Star City Academy.
"Click."
As the principal's office door shut behind him, Feng Qi headed straight toward the teaching building.
The moment he returned from Crimson Research Institute, he had gone straight to the principal's office to report his activities during his leave of absence to Bai Fusheng.
Throughout Bai Fusheng's advice and reminders, he nodded attentively and listened carefully.
Especially when Bai Fusheng urged him to spend more time researching cultivation techniques, he readily agreed, promising to keep it in mind.
Of course, Feng Qi had far more pressing priorities.
Making this promise was just a way to put Bai Fusheng at ease, so he wouldn't constantly worry about him going astray.
In the future, all he had to do was periodically steal a few cultivation techniques from the future and present them as his own research—that way, Bai Fusheng wouldn't say anything more.
Leaving the principal's office, he made his way directly to the classroom.
During the 14 days he had been on leave, the students of Combat Class Three had been in a semi-self-study state.
Basically, it was up to them whether they attended class or not.
Some students might have gone to audit lectures from other combat classes, but as for Hui Xu, he had clearly spent the last two weeks slacking off.
Feng Qi still had a lot of knowledge about cultivation studies to impart.
So today, he decided to teach a serious lesson.
He had already notified the class through their group chat, ensuring that everyone would be present.
By the time he arrived at the classroom, Mu Qing, Lin Ran, and the others were already there, waiting.
Stepping up to the podium, Feng Qi scanned the familiar faces and smiled.
Especially when his gaze landed on Lin Ran, his mind instinctively recalled the scene from the previous sacrifice timeline—Lin Ran, eyes red with determination, willingly sacrificing himself to advance the timeline's progress.
Heroes don't shed tears.
But history never records their struggles and suffering.
Behind every glorious legend, there are always countless untold sacrifices.
Thinking back to the Lin Ran of the previous timeline, Feng Qi felt a deep ache in his heart.
Now, seeing his "old friend" once again, a warmth spread through him.
It felt like a wilted flower buried deep within his soul had suddenly bloomed once more, making everything seem beautiful again.
As for the other students, Feng Qi had always held high expectations for them.
Across multiple timelines, he had shared many experiences with these future Dawn Organization members.
Especially Lü Yue.
He didn't speak much, but he had always stood firmly by Feng Qi's side.
In multiple timelines, Lü Yue had even sacrificed his own life for Feng Qi.
That kind of unwavering loyalty left an indelible mark on his soul.
So how to cultivate them into strong warriors as quickly as possible was something Feng Qi had been constantly thinking about.
The road ahead is too lonely to walk alone.
He needed steadfast companions.
And these students had already proven their dedication across various timelines—they were worthy of being nurtured into his future allies.
That day, Feng Qi gave a serious lecture on the principles of cultivation techniques.
After class, he took the students to the training field, where they all sat on the grass, and he asked about their recent progress.
Just as he expected—aside from Hui Xu, who had been coasting through life, the other students had all been actively learning on their own.
As for Hui Xu, he was still playing the fool, hiding his true strength.
According to what Hui Xu had revealed in the sacrifice timeline, his real reason for attending Star City Academy was because of Le Ping'an.
The origin of this situation traced back to the Prajna Domain Combat Squad.
While secretly fighting against the Psionic Race, the Prajna Squad discovered that a rogue faction had broken away from the Psionic Race—and had even stolen a miraculous artifact.
For the Prajna Squad, which was actively searching for miracle items, this was an irresistible opportunity.
They launched multiple covert investigations.
Eventually, they identified that when Le Ping'an enrolled in Star City Academy, his body contained an unknown energy signature.
To most organizations, this energy was unremarkable.
But to the Prajna Squad, who had been fighting the Psionic Race in the shadows, it was instantly recognizable—it was the Death Mark, an energy used by the Psionic Race to control their subordinates.
From this, the Prajna Squad theorized that Le Ping'an might be connected to the rogue faction of the Psionic Race.
Hui Xu had infiltrated Star City Academy with the sole purpose of tracking down this rogue faction and recovering the miracle item.
However, after Le Ping'an's death, Hui Xu feared that acting too soon might alert the enemy, so he chose to stay hidden instead of leaving immediately.
Now, he was simply biding his time, waiting for the right moment to make his move.
The one thing Feng Qi still couldn't figure out was:
Why did Hui Xu eventually become a spiritual mentor instead of leading the Prajna Squad in battle against domain creatures?
In the previous sacrifice timeline, he had suspected that Hui Xu was secretly fighting against the Dark God Sect's deity-creation plan.
But as for the real reason, he still had no way of knowing.
After chatting with the students for a while, evening fell.
Feng Qi hadn't eaten at the academy cafeteria in a long time.
So this meal, he ate a lot.
As he ate, he was deep in thought, planning out his next steps for the future.
At 8 PM, Feng Qi returned to his dormitory.
Walking over to the fridge, he grabbed a bottle of Clear Mind Brew and sat down at his desk.
Flipping open his notebook, he began outlining his future plans.
For this timeline, he already had a clear direction in mind; what he needed now were the detailed refinements.
As time passed, the pages of the notebook gradually filled with dense notes.
Future Line Plan 1: The Battle Line
Main Direction:
If it can be confirmed that the Miracle Bracelet can connect my sacrifice timeline self to my present self, and if the sacrifice timeline can gain access to Blood Source, Purple Soul, and other innate abilities through spiritual connection, then the battle line will be initiated.
With force, I will confront and challenge various factions.
Key Strategy:
This timeline only needs to ensure the survival of the Crimson Research Institute.
Everything else—whether it affects the future positively or negatively—does not matter.
The approach will be as high-profile as possible.
Detailed Plan 1:
The activation of the battle line requires direct conflict with domain forces.
If there is no stable base, like in previous timelines where Dawn Organization was constantly on the run, it will be impossible to amass true combat power.
Note:
Since I have decided to fully launch the battle line, the first step is to recruit Mu Qing, Lü Yue, and the other students to stand alongside me.
I need to reveal the truth about the future to them and establish a strong anti-domain force alliance in Star City.
Detailed Plan 2:
Once Dawn Organization has begun taking shape, its first major objective will be to eliminate all domain factions within Star City.
By doing so, Star City will become a safe haven for humanity's resistance, attracting more hidden human factions to join the fight.
The first targets for elimination:
Night Shadow Clan (affiliated with Tiger Soul Research Institute)
Star City Domain Weak Tribe Alliance
Dark God Sect followers (may not have emerged yet)
As Feng Qi wrote this, a new issue suddenly came to mind.
If I activate the battle line, I need to ensure the stability of our base—and that base is Star City.
However, the biggest future threat to Star City isn't from the time-travel event.
The real danger is the arrival of the Mist Lord in the distant future.
For this timeline, it's clear that collaborating with the Mist Lord is not an option.
After all, I can't resurrect his people yet, nor can I offer any conditions enticing enough to make him hesitate in attacking Star City.
But if I ignore the Mist Lord, he will eventually strike.
Once he realizes something is off about Star City, he might change tactics, infiltrating the city from within—bringing endless potential dangers.
Feng Qi frowned.
He knew too well what kind of being the Mist Lord was.
His combat strength wasn't the scariest part.
The truly terrifying thing about him was his ability to strategize and manipulate events from the shadows.
If left unchecked, he could easily plant a ticking time bomb inside Star City.
"With his scheming skills, this guy could blow up Star City from the inside if I don't handle him properly."
[You can deal with him in a future timeline. For now, just kill him first. Worst case, you can visit his grave often and eat the tribute offerings in apology!]
Hearing the narrator's deadpan suggestion, Feng Qi's gaze became resolute.
Without hesitation, he wrote another point in his notebook:
Detailed Plan 3:
Send Mu Qing and Lü Yue to the Silent Domain Field ahead of time to eliminate the Mist Lord.
Prevent any uncontrollable factors from threatening Star City's future stability.
Detailed Plan 4:
Primary enemy: The Institute of Technological Research.
Note:
Before this operation begins, I must contact Li Xingchen from the Future Research Institute.
With coordinated efforts from within and outside, we will capture the Institute of Technological Research—by force—to unravel the mysteries of the Black Reaper Project.
Feng Qi continued writing for hours, thoroughly refining his battle line strategy.
Back when he was at Crimson Research Institute, he had already planned out this timeline's war strategy.
Tonight's task was finalizing the details after the battle line's activation.
This was something he had learned from the Mist Lord:
"Only by planning thoroughly can victory be secured."
By listing out every known variable, he could predict potential risks and prepare countermeasures, ensuring that even in unexpected situations, he could maintain a firm grip on the battlefield.
A single step forward—but thinking three steps ahead.
In past future planning, he had only outlined goals.
But this time, he also added detailed simulations of possible future outcomes—such as how Mu Qing joining Dawn Organization could influence future events.
At 11 PM, Feng Qi finally completed the battle line strategy.
He flipped through the pages multiple times, ensuring that there were no logical gaps in his plans.
Then, standing up, he walked over to the fridge and grabbed a cold drink.
Twisting off the cap, he took a large gulp.
Through the window, he saw that the dormitory buildings were still brightly lit.
Without hesitation, he returned to his desk, picked up his pen, and continued planning.
The battle line strategy was solid, but he still had to prepare for unexpected variables.
For example—
What if the Miracle Bracelet couldn't establish a connection with my sacrifice timeline self?
This issue made it clear—without sufficient combat strength, he wouldn't be able to handle the challenges from various factions.
Worse, it would make him an easy target for assassination by external forces.
In that case, it might be better not to activate the battle line at all.
Take the previous sacrifice timeline as an example.
The Mist Lord had meticulously planned his future strategies, but the problem lay on Feng Qi's side.
When the Dark God Sect appeared out of nowhere, he had no means to counter them and could only surrender.
This forced the Mist Lord to abandon his future plans and sacrifice himself to save Feng Qi.
But if the one facing the Dark God Sect back then had been his current self, the outcome would have been completely different.
With just a Blood Source transformation, he could have easily crushed the enemy forces, turning a kidnapping attempt into a complete reversal—with the Dark God Sect warriors pinned to the ground, helpless.
This reinforced one critical truth:
Personal strength is crucial for activating the battle line.
If he couldn't transfer his innate abilities to his sacrifice timeline self, he had to reconsider how to proceed with the battle line in the future.
With that thought, he flipped to a new page in his notebook and began writing the next phase of his future strategy.
Future Plan 2: Ghost Hunt Line / Mu Yan Line
Main Direction:
Rejoin the Dawn Army.
Stay by Mu Qing's side.
Find the potential traitor hiding within the Dawn Army.
Uncover the truth behind the Dawn Army's massacres.
This timeline was something he had planned for a long time and had even personally tested before.
During the last sacrifice timeline, he had joined the Dawn Army as a Vice Commander.
But since he wasn't always by Mu Qing's side, unexpected variables had emerged.
When the Old Day East Supply Zone sent a distress signal, he personally led a rescue mission—only to end up dying in action.
However, despite his death, that timeline had yielded a wealth of information, filling in gaps in intelligence.
A loss, but also a gain.
This time, if he chose to rejoin the Dawn Army, he would do things differently.
That was the true purpose of these sacrifice timelines—trial and error.
The same mistake would not be made twice.
This time, after joining the Dawn Army, he would stick to Mu Qing like glue.
To hell with being Vice Commander—staying alive was more important.
Future Plan 3: Enter Old Day City and Investigate the Psionic Race's Secrets
This was an entirely new future path.
From the existing intelligence, he knew that the Psionic Race was playing a long game.
But the exact details remained unclear.
What was known:
The Psionic Race possessed the Miracle Artifact: Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault.
They were secretly nurturing potential forces within domain factions.
However, their exact motive remained unknown.
If he chose this plan, he would replicate the undercover strategy he had used to infiltrate the Institute of Technological Research—getting close to the Psionic Race from within and uncovering their secrets.
As for how to proceed, that would depend on real-time decisions in the sacrifice timeline.
After all, the available intelligence was far too limited.
Feng Qi continued writing, strategizing across eight different future paths.
Naturally, he preferred to activate the battle line.
By now, his intelligence network had gathered enough data—it was time to switch to violence to extract deeper truths.
For example, regarding the Institute of Technological Research:
If he continued infiltrating it as a researcher, he would have to endure years of study, painstakingly climbing the ranks just to gain access to the Black Reaper Project's classified files.
Even after getting inside, he would still face countless challenges.
Wouldn't it be easier to just take over the Institute by force?
Once the Institute fell, he could easily access all their classified research on the Black Reaper Project.
This approach had another key advantage:
Simply infiltrating the Institute might not prevent the birth of Little Black.
But if he destroyed the Institute entirely, then Little Black might never appear in the future 1500 years from now.
As for the plan to control Little Black, he would have to figure that out later.
Who knew?
Maybe this sacrifice timeline would reveal the truth behind Little Black, allowing him to completely master it in the next timeline.
At that point—
"Punch every domain faction in existence, kick the so-called 'Grand Forces' out of the picture…"
[Whoa, slow down, buddy! At this rate, you're gonna end up invincible. Have some self-awareness! Just focus on your plans—absolute power is still a long, long way off.]
"Understood."
The narrator's reminder brought Feng Qi back to reality.
Thinking it through—they were right.
If Little Black were easy to control, then the shadow forces behind the Institute of Technological Research would have already conquered the world.
Clearly, there were many hidden dangers he still didn't know about.
After careful deliberation, Feng Qi stood up and grabbed a chilled bottle of Clear Mind Brew from his desk.
Sitting down on the sofa, he twisted the cap off and gulped down the drink.
After finishing about a third, he sealed the bottle and placed it back in the fridge.
Then, returning to the sofa, he pulled up his attribute panel and switched to the energy progress bar.
As the medicine took effect, the percentage meter rapidly climbed higher and higher.
Soon, the energy bar reached 100% capacity.
Feng Qi lay back on the sofa, closed his eyes, and exhaled deeply.
As time passed, drowsiness crept in, and his expression gradually relaxed…