420 of Dawn.
After the New Year, Star City resumed its high-speed operations.
Ji He also began his new plans.
Database information showed that the Rift Heaven Divine Clan posed no significant threat to Star City at this moment, but the real danger came from the future.
However, history was changing. Ji He believed that the future of this timeline wouldn't necessarily follow the same path as the previous timeline. As the leader of humanity, he had to be responsible for humanity in this timeline.
The most important point was that the Rift Heaven Divine Clan's existence had already cut off one of humanity's northern resource channels.
For the old Star City, the western supply zone provided a continuous stream of resources.
But in the new era, the number of powerful and capable races was increasing.
Being cut off from a resource channel was extremely disadvantageous to Star City's development.
At the same time, dispersing the Rift Heaven domain would bring unimaginable wealth to humanity, which would significantly speed up Star City's development.
Considering the pros and cons and long-term factors, Ji He's desire to eliminate the Rift Heaven domain became even stronger.
The detailed intelligence on the Rift Heaven Divine Clan was stored in the database.
The first thing that could be clearly confirmed was that the Rift Heaven Divine Clan possessed a miraculous item called "Seal."
The effect of this miraculous item was that it could instantly block the target's abilities and thoughts, causing them to lose perception and control over their physical body.
Fortunately, this miraculous item could only be used on a single target and couldn't affect a group, which gave the war more room for maneuver.
Secondly, the Rift Heaven Divine Clan's population wasn't very large, and even in the future, it wouldn't reach the scale of a million.
This proved that the Rift Heaven Divine Clan had a low birthrate, but the advantage was that each warrior in the clan had strong combat ability.
One of humanity's advantages over the Rift Heaven Divine Clan was the sheer number of warriors.
However, this wasn't enough for humanity to defeat the Rift Heaven Divine Clan.
History in the previous timeline proved that the Rift Heaven Divine Clan would inevitably become a major threat to humanity in the future.
It had once enslaved some of humanity in a past timeline.
To defeat the Rift Heaven Divine Clan, Ji He's first idea was to pull the Mist Clan and Silver Moon Clan into the war.
But getting these two races to join forces with humanity against the Rift Heaven Divine Clan, opening up the northern resource channel, was clearly not an easy task.
At this stage, the cooperation between allied races was still based on resource and technological complementarity.
There had never been cooperation in external warfare.
Therefore, figuring out how to get the Mist Clan and Silver Moon Clan onto the battlefield was a problem Ji He had to solve.
He first thought of establishing an allied combat group, gradually deepening the cooperation into warfare.
To this end, he convened the highest-level meeting of Star City.
During the meeting, when Ji He proposed to wage war against the Rift Heaven Divine Clan, there were both supportive and opposing voices.
Faced with the arguing voices in the meeting, Ji He made the following statement:
"I know what you are all thinking—you must think that the Rift Heaven Divine Clan is too strong, that we are not currently capable of confronting them, but you have to understand one thing: the Rift Heaven Divine Clan's growth rate is faster than ours. This is a hurdle we must eventually overcome, whether now or in the future. Right now, the Silver Moon Clan is still our ally, and the Mist Clan is under the control of the Mist Lord. For the sake of our future generations, we must fight this battle!"
Perhaps some were still unhappy with Ji He's decision.
But once Ji He made his decision, they could no longer change the course of the war against the Rift Heaven Divine Clan.
This was Ji He—a dictator in the eyes of many.
In the years that followed, Star City began to consolidate its external forces and prepare for the upcoming war.
Meanwhile, at the allied race meeting, Ji He presented the idea of establishing a joint combat group to the Silver Moon Clan and Mist Clan. Through joint operations, they would prepare for future cooperation in external warfare.
Unbeknownst to Ji He, the elder councils of both the Mist Clan and the Silver Moon Clan did not find any issue with the proposal to deepen the cooperation. They immediately agreed to Ji He's plan.
They decided to set the joint training location in the Silver Moon Clan's supply zone.
After the meeting ended and Ji He returned to Star City, he began working on the next step of his plan.
History had already provided the answer as to which of the two clans—Mist or Silver Moon—was more reliable. The Mist Clan, led by the Mist Lord, had never betrayed humanity, and the Mist Lord had fulfilled his vow to the human ancestor, Feng Qi, to watch over humanity's descendants.
Thus, gaining the Mist Clan's support in the war was not difficult.
However, getting the Mist Clan to commit all their forces to the battlefield was clearly unrealistic.
The Mist Clan was located far to the east, beyond the Eastern Sea. They could only arrive via spatial transmission arrays, and their main force had to remain in Mist City. It was impossible for the entire clan to join the battle, but they could provide partial support in terms of strength.
On the other hand, the Silver Moon Clan was different. They were adjacent to Star City and could fully mobilize their entire clan to join the war.
The challenge was how to convince the Silver Moon Clan to fully commit to the war without risking the weakening of their own forces.
And in this battle, Ji He not only wanted the Silver Moon Clan to commit all their forces but also to make them the absolute main force of the war.
If this could be achieved, it would not only suppress the Silver Moon Clan's power but also reduce humanity's losses in this war.
The purpose of war is nothing but the pursuit of benefits.
Ji He aimed to weave a large net of interests to get the Silver Moon Clan to voluntarily join the war, even becoming the initiator of the battle against the Rift Heaven Divine Clan.
The second step of the plan was to create that web of benefits.
Ji He already had a clear plan in mind.
One day, Ji He, guided by the elders of the Mist Clan, arrived at Mist City and entered the Mist Hall to meet the Mist Lord.
The Mist Lord was seated cross-legged in mid-air, surrounded by swirling blood-colored liquid.
Ji He remained neither humble nor arrogant, his gaze steady as he looked at the Mist Lord, who was meditating with his eyes closed.
After a long while, the Mist Lord opened his eyes. The blood-like energy surrounding his body was absorbed into him, and a purple light flowed in his eyes. His cold gaze swept over Ji He.
Their eyes met, and the Mist Lord spoke:
"Ji He, is it? What brings you to seek me out?"
"As a member of the highest council of Star City, I request the Mist Lord's assistance," Ji He replied.
"Member of Star City's highest council? If I'm not mistaken, you're now the de facto ruler of Star City. Saying you're just a council member is a bit too humble, isn't it?"
As he spoke, the Mist Lord's eyes gleamed with a hint of mockery.
Ji He didn't argue. He simply said calmly:
"Mist Lord, you don't need to concern yourself with the internal matters of humanity."
"Is this the attitude you should have when asking for help?" The Mist Lord was taken aback.
Smiling slightly, Ji He responded:
"My attitude doesn't matter to you. You clearly won't change your decision based on it. The relationship between humanity and the Mist Clan is built on your bond with Ancestor Feng Qi, isn't it?"
"Hahaha, interesting. Just as you said, if it weren't for that guy, even if you were kneeling before me now, I wouldn't care... So, you're not seeking help as a member of the Star City Council, but rather as a descendant of Feng Qi, right?"
"You promised Ancestor Feng Qi that you would look after his descendants."
The Mist Lord looked at Ji He, who had spoken so boldly, with a slightly helpless expression before replying:
"Speak then, what help do you need?"
"I want to build a domain field. I know that you personally built the Mist Clan's domain field, and this technology is something humanity desperately needs."
"Build a domain field? What do you want to do with it?"
The Mist Lord was puzzled.
Although the human world and domain fields were separated, with the increasing invasion of domains, in the future, domain fields would eventually be integrated into the human world. The new world would come sooner or later.
The Mist Lord had built a domain field to help his people adapt to the human world environment, as the Mist Clan's physiology was still incompatible with the human world.
In human terms, the Mist Clan wasn't a domain transcendent species yet.
But humanity was the dominant species in the human world, so building a domain field seemed confusing and even pointless to him.
"This matter involves a secret within humanity, so I cannot disclose it to you for now."
Hearing this, the Mist Lord did not press further but nodded and said:
"I can give you the technology for building the domain field. Just contact my clan's elder council, and they will cooperate fully with you in building the domain field."
"I hope the Mist Lord will keep this matter confidential."
"Alright."
"Thank you."
Ji He nodded solemnly, then turned and walked out of the hall.
After Ji He left, the Mist Lord fell into deep thought.
The clues were limited, and he couldn't understand Ji He's purpose for wanting to build a domain field. However, it was clear that humanity wasn't building it for themselves but for some other purpose.
After a long while, still unsure of the reasons, the Mist Lord looked up and gazed in the direction Ji He had gone. A smile appeared on his lips:
"This Ji He is quite interesting... If I'm not mistaken, that guy is likely hiding in the background, observing the situation unfold."
...
Upon returning to Star City, Ji He once again convened the highest council meeting.
After arranging the plan to collaborate with the Mist Clan's elder council on building the domain field, Ji He classified the matter as top secret.
The next day, Ji He used a spatial transmission array to travel to Winterfell City.
After passing through a twisted, colorful passage, it felt like entering another world. The temperature dropped sharply, and all he could see was heavy snow swirling around.
At the exit of the passage, members of the Dawn Military Department, who had been contacted in advance, were already waiting. They immediately approached as soon as they saw Ji He.
After getting in the vehicle, Ji He, led by soldiers from the Winterfell Military Department, met with the head of the Dawn Military Department.
The head of the Dawn Military Department was an elderly man with graying hair. He was the fifth leader of the Dawn Legion in the post-era.
The strongest warrior of humanity, Mu Qing, followed Mu Yan to the Path of Ascension many centuries ago. After the former Dawn Legion purged the domain forces rooted in Winterfell City, especially the high-ranking members of the military department, they merged with the Winterfell military to form the Dawn Army.
It was a turbulent period that caused a significant impact on Winterfell City's development.
Ji He learned about this history in detail through historical records.
According to the words Mu Qing left behind when she departed, she would do her best to buy time for humanity's development on the Path of Ascension. However, if the defense could not be held, she would return with Mu Yan and the other warriors.
Thus, humanity's strongest warrior, Mu Qing, faded from public view.
Today, the Dawn Army has become the strongest symbol of military power in Winterfell City, guarding humanity's northern borders.
As the years passed, the only thing that remained unchanged was their shared goal. Before Mu Qing left, she integrated Feng Qi's Dawn Will into Winterfell City.
A statue of Feng Qi, the hero, had already been erected in Winterfell City.
This was also one of the reasons Winterfell City agreed to merge with Star City when they discussed the construction of Dawn City.
When Ji He arrived this time, he didn't hide his intentions. He made it clear that he wanted to go to war with the Rift Heaven Divine Clan and hoped to receive military support from Winterfell City.
The current leader of the Dawn Army didn't immediately agree. Instead, he called for an internal meeting within the Dawn Army.
After the meeting, the Dawn Army gave their response:
The war is inevitable!
Ji He had expected this response from Winterfell City.
Once the new city is completed, Winterfell City will merge with Star City. As fellow humans, their bloodlines are connected, making them the most steadfast future companions.
Most importantly, the descendants of the Dawn Army are also inheritors of the Dawn Will.
They share the same ideals of struggle.
This was also the reason Ji He swiftly executed all those who sought to destroy Feng Qi's faith and the Dawn Will.
By undermining the foundation of humanity, the basis for unity was lost.
After returning from Winterfell City to Star City, Ji He began preparations for the next phase.
A month later, he summoned the leader of the Dawn Expeditionary Corps and shared part of his plan with him.
He instructed the leader of the Expeditionary Corps to follow the coordinates left by Feng Qi and search for the ruins of the Silver Serpent Empire. They were to bring back all the technological and mechanical parts left behind in the ruins.
This plan was classified as top-secret, with strict orders to prevent any leaks.
The plan to weave a web of interests for the Silver Moon Clan officially began.
He aimed to drive the Silver Moon Clan crazy for profit and make them the absolute main force in the war against the Rift Heaven Divine Clan.
After arranging the relevant matters, Ji He set his sights on the distant central region, a bustling city full of flowers and greenery.
There, the blood of humanity still remains.
However, seeking the help of the Elf City is clearly not as simple as it was with Winterfell City.
There is no Dawn Will or Feng Qi's faith in Elf City. Although they share the same human bloodline, the humans in Elf City have developed a new civilization based on the elven system.
Their only connection to humanity might be the literal meaning of the word "human."
Convincing the Elf City to participate in the war would not be easy. After all, war always leads to casualties, which would be a loss for the Elf City as well.
Nevertheless, Ji He decided to personally visit Elf City.
By using information gaps and even promising benefits, he would inject a powerful supporting force into the upcoming war to drive out the Rift Heaven Divine Clan.
Ji He always believed that, compared to the previous timeline, Star City now had too many advantages.
However, these advantages had not been fully utilized under the inertia of the predecessors' thinking.
Comprehensive development, overall military strength, new technologies… More importantly, Star City now has many potential allies who can become a valuable fighting force.
While the Rift Heaven Divine Clan is powerful, Ji He only sees them as one race.
They will have to face a vast alliance army built by humanity.
This is the treasure left behind by Feng Qi for the future generations, which can be turned into a potential fighting force at any time. Why not use it?
Once the Rift Heaven domain field is cleared, it will bring massive resources to humanity and open up a northern resource acquisition channel.
If they win this battle, humanity will deter surrounding domain forces, causing them to fear humanity.
Ji He aims to win this battle and secure a century of stability and rapid development for humanity.