Foundational Spirit Realm

𝘈 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺.

𝘈𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘲𝘪.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳.

--Idan the Mountain on Physical Cultivation.

After Cain's breakthrough he felt as if he was in a whole new world. His five senses were much sharper, greatly boosting his perception of his surroundings. Cain was also faintly developing a sixth sense; he could faintly feel the flow of spiritual qi in his surroundings, as well as within himself.

Besides the traces of spiritual qi, Cain could sense a vigorous lifeforce stemming from the blood qi within. His injury from the Volt Tiger was already beginning to heal slowly, and the bleeding had stopped.

𝘈𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨! Cain was eager to test his newfound strength, so he headed back towards the Volt Tigers clearing.

Before selecting a target Cian observed the tigers. He could now sense the level of qi within each of the Volt Tigers, so he could roughly judge their Cultivation Level.

Most of the Volt Tigers were on par with Cain himself, but the few that were near the Winged Volt Tiger had much stronger qi within them.

As for the winged tiger itself? All he could feel was an overwhelming sense of danger! He couldn't see through the beast at all.

𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘳𝘦𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. The distance from the edge of the forest to the center of the clearing was around 300 meters all around, so if he was careful Cain could lure a few of the Volt Tigers away from the rest one at a time.

Cain recalled how fast the tiger he had killed was despite having an arrow lodged in its leg. Thinking of this he began to search the surrounding area.

After what seemed like hours, Cain managed to find what he was looking for. This herb had strong paralysis affects in its raw form, and Old Luo used it as the main ingredient in his sedatives.

Cain harvested quite a few of these herbs and carefully stored them in a rough pouch he made previously.

Taking some of the herbs and setting them on a rock, Cain ground the herbs into a paste. He took the paste and applied it to a few arrow tips as well as the edge of his blade.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘸! Cain thought, admiring his handiwork.

Creeping back to the clearing, Cain quickly identified his target. One of the Volt Tigers was on the outskirts of the clearing. Nocking one of his poisoned arrows, Cain tried coating his arrow in qi. Feeling the strange energy fill his weapon he knew it worked. Spreading his senses, he focused on his target.

A sickening noise was heard when Cains arrow drove into the tiger's chest, only the base could be seen barely sticking out.

The Volt Tiger let out a thundering roar, and unexpectedly headed back towards its allies. Despite being surprised Cain promptly bolted out of his cover, chasing after the tiger.

The poison should be taking effect soon, exerting itself like this would only cause its blood to circulate the poison faster. Sure enough, before reaching any reinforcements the Volt Tiger became sluggish, allowing Cain to catch up.

After breaking through Cain's speed couldn't be compared to his old self, even though the tiger was still faster the poison was enough to make up the difference.

Cain rapidly approached the tiger, swords drawn, and delivered a fierce slash imbued with qi upon the tigers exposed flank.

The Volt Tiger twisted its body swiping a claw at Cain, but he used his second blade to block the strike taking a step backwards from the force.

Seeing its ineffective attack, the tiger channeled its own qi causing its attack to channel a shock that transferred from Cains blade to himself.

Feeling the energy transfer Cain decisively let go of his blade and drove his knee into the bottom of the tiger's head!

Taking advantage of the opening he created Cain hacked at the Volt Tigers neck, cutting halfway through in one strike, and finishing the job on the second.

Breathing heavily Cain gathered the core of his prey and retreated quickly, some of the other Volt Tigers seemed to have noticed the commotion.

Back at the hidden cave Cain sat in a lotus position refining his second core. His cultivation technique was indeed a bit troublesome; most cultivators could directly absorb heaven and earths qi from around themselves.

Unfortunately, his own method required him to use beast cores.

It's not as if there were no benefits from it though, as his physical body received a larger improvement compared to others.

When Cain consumed the Volt Tigers Core not only could he feel his qi increasing slightly, along with an improvement in his physical body, he could feel the Volt Tiger Bloodline within himself becoming purer.

Cain could feel himself control his qi more naturally, as if guided by an invisible hand. 𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘵, 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.

Over the next four months Cain tempered himself using the Volt Tigers as his whetstone, and after consuming more cores he felt himself approaching a bottleneck.

Cain was doing his daily routine, hunting various animals then going to find some Volt Tigers. After killing the first few at the clearing Cain started looking for other groups of the tigers as well, as to not draw out the Winged Volt Tigers that were usually present in a group of the beasts.

Today he stumbled on a small group of Volt Tigers engaging what appeared to be a smaller Tyrant Bear. Observing the tiger's hunt Cain felt his bloodline that had become much more pure in these months start to resonate.

He entered a strange state as he observed the way the Volt Tigers qi created different circuits when they performed different things.

The movement of their bodies in tangent with their qi as they flashed around the Fledgling Tyrant Bear, or how the qi flowed from their cores to their maw when they latched on to the bears limbs and discharged electricity.

When the Volt Tigers finished off their prey and took it away Cain woke up from his state of enlightenment.

𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦! He could think of all kinds of new ways to use the qi in his body now. Cain immediately tried one of these new techniques, and his body flashed around the forest at a surprising speed. He was even faster than those tigers now!

Cain tried mimicking the way the Volt Tigers discharged electricity using his twin blades as the 'teeth'. It took a few attempts but eventually his blades crackled to life, snakes of electricity flowing around it.

𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘲𝘪 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘺. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺. Despite the downsides, this technique would undoubtedly be effective. Coupled with his new movement technique his lethality had reached a whole new level!

It was now that Cain realized he could only exert his maximum potential with sufficiently powerful techniques. A Cultivator without techniques was a snake with no fangs! He was even more determined to win the slot into thunder palace now, as it was the best way to learn more techniques.

𝘏𝘮, 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴 '𝘝𝘰𝘭𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱' 𝘢𝘯𝘥 '𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘦'. After naming these techniques Cain decided to test them out on those Volt Tigers and started speeding in their direction, sparks igniting around him.

It wasn't long before Cain saw the three tigers ahead of him. Without hesitation Cain drew his twin blades, charging into the tiger closest to him that had yet to notice his presence.

Cains first sword pierced halfway through its body, and his second followed soon after. Facing such an attack the first Volt Tiger died instantly.

𝘝𝘰𝘭𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦. Cain didn't get to think for long before the other two tigers lunged towards him.

Even with their great speed Cain could manage slipping past their blows, he would occasionally have to deflect a blow, but he had a rough idea of his new speed.

𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. Cain's blades crackled with electricity, and he promptly stabbed a blade into each of the Volt Tigers bodies. They were quite resistant to electricity, but all Cain had to do was keep pouring more and more qi into his blades.

The two Volt Tigers fell to the ground, charred beyond recognition. Cain fell to one knee breathing heavily. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. After recovering Cain claimed his prizes before retreating back to his cave for well earned rest.

He took some time to relax before refining the three cores. After consuming the three cores Cain could tell creatures at this level could no longer increase his cultivation. He would have to kill stronger enemies to improve further.

That was no problem, he was excited even! What he did gain from the cores was his bloodline was completely purified. After the purity of the Volt Tiger bloodline in his body reached the maximum, his body seemed to undergo some sort of transformation.

Popping noises emitted from Cain as his body had a breakthrough of its own. After it was over Cain felt like he could defeat one of those tigers even without relying on his spiritual qi now!

With his strength at its peak Cain rested for the night before leaving the next morning ready to find the key to breaking through his current cultivation level.

His next goal would be Foundational Spirit Realm Intermediate Stage!