Around 400 meters from where the Lizard Dragon Leader and his last subordinate were, Krune was at a huge part of the cave. In fact, this cave was enormous to start with. He had just finished his preparations, and he couldn't help but give a self compliment for his ingenuity.
'I might not have enough attack power to break your defense, but it doesn't mean that mother nature doesn't.'
It didn't take long for him to see his enemy incoming. Lizard Dragons might not be that fast, but as an 8th and 7th stage, they were still much faster than any ordinary demon beast. In the blink of an eye, they were already 100 meters away from Krune. But if Krune could smile, he would be doing so now.
'They are coming. The 7th stage lizard isn't important, a direct confrontation with it would be problematic, but I'm confident I can still win. The problem is the leader. If I don't break its scales, then I can only turn tail and run.'
When the Lizard Dragon leader saw Krune, it was taken a little aback. It might still not have developed a high level of intelligence. But it was sure that that Divine Sense earlier was from the killer of its brethren. It was convinced that the one that had come was definitely the one who had killed all of them. Because of it, the Lizard Dragon had come intending to get revenge.
But turns out that all it can see is nothing more than a wisp? Where is the perpetrator? It stopped for a second and scanned his surroundings with his own Divine Sense. Usually, beasts are not very specialized in the maters of the soul. In fact, the majority is at a lower level than ordinary human cultivators, let alone races like the Spirit Race. Because of that, their Divine Sense doesn't have too much range, and this Lizard Dragon Leader Divine Sense could at most reach 100 meters.
But even so, all it could see is the wisp in front of it. In the end, being the weakest race had its own good traits. To be underestimated is a very good one of them. The Lizard Dragon clearly dropped it's guard quite a lot after seeing Krune, and the same could be said for its companion. Since this wisp had come to deliver itself on the lizards' doorsteps, they wouldn't be polite.
The beast's low intelligence played it's part here. If the Lizard Dragon leader had thought a little more, it wouldn't have forgotten that what caught its attention at first was a... Divine Sense! Only those who have achieved the 7th of Qi Condensation would have a Divine Sense. Since Krune was the only one here, it was evident that he had to be the one who used the Divine Sense earlier. Still, such a train of thought had not even appeared it the leader's mind. In fact, even if it had, the Lizard Dragon probably wouldn't care. At most, it would be a little more alert.
The leader and its companion rushed forward, not paying attention to anything else. When they were just fifty-some meters of distance, Krune activated his trap. Immediately, the cave started to tremble. The lizards got alarmed with the sudden development, but they didn't know what was happening. Much less did they have the time to think. That's because, above of them, enormous stalactites started falling down! Who knows how many years it took for those stalactites to form, not to mention that their attack power wasn't something that Krune's earth spikes could match at the moment.
In an instant, hundreds of stalactites fell, and the two lizard dragons immediately tried to dodge. Still, it was too late. If they escaped this calamity so easily, Krune's plan would have been worth nothing. He was already expecting it. The moment they tried to dodge, earth walls erected around the two. The Lizard Dragon leader got enraged! At any other moment, this puny wall would only need one blow of its tail or claws to crumble apart, but it had no time for that now.
"Boom, boom, boom"
It wasn't before a minute later that everything calmed down. Even Krune was a little afraid of what he saw. He didn't expect this plan to create such a tumult. He just prepared a few of the stalactites above to fall inside of his earth wall trap. But those stalactites created a chain reaction that made a lot more to come down from the surroundings. A few stalactites fell just ten meters ahead of him. Krune couldn't help but think that he could have buried himself here.
'Scary! Mother nature can't be trifled with, after all. Even if that Lizard Dragon leader survived this assault, it has definitely suffered grievous injuries. It worked much better than I thought, though. So let's take a closer look first.'
Krune first got rid of the earth walls to see better. To his surprise, although the 7th stage Lizard Dragon died, the 8th stage Lizard Dragon was still on its last breaths. There was a stalactite impaled on the back, and it definitely couldn't move anymore. It looked at the wisp in front of it with hatred, but soon, the light on its eyes dimmed. The mountain range tyrant was finally dead.
Seeing the hatred on the Lizard Dragon's eyes only made Krune sigh.
'It looked at me like that, but how many wisps did it eat until today? The inner parts of the forest have a higher concentration of spiritual energy. The number of wisps born here is definitely much higher than those outside. Still, they usually wouldn't even have time to form their conscience before being eaten and have their energy absorbed by demon beasts like you.'
Wisps are really a pitiful lot. Between it humans, demon beasts, or even common animals, the majority would always have parents that would take care of them until they could fend for themselves. But what about wisps? They are born from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, what parent is there to talk about? Krune didn't feel the list bit of guilt. Although he didn't like killing, he wasn't an idiot to the point that he thought he would achieve greatness by being a pacifist. Even if he doesn't make the first move, the other will definitely do so.
Krune took quite some time to open the Lizard Leader's head. If not for this cave stalactites, he probably would have to wait until he at least got to the 8th stage of the Qi Condensation to come here. Otherwise, he would have to give up. Krune spent most of his life running from both wisp hunters and demon beasts alike. Caves were definitely inside the scope of his hiding places, and he had witnessed how dangerous those stalactites could be before.
'As expected of a race with a faint dragon bloodline, their demon cores have much more spiritual energy than those ordinary beasts at the same level.'
After collecting everything, Krune went further into the cave. It was time to see the spiritual vein by himself. A few minutes later, Krune entered a cave room that was even bigger than the place where he had set up his trap. The cave walls had an azure hue, and at the center, one could see a small lake around 40 meters long. It was a beautiful scene. On the side of the lake, one could see the crude nests that the Lizards had made for them to rest. The biggest one was obviously for the Lizard Dragon leader.
Krune was just about to approach when he suddenly heard some yearning sounds coming from behind the nests. He then carefully approached. His air compressed ball was right in front of him too. If something launched an attack at him, he would be able to escape quickly. Ever since Krune used this strategy against the Four Winged Demon Crow, he never entered a battle without one.
At the same time, several wind blades above his head were ready to be shot.
But when he finally saw what it was, all his tension deflated like a balloon. Turns out that those yearning sounds were the offsprings of the Lizard Dragons. The biggest one didn't even reach a third of the size of a 6th stage Lizard Dragon. But Krune was also quite impressed, of the five little ones, the weakest one was already at the 3rd stage of the Qi Condensation! And it was apparent that this one was born not long ago.
'To be born directly at the 3rd stage of the Qi Condensation, what an envious thing! I wonder how many other races have the same capability.'
Krune the sighed.
'Wisps are really a weak bunch.'
The big brother of the group was at the peak of the 4th stage, and it looked with hostility at Krune. The small Lizard Dragon then put itself in front of the smaller ones and let out several tiny roars. It was clearly going to put its life on the line to protect his little brothers and sisters. Krune looked at it and couldn't help find it intriguing. Four months ago, Krune would only be able to flee at the sight of a peak 4th stage Qi Condensation demon beast. But now he found its stance quite cute.
'I wonder how good it is to have a family. This lizard still hasn't developed it's intelligence to be able to think straight. But it still knows how to put the safety of the family above its own interest.'
Thinking about it reminded him of Wang Feifei. He will never forget that day when she made him promise that he would marry her. Soon after, Krune started to laugh. Even though he will try to keep that promise, he knows very well that this is quite a helpless attempt. First of all, Feifei was only a Kid. By the time he gets strong enough to go where she is, she will probably have married someone else already. Even if she hasn't, she would just think about that day as a Kid's selfishness. But it doesn't matter. For Krune, that was still a perfect memory that he cherishes very much.
Krune pondered a bit about what to do with those Lizard Dragons. If he let them go, there might come a day when they mature and eat other wisps. On the other side, Krune isn't a bloodthirsty fellow, he doesn't even like killing to start with.
In the end, he couldn't bring himself to do anything. Now that the adults are all dead, their chances of survival are pretty small. Krune had never killed just for the sake of killing, every single battle he had until today was against opponents of a similar level to himself. They were situations where if he had lost, it would have been his death. Those little ones pose absolutely no threat to him what so ever.
After ignoring the little Lizard Dragons, Krune went to the small lake to take a look. Inside he could see a crystalline white spiritual vein rooted in the earth. The water had the same limpid azure color as the cave, and the concentration of spiritual energy around was the highest he has ever felt. This is just a very low-level spiritual vein. Krune couldn't help but wonder how good the high-level ones are.
Krune was planning to stay here until he breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment. Only after that would he be able to attain his human form. But first, he had to recover his spiritual energy, the amount used to set up those traps back then used more than half of his reservoir. It's always good to stay at peak state in case the train went out of the rails. Krune knows that those who are prepared usually live longer. After recovering, he will immediately start cultivating. He still needs to create the third meridian, and with that, his cultivation speed will go a step further once again.
One week later, Krune had reached halfway through the 7th stage of Qi Condensation. He thought it was about time to create the third Spiritual Energy Meridian. Just when he was about to start the process, he heard some cries coming from the little Lizard Dragons. Because it was different from before, he wondered what it was about. He got closer to take a look and noticed that the small guys seemed a little weak.
'Why is it happening? I don't remember to have done anything for them to turn out like this.'
It didn't take long for Krune to understand, though.
'Of course! How could I have forgotten? They aren't wisps like me, so they need to eat to survive.'
Krune felt like a headache was coming. The lizards looked at him as if they were waiting for him to do something. It made him dumbfounded! He wasn't their parents, and they should be grateful that he didn't kill them to end all the trouble. Krune decided to ignore the little Lizard Dragons and went back to the lake to prepare for the third meridian creation. The cries didn't stop, though. Krune kept ignoring it at first, but with time, it started to really bother him. In the end, he couldn't concentrate at all!
'Ahhhhhh! Fine! I will get some food for you. For fuc*ing sake, why am I even bothering with it?!'
An hour later, Krune came back with a demon deer corpse. Unfortunately, he couldn't use that demon bear corpse anymore. It had already rotted quite a bit, and he didn't know if it would affect the lizards. The demon deer was an ordinary beast of the 6th stage. Usually, demon deers walk-in groups. Although it was a little dangerous to provoke a big group, with Krune's intelligence, it didn't take long for him to get one of them to separate from the rest. After that, it wasn't anything hard for him to kill a 6th stage ordinary demon beast.
The pack of demon deers noticed that they lost one of their group. Still, since they were close to the Lizard Dragons den, they didn't dare to enter their territory to look for it. The aura of the Lizard Dragons was still lingering around the mountain range, and it will take a long time for it to disappear.
When the little ones saw the deer corpse, their eyes lit up. Krune simply threw it close to them and let nature play its course. Their cries finally stopped, and even the big brother of the group looked a little more intimate at him now. Krune didn't care, though. He simply went back to the lake to restart his third meridian creation. But there was one thing that puzzled him.
'Is it me, or they all grew up quite a bit?'
Krune immediately threw this thought to the back of his mind. So what if they grow even more? It has nothing to do with him anyway.
After one hour, Krune was prepared to start again, and the demon cores were ready as well...
The demon cores were ready...
The demon cores...
Demon cores...
Cores...
"WHERE ARE THE DEMON CORES?!"
Krune was sure that he left the demon cores near the lake. He then immediately spread his Divine Sense to its max range coverage. Soon, everything in a 500 meters radius could be seen. But other than the Lizard Dragons, there wasn't anything else.
'Could it be that some beast came in earlier while I was out, and took the cores away? Impossible! With the Lizard Dragons aura still in place, only a 9th stage Qi Condensation demon beast or above would dare to come. Usually, they have their own spiritual veins, they wouldn't look for a fight without reason. Furthermore, if they saw that this spiritual vein was empty, they definitely wouldn't have left it behind.'
Suddenly, Krune remembered that the little ones seemed to have grown quite a bit while he was out. Not only that, but their auras are stronger than now too. After checking the Lizard Dragons cultivation, Krune felt like crying but had no tears... Well, wisps have no tears to start with.
All five of them have had a cultivation breakthrough while he was out. Not to mention that their big brother was even at the peak of the 5th stage of the Qi Condensation!
A minute later, all of them had already finished eating and sprinted in Krune's direction. He was already fuming, and they even dare to attack him? Courting Death!
Just as Krune was about to shoot wind blades and get rid of them. He noticed something weird. Different from all those who had attacked him until today, those little ones had no hostility on their faces. Let alone hostility, they looked very... Happy?
Once they got close, they started jumping around him and crying in his direction as if trying to court his favor. Krune looked at them, and his angriness deflated like a balloon. In the end, he could only sigh.
"Feifei, my love, please forgive your fianc�. It seems like he has got some kids of his own..."