The sun blazed like fire.
In the sweltering summer heat, many of the plants along the way had already turned yellow, with the constant sound of cicadas ringing in the air.
Feng Qi raised his head, glancing at the dazzling sun, roughly estimating his position.
After leaving Star City, he had been heading west the entire time. Even though he had detoured around some powerful races along the way, he figured they were now near the border between the Central Region and the Western Region of the human world.
From sunset to dusk, they had walked through the entire night, yet still hadn't encountered any human forces.
This struck Feng Qi as odd.
Based on the Eastern Region's setup, there should be a frontline supply zone close to where the domain fields were dense.
If no frontline battlefield had been established, domain field expansion would be inevitable.
But along the way, he hadn't seen any human structures at all, meaning this frontline was completely unguarded.
He could only guess that he was still some distance from the actual frontline core area, and they were now just in the buffer zone closest to the domain fields.
By noon, Feng Qi rested for half an hour before leading the team onward.
The farther west they went, the denser the greenery became.
Night fell.
The sun dipped below the horizon, and darkness covered the land.
The moon was exceptionally bright.
When Feng Qi stepped onto a grassy hillside, a cool night breeze blew past, lifting his black hair. Looking down from the hill at the plain below, he saw a human city overgrown with vegetation.
The city looked somewhat dilapidated, fully intertwined with all sorts of strange plants.
These plants grew over the buildings, their spreading branches reaching into the sky, releasing shimmering green lights in the night, turning the city into a sea of stars.
The scene was beautiful, but Feng Qi's expression turned serious.
These plants were clearly not native to the human world—they were domain spirit plants.
For domain plants to survive in the human world meant they had the traits of domain-transcending lifeforms, capable of blending with human-world rules.
From this alone, the human situation didn't look good.
Among domain plants, many were flesh-eating. He clearly remembered a future dream where, fifteen hundred years from now, Star City too was overrun by all sorts of bloodthirsty plants.
So this city was likely already taken over by domain plants.
The human situation didn't look good.
Without hesitation, he leapt down the hillside, heading toward the plant-covered city on the plain.
Seeing this, Xiao You and the others followed close behind.
Feng Qi didn't know the history or origin of the city ahead.
There was no record of this city in any history books.
As they got closer, what he saw along the way made his heart grow heavier.
The path was full of vibrant plants, but more disturbing were the many human remains intertwined with the plants, their bodies almost completely consumed, only their withered faces still imprinted on the surface of the greenery.
These humans, fused with plants, had become part of a forest.
It was an eerie sight under the night sky.
But for Feng Qi, who had seen countless horrors, this wasn't enough to stir him.
Still, the thought that the humans here had been devoured by domain plants filled him with anger.
Finally, he arrived at the eastern gate of the city.
The crumbling walls were covered in purple moss, and the ground ahead bloomed with purple flowers, like a carpet of blossoms.
Stepping on the flowers into the city, the scene surprised Feng Qi.
The city wasn't as ruined as he'd imagined. There weren't broken walls or rubble everywhere—the streets were clean.
Scanning the surroundings, the domain plants wrapping around the buildings seemed to breathe, their branches swaying.
Sparkling powder floated through the air, clearly visible.
He took a deep breath, and the green sparkles entered his body through his nose.
It was like drinking a cold beverage—coolness flowed through him, then faded.
After checking, he found that the sparkling powder in the air wasn't toxic. In fact, it was beneficial to the flesh, like visible spiritual energy particles that could merge with the body.
As he continued deeper into the city, he saw more humans fused with domain plants.
They were like real-life "plant people." Many seemed recently consumed, with half their bodies still human, not yet rotted, their expressions blank, bodies stiff, while the other half was already covered by domain plants, being quickly devoured.
Seeing all this, Feng Qi still held out hope that some humans might have survived, but the situation clearly wasn't good.
The deeper he went, the more common it became to see humans fused with plants.
He even saw an entire wall of a tall building covered with densely packed human remains intertwined with plants.
Most wore blank expressions, as if they'd lost all awareness.
Some still had life signs, but no matter what he tried, Feng Qi couldn't wake them.
Then something strange happened that left Feng Qi puzzled.
Whenever Xiao You flew more than ten meters away, those seemingly docile plants would suddenly turn violent and attack her.
But as long as she stayed close to him, the strange plants would calm down again, falling into a dormant state.
It was the same for Po Jia and the others.
They crossed a large bridge overgrown with plants—
When Feng Qi arrived at the northern central area of the city, towering buildings stood all around, and this was also where the plants grew the thickest.
At the edge of his vision, a colossal tree reached for the sky, hundreds of meters tall, its sprawling branches forming a canopy that shaded everything beneath.
The wind rustled through the tree's leaves, scattering countless shimmering green lights.
After briefly staring at it, Feng Qi felt the tree was brimming with life force and decided to cut it down.
But just as he was about to do so, moving toward the tree, he suddenly sensed a faint life force coming from the front-left.
Frowning, he turned and walked in that direction.
Rounding a moss-covered building, he saw an old man, thin as a skeleton, leaning against the wall. Green fuzz was growing on his body, giving him a strange appearance.
The old man also noticed Feng Qi.
He stiffly turned his head toward him, eyes filled with confusion.
"Human?"
The old man rasped, his voice hoarse.
"I'm human, from the Eastern Region. What's going on here?"
As he spoke, Feng Qi stepped forward, black energy swirling in his palm, trying to wash the green fuzz off the old man's body.
"Don't bother. The power of the elves has already fused with me, it can't be removed."
Realizing what Feng Qi was trying to do, the old man immediately stopped him.
"Elves?"
The old man didn't continue on that topic. A faint light appeared in his cloudy eyes, and he asked hoarsely, "You... you're really from the Eastern Region? It hasn't fallen? I heard the Eastern Region had already become a place of despair, covered by domain fields."
"It hasn't fallen. I'm a soldier of the Eastern Region's expedition force, here to find humans and establish contact."
Hearing this, the old man seemed to want to smile, but his stiff face only managed a twisted expression.
"Good... good, the spark of humanity hasn't been extinguished."
"Old man, where is this place?"
At Feng Qi's question, the old man gasped several times before answering with difficulty:
"This is the southernmost, most remote city of the Central Region. It's also the southern frontline zone."
"Frontline zone? Why haven't I seen a single frontline soldier along the way?"
Feng Qi couldn't understand. The frontline was supposed to be the most crucial defense, and should be heavily guarded.
For example, in the Eastern Region where the five great cities were, every frontline was well-equipped, with the best warriors stationed there.
But all along the way here, he hadn't seen a single soldier—only endless domain plants.
The old man seemed to see his confusion and answered with a twisted expression:
"I am a frontline soldier. Those people you saw fused with the plants... they are all frontline soldiers."
"Did this place suffer some recent disaster, and get devoured by domain plants?"
"No, they're still alive, still fighting to protect the frontline."
"What?"
"I don't know what path you in the Eastern Region took, but this... this is the path we in the Central Region chose for our growth…"
Listening to the old man, Feng Qi slowly understood the situation here.
According to the old man,
When the Great Cataclysm first broke out, the Central Region was just like the Eastern Region he came from, facing the dense arrival of domain fields.
But the situation here was much worse.
The domain fields expanded from all directions, and many more descended inside as well.
During that time, over 90% of the Central Region's population was wiped out, falling into utter despair.
If in the Eastern Region, the five great cities had grown along with a gradually perfected cultivation system, their strength rising, enabling them to clear some domain fields and expand human territory…
The Central Region didn't even get the chance to develop.
Back then, the Central Region was pure chaos. Humans didn't even have a stable city. Every place was a battlefield, and death loomed constantly.
In those turbulent years, humans tried to migrate, hoping to find areas not yet covered by domain fields.
But no matter how they tried, they failed.
Those who left never returned.
The survivors managed to build a small, brand-new city in a patch of land not yet taken by the domains, struggling to survive, on the brink of collapse.
The old man's description was just like what scholars in the Eastern Region had once speculated.
The Central Region's terrain left it surrounded, in a hopeless situation, facing challenges several levels worse than those of the Eastern Region.
Feng Qi kept listening.
After finishing the tale of the early days of the Cataclysm and the Central Region's plight, the old man spoke of a turning point.
A turning point that came from the "elves" he mentioned.
They were a strange kind of domain plant with parasitic abilities. Their domain field had devoured other races' fields during their war in the Central Region.
Luckily, these elves could adapt to human world rules, and like the humans of the Central Region, they became wanderers.
When the elves met the last remnants of humanity in the Central Region, it felt like fate.
The Elf King spoke with the human leader and gave them a promise—they would stand with humanity, but their people needed to parasitize human bodies.
The benefit was that humans would also gain strength from the elves.
For humans desperately struggling to survive, this was an offer they couldn't refuse.
Thus, humans of the Central Region became fertile ground for the elves.
In return, the elves gave them immense power.
This strange parasitic bond gave humans extraordinary strength, unimaginable before the Cataclysm, and they gained the power to fight domain creatures.
It turned out the Elf King chose humans because of their wisdom.
Maybe humans were born weak, but their intelligence was no less than that of domain creatures.
Like Old Mist used to say, human creativity surpassed most domain races, their only flaw being their short time exposed to spiritual energy.
During the years allied with the elves, humans not only mastered elven powers but even developed many new abilities from them.
With the strength provided by the elves, humans managed to defeat the domain race that had once bested the elves.
Even the Elf King was amazed by humanity's potential, believing their innovation and development made up for the elves' shortcomings, and saw them as allies to stand with through the ages.
In the years that followed, humans rapidly grew stronger with the elves' help, their population steadily rising, reclaiming much of their lost homeland.
The human cultivation system in the Central Region came to be known as the Elf Seed.
Planting an elf within the body granted them the power of that parasitic elf, while they offered their flesh and energy to grow together with it.
But this growth system had its flaws.
The elves planted inside human bodies weren't symbiotic, but parasitic.
One day, the seed would break through its shell.
In this system, human talent was judged by how long they resisted assimilation.
The stronger the talent, the longer it took the elf seed to take over.
This was just like how the Eastern Region measured bloodline potential.
But compared to the cultivation-based growth path, the final outcome for those with elf seeds was to turn into elves, their consciousness consumed.
According to the old man, when children reached about ten years old, they would go to the central city to undergo the elf seed implantation ritual.
On that day, the Elf King would scatter the seeds.
Each seed carried a different power.
Some would get a fire-element seed, others lightning, and some even spiritual ones.
With these elf seeds, humans grew fast.
Their ability to wield power even surpassed naturally grown elves.
The elf seeds fed on their hosts, and the domain creatures their hosts killed, drawing energy from their flesh.
It was through this growth system that the Central Region humans had survived until now.
But it was like making a deal with demons.
They gained power, but would slowly fall, until they fully became elves.
Hearing all this, Feng Qi felt uneasy.
But he understood, this was the only choice for humans in the Central Region.
As the old man continued, Feng Qi learned the origin of the city beneath his feet, and the thick forest outside.
All humans would eventually be assimilated by the elves.
So before death, warriors would board trains heading to the frontlines, going to different borders.
They became part of the Central Region's human defense.
For them, death wasn't the end.
Before fully turning into elves, they'd leave behind their will, becoming part of the frontier that stood against the "wind and sand", standing forever, guarding their loved ones behind them.
This city beneath his feet was actually a graveyard for human warriors, the frontline the old man spoke of.
The strange plants he'd seen along the way—each one had once been a human warrior.
Now Feng Qi suddenly understood why those plants didn't attack him, but would attack Xiao You and the others once they got more than ten meters away.
Though these warriors had become plants, their remaining will could still tell friend from foe.
They wouldn't attack their own kind.
This was the final fate of Central Region warriors. There were no exceptions—only death.
The old man's voice grew weak.
The green on his body spread further, his stiff face unable to show a smile, but his eyes sparkled with a warm green light.
"Tell me... tell me about the humans in the Eastern Region."
At his request, Feng Qi began to describe the Eastern Region.
When he heard the Eastern Region had forged its own growth path, the old man's eyes filled with envy.
Maybe thinking of their own fate, his eyes dimmed in the end.
Feng Qi could understand how he felt.
Making a deal with demons—that was the path the Central Region humans had been forced to take. The old man said they had tried to switch to another growth system, but had failed every time.
Now they called themselves allies of the elves.
But in truth, they had become the elves' nourishment.
Humans fought for the survival of their race, but also for the elves.
Thanks to them, the elves gained more territory, defeated many domain races, and let the Elf King's root domain spread further. But humans gained nothing except survival—no real future.
If one day, the elves evolved to a new level...
If they felt they no longer needed human wisdom, and humans' weak flesh no longer fueled their growth...
The Elf King would abandon them without hesitation.
This wasn't a pure trade—it was another form of slavery.
But humans had no choice.
Knowing the Central Region's fate, Feng Qi's fists clenched tight.
He looked out at the ancient tree in the distance, the killing intent in his heart fading.
That tree had once been the strongest war god in the Central Region's history. At its core, it too had once been human.
He stayed by the old man's side, listening to him talk about the Central Region.
After a sunrise and sunset, the green finally covered the old man completely, his stiff face frozen for good.
Next, Feng Qi decided to head to the center of this city, to take the train to the main city, to reach the Central Region's human stronghold, and meet the Elf King the old man spoke of.
As he walked towards the city center, Feng Qi kept thinking about one thing.
How could he free the humans of the Central Region?
Planting elves into their bodies had become the only growth path for the Central Region's humans, changing that would be hard.
The cultivation technique system was more suitable for humanity's future.
But the development of the elf seed system had already penetrated every corner of Central Region society.
Even knowing this path had no future, the humans here couldn't just stop.
Right then, Lei Ting came up to him, looked up and said, "You want to free the people here, right? But have you thought they might not accept your ideals? Maybe what you think is right... is something they don't need at all?"
Hearing that, Feng Qi was stunned.
Actually, he had thought about this too.
This so-called liberation might just be his wishful thinking. Maybe inside the Central Region, many people already accepted the elves. What he thought was right, they might not think the same.
Bringing cultivation techniques to them, changing their entire system, sounded like a great idea, but it involved too many factors.
It was like before the Cataclysm, the debate about whether humans should own guns.
From the perspective of the old Xia Country, people believed guns were seeds of chaos, something that shouldn't be allowed.
But across the ocean, there were countless gun enthusiasts.
Each side thought they were right, and when looking at the other's view, thought the other was wrong.
Even though this wasn't exactly the same as the Central Region's situation, there were similarities.
The elf seed system had developed for five hundred years since the start of the Cataclysm.
It was already part of the Central Region's cultural legacy.
He couldn't stand in the position of a savior and judge, criticize their choices as wrong, and demand they follow him.
Instead, he had to think about how to subtly change things, make them realize the dangers of the elf seed path.
From what the old man said, he could tell that some people already knew this path was wrong.
They had tried to change things.
But no effort had ever brought results. They just couldn't find another way.
At first, Feng Qi felt anger, but thinking it over, he calmed down.
He wasn't that hot-blooded kid anymore. The way he saw things had shifted from "what I think" to looking at the big picture.
Seeing things from a different angle, he noticed new details.
Now he had a big doubt in his heart.
Had Mu Yan ever been to the Central Region? Had she planted a seed here?
If she had, why didn't someone like Ye Huang or the first Scarlet Institute director rise up, someone to lead humans to greatness?
Did she never come here?
If she did, why didn't she try to guide the Central Region humans in a new direction at the start of the Cataclysm?
He thought he might find the answer in the human main city.
As for how to change the future of the Central Region, on his way to the city center, new ideas started forming.
A forceful change clearly wasn't realistic.
That kind of method seemed simple, but it involved too much.
Even if it worked, it might drag the Central Region humans into the abyss.
Developing a cultivation system wasn't instant, and cultivation wasn't like the elf seed method where you could get strong fast. It needed day and night effort to absorb spiritual energy.
If he forced them onto a new path, their strength would drop sharply. Facing the expanding domain fields all around, the pressure would explode, and it might even lead to their destruction.
He thought, maybe he could open a spatial passage.
Connect Star City and the Central Region's main city.
Once the cities were linked, the Central Region humans would have a new choice.
Through interaction, ideas would shift.
Which cultivation system was stronger, which suited humanity better—they'd see for themselves.
This kind of change was more like cultural invasion.
It looked calm, but under the surface, it stirred waves. The Central Region people would slowly abandon the elf seed path, and accept cultivation techniques as their growth route.
Compared to the elf seed system, cultivation had many advantages.
A complete cultivation system could extend life and keep strengthening people, while the elf seed system led to eventual death by assimilation.
Growth potential was the greatest strength of cultivation.
Each generation stronger than the last—that was cultivation's most precious value.
By contrast, elf seeds gave quick power early on, but this growth was twisted, and couldn't be passed down.
Human bloodline strength didn't change much at all.
According to the old man, elf seeds planted by humans had grown stronger over these five hundred years.
But that strength came from the Elf King's own growth. The seeds it produced became stronger, but it had nothing to do with human physiques.
If this balance ever broke, and humans lost all value in the Elf King's eyes, that would be the moment of their extinction.
The thoughts in his mind got clearer, and the darkness in Feng Qi's heart faded.
He didn't hate the Elf King. After all, it played a key role in keeping the spark of humanity alive in the Central Region.
But if the Elf King refused to compromise, and wanted to keep enslaving humans to fight for it,
then he wouldn't hesitate to kill the Elf King.
Human freedom shouldn't be decided by the Elf King, nor should humans be tools for its growth.
Actually, he had a better option in mind.
But this option, which suited humanity more, required the Elf King's cooperation.
If the Elf King could be controlled by the humans of the Central Region, ensuring it would forever serve them, then its existence would mean something important for them.
By then, even if humanity faced doom after Mu Yan's defeat, at least they would still have a way to gain power.
Before solving the problems of Mu Yan and Mo,
the collapse of the human world and its growth system was an unavoidable disaster.
He had already prepared two paths for the future generations of Star City.
First, the Faith-based Growth System.
Using belief to draw on his own spirit sea's innate abilities, granting people power.
Second, the Rune Modification Route.
By improving the rune modification plan, after the collapse of the cultivation system, humans could embed rune crystals to gain strength.
He didn't mind opening a third path—the elf seed growth system.
Especially for the humans of the Central Region.
Compared to the other two paths, the elf seed system would clearly be easier for them to adapt to quickly.
But the hidden dangers of the elf seed system were even worse than rune modification.
The Elf King couldn't be controlled, the body would be eroded and assimilated, and so on.
If these problems could be solved, elf seeds could also become a source of strength for humans.
Thoughts surged in his mind, countless ideas rising.
He didn't think further on how to solve this now. Next, he decided to go to the Central Region's main city, to get a clearer picture of their current state.
Arriving at the area covered by the ancient tree, he looked up and saw countless sparkling green lights floating in the air, lighting up the city's center.
According to the old man, this city was a small border town of the Central Region.
But after the Cataclysm, it was abandoned for a long time, becoming a no-man's-land.
Later, as humans rose again with the elf seed system, they gradually reclaimed land, and this small city returned to human hands, becoming a key defensive line at the border.
To this day, countless human warriors had been buried here, and it had blocked many domain field invasions.
As he walked closer to the center, the closer he got to the ancient tree, the stronger the gentle fragrance became.
Following the old man's directions before he was assimilated, Feng Qi came to the base of the tree.
Looking up at the tree canopy, this giant tree stood like a sea-stabilizing pillar at the city's heart.
He began walking around the tree.
Finally, in his sight appeared a spiraling green staircase woven from branches and leaves.
With Xiao You and the others, he climbed the staircase. After a long walk, they reached the back of the tree, at the central platform.
This platform was also made of woven vines, big enough for over a hundred people to stand on.
Connected to the platform was a track, also woven from countless vines, stretching northwest towards the Central Region's main city.
As the old man had said, a train arrived here every day, bringing dying warriors from the main city.
Both the vine tracks and the train ran on energy released by the ancient tree.
He could see green energy flowing inside the vine tracks.
When they felt death approaching, warriors from the main city would board this train, come here, and wait for death, becoming one of the border city's guardians.
Standing at the edge of the platform, he looked down at the city covered in green, lost in thought.
Xiao You floated nearby, asleep. Po Jia was silent. Taihang stood at his feet, also gazing at the city with him. Lei Ting and the negative consciousness played around, their noise sometimes drifting by.
Time passed quickly.
When a red sun rose on the horizon, he saw a green "dragon" fall from the distant clouds, speeding along the track.
Soon, the train stopped at the ancient tree's platform.
Up close, he saw that this train wasn't made of steel, but built from plants.
The bottom of the train was circular, tightly locked to the vine track, drawing energy to move.
Inside, it was empty—this trip didn't bring any dying warriors from the main city.
When the leaf-woven doors opened, Feng Qi led Xiao You and the others onto the train.
After waiting about ten minutes, the ancient tree behind them trembled slightly.
The green dragon train immediately started moving, reversing along the track and flying up into the clouds.
He went to the window, sat on a vine-woven seat, leaned out, and looked back. The green-covered city shrank fast in his eyes.
The wind whipped across his face, and Feng Qi felt a rush of emotion.
At the crossroads of civilization, the humans of the Central Region had taken a different path from those in the Eastern Region, creating a whole new civilization.
Using plant energy as a power source really opened his eyes.
It only proved more that his guess was right—the elf seed growth system had become part of their civilization. Cutting it off would be extremely hard.
His gaze turned forward.
As the green dragon train broke through thick clouds, he saw the rising red sun, shining with endless light.
His mood lifted for no reason.
Even though things here weren't how he'd hoped, at least the spark of human civilization in the Central Region still burned.
Next, he would try to change the future of the Central Region's humans.
Uniting all human strength was his first step in resisting the domain invasion, and also his first step against the coming Great Momentum.