Chapter Six: The Great Dark Age

Li Yao's eyelashes quivered, and his expression was somewhat solemn. The "Great Dark Age" was one of the most important periods in the development of the cultivation civilization. It could even be said that it was the Great Dark Age that divided the "Classical Cultivation Period" and the "Modern Cultivation Period." It was a very classic question, well-known but not easy to answer comprehensively.

After pondering for a moment, Li Yao's thoughts raced, and his divine consciousness soared:

"Ancient cultivators aimed for immortality and created an incredibly brilliant ancient cultivation civilization. They established an upgrade system from refining qi, building foundation, to forming the golden elixir, infant... all the way to tribulation crossing, true immortality, and immortality, and they continuously broke through the limits of life, moving towards the endless sea of stars."

"In the heyday of the ancient cultivation civilization, the ancient cultivators opened up one great thousand world after another, built ancient transmission arrays that penetrated the endless sea of stars, and shuttled freely between the stars and worlds, even beginning to explore the ultimate mysteries of time!"

"As the ancient cultivation civilization continued to evolve, the ancient cultivators became more and more powerful and long-lived, and the number of strong cultivators also increased."

"In the early days of the ancient cultivation civilization, there were only a few hundred golden elixir cultivators in the three thousand worlds, and a few dozen infant cultivators. As for the 'transformation god old monster' and 'catastrophe crossing true gentleman,' they were unheard of. It might take dozens of worlds and thousands of years to appear one, which was absolutely a rare existence!"

"But in the later period of the ancient cultivation civilization, like a big bang, the number of high-level cultivators increased exponentially - at that time, there was a saying, 'infants are as common as dogs, and transformation gods are everywhere.'"

"So many high-level cultivators all needed a huge amount of resources for cultivation, coupled with the increasing number of cultivators who reached near-immortality, their demand for resources also reached - infinity!"

"At first, the greedy high-level cultivators could be satisfied by developing new great thousand worlds, but after tens of thousands of years of development, after discovering nearly five thousand worlds, for a full thousand years, the ancient cultivation civilization could not find a new great thousand world."

"The world is limited, but the demand of the cultivators is infinite - the ancient cultivators used a thousand years to understand this truth. Naturally, to fight for limited resources, a civil war broke out immediately."

"A three-thousand-year civil war swept through all the great thousand worlds, and the ancient cultivators who could summon rain and wind, move mountains and seas fought each other on every star! Planets were burning, ancient transmission arrays were destroyed, crystal warships exploded in a chain, and the high-level cultivators who were called 'immortal' fell one after another, and the 'golden elixir strong', 'infant old monster' became like the ants they once looked down upon, becoming worthless cannon fodder, and were annihilated in attacks that could destroy the planet."

"In the later period of the war, more than 70% of the great thousand worlds were destroyed, and countless great thousand worlds cut off their connections with the main world. More than 90% of the high-level cultivators turned to ashes, and the remaining low-level cultivators were barely surviving in the ruins."

"The war seemed to be unsustainable, and the dawn of peace was faintly appearing - until an ignorant cultivation genius in an unknown great thousand world invented a 'gadget'."

"The name and sect of this cultivation genius are no longer available for review, and his refining process has long been gone with the wind. Modern people call what he created - the demon god virus!"

"Perhaps his idea was very simple: since there are not enough warriors, why not invent something to comprehensively enhance the combat power of spiritual beasts to replace the cultivators in battle - after all, the number of spiritual beasts is almost infinite!"

"He succeeded. After being catalyzed by the 'demon god virus', countless docile spiritual beasts were transformed into terrifying killing tools, known as the 'demon beast' war machine, which does not know fatigue, will not hesitate, and will not die until death!"

"In just ten years, this cultivation genius unified the great thousand world he was in with the demon beast army, and the number of the demon beast army also reached hundreds of millions. The cultivators in other worlds discovered his actions and also began to refine their own 'demon beasts'."

"In a hundred years, the demon beast became the main force of the civil war in the cultivation world, appearing in every corner of the sea of stars."

"However, all cultivators did not notice two things."

"First, the 'demon god virus' has a very strong self-replicating ability and infectivity."

"Secondly, while the 'Demonic God Virus' enhances the combat power of the monsters, it also subtly and continuously enhances their intelligence. After a hundred years of brutal warfare and under the catalysis of a vast base, trillions of monsters have given birth to a 'demon race' with intelligence comparable to that of humans!"

"Finally, on the last day of the three-thousand-year civil war, the demon race awakened!"

"It seemed as if they were directed by some terrifying existence. All the monsters in the stars and the sea of all the worlds rebelled against their masters almost at the same time. The cultivators who had been hiding in the mountains for hundreds of years were no match for the monsters who had been on the battlefield for a long time, let alone the demon race that had mastered the technology of human cultivation!"

"One by one, the spiritual mountains were leveled, and one sect after another was exterminated. In a hundred years, the demon race chased every escaped cultivator in the sea of stars. The once high and mighty cultivators were like homeless dogs, hiding in the dark domain of the star sea and the gap of time and space, living in fear all day."

"After that, for a full 30,000 years, it was the 'Great Dark Age' for mankind. In the endless darkness, the demon race established a huge 'beast dynasty,' and mankind became a despicable slave, losing dignity, pride, and the most precious power of cultivation and refining!"

"Thirty thousand years, a full 30,000 years! The ancient and brilliant civilization that once ruled the endless sea of stars was destroyed like a sand tower by the waves, leaving no trace at all! The descendants of the once 'immortal' high-level cultivators could only rely on the most primitive strong reproductive capacity to maintain the continuation of the race with a large number!"

"It was not until 30,000 years later, at the end of the Great Dark Age, that the internal power struggle and contradictions of the demon race became increasingly sharp, and mankind got a breath of fresh air. Under the unremitting efforts of countless cultivation geniuses, mankind secretly launched three 'cultivation revolutions' and established a 'modern cultivation civilization system' that is completely different from the ancient cultivation civilization, and then embarked on the magnificent road of cultivation and revival!"

"Under the leadership of the peerless strongman 'Emperor', mankind excavated a large number of ancient cultivation relics and re-established twenty 'primordial sects'. After a thousand years of bloody battle, the human way flourished, and mankind once again became the master of the endless sea of stars, and the modern cultivation civilization also showed a strong vitality!"

"It has been 10,000 years since the end of the 'Great Dark Age', and it has been a full 40,000 years since the collapse of the ancient cultivation civilization. Now is the best century for cultivation, the infinitely charming 40,000 years of cultivation!"

When Li Yao was thinking about the last paragraph, a countdown indicating that the exam was about to end appeared in the sky. He had to give up the idea of continuing to elaborate on the life of the "Emperor" and said a few cliches in a hurry.

Almost at the moment when the last word emerged from his mind, the whole world collapsed, turning into fragments like butterflies. Li Yao was forcibly pushed out by a great force, and his consciousness returned to the classroom in a flash.