First Kill

Knowing that he had no time to waste, Krune immediately took action. His cultivation was lower, but he had his intelligence backing him up. When the demon crow was around 50 meters away from him, Krune shot out two wind blades, and at the same time, started to retreat. He knew that wind blades shot at such range can at most leave very small wounds that were hardly able to change anything. But that was all part of his plan. To be able to defeat the crow, he would need to make it lower its guard first.

Also, he needed to save his spirit energy since he couldn't shoot too many blades due to the small amount available for him at his level. With that, he needed to finish this fight fast! And to guarantee his victory, the blades would need to be used at ten meters or less. If possible, even under five meters. Plus, if he made too much of a ruckus, he might attract even more demon beasts.

The problem was that if he used his blades at five meters or less, he wouldn't have time to dodge the attack even if he hit the demon beast. So, Krune was trying to buy as much time as possible while trying to formulate a plan in his mind. Once he used his real killing move, he must succeed. If not, the demon crow would put up its guard, and he would most likely be done for.

Sure enough, the crow felt the wind blades hit its body but completely disregarded it. The closer it got, the more nervous Krune became. Nevertheless, he stuck up to his plan, shooting three more blades. This time though, he purposely lowered its attack power so that the beast won't feel any difference when the blades hit. As expected, the same thing happened, but that was when Krune noticed something. Although the wind blades didn't threaten the demon crow, it still slightly made it change its route, which was immediately corrected by the latter.

'I never thought about using the wind this way. Well, I don't know if it'll work, but it'll have to make do.'

Although it took a lot of time to explain, in fact, it all happened in just a few seconds.

Krune eventually stopped and readied five wind blades. Five was the maximum he can shoot at once while keeping enough spirit energy for one last maneuver. At the same time, by his side, the power of wind started to compress. If one didn't pay attention, they would think that Krune was preparing a sixth wind blade to attack.

The demon bird didn't think anything about it. Due to its higher level of cultivation, it indeed had a higher intelligence compared to ordinary beasts. Fortunately, it truly was not a match for an adult wisp. After feeling the amount of damage inflicted by the first five wind blades, it totally disregarded caution, throwing it to the wind.

20 meters...

15 meters...

10 meters...

'Keep calm, keep calm. I only have one chance. If I screw this up, I'm finished. Keep waiting...five meters. It must be five meters! Otherwise, I can't guarantee success.'

Krune kept reminding himself as he waited for the demon crow to get closer. One couldn't blame him for his nervousness, though. Until today, he would flee at first sight of danger. But today, he had to fight, and he must win!

In fact, Krune had no other choice. His opponent had higher cultivation and was a demon bird capable of flying. Not to mention that there were very few trees or other objects around which he could use to his favor. Also, Krune wanted to prove to himself that all that he had said that day in front of Su Feng and Wang Feifei wasn't just bark.

The demon crow quickly got closer. In its eyes, the wisp was already in its belly, absorbing its energy and increasing its strength.

5 meters!

"Now!"

In an instant, five wind blades made with 90% of all his remaining spiritual energy shot forward. At the same time, the sixth ball of compressed air by his side exploded! It wasn't a wind blade, but the principle behind it was the same as one. It generated a strong shock wave that blasted Krune out of the way of the demon crow's path.

That was the only method he could think of to get away from an almost point-blank attack while using his killing move under five meters. It didn't matter how fast he could be. The difference in cultivation level was too big for his speed to match the given time frame for him to dodge on his own.

The four-winged demon crow was alarmed. A sensation of immense danger passed through its body. Naturally, it tried to dodge the wind blades. Unfortunately for the crow, it was too late. The blades were already right in front of it. Immediately, its eyes went red, and a savage look appeared on its face! Since it couldn't dodge, it might as well take the brunt and bring the wisp down together. But it never expected that the wind blade beside that wisp wasn't a wind blade at all. As soon as it made up its mind, that compressed ball of air exploded right after the wind blades had been shot, blasting the wisp away.

Blood splattered in the air, and feathers flew up in the sky. Three blades hit the right wings while another one hit the left. Together with the shock wave that blasted Krune to the right, it was possible to avoid being hit by the demon crow completely! The last wind blade was shot a little after the first four blades, but just before the shock wave. Krune had made up his mind to go for a sure kill, and for that, he had to guarantee that the last wind blade hit the right place at the right time. The last blade successfully hit the neck, and soon, one head was separated from its body. The head and the body of the four-winged demon crow stumbled ahead for twenty-some meters before eventually stopping.

Krune saw this sight and felt relieved that it worked out. He used everything he had to the point that he was feeling dizzy. His energy core was in absolute turmoil and was almost sapped dry. Even his energy form was a lot smaller and feeble. It would take some time for him to stabilize again. But he couldn't wait here. The smell of blood was sure to attract the nearby demon beasts. He had to leave straight away. Otherwise, he couldn't leave even if he wanted to.

Krune took one last glance at the corpse of the Four-Winged Demon Crow and was just about to leave when he noticed something. The demon crow was dead, but unlike before, he can now feel a high concentration of spiritual energy coming from it. The problem was, with the four-winged demon crow's higher cultivation level, it should be very hard for Krune to feel this energy. But he just had to think for a bit to understand what was happening. The demon crow was now dead, so it couldn't control the energy in its body anymore. That meant he could now feel it.

Krune looked back and noticed that near where the neck was severed, there was a small bead. It turns out that when he used his last wind blade to cut the crow's neck, it partially cut its head, revealing that small bead. The amount of spiritual energy that Krune could feel from that bead was several times his own. Krune quickly made up his mind since every second counted. He used his control over spiritual energy to grab the demon core and swiftly left. Not long after, he could hear several roars, and it was evident that the demon beasts nearby started to fight over the free food. But Krune couldn't care less. He wasn't in any condition to battle anymore, so he pressed forward, quickly leaving the area.

------

Krune was quite lucky. With that demon bird corpse attracting the other beasts, it was easier for him to leave the place without alarming any of them. A few hours later, Krune found a small crevice by the side of a mountain wall. He swiftly entered and noticed that it was the entrance of a cave. He then took his time to check around and made sure everything was safe. Because the crevice was too small, there were only a few insects and a few small animals that posed no threat to Krune. Due to the entrance's size and the fact that the higher a beast's cultivation was, the bigger they were, no demon beast could enter this cave.

After making sure that there was no danger, Krune started to look around more carefully. The spider webs on the roof and the small sound of water dripping from the stalactites proved that no one had come in here in a very long time. Except for the very small animals on the ground, of course.

Krune went to the bottom of the cave and rested there. He soon activated his Myriad Energies Technique. In just a minute, all his seven pseudo-energy meridians had formed and started to greedily absorb the spirit energy around him. He was finally in the inner parts of Katiu Forest, and the concentration of spiritual energy was much higher than his hiding place back there behind the waterfall. After restoring himself to his peak, he decided to allocate the next few days for forming the last two pseudo-energy meridians. It was already the night of the fourth day when he finally finished. Now he had formed the nine pseudo-energy meridians that the Myriad Energies Technique allowed to be created.

Krune then decided to spend a bit of his time to check the crow's demon core. The amount of spiritual energy inside was really amazing. Even at his peak, his own core paled in comparison to this demon core. And since that was the case, he might as well try to absorb it.

Krune had never been a hasty wisp. He could feel that the energy in this core was surely high, but its properties were far from his own. If he tried to absorb it the way it was, the energy in his core might turn berserk, and it might even explode if he lost control. With that, he only took out a sliver of the demon core's spiritual energy. He then started to convert it to be compatible with his own, and only then absorbed it.

'If I want to absorb it, I will need to convert the energy into one that is compatible with mine first, and I can only do it a little each time. Considering the speed of the conversion, there isn't much of a difference between absorbing the spiritual energy around me and the converted energy from the demon core.'

Krune started to ponder on how he could hasten the conversion when an idea came to mind.

'The Myriad Energies Technique absorbs the spiritual energy as it is, while the conversion is only made inside the dantian or core. Then again, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is gentle. It causes no harm to it during the conversion. Because of this, I can't use it to absorb the demon core's energy, which can be considered anything but gentle. But why is that? It doesn't matter how I see it. The pseudo-energy meridians should be capable of doing the conversion. At the same time, the energy should pass through them just like any other meridian. This technique was obviously created to imitate the other races' meridians during cultivation. So why is it that I have to wait for the energy to reach my core for it to be able to convert it into my own?'

Once this idea sprouted in his mind, it started to take root, and it quickly spread until it occupied all his thoughts.

'Wrong, wrong! It shouldn't be like this! It's definitely wrong!'

Krune kept thinking about the matter and tried a few things. First, he tried using only one meridian to slowly absorb a sliver of spiritual energy from the demon core. After that, he made all nine meridians work as a single tube. But nothing seemed to work. In the end, it still gave him the same result. No conversion was made.

Suddenly, Krune's mind lit up!

'Right! It's not that the way to cultivate with this technique is wrong. It's probably incomplete! What if the nine pseudo-energy meridians aren't the final stage but only the initial state? First of all, it doesn't make any sense for the technique to only have nine pseudo-energy meridians. It doesn't matter how proficient I get with it in the future. It will definitely reach a limit. I simply can't compete with the true meridians beings of blood and flesh have. The disparity in numbers is way too great. It shouldn't be like this at all!'

Krune's mind was working like crazy. After getting to this point in his thoughts, it only took a moment for him to reach a conclusion.

'If my conjecture is right, the nine meridians are not the final form. Not to mention that it doesn't make sense for there to be only nine in the first place. Then, that means creating the nine meridians is just the first stage. What probably comes afterward can only be...

Fusion!'