Hae-hyuk playfully asked her: "What are you going to do, Isla?"

Isla stated: "You already know what I plan to do"

Hae-Hyuk asked back: "Can you afford it? Sofia has been searching for him for a while...And her goal is not the same as yours"

Isla snickered and said: "She is still too naive. Bringing this kid back into our ranks is far too dangerous. He is a threat as an ally and a danger to her future if left alone"

Hae-Hyuk laughed as he teased her: "You really are one doting mother"

Isla smiled at him. She did love this man. If only he was not so focused on leaving this world for the higher ones... Anyways, she had a duty as a mother. She needed to protect her daughter's future with all she had.

Even though Sofia wanted to bring Jin back as a brother and ally, she could not allow it. The twin towers were only being given a century of safety thanks to Hae-Hyuk picking this location as his territory. If they kept Jin here after that time, would the other powers remain at bay? At the very least, Cao Lei would make a move.

That aside, it was difficult to predict who would be able to get to Jin first as well. If it was someone else, there was no way the kid could protect any of his secrets. She could not let the eye technique secret spread.

She asked Hae-Hyuk: "Where is he?"

Hae-Hyuk sipped some tea and told her: "It was not a tracking seal"

She snickered and asked again: "As if you don't have an idea. Spit it out"

Hae-Hyuk smiled and stated: "The Cartel is hiding him and leading people on a goose chase. As for where they hid him...I don't know!"

She nodded. Everyone knew that the Cartel found him and decided to conceal his whereabouts. They were all chasing the one misleading them in order to have proof of the Cartel's misconduct and force them to come clean. Unfortunately, it was not easy. The one running was an expert. And the Cartel's intel was the basis of this chase. They could easily help the runner run further.

This chase was at a stalemate for now.

So, where was he?

She could guess it. He was hiding in one of the lower continents. After all, for the Cartel to get him first, he probably tried to cross the Oceans.

But the lower continents were vast and actually very dangerous to the top cultivators. After all, the limits on power there were tough. If she wanted to find him over there, she needed to send people under the 30th stage yet close to it enough that they would be a force to be reckoned with. However, who would want to go there? Specially to conduct a mission that could continue for years... It was akin to giving up on their future. Nearly no one would volunteer. And even if she sent some people, would they give it their all?

She had been thinking about it for a while.

At first, she did not plan to send anyone as she had yet to confirm whether the kid was alive or not. Now that Hae-Hyuk confirmed it, she needed to hunt him down. For her daughter's future.

Since the Cartel found him then she would send people there first. Obviously, there was no way she could interrogate or confront the Cartel. However, the kid must have used a boat to cross over. There would definitely be traces left to uncover on that side.

She got up and went straight to work.

She decided to send the few strongest people she had available. This was something of the highest priority.

...

Meanwhile, at the Cartel, the top brass was chilling at the top as usual.

Their boss was reading a report about Jin's actions and chuckling as he wondered what the kid was trying to do. Did he think that if he grew some warriors, he would be able to escape his grasp? How laughable!

Still, there was a need to keep it all under watch.

He wrote a few sentences and sent the orders for the many spies to remain vigilant.

...

Jin wasted no time. As soon as he woke up, he told everyone that he would enter seclusion in order to try a breakthrough.

This news did not shock anyone. The man was wealthy and at the top of the ninth stage. It should not have been too hard for him to procure himself an elemental treasure. Many people were in fact surprised that it took him so long to act.

While he did order his shops to start stocking on the elemental treasures and buy them if they encountered them, it was not for him. He had his own elemental treasure prepared already.

He actually did so in preparation for the future. He was smart enough to understand that he would need to make use of people to escape and providing them benefits was the way to go... He had yet to decide on how to exactly proceed with that but he knew that it did not hurt to start accumulation.

He walked to a side mansion that had been emptied and sealed the doors shut behind him.

He secluded himself straight within the secret second basement and took out the item that should enable him to grow for the first time in years. A weird eyeball whose pupils seemed to be frozen in fear.

Right, fear.

Even as he kept acquiring all kinds of elemental treasures, some containing two or more elements, he decided to stay with this one. He was strangely attracted to it. And he believed in his intuition.

This was the path that would be the best for him.

He sat cross-legged and placed the eyeball in front of him. Then, he began to absorb it, directing the energy towards his core.

Both energies began to collide.