"Someone is rebelling!"

The next moment, a piercing alarm rang out.

The other gate guards immediately sounded their warning horns, and a group of soldiers who had not even reached Divine-grade rushed over, surrounding Daniel from every direction.

However, none of them dared approach.

Their faces were filled with fear and nervousness, and their postures were more timid than the last.

Daniel sneered inwardly when he saw their pathetic appearance.

What a worthless group of scum.

Before long, several officials within the city heard the commotion and hurried over.

Surprisingly, every one of them was a Divine-grade expert.

One of them stepped forward and looked Daniel up and down.

"Do you understand your crime?"

"I advise you to surrender immediately. Otherwise, the Holy See will issue a universal warrant for your arrest."

Daniel did not even bother looking at him.

He merely asked indifferently,

"What crime have I committed?"

The expert snorted coldly.

"The corpse on the ground is proof of your crime."

"You dared kill one of our city guards. Such an act is equivalent to rebellion, yet you still have the nerve to ask what crime you committed?"

"Men, seize him!"

Daniel remained completely unhurried.

He calmly took out a token from his waist.

"I will stand right here."

"Let me see who dares lay a hand on me."

"I am the Supreme Commander personally dispatched by the Holy See, entrusted with full authority to resolve the Tribulation-Ash disaster throughout the Heavenly River Starfield."

The moment they saw the token, the expressions of both the Divine-grade officials and the surrounding gate guards changed drastically.

None of them had imagined that the seemingly unremarkable young man before them was actually the Supreme Commander sent personally by the Holy See.

The surrounding area instantly fell silent.

No one even dared breathe too loudly.

Daniel coldly surveyed the experts who had been stunned senseless by his token.

"I have only just arrived, yet your people have already surrounded me."

"The man I killed attempted to extort a bribe from a Supreme Commander of the Holy See."

"Tell me—what punishment does such a crime deserve?"

The official swallowed hard.

He did not dare say a single word.

Daniel answered his own question.

"Death."

"Anyone who believes that judgment is unreasonable may step forward and debate it with me."

The group that had been acting so aggressively moments earlier immediately fell silent.

He was the Supreme Commander.

Whatever he said was the law.

Although Daniel did not yet possess a permanent official position and was only nominally the Supreme Commander assigned by the Holy See to suppress the Tribulation-Ash disaster, once he arrived here, he possessed full authority to handle all matters relating to the crisis.

He could exercise that authority at any time and in any place.

Of course, even as Supreme Commander, he could not arbitrarily place himself above every branch of the local government.

The sole responsibility of the local authorities was to fully cooperate with him in eliminating the Tribulation-Ash Monsters.

The Divine-grade official was deeply displeased.

However, there was no reason to completely fall out with a Supreme Commander of the Holy See over a mere gate guard.

Doing so would bring him no benefit whatsoever.

He could only suppress his anger and reply in a muffled voice,

"You are correct, Supreme Commander."

He waved his hand.

The guards surrounding Daniel immediately withdrew and put away their weapons, each of them still shaken by lingering fear.

The Supreme Commander before them had casually killed one of their companions with a single strike.

Had they not been bound by their duties, they would have fled the moment the attack occurred.

Since the situation had not escalated any further, that was already the best possible outcome.

Daniel rolled his neck and suddenly said,

"Bring Oracle Loka here to see me."

Oracle Loka was the local T7 powerhouse and the governor specifically assigned to defend the Heavenly River Starfield.

At present, he was also stationed within the Uma Plane.

As Supreme Commander, Daniel naturally needed to meet him.

One was the commander dispatched by the Holy See.

The other was the governor responsible for defending the region.

Only after the two sides established a working understanding could they efficiently deal with the Tribulation-Ash Monsters.

However, Daniel’s forceful attitude had greatly displeased the local officials.

It felt as though he had already replaced them and become their immediate superior.

"Oracle Loka is a high-stage Oracle-grade expert. Does a mere Divine-grade Supreme Commander truly think he can summon him whenever he pleases?"

"It is reasonable for the governor to answer the Supreme Commander’s summons, but his tone was clearly deliberate and disrespectful."

"That man from the Holy See is going to be difficult to deal with."

Many officials were dissatisfied by Daniel’s overbearing manner.

The Divine-grade expert suppressed his impatience and led Daniel into the city.

"Please follow me, Supreme Commander."

"I will take you to Oracle Loka immediately."

He then gestured for the others to remove the corpse from the ground.

As for how the matter would be handled, there was little to say.

The dead guard had simply been extraordinarily unlucky.

Of all the people he could have attempted to extort, he had chosen a Supreme Commander.

Daniel followed the official into the city and soon arrived at the government hall.

The moment he entered, he saw Oracle Loka waiting inside.

Clearly, the Oracle-grade expert had already witnessed everything that had happened outside the city.

However, he did not appear to care.

Instead, he welcomed Daniel with a broad smile.

"Welcome, honored guest who has traveled from afar."

"We are grateful that the Holy See has sent you to help resolve the troubles facing our region."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, all the senior officials stationed there gathered together.

Daniel could already sense an extremely dense aura of corruption filling the hall.

The corruption seemed to originate from the very foundations of the city.

In reality, however, it was the scent of the Great Dao itself being corroded.

It was tribulation ash.

Daniel’s gaze sharpened slightly.

Every person present carried traces of tribulation ash upon their body.

Even the entire city had been contaminated by it.

Oracle Loka possessed the strongest aura of tribulation ash among them.

Daniel had known that this region was close to the source of the Great Dao calamity.

However, he had not expected the corruption to have become this severe.

The stronger an existence was, the faster the Great Dao Tribulation Abyss would corrupt them with tribulation ash.

The Eternal Emperor had already reached the point where he was close to being completely corrupted.

Unless he successfully survived the Eternal Tribulation, he would soon degenerate into a Tribulation-Ash Monster.

Many officials within the Holy See’s imperial court were likewise only a step away from complete corruption.

The same situation could now be seen throughout the Uma Plane.

Because it was located near the Great Dao Tribulation Abyss, the entire plane had been affected by tribulation-ash corruption.

The local governor standing before Daniel—T7 Oracle-grade Loka—was the most severely affected of them all.

The progress of Loka’s corruption was already comparable to that of the officials Daniel had seen during the Holy See’s court assembly.

Fortunately, Daniel did not say anything.

He merely frowned slightly.

He had come here only to complete his mission.

As for the problems surrounding the Great Dao Tribulation Source, someone else would naturally deal with them in the future.

With that thought, Daniel immediately moved on to the main issue.

"I intend to establish a force here capable of suppressing the Tribulation-Ash Monsters."

"Does Oracle Loka have any objections?"

Loka frowned briefly before replying indifferently,

"Since you are the Supreme Commander, the matter is naturally yours to handle."

"We need only cooperate with your orders."