Scanning the room filled with rare treasures, Feng Qi grinned.
He had thought he would die in this place, completely powerless before Youying, the Lord of Shadow City. But to his surprise, Little Black's arrival had unexpectedly freed him from his restraints.
His heart began to race as he took in the sheer amount of rare resources surrounding him.
Due to his special constitution within the Future Dream Realm, he knew that these resources couldn't be taken back with him.
This was something he had already confirmed in previous Future Dream sequences.
He had once devoured the rune crystals of domain creatures, and had even consumed various spirit materials and spirit stones in Star City Shelter's resource vault, together with Suction Cup.
However, within the Future Dream Realm, aside from the bloodline evolution points and talents obtained through hunting domain creatures, all other means of strength enhancement could not be transferred back to the real world.
In other words, all these resources were nothing but an illusion.
They looked magnificent but were ultimately meaningless.
But Feng Qi quickly thought of a new use for these rare resources.
Since Little Black had yet to arrive at Shadow City, he could use the resources within the tower to trade with travelers outside in exchange for intelligence.
He couldn't bring back any of these materials, but he could bring back as much information as he could memorize.
At this thought, his gaze shifted toward the throne at the far end of the room, its frame embedded with dazzling gemstones.
[That throne alone looks priceless. Drag it to the trading zone and give a shout, and that green-skinned dwarf from earlier would probably tell you where his ancestors are buried—he might even personally take you there to dig them up.]
Feng Qi: …
He walked to the end of the room and placed his hand on the gem-encrusted throne.
The moment he made contact, a blue glow erupted from the throne, sending Feng Qi flying backward.
He slammed hard into a one-meter-high statue, causing it to topple over and shatter upon impact with the ground.
Silver-white coins covered in mysterious symbols spilled across the floor, rolling in all directions with crisp metallic clinks.
Rubbing his sore head, Feng Qi stood up and turned toward the throne at the far end of the room.
He instantly realized that taking the throne was out of the question.
[That throne isn't something you can mess with. It's engraved with defensive formations. Let's switch targets.]
Hearing the narration's explanation, Feng Qi nodded without hesitation.
His gaze swept across the other treasures in the room.
The place was overflowing with valuables—he really didn't care whether he could take that throne or not.
After all, he couldn't bring it back to reality anyway.
All he needed was something valuable enough for intelligence trades.
He bent down and picked up a silver coin from the ground, carefully examining it.
A moment later, parsing information surfaced in his vision, translating the twisted symbols into Chinese characters.
[Divine Token - Serial Number: 1421]
Item Analysis: Created by the Night Cavern Clan, once the strongest force in the Sixth Layer of the Spirit Domain, this faith artifact was forged by their priesthood as an offering to their pillar god, Ye Tian.
After every sacrificial ritual, a Divine Token was sealed within their treasury. Over time, 3,681 tokens were accumulated, each engraved with faith inscriptions from generations of priests.
According to the Night Cavern Clan's legends, when an inevitable catastrophe descended, these tokens, imbued with faith, would serve as passage through the disaster. They would also summon the ancient pillar god, Ye Tian, who would protect his faithful followers until the arrival of a new world.
During a sudden war between minor worlds, the Night Cavern Clan was devastated, their homeland destroyed, forcing them into exile in the Fifth Layer of the Spirit Domain.
304 years later, a new Grand Priest led them back to the Sixth Layer, launching a war of reclamation.
The war ended in victory, and the Night Cavern Clan reclaimed their homeland.
However, over three centuries had passed, and their Divine Tokens had long been plundered.
To recover these sacred relics, every Grand Priest since then had issued a standing bounty:
Anyone returning a Divine Token would be handsomely rewarded.
Returning over 100 Divine Tokens would earn them the clan's eternal protection, regardless of their enemies.
Returning over 1,000 Divine Tokens would grant access to the Night Cavern Clan's treasury, allowing them to take whatever they desired—and the clan would fulfill any request they made.
…
After reading the analysis of the silver coin, Feng Qi lowered his gaze toward the countless coins scattered across the floor.
A rough estimate… at least a thousand of them.
He had no idea how powerful the Night Cavern Clan was, but one thing was certain—Youying was filthy rich.
Everything in this room was extraordinary.
For example, before Little Black's arrival, Youying had used a spirit plant from this very room to reconstruct his body, achieving something that existed only in theoretical cultivation research—bringing the dead back to life and regrowing flesh from bones.
A plant capable of such a feat had to be beyond priceless. If it had existed 1,500 years ago, humans would have established an entire research institute just to study it.
[If that old woman got her hands on this plant, she could probably pull eight more all-nighters—her dark circles would take over half her face.]
Feng Qi: …
Holding a few silver Divine Tokens, Feng Qi's eyes shifted toward the other items nearby.
The collections in this room were vast—aside from individually displayed artifacts, many were neatly categorized.
He quickly noticed that the most abundant items in the room were an assortment of rare and peculiar spirit ores.
Each of them glowed faintly, exuding an aura of immense power.
Seeing this obsessive hoarding of rare ores, Feng Qi couldn't help but feel it was a complete waste of potential.
If it were up to him, he would smelt these ores into top-tier weapons instead of just collecting them for display. That would be far more impressive.
Scanning the countless treasures filling the room, he suddenly felt that two hands weren't enough.
At that moment, he recalled one of Youying's abilities.
He had just witnessed how Youying casually swiped his hand through the air, opening a spatial rift where he could reach in and retrieve anything he desired.
It was obvious that these items didn't appear out of thin air.
Which meant that Youying possessed a portable personal storage space that he could open at will.
The thought of it made Feng Qi envious.
If he had such an ability, he wouldn't have to carry so many essential items in every sacrifice timeline.
Things like the Brain Activity Needle, special gloves, backup locator, communication device—all of these were crucial for every sacrifice line, especially the Brain Activity Needle, which determined whether the entire sacrifice timeline could be completed successfully.
Because of this, every sacrifice timeline required him to carry a custom-made backpack.
The Crimson Research Institute had even upgraded the backpack multiple times, ensuring it was waterproof, fireproof, stretch-resistant, and reinforced in every way possible.
But even with all these modifications, the backpack still restricted his movements.
Especially when activating Blood Source Form, where, although the backpack wouldn't be torn apart, it would severely impact his combat performance—he always had to be careful not to snap the straps with excessive force.
Usually, before activating Blood Source Form, he would set the backpack down.
But leaving it behind always carried the risk of losing it.
In short, the specialized backpack was nowhere near as convenient or secure as a personal storage space.
Unfortunately, at this stage, cultivation studies had yet to develop a systematic understanding of spatial abilities—let alone a complete training method for them.
At that moment, the narrator's voice rang in his mind:
[First of all, let's get one thing straight—you can't cultivate. Even if you obtain the complete details of spatial abilities, you won't be able to train and master them. So, you only have two options before you.]
[Option one—find a Miracle Item with an independent storage space. That way, you can open a personal storage dimension at will. Who knows? Maybe the previous owner left behind mountains of treasures inside. But finding such an item? That's pure luck.]
[Compared to the first option, the second one is much simpler—kill a domain creature with spatial abilities. If you kill Youying, there's a chance you could extract a spatial talent. Once you have it, creating your own personal storage space would be easy.]
Hearing this, Feng Qi nodded.
Between the two options, he naturally leaned toward the second one.
The world was vast, and the odds of finding a Miracle Item with a specific function were incredibly low—he could spend a lifetime searching and never find one.
Just like his long-time desire for "Infinite Memory".
He had been searching for it all this time, yet he hadn't even seen a trace of it.
As for killing Youying—that was out of the question.
Youying was far too powerful. There was absolutely no chance of killing him.
Even if a severely injured Youying were right in front of him, Feng Qi doubted he could land the final blow.
[After all, you're just a tiny ant. Two elephants—Little Black and Youying—are clashing. You don't even have the option to reap the spoils.]
Ignoring the narrator's mocking, Feng Qi walked over to a jade-colored stone pillar and grabbed a gilded chest nearby.
Opening it, he shoved all the valuable treasures he had gathered along the way inside.
Then, carrying the gilded chest, he walked toward the exit.
Even though the room was overflowing with wealth, he only took a tiny portion. But Feng Qi didn't care at all.
A small portion was enough for trading information—and intelligence was the only thing that truly mattered to him.
Reaching the end of the treasury, he was met with a staircase leading downward.
The steps were crafted from seven-colored jade, and every step he took caused a wave of rainbow ripples to spread across the surface.
Descending the staircase to the next level, he found himself inside a specimen room.
Rows upon rows of domain creature specimens were neatly arranged, each with an informational plaque in front of it.
Focusing his gaze, the text on the plaques twisted and transformed into readable script.
As he walked past the specimens, Feng Qi noticed that every single one had been a well-known powerhouse within its respective race.
"Ah Bai, are there any human specimens in here?" Feng Qi asked aloud.
[None.]
Hearing this, Feng Qi's expression softened, and he continued toward the next level with growing interest.
Just as he was about to step onto the next flight of stairs, the narrator's voice suddenly caught his attention.
[Look toward your 4 o'clock direction—this one's interesting.]
Hearing this, Feng Qi immediately turned in the indicated direction.
What appeared in his vision was a hulking figure clad in tattered heavy armor.
His chest had been pierced by a deadly weapon, and his neck bore clear signs of surgical reattachment.
This was clearly a warrior who had died in battle.
Compared to the other specimens, this one seemed particularly unusual—it was also the most incomplete specimen along the way.
With a trace of doubt, Feng Qi focused his gaze on the information plaque in front of the specimen.
The moment his mind concentrated, detailed information surfaced in his vision.
[You Li Sha (Father)]:
Description: A lowly mental slave under the deception of the rulers, a brainwashed fool believing in heritage and glory!
...
Seeing Youying's own description of this specimen, Feng Qi was momentarily stunned.
[Wow, I almost want to applaud. Turning his own father into a specimen and even calling him an idiot… Could it be that Youying once wielded that legendary Blue Filial Piety Sword? That's brutal!]
"It seems like this father gave Youying some terrible memories in his childhood."
Not lingering on the thought, Feng Qi continued descending the stairs.
What lay before him was a lake of blood.
The walls of this floor were filled with densely packed holes, extracting blood essence from external sources and channeling it into the blood lake at the center.
Clearly, this lake of blood was formed from the "parking fees" of Youying City's visitors.
Continuing downward, he arrived at a massive blood crystal storage chamber spanning two floors.
As far as the eye could see, mountains of bloodstones were piled high.
It was obvious that much of the wealth on the upper floors had been exchanged using the bloodstones harvested from here.
[Or rather, a lot of it was simply plundered!]
Descending two more levels, he entered an area shrouded in white mist—a spiritual herb farm.
Numerous rare spiritual plants thrived in the soil, absorbing and exhaling mist-like spiritual energy visible under Feng Qi's enhanced perception.
Not pausing for too long, he quickened his pace downward.
He had no idea how long Little Black and Youying's battle would last, but the most important thing right now was to get out of here with Youying's wealth and spend it like crazy.
Obtaining intelligence wasn't enough—he still needed time to memorize it all.
Time was tight.
Floor after floor, he explored the depths of the tower.
Aside from the treasury at the top, there were also an armory, a spiritual herb cultivation zone, a bloodstone vault, a spiritual ore deposit—each layer filled with vast resources, making Feng Qi experience the sheer power of wealth firsthand.
He really wished he could move all of this into the Crimson Research Institute.
But unfortunately, in the future dream timeline, he could only retain abilities and blood energy gained from combat—he couldn't take any physical resources back.
Finally, Feng Qi reached the very bottom of the tower.
However, what greeted him was a completely sealed exit—or rather, there was no exit at all.
The entire floor was empty, with no passage leading out.
[Oh no… it's a dead end.]
Without any hesitation, Feng Qi set down the chest he was carrying, activated Blood Source Form, and started smashing the wall with brute force.
But to his astonishment, the materials used to build this tower had self-repairing properties.
Light flowed across the surface of the walls, and no matter how much force he used, any dent or crack instantly restored itself.
After over ten minutes of full-force attacks, Feng Qi's Blood Source Form reached its limit—yet the wall remained completely intact.
As his flesh receded and he returned to his human form, Feng Qi stood there, dumbfounded.
He realized he was trapped.
Blood Source Form was already his strongest attack method—if that didn't work, then nothing he had could break through.
Glancing down at the chest of treasure beside him, he felt deeply unwilling to accept this outcome.
His original plan had been to leave, go on a spending spree, and buy crucial intelligence—but now, he couldn't even exit the tower, making the wealth in his hands utterly meaningless.
[Not over yet! Why not try activating Dark God Form?]
Hearing the narrator's suggestion, Feng Qi froze for a moment—then suddenly stood up, eyes gleaming.
Now he understood what the narrator meant.
He recalled from a previous timeline that when he absorbed enough blood energy in Blood Source Form, he would evolve into Dark God Form.
For example, when nearly a thousand Goat-Headed Demons sacrificed themselves to him, he had ascended into Dark God Form, obtaining unimaginable power.
And in this tower, resources and bloodstones were abundant.
He could definitely try to forcefully trigger Dark God Form, then use sheer power to carve an exit out of this place.
"Wait… if I really can escape using Dark God Form, why waste time buying information? Those travelers outside would all become my prey!"
At this thought, a cruel smile spread across Feng Qi's face.
[Especially that green-skinned little bastard—he called you a broke loser. Don't worry, I remember that insult for you!]
Without any hesitation, Feng Qi turned around and bolted up the jade staircase, heading back toward the upper levels of the tower.