Is that a Wisp?

Krune, of course, didn't know about this awesome nickname.

That final lightning bolt soon struck Krune's Spiritual Energy Meridians. Naturally, they started to work at full power. Unfortunately for Krune, there was too much energy to be absorbed and converted. If it continued like this, he wouldn't be able to endure any longer.

'I have to redirect the energy somewhere. Problem is, the Heavenly Tribulation is targeting me. It definitely wouldn't go anywhere else.'

Sparks flew everywhere as Krune's energy body was on the brink of disappearing. Soon, even his core would be affected. Fortunately, Krune suddenly thought up an idea.

'I need to send the energy somewhere, but it can only target me. In that case, what if I send it directly into my Universe Foundation without waiting for it to be converted? Other than the planet itself, my universe is basically a massive void. There should be no problem in releasing all the tribulation power there. After all, the void is also considered to be me.'

Krune didn't have time to ponder about the pros and cons. He had to act now. Krune immediately stopped the energy conversion process before fully opening his meridians to let all the energy pass through them. All the remaining lightning seemed to have found a path which it could follow and rushed inside. As soon as the Tribulation Lightning appeared in his Universe Foundation, it started to rampage around. Fortunately, it was all void. There was nothing it could destroy to start with.

Krune kept absorbing more lightning, and a few moments later, all the remaining energy from the tribulation was now moving all around his Universe Foundation. Krune knew that this was just the start, and he simply couldn't leave the Tribulation Lightning moving around freely in his universe. This was a Heavenly Tribulation. It wouldn't disappear without reason, and it would keep running around until it finds a target.

Krune then focused on his Universe Foundation. Here, he was a god! When the lightning first struck, Krune initially used his Spiritual Energy Meridians to convert it into spiritual energy. Only after he noticed that he wouldn't be able to convert everything did he open his channels and let the lightning go through. Fortunately, he had already regained almost all his spiritual energy before that happened.

Krune pondered for a bit. Unless the Tribulation Lightning found a target, it wouldn't go away. Then again, there was only one thing that could be used as a target in his Universe Foundation. His planet!

'Hmm...this shouldn't be a problem. I don't need to guide the entire tribulation at once to strike my planet. I can do it slowly.'

And with that in mind, he did. With the spiritual energy available to him in his core, he started to bait the Tribulation Lightning everywhere until it separated into various small lightning tribulations. Slowly but surely, he guided one of them to his planet.

'Moment of truth.'

The lightning tribulation seemed to have smelled something and charged straight towards the planet. The planet wasn't big to start with. Even though the interior of the core space was warped, which meant it was much bigger than it appeared from the outside, it had its limit. In other words, Krune's planet wasn't any bigger than a few kilometers. The tribulation lightning soon struck it directly. In an instant, the entire world seemed to have lightning sparks coursing all throughout its surface.

Krune's soul wasn't doing well either. The element of lightning, especially one made out of pure spiritual energy, was very effective against soul forms. With just this one strike, the pain that Krune felt wasn't the least bit inferior to when he first started breaking his core down. Fortunately, it was still bearable for him.

After a few minutes, the lightning eventually lost its power and disappeared. Krune felt bitter after that. This was only the first one, and he still had over a hundred strands of lightning running around in his universe. Though, he quickly made up his mind. He needed to get over with it soon. Otherwise, the tribulation might find its way to his planet and strike all at once. If that happened, there wouldn't even be a trace of Krune's soul after that.

Bolt after bolt struck the surface of Krune's little planet, but this situation wasn't without rewards. Krune's soul was being tempered even further now. Every time a bolt of lightning struck, he would go through an unimaginable amount of pain. Nevertheless, he could feel the power of his soul strengthening bit by bit. He was familiar with this feeling from when he was breaking down his core.

Five bolts of lightning, ten bolts of lightning, twenty bolts of lightning, fifty, eighty, and eventually, a hundred. Krune was already on the verge of fainting when finally, the final strand of tribulation lightning was guided to his planet. Krune's face showed determination as he faced the last lightning head-on! That's right. Krune knew that the lightning also helped temper his soul, so he decided that the last strand would fall directly into his soul.

"I said I was going to devour you, so I will keep my word till the very end!"

This time, Krune really felt like he was going to die. But it didn't take long before the lightning's energy eventually ran out. Krune could finally let out a sigh of relief.

'It's over. It's finally over.'

Just as he was about to start meditating to recover from the numerous beatings he had gone through, that feeling of being one with the world had returned.

'This...that's right, the formation of the golden core!'

Krune was right. He could feel the energy of the world again. It was something different from any other energy, spiritual energy included. It started to congregate in the place that he had prepared for his future golden core, but suddenly, something unexpected happened.

"The hell?! This thing isn't golden at all!"

Krune heard from Ruik that his own future golden core was also golden from the very start. It's just that the golden color it showed was very weak. From what Ruik heard from the other demon beasts, this was the normal process. The higher one's stage was in the Foundation Establishment Realm, the stronger the golden color on one's golden core becomes. It seemed that when one arrived at the 9th Stage, the golden core would become completely golden, showing that one is ready to enter the Core Formation Realm.

Problem is, Krune's future core wasn't golden at all. In fact, it wasn't just one color. His future golden core, which wasn't golden to start with, looked more like a rainbow.

"Maybe the heavens felt pity for me and brought some candy for me to eat."

Of course, that was just some shitty idea Krune thought in passing. There was no way such a thing could happen. Then again, why was his core so... colorful? But it wasn't over, though. Just as the core was about to be completely formed, Krune felt the power of the tribulation lightning again. It turns out that his planet was struck by lightning so many times that it had kept some of it in its interior. Just a moment before his future 'rainbow' core was finished, that strand of lightning hit it.

Krune was shocked to see that. As soon as it was struck, it started to tremble and jump all over like it was popcorn. Krune could only pray in his heart.

'Please don't break, please don't break, please don't break...'

If his future rainbow core broke, his breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm would most likely be considered a failure. Not only that but the outer core would also be destroyed. Only death awaited him if that happened.

Fortunately, after a few minutes, it stopped jumping around. It regained its rainbow color, while the world's energy finished its formation. It was now lying quietly in the center of Krune's planet core. But there was something different about it now. If one looked closely, one could see some lightning sparks running around it.

"What kind of situation is this? First, I get a child's candy as my future golden core. Well, not actually golden. And now, this candy has lightning running around it. I might as well pretend to be a clown and give it to the first few kids I find beside the streets. Even if the lightning doesn't let them eat it, it'll still look like a fun toy."

Of course, such a thought was formed because of Krune's gloominess. He couldn't actually give his future core away like that. It's just that he had to go through so many hardships to complete his breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm that he wanted to vent out somewhere.

Before, Krune had secretly paid a few visits to the villages near Katiu Forest. Coincidence or not, he found out what a clown was during one of those visits.

'It might have something to do with my foundation. The spiritual energy in my little universe is also rainbow-like, so that's probably the reason.'

Krune then put those thoughts behind his mind as he looked at the rainbow core. Since it seemed like it wouldn't do anything for the time being, he decided to go back to the spiritual vein lake.

Along the way, he met up with Ruik and Lakin, with the latter saying.

"Master, you survived! That's great!"

Ruik also commented.

"Now, then. You just finished your breakthrough, so our contract is over. I think a Foundation Establishment Realm wisp is pretty good for cultivation, so how about giving yourself to me?"

Krune just laughed it out as he replied.

"Give myself to you? Does that mean you've fallen in love with my awesomeness? I'm sorry, but I have a fiance already."

Ruik immediately went red from anger as he shouted.

"Scram!"

He then turned back and entered the cave again.

Both Lakin and Krune laughed even harder. Soon after, Lakin looked back at Krune and asked.

"Master, is everything over? Is there something you need my help with?"

Krune was happy to feel his concerns, though he replied.

"I'm okay, except for the fact that I feel like a pile of shit. Other than that, I'm pretty much fine. Let's head back to the spiritual vein lake. I need some time to recover."

After returning to the spiritual vein lake, Krune went to find Ruik straight away, while Lakin followed out of curiosity. He then explained his situation to Ruik and how his future core looked like some rainbow candy with lightning around it.

Lakin didn't know much about it to start with, so he just listened. As for Ruik, his eyes looked like he was staring at an anomaly.

"I know quite a few Foundation Establishment Realm beasts, but all of us have the same type of golden core. The only difference is how golden they are depending on our cultivation stages."

Ruik then pondered for a bit and then continued.

"But I must remind you that Katiu Forest isn't a big place to start with, and there are way too many things out there that we don't know. There might be some other Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators with a situation like yours. Of course, this is the first time I've heard of a Heavenly Tribulation appearing before the Core Formation Realm. Nevertheless, due to the lack of information we have here, it could have happened outside."

Krune agreed with his train of thought. With that, there was now one more reason for him to leave. He then asked Ruik another question.

"So, how does this 'nurturing the golden core' work? Do I need to cultivate as usual, or is there some secret to it?"

Lakin also paid attention to this question. Thanks to his master, he also had a chance at the Foundation Establishment Realm as well. Ruik then looked at him and answered.

"There is. In fact, this isn't a secret, and you would find out about it sooner or later. The core in the center of the foundation can be nourished by directly sending spiritual energy into it. Once it feels the presence of spiritual energy, it'll automatically absorb the energy by itself. You just need to keep sending more spiritual energy until it stops absorbing. That's the moment when your future core is ready to break through to the next stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Of course, you can't neglect your foundation either. Remember what I said about my island in the lake foundation?"

Krune pondered for some time before recalling this memory. Ruik had told him before that the lake held the spiritual energy. It would then be used to strengthen the island foundation. When the island became sturdy enough, one could then break through to the next stage. Krune then waited for Ruik to continue speaking.

"You can think of it like preparing the foundation for a natural calamity. The breakthrough of each stage is followed by a huge explosion of spiritual energy. If your future core or your foundation can't resist that, it'll break apart. Your planet foundation is definitely top-ranked, so it should take even longer to improve it due to its size."

After hearing that, Krune asked once more.

"So, which one should I nurture first? The foundation or the core?"

Ruik answered without hesitation.

"The core should be your priority since it takes less time. Although the planet foundation will take a long time to be reinforced and stabilized, the core inside doesn't need any reinforcing. The core is different from your foundation. Take my future golden core as an example. It kept absorbing spiritual energy for an entire week without stopping. But after that, it never accepted spiritual energy again. If you want, you can take less time to achieve that. You just need to gather more spirit stones and suck them dry. As long as the future core has enough space for spiritual energy, it will accept everything."

"If I calculate the total spiritual energy I used to fill up my golden core, I guess 200 to 300 Rank One Spirit Stones of middle or high quality should be enough."

Krune mentally noted down all of this information. It wasn't that complicated in the end. Basically, nurture the core, nurture the foundation, then break through to the next stage.

After talking for a bit more, Krune went to the side of the spiritual vein lake and started to recuperate. He decided to take a few days of rest to relax a little and think about his next steps.

---

After a week, Krune was now back at peak condition. He decided that he would first gather some spirit stones from the nearby spiritual veins and reach the peak of the first stage of his rainbow core. Krune had utterly given up the idea of using only the natural spiritual energy in the surroundings to feed his rainbow core or his planet foundation. He was a wisp. Even though he was at the Foundation Establishment Realm now, he only obtained ten more years to live. He was four years old at the moment, which meant that he only had sixteen more years to surpass the Core Formation Realm bottleneck.

He also wanted to find out what it felt like being in the next realm. Exactly how much stronger has he gotten? How much more refined can he control his spiritual energy after the last tempering of his soul? His Divine Sense was out of the charts, and no one at his level had a Divine Sense as powerful as his. So he needed to test if demon beasts at the same cultivation level as him could detect it. After that, he had to stabilize and reinforce his foundation as well. Krune could feel that the rainbow-like spiritual energy in his 'universe' wasn't flowing smoothly yet.

In that case, what other method was there that could achieve all of that if not through battling?