Poison God's Heritage

"What are we going to do with these people?" Law asked, pointing to the group of trembling ascendant cultivators.

I looked toward Tao Yang, her expression unreadable but her eyes stormy. Before I could respond, she spoke up. "Let me handle them."

The ascendants flinched as she approached, their eyes widening with fear. They knew the stories, knew her name—the Dread Princess. Their trembling gazes were locked on her as if she were death incarnate, come to claim them.

"You," Tao Yang said, her voice cold and authoritative. "You took the words of the man you call Liberator and accepted them as truth. Never once did you stop to question who he was, or why any of this happened." Her words were sharp as knives, cutting through the air with a bitter edge.

One of the ascendants, his voice trembling, managed to speak. "We can't go against a god!"

Tao Yang's eyes flashed with fury. "A god?" she repeated, her tone mocking. She tapped her temple with a finger. "Think. If he were truly godlike, why hasn't he saved you? My nation—

my people

—we had history!" Her voice rose, and with each word, the force of her emotions grew. "We had culture! We lived in harmony with each other and with the world! FOR THE PEOPLE AND WITH THE PEOPLE!"

She lunged forward, grabbing one of the men by the neck and lifting him off the ground effortlessly. "We lived in peace! We shared resources! We grew together as one people!" Her voice had reached a fever pitch, and as her rage intensified, I felt it reverberating through the cavern. Even the rakshasa below us, their growls growing louder, seemed to sense the tension building above them.

Tao Yang's grip tightened around the man's throat, her voice becoming almost a roar. "We didn't let the weak suffer! We didn't let the sick rot in pain! We abolished inequality, abolished territories! We were united! We were as close to perfection as any civilization could be! And yet a man—one man—came and enslaved you, decreed his lies, and

you believed him

!" Her voice cracked, raw with grief and anger. "You accepted limitations on your power, allowed yourselves to be herded like animals, and you call

him

a god?!"

The man in her grip could barely breathe, much less respond. His eyes bulged, his face red from the strain as he gasped for air.

Tao Yang released him with a disgusted snarl, letting him collapse to the ground. Her eyes locked onto another ascendant, one whose gaze remained defiant. "You," she said, pointing at him. "You think I'm wrong, don't you?"

The man, though shaking, held his ground. "None of us were even born during that time!" he spat. "I was just a settler! I was chosen, and that's how I gained enough resources to reach this level! You talk about your glorious past, but where were you when we woke up to this nightmare? If you cared so much about your people, why did you

run away

?"

Tao Yang froze, her fury momentarily replaced by something deeper—something that looked like pain. "Run away?" she repeated, her voice trembling. "You think we simply... ran away?"

She spread her divine sense, and suddenly, the memories she held began to flood the minds of everyone present. It was like watching a grand tapestry unfold, the threads of history weaving themselves before us. The images were raw and vivid—memories of her kingdom, Solarous, standing proud and united. But soon, those memories gave way to chaos. The rakshasa came, a tide of corruption sweeping over the land, turning utopia into a warzone.

The ascendants watched, their expressions shifting from disbelief to horror as they saw the struggle that had ensued. Tao Yang's father, the king of Solarous, fighting valiantly against the rakshasa, giving his life in a final desperate act to protect what little hope remained. It wasn't a story of cowardice, of rulers fleeing in the night. It was a story of sacrifice—a kingdom's last stand against an unstoppable evil.

The cultivators' defiant gazes crumbled, replaced by wide-eyed shock. The truth they had never known crashed into them like a wave. There was no Dread Princess. No abominable act that birthed the rakshasa. It was all lies—a perverted narrative crafted to manipulate them.

Tao Yang's divine sense receded, leaving the ascendants standing in stunned silence. The weight of the truth settled heavily on their shoulders.

I stepped forward, something gnawing at me as I pieced together what I had seen in her memories. "Hold on," I said, catching Tao Yang's attention—especially the reaction of these captured descendants when a certain man appeared from her display of memories.

She turned to me, her golden eyes glistening with the tears she fought to hold back. "What is it, Shen Bao?"

"That man," I said slowly, "the one who stood beside your father when he gave the final order... who is he?"

Tao Yang hesitated, replaying the memory, showing the image of the man who had stood with her father during those last moments. His face was regal, noble—like her father's, but younger. The ascendants' reaction was immediate. The moment his image appeared, they all dropped to their knees, bowing toward him instinctively, as if conditioned to do so.

"What is the meaning of this?" Tao Yang demanded, her voice trembling with barely contained rage.

I felt a sickening sensation in my gut as I stared at the kneeling cultivators. "Who is he to you?" I asked softly, already dreading the answer.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"That's my uncle," she said, her voice quiet. "He was one of the first to fight against the rakshasa. He died protecting Solarous. Why are you asking?"

I clenched my fists. The truth was as vile as I had feared. "That's their Liberator," I said quietly.

"What? No! That can't be!" Tao Yang cried out, stepping back as if the words had physically struck her. "My uncle was a hero! He died fighting that abomination!"

Her voice shook with emotion. and as callous as ever, the Fire King spoke nothing but facts, " When I was Soul Searching those men, anything related to the Liberator was erased from their memories—likely through powerful means. But their instinct to bow to him, to worship him, is ingrained. They see your uncle as their savior."

"LIES!" she screamed, her golden eyes blazing with fury. She turned to the Fire King, her fists clenched. "I will not permit this disrespect!" she was about to lunge at the Fire King for stating what I thought was nothing but facts.