After waking up, Ning Yuan tidied up his appearance, and then stepped out of the safety zone alone with some kind of speculation.

Staggered back from the darkness after about ten minutes.

Seeing that the black qi emitted from his body was absorbed by the suspended lamps one by one, Ning Yuan's face had a look of "sure enough". Then there was a faint sense of awe.

Ning Yuan looked at the floating lamp and was silent for a few minutes, and then looked at the white point of light faintly visible in the darkness for a while. It was his other "unknown lamp" that was a landmark.

"Let me take the time to test the second guess."

Thinking like this, Ning Yuan retracted his gaze and sat down cross-legged in the center of the "safe zone" again.

Before picking up "Elementary Explanation of Learning" (Complete Version), check the character panel and player log. Unsurprisingly, the pure knowledge skill "Knowledge" has appeared in the skill bar, and it has reached level 2.

"Knowledge: Level: Level 2. Based on what players have seen, heard, experienced, and read together. Current effect: Wisdom plus 2, Knowledgeable plus 1. ”

The "Knowledge" skill can be said to be a skill that all players will master, and it is a basic skill that is of little use to martial arts players and extremely important for mana players.

As a pure knowledge point skill, the acquisition and upgrading of "knowledge" skills can be said to be extremely simple. Even if the force system player is not deliberate, as long as the skill obtained through the knowledge points of the book will automatically trigger the "knowledge" skill. The "Knowledge" skill can be said to be a bonus for martial arts players, and it is also a precursor to some advanced skills.

It's just that the attributes attached to the "knowledge" skill are often the attributes of the mana system such as "wisdom" and "political strategy". Therefore, for players who are mainly armed forces, the "knowledge" skill is not very useful. At least that's what almost all the martial arts players in the Neno continent think so now.

For mana players, the importance of the "knowledge" skill is self-evident. Although the "Knowledge" skill blessing has a low stat and requires a long reading time. However, in line with the mentality of "no matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat", almost all mana players will choose to upgrade the "knowledge" skill to a certain level. However, if you want to pay more attention, it is not necessarily true. It can only be said that the mentality is actually similar to that of a martial arts player, which is an incidental to the learning of book knowledge points and skills.

Of course, for some life professional players and players like Ning Yuan who like to read and have certain goals, the "Knowledge" skill is a basic skill that must be upgraded to the full level of 10. Even if it takes a lot of their time.

As far as Ning Yuan is concerned, upgrading "knowledge" to level 5 is one of the prerequisites for reading and learning the Red Skin's "Nine Refining Qi Turning Heart Sutra (Fragments)". Upgrading the "Knowledge" skill to the full level of 10 is a necessary condition for future status advancement, and it can also be used as one of the foundations for his own career positioning.

And he himself did have an almost pathological thirst for knowledge. This can be said to be a manifestation of his curiosity. Whether it was the real world of the stars or the virtual world or other virtual game worlds in the virtual world, Ning Yuan collected all the books, knowledge, and consulting information that he could get his hands on as much as possible.

Opening "The Beginning of Learning (Complete Version)", Ning Yuan was once again immersed in the ocean of knowledge.

In the following time, Ning Yuan has been reading "The First Solution of Learning" except for occasionally going to the dark to confirm something, observing the refining of the "unknown lamp" and taking Bigu Dan to maintain the state of Bigu when hunger comes.

Except for the first few days, Ning Yuan would always close his eyes and think for about half an hour after reading "The First Solution of Learning (Complete Version)". Only then did I start re-reading. Even after the "Knowledge" skill was upgraded to level 5 and the reading and learning requirements of the "Nine Refining Qi Turning Heart Sutra (Fragment)" were achieved, Ning Yuan did not choose to study the "Nine Refining Qi Turning Heart Sutra (Fragment)" immediately, but continued to read, organize and comprehend the "Preliminary Understanding of Learning".

Ning Yuan's days in this dark space began to settle down temporarily, and he no longer seemed to want to solve the test of this dark space as soon as possible to obtain the inheritance of the "City Heart", nor did he care if he would open a huge gap with the players in the Nino Continent outside.

It wasn't until more than a month later that Ning Yuan saw the changes that he had been silently waiting for, and he heard the system prompt that he had been waiting for "maybe" appear.

The change comes from the "unknown lamp" that has been in a state of "purification".

One day, when Ning Yuan had just finished reading "The Beginning of Learning", he found that the originally bright "safe zone" had dimmed.

I saw that the faint and almost invisible black gas that had been flowing into the lamp like a trickle suddenly became turbulent at this moment, and the trickle began to turn into a black streamer at some point, and the pure black wave poured into the small "wine bottle" of the lamp.

It may not be accurate to say "influx". Because Ning Yuan could feel that the black "streamer" was passively absorbed by the "wine bottle". Perhaps it is more appropriate to describe it as "devouring".

Endless black gas is forcibly absorbed by the "Unknown Lamp" from outside the "safe zone". Then in the "safe zone", it turns into "streamers" and "waves", and is swallowed up like a black hole by a small lamp wine bottle.

The devouring behavior of the "unknown lamp" continued for a quarter of an hour or so, and then abruptly stopped as if it had eaten its fill.

At the moment when the lamp's behavior of devouring black gas stopped, the already bright lamp emitted a burst of dazzling white light.

When the white light lit up, Ning Yuan reflexively turned around and closed his eyes.

The white light was dazzling and blazing, and even when he turned around, Ning Yuan's back felt a burning and stinging pain in an instant.

Luckily, white light comes and goes as quickly as it comes. After only a few breaths, Ning Yuan had no burning sensation except for the faint tingling sensation.

Ning Yuan's vision when he opened his eyes had obviously dimmed, and the scope of the "safe zone" had also shrunk by a circle, from the original radius of half a meter to a radius of one foot, just enough to envelop the range of a person.

Ning Yuan cast his gaze on the "unknown lamp" that had obviously completed some kind of change.

I saw that the "unknown lamp" at this time had completely changed its appearance. The original three-dimensional "wine bottle" has to be flattened, like the shoulder pads of some kind of armor, the peach-shaped lampshade has completely disappeared, and the tadpole-shaped air mass wick has also changed its shape slightly, just like the "yang fish" in the "yin and yang fish", the whole body is white, only the center of the round head has a pure black point, like a "fish eye".

The wick of the air mass in the form of "Yang Fish" was quietly suspended three inches above the "shoulder pad", slowly rotating.

When Ning Yuan observed the changed "unknown lamp", the attribute of the lamp for retrieving skill feedback came into view, and at the same time, the prompt sound of the system also sounded in his mind as promised.

"Congratulations to the player for obtaining the 'Twin Soul Lantern (Yang)'."

"Twin Soul Lamp (Yang): An 'unknown lamp' that returns to its original appearance after purification. Sacrifice. Effect: Can be used to sacrifice to craft a clan artifact. ”

Looking at the feedback information in his eyes, Ning Yuan sighed with relief.

"Guess right. I've found the key to breaking the game. The nature of this darkness can finally be determined. Ning Yuan laughed and took the changed lamp in his hand, took the "Preliminary Understanding of Learning" on the ground back to Kunbao, and then walked towards the original coordinate center.

"There is a mirage in the north, symbiosis with the same body, the pearls are divided into yin and yang, day and night are eternal, and everyone is dead. Why? People die of laziness in the day, and die of madness in the night. However, this is not a mirage, it is all self-inflicted. Mirage, people's hearts are greedy. The mind is not pure, so they are all dead. However, the sky has cause and effect, the earth has a fixed number, and those who enter the Pearl Domain are the only people. The family name is twins, the shoulder floats double lamps, the lamps are yin and yang, swallowing the day and eating the moon, and they are the family of raising mirage imperial treasures. ”

This is a passage that Ning Yuan read in the reality of the stars. This passage is from an ancient book. This ancient legend is left over from the ancient Qi cultivation era and was excavated and restored by modern archaeologists in an ancient ruin. There are many missing contents of ancient books, but they are few important documents that record the customs and customs of the era of heaven and earth and qi cultivation that have long been extinct and disappeared from the stars. It is also an important reference for the modern star race to recognize the second generation of the stars, that is, the ancient qi cultivation civilization.

As for why I remembered this passage, I have to thank Ning Yuan for this "Preliminary Understanding of Learning (Complete Edition)" in his hand.

Originally, due to cognitive reasons, that is, the inherent impression that the game world in the void area was a completely alternate world, Ning Yuan did not consider the possible connection between the Nino Continent and the real world of the stars. Until I read this encyclopedia of the Nino continent, "The First Solution of Learning (Complete Edition)".

Ning Yuan saw a lot of familiar descriptions in this book, and then naturally remembered something. Although just a few similar descriptions can't explain anything, if the similarities reach dozens or hundreds, Ning Yuan has to seriously think about whether there is some kind of inevitable connection among them.

In the memories and comparisons, Ning Yuan discovered some facts. I also have relatively clear guesses about a few doubts in my subconscious.

The first doubt. What kind of foundation and conditions did the Lord of the Ruins evolve into this world? The answer Ning Yuan found in the comparison between "The First Solution of Learning" and real memory.

The Lord of the Ruins is the "Neno Continent" that evolved based on the reality of the stars.

Why is the "Neno Continent" completely different from the current continent of the stars?

Because although the Lord of the Ruins is based on the reality of the stars, this "reality of the stars" is not the stars of the modern era, nor the stars of the "era of qi refining technology" in the ancient era, or even the stars of the ancient "era of refinement", but the stars before the second "Tian Yuan (Heaven and Earth Yuanqi) Great Change" recorded in the ancient "Qi cultivation era". That is, the "Nino Continent" created based on the reality of the stars in the heyday of the "Qi Cultivation Civilization".

And it's just a blueprint. Therefore, it is not surprising that the "Nino Continent" is recognized as a different world in the eyes of players.

If it weren't for Ning Yuan's preference for the history of the stars, he had read almost all the ancient books circulating on the market and circulating in some private fields, and he saw similar records in this "Preliminary Explanation of Learning", and remembered the materials he had read. Ning Yuan would never have guessed that the stars would be the blueprint for the evolution of the "Nino Continent".

The Lord of the Ruins is the "Neno Continent" that evolved based on the reality of the stars.

Why is the "Neno Continent" completely different from the current continent of the stars?

Because although the Lord of the Ruins is based on the reality of the stars, this "reality of the stars" is not the stars of the modern era, nor the stars of the "era of qi refining technology" in the ancient era, or even the stars of the ancient "era of refinement", but the stars before the second "Tian Yuan (Heaven and Earth Yuanqi) Great Change" recorded in the ancient "Qi cultivation era". That is, the "Nino Continent" created based on the reality of the stars in the heyday of the "Qi Cultivation Civilization".

And it's just a blueprint. Therefore, it is not surprising that the "Nino Continent" is recognized as a different world in the eyes of players.

If it weren't for Ning Yuan's preference for the history of the stars, he had read almost all the ancient books circulating on the market and circulating in some private fields, and he saw similar records in this "Preliminary Explanation of Learning", and remembered the materials he had read. Ning Yuan would never have guessed that the stars would be the blueprint for the evolution of the "Nino Continent".

Based on the answer to the first doubt, Ning Yuan's second doubt also had a relatively reliable answer.

What are the considerations of the Lord of the Ruins to evolve into a new race that is suitable for incarnating into reality? If the first guess is true, the answer is actually quite simple.

The Lord didn't really evolve a new race, or just a new race. Instead, it restores the races that once existed in the Star World, but disappeared in the long river of history due to the "Tian Yuan Change".

And this is also the reason why Ning Yuan is even more in awe of the Lord of the Ruins, and begins to believe that the existence of the Void Realm and the Lord of the Ruins is older than the official announcement and most people know.

The Ancient Qi Cultivation Era. It is an era of legends that lasted for more than 30,000 years, from 50,000 years ago to 20,000 years ago.

Legend has it that although the vitality of the stars and heaven and earth of that era was not as good as that of the mythical era of much older, it was also an era when the vitality manifested and condensed into a spring, and it was so thick that it was abnormally thick.

Legend has it that in that era, almost everyone was a cultivator, and there were many people who called for wind and rain to fly to the sky and the earth, and it was the real power that walked all over the ground, and the monk was not as good as a dog. That era was the closest to "everyone is like a dragon".

Legend has it that the stars of that era did not have the so-called "seven seas and four seas" of the current stars, but only a red ocean that surrounded the entire continent and was called "Zhu Xinghai".

Legend has it that the Star Continent at that time was still a whole, occupying nearly eighty percent of the entire area of the stars, and it was a continent that looked almost infinite in the far sky. At that time, the continent had a magnificent name - the Flood Desolation Continent.

Legend has it that the treasures of heaven and earth in that era were almost infinite, with spiritual flowers and plants everywhere, and countless rare birds and beasts. Although there is no heaven and earth spirit treasure like the mythological era, there are also many powerful magic weapons close to the spirit treasure - the source treasure, which contains the origin treasure.

Legend has it that at that time, the human race, the kitten race, the fox spirit race, the feather race, the barbarian, and the long-eared race were only relatively weak races among the many races in the stars, and the more powerful races abounded, but there were definitely a lot.

However, with the outbreak of the second "Tian Yuan Change", the extremely brilliant Qi cultivation civilization was completely destroyed in a very short period of time. The more powerful the race, the more they could not escape the fate of destruction, but the relatively weak races such as the human race barely survived under the crisis of being damaged and civilization destroyed.

But although it survived, the inheritance of civilization was completely lost.

The only things that have been handed down are these oral legends and the archaeological remains of later generations and the fragments of books left in the ruins.

Ning Yuan can now basically determine that the "Nino Continent" is a world that evolved based on the stars of that legendary era. Then the exact years of existence of the ruin lord who evolved the world in this way can also be predicted.

The Lord of the Ruins has survived for at least 20,000 years. In other words, the Lord of the Ruins has existed as a machine spirit for at least 20,000 years.

What is the year 20000?

In the present era, which is almost the end of the Dharma era, in the modern era when gas refining technology is changing with each passing day and biotechnology is surpassing each other, the average lifespan of the Star Race is about 130 years. Of course, this refers to ordinary people.

The time of 20,000 years, even if counted as the most exaggerated 130-year generation, is enough for the ordinary human race to reproduce for nearly 170 generations. However, the normal time for humans to reproduce is between 20 and 30 years. The years of 20,000 years are really a long time span to despair that ordinary people in the stars feel.

The Ruin Lord, who had gone through such a long span of time, was enough to make all those who knew this fact in awe. It's not about strength, it's simply about reverence for time.

"The Lord of the Ruins is worthy of the title of the god of the world." Ning Yuan sighed softly.

After confirming that the Nino Continent was a world that evolved based on the stars of the peak Qi cultivation era, the similarities between the Nino Continent and the historical records of the stars were compared. Ning Yuan already had a certain eyebrow for the confusion of his current situation when he discovered the similarities between the two. And the silent observation of more than a month, as well as the changes that have occurred in the "unknown lamp", are enough to confirm Ning Yuan's speculation.

If Ning Yuan was not mistaken, this dark space was the "Realm of Eternal Night" created by mirages as mentioned in the ancient book. Even if it is not, it must be a similar existence.

"And it," Ning Yuan looked at the lamp in his hand, which had been completely changed, "It should be the yang lamp in the Yin Yang Soul Suppression Lantern on the shoulders of the Twins recorded in ancient books." Then the other 49 'unknown lamps' in the Kun bag should be yin lamps. ”

"However, although it is almost certain that there is a mutual connection between the 'Yin Yang Soul Lamp' and the 'Eternal Night Realm' reflected by the mirage of the legendary twin clan's companion spirit beast 'Yin Yang Mirage'. Yin Yang Soul Lamp', oh, yes. On the continent of Nino, it is called the 'Twin Soul Lamp'. ”

"Oh, 'twin' twin. The Lord of the Ruins gave a hint without concealing it at all. As long as you have a little understanding of the ancient Qi cultivation era, you can basically guess something based on the murals and the twin yang lanterns in your hands. ”

However, if Ning Yuan had not obtained the "Preliminary Understanding of Learning (Complete Version)" and had not fully understood the basic knowledge of all aspects of the Nino Continent, it would be difficult for him to connect the twins on the mural with the twins in the real legend.

"Then isn't the Ning Ice Clan the legendary 'Cold Water Lanling Clan'?" Ning Yuan looked at the "Source of Ice" in Kunbao and muttered to himself, and then thought of the race with four arms on the mural, "Is that four-armed clan the legendary 'Lang Evil Clan' or 'Cana Clan'?" ”

While thinking about it, every time he passed the place where an "unknown lamp" was placed, Ning Yuan would stop and check it.

It was found that except for the "unknown lamp" in his hand, which had been the first to produce mutations, had been refined and restored to its original appearance and attributes, the other 37 "unknown lamps" were still in a state of purification.

After returning to the place where he had first woken up from the madness, Ning Yuan took the "Twin Soul Lamp (Yang)" back to Kunbao, and then sat down cross-legged and continued to think.

"Although the nature of darkness has been guessed, I have also obtained key game-breaking items. But what should be done to crack this dark space that is suspected to be the 'Realm of Eternal Night', it still feels like something is missing. ”

"After all the 49 'unknown lamps' are refined, they can automatically lift the dark space? This seems a bit too simplistic. ”

"Or do you need to sacrifice all 49 'Twin Soul Lamps (Yang) to be the correct way to open this dark space?"

"But how do you sacrifice it?"

Ning Yuan thought about it as he recalled the information in his mind.

"And I don't seem to have fully understood the true meaning of this test until now."

Ning Yuan originally guessed that this space was a pure test of willpower. But after going through it, Ning Yuan was sure that even if he was the most adaptable to the darkness and had a strong will among the stars at the moment, it would be impossible for him to resist the invasion of those negative emotions and thoughts in the darkness of this suspected 'Eternal Night Realm'.