All Night

"The Ming Family?" Chen Li's face instantly dropped. The eagerness in Chao's voice didn't serve to hype up Chen Li.

Her expression instantly turn fraught with worry as she said, "Uhm...wouldn't the Martial Tiger Academy be safer to accumulate your strength? Besides having to follow strict rules, they seem to give the most care to outsiders."

"The Ming Family does the same provided you have great strength. And most important of all, the greater your strength, the more freedom, and protection the Ming Family will give you. Compared to those Academies and Sects that always promote their so-called 'orthodox', the Ming Family is much more straightforward." Chao sounded very adamant about this decision.

But Chen Li didn't want to give up. She cared far too much about her reckless brother's safety. "But-but isn't it better to stay low and safe? At least until you can also gain enough strength to leave on your alone?"

"Oh, little girl." Chao affectionately caressed Chen Li's hair. "The Ming Family isn't only for my satisfaction but also for our overall safety. You should know that despite the Ming Family not being the top-tier organization of Creek City, they also have a reputation for being fiercely loyal to all of their strongest members. They put so much value on strength, so naturally, they will go out of their way to protect valuable members. Compared this to the amount of in-fighting that Academy, Sect, and other Martial Family have. They only seem orderly just to lure people like us in. It's not like I'm completely disregarding their benefits. But trust me, I can fully bloom in a more straightforward place like the Ming Family."

These were Chao's most honest feelings. Over the years of struggling as a poor class Mortal, he had sometimes witnessed those orthodox or up-right organizations acting around the city.

Whether or not they truly believed in their own sets of morals, it is clear to him that they have a tight system of control. From what he has seen, there is a great focus on the purity of one's bloodline, seniority, and strict protocols that obviously favor those with powerful backgrounds.

Chao had studied a lot about these organizations. And these top-tier powers only seemed glorious on the surface. But if one were to pay attention, they would realize the top-tier young geniuses and most powerful Elders all have huge backings. Sometimes, these backings are even connected to each other.

If he, the lowest of all cultivators, were to join a place like the Martial Tiger Academy, Chao would certainly receive better resources and protection.

However, it would not be long at all until he runs into absolute suppression because of his pitiful background.

Even if he were to repeatedly show off great skills, the possibility of simply getting killed off for being a threat to the system in check is sky-high.

Comparatively, this is where Chao believed the Ming Family shines.

He will have to kill numerous, dangerous, vicious beasts every day and even fight with other family powers within the dark wilderness. There wouldn't go a day where he wouldn't have to fight while under the Ming Family.

However, because of the straightforward yet brutal requirements, the Ming Family became a gathering of people with far more normal backgrounds.

Many of them barely go far and typically die within their first months. But their deaths could only be blamed on their lack of strength rather than other factors completely out of their control.

Chao clearly knows, and even Chen Li read about this before.

Thus, even if Chen Li was greatly worried about the Ming Family's far more brutal environment, she can tell there were great rewards within the high risk.

She could only relent and sighed. "At least promise me you will absolutely preserve your own life, Chao."

"Of course. It will be us against the world." Chao gently smiled. He then passed over the cosmo sack he stole and told Chen Li to eat up and decided what to do with the rest in the cosmos sack for tomorrow.

Chen Li wanted to object but held her words, knowing her brother's adamant can't be changed.

After settling his sister, Chao quickly entered his room. He promptly sat on his floor and assimilated into a meditative stance.

With his eyes closed, Chao's soul sense slowly expanded out.

All of Chao's focus concentrated on simply sensing the very air around him. He had no other thoughts, letting his soul sense perceive how the air flowed in a seemingly perfect pattern.

Within mere moments, Chao had already detected a change. His soul sense perceived a certain sensation. It felt highly mysterious as if he was attempting to peer into a heavy fog.

But there was one small section of the fog Chao could easily comprehend.

His Spiritual Sea perceived this sensation to be Origin Qi!

Chao felt his Spiritual Sea slightly shake when identifying the Origin Qi within the environment for the first time. His mind felt slightly sharper, feeling his intelligence and intuition increase.

In no time at all, Chao's Spiritual Sea comprehended Origin Qi.

With this understanding, he could grasp only a small portion of Origin Qi but can quickly absorb it into his body.

What seemed simple for him would have been an enormous task for even a Sect's young genius.

Ordinarily, a Spiritual Sea would have to build up perception accumulations until they are able to perceive the slightest portion of environmental Origin Qi.

Chao, however, could already perceive Origin Qi ever since his first kill. Not only because of the system's automatic process, but also because Chao's Spiritual Sea perception abilities majorly increased after reaching the Origin realm.

Chao felt completely at ease as he absorbs Origin Qi into his body, directing the flow into his dantian and slowly formulating his fourth Origin Qi strand.

After a half-hour to get the feel of energy cultivation, Chao then turned his attention toward Law cultivation. He took out his Asura Ice Art and sank his soul sense into the jade scroll.

The first stage of the Asura Ice Arts focuses on controlling Ice to an absolutely perfect degree. By perfecting his Ice essence control, Chao would be able to absorb more Ice Law essence and eventually go on to the next stage of the Art.

Absorbing Law essence was a very similar process to absorbing Origin Qi.

Chao had already comprehended a small sliver of Ice Law essence after reaching the Origin realm. It's why he has such good control over Ice essence flow just at the 1st layer. This understanding allowed him to control just a small portion of ordinary Ice Law essence and absorb it into his dantian.

The magical thing about the Asura Ice Arts was that it contained the different phases of Law essence Chao would need to comprehend in order to continue his cultivation.

Unlike others, he can simply perceive the 1st stage of the Asura Ice Arts to grasp an overall understanding of the Great Daos.

The ordinary cultivation phase includes the Origin realm, Sky Origin realm, Sage Origin realm, and Heavenly Origin realm.

In these realms, ordinary cultivators can only reach 40% of overall Great Dao comprehension. This 40% is officially known as the ordinary Law essence. It is the building blocks anyone has to go through in order to expand their Spiritual Sea, strengthen the body, and transform their dantian into something greater.

This is why Chao had such an immense advantage. With a single cultivation art, he can reach 40% of Great Dao comprehension!

Many others would need various cultivation arts as the Law essence engraved within them is limited and will eventually reach an impossible wall.

Even though they titled it ordinary Law essence, Chao certainly felt it wasn't the slightest bit ordinary.

Just a sliver of ordinary Asura Ice Law essence had already enhanced his Law Core and strengthened his dantian's space structure.

Most importantly of all, his dantian's space structure turned firmer with ordinary Law essence.

With a firmer dantian's space, the dantian will be able to withstand the pressure force from stronger Qi energy and Law essence. Furthermore, it also enhances his pre-existing Qi energy and the Law Core to another level.

Chao's cultivation went on until a few hours into the night.

He switched between Qi energy and Law essence gathering. Both process that, when stacked together, takes a lengthy amount of time.

In the first place, Chao needs to have a high enough Spiritual Sea perception in order to comprehend and grasp stronger Asura Ice Law essence. Only with this can his dantian's space strengthen and begin the process to absorb stronger Origin Qi.

Qi absorption process was just as long as he similarly needs comprehension to bring it into his dantian.

Before Chao knew it, daybreak was just around the corner. He slowly opened his eyes and let out a small sigh. "I'm not sure if I'm special or not, but my cultivation seems a little slow. I barely managed to form my 4th Origin strand after all these hours and I barely made progress on the Asura Ice Art. Probably only comprehended around 3% of the first level, which is only equal to 2% of overall Ordinary Law essence."

Shaking his head of all feelings of dejection, Chao focused on the bright future with a positive smile. "Still, as long as I can steadily advance my Law comprehension, my Spiritual Sea will be able to easily perceive the higher forms of Origin Qi. And once I reach the peak success of Asura Ice Laws 1st level, the Sky Sage realm will be insight!"