Watching Little Black drift swiftly from the distance, Feng Qi couldn't help but smile.
After leaving the Crimson Secret Base, he knew there wasn't enough time to delve into learning at the Star City Shelter. So, he made a decisive choice—to use his remaining moments to test the Black Mist Lord.
The reason he waited over 20 minutes in front of the mist was clear: he was waiting for Little Black to arrive. Before his death, he wanted to deliver the Black Mist Lord a "Little Black gift package."
As the grayish-white mist gradually engulfed his vision, he saw Little Black transform into a mist-like form and merge with the Black Mist Lord's territory. Immediately, the gray mist began dissipating at a visible speed.
The negative energy within the mist was being devoured rapidly.
Based on the Crimson Research Institute's analysis of Little Black, it was capable of consuming energy in any form. This included the negative energy saturating the Black Mist Lord's domain.
Faced with Little Black's intrusion, the Mist surged violently, crashing like tidal waves toward Little Black's misty form. Yet Little Black accepted it all with open arms.
Every point of contact between the Black Mist Lord's power and Little Black resulted in instant dissolution. The energy failed to unleash any effect, becoming mere sustenance for Little Black, making it even more formidable.
The Black Mist Lord's attention remained fully focused on Little Black, only restraining Feng Qi without taking further action. This allowed Feng Qi, though immobilized, to calmly spectate the battle.
Watching Little Black handle the Black Mist Lord's relentless assault with ease, Feng Qi was once again struck by Little Black's overwhelming power.
"Wow, Little Black is practically an energy killer. If you could control it, you'd be invincible against any form of energy attack," the narrator exclaimed.
"What about direct physical attacks?" Feng Qi asked.
"Then just have Little Black expand into mist form and wrap around you. At that point, you'd basically be wearing an anti-magic armor crafted by Little Black itself. Combine Suction Cup for offense and Little Black for defense, and you'd be unstoppable."
Hearing this explanation, Feng Qi felt his desire to control Little Black grow even stronger.
Meanwhile, the battle continued. No matter how fiercely the Black Mist Lord attacked, the mist's contact with Little Black only resulted in absorption—it couldn't breach Little Black's defenses.
When Suction Cup had first fought Little Black, Feng Qi assumed that while physical attacks were ineffective, energy-based attacks might work. Yet the more he learned, the more he realized he'd been completely wrong.
Compared to physical attacks, Little Black was even more adept at countering energy-based ones. Physical blows might not harm Little Black, but energy attacks became its nourishment.
He couldn't fathom the potential terror of Little Black's so-called "third form," as described in the Crimson Research Institute's records—a fully evolved state. It might even reach the human classification of "Chaos-level" calamity.
The battle raged on.
The Black Mist Lord was undoubtedly powerful, but against Little Black, it was utterly outmatched. Watching Little Black systematically overwhelm the Black Mist Lord, Feng Qi began to imagine counters as if calculating stats.
Black Mist Lord Energy: -1
Little Black Buff: +1
As this tug-of-war continued, Little Black's misty form grew increasingly ferocious, surging like an ocean pressing forward.
Faced with Little Black's relentless onslaught, the Black Mist Lord finally faltered.
The mist, filled with negative energy, began retreating. In the process, it carried Feng Qi along with it.
However, the Black Mist Lord clearly underestimated Little Black, whose target wasn't the Black Mist Lord—it was Feng Qi, who was being dragged away.
Seeing this, Little Black showed no sign of relenting. The black mist continued pressing forward.
After retreating several hundred meters, the Mist condensed into a humanoid form with Lin Ran's face. It roared at Little Black in what seemed like a warning.
Little Black, unfazed, continued its advance.
It was as if Little Black's attitude said, "Come at me, if you dare."
"That's why they call it Black-the-Unyielding. Straightforward, no-nonsense, and never backs down," the narrator quipped.
Seeing the Black Mist Lord retreating under Little Black's pressure brought an uncontrollable smile to Feng Qi's face.
In the presence of Little Black, the Black Mist Lord was clearly being overpowered. Attacking was futile, and intimidation even more so. The only choice left was to retreat.
After another few hundred meters, the Black Mist Lord seemed to lose its patience entirely. The swirling mist began compressing and retracting. Even the misty chains binding Feng Qi dissolved and joined the core mass, causing him to drop unceremoniously to the ground.
To his surprise, the Mist eventually coalesced into Lin Ran's humanoid form.
Now fully exposed without the surrounding mist, countless sinister spirits that had been hidden within the Black Mist Lord's domain were revealed. They began circling ominously above its head.
Compared to Feng Qi's memories of Lin Ran, the figure before him was unsettlingly different—its hair and eyes gleamed with an unnatural purple hue. It stared expressionlessly at Little Black, which was closing in again.
As the purple light in the Black Mist Lord's eyes grew brighter, it suddenly threw a punch forward.
This time, the Black Mist Lord changed its attack strategy.
Clearly, it had realized that energy-based assaults were utterly ineffective against Little Black.
The punch moved forward slowly, but it seemed to carry the weight of an entire realm. Tiny black cracks appeared in the space ahead of the fist, forming and closing in rapid succession.
This punch shattered the fabric of space itself.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion reverberated as the ground trembled. The energy burst carved a trench over ten meters deep into the earth, scattering rocks and debris in all directions as it barreled toward Little Black.
Yet, when the shockwave struck Little Black, it passed straight through. Little Black continued its advance, seemingly unaffected.
Seeing this, the Black Mist Lord's previously stoic expression cracked with shock.
As Little Black closed in, the Black Mist Lord suddenly turned and leapt into the air.
Seeing this, Feng Qi shouted mockingly, "Running already? Aren't you going to take your daddy with you?"
The Black Mist Lord ignored his taunts. Midair, it twisted around and sent a powerful palm strike toward Feng Qi.
A violent gale surged forth, pinning Feng Qi to the ground. The overwhelming force rendered him immobile.
His body began to crack and splinter at an alarming rate.
As his bones shattered inch by inch, Feng Qi's vision darkened, and he dissolved into a pile of ash.
After his death, a deep five-fingered handprint was left in the ground where he had stood.
Once the Black Mist Lord fled, Little Black made no attempt to pursue. Instead, it floated over to Feng Qi's remains. The black mist extended forward, consuming the ashes he left behind.
But Feng Qi could no longer witness this scene.
When Feng Qi opened his eyes, he realized he was back in the real world.
That single slap had caught him completely off guard.
His intention had been to provoke the Black Mist Lord, hoping to keep it occupied in battle against Little Black. However, the Black Mist Lord's decisive strike had sent him into instant oblivion.
"Words have consequences. But honestly, the Black Mist Lord couldn't handle Little Black, even with all its strength. It's hard to imagine how the Institute of Technological Research managed to create Little Black in the first place. Good thing they couldn't control it—otherwise, the consequences would've been disastrous," the narrator remarked.
Feng Qi nodded in agreement.
When he was still weak, he had confidently declared that he would one day defeat Little Black, even going so far as to swear, "Next time for sure."
But the more he learned, the more powerless he felt against Little Black. At this stage, it was an unsolvable enigma. Even the Black Mist Lord, capable of annihilating humanity with ease, had no choice but to flee when faced with Little Black.
To reach the strength needed to contend with Little Black, Feng Qi estimated he would have to venture into the dream of the future countless times—perhaps hundreds, or even thousands.
"Think about it this way: the stronger Little Black becomes, the more unstoppable you'll be once you gain control of it," the narrator reasoned.
"You've got a point!" Feng Qi said with a grin.
Standing up from the couch, he walked to his desk and opened a notebook. It was time to document the gains from his latest trip to the future.
With a wave of his hand, the pen on the desk floated up, guided by his telekinesis, and began scribbling notes in the notebook.
The first section detailed his newfound strength.
This time in the future dream, he had obtained the special ability and prefix title Steel Bones. After killing eight of the small snails, he had leveled it up to Tier 3, enhancing his bone strength by 60%.
Most importantly, he had finally completed a bloodline evolution, significantly boosting his overall power. He now had the ability to switch between Human Form and Battle Form.
As he wrote this, an idea crossed Feng Qi's mind. He closed his eyes, focusing inward. In his mental sea, the golden ocean of his consciousness became vividly clear. He directed his thoughts toward the golden orb at the center, touching it lightly. Instantly, the blood-red energy within surged, overtaking the orb entirely.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw that he had transformed into his Battle Form. His flesh and blood were gone, leaving only skeletal remains.
Glancing down at his skeletal frame, he studied it closely before switching back to Human Form. While his Battle Form was powerful, wandering outside his dorm in that state would likely cause others to mistake him for a Domain Transcender and attack him on sight.
In such a case, his death would be both swift and certain.
"Well, it's a handy survival tool. If you're ever ambushed or in a life-threatening situation, just switch to Battle Form and activate your Blood Source ability. You could even use your massive chest muscles to crush your assassins to death!"
Feng Qi: "..."
Next, he began documenting the intelligence he had gathered.
Intelligence Gain 1: Confirmed that the Tiger Soul Research Institute had been infiltrated by Domain Forces. Moreover, the ultimate technique that would eventually lead to humanity's destruction was developed by the Tiger Soul Research Institute.
Intelligence Gain 2: Confirmed that Old Wang had not betrayed humanity. In the previous timeline, he had been controlled (possessed) by the Black Mist Lord.
Intelligence Gain 3: Determined that Little Black's loss of control was likely tied to the Tiger Soul Research Institute. Their Disturbance Source Plan may have been designed specifically for Little Black, aiming to sabotage the rise of the Institute of Technological Research.
Note: The Domain Forces are not a monolithic entity. This might be exploitable to secure benefits for humanity in the future.
Intelligence Gain 4: Obtained detailed plans for the Brain in a Vat project.
Intelligence Gain 5: Discovered that the Black Mist Lord does not have a fixed host. It can possess anyone.
Note: Abandoned the idea of stopping Lin Ran from developing his technique.
Even if Lin Ran is stopped, someone else will inevitably take his place. As long as the individual has influence, they have the potential to become the next Black Mist Lord.
This trip to the future had been exceptionally rewarding.
Once again, Feng Qi uncovered a hidden Domain Force faction embedded within humanity. This particular faction seemed even more formidable than the Domain Force backing the Institute of Technological Research.
Based on current intelligence, the Institute of Technological Research was clearly outmatched by the Tiger Soul Research Institute. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been blindsided by their actions.
After finishing his notes, Feng Qi leaned back in his chair and pondered a crucial question:
Since Flesh Sacrifice would eventually become the trigger for humanity's downfall, could a counter-technique be developed to neutralize its hidden dangers entirely?
If Flesh Sacrifice was akin to a virus, the counter-technique he envisioned would be a vaccine. Vaccinated humans would no longer have to fear the latent dangers of Flesh Sacrifice.
Prevention would trump suppression.
If this could be achieved, Flesh Sacrifice would not only cease to be a threat to humanity but could also become a driving force for humanity's cultivation progress. It would transform into a divine-level technique without any associated risks.
"It'll be tough, but it's worth a shot. I can already imagine the Black Mist Lord's expression when their grand scheme backfires."
"Raising humanity like crops for 1,500 years only to lose it all… they'd probably feel like spitting blood, hahaha!"
"Hahaha!" Feng Qi burst out laughing, mentally replaying the narrator's vivid depiction.