Future world, Dawn City.
Next to the statue of Feng Qi, a stone stele had been erected.
Carved into its surface were the words:
Human God of War: Zhang Daowen.
Buried beneath this stele was the former God of War of humanity—a loyal warrior who had fought to extend the human race's lifespan.
Perhaps the blood flowing through Zhang Daowen's veins wasn't of human origin, but that didn't matter.
In Feng Qi's heart, he was his successor.
To the descendants of Dawn, he was their forefather—humanity's stabilizing force.
Feng Qi stood in silence before the tombstone for a long time before finally turning to look at the silently weeping descendants of Dawn behind him.
At that moment, hundreds of thousands of Dawn survivors had come to see Zhang Daowen off.
"Have you decided what you'll do next?" Feng Qi asked the man standing at the front of the group.
His name was Xie Yu, the current leader of humanity in Dawn City.
"We won't give up."
Upon hearing those words, Feng Qi nodded solemnly, then said,
"Before the enemies who came to plunder arrive, migrate east to the East Sea. Perhaps there, you might find the Mist Lord. He may provide you with shelter… though I can't guarantee he's still there."
"Having hope is better than waiting here to die. What you just said aligns with one of the future plans we've considered. We'll head east and won't stop until we find a new refuge."
"Good luck."
The words "good luck" felt painfully inadequate.
But right then, Feng Qi couldn't think of anything else to offer in comfort.
The weakness of humanity was an undeniable truth.
When Zhang Daowen was alive, humanity could still claim a foothold on the surface of the Barren Lands. No Domain power dared to invade. But now that Zhang Daowen had passed…
Once Little Black arrived and Feng Qi left, no one would be left to protect the descendants of Dawn.
The mourning ceremony ended.
Not long after, Dawn City entered a state of full mobilization and quickly became a flurry of movement.
Perhaps it was their many years of wartime discipline that gave them such efficiency—at this moment, every descendant of Dawn had become a soldier. Three hundred twenty thousand people rapidly completed their preparations, slinging on their packs and carrying as many supplies from the city as possible.
But it was clearly impossible to take everything stored within the city.
During migration, the most critical resource was food.
All kinds of spirit ore were completely abandoned. Only edible spiritual plants and food were considered essential for the marching force.
Standing atop the city wall, Feng Qi watched as Xie Yu raised the Dawn banner high. The massive column of people flowed from the east gate like a long dragon, heading toward the East Sea.
Faith had not been abandoned.
But from this moment on, humanity would become a nomadic force without territory.
Just like those weak Domain tribes, they would always be migrating in search of a new home.
The road ahead would be full of peril.
Many would undoubtedly die along the way. Catastrophes would come. But the human race had no other choice.
Watching the marching army fade into the distance, Feng Qi stood atop the wall and sighed to himself.
Compared to the beginning, the situation for humanity had significantly improved—at least they had survived to this day, 1,500 years later.
But compared to the flourishing age he dreamed of… there was still a long, long road ahead.
Lost in thought, he didn't know how much time passed. By the time he snapped out of it, the army had already become nothing more than tiny black dots on the horizon.
Turning around, he walked back to Zhang Daowen's tombstone.
Sitting down cross-legged, he closed his eyes and summoned his attribute panel.
After killing the Dark God, he gained 1,286 Bloodline Evolution Points. The gain wasn't much.
This was likely due to the Dark God forcefully burning through its blood essence in its battle with Zhang Daowen, which led to the rupture of its blood core.
But to Feng Qi, that didn't matter.
What mattered were the five innate abilities he had stripped from the Dark God.
More accurately, it was a single complete innate ability.
He began inspecting the detailed attributes of this newly acquired talent:
[Blood God (Mutated Composite Innate Ability)]
Talent Sequence Track: Fifth Sequence Track
Talent Ability Effect:
Condenses blood cores within the heart, brain, left hand, right hand, left leg, and right leg. Upon activation, greatly enhances the efficiency of heart function. Blood essence becomes the energy source for activating the six blood cores, resulting in an explosive boost to combat power. Grants the five abilities of the Blood God. This talent will continue to evolve alongside the user's blood essence strength.
Six Major Enhancements of the Blood Cores:
1. Blood Source (Heart Blood Core – Passive and Active Ability):
In passive mode, significantly increases the heart's strength and operational efficiency. When actively triggered, blood can be converted into blood essence for more efficient usage.
2. Dark Source (Right Arm Blood Core – Passive and Active Ability):
In passive mode, enhances right arm strength. When activated, the blood core is triggered, dramatically boosting right arm power, toughness, and destructive force.
3. Extreme Source (Left Hand Blood Core – Active Ability):
Upon activation, converts blood essence into dark energy, exponentially amplifying the power of dark-element techniques.
4. Vital Source (Left Leg Blood Core – Active Ability):
When activated, transforms blood essence into tissue material, rapidly repairing severed or damaged body parts.
5. Annihilation Source (Right Leg Blood Core – Passive Ability):
Dark-element Domain Field. Souls trapped within this field will be converted into faith slaves of the dark Domain Field.
6. Blood God (Brain Blood Core – Active Ability):
Links all six blood cores to activate Blood God Form. Greatly enhances physical stats, mental fortitude, and consciousness strength. Grants major resistance to dark-element damage.
[Oh ho, this new innate ability looks pretty damn good. Comes with six talents right off the bat. Honestly, aside from miracle items, it might be the strongest ability you've got so far.]
Hearing the narrator's praise, Feng Qi nodded internally.
Before killing the Dark God, he had been a little worried.
From past experience, he knew that his innate ability to steal talents usually only allowed him to extract a single strongest talent from a Domain creature after killing it.
Under normal circumstances, even if he killed the Dark God, he'd only be able to obtain one out of the five remaining abilities.
Luckily, the Dark God's six core innate abilities were part of a complete whole. Once extracted, the five remaining abilities fused into one, becoming a brand new innate talent.
It was also clear that this newly fused ability had changed significantly after being absorbed.
The reason was that the "Blood Source" had been heavily cultivated using talent points. After fusion, it became the core strength of the six origin powers.
The talent that should've been named "Dark God" was now called Blood God.
After reviewing the full ability details, Feng Qi sank his consciousness into his spiritual sea.
The golden ocean unfolded before him, with orbits of talent like starlit rings spinning above. Every talent orb moved along its track, each connected to the dark-gold origin orb at the center by faint strands of energy.
The previously existing "Blood Source" talent orb had vanished. Now, a dark red orb—newly completed—rotated steadily along the fifth talent track.
Confirming that the old "Blood Source" had been replaced by the new "Blood God" orb, he withdrew from his spiritual sea.
Sitting silently in front of Zhang Daowen's tombstone, Feng Qi gazed eastward.
Little Black still hadn't arrived.
Under the blood moon, it was impossible to tell how much time had passed.
The battle between Suction Cup and Little Black had to have lasted more than three days—that was Feng Qi's rough estimate.
Of course, the actual length depended on variables like Suction Cup's strength.
Based on the timeline, he knew Little Black wasn't far off.
Shifting his gaze back to Zhang Daowen's tombstone, a deep, burning flame of rage churned inside him.
He had always thought of Zhang Daowen as his child.
All those days and nights they'd spent together, he had constantly held hope and expectations for the boy's future.
But now, that very child—who he had personally raised—had died before his eyes.
That grief and fury were fermenting in his chest.
Lifting his right hand, a black dot formed from negative emotional energy appeared in his palm. Thin, tendril-like black lines began slowly crawling outward.
He wanted to vent that anger.
He knew enemies would come. After all, plenty of resources still remained in Dawn City.
In this barren land where resources were scarce, neither weak Domain tribes nor middling Domain factions would pass up such a valuable opportunity.
Even if they risked conflict with other Domain powers, most desperate groups would still come, gambling everything for a chance at survival.
Now that Zhang Daowen was dead, humanity had become a juicy target in the eyes of nearby forces.
Before he left, Feng Qi wanted to unleash his rage.
Now it was just a matter of whether those nearby Domain factions would show up before Little Black did.
As he waited, a golden light suddenly tore across the sky. From the dense cloud cover above, the corner of a golden temple peeked through, and countless beams of golden light poured in every direction.
[Tell me, doesn't it feel like the Rift Heaven Divine Clan dumped all their talent points into style and flair? All they ever do is look cool and spectate. I mean, didn't Old Mist wipe them out in the last timeline anyway?]
Listening to the narrator's sarcastic rant, Feng Qi slowly stood up.
He looked up toward the emerging temple in the clouds, a fierce smile stretching across his face.
The golden light condensed in front of the temple, spreading like a golden scroll unfurling from the heavens.
Countless warriors in golden armor, weapons in hand, stood above, staring down as they stepped on the golden scroll descending toward Dawn City.
[Oh ho, looks like it's time to add a few new talents to the skill library.]
Feng Qi nodded.
His heartbeat suddenly quickened, breaking down blood into blood essence that spilled out through his pores, wrapping around his entire body.
Inside the swirling blood-colored mist, Feng Qi's body rapidly expanded.
Dark red flames burst and spread across his skin. Compared to the old Blood Source form, the Blood God Form amplified his physical attributes even more violently.
Dark red lines began to spread from his chest, merging with his Purple Soul markings, forming a fierce, domineering sigil over his torso. His arms became covered in dark red lines, his wrists resembling fiery bracers.
The moment his eyes snapped open, dark red flames burst out of them.
His heartbeat only intensified further. As his height soared to ten meters, a horn made of dark red flame condensed on his forehead.
The moment the horn appeared, the flames enveloping him surged violently.
With a sweep of his hand, the thin veil of blood mist in front of him was ripped apart. He raised his gaze toward the golden-armored warriors descending from the sky.
With each breath, dark red flame poured from his mouth and nose, spreading a wicked aura toward the heavens—bold and defiant.
At that moment, the front squad of golden-armored soldiers advanced.
They all raised their spears in unison, and a formation resembling a six-pointed star lit up around them, golden light linking their bodies as they charged straight toward Feng Qi.
But as the six-pointed star formation filled with killing intent drew near, Feng Qi swung his arm and slapped forward.
Golden lights scattered like fireworks. That seemingly unstoppable strike crumbled under a single slap.
Right then, he felt the negative emotions within him flare up again, surging in his mind like a raging tide.
A wicked smile curled on his lips.
He lifted his right leg and stomped down hard.
Instantly, the blood core in his right leg activated the talent "Annihilation Source."
Dark red flames burst from the ground, spreading out at high speed and engulfing the twelve golden-armored warriors leading the charge.
The flames burned furiously within the dark-type domain field, the entire space now resembling a scene from hell.
Feng Qi slowly raised his right hand and pointed toward the twelve figures writhing in panic.
Tongues of flame surged from the ground, transforming into flaming totem pillars and chains, wrapping around the twelve warriors and suspending them mid-air.
These innate abilities felt like instinct to him. He didn't need to understand or master them—they came naturally.
He manipulated the dark red flames, incinerating the warriors' bodies as their agonizing screams pierced the air.
As the flames consumed them, their golden armor cracked and peeled away, their bodies beginning to twist.
Their faces blurred in the fire, and white bone masks slowly took shape over their features.
Their legs thickened and sprouted dense black fur.
Eventually… ram horns grew from their foreheads.
The moment the horns appeared, the flaming totems vanished, and raspy chants began echoing from their mouths.
Corrupted by evil energy, they had now fully fallen—becoming devoted followers of Feng Qi.
After it was done, Feng Qi turned his head to look forward.
Ripples kept surfacing on the dark domain field barrier—clear signs that more golden-armored warriors outside were attacking it.
With a wave of his hand, the dark-type domain field dissipated.
And the moment the surviving golden-armored warriors saw the horned demons, their eyes widened.
Though their appearances had changed, remnants of old decorations or marks still clung to them—clear identifiers of who they had been.
Feng Qi didn't care about their shock. The murderous intent in his heart was reaching its peak.
The Rift Heaven Divine Clan had walked straight into his moment of wrath.
He lowered his stance slightly, and with a heavy stomp, the ground beneath his feet sank.
He leapt high into the air and threw a punch.
A loud snap cracked through the sky.
Dark red energy surged outward like a balloon inflating over his fist, then exploded into a raging torrent aimed directly at the enemy below.
The golden-armored warriors caught in the blow burst into dark red flames.
With just that single punch, Feng Qi wiped out several of them and shattered their formation.
Those caught in the aftershock tumbled through the sky before barely managing to steady themselves.
As more and more golden-armored warriors leapt down from the temple above, they raised their spears together, forming a golden tide that aimed to suppress Feng Qi.
Facing the encirclement, Feng Qi grinned viciously.
He clenched both fists, and blood energy surged along his back, forming a pair of fierce flaming wings behind him.
A gust of violent wind erupted as the wings flapped, holding his body mid-air.
With a stomp of his right leg, a hellish flame domain spread across the sky, dark red fire swallowing everything.
Under the suffocating pressure of his blood essence, even these divine warriors tensed up.
What happened next made their blood run cold.
Every being slain by Feng Qi within the hellfire domain was consumed by the flames and reborn as a horned demon.
Soon, over a hundred such demons had emerged.
Just then, the hellfire domain trembled, and a massive rift opened in its barrier.
Feng Qi looked up and saw a figure cloaked in golden light sitting cross-legged mid-air, surrounded by a retinue of lavishly armored divine guards.
Realizing the real deal had finally arrived, Feng Qi's bloodthirsty smile deepened.
"Offer yourselves to me!"
His raspy voice echoed through the hellfire domain.
The golden-armored warriors who had been transformed into horned demons raised their arms high and began chanting ancient curses.
Flames engulfed them once more, and vast amounts of blood energy surged directly into Feng Qi, who floated mid-air.
Feeling his power grow even further, Feng Qi turned his gaze toward the golden figure cloaked in divine light—the Rift Heaven Divine Lord.
"Wanna give it a try?"
Faced with this taunt, the Divine Lord's expression turned ice cold, ignoring him.
But in the next instant, Feng Qi activated his teleportation talent.
His body flickered, and in the blink of an eye, he appeared right in front of the Divine Lord.
Their eyes met.
Feng Qi grinned wide and swung a massive palm like lightning.
"Smack!"
A crisp slap rang out as the Divine Lord was sent flying sideways.
"Hahahahaha!"
Feng Qi's laughter echoed through the air.
The Divine Lord's face twisted in disbelief—he hadn't even been able to track Feng Qi's movement.