Patrolling Heaven by Decree, the Heavenly Dao Tolerates No Hypocrisy

The Physical Southern Heavenly Gate stood above the ninth heaven of the Canglan Realm. The Investiture of the Gods Heavenly Ranking and the God-Striking Whip hung on either side of its white jade plaque, holding the universe in check.

Since news of the Investiture of the Gods Calamity had spread, cultivators across the myriad worlds had begun doing good deeds and accumulating merit. Yet deep in the boundless starry sky, an undercurrent had begun to grow in secret.

Water too clear held no fish. Once rules were established, there would always be someone who thought himself clever enough to find a loophole.

The Ziwei Star Domain, the Tianluo Great World.

It was one of the Ziwei Star Domain's most prosperous great worlds, crowded with sects and powerful cultivators. At its heart rose the towering Tianluo Sacred Ground, a mountain built entirely from ten-thousand-year-old purple-gold divine stone.

Atop the sacred ground's main peak, Purple Qi billowed, and Merit Golden Light glimmered faintly.

The sacred ground's patriarch, the Tianluo Ancestor, wore a Nine-Gold Daoist Robe and sat cross-legged beneath an ancient tree. His face was kindly, his eyes deep. Below him, dozens of elders at the Dao-Slaying and Mahayana Stages bowed their heads respectfully.

"Ancestor, over the past half month, the Tianluo Sacred Ground has established more than ten thousand Xuanmen Goodness Altars across ten nearby mortal Minor Thousand Worlds."

An elder in charge reported with a delighted expression, bowing as he spoke:

"As you instructed, Ancestor, we sent disciples each day to quell floods, drive off beasts, and distribute spirit medicines. Now more than a hundred billion mortals are deeply grateful to the Tianluo Sacred Ground. Thirty percent of the Merit Golden Light bestowed by the Heavenly Dao has already gathered deep within your golden core!"

The surrounding elders showed nothing but heartfelt admiration and awe.

The Tianluo Ancestor opened his eyes slightly. A knowing smile touched his lips as he stroked his beard.

"Good. The Dao Ancestor passed down the method of Proving the Dao Through Merit. With the calamity upon us, only vast merit can keep the Tianluo Sacred Ground safe."

Yet once the reporting elder had withdrawn, the Tianluo Ancestor rose and walked into a forbidden chamber behind the main peak.

Hum—

The chamber's stone door slammed shut. Several supreme arrays sprang to life, blocking divine sense and the Heavenly Dao's perception.

The kindly smile the Tianluo Ancestor had worn in the sunlight vanished in an instant. In its place was chilling cruelty and calculation.

At the center of the chamber floated a vast, pitch-black blood pool!

Within it, the wronged souls of nearly three hundred thousand mortals drifted and wailed soundlessly. Above the pool, a False Heavenly Dao Array Disk formed from the resentment of countless living beings sent out a steady, unnatural pulse of karma.

"Heh... Mortals are hopelessly ignorant."

The Tianluo Ancestor gazed at the endless wronged souls in the pool and sneered, his eyes full of calculation and contempt.

"If I simply waited for floods and beasts to threaten them before helping, how long would it take to gather enough merit?"

"Instead, I secretly sent people into those Minor Thousand Worlds to unleash floods, spread plagues, and let great demons run rampant, driving these three hundred thousand mortals to the brink. Then I descended as their savior and 'rescued' them with a wave of my hand!"

"That way, their desperate gratitude grew as strong as possible. When heaven and earth responded, the merit bestowed by the Heavenly Dao surged a hundredfold, a thousandfold!"

He had manufactured disasters and driven mortals to despair, then posed as their savior to wring gratitude from them. Through a gap in the Heavenly Dao's rules, he had extracted vast amounts of "Heavenly Dao merit"!

This was the loophole the Tianluo Ancestor had devised after convincing himself that he understood the Heavenly Dao's rules!

"As long as I'm wrapped in this thick layer of Merit Golden Light, the Investiture of the Gods Calamity will never fall upon me!"

The Tianluo Ancestor laughed wildly and inhaled a wisp of "false merit" tinged with lingering resentment from above the blood pool. Immortal light flashed around him.

He thought no one knew of his scheme. He thought the Heavenly Dao was merely a cold set of Laws, and that matching its procedures on the surface was enough to deceive it.

But...

He had no idea that the Heavenly Dao Network spanning the myriad worlds was no cold machine. Behind it sat a supreme mastermind in the Canglan Realm's Library Pavilion, holding more than thirty million Karma Points!

The Library Pavilion, behind the Primordial Xuanmen in the Canglan Realm.

The scent of tea drifted through the air. Sunlight fell across the desk.

Su Chen reclined in his chair and traced a line through the air with his long, well-proportioned fingers. The system interface clearly displayed the black blood pool in the Tianluo Sacred Ground's hidden chamber.

As he watched the Tianluo Ancestor's ugly, self-satisfied face, utter coldness flashed deep in Su Chen's gentle eyes.

"Found a way to farm Heavenly Dao merit? Fraud and the slaughter of mortals to forge merit?"

Su Chen shook his head and gave a low, cold laugh.

In the system of Primordial World mythology, the Heavenly Dao was impartial, and karma always came full circle.

Merit was heaven and earth's response to righteous deeds. How could such a crude trick—manufacturing disasters to extract gratitude—deceive it? The "false merit" inside the Tianluo Ancestor seemed to glitter with golden light, but in the universe's underlying web of karma, it was already tangled with boundless malice and terrifying Karmic Calamity Fiendish Aura!

"I was still considering who should be the first righteous god on the Investiture of the Gods Heavenly Ranking."

Su Chen lifted his cup, took a small sip of Spirit Tea, and gazed into the distance.

"Since you're so fond of exploiting the Heavenly Dao's loopholes, the Tianluo Sacred Ground can take first place on the Investiture of the Gods List."

With a thought, Su Chen brought up the Heaven-Patrolling Law Edict buried deep within the system.

He spent ten thousand Karma Points to send a Xuanmen Heaven-Patrolling Divine Edict to Falling Geese Peak, hundreds of millions of li from the Canglan Realm. Only Lin Qiye could sense it!

The sheer cliff of Falling Geese Peak.

Lin Qiye stood with his hands behind his back, his plain green robes snapping in the evening wind.

Suddenly!

The Heavenly Eye Talisman Seal deep in his forehead grew searing hot without warning! A wisp of dark-gold immortal light formed from pure Heavenly Dao Laws exploded in his mind, revealing a clear map of starry coordinates and the calamity's karmic ties!

In that vision, a strange dark-gold glow shrouded the Tianluo Great World. Beneath it, the wronged souls of three hundred thousand mortals shrieked in the depths of the Nine Netherworlds!

"The Tianluo Great World... They used Xuanmen's name to manufacture disasters, slaughter mortals, and forge merit?!"

Lin Qiye's eyes flew open. Dark-gold light shot from his pupils like a blade drawn from its sheath, piercing the highest heavens!

The second level of the Eight-Nine Profound Art surged through him, and the Merit Divine Runes around him blazed. A fierce will to patrol the heavens and execute the wicked who hid behind a mask of virtue rose from him!

"The Heavenly Dao is impartial, and merit is pure. How dare you trample and defile it?!"

Lin Qiye gripped the Broken Sword on his back. Without alerting the Primordial Xuanmen's main force, he took one step forward and passed through the Physical Southern Heavenly Gate. He became a dark-gold streak that tore across the stars, racing toward the Tianluo Great World in the Ziwei Star Domain!

Heaven's patrol had begun. The first sword of the calamity was drawn!