Chapter 850
The Method to Advance to Demigod
Ten minutes later.
The evening breeze swept across the oasis, swirling up wisps of fine sand that landed on the hems of Chitara and Eladi's clothes.
These two venerable figures from the desert civilization exuded an irrepressible elation.
They simultaneously bowed slightly to Yang Fan, their figures quickly transforming into an illusory state.
The two left!
For them, receiving a personal promise from the renowned Godslayer was undoubtedly the greatest opportunity for the Sand Sea Civilization to break free from its predicament, so the two venerable ones were filled with joy.
Yang Fan remained standing in the same spot, watching the two leave, then tilted his head slightly, gazing at the deep, inky night sky above.
The countless stars in the sky, like scattered diamonds, floated densely above the heavens, illuminating the desolate and lonely desert with exquisite detail, even making the grains of sand on the ground shimmer with a fine luster.
But just a few kilometers above these blazing stars, the darkness is no longer the usual ethereal void.
Instead, it seemed to be compressed and solidified into a substance by an invisible and powerful force, transforming into a thick, boundless, and airtight black curtain that isolated all light and shadow from outside the sky.
The beams of light projected by the blazing star Kaga into the sky were like countless thin ribbons of light, but once the beams touched the black "curtain," they were instantly swallowed up, as if they had never existed.
This is very strange.
Yang Fan knew that this was not naturally formed darkness, but a manifestation of the laws of the Netherworld—a supreme law that was even more intense and colder than pure darkness.
For countless civilizations in the Cold Mountain Realm, this was something that made them tremble and avoid at all costs.
But for Yang Fan, this barrier of the laws of the Netherworld was nothing of a concern.
He withdrew his gaze, a slight thought stirring within him.
A strange light curtain, visible only to him, quietly appeared before his eyes.
Above the light screen stood a colossal tree, towering as if reaching the heavens and the earth, its trunk unbelievably thick.
Even when only presented within the light screen, it exudes a majestic aura, like a mountain pressing down upon you. The branches crisscross and extend to every corner of the light screen, as if trying to penetrate it and reach the end of this world.
This giant tree is none other than the demigod world tree, Huanluotian, which perished in the primordial world decades ago.
The images on the light screen flowed slowly, like a camera being controlled by someone. First, it slowly rotated around the giant tree of Huanluotian, clearly presenting the entire giant tree to Yang Fan.
Then.
The scene suddenly freezes, the camera slowly zooms in, and finally locks onto a large, colorful butterfly perched on a thick branch.
This butterfly is unusually large, with a wingspan of up to five meters.
Its wings are covered with intricate patterns, with red, blue, purple, gold and other colors interwoven together, like brocade dyed by time, making it look exceptionally gorgeous.
A thin layer of mist lingered around it, and tiny specks of light would fall as its wings fluttered gently.
These are fragments of the laws of time.
The butterfly slowly unfolded its wings and flew gracefully and slowly along a huge branch of the Illusory Heaven toward the trunk, its movements elegant and slow, as if each step was traversing the barriers of time.
Just as the butterfly approached the tree trunk, a strange sight occurred.
The butterfly's silhouette began to flicker incessantly, sometimes moving forward a few inches, sometimes retreating back to its original position, sometimes becoming clear, and sometimes becoming blurry.
As if drawn by some force, it travels back and forth through time and space.
This is not because the butterfly's movements have become disordered, but because it is traversing the river of time.
It is a butterfly of time created by Huanluotian using his own control over the powerful laws of time and expending his own source power.
In a sense, this is the "token" of the demigod world tree Huanluotian, carrying Huanluotian's will and storing the information He wants to convey.
The Butterfly of Time traveled across decades just to deliver it to Yang Fan.
"Shh~ shh~ shh~"
Within the light screen, the branches and leaves of the Illusory Heaven suddenly swayed gently.
Countless leaves rubbed against each other, producing a dense yet gentle sound that rose and fell like waves, forming a strange wave of sound.
This wave is not chaotic, but contains a special rhythm.
Each rustling of the leaves corresponds to a kind of obscure syllable.
When combined, they form an extremely rare ancient language—the original language of the World Tree race, carrying the most sincere emotions of Huanluotian.
This language is extremely obscure and difficult to understand.
Even powerful beings in the primordial world, even those who possess secret arts that allow them to understand the languages of all things, or those who have tools that can decipher unfamiliar languages, cannot comprehend the meaning of what they say.
But Yang Fan heard it all clearly.
"...I regret it...I've regretted it for many, many years..."
The voice sounded like Huan Luotian talking to himself, like an old man who had experienced many hardships giving earnest advice to his descendants, and also like a hint of indescribable fear.
"...Friend from the river of time...I...Huan Luotian...are sincerely reminding you..."
His voice paused, as if gathering strength, or as if suppressing his emotions.
"Breaking through the fourth barrier and advancing to a lower-level demigod... never forge a primordial artifact... this will plunge you into an endless abyss, from which there is no return..."
"Never try to advance to the demigod level... Never..."
Huan Luotian repeated the sentence twice, his fear growing stronger with each repetition.
It was as if being a demigod was an incredibly terrifying taboo.
"This will only trap you in extreme terror... ultimately turning you into its puppet... from which you will never be able to escape..."
The words fell.
The rustling of leaves in the light screen gradually subsided, and the figure of the Butterfly of Time stopped flickering.
It rested quietly on the trunk of the tree in the Illusory Heaven, the mist of time surrounding it slowly dissipating, as if it had completed its mission.
Yang Fan's brows furrowed tightly, his expression extremely serious.
He knew very well that this was not an illusory warning.
Rather, it was a gift that Huanluotian deliberately left for him before his fall, a blood-and-tears advice that this demigod had earned with his own life and experiences.
Although he had never met Huanluo Tian, and even before Canglan Star fell into the primordial world, this powerful demigod World Tree had already perished.
However, Huanluotian, relying on his control over the laws of time, foresaw the appearance of this latecomer in the river of time, and thus left behind this very precious gift in advance.
Around the middle of last year.
Xiao Cang finally broke through the shackles of the Abundant Earth Tree level and successfully advanced to the Glorious Heaven Tree.
It was at that moment that Xiao Cang unsealed the "gift" that Huan Luotian had left inside its body beforehand, and only then was Huan Luotian's warning presented before its eyes.
Coincidentally, at that very moment, his strength also reached the threshold of demigod.
This is obviously not a coincidence.
Rather, it was Huanluotian who, having foreseen this moment from the river of time, made the most meticulous arrangement. It accurately predicted the time of Xiao Cang's advancement and the point at which he touched the threshold of demigodhood, all to deliver the warning to him at the crucial moment.
This power amazed Yang Fan.
Since then, he has seen this "light curtain" many times.
But each time he watches it, he gains new insights.
Let me add a few more words.
Upon reaching the demigod level, the path of cultivation undergoes a tremendous change, no longer divided into three realms—beginner, intermediate, and advanced—as with knights and venerables.
There are only two levels of demigods—lower demigods and higher demigods.
These two realms may seem to differ by only one word, but their strengths are worlds apart.
The biggest difference between the two lies in the degree of control over the laws and the integration with one's own origin.
A lower-level demigod has merely broken through the fourth barrier and forged a "Primordial Divine Palace" within their body, enabling them to skillfully control one or more powerful laws, thus possessing strength far exceeding that of a Venerable.
The higher-ranking demigods go a step further, completely integrating the powerful laws they control into the Origin God Palace, thus elevating the Origin God Palace to a Law God Palace.
It can be said that a high-ranking demigod is the very embodiment of a powerful law.
Their every move can invoke the power of the laws of heaven and earth, and they can destroy the world with a wave of their hand.
The "forging of primordial artifacts" that Huanluotian emphasizes is a common method used by countless quasi-demigods in the primordial world to break through the fourth barrier.
The fourth barrier, also known as the barrier of the gods, is the first chasm between mortals and gods.
To break through this chasm and ascend to demigod status, one must endure the unprecedentedly fierce backlash from the laws of heaven and earth at the moment the barrier of divinity shatters.
In order to increase the success rate of promotion, a secret method was passed down in the original world.
That is, to cut off a part of one's own soul, use it as the core of one's origin, and then collect a large number of rare and exotic materials, expending a huge amount of energy and primal power to create a primal artifact.
The moment of advancement is also the moment the Origin Artifact is born. The Origin Artifact will actively share some of the backlash from the strong laws, thereby reducing the burden on the advanced individual and increasing their chances of survival.
This is a super secret technique that Yang Fan found by sacrificing the demigod Saru and searching through Saru's soul fragments.
Even with this method, the risk of promotion remains incredibly high.
Based on the data Yang Fan has collected in the original world over the years, as well as the information he obtained from Saru's soul.
Of the ten quasi-demigods who relied on this method to cope with the backlash of the powerful laws, less than one was able to survive and advance to the level of a lower demigod.
In other words, advancing to demigod status is a high-stakes gamble with a slim chance of survival.
This demonstrates just how terrifying the backlash from powerful laws can be.
To be honest, Yang Fan was shocked and found it hard to believe when he first saw Huan Luotian's "last words".
After all, forging primordial artifacts is the most recognized and optimal way to advance to demigod status in the original world.
But Huan Luotian told him not to do it, and even warned him that doing so would plunge him into an endless abyss.
What puzzled him even more was that Huan Luotian described the higher demigods as an incredibly terrifying taboo, which was completely different from the information he knew.
But as time went on, he increasingly felt that what the demigod World Tree said was from the bottom of its heart, a personal experience it had gained at the cost of its own life, and the most sincere advice.
However, due to some unknown reason, Huanluotian could not reveal the truth and could only issue a warning in this veiled way.
Yang Fan's eyes flickered, and a past event suddenly surfaced in his mind.
This was the only evidence he found that could corroborate the warning from the Illusory Heaven.
About six years ago, he was wandering around the corners of the primordial world, searching for one hidden realm after another.
One day, he accidentally stumbled upon a forgotten secret realm of divine remains.
Deep within the secret realm, he saw a giant vertebra that was 150 kilometers long.
The spine is dark gold in color and covered with ancient divine patterns.
Even after countless years of erosion, it still exudes a powerful divine and lawful force.
This is clearly the skeleton of an ancient god.
But that wasn't what shocked him.
What truly shocked him was that there was a huge line of text on the first vertebra of this vertebra.
Each character is over a hundred meters tall, like a majestic mountain peak carved into the spine, its body ablaze with blazing golden flames.
Even after more than ten thousand years, the flame has not gone out and still emits a scorching heat.
Yang Fan used the astrological laws he controlled to trace the origin of these characters.
The results showed that these characters first appeared more than 10,000 years ago.
Its author was none other than a powerful high-ranking demigod.
The text reads: "It turns out that the great and supreme beings are actually a group of pitiful prisoners trapped in an eternal prison; it turns out that the primordial world is actually..."
That's right!
The first half of this line is exactly what Yang Fan later told Yang Wanyu and Yang Yanchen, the siblings.
But the line was not finished; the second half of the sentence ended abruptly.
It's as if the writer encountered an accident while writing this sentence and was forced to stop.
Yang Fan guessed at the time that when the high-ranking demigod inscribed these words, he was mocking and desecrating the ancient god's remains.
This ultimately enraged the slumbering remains of the ancient god, who launched a fierce counterattack, banishing the powerful high-ranking demigod from the Divine Remains Realm.
Now, recalling those words again, Huan Luotian's words seem to have gained some credibility.
If the ancient gods at the top of the ladder of power are not truly free, but rather a group of pitiful prisoners trapped in an eternal prison.
If we expand our thinking further, as beings closest to the ancient gods, have the higher demigods already stepped one foot into that "cage"?
Is it possible that once someone is promoted to a high-ranking demigod, they will be locked in by some kind of power and eventually become a prisoner like the ancient gods?
Huan Luotian explicitly warned him "not to advance to a higher demigod level," and also stated that "otherwise he would be captured by extreme terror."
The logic of all of this then makes perfect sense.
The so-called "ultimate terror" is undoubtedly the "eternal cage" that imprisoned the ancient gods.
This is perhaps Huanluotian's lifelong regret, which is why the demigod World Tree keeps repeating "I regret it" over and over again.
It's even possible that Huan Luotian felt despair about the future, which led him to willingly face death, ultimately dying in an ambush by a group of demigods.
Otherwise, with the strength of a high-level demigod of the space system, even if he couldn't defeat the enemy, he would have a million ways to escape.
Yang Fan sighed silently, his expression filled with confusion.
If he cannot forge divine artifacts, how can he advance to the demigod level and lead the Azure Civilization through the Great Cataclysm? (End of Chapter)