My version of Heavenly Dao is too old, so it's full of bugs.

Chapter 503 The Heavenly Court Has Gone Mad, the Dragon Clan Is Searching for Someone

From Venus's perspective, this was a great opportunity for ascension.

After all, apart from the Supreme Emperor Haotian, it would be hard to find another Heavenly Emperor who is so shameless and audacious as to make such a big decision as to recruit new gods without consulting the Emperor first!

Before this meeting at the Lingxiao Palace, Shanghao had clearly prepared his own ascension team long ago. His previous inquiry to the gods in the palace was merely to obtain nominal authority and recognition!

To put it nicely, this is called playing around.
To put it bluntly, how is this any different from fraud?
So at this moment, the gods couldn't help but feel annoyed. Some of the more short-tempered ones even wanted to storm down from the heavens and stop others from ascending.

But it's a pity.

This was the Lingxiao Palace, so the Supreme Emperor simply smiled and closed the palace doors, trapping all the gods inside.

Now even if they wanted to stop it, they couldn't.

Of course, the Supreme Heavenly Emperor did not want to truly anger these gods, so He quickly smiled and reassured them:
[Don't be nervous, everyone. To quickly replenish our fighting strength, our Heavenly Court has opened up 700 unclaimed divine positions. We've only used 500 so far, so there's still a chance for the rest.]

The gods' expressions finally softened somewhat, but some still said unhappily:

[Your Majesty! The Ministry of Finance is currently facing a great calamity, and the Heavenly Court is in dire need of funds. The tribulation energy required for such a large number of cultivators to ascend together will likely be considerable.]

All those who ascend to immortality, whether it's one person, ten people, or a hundred people, must undergo the tribulation of ascension!

Every calamity has its own energy source. Even the great calamity of heaven and earth does not come out of thin air, let alone the calamity of ascension.
Therefore, when someone ascends to heaven, in addition to the world itself providing a portion of the energy, the Heavenly Court must also contribute a portion of its resources to create a sufficient test.

This time, the number of ascendants reached a staggering five hundred!

The energy resources required for so many people to ascend are unimaginable, enough to make the current situation of the Heavenly Court even worse.

If those who ascend to heaven now were descendants of the gods, then paying this money would be acceptable. However, these people are all subordinates chosen by the Supreme Emperor Haotian himself, and the vast majority of them are Nascent Soul cultivators with no or weak backgrounds.

Why should we spend money and effort on these people?

The gods in Heaven aren't so kind!

Seeing the unpleasant expressions on everyone's faces, the Supreme Heavenly Emperor quickly smiled and said, "Indeed, given our current situation, expending too many reserve resources wouldn't be good, so let's not let them undergo their tribulation!"

The gods in the sky were suddenly stunned, then couldn't help but laugh:

[Your Majesty, you're not old yet, how can you be so senile?]

All deities must undergo the tribulation of ascension. This is not only because the Heavenly Dao requires them to be tested, but also because only the tribulation of lightning can cleanse their bodies and allow them to gain divine power!

Without undergoing tribulation by lightning, these people could never truly become gods!

Even Meng Shifei, a confidant of the Heavenly Emperor, had to undergo the tribulation of lightning before using the Jade Emperor's seal to forcibly break through the tribulation and successfully ascend!

What about other people?
Even if we take a step back and assume that the Heavenly Emperor Shanghao still wants to use the Heavenly Emperor's Seal to pass through this time, there are five hundred True Gods ascending together below. By the time you borrow it one by one, the people behind will have already been chopped into ashes!

The Supreme Heavenly Emperor laughed heartily, then suddenly produced a loophole in the Heavenly Dao, saying almost mockingly: "Who says that gods cannot ascend without undergoing tribulation?"

The gods fell silent.

Oh my god!!

The Heavenly Court has always maintained that it is correct to prohibit the use of loopholes, but now the Supreme Emperor Haotian is actually leading the way in using them?

This is too outrageous!

And even if you don't follow political rules, you still know the fundamental principles, right?

The prohibition against exploiting loopholes in the Heavenly Law is written in the first article of the first section of the Heavenly Law. How dare you, the Son of Heaven, lead the way in violating this law?

What happened to the rule that no one can be above the Heavenly Laws?!

Upon seeing the expressions on everyone's faces, the Supreme Heavenly Emperor couldn't help but sneer, saying, "I know what you're all thinking, but there are priorities. This time, in order to combat the evil forces, our Heavenly Court can no longer stick to the old ways!"

Therefore, I have drafted a special document outlining how to exploit loopholes in the Heavenly Dao during wartime, and submitted it to the Ministry of Rites and the Court of Judicial Review! It will be discussed by the nine highest justices, along with the deities from the Heavenly Court's Loophole Inspection Department and the Thunder Department's Divine Purity Inspection Department.

They probably won't come out until the results are in.

The gods of Heaven suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

Although the Ministry of Rites is not well-known in the Heavenly Court and is not included among the Eight Ministries, it is the legislative body of the Heavenly Court and holds the power to interpret the Heavenly Laws!

The Dali Division is in charge of internal audits, along with the Loophole Inspection Division and the Divine Purity Inspection Division. In other words, all the people in the Heavenly Court who manage loopholes have gone to debate.

Doesn't that mean nobody's in charge?
Gum!

The gods swallowed hard: "Your Majesty, how long will this debate take?"

The Supreme Emperor Haotian smiled and said, "I estimate that there won't be a result for at least three to five hundred years!"

The gods grew increasingly cautious, exchanging glances before finally one of them steeling himself and saying, "But the Heavenly Court's internal surveillance system is still operational. These records will remain in the major government offices, and then..."

[Ahem!] Laozi suddenly appeared out of nowhere and, in front of everyone, began to calculate with his fingers:
【Alas! I foresaw that these major government offices would all suffer from fire and water disasters, and would certainly be destroyed in three to five hundred years. It might even implicate the Heavenly Court!】

The only way to survive this crisis is to completely seal off these government offices and then utterly destroy them five hundred years later.

The Supreme Emperor of Heaven widened his eyes in "surprise": "[Such a thing has happened? This cannot be ignored! Guards!! Immediately seal off all government offices, suspend all internal oversight systems, and then perform maintenance on these systems!]"

[Let's make the maintenance last for 500 years!]

After saying that,

The Supreme Emperor then turned to look at everyone: "By the way, what were you all saying just now?"

The gods looked at Shang Hao, who was smiling.

Then look at the Three Pure Ones; they are also smiling.

Look at the Four Emperors again; they're still laughing!
The gods couldn't help but shudder at that smile, and quickly bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, we didn't say anything!!"

Taibai Jinxing stared blankly at the scene, thinking that they had all gone mad—the nine Great Sages had driven them insane with a single palm strike that descended from the sky!

"Ascension is the most important threshold for the Heavenly Court, and loopholes are the only bottom line for the gods of the Heavenly Court. Now they don't even care about the threshold and the bottom line anymore. It seems they have really been hurt!"

If He hadn't been seriously injured, would He have done the same?

At this moment, He changed his mind and suddenly felt that it was a good thing that Li Wei did not ascend. After all, if he came up now, even if he did not become someone else's cannon fodder, he would be devoured by the gods.
Feeling utterly bored, Venus sighed and stopped looking at the celestial gods who were all smiles and friendly. Instead, he turned around and began to look at his surroundings to pass the time.

As he looked around, Venus's gaze swept past the entrance to the inner hall of the Lingxiao Palace and suddenly saw a man in a white robe, with a plump figure and a blessed face, standing at the door, looking down at the gods.

Perhaps they noticed Venus watching them.
The man blinked and then suddenly smiled slightly at him.

Venus felt as if he were being targeted by an evil spirit, and goosebumps involuntarily rose on his back.

[Taiyi?! What's he doing here? Are all those old fogies in Jade Void Palace getting restless?]

Li Wei, oh Li Wei.

Please, please don't ascend to heaven at this time!

Otherwise, these old devils would prefer young people like you.

However, considering the time...

This guy should be back from Guanjiang Estuary by now, right?
What Venus didn't know was that Li Wei was no longer at the mouth of the Guan River!

now,

At the junction of Zhongzhou and the South China Sea, in that quasi-national territory.

With the defeat of the Heavenly Court, the entire territory within a 100,000-mile radius of the South China Sea became a paradise for the Dragon Clan. Countless water demons landed from the seabed, occupied cities and fertile fields, and began to build all kinds of law-based base stations.

Meanwhile, the law base stations in the East China Sea, South China Sea, and North China Sea are converging on Li Wei's quasi-nation, clearly indicating that the Dragon Clan intends to make this place their main base!
What's strange is that for such a huge project as the Migration Law Base Station, Ao Heng only sent a few dozen gods to participate!
Meanwhile, many other dragons were like searchlights, constantly flying through the sky, searching the quasi-kingdom in a net-like fashion.

Haven't they found the emperor yet?

【No! 】

[Damn it, where did that brat go?]

[Don't worry, once the Zhun Kingdom is established, people can't just come and go as they please! The Heavenly Court did manage to fight its way out, but the Emperor couldn't have left with them, so he must still be within these 100,000 li of territory. We must find him!]

The dragon gods raised their heads and looked up at the heavens.

Even though it was daytime, the sight of five hundred stars ascending to transcend tribulations was so breathtaking that the victorious smiles on the faces of the Dragon Gods vanished.

This is the Heavenly Court's true strength. Five hundred gods have died, but they can immediately recruit another five hundred. They're not afraid of attrition with us at all.

[That's right! Although the gods within the Heavenly Court have cultivated for a longer period and are more powerful, most of the old gods are already corrupt and not as daring and aggressive as the new gods.]

This time, the Heavenly Court eliminated a group of old gods and introduced a group of new gods, so it might become even more powerful.

Thinking of this, the dragon gods became even more solemn:

[Find that emperor as soon as possible!]

Taking advantage of the Heavenly Court's defeat, our Dragon Clan must completely take over this quasi-kingdom!

Otherwise, if the Heavenly Court returns with a vengeance, we'll be at a disadvantage!

The dragon gods dispersed and continued their search, but strangely, no matter how they searched, they could not find any trace of the emperor.

[Damn it, where did this guy go?]

(End of this chapter)