The tiger was ecstatic when Zhishi Wu's blade vanished and charged him, its sharp teeth were in full view, saliva flew as it rain, the madness in its eyes was signaling that it would either kill or be killed at this point.
It was an extremely territorial animal that only allowed prey in its territory thus Zhishi Wu's presence was offensive to it, a presence that had to be wiped at all costs, as the tiger approached and entered a 20-meter range it noticed a pressure descend on it but it wasn't great enough to slow it and it continued to proceed with its attack.
ROAR!!!
The beast roared as it was about to chomp down on Zhishi Wu who had just been standing there seemingly motionless. However, just as the jaws were mere inches from his head the beast abruptly stopped and stood there motionless.
"I've been using spiritual sense all wrong, this is much more fun than a Qi implosion." Zhishi Wu said with a slight chuckle.
The beast was confused out of its mind, it was yelling internally trying to bite Zhishi Wu who just stood there and taunted it.
Zhishi Wu walked around the beast and observed it with great curiosity.
"Well, I can feel its Qi trying to resist my neuronal disruption, so that means this technique might not work well on people with good Qi control or with people with a greater amount of Qi than me." he concluded as he stroked his imaginary beard.
In his moment of contemplation his focus wavered and the beast broke out of his control it quickly turned around and went to devour him.
"I guess I'll implode its brain instead." he thought with a blank expression.
Zhishi Wu quickly got ready to execute it but before he could a shadow slipped out from his wrist and fell upon the wolf, the interaction was so quick that neither the tiger nor Zhishi Wu had fully processed it.
The tiger let out a yelp as its large stature disappeared almost instantly becoming a lifeless rug of an existence.
Zhishi Wu realized what had happened, he crouched down and saw a little snake slither towards him,
"It seems that where ever there is food you will emerge, a very smart little beast. You've already reached foundation establishment." Zhishi Wu extended his hand so that the snake could make its way back into his arm sleeve.
Surprisingly the snake actually affectionately rubbed his hand before sliding up and choosing to hang around his neck instead.
Zhishi Wu didn't mind, the snake was probably the oldest companion he had in the eastern wasteland.
"This feeling isn't too bad either." he thought to himself as he went to rejoin the rest of his party, a beast at the level of a sect elder was casually hanging around his neck and yet he didn't seem too bothered by it.
"No one else should be able to guess your cultivation level, seems like you're very talented at hiding your traces." even when on his neck it could camouflage, effectively vanishing from sight.
The snake let out a slight hiss in reply indicating its ability to understand what he was saying.
As Zhishi Wu ran across the trees he realized something.
"I've never given you a name, have I? How about snip?" Zhishi Wu remembered the pet hamster that used to keep him company as a child, back when he still lived with his parents.
"OK." a voice chimed in his head not too loud nor too soft.
"I guess I should be surprised but I'll just add telepathy to the list of crazy things in this world."
…
As night fell they decided to rest in a cave, although Zhishi Wu and Mei Fan were ok Jia Lin was not used to a lack of sleep and would need sleep to maintain her health.
"I might as well read up on foundation establishment." Zhishi Wu said as he pulled out one of the records he had taken from the sect, Jia Lin was already knocked out and Mei Fan was attending to Gomu.
The book was very through, stating the requirements to breakthrough, the bonuses gained with it and details about what the realm entails.
"A foundation is important for the next step of the cultivation process, in fact it requires 9 foundations in total, refereed to as heavenly layers." Mei Fan said as she caught him reading the book.
Zhishi Wu looked up attentively, this information wasn't mentioned in the book.
"If you have any guidance I would be glad to hear it."
"No, no it's my pleasure to guide the only elder in the history of our sect who has yet to establish a foundation, not that I'm doubting your strength my father has reassured me."
She sat down and took a bite out of what looked like a bamboo stick.
"Foundation establishment has three main benefits, actually make that four. Number 1 spiritual sense, it allows you to observe your surrounding in a way that you cannot normally."
She raised one of her fingers like she was keeping count.
"Secondly, it increases a cultivator's strength, speed and Qi reserves, the more heavens that you progress through the more space there is for Qi to be condensed, essentially they can condense nine times the Qi of Qi condensation disciples at their late stage."
The second finger went up.
"Thirdly, your life span makes a big jump, they can live up to 300 years, to us cultivators who pursue immortality there is no greater boon, and yet ironically the last point is even more valuable than the rest combined."
The third finger went up.
Zhishi Wu was surprised, as someone who greatly valued lifespan he assumed there could be nothing worth more, something worth more than life.
"The last and most important benefit is the realization of your celestial phenomena, this alone determines your future as a cultivator and depending on the circumstances someone at the foundation establishment stage may be able to compete with an ethereal core cultivator."