"Congratulations, Crown Prince."
Upon hearing this, Xie Lian looked up, smiling before speaking, "Thank you. But, can I ask what you're congratulating me for?"
True Lord Ling Wen stood with her hands behind her back and said, "Congratulations on taking the top spot in this cycle's 'Most Wanted to be Banished to the Mortal Realm' list for divine officials."
Xie Lian replied, "Well, it's a first place in something, at least. But since you're congratulating me, there must be something good about it, right?"
Ling Wen said, "There is. For being first on this list, you get a hundred merits."
Xie Lian immediately said, "If there's another list like this next time, please be sure to include me again."
Ling Wen asked, "Do you know who the second place is?"
Xie Lian thought for a moment and said, "It's too hard to guess. If we're talking about skill, I should be able to take the top three spots myself."
Ling Wen said, "Close enough. There is no second place. You left everyone else far behind."
Xie Lian said, "I really can't accept this. So who was the first place in the last cycle?"
Ling Wen said, "There wasn't one. This list was only started this year, or to be precise, today."
"Huh," Xie Lian was taken aback and said, "So, this list was made just for me?"
Ling Wen said, "You could say you just happened to be the first to win it."
Xie Lian smiled, "Alright, thinking of it that way makes me a bit happier."
Ling Wen continued, "Do you know why you won first place?"
Xie Lian said, "Because everyone wanted it."
Ling Wen said, "Let me tell you the reason. Look at that clock."
She pointed, and Xie Lian turned to look, seeing a beautiful scene of white jade palaces, pavilions, and towers, surrounded by celestial clouds and flying birds.
But after looking for a while, he asked, "Did you point in the wrong direction? Where's the clock?"
Ling Wen said, "No mistake. It's there, do you see it?"
Xie Lian looked carefully again and truthfully said, "I don't see it."
Ling Wen said, "It's right that you don't see it. There used to be a clock there, but when you ascended, you knocked it down."
"…"
"That clock was older than you, but it was lively and loved a good show. Whenever someone ascended, it would chime a few times to celebrate. On the day you ascended, it rang like crazy and wouldn't stop until it fell off the tower and hit a passing divine official."
Xie Lian asked, "Is it fixed now?"
Ling Wen said, "No, it's still being repaired."
Xie Lian asked, "I meant the divine official who got hit."
Ling Wen said, "It was a martial god, and he split it in half on the spot. Now, look at that golden hall over there. Do you see it?"
She pointed again, and Xie Lian looked, seeing a dazzling glazed golden roof in the misty clouds, "Ah, I see it this time."
Ling Wen said, "Seeing it is wrong. There was nothing there originally."
"…"
"When you ascended, you knocked down the golden pillars and shattered the glazed tiles of several divine officials' halls. Some couldn't be repaired immediately, so they had to build temporary ones."
"Is it my responsibility?"
"It is."
"Hmm…" Xie Lian confirmed, "Did I offend many divine officials as soon as I arrived?"
Ling Wen said, "If you can make amends, maybe not."
"How can I make amends?"
"Easy. Eight million eight hundred eighty-eight thousand merits."
Xie Lian laughed again.
Ling Wen said, "Of course, I know you can't even come up with a tenth of that."
Xie Lian honestly said, "To be honest, even if you asked for a ten-thousandth, I couldn't come up with it."
In the mortal realm, believers' faith turns into divine officials' power, and each offering and incense is called "merit."
After laughing, Xie Lian seriously asked, "Would you be willing to kick me down from here and give me eight million eight hundred eighty-eight thousand merits?"
Ling Wen said, "I'm a civil god. If you want someone to kick you, you should find a martial god. The harder the kick, the more you get."
With a long sigh, Xie Lian said, "Let me think about what to do."
Ling Wen patted his shoulder and said, "Don't worry, there's always a way."
Xie Lian said, "For me, the ship naturally sinks when it reaches the bridge."
Back in the peak days of the Divine Joy Palace eight hundred years ago, eight million eight hundred eighty-eight thousand merits would have been nothing. The Crown Prince wouldn't even blink at spending that much. But now, it's different. His temples in the mortal realm have long been burned to the ground. No believers, no incense, no offerings.
No need to say more. There's just nothing, nothing at all!
After squatting by the street in the Immortal Capital with a headache for a long time, he suddenly remembered that he had been ascended for almost three days but hadn't entered the Spirit Communication Array of the Heavenly Court. He forgot to ask for the password.
The divine officials of the Heavenly Court had set up an array that allowed their consciousness to communicate instantly within it.
After ascending, one must enter the array.
But you need to know the password to find the specific Spirit Communication Array.
The last time Xie Lian entered the array was eight hundred years ago, and he couldn't remember the password at all.
He sent out his consciousness to search and found an array that looked familiar, so he entered it randomly.
As soon as he entered, he was overwhelmed by cheers from all directions:
"Place your bets on how long our Crown Prince will last this time before going back down!!"
"I bet a year!"
"A year is too long. Last time it was just a stick of incense, this time three days. Bet on three days!"
"Don't be stupid! Three days are almost over, can't you do better?!"
…Xie Lian quietly backed out.
Wrong. Definitely not this one.
In the Heavenly Court, all are well-known great divine officials, each busy with their duties.
And since they all ascended properly, they usually maintain a certain dignity, speaking and acting with decorum.
It was only during his first ascension that Xie Lian was too excited and greeted every divine official in the Spirit Communication Array, seriously and thoroughly introducing himself from head to toe.
After exiting, he searched again and randomly entered another one. This time, Xie Lian felt relieved, thinking, "It's so quiet, it must be this one."
At this moment, he heard a voice gently say, "Crown Prince, you're back again?"
The voice was very pleasant to hear, soft and refined. But upon closer listening, it was quite cold and emotionless, making the softness seem somewhat insincere.
Xie Lian originally just wanted to follow the rules and quietly stay in the array, but since someone had already spoken to him, he couldn't pretend to be deaf.
Moreover, there was actually a divine official in the Heavenly Court willing to talk to him, the God of Calamity, which made him very happy.
So, he quickly replied, "Yes! Hello everyone, I'm back."
Little did he know, after this question and answer, every divine official currently in the Spirit Communication Array perked up their ears.
The divine official slowly said, "Crown Prince, your ascension this time was quite a spectacle."
In the Heavenly Court, emperors and generals are as common as flowing water, heroes and legends abound.
To become a god, one must first be an extraordinary person.
Those who achieve great deeds or have great talent in the mortal world naturally have a higher chance of ascending.
Therefore, it's not an exaggeration to say that kings, princesses, princes, and generals are not rare here.
Everyone addresses each other with courtesy, calling each other Your Majesty, Your Highness, General, or Leader, as a form of flattery.
But the way this divine official addressed him didn't quite fit.
Although he repeatedly called him Crown Prince, it didn't feel like there was any respect in it, more like he was poking with needles.
There were a few other divine officials in the array who were also genuine Crown Princes, and they felt uncomfortable hearing him call Xie Lian like that.
Xie Lian realized the other party wasn't friendly, but he didn't want to compete, so he laughed and said, "It was alright."
However, the divine official didn't give him a chance to escape, coldly saying, "Crown Prince, it might be alright for you, but I'm not so lucky."
Suddenly, Xie Lian heard a secret message from Ling Wen.
She only said one word: "Clock."
Xie Lian instantly understood.
So, this was the martial god who got hit by the clock!
Since that was the case, the anger was justified. Xie Lian, always good at apologizing, immediately said, "I heard about the clock. I'm really sorry, I apologize."
The other person snorted, making it hard to tell what it meant.
In the Heavenly Court, there are many renowned martial gods, several of whom ascended after Xie Lian. Just by voice, Xie Lian couldn't tell who it was, but he couldn't apologize without knowing their name, so he asked, "May I know your name?"
As soon as he said this, the other side fell silent.
Not only did the other side fall silent, but the entire Spirit Communication Array seemed to freeze, a sense of tension filling the air.
Ling Wen again sent him a message, "Your Highness, although I think you wouldn't talk this long without recognizing him, I still want to remind you. That's Xuan Zhen."
Xie Lian said, "Xuan Zhen?"
He paused for a moment, then realized with some surprise, "Is this Mu Qing?"
General Xuan Zhen is the martial god overseeing the southwest, with seven thousand temples, and is quite famous in the mortal realm.
And this General Xuan Zhen, whose real name is Mu Qing, was once a deputy general under the Crown Prince of Divine Joy Palace eight hundred years ago.
Ling Wen was also surprised, "You really didn't recognize him?"
Xie Lian said, "I really didn't. He didn't talk to me like this before. And I can't even remember the last time I saw him, whether it was five hundred or six hundred years ago. I can barely remember what he looks like, let alone recognize his voice."
The array was still silent. Mu Qing said nothing. Meanwhile, the other divine officials pretended not to be listening while eagerly waiting for someone to continue the conversation.
It's a bit awkward between these two. The story has been passed around for so long that everyone knows most of it.
Back then, Xie Lian was the esteemed Crown Prince of Divine Joy, practicing at the Royal Daoist Temple.
This temple had strict standards for selecting disciples.
Mu Qing, born to a poor family with a father who was executed as a criminal, had no chance of entering such a place, so he could only work as a servant, cleaning and serving tea for the Crown Prince.
Xie Lian saw his hard work and asked the national teacher to make an exception and accept him as a disciple.
With the Crown Prince's word, Mu Qing was allowed to train alongside him.
After ascending, Xie Lian appointed him as a general, taking him to the Immortal Capital.
However, after Divine Joy Kingdom was destroyed and Xie Lian was banished, Mu Qing didn't follow him. Not only did he not follow, but he didn't even speak a word for him.
With the Crown Prince gone, he was free and found a place to train hard, eventually ascending on his own.
Once, they were worlds apart, now they are again, but their positions have completely reversed.
On this end, Ling Wen said, "He's very angry."
Xie Lian said, "I guessed as much."
Ling Wen said, "Should I change the topic? You can slip away."
Xie Lian said, "No need, just pretend nothing happened."
Ling Wen said, "Really? It looks awkward to me."
Xie Lian said, "It's alright!"
Xie Lian, as a person, can handle anything but death; he loses face often but doesn't mind.
He's done far more awkward things than this and truly felt it was alright.
Who knew, never say something is alright too soon, because as soon as he said that, a voice roared, "Who the heck tore down my golden hall?! Get out here!!!"
This shout made the celestial gods in the array feel like their heads were about to explode.
Though they were already feeling tumultuous inside, they all held their breath, waiting to see how Xie Lian would respond to this outburst.
Little did they expect, there was more to come, and before Xie Lian could speak, Mu Qing chimed in.
He just laughed twice, "Heh heh."
The newcomer coldly said, "You did it? Fine, just wait."
Mu Qing calmly said, "I didn't say it was me, don't accuse me."
The other person said, "Then why did you laugh? Are you crazy?"
Mu Qing said, "No reason, what you said was funny. The person who tore down your golden hall is in the array right now, ask them yourself."
Things had reached this point, and Xie Lian felt it was inappropriate to just run away.
He cleared his throat and said, "It was me. I'm sorry."
As soon as he spoke, the newcomer also fell silent.
Ling Wen sent another message, "Your Highness, that's Nan Yang."
Xie Lian said, "I recognized him. But he seems not to have recognized me."
Ling Wen said, "No. He just spends more time wandering the mortal realm and rarely returns to the Immortal Capital, so he didn't know you ascended again."
True Lord Nan Yang is the martial god overseeing the southeast, with nearly eight thousand temples, and is greatly loved by the people.
His real name is Feng Xin, and eight hundred years ago, he was the first divine general under the Crown Prince of Divine Joy Palace.
Feng Xin is known for his loyalty, serving as Xie Lian's guard since he was fourteen, growing up together, ascending together, being banished together, and exiled together.
Unfortunately, they didn't endure the eight hundred years together and eventually parted ways, never to meet again.