This Is Not a Reward, but a Chain Calculated in Advance!

Daoist Duobao's throat tightened.

Zhao Xuan raised a hand.

The Clear Gate Register opened.

The Vermilion Brush hovered.

"Write."

[Heavenly Court Private Register.]

[Granted the title of Water Department Principal Deity.]

[Wished to use Jie Sect disciples to contact their fellow disciples.]

[Most of the names inquired after belonged to those who had once stabilized Sea Eyes for the Heavenly Court, dredged water veins, and filled vacancies in the Water Department.]

The words appeared.

No one before the hall breathed.

Zhao Xuan looked at those lines.

His voice was calm.

"Past merits are not crimes."

"But in their eyes."

"Past merits are a register."

Lu Qing's eyes reddened.

"Then what have we been all these years?"

"When we worked for the Heavenly Court, they praised us for our loyalty and righteousness."

"Now that the Investiture of the Gods is about to begin, they think we are suited for the Water Department."

"So the more devotedly we served, the more we deserved to be listed?"

No one answered.

The answer was already laid out before them.

That black sigil was still hovering.

The Heavenly Court Divine Pattern was still there.

The four words Water Department Principal Deity were still there.

Zhao Xuan looked at him.

"So from this day onward."

"Jie Sect's past merits."

"Can only be recorded by the Jie Sect itself."

The Clear Gate Register turned another page.

The Vermilion Brush descended.

[All past merits of Jie Sect disciples must be verified by the Clear Gate Register. They may not be privately recorded or used by the Heavenly Court, Water Department, Dragon Clan, or Star Palace.]

[Any who use Jie Sect disciples' past merits to lure them into accepting appointments shall be treated as buying their lives.]

The two lines were complete.

Lu Qing and the others lowered their heads.

There was anger in their eyes.

And grievance that had been suppressed for many years.

So they had not been useless.

So their past merits had not gone unseen.

Someone had seen them.

They had merely wanted to use them to bind them.

Zhao Xuan looked at the black sigil.

"This debt of the Heavenly Court."

"Also has three days."

"Hand over the person who delivered the message."

"State clearly who promised the position of Water Department Principal Deity."

"Hand over every register that pre-recorded Jie Sect disciples based on their past merits."

He paused for a breath.

"Missing even one page."

"And this debt of the Heavenly Court will be traced upward."

Deathly silence filled the space before the hall.

No one asked how far upward it would go.

The debt of Jade Emptiness, traced upward, would reach Kunlun.

The debt of the Western Sect, traced upward, would reach Mount Sumeru.

And if the Heavenly Court's debt went higher still.

The Nine Heavens.

Lingxiao.

Purple Heaven.

No one said it aloud.

Everyone understood.

Just then.

The black sigil suddenly trembled lightly.

At its end, a faint old seal of water ripples slowly emerged.

The old seal was badly damaged.

As though someone had deliberately worn away most of it.

But as soon as the Clear Gate Register drew close.

The old seal could no longer hide.

The water ripples lit up.

An ancient seal character emerged.

[Water]

Holy Mother Jinling's gaze turned icy.

"The Water Department Old Seal."

Even Holy Mother Guiling's voice turned cold.

"So it truly was not an ordinary immortal official."

Daoist Duobao stepped half a pace forward.

He looked at the damaged seal.

"I have seen this seal before."

"In the early years, when the Heavenly Court Water Department mobilized forces to assist in defending Sea Eyes, it used similar marks."

Zhao Xuan looked at the old seal.

He was not surprised.

"Water Department."

"The Investiture of the Gods List has not even descended yet."

"And you have already begun selecting people."

As his words fell.

The Clear Gate Register suddenly began turning on its own.

The old seal of water ripples on the black sigil was pressed inch by inch into the pages.

The next moment.

A new line of words emerged.

[Water Department Preliminary Register.]

The moment those six words appeared.

Every Jie Sect disciple before the hall who had guarded Sea Eyes, dredged water veins, or visited the Dragon Palace changed expression.

Not only Lu Qing.

Not only Chen Chao.

Not only Han Li.

Deeper in the crowd, even more Outer Sect disciples lifted their heads.

They had all done similar things.

They had all thought those were past merits.

Only now did they learn.

Perhaps their names had long since been entered in that so-called Water Department Preliminary Register.

Zhao Xuan raised his eyes.

He looked toward the Water Department Old Seal.

His voice was very soft.

Yet cold enough to chill their hearts.

"Bring it here."

The Water Department Old Seal suddenly shuddered.

The Heavenly Court Divine Pattern on the black sigil began seeping outward.

One thread.

Then another.

Until at last, a thin page of watery light condensed upon the Clear Gate Register.

This time.

The register no longer merely revealed names.

Behind every name was an additional Heavenly Court annotation.

Lu Qing.

[Familiar with the Third Sea Eye.]

[May enter the Water Department Sea-Calming Office.]

Lu Qing's whole body stiffened.

His lips trembled.

"Senior Disciple Brother."

"When I guarded the Third Sea Eye, one of my junior brothers died."

No one spoke.

Lu Qing's eyes suddenly turned red.

"His name was Zhou Huai."

"He was also from the Outer Sect."

"That year, the Third Sea Eye split open. The Water Department immortal officials arrived late, and the Dragon Palace said the Sea Eye was not under their jurisdiction."

"The two of us held it for seven days."

"On the seventh day, he was swept in by sea fiends."

"Not even his true spirit could be retrieved."

He looked at the annotation beside his name.

"Later, the Heavenly Court sent only a word of thanks."

"And half a gourd of immortal brew."

His voice was so hoarse it barely sounded human.

"Zhou Huai's name never entered the merit register."

"My name entered the preliminary register."

Someone's breathing before the hall suddenly grew heavy.

Beside Chen Chao's name, another line also appeared.

[Seven dredgings of the South Sea water veins.]

[May serve as water-vein inspector.]

Beside Han Li's name.

[Three protections of Water Department immortal officials.]

[Familiar with the Dragon Palace's old routes.]

Beside Bai Qu's name.

[Escorted aquatic demon criminals.]

[Usable.]

Usable.

The moment those two words appeared.

Bai Qu clenched his fists hard.

His knuckles cracked.

"Usable?"

He chuckled softly.

The smile looked worse than crying.

"When I escorted demon convicts for them, they called me fellow daoist."

"Write it in the register."

"Only one left usable?"

No one answered.

The Heavenly Court wouldn't answer either.

This register was never meant to be seen by Jie Sect disciples.

Zhao Xuan looked at those two characters.

The chill in his eyes deepened.

"Continue."

The Clear Gate Register turned again.

The water light was pushed wider apart.

Some names were present.

Some names were not.

Some had already returned to their islands for seclusion.

Some were still on the road.

And beside a few names, faint red circles had been drawn.

Holy Mother Jinling's gaze swept across them.

"What do the red circles mean?"

Zhao Xuan lifted his brush.

The Vermilion Brush fell upon the red circles.

The red circles dissolved little by little.

Two characters floated out from within them.

[Priority Register.]

The breathing of everyone before the hall abruptly stopped.

Priority Register.

Priority for recording.

Priority for the Investiture of the Gods List.

Priority for filling the Water Department.

An outer sect disciple's throat went dry.

"I—I only filled a vacancy for the Water Mansion once."

He looked at the red circle behind his own name.

His entire body was shaking.

"That time, Taibai Jinxing personally passed down the message."

"He said the Heavenly Court remembered my past service."

"He said there would surely be generous rewards in the future."

He suddenly collapsed to his knees.

His hands braced against the stone floor.

"Generous rewards?"

"This is the generous reward?"

No one spoke.

Everyone understood.

So-called generous rewards meant writing your name into the preliminary register.

Waiting for the Investiture of the Gods List to descend.

Waiting for the Water Department to lack men.

Waiting for the Heavenly Court to need divine positions.

You once helped out.

You were familiar with the water veins.

You had past service.

You happened to be just right.

This was not a reward.

It was a chain measured out in advance.

Daoist Duobao looked at that page of water light register.

His face turned ashen.

His voice was hoarse.

"The more past service one has."

"The easier it is to make the list."

Zhao Xuan glanced at him.

"Yes."

It was only a single word.

Yet it pressed down so heavily that Daoist Duobao's chest felt tight.

Holy Mother Wudang softly said, "Then over all these years, when the Heavenly Court asked Jie Sect disciples for help, were they already picking people?"

The area before the hall grew even quieter.

The answer was already on the register.

Zhao Xuan looked at that Water Department Preliminary Register.

"Whatever the Heavenly Court lacks."

"It picks from the past service of the Jie Sect."

His voice was very light.

"Whoever filled a vacancy."

"That person is the most suitable to be filled in."

The eye sockets of several outer sect disciples turned completely red.

They were not afraid of death.

Yet they were afraid that the past service they believed in all these years would in the end become shackles in the hands of others.

Holy Mother Guiling gritted her teeth.

"What do they take my Jie Sect for?"

Zhao Xuan said, "Consumables."

Two words.

The space before the hall turned abruptly cold.

Zhao Xuan raised his brush.

He wrote on the Clear Gate Register:

[Water Department Preliminary Register.]

[Using Jie Sect past service to screen Water Department candidates.]

[Using the name of assisting to record for the use of the Investiture of the Gods.]

The Vermilion Brush paused for a breath.

Then the final line fell.

[This account hangs in the Water Department of the Heavenly Court.]

The Clear Gate Register trembled slightly.

That water light register was pressed back into the volume.

Yet just as the water light was about to completely dissipate,

a sudden change arose.

Deep within the Water Department Old Seal, an even finer crack suddenly split open.

Behind the crack, there was unexpectedly yet another layer of dim light.

The dim light was not the color of water.

It was starlight.