The moment the bronze door slammed shut, Bai Ying felt dizzy and disoriented.
The suffocating pressure suddenly dissipated, replaced by an irresistible suction force that swept her into nothingness.
When she staggered to her feet, all around her was empty, except for a beam of cold light cast from the dome, silently enveloping the stone platform like moonlight. The light grew stronger and stronger, gradually coalescing into a hazy figure.
She was a woman dressed in a plain white dress, her clothes fluttering without wind, and a faint ethereal light emanating from her.
She simply stood there quietly, yet she made Bai Ying feel as insignificant as she faced the vast starry sky.
Although it was just a projection, it seemed that even its breath carried the ultimate truths of heaven and earth.
"Little girl, are you the current patriarch of the Bai family?"
The goddess's voice was ethereal and distant, as if it had traveled through countless ages. Bai Ying stared blankly at the illusory figure before her, momentarily forgetting to answer.
Suddenly, the goddess pointed with her slender finger, and a beam of spiritual light entered Bai Ying's brow.
Bai Ying felt a tremor in her consciousness as her past memories unfolded like a scroll—her childhood lost by her parents, the betrayal by Bai Di after finding her, the Bai family's agreement to extract her spiritual root and give it to Bai Di, the betrayal by her mother during the test, and the abandonment by the entire Bai family...
"So that's how it is..." The goddess's face suddenly turned cold, and a sharp glint flashed in her eyes. She had originally thought that the one who could find this place must be the heir carefully cultivated by the Bai family, or perhaps the current patriarch.
But he turned out to be a discarded pawn abandoned by his family. What's even more hateful is that the Bai family has become so corrupt that they even want to stifle such a talented descendant!
"What a bunch of idiots!" The goddess's sleeves fluttered without wind, and her celestial light trembled violently, clearly indicating her extreme anger.
Bai Ying came to her senses and said softly, "Senior, I am no longer a member of the Bai family."
"Nonsense!" the goddess shouted coldly, her voice booming like thunder. "I am Bai Li, the first patriarch of the Bai family! Today I say you are the patriarch, and you are!"
Before she finished speaking, a dazzling plum blossom mark appeared at her fingertips and was irresistibly imprinted on Bai Ying's brow.
The mark flashed by, but transformed into countless starlight in Bai Ying's sea of consciousness.
"From this day forward, the Bai family is under your control." The goddess's eyes flashed with a chilling light. "Those worthless trash are unworthy of the Bai surname!"
Before Bai Ying could process this earth-shattering change, she saw the goddess raise her hand and summon a jade scroll.
The jade slip was crystal clear, and its surface emanated a Daoist aura that made one's soul tremble at just one glance.
"This is the *Tai Xu Shen Zhao Jing*, a priceless treasure even in the Upper Realm," the goddess said solemnly. "The cultivation method you're currently practicing isn't even third-rate in the Upper Realm."
Bai Ying's eyes were filled with disbelief. The cultivation method she was currently practicing was passed down by Senior Bai Nishang, which was already considered a top-tier cultivation method in the lower realm. She never expected that such a cultivation method would not even be considered third-rate in the upper realm.
The moment Bai Ying got her hands on the jade slip, she felt a vast surge of Daoist energy flooding into her sea of consciousness.
She was about to thank her when the goddess's next words sent a chill down her spine:
"The Upper Realm is not the paradise you imagine..." The goddess's illusory figure began to blur, but her voice was sharp and cutting, "All those who ascend become prisoners! If you can ascend, then come back here... and perhaps then you can save everyone..."
Bai Ying's pupils suddenly contracted. Those powerful predecessors who dominated the lower realm and ascended to immortality after enduring countless tribulations were now prisoners in the upper realm...
"Remember," the goddess's light and shadow began to fluctuate violently, "if you ascend, you must return to this place. Otherwise..." Her voice was suddenly distorted by some unseen force, "otherwise you too will become a caged beast!"
Bai Ying's throat tightened, and before she could ask any further questions, the goddess continued, "Do you think the lower realm is a naturally formed world?" These words pierced Bai Ying's understanding like a sharp sword.
"This is a prison that the eight great divine races of the upper realm found together!"
The air inside the stone chamber suddenly became viscous, and with each word the goddess spoke, a tiny crack appeared in the void.
"Thirty million years ago, they banished cultivators of impure bloodlines and inferior aptitudes to this place, turning them into tools for their exploitation." A blood-red scroll bloomed from the goddess's fingertips, depicting the bloody migration scenes of ancient times. "The spiritual herbs painstakingly cultivated, the elixirs refined, and the mineral veins mined by the people of the lower realm—all of it had to be handed over to the administrators of the upper realm."
Suddenly, the scroll flipped to the modern era, and Bai Ying saw countless spiritual herbs and medicines being handed over and gathered into a black hole in the void.
"They exploited the people of the lower realm day after day, until one day, the people of the lower realm began to rebel, and the people of the upper realm finally began to panic."
"They disrupted the laws of the lower realm, making cultivation incredibly difficult for its inhabitants. They can never be defeated..." The goddess's voice suddenly took on a chilling tone, "But what they didn't expect was that a peerless talent emerged in the lower realm: Xiao Tianjue."
The moment the name was uttered, the entire stone chamber trembled violently, as if some taboo had been violated. The goddess's light and shadow dimmed slightly, yet she persisted in saying:
"He forged his own path within the flawed laws of heaven and earth, creating the 'Reversed Dao Scripture,' and forcefully cleaved open the Heavenly Gate with his Mahayana cultivation." A figure in white robes stained with blood appeared in the light and shadow, wielding a sword and questioning the heavens. "In the Upper Realm, in just over a hundred years, he slaughtered his way through seventy-two blessed lands... forcing the eight Great God-Kings to personally suppress him. In the end, he still died at their hands..."
The goddess's tone carried a hint of regret.
"From then on, the Upper Realm destroyed all the ascension channels to the Lower Realm, leaving only one channel that led directly to the cage. All those who ascended from the Lower Realm were imprisoned in the cage."
They no longer directly took resources from the lower realm. Instead, they destroyed the lower realm people's memories of the upper realm, and then extracted the spiritual herbs and medicines, and even the spiritual energy generated by various creatures, exploiting the lower realm people without their knowledge.
Bai Ying then understood why people in the lower realms cultivated so diligently, yet their progress was still incredibly slow.
The goddess then said to Bai Ying, "This is another passage that we who ascended to heaven painstakingly created. Only by ascending from here can we avoid entering that cage."
After saying all this, her body began to become blurry. Her sole purpose in being here was to tell future generations this story.
However, before she disappeared, she clearly noticed Yan Jiuyou not far from the door. Because of the commotion here, she gritted her teeth and walked over.
The goddess's face held a hint of disdain. "Little one, it seems you have a little trouble. I'll just take care of it for you."
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