Feng Qi sat up from the sofa, rubbing his temples as he tried to clear his drowsiness.
After a moment of rest, he reached for his phone on the coffee table and dialed Wei Wei's number.
After a brief wait, the call connected.
He spoke directly, "Wei-jie, a new timeline has begun."
"Understood." Wei Wei's voice on the other end was calm, as if she had already expected this.
Ending the call, Feng Qi stood up, walked to the wardrobe, changed into a fresh set of clothes, and left his dormitory.
His next steps were already clearly laid out. Unless something unexpected happened, all he had to do was follow the plan step by step.
Since the future timeline had officially started, his first destination was the Crimson Research Institute.
As for Mu Qing, Lü Yue, and the others, there was no need to rush things.
The top priority was to confirm whether the spiritual faith connection could be established and whether he could inherit the abilities of his other self.
If he couldn't gain those abilities, then the battle line strategy would need to be adjusted—possibly shifting toward the Dawn Army line instead.
Revealing the truth to Mu Qing and the others too early might complicate the future timeline's trajectory.
Exiting the dormitory, he walked straight toward the academy's main entrance.
To head to the Crimson Research Institute, he would need to take an extended leave of absence. However, only Bai Fusheng had the authority to approve such a long leave.
But considering it was already late at night, calling for leave approval at this hour would be inappropriate.
So, he decided to depart first and contact Bai Fusheng tomorrow morning.
Since he was a faculty member, he had free movement privileges within the academy. He wasn't worried about security stopping him.
Still, he could already picture Bai Fusheng's frustrated reaction when he called to request leave tomorrow.
After all, he had just made a promise to Bai Fusheng yesterday.
Thinking of this, he began crafting an excuse in his mind.
To make Old Bai approve his leave without complaint, he needed to come up with a reason that would please him.
After some thought, he came up with a convincing excuse:
"Collaborating with the Crimson Research Institute on cultivation technique research!"
If he got the director of the institute to personally call Bai Fusheng and confirm the research project, then his leave request would become completely legitimate.
Thirty minutes later, he arrived at the academy's main entrance.
After verifying his identity with the security personnel, he walked through the gates and stood outside, waiting for the Crimson Research Institute's private vehicle to arrive.
Despite his confidence, there was still a hint of anxiety in his heart about whether the Miracle Bracelet could establish a cross-dimensional spiritual connection.
Even in the present timeline, Wei Wei had no way of testing it experimentally—the only way to know was for his sacrifice timeline self to test it firsthand.
Still, considering the other Miracle Artifacts and their reality-defying capabilities, he remained cautiously optimistic.
After some time, a military vehicle bearing the Crimson Research Institute's insignia arrived and pulled up outside the gates.
The driver was a muscular soldier, fully armed, from the Crimson Research Institute's combat division.
The soldier greeted Feng Qi before pressing a button to open the vehicle door.
Once Feng Qi was seated, the military vehicle turned and sped off toward the Crimson Research Institute.
3:00 AM
Feng Qi arrived at the Crimson Research Institute and followed Wei Wei into Training Room No.1.
This training room had been custom-built for him, equipped with the latest training facilities, advanced biometric monitoring devices, and even a high-end recovery pod for post-training recovery.
Feng Qi was very familiar with this place.
Every time a sacrifice timeline was activated, before heading into the main mission, he would train intensively here to enhance his physical capabilities.
But this time, something new had been added.
In the southern corner of the room, there was now a half-meter-tall jade statue.
It was a divine idol carefully crafted by the Crimson Research Institute and Wei Wei—an effigy of himself.
Inside the statue, they had embedded a special crystal containing a mixture of his own blood and spiritual energy.
Standing before the statue, Wei Wei turned to him and asked,
"Think you can do it?"
Feng Qi sighed helplessly and said,
"Trying to make myself believe in... myself? Only someone with extreme narcissism could pull this off."
Wei Wei chuckled, eyes filled with amusement.
"Need me to step outside for this?"
Feng Qi waved her off.
"No need. Worshiping is just a ritual—I don't need that part."
Saying this, he sat cross-legged before his own statue.
The jade figure depicted him holding a sword in one hand and a book in the other.
Taking a deep breath, he began to focus his mind, attempting to establish faith in himself.
But after a few moments, he shook his head.
The whole thing felt absurd—forcing himself to worship himself just didn't sit right.
Still unwilling to give up, he tried again…
As time passed, Feng Qi continued to experience failure.
After another unsuccessful attempt, he couldn't help but shake his head.
At that moment, Wei Wei, who had been standing nearby, placed her hand on his shoulder and said,
"Remember what I told you before? Faith can also be built on unwavering trust. My own faith was established in this way. Try thinking about all the efforts you've made across multiple sacrifice timelines."
She paused briefly before continuing,
"In reality, your faith in yourself doesn't have to be about deifying yourself. It can simply be about holding an unwavering belief in the salvation you're striving for. That other version of you carries all of our hopes. You don't need to force yourself to worship him—you just need to trust him wholeheartedly."
Hearing this, Feng Qi's mind underwent a subtle shift.
Believing in another version of himself was difficult. But believing in his unwavering dedication to saving humanity—that was something he had never doubted.
Every sacrifice timeline was about paving the way for the success of the other him.
His doubts began to dissolve, and suddenly, his mind felt much clearer.
Taking a deep breath, he gazed at the jade statue.
Memories of countless sacrifice timelines flashed through his mind—along with the blessings left behind at their end.
His trust solidified.
He believed that his other self would eventually succeed, that he would lead humanity to a glorious future.
Something within him began to change.
The way he looked at the statue transformed—there was now a profound sense of conviction in his gaze.
A strange, indescribable force stirred within his heart.
Sacrifice, dedication, selflessness, ideals... Every one of these emotions carried an unshakable resolve, and that resolve was its own form of faith.
This faith had nothing to do with gods—it was purer, free of expectations for return.
It was simply a selfless blessing, a hopeful anticipation.
Tiny spiritual glimmers began to gather in his sea of consciousness, gradually growing brighter.
And then, suddenly—
He saw a vast golden ocean.
The initial spiritual connection had silently formed, and the Miracle Bracelet had received his unwavering trust, transcending space and time.
At last, he felt the existence of his other self.
But the presence in his perception seemed to be asleep. His spiritual sea was eerily silent, utterly different from its usual turbulent state.
Whenever a sacrifice timeline began, he had always speculated about what happened to his other self.
Theory one: The moment the sacrifice timeline was activated, his other self would be instantly transported 1,500 years into the future.
Theory two: His other self would enter a dormant state for a period of time before eventually waking up in the future.
Judging by the current state of his spiritual sea, he was now more inclined to believe the second theory.
Time travel clearly took time. His other self was likely still asleep, and when he finally woke up, it would feel as if no time had passed at all.
For now, he had planted the seed of spiritual connection within his other self's sea of consciousness.
He could even see the slowly rotating golden-red core and the other talent ability nodes within that space.
However, at this moment, his spiritual glimmers were still too weak. He couldn't move freely within the sea of consciousness, let alone merge with the ability nodes.
But at the very least—the connection was established.
This meant that the Battle Line had successfully taken its first step forward.
All he needed to do next was strengthen the connection.
It was like digging a channel leading to the sea—the wider the channel, the easier it would be to borrow power when the time came.
Feng Qi opened his eyes, a smile forming on his lips.
"It looks like you succeeded," Wei Wei said.
"Thanks for the guidance, Wei-jie."
"It wasn't me," she replied with a smirk. "Even if I hadn't reminded you, you would have figured it out eventually. The most important thing is whether you truly trust yourself."
Then, she flashed him a mischievous smile.
"Establishing the connection is just the first step. The real challenge is learning how to manipulate your spiritual medium to move freely within your other self's spiritual sea. For now, focus on strengthening the connection. I have work to do."
As she turned to leave, Feng Qi closed his eyes again.
His next step was to continuously deepen the spiritual link, gradually learning how to navigate his other self's consciousness, and eventually, merge with the ability nodes to access their full power.
Three days later.
After a full morning of spiritual practice, Feng Qi felt mentally exhausted and stood up from his spot.
Glancing at his jade statue, he walked toward the data terminal in the corner of the training room.
After completing identity verification, the screen lit up, displaying several options:
Crimson Database Access (Highest-Level Clearance)
Training Footage Retrieval (Highest-Level Clearance)
Training Data Access - Real-Time Physical Metrics
External Network Query Access (Crimson Highest-Level Clearance Activated)
Star City Surveillance Retrieval (Crimson Highest-Level Clearance Activated)
…
Currently, Feng Qi was one of the highest-authority holders in Crimson Research Institute, meaning he could retrieve both internal and external information with the institute's top clearance level.
Scrolling through the data list, he selected "Cultivation Technique Database."
His next step was to find an opportunity to become stronger through the cultivation archives.
At this stage, human cultivation techniques had very few that could truly enhance his abilities. Compared to his Blood Source talent and other innate abilities, cultivation techniques were practically ineffective.
After all, human cultivation research had only developed for a little over 500 years, making its foundation still relatively shallow.
Choosing a cultivation technique from the database was far less practical than borrowing innate abilities through spiritual faith connection—which not only granted him power instantly but also eliminated the need for long, tedious training.
However, there were exceptions.
When human cultivation research was first established, it was like planting a tree. Over time, in addition to its main trunk growing stronger, many side branches had developed as well.
These side branches were considered "unconventional paths."
For example, the Rune Enhancement Project was later classified under cultivation studies, but it was ultimately a deviation from traditional cultivation.
These unconventional paths had a few common characteristics:
Unstable
High risk during cultivation
Because of these dangers, most "deviant" cultivation techniques were classified as "forbidden techniques", inaccessible to the general public.
This time, Feng Qi was searching for one of these forbidden techniques.
A technique known as "Momentum".
His first encounter with the concept of Momentum was through Lü Yue.
Lü Yue's swordsmanship had incorporated Sword Momentum, an ability that intrigued Feng Qi at the time.
It was only after Lin Ran explained it to him that he truly understood what Momentum was. Later, he even conducted his own research on it.
However, public information on Momentum was scarce. He had no access to its training methods at the time.
Even so, he learned from the available data that Momentum was a highly unique cultivation method.
Sword Momentum, Blade Momentum, Qi Momentum… any attack method could be condensed into a Momentum, integrating with a weapon's essence, energy, and spirit.
One of its defining characteristics was that it was not dependent on the quality or reserve of one's spiritual energy.
The strength of one's Momentum depended only on one's comprehension of it.
This fascinated Feng Qi.
Now that he had officially started the Battle Line, he was determined to delve deeper into this concept to see if he could cultivate a Momentum of his own.
Opening the Cultivation Technique Database, he typed "Momentum" into the search bar.
After a brief wait, relevant information popped up—including a detailed description of Momentum.
According to the database, Momentum was described as a tangible aura, and the requirements to cultivate it were extremely strict—one needed an unwavering will and ironclad determination.
It was an esoteric and elusive ability system.
During its early development, many cultivators attempted to train in Momentum but failed to control it, resulting in various degrees of self-inflicted damage, even mental breakdowns.
This was the main reason Momentum was classified as a forbidden technique.
If it were widely promoted, it could destabilize the already fragile foundation of human cultivation research.
Back in the early years of the Cataclysm, every cultivator was an extremely valuable asset to humanity. Allowing them to blindly experiment with unstable techniques could have led to significant losses.
Thus, it made sense that Momentum was eventually banned.
As he continued reading, Feng Qi gained a deeper understanding of Momentum.
His interest in training Momentum stemmed from one key reason: it was completely unrelated to spiritual meridians, acupoints, or physical body refinement.
This meant that even if he learned it in the Sacrifice Line, his Real-Time Line self could still use it effortlessly.
Momentum was like a special type of knowledge.
It could not be explained through words or text, yet it undeniably existed.
There was another major reason why he was interested in training Momentum.
Most types of Momentum were tied to weapons. The cultivation process required continuous attunement with a weapon until reaching a state of absolute unity, forming a domain of aura (Weapon Field).
Just like Lü Yue's Sword Momentum Domain, where sword energy filled the entire area, making it extremely lethal.
Feng Qi had always wondered if he could train a Momentum of his own using a similar method.
However, when it came to choosing a weapon, he refused to use blades, swords, or any other cold weapons.
Through countless sacrifice timelines and battles in Future Dreamscapes, he had already perfected his personal combat style.
Compared to cold weapons, he preferred using his fists.
Only close-range, bone-crushing melee combat could ignite his fighting spirit.
Even his innate abilities were tailored for melee combat, especially Blood Source and Purple Soul, which shaped his overbearing, ferocious fighting style.
If he were to train Momentum, there was only one choice—
Fist Momentum.
At that thought, he couldn't help but think of the narrator.
"If the narrator were here, they'd probably be dying to shower me with praise right now."