Chapter 636

Inside the Lingxiao Baodian, the assembled demons stared at one another, their eyes filled with utter disbelief.

Using secular rules to restrain Saints?

Those are Heavenly Dao Saints who survive ten thousand tribulations without perishing, who touch cause and effect without being stained!

But deep-thinking figures like Kunpeng and Fuxi suddenly erupted with terrifyingly sharp light in their eyes.

They understood.

"Your Highness means..." Bai Ze took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the shock in his heart, "Use the rules we set to govern the Saints' sects?"

"Govern is too strong a word; it's a transaction."

"Saints are influenced by great vows and Dao lineages; we cannot influence Saints, but we can influence their great vows, influence their Dao lineages."

Gu Yuan leaned against the soft couch, his fingers lightly tapping the small zitan wood table.

"Elder Brother, pass the order. Effective immediately, promulgate the 'Provisional Regulations on the Management of Dao Propagation in the Great Wasteland'."

"First, anyone who establishes a sect in the Great Wasteland, no matter how great their name, must register at the Heavenly Ranking at the Southern Tianmen. Those unregistered are deemed Wild Fox Zen; the Heavenly Court army shall exterminate them on sight."

"Second, sects recruiting disciples may not coerce or strong-arm. The human race is a clan under Heavenly Court protection; if any sect wishes to select outstanding talents from the human race, they must pay a 'School Selection Fee' to the Heavenly Court. For each person taken, they must compensate with an innate spiritual material or a supreme post-heaven spirit treasure."

"Third, and most important." Gu Yuan's lips curled into a cold smile. "All transactions by sects on the Great Wasteland — including pill trading, artifact exchange, and cave-heaven blessed-land leasing — must and can only use the 【Heavenly Coin】 and 【Nether Coin】 issued by my Heavenly Court."

"Violators: sever the spirit veins where they reside, strip away their sect's fortune protection."

Hiss—!

The entire hall echoed with the sound of sharp intakes of cold breath.

Ruthless! Too ruthless!

Where is this a management regulation? This is blatant robbery! It's putting a knife directly to the throats of every sect!

No registration means heresy; recruiting disciples requires paying a toll; even buying alchemy materials daily requires using Heavenly Court money.

This is equivalent to clutching the lifelines of the Saint sects tightly in the Heavenly Court's hands.

"Younger Brother..." Di Jun swallowed, his eyes both excited and worried. "With these rules established, the Three Purities and those Western Two Saints will likely kill their way straight to the Southern Tianmen."

"They won't."

Gu Yuan's tone was certain.

"Why?"

Gu Yuan pointed at the sky. "Because the Heavenly Secrets are in chaos."

"Hongjun, to shield their sanctification, disturbed the Heavenly Secrets. This certainly prevents us from divining their movements, but it equally blinds their eyes."

"More importantly... Saints do not descend to the field; Elder Brother, what are you worrying about?"

Di Jun understood completely.

The Wu Clan half-withdrawn, Saints not descending — then he, Di Jun, is the Strongest Below Saints!

"Bai Ze." Di Jun called.

"Your subject is here."

"Pass the order, activate the highest authority of the Zhou Tian Star Dou Great Array. Younger Brother, I will bring out the Hetu Luoshu; you use the Donghuang Bell. We won't divine the future; we will reverse-suppress!"

A glint of madness flashed in Di Jun's eyes.

"Using the power of the stars and the innate supreme treasure, completely lock the Yao Clan Heavenly Court's fortune in the Thirty-Three Heavens. Make them unable to calculate our troop numbers, unable to calculate our true trump cards!"

"As long as they can't see through, they'll be wary. As long as they're wary, they'll probe instead of launching all-out war."

"Saints most fear entanglement with unclear cause and effect. We openly establish rules; if they forcefully break the rules, they become enemies of the entire Great Wasteland's existing order, and Heavenly Dao fortune will surely retaliate."

Di Jun spoke with increasing clarity, abruptly stood, strode up the imperial steps with dragon steps and tiger stride, and fiercely drew the Heavenly Emperor Sword.

"Proclaim Our Imperial Edict! Immediately promulgate the 'Dao Propagation Regulations'! Announce to the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths!"

Three days later.

Kunlun Mountain, Yu Xu Palace.

Yuanshi Tianzun looked at the decree in his hand, forged from star essence gold and bearing the Heavenly Emperor Great Seal, his face iron-blue.

"Arrogant! Rash! Mere hairy horned creatures, how dare they point fingers at my Jiao Sect!"

Bang!

The decree was shredded to dust by the Saintly might surrounding him.

"Pay school selection fees? Use Heavenly Coins? Does Di Jun really think he is the Heavenly Dao!" Yuanshi Tianzun was furious beyond containment. He had just achieved sanctification and was preparing to widely open his gates and recruit disciples; this edict was practically a chamber pot dumped on his face.

"Senior Brother, please calm your anger."

Tongtian Jiaozhu sat to the side, toying with a purple-gold 【Heavenly Coin】 in his hand.

"This thing is interesting." A flicker of surprise flashed in Tongtian Jiaozhu's eyes. "It actually contains a trace of pure star origin and Heavenly Dao fortune. The refining technique is extremely exquisite; even I cannot replicate it in a short time."

"You still have the mind to study this broken copper and scrap iron!" Yuanshi Tianzun shouted in rage.

Taishang Laojun slowly opened his eyes.

"Junior Brother, do not underestimate the enemy." Laozi's voice was low and deep. "I just tried to divine the Heavenly Court's reality and illusion, but discovered the outside of the Thirty-Three Heavens is completely sealed by the Hetu Luoshu and Donghuang Bell — a piece of chaos."

"Di Jun's move is a Yang Scheme."

Laozi looked toward the Great Wasteland earth below.

"Now the Scattered Cultivators of the Wasteland all trade with Heavenly Coins. If we resist, our disciples going down the mountain to train will find every step difficult. Even buying a single thousand-year spiritual grass, no one will dare barter with them. Didn't expect the Heavenly Court started laying out this scheme so long ago."

"Then directly kill our way to the Heavenly Court, level that Lingxiao Baodian!" Yuanshi Tianzun said coldly.

Laozi shook his head.

"Name not proper, words not smooth. He established rules; if you forcefully break them, you ignore the legal principle of the Heavenly Court ruling on behalf of Heaven. Although the Heavenly Dao gave birth to us, it has not deposed Di Jun. Acting rashly, fortune will retaliate; before our sects even flourish, we would lose thirty percent of our fortune."

Yuanshi Tianzun gritted his teeth, yet could not refute.

The West, Mount Sumeru.

Jieyin and Zhunti looked at the edict, their faces turning green.

"Senior Brother, what are we to do?" Zhunti was so anxious he was stomping his feet. "We're poor to begin with! Where would we get an Innate Spiritual Treasure to pay that wretched selection fee! Human talent is excellent; if we can't ferry a few talents to the West, when will our Forty-Eight Great Vows ever be repaid?"

Jieyin's face showed a bitter expression, sighing repeatedly.

"The Heavenly Court's power is great; we cannot oppose it by force. The only plan now is to..."

Jieyin gritted his teeth.

"We can only go to the Southern Tianmen and register for filing."

Zhunti's eyes widened: "We are Saints! Go bow our heads to the Yao Clan?"

"It's not bowing low; it's integration."

Jieyin pressed his palms together, a flash of shrewdness passing through his eyes,

"As long as we enter the bureau, rules are dead, people are alive. Once we enter the Heavenly Court's sight, we can also take the opportunity to spread the teaching in the East. This is called... enduring humiliation and bearing burdens."

Thirty-Three Heavens, Southern Tianmen.

Ten Thousand Heavenly River Water Army arrayed in formation, weapons like a forest.

Under the Heavenly Ranking, before the temporarily established "Sect Registration Office," a long queue had formed.

Countless Scattered Cultivator great powers of the Great Wasteland, forced by the Heavenly Court's overbearing might, honestly brought their possessions to exchange for Heavenly Currency, queuing to register.

Just at this time, two figures draped in tattered kasayas, wearing expressions of suffering, slowly appeared outside the Southern Tianmen.

The Yao Jiang responsible for registration was about to berate them, when he suddenly felt his soul tremble.

Those two people emitted no pressure, but the faint Buddhist light swirling around them made the surrounding laws automatically retreat.

Zhunti's face was piled with smiles as he walked to the registration desk, fumbling in his sleeve and pulling out two shriveled Bodhi Zi.

"This General, we two brothers, representing the Western Teaching, have come to register. This... counts as the handling fee."

Gu Yuan, observing secretly, watched the two grand Saints in the Heavenly Mirror actually come queue up to pay the fee.