Chapter 848
A Cross-Border Duel with Father
The territory of Hanshan.
Desert civilization, Kaka oasis.
The thick, inky darkness, like an invisible curtain, firmly enveloped the entire world.
There was not a single starlight, not a single light, and even the air seemed to be frozen in darkness, exuding a bone-chilling cold and deathly silence.
The sand underfoot felt cool to the touch, and with each step, a soft rustling sound could be heard.
The sound was exceptionally clear and eerie in this otherwise silent world.
Yang Fan walked on a barren sandy land, surrounded by a faint dreamlike glow that slightly dispelled the surrounding darkness, creating a small area of light.
Just then.
Two voices, filled with surprise and affection, pierced through the spatial barriers spanning billions of miles and clearly entered the depths of his consciousness.
"Dad!"
Those were the voices of Yang Yanchen and Yang Wanyu, filled with undisguised joy.
Yang Fan's tense lips slowly turned up, revealing a gentle and knowing smile.
He traveled to the border of Hanshan, not ten thousand miles, not even a thousand miles, but hundreds of millions of miles away.
I stayed on this land swallowed by eternal darkness for five years, and this was the first time in five years that I heard the voices of my two children.
He nodded slightly and transmitted his voice through the "chat window" deep within his consciousness: "I'm here."
Yang Yanchen's slightly anxious voice immediately came from the depths of his consciousness, carrying a hint of curiosity and probing: "Dad, is that Eternal Night over there? It's pitch black in the window, I can't see anything."
Yang Fan gave a soft "hmm" and replied calmly, "Yes, this is the alien civilization shrouded in the Eternal Night."
This "chat window" connecting to the Azure Capital is essentially a concrete projection of the deep-seated laws of dreams, and it is also a cross-dimensional communication secret technique that he has recently researched and successfully developed after countless efforts.
Its core principle is to create two synchronized dream law anchor points. One anchor point is placed in the Dream God City, while the other anchor point is integrated into its own law domain.
These two anchor points possess a remarkably magical "synchronicity".
Any change in one anchor point will be instantly sensed and reacted to by the other anchor point.
This reaction is not limited by spatial distance; even if separated by an entire boundary, it can be precisely synchronized without any delay.
It was with the help of this secret method that he was able to achieve real-time cross-domain communication for the first time.
Even high-ranking Venerables find it difficult to transmit messages across realms, let alone achieve real-time communication or even transmit images.
If he hadn't traveled to numerous secret realms over the years, collecting a large number of divine relics containing powerful laws, and possessing an extremely deep understanding and control over the laws of powerful dreams, it would have been impossible for him to create such a heaven-defying secret technique.
Yang Fan slowly said, "The civilization I am in now is called the Sand Sea Civilization. Three years ago, it officially fell into the Eternal Night and was completely swallowed by darkness."
To help the siblings better understand the situation of the desert civilization, he explained in detail: "This is a typical desert civilization, whose territory is six times larger than our Canglan civilization."
"85% of the area is a vast desert, with only a few oases, which are the places where people in the desert live."
"But the Sand Sea Civilization is not the weak civilization that ordinary people imagine; quite the opposite. It is a powerful civilization of Venerables, with two novice Venerables presiding over it."
"The population of the tribe has reached as many as 860 billion, making them a powerful force in the world group where the Sand Sea Civilization is located."
Yang Fan then changed the subject: "Of course, what I just mentioned is data from before the Eternal Night Calamity. The current Sand Sea Civilization is no longer what it used to be."
He slowly raised his right hand, pointing to the ground beneath his feet, his tone calm yet tinged with a heavy weight:
"The area I am in now is the second largest oasis of the desert civilization, called the Kaka Oasis, with a total area of over eight million square kilometers."
"It was once one of the most prosperous settlements for the people of the desert, but now it is just a desolate wasteland."
With a thought, Yang Fan felt the power of the dream law around him surge slightly, and along the law anchor point, it was transmitted to the "chat window" in the Divine Capital.
The next second, the thick darkness inside the window vanished instantly, as if wiped away by an invisible hand.
Instead, a clear daytime scene unfolded before Yang Wanyu and her brother's eyes—the true appearance of the Kaka Oasis, a desert civilization, was fully revealed.
*****
Azure civilization.
The Dreamlike Divine Capital, the Tower of Heaven.
Yang Wanyu and Yang Yanchen stood side by side in front of the floating letter, their eyes fixed on the window that suddenly lit up.
When the view inside the window became clear, both of them instinctively held their breath and carefully examined the environment in which their father was.
The father's image was clearly visible through the window.
It was exactly as they remembered it, unchanged from five years ago, as if time had stood still for their father.
What intrigued the siblings most was the background behind their father—a vast desert oasis with many strangely shaped plants growing on the ground, resembling cacti from the planet Azure, yet distinctly different.
They have broad leaves and tall, upright plants, generally exceeding thirty meters in height, with the tallest reaching fifty meters, resembling a dense "cactus forest".
Given the arid and water-scarce climate of the desert, it is reasonable for plants to evolve into this form in order to reduce water loss.
The siblings could clearly see that every tall "cactus" had completely withered, its color a lifeless blackish-gray.
The leaves were curled up and cracked, with pits and tiny holes all over their surface, as if they had been eroded by something.
Many plants were broken in half and lay on the sand, half-buried by a thin layer of sand, lifeless.
Looking further into the distance, many areas of the oasis, especially the low-lying areas, are covered by a thin layer of sand.
There was not a trace of green, nor any sign of life; only a desolate, lifeless wasteland remained, as if life had never existed.
Yang Wanyu frowned slightly, instinctively sensing that something was wrong.
When eternal darkness descends, plants are unable to obtain energy from the sun and wither and die, which seems like a normal occurrence.
The Desert Civilization was a powerful civilization with two Venerable Ones and a population of 860 billion. Logically, they should have had enough strength to create artificial light sources and maintain plant growth.
How could this once prosperous second largest oasis have become so dilapidated in just three years?
Yang Yanchen also immediately realized there was a problem and raised his voice to ask, "Dad, the Sand Sea Civilization has the ability to cultivate Venerables, so how come the second largest oasis has become such a horrible sight after only three years?"
Yang Wanyu added from the side: "I remember you said that knight-level Nether Beasts would only appear in large numbers five years after the Eternal Night descends. It's only been three years since the Sand Sea Civilization was devoured by the Night. It shouldn't have declined so quickly that even the oasis has become completely desolate, right?"
*****
In the Cold Mountain Realm, at the Kaka Oasis, Yang Fan smiled with satisfaction, his tone tinged with approval: "Not bad, you two are quite perceptive; you spotted the problem at a glance."
He paused for a moment, then began to speak slowly and deliberately: "Many people think that the terror of the Eternal Night lies only in the eternal darkness and the hunting of Nether Beasts, but they don't know that there is something else that can quickly destroy a civilization."
He slowly walked to a withered, tall plant, and gently touched its dark gray leaves with his fingertips.
The leaf shattered instantly, turning into fine powder that drifted away in the wind.
Yang Fan continued to explain: "The people of the desert created a machine that extracts energy from the desert very early on. It is extremely efficient and can continuously generate energy to supply the entire civilization."
"It can be said that they have more energy than they can use, otherwise they could not have opened up such a large oasis in the desert to feed 860 billion people, let alone cultivate two Venerable Ones."
Why did the oasis turn out like this?
Yang Yanchen's voice came through again.
Yang Fan gazed at the desolate desert in the distance: "The reason this oasis was destroyed is fundamentally because the laws behind the Eternal Night gave rise to a terrible negative energy, which is the most deadly weapon of the Eternal Night."
In the window.
After a moment's thought, Yang Wanyu said, "This negative energy should be related to the 'Ming' in Eternal Dark Night, right? I think the reason why natural disasters are called 'Eternal Dark Night' instead of 'Eternal Dark Night' is because there is something else more terrifying hidden in it."
Yang Fan showed an approving look: "That's right! When this negative energy combines with the laws of the Sand Sea world, it gives rise to a toxin called 'Netherworld Corrosion Poison'."
"This thing is not an ordinary toxin, but a special toxin containing the power of laws. Ordinary detoxification methods cannot remove it at all."
"The reason why the desert civilization has become what it is today is because all the plants here have been infected with the Netherworld Corrosion Poison."
"This toxin is everywhere. It can seep into the life source of plants, directly destroy their vitality, and cause them to slowly wither and die. Moreover, after death, they become extremely fragile and break at the slightest touch."
"After discovering this problem, the people of the Desert Sea tried every possible method, whether it was using supernatural abilities to purify or using high-tech means to detoxify, but they could not stop the spread of the Netherworld Corrosion Poison and could only watch helplessly as the oasis was destroyed little by little."
"Currently, more than 60% of the oasis area of the Desert Civilization has been completely destroyed by the Netherworld Corruption. The Kaka Oasis that you see now is one of them."
"At this rate, it is estimated that in another six months, the people of the desert will no longer be able to see a single green plant in their mother world."
“Any seed sown will be corroded by the poison of the underworld and will never be able to germinate or grow.”
Yang Fan's tone carried a hint of regret: "It is precisely because of this that the Sand Sea people have completely abandoned this world that is no longer suitable for survival, and have decided to evacuate as a whole, migrating to the Primordial World to find a new place to live."
"However, there is good news: not every civilization that is swallowed by the Eternal Night will develop the Netherworld Corrosion Poison. The appearance of this poison is related to the fundamental laws of the world itself."
*****
The Dreamlike Divine Capital.
Yang Wanyu and Yang Yanchen listened with serious expressions, their hearts filled with shock.
A law-based toxin capable of killing all plants in a civilized world, and one that cannot be countered by ordinary means—that's terrifying!
Plants are the foundation of the food chain. If all plants die, the entire ecosystem will collapse completely, and even with sufficient energy, civilization cannot last long.
Even with two Venerable Ones and abundant energy, the people of the Sand Sea were still helpless against the Netherworld Corrosive Poison and were forced to abandon their mother world.
The terror of the eternal night was far more horrific than they had imagined.
The retreat of the Sand Sea people to the primordial world was undoubtedly a huge gamble.
If a natural disaster similar to the impact of the undercurrent were to occur in the area they were relocated to, hundreds of billions of people in the desert might be wiped out.
Yang Wanyu voiced her concerns directly: "Dad, if the Eternal Night Calamity spreads to Azure Star in the future, will the Netherworld Corrosion Poison appear?"
But her father did not give her the answer she wanted to hear: "The reason I stayed in the Sand Sea Civilization is to study the Netherworld Corrosion Poison."
“I recently discovered that there may be some kind of power hidden behind the Netherworld Corrosion Poison. I cannot answer your question until I have fully figured out the answer.”
Yang Wanyu immediately had a hunch that the "hidden power" her father spoke of was probably something extraordinary.
She was a little worried and said, "Dad, please be careful."
Yang Fan laughed: "Don't worry, I've prepared many ways to protect myself. In case of any insurmountable danger, I can escape as quickly as possible."
Yang Wanyu breathed a slight sigh of relief.
at this time.
The window dimmed again.
Yang Fan's figure disappeared into the darkness, leaving only a barely discernible, shadowy outline.
Yang Wanyu began to report the latest situation on Canglan Star to her father: "Dad, several major events have happened on Canglan Star recently, and I'd like to report them to you."
She spent a few minutes quickly giving a brief report on recent events.
The key points of her report were that the capital city had successfully withstood the impact of the Dark Tide Peak and that the Iron Fist Civilization was on the verge of destruction.
After listening to the report, Yang Fan said softly, "I have an idea about the Ironfist Civilization that might allow more Ironfist people to survive."
He pondered for a moment, then said, "Perhaps we can preserve 3 to 4 million Iron Fist people, and if the effect is good, maybe 5 million."
Compared to the original 2000 million, this figure has increased several dozen times.
A slight ripple appeared at the window.
A stream of information immediately flooded Yang Wanyu's mind.
After processing the information, she was both shocked and delighted: "Dad, you're amazing!"
Yang Fan smiled and dismissed the siblings with a single sentence: "Alright, cross-border communications won't last long, that's enough for today."
Yang Wanyu was a little reluctant, but still honestly replied, "Understood!"
The words fell.
The letter turned into a handful of light spots and quickly dimmed.
Yang Yanchen, however, looked longingly at the sight of the Eternal Night in the Cold Mountain Realm: "I really want to go to the Cold Mountain Realm and see the Eternal Night with my own eyes."
Yang Wanyu glared at her younger brother: "Come on, with your skinny arms and legs, you'll only cause trouble for Dad if you go over there."
Yang Yanchen pouted, but didn't dare to argue with her sister. (End of Chapter)