Chapter 297

【After realizing that someone else was actually using his banner to swindle, the young Xi Wang was furious; he decided to crack down on counterfeit! Crack down hard on counterfeit!】

【At the same time, you, far away in the county town, also noticed his presence.】

【With a faint smile, you, who had long been prepared, lay down in bed, then following the believers' sensed signals and coordinates, the vast incense divine power accumulated over the years surged without cease……】

In the sea of consciousness, the ever-silent Western King dharma manifestation suddenly opened its eyes, boundless killing intent surging forth!

It took a step forward and vanished on the spot……

"Western King? That's a liar!"

The young Western King flew into a rage, trying to prove to the villagers that he was the genuine Western King, and harshly cracking down on pirated versions to eradicate this shameful act of deceiving the world and stealing fame! But obviously the believers weren't so easily accepting his genuine theory, after all that dignified and benevolent Western King met with the believers every day, so the believers' steadfastness was extremely high, making it utterly impossible for them to accept this so-called genuine Western King who had descended from nowhere……

A villager plucked up courage and asked: "How do you treat the believers?"

Upon hearing the question, the young Western King immediately puffed out his chest: "Eat well, drink spicy! Loot money, grain, women—whatever you loot is yours! As long as you come over to the right side, I will never shortchange you!"

Loot? The villagers looked at each other in bewilderment:

"Loot…… isn't that wrong?"

"Exactly! His Majesty the Western King has always taught us loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust; we must obey the court's laws—how can we loot?"

Ah? The young Western King stared dumbfounded:

Loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, trust? Obey the court's laws?

This…… is this really a doctrine that peers could propose? If we really managed the believers this way, what kind of rebellion would we even be staging……

"I……"

The stifled Western King was about to say something when he heard the villager say:

"Then if we believe in you, will you hold a grand assembly for everyone from now on?"

"Hold a grand assembly?"

The Western King blinked again: "What grand assembly?"

"It means giving everyone dreams, then teaching the crowd, settling disputes, answering questions—any difficulties the crowd has can be resolved face to face!"

Ah? The Western King was dumbfounded:

"No…… we came to be immortals, not to be oxen and horses…… why should we serve lowly commoners!"

"Teaching? Settling disputes? Answering questions? And bestowing dreams every day?"

"Am I dreaming, or are you?"

The Western King laughed in anger:

"A bunch of rascally villagers! I see you don't know what divine authority like a prison means!"

"Right this instant! Throw away that evil god, abandon darkness for light, return to the righteous god's fold, or else……"

The villagers said nothing, only glanced at each other, then silently picked up sickles, hammers, and other farm tools and implements……

Its meaning goes without saying.

"Good, good, good!"

The villagers' actions enraged the already furious Western King, who then directly gave his fellow disciples talisman water, glaring at the gang of rascally villagers with killing intent, and shouted:

"Slaughter them all!"

At the first stop of the recruitment drive, he encountered such a setback; the young Western King could not tolerate them, and decided to use the most brutal means to intimidate these clueless rascally villagers!

The Five Emperors Temple, as a professional rebel organization, provides its disciples with relevant training; after drinking talisman water beforehand, they become a true elite unit.

The Daoists sighed in their hearts; although they felt that killing at the outset wasn't very auspicious, since the sect leader Western King had already issued the order, they had no choice but to obey.

Thus they drew their weapons, and the clash erupted immediately! Elite Daoist soldiers versus a disorganized, undisciplined band of rural folk—there was naturally nothing much to say about it:

As soon as they engaged, the Daoist soldiers cut down many villagers! Seeing this, the Western King in the rear couldn't help but sneer: the rascally villagers don't know how fearsome they are, yet they dare to resist……

Huh?!

In the astonished gazes of the Western King and the Daoist soldiers, the villagers who had just been cut down suddenly rose to their feet, their bleeding wounds healing at lightning speed! This sight even surprised the villagers themselves; after all, this battle was really just a token resistance, given that the opposing "pirated Western King" was essentially an antisocial element, while our genuine Western King had always treated the believers well.

Moreover, the villagers were ignorant and unaware of how formidable the Daoist soldiers were, which is why this resistance occurred.

Moreover, seeing their side go down in droves at the first clash, the villagers couldn't help but feel fearful, the words of surrender almost on their lips…… yet they never expected such a startling turn of events!

Being cut but not dying? The villagers' morale surged! The two sides clashed again……

One side wielded crude sickles and hammers, the other refined weapons; one side were pure farmers, the other long-trained troops—under these circumstances, the battle should have been a one-sided rout.

But as they fought, the situation reversed!

After all, the villagers outnumbered them; although they lacked formation, a few hundred charging en masse, plus their invulnerability, left the few dozen Daoist soldiers, no matter how elite, in an absolute disadvantage of being surrounded.

And what's even more deadly lies ahead……

"Senior brother, we shouldn't linger here!"

The Daoist soldiers carefully protected the Western King in their midst, slowly retreating while solemnly advising him: "These rascally villagers are so tough to handle; surely that deity has meddled, and we've been discovered by him!"

"If we keep fighting, we'll eventually get trapped here……"

"I!"

The Western King naturally understood this, but he was young and hot-blooded, having suffered a major setback at the outset—how could he endure?! Before he could say anything, a sudden scream rang out: a Daoist soldier had been knocked over by an iron hammer; though this would normally be unremarkable, his screams continued without cease, yet his wound showed no sign of improvement……

One down, then another—immediately another was felled by a sickle; this was even more terrifying, as that Daoist soldier breathed his last! "Not good! The other side has used a spell‑breaking art; our talisman water has failed!"

The Daoist soldiers panicked, hastily shielding the Western King as they fled!

This time the Western King didn't dare to speak further, for he clearly saw that the opposing spirit could silently bestow two buffs on those rascally villagers, while his side still had to rely on talisman water for indirect power—the gap was immense, hard to describe.

Especially that spell‑breaking art—any spirit capable of wielding it must be far superior to him, not just by one level.

If we don't leave now, we'll truly lose our lives!

But what dashed everyone's hopes was that hundreds of those rascally villagers, pumped up like they'd taken chicken blood, kept howling as they charged nonstop, relying on their invulnerability to surround them three layers deep inside and out.

Even if the Daoist soldiers were ever more elite, in this disadvantage they were powerless, only able to watch helplessly as those farm tools and implements knocked down their comrades one by one.

One after another, the desperate Daoist soldiers were slain one by one, while the blood‑red‑eyed villagers frenziedly dealt finishing blows, smashing the corpses beyond recognition.

In the end, only the West King remained.

"I am not willing..."

Seeing his fate about to run out, the West King's heart was filled with regret and unwillingness:

Why did I choose to come here to recruit troops? Clearly a bright future lay before me; I am an unparalleled heavenly talent, as long as I develop steadily, I will surely have a place in heaven and earth, so why did I end up failing here!

He still had a future, he still had vengeance, he still had...

Bang! An iron hammer, imbued with its owner's fury, slammed hard into the West King's face; with such force, his skull instantly deformed—now he had nothing left.

【Watching this person, who in a past life was the chief culprit behind the city's slaughter, now in this life miserably died beneath the peasants' farming tools, dying in obscurity, you stand in the sky in your Dharma Aspect, slowly closing your eyes……】

【The spell is naturally yours; your cultivation has long surpassed that of the West King who just came down from the mountain, even reaching the point where you can manifest your Dharma Aspect and leave your body to display holiness. If you truly wanted to personally slay the West King, a single Great Wasteland Prison Heaven Finger from your Dharma Aspect could grind him to ashes of calamity!】

【But you ultimately did not choose to act yourself; instead, you indirectly gave the peasants a buff, letting them properly receive him.】

【Because you think, rather than you yourself killing him cleanly and swiftly, it's better to let the peasants do the work, so he dies in greater despair and pain……】

【In a past life, after wits and courage battles, even dying once before defeating that big boss, he has now become a mere petty monster in this life—he is not even worthy of a finger of yours!】

【Such a change in identity inevitably makes you feel inexplicably: past and present lives are ultimately completely different……】

【After the feeling passed, you stepped forward and returned to the sea of consciousness of your physical body.】

【Only a group of simple, honest peasants who happily licked buns remained in place; the spoils left by those Daoists can serve as their hard-earned wages for doing the work.】

【Everything, long ago, ceased to enter your divine sight.】

【……】

【This great uprising sparked by the Five Emperors Observatory, just as it began, already lacked one major army.】

【And the West King's rebel army, which should have attacked the county seat where you are, was preemptively crushed by you; the remaining four rebel kings immediately became wary!】

【But their wariness is useless, for you have already decided to use them as stepping stones, borrowing their heads to let you formally enter the imperial court's view.】

【After developing in obscurity for over thirty years, your foundation is as solid as a rock; you no longer need to fear that showing your head will get you crushed by the court!】

【But this does not mean you will immediately rebel; what you must do is demonstrate your strategic value in the court's eyes, so that the court tacitly permits and acknowledges your existence, then gradually develop and grow until……】

【In short, your strategy has never changed; you still do not intend to confront the court head-on, but plan to package yourself as an 'unquestionably loyal' persona, to suppress rebellions and uprisings for the court, thereby gaining legitimate status.】

【You want to make it so that no one in the world can find fault with you, and you want the court, even while fully aware of your grand ambitions, to be forced to hold its nose and acknowledge you as a 'loyal subject.'】

【Everything begins with presenting this pledge of allegiance, the 'Four Rebel Kings'……】

【Thus, you held an all-people assembly in the middle of the night in your dream, and, as a deity, passionately declared to all your followers: The court is now in peril of the state; all living beings under heaven are in dire straits!】

【At your command, this giant beast that had lain dormant for over thirty years finally revealed its sharp fangs and claws to the world!】

【For the court, declare war on the East King!】

【Declare war on the South King!】

【Declare war on the North King!】

【Declare war on the Central King!】

【Four Rebel Kings:?】

【Imperial Court:?】

……

(End of Chapter)

(End of Chapter)