The brilliant blue light pierced through the blizzard, carrying Zhang Daowen's final determination as it cleaved toward the Dark God.
At that moment, many Domain forces who had been secretly watching lifted their heads, gazing toward the direction of Dawn City.
Even from a great distance, they could still see a gleaming blue radiance shooting into the sky, bursting with a blinding brilliance.
The divine might surged outward, sweeping across all directions.
Even one as powerful as the Dark God didn't dare take this blow head-on. Roaring, it tried to escape the Ice and Snow Domain Field.
The Dark God swung wildly, its body igniting with roaring flames, attempting to melt the frozen space around it and rip open a spatial path to flee.
But no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't thaw the sealed space.
Its surging blood essence poured from within. At this moment, the Dark God didn't dare hold anything back.
Terror flooded its expression, and even its flames were frozen by the extreme cold, spreading rapidly across its body.
Faced with death, the Dark God chose to burn its own blood essence in a desperate last stand.
The overwhelming blood essence burst out of its body, transforming into an even fiercer blaze that wrapped around it, trying to resist Zhang Daowen's assault of absolute frost.
Its blood essence was being consumed at an alarming rate, but the Dark God didn't care.
Right now, all it wanted was to survive.
As the blood essence burned madly, the Dark God's body began to shrink. The strange glowing patterns on its skin faded, and its expression grew weak.
But it still couldn't stop the falling ice blade.
As the blade approached, the desperate Dark God unleashed the last of its blood essence, slamming both hands forward, trying to block the strike.
The ice blade didn't descend quickly, but it was utterly inescapable.
Weakened and at its limit, the Dark God could only grit its teeth and meet the attack head-on. But the instant its hands touched the blade, the frost invaded its body, rapidly breaking down its internal structure. Even its consciousness began to freeze.
Facing Zhang Daowen's finishing strike, the Dark God seemed to see its own demise. It let out a roar that shook the heavens, squeezing out the last of its blood essence in an attempt to stop the spread of cold within.
Crack!
A sharp shattering sound echoed from within the Dark God's body. Under the pressure of utter desperation, its blood core shattered.
The moment the blood core broke, the Dark God lost all resistance to the cold.
Within moments, it became an ice sculpture.
Just then, Zhang Daowen reached out behind him. Feng Qi, who had been watching from a distance, suddenly felt his vision blur. When things cleared again, he was already standing at Zhang Daowen's side.
"Qi-shu… do it. I've completely destroyed its body. There's no need to worry anymore."
Hearing this, Feng Qi was just about to strike when a thought stopped him.
If he killed the Dark God here, it would be erased from the timeline entirely. Would that change the course of history?
Perhaps the Dark God Race might never exist.
Over time, the butterfly effect could have unimaginable consequences.
The Dark God had existed for countless ages. Its erasure might not just affect time, but the entire history of the Domain World.
Even though the Dark God Race wasn't from the Lingyu Micro-World, the ripple effects might impact countless Domain factions—even the Mist Race.
For example, a Domain creature that had once been slain by the Dark God—if the Dark God was erased from history, that creature might survive. Perhaps that survivor, or its descendants, could go on to found an entirely new Domain dynasty.
The impact of that would be massive.
That dynasty might, in its expansion, conquer the Mist Race, or perhaps even indirectly annihilate the Mist Race's ancestors.
So by killing the Dark God, everything he had worked for up to this point might fall apart—even forcing him to start over.
This wasn't like before.
In the previous future dream realms, the enemies Feng Qi killed were all forces that only appeared after his original timeline—so they didn't affect his real timeline.
But the Dark God was different. It had existed for a very, very long time.
Just as Feng Qi was hesitating, the narrator's voice echoed in his mind.
[Don't worry. I already explained this to you before. Go ahead and kill—it's fine.]
"Why?" Feng Qi immediately asked.
[Did you forget about the Three-Tail? Before you absorbed the main body of the Three-Tail's Evolution Token, that Miracle Item had existed even longer than the Dark God. During that time, it had passed through countless owners. But when you returned to reality, nothing changed. That proves your erasure ability has limits. It's likely confined between reality and the year 1500, which is also why you can only travel between those two time points. They're like two fixed markers in the river of history.]
[Besides, the Faith Bracelet in your hand also proves this point. After you took it, nothing in history changed—not even Black Abyss Island moved an inch. That's when I concluded your timeline erasure has limitations. It doesn't span all of time.]
[There's more proof too—like the fact that you stripped one of the Dark God's core sources, "Blood Source," and yet, did you see any change in history? That proves the point of historical alteration starts at the real-world timeline. Otherwise, losing a Blood Source would've already caused massive disruption. But now, the Dark God Race still exists. Even their leader is still the same masked man. That's clear evidence you can't affect anything before the reality point.]
"Then if I kill the Dark God, will I still be able to extract its innate abilities?"
[That I'm not sure of. Probably, yeah. After all, this is a different timeline. The Dark God you're killing here isn't the same one from your real timeline, right?]
"Couldn't this all be a timeline reset though? What if the sacrifice path I experienced actually merges into the real timeline, and I just got reset back to the starting point of reality after dying in the future dream world?"
[Your suspicion might actually be valid. I even wondered whether Little Black killing you was actually resetting time. If that assumption is true, then maybe Little Black didn't kill you to hurt you, but to help you.]
"Cut the crap. If he wanted to help, couldn't he at least let me live a little longer? If this was really a reset, then how do you explain there being two of me? The brain in the Crimson Research Institute wasn't fake. I read my own memories—that proves there are two of me."
[How would I know? Whether this is the birth of a new timeline or a full-on reset, the truth is something you'll have to figure out on your own. But what we do know for sure now is this—you can't change history before the real timeline point. So go ahead, the Dark God can be killed.]
After hearing the narrator's explanation, Feng Qi finally understood. Then he questioned in his mind:
"Why didn't you tell me all this earlier?"
[Too lazy. Too exhausting. And no overtime pay… What kind of employee takes initiative to do overtime for their boss? Right, capitalist Qi?]
As usual, the narrator kept that carefree tone, but the explanation had eased Feng Qi's worries.
Snapping back to reality, he clenched his fist and threw a punch straight into the chest of the frozen Dark God.
The moment his fist connected, a crack appeared across the statue's chest, tearing through its form.
That crack spread rapidly, growing from the point of impact and expanding across the Dark God's body.
In the blink of an eye, the ice sculpture was riddled with fissures.
With its blood essence drained, the Dark God had completely lost its ability to resist. Even its consciousness had long since been sealed in ice.
The cracks kept spreading. Then, with a crisp crack, the frozen statue of the Dark God collapsed with a roar.
A faint trace of blood essence floated up from the shattered ice and shot directly into Feng Qi's body.
Since the Dark God had exhausted nearly all its blood essence before death, Feng Qi didn't absorb much energy, and his physical attributes barely changed.
But he didn't care about that.
What he valued were the four other source-level innate abilities the Dark God carried.
Right now, he could clearly feel a mysterious force spreading through his body, merging with his Blood Source talent.
Just as he was about to open his talent panel, a sudden loud noise erupted beside him.
Turning his head, he saw Zhang Daowen's Ice God form collapsing rapidly, turning into countless sparkling blue fragments that scattered through the wind and snow above Dawn City.
Wearing only a simple robe, Zhang Daowen now stood suspended in midair with his hands behind his back. The vitality in his eyes was fading fast.
The battle against the Dark God had drained the very last traces of life from his body.
Seeing this, Feng Qi couldn't hide the sorrow in his eyes.
Looking at Zhang Daowen standing proudly in the sky, the image of the young man he once was resurfaced in Feng Qi's memory.
In his youth, Zhang Daowen was Star City's number one God of War. He was the leader of Star City's strongest combat unit—"Qi Wen"—and also the Supreme Commander of the military.
But now, Zhang Daowen no longer held the same divine presence.
He was gaunt and frail from depleted blood essence, and the long white hair on his head fell strand by strand with the wind.
The Ice and Snow Domain Field also began to collapse at that moment. Countless shimmering blue light particles rained down like snow, falling gently onto Zhang Daowen's body.
Cough… cough…
A splash of crimson tainted the blue light rain as it fell toward the ground.
Feng Qi immediately deactivated his Blood Source form, using psychokinesis to lift himself toward Zhang Daowen's side.
Zhang Daowen's face had turned an ashen white, and even his breathing had grown shallow.
Death was closing in.
At that moment, all the Domain forces near Dawn City raised their heads to look toward its direction.
Though they hadn't witnessed everything that had happened, they could still sense it—the human God of War was at the brink of death, his lifeforce quickly running out.
A storm was coming.
But none of them dared make a move to seize Dawn City's resources.
Because Zhang Daowen… was not dead yet.
Even with his blood essence depleted and strength exhausted, Zhang Daowen's divine might remained etched in the minds of every Domain force watching from afar.
Eight hundred li outside Dawn City, at the Celestial Rift Temple in the sky.
A figure cloaked in golden light gazed toward Dawn City, eyes flashing, as a domineering voice echoed in his mind:
"Rift Heaven Divine Clan, fall back eight hundred li from Dawn City—otherwise… I'll cut you down!"
"Hahahaha, he finally died."
The golden figure stood up, then turned to the shadow beside him and spoke softly:
"Make preparations. We'll claim the new territory. With Zhang Daowen dead, the power balance of the Barren Lands will shift. From now on, this Domain will belong to my Rift Heaven Divine Clan."
...
Outside Dawn City, Feng Qi placed his hand on Zhang Daowen's chest, continuously injecting blood essence into his body, trying to prolong his fading life.
"Qi-shu… don't bother. My body is just like yours was 1,500 years ago—at a dead end. Don't waste any more blood essence."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Daowen could no longer stay suspended in the air and started to fall.
Feng Qi immediately moved forward and caught his body.
In Zhang Daowen's eyes, he saw a weariness beyond words.
So many years of effort… and in the end, this was the final stop.
After landing, Feng Qi looked down at Zhang Daowen's aged and worn face, and his heart ached.
"Qi-shu… I failed to lead humanity to rise… I've let you down…"
Zhang Daowen lay at an angle on the ground, his eyes full of desolation.
"You've already done more than enough—better than I ever could have. Humanity made it this far because of you."
"But… I really can't keep going anymore."
Tears welled in Zhang Daowen's eyes. As his life dwindled, all he could think about was the future of the human race.
Hearing that, Feng Qi fell silent.
He didn't know how to respond.
But one thing was clear: once Zhang Daowen was gone, humanity wouldn't be able to hold Dawn City anymore.
Without Zhang Daowen, the human race would lose its foundation. Civilization would eventually collapse, becoming nothing but a speck of dust on the road to the Great Momentum's arrival.
"Maybe… maybe there's still another way to save you."
Zhang Daowen gently shook his head. His eyes were growing cloudy, the blue fading away.
"Qi-shu… I know my own body. I tried every method to extend my life. Just making it to today already took everything I had. I've reached the end."
Hearing that, Feng Qi didn't respond again.
He knew—this was the end of Zhang Daowen's journey. There was nothing he could do to stop his life from fading.
"Do you have any regrets?"
Feng Qi asked softly.
Zhang Daowen didn't answer.
Instead, he struggled, trembling as he slowly stood.
He gazed toward Dawn City, eyes filled with reluctance.
Striving for humanity's rise—that had been the future Qi-shu once taught him to believe in. But now, it had become an obsession he could no longer bear to let go of.
Humanity hadn't risen yet… but he could no longer keep moving forward.
His eyes turned to the crimson Dawn banner flying atop the city wall. His expression dimmed.
That banner had passed from one generation to the next ever since Qi-shu's death. New generations of Star City's youth had always risen to carry it alongside him.
But today… he was the only one left.
And he could no longer lift that flag—a symbol of so many companions' beliefs. Nor could he find a new successor.
Slowly, he turned and cast his gaze toward the ruins of Star City.
His lips trembled, countless images flashing through his mind.
The shattered ruins of Star City beneath collapsed walls—his first memories had started there. It had witnessed his entire life's struggle and growth.
He had sworn to himself, time and time again, that one day he would lead humanity out of Dawn City and rebuild their home.
But faced with brutal reality—where the strong preyed on the weak—his dream of rebuilding remained unfulfilled.
As his life slipped away, countless voices echoed in his mind.
"Forefather, when will we humans be able to rival those powerful races?"
"Forefather, my dad says you're our guardian god. I picked this flower for you."
"Forefather, with you protecting us, who'd dare provoke us? One move from you, freezing everything for thousands of li—haha!"
"Forefather…"
Thinking of the human race he had protected for over a thousand years, a people who would meet their end once he fell, tears streamed down Zhang Daowen's face.
This god of war, who had never shed a tear in over a thousand years… could no longer hold back his sorrow.
He turned once more, gazing at Dawn City.
Gazing at the banner fluttering in the wind.
"Humanity… the future…"
Muttering under his breath, the fire of life burned out.
And so, his journey came to an end.
Even in death, Zhang Daowen remained standing, his eyes wide open. The breeze lifted a corner of his robe, and his gaze remained fixed on the final spark of human civilization, as if… he still intended to guard it.