Li Yao's eyelashes flickered, and his expression turned somewhat solemn. "The Great Dark Age" is one of the most important periods in the development of the cultivation civilization. It could even be said that it is the Great Dark Age that divides the "Classical Cultivation Period" from the "Modern Cultivation Period." This is a very classic question, well-known to everyone, but not easy to answer comprehensively.
After a moment of contemplation, Li Yao's thoughts raced, and his divine consciousness soared:
"The ancient cultivators aimed for immortality, creating an incredibly brilliant ancient cultivation civilization. They established an upgrading system from Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, to Core Formation, Nascent Soul... all the way to the Heavenly Tribulation, True Immortal, and Immortal, and they bravely moved forward along this path, continuously exploring the limits of life and heading towards the boundless starry sea."
"At the peak of the ancient cultivation civilization, the ancient cultivators opened up one vast world after another, constructed ancient transmission arrays that spanned the endless star sea, and traveled freely between stars and worlds, even beginning to explore the ultimate mysteries of time!"
"As the ancient cultivation civilization continued to evolve, the ancient cultivators became stronger and more long-lived, and the number of strong individuals also increased."
"In the early period of the ancient cultivation civilization, there were only hundreds of Core Formation cultivators and dozens of Nascent Soul cultivators in the three thousand worlds. As for 'Nascent Soul old monsters' and 'Heavenly Tribulation True Lords,' they were unheard of. It was possible that one might appear in dozens of worlds over thousands of years, and they were absolutely rare existences!"
"But in the later period of the ancient cultivation civilization, high-level cultivators multiplied geometrically, like a big bang—there was a saying at the time, 'Nascent Souls as numerous as dogs, Nascent Souls everywhere.'"
"So many high-level cultivators required a huge amount of resources for cultivation, and with more and more cultivators reaching near-immortality, their demand for resources also reached—endless!"
"At first, it was still possible to satisfy the greedy high-level cultivators by developing new vast worlds, but after tens of thousands of years of development and the discovery of nearly five thousand worlds, there was an entire millennium during which the ancient cultivation civilization failed to discover even a single new vast world."
"The world is finite, while the demands of cultivators are infinite—the ancient cultivators spent a millennium understanding this truth, and naturally, to compete for limited resources, civil wars immediately broke out."
"Three thousand years of civil war swept across all vast worlds. Ancient cultivators who could summon winds and rain, and move mountains and seas, fought each other on every star! Planets burned, ancient transmission arrays were destroyed, crystal warships exploded in chains, and high-level cultivators who were called 'Immortal' fell one after another. 'Core Formation strong' and 'Nascent Soul old monsters' became like the mortals they once looked down upon, turning into worthless cannon fodder, and were annihilated in attacks powerful enough to destroy planets."
"In the later stages of the civil war, more than seventy percent of the vast worlds were destroyed, and countless vast worlds severed their connection with the main world. More than ninety percent of high-level cultivators turned to ash, and the remaining low-level cultivators were barely surviving in the ruins."
"The war seemed unsustainable, and the dawn of peace appeared faintly—until in an unknown vast world, an ignorant cultivation genius invented a 'trinket.'"
"The name and sect of this cultivation genius are no longer verifiable, and his refining process has long been lost to the wind. Modern people call what he created—the Demon God Virus!"
"Perhaps his idea was very simple: since there were not enough warriors, why not invent something to comprehensively enhance the combat power of spiritual beasts to fight on behalf of cultivators—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 terrible killing tools, the war machines known as 'beasts,' tireless, unhesitating, and unending!"
"In just ten years, this cultivation genius unified his vast world with an army of beasts, and the number of the beast army reached hundreds of millions. Cultivators from other worlds who discovered his actions also began to refine their own 'beasts.'"
"In a hundred years, beasts became the main force in the internal wars of the cultivation world, appearing in every corner of the starry sea."
"However, all cultivators failed to notice two things."
"First, the 'Demon God Virus' has extremely strong self-replication and contagiousness."
"Second, while enhancing the combat power of beasts, the 'Demon God Virus' also subtly and continuously improved their intelligence. In the brutal bloodshed of hundreds of years, under the catalysis of a huge base number, trillions of beasts gave birth to 'beast races' with intelligence comparable to humans!"
"Finally, on the last day of the three thousand years of civil war—the beast race awakened!"
"As if commanded by some terrifying existence, all the beasts in the starry sea of all worlds rebelled against their masters almost at the same time. The cultivators who had been hiding in their sects for hundreds of years were no match for the battle-hardened beasts—not to mention the beast race that had mastered human cultivation technology!"
"One by one, spiritual mountains were leveled, and one sect after another was completely exterminated. In a hundred years, the beast race chased every cultivator who had escaped in the starry sea. The once high and mighty cultivators became like homeless dogs, hiding in the dark areas of the star sea and the gaps of time, living in constant fear."
"For the next thirty thousand years, it was the 'Great Dark Age' for humanity. In the endless darkness, the beast race established a vast 'Beast Dynasty,' and humans became despicable slaves, losing their dignity, pride, and the most precious— the right to cultivate and refine qi!"
"Thirty thousand years, a full thirty thousand years! The once brilliant and glorious ancient cultivation civilization, which ruled the endless star sea, was like a tower of sand, destroyed by the waves, leaving no trace! The descendants of the once 'immortal' high-level cultivators could only rely on the most primitive strong reproductive power, maintaining the continuation of their race with a huge number, barely surviving!"
"Until thirty thousand years later, at the end of the Great Dark Age, the internal power struggles and contradictions within the beast race became increasingly sharp, and humans finally got a chance to breathe. Through the unremitting efforts of countless cultivation geniuses, humans secretly launched three 'Cultivation Revolutions' and established a 'modern cultivation civilization system' completely different from the ancient cultivation civilization, and once again embarked on a magnificent path of cultivation and revival!"
"Under the leadership of the peerless strong 'Emperor,' humans discovered a large number of ancient cultivation civilization relics and re-established twenty 'Primordial Sects.' After a thousand years of bloody battles, human morality flourished, and humans once again became the masters of the endless star sea. The modern cultivation civilization also showed vigorous vitality!"
"It has been ten thousand years since the end of the 'Great Dark Age,' and forty thousand years since the collapse of the ancient cultivation civilization. Now, it is the best cultivation century, the infinitely charming Cultivation 40,000 era!"
As Li Yao pondered the last paragraph, a countdown appeared in the sky, indicating that the exam was about to end. He had to give up the idea of continuing to elaborate on the life of the "Emperor" and hastily concluded with a few clichéd remarks.
Almost at the moment the last word surfaced in his mind, the entire world collapsed, turning into fragments like butterflies. Li Yao was forcibly pushed out by a powerful force, his vision blurred, and his consciousness returned to the classroom.