metaverse evolution.

After the false alarm, the fleet became much more cautious. At least this time they encountered a relatively kind and benevolent person; what if they encountered an unreasonable one next time? Would he slap them first and then ask, "Why did I hit you?"
The fleet's advance speed decreased further, and reconnaissance technology underwent rapid iterations. Much of the data previously obtained from Yuanyang Daozun was also used to search for "sages".

The void of the inner world is completely different from the void of the outer world. There's no way around it; there are just too many experts.

With sufficient caution, people gradually discovered some potential hidden dangers.

It might be hidden, the actual situation is uncertain, and I dare not be sure. If something feels wrong, I will take a detour.

For example, since the world is in motion, gravitational waves must exist. Therefore, under normal circumstances, spacetime has slight, irregular ripples, even if they are very weak. Just like the surface of the sea, no matter how calm the sea is, it is impossible for it to be completely without any ripples.

If the reconnaissance detects that the void ahead is exceptionally calm, so calm that there is not a ripple, then the fleet should immediately bypass it.

If the void ahead appears normal, but the spacetime ripples are fixed, you still need to go around them—normally, spacetime ripples are quite chaotic because gravitational waves come from all directions and vary in size. These relatively fixed spacetime ripples are most likely traps or decoys.

If the absolute temperature of the void ahead exceeds 4K (Kelvin), then there is definitely a problem. The temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation is approximately 3K to 3.5K, which, after correction, is about 2.7255K.

If the void temperature exceeds 4K, you should be wary.

As for temperatures below 2.7K, we haven't encountered that yet. When the temperature approaches absolute zero, it becomes very difficult to achieve even lower temperatures.

If you find the light ahead to be bright or particularly dim, or encounter something you cannot understand, you should also go around it.

About ten light-years ahead of the fleet, numerous unmanned probes are speeding along, scouting potential dangers in advance.

Inside the spaceship, the Goddess of Nature also observed the surrounding area within a light-year, serving as a secondary assurance.

Finally, the fleet would occasionally break away from its faster-than-light state and use technologies such as radar to scan the void.

Sometimes, high-ranking officials like Chu Fei and Jin Tierong would suddenly feel uneasy and take a detour. If the Goddess of Nature sensed something was wrong, she would take an even bigger detour.

Under these extremely cautious circumstances, although the fleet's speed decreased, it still managed to advance safely for over twenty years, covering a distance of more than 1500 light-years. Although it encountered several large-scale wars along the way, none of them affected the fleet.

The extraterritorial battlefield truly lived up to its name, teeming with war. Many of the warring parties seemed relatively weak, and the Rising Dragon Palace's fleet could easily have raided them, but ultimately they opted to detour and continue their journey.

Right now, everyone in the Ascending Dragon Palace is studying the "Innate Script." Those civilizations that aren't at the Saint level probably won't be able to steal much.

However, sometimes, certain locations seem difficult to bypass—because the area is quite large.

A massive "celestial river" stretched out in front of the fleet, seemingly endless, with a width of about ten thousand light-years—much like a spiral arm of the Milky Way.

This time, the Goddess of Nature took the initiative to explain to Chu Fei: "This is a 'galaxy,' also known as a 'celestial river.' This is the true core area of ​​the extraterritorial battlefield!"
You all believe that the structure of the inner world is actually a World Tree, and this galaxy right now is like the trunk of that tree.

Here, there are celestial realms of all sizes, and countless worlds, both large and small.

Here, gods created the world, and gods entrusted their divine kingdom to the void.

Here, there are also countless practitioners and saints.

Of course, there are abundant resources here, but there are also many wars. To be precise, this is the real battlefield outside the region.

The last time I entered an extraterrestrial battlefield, I participated in a war in a place like this. These 'trunks' are equivalent to the spiral arms of galaxies in the surface world, with diameters often reaching tens of thousands of light-years. This one is still considered small.

To go around it, according to the formula for the circumference of a circle, it would probably require traveling twice the distance.

Chu Fei and the others silently gazed at the void, but still made a decision—to take a detour!
Walking more is better than walking less. Countless traffic accidents have taught us that taking a detour might actually save time. Sometimes, there are far too many cases where people end up in their graves trying to save a few steps.

The galaxy is currently tens of thousands of light-years in diameter; attempting to cross it would be suicidal.

Furthermore, the goddess of nature's calculation method is incorrect.

If the fleet reaches the edge of the star system and then goes around a standard semicircle, the journey will indeed be twice as long.

However, if you start raising the course from a very, very long distance, it's essentially like climbing a large uphill slope. And once you've climbed the slope, you don't need to come down again; you can just keep going forward.

If you climb the slope at a 45° angle, the overall increase in distance would be approximately [R + πR/4 - √2R], which is about 38% more of the galaxy radius. Therefore, you can take a detour.

The fleet began climbing a slope a few thousand light-years ahead of the "galaxy," a distance far enough that the powerful beings within the "galaxy" couldn't see the fleet at all.

After carefully surveying the surroundings, the fleet began to accelerate—at this critical moment, speed was crucial. In such a dangerous place, slowing down would be even more dangerous.

The fleet is speeding forward, with a top speed exceeding 300 times the speed of light. Forward-deployed probes and drones are also scouting the environment 10 light-years ahead.

Time passed day by day, and nothing unexpected happened. With everyone in the Rising Dragon Palace being sufficiently cautious, it wouldn't be easy for anything to go wrong.

After more than thirty years of frantic progress, traversing over nine thousand light-years, the fleet was about to escape the vicinity of this galaxy. At this moment, it once again disengaged from its faster-than-light state to survey its surroundings. It was during this time that a minor accident occurred.

A "cavalry regiment" suddenly sprang out of the void and appeared millions of kilometers away from the fleet.

Both sides immediately went on alert.

Tens of millions of kilometers is a very short distance for top-tier powerhouses. The Goddess of Nature can see a light-year away with a single glance.

Take the Rising Dragon Palace fleet for example; it still has over 80,000 warships remaining, stretching for over eight million kilometers.

Because each warship was so large, to avoid them getting too close together due to gravity, the warships were kept at least 30,000 kilometers apart when not in combat. Ultimately, the fleet advanced in a massive spiral structure, with the "Temple" at its core.

This suddenly appearing "cavalry regiment" was quite large. It looked very much like "lizard dragon riders," with each rider's figure reaching tens of kilometers in height, and the total number of riders not less than a million, including more than a dozen quasi-saint level beings. The entire cavalry legion stretched for a million kilometers.

But upon seeing the fleet, the cavalry regiment immediately deployed and began to spread out, appearing ready for war.

The fleet made no response, and everyone passed each other by.

The half-deployed "Dragon Rider Regiment" stopped and silently watched the fleet sail away.

Seeing the void around the fleet ripple as they were about to leap, a powerful member of the Dragon Rider Regiment spoke up: "Your Highness, shall we go over and say hello?"

One of the princes thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Forget it, let's not cause any more trouble. There's a 'false saint' in that group!"

Another powerful figure said, "A pseudo-saint? Not a big problem. We have ways to deal with pseudo-saints. The other side seems to be on a great migration; their resources are probably all in the army. Should we go for a big heist?"

"We already have a lot of trouble. Let's go."

The dragon rider regiment quickly departed. The fleet, having also scouted the area ahead, entered faster-than-light travel and subsequently left the scene.

Silence returned to the vast void, with only a few fragments and remnants drifting in the air—the remains of the dragon cavalry. The encounter between the two "legions" left nothing behind in the void.

Back at the Ascending Dragon Hall, some were also lamenting – "They just left like that? Why didn't they go and pull off a heist? It seems that although there are quite a few Quasi-Saints in the group, there isn't a Saint-level being among them."

Both sides parted ways with their own regrets and continued on their own paths.

The void ahead grew obscure again, the light gradually fading into nothingness. But hidden within the unseen darkness lurked a sense of unease and restlessness.

The fleet proceeded cautiously, either by circling around, accelerating, or slowing down.

Ten years, twenty years, thirty years...

Time in the void always slips away unnoticed. And the surrounding void is forever dominated by darkness.

Before they knew it, the fleet had traveled for a century, covering a distance of approximately 1.8 light-years. During that century, the fleet remained largely unchanged.

Compared to when they explored the Azure Lotus World, the fleet's technology is now far superior, having reached its current limits. Moreover, the surrounding area is empty void, unlike the matter-dense accretion disk of the Azure Lotus World, so the warships' speed is consistently kept at around 60% of their design speed, making energy consumption negligible.

The only change in the fleet over the past century has been the addition of a new spaceship under construction. This spaceship currently only has a skeleton and engine, capable of faster-than-light travel. It was designed for Yuan Yang Daozun. The skeleton is now complete, and the ribs are being added.

Since Daoist Yuanyang had given them two hundred years, the fleet wasn't in a hurry.

The most urgent task is to locate Zhao Weiguang and bring him to safety.

From our current position, we can already see a hazy, boundless expanse of gray light in the void ahead.

The hazy grayness indicates the presence of light ahead, along with sparse interstellar dust. This suggests that the area is already desolate.

Today, communication between Chu Fei and Zhao Weiguang suddenly became smooth. Previously, even quantum communication required the use of basic binary code. Binary code is inefficient, but it has one advantage: stable information transmission.

Now that signals are using decimal notation, transmission efficiency has increased dramatically, and even images and videos can be transmitted.

At this moment, the fleet finally determined the actual distance between them: approximately 2000 light-years. At their current speeds, they should arrive in about 10 years—if all goes well.

However, within the fleet, many people were already discussing whether it was necessary to go find Zhao Weiguang. And was Zhao Weiguang completely trustworthy?
Furthermore, Zhao Weiguang's territory only has a population of 1650 million, while the fleet's territory has a population of trillions—not one hundred million, but trillions! Can Zhao Weiguang's small territory accommodate so many people?
In short, given the current state of the fleet, they can easily find a decent place to settle down and live their own lives.

Chu Fei knew that the upper echelons of the Ascending Dragon Palace were also discussing this, but ultimately decided to go find Zhao Weiguang.

The reason is simple: stability.

According to Zhao Weiguang's information, the wasteland is a good place to survive and develop. Furthermore, the credibility of Zhao Weiguang has been proven many times in the past; he is indeed credible.

As for territory, there's no need to worry. Our neighbors have some; we can just "borrow" some. (Like Liu Bei borrowing Jingzhou.)

After traveling thousands of light-years, the surrounding environment began to change significantly—although it was still a gray-black void, the invisible and eerie places in the void became fewer and fewer, detours were almost non-existent, and the fleet's speed increased significantly.

All of this is enough to prove that the surrounding space is becoming increasingly desolate.

Meanwhile, the goddess of nature said that the surrounding "heavenly way" was becoming increasingly "lifeless".

The vast world of Changqingtian is the "Way of Heaven," and the immense world of the Extraterritorial Battlefield is also the "Way of Heaven." Of course, these two Ways of Heaven are clearly not on the same level.

As for the "Great Dao," it only existed at the time of creation, and then disappeared after creation.

Furthermore, this so-called lifelessness is explained using the "information creation" theory of the Rising Dragon Palace.

The information creation theory posits that the universe needs all living beings to create information; with more information, the world grows, and growth leads to activity.

The "wisdom" generated by intelligent life contains a vast amount of information, a veritable information explosion. Where life abounds, the natural order naturally flourishes. Conversely, where life is scarce, the natural order manifests as lifelessness.

This is similar to comparing a bustling city to a dilapidated village. The only difference is that what supports urban prosperity is wealth, and the expansion of a city is the creation of wealth.

The Goddess of Nature felt the atmosphere was too heavy and unfavorable for cultivation. But for the Ascending Dragon Palace, the surrounding space became increasingly smooth, and the distortion became less pronounced.

From a cultivation perspective, the laws of heaven and earth have receded, making enlightenment more difficult. Therefore, powerful individuals in the surrounding area have become increasingly rare, ultimately creating a vicious cycle.

The lack of life, especially powerful life, has made this void lifeless, which in turn has prevented any powerful beings from coming here. The absence of powerful beings has led to even fewer lives, making the Heavenly Dao more obscure and lifeless.

However, such an environment is actually a good thing for scientific research, because it gets closer and closer to an "ideal environment."

As for the issue of the obscure nature of the laws of heaven and earth, let's discuss that after the Ascending Dragon Palace technology officially reaches version 24.0.

Currently, the technology of the Ascending Dragon Palace is only one foot in the door of version 24.0. There are still many problems to solve before it truly "enters the inner sanctum." Beyond version 24.0, issues involving information fields, quantum fields, continuity, creation, and so on, each present a formidable challenge.

It usually takes millions of years for a quasi-saint to take a single, difficult step forward, and to take many steps to gradually approach the realm of a saint.

The Ascending Dragon Palace's ambition to achieve leapfrog progress in just a few hundred years seems somewhat presumptuous, not to mention its plan for universal cultivation. Therefore, the overall research will be quite challenging.

Amid the discussion, the fleet continued its advance for several hundred light-years before finally making a faint observation of the detailed light and shadow of the desolate land.

The desolate land is not a "nothingness" or a place devoid of anything; it contains a lot of matter, but its environment is more similar to Mars.

There are many continents here, but all of them are utterly desolate. There is light, but it is weak and lifeless, giving off a sense of the underworld. The laws of heaven and earth are chaotic, the space is unstable, making it difficult to nurture life—it is practically an alternate, chaotic environment.

The desolate land was said to have once been an environment like a "galaxy," but the war between saints caused the world to shatter, especially the laws of heaven and earth.

Under normal circumstances, the universe has a certain self-repairing ability.

However, if the damage is too great, coupled with the various methods left by the sage, it may eventually become impossible to repair or its self-repair speed may be so slow as to be negligible.

This self-repairing ability of the universe can be seen in nebulae. Generally, after a star explodes, a nebula forms, and the nebula slowly coalesces to become planets and stars. But if a black hole appears in a nebula, then everything is ruined.

While Chu Fei and the others were observing, they witnessed three massive continents collide with a deafening roar, subsequently shattering into even more fragments. I wonder if this counts as a trio?
Some fragments also combined to form larger continents, but before they could integrate, they shattered again in the collision.

Many powerful beings also roamed through the chaos. As a battlefield left behind by a sage, the desolate land contained many treasures, and skilled individuals frequently succeeded in finding them.

Furthermore, in the desolate lands, due to the shattered space, chaotic laws, and confused celestial secrets, many wanted criminals have hidden there.

There are many desolate places in the inner world, and this one is relatively small—this information was provided by Zhao Weiguang.

This desolate place now feels like a former "galaxy" that collapsed due to war. It's only because there are no black holes in the other world that these places would likely become black hole environments.

After observing for a long time, the fleet determined that this desolate land was approximately tens of thousands of light-years in diameter, and its length was so great that neither end could be seen.

The location where Zhao Weiguang and the others were situated was on the outskirts of the wasteland, about 600 light-years away according to the location data.

The surrounding environment began to become more complex, and the fleet's speed began to decrease.

As they advanced, meteorites began to appear in the void. The fleet also detected a chaotic battle breaking out on a continent, but the energy intensity detected was only at the level of a Great Luo Golden Immortal, suggesting that some kind of ancient ruins had been opened.

But the fleet remained uninterested and soon sailed away.

Five years passed in the blink of an eye. Although the fleet's speed had decreased, it still reached a location within 100 light-years of its intended position.

The long voyage seemed to be nearing its end. But no rush! The fleet disengaged from faster-than-light travel and began to carefully survey its surroundings.

Although Zhao Weiguang should be trustworthy, the fleet contains hundreds of millions of elites and is related to the future of the Yanhuang civilization, so everyone must be extremely careful.

Chu Fei continued to communicate with Zhao Weiguang, asking Zhao Weiguang to describe the environment around their settlement;
The fleet then dispatched a large number of drones to explore a range of several hundred light-years. During this time, they discovered many hidden ships and bases, but the technology was outdated.

Zhao Weiguang conducted this investigation for a full ten years without urging them to hurry.

Ten years later, the fleet finally launched a manned spaceship, but it carried "avatars" of Chu Fei and others, heading towards the settlement of Zhao Weiguang and his group. (End of Chapter)