Boom!
A thunderous explosion shook the battlefield, sending shattered rocks flying in all directions.
The ten-meter-tall stone giant staggered backward under Feng Qi's full-force strike. Its massive form tilted before collapsing heavily onto the ground.
Feng Qi landed steadily, muscles tensed, breathing controlled.
The Blood Source ability remained his most practical talent at this stage, though its only drawback was the time limitation—roughly ten minutes per activation.
With time still left, he launched forward again, closing the distance to the fallen stone giant.
Dark green flames surged from his clenched fists, and the Purple Soul markings on his body flickered as if alive, flowing across his skin like writhing serpents, emitting a haunting violet glow.
The stone giant attempted to push itself upright, but Feng Qi's second punch came crashing down without hesitation.
This time, the blow landed directly on its skull—a strike like a mountain-splitting axe, hammering the giant's head to the side and dragging its massive body three meters across the battlefield, crashing it into a pile of debris.
The impact site on its stone skull turned blackened and charred, faint embers of dark green fire still dancing along the cracks.
The stone giant opened its mouth, letting out a deep, thunderous roar that reverberated through the ruins.
But Feng Qi gave it no chance to stand.
Closing in swiftly, he grabbed onto its left arm.
"Roar!"
His eyes blazed with dark green flames, the power of his bloodline surging through his body.
His veins bulged, forming thick, snaking lines from his forearm down to his fingertips. His muscles coiled like steel cables, brimming with terrifying strength.
Then, in one brutal motion—
He hoisted the ten-meter-tall stone giant into the air and, with a textbook-perfect over-the-shoulder throw, slammed it down toward a massive Death Worm that had just emerged from the wreckage.
BOOM!
The stone giant's colossal form crashed down, burying the Death Worm beneath its weight.
The surrounding ruins trembled, buildings already on the verge of collapse disintegrating into dust, sending up billowing clouds of thick, swirling smoke.
A blood-red figure emerged from the haze, cutting through the dust-laden air.
Feng Qi didn't hesitate.
With a single motion, he lifted the stone giant once again.
One brutal slam after another, the giant was beaten into submission, its massive size and strength proving meaningless before sheer overwhelming force.
Under Feng Qi's relentless assault, the stone giant's left arm shattered first, followed by its right leg—then the rest of its limbs crumbled into rubble, leaving only its head intact.
The moment he smashed its skull, shattering the crystalline core inside, a golden mist erupted from the fragments, flowing into his body.
Panting slightly, Feng Qi took a moment to scan his surroundings.
All around him, countless domain creatures watched his battle.
None dared to approach.
Confirming that there was no immediate danger, he summoned his status panel.
Two new abilities had appeared.
[Earth Element Resistance (Passive)]
Ability Rank: Tier 2 (Upgradeable)
Resistance Value: 13
Effect: Provides resistance to earth-element attacks, reducing or nullifying damage based on the resistance value. Higher values grant stronger immunity.
[Shadow Strike (Active)]
Ability Rank: Tier 3 (Non-upgradable)
Effect: Consumes vital energy to activate a five-second burst of enhanced speed. The amount of energy consumed determines the magnitude of speed boost.
The Earth Element Resistance was gained from slaying the stone giant, while Shadow Strike came from the alien domain creatures he had previously killed.
Though Shadow Strike had a higher ability ranking, Feng Qi preferred Earth Element Resistance.
Shadow Strike's burst movement ability seemed decent, but its short five-second duration made it situational at best. Worse, it drained his life energy—something he couldn't afford to waste.
After all, he already had Blood Source, which granted a comprehensive power boost.
If he activated Shadow Strike while in Blood Source mode, it would only drain his energy faster, reducing his overall transformation time.
With a brief assessment, he made his decision.
His consciousness sank into his Spiritual Sea.
Golden waves churned, and twenty-plus talent spheres revolved around a central golden-red orb, floating in midair.
One sphere glowed black—it represented Shadow Strike.
He reached out and plucked it from the cluster.
"Three-Tails!"
At his command, a shadowy three-tailed fox spirit emerged from the Evolution Token hovering over the golden-red orb.
Without hesitation, he tossed the black talent sphere to Three-Tails, and exited his spiritual space.
Useless skills were better off converted into talent points—waste should never be left to pile up.
Back to reality.
Feng Qi turned his gaze toward the ruins of Star City Shelter.
His memory of this place was still fragmented.
Even though he had fought his way here in the future dreamscape, he couldn't recall what exactly lay ahead.
Just as he was lost in thought—
"Chirp!"
Three-Tails's excited cry rang out.
The spirit fox, still in its ethereal form, leaped out of his chest, bouncing on the ground with uncontainable energy.
"Shut up."
Three-Tails immediately drooped its ears, looking dejected.
But in its eyes, a faint hint of mockery still lingered.
Even so, it obediently returned to Feng Qi's body.
Ignoring the fox's antics, Feng Qi refocused.
Blood Source was still active, and he needed to maximize its duration.
Without wasting time, he charged toward the Death Worm.
Unlike the ones he had encountered in the future dreamscape, this Death Worm was three times larger.
Its gaping maw was like a living grinder, lined with rows of razor-sharp teeth, spinning like a meat-shredding turbine.
Still partially buried from when the stone giant had crashed into it, the Death Worm twisted violently, kicking up clouds of dust.
Feng Qi closed in swiftly.
Sensing the threat, the Death Worm suddenly lunged, its enormous jaws snapping toward him.
But Feng Qi didn't dodge.
Instead, he thrust his massive arm directly into its spinning maw.
However, such damage was meaningless to Feng Qi.
In Blood Source form, his flesh was harder than steel, and after advancing this ability using talent points, his overall durability had skyrocketed.
Dark green flames surged into the Death Worm's body, and its flesh became fuel for the demonic fire.
Within seconds, the Death Worm was engulfed in a blazing inferno.
As the flames roared, its moist tissues evaporated rapidly, leaving blackened patches spreading across its thick hide.
With a flick of his wrist, Feng Qi flung the Death Worm aside.
He didn't bother to finish it off—instead, he turned away, striding toward Star City Shelter without looking back.
Behind him, the flames crackled, the Death Worm convulsing violently before finally falling silent.
A cloud of blood mist rose from the worm's corpse and drifted toward Feng Qi, merging into his body.
He summoned his status panel and saw that his Resilience had advanced to Level 9, granting him a 9% boost to physical endurance.
Without hesitation, he picked up his pace.
His figure transformed into a streak of blood-red light, leaving deep footprints etched into the cracked ground as he raced toward Star City Shelter.
The anger and frustration boiling inside him had yet to be fully unleashed.
Throwing his head back, he let out a thunderous roar.
"ROAR!"
The shockwave of his voice rumbled like a thunderclap, sending waves of domain creatures scattering from his path in fear.
The ones too slow to react were instantly reduced to blood mist, absorbed into his body.
By the time he reached the outskirts of the shelter, his talent panel displayed three new abilities.
But after checking them, he realized that all three were active abilities, and honestly, pretty useless to him.
Luckily, he had Three-Tails.
Even mediocre talents could be converted into talent points, so he wasn't worried about waste.
As he continued forward, a critical thought crossed his mind.
With his current strength, confronting the domain alliance occupying Star City Shelter would be extremely difficult.
Even worse, Little Cripple would likely be there.
In the previous timeline, Little Cripple had died immediately upon descending because of the Mist Lord.
But now that the Mist Lord was gone, nothing was stopping Little Cripple from entering the shelter's core base.
If the domain forces had been working with him, then Little Cripple might even be the one in control now.
Even so…
He had to try.
If there was any chance at all, he wanted to avenge the last surviving humans of this timeline.
As Feng Qi charged forward, he resembled a rampaging beast.
Neither the crumbling ruins nor the domain creatures blocking his path could slow him down.
What remained of Star City had been completely reduced to rubble after 1,500 years.
With no landmarks left, he could only navigate by the blood-red moon hanging in the sky.
His speed increased with each step.
After an unknown amount of time, he finally burst out of the wreckage-filled zone.
His Blood Source form had just ended, but along the way, he had switched to his Bone Warrior form, killing three domain creatures to recharge his Blood Source transformation.
Blood Source was his strongest trump card.
Leaving the ruins behind, he expected to see the mass grave from his previous timeline.
But instead—
Stretching before him was a massive gathering of humanoid creatures, standing eerily still like scarecrows, as if they had lost their minds.
He wasn't surprised.
This time, since the Mist Lord hadn't harvested their flesh, Little Cripple's people hadn't turned into undead monsters.
But when they tried to break through the spatial rift, the backlash had shattered their minds, leaving them as mindless husks.
Only a small handful had retained their consciousness.
It was eerily similar to what he had encountered in the previous future dreamscape.
However, these humanoid creatures were different from before.
Their bodies emitted a faint red glow, pulsing in sync with the Blood Moon above.
As Feng Qi approached, his presence seemed to trigger something.
One by one, the mindless creatures twitched, then suddenly lunged toward him.
Like a chain reaction, more and more began to move, the distant figures joining the swarm, all of them closing in.
[Careful! These creatures have mutated due to the Blood Moon.]
[Their strength has increased significantly, and their defense is several times higher than before!]
[Even back then, escaping this area was insanely difficult!]
"Got it."
Feng Qi's expression turned cold as he activated Blood Source once again.
A wave of vital energy engulfed his body, causing his muscles to rapidly expand.
New layers of dense muscle fibers wrapped around him, reinforcing his already monstrous physique.
His heart began pounding faster and faster—
1x speed… 2x speed… 3x speed… 10x speed!
His heart thundered like an engine, pumping unstoppable power through his veins.
The mindless creatures swarmed him, piling on top of each other like a collapsed tower, burying him beneath their sheer numbers.
["AWOOO! CHARGE!"]
The narrator's voice roared, as Feng Qi's raw strength sent dozens of humanoid monsters flying in all directions.
His eyes gleamed with crimson light, his face twisted into a savage grin.
Then—
He moved.
With a thunderous stomp, the ground collapsed beneath him, forming a crater.
Like a human cannonball, he launched himself forward, smashing through everything in his path.
In Blood Source form, he was a raging war machine, plowing through the battlefield like a juggernaut.
The humanoid creatures were flung away like ragdolls.
But the flood of enemies never stopped.
Worse yet, larger, mutated humanoid creatures emerged from the swarm.
Their bulging, deformed bodies radiated an intimidating aura.
Unlike the others, these didn't die easily—
Even when their limbs were broken and their torsos crushed, they still kept attacking.
Feng Qi gritted his teeth.
This was going to be a long fight.
Feng Qi had already advanced over a kilometer, absorbing an immense amount of vital energy along the way, allowing him to maintain his Blood Source form, which should have already expired.
At this moment, he was beginning to feel the pressure.
The humanoid domain creatures had clearly mutated, their bodies far more resilient than before.
A single punch was no longer enough to kill them—he had to follow up with another to finish the job.
As for the larger, mutated humanoids, it took multiple heavy blows to take them down.
His pace was slowing. Frustrated, he let out a furious roar and demanded:
"Narrator, how did I escape from here last time?!"
[Long story.]
"Then make it short!"
[You fought your way through, but as more and more creatures swarmed you, you started running out of energy… So in the end, you just wrapped yourself in telekinesis and flew away.]
Feng Qi: "..."
The answer caught him completely off guard.
He had imagined some grueling life-or-death battle, but he had just flown out of there?
But this time, he couldn't use the same method.
This wasn't about escaping—he wanted to storm Star City Shelter and avenge humanity. It was a completely different mission.
Realizing that pushing forward was impossible, he made the difficult decision to retreat.
It was frustrating, but for now, he had to focus on growing stronger. Revenge would have to wait.
He couldn't waste time on something beyond his current ability.
With that thought, he abruptly turned around and began to force his way back.
As he charged through, he plowed through the hordes of humanoid creatures.
Even when he smashed away the enemies directly in front of him, more would immediately take their place.
His Blood Source form was sustained by the constant absorption of vital energy, but he was starting to feel the strain.
His body had reached its limit.
Realizing that he couldn't keep going like this, he swiftly punched away the creatures surrounding him.
Then, with a surge of telekinetic energy, he lifted himself into the air.
The humanoid creatures jumped up to chase him, some leaping several meters high.
Within seconds, Feng Qi was completely buried in a writhing mass of attackers.
But their attacks were weak, unable to truly harm him. With a forceful struggle, he shook them off, sending them tumbling back to the ground.
Once he gained enough altitude, as he expected, the creatures could no longer reach him.
[At the end of the day, you're still not strong enough. If you had Mu Qing's level of power, you could've bulldozed through Star City Shelter, crushed Little Cripple's head, and wiped out every last domain creature inside!]
[Tsk tsk, at this rate, the only version of Little Cripple you can actually bully is the undead version… Might as well go back to the future dreamscape and keep kicking its damn head in.]
Hearing the narrator's mocking tone, Feng Qi rolled his eyes.
Some things never change.
He glanced downward—the horde of humanoid creatures was still relentlessly chasing him.
Channeling his telekinetic power, he propelled himself forward, significantly increasing his flight speed.
After flying for some time, the narrator's voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
[Hey, little bro, check out 2 o'clock. See what I just found.]
Following the narrator's direction, Feng Qi turned his head.
In the distance, he saw a massive encampment, with numerous figures moving within.
Narrowing his eyes, he soon identified the creatures inside—
Goat-headed demons.
The narrator's so-called discovery was an entire stronghold of goat-headed demons.
And from the sheer size of the camp, it was no small operation.
"Narrator, how many goat-headed demons are in that camp?"
[Hold on, scanning… Scan complete. 3,249 goat-headed demons. Damn, ever since the Mist Lord died, the Dark God Sect has been doing great in Star City. I've never seen a goat-headed demon settlement this massive before!]
Originally, Feng Qi had decided to abandon his revenge plan.
But upon hearing this, a bold idea suddenly formed in his mind.
Because of his Blood Source ability, goat-headed demons worshiped him as a god.
So…
Could he use them as an army to attack Star City Shelter?
[You read my mind. Time to cause chaos!]
Without hesitation, Feng Qi adjusted his course and flew straight toward the goat-headed demon stronghold.
Moments later, he hovered above the settlement.
Then—
Withdrawing his telekinetic support, he plummeted straight down.
BOOM!
His legs sank into the earth, sending shockwaves through the ground.
The impact immediately drew attention.
Nearby goat-headed demons turned their heads, eyes widening in shock.
But as soon as they saw his Blood Giant form, their expressions shifted from confusion to reverence.
One by one, they dropped to their knees, chanting words in a language he couldn't understand.
Their murmuring spread throughout the camp, attracting more and more goat-headed demons.
With each passing second, their numbers swelled as demons from across the stronghold flocked to the scene.
Satisfied that the goat-headed demons were completely under his control, Feng Qi nodded approvingly.
He then strode toward the entrance of the camp.
As he walked, the goat-headed demons parted before him, kneeling respectfully on both sides of his path.
Upon reaching the camp gates, he gazed out into the distance.
Far beyond, the horde of humanoid creatures was surging forward like a tidal wave, endless and unstoppable.
After a brief pause, he stepped forward—marching straight toward the incoming swarm.
After walking about ten meters, he glanced back.
Behind him, thousands of goat-headed demons had assembled, their hands ignited with eerie green flames.
Seeing this, Feng Qi grinned savagely.
Then, turning back toward the approaching enemies, he strode forward without hesitation.
At that moment, the narrator's exaggerated war cry rang out in his mind:
[My lowly followers, hear my command—grab your weapons, it's time to wreck some shit!]