Energy Meridians. You are already at the Foundation Establishment, after all, and have enough spirit stones. Once you create four or five meridians, see if it is better than using all your normal opened meridians together."

Yusa nodded.

"After you finish that, we can check how good your control over the energies is. The Myriad Energies Technique should improve your control over the elements even more than before too. You should be able to see through flaws and be more perceptive to the elemental energies."

Yusa accepted that and started creating her next spiritual energies meridians. Although it would take some time, it should be very beneficial for her. Not to mention that she completed one of them, then the next ones would be easier to create.

Krune returned to his room and resumed his Divine Sense training. He was planning to try the last two tests to become a legacy disciple soon. With his control over the Divine Sense and his constant tempering of the soul with tribulation lightning, Krune's prowess could already be said to be at the top between the soul races.

He was looking at an anti-Divine Sense formation in front of him. The All-Encompassing Soul Technique was the Formation Penetration skill: the ability to see through formations that block the Divine Sense.

'If I get successful this time, I will try the legacy disciple tests.'

The skill worked by focusing on a single point of the formation and then pierce through it, like a needle. After going through the Divine Sense would spread again. The point where it pierced through would be the connection between Krune and what was inside.

Krune concentrated on his Divine Sense and gathered all in a corner of the formation. Before, all he could do was to expand and contract his divine sense. But, after months of training, he can now change the format of his Divine Sense, just like his spiritual energy. After enough has been gathered, Krune shot his Divine Sense forward, and it instantly passed through the formation. His Divine Sense soon expanded on the other side while keeping the link with him. Krune could now see what was behind the formation.

'Success! Although Hasik said that the formation isn't very high level, it is still not something that can be broken through without alarming others that easily. And the more proficiency I have, the more powerful this ability will become!'

The main use of this ability wasn't merely seeing what is behind the formation. It was to be able to see without causing any damage to the formation so as not to alert the people inside. That's the real use of the formation penetration skill.

Krune took a deep breath and left his room. He sent a message to Ao and Shinja that he was going to try the legacy disciple test. And he asked to not bother Yusa for now while she is creating the next Spiritual Energy Meridians.

In the Order Hall, Hase Hasik was looking at Krune. He seemed delighted with Krune's progress over the past 10-11 months. His improvement was going much smoother than Hasik expected.

"So, do you wish to try the legacy disciple test now? Are you sure about that?"

Krune nodded. He wouldn't come here without being confident enough.

"Very well! As you probably expected already, the next test is Divine Sense diverse uses, and the last one is Divine Sense combat. In the first test, you will be asked to complete a few tasks of the side uses of Divine Sense, like the Formation Penetration and Elements Changing View. You don't need to pay too much attention to this test because there were very few people specialized in side uses of the Divine Sense in the past. You only need an accomplishment rate of 30% or more to pass; otherwise, the biggest majority of the contestants in the past wouldn't even be able to reach the last test."

Krune understood that logic. It's just like the other side occupations like alchemist, formations, or blacksmith. In the end, there isn't a lot of people who work on them. After all, the majority has always walked the combat path only.

"Alright, I'm going to teleport you over, good luck!"

The surroundings around Krune changed for an instant. When he noticed, he was already in another room, the painting's room; surprisingly, it was the room of the first test to become an ordinary disciple. Before he could ask what is happening, the robotic-like voice of the test spoke again.

"Legacy Disciple first Miscellaneous Divine Sense test, Formation Penetration test, all paintings are completely covered by anti-Divine Sense formations. In the test, the contestant will need to pierce through the formation, find which image the painting is about, and know how many marks are hidden inside, as well. The pass condition is to be able to accurately tell the three paintings. Damaging the formations will give you a low accomplishment rate. Not damaging the formations will give you a high accomplishment rate."

Krune understood now.

'I see. This time there is no side without formations. The painting is completely locked.'

Krune also noticed that there were only three paintings this time. No reward was mentioned, but that was to be expected. This is the legacy disciple tests: becoming a legacy disciple and gain access to all the resources is the best reward that could be there.

'No wonder! Hasik said not to pay much attention to the miscellaneous tests. If I don't care for the accomplishment rate, I can simply pierce through the formations without any damage; maybe even destroying them completely and then checking what is inside. This would be several times easier than seeing what is inside without damaging the formation.'

Krune wasn't planning to go for a low rate, though, not to mention that he was very confident. He could see that this test had again adjusted to his cultivation level. After he broke through the 5th stage, his Divine Sense became even stronger!

Krune gathered his Divine Sense in a single point and pierced through the first painting. As soon as he touched the formation, he noticed one thing.

'So easy! The level of the formation in this painting is much lower than the ones I was practicing back in the training room. How come there wasn't any formation of this level back there?'

Although Krune was curious, he didn't waste time thinking about it; he swiftly called the number of hidden marks and which image it was.

"Correct."

And then, Krune moved to the next one, back in the Order Hal. Hasik was looking at that with a smile on his face.

'It seems like I did the right thing in changing the formation of the training room. At first, I was afraid Krune would give up because of the difficulty of piercing through the formations there. I told him that those formations are of low level, but that was a lie: they can't be considered top-notch, but they are definitely not weak either. In the end, he was still successful in piercing through in just a little less than a year. Compared with the formations in the legacy disciple test, those in the training rooms are several times harder to see through. This test will be a walk in the park for him.'

'Cough, cough, not to mention that if I had left the weaker tools and formations in the training rooms, he would have probably destroyed everything.'

Krune, of course, had no idea about that. He just felt awkward with how easy the test was going on; he pierced without damaging the last formation of the test and called out its contents.

"Correct!"

"Evaluation rate is high."

"Contestant can now move into the second test."

The teleportation formation behind Krune shined again, and he stepped inside. When he appeared on the other side, he could see a lake, the water inside had several colors, just like his hair and eyes. Krune immediately understood that this is the Elements Changing View test. Sure enough! The robotic-like voice spoke again:

"Legacy Disciple second Miscellaneous Divine Sense test, Elements Changing View."

"The contestant will have to accurately separate the same elements from the others with the help of his Divine Sense. To pass the test, the contestant will have to put in a single place at least 20% of each element to get a low rate accomplishment. For high rate accomplishment, the contestant will need to get at least 50% of each element in the lake with the same element. The time given is one hour. The test starts now."

Krune was very excited about this test. It remembered him the alchemy element synching of the pills before completion.

'I already have an idea about how it works. The sect made a small lake so that the contestants would be able to see the elements easier at the top. This way, even those without much talent in side uses of Divine Sense would still be able to pass this test. But for me, who can already see the elements in a medicinal liquid inside an alchemy cauldron, it is too easy to get 50%, letting alone 20%. Let's see how much I can get together.'

After using all the time available for him, Krune ended up with 73% of all in the lake separated. This was already much more than 50%. But Krune also understood that it wouldn't be this easy while concocting pills.

'At most, I will be able to sync 50% of the medicinal liquid. But this is already much more than what I was able in the past. This All-Encompassing Soul technique is really an excellent Divine Sense technique for side occupations.'

While Krune was thinking, the robotic voice appeared again.

"Test complete!"

"High rate accomplishment!"

"Contestant can move to the next test."

Once again, the teleportation formation shined, and Krune disappeared.

Just like that, Krune kept doing other side tests for miscellaneous Divine Sense uses. Their low-rate accomplishment was all easy to acquire, but Krune still got a high rate in everything. The problem was that he ended up destroying quite a few of the testing tools, much for Hasik's grief. Shinja and Ao could see the sadness on Hasik's face. After finishing the last test of Divine Sense Touch Perception, Krune was sent back to the Order Hall.

Ao and Shinja were looking at the tests and were happy to see that even though they couldn't score high, they would be able to pass with low rates. That was enough for them who didn't have a side occupation to start with. They also pretended that they didn't see Krune breaking anything, or Hasik might start crying right there and then.

Krune looked at Hasik and couldn't help but asked:

"Why were some of the tests much easier than the one I used in the training room? Some couldn't even be mentioned in the same line as the Formation Penetration test."

Hasik laughed out loudly.

"So did you notice, uh? That's right, the training rooms I provided to you had much harder training tools and formations than you would find in the tests. It's not that I'm pulling your leg; it's just that your Divine Sense and Soul Power are so powerful that normal items would be of no use for your improvement."

Krune pondered a bit and agreed it made sense. What he didn't know was that Hasik had other reasons as well. Hasik looked at Krune and couldn't help, but thought.

'Besides, if I had used the easier tools to train, you would have probably destroyed all of them. If I saw that happening, my sliver would have just disappeared. I can't allow this walking disaster to break everything here.'

Unaware of Hase Hasik's thoughts, Krune asked him when the last test would start.

"Up to you, as you already know, the last test is Divine Sense combat. You can use your spiritual energy for movement only. But any attack or defense has to be done through Divine Sense. Our opponents will be puppets at the same cultivation level as yours. They all have the Divine Sense spheres inside, which had been modified for combat, You can start anytime you think you are ready."

He then looked at Krune one last time and asked with an almost crying face:

"Just… try not to break them, okay? They are really, really hard to make."

Krune's mouth twitched.

"Do I look like some villain?"

Not only Hasik, Shinja, and Ao on his side also nodded and said:

"A very mean one at that."

"No consideration for the others' work at all."

Krune's ears got a little red, but he still pretended that he didn't hear or see anything and entered the last test.

Report chapter

Krune entered the combat room. In front of him, there were five puppets, all of them with a combat power equivalent to a 5th Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. If Krune could use spiritual energy skills, he could finish all of them in a second, but this is a Divine Sense combat. He has to win with Divine Sense alone.

"The attacks available for me to practice were simple elemental Divine Sense attacks. If I use fire-element based Divine Sense, I can burn the opponent's soul. If I use ice, which is a branch of the water element, I can slow down the opponent's thinking speed. Hasik asked me not to break them, so I guess I will simply aim at the puppets' cores. This way, I will not damage the Divine Sense spheres inside them."

The battle started, and the puppets moved forward. Different from Krune, the puppets used both Divine Sense attacks and Spiritual energy attacks together. Krune now understood why this test was considered difficult. It made a huge difference in the combat power whether a cultivator is not able to use spiritual energy skills, while his opponents could. But Krune didn't mind so much. His wind element movement was almost perfect. Nothing the puppets would throw at him could hit his body.

The only attacks that reached Krune were the Divine Sense ones. This isn't anything that can be avoided since the Divine Sense covers everything. You can only defend or resist! Thanks to his tribulation lightning soul training, the pain inflicted by those puppets was laughable in his eyes. Krune kept dodging the spiritual energy skills while attacking the puppets cores with his Divine Sense. He purposely selected water not to damage the puppet's core. He was making them use all the spiritual energy available in their cores, which was how Krune was planning to finish this battle.

Back at the Order Hall, Hasik let out a sigh of relief.

'It seems like the puppets will be okay. This test was somewhat extremely hard for the people in the past. But with his tribulation lightning soul tempering, it's no wonder the puppets' Divine Sense attacks have little to no effect on him. I reckon that his friends will have a harder time passing this test than Krune had.'

The battle continued, and the puppets finally ran out of spiritual energy. Krune let out a sigh of relief because he really didn't damage anything this time. Hase Hasik was also happy. At least the puppets, which can use Divine Sense, weren't broken this time.

Just as Krune was about to step on the teleportation formation, he heard a sound.

"Crack."

Everyone felt a chill on their backs. It couldn't be, right!?

But before they could check, they saw the Divine Sense sphere on the head of one of the puppets break apart. The puppet soon followed. If one looked close, all the connections keeping the puppet's parts together had been fried.

Krune couldn't believe what happened in front of his eyes.

"What's the hell? It's not my fault, I swear!"

Hasik quickly summoned a few more puppets to check what had happened there. His face was a mix of grief and rage. He even asked him not to break the puppets, but, in the end, one of them simply crumbled like a pile of rusted metal.

When he got the result, his rage turned into incredulity.

"You! Why did you use the power of tribulation lightning on them? This isn't something they can resist! First of all, how can you even use the tribulation lightning with your Divine Sense?"

Krune heard that and was as surprised as Hasik.

"Tribulation Lightning? That's not possible! I used water, I didn't put even an ounce of any other element in my Divine Sense attack. It had been water all along!"

Hasik looked at Krune's face. It didn't look like he was lying, but then again, who other than Krune would have tribulation lightning here?

'Could it be…?'

Hasik then summoned a weak puppet forward. If something happened to it, it wouldn't matter.

"Attack this puppet! Don't worry about breaking it, it's very cheap and easy to make. Use only your Divine Sense without any element."

Krune understood where Hasik was coming from. He is the only source of tribulation lightning in this place, after all.

After using some Divine Sense attacks on the puppet, it crumbled down just like the last one. When Hasik sent the other puppets forward to check, the result was the same. Even though Krune hadn't used any element, his Divine Sense attacks still had the tribulation lightning power on them.

Hasik and the others looked at Krune through the illusory formation. It was then that Shinja spoke.

"Krune had been tempering his soul through the use of the Tribulation Lightning, the one that had entered his future golde- errr… rainbow core. Could it be that his soul got some of these properties?"

Hasik and Krune pondered a bit but couldn't find any other answer. What Shinja said made a lot of sense as well.

"But how come I've never noticed it before?"

"Because you are an idiot."

This time was Ao, Hasik, and Shinja, who answered together.

Krune almost fainted right there and then. Where did his leader pride go to? He doesn't know, maybe it hasn't been with him from the very start.

Hasik then thought about something.

"Try to check your soul! The tribulation lightning is something made for annihilation. Since it's part of your soul now, it might be causing serious damage to it, and you haven't even noticed it yet."

Krune was alarmed. He immediately concentrated on his soul, and after searching for a while, sure enough, he could faintly feel the power of the tribulation lightning lingering around it. But the weird thing is that although it was present in his soul, it didn't try to harm him if anything. It felt somewhat gentle as if this were the place it was supposed to be. Krune told Hasik and the others what he'd found.

"That's weird, It's not causing any harm. It seems like you didn't notice, not because you are an idiot with high IQ, but because it wasn't hurting you, first of all."

Krune mouths twitched, he finally lost his patience.

"Those Divine Sense puppets that remained are very important, right? It would be a pity if someone accidentally released some tribulation lightning over them. Don't you think?"

Hasik's face immediately changed.

"Cough, cough. It was a joke, a joke! Don't you know how to take a light joke?"

Krune didn't believe a single word. He took out some tribulation lightning and played with it on his fingers while looking at the remaining four puppets afar. Krune's face looked like we were making an important decision in his life.

Hasik kept apologizing. He only didn't cry because he didn't have tears to start with.

On the other side, Shinja and Ao were holding their laughs. They looked at each other and smiled. Maybe it's because Krune can hold everyone tightly together without noticing. You will never get bored with him around.

Krune finally put the tribulation lightning back into his rainbow core and came back to the Order Hall. Hasik looked at him with some fear but spoke anyway.

"Well, this is a good thing in the short term. If you haven't noticed yet, when you were doing your previous tests, your Divine Sense didn't manifest the power of the tribulation lightning. It means that it only appears when you have the intention of attacking something. I reckon if you keep tempering your soul with tribulation lightning, this power will get even stronger with time."

"The problem is that I don't know if this is a good or bad thing in the long term. It might have huge repercussions during the Core Formation Realm breakthrough as well since the soul plays a big part in it. Not to mention that all core formation cultivators need to go through the Heavenly Tribulation as well. It might have some effects on the tribulation lightning inside your soul too."

Krune nodded. It's still too soon to know what will happen with his new power. But, at first, it looks like it doesn't matter what element he infuses in his Divine Sense attacks. It will always have the destructive power of the tribulation lightning as part of it. What he needs to decide is whether he will keep using the tribulation lightning to temper his soul or not.

Hasik noticed that to keep thinking about it wouldn't bring them anywhere, so he changed the topic.

"Leave the matter of the tribulation lightning aside for now! You have just finished the last test. So, from now on, you are a legacy disciple of the Mohie Sect. You have also acquired the power to control this dimension to a certain extent, together with the resources available for legacy disciples.

Krune's eyes lit up.

"Does it mean that I can take anything I want out now?"

Hasik shook his head.

"You can use anything inside the dimension, but you can't take them out, except for things like Spirit Stones, pills, or runestone formations."

Krune and the other were puzzled. But they waited for Hasik to continue.

"It's because, in the past, to prevent other legacy disciples from robbing the sect, all important items had been branded by the sect. As long as they are removed from the Mohie Sect dimension, they will be destroyed by the band left behind."

Krune understood it, but the fact they can take the spirit stones, pills, and others is already perfect.

"How many spirit stones are available for us now?"

Hasik just laughed at that question.

"None!"

Krune and the others' jaws dropped.

"What?!"

"Then what were all those spirit stones that we'd got from the tests?"

Ao and Shinja were nodding. They also want to know!

"Those are spirit stone prepared to be the reward of future disciples. Even I can't take them away unless someone passes the test to receive the reward. Think about it! If you are to die outside or simply decide to give up on the Mohie Sect and never come back, what will be there for those that come after? You should have noticed by now that what the Mohie Sect wants is to revive the sect."

"Then, what is the use of gaining this 'partial control' over this dimension?"

Hasik then said:

"Of course there is use for it! First, you can enter and leave as you wish. You don't need to be afraid of the illusion formations outside at all!

Second, you have access to the herb garden. For an alchemist like you, this should be a great thing!

Third, all equipment is available for you to use as you wish… as long as you don't break it.

Fourth, you can bring anyone here without needing to pass through the illusion formations test. Of course, if they want cultivation techniques, they will have to pass the first two tests as well.

Fifth, this dimension or 'Secret Realm' as you say, has the power to protect you. As long as the opponent cultivation isn't above the Divine Soul Realm, you won't have to be afraid of or being killed while inside here.

There is a lot more, but I believe you understood what I mean."

Krune let out a sigh of relief. For a second, he thought that all his hard work was for nothing. At least the medicinal herb garden had caught his attention.

He was about to ask about that when Yusa suddenly entered the Order hall.

"So this is where you all are! I went to your rooms but didn't find anyone."

Krune and the others were surprised.

"Did you finish creating you Spiritual Energy Meridians already?"

Yusa shook her head.

"I have created four. According to what you told me, I still need one more. But I can already feel an enormous difference in my control over the elements just like you said. I have improved a lot! Of course, I'm still a far cry from you."

She looked around and asked.

"So, what are you here for?"

Shinja then explained what had happened during the time she was out.

"I see! So no spirit stones in the end. It seems like we were right in deciding to pass the endurance test ten levels. The reward will be very welcomed."

Shinja noticed that Yusa was looking sad somehow.

"What happened?"

Yusa's eyes started to tear up. She jumped and hugged Shinja while saying.

"It's over."

That scene took them aback. Over? What's over?

"What else could it be? My spirit stones, of course! They are over! The four Spiritual Energy Meridians used a lot, and when I was creating the fifth, my spirit stones ran out in the middle, and it crumbled."

So that's what it was about. With how much Yusa loved spirit stones, it's no wonder that she would weep over it.

She then turned to Krune with shining eyes.

"Which means... I need more spirit stones. You have passed all tests with the highest rate. So lend me some."

Krune's face immediately contorted.

"Scram! I, your grandfather, put a lot of effort to get those! If you want more, go find it yourself."

Yusa then turned to Ao and Shinja, but they immediately turned their heads away.

'She would never pay it back,' they thought.

Yusa looked at that and was disappointed. It seems like she will need to work harder.

Krune ignored her and turned to Hasik.

"Can you bring me to the herb garden?"

Hasik nodded.

"I can. But let me tell you that the garden has different levels of access. It has nothing to do with your status as a legacy disciple, but with your cultivation realm. It is made this way to encourage the legacy disciples to put effort into their cultivation as well."

Krune nodded.

It is particularly enticing for an alchemist like him. Krune stepped over the formation and was teleported over. When he got there, he was surprised. The variety and amount of herbs available were terrific. Of course, rare and older herbs were in much fewer quantities than the normal ones. Puppets walked everywhere, taking care of the garden. For an alchemist like him, this was really a paradise!

It was then that he noticed several formations covering different parts of the enormous garden.

'It should be the formations preventing those who don't have the right cultivation realm from entering.'

Krune then started to gather the herbs he would need in the future. Of course, as an alchemist, he knows very well not to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. If there were three, he would take one. If there were five, he would take two. Hasik was observing Krune without him noticing and gave an approving nod.

Shinja and the other were about to leave the Order Hall when Hasik suddenly remembered one thing.

"Oh right, I forgot to ask him what name the sect should be changed to."

Yusa and the others looked at him: "Sect name changing?"

"You know our Mohie Sect is mortal enemies with the Rasie Clan. I can't allow you to go outside, saying that you are part of the Mohie Sect, right? So it was agreed long ago that the next legacy disciple would be able to select a different name for this branch. If you remember what I commented before, the sect name was decided in a whim by the sect founder. So we don't really have any huge attachment to it to start with. We loved the sect, not the name."

Ao and the others nodded. It made sense after all, not to mention it would make things safer.

Yusa's eyes suddenly lit up. She's just thought about something very interesting. She couldn't help but feel excited thinking about Krune's face when he finds out.

"In that case, there is no need to ask him, we all know what name he would be using anyway."

Ao and Shinja eyes suddenly lit up as well. Shinja has already been told how their team name came to be. She laughed for quite a while when she heard that, especially when she noticed Krune's face while Yusa explained the reason.

Ao didn't lose the opportunity and then commented.

"That's true, I doubt he would ever use another name other than that."

Shinja helped strike the iron while it was hot.

"It has a lot to do with his personality, after all. It's very catchy."

Hase Hasik was a little puzzled but didn't doubt anything.

"That's understandable, you are very close to him after all, here. Take it."

He then took a token and gave it to Yusa.

"Just write the name over it, and it will be over. When the process is done, the dimension formation will automatically send a message for those inside the dimension telling about their new names."

Yusa and the others felt like they were of fire! Yusa immediately wrote down the new name while Ao and Shinja looked excited at that.

Right after, everyone, Krune included, heard a robotic voice coming from the dimension itself.

"Congratulations to legacy disciple Krune for choosing the Mohie Sect's next name. The sect shall from now on be called…"

"Rainbow Sect."

In a certain garden outside the city, a certain wisp passed out.

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After waking up again, Krune went back to the Order Hall and threw a tantrum in front of Hase Hasik. Unfortunately for him, the name couldn't be changed anymore, it was an onetime opportunity. Krune looked around, but the culprits had long since disappeared. They obviously fled somewhere, and Krune felt like crying but had no tears.

Time passed, and just like that, another month went by. Today Shinja had finally crossed the ten levels of the endurance test and became an ordinary disciple of the Mohi-cough, cough, Rainbow Sect. She went to the Books Hall to search for a soul cultivation technique suited for her. Krune still had an annoyed face but again helped her select a good one. He had already committed to memory all the introductions of techniques when he came here before, so he took all the water-related techniques.

"So, those are all the ones that have water element as base. Some are focused on attack, others, on defense. There is quite a lot for support as well. Few of them are suited for water and lightning as the skills you like to use. So you might want to give them a little more attention. I also know the techniques of the fourth and fifth floors, so I left out the techniques that wouldn't be compatible with higher techniques for when you reach a legacy disciple level."

Shinja nodded and took a look. All techniques were good ones, probably because they could be changed after becoming a legacy disciple. Shinja started to read through the descriptions, and Krune left. She will definitely take much more time to select one that he did. After all, there were almost no techniques for all five elements. But there is a lot if only water is considered.

Back to the Order hall, Yusa and Ao were still going through the endurance test. Ao is much further ahead since Yusa had to stop for her Spiritual Energy Meridians creation. He had already got to the sixth Divine Sense attack of the last level. Yusa didn't have any more spirit stones for the Spiritual Energy Meridians creation. So she started to take the endurance test again, and it was at the second attack.

During this last month, Ao achieved the 7th stage of the Foundation Establishment, so his combat prowess went a step further, too. He should have no problem in fighting ordinary 9th stage cultivators.

Although Yusa seemed to have fallen behind, the truth is that she was far ahead. The four Spiritual Energy Meridians had helped her improve her elements control by a lot. So she could fight Ao head-on even being one cultivation stage behind, and it won't take long for her to break through into the 7th stage as well.

'They don't need anything other than time at the moment. I guess it won't take long before we move back to the city, but we are now lacking combat experience. I also have to return to the Alchemist Guild to make some money. It should be okay for me to start focusing on Four Stars Pills from now on as well.'

Krune then went back to his own training. He still had a long way to go before becoming an expert with his soul cultivation technique.

A few days later, Krune received a message from Shinja to gather in the Order Hall. He thought it had something to do with her choice of cultivation technique, but arriving there, he could also see Yusa and Ao.

"Did something happen?"

Yusa and Ao just shook their heads, they also received a message from Shinja and just came out of the soul endurance test.

Shinja looked at them and smiled.

"I can now breakthrough into the Core Formation Realm."

Krune and the others were surprised, but that was to be expected! She had been accumulating experience and energy for a long time. With the improvement of her soul, it goes without saying that she could take the next step.

Krune decided that this was a good chance to ask about the Core Formation Realm breakthrough. He was far away from that realm before. So he didn't care too much, but his cultivation is improving every day. The only reason he stopped at the 5th stage was simply to stabilize his foundation that was showing some problems due to the speed of his breakthroughs.

"So, exactly how does that Core Formation breakthrough work?"

Yusa and Ao were also interested. If it was not for their encounter with Krune, they would be far from considering something like Core Formation, so they haven't looked into the requisites for the breakthrough.

Shinja, of course, was different. She had already been at the peak of the 9th stage when she joined the group. Her reason to go to the Furiu Realm was exactly to find an opportunity to make the breakthrough.

"You could say that the Core Formation breakthrough is a lot easier than the Foundation Establishment. Of course, I don't mean easier in difficulty, but easier in understanding the process. You had heard before that this breakthrough had a lot to do with the soul, right?"

Krune and the others nodded. They remembered that someone had commented that before.

"So, simply put, your future golden Core is being nurtured, but for what is it being nurtured for? The answer is: to become a 'home' that will 'gestate' your Divine Soul."

Krune and the others were puzzled.

"Aren't we talking about the Core Formation Realm? Where did the Divine Soul come from?"

Shinja was already expecting that question.

"It isn't that hard to understand! A Divine Soul can't appear out of anywhere. It has to be created at some point. The 'gestation' of the Divine Soul is done by none other than the nurtured Core of the Foundation Establishment Realm."

They had to admit that it made sense. It's just that the concept of Divine Soul Realm was something really far away from them.

"Basically, you are saying that the entire Core Formation Realm is nothing more than a gestation period of the Divine Soul, is that right?"

Shinja nodded.

"Correct!"

Yusa then asked:

"So, how exactly you make your core nurture a soul, does the soul appear out of nowhere?"

Shinja shook her head.

"As I said, the Core Formation Realm is just easy to understand but hard to achieve. That's because you will need to literally use a part of your own soul and fuse it together with your Core."

Krune and the others were alarmed!

"Use a part of our own soul? Is it even possible? No, first of all, doing something like that might get you killed instead."

Shinja didn't deny that.

"The old saying can be applied here: to cultivate is to go against the will of the heavens. There is no lack of cultivators who died during their Core Formation Breakthrough. But if you desire to move further in the path of cultivation, this is a step that you must take."

Krune and the others took a deep breath. Core Formation was a lot more dangerous than they thought it would be. But a look of determination appeared in their eyes.

"So what if it is dangerous? I refuse to believe that we won't encounter even more dangerous situations in the future. This is just another one, nothing more."

Shinja smiled after hearing that. That's how a cultivator should be.

"So, how exactly do you take a part of your soul?"

"You don't! You let your Core absorb it on his own, just like the way you let it absorb spiritual energy before. When it is satisfied, it will stop on its own."

Krune understood the crux of the issue.

"I see. No wonder you wanted to enter the Furiu Realm before. You wanted to find something that would help your main soul resist the absorption without killing yourself. The reason you don't need that anymore is that thanks to the soul tempering plus the soul cultivation technique, your soul now is strong enough to resist the process."

Shinja nodded.

"Exactly! In fact, this way is even better. If you use external help to get past this barrier, you will be leaving behind impurities that came together with whatever you used to help you enter the Core Formation. So you must understand this, although we didn't get any big amount of resources or whatever here. The Mohi- errr, Rainbow Sect was a fortune several times more valuable than the Furiu Realm could have ever been. Let's not even mention the lack of any danger! So you must make use of this opportunity as much as you can."

Although Krune wanted to kill someone every time he heard the sect's name, Krune and the others still nodded vigorously. They have already considered this a great fortune, now even more than ever! Krune then remembered something.

"What about the tribulation you will probably be in a weakened state after succeeding in entering the Core Formation Realm due to the injury of your soul? How do you plan to surpass it?"

Shinja just laughed at that.

"What else can I do? I can only take it head-on! If I survive, I will get great rewards. If I don't, I'm dead. That's just it!"

It was this moment that Hase Hasik, who had been hearing their conversation without saying anything so far, intervened.

"That's not necessarily true! Our Rainbow Sect does have a way to help you with that."

Immediately, all eyes focused on Hasik.

"You mean?"

"There is no way to stop the tribulation, nor can we help with it since it would only become stronger if someone intervenes. Our sect does have a way of reducing the effects of soul injury after part of it is absorbed by the Core."

Shinja took a deep breath.

"Is that true?"

Hasik nodded.

"In fact, it's quite easy! Exactly because of the problem of the soul injury. Our sect created a technique that will stabilize the soul temporarily. It won't leave any side effects either. That way, you will have a greater chance to overcome the tribulation since you won't feel the pain in your soul for some time."

A book called 'Stabilizing Soul Technique' then appeared on the teleport formation.

"Of course, it is just a short term help. It won't heal your soul in the end. Sometime after the tribulation is done, the stabilization provided by the technique will fade away. You will then feel all the pain you were supposed to have felt before, but by then, the tribulation will already be over, and you can take your time to heal your soul."

As expected of a sect fighting head-on with one of the big four in the past, Shinja and the others were ecstatic! Shinja immediately took the book and started to read it. She was ready to begin her breakthrough anytime, she just needed to practice this technique.

Hasik then asked another thing.

"Are you intending to go through the Heavenly Tribulation here in the Rainbow Sect?"

Shinja heard that and pondered a bit. In the end, she decided to ask first.

"Is there any risk of someone find this Secret Realm if I go through my Heavenly Tribulation here?"

It was Hasik's time to think now.

"If it were in the past, I would be confident to say no. But it has been a very long time since anyone underwent a Heavenly Tribulation here. So I'm not sure if the dimension formation can conceal your breakthrough or not."

Krune looked at that and said:

"In that case, when you are ready, let's go outside. Even if the chances are small, we shouldn't risk it. We can't let anyone find this place! It will become a calamity if that happens."

Everyone, Hasik included, nodded.

Shinja looked at the book in front of her and then said:

"I will study this technique first. When I master it, I will send a message to your communicators."

Krune and the others agreed with that idea and then left. Shinja would probably need a few more days to master the technique before trying the Core Formation Breakthrough.

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While Shinja was studying the technique, Yusa called Krune over to take a look at her improvement over the control of the elements. At the moment, she could control even three elements simultaneously, showing that Krune's thoughts in the past were right. The Spiritual Energy Meridians can increase your ability with the elements tremendously. But there was one thing he couldn't understand.

'Her control is still below mine when I had Four Spiritual Energy Meridians. But as far as I can see, there are no flaws in her meridians. Could it be because I'm a wisp or the universe foundation?'

Krune decided that when he went back to the Katiu Forest, he would take a look at his disciple meridians. Also, he'd examine if his control were the same as Yusa or his.

Yusa, on the other hand, didn't mind it so much. The improvement has already been far above from what she expected.

"Now, I understand how you feel when practicing or going into battle. My sense of the elements is several times higher now! It's really a magical feeling. I don't mind you were better with it at the same stage as me. It might be because you are a wisp, as you said, or simply because you have the Universe Foundation. But in my opinion, it is a talent! Don't forget everyone has different levels of talent, especially if cultivation is considered in the mix."

Krune was a little surprised by that word. Talent wasn't something he thought wisps had. He always believed that all he did was thanks to the Spiritual Energy Meridians. But if it is really talent, it's explained why his disciple, a wisp just like him, took so much more time to create his first Spiritual Energy Meridian, even though he had Krune to guide him.

"Talent, yea?"

Krune then let out a sigh.

"If it is a talent or not, it doesn't matter, I believed I wasn't anything special. But even if I am, I will still be a wisp; in the end, that's all that is."

Yusa heard that but refused to comment. She isn't a wisp and has no idea how a wisp really feels while living in a universe no one cares for them.

After Shinja finished mastering the technique, everyone gathered at the Elemental Gate, connecting them to the outside. But before they left, Hasik sent Krune a Divine Sense message through the dimension formation.

"Now that you have a partial control over this 'Secret Realm,' you can lock the entrance for a limited amount of time. If you take too long to come back, the gate will open again. So, be sure to hide the entrance well! Even I don't know exactly where the entrance was. So you take care of that."

Krune then said.

"No problem. The entrance was buried two kilometers underground. There is no way someone would find it, even for me! It was just a coincidence I found it. So I don't think there is any risk anyway. You don't need to worry about that."

Krune looked at Shinja and the others.

"So, this breakthrough of yours, where do you want to go for that?"

Shinja already had an idea in mind.

"It wouldn't be a good idea to do it so deep into the Raskie Danger Zone. The breakthrough process isn't something that can be stopped in the middle. But doing it in the borders will attract the attention of other cultivators as well. Then, we'd better go back to the city and ask if the mercenary guild has a good place I could use. I don't think anyone will try to bother us with the guild behind us."

Shinja then looked at everyone.

"But are you sure you want to come with me? It's not like I can't do it alone. You all have your own training to care about as well. I will just come back after everything is over with."

Krune shook his head.

"No, you can do. If you go back alone, and we aren't with you, it will definitely make people suspicious. We'd better go back together and, after you finish your breakthrough, we should stay there for a while. Do some other missions and only then come back. It's been a while since I last saw my disciple, so I wish to go back and take a look at him."

Yusa and Ao also agreed with that. They also have their own reasons to go back. Ao wants to check the mercenary guild salesroom to see if he can get anything useful. He is already at the 7th stage of the Foundation Establishment. He wanted to try to gain control over two elements at the same time. But Krune asked him to wait until he'd get his Spiritual Energy Meridians first. Learning how to do it is much easier with the meridians than it is now. Yusa is a good example of that. In the end, Ao might waste time instead.

As for Yusa, her reason was much more simple. She just wanted to go to the market to buy some things for women. Over one year out, she had spent all her stock. In fact, Shinja and Yusa divided the same thought.

"Well then, let's go back."

With Krune's and the others' cultivation, they took just a few days to rush back to the city. Instead of stopping at the local Mercenary Guild, they went straight to the teleport formation and went back to Kaley City. When the teleport formation of the Solie Clan started to shine, the guards around it felt puzzled. They hadn't received any report that day, but when Krune and the others appeared, they were alarmed.

"Fast, tell the Clan Leader, Krune has reappeared."

Krune and the others didn't pay attention to the guards. They simply left the bill of the teleportation for the Solie Clan to pay and returned to the Mercenary Guild. When they arrived, they could see everyone was looking at them as if they were some kind of attraction. Much for Krune's discomfort.

"Isn't that the super genius Krune and the Ice block Shinja? Didn't they disappear around a year ago?"

"That is definitely them! I heard that the guild was looking for them like crazy, but no one has found even a single hair of them."

"Look, the Furiu Realm was over a long time ago, but the Ice block Shinja is still with Krune's team. It seems the rumors were true; she really joined Krune's group."

Krune and the others didn't know what was going on. Just when they were about to enter the guild, Lu Ganan rushed over. He had looked for Krune and Shinja everywhere. He even started to think they had really been kidnapped by the outside guilds. But seeing the same four members now, it seems it wasn't the case.

"The four of you! Where the hell did you go? Do you have any idea how many troubles we went through because of your disappearance?"

"Trouble?"

Krune and the others looked puzzled at Lu Ganan. What kind of trouble?

"Supervisor Lu sure is exaggerating. The system indeed counted the mission we took back then as failed since they didn't come back. But a simple failed mission shouldn't be that big of a problem, no?"

Yusa and the others nodded, they also think the same.

Lu Ganan looked at their puzzled face and felt helpless.

"Of course, a simply failed mission won't count for much. But it isn't the problem here!"

Krune and the others felt even more puzzled. Other than the mission, they didn't leave anything undone before they'd left. So what could be such a big problem for him?

Suddenly, Lu Ganan remembered one thing.

'Right! We have never told any of them about the Martial Gathering that will happen in less than a year, much less that we wanted to send Krune and Shinja with the group if Krune was strong enough. Obviously, they have no idea their absence caused a big ruckus.'

"Cough, cough. Anyway, come to my office. For now, there are a few things I need to tell Krune and Shinja."

Krune and the others simply nodded and were about to follow him when a shadow appeared in the distance. In just a few seconds, that shadow had already stopped in front of Krune. It was no other than Go Gao, the Alchemist Guild supervisor.

Krune looked at Go Gao surprised. And was just about to compliment him when Go Gao put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's leave this place" I will take care of you from now on."

Krune was alarmed. What does he mean with that? Could it be that supervisor Go is playing in the other team?

Before Krune could say anything, Lu Ganan has already grabbed his other shoulder.

"Leave your head! Who the hell would let you take Krune away? Are you dreaming? He is mine!"

Just felt like crying, since when did he make so much success among men?

He immediately took distance from the two and apologized.

"Supervisor Go and supervisor Lu, I'm happy with your feelings, but I've already had a fiancé. Besides, I don't really like men, I'm sorry."

Yusa and Ao immediately burst in laugh. They were definitely waiting for Krune to say something like that, and he didn't disappoint them. Shinja was the only one to keep her cool, although with some (a lot of) difficulty.

Everyone looked at Lu Ganan and Go Gao weirdly. This time Krune couldn't be blamed. The two of them could only blame themselves.

Lu Ganan immediately retorted.

"Feelings your head! I'm a married and a very straight man."

Go Gao did just the same.

"The Same for me. I wanted to say that there is no need for you to risk your life in the Mercenary Guild anymore. So I would take you away to prevent more dangers like this time to happen."

"Dangers like this time?"

Krune's group calmed again and looked at each other.

"We were just training outside, what danger is supervisor Gao talking about?"

Both Lu Ganan and Go Gao were taken aback.

"Training?"

Krune and the others nodded.

"For over a year?"

They once again nodded.

"You, guys, stayed outside for over a year without giving any notice just for training? Didn't you get dragged in some danger or got kidnapped by some other guild?"

Krune's group found this conversation to be awkward.

Shinja couldn't take it anymore. She usually has a cold personality. Recently she started to open herself with Krune and the others, but as for anyone else, she couldn't care less.

"Supervisor Go and supervisor Lu, whether we stayed outside to train for a day or for a year, it has nothing to do with any of you! What the hell is all this interrogatory? Could it be that the rules of your guilds changed, and now the cultivators have become your prisoners?"

Go Gao and Lu Ganan were taken aback once again.

"Of course not! Well, it is true you can go anywhere or stay away for as long as you want. The problem on our Mercenary Guild side has to do with an event happening in less than a year from now."

"Anyway, come to my office, and I will explain the situation."

Go Gao, in the end, followed the group too. He knows what is the event that Lu Ganan is talking about and is determined to stop Krune from participating. As for the rest, they aren't alchemists, so he doesn't care. Lu Ganan looked at that but didn't say anything. The two guilds of Kaley City had been fighting over Krune for a long time already.

Inside Lu Ganan's office, Krune and the other were waiting for him to talk.

"Well, let me see where I start… Oh, right! First is the issue of the Furiu Realm. As you know, we wanted to send you three together with Shinja to gain experience and improve your cultivation. The Martial Gathering will be happening in less than a year from now."

Although Krune was puzzled, Shinja and the others had at least heard about it. Yusa looked at Lu Ganan and asked.

"You mean the gathering that happens for the geniuses of the world in the Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment?

Lu Ganan nodded, but Krune had no idea about what they were talking about.

Yusa noticed that and explained to Krune what the Martial Gathering was about. Krune heard and was taken aback.

"You want me to participate? You must be crazy! I will be courting death if I enter this gathering with my cultivation."

Not only Go Gao, but Shinja and the others also thought the same. Krune might be able to fight those several cultivation stages above him. But those are just ordinary cultivators and demon beasts. This gathering is bound to be full of cultivators that can also fight those with cultivation higher than theirs. Krune's advantage would be highly reduced there.

Lu Ganan wasn't surprised by that answer.

"As I said, it would be in the case that you catch up with the other geniuses of the world. If that weren't possible, we were hoping for you to help us with something else."

Krune let out a sigh of relief. At least the guild higher-ups didn't lose their heads.

It was the first time Go Gao also heard that. If they aren't sending Krune to participate in the Martial Gathering, all is good, as long as he is safe. But then again, what is it they wish him to do?

"Well, if it isn't something hard and the payment is good, I don't mind helping. What is it?"

Lu Ganan took a deep breath and said.

"We wish you teach the participants that are going to take part in the Martial Gathering selection. Also, a few of our own people will check the process so that we can reproduce it in the future without your help. Of course, it will be until the selection, only."

Everyone in the room felt they had heard wrong.

"Teach them? Who? Me?"

---

Read Is that a Wisp? Chapter 61 Help the Mercenary Contestants. online for free - AllNovelFull

Krune felt that something was wrong. Why would they ask him to teach the contestants? He found this situation to be a little surreal.

"I think supervisor Lu is asking the wrong person. The people participating in the selections you said are all at the late Foundation Establishment Realm. I don't think they would want to learn anything from a lower stage cultivator, right?"

Lu Ganan shook his head.

"The Mercenary Guild had been looking at your progress ever since you joined the guild as a Four Stars Mercenary. But what really caught our attention was Yusa Shen and Ao Sulian. They were just two normal Mercenaries before. But look at them now! In a short period of time, they are in the 6th and 7th stages of the Foundation Establishment. We investigated their past; they have no background. Not only had their cultivation soared, but their combat prowess was also even more so. We don't know how much stronger they became after this last year you were out in training. But before you left, the two of them could already complete the Three Stars Mercenary test with ease. I refuse to believe that their progress doesn't have anything to do with you."

Krune was surprised they kept so much attention on himself and even his team members.

"So, you want me to help the other contestants achieve the same effect as well as teach the Mercenary Guild how to achieve so that you use it in the future. That way, you wouldn't have problems in training future loyal members by yourselves, right?"

Lu Ganan nodded. That is what Guild Head and Kassius from the reviews office are really looking for.

"I know very well that such a thing is bound to be a huge secret. And the mercenary guild has no intention in getting it for free. So, if you decide to teach our participants how to increase their combat prowess in this short amount of time, and, at the same time, show the guild how it is done. The guild is willing to pay you handsomely. Once the guild learns how to do that, you will be free again to do whatever you want. However, the method of training you have is something our Yule Continent Mercenary Guild is in dire need for."

Not only Krune, but even Shinja and the others shook their hands. It isn't that they don't want to tell the way to do. It's just that there is no way he can pass this knowledge to the others; no one in their group other than Krune can do what he does, at least not to his extent.

"Supervisor Lu Ganan got the wrong idea here. If it is just to help your selected contestants improve their combat ability, it won't be a problem; but I can't teach how it is done to the guild."

Lu Ganan wasn't surprised. He thought Krune would try to keep the secret anyway. So he was prepared to start giving him a lot of benefits. Just as he was about to talk, Krune continued first:

"Do not misunderstand me! It's not I want to keep it a secret. It is because it is not something that can be learned to start with. This is basically me giving pointers to Yusa and the rest. I have to see them using their abilities first, and only then can I give them some ideas on how to improve that. I have an extremely high sensitivity to elements' control and manipulation. So I can see what is wrong in their cultivation, skills, and elements used. It was for a long time together that I came to understand them."

There was also the Myriad Energies Technique, but that is something he wouldn't talk about even if God descended in front of him. Yusa and the others knew as well, then they didn't say anything.

Lu Ganan was taken aback.

"So you can only help the people beside you, but can't help them understand how to teach it to others."

Krune nodded.

"If it is only helping them improve their abilities, I can spend a few months with them, as long as the payment is good. The mercenary guild can, in the meantime, send some people to participate in the training and observe how it goes. You will come to understand this is not something that can simply be copied."

Go Gao, who had been listening so far, decided to leave now.

"Since you have no intention of putting Krune in the Martial Gathering anymore, I won't stick around. As for if he decides to train your contestants or not, that is his decision to start with. I will be taking my leave. But your Mercenary Guild is better not to have any funny ideas about him."

And before anyone could answer, he left. He knew that from now on, they would enter in the details of the selection itself. It was already a good thing they let him listen so much until now. Go Gao isn't shameless enough to stick around any longer hearing about another guild's problems.

Lu Ganan saw that but didn't say anything. He turned back to Krune and the others and said.

"In that case, I will have to talk with the Head Quarters. They might not believe it, though."

Krune shook his head.

"Whether they believe or not, it isn't my problem, right?"

As long as the Myriad Energies Technique"s real form isn't found out, Krune has nothing to fear.

"I guess you are right about that. Anyway, let me enter the next topic."

Lu Ganan then turned to Shinja.

"The Furiu Realm has already closed. So there is no need for you to protect Krune anymore. You can leave anytime you want, the guild will still pay what was combined for this protection time."

Shinja shook her head.

"No need for payment! I decided to Join Krune's team. In the end, since I found something I wanted, I won't take anything from it."

Lu Ganan was really surprised this time. He had also heard the people commenting she might have joined Krune's group, but he didn't believe that. He knows Shinja reputation much better than the others. She would never join a group, it doesn't matter what. Then, what is happening here now?

"Are you speaking the truth? You have never joined any team before. It doesn't matter what we did, why did you change your mind all of a sudden?"

Shinja smiled brightly and answered truthfully.

"I found a few friends."

Lu Ganan was taken aback. Is that Shinja Avril? The famous Ice Block Shinja? No one has ever seen she smiling since she entered the cultivation world. But that smile was really touching! Supervisor Lu couldn't help but take a better look at Krune and his friends. It was excellent news; the guild has always tried to make her join a team. Now that she has joined one, it is one thing less for the guild to care about.

"That's great! As for the payment, you will receive it whether you want it or not. This is the Mercenary Guild's reputation on the line. You protected Krune until the end of the Furiu Realm, as stated in the blood contract. The guild has no intention in going back on our word, please understand!"

Since he put it that way, she didn't say anything anymore.

"I will arrange for the ice shard to be delivered to you by tomorrow. Now I have another thing to talk to you about."

Lu Ganan took a deep breath and said:

"Shinja Avril, the guild expects you take part in the selection and in the Martial Gathering later. Since the Furiu Realm couldn't help you enter the Core Formation Realm, the guild is willing to gift you an instant-soul recovery pill once the gathering is over. You have a Pure Yin Body and a Universe Foundation as well. You are definitely one of our best candidates in the Foundation Establishment this time."

Shinja shook her head.

"No need, thanks to Krune. I have no need for any external help like pills anymore. I can breakthrough anytime. We finished our training earlier because we could come back here and check with you if there is anywhere safe the guild can provide while I'm going through the process."

Lu Ganan's heart almost stopped now.

'Did she say she has no need for external help?'

One must know the Makui Planet is a low-level planet in the universe. Their techniques and manuals aren't that good, either if compared to the other planets out there. Let's not even mention the big four. Because of that, almost everyone on the planet needs external help like pills or other things to pass the Core Formation Breakthrough. It's extremely rare for someone to try it with their own effort and nothing more. That can also be said to be one of the reasons why there are so little Divine Soul and even less Soul Forging cultivators on the planet. Their foundations had been shaken by the pills and everything else they continuously use.

"Are you sure you can get past this barrier with your own power?"

Shinja nodded.

Lu Ganan, once more, took a look at Krune. Could it be because of his gift as well?

"Very well! Let me contact the headquarters; They thought you can't break through the Core Formation soon. It's against the initial plans."

This time, there was no need to contact the headquarters privately. Lu Ganan simply linked everyone's communicators together and got in contact with them. He had already reported to the guild that Krune was back. So they were already expecting his call.

Except for Shinja, it was the first time Krune and the others saw the Head of the Mercenary Guild in the Yule Continent, Bary, so they politely complimented him. Bary just nodded his head and waited for Lu Ganan to report everything first. After supervisor Lu explained what had happened, he waited for Bary's answer.

"So Krune can't teach how to train others since this is just an ability of his. He can only train the contestants himself. As for Shinja, she can enter the Core Formation straight away. She just needs a safe place provided by the guild for that."

Bary sighed. Although he doesn't know whether Krune is speaking the truth or not, that doesn't matter. If he doesn't want to say, then the Mercenary Guild can't do anything about that. He's just accepted Krune's idea of having some of the guild's teachers watching while training the contestants to see if it is really impossible to learn.

He moved to the next topic after settling it.

"Shinja, could you delay your breakthrough until the end of the Martial Gathering? We have very few people who are capable of fighting at this high level. And you are the only one with a Universe Foundation in the right cultivation level now."

Shinja shook her head.

"I can't! I have already accumulated enough spiritual energy in my body to make the breakthrough. If I delay this long, it might damage my foundation. If you had told me you wanted me to participate in the selection and the Martial Gathering, I would have slowed down and taken part in it. But now I can't anymore."

Bary looked disappointed, but he knew it was the truth. If you prepare everything for the breakthrough and decide to stop at the best moment, it might really affect your future. But Bary can't be blamed. He thought she couldn't enter the Core Formation anymore after she left the Furiu Realm behind.

"Very well, I will send a few Core Formation Experts just to keep a look during the process. Just find somewhere empty so that your tribulation won't hurt anyone, and that will be okay. It should take two or three weeks to gather the personal."

Shinja nodded and thanked him.

"Then it is settled! Krune will be leaving for the Headquarters in one month. As for the others, you can do whatever you want while he is out."

Shinja and the others looked at each other and answered.

"We are going with Krune too."

Bary just accepted. Whether Krune went alone or not, it didn't matter for him. As long as he kept his part of the accord, everything was fine.

"Lu Ganan, I will leave the preparations for you to take care. As for Krune's payment, it will depend on the results of the selection in six months' time from now between the mercenary guilds of all continents."

Supervisor Lu accepted the order and finished the video call.

And just like that, Krune got a new assignment.

Report chapter

Thanks to the Spiritual Energy Meridians, Yusa can now control three elements at the same time. But the Group decided it would be better if she didn't show that for the time being. They decided to have her waiting until she got to the 9th stage before showing her capabilities. That way, it would look less suspicious.

Today, Krune's Group was gathered in front of the Kaley City gate that goes to the Katiu Forest. They were just signing the agreement as always.

"The Mercenary Guild will take two to three weeks to send those Core Formation Experts to oversee Shinja's breakthrough. This is more than enough time for me to go and check my disciple. If you want, you can stay. It shouldn't take more than a few days.

Ao and the other shook their heads.

"We are very curious to see this disciple of yours. He is a wisp too, right? We want to see if the rainbow is following him as well."

Krune ignored the last part of the comment and finished signing his name. After that, the Group left for Katiu Forest. They told Lu Ganan in advance that they would only take two weeks out, at most, and would be back before the guild sent the experts. Every new core formation expert is an important asset in a weak place like Makui Planet. They had to make sure that it went without any trouble.

Krune's Group moved at high speed. The Lizard Dragons lair was much closer than the other dangerous places they had to go. It's just that Krune's cultivation and element control in the past were still low, so he took a long time to leave it. Well, 'low' if you consider Krune now. Compared to other cultivators or demon beasts, he was already very strong when he first left the Katiu Forest.

Four days later, Krune could already see the Lizard Dragons cave entrance. But something was strange! He could see with his Divine Sense that a few Foundation Establishment demon beasts, from different races, were guarding the entrance. Krune ignored that and quickly approached. When the creatures saw Krune's Group getting close, they immediately entered into a battle instance, prepared to fight at any time.

Krune saw that but didn't do anything. Yusa and the others also didn't know this place, so they simply waited for Krune's words.

"Who are you? Where are the Lizards Dragons, Lakin, and Ruik?"

The leader on the front, a demon fox in human form, seemed to be surprised. He then noticed the Krune's rainbow hair and immediately came forward.

"Relax, everyone. It's big master! He is back."

Krune thought he heard it wrong.

'Big master? Who? Me?'

He didn't know what was happening. He was about to ask when a young guy appeared at the entrance of the Lizard Dragons cave. He looked quite ordinary. No one would pay much attention to him if he was put in the middle of a crowd. Simply put, he was just like Krune, ordinary to the extreme, except for the fact that he didn't have Rainbow Hair or Eyes.

Krune didn't have to ask, so what if he were in human form? There is no way he wouldn't recognize his disciple aura. Before he could say a word, his disciple had already rushed forward and hugged him.

"Master!"

Krune just caressed his head and laughed out loud.

"Now look at this! It seems you were successful in your Foundation Establishment. Master is happy for you."

Krune then looked around and noticed all the beasts looking at him.

"Well, let's go inside first! You know I hate to attract attention."

Lakin nodded and was about to bring Krune inside when he noticed the humans behind him.

"Master, are those...?"

"I tell you inside. Let's go!"

Lakin agreed, and they moved into the Spiritual Vein Lake room. As soon as Krune got there, he was surprised. The amount of spiritual energy in the cave was several times higher than what it was in his time. But that wasn't all! What really surprised him was the other beings inside.

Wisps! Wisps everywhere!

Let alone Krune, even Shinja, and the others had never seen so many wisps together before.

"This…"

Lakin laughed.

"I brought them here, I often went out to train myself. In the end, because the inner parts of the Katiu Forest have more spiritual energy than the outer ones, I found a lot of wisps during the time master was out. The majority were new wisps just like me who lucked out and didn't get eaten."

Krune nodded.

"I see, but what are you going to do with all of them? It's not like you can take care of them forever! Also, what are those beasts outside guarding the cave?"

Lakin then explained what was happening.

It turns out that Lakin simply didn't have the heart to leave the wisps behind, so he brought them with him. His plan is to train a few of them until they can defend the rest and go. Some of the wisps were already in the 8th stage of Qi Condensation, and there were even two in the 9th. They were coincidently cultivating at that moment, so Krune could feel the Spiritual Energy Meridians on them. It seemed Lakin had taught a few of them how to cultivate the Spiritual Energy Meridians.

As for the demon beasts guarding outside, Lakin had challenged every single one of them and won. As the victor, he simply demanded them to protect the spiritual vein lake cave and keep the secret, making sure they wouldn't go back on their words. Lakin used the blood contracts. The thing about Big Master was something that Lakin made out.

"I see, what about the Lizard Dragons and Ruik?"

Lakin just smiled and said.

"The Lizard Dragons had all become Foundation Establishment Demon Beasts. Their dragon blood was really impressive, even without the Spiritual Energy Meridians. They can still fight those one stage above simply by relying on their bloodline. They should be out hunting for food at that moment. Their Big brother is even on the second stage now. They are all cultivating the pseudo meridians, and it shouldn't take long for their big brother to finish creating the ninth pseudo meridian. After that, he can start creating his first Spiritual Energy Meridian."

Krune nodded. The brothers and sisters Lizard Dragons had pretty much turned out the way he predicted.

Lakin then continued.

"As for Ruik..."

He then turned to look at a specific corner where one could see a big nest. Now that Krune paid attention to that, he could hear some snores coming from it. There was no need for Lakin to say anything more, Krune just laughed and moved close. Arriving there, he could see a Two-Headed demon snake sleeping like a rock. Krune gathered some energy in one of his legs, and they gave a kick. The poor snake flew quite a few meters away.

"Who dares to touch the great Ruik? Do you want to die?"

Krune laughed even more.

"Great Ruik, your head! I, your grandfather, can kick you anytime I feel like! Don't like it? Then come at me!"

Ruik heard that and was enraged. Only when he turned to look at whom said that his expression changed.

"It was you! The worm wisp."

Yusa and the others heard that and looked at Krune.

"Worm wisp?"

Krune's mouth twitched.

"Are you looking for a fight?"

"You were the one who kicked me!"

"You snore too loud!"

"It shows I'm living and kicking!"

Lakin got close to Krune's friends and said.

"Just ignore them. Eventually, they will stop. It doesn't seem it, but they like each other a lot."

Krune and Ruik retorted in unison.

"Who said I like this guy?"

Yusa and the others burst in laugh. They are close, indeed. Yusa then took the opportunity to ask.

"By the way, what is this worm wisp about?"

Ruik's eyes immediately lit up. He completely ignored Krune's existence or the fact that the one who asked was a human who appeared while he was sleeping.

"Oh, let me talk about the day this guy first acquired his human form."

Krune was just about to stop him when suddenly, Shinja and Ao covered his mouth. They very much wish to hear that story. Krune couldn't help but think.

"Traitors!"

Sometime later, Yusa and the others were still laughing about the story from when Krune first got his human form and tried to walk. It could definitely be used again in the future.

On the other side, Krune had a helpless face. He was thinking where his dignity as the leader had gone. Maybe it wasn't even there to start with. Ruik looked at that and just said:

"That's what you get for kicking me."

Krune then sighed and changed the topic.

"So, how is the Myriad Energies Technique going on for you?"

Ruik heard that and got more serious.

"It is as you said before; the wisps that cultivated it had a much easier time to get all nine pseudo energy meridians than me. I only have more Spiritual Energy Meridians than them because I started to cultivate this technique much earlier than them. But I reckon they will pass me sooner or later. Those two cultivating there already have one Spiritual Energy Meridian each."

Ruik then pointed at the two wisps Lakin had mentioned before.

"I have three complete Spiritual Energy Meridians. But now, I lack the spirit stone to open the next ones. After you open the third, the amount of spiritual energy necessary is enormous."

Krune nodded. He already expected that. Yusa was able to open four, basically because she had received Rank Four spirit stones from the Rainbow Sect. However, she was still unable to open the fifth. Her spirit stones ran short.

Suddenly, Krune remembered something.

"Right! Lakin, how many Spiritual Energy Meridians did you open?"

Lakin heard that and was surprised, not because his master asked him about his Spiritual Energy Meridians, but because he didn't ask about his foundation.

"Master, aren't you curious about what I used as foundation?"

Krune smiled and shook his head.

"You successfully created your foundation. It doesn't matter which one it is. The important is that you survived. Don't forget our wisps have only one chance at Foundation Establishment."

Krune got close to Lakin and caressed his head again.

"Master is happy as long as you are happy."

Lakin felt like he was going to cry again, but resisted the urge. He took a big breath and said.

"I opened Four Spiritual Energy Meridians. I could have opened more, but the lack of spiritual energy is very big. The meridians are extremely good, but they need too much spiritual energy to create."

Krune nodded after hearing that. It was as he expected. If Lakin wants to get higher-level spirit stones, he will need to go further into the Katiu Forest and probably fight against the middle- and late- stages Foundation Establishment beasts. Krune could see that he was in the 3rd stage at the moment. It would be quite complicated to do something against the 6th stage or higher demon beasts.

"Show me a few skills. I want to take a look at your level of control over the spiritual elements.

Lakin nodded and showed a few skills, and he learned by himself after he was over. Krune had a pensive look on his face.

"Your element control is pretty much the same as Yusa."

Yusa heard that and then said:

"So it seems like it had nothing to do with the fact you are a wisp. It is easier for wisps to create the Spiritual Energy Meridians. It seems like the control that you get might really be related to your talent."

Krune heard that and nodded.

"It seems like it, anyway! It's not like it is a big thing. The Spiritual Energy Meridians can greatly improve your control over the elements, which is already extremely good."

Lakin then thought about something.

"Right! Master, every time I create a Spiritual Energy Meridian, they don't shine like yours in the end. Ruik's Meridians were the same thing too."

Krune was surprised by that comment. Yusa heard that and confirmed.

"Mine too, they didn't shine even once."

Krune pondered a bit but didn't know why only his shined every time he finished one.

"So, I have three options here as to why my control over the elements is better with the same amount of meridians."

"First, maybe it has something to do with the fact that mine shines when it's done."

"Second, it might be a talent."

"Or third, it is the universe Foundation. But the third one we will find about when Shinja creates her own."

For the time being, Krune decided to put the matter to the back of his mind and changed the topic.

"Lakin, you didn't show your true form outside, right?"

Lakin shook his head. By now, he's already understood how valuable a Foundation Establishment wisp really is. He didn't dare to walk out of the cave in his wisp form anymore. Krune then explained what he'd learned about the high-cultivation level demon beasts of the dangerous zones. After hearing that, Lakin was even surer, his decision was right.

"Well then, why don't you introduce me to the new guys that are using the Myriad Energies Technique?"

Lakin's eyes lit up and immediately brought the two 9th-stage wisps that were cultivating before. Only after Lakin called them over, did they have the courage to approach Krune. They can see how marvelous the Myriad Energies Technique really is. Krune was just the wisp who found out about its true form all by himself, in their eyes, Krune was the same as a god!

Wisps in their wisp forms look pretty much the same, only their size changes a little bit depending on their cultivation. Fortunately, they could still identify themselves by their aura, and Lakin pointed at the one on the right.

"This guy here is called Dier. He is probably becoming a man once he enters the Foundation Establishment. So, we decided on this manly name until we are sure he was one of the first wisps I found out there during my training. He was born for a very little time, so it took quite a while until he could finally speak and understand how to cultivate."

Although Krune couldn't see any difference in Dier's wisp form, he knew he was complimenting him.

"It's good to have you around. If this disciple of mine causes you any trouble, just let me know! After all, he isn't much older than you ."

Lakin felt a little embarrassed but didn't say anything, and then moved to the next one.

"And this one is probably becoming a girl once reaching the Foundation Establishment. So we decided on a girly name for her until we see it for sure. So her temporary name is Cassy. I found her hidden close to a river. It seems she learnt to use the same method as master in the past. Stay close to the river, and if a demon beast or wisp hunter appears, she just dives inside and flees with the current."

Cassy was a bit embarrassed when she heard that, but was also happy when Lakin had told her Krune used to do the same thing. When he was a low-level wisp, she was a great fan of Krune, after all. Of course, it is all because of how grandiose Lakin talked about him.

"So you are probably becoming a little girl. I'm looking forward to seeing it."

Yusa and the others heard about the probable thing and their temporary names, so they asked:

"What do you mean by temporary name?"

Krune didn't think about it in the past, but he had to admit it made a lot of sense. So he decided to explain it himself.

"Wisps don't have a gender before getting their human form. Only after entering Foundation Establishment and transforming for the first time, will they know which gender they are. As far as I can see, by taking Lakin and me as an example, our gender is probably decided by our personality. Of course, we will need to get more examples of wisps to confirm this theory of mine."

Lakin nodded and looked at Cassy.

"We are probably right. Cassy is most likely going to become an amazing girl."

Krune and his zero EQ didn't notice anything. How could Yusa and Shinja not? Yusa got close to Lakin without him noticing. The impressive thing is that even Shinja followed suit and did the same. It was evident that they had combined something. The two girls approached each one of Lakin's ears while he was looking at Cassy and whispered:

"So, little Lakin is interested in the little Cassy, right?"

Lakin's heart almost stopped. In an instant, he fled several meters away with his own wind movement technique. His face was as red as a tomato.

Krune saw that and looked confused.

"What did you say to him?"

Yusa and Shinja smiled and, while looking at Lakin, said:

"It's our little secret, right, Lakin?"

Lakin looked away and pretended he didn't hear anything.

Report chapter

In the next few days, Krune helped Lakin teach the wisps in the Spiritual Vein Lake. He wanted to make sure everything was going well. But there was one thing bothering him: the number of wisps in this place. Late at night, Krune called over everyone to discuss this issue.

"The problem here is that you have too many wisps. I know you have some beast patrolling outside to keep it safe from prying eyes. However, I doubt they will resist the urge to capture all the wisps at once. If for some coincidence, a late-stage Foundation Establishment or higher passes by and decides to check it with their Divine Sense, things would become complicated. Those wisps would be worth a lot of spirit stones, especially when they see the cultivation that they have."

Lakin and Ruik already knew that, but, in the end, they didn't have another solution other than keeping hiding here.

Yusa understood Krune's meaning.

"You can't be possibly thinking to bring all of them to the Rainbow Sect Secret Realm, right?"

Krune nodded.

"Other than there, I can't think about a safer place. As a legacy disciple, I can keep it closed temporarily as well."

Lakin and Ruik were puzzled, what is this Rainbow Sect? Krune then explained what had happened in the Raskie Danger Zone, how they'd found a secret realm and come to get a partial control over it.

Ruik and Lakin understood everything, but there was one thing they didn't understand.

"Why did you choose Rainbow Sect?"

"Cough, cough. It is not important at the moment."

Ao and the others laughed at that. They then sent a Divine Sense message telling them that they will explain it later.

"The problem here is: how do you expect us to pass by the cities without people noticing the wisps? The low-level wisps might be possible. But any other over the 4th Stage of Qi Condensation will attract a lot of attention, and you have a lot of them here."

Krune's face was severe. He had indeed thought about a direction, but it will take some time.

"The way we use to go to the Raskie Danger Zone is through the teleportation formations. My idea was to build a teleportation formation here and use it."

Shinja immediately shook her head.

"That's not going to work. The distance is too big to build such a large distance teleportation formation. You will need to be a Six Stars Formations Master at the very least unless you intend to employ a formation master, especially for this."

Krune shook his head.

"That would be too dangerous. Out of nowhere, a group of the Foundation Establishment cultivators wants to create a teleportation formation going from inside one of the Danger Zones to another Danger Zone. It will attract too much attention. Chances are that even the Rainbow Sect Secret Realm will be found."

Lakin couldn't help but ask.

"Then how exactly are you planning to do that?"

Krune smiled and told his plan.

"A very long teleportation formation would be impossible, but a short distance shouldn't be a problem."

This time, it was Ao who shook his head.

"If you are thinking about building several teleportation formations linking every single one to teleport them over, you'd better forget about this idea. The materials necessary to build all those formations are too huge for any of us to pay. At the same time, making sure that not a single of them is found is even harder."

It was at this moment that Lakin's eyes lit up.

"Master isn't planning to build hundreds or thousands of them; he is planning to build only two!"

Yusa and the other got puzzled, but Krune smiled.

"As expected of my disciple, you didn't let me down."

Yusa immediately retorted.

"Exactly, it is the master who usually lets everyone down, the disciple is very good indeed."

Shinja and Ao nodded vigorously.

Krune completely ignored Yusa and the others and continued.

"I will only need two short-distance teleportation formations: one to teleport to Kaley City, and the other to teleport away from Harta City. We just need to make sure no one will notice us during this small amount of time."

Krune then continued.

"We've already had the Solie Clan teleportation Formation to teleport us over to the Harta City. All I need is to build a short distance teleportation formation and set the Solie Clan coordinates. As long as we set the coordinates of this teleportation formation inside the Solie Clans formation, we can immediately teleport over. Then we use the same formation to go to Harta City. There we use the same teleportation formation to go to the formation we will set up beside the Rainbow Sect entrance."

Everyone understood. If it is a short distance teleportation formation, it shouldn't be too much of an issue to set up.

"We can understand how we are going to do the Kaley City part, but how are you going to keep it hidden in Harta City?"

Shinja was the one to answer this question.

"This part is easy! We aren't the only people who want to pass by other city teleportation formations in secret. Several clans, sects, and organizations have their own secrets as well. Of course, the continent had long since prepared teleportation formations that could be rented while keeping everything completely hidden. We just need to rent one of those formations and set up the right coordinates to the Rainbow Sect."

They understood now. It was indeed a very feasible plan, but there was still one last problem.

"Who is going to build the short distance teleportation formations?"

Krune just laughed and said.

"Who else other than me? I was already planning to take the Formations Master exam anyway. As you know, the soul cultivation technique I use is focused on side occupations. I very much want to check how good it is."

"What if you can't succeed?"

"That won't be a problem! A short-distance teleportation formation only needs a Two Stars or at most a Three-Star formation master. At the same time, it shouldn't be that hard to employ a formation master of this level and keep things secret. A formation master of those levels would be at most a Foundation Establishment cultivator. A blood contract will be more than enough to keep his mouth shut."

Everyone got excited. This is indeed an almost fail-proof plan.

"Very well! Since it is decided, then I will be leaving tomorrow morning. There is still sometime before Shinja's breakthrough, so I plan to take study materials from the Formations Guild and start taking a look in the meantime. I will need some time to study the contents of Formation Masters anyway."

Everyone nodded and went back to do their own things.

Lakin gathered all the wisps in the cave and told them about what they are planning to do. No one complained. They all know their life is already good enough the way it is. And that was thanks to Lakin, so they will simply follow him.

The next morning, Krune and his friends left immediately. Lakin wanted to go together, but he knew he must pay attention to the things here. He doesn't know how long it will be for him master to finish setting everything up, and can't leave the wisps behind, not to mention that the wisps trust him the most. If he simply left, they might get restless and try to do something idiot, especially the very young ones.

A few days later, Krune's group was already back to Kaley City. Much for supervisor Lu relief, he asked them not to leave for a while since the Core Formation Experts would arrive in a few days. It would be better for Shinja to receive them properly.

Krune was about to go pay a visit to the Formations Guild when Yusa suddenly asked him one thing.

"With my Spiritual Energy Meridians, I should be able to take some other side occupation as well, don't you think?"

Krune didn't even have to think to agree with that idea.

"Indeed, your control might not be as good as mine, and you haven't had a soul technique yet. But, as you are several times better than the big majority of cultivators at your level, it shouldn't be a problem for you to get a side occupation of your choice. Remember to keep the fact you can already control more than one element at the same time secret for now."

Yusa nodded.

"No problem. I wasn't going to do that anyway, so I'm leaving."

Krune couldn't help but ask.

"What are you planning to do?"

Yusa just laughed and left. She didn't say anything, but Krune had the impression it had something to do with money. That girl wouldn't lift a finger if there were no profits. Krune just shook his head and put those thoughts behind his mind.

"Well, the Formations Guild is."

Krune arrived at the guild using the same hat as always. He still isn't comfortable walking around with his rainbow hair. Too bad his eyes irises are changing and taking a colorful state as well.

Fortunately for him, it doesn't look weird like his rainbow hair. In fact, it could be said to be a little cool. Instead, it had some charm behind it.

Unaware of the changes in his eyes, Krune went to the counter to ask how he could apply to become a Formations Maters.

"The formation master guild test has a hundred and ten Rank Two middle-quality spirit stones fee. But before you apply to that, you will receive the material from study through your communicator. You can come back to do some practical training later. You can keep training to make some low-level formations as long as you can afford your own expenses. You should only pay the test fee when you feel you can pass it."

Krune couldn't help but comment.

"It is a lot laxer than the alchemist guild test."

The attendant nodded.

"It is indeed. Although there are geniuses in formations too, our guild believes that with enough effort, even common cultivators can have good accomplishments in formations. Besides, having some knowledge of formations can save your life while you are adventuring around the world. So the government also encourages the cultivators to get familiar with it."

Krune was very happy with the way the Formations Guild worked. They didn't discard those with inferior talents. Of course, they will have to afford their training if they want to go further in the formation path.

Krune received the material for study in his communicator and went back to his house in the city. There are loads of different kinds of formations. And, even those that are the same can be built using different elements to get different results. But there was one formation that had caught Krune's attention at the top of that.

'Spirit Gathering Formation, there is one of those in the mercenary guild and the alchemist guild as well. The cultivation there is much better than outside. If I can learn how to build a Spirit Gathering Formation and use my spirit stones as the main source, the spiritual energy retrieved from the stones could be increased. I will take a look at it this later.'

Krune then started his study during the day. At night time he started cultivating again. After several months without increasing his cultivation, he could feel that the instability of his planet in his foundation had finally been over. He can start to improve his cultivation again without being afraid of affecting his future.

Time passed, and another week went by. Today, Lu Ganan, Shinja, and the others were all in front of the teleportation formation of the Mercenary Guild. They received the report that the Core Formation Stage cultivators were coming today to oversee Shinja's breakthrough.

Not long after, the Teleportation Formation started to shine, and three people appeared on it. There were a woman and two men. Krune, who was watching it, could even tell that the woman was, in fact, a demon beast in human form. But their cultivation was too high, so he could only say their cultivation was at the Core Formation. But he can't tell which stage was exactly.

Lu Ganan came forward and complimented them. As a Core Formation expert himself, he didn't need to be overly cautious. Basic politeness is still necessary.

"Hello, my friends! Welcome to Kaley City. I thank you all for making this trip over here to oversee a new member of our guild entering the Core Formation Realm."

Surprisingly, the female demon beast was the leader of this group, she came forward and exchanged a few words with Lu Ganan.

"Supervisor Lu was very polite. My name is Mile. When I heard that the one trying to the breakthrough was a woman, I offered to oversee the process myself. Women cultivators are rarer than men, so I want to make sure everything goes as planned."

Shinja came forward to talk with them.

"Seniors, thank you for your time. I'm the one going through the process this time, and I'm counting on you."

Mile looked at Shinja, and her eyes lit up. She got close and touched Shinja's face.

"Such a beautiful girl! Weren't I a female demon beast, I probably would get jealous of your appearance."

She then laughed out loud.

"Leave the problems outside for this big sister. You just need to make sure to pass through it safely."

Mile looked at Lu Ganan and asked.

"Have you decided where she is going to do it?"

Supervisor Lu nodded.

"We have already cleaned a space a few hundred kilometers south of the city. There shouldn't be any problem."

Mile nodded and then said.

"Alright, let's move out then. The earlier it is over, the better."

They were just about to leave when Mile noticed Krune was behind.

'Such a peculiar pair of eyes.'

She then remembered something but kept silent. After that, they set off.

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The group didn't take long to arrive at the right place. There hasn't been anyone around since the Mercenary Guild took care of this issue already. Usually, no one would try to make things difficult for those breaking through another realm. But there are still situations where grudges or disputes would force the hands of people. So that's why the Guild would send some cultivators of higher level to take care of the process.

Shinja went to the center of the empty place and sat there. She was calming her mind before starting. While they waited, Mile turned to Krune and took a look at his eyes again.

'It really is the rainbow eyes! But how did he get that? I'd seen his picture before when he got a Four Starts Badge. But at that time, his eyes had a common color, so I didn't care much about his rainbow hair. Could it be that he was hiding his eyes true color before? No, that wouldn't make sense. Otherwise, he would still be hiding it now. But he seems to not care about it at all.'

In fact, the colors of Krune's irises aren't very apparent. They just started to change recently. So the people around him, who were used to his rainbow hair, didn't care much about that. So Krune himself isn't aware of the changes it has made.

'Anyway, when this is over, I will call him for a chat. If this is what I think, then our Mercenary Guild really got a treasure on our hands. Shinja's Pure Yin Body can't even be mentioned in the same line.'

Mile turned away and paid attention to Shinja again. There is a lot of time for her to discuss things over with Krune.

Shinja focused on her soul and allowed it to slowly approach her dantian. The dantian will only start absorbing the soul if the cultivator wishes. So it isn't anything dangerous until the cultivator decides to step into the Core Formation Realm. As soon as it got close, her golden core let out an enormous absorption power. Shinja felt like her soul was being ground away; her face went pale, and she started to sweat rivers. But, once the process begins, it can't be stopped. The golden core will only stop absorbing the soul when it feels satisfied.

Krune and the others saw that and could tell how much pain Shinja was going through. Yusa wanted to go help her, but there was nothing she could do to start with. She could only mentally cheer up for her at that moment.

During the process, the cultivator must keep a clear mind all time. If they faint, the golden core will go out of control and won't stop until the entire soul is gone. This will mark the end of the cultivator's life. Fortunately for Shinja, her soul is very strong, all thanks to the training she underwent at Rainbow Sect Secret Realm.

If there were a good thing about this, it is the fact that the process doesn't take too long. Shinja's golden core absorbed everything it wanted and started to change. Shinja took out a lot of spirit stones and put them around her. The golden-core changing process needs a lot of spiritual energy, and Shinja was ready for that. The spirit stones, one by one, turned into dust. But there was always another spirit stone to take its place. The golden core of Shinja's foundation got quite bigger. It also shined, even more; its sturdiness increased at a fast pace.

On Shinja's side, she could feel the connection between her soul and the soul inside the golden core. That is how Core Formation experts used their powers. Thanks to the connection between the two souls, the cultivator could bring out the golden core's real power, something impossible before.

The breakthrough process took only one hour. The spiritual energy around Shinja started to calm down, and her golden core slowly stopped to absorb spiritual energy. But it hasn't been over yet. If one looked at the sky above Shinja, one could see the gathering of dark clouds. It was obvious: the Heavenly Tribulation was coming down soon.

Shinja didn't waste time. As soon as the process was over, she activated the 'Stabilizing Soul Technique.' The pain on her soul immediately disappeared, and the injure on it stopped to affect her control over the elements. But she knows that it is only temporary. After some time, the technique will lose its effects, and she will have to spend a few days to properly heal her soul.

She looked above and could see that the first lightning was about to come down. She took out a hairpin that looked like it had been frozen. It was a water-type weapon she had especially acquired for that moment. The Heavenly Tribulation doesn't allow anyone to interfere in the judgment, but it had nothing against using weapons. A weapon is part of a cultivator's strength, after all.

The first tribulation lightning finally came down. But just when it was about to hit Shinja, something unbelievable happened, it suddenly… turned!

Everyone jaws dropped, and the target was none other than Krune!

In the last second, before the tribulation lightning made the turn, Krune felt a ripple inside his rainbow core. That ripple definitely came from the power of the tribulation lightning inside it. Thanks to that, Krune was put on high alert. Before the lightning hit him, he was prepared and used all the spiritual energy possible to attack and defend against that lightning bolt.

Blazing Wind Blades, Earth Walls, Water Walls, Myriad Water Dragons, Thunder Line. He used his entire arsenal to stop the bolt from hitting him. Unfortunately, that was the power of a Core Formation Realm Heaven Tribulation. It broke through all the defenses and struck Krune head-on. Of course, after passing through all those attacks and defenses, it had lost more than 50% of its power. But it was still terrifying anyway.

But, before they could even process what happened, a certain wisp human form was burnt to the point that it looked like charcoal.

"What the hell?!"

Krune felt like crying. He looked to the tribulation clouds in the sky and couldn't help but think.

'This is bullying!'

The heavens couldn't care less about Krune's thoughts. The second lightning bolt in the skies started to charge up again, but Mile didn't wait for it. She disappeared from her position and immediately appeared in front of Krune. She grabbed him and used her best movement technique to bring Krune away from the tribulation zone. In just a few seconds, she had already disappeared from everyone's sights. Before that, she'd sent a Divine Sense message to the other two Core Formation experts to take care of Shinja and stop anyone from following them. Thanks to that, Krune now had a chance at life, but when Mile used her Divine Sense to check things behind, her face sank.

'I won't be able to bring him away in time before the second bolt comes down.'

She then sent him a Divine Sense message.

"If the second bolt comes at you, you will have to defend against that as well. No one can intervene when the tribulation lightning selects a target; otherwise, its power will only increase. As long as you can survive the second lightning bolt, I have the confidence to bring you away from the tribulation zone."

Krune knew that it wasn't the time to ask questions and prepared himself. But there was a problem: he'd used almost everything he had in the last attack. He had only a little spiritual energy left in his body.

'Since that's the case, I only have one option!'

Krune once again felt that ripple coming from his rainbow core lightning. He knew that the second one was definitely coming for him. He used some of his remaining spiritual energy to summon his own tribulation lightning from his core. The power of the tribulation lightning immediately gathered above him. Mile looked at that and was amazed.

'That's the power of tribulation lightning as well!'

But she left this thought for later, focusing on Krune. She was ready to charge away with him as soon as he resisted the second lightning. Of course, if he survived that.

Back at Shinja's place, Krune's group was alarmed and wanted to follow, but the Core Formation experts immediately stopped them.

"Don't follow them! You will only turn things worse! Pray Mile can bring him away from the tribulation zone in time. If you follow them now, you might be considered as someone trying to stop the Heavenly Tribulation from reaching its target. Not only will you increase the power of the lightning he will have to face, but you will also die."

Yusa's and Ao's steps immediately glued in place. If that's true, then they really can't do anything to help Krune now.

Shinja looked at that and was extremely worried. But she knew there is nothing she can do now. The best action now is to focus on the tribulation lightning so that she can overcome it. As soon as possible, she looked up to the sky, and a look of determination appeared in her eyes. She will definitely resist the tribulation no matter what.

Everything took some time to explain, but, in fact, it had only taken a few seconds to happen. The second tribulation lightning finished charging up and immediately came down!

Back at Krune's side, he again felt that ripple in his core intensified. Sure enough, the second lightning bolt was just about to hit Shinja, when it turned again and charged in the direction Krune and Mile had disappeared. In an instant, Krune could already see it coming at him.

'Since the power of tribulation lightning of the Core Formation Realm is coming, I will use the same power to send you back. Let's see who is stronger!'

Krune didn't know if it was going to work or not. First of all, he is using the tribulation lightning to counter-attack another tribulation lightning. The chances are they will join hands and wipe him out of the map. As he really had no other choice, he could only bet for the best.

The tribulation lightning came, and Krune sent down his own as well.

"Heavens Fall!"

As soon as he gave the order for the Heavens Fall to attack the heavenly tribulation, his face changed. He could feel the power of his own Heavens Fall losing control to the incoming lightning. It felt like the tribulation lightning was stealing his command of the tribulation lightning coming from him.

Krune's face showed a hint of madness. There was no point in hiding anything at this point anymore. Krune reverted back to his wisp form. Immediately, his control over the lightning element soared! But that was still not enough. The tribulation coming over was again robbing him of the control over his Heavens Fall. Krune finally started to succumb to despair when, suddenly, his soul jolted!

That tribulation lightning lingering around his soul came back to life and connected his soul with the tribulation lightning inside his rainbow core. As soon as that happened, he regained the control over his Heavens Fall. Krune didn't understand what was happening, but he could feel that the connection between him and the Heavens Fall was back to normal. In fact, it was even stronger than before! Krune immediately corrected its trajectory to hit the incoming tribulation lightning.

The heavens seemed to understand what happened and got enraged. Someone took control over its power once again. After that, the lightning coming at Krune sped up even more! Krune screamed and adjusted his Heavens Fall at the last instant. The real Tribulation Lightning and his own Tribulation Lightning hit each other head-on!

BOOM!

Chaotic spiritual energy roared everywhere. Lightning sparks flew in all directions. Krune's wisp body was swept away. Just as he was about to lose his conscience, he used the last bit of spiritual energy in his universe foundation to return to his human form. In the place where the two tribulation lightnings hit each other, an enormous crater was formed. The power of the heavens isn't something people can joke around! Krune finally passed out after that. From now on, it was up to fate!

Mile saw everything and couldn't believe her eyes!

'Is that a wisp?'

But she had no time to think about it any further. She immediately grabbed Krune's body and charged out. This time, she was out of the tribulation lightning zone. She looked behind her and let out a sigh of relief.

She stopped a few kilometers away and put Krune down. She gathered spiritual energy and started to heal his body that had been hit by the first tribulation lightning. Mile looked at Krune's face, and complicated emotions could be seen on her own.

"Why does he have to be a wisp?"

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Back at Shinja's place, the Heavenly Tribulation finished without any big issues. Krune had eaten two of the nine lightning bolts. So her job became a lot easier in the end. Of course, she was injured all over and will need some time to recover.

Yusa and Ao looked up in the sky and could see the clouds dissipating. That was the signal that everything was really over. They sent Shinja a Divine Sense message and rushed out in the direction Mile, and Krune disappeared. Sometime later, they could see Mile and Krune in the distance. Mile was healing Krune's injuries when they saw Krune was still in his human form. They let out a sigh of relief when Mile saw them approaching. She stopped sending spiritual energy into Krune's body and sent them a Divine Sense message.

"You'll take care of him from now on. I need to go back to check on Shinja. He has a lot to explain later. So don't try to play any tricks. He owns me a favor!"

Yusa and Ao didn't say anything, just nodded. They took Krune's body and went back to Kaley City. Yusa looked at Krune and couldn't help but sigh.

"It is probably because of the tribulation lightning he has inside his core. No! It's definitely because of that."

Ao nodded.

"There would be no other reason. The tribulation must have noticed its own power and moved in its direction. But that's okay. Krune is still alive, and his human form is still here. We just need to think about something to say later."

Yusa nodded as well, and they kept on their way to the city.

The next day, Krune finally woke up. When he looked around, he could see he was back to his house in the city. Around him, one could see his friends, but other than that, Mile was there too. He remembered what had happened and knew things got complicated. He put on a smile and looked at Mile.

"Thank you for your help yesterday, senior Mile. I would be dead if not for your help."

Mile shook her head and extended her hand forward. Immediately, a barrier appeared around Krune's house. No one would be able to see or hear anything that would happen there. She then looked at Krune.

"Let's cut to the chase. You are a wisp, right?"

Yusa's and the other's heart stopped for a second. Ever since Mile arrived in the house, she hasn't said anything. So they didn't know she found out Krune's real form.

Krune wasn't surprised at all. He had used his real form to resist the second Heavenly Tribulation. After all, he put a serious face and said.:

"That's right."

Mile looked at that and shook her head.

"You should already know that if I had told anyone about it, you would probably already be some Divine Soul expert prisoner. You would basically be their hope for a breakthrough, especially those that have been stuck in the same stage for a very long time."

Krune nodded and waited for her to continue.

"But wisps can also be considered part of the demon beasts. So I won't do that. I won't lie when I say I am also very interested in using your wisp energy myself. You could probably be my free pass into the Divine Soul realm as well. So, let me ask you: what can you offer me to keep me quiet?"

Yusa and the others would have killed Mile already if she wasn't much stronger than them. So they could only wait to see what happens if the worst comes to the worst. They will do everything they can to bring Krune away.

Krune shook his head. He doesn't have anything of great value except for his cultivation technique and the Rainbow Sect Secret realm. But he can't divulge any of those. He can't force the Core Formation Mile to sign a blood contract either.

"I don't have anything I can give you. Of course, I have some things, but they can't be given. So I would like to know if senior Mile has any idea in mind."

Mile heard that and smiled. That was what she was waiting for.

"I will ask some questions then. If your answer is to my liking, I will let this matter go."

Krune nodded.

"First, you have a rainbow core inside your universe foundation, am I right?"

Everyone's eyes showed an immense surprise. No one should know about Krunes rainbow core.

"You don't need to lie to me, only would a rainbow core owner have rainbow-like irises. Although it is faint, I can see it."

Were Krune and the other taken aback rainbow irises?

Yusa and the others looked closely, and sure enough, Krunes irises were rainbow-like now. But you had to pay attention to notice Krune also got a mirror and couldn't help but be surprised himself.

"When did it turn out like this?"

Looking at everyone's reactions, Mile understood that none of them had noticed it before, no wonder he didn't try to conceal it.

"Does it seems like you haven't noticed it before? Anyway, the fact that you have a rainbow core is true, right?"

Krune knew there is some story behind his rainbow eyes irises. Since she had already found out that he is a wisp, what's the point of denying this part?

"Senior Mile is right, I do have a rainbow core!"

He looked at her and couldn't help but ask.

"You seem to know something about this core of mine. Until now, even I don't know why it turned out like this."

Mile nodded.

"First, stop with this senior thing. I hate that! Second, you are right! I do know some things about rainbow cores."

Krune and the other looked at her and waited for Mile to continue.

"But what I know is very limited. It's said that, only when does someone perfectly harmonize with the five basic elements before the Foundation Establishment, they will give birth to a rainbow core. This is one of the most powerful cores we know about. Of course, the universe is enormous. There are probably other types we don't know out there. Thanks to this core, the owner will be able to give birth to an Five Elements Divine Soul and will have a limitless future."

Krune was puzzled.

"Five Elements Divine Soul?"

Mile nodded.

"I don't know much about it myself. But those who get a rainbow core can get this type of Divine Soul. It's said that their control will be matchless within the five basic elements. As to how much this control can help with their combat prowess, I don't know. There is too little information about it in our mercenary guild, or better, in our world. Makui Planet is too weak; that's an undeniable truth. Because of that, we know too little about the outside worlds."

Krune wasn't disappointed. At least it shows he isn't the first one to get a rainbow core. If one day he is successful in leaving the planet, he will be able to look for more information about that.

Mile then continued.

"Now, the rainbow core is one thing. However, even if you have control over the lightning element, it doesn't explain why you can use the Tribulation Lightning power. That is the power of the heavens; it should be impossible for you to control it, even if you have your rainbow core!"

Krune understood that as well. So he explained what had happened during his Foundation Establishment breakthrough. Of course, he had left the part about his Spiritual Energy Meridians outside.

" You let the tribulation lightning enter your little universe and guided it into your planet bit by bit. Some of its energy lingered inside of the planet and struck your rainbow core during its formation."

Krune nodded.

Mile took a deep breath. She'd never heard about something this crazy before.

"Your luck is out of the charts. Just a single misstep, and you would be fried wisp. But this is also good! With the power of the tribulation lightning, I'm looking even more forward to see your future."

"Now then, I will have to report it to the guild, but I will keep the fact that you are a wisp secret. You stay in your house for a few days. A rainbow core user is something that can't be taken lightly. The other guilds in and out of the Yule continent will do anything to take you away. Fortunately, your rainbow irises weren't very apparent. So people hadn't noticed it before. As long as I bring a technique concealing eye powers, you should be fine to walk around again."

Everyone was puzzled.

"Eye powers?"

Mile remembered that she hadn't explained it.

"Oh, right. Why do you think you can see through the other's skills flaws and give them pointers on how to improve their own abilities? That's the power of the rainbow irises, a side effect of your rainbow core."

Not only Krune, but Yusa felt enlightened too.

'I see! That's why Yusa can feel the elements a lot better but can't get close to what I can do. She more or less can notice the flaws and give a few pointers as well. But when things get too profound, she is clueless about what to do when it is related to others. I always thought that it was because I had more Spiritual Energy Meridians than her, or Lakin and Ruik. I thought that as long as they got more Spiritual Energy Meridians, they would eventually match my perception. But it seems it won't happen.'

Mile was about to leave when Ao asked a question.

"Mile, why are you helping us? I understand a rainbow core cultivator would be an amazing asset for the Mercenary Guild. But I still believe you would get a lot more benefits if you were to disclose Krune's identity as a wisp. Even if you say that it really is for the guild's future, Krune is a wisp. His life span is very limited. There is only so much he would be able to make for the guild in the future anyway. So why is that?"

The air became heavy after that, and everyone looked at her waiting for an answer.

Mile smiled and said.

"I won't lie by saying that I'm not disappointed with the fact he is a wisp. There is the life span thing and all. Let's just say I'm trying to make a bet, a bet that he will go further than anyone expects. When that day comes, I hope he remembers this favor of today."

Krune took a deep breath and said:

"You have no need to worry. If I really get that far, I will definitely remember this favor."

Mile then blinked at Ao and left.

Krune looked at everyone and said:

"Well, at least, I know a little bit more about this core of mine. I also know that although the Spiritual Energy Meridians are marvelous, they aren't omnipotent. I always wondered why my control is so much better than Yusa's or Lakin and Ruik. It probably has something to do with this perfect harmony that gave birth to the rainbow core like that she told us."

Yusa and the others didn't care, though.

"That's good! The Spiritual Energy Meridians gave us a great boost of power anyway. So, even if we didn't get this perfect harmony, there is nothing to complain about."

They weren't lying. Their achievements had far surpassed what they could have ever hoped for. They are totally satisfied with the results. There is nothing to complain about.

Krune just laughed at that and then started to control his spiritual energy to heal his human form injuries. He would have to wait a few days to receive the technique to conceal his rainbow irises anyway. So he will only bind his time. It had nothing to do with believing Mile or not. But that he had no other choice, but doing so.

At least, it didn't seem like she was lying; otherwise, she could have used the time he was unconscious to sell the information about him. In that case, he would have really be doomed.

In the end, Krune let out a sigh and said:

"Let's wait and see what happens."

He then focused on his injuries and, at the same time, on his tribulation lightning power both in his soul and rainbow core.

'What was that connection I felt between the two powers of Tribulation Lightning?'

At first, he tried to check the lightning in his soul first when he suddenly heard a voice: "Don't bother me. I'm sleepy. Come back later."

Krune's expression became weird. Did that lightning power just talk to him?

"I see! I'm still too injured. I'm even hearing things now. I'd better go to sleep a bit."

It was then that he remembered one thing... He is a wisp, wisps don't sleep!

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