Once, I wanted to be a good person

As she thought this, Lady Jin couldn't help but glance at Bai Zhi sitting in front of her, her thoughts drifting far away.

She began to recall an event that took place over a decade ago...

The incident occurred in the second year following the Golden Sparrow Flower Event, after the Si Family had been annihilated, which is to say, eleven years ago from now.

That year, no one knew exactly when it started, but in Xida State, as well as in some parts of the Eastern District, a rumor about the Golden Sparrow Flower Event began to circulate.

It said that the reason the nobles are strong and special is because they have the privilege to access the World Origin.

However, this privilege is not as magical as people imagine, it is merely a set of coordinates to the World Origin.

The World Origin itself does not have the ability to discriminate, so as long as one obtains those coordinates, anyone can find the World Origin, undergo its baptism, and become a noble.

Even more fascinating, the information about those coordinates exists within the bloodline of the nobles.

Therefore, by employing a special method, it is possible to extract the information of those coordinates from a noble's bloodline.

It was not because the Si Family had really committed a grave offense or because the Federation wanted to assert its authority that they used the clumsy excuse of the Golden Sparrow Flower to annihilate the Si Family last year. It was because the Federation had already found a method to obtain the World Origin coordinates through the noble's bloodline and was conducting experiments!

When this statement first came out, many people scoffed at it.

They thought it was someone maliciously trying to undermine the already fragile relationship between the Federation and the nobility after the Golden Sparrow Flower Event.

But then... something unexpected happened.

Not long after, the method to extract the World Origin coordinates from the noble's bloodline was somehow detailed and spread with credibility.

Moreover, this method fit the Golden Sparrow Flower Event very well.

That is, by killing two or more direct blood relatives (such as father and son, mother and daughter, mother and son...) with the same bloodline, mixing their blood together, and performing a special ritual to communicate with the World Origin, one can obtain the coordinates.

The more members of the noble bloodline that are killed, the more comprehensive the information obtained, and the higher the chance of acquiring the World Origin coordinates.

The details of this ritual were many and seemed very accurate. At first glance, it appeared to be true.

And this incident happened right after the Golden Sparrow Flower Event, during which the authority and deterrence of the nobles had almost plummeted, it could be said to be the lowest point since the foundation of the Federation.

As a result, there was an undercurrent of unrest in the Eastern District for a time, with many powers and powerful Awakener families becoming restless.

While the noble families were desperately clarifying that there was no such thing, they were also avoiding having direct blood relatives with blood ties appear at the same occasion, to prevent any danger.

In fact, many nobles even temporarily closed their doors or retracted their influence...

And so, another six months of peace went by without incident.

After being vigilant for half a year, the nobles gradually lowered their guard, thinking that the various powers might not have been deceived by the lies, so they slowly resumed normal activities.

It was then that an accident occurred.

Bai Zhi's mother and her older brother, on their way to visit relatives, suddenly disappeared without a trace.

The Bai Family, along with the maternal family of Bai Zhi's mother, deployed many people to search for the mother and son, but even after half a month of searching, there were no clues to their whereabouts.

At that time, both families couldn't help but think of the rumor from half a year earlier, and they began to have a bad feeling.

Because in order to maintain the purity of the bloodline, for future generations to communicate with the World Origin through the bloodline, nobles generally marry only other nobles.

This is also why the status of the various wives of a noble is almost equal: regardless of which wife it is, the power behind their family is significant, with military, financial, and political strength to support their married daughters.

Generally speaking, the children born from the union of two nobles will inherit the father's bloodline.

However, there is a minority that will inherit the mother's bloodline.

And such was the case for Bai Zhi's brother. His bloodline matched his mother's, which came from the maternal family of Bai Zhi's mother.

Theoretically, based on bloodline, he should belong to the maternal family of Bai Zhi's mother.

This also led to very complex feelings within the Bai Family towards them, a certain coolness and indifference.

Even Bai Zhi's father was particularly cold towards Bai Zhi's brother, favoring Bai Zhi, who inherited the Bai Family bloodline, instead.

Therefore, when it came time to send them back home to visit relatives, the protection provided by the Bai Family was not very thorough.

But they never anticipated that an accident would occur.

Some people, some things, you truly only begin to feel regret and cherish them after they are lost.

So, when Bai Zhi's mother and older brother disappeared without a trace, unknown whether alive or dead, Bai Zhi's father was filled with regret, becoming increasingly sullen day by day.

Even later, when Mr. Bai personally took to the field because of this incident, cleansing the entire Eastern District of suspicious forces and Awakener families, and nearly killing He Weidao in vengeance for Bai Zhi's mother and brother, Bai Zhi's father did not recover from the loss.

It was from that time that the Bai Family began to retract its power, no longer showing its edge, adopting a strategy of hiding its capabilities and biding time.

After this incident, Bai Zhi, who lost her mother in her teens, was placed in the care of Lady Jin, to be raised and taught alongside her own biological daughter.