Above the Nine Heavens, outside the Lingxiao Palace, the Celestial Court Inspectorate.

  This was the supreme hub of the monitoring network for the entire Three Realms, where auspicious clouds floated year-round and immortal cranes circled the beams. Today, however, this solemn and majestic immortal aura was completely shattered by the piercing sound of jade cracking.

  *Snap!*

  Qianliyan (Clairvoyance) covered his bleeding right eye, rolling on the white jade floor in agony. The Mirror of Heaven Observation in front of him, polished from Nine Heavens Mysterious Ice, was now emitting pungent black smoke, with a hideously charred crack splitting its surface.

  Beside him, Shunfenger's (Clairaudience) two large ears were red and swollen as if scalded by boiling water. He was desperately trying to shove his head into a soundproofing immortal array, letting out screams like a pig being slaughtered:

  "Stop ringing! Stop! What the hell is that noise?! My eardrums are going to shatter! Is that a chainsaw?! What is the Netherworld sawing to create tens of billions of decibels of noise?!"

  The duty Star Official of the Inspectorate turned pale with fright and hurriedly pulled up the data logs of the Heavenly Dao Network.

  "Two Divine Lords, what exactly happened? What is going on in the lower realm?"

  Qianliyan's single eye was bloodshot. He pointed at the scrapped Mirror of Heaven Observation, his voice trembling:

  "I can't see through it... I can't see through it at all! The eighteenth layer of the Netherworld... no, below the Netherworld! An energy wave that simply does not exist in our system has appeared there! A green... devastating green ball of light! Not only that, but they have also privately constructed an unregistered cross-realm spatial channel!"

  "The underlying code of that channel isn't our Celestial Court's Mystic Gold Runes, but a heretical technology made of extremely volatile, pure physical kinetic energy mixed with an unknown baleful aura!"

  ...

  One stick of incense later, Lingxiao Palace.

  This system, symbolizing the highest authority in the Three Realms, was now plunged into an unprecedented "large-scale conspiracy theory scene."

  The Jade Emperor sat upright on the Nine-Dragon Golden Throne, his face sinking like water.

  Floating in the center of the grand hall was a blurred waveform chart that Qianliyan had desperately managed to intercept—it was the energy aftermath generated when the Slayer evaporated the Blood Sea with the BFG and when Singularity established the Abyss portal.

  "My dear ministers, speak," the Jade Emperor slowly opened his mouth. "What exactly are those ghosts in the Netherworld up to?"

  The first to jump out was the presiding God of Wealth from the Celestial Court Bank. Holding a golden abacus, he shouted in exasperation:

  "Your Majesty! This is a premeditated asset transfer! That old rascal King Qinguang just borrowed three thousand years of merit from my humble self a few days ago under the guise of 'Netherworld Infrastructure'! He even borrowed a bolt of 'Nine Heavens Mysterious Lightning' from the Thunder Department!"

  The God of Wealth pointed at the waveform chart: "Look at this energy peak! He borrowed money and hasn't repaid it, and even blocked the signals of our collection department! He is using the Celestial Court's loans to recruit troops and buy weapons of mass destruction!"

  As soon as these words came out, the immortals were in an uproar.

  Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li frowned tightly, stroking his beard, a cold, sharp glint flashing in his eyes: "What the God of Wealth says is very true. I have long felt that the Netherworld has been abnormal recently. The Bridge of Helplessness snapped for no reason, the physical Book of Life and Death was destroyed, and now they've come up with this spatial technology that cannot be observed by the Celestial Court..."

  Heavenly King Li looked around and threw out an extremely fatal deduction:

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "Most importantly, why did they build a cross-realm channel? Where does the other end of the channel lead? The Abyss! That is the territory of the Patriarch of the Blood Sea!"

  "I have reason to suspect that the upper echelons of the Netherworld have been corrupted! Not only have they embezzled public funds, but they have also reached some ulterior military alliance with the Abyss demons! They want to rebel!"

  This deduction was like a heavy bomb, instantly detonating the chain of suspicion throughout the Lingxiao Palace.

  Normally, the Celestial Court might find an insider to ask. For instance, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong, who loved to wander around and had extensive connections in the Three Realms.

  "Go invite the Victorious Fighting Buddha!" the Jade Emperor ordered.

  A moment later, the messaging immortal official ran back, sweating profusely:

  "Re... reporting to Your Majesty! Huaguo Mountain has set up a 'Divine Sense Interception Array.' The Great Sage's auto-reply said... said he is currently watching a 'high-intensity physical salvation live stream' and is not seeing any guests. He also said... said that whoever dares to interrupt him watching the show, he will tear down the South Heaven Gate..."

  Dead silence fell over the grand hall.

  The chain of suspicion was closed.

  The monkey knew the inside story, but the monkey wasn't telling; the monkey was even watching the show!

  What did this mean? It meant that this massive move by the Netherworld was definitely aimed at the Celestial Court!

  The Netherworld borrowed the Celestial Court's lightning to use against the Celestial Court?

  "Rebellion... this bunch of ghosts who don't see the light of day underground have truly rebelled!"

  A hot-tempered military general stepped forward. "Your Majesty! This unknown teleportation technology, this energy fluctuation not within the Celestial Court's registry, absolutely cannot be tolerated! If this is not strangled in the cradle, where is the majesty of the Celestial Court?!"

  The Jade Emperor's eyes grew cold.

  He didn't care whether the Netherworld was truly rebelling; he cared about things "escaping his control."

  That unknown portal technology, that green energy capable of burning the Mirror of Heaven Observation, had already exceeded the Celestial Court's system monitoring range. That was the greatest original sin.

  "Pass down my decree."

  The Jade Emperor's voice echoed in the grand hall, carrying an unquestionable, icy majesty.

  "Order the Celestial Court Inspectorate, the Thunder Department, and the Fire Department to draw elites and form a 'Lower Realm Special Inspection Group'!"

  "Led by two Golden-Armored Heavenly Gods, descend to the lower realm immediately! Carry the 'Heavenly Dao Shackles' and 'Magic-Banning Talismans'."

  "Go and find out for me exactly what that green energy source is! Go and find out the coordinates of that cross-realm channel! If it is an illegal structure, demolish it on the spot! If anyone dares to obstruct..."

  The Jade Emperor snorted coldly:

  "Execute them on the spot as a warning to others!"

  "Yes!"

  Two dazzling pillars of mystic gold light shot straight into the clouds from Lingxiao Palace, transforming into two mighty Heavenly Gods clad in heavy golden armor and wielding divine weapons. Carrying overweening arrogance and the icy will of sanction, they plummeted vertically toward the direction of the Netherworld

  ...

  Abyss Outpost, Portal Vault.

  The Slayer still stood on that suspended stone slab.

  Directly above him, the dark red dome of the Abyss had been completely torn apart. That mystic golden rift was no longer just leaking light; it had begun to expand substantively.

  Blinding golden light cascaded down like a waterfall, attempting to forcibly "purify" the surrounding air, which was filled with the smell of sulfur and gunpowder smoke, into a nauseating scent called "order."

  The Slayer made no sound.

  But on the backs of his hands gripping the Super Shotgun, the black Demon Dragon scales had burst open piece by piece due to extreme muscle expansion.

  *Clack clack clack...*

  From the crevices of his neck armor, boiling red steam spewed out. That was the physical manifestation of the Argent energy reactor in his chest cavity being on the verge of overload.

  He did not retreat.

  He merely aimed the muzzle dead on and steadily at that expanding mystic golden rift.

  The shotgun's barrel was trembling.

  Not out of fear, but because the emotion called "anger" in the person holding it had reached a critical mass that demanded immediate bloodshed.

  ...

  Netherworld Control Center.

  Singularity watched the two pillars of mystic gold light on the screen, smashing toward the Abyss with the momentum of falling meteorites, forcibly penetrating the planar barriers. Then he glanced at the "Celestial Court Debt Collection Text Message" that had finally popped up.

  His expression froze.

  "This is bad..."

  Singularity slumped dejectedly into his chair, reaching out to cover his face, leaking a groan of despair through his fingers.

  "These bureaucratic lords of the Celestial Court... these self-righteous idiots..."

  "They have absolutely no idea what they are facing. They think they are patrolling their territory? They think this is a violent debt collection?"

  Through his fingers, Singularity looked at the green back on the screen—motionless, yet the air around him was already distorting and nearly combusting from his killing intent.

  He grabbed the microphone, his voice carrying a tragic sorrow as he preemptively mourned for the visitors:

  "Next Chapter: Lower Realm Inspection."

  "The 'big shots' of the Celestial Court, with their overweening arrogance, have finally descended."

  "Great Hero, although I know this advice is utterly meaningless, I still have to say it... the other party is at least an official immortal within the system. Before you smash their arrogance with the butt of your gun, could you please... leave at least one of them alive? After all, King Yama still has to rely on them to explain to the Celestial Court that we are not rebelling..."