Retreat to Advance, the Heavenly Court Was Stunned

High Heaven Hall.

Seeing Taibai Jinxing rushing in.

Haotian frowned.

"What's the matter that makes you so flustered?"

Taibai Jinxing said with a pained expression.

"The Jie Sect has issued a decree."

Haotian's eyes flickered.

"Is Brother Tongtian willing to send disciples to the Heavenly Court?"

Taibai Jinxing's face grew more pained.

"No."

"The Jie Sect decree states that the Investiture of the Gods List is about to appear, and the tribulation is imminent. Jie Sect disciples must return to Golden Turtle Island to chant the Yellow Court and go into seclusion to avoid the tribulation."

"All Jie Sect disciples who hold positions in the Heavenly Court, obey orders, assist, defend, suppress demons, patrol the lower realms, manage water veins, and handle miscellaneous star affairs must all return to Golden Turtle Island."

After saying this, Haotian's expression changed, and he suddenly rose from the Imperial Throne.

"What did you say?"

"The Jie Sect is recalling all disciples assisting in the Heavenly Court?"

Taibai Jinxing nodded, bracing himself.

"Yes."

Anger immediately appeared on Haotian's face.

"Presumptuous!"

"How dare they!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Haotian suddenly stopped.

Because he realized that the Jie Sect actually dared to do it.

And logically speaking, this decree from the Jie Sect seemed to have no problem.

The Investiture of the Gods List was about to appear, and the tribulation was imminent.

Disciples from all three sects might be caught in the tribulation.

What was wrong with the Jie Sect recalling their disciples to go into seclusion and avoid the tribulation?

They were not officially appointed gods by the Heavenly Court.

Many were just assistants, obeying orders, and providing defense.

To put it bluntly, they were temporarily helping out when the Heavenly Court was short-handed.

Since they were helping, what could you do if they decided not to help anymore?

Haotian's expression grew uglier.

He hadn't really thought that these peripheral disciples of the Jie Sect were that important before.

After all, they were only handling minor matters.

Not the core authority of the Heavenly Court.

But when Taibai Jinxing handed him a roster, Haotian realized something was wrong.

The third, seventh, and ninth Sea Eyes of the East Sea all had Jie Sect disciples assisting in defense.

Twenty-one out of thirty-six star nodes in the North Star Domain were being patrolled with the help of Jie Sect disciples.

At the border between the Southern Jambu Continent and the Eastern Victory Continent, many evil cultivators and demons were suppressed by Jie Sect disciples in passing.

The four seas' water veins were being mediated, disputes among rogue cultivators overseas, and even some Heavenly Court immortal officials had Jie Sect followers accompanying them as escorts when they went out on business.

Individually, none of these were major issues.

But if they all withdrew, it would be fatal.

It was like a seemingly magnificent palace suddenly having countless inconspicuous pillars removed.

A single pillar was nothing.

If they were all gone, could the palace still stand?

The veins on Haotian's forehead twitched slightly.

"What does Brother Tongtian mean by this?"

Taibai Jinxing whispered:

"The Jie Sect said that if Your Majesty feels it is inappropriate, you can go to Golden Turtle Island personally to invite them back."

"What?"

Haotian's face turned black.

Let him go to Golden Turtle Island in person to invite them?

As the dignified Heavenly Emperor, did he have no face to maintain?

But if he didn't go...

Haotian looked down at the roster, suddenly feeling a sense of irritation.

He finally realized one thing.

The Heavenly Court was far more dependent on the Jie Sect than he had imagined.

Or rather, over these past years, many inconspicuous yet essential tasks in the Heavenly Court had long been silently handled by Jie Sect disciples.

So much so that even he, the Heavenly Emperor, had forgotten that those people were not originally part of the Heavenly Court.

They were Jie Sect disciples.

Helping out before was a favor.

Refusing to help now was their right.

Yet, he could not easily lash out.

Haotian took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his anger.

"Go, order the Water Department, the Dou Department, and the Thunder Department to immediately fill the vacancies left by the departing Jie Sect disciples."

Taibai Jinxing's expression grew even more bitter.

"Your Majesty, the Water Department is already short-handed."

"The Dou Department is the same."

"The Thunder Department has some manpower, but those divine generals have volatile tempers. If we send them to patrol the star nodes, I fear..."

Haotian shot him a cold glance.

"Fear what?"

Taibai Jinxing dared not speak.

He feared they would not be as capable as the Jie Sect disciples.

Of course, he dared not say those words aloud.

But Haotian had already understood.

Consequently, his expression turned even uglier.

After a long silence, Haotian gritted his teeth and said:

"Jie Sect, what a fine Jie Sect!"

"I haven't even asked you for the quotas on the Investiture of the Gods List, yet you have already withdrawn your people."

"Is this meant to be a show of force against me?"

Taibai Jinxing kept his head low, not daring to respond.

Haotian paced back and forth in the hall.

The more he walked, the more annoyed he became.

He suddenly realized that this move by the Jie Sect was not a direct confrontation, but it was incredibly infuriating.

Could one say the Jie Sect was defying orders?

No.

They were not official Heavenly Court officials; they were merely helping out.

Could one say the Jie Sect did not respect the Heavenly Court?

That was also hard to claim.

They had a perfectly legitimate reason.

The Investiture of the Gods calamity was approaching, so the disciples were returning to the mountain to avoid it. Was there a problem with that?

There was no problem.

If Haotian were to forcibly stop them, it would only make him, the Heavenly Emperor, appear unreasonable, insisting that Jie Sect disciples work for the Heavenly Court during the calamity.

If word of that got out and Master Tongtian truly flew into a rage, he, Haotian, might not be able to withstand it.

Thinking of this, for the first time, Haotian felt an extreme sense of grievance.

He was clearly the Heavenly Emperor.

Yet he could not even keep a few peripheral Jie Sect disciples.

What kind of Heavenly Emperor was this?

Kunlun Mountain, Yuxu Palace.

Yuanshi Tianzun also quickly learned the news of the Jie Sect recalling their disciples.

He frowned after hearing the report.

"What is Tongtian doing?"

"The Investiture of the Gods List has yet to officially manifest, yet he is already so eager to recall his disciples."

"Does he truly believe that by closing his doors, he can avoid the Investiture Great Calamity?"

Yuanshi Tianzun let out a cold snort.

In his view, this move by Tongtian lacked the composure befitting a Saint.

A grand Saintly lineage, with ten thousand immortals paying homage—yet before the Investiture of the Gods List had even emerged, they had already begun recalling disciples to avoid the calamity.

Was this not clearly telling the Primordial World that the Jie Sect was afraid?

However, while Yuanshi Tianzun sneered in his heart, he vaguely felt that something was amiss.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

Although Tongtian was straightforward by nature, he was not a cowardly man.

On the contrary, given Tongtian's temper, if someone were truly plotting against the Jie Sect, his first reaction would be to draw his sword.

How could he suddenly recall his disciples and hide away to avoid the calamity?

This did not sound like Tongtian.

It sounded more like someone within the Jie Sect was advising him.

Yuanshi Tianzun narrowed his eyes.

"Duobao?"

"Unlikely."

"Jin Ling?"

"Even less likely."

"Then who could it be?"

Suddenly, a name occurred to Yuanshi Tianzun.

Zhao Xuan.

The disciple who had been the first to join Tongtian's sect, yet had remained obscure for many years.

Yuanshi Tianzun had some impression of Zhao Xuan.

After all, Zhao Xuan had already been following Tongtian back when they were on Kunlun Mountain.

Although this person had always kept a low profile and rarely participated in the disputes between the disciples of the Three Pure Ones, Yuanshi Tianzun had interacted with this nephew before.

He was meticulous and possessed deep hidden motives; he was by no means as simple as he appeared on the surface.

It was only because the other party was a junior and had not shown particularly high talent in cultivation that Yuanshi Tianzun had eventually stopped paying him much mind.

But looking at it now, Tongtian's current actions coincided somewhat with the style of Zhao Xuan.

Yuanshi Tianzun furrowed his brows.

"Scheming tricks."

"It is one thing for the Jie Sect disciples to neglect their virtue, but now they have even learned these underhanded plots."

Despite his words, he did not feel at ease.

Because this withdrawal by the Jie Sect had indeed made things difficult for the Heavenly Court.

And when the Heavenly Court suffered, the matter of the Investiture of the Gods would become all the more urgent.

The more urgent the Investiture became, the more the pressure would naturally fall upon the three sects.

Among the three sects, the Human Sect had only Xuandu, and the Western Sect was accustomed to crying poverty.

In the end, the pressure would still fall upon the Jie Sect and the Chan Sect.

This made Yuanshi Tianzun somewhat displeased.

Tongtian's retreat seemed to have pushed the Chan Sect half a step forward.

He did not like this at all.