I Hijacked the Timeline (IHT)

Eastern Region, Old Day Canyon.

The convoy escorting the Bloodstone encountered a drastic turn of events upon entering the canyon.

When one faction made the first move to seize the Bloodstone, other factions couldn't sit still any longer.

This resulted in an increasing number of domain creatures and human battle squads under the control of domain factions converging on the canyon to join the scramble for the Bloodstone.

At this point, all factions had abandoned their pretense.

They opted to go all out.

From a vantage point overlooking the chaotic canyon, Feng Qi's expression grew grim.

Just moments ago, Wang Yi's mask had shattered.

However, the face beneath the mask was not disfigured, as rumors suggested, but instead revealed a familiar figure with violet eyes and long violet hair.

Her features instantly reminded him of the Mist Lord.

This revelation stirred several hypotheses in his mind.

One thing was clear:

Back when the Mist Lord first encountered the inexperienced Mu Qing and had its domain completely destroyed, it became a wandering domain transcender.

At the time, Feng Qi had speculated that the Mist Lord might have decided to infiltrate human civilization, leading to later events like the control of the Tiger Soul Research Institute and the promotion of practices such as Flesh Sacrifice.

But now, it seemed that might not have been the case.

At this stage, the Mist Lord clearly hadn't yet gained control over the Tiger Soul Research Institute. Its current identity was merely that of a domain battle squad leader.

There must have been an intermediate process between this moment and its eventual control of the institute.

As for why the Mist Lord was here to seize the Bloodstone, Feng Qi wasn't surprised.

Given his understanding of the Mist Lord, its obsession with "vital blood energy" bordered on madness. The Bloodstone, capable of producing vast amounts of pure blood energy, would undoubtedly be a tremendous temptation for it.

By now, the fight for the Bloodstone had lasted two hours, and no victor had emerged.

The canyon's cliffs had been ground flat by the relentless combat, while wave after wave of energy shockwaves swept outward from the battlefield.

Standing at a safe distance, Feng Qi's clothes flapped violently in the wind, but he had no intention of joining the fray.

In fact, he was fully prepared to retreat at any moment.

This level of battle was far beyond what he and Lü Yue, even with the Dawn Domain Combat Squad, could influence.

At the center of the battlefield, the chaos was like a life-devouring grinder, with figures constantly falling in the struggle.

Anyone who managed to seize the Bloodstone might as well have grabbed a death warrant.

It was like triggering an all-encompassing taunt buff, becoming the immediate target of every attack on the battlefield.

Yet, despite the risk, every faction was eager to claim it.

Feng Qi couldn't help but feel puzzled.

The factions weren't foolish. Why couldn't they wait and let others exhaust themselves before swooping in to reap the benefits?

The answer soon became clear.

Among the competing factions were individuals with ultra-long-range stealth and teleportation abilities. If someone with such capabilities obtained the Bloodstone, they could easily escape, leaving no chance for pursuit.

For example, earlier, a blue-skinned assassin had attempted to create a spatial distortion tunnel using mental energy to teleport away with the Bloodstone.

Fortunately, just as half its body entered the tunnel, a domain creature covered in white fur yanked it out and obliterated it in a hail of attacks. Otherwise, the battle for the Bloodstone would have ended right then and there.

This fear of losing the Bloodstone entirely drove the factions to fight with everything they had, aiming to prevent any accidents while giving their stealth-capable members a chance to secure the item.

If anyone tried to sit back and spectate, hoping to reap the benefits later, they might find the Bloodstone disappearing before their eyes, making them mere bystanders.

This was the primary reason for the intensity of the battle.

Looking at the canyon, now leveled by waves of energy, Feng Qi was shocked by the sheer power of the domain factions.

Even the Mist Lord, a being he focused on, held no significant advantage in this battle.

It had narrowly escaped death multiple times.

However, from a historical perspective, the Mist Lord clearly didn't perish in this struggle for the Bloodstone.

Whether history would follow its original trajectory this time was uncertain.

After all, this timeline's history had already been altered by his actions. It was entirely possible that the Mist Lord wouldn't be as fortunate this time.

Part of him hoped the Mist Lord would survive.

To Feng Qi, the Mist Lord still had value. If it were to die, it should only happen after its usefulness had been completely exhausted on the main timeline—not here on this sacrificial one.

If Lin Ran could successfully reverse the parasitic takeover of the Mist Lord, then the version of him in the future Dream Realm would gain a powerful ally.

Even if Little Black was unmatched, reversing the parasitic control of the Mist Lord could still create immense value for another version of him.

In the Dream Realm's future, relying on Suction Cup for growth wasn't feasible.

After all, Suction Cup had nearly lost its consciousness, distinguishing only between friend and foe. Once it attacked, there was no stopping it.

But Lin Ran, tasked with reversing the Mist Lord's parasitic control, was different.

If the counter-parasitic plan succeeded, his other self's strength would experience a significant surge in a short amount of time.

If the Mist Lord perished here, this timeline's "Counter-Parasitic Consciousness Plan" would essentially fail.

The repercussions would be massive.

For instance, the cultivation technique Flesh Sacrifice wouldn't exist in recorded history.

Whether this change would be good or bad for humanity's future was uncertain.

While Flesh Sacrifice harbored latent dangers for human extinction, it had once been hailed as the pinnacle of humanity's cultivation techniques—provided the Mist Lord didn't activate its "kill switch."

The technique's benefits to practitioners were undeniable, significantly advancing humanity's overall strength.

Its disappearance would undoubtedly slow the progress of cultivation science, possibly to the point where humanity wouldn't last the next 1,500 years.

In such a scenario, even Star City Shelter might never come into existence.

This was precisely why Feng Qi aimed to decode and remove the hidden dangers of Flesh Sacrifice.

A perfected version of the technique—free of risks—would only benefit humanity, with no drawbacks.

With these thoughts in mind, Feng Qi furrowed his brows and turned to Lü Yue.

"Lü Yue, if anything unexpected happens, try to save Wang Yi," he said.

Lü Yue nodded immediately. "Understood."

"You're not even going to ask why?" Feng Qi asked, slightly surprised.

"I trust you."

Faced with Lü Yue's calm response, Feng Qi grinned.

"Still, I should explain. Her true identity is actually the Mist Lord—the one I mentioned before, who controls the Tiger Soul Research Institute."

"My Counter-Parasitic Consciousness Plan requires her to survive. Her premature death will affect the future in countless ways and doom the plan."

"Got it. I'll head over now. If something happens, I'm afraid I won't be able to save her in time otherwise," Lü Yue replied. Without hesitation, he summoned Jian Lan and soared toward the canyon.

Watching Lü Yue disappear, Feng Qi jumped off the truck and turned toward the three squad leaders who were still observing the battle.

"Lead everyone back to the supply area," he instructed.

The squad leaders, already aware of how out-of-control the situation had become, didn't hesitate. They immediately gave the order, and after a brief adjustment, the Dawn Domain Combat Squad convoy began retracing its route.

Feng Qi, meanwhile, started walking toward the canyon.

Before he could get far, a figure suddenly appeared beside him.

Remaining vigilant, Feng Qi instinctively released his mental energy. But when he saw it was Qin Shikong, he retracted it just as quickly.

"When did you realize there was a problem with the escort team?" Qin Shikong asked.

Feng Qi smiled in response. "Didn't you think Wang Yi's behavior on the bridge was suspicious? She practically put on a performance. With her battle-hardened experience and strength, how could she have allowed the Bloodstone to be taken so easily? It doesn't make sense."

"And the others? Their scramble for the 'right to protect' the Bloodstone didn't align with their stated goals. It felt more like they were vying for ownership," Feng Qi continued.

After hearing his explanation, Qin Shikong nodded. "Now that you mention it, there were indeed too many inconsistencies."

"And you? When did you start suspecting something?" Feng Qi asked.

"Same as you. Wang Yi's actions on the bridge raised a lot of questions. So I did a divination and got the result 'Peeling Away the Mask'—mountain and earth dissolving, a sign of Yin stripping away Yang. That's when I realized there were issues within the team. I just didn't expect that, apart from you and the forces under my command, everyone else was from domain factions."

"You can divine something like that?" Feng Qi was stunned.

Cultivation might seem mystical, but from a scientific perspective, it was simply a process of using newly discovered energy—spiritual qi—to enhance and refine the human body, resulting in physical evolution and increased durability.

Similarly, spiritual arts could be explained as the process of manipulating spiritual qi to form higher-dimensional energy structures and directing them for specific effects.

In short, cultivation was entirely grounded in science.

But divination was pure mysticism—a realm of logic-defying theories, almost like deriving conclusions by untangling the threads of time and causality.

Because of this, Feng Qi had always been skeptical of divination.

However, Qin Shikong's abilities were starting to make him question that belief.

This kind of ability was clearly not something achievable through regular cultivation. Feng Qi immediately thought of the Rune Enhancement experiments.

Only Rune-Enhanced Humans could acquire the innate abilities granted by rune crystals, many of which were extraordinarily unique.

"Are you a Rune-Enhanced Human?" he asked tentatively.

"No," Qin Shikong shook his head decisively, then asked with curiosity, "Why do you ask?"

Just as Feng Qi was about to respond, Qin Shikong's expression changed sharply. He flung the bronze-colored trigrams disc in his hand forward.

The air rippled with waves of distortion as a blue-skinned figure emerged from within and was immediately pinned in place by the trigrams disc.

Seeing this, Feng Qi acted without hesitation. His mental energy surged outward, grasping the throat of the blue-skinned assassin and yanking it forcefully.

The assassin wasn't particularly strong. With the sound of bones cracking, its limp body fell lifelessly to the ground.

"The frequency of these assassination attempts is becoming ridiculous. What bad luck," Qin Shikong sighed with exasperation.

Hearing this, Feng Qi paused, then asked, "You've been targeted by these kinds of domain creatures before?"

Qin Shikong nodded. "I don't know why, but there's always something like this trying to kill me. The attacks used to be infrequent—maybe once every few years. But recently, the frequency has been increasing."

Listening to Qin Shikong's explanation, Feng Qi suddenly understood why Qin Shikong had the ability to deduce future events.

If his guess was correct, Qin Shikong likely possessed a Miracle Item.

Only a Miracle Item could grant such illogical, physics-defying abilities.

With that in mind, Feng Qi's gaze landed on the trigrams disc in Qin Shikong's hand. Curious, he asked, "When did you first acquire your fortune-telling ability?"

Qin Shikong didn't hold back. He smiled and said, "I've had it since I was very young. You know I'm a scavenger, right? I was about five years old when it happened. My family and I were migrating and got attacked by a domain transcendent creature. That attack caused devastating losses to our group."

"Even though that domain creature was seriously injured, its curse was still devastating. The warriors in our group couldn't resist its power, and their life essence was drained to restore the creature's strength. That was my first time witnessing the cruelty and malevolence of domain creatures."

"Fortunately, a scavenger combat squad nearby received our distress signal and came to the rescue. Otherwise, none of us would've survived."

"But that attack came at a cost for me. Affected by the lingering curse, my life essence continued to drain, leaving me on the brink of death."

"My parents, driven to desperation, tore into the domain transcendent creature's remains, searching for a cure. They fed me all sorts of fragments from its body, and even a vial of its blood."

"And somehow, the curse was lifted. What's more, I inexplicably gained the ability to see the 'world's trajectory.'"

"World's trajectory?" Feng Qi was taken aback.

"Specifically, at certain moments, the world as I see it changes. It becomes a web of countless interwoven threads. Each thread represents a line of fate, progressing along its predetermined path. Of course, there are exceptions. Fate lines can bend, which is why my divinations aren't always accurate."

Hearing Qin Shikong's explanation left Feng Qi dumbfounded.

He finally understood why Qin Shikong could predict future events.

Until now, he had assumed the trigrams disc was a Miracle Item, granting Qin Shikong the ability to foretell the future. But the truth was that this power came from Qin Shikong himself.

Based on Qin Shikong's story, his parents must have fed him a Miracle Item from the domain transcendent creature's remains.

When Qin Shikong absorbed the Miracle Item, it fused with him, granting him its unique ability.

This ability allowed him to observe the threads of the world's trajectory and infer changes in the future.

It also explained why blue-skinned assassins were targeting him—they were likely after the Miracle Item inside him.

Understanding this, Feng Qi couldn't help but ask, "So, is the trigrams disc just for show?"

"Not entirely. My ability is highly unstable. The trigrams disc helps me focus, allowing me to see the trajectory lines more clearly. It's like a lens for observing the world lines. The night sky serves a similar purpose—it's another medium for me to study the timelines."

Feng Qi nodded in realization. Then, with a curious expression, he asked, "What about your robe?"

"This? Purely for style. It fits the whole fortune-teller aesthetic."

Feng Qi: "..."