"Is it settled?"
"Yeah, it's settled. Yun Tiandao is now my divine guard." After leaving the Primordial Realm, Zhao Xing met up with Ji Si.
"That's good." Ji Si breathed a sigh of relief. Yun Tiandao had helped Great Zhou a lot. Back then, he contributed a huge amount of crucial startup funds. If Old Yun hadn't refused to take an official position in Great Zhou, he would be at least a demigod by now. After all, Yun Tiandao himself had already reached the Lord level.
"Any progress on that 'find someone' task Yun Tiandao mentioned?" Zhao Xing asked.
Ji Si waved his hand, and a curtain of water appeared in front of him, with a densely packed list showing up. "I went to Elder Feng Chen of the Academy City and got a list of scholars."
"Out of all the registered scholars in the Academy City, there are a total of one thousand three hundred eighty-five people named Pang Jialei, or whose Dao title is Pang Jialei."
"That's less than I expected." Zhao Xing flipped through the list.
"This only counts purebred scholars," Ji Si said, "It doesn't include the historians merged under Bowe's integration."
Zhao Xing nodded. Scholars are a talent-based occupation. When they're born, their innate origin automatically forms a blank Dao book, and their Fate Palace forms on its own. You can't become a scholar by cultivating later in life.
Of course, after Bowe unified the Starry Sky Historians and the Historical Scholars, there was a new path to become a scholar, but pure scholars were still rare.
Scholars are born at random, and even if both parents are scholars, their child might not be—just a slightly higher probability.
"If you include the historian group, the number goes way up," Ji Si explained. "We've already found over a million people named Pang Jialei, and that's after filtering out those below Origin Realm, not counting those who aren't registered."
The Xuanling Star Domain is just too big. The base number of historians who can cultivate later is huge.
"It's like looking for a needle in a haystack." Zhao Xing remembered his own experience searching for Midi.
"There's not a single clue, just a name. This 'find someone' task from Lady of Celestial Thunder really makes no sense."
Ji Si chuckled too. "I even suspect this is a causal trap thrown out by the evil god, deliberately eating up our calculation power."
Lady of Celestial Thunder didn't give any hint, just a name. So, to finish the mission, you'd basically have to drag all the people named Pang Jialei in front of her and let her pick.
"Whatever, I'll just let one of my avatars sort through it slowly," Zhao Xing said, leaving the matter aside for now. He had plenty of avatars and could handle it at his own pace.
Evil god missions were often like this—completely random, with unknown rewards and unclear requirements, and really tedious.
For 'find someone' tasks, Zhao Xing had seen many other demigods run into these in the Star Mirror.
Some people love a challenge, but in the end, the evil god is long gone and the person was never found.
Ji Si's theory made sense—maybe the task was just a cover.
"'Find an item' missions are easier, though. The first version of Jie Fa Luo is in the hands of Palace Lord Lu Ya of the Origin Heaven Palace," Ji Si said.
"Getting that artifact is just a dream," Zhao Xing shook his head.
He was familiar with Jie Fa Luo—he'd used the Jie Star Dao Weapon version before. Jie Fa Luo and the Twelve Wandering Gods were both famous magic weapons.
"It's said Jie Fa Luo was crafted by the Mechanist God Jie Luo specifically for Shennong of the Dao of Heavenly Timing. He wanted to follow in the Emperor's footsteps and forge his own path to the Dao."
"The Emperor made the Hunyuan Dao Tower for the Shennong of the Self School. Jie Luo tried to make Jie Fa Luo for the Shennong of the Heavenly Timing School."
"But clearly, he failed."
Now that Zhao Xing was involved at a higher level, he knew that Jie Luo was a god from the Barren Domain Era, known as God General Jie Luo.
Ji Si added, "According to the confidential files I got from the Heavenly Master's Office, the prototype artifact of God General Jie Luo is kept by Palace Lord Lu Ya. After the first nine eras of the Barren Domain, all news of God General Jie Luo vanished. No one knows where he went."
"I probably know where he went," Zhao Xing remembered what Gu Luohe had said.
God General Jie Luo probably went to that special solar year sealed off by God King Gu Xiao, trying to achieve the Dao of Heaven and Earth and make a true artifact for the Heavenly Timing School.
"But why does Lady of Celestial Thunder want the first version of Jie Fa Luo? I really don't get it," Ji Si's eyes flickered with the endless storm of causality as if trying to calculate something.
At this moment, the Eight Directions Mirror Spirit jumped out of the mirror on his own. He looked at Ji Si's hair, which was starting to fall, and interrupted, "Stop calculating, Ji Si, you're about to go bald."
"You can't figure out missions like this in just a few thousand solar years—you're just wasting your effort."
"A lot of these unsolved mysteries are purposely left behind by the camps from past timelines. As a Fate Officer, you need to know what to give up."
"Lady of Celestial Thunder is just a divine general of the Thunder God Office. Even she can't guarantee she'll actually reward her followers for missions like these."
"Like Zhao Xing said, just toss a net and see what comes up. Maybe that's all they're doing too."
"True, thanks for the reminder, Senior." Ji Si stopped calculating, stroked his bald head, and then his hair regrew automatically.
The Eight Directions Mirror Spirit pulled Ji Si into the mirror.
Zhao Xing saw the Mirror Spirit pulling Ji Si away for a private talk and wisely left.
"Yun, your issue is sorted out."
"Thank you." Yun Tiandao and Fairy Nifeng beside him were about to bow together, but Zhao Xing quickly helped them up.
"Yun, your problem is solved now, but there are still some things you'll have to handle yourself," Zhao Xing said. "You should only use this status to save your life when there's no other choice."
"I understand." Yun Tiandao nodded. "If everyone knows I'm your divine guard and I openly carry out evil god tasks, even the evil god would start suspecting me."
"But you can keep one of my straw puppet bodies with you. Normally, it's just a dead thing, but if anything happens, just take it out and I'll rush over right away," Zhao Xing instructed.
Yun Tiandao was a nobody in the whole Xuanling Star Domain, but Zhao Xing was different. All the national leaders and major powers knew him. That's the benefit of having a big reputation.
"I guess you could say I was just following orders when I stole those stars." Yun Tiandao smiled.
Yun Tiandao set out again, and Zhao Xing went back to his original mission.
Because of the info Old Yun brought about Lady of Celestial Thunder, Zhao Xing earned three thousand five hundred contribution points this time.
Zhao Xing immediately opened the Star Mirror. Once he combined it with the Primordial Token, he saw a unique exchange list inside the Star Mirror.
[Xuanling Treasure Pavilion]
"This is it, created by all the top human gods in the whole Xuanling Star Domain. Tons of secret and precious treasures and godhood resources are all stored here." Zhao Xing was a bit excited.
Normally, if you don't have the qualification, even a demigod wouldn't know about the [Xuanling Treasure Pavilion].
The gods among humans would keep filling the Xuanling Treasure Pavilion with new items.
Only godhood candidates—like Primordial Envoys, Reincarnation Envoys, Taiqiu Envoys—could see it and make exchanges.
A small line of text flashed in the Star Mirror:
[Name: Zhao Xing]
[Cultivation: Nine Calamities Demigod]
[Occupation: Shennong]
[Identity: Primordial Envoy (First Rank)]
[Total Contribution: three thousand five hundred]
[Remaining Contribution: three thousand five hundred]
[Contribution Ranking: one hundred eight thousand five hundred forty-six]
"I'm ranked at one hundred thousand?" Zhao Xing was stunned. "Are there really that many candidate demigods in the Xuanling Star Domain?"
"I don't think there are that many demigods here."
But thinking deeper, even if the Barren Domain Era didn't have that many powerhouses, if people got sent to the eras before the Barren Domain, then this number wasn't even that high.
Back then, there were more resources. If you only raised people during the Barren Domain Era, it would never be enough.
Zhao Xing explored the features in the Star Mirror. Sure enough, in the exchange list, he saw a function:
[Time Travel: Exchange requires contribution points, amount depends on time and location.]
[Barren Domain, First Era: one hundred thousand contribution points minimum]
[Barren Domain, Second Era: two hundred thousand contribution points minimum]
[...]
[Last solar year of the Luohuang Era (eighty-one realm-star years): one hundred billion contribution points]
"The last option for time travel exchange only goes up to the end of the Luohuang Era, and only to the final solar year. You can't go further back."
"If you treat different timelines as territories, with the two big camps fighting for them, the last solar year of the Luohuang Era, only eighty-one realm-star years were captured."
One solar year equals one thousand realm-star years, so the endpoint for time travel is only the last eighty-one realm-star years of the Luohuang Era.
It's easy to see that the other nine hundred nineteen years of timeline territory all fell into the hands of the evil god camp.
"What can I do with three thousand five hundred contribution points?" Zhao Xing browsed the treasure vault.
The Xuanling Treasure Pavilion had tons of valuable categories—great Dao artifacts, secret methods, spirit beasts, divine pills, formation maps, Dao diagrams, and special resources.
Zhao Xing quickly spotted a few familiar items.
[Boundary-Breaking Divine Stone: five million contribution points per piece, stock: forty-seven]
"So Old Qing got the Boundary-Breaking Divine Stone from here back then," Zhao Xing thought to himself.
"But at that time, he had just become a god, so scraping together five million contribution points must have been tough."
"He probably even went into debt."
Gods do get a certain amount of credit, but Zhao Xing saw this function grayed out in his own display—he couldn't use it yet.
"Old Qing probably owes a ton of contribution points."
"Boundary-Breaking Divine Stones can be absorbed by my god-level primal seed. I'll need to get more of these in the future."
With a stock of forty-seven stones, it's not a lot, but not exactly a little, since the treasure pavilion is stocked by a whole group of gods.
After all those adventures and battles across different timelines, only forty-seven are left.
Zhao Xing looked at another familiar thing.
[Page of Time (Barren Domain Second Era): eight hundred million contribution points.]
[Description: In the Barren Domain Second Era, you can infinitely rewind life and death, or use it as an anchor. If you run into danger in another timeline, you can instantly return to the Barren Domain Second Era.]
"Damn? This thing is worth eight hundred million?!" Zhao Xing used to be so grateful to Old Qing, but now he realized he got totally ripped off.
Back then, just to help him become a god, the Page of Time he secretly got ended up being handed in anyway.
But thinking about it, turning in something worth eight hundred million and getting five million out of it, and safe passage to the Red Star Empire and the Primordial Realm—Old Qing actually did him a solid.
"Wonder if I'll run into him again in the future."
Zhao Xing looked through the rest of the treasures.
"The resources to become a Free God as a Shennong require at least one hundred million contribution points?"
"And even then, there's no guarantee. It only gives you a chance to go to a certain time, with certain god-level primal treasures to help you break through."
"And you can only pick between the Self School and Earth Advantage School. In fact, the Self School Free God costs even more, since it involves drastic changes inside your inner world."
"Heaven and Earth Dao-Verification: Great Derivation Divine Weapon Deduction, single use—three hundred million."
"So the Great Derivation Divine Weapon is for this, deducing and filling out Heaven and Earth Dao-Verification secret arts, picking out the right Dao-Verification object, and even helping with the process."
"For example, if you're a Fate Officer, you can get full support to climb the Ten Directions Mountain."
"If you're a musician or a dancer, you can even ask a god to show up and perform in person."
"The Shennong's great Dao weapon, Vajra Bracelet, is forged from a segment of the ancient veins. It can collect anything—there's actually a god-level version of this thing?"
"Food Tribulation Method—wait, isn't that the Xu ancestor's secret art I brought back from the Transmission Tower? They're actually selling it for five hundred million? Hm, when the Emperor rewarded me with a Hunyuan Dao Tower, that was still more generous than this price tag."
A long while later, Zhao Xing reluctantly closed the Star Mirror.
The stuff in the Xuanling Treasure Pavilion was great, but everything was way too expensive.
With three thousand five hundred contribution points, he could only exchange for a small amount of resources for demigod tribulations.
"Even though the Xuanling Treasure Pavilion is the best out there, they still can't guarantee you'll become a Free God."
"As for Heaven and Earth Dao-Verification? The supportive tools and resources don't make that much of a difference."
"Three thousand five hundred contribution points just isn't enough. If I want to earn more, I have to find a way to get it from the evil gods."
Gu Luohe said before, when Bowe released an incarnation of the Cold Food Lord and shook the time-space channel, there were suddenly a lot more ways to get contribution points. Before, there weren't this many missions.
Now, in the mission lists, more than half are related to evil gods.
So, Zhao Xing immediately headed toward the Black Abyss Barren Domain.
This time, he brought his main body with him.
"Following the guidance from the Immeasurable True God statue, he's not in any of the known areas of the Black Heaven Barren Land."
One month later, Zhao Xing's main body was standing on a little flat boat, with a Black Heaven Moon Tree behind him shining gentle moonlight.
The Black Heaven Moon Tree was only at the Emperor level, but its light covered billions of kilometers. This greatly increased Zhao Xing's field of view. It could also send him blurred outlines and any strange movements happening far away, basically giving Zhao Xing a second pair of eyes. This was better than any mechanical scout.
A scouting device always had some separation, but the plant-type Black Heaven Moon Tree was directly linked to Zhao Xing's mind.
'I wonder what kind of mission the Immeasurable True God will give me this time. If it's like the Lady of Celestial Thunder, now that I'm a demigod, will I have to steal even more suns and moons, or kill even more star bandits and criminals?'
Among the tasks assigned by the top of the human race, destroying an evil god's lair was the simplest and most direct way to get contribution points.
The amount depended on the god's power, the evil god's rank, and how many believers they had misled.
A bit more complicated was doing the evil god's tasks, gaining their trust, and finding out their goals for descending into this world.
"The higher the level of evil god missions you complete, the better the reward. Destroying their lairs actually gives the lowest payout."
"I hope the Immeasurable True God is worth a lot," Zhao Xing thought.
Toward the direction where the Black Heaven Barren Land met the Purple Xuan Ancient Kingdom, there was a boundary ship sailing into the depths of the Black Heaven Barren Land.
This boundary ship was luxuriously decorated, wrapped in purple energy, as if two purple clouds were carrying it forward.
It was the royal boundary ship of the Purple Xuan Ancient Kingdom, and aboard was the previous ruler of Purple Xuan, Venerable Fuping.
Right now, Venerable Fuping was outside the ship, wearing black robes with a moon mark on his forehead, sitting cross-legged and cultivating. Behind him was a hall of offerings, and inside stood a statue of the Immeasurable True God.
Unlike Zhao Xing, who was just starting the Immeasurable True God's missions, Venerable Fuping was already making his third pilgrimage for the Immeasurable True God.
His worship statue was larger, and its divine power was much stronger.
Of course, Venerable Fuping wasn't betraying the Barren Domain Era's camp. He was also a godhood candidate, but he used the Xuanling Order from the Ancient Kingdom Alliance, while Zhao Xing had the Primordial Token.
Venerable Fuping looked like he was meditating, but he was actually inside his mind palace, talking with his friend, Venerable Holywing.
"Holywing, how's your mission going?"
"Me? I still need a little more to complete my third pilgrimage," replied the stunning man with light wings behind him. "Xuan, you're already done?"
"Yeah, just finished and on my way for the third pilgrimage."
"That's fast." Holywing looked a bit envious. "I was king longer than you, and it's been a while since I retired, so it makes sense I've stockpiled a bit more." Fuping smiled, "Holywing, you shouldn't have stepped down so soon."
Holywing shook his head. "What's the point in being king longer? Running an ancient kingdom gets you resources, sure, but at most you become a demigod."
"Unless your talent is freakish, able to create your own principles and prove the Dao, otherwise you're just going to cultivate your own source and become a Free God."
"As for god-tier resources, not only do you have to queue up for them, but it took until the second era of the Barren Domain just to get in line."
Fuping sighed, "I'm only a little luckier than you. The third era is about to start, and all the top people say there's a disaster coming. Holywing, I wonder if, when we meet again, we'll even recognize each other."
Holywing just smiled, "Fuping, don't worry. We get along, so even if there's a time-space storm, I believe if we meet, we'll still be friends."
"Haha, you're confident. There's not another Sea Queen out there though." Fuping and Holywing had once hunted the Sea Queen of the sea monster royal family together, but that was long ago. Now the sea monster queen was extinct.
"There's always a chance—anyway, I have to handle something."
"Oh, what's up?"
"In my country, for years now, yin-yang twin stars have kept disappearing. My people report it's some emperor good at escaping and hiding. The guy left a few clues, seems tied to the Red Star Empire—man, things are so broke now they even have to steal this stuff."
"Alright, go ahead."
Black Heaven Barren Land, Four Extinction Mountain Range.
Moonlight drifted like fireflies past the pitch-black mountains. Zhao Xing jumped onto a peak and rooted the Moon Tree into the stone.
"We've hit Four Extinction Mountain. Maps are useless now."
"This place is really off the beaten path."
Zhao Xing looked around. He couldn't even sense a single sound.
No light, no spirit, no water, no sound—those were the features of the Four Extinction Mountain Range.
Coming from the Spirit Qi Star Domain to this place, Zhao Xing felt like a fish thrown onto dry land. Even breathing was hard.
"This is crazy. Do evil gods all live in such harsh environments? What kind of backwater evil god is this…" Zhao Xing grumbled in his mind.
He sat down cross-legged, used the Insight Golden Headband to clear his thoughts, and then took out the Immeasurable True God statue.
"Yuu~"
The statue opened its eyes, and a beam of light shone from the mountaintop, pointing out a direction.
Zhao Xing followed that direction, traveling through the Four Extinction Mountains for about seven months.
Finally, he reached the base of a nameless black mountain. At the summit, he saw the outline of a temple.
Around the temple, there were even some flowers and plants, and he could faintly sense traces of spiritual energy.
'Looks like this is the place,' Zhao Xing thought. He attached the Fortune Free God's divine bone to himself, then swallowed a Mind Medicine—not to absorb it, but just in case.
Then he landed at the foot of the mountain. To show respect, he naturally started walking up the stone steps from the bottom.
"Whoosh~" Suddenly, a faint tremor came from the southeast.
"Hm? Someone's coming." The Black Heaven Moon Tree's moonlight flashed in Zhao Xing's eyes. His vision brightened as he looked southeast.
The newcomer was fast and was wrapped in two balls of purple light. Zhao Xing hid in the shadows and watched closely.
The other person also landed at the foot of the mountain, ready to walk up step by step. The purple light faded, and they returned to human form.
Even though there was disguise and aura masking, in front of the panel, nothing could be hidden. Zhao Xing immediately saw the person's real identity.
"Venerable Fuping? The former king of the Purple Xuan Ancient Kingdom?"
Venerable Fuping was a fourteenth-tier Mechanist, mainly following the path of the Mechanist Martial Artist. But Zhao Xing's panel also showed he was skilled in formations and forging—clearly someone who practiced many disciplines.
'I wonder if Venerable Fuping is really brainwashed, or if he's like me, doing a contribution point mission.'
Just as Venerable Fuping finished climbing, Zhao Xing was about to reveal himself. Suddenly, another flash of light shot over from the northwest mountains.
When the light landed, its shape was revealed: a tiger-headed, human-bodied, crocodile-tailed figure.
'A demigod of the demon race? Venerable Hujue.'
'Another one who has passed the fourteenth True Soul Tribulation. Immeasurable True God really does have some pull—these are all powerful followers.'
Zhao Xing waited for several hours. When no one else appeared, he changed his appearance and aura and began climbing too.
The temple on the summit was huge, its walls covered in flowing runes, as if the laws of the universe were carved onto the walls and barriers extended from the walls to the ground. When Zhao Xing entered, he found this place was a real blessed land filled with spiritual energy.
Past the temple gate was a white jade staircase, lined with pillars that looked like a million-arts divine needle mechanism soldiers, crushing space and time. Zhao Xing could even glimpse shadows of the past.
Soon, these visions faded as the pillars stopped. A majestic hall emerged from the chaos of time and space.
Taking a deep breath, Zhao Xing held the statue in both hands and crossed the threshold.
The smooth floor shone like a mirror. There was no ceiling above, just a haze of gray mist. The hall was vast, with four pillars holding up the sky inside.
The interior was very simple. Aside from the four pillars, there was only a silver-white mechanical throne in the front.
The throne's backrest was strange, like a clock seat. Looking closer, Zhao Xing found it was double-layered, with eight pointers in total.
Two of the hands moved counterclockwise, three clockwise, and three didn't move at all. Zhao Xing couldn't make out the markings or characters on the dial, so he didn't know what they meant.
Below the throne, two figures stood: Venerable Fuping and Venerable Hujue from earlier.
Seeing these two, Zhao Xing was surprised.
He thought, since Immeasurable True God came from across time and space, he'd be avoiding attention. His followers should avoid meeting each other for safety.
But even though they were disguised, this just seemed too casual. Zhao Xing couldn't tell if Immeasurable True God didn't care or just had confidence.
The two—one human, one demon—noticed each other, but never exchanged a word or even made eye contact. They just quietly waited.
Zhao Xing's main body stayed calm, but his clone back in the Primordial Realm smacked his thigh and stood up in excitement.
'Nice, a meeting! Now I can spot the traitor at a glance.'
'Report. I have to report this to the Ancient Kingdom Alliance!'
Reporting traitors also earned contribution points, and the reward was pretty generous.
'Destroying an evil god's lair—if it's just a crude wood carving with a hint of divine power, you get barely anything, just one thousand to ten thousand points.'
'But reporting a demigod-level traitor, especially if the mission is pretty deep, you can get up to five hundred thousand!'
'The demon race is technically allied with humanity now. If I report Venerable Hujue, I wonder if I'll get points for it.'
Zhao Xing's clone rushed straight to the Gu Luohe Palace in Primordial City.
"Why are you back so soon?"
Gu Luohe was surprised—it had only been a few months since Zhao Xing left last time.
'Is the evil god investigation going that fast?'
"Senior Gu, I'm at an evil god's hideout, waiting for the descent," Zhao Xing reported. "I've run into two evil god followers and accidentally saw their true faces, confirmed their identities."
"What rank?" Gu Luohe asked offhand.
"Both are demigods who've passed the fourteenth True Soul Tribulation."
"Hm?" Now Gu Luohe was truly surprised.
Zhao Xing had only just started interacting with evil gods—how did he already run into such high-level followers?
A demigod who has passed fourteen tribulations—this level isn't low at all. In the entire Xuanling Star Domain, these are big names, powers who shake a region.
"Senior Gu, can I report it right now?" Zhao Xing asked, worried about revealing secrets. "Do I need to go to the Celestial Master's Office—"
"No need," Gu Luohe waved it off. "Primordial City itself blocks all fate and secrets. Not only is Immeasurable Evil God just a god of formations—even if he were the god of fate, he couldn't calculate anything in Primordial Realm. You can treat Primordial City as its own independent time-space."
With that reassurance, Zhao Xing relaxed.
"One of them is Venerable Fuping, the previous monarch of the Purple Xuan Ancient Kingdom."
"The other is Venerable Hujue from the demon race."
Gu Luohe closed his eyes, as if communicating with someone. After a moment, he reopened them.
"Zhao Xing, Venerable Fuping is an infiltrator like you, working on a mission for the human race. So any report against him is invalid."
Gu Luohe was direct. He had to let Zhao Xing know Fuping's undercover status, otherwise Zhao Xing might forget and try to report him again after leaving.
"As for this Hujue, he really is a traitor." A cold look flashed in Gu Luohe's eyes.
"Just now, a demon god immediately checked the clone Hujue left in demon territory. Through the thread of karma, they confirmed Hujue did appear in the Black Heaven Wasteland and is seriously suspicious."
"But the demon alliance with us isn't that solid, and relations aren't great. Reporting Hujue will only get you one hundred fifty thousand contribution points."
Zhao Xing understood. Whether the demon race produces traitors is their own business. If humans intervene, it's really meddling.
Plus, the alliance has only lasted three thousand years. Getting one hundred fifty thousand contribution points is already a good deal. That's only because Hujue's betrayal is significant—his status among the demon race isn't low.
"Buzz~"
Gu Luohe waved his hand. Zhao Xing looked down and saw his star mirror's contribution points had updated.
From three thousand five hundred up to one hundred fifty-three thousand five hundred. As for his ranking, it only rose by seven places.
It seemed he was one of the last candidates added from the second era of the wasteland, so others' contribution points were all much higher.
"You're pretty lucky, huh? You just started investigating and already ran into such a good opportunity," Gu Luohe commented. "But whether it's Hujue or Fuping, both should be masters of disguise and hidden auras, and maybe even protected by evil gods. How did you see through them?"
"My—"
"Hmm?"
Zhao Xing almost blurted it out.
In the past, when he couldn't explain something, he'd just say, 'My master Qing Yuzhi,' or 'My master Gu Luohe.'
But this time, with Gu Luohe personally asking, that excuse wouldn't work.
"In my hometown, I inherited Wei Tianchen's legacy and got the Fortune Free God's divine bone," Zhao Xing explained.
"Go on, then," Gu Luohe didn't press further. He really was the ultimate boss—always covering for his people and generous with rewards.
"Yes," Zhao Xing bowed and took his leave.
Outside Gu Luohe's palace, Zhao Xing looked at his new contribution points, feeling a surge of excitement.
'The panel is a killer weapon. Catching evil god followers is almost guaranteed every time. As long as I worship enough evil gods, I'll definitely bump into more traitors.'
'If this keeps up, maybe I can collect enough resources to become a god just by reporting people.'
Zhao Xing was pumped. Meanwhile, in the Black Heaven Wasteland, Venerable Hujue was in a bad way.
Now that his identity was exposed, all his assets in the demon kingdom were confiscated. His family—some arrested, some executed.
Even worse, a demon god in charge of him laid a curse through the Dao of Karma.
Though it hadn't taken effect yet, as soon as he returned to the Spirit Qi Star Domain, his lifespan would plummet to a dangerously low level, and even his strength would drop drastically.
'How did I get exposed? From what Lord Ji asked, it sounds like someone ratted me out. Damn it, I was so careful—' Hujue felt like his heart was bleeding. His breathing turned labored.
He focused all his suspicion on Zhao Xing and Venerable Fuping.
At this moment, Zhao Xing didn't show a hint of anything strange.
That's because he genuinely didn't know his clone had reported Hujue.
The clones made from the Primordial Straw Puppet Technique are totally independent. Before climbing the mountain, Zhao Xing used the Insight Golden Headband to purify his mind, so Immeasurable True God wouldn't notice anything odd—he really had no thoughts or actions out of place.
Meanwhile, his clone that received news from the Black Heaven Wasteland had a brief delay.
So after entering the temple, his clone completed the report, but the main body knew nothing and wouldn't until he left the temple.
Venerable Hujue's suspicious gaze swept over Zhao Xing, then quickly landed on Venerable Fuping.
Because he noticed that while the new human follower didn't show any strange reaction, Fuping—the one he'd met before—also trembled a little just now.
'Could it be him?!' Hujue instantly made the connection.
If Fuping knew Hujue was thinking this, he'd be screaming injustice.
His aura had only shaken because he'd been questioned too, and his superior god had given him a karma shield just in case he got exposed in front of Immeasurable True God.
Fuping himself was puzzled. Who saw through him? Could it be this unknown demon next to him?
He looked back for a moment, but this just made Hujue even more suspicious.
'Damn it, it's definitely him!' Hujue cursed internally, hating this unknown human more than anything.
If they weren't in the temple, he'd jump on him right now and tear him to shreds.
'Just wait!' Hujue mentally marked Fuping as a mortal enemy—and Zhao Xing as well.
"Ding-dong~"
At that moment, the clock hand on the mechanical throne suddenly moved. Endless golden light filled the space-time around them, and a towering figure appeared.
Immeasurable True God had descended!