Heavenly Court's Scheme: It Was Buying a List!

Heavenly Court's Scheme: It Was Buying a List!

The Investiture of the Gods had yet to begin.

Yet those buying lives had already arrived.

Zhao Xuan's voice fell.

Deathly silence filled the hall.

That Outer Sect disciple knelt on the ground.

His hands still held the posture of presenting the talisman letter.

Only, the talisman letter was now in Zhao Xuan's hand.

He did not dare raise his head.

His forehead pressed against the icy stone floor.

His entire body trembled.

The Heavenly Court Private Register.

A righteous god of the Water Department.

Those eight words frightened him even more than the Jade Emptiness Talisman Letter or the Western Sect Golden Letter.

Jade Emptiness and the Western Sect were, in the end, merely outside teachings reaching in.

The Heavenly Court was different.

In name, the Heavenly Court ruled the Three Realms.

And a righteous god of the Water Department was a legitimate divine office.

When he had received this letter, he truly had been tempted.

Only for an instant.

But that instant had been real.

An Outer Sect disciple.

For the first time, the Heavenly Court had remembered his name.

Who could remain entirely unmoved?

Zhao Xuan looked at him.

"Raise your head."

The disciple shuddered.

Slowly, he raised his head.

His face was deathly pale.

Zhao Xuan asked, "Did you accept?"

The disciple immediately shook his head.

"No!"

"This disciple did not accept."

"This disciple merely received the letter."

"I did not dare reply."

Zhao Xuan asked again, "Did you relay messages for the Heavenly Court?"

"No."

"Did you contact your fellow disciples?"

"No."

"Did you receive a seal of divine office?"

"No."

The disciple's throat tightened.

"Senior Disciple Brother."

"This disciple had greedy thoughts."

"But this disciple never betrayed the Jie Sect."

The hall fell silent.

Everyone watched Zhao Xuan.

Holy Mother Guiling's hand still rested on her sword hilt.

Holy Mother Jinling's gaze was icy.

The hearts of the Outer Sect disciples rose to their throats.

This was the Heavenly Court Private Register.

It was far more serious than an ordinary invitation.

If Zhao Xuan pronounced him guilty now, no one would dare say a word.

Yet Zhao Xuan only looked at that disciple.

"Confess it yourself."

"No conviction."

The disciple's eyes abruptly widened.

Zhao Xuan said, "But this letter."

"Must be investigated."

The disciple choked up.

He heavily knocked his head against the ground.

"This disciple is willing to investigate."

"This disciple is willing to tell everything I know."

Zhao Xuan did not look at him again.

He lowered his head.

He looked at the black talisman letter in his palm.

The talisman letter was small.

The wisp of Heavenly Court Divine Pattern upon it was faint.

So faint it seemed deliberately suppressed.

But as long as it remained.

It could not escape the Clear Gate Register.

Zhao Xuan raised his hand.

The black talisman letter floated before the table.

The Clear Gate Register opened.

The vermilion brush did not fall.

Instead, a faint divine pattern seeped from the talisman letter.

The writing was fine.

Yet perfectly clear.

[If the Investiture of the Gods is settled, the Water Department will surely lack those familiar with water veins, knowledgeable of Sea Eyes, and connected to the Dragon Clan.]

As the first line appeared.

The expressions of several Outer Sect disciples before the hall instantly changed.

They cultivated water arts.

And over the years, they had traveled continuously among the East Sea and the water veins of the four seas.

The second line emerged.

[You once followed fellow Jie Sect disciples in guarding the East Sea water veins and are familiar with the names of the Outer Sect disciples.]

The third line.

[If you can contact fellow disciples on behalf of the Heavenly Court and persuade them to accept investiture.]

The fourth line.

[The position of righteous god of the Water Department may first be entered under your name.]

When the last word appeared.

The hall turned as cold as midwinter.

The Outer Sect disciple abruptly raised his head.

The last trace of color drained from his face.

"Senior Disciple Brother—"

"This disciple did not contact anyone."

"This disciple truly did not."

Zhao Xuan said, "I know."

The disciple froze.

Zhao Xuan looked at those four lines.

His voice was very soft.

"What it bought was not you alone."

He lifted his eyes.

He looked at the Outer Sect disciples who cultivated water arts, had guarded Sea Eyes, visited the Dragon Palace, or filled vacancies for the Heavenly Court's Water Department.

"What it bought was a list."

Daoist Duobao abruptly raised his head.

Holy Mother Wudang's expression changed as well.

Holy Mother Guiling gripped her sword hilt tightly.

"A list?"

Zhao Xuan said, "Jade Emptiness offers a path."

"The Western Sect offers a seat."

"The Heavenly Court wants a register."

6

A single register.

Pressed the entire hall into silence.

Zhao Xuan looked at the kneeling disciple.

"Why did it seek you out?"

The disciple's lips trembled.

"This disciple—this disciple cultivates water arts."

"These years, I have traveled often through the East Sea water veins."

"I know quite a few fellow disciples."

"And I know who has guarded Sea Eyes, who has visited water palaces, and who has ties with the Dragon Clan."

His voice suddenly broke off there.

He finally understood.

What the Heavenly Court valued had never been him alone.

He was merely a hook.

And hanging behind that hook was a string of names belonging to fellow Jie Sect disciples.

Zhao Xuan looked at Duobao.

"The old register."

Daoist Duobao did not hesitate.

With a wave of his hand.

The heavy jade register handed over earlier flew before the table.

The jade register opened by itself.

Records of the Outer Sect's old merits appeared page after page.

[Outer Sect disciple Lu Qing once guarded the East Sea's Third Sea Eye for twenty-seven years.]

[Outer Sect disciple Chen Chao once accompanied the Heavenly Court Water Department in dredging the South Sea water veins seven times.]

[Outer Sect disciple Han Li once escorted Water Department immortal officials in and out of the Dragon Palace three times.]

[Outer Sect disciple Bai Qu once transported aquatic demon criminals for the Heavenly Court.]

[Outer Sect disciple Wei Chen once repaired a fissure in the Ninth Sea Eye.]

Line after line.

They were all old merits.

None were earth-shattering.

Yet without any one of them, the Heavenly Court would fall into disorder.

Before, these deeds had been recorded in Duobao's old register as the achievements of Jie Sect disciples traveling abroad.

Now, with these names placed beside the Heavenly Court Private Register.

The meaning changed at once.

Daoist Duobao's expression darkened further and further.

He raised his hand.

And turned another page.

That Heavenly Court Private Register suddenly trembled.

Several faint, dark patterns surfaced above.

The patterns connected to the names in the old register.

Lu Qing.

Chen Chao.

Han Li.

Bai Qu.

Wei Chen.

The few Outer Sect disciples before the hall all went pale at once.

Lu Qing unconsciously took half a step back.

He stared at his own name.

His lips moved.

"When I guarded the Third Sea Eye."

"The Water Department said the Heavenly Court would record a merit for me."

Chen Chao said quietly, "I dredged the South Sea's waterways seven times."

"Every time, Taibai Jinxing sent someone to say that the Water Department was short-handed and asked the Jie Sect to lend a hand."

Han Li clenched his fists.

"I protected an immortal official of the Water Department."

"That man said that if the Heavenly Court ever filled all the divine positions, it would never forget the Jie Sect's old favor."

His voice gradually turned hoarse.

"So they really hadn't forgotten."

"They just recorded it differently."

When those words fell.

The eyes of several Outer Sect disciples reddened.

The Heavenly Court remembered them.

But it had not remembered their merits.

It remembered who could fill the Water Department's vacancies.

And who was suited to fill positions in the Investiture of the Gods.

Holy Mother Guiling trembled with rage.

"What a Heavenly Court."

"My Jie Sect disciples filled their gaps for them."

"And this is how they repay us."

"Using old merits to pick people!"

Holy Mother Jinling said coldly, "The more useful someone is."

"The more suitable they are for the register."

Her words were soft.

Yet they stabbed into everyone's hearts like knives.

Daoist Duobao closed his eyes.

The old register in his hand trembled faintly.

These names.

Many of them had been recorded by his own hand back then.

When he had written down those old merits, he had thought that if rewards or merit were granted in the future, these Outer Sect disciples should have a record to their names.

Now.

Those old merits had been revealed by the Heavenly Court Private Register.

Like a net prepared long ago.

Daoist Duobao's voice was rough.

"Senior Disciple Brother."

"This is my fault."

Zhao Xuan did not look at him.

"It is not your fault."

Daoist Duobao froze.

Zhao Xuan looked at the old register.

"Old merits should be recorded. Disciples should be rewarded. The fault lies with those who used old merits as an Investiture Register."