Another Step

The man sighed and tried to placate the simmering woman. "Just calm it down. He's still very young and lacks the experience that he'll gain soon."

His words, however, only served to further irritate the woman.

"Oh, soon, huh? That's why he's so foolish now, damn it! Where is that damn brat?!"

The woman angrily stamped her feet, her frustration causing a sliver of Origin Qi to smash the ground and carve out 3 feet hole beneath the soles of her shoe.

"He knows he has a very strict time to be out here and come home. He knows his importance to the Tribe, so where the hell is he?!"

Suddenly, the woman paused. A look of increasing horror slowly took her face. "Jin...you don't that he..."

"Will you relax already, Yi? We both know that Mie isn't that foolish to go into the mist." The man tiredly sighed.

Rubbing his temples, he continues to say, "Not even us Mastered Origin experts can last 5 seconds within that mist. Of course, someone with Mie's cultivation would get wiped off in an instant. He's clearly aware of this."

"Yea, ok." The woman huffed up. "But still, if he's not high, then where? Mie has a few good talismans on himself to get out of dangerous situations, so I very much doubt one of these wild beasts can actually threaten him. The only other option is some other group ran into him. But Mie has genius prowess! Rarely can any other 4th layer Origin expert come even close to beating him. That's certainly far above the level of those in that damn city."

"If only we had a way to track his life aura as those first-rate cities have. Haah...alas, we have to rely on primitive methods like this." The Luo Tribe man shook his head in disappointment.

An unsure silence permeated between the pair a moment later. Neither really knew how to proceed.

The person they're searching for simply couldn't be forgotten or treated lightly. They may have superior base cultivation, but Luo Mie's talent is far superior to them combined!

Not just the Luo Tribe, but any organization or Martial Family would make the necessary sacrifice in order to nurture a genius.

But if a future hopeful genius is dead, it would be quite the loss to that organization.

Thus, the Luo Tribe man and woman were determined to pick up on a faint trail before scurrying home.

It wasn't until a few seconds of silence passed that the man finally stumbled upon an idea.

He scratched his chin as he slowly uttered, "What if...what if we just camp out over here? Perhaps some sort of struggle occurred and Mie really was implicit, without any background knowledge. Besides this place, Mie has no other option if we want to explore around. Furthermore, getting to this part of the wilderness requires anyone to go on this long and twisting path. This isn't an area anyone could just randomly stumbled upon."

Within only a second of listening in, the woman greatly perked up. A new flame lit her eyes. "I see...hey, yea, that could be a great idea! I mean, I see it's the only other option we have. Well then, let's get comfortable here. Might as well see if we can broaden our Spiritual Sea with this mist."

The pair nodded while quickly shuffling to a decent hiding spot.

They may be high-level experts, yet neither held any shame over doing such a stakeout.

All of their hopes rested on Luo Mie being alive.

...

A few days passed quickly.

It was near early morning in Creek City.

This was the time when even some cultivators take a slow start to the morning. Most cultivators would be in the Origin realm, thus sleep would still be required for them. Not everyone was like a freak like Chao, who could stay up nearly all night with minimal sleep.

At this time, within the Ming Family's captain's quarters, Captain Lee was already up and atoms within his office. He diligently got ready for another long day ahead, not really expecting anything too different.

However, within only a few minutes he got behind his deck, a sudden visitor came to his door.

When sensing this person's aura, shock filled Captain Lee's face. His door swung open and in came walking the strong-looking Commander Ju.

"Commander Ju, sir." Captain Lee promptly stood up with a respectful salute.

Commander Jun nodded with a simple wave of his hand. "At ease. I'll keep this meeting short, as you can probably fathom why I'm here."

Sitting back in his chair, Captain Lee's expression gradually turned solemn. He leaned on his desk, sighing lightly from stress.

"I can tell. It's about Chao's recent actions days ago. If this was a normal ambush, while we wouldn't be able to do too much, at least we would have been able to demand 'compensation' from the Tians. But now...with all those squadron members dead, the Tian will feel threatened and grow aggressive."

"Mn. That's most likely the case. I'm not sure to what extent will they follow through with their revenge, but it will certainly be more dangerous than the last one. And you say that Chao had requested to be a one-man team?"

Captain Lee rubbed his temples. His expression was slightly helpless. "That young man is an ambitious one. I can tell from the way he carried himself and the look in his eyes. Even on his patrol squad, he outperformed everyone else and acted all on his own. Nobody could even reprimand him because of his high strength. If there is a possibility of an ambush, we should certainly warn Chao."

At this point, Commander Ju suddenly smiled. His arms cross in a confident gesture as he said, "There's no need for that. Don't forget, we are a family that wants the absolute best from our members. Even as he is now, Chao is still too young, too much of a greenhorn, and unpolished. He needs to accumulate experience to enhance his potential. Geniuses like him tend to perform the very best under this method. Furthermore, if he can have another dominating performance with this ambush, it would be safe to broadcast his previous battle. I can't say much now, but the higher-ups are genuinely working towards heightening Chao's potential."

"So it's true!" Captain Lee's eyes glowed with light. "Even the generals and high Elders are paying attention! Commander Ju, do you think they want to prep Chao to raise our family status in the future?"

Commander Ju honestly thought it over. Such words sound very pleasing to the ears. But actually putting in action is a very complicated process.

A moment later, he slowly said, "That, I'm not sure of. Don't forget, Spirit Tier genius is very special, but not completely rare. The big Three certainly have a handful of Spirit Tier genius. For Chao to rise above them all would be a tremendous challenge. But even then, his future is still bright. For now, we simply have to wait for any further instructions."

With his piece said, Commander Ju promptly left the room.

Captain Lee took a moment to relax in his chair. His mind felt slightly confused and, for some reason or another, he couldn't get rid of this strange feeling within the pits of his guts.

...

Inside Chao's house, Chao sat in his room, completely still in a meditative state.

A potent Origin Aura slowly exuded out of his pores. It swirled all around the room, creating a stuffing atmosphere.

Any mortal would feel their chest tighten from just being around Chao.

Great changes were occurring within Chao's body and Spiritual Sea. His dantian completely transformed from days ago.

Now, it finally has 200 Origin Qi strands!

When the 200th Origin Qi took on a full form, Chao's soul energy rushed into his Spiritual Sea. A crack formed within seconds.

Chao's soul energy poured into the crack, overloading it until it burst completely open!

With a loud bang, the floor beneath Chao gained one large crack split. Origin Qi from the environment and Asura Ice Law essence from the jade scroll crazily poured into Chao's body.

An exuberant sensation of power coursed through Chao. The feelings were incomparably refreshing.

But without getting drunk with power, Chao used his soul energy to smoothly control the breakthrough phenomenon, fusing all energies completely into every inch of his internal body.

Ten minutes later, a huge wave of Origin Aura discharged from Chao's body. This time, the potent airwaves had even sliced the walls and floors, leaving 3 feet-deep cracks in several places.

Before the destruction got too wild, Chao receded his Origin Aura.

Everything returned into a serene silence within an instant.

Chao didn't experience a single amount of resistance in controlling his Origin Aura. A moment later, his eyes flung open like a blossoming flower.

Within his pupils, one would even be able to spot a faint glow of blue light.

Although, the blue light left as soon as it came.

In this moment, a broad smile split across Chao's face. He had finally reached the 3rd layer of the Origin realm!