The farce at Lingxiao Palace had only just ended.
News of the Merit Golden Lotus giving off black fumes spread throughout the Heavenly Court's Thirty-Three Heavens.
Aside from their duties and meditation, what the gods of the Heavenly Court lacked most was entertainment.
Previously, these immortals had been sour with envy toward the Star of Literary Excellence, their eyes red over the Lunar Mansions Government Office producing such a stupendous auspicious wonder. Now the wind had shifted completely.
"Have you heard?"
"The Star of Literary Excellence presented his treasure at Lingxiao Palace, and that golden lotus started belching black smoke!"
"How could I not have heard? Those black fumes nearly blackened Empress Houtu's phoenix crown!"
"Serves him right! Let him swagger now! Did he really think we were all blind? The Mortal Realm's been squeezed dry. Where was that merit supposed to come from?"
When a wall tottered, every immortal gave it a shove; when a drum broke, ten thousand immortals hammered it. That was the Heavenly Court's normal state of affairs.
The quickest to react were the two wily, calculating Star Lords.
Southern Dipper and Big Dipper immediately ordered their immortal attendants to hang signs outside their Star Palaces: "In secluded cultivation. No visitors."
Doors shut, formations activated, they kept their immortal heads down.
No one was to come looking for them. Ask, and they knew nothing. Ask again, and the Star of Literary Excellence's conduct had nothing to do with the central administration of the Lunar Mansions Government Office. They cut ties with breathtaking speed and precision.
Meanwhile, the Star of Literary Excellence, at the very center of the storm, sat perfectly comfortably in his own mansion.
That was right. He had not been arrested.
Chen Wei had only taken Li Zhenji away first, telling the Star of