The gap in the Investiture of the Gods List was like a Heavenly Mandate that should have held down the Primordial World.
Someone had lifted a corner of it in full view of everyone.
Outside Golden Turtle Island.
The Three Steles stood upon the sea.
The steles no longer trembled.
Their golden light no longer grew.
They merely reflected those eight words in silence.
Past Merits Are Not Crimes.
Shangqing Is Innocent.
The quieter they were, the more they stung the eye.
The Investiture of the Gods Accountability Ledger hung before Zhao Xuan.
Three pages had been settled.
The three charges put forward by the Investiture of the Gods List had also been checked, stroke by stroke.
Deep involvement in the mortal world.
A weighty Killing Tribulation.
Prosperous Yet Heterogeneous.
Every charge still remained.
But beside each one, an account had been added.
With an account there, the charges could no longer stand firm.
Zhao Xuan did not speak again.
He merely watched the List Shadow above the Nine Heavens.
As if waiting for it to fill that gap.
And as if waiting for it to give the Interception Sect another charge that could hold up under scrutiny.
But the Investiture of the Gods List did not move.
The gray-white Heavenly Laws on the list shifted several times.
Each time they neared the gap, they stopped before the first page of the General Ledger.
It could not be filled.
It could not be pressed back into place.
On Golden Turtle Island, the Ten Thousand Immortals did not shout again.
At this moment, no one needed to shout.
They had already heard.
And they had already seen.
The Interception Sect's past merits should not become crimes.
Nor should Shangqing's teaching without discrimination become a crime.
Holy Mother Guiling stared at the List Shadow and suddenly let out a low laugh.
"Why did you stop writing?"
She wanted to say more.
Zhao Xuan did not raise a hand.
He merely turned his head and glanced at her.
The words at the tip of Holy Mother Guiling's tongue were forced back down.
She suddenly understood.
They could not rush now.
The ones who should be in a hurry were the others.
Zhao Gongming watched the scene and said quietly, "Senior Disciple Brother is waiting."
Yun Xiao nodded gently.
"Waiting for them to take over."
Qiong Xiao looked toward the Nine Heavens.
"What if no one does?"
Yun Xiao fell silent for a moment.
"Then the entire Primordial World will see."
As those words fell.
Outside Golden Turtle Island, everything grew even quieter.
The Overseas Rogue Cultivators who had yet to leave, the Dragon Clan envoys, and the onlookers from all sides all instinctively held their breath.
They suddenly understood what made Zhao Xuan so terrifying.
He did not need to say anything more.
He only had to stand there.
The General Ledger only had to remain open.
The Three Steles only had to remain standing.
The Investiture of the Gods List's inability to answer was itself the answer.
Amid the Sea Fog in the distance.
Several Overseas Rogue Cultivators exchanged glances, but none spoke.
In the past, they had only known that the Interception Sect drew worship from ten thousand immortals and was overwhelmingly powerful.
They had also heard those claims.
The Interception Sect's disciples had mixed and dubious roots.
The Interception Sect's followers did not cultivate virtue.
The Interception Sect was too involved in worldly affairs and had become tainted by tribulations.
They had heard these claims so often that they had begun to seem true.
But today, with the General Ledger opened and old accounts brought to light, they suddenly remembered.
Who had kept the East Sea peaceful all these years?
Who had stepped in to mediate when chaos erupted among the Overseas Rogue Cultivators?
And who had suppressed those neglected Sea Eyes, water veins, demons, and rogue cultivators?
If all of that counted as crimes.
Then what did those who benefited from it count as?
Farther away.
Several Mountain and Earth Gods, carried by the power of incense, looked toward the East Sea from afar.
Their cultivation was not high.
But they knew better than many immortals what the Interception Sect had done over the years.
When Human Race tribes were harassed by rogue cultivators, Interception Sect disciples were the quickest to arrive.
When the spiritual veins of mountains and rivers fell out of balance, it was also the Interception Sect's branches that did the most.
The Heavenly Court's decrees came slowly.
Chan Sect immortals rarely showed up.
Western Sect Daoists spoke only of fate.
In the end, those left to clean up the mess were usually the Interception Sect.
But now.
These deeds were actually going to become the Interception Sect's crimes.
An old mountain god gazed toward Golden Turtle Island, his lips moving.
In the end, he did not dare speak aloud.
He only murmured to the little god beside him, "Remember this day."
"Some accounts aren't forgotten."
"It's just that no one dared to bring them to light before."
This silence traveled through the Haotian Mirror and pressed all the way into High Heaven Hall.
Haotian stood before the imperial throne.
His face was dark.
Not one immortal in the hall dared raise their head.
They had seen the gap too.
Taibai Jinxing stood to one side and sighed inwardly.
This would be hard to answer.
If they said the Interception Sect was guilty of involving itself in worldly affairs, Zhao Xuan would ask who had invited the Interception Sect to do so.
If they said the Interception Sect bore the weight of a Killing Tribulation, Zhao Xuan would ask who had benefited from the Interception Sect's efforts to quell chaos.
If they said the Interception Sect was Prosperous Yet Heterogeneous, Zhao Xuan would push the matter straight back to the Shangqing Orthodoxy.
Every question seemed directed at the Investiture of the Gods List.
Every one struck the Heavenly Court to the core.
Haotian said coldly, "The Investiture of the Gods List was determined by the Dao Ancestor."
"Does Zhao Xuan truly think he can alter the Heavenly Mandate with nothing but a ledger?"
Taibai Jinxing lowered his head.
He had no answer.
Because Zhao Xuan had never said he wanted to alter the Heavenly Mandate.
Zhao Xuan was merely asking the Heavenly Mandate to set the accounts down clearly.
But that was exactly what made this so troublesome.
If the accounts were set down clearly, the Heavenly Court would look bad.
If they were not, one of the charges in the Investiture of the Gods List would have a hole in it.
Haotian stared at Zhao Xuan in the mirror.
The anger in his eyes grew deeper and deeper.
But he still did not issue an order.
He knew full well.
Whatever the Heavenly Court said now would be recorded in that Investiture of the Gods Accountability Ledger.
That was exactly what Zhao Xuan was waiting for: someone to speak first.
In Yuxu Palace.
The atmosphere was just as icy.
Yuanshi Tianzun sat high upon the Cloud Bed.
His face was expressionless.
The Twelve Golden Immortals stood below, not one of them daring to move first.
Guangchengzi looked grim.
He knew Zhao Xuan's question was no longer aimed only at the Heavenly Court.
The Chan Sect was implicated too.
The Three Teachings' general ledger of merits and demerits.
The Chan Sect secluded itself.
The Chan Sect avoided tribulations.
The Chan Sect devoted itself to pure cultivation.
Those words were harder to bear than insults.
Because they were all true.
Chijingzi could not help saying in a low voice, "Master, if he keeps questioning them—"
Yuanshi Tianzun glanced at him.
Chijingzi immediately fell silent.
The chill within Yuxu Palace grew heavier.
Yuanshi did not respond.
At this moment, nothing he said would be appropriate.
If he said the Interception Sect deserved to be cut down, he would be admitting the Investiture targeted the Interception Sect because of its strength.
If he said all Three Teachings should share the burden, Chan Sect disciples could not avoid the tribulation.
If he said the Interception Sect's past merits should not be accounted for, he would be personally handing the word "justice" to Zhao Xuan.
So he could only remain silent.
His silence weighed heavier than the anger of Guangchengzi and the others.
On Mount Sumeru.
Daoist Zhunti looked toward Golden Turtle Island, the smile on his face fading somewhat.
"Senior Brother."
"If the Western Sect speaks up now—"
Daoist Jieyin slowly shook his head.
"We mustn't."
Zhunti's brows twitched.
Jieyin looked at the General Ledger before Zhao Xuan.
"At this point, if I speak, the Western Sect will be entered in the ledger too."
Zhunti said nothing more.
He knew full well how many benefits the Western Sect had taken from the East over the years.
The Interception Sect restored order at the front.
They claimed those with affinities at the rear.
The Interception Sect bore the karmic consequences.
They reaped the fortune.
If they really ended up in that General Ledger, they might not look much better than the Heavenly Court.
The wind swept across Mount Sumeru.
The water in the Merit Pool rippled softly.
Zhunti suddenly let out a laugh.
It was faint.
And fleeting.
"Interesting."
Jieyin glanced at him.
Zhunti offered no explanation.
He simply continued gazing toward the East Sea.
Beyond Golden Turtle Island.
The Investiture of the Gods List still hung in the air.
The Heavenly Court said nothing.
Yuxu Palace said nothing.
The Western Sect said nothing either.
All four sides watched.
None of them would step forward.
Zhao Xuan finally lowered his head.
He looked at the Investiture of the Gods Accountability Ledger.
The old accounts on the first three pages had been settled.
The Ledger of Worldly Entry.
The Ledger of Killing Tribulations.
The Ledger of Prosperous Numbers.
All three pages were clear.
Zhao Xuan spoke slowly.
"First question: what crime did the Interception Sect commit to deserve being listed?"
"The Investiture of the Gods List named three crimes."
"Delving too deeply into worldly affairs, bearing the weight of Killing Tribulations, and being prosperous yet heterogeneous."
"Now all three charges have been thoroughly examined."
"This question."
"Is anyone still willing to answer?"
No one responded.
The sea wind swept past the Three Steles.
The eight characters engraved on them remained clear.
Past Merits Are Not Crimes.
Shangqing Is Innocent.
Zhao Xuan nodded.
"Good."
He turned past the first three pages.
The fourth page slowly unfolded.
His brush touched down.
The second question.
The benefits of the Investiture of the Gods: the Heavenly Court Gains Divinity, the Chan Sect evades tribulations, the Western Sect Gains Power, and the Xuan Sect Order is restored.
The cost of the Investiture of the Gods—why must the Interception Sect alone bear it?
The words were complete.
There was no thunder.
No strange phenomenon.
Only that page slowly began to glow.
The phantom of the Investiture of the Gods List above the Nine Heavens paused.
Zhao Xuan raised his head.
His voice was soft.
"This question."
"Who will answer?"
Before you continue