Whoever Fits, Dies!

Before Golden Turtle Island, every sound vanished.

No one dared interrupt anymore.

Even Holy Mother Guiling remained silent.

She stared hard at the incomplete List Shadow in the Nine Heavens, her fingers pressed against her sword hilt until her knuckles turned white.

Zhao Gongming stood where he was.

There was no anger on his face.

Instead, he was frighteningly cold.

Holy Mother Jinling did not look at her own name.

She watched the List Shadow.

Her gaze was like a sword.

The incomplete List Shadow swayed gently.

Strands of gray-white aura drifted down.

It seemed to want to scatter.

But the two lines on the Clear Gate Register were nailed there.

They could not scatter.

[Zhao Gongming—who registered him?]

[Holy Mother Jinling—who registered her?]

Two names.

Two nails.

They pinned down the thing that should never have appeared before the Investiture of the Gods List descended.

After a long while.

Gray-white writing finally surfaced slowly above the List Shadow.

[The Great Calamity is about to begin.]

[Divine positions await filling.]

[Those with affinity shall take their positions.]

[This is the Heavenly Mandate.]

The Heavenly Mandate.

The moment those two words appeared.

The faces of all the immortals before the hall darkened at once.

The Heavenly Mandate again.

Guangchengzi had said it.

Taiyi had said it.

The Yuxu disciples had said it.

The Western Sect had merely changed the wording, calling it affinity.

Now even the Investiture of the Gods List had laid out those two words.

As if writing down the Heavenly Mandate meant every account could go unanswered.

Holy Mother Guiling laughed out of sheer fury.

"Heavenly Mandate?"

"Did the Heavenly Mandate even write down my senior brothers' and sisters' names in advance?"

The List Shadow ignored her.

The gray-white writing continued to emerge.

[The Wealth Department has a vacancy.]

[Zhao Gongming possesses the ability to regulate wealth and goods, settle debt disputes, and suppress conflicts along the trade routes.]

[He may take a position in the Wealth Department.]

The second line followed.

[The Dou Department has a vacancy.]

[Holy Mother Jinling commands the stars and constellations and overawes the immortals.]

[She may take a position in the Dou Department.]

With every character that fell, the atmosphere before the hall grew colder.

Zhao Gongming looked at the words "may take a position in the Wealth Department."

He suddenly laughed.

The sound was low.

And cold.

"I never knew."

"I settled a few debt disputes for rogue cultivators overseas."

"And that became the Heavenly Mandate."

Holy Mother Jinling looked at the four words "may take a position in the Dou Department."

Her expression did not change in the slightest.

But the sword in her hand had already slid an inch from its sheath.

Daoist Duobao's expression turned grim beyond measure.

He finally understood why the Heavenly Court Departments Preliminary Register had resonated with the Investiture of the Gods List.

It was not simply that the Heavenly Court had written down the names.

Nor was it that the Investiture of the Gods List had acknowledged people out of thin air.

It was that departmental vacancies, the disciples' past merits, and future divine positions had been linked together by some kind of rule.

Zhao Xuan looked at the List Shadow.

"The Wealth Department has a vacancy."

"The Dou Department has a vacancy."

"So Zhao Gongming is supposed to take a position in the Wealth Department."

"And Jin Ling is supposed to take a position in the Dou Department."

The incomplete List Shadow trembled faintly.

It seemed to be acknowledging this.

Zhao Xuan continued, "Then let me ask you."

"The Wealth Department lacks someone."

"What does that have to do with Zhao Gongming?"

The List Shadow fell silent.

Zhao Xuan said, "The Dou Department lacks someone."

"What does that have to do with Holy Mother Jinling?"

The gray-white aura froze.

Zhao Xuan's voice was not loud.

Yet every word seemed to land on the hearts of all the Jie Sect disciples.

"The Heavenly Court lacks people."

"That does not mean the Jie Sect is guilty."

"The Heavenly Court lacks gods."

"That does not mean the Jie Sect deserves to die."

"The Wealth Department has a vacancy, so you fill the Wealth Department."

"The Dou Department has a vacancy, so you fill the Dou Department."

"But what gives you the right to use the lives of Jie Sect disciples to fill them?"

A deathly silence descended before the hall.

Those words were too direct.

And too ruthless.

Because this was the filthiest foundation of the Investiture of the Gods.

Whatever the Heavenly Court lacked.

The Investiture of the Gods List searched for it among the disciples of the Three Sects.

Once it found someone suitable.

It simply called it the Heavenly Mandate.

Zhao Xuan raised his hand.

The Clear Gate Register opened.

"Write."

The vermilion brush fell.

[The Investiture of the Gods List states: The Wealth Department has a vacancy; Zhao Gongming may take the position.]

[The Investiture of the Gods List states: The Dou Department has a vacancy; Holy Mother Jinling may take the position.]

[The Jie Sect asks: How can a vacancy in the Heavenly Court become the Jie Sect's death tally?]

The third line appeared.

The incomplete List Shadow shuddered violently.

The gray-white aura in the Nine Heavens began to churn.

It was as if something had been pierced by that question.

Inside Lingxiao Hall.

Haotian looked toward Golden Turtle Island, his expression terrifyingly grim.

Taibai Jinxing stood to one side.

He even quieted his breathing.

That question just now was no longer aimed only at the Heavenly Court.

How could a vacancy in the Heavenly Court become the Jie Sect's death tally?

The moment those words came out.

The Heavenly Court had been forced into the most uncomfortable position.

If the Heavenly Court answered.

It would amount to admitting that the Heavenly Court lacked gods and the Jie Sect had to make up the lives.

If the Heavenly Court refused to answer.

The Investiture of the Gods List had already revealed the names of Zhao Gongming and Holy Mother Jinling.

Haotian finally understood why Zhao Xuan had not cursed the Heavenly Court outright.

The Heavenly Court could endure a curse.

But this question.

It had torn open the entire foundation of the Investiture of the Gods.

Inside Lingxiao Hall, the Water Department and Wealth Department Immortal Officials all lowered their heads.

No one dared say "to relieve the Heavenly Court's worries" anymore.

Because the question was no longer who would relieve those worries.

It was why the Heavenly Court's worries should be divided with the Jie Sect's lives.

On Golden Turtle Island.

--

More writing surfaced within the incomplete List Shadow.

This time, it appeared even more slowly than before.

[Calamity Qi has gathered around him.]

[His name has entered its position.]

[It cannot be moved by human power.]

Zhao Xuan looked at those lines.

"Calamity Qi has gathered around him?"

He looked toward Zhao Gongming.

"What Calamity Qi has gathered around Zhao Gongming?"

Zhao Gongming raised his eyes.

The Clear Gate Register began turning its pages on its own.

The events of Zhao Gongming's years overseas surfaced line by line.

Mediating disputes between rogue cultivators.

Quelling blood debts along the trade routes.

Suppressing rogue cultivators who waylaid travelers.

Escorting Outer Sect disciples back to the island.

Lending wealth and goods to rogue cultivators so they could get through difficult times.

Not a single line involved a death tribulation.

Not a single entry was an evil account.

Zhao Xuan looked toward the List Shadow.

"These."

"What entry was the calamity?"

The List Shadow remained silent.

Zhao Xuan looked again at Holy Mother Jinling.

The Clear Gate Register turned another page.

Holy Mother Jinling oversaw discipline in the Outer Sect, suppressed rebellion, guarded Golden Turtle Island, commanded the disciples, and gathered the immortals for her master.

Entries were written down one by one.

Cold.

Hard.

Yet clear.

Zhao Xuan said, "Jin Ling enforced the law."

"She protected the Interception Sect's rules."

"She suppressed the disorder within the sect."

"What entry was the calamity?"

The List Shadow remained silent.

Before the hall, the gathered immortals held their breaths.

Zhao Xuan suddenly smiled.

There was not the slightest warmth in it.

"There was no calamity."

"There were only vacancies."

The four words fell.

The incomplete List Shadow shuddered violently.

"The Wealth Department lacks Zhao Gongming."

"The Dou Department lacks Jin Ling."

"The Water Department lacks the Outer Sect."

"So you wrote vacancies as calamities."

He raised his brush.

The vermilion brush fell.

[No calamity can be substantiated.]

[Record the vacancies first.]

[Take vacancies for calamities.]

[Use positions to determine fate.]

The four lines formed.

Before all of Golden Turtle Island, it was as though a cold thunderbolt had struck.

Lu Qing abruptly raised his head.

The Heavenly Court's Water Department lacked people, so his past merits had become a preliminary record.

The Wealth Department lacked people, so Zhao Gongming's abilities had become Position Assignment.

The Dou Department lacked people, so Holy Mother Jinling's prestige had become the Heavenly Mandate.

It was not that they had calamities.

Others had vacancies.

Writing others' vacancies as their calamities.

This was the Investiture of the Gods.

Holy Mother Wudang said softly, "Taking vacancies for calamities."

Her voice was very soft.

Yet it carried a chill.

"So that was it."

Daoist Duobao closed his eyes.

It felt as though a stone were pressing on his chest.

In the past, he had always believed that the Investiture of the Gods was an inevitable tide, a Great Calamity, a Heavenly Mandate that the three teachings could not escape.

But today, as Zhao Xuan questioned it line by line,

he finally saw what lay beneath the Heavenly Mandate.

Vacant positions.

Filling people.

Matching names.

Entering the List.

The so-called Heavenly Mandate, when it fell upon the Interception Sect, was a list of vacancies written in advance.

Whoever was suitable.

Would die.