One year later.
After crossing through yet another domain field world, Feng Qi stepped into a moonlit, silent wilderness.
Realizing he had returned to the human world, he was a little surprised.
He couldn't even remember the last time he had been in human territory. The farther west he went, the denser the domain fields became.
Many times, the domain fields were so tightly packed that walking through one barrier meant stepping right into the next.
Finding a human-world gap within such a dense cluster of domain fields was truly rare.
It was summertime. The air was hot and dry.
There was no wind in the wilderness surrounded by domain fields, but from a dying tree nearby came the frantic screeching of cicadas, shrill and relentless.
Feng Qi walked to an open patch of ground and set down the Demon Blade from his shoulder.
He planned to stay here for a while and cultivate.
As for food during his training, he wasn't worried. The Demon Blade stored plenty of blood and flesh energy, which he could use to replenish what his body consumed.
After two years of cultivation away from Star City, Feng Qi had already mastered the eight foundational blade forms.
Now, he was ready to follow the Demon Blade's guidance and move on to creating and training in advanced blade techniques.
"Blade Bro, let's begin."
Responding to his call, the Demon Blade's aged voice echoed in his mind.
Following the guidance, Feng Qi closed his eyes and ran his hand along the blade, trying to sense the special nodes hidden within.
The use of advanced blade techniques with the Demon Blade could also be seen as the process of sketching out spells with it.
At this point, the Demon Blade was like a magic artifact from a cultivation novel—or like a magic wand from a fantasy world.
How to use it to carve out powerful techniques was a major way to improve its efficiency.
From his sensing perspective, the Demon Blade transformed.
He saw countless special nodes existing inside it.
They were like points of light in a star map, twinkling like stars. His consciousness was like a thread that could link them together.
According to the Demon Blade, each blade's shape would result in a completely different node layout. Every reshaping was like a new life.
The current form of the Demon Blade in his hands displayed an entirely new structural layout.
The techniques created by previous wielders could only serve as references—because the blade forms were different, many of their techniques weren't applicable.
So, the only path forward was to develop blade techniques suited to himself.
That was the path every true powerhouse had to walk.
What the Demon Blade said reminded Feng Qi of the Mist Lord.
The Mist Lord had shared a similar view.
He said one of the biggest differences between the strong and the weak was that the strong could walk their own path.
For the weak, learning a rare and powerful technique was a stroke of luck and something to be proud of.
But the strong didn't stop there—they created techniques that suited them so perfectly, others would revere them as treasures.
Because to the strong, the road laid down by others would soon end.
To keep going, they had to open a new road with their own hands.
As the Demon Blade's advanced training began, Feng Qi became like a sponge, absorbing over a thousand years of skill and experience, turning it into his own understanding and mastery.
According to the Demon Blade, this process required him to use the blade-momentum flame in his heart and his willpower to guide the linking of different "star nodes" inside the blade, triggering different effects and powers.
In its first-stage unsealed state, the Demon Blade held 208 star nodes.
Among them were eight main nodes.
These main nodes were named by the Demon Blade as: Sky Dome, Prison, Soul Drain, Divine Flame, Thunder Wrath, Vortex, Forbidden Curse, and Spell Sand.
They acted like core formation eyes in an array, serving as hubs for the 208 star nodes.
Each core node represented a specific trait of the Demon Blade.
Creating a blade technique meant studying how different node traits interacted—linking them in ways that reduced conflict and enhanced synergy.
The linking process was like creating a high-speed channel.
For example, starting from the Sky Dome node, passing through the first sub-node would boost power by 10%, and reaching the next would bring another 10% increase. The more you linked, the stronger the blade technique.
But there were exceptions.
If you had to go through a node with conflicting attributes, the overall effect could be weakened.
It was an incredibly complex mental-linking process.
Once this skill became instinctual, he'd be able to execute techniques without the slightest delay—a matter of pure practice and mastery.
While learning about the Demon Blade's advanced techniques in its first-stage unsealed form, the blade didn't plan the paths for him.
It simply served as a guide.
Feng Qi realized the Demon Blade didn't want him to rely on it too much.
He wasn't the least bit dissatisfied.
In his heart, he understood that dependency was a stumbling block on the path to growth—a roadblock. Once reliance became habit, it'd be hard to improve further.
The hardships at the beginning were meant to temper him.
Just like leveling up a skill in a game, the pain was experience, and that experience would become the foundational framework for his future blade technique development.
Through day after day of training, Feng Qi gradually began to grasp the advanced use of blade techniques.
After one month, he created his first advanced blade technique tailored to himself.
At the center of the wasteland, Feng Qi raised the Demon Blade and stood with it horizontally across his body.
Then his eyes suddenly snapped open. The Demon Blade glowed with a pitch-black light, and the nodes linked through his mental guidance lit up one after another.
As he swung the blade forward, its size instantly swelled to more than double, transforming into a massive black battle-axe that slammed toward the ground.
Boom!
The blade struck the earth, causing a minor earthquake. A terrifying shockwave erupted from the impact point, kicking up dirt and dust in every direction. A nearby withered tree was torn from the ground by the sudden gale.
The terrain in this part of the wilderness shifted like a drifting tectonic plate, splitting apart—some areas were compressed and sank, others rose like waves.
The strike's destructive power was immense, but it came at a cost—Feng Qi's stamina took a heavy hit.
He planted the now-shrunken Demon Blade into the ground and began to breathe heavily.
This slash required him to control the enlarged Demon Blade, and manipulating it demanded far more energy. It felt like swinging a weapon underwater, resistance pulling from all sides.
But despite that, Feng Qi was very satisfied with the outcome. It fit his battle style perfectly.
Then, the Demon Blade's old, raspy laugh echoed in his mind:
"Kid, this is the first advanced blade technique you've created. Give it a name. I'll record it in my memory."
"A name?" Feng Qi hesitated, then asked curiously, "Blade Bro, got any naming suggestions?"
"Your blade technique crushes foes with brute force, like a ferocious beast breaking out of a cage. It's about overwhelming aggression. Use that as your inspiration."
Nodding, Feng Qi fell into deep thought.
Dominating, savage, overwhelming force...
He searched his mind for matching keywords, slowly forming an idea. Then he asked:
"Can I name it anything I want?"
"It's your technique. Name it however you want."
"Then this move'll be called: Advanced Blade Technique, First Form—Dump Truck Slam."
The Demon Blade: …
Raising the blade, Feng Qi's face broke into a wide grin.
To him, the name wasn't the important part—what mattered was the power. The name was just a tag.
Having a cool name didn't make it powerful. Destructive capability was the only real measure of a technique's strength.
Just like the combat squad his parents once belonged to—Smash the Domain's Skull Second Squad. The name was absurd, but that team carried countless honors and was once jointly recognized by the five major cities as one of the top ten domain combat squads in history.
So, the name didn't matter. The core was what counted.
Besides, he thought "Dump Truck Slam" really matched the technique's heavy, smashing force.
The enlarged Demon Blade was just like a dump truck barreling through its enemy with unstoppable momentum.
With that clarity, Feng Qi hoisted the Demon Blade onto his shoulder and began walking toward the next domain field.
He was ready to begin a new round of cultivation and combat.
As for when he'd finally walk out of the domain-filled region and step into human territory beyond the Eastern Region—he had no idea.
Maybe everything out there was still stitched together by endless domain fields, with no human living zones like those carved out through supply zones in the Eastern Region.
Still, Feng Qi remained hopeful about the world outside.
Maybe he'd find more like-minded allies and build a human power strong enough to rival even the future royal clans.
…
Several hours later, a gray-colored domain field came into view.
Without hesitation, Feng Qi approached the domain field's barrier and stepped in.
Once he passed through the obstruction, the world before him opened up.
What he saw was completely different from anything he'd seen before—a gloomy, shadowed world.
Everything in sight was desolate. No greenery, only crumbling, ancient buildings weathered by time, standing silently under layers of sand and dust. The wind carried yellowed particles through the air like a dry mist clouding his vision.
Looking past the blowing sand into the distance, he could see many energy-based domain creatures.
They all floated slightly above the ground, semi-levitating. Their forms were somewhat similar to the soulform tribesmen of the Mist Lord.
These ghastly figures drifted in packs through the storm.
When he looked up, the sky was just as bleak—full of phantoms circling and tearing at one another. Their eerie howls pierced the air like a haunting chorus.
It felt like he had stepped into the netherworld described in human mythology—eerie, terrifying, and merciless.
Hoisting the Demon Blade over his shoulder, Feng Qi walked forward.
Ahead was a crumbling complex of yellow earth buildings, most of them long since collapsed from the passage of time. Still, the remains hinted that intelligent life had once lived here. But time was slowly erasing all traces of their existence.
His appearance didn't draw any attention from the ghost-like beings.
Walking straight through the sand-laden wind, Feng Qi saw no greenery, no signs of life—just endless drifting specters.
He didn't know how long he had been walking before he crested a ridge.
Looking out across the plains, the sight made Feng Qi pause in surprise.
He saw countless tall domain creatures clad in dirt-colored battle armor, their bodies completely sealed, locked in fierce combat with ghost-like lifeforms.
If it were just a simple race conflict, Feng Qi wouldn't have been surprised.
Wars over resources and survival were the norm in this world. In many domain fields he had traveled through, different races frequently fought internal wars over interests.
From above, the battlefield looked like two separate worlds clashing.
Behind the ghost-type beings, a massive abyssal maw loomed, spreading outward like a black void. The darkness inside churned like ink, thick and viscous.
A distinct domain world line twisted and swayed as it crept forward, slowly devouring the domain field under his feet.
The scene felt familiar.
He clearly remembered how, 1500 years in the future, the human world was devoured by the domain world.
At that time, the world was split in two—on one side, the blood moon hung in the sky, while on the other side, a bright sun blazed.
At the center of the two worlds was a twisting world line that pierced the heavens. The space of the human world was slowly compressed as the blood moon realm consumed it. In the end, the human world was fully devoured, and Mu Yan turned into a statue at that moment.
From this, he could tell that this wasn't just internal race warfare within a domain field.
This was an invasion—an all-out plundering war.
The ghost-type creatures were clearly the aggressors, while the dirt-armored domain beings were resisting fiercely.
The world line would advance when one side gained ground, and retreat slightly if it faltered.
This was a battlefield where everything was on the line. The losing side would likely be annihilated. Even if survivors escaped their ancestral domain field, they would still face rejection from the rules of the human world.
Even if they could survive under the human world's rules, they'd become drifters—bottom-tier factions like the Domain Weak Tribe Alliance in Star City, barely holding on.
At that point, a comeback was nearly impossible.
The human world was like a massive battlefield, structurally completely different from the tiered worlds of the domain world.
Losing your ancestral domain was like losing your foundation for growth. In this increasingly brutal environment, you'd be forced off the stage of history.
Domain beings like the Mist Lord who managed to stage a comeback were rare exceptions.
Standing on the ridge, Feng Qi rested the Demon Blade on his shoulder and silently observed the spectacular scene.
From above, the battlefield looked like two massive swarms of ants clashing in a brutal charge.
Feng Qi had never felt sympathy toward domain creatures.
War might be cruel—but what did it have to do with him?
He was happy just to watch from the sidelines.
In his eyes, domain creatures were invaders.
Sure, most domain beings had reasons they couldn't resist—survival, continuation of their species and civilization, and so on.
But that didn't change the fact that they were invaders. This land was once part of the human world. It was the arrival of domain factions that caused humans to lose vast territories.
For all he knew, this domain field might have once been a human city, razed by domain beings in a slaughter.
So feeling pity for domain creatures was, in Feng Qi's eyes, extremely foolish.
"What about that domain creature who can turn into mist?"
The Demon Blade's voice suddenly rang out in Feng Qi's mind.
"He's different. He's my brother. Multiple timelines have proven he can stand alongside us humans and walk forward together… In the long road ahead, humanity alone won't make it. We'll need strong allies to move forward."
"True. After all, you and he share a bond. But the rest of these domain creatures have nothing to do with you. No need to sympathize with their suffering."
"Oh, and I saw in your memory that he once said I was a rabid dog that bites, right? After I take down Jian Ji, he's next. I'm gonna challenge him and slice him up."
Feng Qi: …
Just as Feng Qi was about to respond, a violent gust whipped through the air, sending his long, untrimmed hair flying.
He looked out into the distance and saw the twisted domain world line rapidly spreading toward his position.
Before he could react, that thick, ink-like darkness had already swallowed him whole.
In an instant, the battlefield transformed into the ghost-type creatures' home turf.