The elders of their sects who had ascended were serving as slaves and servants in the Immortal Realm, exploited by the celestials...
This news struck like a thunderclap, swiftly eclipsing Lin Bai's unprecedented feat of ascending with ten thousand people. It left the cultivators of the Seven Righteous Sects and Five Demon Sects with their heads buzzing, unable to recover for a long while.
No one wanted to accept such a truth.
Ascension was the lifelong goal every cultivator pursued.
Now Lin Bai had suddenly told them that after a lifetime of perseverance and hard work, after surviving the Heavenly Tribulation by the skin of their teeth, they would go up there only to become someone else's slaves.
Who could bear such a cruel truth?
Even a cruel joke should have its limits!
Almost instantly, everyone's faith came crashing down.
The Tribulation Transcendence Realm patriarchs in particular looked as though their spirit and vitality had been drained away. They sank into utter despair, devoid of life.
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!" Sword Sage Shuanghan had a fiery temper. He overturned the table on the spot and said, his eyes bloodshot, "This must be Lin Bai's scheme! Seeing that we wouldn't join the Righteous Alliance, he used this sinister trick to cut off our future and force us into his service..."
No one answered him. Only Sword Sage Shuanghan's heavy, ragged breathing filled the air.
A long while passed.
Patriarch Yuanqing sighed. "Brother Shuanghan, sit down. A Magpie Bridge links heaven and earth, and anyone can enter the Immortal Realm. Lin Bai has no reason to deceive us."
Yi Wuji said, "Lin Bai subdued the entire world single-handedly. He could simply order us to join the Righteous Alliance by force. He has long since ceased to need schemes or tricks."
At those