Having gained a deeper understanding of the internal situation within the Psionic Race, Feng Qi found himself even more confused.
From the intelligence they had gathered, the faction within the ancestral land was exceptionally powerful. If Hei Xuan planned to train them to fight against the ancestral land faction, it seemed utterly unrealistic.
After all, while they were growing, the ancestral land faction was also growing.
When it came to resources, the ancestral land faction had a clear advantage.
Feng Qi could understand why Hei Xuan's faction chose to remain hidden, but if their goal was truly to fight against the ancestral land faction, wouldn't that be like throwing an egg against a rock?
Unless... Hei Xuan had some method to make them grow stronger at an accelerated rate.
"Hei Xuan, I don't understand. Since you don't intend to use us to test the strength of the ancestral land faction, then what exactly is your purpose in training us?" The Mist Lord voiced the very doubt that had been weighing on Feng Qi's mind.
"I'm not asking you to test them. I need you to help us indirectly counterbalance the ancestral land faction. You cannot expose any connection to us, but I will provide you with intelligence on their actions. Your task is to either seize resources before they do or sabotage anything that might benefit them."
"You think we have the ability to do that?" The Mist Lord asked with a wry smile.
"We've already accounted for that. Your strength will grow according to a detailed plan I've prepared. All you need to do is follow my instructions."
As he spoke, Hei Xuan pointed toward the massive golden sphere in front of them.
"This is a miraculous artifact our clan stumbled upon by chance. I will now establish a connection between your consciousness and this artifact, then sever your link to the Sacred Spirit Repository. Since you exist within the Repository, there is a high risk of being detected by the ancestral land faction. If that happens, our plans could be exposed."
Hei Xuan drifted toward the golden sphere and pressed his hand against it.
At that moment, the golden sphere transformed into a swirling black vortex, radiating an intense pull that felt as if it were sucking their very souls away.
"Don't resist the pull. Your consciousness is about to enter the internal space of this artifact, where you will uncover the secret to growing stronger!"
They had already come this far—Feng Qi and the Mist Lord had no reason to fear a trap.
As the pull intensified, their vision blurred.
When their sight finally cleared, they found themselves inside a vast hall, existing as pure consciousness.
The hall was filled with strange apparatuses.
Some were stone pillars of identical shape but varying sizes, others were wooden training dummies arranged in formation, and there was even a massive furnace resembling a pill refinement cauldron.
At the far end, there was a row of meditation cushions, similar to those found in temples.
The edges of the hall were jagged and torn, as if some unknown force had fractured reality itself, leaving behind a chaotic mist-like void.
Looking to the side, Feng Qi noticed the Mist Lord—now appearing as a young man with violet hair in his consciousness form—examining the space, seemingly analyzing its purpose.
"I will now help you establish a connection with this artifact. From now on, you can enter and exit this space freely for training."
"How exactly do we train here?" Feng Qi asked, intrigued.
Hei Xuan gestured toward the various apparatuses ahead and smiled.
"These are all training tools. Think of this place as a cultivation gym—each tool is a training machine that enhances your strength."
Feng Qi: …
Mist Lord: …
Feng Qi had expected Hei Xuan to provide them with vast amounts of cultivation resources or employ some special method to boost their strength.
He had not expected Hei Xuan to simply tell them to work out.
However, since this was a miraculous artifact, it had to possess some extraordinary properties.
With curiosity piqued, Feng Qi stepped toward the row of stone pillars, intending to test their effects.
There were thirty-two stone pillars in total, arranged from smallest to largest. Their material appeared identical to ordinary stone.
He chose a mid-sized stone pillar and attempted to lift it.
His muscles tensed, veins bulging as he exerted his strength.
"...I can't lift it!"
After struggling for a moment, Feng Qi let go and exhaled deeply.
Hei Xuan smiled.
"Try another one. Keep lifting until you find the right weight for your training."
Taking his advice, Feng Qi moved to the smallest stone pillar, crouched down, and pulled with all his strength.
This time, he easily lifted it.
Following Hei Xuan's instructions, he began repeatedly lifting and lowering the stone pillar.
After about thirty reps, Feng Qi noticed something peculiar—despite the exertion, his body didn't feel any different.
Just as he was about to ask Hei Xuan what was happening, a warm energy suddenly surged through his body. At the same time, a floating text appeared before his eyes.
Strength +0.1 (Basic Training - Level 1, 30 reps completed).
Feng Qi's eyes widened in disbelief.
He had just casually lifted a rock thirty times, and his strength had actually increased?!
What kind of cheat is this?!
He immediately scanned the training area, his gaze falling on the various other tools.
At that moment, he finally understood the artifact's true power.
Everything in this space was designed to bypass natural training limitations, directly enhancing the physical attributes of the user.
+0.1 strength seemed like a small increase, but he had only lifted the smallest stone pillar thirty times.
More importantly, his real body was still outside.
Hei Xuan seemed to read his mind and calmly explained.
"Every training tool in this space has a fixed enhancement value. As long as you complete a set, you will receive a corresponding power boost—without any bottlenecks or limitations."
Hearing this, even the Mist Lord couldn't remain calm.
"Where did you find such a miraculous artifact?"
"That's not important. All you need to do is train diligently, then follow my instructions to complete missions."
With that, Hei Xuan raised his hand and pointed toward their foreheads.
The Sacred Spirit Repository imprint on their foreheads gradually dimmed and then vanished completely.
In its place, a faint blue sigil appeared.
At this moment, Feng Qi could clearly sense the connection between himself and the miraculous artifact, instinctively understanding how to enter and exit this space at will using his consciousness.
However, a lingering question remained in his mind.
With that thought, he looked up at Hei Xuan and asked,
"If your faction possesses this rule-defying miraculous artifact that allows for rapid growth, why aren't your own people using it? Instead, you're letting us train here. Does this training method have some kind of side effect?"
Hearing this, Hei Xuan shook his head immediately.
"The training equipment here only strengthens physical bodies. However, our Psionic Race no longer possesses true flesh and blood—nor are we purely elemental beings. This space has no effect on us at all."
After hearing Hei Xuan's explanation, Feng Qi suddenly understood.
No wonder—even with such an overpowered training ground, Hei Xuan's faction still needed external allies.
The truth was that this miraculous artifact was incompatible with their altered bodies.
Without outside help, this artifact would be completely useless to them.
"Stay here and continue exploring the space. I will take your physical bodies out of the Sacred Spirit Repository. From now on, you won't need to enter it anymore. If you continue to appear there, the ancestral land faction might notice, and our entire plan could be exposed. From now on, just use the miracle imprint to enter this space directly."
"What's the name of this miraculous artifact?" Feng Qi asked.
"You can call it the Training Space."
With those words, Hei Xuan's figure gradually faded from the Training Space.
Once he was completely gone, the Mist Lord stepped forward to test the stone pillars, choosing the third pillar and beginning his lifts.
A moment later, surprise flickered across his eyes.
"If a flesh-based cultivation race were to obtain this space, their future would be limitless."
Feng Qi walked over to him and said,
"Old Mist, don't you think there's something strange about all this?"
"What's strange?"
"Think about it—if I were the ancestral land faction, and I wanted to absorb Hei Xuan's faction, I wouldn't blindly trust them. I would at least test their strength. Even more so, I wouldn't accept undercover agents under the pretense of an 'exchange program.' So what exactly is the ancestral land faction thinking?"
Feng Qi deliberately did not mention Hei Ying.
After all, in this timeline, he technically shouldn't know about him.
However, the logical inconsistencies within the Psionic Race's actions were too bizarre to ignore.
On the surface, both factions seemed to cooperate, which was understandable. But why did the ancestral land faction keep accepting Hei Xuan's requests, even when it led to Hei Ying's betrayal, the loss of miraculous materials, and the escape of Mo?
And then, Hei Xuan's faction simply framed Hei Ying as a traitor—and the ancestral land faction actually believed it?
Looking at it from an outsider's perspective, Feng Qi felt that the ancestral land faction should have retaliated immediately.
Even if they didn't declare war, they should have at least tested Hei Xuan's faction's strength.
Yet, strangely, it felt like the ancestral land faction was entirely passive.
Hei Xuan's faction sent people under the pretense of an exchange program—and the ancestral land faction just accepted them.
Then, those same people stole miraculous materials and helped Mo escape.
And when Hei Xuan's faction claimed Hei Ying was a traitor, the ancestral land faction simply believed them and started hunting Hei Ying—without even questioning Hei Xuan's faction's involvement.
Hearing Feng Qi's doubts, the Mist Lord shook his head and said,
"Don't blindly believe everything Hei Xuan says. The logic behind all of this is actually very clear."
"Very clear?"
"Yes. Let's look at this from a different angle. Hei Xuan said that both factions want to absorb each other and fully control the Sacred Spirit Repository.
But what if the truth is that Hei Xuan's faction wants to conquer the ancestral land faction—while the ancestral land faction still believes that Hei Xuan's people are their kin, and they still trust them completely?
Now, think about all your questions again from this perspective. The answers will be very different."
Following the Mist Lord's reasoning, Feng Qi reconsidered everything from this new angle—and suddenly, everything made perfect sense.
The truth was that Hei Xuan's faction never had some secret weapon that terrified the ancestral land faction.
And the ancestral land faction never had any intention of testing Hei Xuan's faction's strength.
Why?
Because they had absolute trust in them.
So when Hei Xuan's faction requested to send people over for a "technical exchange", the ancestral land faction agreed without hesitation.
Then, when Hei Ying betrayed them, the ancestral land faction once again believed Hei Xuan's faction when they said Hei Ying had acted alone.
So they never retaliated against Hei Xuan's faction.
From start to finish, the real villains were Hei Xuan's faction.
They were the ones whose ambitions kept growing—the ones who refused to return to the ancestral land, and the ones who refused to surrender their control over the Sacred Spirit Repository.
Meanwhile, the ancestral land faction, despite their power, remained true to their original beliefs—always willing to trust and support Hei Xuan's people.
Feng Qi looked at the Mist Lord in amazement.
Back when they had been negotiating with Hei Xuan, the Mist Lord had already expressed his doubts. He had pointed out that Hei Xuan's faction was highly ambitious and should not be trusted.
Now, Feng Qi finally understood why.
"Qi, I've taught you before—always analyze a problem from multiple angles. Don't let yourself be led by someone else's narrative."
The Mist Lord patted Feng Qi on the shoulder with a smile.
"Got it." Feng Qi nodded earnestly.
Having lived through multiple sacrifice timelines, he had learned a lot from the Mist Lord.
"Let's go test some of the other training equipment."
With that, Feng Qi walked toward the wooden training dummies in the distance.
Standing in the center of the dummy formation, he pondered how he was supposed to train with them.
The dummies were made from an unknown material, their surfaces emitting a faint glow.
Just as he was thinking about what to do—
The surrounding dummies suddenly started moving.
Without warning, one of them threw a punch straight at him.
Acting purely on instinct, Feng Qi threw a punch of his own to counter.
BANG!
Their fists collided head-on—Feng Qi wasn't knocked back, but an intense wave of pain rippled through his body.
Feng Qi couldn't help but grimace in pain.
A line of text suddenly flashed before his eyes:
[Dodge Training Failed. Training Penalty Applied!]
"Dodge training?"
It seemed that this wooden dummy formation was meant to train evasive maneuvers.
When the dummy punched at him again, Feng Qi quickly dodged instead of meeting it head-on like before.
After fifteen consecutive dodges, another notification appeared in his vision:
[Successfully dodged 15 times. Agility +0.1. Level 2 Dodge Training Activated!]
As soon as the text disappeared, the dummies' attack speed and frequency noticeably increased.
After another fifteen dodges, another message surfaced:
[Successfully dodged 15 times in Level 2 training. Agility +0.2. Level 3 Dodge Training Activated!]
As time passed, the dummies' attacks became increasingly rapid and relentless.
At first, dodging was easy, but soon, the pressure mounted.
Eventually, Feng Qi was struck and sent flying out of the formation.
In less than ten minutes of training, his Agility had increased by 3.5 points.
Feng Qi was shocked.
If he continued training, as the difficulty increased, the stat gains would only accelerate.
This miraculous artifact was simply broken beyond reason.
It allowed a person to constantly grow stronger at an accelerated rate, with guaranteed enhancements at every stage.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the training space, the Mist Lord emerged from a massive furnace, his expression exhausted as if he had been completely drained.
"How was it?" Feng Qi immediately asked.
"It was like being roasted alive inside a furnace," the Mist Lord muttered. "But after staying in there for a while, my fire resistance increased by 13 points."
Feng Qi glanced around at the various training equipment in the square, his eyes flashing with greed.
"I really want to steal this miraculous artifact from the Psionic Race," he muttered.
The Mist Lord nodded in agreement.
"With this artifact, any race could rise to power effortlessly."
The two continued their training.
There was a reaction speed training area, a defense training zone for increasing physical resilience, and even a meditation section designed to enhance regeneration.
Every piece of equipment in the Training Space had a specific effect that improved the user's physical attributes.
During his training, Feng Qi noticed something—there were black symbols etched on the ceiling of the training hall.
The script resembled the writing found on ancient scrolls.
Thanks to the knowledge Hei Xuan had implanted into his mind, Feng Qi was able to understand the meaning of the text.
[Body Tempering Training Grounds]
Feng Qi then looked toward the torn edges of the training hall.
Beyond the square was a swirling, fog-like void, with cracks along the edges, as if the entire training space had been forcibly ripped apart.
From the moment he entered, he had felt that this space was incomplete.
Some of the equipment near the damaged edges was only partially present, as if the other half had disappeared entirely.
After reading the text on the ceiling, a suspicion formed in Feng Qi's mind—
Could there be additional sections of this training facility?
Perhaps there were Mental Training Grounds, or even Elemental Training Grounds?
Maybe Hei Xuan's faction had only managed to obtain one fragment of a much larger miraculous artifact.
A burning ambition ignited within him.
If humanity could obtain this artifact, they wouldn't even need to cultivate techniques—they could grow stronger simply through training.
But another doubt surfaced in his mind.
Why does this miraculous artifact's setup feel so much like a video game training system?
Could it just be coincidence?
Or was it some kind of rule-based power left behind by the Pillar Gods, unintentionally forming this training domain?
Besides, there was another major question:
Many of the miraculous artifacts he had encountered were incomplete.
What kind of force was capable of damaging something that was supposed to be indestructible?
Feng Qi recalled something Hei Xuan had mentioned before.
Hei Xuan theorized that in ancient times, the Pillar Gods may have experienced a cataclysmic event, leading to their downfall and demise.
If that was true, then was this cataclysm responsible for destroying these miraculous artifacts?
Unable to come up with an answer, Feng Qi shook his head.
The origins of miraculous artifacts remained a mystery.
The only thing he knew was that the Mist Lord's miraculous abilities came from his ancestor, who had absorbed the blood of a Pillar God.
Beyond that, he had no other sources of information.
Setting aside these thoughts, he focused back on training.
Right now, his best course of action was to train as much as possible while cooperating with Hei Xuan to gather intelligence on the ancestral land faction.
Stepping toward the defensive training equipment, he braced himself as a series of thick wooden rods came crashing down.
Planting his stance firmly, Feng Qi tensed his muscles and endured the relentless strikes that rained down across his body.
As time passed, the strikes grew heavier, strengthening his physical endurance—but at the cost of excruciating pain.
Eventually, his stance collapsed, and he was sent flying across the training hall.
Groaning, he picked himself up and immediately walked over to the meditation cushions.
Relaxing his body, he sat cross-legged, beginning the recovery process that granted +1 to regeneration.
...
After intensive high-level training, both Feng Qi and the Mist Lord felt mentally exhausted.
To avoid damaging their consciousness, they decided to leave the Training Space.
The moment Feng Qi opened his eyes, he found himself back in the Psionic Race's special domain, with the massive golden tree standing in the distance.
Before Hei Xuan could say anything, Feng Qi suddenly noticed something strange—
His body was drenched in sweat, his clothes completely soaked.
"Something's wrong," the Mist Lord suddenly said.
Before Feng Qi could react, he felt an intense change—his muscles began swelling uncontrollably, only to rapidly deflate a moment later.
A wave of fatigue, soreness, and pain swept over him all at once.
His vital energy had been completely drained.
His cheeks sunk in, and he suddenly looked malnourished.
That was when Hei Xuan's amused voice echoed nearby:
"Oh, I forgot to mention—all the training you did in the Training Space gets applied to your real body once you exit."
He smirked.
"Your body has been enhanced, but the energy expenditure was extreme. You'll need to replenish your nutrition immediately..."
Feng Qi, now reduced to skin and bones, trembled as he lifted his hand—and with the last of his strength, he raised his middle finger at Hei Xuan.