Someone has to bear the burden, so why can't that lucky bastard be me

On this day, the sun shone brightly.

Another batch of newcomers arrived outside the Violet Star Celestial Court.

These weren’t freshly recruited trainee warriors, but officially appointed loose immortals under the Ascension Bureau’s registry—twenty-nine in total!

Among them, eleven were temporarily ineligible for the Heavenly Dao Divine Ranking due to their excessively high cultivation realms. The remaining eighteen were all at least at the late-stage True Immortal level, skipping the Earthly Deity Clerk rank entirely upon entry and directly ascending to the eighth-grade Heavenly Official status as True Spirit-level officers!

The most outrageous part? The leader of this group was a golden dragon whose cultivation level was unfathomable. Though not yet listed on the Heavenly Dao Divine Ranking, he was immediately appointed as the Chief Deity of the Ascension Bureau upon arrival—holding a second-grade True Court-level position, on par with Xu Jinghong, the acting Marshal of the Central Altar!

Honestly, the Violet Star Celestial Court hadn’t seen such large-scale exceptional promotions in a long time—this blatantly violated celestial regulations!

What kind of background did these newcomers have?

How did they swoop in and snatch twenty-nine spots on the Heavenly Dao Divine Ranking outright?

What?

You say it was by order of the Tribulation Sovereign?

Oh… never mind then.

"Xie Jingjing, you work at the Celestial Pivot Bureau—do you know anything about these people?"

Somewhere in the celestial palace, a group of Heavenly Officials chatted idly before their shifts.

Xie Jingjing, a ninth-grade deputy spirit-level official of the Celestial Pivot Bureau, shrugged helplessly when singled out. "Brothers, I’m just a ninth-grade clerk in charge of assessing trainee warriors and incense merit evaluations. Interviewing loose immortals and earthly deities is already beyond my pay grade. These newcomers started at eighth-grade, personally overseen by the bureau chief—far outside my scope!"

Hearing this, the officials fell silent for a moment before turning their expectant gazes to Hu Yi, a seventh-grade deputy deity-level official from the Fate Reincarnation Bureau.

"Hu Yi, now that these newcomers are in the celestial court, how are their destinies being arranged?"

Hu Yi shook his head as well. "All I can say is their backgrounds are massive. Our bureau chief is handling it personally, and the secrecy level is extreme—even the eighth-grade ones are beyond my clearance!"

Another round of silence followed before the group pinned their last hopes on a certain official from the Treasury Department.

"Fu Li, come on—you handle merit evaluations and are close with that young acting Civil God of Wealth. Surely you’ve heard something? What’s their compensation like?"

Fu Li, the sixth-grade True Deity-level Merit Auditor of the Treasury, smiled faintly. "Why so curious about others’ benefits?"

"Just tell us—I’m begging you!" one official pressed eagerly.

But Fu Li shook his head again. "Begging won’t help. You’ll have to wait for the official announcement."

"Oh? Fu Li, you actually know the details?"

"Of course he does! Who do you think he is? The sworn brother of the Civil God of Wealth! In a way, isn’t the chief of the Celestial Mechanism Bureau practically his father? You think this could slip past him?"

"True. Back when the Civil God of Wealth snuck out for that big mission, Chief Fang Zheng kept storming into the Treasury to interrogate Fu Li. Those ‘friendly exchanges’ were legendary. Yet not only did the Civil God return unscathed, he even accomplished a heaven-shaking feat. Behind all that glory? Fu Li silently bore the brunt of it all..."

"Fu Li, stop pretending. I saw you sneaking into the Fang residence through the back gate the other day..."

"Seriously, Fu Li, just spill it. We’re dying to know—these people waltzed in and took high-ranking spots. Are they actually capable, or just nepotism hires? What justifies their instant eighth-grade status?"

"Yeah! So what if they’re True Immortals? If we work harder, stabilize anomalies, maintain cosmic order, and boost providence, the Heavenly Dao’s ascent will elevate us to True Immortal status too!"

"I refuse to accept this! We’ve poured blood, sweat, and tears into the first ten-year plan. Now that the celestial realm’s ascension is imminent—granting pseudo-immortals True Immortal status and True Immortals Celestial Immortal breakthroughs, or at least realm perfection—these outsiders swoop in to reap the rewards?"

"Why should they?!"

"Exactly!"

"Why?!"

"They weren’t here to share the burden, but they’re first in line for the benefits?"

"If there’s no proper explanation, I’ll… I’ll just slack off!"

"If someone’s gotta carry the weight, why can’t I be the one coasting?"

"I—"

The officials seethed with indignation.

Fu Li, however, smirked and raised a hand to quiet them. "I know you’re upset, but don’t be too hasty. Let me tell you this—while they enjoy privileges now, their duties are far from easy. Their roles demand exceptional skill and frequent deployments."

"Put it this way: we endure hardship first for later rewards, while they get sweetness upfront but bitterness later. We might handle their tasks, but theirs? Not so much."

"That’s all I’ll say. Wait for the announcement. Now scatter—it’s time for duty."

With a flick of his sleeve, he floated off toward the Treasury, leaving the officials to exchange bewildered glances before dispersing like startled birds.

Meanwhile, inside the Violet Star Hall…

A gathering of second and third-grade Heavenly Officials convened for a major assembly.

This time, the Tribulation Sovereign himself attended, seated at the head of the table—eyes closed in meditation, though his consciousness had already departed.

Alas, the Violet Star Realm remained fragile; he couldn’t stay away from the Illusory Star Grotto for long. His physical presence here? Entirely due to the golden dragon’s immense face.

After all, this creature was the incarnation of a Chaos Treasure’s artifact spirit. First baptized by Lingxiao’s infusion—absorbing the immortal emperor’s Primordial Chaos power—then tempered by Wuji’s baptism, inheriting a complete Dao Ancestor-level treasure and the power of Infinite Wuji. Finally, Chen Yi’s six-star clone even channeled Chaos Lightning into it!

Frankly, the little golden dragon’s capacity was staggering, and its resilience unmatched. Despite repeated ordeals, it grew only stronger—far from crippled!

In raw cultivation, it might only be a Golden Immortal, but its combat prowess could force even a Great Luo to retreat!

And Chen Yi planned to return a third of the Creation Disk’s fragments, restoring half of its original form—making it even more formidable!

Thus, unless Chen Yi personally emerged to seal the dragon’s power, the Violet Star Celestial Realm couldn’t withstand its presence.

Even the four Great Luo prodigies of the immortal realm hadn’t received such treatment!

Such was Chen Yi’s regard for the golden dragon.