If the dispute were genuinely investigated, Loka knew he would gain nothing.

Daniel had already killed the Chief Inspector, the one official most likely to know the full truth behind the gate guards’ extortion. The dead could not speak, defend themselves, or shift responsibility onto anyone else. Every crime could now be placed upon the corpse.

Even if the Chief Inspector had still been alive, Loka would have needed to sacrifice him in order to protect the governor’s office. The man had become politically disposable the moment Daniel exposed the illegal inspections.

After several moments of silence, Loka slowly exhaled.

"As expected of a Supreme Commander sent by the Holy See," he said. "You uncovered the truth immediately upon your arrival. I misunderstood you earlier. As the governor of this region, I also bear a degree of responsibility for failing to discover the corruption beneath me. Thank you for cleansing my administration of a traitor."

The words sounded gracious, but everyone could hear the strain beneath them.

Loka could no longer condemn Daniel for killing his subordinate. He was now forced to thank him publicly. Whatever curses he might be hurling inside his heart were irrelevant. Before the officials of Uma Plane, Daniel had achieved an absolute victory.

The other officials changed their expressions just as quickly.

"The Supreme Commander is truly discerning," one declared. "That man had long been exploiting the people and abusing the governor’s name. Fortunately, Your Excellency saw through him and proved Governor Loka’s innocence."

"What a magnificent strike!" another added. "The traitor deserved death. To die by the Supreme Commander’s hand was almost too fortunate for him. Had he remained alive, we would have personally torn him apart for disgracing the government."

"Your Excellency eliminated a great danger the moment you arrived. Your judgment is truly admirable."

Only minutes earlier, these same people had accused Daniel of murder and tyranny. Now they competed to praise him, completely forgetting their previous outrage.

At last, they understood that the new Supreme Commander possessed far more than a temporary title. His cultivation might appear low, but his methods, courage, treasures, and political instincts were all terrifying. He had killed one man to warn a hundred and demonstrated exactly what it meant for a new official to arrive with fire in his hands.

Even Loka, a T7 Oracle-grade governor, had been forced into Daniel’s rhythm. The officials could only conclude that no one sent from the Holy See was simple.

Their contempt transformed into a mixture of fear and reluctant respect.

Once Daniel confirmed that no one would openly challenge his authority in Uma Plane, he waved his hand and dismissed the meeting. He then summoned his Emperor-class sacred vessel and prepared to inspect the Land of the Great Dao Tribulation Source.

He took none of the local officials with him.

They would be of little use in battle. Worse, escorting them would force Daniel to divide his attention between protecting unreliable subordinates and dealing with the Tribulation-Ash Monsters. He preferred to investigate alone. If fighting became necessary, he could act without restraint.

The officials watched the enormous vessel rise into the sky and disappear beyond the plane’s boundary. Only then did many of them release the breaths they had been holding.

"The Supreme Commander is personally inspecting the planes destroyed by tribulation-ash corruption," one official said. "At least he appears willing to perform real work."

Another sneered.

"What difference will that make? His strength is limited. There is no possibility that he can suppress the Tribulation-Ash Army alone."

"Exactly. If he possessed T8 Oracle-grade strength, perhaps he could eliminate the monsters without assistance. But he is merely Divine-grade."

"Just wait. He will return soon enough and beg Governor Loka to cooperate."

"After the way he humiliated the governor, even if he lowers his head and pleads for help, why should the governor truly support him?"

"The fact that the governor has not already placed obstacles in his path is an act of mercy."

None of them believed Daniel could accomplish anything alone. The Tribulation-Ash Army contained multiple T6 and T7 Oracle-grade combatants. How could a single Divine-grade commander possibly suppress them all?

Daniel, however, had no interest in their doubts.

He wanted to complete the mission as quickly as possible, return with undeniable merit, and strengthen Prince Dorek’s position in the succession struggle. The opinions of local officials were meaningless compared with that objective.

The Emperor-class sacred vessel tore through space toward the Land of the Great Dao Tribulation Source.

Before long, Daniel reached the first group of ruined planes.

The sight before him caused even his expression to change.

An entire Plane of Life had been reduced to tribulation ash. Gray-white particles drifted through the atmosphere like endless snow. Trees, mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, and even the earth itself had lost their original forms. Everything had decayed into layers of silent ash.

No buildings remained. No roads, cities, monuments, or traces of civilization could be seen. The tribulation ash had buried history itself.

The whole plane had become a dead gray wasteland.

This was the true horror of Tribulation-Ash Monsters. The Great Dao Tribulation Source within them did not merely corrupt living creatures. It interfered with the laws governing the world, causing matter, energy, and even spiritual structures to rot into ash.

A nauseating aura of decay rushed toward Daniel. It was not the smell of ordinary death. It was the scent of laws collapsing, of a universe losing the principles that allowed life and order to exist.

Daniel silently observed the ruined world.

Perhaps this was what every universe looked like when it reached its final moment. Starfields might die and later be reborn through the cycles of the Astral Realms, but when an entire universe reached the end of its lifespan, perhaps nothing remained except this cold, drifting ash.

He continued onward.

Plane after plane passed beneath the sacred vessel. Some had been completely erased. Others retained broken fragments of land or isolated pockets of life, but every surviving region was being consumed.

Eventually, Daniel reached the great world where the main body of the Tribulation-Ash Army had gathered.

He descended into the plane and immediately realized that he was too late to save it.

The native inhabitants were still resisting, but their defenses were collapsing everywhere. The Tribulation-Ash Army advanced with unstoppable momentum, slaughtering the living and converting the dead into new monsters. Oracle-grade Tribulation-Ash Monsters moved openly across the battlefield, corrupting the plane’s sages one after another.

From high above the world, Daniel could clearly see the enemy.

Every monster had gray, lifeless skin and blood-red eyes. Their faces and bodies still resembled the people they had once been. They retained the laws, Sacred Arts, and cultivation Ranks of their former lives, but all reason and identity had vanished.

Their Divine-grade treasures were gone. Tribulation-ash corruption had consumed every artifact they carried, reducing those treasures to useless residue. Even if a Tribulation-Ash Monster somehow obtained a new Divine-grade treasure, the artifact would soon be corroded and rendered unusable.

That weakness offered Daniel a small advantage, but it did not make the army harmless.

A warrior stripped of weapons was still terrifying when that warrior possessed Oracle-grade power and cared nothing for survival.

Below him, another city vanished beneath the gray tide.

Daniel’s gaze turned cold.

The local officials had expected him to return and beg for assistance.

Instead, he intended to end the disaster before they even understood that the battle had begun.