Chapter 23: Don't Curse, Change Your Clothes!
Krune made his way out of the inner parts of the Katiu Forest. With his cultivation, what had taken him weeks before to arrive, now only took three days to go back. First, because there wasn't any demon beast on the way that could possibly be his match. And second, he knew the way back so he could simply go directly without any detours.
After arriving at the outer parts, Krune started to find demon beasts and wisp hunter groups now and then. He pondered if he should get rid of them on his way out, but after thinking for a while, he gave up the idea.
He is just one wisp. It doesn't matter how strong he has got, he can't possibly wipe out every single group. His life span will be long finished by the time eliminated half of them. There are way too many people! Not to mention, the majority of the cultivators aren't here to look for wisps but to train or hunt other beasts. It's just that if they find a wisp, they won't let it go. Still, they won't go out of their way just to capture them.
Of course, there were two times where Krune found groups of cultivators with captured wisps. This time, he didn't let go. He can't simply ignore his race when it is suffering right before his eyes. Krune wiped out the two groups. They didn't have a single Foundation Establishment cultivator, so it was quite easy. He might not like killing, but since they dared to touch his race, he won't show mercy.
The further out Krune went, the more groups he found on the way. Krune hasn't noticed yet, but every single group was looking at him with weird eyes. There is no helping in that, one guy with a rainbow hair running almost naked. If this is not a pervert, then what is it?
After another day, there was finally someone that stopped Krune in his journey. It was a couple who came here just to procure some demon beetles carapaces. Demon beetles aren't that strong to start with, so they had got quite a few already. Just when the man had called out Krune, the woman by his side tried to stop him. This rainbow hair guy is obviously a pervert, why is her husband calling him out?
Krune looked at him puzzled, but stopped anyway. It's extremely rare for someone to call him out, so he was on guard at the same time. The man then looked at Krune and couldn't help but ask.
"Sorry for stopping you, brother. If I'm not wrong, you aren't human, right?"
Krune simply nodded, he knows very well that although people can't tell which race he is from, it's very easy to see that he isn't really a human. Their aura is very different, after all.
"Would you mind to tell me if you have just acquired your human form?"
Krune pondered a bit, but after checking the couple's cultivation, he thought there was no danger.
"Indeed, I have just broken through a few days ago, so I got my human form at the same time."
The man nodded, and It was as he thought. His wife, by his side, didn't understand why he was even talking with this demon beast. Still, after learning that Krune isn't a real human, she kept quiet. No demon beast bellow the Foundation Establishment can possibly turn into their human form. So Krune's cultivation is bound to be much higher than theirs, he can squish them with a finger.
"As I thought. Brother, you might not know about this, but the way you look at the moment is too bad. Anyone out there will simply think about you as a pervert, so you should put on some clothes. If you are going to the city, the guards absolutely won't let you enter wearing just that."
It finally dawned to Krune that he forgot this critical point, all humans he has seen so far used clothes, there was no exception, but what about him? Now that he noticed, Krune also thought that he wasn't supposed to look like that. At first, he thought that as long as he had his human form, it would be okay. But it seems like humans put a lot of importance in their clothes, so Krune looked at the man and asked.
"I didn't know that, and I'm very grateful for your advice. If this cultivator here doesn't mind, would you tell me why exactly humans put so much importance on clothes? We demon beasts have never put them on while in our true form, it just gets in the way."
The man and woman were taken aback.
"Well, brother, we don't have fur, scales, or carapaces. If we don't wear clothes, we will feel cold in the winter, for example. Clothes could also be used as a means of defense."
Krune noticed that he had expressed himself wrongly, he already knows about what the guy said, but that wasn't what he was talking about.
"Oh, sorry. I should have elaborated on my question better. I know that clothes help to protect and can guard one against the weather. But what I wanted to ask is why someone without clothes is not accepted. In the city, for example, if it's not winter, you won't feel cold. With the protection in the city, there is no need to overthink about defense either, so why is it that humans use clothes regardless?"
This time the man was tongue-tied, is it because people will think that they are perverts if they don't use it? But such knowledge has no use for demon beasts to start with.
"Well, I guess that we will feel embarrassed if we do that, it has always been like that since we can remember."
Krune felt even more puzzled. He is part of the wisp race, an innately intelligent race to the boot, the word 'curiosity' can almost be considered their second name.
"Embarrassed? It's really a weird way to put it. The p*nis and the vag*na are part of the organs that ensure the continuation of your species. From my point of view, this is something you should be proud to show to the others, or at least not hide them on purpose, just like us demon beasts. Why is it that your race feels embarrassed to show them? Could it be that your race doesn't wish to continue existing?"
The man couldn't find an answer, the woman by his side was as red as tomato hearing this type of conversation, but she too couldn't find a solution either.
Are the humans proud of their reproductive organs? Well, if they were to choose an option, they would surely say yes. So why is it that they feel it is wrong to show them around? After pondering a bit, they just gave up thinking. If it continued like that, they might develop some weird habit of walking naked in the future.
"Well, brother, I can't give you a satisfactory answer. It simply has been like that ever since, so I don't know how it turned out like that. You just need to keep in mind that if you don't wear clothes, let alone someone putting importance to anything you say, you won't even be able to approach people to start with."
Although Krune was still puzzled, he could only accept the answer. Since this couple didn't know the reason, then there was no meaning in keeping asking. He was just curious, that's all. Krune then looked back at the man to ask.
"In that case, does this friend cultivator have a set of clothes he could part with? I'm willing to pay for it."
The man just laughed.
"No problem, no problem! No one will venture into the danger zones without a few sets of clothes in their spatial rings. It's common sense. There is no need for this brother to pay for it."
He then took out a set of clothes. If not because of his rainbow hair with colors changing all over, Krune would be considered to have a very ordinary appearance. Not handsome nor ugly, simply common, and that is also true for his height. Krune accepted the set of clothes, and there were even an underpants with it. What Krune was using so far was something he made with leaves, and it wasn't even attached to him either. He was simply using a little bit of spiritual energy to hold it together.
The couple was surprised to see that Krune started to change right there and then. He didn't try to hide anything, the woman immediately turned around with a scream, and the man gave a bitter smile. Krune thought that since he isn't inside the city, then there was no need to care about such things. The couple even noticed that not only the hair on Krune's head is rainbow-colored, even the hair down there around his little friend is rainbow too. The man just pretended he didn't see anything and advised Krune.
"Cough, cough. Brother, when you change clothes in the future, make sure not to do that in front of others unless you are with your wife. This is considered disrespectful between humans."
Krune felt puzzled.
"You humans have bizarre costumes, as long as your wife is with you, there is no problem in changing clothes in front of others. From my point of view, it makes no sense."
The man noticed that Krune misunderstood him, and he even sweated a little.
"Oh! When I say that you can change clothes when you are with your wife, I don't mean that you can do it everywhere. What I mean is that it is not wrong for your wife to see you doing that, but it will still be considered disrespectful if you do it in front of others even if your wife is beside you."
Krune finally understood.
"I see, thanks for the advice."
Krune then took out a hundred Rank one spirit stones of low quality and gave it to the man. Both the man and the woman were stunned, let alone one set of clothes, they would be able to buy thousands with this amount. Although spirit stones are considered the main currency for cultivators, people would usually use gold, silver, and copper to do transactions not related to cultivation. Ordinary clothes just so happen to be part of it. As you can imagine, spirit stones are worth several times more than gold even.
"Bother, this is too much, my set of clothes aren't worth even a thousandth of this amount."
The man was afraid that Krune will find out about the real value of his clothes and think that they tricked him. It would do no good to have a Foundation Establishment demon beast who has acquired his human form as an enemy.
But Krune simply brushed it back.
"This is not the payment for the clothes, but for the information. You even went out of your way just to advise me about that. This price is totally fair, so I won't be taking it back."
The more they talked with this demon beast, the more stunned they got. Since when are demon beasts so generous and polite like this? They aren't wrong, though. If it was any other demon beast, they wouldn't care the least bit about this couple, let alone pay them in spirit stones. The man was just trying to build a small relationship that might help him in the future. There is nothing wrong with having some ties with a Foundation Establishment after all.
"In that case, I'm going to accept it. By the way, brother. Why is your hair rainbow? It catches a lot of attention, you know?"
Krune felt gloomy at the comment.
"It's not that I want it to be like that, I had some troubles with my cultivation in the past, and it turned out like that. I'm also suffering here, you know?"
Seeing the helpless face that Krune was showing together with the reason he said, the woman couldn't help but laugh a little. Still, she felt alarmed right after, she was laughing in the face of a Foundation Establishment beast. It's not that she didn't know about that, it's just that after knowing that Krune wasn't really a pervert and with the warm air around him, she let down her guard. She immediately bowed and apologized.
"So- sorry, senior, I didn't mean to be disrespectful."
Krune didn't mind though, after being laughed at by Lakin and Ruik for several days, he already got numb to it, so he simply laughed back.
"Don't worry, I know very well how weird it looks like."
At first, the man just wanted to get some ties with the Foundation Establishment beast, but after knowing Krune better, he really felt that they could be friends.
"Brother, if that's the case, take this robe with you instead."
He took another robe from his spatial ring, the difference about this one is that it has a hood attached.
"Just put the hood up, and it should conceal your hair quite well. Although it will still be possible to see a little through the front, at least it won't catch much attention."
Krune got ecstatic, to think that there are such nice humans out there too. It seems like it's not only Feifei, after all. This time Krune remembered not to change clothes in front of them, and he moved behind a tree and replaced straight away. He then put his hood up, and sure enough, you would have to pay attention to notice the rainbow hair at the front. He couldn't help but nod in satisfaction. The man looked back at him and commented.
"Now it's much better, brother. Oh, right! Let me introduce myself and my wife, my name is Jolk, and this is Kala."
Krune was happy at the moment, so he complimented them enthusiastically. As someone who had seen the dark side of humans so many times, Krune already could more or less tell if someone is trying to bring him harm. This couple obviously wasn't trying to do him any ill.
"My name is Krune. Alright, you two. If you get in trouble in the future, come look for me. I'm going to Kaley City, I have to make an ID when I get there, so it shouldn't be hard for you to find about a rainbow-colored hair guy who registered there."
The couple told a few more things for Krune to pay attention to and said their goodbyes.
While Krune was moving away, he commented from a distance.
"You humans are really strange. To think that instead of cursing, you prefer to change clothes to show disrespect to your enemies, it's really weird."
The couple was alarmed!
The hell? When did we say that? That wasn't what we meant at all!
"Brother, wait! That wasn't wh-"
Too late, Krune was gone already.
Poor Krune, it seems like he isn't fated with the words 'low profile' as he wished.