The cultivator group unsurprisingly pressed forward. Ahead of them, they noticed that the space inside the cave started to gradually get bigger. It just so happened that they got to the place where Krune had battled the Lizard Dragon leader. They also noticed the mess on the ground. It was evident that the stalactites from the roof had fallen down not too long ago, but that also meant that they wouldn't see that happen any time soon. It takes hundreds, if not thousands of years, for those stalactites to form. It's simply impossible for them to form again on the roof without any outside help.

Further ahead, Krune could already see the approaching bunch, but his emotions were as tranquil as they could be. He had gone through quite a few battles recently and couldn't feel nervous anymore. This was the gift of experience.

​​

'I guess that old trick should work with those three. Indeed, there's nothing better than being a wisp in a situation like this one. They're truly underestimating me. Then again, it also pisses me off. Your grandfather here will show you what a real wisp is capable of.'

Sure enough, Krune was right. They didn't even put him in their eyes at all. The cultivator in the middle of the group then sent a Divine Sense message to his companions.

"Alright, let's finish this quickly. For this wisp to have reached the 9th Stage of Qi Condensation, it might have some tricks under his belt. Then again, there's nothing to be afraid of. I will use Earth Protection and march forward. When it attacks me, you two rush to the sides and throw the net. But wait for me to block the attack first, okay? As soon as that happens, I will rush forward and keep it occupied so that it won't run away, got it?"

The other two cultivators agreed with the man's plan. The one who spoke was specialized in the Earth element, so he was best suited to be the vanguard. At the same time, the Foundation Establishment Realm leader behind them kept his Divine Sense spread out. Although it consumed a lot of spiritual energy, he thought that this battle wouldn't take more than a few seconds, at most a minute.

Krune also kept up his play. He floated left and right as if trying to find a way to pass through them and escape. Fortunately, wisps had no face or bodily expressions to start with. Thanks to that, it was too easy to fool those guys ahead.

"Haha! Look at that! It still thinks it can escape. Let's go."

The Earth element cultivator then rushed forward as his two companions were right at his back, waiting for the signal. They quickly closed the distance. To them, it was too easy to deal with this wisp. In their eyes, Krune was as good as a captured wisp already.

Krune then pretended to reach a dead-end by mistake. When the cultivators noticed this, their confidence soared through the roof. On the other hand, their guard against Krune dropped even more. Krune saw that, and so, he started to form wind blades above his head. When the Earth element cultivator saw what Krune was about to use, he almost burst into laughter.

'Does this wisp think he can really break my defense with some puny wind blades? He must be dreaming!'

The Earth element cultivator sprinted forward while the two behind had their wisp nets ready for use. Everything was going according to plan. Just when they were about to rush to the sides to trap Krune, something unbelievable happened. Right in front of them, their vanguard companion was split in three! Two Blazing Wind Blades passed through his body and went flying straight at them. In less than an instant, despair appeared on their faces!

'Skill merge! Wind element and Fire element, Blazing Wind Blades!'

Fast, those blades were just too fast!

The Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator behind noticed it before them and cried out.

"DODGE!"

Unfortunately for those two, it was too late. The two Blazing Wind Blades cut through the last two cultivators like a hot knife cutting through butter. On top of that, their eyes showed their astonishment! They could only think of one thing. In fact, their vanguard companion ahead of them had the same thought before dying a second ago.

'Since when did wisps become this strong?'

There was only black now, with the three of them dying just like that.

But that wasn't all. Those Blazing Wind Blades didn't slow down at all and flew straight at the Foundation Establishment Realm leader. He was shocked! Fortunately for him, his cultivation was higher than Krune's since he was in the next realm, after all. He then immediately dodged, jumping to the side, allowing the Blazing Wind Blades to pass by him. He could even feel the scourging heat coming from them. The blades soon hit the wall behind the leader and went through it. No one knew how deep they went before losing their power.

But it wasn't over yet! As soon as he touched the ground, he noticed something was off. The ground wasn't solid anymore! The Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator immediately plummeted down.

'Skill merge! Earth element and Fire element, Lava Lake!'

The cultivator immediately used his spiritual energy to create a barrier to protect himself from the heat. As soon as his feet touched the ground under the small lava pond, he used all his strength to jump. Though, just as his head had appeared outside the lava pond, he stopped. It was not because he wanted to, but it was because he couldn't move anymore! It turns out that the lava around him had suddenly solidified!

It was then that he noticed that the temperature all around him had plummeted!

'Skill merge! Earth, Fire, and Water element! Stone Prison!'

This was Krune's idea to stop strong enemies from moving. As long as he could catch them off guard, he would use Lava Lake and a Water element attack to solidify the lava, imprisoning his target.

The leader couldn't believe it. He saw everything that had unfolded with his Divine Sense, but he didn't pay attention to what happened under him. That wisp was prepared to throw two wind blades at the cultivator on the forefront. But out of nowhere, those wind blades that normally shouldn't present any danger had become fiery red! Their speed was inconceivable! It seemed like it could slash and burn everything in its path. It was truly a fearsome attack that even he wouldn't dare to block. If he did, that was just tantamount to suicide!

When the two cultivators behind the first one only noticed the Blazing Wind Blades, it was already too late for them to dodge.

The incredible thing was that those blades didn't lose any power and directly flew at him. Because of his surprise, he was somewhat late in reacting, his only move being to jump to the side.

But who could have thought that everything that happened was for the sole purpose of baiting him into the trap?

The end result was a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator being captured by a wisp instead of the other way around. He was bound never to forget what happened today.

A moment later, he came back to himself. He knew what Blazing Wind Blade and Lava Lake were.

'Skill merge?! Impossible! That's just a wisp! How can it use something like skill merge? That isn't something one should be able to see in a place like this, much less being used by a wisp!'

'No, first of all, that was something that needs two cultivators to work together to achieve the desired result perfectly. If one wants to use skill merge alone, one would need to at least be in the late stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm to control two elements at the same time! Even so, that's something very hard to achieve. But even after all of that, this wisp is obviously at the Qi Condensation realm. Such a thing should be impossible!'

All of this took some time to explain. But in fact, it happened in just a few seconds. The leader hastily calmed himself down and looked at the wisp as he would against a great foe. All his disdain had disappeared in an instant! It was obvious that he was taking Krune extremely seriously now. That Blazing Wind Blade had an attack power that wasn't any bit weaker than his own attacks, and both the Lava Lake and Blazing Wind Blade were skills that he would never be able to use at his level.

Krune looked at him and said.

"Well, well, well. That's a first!"

"During my entire life, everyone who looked at me only showed disdain or greed. Well, mainly greed. After all, wisps are supposed to be worth a lot in the cities, am I right? But this is the first time that I've seen a cultivator looking at me seriously. I have to say that it feels very good to finally be regarded as something else than a cultivation resource in someone else's eyes."

The leader was taken aback. He knew that adult wisps could talk, and he had heard a few of them do so before. But this was the first time he heard such a confident wisp. It only made him more vigilant. Unfortunately, he could only stare at Krune, who was moving closer to him.

"I'm surprised myself. But first of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Gony. I must admit that when I first saw you with my Divine Sense, I thought that I had hit the jackpot. A wisp like you is bound to be worth tens, if not hundreds of times more than any other wisp out there in the market."

"But for me to be able to get that money, I would need to capture you alive, and I'm 100% sure that even if I win a fight against you, there would be no way for me to could capture you. And that's considering that I'm the one with an advantage, which I'm obviously not. Your attack power is by no means any weaker than mine."

"So how about we do it like this? I will just leave, and you go on back to your life. You already killed three of my companions, so it should be enough for you, right?"

Krune was a little surprised to hear that. He was expecting that this cultivator would feel humiliated at the fact that his companions died and that he got captured by a wisp. He was sure that he would attack straight away if he could do so, but it seemed like this person can think things more logically.

"Interesting. Although I can't let you leave that easily, are you not angry at the fact that I killed your companions or the fact that I captured you?"

The leader looked at Krune with caution before responding.

"There's nothing wrong with that. First of all, my skills were inferior to yours, so I lost."

"Second, we all underestimated you from the very beginning. Just because you're a wisp, we thought that you simply couldn't do anything against us. At most, you would find a way to escape. But it has never occurred to us that we could possibly die here."

"So I can't blame anyone else other than myself at the moment. You might not know this, but we have a certain law in this country. Anyone who decides to enter danger zones like Katiu Forest must sign an agreement of responsibility. They will have to agree that anything that might happen here has nothing to do with the state, even if they die."

"The government is clear about the risks of trekking the danger zones. Only if you aren't afraid of the consequences should you enter them."

"So, my answer to your question is 'no.' Be it my companions or me, we only formed this group for the sake of profit a few days ago, so we don't know each other that much to start with."

Krune was truly surprised this time. He didn't expect that the world outside was so 'organized.' His curiosity was immediately piqued. He was planning to leave this place when he achieved the Foundation Establishment Realm. Knowledge from the outside would be very useful to him. Most of the things he knew came from what he heard from other wisps and from what he could probe from the nearby villages outside the forest, after all.

But before he could start asking his questions, the cultivator stopped him.

"Before you ask anything else, you should know that we didn't come alone. Don't worry, I'm not threatening you. Our task was to collect dragon blood from those Lizard Dragons for the alchemist at the entrance. He's a member of the Alchemist Guild, and you would probably get much more information from him than me. All I ask you is to let us go after you finish answering your questions."

Krune wasn't surprised by this. Those who venture into the inner parts of Katiu Forest would usually have some backup plans. After a few seconds, Krune had an idea. He went outside and quickly captured Casfer. He then brought him to where Gony was and explained the rules.

"I will separate the two of you, and I will ask the same questions. If I hear a different answer from the other one, then you can't blame me for what happens next. Your friends ahead are a good example of the outcome of pissing me off."

He put Casfer under the eyes of the Lizard Dragons and ordered them that if he tried to run, they could eat him. But they better not try to do that without reason, or they'll suffer even more than their big brother did back then when it tried to steal Krune's demon cores.

To be sure, he left Lakin to oversee the situation just in case.

Casfer was an alchemist, and he had no battle power whatsoever. He was already close to pissing himself from this situation. Even if his cultivation was higher than the Lizard Dragons, he would have very little chance of escaping. Also, if he did, Casfer had no idea how he would pass through Krune. So, he obediently waited.

'This is the best opportunity I've obtained so far to understand the outside world. Feifei and Old Feng were just passing by to fix their spaceship. They're not from this planet. They wouldn't know much about my planet anyway, so I better use this chance well.'

And just like that, the tense question and answer portion started.