I Hijacked the Timeline (IHT)

At this point, Feng Qi had already grasped the function of the "Miracle: Evolution."

Simply put, it allowed him to feed Three-Tails in order to break down unwanted talent abilities, converting them into Origin Talent Points.

When talent abilities fused with Origin Talent Points, their potency would be upgraded to a new level.

The power of this miracle item was undeniable.

It could unlock the hidden potential of previously non-upgradable talents, enabling them to reach higher limits.

For instance, Blood Source was originally a talent that couldn't be evolved.

Yet after integrating the Talent Orb, it successfully underwent a single evolution, gaining a much higher growth potential.

As for why the Blood Source was labeled with a "Fifth Tier" evaluation after its first evolution, Feng Qi had his own analysis.

One thing was clear: talent abilities had a hierarchy of strength.

Before evolution, these talents existed in their initial state. Although there were differences in strength, these weren't reflected in the attribute panel.

However, once evolution occurred, the talent's tier evaluation would be displayed on the panel.

For example, the panel currently rated Blood Source as "Fifth Tier."

It stood to reason that Purple Soul could potentially reach Sixth or even Seventh Tier.

Understanding this, Feng Qi used the remaining 14 Talent Orbs to further integrate them into Blood Source.

As a result, the evolution percentage of Blood Source reached 23.5% at the Fifth Tier.

Compared to Purple Soul, Blood Source clearly required fewer resources to advance.

In terms of practicality, Blood Source was far more critical at this stage.

He reasoned that only when he became strong enough to crush dozens, even hundreds, of domain creatures in one blow would it be feasible to consider advancing Purple Soul. Until then, with his current rate of acquiring talent abilities, attempting to nurture it was unrealistic.

Opening his eyes, he looked at Lin Ran, who was still waiting nearby.

"It's done, Lin Ran," he said.

"Have you acquired the mental purification ability yet?" Lin Ran asked curiously.

"No, but I've obtained something even better."

"Oh? What is it?"

"A miracle item. Let's get moving; I'll explain as we go. We can hunt more domain creatures along the way."

As they continued eastward, Feng Qi explained the details of the "Miracle: Evolution" to Lin Ran, elaborating on its ability to disassemble and evolve talents.

Lin Ran listened with wide eyes, unable to suppress his amazement.

"Qi-ge, based on your description, I think your talent-plundering ability might also come from a miracle item."

Feng Qi nodded in agreement.

"To be honest, I've suspected as much for a while, but I've never had any concrete evidence."

"Maybe the Narrator is the miracle item that granted you these abilities," Lin Ran joked.

Feng Qi was about to respond when a dense purple light suddenly burst from his chest, rapidly coalescing in front of him.

"Cheep!"

With a crisp chirp, the figure of Three-Tails appeared.

[Ding! Your summoned creature Three-Tails reports that the mental sea is unbearably boring and has come out for a breather—also to make an appearance.]

Since Three-Tails' physical form, the purple token, had already fused with him, Feng Qi wasn't worried about it running away.

Extending a leg, he gently nudged the creature aside as it tried to rub against him.

"Go play somewhere else; I don't have time for you."

Hearing this, Three-Tails lifted its little head in a display of pride.

It started to wag its tail in dissatisfaction, but then seemed to think better of it. Drooping its head, it followed behind them meekly.

As they scouted for domain creatures, they soon encountered one.

With Lin Ran's assistance, Feng Qi dispatched it effortlessly.

The newly acquired ability didn't appear particularly noteworthy, so he decisively chose to disassemble it and convert it into Talent Points.

His current approach was simple.

Active abilities that significantly enhanced combat effectiveness were kept, while less useful active abilities were disassembled.

As for passive abilities, he chose to keep nearly all of them unless they had minimal utility.

For example, abilities like Herculean Strength, Steel Bones, and Regeneration were highly valuable passive talents that required no activation to enhance his physical capabilities.

On the other hand, passive talents like Recoil and Stasis, which he had just disassembled, were less useful.

Although Recoil and Stasis were technically passive and required no active activation, reality wasn't a game.

In games, abilities like "Recoil" typically came with a fixed percentage of damage reflection.

For instance, no matter how much damage the user suffered, the ability might guarantee a 20% reflection rate.

If this were the case, such an ability would be categorized as a "law-defying" talent, and Feng Qi wouldn't hesitate to develop it further.

In fact, he'd go all in to cultivate it.

If it ever reached 100% reflection, he'd become more fearsome than Little Black.

Unfortunately, in reality, Recoil relied on depleting his internal energy to produce counterattacks, and the resulting damage was minimal.

It also lacked a fixed reflection percentage; if the incoming damage exceeded his physical limits, the effect was nullified.

Moreover, this ability fundamentally conflicted with Blood Source.

Since the duration of Blood Source depended on the preservation of his internal energy, depleting it through Recoil would only shorten its active time without inflicting significant harm on enemies.

To Feng Qi, the energy consumed by Recoil would be better spent throwing a few more punches in Blood Source form.

Meanwhile, talents like Herculean Strength, Steel Bones, and Regeneration were different.

These abilities consumed no resources and directly boosted his physical capabilities.

Such passive abilities were not only highly practical but also held immense potential for development. Disassembling them would be tantamount to weakening his strength.

Pondering the finer points of his talents, Feng Qi continued eastward alongside Lin Ran.

"Cheep!"

At that moment, Three-Tails let out a sharp chirp from behind them.

[Incoming—brace yourself!]

[Your big brother Black has already cleared the first stage and is charging toward the second. As the ultimate final boss, it's time to deploy your second-in-command to block his path—let's go with your right-hand enforcer, Mist Ran!]

Hearing the Narrator's reminder, Feng Qi tensed. He immediately turned his gaze toward the distance.

A massive black cloud was rushing in his direction, devouring everything in its path. Any material it touched was consumed entirely by the psionic nanobots, leaving nothing behind. The sight was as breathtaking as it was terrifying.

"Qi-ge, looks like it's my turn now," Lin Ran quipped, turning to grin at him.

Feng Qi sighed inwardly, then asked, "Are you scared?"

"Scared? Since when has Lin Ran been afraid of anything? Even if it's a sure loss, so what?" Lin Ran replied with a shrug, his nonchalance written all over his face.

Seeing his easy demeanor, Feng Qi patted Lin Ran's shoulder and said with a grin, "Good brother, we'll fight side by side in the next timeline too."

Lin Ran nodded firmly, a resolute look in his eyes. Without hesitation, his body transformed into a swirling gray mist and surged forward to meet the encroaching black fog head-on.

As the gray mist clashed with the black fog, it was immediately overwhelmed, pushed back under the crushing onslaught.

Without looking back, Feng Qi resumed his journey, choosing to focus on hunting domain creatures to strengthen himself. His destination lay further east, a place he had never ventured to before.

To date, his exploration of the future world had been limited. The farthest he had traveled was to the statue of Mu Yan, and even then, he hadn't gone deeper.

Two factors had held him back.

First, his strength wasn't sufficient to survive the challenges of the plains, where domain creatures were significantly more powerful than those in the urban ruins.

Second, time was against him.

Little Black, a constant shadow in his dreamlines, was like a death timer, its arrival signaling an inevitable end.

During a past dreamline, he had barely reached the plains thanks to Suction Cup, who had delayed Little Black's pursuit. In that instance, he had used spiritual plants to heal Suction Cup's injuries, boosting its strength enough to buy him some extra time.

Now, with Three-Tails trailing behind, he pressed on.

Suddenly, he noticed a pair of crimson eyes glinting in the darkness of a ruined building ahead. Realizing a domain creature was lurking within, he asked, "Narrator, what's the call?"

[Activate Blood Source—you can take it down!]

Reassured by the response, Feng Qi prepared to act.

Before he could make his move, the domain creature burst through the building wall, charging straight at him.

It was humanoid in form, towering over two meters tall, its body constructed entirely of black stone. Each heavy step it took echoed with a deep, resonant thud.

A melee specialist. Feng Qi smirked.

Veins bulged along his neck as his heartbeat accelerated, and blood energy surged through his body. His muscles swelled visibly as he began to transform.

With a loud bang, he raised an arm enveloped in crimson mist to meet the stone creature's punch head-on. The impact sent him skidding back several meters before he steadied himself.

The transformation continued as his muscles expanded further, and his figure grew taller.

Boom!

Green flames erupted from his body, enveloping him completely. In his monstrous blood giant form, Feng Qi resembled a demon emerging from the depths of hell, his fiery aura radiating pure menace.

The stone creature hesitated, clearly startled by the sudden metamorphosis of its prey into a fearsome predator.

But it was too late to retreat.

Feng Qi lunged forward, grabbing the creature's arm. The green flames spread rapidly from the point of contact, scorching its surface. The stone began to crack and blacken under the intense heat.

The domain creature struggled violently, but Feng Qi didn't give it a chance to escape. With a surge of brute strength, he swung the creature around and slammed it into the ground with a resounding crash.

He followed up with a powerful punch to its head, scattering sparks and fragments of stone. The creature's red eyes flashed with terror as Feng Qi rained down blow after blow, his attacks relentless.

"Chirp!"

The sharp cry of Three-Tails snapped Feng Qi out of his frenzy.

Turning his head, he saw the mischievous creature perched nearby, munching on a grape-like fruit. It pointed a paw toward the distance.

Feng Qi followed its gaze and spotted three more stone creatures approaching at high speed.

Realizing these creatures traveled in groups, he grinned savagely. "Perfect."

He continued pummeling his current target, but its durable exterior resisted his attacks. Before he could finish it off, the other three creatures closed in.

Abandoning the downed creature, Feng Qi charged forward to meet them head-on.

With a powerful leap, he collided with the lead creature, sending it flying into the air. Without losing momentum, he grabbed the other two by their necks and slammed them into the ground with bone-shaking force.

As his battle fervor grew, so did his aggression.

Grinning maniacally, he grabbed one of the creatures by the head and stood upright, using it as a makeshift weapon to bludgeon the others.

Under his relentless assault, two of the creatures soon fell motionless.

The one he had initially sent flying hesitated, clearly intimidated by the scene.

But Feng Qi wasn't about to let it escape.

Charging forward, his footsteps left craters in the ground. In seconds, he caught up to the fleeing creature, seizing it by the back of the neck and slamming it into the dirt.

Wrapping his massive arms around its torso, he tensed his muscles and unleashed a burst of green flames, enveloping the creature entirely.

With a loud crack, the stone creature's body began to splinter under the pressure.

A crisp cracking sound echoed as the stone elemental beneath Feng Qi lost its vitality.

Yet the absence of a blood mist confirmed that it was not entirely dead.

He swung his fist again, smashing the stone domain creature's body into pieces. When his fist shattered the rune crystal embedded in the creature's chest, a red mist emerged from its now-motionless form, seeping into his body.

Bringing up his attribute panel, Feng Qi noticed a new ability: [Petrification].

The description explained that activating this ability would encase his body in stone, drastically slowing movement but significantly boosting defense.

To Feng Qi, this ability was useless.

"Only cowards focus on defense. True men know that offense is the best defense."

[High awareness, big thumbs up!]

Standing up, Feng Qi approached the other three immobilized stone domain creatures.

One by one, he destroyed the rune crystals in their chests. As a result, the [Statue] ability leveled up to LV2.

"Three-Tails, eat this ability."

Turning to Three-Tails, he watched as a flicker of disdain crossed its eyes before it reluctantly entered his mental sea. It pounced toward the newly manifested gray ability orb.

To Feng Qi's surprise, Three-Tails' energy form was repelled the moment it neared the ability orb, sent tumbling through his mental sea before coming to a disoriented halt.

[Seems like your ability orbs can only be handled by you. This is a good thing—imagine if Three-Tails devoured all your abilities overnight. The thought alone is despair-inducing.]

Envisioning that scenario made Feng Qi break into a cold sweat.

Using his consciousness, he removed the gray [Statue] ability orb and threw it toward Three-Tails.

Three-Tails leaped up, catching the orb in its mouth before swallowing it whole.

Moments later, Three-Tails opened its mouth, spitting out 13 ability beads.

Feng Qi immediately integrated them into [Blood Source].

After a brief wait, [Blood Source] absorbed the ability beads, pushing its strength to 43% of Tier 5.

However, advancing to the next stage remained a distant goal. At the current rate of 1.5% per bead, he would still need 38 more to complete the second advancement.

Exiting his mental sea, Feng Qi regained his focus and continued his journey.

"Chirp!"

Three-Tails emerged from his mental sea, following him closely.

After some time, the [Blood Source] state ended, his muscles dissolving into energy. He reverted to his [Combat Form].

Three-Tails seemed unfazed by the transformation, continuing to trot beside him and occasionally looking up to chirp.

Man and "cat" walked under the blood-red moon, moving farther into the distance.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Feng Qi and Three-Tails emerged from the abandoned city, entering a familiar expanse of plains.

The unobstructed view stretched for miles, revealing a sea of white flowers swaying with the wind, their waves rippling across the landscape.

Continuing his hunt for domain creatures along the way, Feng Qi raised his [Blood Source] strength to 58% of Tier 5, inching closer to another breakthrough.

Eventually, they arrived at the edge of a massive sinkhole.

Looking down, Feng Qi could see the statue of Mu Yan standing in its center, a silver spear in her hand pointed toward the heavens.

The sight brought memories flooding back—visions of Mu Yan fighting tirelessly against endless domain creatures. Her life ended as the domain fields fully engulfed this world.

This time, Feng Qi chose not to approach Mu Yan's statue.

Without infinite memory capabilities, the fragments he could retrieve from her statue would be limited. Mu Yan's long life and vast memories were an enigma, and Feng Qi knew his limitations.

Choosing to follow the sinkhole's edge, he continued his journey.

With time still on his side, Feng Qi resolved to hunt more domain creatures and explore the changes in this future world.

The weather shifted dramatically, strong winds sweeping through the landscape.

Countless flower petals danced in the air, transforming the world ahead into a white, petal-filled wonderland.

Surrounded by this sea of flowers, Feng Qi remained composed. Three-Tails, however, was ecstatic, bounding through the blooms like a hyperactive husky.

As he moved forward, a low rumbling caught his attention.

Turning toward the source at his nine o'clock, Feng Qi saw flashes of lightning and two colossal, shadowy figures clashing in the distance.

Each blow they exchanged tore through the fabric of space, plunging the sky into an alternating cycle of light and darkness.

The deafening booms resonated from their fight.

Feng Qi realized these terrifying domain creatures each possessed the strength of a super domain creature. They seemed even more fearsome than the massive Hand he had encountered before.

This sight reminded him that the road ahead was still long.

But Feng Qi's determination remained unshaken. He firmly believed that humanity would one day triumph over all domain creatures and achieve ultimate victory.

Three-Tails, ever the spectator, leaped onto Feng Qi's head, its gaze fixed curiously on the battle. It struck a pose resembling a melon-eating audience member.

Feng Qi considered pulling Three-Tails down but ultimately decided against it.

Despite its arrogance and mischief, Three-Tails wasn't truly a domain creature but rather the consciousness of a miracle item. It had never shown any intent to harm him.

Treating it as a pet wasn't the worst idea.

Smiling at the thought, Feng Qi reached up to pat the smugly perched Three-Tails before continuing forward.