The scene before him was fragmented, and Feng Qi felt as though he was experiencing a long movie.
He could even feel the temperature of Ling Zhan's environment, smell the different scents of the surroundings.
This sensation was extraordinary.
Although it wasn't as direct as entering the sacrifice line, it still gave him a much stronger sense of immersion than a movie ever could.
In the memory images, he witnessed Ling Zhan's transformation from a soldier who initially firmly believed in the Mist Clan, to a leader who, after awakening, took on the future of the Psionic Race, gradually starting from scratch to reform the Psionic Race, ultimately creating a prosperous future for the formerly weak clan.
Ling Zhan did not live to see the Psionic Race's rise, but he was undoubtedly the key to its success.
This made Feng Qi think about the Mist Clan's past views on weak races.
Back in the villain line, Feng Qi had once asked the Mist Lord how a weak race could quickly become stronger and surpass the stronger races.
The Mist Lord's answer was:
"You ask me why weak races have no future? I never said they have no future, but they lack sacrificers who are willing to pave the way for their race's future. Only when a weak race has unwavering sacrificers who fight for their ideals and beliefs, continuously sacrificing for the race's future, can that race have the foundation for rising."
"Besides that, these pathfinders must endure hunger, poverty, external enemies, and weakness, searching for a future for their people in the most harsh environments. They cannot calculate personal gains or losses. They use all their efforts to complete the initial revolution of their race. Only after several generations of accumulation can they hope to become a strong race."
"So, there is no reason, only a question of why. Why should these weak races think they can catch up to the strong races with decades of effort? What are their sacrifices worth compared to the ancestors of the stronger races?"
At the time, Feng Qi only understood part of the meaning behind those words.
But after seeing Ling Zhan's journey, he now had a deeper understanding.
"The predecessors plant trees, and the descendants enjoy the shade"—a seemingly simple saying actually hides too much blood and tears in history.
The growth of a strong race requires both pioneers and successors.
The glory of the Psionic Race today is closely tied to pioneers like Ling Zhan and others who fought for the rise of the Psionic Race.
Thinking about this, Feng Qi turned his gaze toward the Mist Lord beside him.
At this moment, the Mist Lord had also just woken from his daze. He furrowed his brow for a moment before relaxing it.
"Old Mist, the leader in the memory images who went out and fought all over the place—was that you?"
"It was me." The Mist Lord nodded helplessly and replied:
"At the time, I didn't care much about the disappearance of the Psionic Race until I returned with the main forces. After all, the Psionic Race seemed insignificant to me back then. I didn't expect them to develop so quickly right under my nose."
"If you had known the truth at the time, what would you have done?"
In response to Feng Qi's question, the Mist Lord glanced at Hei Xuan, who was not far away, and replied nonchalantly:
"Of course, I would have treated them well, fed them well, and raised such a promising neighbor. Then, I would have formed an alliance with them."
Feng Qi: ...
He didn't believe a single word of that.
"You can't allow others to rest while you're on your own side of the bed."
It wasn't the Mist Lord's style to sit idly by as the Psionic Race grew. The logic of raising a tiger and inviting trouble was something Old Mist understood better than anyone.
From what Feng Qi knew about the Mist Lord, he would most certainly have eliminated the unstable Psionic Race and seized the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault for himself.
Thinking about this, Feng Qi couldn't help but imagine—what if Old Mist had obtained the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault?
Humanity would be in danger…
The Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault has an influence on a race's development that no other miraculous item can compare to.
Many miraculous items target individual improvement, but the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault has the power to unite an entire race.
With knowledge sharing and even memory sharing, the potential of a race can be fully unlocked.
Take the Psionic Race, for example.
In just over a hundred years since arriving in the human world, they've gone from having only the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault as their miraculous item to now having an unknown number of miraculous items. Their development has surpassed the Mist Clan during Ling Zhan's time, and according to Hei Xuan, they are now capable of rivaling the Mist Clan at its peak.
The speed of their development is almost beyond imagination.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say their entire clan is cheating.
But one question continued to linger in Feng Qi's mind.
Through the memory images, he knew that Ling Zhan's rise was closely connected with Mo.
What was Mo's ultimate goal in signing those contracts with powerful individuals?
The contract only grants one-time command, but what exactly did Mo want these powerful people to do? Was it to resist the coming crisis?
And why did Mo eventually get captured by the Psionic Race?
With this thought, Feng Qi turned to Hei Xuan and asked:
"I want to know why Mo was captured by you?"
In response to the question, Hei Xuan's face broke into a smile:
"We had long suspected that Mo would come to us. After all, the arrival of the great tide is unstoppable, and eventually, he would end up in the human world, just like other racial powers. His goal wasn't our ancestor, but the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault. For this, we spent over a hundred years setting a trap for him, just waiting for him to fall into it."
"We thought he might only arrive just before the Domain World collapsed, but unexpectedly, he came much earlier, and so he became our captive."
"Can you tell me more about the details?" Feng Qi was immediately interested.
During the villain's story arc, he could see that Mo held a deep hatred for the Psionic Race. Before leaving, he even shoved an explosive device into Feng Qi's hands, hoping that, in his final moments, Feng Qi would inflict serious damage on the Psionic Race.
Through the memory images of Ling Zhan and Hei Xuan's narration, Feng Qi suddenly understood the reasons behind all of it.
Clearly, the Psionic Race had set a huge trap for Mo, fully prepared for him to walk right into it.
Facing Feng Qi's inquiry about the capture of Mo, Hei Xuan shook his head:
"You don't need to know the details regarding Mo. In the future, you won't have any contact with him. He carries too many secrets, and even our race couldn't uncover all of them. We only know through our ancestor's memory that what we captured was only his avatar, but we have no idea what his real body is."
"Isn't it okay to satisfy a little curiosity? After all, we'll be working together from now on," Feng Qi asked.
Hei Xuan shook his head again:
"We are in a cooperative relationship, but you're not on my Psionic Race's ship. I have granted the Mist Clan leader the right to choose freely in the future."
Feng Qi felt a tinge of regret at Hei Xuan's refusal.
There were still many secrets about the Psionic Race.
Including why Black Shadow had betrayed the Psionic Race and, alongside Mo, had infiltrated the Technology Research Institute.
But these were questions that, for now, he couldn't ask.
At that moment, Hei Xuan pointed toward the magnificent starry sky behind the rusty stone tablet:
"Follow me further in."
Feng Qi and the Mist Lord exchanged a look before following Hei Xuan past the stone tablet into the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault.
After traveling beyond the stone tablet for some time, Feng Qi suddenly felt an intense resistance coming from ahead.
The golden mark on his forehead flared up, and instantly, the resistance vanished, and the world before him changed.
The starry sky was replaced in an instant with a world of pure white, at the center of which, a golden light sphere was slowly rotating in mid-air.
Hei Xuan led Feng Qi and the Mist Lord to hover before the golden sphere and then turned to look at them:
"You must be curious about why I brought you here, right?"
Neither Feng Qi nor the Mist Lord spoke, waiting for Hei Xuan to continue.
"It's simple," Hei Xuan said, "I need several forces to help us fight against our own people."
Upon hearing this, Feng Qi and the Mist Lord were both filled with confusion.
"Fight against your own people?"
"Yes. When my clan first descended into the human world, things didn't go smoothly. The entire area was surrounded by expanding Domain Fields. To preserve the seeds of our race's survival, one-third of the members, carrying half of the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault's main permissions, broke through the encirclement and came to the human world, hiding in human society. The other two-thirds remained in our clan's Domain Field, fighting against the surrounding Domain Fields."
"Our clan's development thus split into two factions. Using the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault, we never lost contact with each other and assisted one another's growth. At that time, we all firmly believed that we were one family… but some things change with time."
With that, Hei Xuan turned to Feng Qi:
"You understand human history, and you should be familiar with a certain hypothesis. The ancestors of all humans came from Africa, and then they evolved into different races, each with its own culture and history. Only after the cataclysm did they reunite."
"The situation with our Psionic Race is similar to this hypothesis, but much more complicated. The current situation is that the other faction has already set its sights on us and is trying to seize control of the other half of the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault."
"The current situation is extremely unfavorable for the faction I belong to."
Upon hearing this, the Mist Lord had a strange expression on his face. He opened his mouth as if wanting to say something but held his words back.
At this moment, Hei Xuan looked at the Mist Lord and smiled:
"Say what's on your mind."
"Maybe you also have similar thoughts. If your only concern is the future of your race, you'd likely choose to return to your Domain Field and merge with the other faction into one race. After all, the crisis from the past has long been eliminated. Perhaps in their eyes, you are the ones who left the Domain Field and are the potential traitors who refuse to return."
Hei Xuan clearly paused for a moment, then nodded calmly:
"Your point does hold some truth. The current situation is that, on the surface, everything seems harmonious, but the Psionic Race is undergoing a revolution. We both want to swallow each other up and take full control of the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault, uniting the entire Psionic Race. However, we all want to be the dominant side."
Upon hearing this, Feng Qi began to grasp the internal situation of the Psionic Race.
Initially, to preserve the flame of the Psionic Race, it split into two factions, but this division also laid the groundwork for potential conflict.
The Psionic Race was now at a critical moment for racial unity.
Once unity is achieved, that's when the Psionic Race will become the most formidable.
But what confused Feng Qi was the question of why Black Shadow would betray the Psionic Race. Which faction did he belong to, or was he part of neither?
At this moment, Feng Qi looked toward Hei Xuan, wondering whether the true facts would be revealed, depending on whether Hei Xuan was willing to elaborate further.
"So, on the surface, you all intend to maintain harmony, but secretly, you need to cultivate several powerful factions to test the true strength of the other faction within the Psionic Race?"
"We don't need to test; we are definitely no match for them, but they always think we're stronger," Hei Xuan affirmed confidently.
"Why?"
"Over the years, we've developed quickly while hiding in human society, but we are still far from comparing to the Domain Field faction's expansion. They already possess several miracle items and have established their own Infinite Laboratory in human society. They can easily crush us on all fronts."
"Given all this, why would you still dare to fight them?" Feng Qi blinked, surprised.
"Why not? The people we sent for communication have already found a key individual who can help us reverse the situation. This individual will belong to our side in the future."
At this, Feng Qi's mind exploded with a flood of information.
A clear trail of intelligence appeared in his mind, and the questions that had been troubling him for a long time were suddenly cleared up.
If he wasn't mistaken, Black Shadow had never truly betrayed the Psionic Race.
Black Shadow belonged to the faction of Hei Xuan, and he was one of the people sent by Hei Xuan to communicate within the Infinite Laboratory.
Clearly, the "key individual" that Hei Xuan was referring to was Mo.
During the exchange, Black Shadow stole the treasure and took Mo with him, intending to use him against the Domain Field faction.
Suddenly, all the hidden lines of information clicked into place.
The powerful Psionic Race that appeared in the warline was not from Hei Xuan's faction, but rather from the Domain Field faction.
He had always wondered why the Psionic Race was not as strong as he expected when they tried to seize the Bloodstone.
This clearly didn't match the Psionic Race as it had been described in various intelligence reports.
Now that he thought about it, the people who went to seize the Bloodstone must have belonged to Hei Xuan's faction.
No wonder Hei Xuan had said the strength of the Domain Field faction could easily crush his own faction.
Now, everything had become clear to him.
After betraying the Psionic Race, Black Shadow had clearly taken the initiative to sever his connection with the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault and had been quietly developing as a traitor.
But behind all this, it was Hei Xuan's faction that was pulling the strings.
Mo was the secret weapon of Hei Xuan's faction to turn the tide.
No wonder Mo had shown such disdain when talking about Black Shadow—it was clear that his true allies were not just Black Shadow, but rather the members of Hei Xuan's faction within the Psionic Race.
So, Black Shadow was never afraid of his identity being exposed. He feared being exposed to the Domain Field faction.
In truth, he was a pawn, working behind the scenes with Hei Xuan's faction and Mo.
No wonder there were so many secret weapons being developed within the Technology Research Institute.
Now, the intelligence was very clear.
The Psionic Race that appeared in the warline possessed half of the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault's main permissions and had established an Infinite Laboratory, where they had once imprisoned Mo. Their strength was immense.
Hei Xuan's faction had sent Black Shadow and other members into the Infinite Laboratory under the guise of communication, eventually taking Mo and the materials to create Little Black. After severing their connection with the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault, they had been hiding in the Technology Research Institute, trying to take a shortcut to turn the situation around.
At this point, Feng Qi's mind was filled with questions.
Just how strong was the Domain Field faction of the Psionic Race? How many miracle items did they possess?
Why did the Domain Field faction think that Hei Xuan's faction was so powerful that they didn't dare to confront them directly?
How could Black Shadow's theft of Mo and the treasure be brushed aside with just a simple reason of "betrayal"?
If he were a member of the Domain Field faction and found out that the treasures had been stolen and Mo had been released, he would definitely want to settle the score with the faction hiding in human society. How could he possibly just swallow it?
There were so many unexplained logical issues in this situation.
After all, agreeing to communicate in good faith and ending up with their house being robbed—who could accept that?
If the narrator had faced this, he would have certainly cursed the other's ancestors.
Oh, the same ancestors? Well, then it's fine.