Anwen said with understanding, “Is it Empress Yantong who mentioned it?”
“Why do you all address her as Empress?”
Anwen replied, “Although I do not know which ancient being she is, her power certainly surpasses that of ordinary Grand Dukes. It’s only right to call her Empress.”
“Alright, continue.”
“The true secret hidden in the Black Sun Valley is rumored to be the Origin of Darkness.”
“Origin of Darkness? You mean the source point? Does it really exist?” Qian Ye was somewhat surprised.
The two major source points, Eternal Night and Dawn, are more of a concept, a kind of absolute in mathematical and logical terms, and may not necessarily exist in reality, much like the source of the Blood River.
“It is the Origin of Darkness, not the source point.”
Qian Ye still couldn’t understand. Generally, the term ‘origin’ is used to describe the root of power for the strong in the Eternal Night or Dawn factions, such as the Dawn Origin for the human emperors, and the Dark Origin for the grand dukes of Eternal Night. If such a thing exists in the inner world, does it mean the new world is another Eternal Night?
Anwen was also at a loss to describe this abstract concept further. He thought for a moment and said, “I’m not entirely sure what kind of existence it is. But it’s called so because, once it appears, it will directly change the balance of primal force in our world.”
Qian Ye was startled, “Change the balance of primal force in the world?” This was an unimaginable idea. After a moment’s thought, he asked, “Would it change the power hierarchy?”
Anwen showed a sign of agreement, “Your inference is quite logical, although I’m not certain if it would indeed happen that way. But the change in the primal force balance should be true, at least according to our supreme Empress.”
Qian Ye’s brows furrowed; this was not good news. Once the balance of primal force changes, its impact on the world would be far more severe than a mere temperature change of a few degrees.
From the current state of those regions with unique natural primal force environments, it could be inferred that if the dark primal force in the entire world significantly increased, the intelligent life forms, primarily humans, based on the dawn primal force, would be weakened from top to bottom, even the emperors wouldn’t be spared. On the other hand, the Eternal Night side would gain tremendous strength, breaking the power equilibrium maintained for thousands of years, and the coexistence of the Empire and Eternal Night would cease to exist.
At that time, the best-case scenario for humans would be like the marginalized races in the Eternal Night, managing to maintain an independent community, but the four continents they currently inhabit would be lost. The worst-case scenario would return them to the pre-Dawn War era, where they would be enslaved, bred, and turned into fodder and livestock-like beings.
Realizing this, Qian Ye suddenly understood that the origin of the Dawn War itself was a special event.
“Then, what is the true face of the world?”
“The world we live in is actually a cage. All of us, whether supreme beings or lower races, are prisoners of this world, without exception.”
“Do you mean we are imprisoned?” This was the first time Qian Ye had heard such a claim.
“We are indeed imprisoned. However, what imprisons us is not some powerful entity, but ourselves.”
“Ourselves?”
“Exactly.” Anwen pointed to his head, “To be precise, what imprisons us is our intelligence.”
Qian Ye frowned, “Speak plainly!”
“I am a demonic descendant…” Seeing Qian Ye’s displeased expression, Anwen quickly sobered up and became serious.
He took out a notebook and swiftly sketched on a blank page, and in no time, the twenty-seven continents of the Eternal Night, along with several large neutral zones and some famous floating lands, appeared on paper.
“This is our world. Most people think it is vast enough. Many of the mighty beyond the dukes have set their sights on exploring the upper continents.”
“Indeed. The upper continents are truly perilous,” Qian Ye sighed.
When he led the blood clan to the Radiant Continent, even with the Valhalla leading the way, and with him, Yantong, and Howard, three great powers, and Howard’s safe route explored in his youth, the journey was fraught with danger. If it weren’t for all the blood descendants being inside the Valhalla, a regular transport fleet might have suffered losses of up to thirty percent.
Upon arrival, the burning primal force of the solar storm during its eruption made Qian Ye truly understand the power of nature. Even a grand duke would never dare to be hit head-on by a solar storm.
Among the upper continents, the Radiant Continent was already the most gentle, at least there was a corner where the blood clan could barely survive. The continents above were even more dangerous, and only existed in the travel diaries of the emperors and grand dukes.
Anwen continued, “We have been exploring in the wrong direction. Instead of the upper continents, we should focus on re-understanding our world, rebuilding our knowledge system, and finding better ways to utilize primal force.”
On another piece of paper, he drew a circle and then a point in the center, “If we view our world as a whole, it is the central point. What hinders us is the vast distance of the void. How to cross it relies not on strength, but on our intelligence. We have yet to find a method to cross the vast void, hence I say our limited intelligence has imprisoned us.”
“Don’t I recall you saying something different before?” Qian Ye tried to remember when he last discussed the world with Anwen.
Anwen replied, “Back then, my understanding of our world was very basic. I thought the obstacle to communication with other worlds was the various dangers in the void, especially the strange void beasts. Generation after generation of supreme beings returned empty-handed from exploring the void, either encountering void beasts or facing insurmountable dangers while traversing space. But now I realize, the true barrier is simply the sheer distance.”
He drew a diagram on the paper, “I set up different magic mirrors with filtering effects, observing the same star through them, and analyzing the spectral data. The conclusions are interesting. One, the starlight we see at the top of the world in the sky, some are real entities, while others might be just projections, perhaps from small worlds like Eternal Night.”
Qian Ye was completely stunned, but upon further thought, he realized it was possible. Like the Giant Sleep in the Lower Eternal Night, the canyon below the clouds led to another continent. If such a situation exists between land masses, why not between worlds?
Anwen continued, “The other point is, they are extremely far away.”
“How far?”
“So far… beyond our imagination.”
Qian Ye raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued.
Anwen explained, “To put it in perspective, if the distance from the lowest Eternal Night continent to the dome sun is set as one, the nearest world to us would likely be in the trillions.”
“Trillions!” Even Qian Ye, who could remain calm in front of a grand duke, was shocked by this number.
He pondered for a moment, still struggling to grasp the concept of trillions. The only comparison he could make was that even the Queen of the Night, Lilith, constantly flying at her maximum speed, would never be able to cover even a billion units of distance in her lifetime.
“But this cage is not unbreakable.” Seeing Qian Ye’s genuine interest, Anwen didn’t beat around the bush, “The main method is to deeply study our world, the underlying rules. For example, your Void Flash, what is its principle? Can airships also perform spatial jumps, and can the jump distance be extended infinitely with sufficient energy? Why can void beasts survive in the void, and can we replicate their organs on airships?”
“Your demonic descendants also have similar spatial techniques, like the Void Passage or Magic Realm Passage, right?”
“Both.” Anwen’s eyes sparkled, “In fact, we originally had similar technology, though it wasn’t enough to break through the world. Sadly, it has been lost in the sands of time. If we solve these problems, we could build an unprecedented airship. We could sail to distant stars and explore endless worlds. That is the destiny of the strong!”
Qian Ye felt a sense of longing, but he soon smiled bitterly, “I am still being hunted by the Demon Emperor. Exploring endless worlds? Let me live first.”
Anwen looked at Qian Ye earnestly, “Your progress is almost the fastest in Eternal Night. With the legacy of the Black Wing King and your innate understanding of space, and the Valhalla, built from the remains of the earth dragon with living organs, you are the most suitable explorer in Eternal Night. If you’re willing, I will follow you into the void.”
“Now?”
“Of course not now, we need to wait until the theory is perfected. Exploring the void now is tantamount to suicide.”
Anwen was honest. Among the countless strong in Eternal Night, Anwen was an outlier. From their brief interactions, Qian Ye knew he possessed great wisdom. If he focused on strengthening himself, even the succubus would be inferior.
But Anwen had no interest in power and war, instead, he was obsessed with exploring the world. He even built his own theoretical system from scratch, something Qian Ye had never seen or heard of in any book, including those complex and terrifying formulas and theories.
And Anwen’s theories were not idle musings; they were effective, evidenced by the accurate derivation of the correct lineage of the demonic bloodline, and the proposal of the spatial distance hypothesis.
Qian Ye put away his sword, “You can go. This world is already bad enough, at least someone like you can make it a bit more interesting.”
Anwen did not leave immediately, but asked, “What about you? What do you plan to do next? Keep killing?”
“This is war, not a choice I can make. All I can do is make your Empress, who started this war, feel pain. That’s why I came here.”
Anwen shook his head, “The demonic descendants on Salphes, even the strong ones, have gradually forgotten the war. They are civilians, not warriors. Slaughtering them will not bring you honor.”
“Many blood descendants have been killed, and the same goes for humans. Besides, according to you, once the inner world of the Black Sun Valley is entered, full-scale war is inevitable.”
Anwen sighed, “You’ve been here for seven days, killing over a thousand people. Isn’t that enough?”
“If it were, there wouldn’t be a war.”
Anwen’s brows knitted, “I know I can’t persuade you, and my strength is limited, so I can’t persuade the Empress either.”
Suddenly curious about the Dark Sacred Mountain, Qian Ye asked, “Does your Empress also not believe what you just said?”
Anwen’s expression became subtle, “Emperor Kane is different from the old men in the academy…”
Qian Ye waited for the rest, but Anwen fell silent.
Qian Ye asked, “What is it?”
Anwen sighed, “His Majesty has reached the pinnacle of the world, and he has his considerations. But once the Black Sun Valley matter is resolved, it should be close.”
Qian Ye’s eyes flashed, but he said nothing.
Anwen, not noticing Qian Ye’s change in expression, said, “If you agree to withdraw from Salphes, I can tell you an additional secret about the Blood River.”
Qian Ye pondered, knowing his stay in Salphes was nearing its limit, and staying longer might lead to being hunted. Moreover, Anwen’s appearance revealed that severing the Thousand Shield Source lineage might not be concealed from the Demon Emperor, necessitating constant vigilance.
Without further consideration, Qian Ye nodded in agreement.
Anwen opened his notebook and wrote down a series of formulas.
Noticing Qian Ye’s bewildered expression, Anwen laughed, “Forget it, I’ll just give you the conclusion. I discovered that the disappearance of the Blood River is related to the arrival of the new world.”
Qian Ye was startled, “How is it related?”
“I don’t know.”
Qian Ye thought for a moment, “Do you think the few holy mountains are aware of this?”
Anwen’s conclusion seemed contradictory. If the new world was guided by the holy mountains of ancient times, and the only remaining holy mountain is the Queen of the Night, would she know that the new world’s arrival would cause the Blood River to disappear?
As Qian Ye expected, Anwen couldn’t give a definitive answer, but Qian Ye didn’t doubt his conclusion. After a moment, Qian Ye prepared to let Anwen go and leave Salphes. Just then, he felt a sudden jolt and looked up at the sky.
In the depths of the void, the Blood River reappeared, clearer than ever before, with surging waves causing a sense of suffocation.
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