Touring the Heavens by Imperial Decree; Heaven's Way Allows No False Virtue

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

Since word of the [Investiture Calamity] had spread, the worlds had turned toward doing good and accumulating merit. Yet deep in the boundless stars, an undercurrent had begun to grow in secret.

Water too clear held no fish. Once rules were set, someone who thought himself clever would inevitably look for a loophole.

Ziwei Star Domain, Tianluo Great World.

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

Purple Qi billowed above the sacred ground's main peak, and golden light of merit flickered in and out of sight.

Tianluo Ancestor sat cross-legged beneath an ancient tree in a robe embroidered with nine golden emblems. 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, our Tianluo Sacred Ground has established more than ten thousand Xuanmen Goodness Altars across ten nearby mortal lesser worlds."

An elder in charge bowed and reported with a delighted smile:

"As you instructed, we sent disciples each day to quell floods, drive off fierce beasts, and distribute spiritual medicine. More than a hundred billion mortals are now deeply grateful to our Tianluo Sacred Ground. Thirty percent of the golden light of merit bestowed by the Heavenly Dao has gathered within your golden core!"

The surrounding elders looked on with heartfelt admiration and awe.

Tianluo Ancestor slowly opened his eyes. 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 a vast store of merit can keep the Tianluo Sacred Ground safe."

But once the reporting elder withdrew, Tianluo Ancestor rose and walked into a forbidden chamber behind the main peak.

Hummm—

The chamber's stone door slammed shut. Several supreme arrays that blocked divine sense and the Heavenly Dao's perception activated at once.

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

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

Within it, the vengeful souls of nearly three hundred thousand mortals writhed and wailed without sound. Above the pool, a False Heavenly Dao Array Disk, formed from the resentment of countless lives, gave off a ceaseless, uncanny karmic pulse.

"Heh... Mortals. Utter fools."

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

"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 to unleash floods and plagues in those lesser worlds and let great demons run rampant. I drove these three hundred thousand mortals to the brink... then descended as their savior and 'rescued' them with a wave of my hand!"

"Their desperate gratitude reached its peak. The heavens sensed it, and the Heavenly Dao's merit surged a hundredfold, a thousandfold!"

He had manufactured disasters to drive people into despair, then exploited their gratitude by "saving" them. Through a gap in the Heavenly Dao's rules, he had swindled a vast amount of Heavenly Dao merit!

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

"As long as I'm wrapped in this thick golden light of merit, the [Investiture Calamity] will never fall upon me!"

Tianluo Ancestor laughed wildly. He inhaled a wisp of "false merit" laced with lingering resentment from above the blood pool, and immortal light flashed around him.

He believed no one knew of his scheme. To him, the Heavenly Dao was merely a set of cold, unfeeling rules. If he met the requirements on the surface, he could deceive it.

But...

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

Canglan Realm, behind the Primordial Xuanmen, Library Pavilion.

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

Su Chen leaned back in his chair and drew one long, well-proportioned finger through the air. On the system interface, the pitch-black blood pool in the chamber behind Tianluo Sacred Ground's main peak came clearly into view.

As he watched Tianluo Ancestor's smug, ugly face, an absolute coldness flashed deep in his gentle eyes.

"A loophole for farming Heavenly Dao merit? Forging merit through fraud and the slaughter of mortals?"

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

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

Merit was the heavens' response to righteous deeds. How could such a crude trick—creating disasters to exploit people's gratitude—deceive it? The "false merit" within Tianluo Ancestor glittered gold on the surface, but in the karmic web underlying the universe, it was already entangled with boundless hatred and terrifying Karmic Calamity Fiendish Aura!

"I was still deciding who should be the first true god on the [Investiture of the Gods Heavenly Register]."

Su Chen lifted his cup and took a light sip of Spirit Tea, his gaze distant and unreadable.

"Since you love exploiting loopholes in the Heavenly Dao so much, your Tianluo Sacred Ground can take the top spot on that register."

With a thought, Su Chen called up the Heaven-Patrolling Law Edict from the depths of 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—an edict only Lin Qiye could sense!

On the sheer cliff of Falling Geese Peak, Lin Qiye stood with his hands behind his back. His coarse blue robe snapped in the evening wind.

Suddenly!

The Heavenly Eye Talisman Seal deep within his forehead grew burning hot without warning! A wisp of dark-gold immortal light, condensed from pure Heavenly Dao Laws, burst through his mind and formed a clear map of star coordinates and karmic calamity!

In that vision, a strange dark-gold radiance shrouded the sky above Tianluo Great World. Beneath it, the countless wronged souls of three hundred thousand mortals cried out in anguish from the depths of the Nine Netherworlds!

"Tianluo Great World... You 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 an unsheathed sword, piercing the heavens!

The second level of the Eight-Nine Profound Art surged within him, and divine patterns of merit blazed across his body. A fierce will to patrol on heaven's behalf and execute the hypocritical wicked rose from him!

"The Heavenly Dao is impartial. Merit must be untainted. How dare you trample and defile it?!"

Lin Qiye gripped the Broken Sword on his back. Without alerting the main force of the Primordial Xuanmen, he stepped forward and crossed through the Southern Heavenly Gate. He became a dark-gold streak that tore across the stars, heading straight for Tianluo Great World in the Ziwei Star Domain!

The Heavenly Dao's patrol had begun. Its first sword against the calamity... was drawn!