In the following years, Ling Zhan exhausted vast amounts of the Psionic Race's accumulated resources on body modification research.
To prevent the Mist Clan from growing suspicious, he abdicated his position before initiating the forbidden project.
He appointed Hei Yi, the disciple he had personally nurtured, as the new Order Keeper of the Psionic Race and helped him connect with the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault.
Ling Zhan remained in the shadows, continuing to guide the Psionic Race's future.
He didn't know if the forbidden project would succeed.
But even if he failed, Hei Yi, his handpicked successor, would inherit the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault and his will, ensuring the Psionic Race's future remained on course.
As the days of experimentation stretched on, Ling Zhan's body began exhibiting disturbing side effects.
He lost his appetite, frequently vomited, and dark spots inexplicably appeared all over his skin.
Ling Zhan had long anticipated such aftereffects and did not halt the research.
At the same time, he secretly instructed Hei Yi to create several heroes for the Psionic Race.
Heroes served as a guiding force for their people, giving them a purpose, and, more importantly, an enemy to unite against.
These "heroes" were destined to fight on the Mist Clan's battlefields—and they were equally destined to be abandoned by the Mist Clan.
To Ling Zhan, they were the perfect catalyst for revolution.
When the people realized the tragic fate of their so-called heroes, their hatred would be ignited.
At first, their anger would be suppressed, but suppressed flames only burn fiercer, until one day, they erupt completely.
The rage of a people breaking free from their shackles, combined with ideological enlightenment, would propel the Psionic Race forward at an unprecedented speed.
For over a decade, the Psionic Race entered an era of rapid development.
In the past, aside from those aspiring to become external warriors for the Mist Clan, few clan members ever actively cultivated strength.
After all, what was the point of becoming stronger?
But now, every single member of the Psionic Race was training.
Previously, the strongest warriors of the clan would leave for the Mist Clan.
Now, only mid-tier warriors were sent there, while the true elites remained.
More and more new warriors passed Ling Zhan's tests and connected with the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault.
This generation became known as the Age of Awakening.
Within the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault, there were no elders of the Psionic Race—only the youth.
Because Ling Zhan only trusted the new generation that he had personally raised.
The old generation only saw the reforms of the Psionic Race.
They were blind to the hidden blade beneath it.
To Ling Zhan, they were a lost generation.
Their decayed ideals and deep-rooted admiration for the Mist Clan had corrupted them.
If they discovered the truth of the revolution, they wouldn't celebrate the birth of a new era.
Instead, they would become obstacles, hindering the Psionic Race's progress and potentially leading them to extinction.
Therefore, only those personally chosen by Ling Zhan were allowed to join the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault.
These handpicked disciples absorbed its knowledge, growing rapidly.
Their vision had been completely reshaped—they no longer saw the Mist Clan as an authority to obey but a rival to surpass.
Now, only one thing limited the Psionic Race's development—resources.
The forbidden project required massive resources, far beyond what the Psionic Race had in storage.
Their limited resources had to first sustain the clan's basic operations before they could be used for growth.
But Ling Zhan already had a plan to acquire more resources.
He set his sights on the surrounding forces.
As vassals of the Mist Clan, the various subordinate races received no protection from them.
Instead, the Mist Clan encouraged competition.
After all, their philosophy was survival of the fittest—weak races deserved to be eliminated.
Being a vassal only meant they wouldn't be directly wiped out by the Mist Clan, not that they would be protected.
The Psionic Race had long suffered exploitation from neighboring vassal forces.
Every year, they were forced to pay tributes to stronger factions.
Ling Zhan struck back, launching a resource war.
At first, the Psionic Race only raided small resource sites, but soon, they escalated their attacks on rival factions.
The Mist Clan didn't care who controlled the resource sites—they only cared that 95% of all resources were delivered to them.
As long as the tribute remained unchanged, the Psionic Race could seize as much as they wanted.
By this time, the Psionic Race was no longer the same as before.
The Age of Awakening warriors understood their duty—they carried the responsibility of their clan's rise.
To them, fighting for their race was an honor, not a burden.
On the battlefield, they were fierce, unyielding, and unafraid of death—a stark contrast to other vassal forces still loyal to the Mist Clan.
These other vassal races were much like the old Psionic Race.
Perhaps they had greater foundations, but their strongest warriors had already been sent to the Mist Clan to serve as external fighters.
They were willing to die for the Mist Clan, but not for their own people.
That was the key difference.
But Ling Zhan understood one crucial truth.
The Psionic Race's expansion had to be gradual.
Even if they had the strength, they couldn't expand too quickly.
The Mist Clan was a mountain pressing down upon them.
If that mountain came crashing down, the Psionic Race would have no chance to resist.
Over the next few years, the resource problem was gradually solved.
With that concern lifted, Ling Zhan devoted more time to perfecting the forbidden project.
Many of his students even volunteered to be test subjects.
Ling Zhan agreed—but only on one condition:
He would be the first test subject.
To him, the new generation represented the future of the Psionic Race.
He could fall, but they must continue forward.
As the project advanced, Ling Zhan's body deteriorated further.
Yet, with the Tian Duo Race's knowledge, he managed to repair himself, pushing past the setbacks.
Each time, he found a way to survive, ensuring the project continued.
For years, Ling Zhan received constant updates about the new clan leader of the Mist Clan.
These reports came from Psionic Race members who had joined the Mist Clan's external forces.
From their descriptions, Ling Zhan learned that the new Mist Clan leader personally led battles on the frontlines of various regions, driving the Mist Clan's rapid expansion and reclaiming much of their previously lost territory.
To Ling Zhan, this was bad news.
A larger territory meant greater access to high-quality resources.
As long as they secured their expanded lands, the Mist Clan's power would rise to a new level.
This meant that the Psionic Race's development had to accelerate even further to keep up.
To achieve this, Ling Zhan recruited more of the new generation to connect with the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault, allowing them to immerse themselves in its vast knowledge and grow at an even faster rate.
Over the next ten years, the Psionic Race continued its silent growth.
That year, Ling Zhan's only remaining family—his mother—passed away.
Kneeling before his parents' graves, Ling Zhan, now with a head full of white hair, felt a deep sorrow filling his heart.
Dark marks covered most of his body, the price of his experiments and sacrifices.
Gazing at the gravestones, he remained silent for a long time.
After a moment of quiet mourning, he stood up and walked away without hesitation.
The old generation was fading.
A new future for the Psionic Race had already begun.
As the elders of the clan gradually passed away, the new generation raised by Ling Zhan had become the dominant force.
The young warriors of the Psionic Race grew up under his influence, fully understanding the importance of their race.
A vassal race was still an outsider—no matter how much they served, they would never be truly accepted.
That realization sparked an era of explosive growth for the Psionic Race.
By the time Ling Zhan's hair had turned completely white, the Psionic Race had finally become the force he envisioned.
With the entire clan connected to the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault, he could now unleash their full potential without hesitation.
Meanwhile, the Mist Clan was also undergoing rapid expansion.
Psionic Race warriors stationed on the frontlines continuously relayed real-time intelligence back to Ling Zhan via the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault.
From their reports, Ling Zhan could tell that the Mist Clan leader was an absolute madman.
Yet, despite the reckless nature of his plans, he always succeeded.
As long as the Mist Clan leader remained at the frontlines, he had no time to consolidate his rule or stabilize their expansion.
To Ling Zhan, this was the perfect opportunity for the Psionic Race to develop in secret.
Seizing this chance, he accelerated their expansion efforts, seizing more resource sites while avoiding direct confrontations with the Mist Clan.
However, he was careful not to reduce their resource tribute to the Mist Clan.
The Mist Clan had a sophisticated system for monitoring resource production.
If anything seemed off, the Mist Clan would respond with a brutal crackdown, something Ling Zhan could not afford to risk.
Thus, he allowed them to take their tribute as usual while secretly redirecting excess resources toward the Psionic Race's secret projects.
Finally, the forbidden project began to show results.
Ling Zhan's body had completely turned black, enveloped in a mysterious dark substance.
According to the Tian Duo Race's research, there were three stages to achieving the Sacred Spirit Lifeform transformation:
1. The first stage was semi-elementalization, turning the body black.
2. The second stage transitioned the body into gold, with golden blood replacing normal blood.
3. The final stage was a complete transformation into a golden, semi-elemental lifeform, achieving what the Tian Duo Race called a "Sacred Spirit Being."
Ling Zhan's ultimate goal was to lead the Psionic Race toward becoming a Sacred Spirit Race.
But he knew that he would never live to see the final stage.
He only hoped to witness the successful completion of the first step while he was still alive.
If this project succeeded, the Psionic Race would transcend the limits of flesh.
They would no longer be bound by bloodline inheritance—every generation would start with limitless potential.
It was a future that Ling Zhan had dreamed of countless times.
Finally, he succeeded.
When the black substance completely consumed his body, he became a semi-elemental lifeform.
For the first time, he could clearly sense the natural elements floating in the air around him.
He had pushed through every obstacle, carving out a flawless path for the Psionic Race's elemental transformation.
At that moment, Ling Zhan burst into laughter.
His disciples, however, looked at him with complicated expressions.
They knew how much pain and suffering their teacher had endured to reach this moment.
Every future Psionic Race member would be born with a perfected semi-elemental body.
But their teacher—who had paved the way for them—was left with a broken, patched-up, and imperfect form.
Seeing their pained expressions, Ling Zhan immediately understood their thoughts.
He told them:
"I can endure the suffering. But I don't want my people to suffer the same fate. Everything I've done is for the future of our race."
In the following years, Ling Zhan began testing elemental-based techniques using his new semi-elemental body.
As expected, his elemental affinity was vastly superior to that of a normal flesh-and-blood body.
Every spell could now be effortlessly cast, without any bottlenecks.
To ensure the Psionic Race could fully harness their new bodies, Ling Zhan began another round of experimentation.
He needed to identify techniques within the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault that were compatible with elemental lifeforms.
This process was not easy.
If a technique's elemental attributes clashed, it could still damage his transformed body.
But Ling Zhan had long stopped caring about his personal safety.
With his new body, he had broken free from the constraints of mortal life.
His lifespan was no longer limited by natural aging.
Even with a damaged form, he was confident he could survive for at least a thousand years.
At the same time, the Psionic Race's full-scale transformation began.
Starting with the leadership, the elemental conversion process gradually expanded to the entire population.
One by one, Psionic Race members underwent semi-elementalization, stepping onto the path of becoming Sacred Spirit Beings.
Once the transformation was complete, the Psionic Race would possess a growth potential that rivaled—or even surpassed—the Mist Clan.
However, the Mist Clan's foundation was deep.
Ling Zhan knew that the Psionic Race was still not in a position to fight the Mist Clan.
The Psionic Race had growth potential, but that didn't mean they had the strength to battle the Mist Clan.
If war broke out, they would surely lose.
In the following years, arcane studies became the Psionic Race's main research focus.
The clan members began to learn the spells that Ling Zhan had tested, hoping to increase their strength.
Over another decade, the overall strength of the Psionic Race was no longer what it used to be.
They now fed off the elements drifting through the world, using this to boost their power.
Though this method of gaining power wasn't as fast as resource consumption, it avoided potential troubles.
The Mist Clan sent representatives for inspection every year.
In response, Ling Zhan and his disciples developed a flesh disguise technique to cover their bodies with flesh, returning them to their original appearances.
The Psionic Race's development continued quietly.
One day, Ling Zhan received news.
Information from the frontlines revealed that the new Mist Clan leader decided to bring the main forces back to the capital for a period of rest, during which he would recruit large numbers of foreign warriors to join the external conquest army.
This was bad news for Ling Zhan.
The Mist Clan's recruitment meant that their expansion would continue. The warriors who were recruited wouldn't all be strong fighters—there would also be many forced laborers.
It was possible that the Psionic Race would be summoned to the frontlines, where they might be forced to do manual labor or even become cannon fodder.
If this happened, the Psionic Race's growth would again be stopped.
As for confronting the Mist Clan, it was impossible.
The Psionic Race had only gained growth potential, but their strength was still far from being able to fight the main forces of the Mist Clan. Even without their main forces, the Mist Clan could easily wipe out the Psionic Race.
Before the crisis could strike, Ling Zhan and his disciples began to discuss how to solve the upcoming problem.
Eventually, Ling Zhan made his decision: to lead his people away from this world, following the coordinates left by the Tian Duo Race, to the human world.
This was a necessary step in the grand scheme.
Leaving early would allow them to avoid a direct confrontation with the rapidly rising Mist Clan.
Rather than hesitating in fear, it was better to take a bold gamble.
If they succeeded, the Psionic Race would no longer be oppressed by the Mist Clan. Their growth would no longer need to be hidden.
A few days later, the initial formation of the spatial array appeared above the Psionic Race's land, enveloping the clan's domain.
Ling Zhan and his people opened the resource vault, taking all the resources out to support the construction of the spatial transfer array.
The intense spatial fluctuations soon caught the attention of the Mist Clan.
Quickly, a Mist Clan investigation force arrived at high speed.
By this time, the spatial passageway had already been completed, and the clan members were entering the passage one by one.
Ling Zhan looked at the dark speck in the distant sky. He knew that it was time for him to take the final step.
He turned around, looking at his disciples, and raised his hand, pulling out the main authority of the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault from his forehead and handing it to his successor, Hei Yi:
"Here is the main authority of the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault. From now on, take over for me and lead the way."
"Teacher, what are you going to do? The spatial passage is closing, we have plenty of time to leave."
Hearing these words, Ling Zhan shook his head:
"I may become a flaw for the Psionic Race in the future. I made a contract with someone, and I don't fully understand the ultimate goal of the contract. But I know this: If I am still in charge of the Psionic Race, I might drag it into an irrevocable abyss."
"The problem is, that guy forgot a crucial flaw in the contract. As long as I die, he won't be able to control the Psionic Race."
Ling Zhan looked back at his disciples, smiling gently:
"Since it's like this, I might as well buy you all some extra time. Remember what I told you, lead the Psionic Race forward with my dreams."
With these words, Ling Zhan soared into the air, charging out of the clan's domain to meet the Mist Clan investigation force.
He knew the result of this battle.
And this was exactly the result he wanted.
After his death, the Psionic Race would no longer have a flaw, and there would be no Mist Clan pressing down on them like a mountain.
Turning to look at the spatial passageway that was gradually closing, Ling Zhan saw the bright moonlight, the mist-filled forest, and countless fireflies dancing among the mountains. The breeze carried the scent of earth through the spatial passage...
In a moment of haze, he saw the future of the Psionic Race, everything as he had envisioned it—beautiful.
At that moment, his body expanded rapidly, black light leaking through the cracks in his body, forming pillars of light.
Looking at the approaching Mist Clan investigation force, Ling Zhan smiled happily.
Since his awakening, he had been pursuing a brilliant extension of life, but now, the rise of the clan had become his only obsession.
He had once fought for the Mist Clan, but now, he fought only for his people.
At this moment, a sense of mission and belonging rose in his heart.
"The future of the Psionic Race... it's in your hands now... And... Mo... I'm sorry, but from now on, remember to revise the contract terms. A flaw this large... maybe you should thank me for finding it."
Turning to look at the closed spatial passage, Ling Zhan's only regret was that he couldn't witness the Psionic Race's rise in another world.
Finally, the black light consumed his body entirely...