The game is only half finished, and the entire internet is begging for an update!

That is... every time an Ascended being is born on the Sword Qi Continent, the Upper Realm's evaluation of this secret realm will increase.

From the perspective of the higher realms, the fact that a trial realm can continuously produce ascendants indicates that the native creatures within it are becoming stronger.

To ensure the quality of the assessment, the difficulty of the trial must be increased!

The first ascension may only attract a few ordinary trial participants.

After the second and third ascensions, the upper realm will send disciples with higher realms and stronger methods.

If high-level ascendants appear consecutively in a short period of time, this secret realm will even be marked as an abnormal area, and a large-scale cleanup trial will be initiated.

You can simply understand this as...

"When you participate in the Mathematical Olympiad, and ordinary function problems no longer stump you, then the bonus problems in differential geometry and algebraic topology... will naturally come to your rescue!"

Zhou Guangqi paused for a moment.

"But for the Sword Qi Continent, every so-called exam results in the deaths of many people."

Shen Zhaozhao quickly understood the problem.

For an individual, ascension represents glory.

A sword cultivator spends his life honing his skills, severing ties with the mortal world, breaking through the Heavenly Gate, and finally entering a higher realm—an achievement worthy of being celebrated.

However, for the entire Sword Qi Continent, the appearance of each ascendant will raise the upper realm's evaluation of this trial realm.

The more Ascended Ones there are.

The next enemy to arrive will be stronger.

Once the upper realm confirms that this secret realm has escaped control, what awaits them is no longer four young disciples participating in the graduation trial, but a true purge.

"So that ascended being from the White Mud Sect managed to send the message back?"

"right."

Zhou Guangqi nodded slowly.

"After learning the truth, the White Mud Sect made a very cruel choice."

"They deliberately destroyed the ascension portal."

It's not just about destroying the rooftop.

In order to lower the upper realm's opinion of the Sword Qi Continent, the White Mud Sect must also prevent the emergence of new ascendants.

They would secretly obstruct anyone who approached the realm of ascension.

They would strike in advance if anyone tried to force open the Heavenly Gate.

If persuasion fails, the White Mud Sect might even directly surround and kill those genius sword cultivators who are seen as the hope of the entire Sword Qi Continent.

They had no way of explaining it.

Even if the truth is fully revealed, there will still be people on the Sword Qi Continent who do not believe it, and there will certainly be sword cultivators who think they are powerful enough to solve everything after ascending to immortality.

If even one person attempts to ascend to heaven with this mindset, the entire world will have to bear the cost of the next round of trials and upgrades.

They can't afford to gamble!

Therefore, the Bai Ni sect can only play the villain.

They bear the infamy of severing the way of the sword, being jealous of geniuses, and hindering others from achieving immortality, blocking all those who attempt to ascend to heaven from reaching the gates of heaven.

One generation after another.

Even after the entire sect was destroyed by a joint effort of sword cultivators from all over the world, they did not reveal the secret completely.

Upon hearing this, Shen Zhaozhao understood the contents of those broken stone tablets.

[Unattainable]

Those who come later should retreat immediately.

[After Ascension]

Those fragmented characters were not rules used by the White Mud Sect to obstruct its disciples, but rather their final warning to future generations before the sect's demise.

"The White Mud Sect, by simply entering the game themselves, gains a decisive advantage over fate!"

"They take all the blame upon themselves, only wanting the people of this land to continue living well."

"People on the Sword Qi Continent can cultivate, establish sects, compete for the title of the world's best, and even fight each other for hundreds of years. As long as no one truly ascends, the upper realm will gradually consider this secret realm to be in decline and not worth increasing the difficulty of the trials."

"It is precisely because of their burdens that the Sword Qi Continent has been able to survive for tens of thousands of years, until... the arrival of the players today."

Shen Zhaozhao remained silent for a while. At this moment, she could already imagine what the forum would be like when players gradually uncovered this long-buried history as the main storyline progressed!

However, for an online game, this timeframe may be a very, very long time coming...

"This is so amazing..."

"Brother Guang, your ability to structure a story is absolutely amazing! This kind of tragedy, full of a sense of fate and a spirit of resistance, will definitely elevate the core of the game!"

After her reflections, Shen Zhaozhao suddenly seemed to remember something and tilted her head to look at Zhou Guangqi.

"But Brother Guang, I have another personal question. Why is such a great, tragically significant hidden savior sect called the White Mud Sect?"

"Shouldn't a sect that bears the world's infamy and discovers the truth of the world have a more imposing name?"

Zhou Guangqi leaned back in his chair, the heaviness on his face quickly disappearing.

"This problem is very simple."

"The answer is written on the name."

Shen Zhaozhao read it aloud again carefully.

"The White Mud Sect?"

"Does it have any special meaning?"

"You guys just don't understand! What's wrong with this name? It's so common, yet so elegant!"

Zhou Guangqi raised his hand and typed three words on the screen.

White Mud Sect!

"Put these three words together, read them aloud several times, and savor them!"

Shen Zhaozhao frowned and tentatively read aloud:

"White Mud Sect... White Mud... White Mud..."

Suddenly, as if rejecting the Trisolaran signal, her eyes widened sharply.

"White mud... Brother... Copernicus?!"

"Bingo!!! You got it right!"

"That's right! The Baini sect is named after Copernicus!"

"what?"

Zhou Guangqi was extremely satisfied.

"A person discovered that the world they live in is not as special as people imagine."

"Another person discovered that the world they lived in was just a secret realm used by others for taking exams."

"In Earth's history, the medieval papacy believed that Earth was the center of the universe. Who stood up, risking being burned at the stake, to propose the heliocentric theory and tell all of humanity... Wake up! We are not the center of the universe; we are merely an insignificant grain of sand within it?"

"It's Copernicus!"

"But in our world of 'I Have a Sword,' all cultivators believe that the Sword Qi Continent is the center of the world, and that ascension means becoming a god. Who stood up, bearing the eternal infamy of being wiped out by the entire world, to shatter this false illusion and tell everyone... Wake up, we are just a small trial on the table of a higher dimension?"

"It's the White Mud Sect!"

"One shattered the geocentric model, the other shattered the original worldview; one was regarded as a heretic, the other was condemned as a sinner for all time."

"White Clay Sect, Copernicus."

"Although everyone discovered different directions, in the end they all arrived at the same destination."

Zhou Guangqi spread his hands, his face full of pride.

"How is it?"

"This is the ultimate collision of science and cultivation, transcending time and dimensions! Using a homophone of Copernicus to name this great sect—isn't that a stroke of genius?!"

"..."

Seeing Zhou Guangqi's smug face, Shen Zhaozhao took a deep breath.

"Brother Guang..."

"I take back what I just said. Your plot is indeed very profound, but your taste in naming things is absolutely terrible..."