Heavenly Court, Lingxiao Palace.
A golden projection of the Investiture of the Gods hung in the center of the hall. Its 365 Righteous God Seats stood in rows, vast stretches of them still empty.
Haotian sat on his divine throne, staring at those vacancies. He had not spoken for half an incense stick.
Below him, the immortal official charged with watching the Heavenly Book and sensing the Investiture of the Gods Fate kept his head lowered. He barely dared breathe.
Thirty-seven.
A full thirty-seven people who had already entered a state of high tribulation risk were still alive and well.
On an ordinary day, that number might not have seemed like much. On the Investiture of the Gods, it was glaring.
Those thirty-seven included figures of real weight: Zhao Gongming, the Three Cloud Sisters, the Ten Heavenly Lords, and Wen Zhong. There were also Shiji, the Four Sages of Nine-Dragon Island, the Four Demon Generals, Yu Yuan, and many other immortals already mired deep in the Karmic Tribulation.
According to earlier projections of their fate, a substantial number of them should long since have sent their true spirits to the Investiture Altar.
Not one had arrived.
Haotian stared at the vacant Divine Positions and tapped the armrest a few times.
"So."
"The names are on the list, and the people are alive."
"The Divine Positions are there, and the people are alive."
"Every last person who should have come has failed to show up."
The immortal official's mouth twitched.
Why did His Majesty sound a little resentful?
But he did not dare answer.
After looking a while longer, Haotian suddenly pointed to a cluster of empty seats. "Surely you don't expect me to fill all 365 Righteous God Seats myself?"
The immortal official hurriedly lowered his head. "Of course not,