The research reports were quickly delivered to Zhang Lie. He scrolled through their findings and quickly discovered the problem—as he had suspected, they had gone in the wrong direction.

What the scientists were focused on was trying to analyze the differences between their races and the human race, rather than why the procedure developed for humans wouldn't likewise work for their race.

While the former question might ultimately provide an answer to the latter, that analysis would be significantly more time-consuming, and potentially with many more red herrings besides.

"What you've done so far doesn't get at the fundamental issue in play. Use the markers that you've identified to examine just what happened to the genes of my two apprentices when they underwent the foundational breakthrough. That should lead you to the crux of the issue," Zhang Lie suggested.

"The mutability of the resulting genes... I understand, I understand! Thank you so much, Dojo Leader!" Ye Hualin murmured to himself, then exclaimed in shock.

Indeed, figuring out the difference at this juncture would be a direct first step in modifying the foundational breakthrough for the alien races. Their original research direction had been too general to lead to success within a short timeframe, but Zhang Lie's proposal seemed far less daunting.

Ye Hualin was certain that he had the data to proceed as Zhang Lie suggested, and his two apprentices wouldn't be necessary any longer. He happily bade them farewell.

Zhang Lie walked off with the two youths trailing behind them. They lowered their heads, still somewhat worried that their deception would make Zhang Lie think poorly of them.

Eventually, Zhang Lie turned back around. "Alright, that's enough of that! Let me repeat myself: I understand why you felt like your deception was necessary, and I won't treat you differently because of it, but you should remember that, above all else, you're disciples of the Zenith Dojo, as well as my apprentices! Do you understand?"

"Yes, Master, I understand!"

"Yes, Master!" the two youths shouted. 

Following that, Zhang Lie beckoned them forward into the dojo with a smile.

With his apprentices retrieved, he had finished all the tasks he was hoping to achieve on Earth, and all that remained would be to wait for the members of Team Zenith to ascend.

In the first realm of the dimensional world, within the Valley of the Wind, a burst of arrows struck down a gigantic ox.

"Wonderful, Sis! That's the last beast we need to max out our superior limit fragments—I can't believe it's been so hard to find superior-grade lifeforms lately!" Sun Xiaowu called out.

Sun Mengmeng dematerialized her bow, then sighed. "Right—no wonder the captain mentioned that the appearance of the disaster-grade lifeform would cause irreparable destruction in the first realm. The number of superior-grade lifeforms in the vicinity seems to have dropped sharply. I wonder if Fang Yi and Yang Ze have noticed a similar decrease?"

Sun Xiaowu nodded. "Who knows? They might have gotten luckier than we did—they might already be back at the Stargleam settlement!"

"In that case, what are we doing here? Pack up—we'd better head back now!"

The members of Team Zenith had a suite at the Stargleam Inn in the Stargleam settlement. 

Fang Yi, Li Feng, Yang Ze, and Zhou Ying were already present, and they were eating to the accompaniment of pleasant chiming notifications about gaining more superior limit fragments. If not for the fact that they were waiting for Sun Mengmeng and Sun Xiaowu's return, they would already have finished the feast, but Zhang Lie had recommended that they ascend together so as to be able to resist the will of the world.

"What's going on? Where's Sun Mengmeng and Sun Xiaowu? Could something have gone wrong?"

"Surely there's nothing that can trouble them with their level of strength? Maybe they're just having a hard time finding prey, like we did," Fang Yi wondered.

Almost immediately afterward, the lock to the room clicked, and the Sun siblings walked into the suite.

Glancing at the feast arrayed before them, Sun Mengmeng sighed. "You all finished your hunt so quickly! Were you complaining about me and Sun Xiaowu being too slow?"

The other four hunters nodded.

"Honestly, it felt as though all the superior-grade lifeforms had gone extinct where we went," Sun Xiaowu murmured.

The others had experienced something similar, but far less extreme.

"It's not a problem. Do you need any help preparing the carcasses you brought back? There's a difficult task ahead of us all, after all," Fang Yi replied. He seemed simultaneously excited and nervous about the challenge, something he wouldn't even have dreamt of doing without Zhang Lie's advice.

Sun Mengmeng and Sun Xiaowu shook their heads as they entered the kitchen. By Fang Yi's side, Li Feng asked, "Fang Yi, how can you be so excited to face the will of the world? To be honest, I'm really quite nervous about whether or not we'll succeed without our captain's assistance."

Fang Yi smiled. "We have to grow stronger to keep up with our captain, don't we? We can't rely on him for everything; we have to become strong in our own right so that we're qualified to follow in his footsteps."