Having locked in the direction of the next future line, Feng Qi closed his notebook and stood up.
Next, he convened the highest-level meeting of the Crimson Research Institute.
At the meeting, he presented the blood donation initiative proposed by Old Mist.
The proposal was refined during discussion. After being formally documented and scheduled by the head of the Strategic Department, it was decided to begin implementation the very next day.
After the meeting, Feng Qi went straight to the Military Department.
Publicizing the blood donation campaign wasn't a problem—the real issue was the lack of manpower needed to execute it.
The finalized plan laid out three blood donation strategies:
First, the public would be encouraged to voluntarily go to medical facilities to donate blood.
But that alone wouldn't be enough to cover the whole city. A mass influx of people into hospitals would overload their capacity, potentially disrupting treatment for residents in urgent need.
Second, set up numerous blood donation stations throughout Star City.
This part needed the support of the Military Department. The Crimson Research Institute simply didn't have the manpower to set up that many sites, nor the logistical infrastructure to supply them.
So construction and operation of the donation sites, as well as blood collection, would be fully handled by the Star City Military Department.
All blood collected each day would be delivered that night to the Crimson Research Institute's blood storage facility.
Third, deploy mobile blood collection vehicles.
The first and second strategies required lining up, and many citizens of Star City had jobs and personal responsibilities. Fixed sites would inevitably have long queues, making it harder for people to donate without disrupting their daily lives.
Mobile collection vehicles became an ideal solution.
They could stop on request, allowing anyone to donate blood anytime.
These vehicles would also be provided by the Military Department, with soldiers serving as blood collection staff.
After explaining all of this to the Supreme Commander, the blood donation campaign was officially approved.
In the following days, blood donation headlines flooded Star City's media.
Once the public learned that the mysterious Crimson Research Institute needed blood for testing and research, waves of people began responding to the call, forming long lines at the collection sites.
The public didn't know much about the Crimson Research Institute.
They just knew it was responsible for mysterious research projects. As for what exactly was being developed there—not even Star City residents were sure.
Still, they understood one thing clearly: this mass blood drive was likely tied to something important.
And with the campaign backed jointly by the Military Department, the Tiger Soul Research Institute, and the Crimson Research Institute, the public trust skyrocketed.
The result was an overwhelming turnout.
The newly built donation stations in each district were quickly packed, with long lines everywhere.
At the same time, mobile blood collection vehicles rolled out from military stations all across the city and started roaming the streets, collecting blood on the go.
Once the blood drive officially began, the traffic to the Crimson Research Institute skyrocketed.
Every day, vehicles loaded with blood came in from all directions, delivering to the research institute's blood vault.
In just three days, the blood vault was full.
To prevent wasting this valuable resource, Feng Qi decided to bring in Old Mist to begin absorption and processing.
That night, the two of them went to the blood vault on the west side of the Crimson Research Institute base.
According to Wei Wei, when the vault was originally built, Domain Creature blood wasn't considered a priority resource, so unlike other spiritual materials stored deep underground, this vault had been constructed aboveground, on the western plaza.
Entering through the main gate, they walked down a corridor that ended in a metal door.
After a quick verification, the door slid open, revealing a grid-shaped storage layout.
The temperature inside was frigid. Every compartment was filled with blood.
Because the donation campaign had advanced rapidly, the supporting infrastructure hadn't caught up yet. Storage methods were crude—different blood types were all mixed together without classification.
As a result, the liquid blood had coagulated into a semi-solid jelly-like state.
But this wasn't an issue for Feng Qi or Old Mist.
Next, Old Mist was in charge of refining and concentrating the blood into blood crystals.
Feng Qi would then absorb those blood crystals, transforming them into qi and blood energy that flowed steadily into his body.
During this process, Feng Qi's arms were connected to blood transfusion tubes. His own blood was pumped into an internal storage tank within the Crimson Research Institute—a reserve meant for crafting faith statues.
From time to time, Old Mist let out curious comments as he worked:
"So this one's Hepatitis B? Syphilis? AIDS?…"
He'd never handled human blood before, so during the refining process, he kept mumbling in fascination.
Many donors had no idea their blood was contaminated. And since this was a large-scale drive, there hadn't been time to thoroughly screen blood quality—only the donors themselves had been briefly checked.
As a result, many samples were filled with viruses and impurities.
But to Old Mist, a blood specialist, this was a non-issue. During refining, he filtered all that junk out.
After a long stretch of work, the blood supply began to visibly decrease.
Still focused on crafting blood crystals, the Mist Lord turned his head toward Feng Qi, who was lying on a blood extraction chair:
"Don't you think we're like assembly line workers now? The only difference is, I used to be tightening screws in the sacrifice timeline. Now I make blood crystals in the real timeline and hand them off to you."
"And you? You're like a blood-processing middleman. You absorb the crystals, convert them into blood, and spit it back out—basically a living transfer machine."
Old Mist's bizarre metaphor made Feng Qi roll his eyes.
But he wasn't surprised. He was already used to Old Mist's quirky thinking.
Back when Old Mist was learning about human knowledge, he always came up with weird takes—especially when reading novels. His brain was full of odd questions and interpretations.
While they were chatting, the blood in the four pools was completely drained. At that moment, Feng Qi unplugged the transfusion lines from his arms.
This pool of transformed special blood was already enough to construct several large-scale public faith statues.
After leaving the blood vault, he arranged for a special vehicle to send Old Mist back to the Tiger Soul Research Institute, then returned to his room at the Crimson Research Institute.
Next, he planned to initiate a new future line.
After over a month of rest, it was time to get back to the grind.
He pulled a reserve energy potion from the fridge and downed it in one go.
As the energy progress bar steadily increased, Feng Qi lay down on the bed and closed his eyes:
"A'Bai, I'm heading out. Wait for me."
[Alright, boss! I'm officially clocking out!]
This time, there was no trouble falling asleep—the Eighteen Trials had significantly weakened the negative emotions' impact on him.
He no longer needed Wei Wei to concoct sleeping meds like before.
As he emptied his mind, he could clearly hear his heartbeat and the sound of blood coursing through his veins.
No one knew how long passed before drowsiness hit, and a peaceful expression gradually spread across Feng Qi's face.
…
The moment he awoke, Feng Qi instinctively called for the Narrator.
Then he tested his innate ability.
Once he confirmed he had entered the Sacrifice Line, he felt calm.
Becoming part of the Sacrifice Line—first time's rough, second time's smoother—after a few tries, you get used to it.
After leaving the room, he immediately contacted Wei Wei to arrange the Star City Supreme Council meeting.
The following morning, heads of all departments except the Energy Division gathered as requested.
At the meeting, Feng Qi took the lead seat and laid out a detailed development roadmap for Star City.
He proposed five directions to strive toward next:
First future direction: Rapidly convert the knowledge gained from the previous Sacrifice Line into practical technology for this line—especially spatial transmission technology. That would be the key to cooperating with the Demon Blade.
Second future direction: Begin construction of large-scale faith statues in Star City.
Although the faith-based growth route couldn't fully unfold due to a lack of innate skills, building statues and establishing faith would provide a steady stream of faith power to his Main Timeline self.
And faith power was a crucial resource for advancing his divine form.
Beyond that, faith power could also enhance his Blood God form. It could even be used to upgrade certain abilities as a substitute for innate skill evolution points.
Third future direction: Cultivate Blood Refinement Warriors and harvest the Silver Moon Clan.
This plan remained unchanged from the previous timeline.
The Silver Moon Clan was a hidden threat within Star City. They had to be eliminated. The best approach was to repurpose them as early-stage development resources to support Star City's future structure.
Fourth future direction: Restart the Rune Modification Project.
Mu Qing and Mo Yue were destined for a showdown. In this Sacrifice Line, humanity couldn't offer Mu Qing much support—her defeat was almost inevitable. When that time came, the painstakingly built cultivation system would collapse.
Until the faith-based system was complete, rune modification was the most viable option.
But this system had glaring issues.
Rune enhancements caused long-term physical damage. Aside from Mu Qing, most successful modification subjects had short lifespans, and rejection reactions were frequent.
Most critically, the success rate for rune modifications was low. At present, the only person with mature rune enhancement expertise was Wei Wei.
If rune modification was to become a core future system, relying on Wei Wei alone wasn't enough. Large-scale transformations required a whole team of specialized talent.
Right now, the rune system faced many hazards:
Rejection symptoms, compatibility testing with rune crystals, mature techniques for implanting rune crystals—all of these problems would need to be resolved in the course of this Sacrifice Line.
Fifth future direction: Build up Star City itself.
This included energy infrastructure updates, founding the Breaking Dawn Academy, constructing frontline supply zones—basically syncing all major projects. Using the prior Sacrifice Line's development as a base, the goal was to upgrade and perfect the city.
At the meeting, Feng Qi assigned tasks across departments with these five goals in mind.
Once it was over, he returned to the Tiger Soul Research Institute.
From then on, he planned to minimize contact with the Crimson Research Institute.
Time flew.
In the blink of an eye, three months had passed.
During this time, Feng Qi stayed at the Tiger Soul Research Institute, overseeing the planning and development of Star City.
He also made a special trip to the Crimson Research Institute to check on progress with the public faith statue construction.
In the last Sacrifice Line, many small problems had cropped up during Star City's construction.
This time, armed with that timeline's memories, he was able to build on its foundation and avoid unnecessary detours.
In the fourth month, Feng Qi resolved the Silver Moon Clan threat, purging Yin Ling and other embedded clan members from the Energy Division.
In the fifth month, the spatial tech from the previous Sacrifice Line entered simulated testing.
Turning knowledge into practical tech took time.
Even though the previous Sacrifice Line had already established a working method for building spatial portals, this new line was a fresh start.
It meant training a new team of technicians, crafting the equipment from scratch—even with blueprints, inexperience could lead to early missteps.
But Feng Qi wasn't in a rush.
He had already broken the short-life curse in the last Sacrifice Line—he wasn't short on time.
Instead, he prioritized steady, stable progress for Star City.
If he could gain the Demon Blade's recognition, he was ready to leave Star City behind—and perhaps never engage with humanity again.
He'd seen the Demon Blade's memories and knew exactly what the "Divine Ascension Combat Training" entailed.
It was a brutal path of slaughter and growth, where one must constantly challenge strong foes, using them as whetstones to grow stronger through each battle.
To defeat Jian Ji, this path was one he had to walk.
Everything he was doing now was laying the foundation to stabilize Star City—only with a strong base could long-term development thrive.
If you rushed it, all kinds of side problems would start popping up.
So before constructing the portal to summon the Demon Blade, Feng Qi spent every day buried in work, compressing over a century's worth of planning into a few months.
He compiled a thick stack of documentation and project plans.
One year later.
The construction plan for the western supply zone of Star City officially went online.
But it was still in the planning stage—actual construction of the western supply zone still required a lot of groundwork and the cooperation of the other four cities.
That day, Feng Qi finally took a break from his hectic schedule.
He made a special trip to the central district of Star City.
Retracing familiar paths, he arrived at the childhood home of the little one.
It was a dilapidated building, the walls covered in dust and moss. A red circle was drawn on the wall, with the character "demolish" written inside it.
According to what he'd learned in the previous timeline, this rundown building in Star City's central district had long been marked for demolition.
But the owner of the building had refused to leave, so demolition never happened.
Even with officials frequently coming to persuade them, it had no effect.
Climbing up the narrow stairs, he stopped at an open doorway and looked inside.
The furnishings were simple, all old and worn. The sofa by the window had faded and wrinkled, the leather along the edges torn, revealing yellow sponge beneath. The ceiling had been blackened by smoke, and the air reeked of grease.
He stepped inside and spotted a crib.
Inside it was a baby, chubby and delicate, with light blue eyes, sucking on a pacifier and curiously watching him.
Feng Qi walked over and stared at the little one, memories flashing in his mind.
He reached out and gently pinched the baby's cheek, then tried to pull the pacifier out.
The moment it was removed, the baby burst into loud wails. The curious look vanished, replaced by streaming tears.
Thinking about how this crying baby would one day become the Ice War God who'd scare off powerful domain enemies made Feng Qi chuckle. He hurriedly put the pacifier back.
The baby instantly stopped crying and blinked adorably with big eyes.
Just as he was playing with the baby, an old voice came from behind.
"You are...?"
He turned and saw an elderly woman with gray hair standing at the doorway. She was holding a transparent bag filled with formula, diapers, and other baby supplies.
"Can we talk for a moment?"
To ease her suspicion, Feng Qi pulled out his ID from the Tiger Soul Research Institute.
The moment she read it, the wariness on her face melted away.
To the citizens of Star City, the Tiger Soul Research Institute wasn't just an authoritative institution—it was the holy land of cultivation.
Having a child accepted into the Tiger Soul Research Institute was a badge of honor, the kind that neighbors would brag about for ten years straight.
And if that child sent home a welfare gift box from the Tiger Soul Research Institute, the family would be the envy of the entire neighborhood.
So seeing that ID, the old woman not only lowered her guard but even invited Feng Qi to sit.
The little one's future path had already been mapped out in Feng Qi's mind.
If he earned the Demon Blade's approval on this future line, he obviously wouldn't be able to care for the child himself.
So he hoped Wei Wei could take over raising the child, teaching them rune modification techniques and letting them study cultivation methods from the previous timeline—growing along two parallel paths.
In this Sacrifice Line, the future of humanity might depend on the development of rune modification technology.
Zhang Daowen had massive potential, but he alone couldn't lead humanity to full resurgence.
When the cultivation system inevitably collapsed, it would still fall on Zhang Daowen to hold up the sky for humanity.
But raw strength alone wasn't enough. It was only a temporary fix.
Feng Qi wanted Zhang Daowen's talents to also push the frontier of rune modification, forging a brand-new path for the human race.
Of course, strength training couldn't be ignored either.
He had considered letting Old Mist raise the child, but Old Mist refused.
"If I raise the kid, then the kid's basically part of the Mist Tribe. He might not even identify as human anymore," Old Mist had said. "That's not what you want. I don't want to take advantage of you."
After much thought, Feng Qi ultimately decided to entrust the child's upbringing to Wei Wei.
Sure, it'd be tough on Wei Wei—her workload was already enormous. Now she'd have to raise a kid on top of converting all the previous timeline's knowledge into practical tech.
But compared to anyone else, Feng Qi trusted her the most.
While chatting with the old woman, Feng Qi revealed his purpose—he'd found the child's biological parents and wanted to take them back.
Upon hearing this, the woman's face filled with sorrow.
To confirm Feng Qi's identity, she asked if she could make a call.
Feng Qi agreed.
She took out her phone and called the Star City Law Enforcement Division.
He had already arranged for this, so there was nothing to worry about.
Soon, she received a clear confirmation from the other end of the call. She hung up and looked at Feng Qi.
Without suspicion anymore, she agreed to let the child return to their family—but she wanted to meet the parents first.
Feng Qi didn't refuse and immediately had personnel from the Tiger Soul Research Institute handle the arrangements.
As she tearfully handed over the bag of baby items, listing the child's preferences to the staff, Feng Qi couldn't help feeling a pang in his chest.
But this bond was destined to have no future.
The child's true identity was something the old woman hated most—one of the domain creatures. Keeping the child here would only limit their growth.
After saying goodbye, Feng Qi brought the child to the Crimson Research Institute.
By the time he returned to the Tiger Soul Research Institute, it was already late at night.
Feng Qi didn't go to sleep.
Instead, he went to the training room, sat down at the desk in the corner, and started drafting a detailed directory for Star City's future development plans.
Just then, the phone on the desk buzzed, the screen lighting up with a message.
It was from the newly established Spatial Technology Division head:
[The spatial tech simulation testing is complete. We're ready to move into practical testing at any time.]