After scolding the ministers, the Sovereign glared at the fortunate trio.
"Hmph, the offerings our Jade Ring Kingdom has made to your Liu family have never been short by a single cent each year.
Now, your Liu family has colluded with the demon race and slaughtered the Thunder Wind Realm. We have not uttered a word of complaint.
But your Liu family, with wolfish ambition, has actually turned your butcher's knives upon your own subjects. This, I cannot tolerate!
I wish to kill the villains, but am powerless to turn the tide. However, today, I will use my own life to let you know that our Jade Ring Kingdom, our Central Domain, our Thunder Wind Realm, has not yet run out of people, nor has our conscience been extinguished!
The people of our Thunder Wind Realm still possess hot blood, still possess backbone.
Today, though I die, there are still tens of thousands, even millions, of me in the world. Sooner or later, they will drive your demon race out of the Thunder Wind Realm and slaughter your Liu family to the last!
Those who have lost all conscience and harmed their kin are not tolerated by Heaven, and Heaven will surely punish them!"
After the Sovereign's impassioned speech, he spread his arms wide, glaring at the trio, adopting a look of defiance in the face of death.
"Um… Your Majesty, we are from the Thunder Emperor Palace."
"Ah?"
"Ah? The Thunder Emperor Palace?"
The nobles and ministers present were all stunned. They stopped crying and fleeing, and instead looked at the trio, their eyes filled with the joy of surviving a disaster.
"Are you really from the Thunder Emperor Palace?"
The Sovereign was also dumbfounded, looking at the trio in disbelief.
"Genuine."
"Then… then why didn't you tell me earlier?"
Recalling his impassioned speech to people from the Thunder Emperor Palace, the Sovereign felt like an idiot.
Hong Lian stepped forward, head held high, and began to recite the lines he had memorized countless times.
"Our Palace Master says it's impolite to interrupt others. Everyone in our Thunder Emperor Palace must cultivate good character and demeanor, take nothing from the people, and serve the populace with all our hearts…"
"The three elders, has the Thunder Emperor Palace's reinforcement arrived?"
The Sovereign had no time to listen to him lecture on the behavioral norms of the Thunder Emperor Palace. The demons outside were close to slaughtering them all; the fire was already burning their eyebrows.
"Uh… not yet. Just the three of us."
Upon hearing this, the ministers' hopes, which had just been rekindled, were instantly dashed, and they resumed their wailing as if they had lost their parents.
"Alas, my fate is so bitter, Heaven wants to destroy me."
"My family is still at home, I wonder if they have been killed by the demons."
"May these scoundrels die a horrible death! My family's business, passed down for hundreds of years!"
"My eighteen-year-old concubine, whom I just married yesterday! I haven't had a chance to enjoy her yet."
The last person to say this was an old man with a white beard and white hair who needed a cane to walk.
These people said anything and everything, but not a single one of them showed concern for the country or its citizens.
Seeing them like this, the trio felt a wave of annoyance. They were rogue cultivators, people of the cultivation world, somewhat like those in the martial world. They looked down upon these ministers of the court, who were incapable of lifting a shoulder or carrying a pole and only knew how to embezzle and accept bribes.
"Your Majesty, do not fear, we will get you out."
Hong Lian said, taking two steps forward.
"The three elders, the Thunder Emperor Palace's army has not come? Then what about our citizens? They are all innocent…"
"They will come, they will come."
Hong Lian grabbed the Sovereign's hand and started to lead him out.
"Elder, when will the Thunder Emperor Palace's reinforcements arrive?"
"That is uncertain."
Hearing this, the old man who had spoken of his concubine not yet enjoyed stepped forward again, pointed at Hong Lian's nose, and scolded him.
"You people of the Thunder Emperor Palace, you keep saying you want to protect all living beings and the common people. But we are being slaughtered now, and where are your people? You are all hypocrites, two-faced!"
Such a person would never dare to scold the enemy, but would hundred percent kneel and beg for mercy.
However, upon seeing the people who had come to save him, and believing them to be good people, he immediately became emboldened, standing on the high ground of morality and victimhood to accuse them, as if the ones saving them were the real culprits.
Hong Lian was enraged upon hearing this and retorted, pointing at the old man's nose.
"Throughout the Liu family's territory, countless countries, forces, and cities are being plundered. How many people can our Thunder Emperor Palace dispatch for support?
Receiving news, investigating intelligence, dispatching reinforcements – which of these doesn't require time?
With so many forces under attack, how can we possibly ensure that we can attend to every single one?
Furthermore, you obedient citizens within the Liu family's territory, knowing that the Liu family colluded with the demon race to wreak havoc upon the world, yet you remained indifferent, abetting evil, and are guilty of the same crimes as the wicked.
How long has our Thunder Emperor Palace issued a call to arms to the world? Have you dispatched cultivators and armies to the Thunder Emperor Palace for assembly?
You have done nothing, only served as accomplices to the Liu family. The Liu family's sins are also yours.
Now, the Liu family no longer cares for you and intends to kill you. The only thing you can do is to stick out your necks to be chopped.
If you had fled north earlier, wouldn't you still be alive? But you did not. You could not bear to part with your comfort, wealth, and status. Because of greed, you now face death.
You dare not resist the enemy, yet you openly criticize those who come to save you. Are you still human?!"
Hong Lian's furious rebuke left the old man's face a mixture of green and white, rendering him speechless.
"Your Majesty, let's go."
Hong Lian grabbed the Sovereign's arm and led him out. The crowd began to shout again, begging to be taken with them.
In the midst of this chaos, it was already difficult for the trio to escort one person, let alone so many.
Soon, their worries were gone, for outside the grand hall, a group of Resentful Demons had gathered, watching them with predatory eyes.
They couldn't win.
Even with luck, they couldn't win.
"Hong Lian, what do we do?"
Feng Bing asked.
Hong Lian, however, was unperturbed, and smiled slightly.
"At this moment, a verbose villain should appear to stall time for us."
As expected, a demon general descended from the sky, landing before the Resentful Demons.
"Your Thunder Emperor Palace is truly becoming more useless. This time, you only sent three tiny ants for support. What's this, do you look down on our demon race that much?
Do you think three tiny Nascent Soul realm ants can defeat all of us, or perhaps, rescue the Sovereign?"
The demon general sneered at the crowd of small ants before him, his gaze contemptuous.
Hong Lian did not rush to answer, as the Sovereign was sending him a telepathic message.
"Elder, do we have any hope of breaking through?"
"Not the slightest hope. The one opposite is a demon general, with Mahayana cultivation. We are no match for him."
"Then what should we do? Are we doomed this time?"
"Do not fear."
"Oh?"
"We three brothers are lucky."
Hong Lian smiled confidently.
"Elder… what do you mean by this."
"If nothing unexpected happens, this kind demon general will stall until the reinforcements arrive."