Taking the elevator down to the first floor of the underground plaza, Feng Qi followed the passageway and left the Crimson Research Institute's secret base.
With anticipation in his heart, he lifted his head to look toward the sky.
But the sun he was hoping for didn't show. Hanging high above was only a blood moon, casting a scarlet glow across the land.
Seeing this, a trace of regret rose in Feng Qi's heart.
Even though he had already known what would happen in the future, Mu Yan still wasn't able to defeat Mo, and in the end, the human world was conquered by the Domain World.
Which meant the cultivation system that humanity had painstakingly built over the last thousand years was likely mostly destroyed. Many systems probably couldn't adapt to this new world ruled under the blood moon.
[Stay calm. I already knew Mo would defeat the sun before you even walked out of the lab.]
"How did you know that?"
[Looks like the memory overlay's effects on you haven't worn off yet. Of course I saw it with my own eyes before you entered the Crimson Research Institute's secret base. Don't forget, when you first entered the future dream, you weren't here yet—it's just that the memory overlay made you forget how you traveled across mountains and rivers to get here.]
"Oh, right." Feng Qi suddenly understood.
With over a century's worth of memories stuffed into his brain, he had almost forgotten that he hadn't started the dream directly at the Crimson Research Institute.
His eyes scanned forward. Star City was still in ruins.
But compared to the previous timeline, the remnants of these time-worn buildings clearly revealed a once-thriving city. It wasn't as utterly destroyed as in the past timelines.
He stepped toward the west. His next destination was the Star City Shelter.
According to Wei Wei's descriptions, during the time when Star City and the Sword Clan were at war, the shelter project had already begun.
So if there were any survivors from the future, they'd most likely be found around the shelter.
As for why the shelter was built outside of Star City—well, that was simple.
Constructing a shelter needed a vast area of land. But every inch of land inside Star City had been used up based on his own urban planning. Within the city walls, there wasn't any suitable land left for a proper shelter.
And aside from surface land being insufficient, underground construction was also nearly impossible.
The underground of Star City was filled with small air-raid bunkers and a complete subterranean drainage network—much of the space was already utilized.
The Crimson Research Institute could have a secret underground base only because it had been planned out during the early stages of the city's development.
Trying to build a large-scale underground shelter in his era was completely unrealistic—it would've conflicted with countless existing projects.
So if one were to construct a large-scale disaster shelter, or even a full-blown shelter city, the best location was always outside the walls of Star City.
That's also why the shelter had always been situated at a distance from Star City.
Looking at it now, since the shelter project was activated, it was obvious Star City had faced some immense catastrophe or turmoil.
Whether that disaster was related to the Sword Clan—that was something he needed to find out at the shelter.
Walking along the crumbling streets heading west, Feng Qi could see that many buildings in Star City bore signs of damage from external forces. The road was littered with shattered structures and debris. Ahead to the left, a tall building had been cleaved in half, and from the clean cut, it was clear the building hadn't been violently destroyed but was instead sliced by some kind of razor-sharp weapon.
He turned his gaze to the right side of the street. Across the road, cracks covered the pavement, and in the center was a pit more than ten meters wide. Brightly colored domain plants had already begun growing inside it.
With all signs of human activity gone, this once-vibrant city was now completely overtaken by domain flora and domain beasts.
He walked for a while longer before climbing to the top of a tall building, where he could get a clear view to the west.
His pupils shrank as his line of sight zoomed in.
After carefully scanning the area, he didn't see any trace of Little Black.
Confirming that Little Black hadn't shown up yet, Feng Qi breathed a long sigh of relief.
If he kept walking west and happened to run into Little Black coming from that direction, that would've been suicide—walking straight into death's mouth.
[Unless you throw out Suction Cup and use her sacrifice to buy yourself some time to live.]
The narrator's sarcastic jab hit hard—but it wasn't wrong.
Feng Qi ignored the comment and leapt down from the tall building, landing hard on the broken road below.
The already-cracked pavement shattered on impact, rocks flying, the ground collapsing under his feet.
But he just bent his knees slightly—completely unharmed.
Now that he had returned to the main timeline, he could clearly feel the changes in his body—it was like being reborn. That sluggish, aging sensation was completely gone.
His vision was sharp again. His thoughts were quick. His movements were nimble. His reflexes were lightning-fast.
He could feel the tremendous power coursing through his body—his blood surged like tidal waves, filling him with life and vigor.
Thinking back to the end of this sacrifice timeline, even catching a cold would make him cough up blood. He couldn't move on his own anymore and had to rely on a wheelchair. And the constant negative emotions had even started giving him symptoms of early dementia.
Compared to that, returning to the main timeline felt like a full rebirth.
Everything felt brand new.
And nothing in the world could compare to this feeling.
[You know what this is? This is what we call swapping out a busted musket for a high-powered cannon. At the end of the sacrifice line, you were like a broken-down bicycle—chain popped off, pedaling like mad and still not moving. Now? You're sitting in a luxury car. No effort needed. Just tap the gas and you're flying. How could you not be happy?]
"What exactly are you then?"
[I'm obviously the driver. You're just the steering wheel.]
"Dumbass system."
[Stupid undead.]
Amid the familiar round of insults, Feng Qi continued heading west.
The changes he saw in Star City along the way stirred up waves of emotion in his heart.
He knew Star City very well. In the previous sacrifice timeline, he had been the shadow leader behind the scenes, heavily involved in its new urban planning and development.
That's why he was intimately familiar with the layout of the city.
As he walked along, the corresponding city map of Star City automatically appeared in his mind.
Even though the architecture had changed drastically since his death, many of the iconic building silhouettes could still be vaguely recognized, allowing him to match them with locations on the map in his memory.
After walking a bit further, he suddenly changed direction and turned north.
Based on his memory, there was a site nearby—the "Star City Human Luminary Cemetery."
Buried there were historic luminaries who had made major contributions to the development of human civilization. Wei Wei was highly likely to be buried there.
Though, there was also a possibility she was buried in the Heroes' Cemetery.
But the Heroes' Cemetery was much farther away from his current location and getting there would take a lot of time, which he didn't have to spare.
So he could only take his chances and use the limited time he had to look for her in the Human Luminary Cemetery.
Stepping into the cemetery, the marble pathways that had once been smooth and pristine were now covered in cracks, with domain plants stubbornly growing through them.
The lush greenery that had once been planted here had long withered—either from neglect or due to being overtaken by the Domain World.
Like the most prominent old pagoda tree in the center of the cemetery—its branches drooped weakly, and the trunk had been hollowed out by some unknown force. There was no longer any trace of life.
He kept walking deeper inside.
The tombstones were neatly arranged, extending backward in a terraced layout.
Finding Wei Wei's tombstone wouldn't be too difficult.
Each terrace level in the cemetery corresponded to a specific era. All he had to do was estimate the approximate time of her death and work his way up accordingly to narrow down the section where her tomb might be.
He followed the upward steps.
After some time, he came to a tombstone.
The tombstone was almost completely shattered from the passage of time. The engraved text had long faded, but the photo on it, likely made from some special material, still faintly showed the outline of Wei Wei's face.
Feng Qi knelt down on one knee before the tomb and placed a bouquet of wildflowers he had picked along the way at the base of the headstone.
If he was the hero of humanity in Star City, then Wei Wei was the hero in his heart.
This old woman had always quietly stood behind him. No matter the timeline, her efforts had never been less than his, and the burdens she carried were no lighter.
Even though she didn't suffer from memory overlays and the psychological torment of negative emotion stacking, she had still spent centuries in every timeline painstakingly developing new technologies and solving emerging problems.
The Rune-Modified Lobster, Spicy Lobster, mental soothing agent, Brain Activity Needle, the brain containment device, memory copy-editing technology—all these things.
Along the way, Wei Wei had solved one problem after another for him and invented countless new technologies.
Yet to the world, she remained unknown and uncelebrated.
She had no love, no family, had never truly experienced what it meant to enjoy life. She had devoted everything—her mind, body, and soul—to humanity and the future.
In his eyes, this old woman deserved to be written into the history books as a true historic luminary.
"Old woman, you've worked hard. We'll walk together again in the next timeline."
After a long moment of silent tribute, Feng Qi rose to his feet, made the Dawn hand gesture salute toward her tombstone, and turned to leave.
But just then, the narrator's voice echoed in his mind:
[That's it? You're not even gonna follow her last words and kneel at her grave with a couple of good loud thumps of your head and sob a few times? You're just tossing some random flowers you picked like it's nothing? Who are you half-assing here?]
Feng Qi: ...
His blood pressure began to rise.
He didn't bother responding and simply walked away.
On the road leading toward the Star City Shelter, he scanned his surroundings, on the lookout for any domain creatures.
If he did run into any, he wasn't planning to let them go.
Wei Wei's suggestion in the email wasn't without reason.
If it truly was impossible to stop Mo from defeating Mu Yan, then no matter how much the human cultivation system advanced over these thousand-plus years, it would eventually reach its decline.
Once the blood moon consumed the sun, the foundational rules of the human world would be massively disrupted.
This meant the painstakingly developed cultivation system would inevitably crumble, and its effectiveness would drastically weaken.
So how could he overcome that limitation? Wei Wei had already laid out two potential paths.
First, grow strong enough to stand against Mo and the many powerful races he had cultivated—helping Mu Yan win the final battle.
As long as Mu Yan didn't lose, the cultivation system wouldn't collapse.
But this path was incredibly difficult. To reach the level needed to fight all those powerhouse clans wasn't something he could achieve with the sacrifice line version of himself.
After all, the sacrifice line could only borrow abilities from the main timeline. His overall strength was still limited by his own physical condition.
Second, build a skill library.
Going forward, the people of Star City would walk the path of faith-based growth, with everyone becoming his followers.
Not only would this give him a constant source of faith power, it would also ensure that humanity's development wouldn't be hindered even after the blood moon devoured the world.
After all, his innate abilities came from domain creatures. They weren't affected by the blood moon's rules.
But walking this path meant two major problems had to be solved first.
The first issue—how to obtain a large amount of special blood from the main timeline to forge faith statues scattered throughout Star City.
Faith statues were the only way for followers to establish a belief connection with him.
The second issue—he needed to own a massive talent skill library for believers to choose from.
With only a few dozen talents right now, it was clearly far from enough.
In Wei Wei's plan, he would need at least several thousand talents just to get the faith growth system up and running.
And those talents had to be broad in type.
There had to be spiritual ones, physical enhancement, memory boosting, long-range spellcasting, close-combat techniques… and more advanced ones too, like spatial teleportation, poison immunity, and so on.
It would essentially turn his talent framework into a kind of skill library—a selection hall for his believers.
Whatever talent a follower needed, they could just borrow it after becoming a believer.
The only thing the believers had to do was work on increasing their compatibility with the talent they borrowed.
As long as the talent library covered enough types and fields, it could support human progress in all areas of research and development.
Of course, this growth route wasn't without flaws.
Borrowed talents were still affected by the user's physical limits. If someone's body was weak, the talent's effect would have a ceiling.
Just like his sacrifice line—no matter how strong his Blood Source form was, there was still a hard limit, far below what the main timeline could reach.
One solution to that was to keep feeding the talents—raising their upper limits.
But feeding thousands of talents at once, or even tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands… for him alone, that would be an insane burden.
It'd be like him being the only one feeding all of humanity.
So compared to developing a self-reliant cultivation system, this growth route would be stronger in the early stages but could feel weak later on.
According to Wei Wei's vision, the best path would be a hybrid.
Humans should still have their own cultivation system to gradually enhance their bodies. At the same time, through faith, they could borrow talents, and with their improved bodies, bring out even more of the talent's potential.
Just as Feng Qi was imagining humanity's future development route, the narrator's voice chimed in:
[Great. We've locked in the direction for humanity's future. Now we just need a few hundred thousand domain creatures to wander into your trap, nice and easy.]
Hearing the sarcasm, Feng Qi couldn't help but roll his eyes.
He made up his mind then and there. Unless the talent he obtained was absurdly weak and useless, he'd stop breaking them down.
After all, this dream of a "faith skill library" was going to need a lot of talents to fill.
As he continued walking toward the shelter, a sudden thought struck Feng Qi. He spoke curiously:
"So, Narrator… do you think you might be a Pillar God?"
[A Pillar God? I've got cavities, too. You really think I'm some sealed divine power hiding in your body, waiting for you to awaken me and inherit my legacy or something?]
"Wait... you're not?"
[Okay fine… to be honest, I don't even know what I am. I could be the ultimate villain, biding my time inside you, waiting to recover my memories and then kill you. Or maybe I really am a remnant will of some Pillar God, keeping just enough instinct to raise you into a replacement to finish what I couldn't. Or maybe I'm your long-lost father.]
Feng Qi: …
He mentally flipped the narrator off.
About his missing parents, he had once wondered if they might've gone to Path of Ascension.
He never got the chance to ask Mu Yan about it.
But with the info he had now, it was clear—his parents couldn't have gone to Path of Ascension.
After all, during the years before he turned seventeen, Mu Yan was still trapped on the ruins island. There was no way she could've returned to the human world to send them there.
Even if a part of him still hoped, he knew the odds were high that his parents had died inside a domain field.
So the chances of the narrator being a family member were basically zero.
The narrator's true identity was even more mysterious than Little Black.
At least with Little Black, there were clues. And the more pieces he collected, the closer he got to the truth.
But the narrator was different. Its origins were still a total blank.
There wasn't a single clue to suggest what kind of existence it actually was.
And it was very likely his unique constitution was tied to the narrator somehow.
Maybe the narrator really was a fragment of a Pillar God's power, and his case was just a rare one—one where the awakening didn't need Mu Yan's help but happened accidentally, triggering a hidden talent.
That could explain why he was different from everyone else.
Maybe even his ability to travel through time was a rule-type power the narrator once mastered when it was still a Pillar God.
[Stop overthinking it. If I really am a Pillar God, then take me to that ruins island someday. Maybe I'll remember how awesome I used to be.]
"Or maybe you're just some system a Pillar God created. Like a miracle item—just a tool in essence."
Just as Feng Qi expected, the narrator instantly flew into a rage at those words.
Amid the usual bickering, Feng Qi arrived at Star City's western district.
Just then, he suddenly sensed a wave of killing intent rushing in.
Following the aura's direction, he turned to look toward the front right. His vision zoomed in rapidly—and within the ruins of a crumbling building, a domain creature stood.
Its body was extremely unbalanced. Its lower half was short and stubby, but its upper body was absurdly thick and powerful. Especially those two arms—when hanging down naturally, they almost touched the ground. They looked like two massive blood-red battle axes, with dried blood stains left behind by other domain creatures still crusted around the knuckles.
At this moment, the domain creature was staring him down with feral eyes, muscles tightening, ready to strike.
In a split second, Feng Qi's physical form dispersed into dense blood mist, flowing toward the center of his forehead, where it condensed into a dark golden brand.
With a wave of his hand, a surge of psychic force erupted from his body, enveloping the domain creature entirely.
The creature immediately began thrashing wildly, trying to resist the psychic power—but under Feng Qi's strength, such resistance was completely futile.
Under the invisible pressure, the domain creature's body began to collapse inward. Its bones creaked loudly as its frame shrank smaller and smaller.
In less than ten seconds, the creature was compressed into a pulsing ball of flesh and blood by Feng Qi's telekinesis.
A moment later, a cloud of blood mist rose from the creature's crushed form and was drawn straight into Feng Qi's body.
After absorbing the blood energy, Feng Qi summoned his attribute panel.
[Iron Arm (Passive-Type Special Ability)]
Talent Tier: Track 13
Talent Description: Increases durability and striking power of both arms. Effect depends on user's physical condition.
…
This talent wasn't particularly powerful, but at least it was a passive one.
Feng Qi believed firmly—if he stacked enough passive talents, even his basic punches could slay gods.
After that little encounter, he continued on his way toward the Star City Shelter.
Every domain creature he encountered on the way, he killed without hesitation—each one added to his future "Faith Skill Library."
From time to time, he also climbed to the top of tall buildings, scanning the west to see if Little Black had appeared.
The timing of Little Black's arrival always changed depending on shifts in the timeline. He couldn't be sure when it would show up.
And sure enough, just as he was about to leave the western district of Star City and reach the old Bone Burying Grounds, Little Black appeared.
Even though he felt helpless inside, Feng Qi knew he had to make a choice.
Wei Wei had created Suction Cup, and its mission was clear—to buy him more time to act in the future world.
But the thought of Suction Cup dying again still made his heart ache.
As Little Black approached, Feng Qi tossed out Suction Cup.
Suction Cup responded instantly—baring its teeth at Little Black, and without hesitation, it launched into close-quarters combat.
At this point in time, Little Black wasn't that strong. It was clearly at a disadvantage in the fight.
Black spots on its body were knocked off by Suction Cup's attacks, landing on the ground with electric sparks dancing across them. But soon, they would light up again and return to its body.
After facing it across so many timelines, Feng Qi understood Little Black's strength very well.
Its power seemed to be sealed, unlocking progressively depending on the strength of its opponents. The stronger its enemy, the more it unleashed.
Even without entering the third form that the narrator had detected, Little Black was already ridiculously strong—almost unbeatable.
Even Suction Cup, giving everything it had, still couldn't handle the ever-strengthening Little Black.
While Suction Cup kept it busy, Feng Qi didn't stay. He used telekinesis to lift himself and flew swiftly in the direction of the Star City Shelter.
Without Old Mist harvesting countless weak tribes, the Bone Burying Grounds wasn't desolate. It wasn't overrun by the living dead either.
Instead, thick domain plants grew everywhere, and he could spot domain creatures weaving through them now and then.
After several hours of flight, Feng Qi was searching for the Shelter's location from memory.
Eventually, a city came into view.
It covered a huge area, with walls built from ice crystal that sparkled blue under the blood moon's glow.
Thinking of that little one's special ability, he couldn't help but feel a flicker of anticipation.
A short distance from the crystal city, Feng Qi landed early. The crystal at his forehead shattered, dispersing into blood energy that wrapped around his bones.
Flesh reformed.
Once his body was restructured, he immediately stepped forward toward the distant crystal city.
As he approached, he saw a blood-red Dawn banner hanging from the city wall—confirming that this was a human-occupied stronghold.
It proved one thing—this timeline's efforts hadn't been in vain. Humanity had survived all the way to this day, fifteen hundred years later.
Among this survival were the tireless efforts of Star City's people, and no doubt Old Mist's silent support.
Reaching the outer wall, before he could make a move, he saw three figures leap down from the top, charging straight toward him.
Seeing human shapes, Feng Qi quickly called out:
"Don't attack, I'm one of you!"
The leading figure stopped about ten meters away, eyes cold beneath the helmet, staring straight into his.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"My name is Feng Qi, from fifteen hundred years ago."
Hearing that, all three showed expressions of surprise. Their gazes sharpened as they scanned his face carefully.
"Take him down!"
Just when Feng Qi thought he'd be welcomed warmly into the human city, the lead soldier barked a command, and all three charged straight at him.
[Hahahaha, trying to show off again, huh? Looks like saying you're Feng Qi doesn't work like it used to.]