A mysterious figure moved through the spatial passage, about to enter the human world.
Feng Qi immediately tensed up.
Choosing the Mist Clan's homeland as the connection point was meant to prevent domain forces from arriving through the passage.
Ever since the Mist Clan withdrew their domain field, their abandoned land had become a barren wasteland, devoid of resources. This meant that the likelihood of summoning a powerful enemy was extremely low.
The initial test of the spatial passage had been a resounding success, yet an unexpected complication had still occurred.
If an overwhelming force appeared now—one that they couldn't possibly defeat—Star City would be dragged into the disaster as well.
As he rushed toward the falling shadow, Feng Qi's mind raced. He had already prepared for the worst-case scenario.
Arriving at the core of the formation, Feng Qi and the Mist Lord looked up toward the sky.
The mysterious figure in the spatial passage was becoming clearer.
It was a domain creature of terrifying appearance—its head resembled a crocodile, its body was humanoid, and its rough, granular skin indicated an unusually high level of durability. Based on rough estimation, its height exceeded ten meters.
However, what drew Feng Qi's attention the most was the massive, jet-black katana gripped in the creature's right hand.
The blade's surface was etched with sinister markings, while dark mist coiled around its form. Even just looking at it from a distance, Feng Qi felt a sharp, piercing pain in his eyes—the blade's aura alone radiated an overwhelming sense of lethality.
For some reason, the black katana seemed eerily familiar.
Feng Qi felt as if he had seen it before, yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall when or where.
Turning to the Mist Lord, he asked:
"Old Mist, is this thing from your homeland? What's its background?"
The Mist Lord stared for a moment, then his expression turned cold.
"Never seen it before. Kill it."
Without hesitation, he thrust a palm toward the sky.
His right arm dissolved into mist, expanding into a colossal fog hand, reaching directly for the descending creature.
At the same time, Feng Qi gathered power.
As his chest burned with surging combat intent, he twisted his torso, then threw a punch toward the heavens.
A torrent of blood energy erupted, shaping into a fist-shaped shockwave engulfed in emerald-green flames—following closely behind the Mist Lord's attack, it hurtled toward the katana-wielding domain creature.
Just as the domain creature emerged from the spatial passage, it suddenly turned toward the incoming attacks.
A dim light flickered in its otherwise lifeless eyes.
It dragged the massive katana, then casually swung it forward.
A pitch-black fissure tore through the air, extending outward from the katana's arc.
In an instant, the Mist Lord's fog hand and Feng Qi's bloodflame fist were split cleanly in half.
The energy structures within both attacks collapsed instantly, causing them to shatter into nothingness.
Watching the mysterious figure continue descending, the Mist Lord frowned.
"Our luck is truly outstanding. This thing is ridiculously strong. There's no other choice… we need Buddha himself."
Feng Qi hesitated.
"Buddha? You mean Mu Qing? Or Tian Shu?"
The Mist Lord shook his head.
"Tian Shu is too unstable. Even if he defeats the enemy, he might end up destroying Star City in the process. Right now, only Mu Qing can solve this."
"But that might interfere with her future timeline."
"This is an emergency. We don't have any other options."
Realizing the situation was spiraling out of control, Feng Qi nodded without hesitation.
Just as he reached for his communicator, preparing to order Star City personnel to summon Mu Qing from the Academy, the domain creature landed.
Upon touching the ground, the creature remained silent, its expression cold and empty.
It slowly turned its head, first glancing at Feng Qi, then at the Mist Lord.
At that moment, the black katana in its grip emitted a low hum.
A terrifying blade aura erupted outward, spreading in all directions.
Everywhere the shockwave passed, the ground was carved with countless intersecting slash marks.
Without even making a move, the creature's presence alone had already put immense pressure on both Feng Qi and the Mist Lord.
Yet neither of them backed down.
Their eyes locked with the domain creature's gaze.
Slowly, the creature raised the black katana, pointing it directly at them.
Then it spoke:
"@#$%*"
It was not in human language, yet Feng Qi understood it.
The meaning was clear—
"Weaklings do not deserve to be my whetstone."
Hearing these words, the Mist Lord's brows furrowed.
Then, in a calm tone, he responded:
"@￥%#!%(You're absolutely right. We're weaklings. We don't deserve to die by your blade.)"
Feng Qi: …
He had expected the Mist Lord to say something bold—he hadn't expected him to surrender on the spot.
This was classic Mist Lord behavior.
Whenever faced with overwhelming strength, he would never engage in reckless bravado.
The Mist Lord had once explained his philosophy:
"Choosing survival over pride isn't cowardice—it's simply smart.
Pride isn't about refusing to bow. It's about never giving up, never resigning to fate. If yielding today means a better chance to fight back in the future, then that is the wisest choice."
And he had even listed several examples to back up his argument.
In the brutal survival environment of the domain world, races that blindly charged forward without strategy had long since been wiped out.
Only the most cunning and adaptable forces survived.
Feng Qi thought back to the domain factions hiding within the human world—had any of them ever acted recklessly?
Take the Silver Moon Clan, for example. They had hidden within Star City, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Would anyone dare to say they had abandoned their pride?
Or the Black Shadow of the Academy of Technological Research—their low-profile existence was merely a strategic move for the future.
Every domain faction he had encountered was deceptive and calculated. He had yet to see a single one that operated openly and aggressively.
Realizing this, Feng Qi suppressed his urge to attack.
If acting submissive could convince the mysterious domain creature to leave, then that would be the best outcome.
But just as he entertained this thought, the domain creature slowly raised its massive, pitch-black katana.
"I… crave blood!"
As its voice fell, the dark mist surrounding the blade expanded, and a terrifyingly sharp aura erupted into the sky.
The sheer pressure forced both Feng Qi and the Mist Lord to retreat.
The katana hummed ominously, and Feng Qi felt a sharp sting against his face—the very wind itself carried enough force to cut into his skin, leaving behind thin, bleeding wounds.
Feng Qi was shocked.
The strength of this domain creature far surpassed what he could handle at his current level on the sacrifice line.
Right now, only Mu Qing or Tian Shu could fight against it.
Just as Feng Qi tensed, preparing to contact Mu Qing, something unexpected happened—
The mysterious domain creature suddenly fell to its knees.
Thick black mist poured from its nose and mouth, and a pained expression flickered across its dull eyes.
Feng Qi immediately turned to the Mist Lord.
"What's happening?"
Observing the changes in the creature's body, the Mist Lord calmly responded:
"If my guess is right, its body isn't compatible with the rules of the human world. The world itself is rejecting it, and it's on the verge of collapse… I know this process all too well."
Just as the Mist Lord predicted, the creature's condition worsened.
It collapsed in pain, its body trembling uncontrollably.
But what puzzled Feng Qi was that, despite its agony, the domain creature stubbornly refused to release its katana—its grip was unyielding.
Feng Qi's gaze locked onto the weapon.
That pitch-black katana seemed incredibly familiar, yet he couldn't recall where he had seen it before.
Then, suddenly, a flash of realization struck him.
His mind raced back to a scene from a previous dream of the future.
In that dream, the Mist Lord had introduced three powerful rogue cultivators that he had encountered in the domain world.
Using gray mist, he had projected their images for Feng Qi to see.
Among them:
The first was the Shadow City Lord, someone Feng Qi was already familiar with. The Mist Lord had long coveted his resources but never dared to act recklessly, as he couldn't gauge the Shadow City Lord's full strength.
The second was a warrior clad in pitch-black armor, wielding a jagged, black katana. His origins were shrouded in mystery, and the Mist Lord had referred to him as "Blade Demon."
According to the Mist Lord, he had once fought against this Blade Demon.
Though he had slightly gained the upper hand, he had barely managed to force the warrior to retreat.
The third was a peculiar egg, its shell branded with flame-like markings.
Its origins were even more mysterious than the Blade Demon's, but one thing was certain—its lineage belonged to a being of immense power.
Now, staring at the mysterious domain creature's katana, Feng Qi realized the truth—
The runes carved into the blade were identical to those on the weapon of the Blade Demon in the vision.
The only difference was its shape and size.
A thought surfaced in his mind—
Could this domain creature be from the same race as the future Blade Demon?
Had the Blade Demon's clan been wiped out over 1,500 years of change, leaving only him as the sole survivor?
Had this event led to the Blade Demon becoming a rogue warrior, wandering the domain world alone?
As he watched the domain creature struggle, Feng Qi's tension gradually faded.
This situation reminded him of when the Mist Lord had first stepped out of the Mist Domain Field.
The only difference was that the Mist Lord possessed the power of Miracle Will—
Even if his flesh collapsed or his mind shattered, he could rebuild himself using the strength of Miracle Will.
This creature, however, had no such protection.
At this point, the formation's energy supply had been cut off.
The spatial passage in the sky had crumbled.
The spatial rift was closing rapidly, lacking the energy needed to sustain itself.
There was no escape.
The domain creature knelt on the ground, its body deflating like a punctured balloon as black mist continuously leaked from its form.
It tried to stand, but no matter how much it struggled, it couldn't resist the suppression of the world's rules.
Yet, it still clung tightly to the katana in its hand, refusing to let go.
Feng Qi could clearly sense that the mysterious domain creature's vitality was rapidly fading—one foot already stepping onto the path of death… and stepping down hard.
It was simply a matter of bad luck.
Some domain creatures were domain transcendents the moment they descended, but the one before them clearly wasn't.
As they waited, the domain creature finally reached its limit, and its body suddenly exploded.
The pitch-black katana that had been clutched so tightly in its grasp fell to the ground.
"It's dead."
The Mist Lord, who had been using blood energy perception to monitor the domain creature's condition, finally spoke.
"Good thing it wasn't a domain transcendent. That was almost a disaster," Feng Qi exhaled in relief, his heart still racing.
As he spoke, his gaze shifted to the black katana lying motionless on the ground.
Just as he was about to step forward and examine it, the Mist Lord suddenly shouted—
"Something's wrong!"
Before Feng Qi could react, the Mist Lord moved in an instant, yanking him backward.
A streak of black light shot out from the katana, stabbing into the spot where Feng Qi had just been standing.
It pierced straight through the Mist Lord's chest.
"Old Mist!" Feng Qi's heart pounded as he rushed forward.
But before he could reach him, the Mist Lord's body erupted with thick black mist, and an invisible force blasted Feng Qi backward.
In midair, Feng Qi adjusted his posture, landing several meters away. Even so, he was forced to slide further back before regaining his balance.
Looking up, he saw that the Mist Lord was now engulfed in a swirling mass of black and gray mist.
His eyes were becoming increasingly dull.
Feng Qi could tell immediately—the black mist was devouring the gray mist, as if attempting to take control of the Mist Lord's body.
Seeing this, everything clicked in Feng Qi's mind.
Why had the mysterious domain creature always seemed so lifeless, as though its consciousness had been stripped away?
Now it was obvious—the creature had long been enslaved by the black katana.
It had become nothing more than a puppet to the blade.
The katana that had stabbed into the Mist Lord's chest suddenly shattered, transforming into a dense wave of black mist that wrapped around his body.
In Feng Qi's stunned gaze, the Mist Lord slowly raised his right hand.
The black mist coiled and gathered at his palm, gradually solidifying into a two-meter-long katana.
Unlike the original, this newly formed katana was etched with blood-red runes, but the pattern of the engravings matched the first blade exactly.
Feng Qi could clearly feel the Mist Lord's aura surging at an alarming rate.
The blood-red katana was slowly raised.
The moment it reached mid-air, a violent wave of sword energy erupted outward, sweeping through the area.
Everywhere the energy touched, deep gashes carved through the ground.
Even from over ten meters away, Feng Qi was still pushed backward by the force, his skin splitting into thin, crisscrossing cuts.
Without hesitation, he activated his Bone Form.
The flesh on his body disintegrated, converging at his forehead to form a spiritual brand that glowed brilliantly.
His divine body awakened.
A vast amount of spiritual energy burst from his forehead, covering his entire body in pure golden light.
The moment he opened his eyes, the elements around him stirred, rushing toward him like loyal soldiers responding to their commander's orders.
He extended his hand toward the black katana.
The gathered elemental energy surged forward, crashing into the blade, attempting to dispel the black mist surrounding the Mist Lord.
Under the bombardment of multi-colored energies, the katana trembled violently, its surface flickering with chaotic hues.
The black mist clashed with the elemental particles, colliding in an endless cycle of annihilation and regeneration.
Crackling explosions echoed through the air.
With a thought, Feng Qi redirected part of his elemental energy, wrapping it around the katana in an attempt to pry it from the Mist Lord's grasp.
But the blade resisted fiercely, quivering uncontrollably, its aura fighting back against the suppression.
At the same time, the Mist Lord's face twisted in agony.
"Old Mist, hold on! You're supposed to be the one possessing others! How can you let yourself be possessed?!"
As if hearing Feng Qi's words, a faint glimmer of purple light flickered in the Mist Lord's eyes.
A low, hoarse growl escaped his lips.
Sensing that the Mist Lord's consciousness was still intact, Feng Qi doubled down, intensifying his elemental suppression on the blade to create an opening for the Mist Lord to fight back.
But his state was growing increasingly bizarre.
The black and gray mist intertwined, devouring each other, while the katana constantly changed shape, shifting unpredictably.
The battle entered a deadlock.
As time dragged on, just as Feng Qi's divine body was reaching its breaking point, a soft blue glow appeared on the Mist Lord's body.
The moment he saw that faint blue light, Feng Qi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
In this battle of wills, the Mist Lord had activated the Miracle Artifact within his body.