Before the Investiture of the Gods List Is Out, Their Names Are Recorded First-Who Told You to Do This?!

Zhao Xuan's voice fell.

A dead silence hung before Golden Turtle Island.

The Clear Gate Register hung quietly before the desk.

The last line of words on the register had yet to dissipate.

[The next stroke questions the Heavenly Court.]

All the Jie Sect disciples raised their heads.

No one looked at their fellow disciples anymore.

No one lowered their heads to inspect themselves anymore.

Because they all understood.

The ledger of Golden Turtle Island was temporarily sealed.

Next, it was time for the outside to answer.

Zhao Xuan raised his hand.

The Clear Gate Register slowly opened.

The old orders, old registers, receipts, and transfer orders that had just been sealed inside lit up simultaneously.

The Third Sea Eye.

The South Sea Water Veins.

Aquatic demon criminals.

The Water Department's joint defense.

Stroke after stroke of old merit floated out from the register.

There was no blood.

Yet it was colder than blood.

Zhao Xuan looked at those old ledgers.

His voice was calm.

"Project the shadow."

The Clear Gate Register shook gently.

A page of gray-white ledger shadow separated from the register.

It was as thin as cicada wings.

Yet it made the immortals before the hall hold their breath in oppression.

On that ledger shadow, there were only three lines of words.

[Heavenly Court Departments Preliminary Register.]

[The Water Department has appeared.]

[The Wealth Department sees its name.]

Below was another sentence.

[The list is not out, but the names are recorded. Please let the Heavenly Court answer the ledger.]

Holy Mother Guiling looked at that page of ledger shadow, her eyes terrifyingly cold.

"Send it to Lingxiao Hall?"

Zhao Xuan said, "Send it."

Daoist Duobao said in a deep voice, "What if the Heavenly Court does not acknowledge it?"

Zhao Xuan looked toward the Nine Heavens.

"Then let the Primordial World watch them not acknowledge it."

As his voice fell.

That page of ledger shadow soared into the sky.

There was no sword light.

There were no thunderbolts.

There was only a gray-white ledger mark that pierced through the East Sea and went straight up to the Nine Heavens.

The sea fog along the way was parted.

East Sea rogue cultivators raised their heads.

Dragon Palace aquatic beings raised their heads.

Heavenly Court spies raised their heads.

That page of ledger shadow made no concealment.

He didn't even hide.

It went openly toward the Nine Heavens just like that.

Like an indictment delivered out in the open.

Before Golden Turtle Island.

Lu Qing watched that shadow of the ledger recede.

His fingers slowly clenched.

"Senior Disciple Brother."

"Will they answer?"

Zhao Xuan didn't look back.

"They won't answer easily."

Lu Qing's throat moved.

Zhao Xuan said, "That's why we have to ask."

Lu Qing lowered his head.

After a long while, he spoke in a low voice, "This disciple understands."

This time.

He wasn't afraid.

He was waiting.

Waiting for the Heavenly Court to answer.

The Nine Heavens.

The South Heaven Gate.

The gate-guarding heavenly generals were originally standing at attention with their halberds.

Suddenly.

A gray-white shadow of a ledger broke through the clouds and arrived.

The two heavenly generals raised their heads simultaneously.

"What is that!"

Before his voice died away.

The ledger shadow had already reached the front of the South Heaven Gate.

The immortal light above the heavenly gate lit up on its own, attempting to intercept it.

Yet that page of the ledger didn't force its way through.

It stopped outside the South Heaven Gate.

And unfurled quietly.

Three lines of large characters emerged.

[Heavenly Court Departments Preliminary Register.]

[Water Department has appeared.]

[Wealth Department sees its name.]

The final sentence pressed down on the very center of the South Heaven Gate.

[The roll is not yet out, but the names are already recorded. Please, Heavenly Court, answer the ledger.]

The expressions of the gate-guarding heavenly generals changed drastically.

"Interception Sect!"

"Quickly report to Lingxiao!"

Very soon.

News of that page of the ledger spread throughout the Heavenly Court.

The Star Office stopped its brush.

The Water Department fell into panic.

Immortal officials of the Dou Department poked their heads out one after another.

Even many heavenly scattered-post immortal clerks who usually minded their own business changed their expressions as well.

The roll was not yet out.

The names were already recorded.

These six characters were far too heavy.

It was a heavy silence that no one dared to discuss in private.

The Investiture of the Gods List had not truly hung in the sky yet.

The Dao Ancestor had only said that the disciples of the three sects were entering the tribulation.

Yet now, the Interception Sect had sent over a page of ledger shadows, asking about the Heavenly Court Departments Preliminary Register.

If this was real.

Then the matter was not as simple as the Heavenly Court lacking people.

This meant someone was already beginning to pre-allocate gods before the Investiture of the Gods List fell.

High Heaven Hall.

Haotian sat upon the imperial throne.

His expression was as gloomy as water.

Taibai Jinxing stood below the hall.

He held that page of ledger shadows sent from the South Heaven Gate in his hands.

The various immortal officials within the hall were in dead silence.

No one dared to speak first.

Haotian looked at that page of ledger shadows.

After a long while, he slowly said, "Read."

Taibai Jinxing's throat felt dry.

He glanced at the words on the ledger shadows.

He could only speak in a low voice.

"Heavenly Court Departments Preliminary Register."

"The Water Department has appeared."

"The Wealth Department sees names."

"The list has not yet emerged, but the names are already recorded."

"Please, Heavenly Court, answer the ledger."

Every sentence read.

The aura within the hall grew a fraction colder.

By the time he read to the end, Taibai Jinxing himself did not dare to raise his head.

Haotian's fingers gently tapped on the armrest of the imperial throne.

Once.

Then again.

The sound was not heavy.

Yet it made the faces of the Water Department immortal officials below the hall turn whiter and whiter.

Haotian finally spoke.

"Water Department."

An immortal official in blue robes on the left side of the hall trembled all over.

He hurriedly stepped out.

"This subject is here."

Haotian looked at him.

"The Water Department Preliminary Register."

"What is the meaning of this?"

The blue-robed immortal official's throat tightened.

"Your Majesty."

"This matter----this matter probably has some misunderstanding."

Haotian's gaze grew colder.

"A misunderstanding?"

The blue-robed immortal official braced himself and said, "The Water Department has been short-handed these past few years."

"There are indeed quite a few Interception Sect disciples helping out at the East Sea Sea Eye, the South Sea Water Veins, and the old paths of the Dragon Palace."

"We subjects merely noted down their past merits."

"To prepare for future rewards and investiture."

Taibai Jinxing's eyelids twitched.

Rewards and investiture.

This was the word that must least be spoken right now.

Sure enough.

Haotian's voice sank.

"Rewards and investiture?"

"The Investiture of the Gods List has not yet emerged."

"The divine positions have not yet been determined."

"What are you using to bestow rewards?"

The blue-robed immortal official's face turned pale.

"This subject does not mean that."

"Then what do you mean?"

Haotian looked down upon him.

"In the ledger shadows sent by the Interception Sect, there is the old Water Department seal."

"There is the Water Department preliminary register."

"There are annotations of past merits of the Interception Sect outer sect disciples."

"And there are the two words priority register."

His voice was not loud.

"Priority register."

"What is given priority for recording?"

Cold sweat instantly poured down the blue-robed immortal official's forehead.

The various immortal officials in the hall kept their heads lowered.

No one dared to speak for him.

Because these two words were too dirty.

Usually hidden within the registers, no one saw them.

Now they were delivered to the Lingxiao Hall by the Interception Sect on a page of ledger shadows.

Who dared to accept this?

The blue-robed immortal official dropped to his knees.

"May Your Majesty's brilliant discernment bear witness!"

"We subjects merely thought that if the Investiture of the Gods List came out, the Heavenly Court departments would inevitably lack people."

"The Water Department has complicated and bustling affairs; if we were to temporarily select people then, we would likely not make it in time."

"That is why we first noted down those people who are familiar with the water veins, sea eyes, and old paths of the Dragon Palace."

"This is also sharing worries for the Heavenly Court!"

Haotian did not speak.

Taibai Jinxing, however, closed his eyes.

Sharing worries for the Heavenly Court.

This sentence sounded loyal.

Yet falling on today.

It meant admitting to it.

Admitting that the Water Department had indeed recorded names in advance.

Admitting that those disciples with past Interception Sect merits had indeed been treated by them as candidates for future Water Department divine positions.

Taibai Jinxing felt bitter in his heart.

This matter was troublesome.

More troublesome than he had imagined.

Because if the Heavenly Court said it did not know, then the Water Department's private recording was an act of deceiving the ruler.

If the Heavenly Court said it knew, then it meant that before the list had come out, the Heavenly Court had first recorded the names of Interception Sect disciples.

Neither side was easy to handle.

Haotian evidently thought of this layer as well.

His expression became even uglier.

He went to Zixiao Palace to weep and complain that the Heavenly Court had no people.

What he wanted was the Investiture of the Gods List to fill up the divine positions of the Heavenly Court.

He did not want the immortal officials of all departments to reach out in advance and privately compile the old merits of the Jie Sect disciples into a preliminary register.

Once this kind of matter was confirmed.

What would Tongtian think?

What would the Interception Sect think?

And what would all living beings in the Primordial World think?

The Heavenly Court lacked people.

Therefore, it picked Jie Sect disciples to be on the list in advance?

This precisely confirmed Zhao Xuan's words.

The Heavenly Court lacked people.

The Interception Sect shared the death.

Anger surfaced in the depths of Haotian's eyes.

It was not just anger at the Interception Sect coming to settle accounts.

It was also anger at the stupidity of the Water Department.

"Wealth Department."

He suddenly spoke.

An immortal official on the right side of the hall stiffened.

Slowly, he walked out.

"Your subject is here."

Haotian said, "The name of Zhao Gongming."

"Why did it appear in the secret marks of the Wealth Department?"

The face of the Wealth Department immortal official instantly turned pale.

Inside High Heaven Hall, all the immortal officials lowered their heads.

The preliminary register of the Water Department could still be barely excused as helping to handle old merits.

But Zhao Gongming was different.

Zhao Gongming was the core of the Interception Sect's outer sect.

The eldest outer sect disciple under Tongtian.

Furthermore, he was the person Zhao Xuan personally said would die in the future and end up on the list.

Now Zhao Gongming's name appeared in the secret marks of the Wealth Department in advance.

This was no longer just the private registration of the Water Department.

This proved that the preliminary registers of all departments were real.

The Wealth Department immortal official knelt down.

"Your Majesty."

"Your subjects only once heard that Zhao Gongming has an extremely high reputation among overseas rogue cultivators."

"Moreover, he is good at managing wealth, settling debt disputes, and suppressing trade routes."

"If there are vacancies in the Heavenly Court's Wealth Department in the future, this person indeed----"

He stopped talking right here.

Because he found he could not go on.

The hall was dead silent.

Haotian looked at him.

"Indeed what?"

The Wealth Department immortal official pressed his forehead against the floor.

He did not dare to say a single word.

Haotian slowly stood up.

His imperial robe fluttered without wind.

Inside Lingxiao Hall, heavenly might pressed down bit by bit.

"Water Department."

"Wealth Department."

"Who else?"

No one dared to answer.

Haotian said in a cold voice, "Does the Dou Department have any?"

"Does the Thunder Department have any?"

"Fire Department, Plague Department, Star Department."

"Do you have any?"

With every question he asked.

The immortal officials in the hall lowered their heads by another fraction.

In the end, in the vast High Heaven Hall, there was actually not a single person who dared to raise their eyes.

Haotian looked at this scene.

The anger could finally no longer be suppressed.

"I am asking you."

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

"Who told you to record names?"