Old Merits Are Not a Deed of Sale!

The moment those words were spoken.

Zhao Gongming's gaze shifted slightly.

The Three Xiao Sisters looked at him at once.

And at that very moment.

The thin thread connecting the Clear Gate Register to Lingxiao suddenly trembled faintly.

Immediately afterward, a wisp of gray-white aura descended from within the incomplete shadow of the list.

It did not fall toward the Clear Gate Register.

It fell toward Zhao Gongming.

Yun Xiao's expression changed for the first time.

"Big Brother."

Zhao Gongming's body shuddered.

He lowered his head.

A faint gray-white mark had appeared on his cuff at some unknown time.

The mark resembled a brushstroke.

Yet it also resembled a chain.

It surfaced for only an instant before slipping beneath his sleeve.

Bi Xiao rushed to his side in a single step, her eyes reddening almost instantly.

"What is that?!"

Qiong Xiao raised her hand to shine the Jade Slip upon it, but Yun Xiao stopped her.

Yun Xiao's hand was steady.

But her fingertips were cold enough to turn white.

Zhao Xuan stared at the gray-white mark.

"It isn't entry onto the list."

Everyone turned to look at him.

Zhao Xuan's voice was ice-cold.

"It is merely List Qi using the name-checking to press down a strand of karmic fate tied to his destined post in advance."

"It is warning us."

"That it has already seen the name Zhao Gongming."

Once those words fell.

The Three Xiao Sisters turned even paler.

Zhao Gongming looked at his cuff and suddenly gave a laugh.

It was very soft.

And very faint.

"I thought the great calamity was still far away."

"Turns out my name was taken long ago to measure out a divine post."

No one answered.

Those words were colder than anger.

Because Zhao Gongming was not afraid of death.

He had merely finally understood that, in those people's eyes, he had never been the senior Outer Sect disciple of the Interception Sect, never the elder brother of the Three Xiao Sisters, never the fellow disciple who settled disputes for independent cultivators overseas and guarded merchant routes.

He was a name that happened to fit perfectly into the Wealth Department.

A suitable position.

A fate measured out in advance.

Holy Mother Guiling's killing intent surged.

"Investiture of the Gods List!"

"How dare you!"

The incomplete shadow of the list did not respond.

Only the gray-white aura continued to press downward.

On the Clear Gate Register, the three characters Zhao Gongming appeared and vanished once more.

Behind them, the line of words that had yet to fully form became a little clearer than before.

[May be assigned to the Wealth Department.]

Four words.

Like four nails.

Holy Mother Jinling stepped forward, her sword already three inches out of its sheath.

But Zhao Xuan suddenly spoke.

"Do not draw your sword."

Holy Mother Jinling stopped.

Holy Mother Guiling abruptly turned her head.

"Senior Disciple Brother!"

"It is pushing Gongming's name into List Qi!"

Zhao Xuan said, "That is precisely why no sword must be drawn."

He raised his head and looked at the incomplete list.

"It is waiting for us to strike first."

A chill ran through the hearts of the immortals.

Zhao Xuan continued, "If Jin Ling draws her sword, it will claim the Interception Sect is resisting the list."

"If Master draws his sword, it will claim a Saint is obstructing the Investiture of the Gods."

"If Gongming resists, it will claim Calamity Qi has already taken shape."

"Then the names will not have been written by them."

"We will have thrown ourselves onto it."

A deathly silence descended before the hall.

Zhao Gongming closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, only coldness remained in his gaze.

"Senior Disciple Brother."

"If a name must be checked first."

He stepped forward.

"Then check mine."

"Big Brother!"

Bi Xiao's voice changed at once.

Zhao Gongming did not look at her.

He only looked at Zhao Xuan.

"Since my name has already been seen."

"And since I am tied to the Wealth Department."

"This debt cannot be avoided."

"Rather than let my junior brothers and sisters worry for me, it is better to begin with me."

Bi Xiao gripped his sleeve tightly.

"Why should you be checked first?"

"Why should they write your name, and you still have to step forward yourself?"

Zhao Gongming lowered his head to look at her.

The cheerfulness that usually lingered in his eyes had vanished, leaving only calm stillness.

"Little Sister."

"If my name has truly been written into it."

"Can hiding make it disappear?"

Bi Xiao opened her mouth.

But no words came out.

Yun Xiao raised her eyes.

She did not rush to stop him as Bi Xiao had.

But when she looked at Zhao Xuan, her voice was soft enough to carry a chill.

"Senior Disciple Brother."

"Can you save him?"

When that question fell.

It weighed more heavily than the four gray-white words on the Investiture of the Gods List.

On Golden Turtle Island, every Interception Sect disciple looked toward Zhao Xuan.

In the past, when they asked Zhao Xuan, they had asked what should be done.

Because Zhao Xuan could always unravel the situation.

He could always audit the debts.

He could always force the other side to retreat half a step.

But now it was different.

Zhao Gongming's name had already been pinned down by List Qi.

This was not something that could be resolved by winning a few arguments.

This was fate.

Zhao Xuan looked at Yun Xiao.

Only after a long while did he speak.

"I can find out who submitted his name."

Yun Xiao's eyelashes trembled slightly.

Zhao Xuan continued, "As for whether I can pull him back out of List Qi."

He turned and looked toward the Clear Gate Register.

"That depends on whether this debt dares to be audited to the very end."

Bi Xiao gritted her teeth.

"Audit it!"

"Of course we will!"

"Whoever wrote my big brother's name, I will kill them!"

Zhao Xuan did not respond to her.

He merely raised his hand and pressed it against the Clear Gate Register.

"The first name will not be Zhao Gongming."

Everyone froze.

Zhao Gongming also raised his head.

Zhao Xuan's voice was calm.

"Zhao Gongming's name carries too much weight."

"His connection to the Wealth Department runs too deep."

"If we check him now, the Investiture of the Gods List will certainly use the momentum to press down his fate."

"We must first prove one thing."

Holy Mother Guiling frowned.

"What?"

Zhao Xuan said, "Names entered onto the list are not born from the Heavenly Mandate itself."

"They are written in by people."

After saying that, his gaze fell upon the Outer Sect disciples.

"Lu Qing."

Among the crowd, an Outer Sect disciple suddenly lifted his head.

It was Lu Qing, who had previously handed over the old accounts of the Third Sea Eye.

His face was still somewhat pale, yet he immediately stepped forward and knelt before the table.

"This disciple is here."

Zhao Xuan looked at him.

"Are you afraid?"

Lu Qing's throat moved.

He instinctively glanced at the hidden gray-white mark on Zhao Gongming's cuff.

Then he lowered his head.

"I am."

This time, no one laughed at him.

Zhao Xuan said, "What are you afraid of?"

Lu Qing remained silent for a long time.

"I am afraid my name is already in the Water Department Register."

"I'm afraid that when this disciple sealed the Third Sea Eye, saved the Aquatic Race, and protected the sea veins, it was ultimately written down as some karmic tie to a Water Department divine post."

"I'm afraid this disciple merely helped the Heavenly Court once."

By this point, his voice had grown a little hoarse.

"Yet in the end, it became this disciple owing the Heavenly Court a life."

As those words fell—

Many Outer Sect disciples before the hall trembled with rage.

Because Lu Qing was not speaking only of himself.

He was speaking of all of them.

They had filled the Heavenly Court's gaps.

They had quelled chaos for the Dragon Palace.

They had defended cities for the Human Race.

They had calmed disasters across mountains, rivers, and water veins.

They had once believed those were old merits.

Only now did they realize that those old merits might have long since been written into the ties that preceded their placement on the list.

Zhao Xuan nodded.

"Good."

"Then today, we'll investigate you first."

The Clear Gate Register slowly opened.

Lu Qing's name appeared.

Beneath it was a line of old merits.

[Once sealed the Third Sea Eye.]

[Protected the water veins for seven days.]

[Saved three thousand of the Aquatic Race.]

[Received one Water Department acknowledgment.]

The instant those words appeared, the thin line leading toward Lingxiao suddenly shook.

Within Lingxiao Hall—

The Water Department Immortal Official's face turned deathly pale.

Haotian saw it as well.

Upon the imperial throne, his fingers slowly clenched.

Taibai Jinxing said quietly, "Your Majesty."

"Zhao Xuan did not investigate Zhao Gongming first."

Haotian's gaze darkened.

"He is investigating the Water Department's old merits."

Taibai Jinxing said nothing further.

Because he already understood what Zhao Xuan intended to do.

Zhao Gongming's name carried too much weight.

If they investigated him first, the Wealth Department, the Investiture of the Gods List, the Three Xiao Sisters, and the Interception Sect's fortune would all be drawn in.

But Lu Qing was different.

Lu Qing was merely an Outer Sect disciple.

An Outer Sect disciple who had once sealed the Third Sea Eye for the Water Department.

If even Lu Qing's old merits could be proven to have been written by someone as the cause for his placement on the list—

Then Zhao Gongming's title in the Wealth Department would no longer be Heavenly Mandate.

It would be the same set of accounts.

The same blade.

Golden Turtle Island.

Zhao Xuan raised his brush.

"Third Sea Eye."

"Water Department acknowledgment."

"Old merits sealed away."

"Why was it entered into the preliminary record?"

The vermilion brush fell.

The Clear Gate Register trembled lightly.

Behind Lu Qing's name, a water-blue old seal unexpectedly emerged.

At first, the mark was merely the Water Department Old Seal.

But as the Clear Gate Register pressed its inquiry, another line of extremely faint words surfaced beneath the old seal.

[Familiar with the Sea Eye's water currents.]

[Can fill a vacancy in the Water Department.]

[Has prior ties to a divine post.]