The Lizard Dragons silently looked at the two wisps with a strange gaze. In their eyes, there wasn't too much of a difference in the way they looked, except that Krune's energy body seemed a little bigger than the new guy.

Krune spent some time teaching the new wisp the basics. Though, it would still take a while before he could speak. Also, he wanted to show him how to cultivate. Then again, it was too early. He couldn't understand Krune just yet. Thinking about himself in the past when he was just a young wisp, he could remember that it took him around two months until he could finally understand words. Wisps might have extremely short life spans, but their intelligence was definitely ranked at the top. That's also why a wisp could achieve adult-like intelligence at the age of three. But Krune expected that he would be able to talk in around a month or so. After all, unlike him, the new guy had a teacher.

​​

Since Krune could only teach him slowly, he didn't force anything. He spent some time with him every day between his practices, hunting, and cultivation. By now, Krune had already finished his breakthrough into the 9th Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. He was planning to go out and find some opponents to help him stabilize his cultivation. However, he didn't expect that those opponents would knock on his door instead.

---

Two hundred kilometers away, a group of cultivators was making their way to the inner parts of Katiu Forest. Their cultivation was quite high, with their leader being at the 1st Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Behind them, an old man at the 8th Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm followed closely. All the cultivators in this group, even their leader, showed utmost respect to him. That's because he was part of the Alchemist Guild, and the reason for them being here was to help him acquire dragon blood for his concoctions.

Alchemists were extremely respected in the whole universe. Even someone that was of a low rank as this man was no exception. Alchemists had a total of nine initial stars that indicated their rank, and even at his age, he was still at the first star. One could see it by taking a look at the badge on his robe. It had the symbol of a curled dragon with one star at the top, showing what his rank really was.

No one would dare to fake an Alchemist Badge. It was one of the greatest taboos. Alchemists that could create pills to help with one's cultivation path were rare, and it didn't matter how low of a rank they might be. There were very few who would try something at them. Once one bought a fight with an alchemist, one basically bought a fight with the entire guild. The alchemists' most terrifying part wasn't their cultivation, nor was it the pills that they concoct, but it was instead their connections. They usually had several strong and influential people on their backs who were willing to get their hands dirty for them.

The leader among the cultivators looked back at the old alchemist and said.

"Sir Casfer, we're almost there. According to our knowledge, the mountain range two hundred kilometers ahead of us is the lair of a group of Lizard Dragons. Although they obviously aren't real dragons, they do have a faint dragon bloodline. It should be enough for the task you need."

Casfer was the name of the low-ranked alchemist. He was the one who contracted the group of cultivators to help him acquire some dragon blood. There weren't many demon beasts out there who had dragon bloodlines, but the Lizard Dragons just so happened to be one of them.

"Hm, very well. As per the deal, once I get my hands on dragon blood, I'll concoct a one-star pill of your choice for each of you. Don't forget that you must provide the materials for the pill, though."

The group's eyes lit up in response. Even for their leader, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, one-star pills were very enticing, let alone for the other three at the 9th Stage of Qi Condensation. They would obviously ask for the Foundation Establishment Pill after this. As for the leader, he was more interested in the cultivation stabilizing pill. He had just broken through the next realm and would take a long time to stabilize it. Unless he had something else to help him with that, that's where the cultivation stabilizing pills came into play.

"Alchemist Casfer has no need to worry. According to our information, the strongest Lizard Dragon in that mountain range is at the peak of the 8th stage of Qi Condensation. Although its faint dragon bloodline allows it to fight those with a higher cultivation level, it won't be a problem for me. As for the rest, they won't be able to cause any trouble for Sir with my brothers around."

Casfer didn't care much about any of that, so he simply replied.

"Then, I'm counting on you."

---

They continued on their journey, and a few hours later, they finally found their target. It was one of the Lizard Dragon sisters. She had finally broken through to the 6th Stage thanks to all the demon cores that Krune got for her and her siblings. With that, she now had the power to defend herself outside. Except for the youngest Lizard Dragon, all the others had received Krune's permission to venture outside as long as they didn't go too far away from the den.

The leader of the cultivator group looked at the Lizard Dragon far away and turned back to his companions.

"Here's the plan. Don't kill that Lizard Dragon. All we know is that they occupy this mountain range. But we don't know where their lair is, so we need this one to show us the path. When you attack, make sure not to make any lethal injuries. I will keep an eye out in case some other beast comes and bothers you guys. Now go."

The three 9th Stage cultivators immediately rushed at the Lizard Dragon. The female Lizard Dragon felt the danger and tried to fight back. But as she had gotten severely injured in the first exchange, she understood that she wasn't their match and tried to flee. To its surprise, her enemies didn't try to stop it. The female Lizard Dragon was only at the 6th Stage of Qi Condensation, so its intelligence was still very low. Hence, it didn't think that it might be bringing back home their foe. It just thought about running for her life.

The cultivator group followed from a distance away, making sure that the female Lizard Dragon wouldn't notice them. Sure enough, half an hour later, they saw that it entered a cave on the base of the mountain range. The leader's eyes immediately lit up after noticing that.

"Seems like it's here. Sir Casfer, please be careful. Although I don't think anything can go wrong, it's still better to stay safe. With that, I hope you can try and keep some distance behind us."

Casfer simply nodded as he responded.

"Let's go."

Inside the cave at the spiritual vein lake, Krune had just finished teaching the new wisp how to talk. After a month of practice, it could already understand most of the words and communicate fluently.

"Very well. It took me more than two months to be able to speak, but it only took you slightly more than a month. You should be grateful that you have someone to teach you. I didn't have such fortune back then."

By now, the new wisp had already acknowledged Krune as its master. After hearing about the situation of the wisps outside, he couldn't help but feel extremely fortunate to have been born at the right time and the right place.

"Thank you, master. I think I should be able to finish the lectures by myself now."

Krune gave a mental thumbs-up in response before asking him.

"Have you decided on what your name will be? We wisps are used to give ourselves our own names, and Krune is the name I came up with by myself."

The wisp looked with respect at Krune before replying.

"To be honest, master, I would like you to give me a name. You said that names are usually given by their parents for the other races. Although we wisps have no parents to speak of, I truly consider you as if you're my father."

Krune was taken aback after hearing that. Sure, it was common for the other races to give their offsprings a name, but he didn't expect that this guy liked him that much.

"A name..."

"In fact, I'm not too good at giving names either, and now that I think about it, my own name has no reason behind it. I just thought that it sounded good, that's all. Are you sure you want me to do it for you?"

The wisp immediately agreed.

"Hmm... you were born above the spiritual vein lake. From what I could see from your personality, you're most likely to become a man instead of a woman once you take your human form at the Foundation Establishment Realm."

"Alright, from now on, your name shall be Lakin."

Lakin was very pleased with his name. Although he knew that his master's thoughts were very simple while thinking about his name, it was still a name chosen by him. That was what he wanted.

"Now, I shall impart you the Myriad Energies Technique. This technique is considered extremely common outside but make no mistake. The one that I'm impart-"

Just as he was about to impart to Lakin his cultivation technique, Krune heard the Lizard Dragons cry out in the distance. He looked at the entrance of the cave room with surprise and noticed the other four Lizard Dragons rushing out.

"Lakin, you stay here. You haven't cultivated yet, so it's too dangerous for you outside. I'll just take a quick look and be right back."

Lakin immediately accepted the order.

---

In the middle of him following them, he noticed the female Lizard Dragon on the ground. She couldn't move anymore due to her injuries. After seeing that, Krune's mood immediately went sour. Who dared to touch his proteges?

He poured spiritual energy into the female Lizard Dragon to stabilize her condition. He then ordered the other four to drag her back to the spiritual vein lake. Not long after, he spread his Divine Sense outwards. Now that Krune was at the 9th Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, his Divine Sense could now cover a total of 700 meters in radius. It didn't take long for him to see the group of cultivators making their way into the cave.

His mood instantly turned gloomy. Between them, there were three cultivators at the 9th Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, while the man at the front had a cultivation that he couldn't even read. It could only mean one thing.

'Foundation Establishment!'

As for the Alchemist Casfer, because he stayed far behind, he hasn't entered Krune's Divine Sense, so Krune couldn't see him.

At the same time Krune spread his Divine Sense, the cultivator group noticed that they were being probed. They immediately spread their own Divine Sense back to see who was checking on them. Though, to their surprise, they couldn't see who it was. The only exception was their leader at the Foundation Establishment Realm. Thanks to his higher cultivation, his Divine Sense could cover almost 700 meters as well. But for some reason, his face had an awkward expression when he saw what laid ahead.

His companions noticed the change in his expression, so one of them couldn't help but ask.

"What is it? Could it be that the Divine Sense just now was from the Lizard Dragon leader?"

The other cultivators immediately went on high alert, though.

"How could that be? The information says that it has a cultivation at the peak of the 8th Stage. Even if it had made a breakthrough, it would still be at the 9th Stage, just like our own. Demon beasts usually have a smaller area of coverage when talking about Divine Sense, but we couldn't see anything. For it to have such wide Divine Sense, it would need to at least be at the Foundation Establishment Realm. If that's the case, we might as well turn around and leave immediately."

The cultivator who asked the question could only nod in response. His companion's analysis was very plausible. If there was a Foundation Establishment Realm Lizard Dragon ahead, they would only be courting death to press forward.

On the other hand, their leader only asked a simple question that they didn't expect.

"Is that a wisp?"

His companions looked at him with confused expressions. A wisp? How could that be? That Divine Sense from earlier was very strong! Their own Divine Sense couldn't even compare to the latter. At this moment, they couldn't help but wonder if their leader was hallucinating or something.

"Are you sure you're seeing things correctly? There's no way that Divine Sense could come from a wisp, right? I've never heard about a wisp with a Divine Sense so strong before. First of all, can wisps even reach the cultivation level necessary to obtain Divine Sense?"

That wasn't just the doubts of the leader's companions. Even the leader himself was just as perplexed. According to his Divine Sense, the wisp in front of them had truly reached the 9th stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. Not only that but the Lizard Dragons around him were following its orders. He knew very well that both beasts and cultivators only saw wisps as cultivation resources, so he also wondered if he was becoming crazy.

A while later, he started to laugh.

"Seems like we hit the jackpot! That wisp is seriously at the 9th Stage of the Qi Condensation realm! Do you have any idea how much a wisp at the 9th Stage would be worth in the city? Let alone one pill, we'll have enough money to buy tens of pills! Even two or three-star pills wouldn't be a problem at all!"

His companions got excited as well since it was truly a windfall for them. They could already see the moment that they also broke through the Foundation Establishment Realm. How could they not be happy?

The leader looked at them and spoke through his Divine Sense. One of the uses of Divine Sense was that one could communicate without being afraid of being heard. At most, others would only be able to tell that they were talking to each other, but there was no way they could listen to what was being said.

"Alright! Wisps are extremely fast at running, and this one should be even more so. To guarantee that it won't escape, I will guard the rear. At the same time, you guys will take your time to capture it. Even if it had reached the 9th Stage, it couldn't possibly be your match. Fortunately, we brought our wisp net with us. As for the Lizard Dragons, I still haven't found that 8th Stage one. So I will keep my Divine Sense spread, and if it appears, I will give you cover. Remember, that wisp is our main priority! After we capture it, we can spend our time getting those Lizard Dragons for Sir Casfer behind us."

Everyone nodded their heads before starting to move forward once more.

Back in the cave, Krune saw everything that happened ahead. Although he couldn't hear what they were saying, it was way too easy to understand what they were planning to do. The Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator was following the group from a slight distance behind the others. Surprisingly, Krune mentally smirked at that sight as he retreated his Divine Sense and prepared himself.

'So you think your friends are more than enough to deal with me, huh? Hahaha. You, sir, have just sent them to their deaths.'

Krune's new merged skills are finally about to be brought into the limelight.